My Favorite Christmas Gift to Emily

A few weeks ago I asked Cori of Let's Eat Grandpa if she could make a quilt that vaguely resembled the I Spy quilt I first spied (heh) here on Anything Pretty. Emily was starting to point and really take an interest in the objects around her, and I loved the idea of having a quilt we could sit on while we talked about the different pictures (and of course wrap her up in, too). Cori said she could do it and I gave her the go-ahead, with only a few instructions (gender-neutral, lots of different pictures, done in time for Christmas if at all possible).

It was so fun watching the progress on Twitter and Instagram, and I was so excited you would've thought this present was for me. Cori gave me a few options for the background fabric, and after I picked one that would go with her nursery theme (jungle) she was off!

It came the week before Christmas and was even better than I had imagined. The pictures on her blog don't do it justice.

I had a hard time waiting until Christmas, but the day finally arrived and I gave Emily the gift I was most excited for her to get this year.

Emily, my husband, and I love this quilt. We couldn't be happier with it, and we want to thank Cori, as well as the other women who helped Cori get the fabrics she needed, making this a feasible, affordable gift. Thank you all!

If you have a minute, maybe stop by her Etsy shop. The girl's awesome with a sewing machine.

My First Experience with Crochet

Thanks to my obsession with Pinterest, I've had the itch to try lots of new things lately. One of those was to learn how to crochet, thanks to this adorable picture and the fact that I really, really want to make this hat for my baby.

My idea was that a scarf would be the perfect beginner project. So I bought a skein of yarn and learned how to do the easiest stitch I could and set to work.

Two more skeins, multiple mistakes and row pullings, and a few curse words later (plus three days) and I ended up with a beautiful, warm, soft scarf that is officially mine and quite original. In fact, it's so original I don't think I could copy it if I wanted to. I ended up losing two stitches in a row somewhere, so the beginning end is flared, which I actually really like, but was very hard to replicate at the end. So both ends flare, just not exactly evenly.

Whatever. I made it with my own two hands, and I'm incredibly proud of it and my determination to see it through even when I was tired, frustrated, and sore (seriously, neck strain?).

And now I have my scarf that I can't wait to wear this fall and winter. Oh, happiness.