Room Reassignments: Jude & Felix's Room

Jude & Felix's room

 So, when we first moved into this house, Jude was in a room by himself (because he often woke up crying at night and it seemed he needed his own space), but increasingly he showed interest in being with the other two, and they were all excited about the prospect of putting the bunk beds back together. So we did, and I got a craft room - it was lovely! They all seemed to enjoy being together, there were a few snow days that Dan used the other room to work, I had a place for all my crafty stuff... For the past couple of months, though, it wasn't going so well to have them all together in one room. Henry is so clearly at a different developmental phase now from the other two, and often complained of them waking him up (which they did!), so we decided to give him his own room.  We rearranged everything yesterday afternoon. It's going well so far - they all slept through the night (at least mostly), there was only one child in our bed this morning, and Henry was he first to wake us up at 7 am!

Artwork: Caterpillar & the boys' names, both by Henry, below the airplane lamp that was Dan's as a child

Jude's Bed

Vintage dresser from Salvation Army & Ikea crate we hand-stained pre-kids!

Felix's bed (just the crib without the drop side, he hasn't slept in it yet, ha!)

Felix's Dresser, a vintage CL find

Book Nook with thrifted dollhouse for the books & the Ole Nursing Rocker for cuddling

 Tomorrow (or whenever I get around to it)...Henry's room!

a morning off

I had the morning to myself, and enjoyed doing some of my favorite things:

{knitting outside a coffee shop}

{one bootie, almost complete}

 I found a few goodies at the flea market:

{vintage Pyrex with an "autumn" theme}

{cornucopia basket for $2, pictured here with the gourds we got at Shlagel Farms}

{pumpkin basket, upper left}

When I arrived home, I set up a little fall-themed play area on one of the side tables (above). Felix woke up a few minutes later and tried it out, sporting the one finished bootie:

I'm excited to see what Jude does with these things tomorrow, since he's the one who is really into filling, dumping, and hiding.

How did you spend your Sunday?

{simply ten good things}

I have a lot of little tidbits I want to share, so I decided to borrow an idea from (who else?) SouleMama. So, here goes my first try at simply ten good things...

 {making our own italian seasoning using spices we had in-house}

 {a vintage skillet I found at the flea market on Sunday. It makes the most divine eggs I've ever had, and is the perfect size for warming up a portion of leftovers for lunch}

 {brothers playing together at Hard Bargain Farm on Monday}

 {Felix and Jude loving the swings}

 {a hat knit for a friend's new baby - my first hand-knit gift}

 {the transportation exhibit at the National Museum of American History}

{Jude learning to pedal his trike all by himself}

{a $2 bus found at the thrift store today}

{a $20 thrifted toaster oven that looks and works like new, and warms up my favorite lunch: chicken pot pie}

{a set of thrifted baskets that I'm still not sure what to do with...any ideas?!}

It was warm and sunny this morning, but as I composed this, the air shifted and there is definitely a chill in the air. I am lamenting the fact that I do not have more knitted sweaters, cowls, booties, and vests ready to go...I'd better get to work! Hope you and yours are enjoying this fall season...please share your own "simply good things" here as well!

corners of my home: a desk for Dan

Remember the desk I found awhile back at Salvation Army? I found one for Dan there too! I've always wanted to have a secretary desk in my house. Plus, now if Dan leaves his books and things laying around on the dining room table, I can say, "you have a desk, you know."

found: an old rocking chair

I found the sweetest little rocking chair at a yard sale just around the corner from me last weekend. I seem to have a special place in my heart for vintage rocking chairs because we now have three. My sweet husband was so gracious about it, with a minimum of eye-rolling and only one "Are you sure you want another rocking chair?" Yes, please!

spring pants for Felix

By now it's pretty obvious that most of my current inspiration and ideas come from SouleMama. I just don't have the time to follow a lot of blogs or read a lot of books, and right now I happen to be reading both of hers almost exclusively.

Her fourth child Harper was born the same time of year as Felix, so when I read how she covered his legs that first spring and summer with handmade, lightweight pants made out of re-purposed sheets and shirts, I decided to try my hand at it.

I used the directions from The Creative Family as a guide with two shirts I got at the thrift store:


Gaining confidence, I decided I wanted to make two more pair with cuffs. I used some thrifted sheets for the main pants fabric. For the cuffs, I used more of that wonderful bird fabric for one pair, and something else I picked up at Stitch DC for the other.

Here are my favorite two pairs on Felix:

a pair of bluebird bibs

I am so pleased to share a project that I was able to start and finish in just a few hours (with a large break in the middle for dinner/baby baths & bedtimes/hide-and-seek with Henry). Actually it would have been finished before dinner except that I made a mistake with the first one which took a bit of time to fix after everyone was in bed.

I traced my favorite bib for the "pattern." The fabric on the front is from a sheet I got at the thrift store a few weeks ago, and the bird fabric I got at Stitch DC. It was one of those moments of "I don't know what I'm going to do with that yet, but I must have it!" I zigzag stitched a bird on the front of each bib before sewing the front and back together. I used leftover yarn from the baby sweater for the neck ties (just braided it before sewing it into the top of the fabric). They aren't without flaws, but I think they turned out pretty well for my first try at making bibs.