Crafting again

I do a lot of crafting but since there's just Charlie and Eva at home to admire it, and they can't comment on my work in anything other than barks and smiles, I like to post it here.  I've made a collective three baby quilts.  One was done using a tutorial I found online and the other two were done based off of pictures I saw on Pinterest and some helpful blog posts.  This is my most recent one, made for a dear friend who is having her second little boy.  It was my first time hand-sewing the binding and what I learned from that experience was "stick to machine sewing".  A hand-quilter I am not!  But I was still happy with the final project and I can't wait to see pictures of her little guy all wrapped up in it!

Ships and seals

Last week a girlfriend and I decided to take our little guys up to Moss Landing.  A tall ship Lady Washington had pulled into port there and they were giving tours.  The ship was a replica of a real one, built and sailed in the 1700's, and had been used in several different movies- including Pirates of the Caribbean as the Interceptor! "Oh the Dauntless is the power in these waters, true enough, but there's no ship as can match the Interceptor for speed".  It was pretty neat to see, though the kiddos seemed less than interested.  Granted, they are only 4 and 9 months old!  A few more years and they might be more impressed. :) On the way out we got some great photos of the Harbor Seals.  They were lining the docks, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

Autumn in Monterey

Fall has come to Monterey.  It is starting to get chillier, the air a little crisper.  It's not like a New England fall (nothing is quite like that) but it's still been very nice.  The fog is mostly gone and the days are clear and sunny.  We had some visitors in Oct. and we got to get out and enjoy some of the sights (and many of the restaurants!) in the area.  My grandma came for a week in the middle of Oct, and then my dad came for a few days at the end.  It was so nice to see them both and for Charlie to get to know his extended family a little bit more!

Charlie has started "roaring" lately, so we ask him all the time "what does a lion say?" and he roars back at us.  Because of this we decided he pretty much needed to be a lion for Halloween.  Hello Costco and their $13 costumes!  He was an adorable lion.  

I pulled out all my fall decor a few weeks ago and discovered I didn't have a fall wreath.  I went to the craft store, only to realize that pre-made wreaths are wicked expensive.  I decided buying all the piece and making my own would be a little more economical.  Turns out everything I bought was on super clearance, and my supplies cost less than $9!  Despite having no plan or design, I think it turned out pretty cute:

Another thing I made was a turkey hat for Charles.  We are running the "Turkey Trot 5K" at NPS this week, so a turkey hat was in order.  He actually keeps it on pretty well, and only yanks it off every 10 minutes or so.  I also made turkey hats for my niece and nephew, and am now working on one for Phil.  Hopefully it will be done in time for him to wear to the race tomorrow!  I haven't crocheted anything in a long time, but it's all coming back to me now, and the hats do work up really quickly.  I already found a snowman hat pattern for Christmas!

This month we celebrated out 5th anniversary!!  I can't believe it's been five years already.  It really has flown by.  We celebrated with a nice dinner out- our first time out without Charles!  Check out this photo of us.  Back from 2004, when we were "just friends"! ;) ;)  Glad the braces are gone, but so happy to still be snuggling up to that good-looking guy.