thank God for crafty friends.

 Last night after work Catherine came over and OMG MADE A HUGE MESS OF MY DINING ROOM!!!!!

Sheesh. I mean, you invite a friend over and then they show up and totally wreck your still-clean-from-the-home-study house? Ridiculous.

Luckily the mess was not in vain. As you probably deduced, there was definitely a reason for the dining room-turned-seamstress-factory. Our crib bumpers!! (Which I know are completely pointless, possibly dangerous, and altogether unnecessary. I know. But they are also really cute, adorable, and fun, and so...yeah. I will absolutely take them off when they are a safety hazard. But for now I really want them.)

I count myself as very blessed that I have such talented friends who are willing to shoulder the brunt of the work when I make rash decisions like deciding I must have homemade custom crib bumpers...but I can barely pull my own sewing machine out of the closet without breaking it and getting so frustrated I scream. Catherine came over to "help"...and by "help," obviously I mean that she did 90% of the work and I did the tasks that a first-grader could have mastered. But then later in life I'll take all the credit for my sweet bumpers, don't worry. I'll forget the part where Catherine actually did most of it and I pretty much ironed and fueled her with snacks. Whatever. That's what friends are for.

It was a very fun evening, despite the frustration that's inherent in any sewing project (for me). And by 9:30 we actually had something to show for our struggles: ONE (of six) COMPLETED BUMPER!

If this isn't the most awkward picture you've ever seen, I don't know what is. I would like to blame it on the fact that the fashion industry/blogosphere has not yet offered us a standardized "here's how you pose with your homemade crib bumper and a friend" pose yet, so we were just winging it. And also tired. And also pretty excited. So whatever. At least you can see the bumper! (The zig-zag fabric hanging from the dresser behind us is the crib skirt. Since we don't actually have a CRIB yet, we were improvising so that we could see how it'll look)

We still have a lot of work to do to complete the other five bumpers (including me going back to the fabric store for more fabric), but most of the prep-work is done (cutting, measuring, etc.) so the rest of it should go much faster. I am all set to finish all the ties myself over the weekend, but Catherine will have to come back (with her serger, because it is awesome) to "help" me actually sew the rest of the bumpers together.

It's you and me, baby. This weekend. Don't you dare break or have any BOBBIN PROBLEMS because I will kick you in the face.

It made for a wonderful Thursday night. Let's face it, even if I could sew all this stuff by myself, why would I want to? It's a great excuse to hang out with Catherine for a few days. And then one day I can tell Ellison all about how her room decorations came to be, how her Nannie (my mom) and I made her crib skirt, how Auntie Catherine made the bumpers, and how the thread on the underside of the ties is cream instead of white because her mommy is completely inept at threading bobbins and decided that she really didn't care if it was a different color because that was just blasted easier. All kinds of love and life lessons there, right? Right. 

And now it's Friday! In honor of my Canadian friend Janet, and because she so kindly supplied me with more than just junk food in my package, I spent a few minutes playing with some of her props for a little mini-Funny Face Friday session. Janet does these almost every week and it always makes me happy.

Have a great weekend!!