Actual cat size may vary

WARNING: UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENT TO FOLLOW.

I was so exciting coming home from the train because Gregg told me that I had a package from "C. Brown in AZ". Well, of course, I knew that was my BFF Sandi, who, aside from being able to wear fab capris and croc sandals year round because she lives in Arizona, has a cutie-patootie hubby and 3 of the most gorgeous girls you've ever set eyes on upon. Now, most people are pretty freakin' busy with two 5 five year olds, a 3 1/2 year old, and an 11 mos little boy in ETH who will be home by Christmas. But Sandi, bless her soul, also is a sewer/quilter extraordinaire with her own Etsy shop. You can visit it here: A Stitch of Mine.

The above are pics of my newest purchase, the car-seat snuggly. Jazz looks pissed in the pictures but it isn't the fault of the blanky. Rather, Jazz really doesn't like (and by that I mean she HATES) being positioned. Jazz wants to do what Jazz wants to do. But I really wanted a picture of her on the blanket for this posting and didn't want to wait around for her to "decide" to actually lay down on the blanket. I have no doubt that she would love on it, and get her gorgeous domestic cat hair all over it. Thank goodness Sandi's blankets and quilts are all machine washable!! However, I just couldn't wait around to do this posting, and did not particularly want to have to de-cat it later on. Please note, size is not to scale as the actual size of your cat may vary.

You will note how AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS the cat-seat (umm, I mean car-seat) snuggly is. It is also super-soft. The center is chocolate minky-blanket. The back is a lovely cream satin. Because of this, I've decided to go with a basic brown car seat so I can coordinate with Sandi's blankets instead of a patterned car seat.

Here's the best part -- the snuggly was only $11!!!
So -- if you are the mom of a baby or are about to be the mom of a baby, by a snuggly from Sandi's site. If you need bigger blankets she has them. I actually have her "piece of Africa" lap quilt as well. If you need more reasons to visit's Sandi's shop -- keep in mind that the proceeds go to help pay for travel expenses to/from ETH for baby Paul next month.

END OF UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENT.

Piece of Africa Quilt

For those of you who love the quilt as much as we do, I added a link to Sandi's Esty shop on the right. I wish I could take credit, but alas it is Sandi's creative creation, not mine. Although, I like to think if I could quilt I would have made a piece like this for Sam.

So here's my little commercial bit: The quality of this quilt is amazing! It's machine washable (gentle) and dryable (fluff air/ low). The stitching if very small & close and its quite durable. The fabrics are very soft, and each have a texture of their own (the design has a texture) so I think it will be stimulating for Sam both by touch and sight. The colors are very rich and vivid, but not harsh. Sandi has other items for sale, and quilts a lot so I'm sure there will be new items on her site. If you absolutely much have the quilt we got for Sam, she has a toddler/crib quilt version avail. This has the cut-out of Africa in the center. The only reason we did not get the crib quilt is because we already have Sam's bedding picked out and family wants to buy for us. We will use the lap quilt on the rocker for snuggling, story time, and floor time.

In case you cannot tell, I'm super excited about this quilt and am dreaming of seeing Sam on it. Of coure, when he is, we'll take and upload pictures! But that's probably at least 6 mos away.

Learning compromise -or- Sam's dresser Part II

I spent another 2 hours today sanding Sam's dresser. I don't like to use a lot of stripper chemicals, because this is very old and I don't want to damage the wood. I sand w/ medium to fine grade sandpaper in small incriments w/ my orbital sander. This is what the dresser looked like after sanding and wiping down w/ a wet cheesecloth to get all the dust off.

We took off the bottom "wooden dust ruffle" piece because it was broken. I don't know what shape I want on in its place (it was scalloped.) I guess I don't have to decide today.

So, because the crib is a very, very dark brown (called Coffee), we had picked out what we thought was a very, very dark brown stain for the dresser (called Ebony). I swear, in Home Depot, it was a dark brown, but when we "tested" the stain on an extra piece of wood today, it was BLACK. That is not what I want for the dresser, but being someone w/o the patience gene, I wanted to start staining today. So I went with 2 coats of Red Chestnut, which right now looks very brown, and not red at all. I don't think the dresser & crib have to be too "matchy-matchy" so I'm not going to worry if some red comes out w/ the poly sealer coat. I'm still doing the dresser 2 toned, with a light honey on the drawer faces & the top.

The sides of the drawers were very, very warn and since the sides don't show, they were made w/ lower quality wood. I could barely sand, for fear of splintering off the wood. So I made another compromise and painted the sides very dark brown paint, instead of stain (since I couldn't strip the old paint off, I couldn't stain.) At top is what the sides looked like after 2 coats of paint.

Finally, I have added a picture of Sam's Africa quilt. I hung it from a mirror in the nursery, so you cannot see top edge well, but heck, it's hard to photograph a quilt when you don't have the crib in the room yet!! The photo doesn't do it justice. It is so beautiful!