It just dawned on me last night what I want to do with the baby’s room. Doll quilt wall! Remember this picture I found in a book a while back of a wall of vintage doll quilts.

I was just reminded of it by a reader who was tackling it herself and it hit me how perfect that would be for the baby’s room. I wouldn’t have to stress all out coming up with the one perfect baby quilt for her but rather could make a bunch of tiny little quilts. I won’t have to settle on a few favorite fabrics but could use many. I can work on lots of little projects instead of one big daunting one. I can give Tim and the wall painting/stenciling plans I had a rest. This way I can do all the work ahead of time and when/if we move it’ll be all finished and ready to go. And when the baby gets bigger she can use them all as quilts for her dollies. I love this idea! I’m so over the moon for it. It’s the perfect sweet country thing and also I think it could be done to look really modern. Simple and still ornate. I’m psyched!

Hopefully it’ll come together as wonderfully as I’m imagining. I’m still thinking yellow for the wall. And lots of white and light colors in the quilts with some brights mixed in. We’ll see how far I
can get on this project. I can always ebay some vintage doll quilts to add to the mix. And if my mom says yes I already have my first quilt, this doll quilt from her childhood.

Isn’t it always the case that right after a bout of productivity one is slammed down with a cold. So frustrating. All the Langs are home sick today. Oscar’s been absorbed by Noggin, Tim’s being a good husband and off to the store for supplies and I’m being a lazy bum and reading magazines with a kleenex shoved up my nose. When I get better…

I’m going to knit this matinee coat from a vintage knitting magazine

and make this bambi for the baby

make some nursery decisions

and find a big boy bed for boxcar.

So Oscar was exhibiting some very non-Oscar behavior this weekend. Perhaps in an effort to not be outdone by some hypothetical baby sister he spent all of Saturday afternoon deciding that teddy bears were very cute. That they needed to be collected and inspected and hugged and piled up under covers. That they needed to snuggle in. And that the tinier the bear the better. It was too much! When we tucked him and his bears into bed Saturday night I asked if I should make him a new tiny bear and he said “yes, while I’m sleeping.” So I eyeballed the pattern pieces in one of my Japanese bear making books and this is what I ended up with. He’s about 4″ tall, made from some hand dyed wool from Molly Chicken and has one too-tall ear.

Of course Oscar woke up on Sunday and gave me a yeah, mom look when I showed him the bear. I got a “cute” and then it was set aside for the melange of cars and trucks. Guess everyday is not bear day. But it’s nice to know it’ll pop up now and again.

It was a great weekend for crafting. (Crap for house hunting but thanks for the encouragement! I will not get discouraged) The yarn I’d ordered in December and had given up for lost miraculously arrived on my doorstep last week and this weekend I finished up knitting outfits for Olive and Archie. Also got a bit of snow around here on Sunday so I gave those snowsuits another shot. Should be some new make-a-long action around here soon.

And I’m trying a little something new, answering emails I get here just in case anyone else wanted to know…

– the magazines from the post before last are a Dutch childrens magazine called Ariadne At Home Kinderen. I got my copies in a trade and am not sure how to get them here in the U.S.

– I do have plans to make up patterns for the pull toys I made last Spring but I’m not sure when that will happen. Maybe Summer?

– Winter Stitchettes will be up in the shop soon. Maybe this week? Depends on how fast we can get the postcards back from the printer.