Here’s the finished diaper bag, which I had finished before Nik’s shower last month, but now the strap has been shortened to Nikki length [as always click the image for larger versions]

Then I made this matching changing pad. It has 3 pockets for diapers, wipes, creams, hand sanitizer .. rubber gloves .. anything you could possibly need to change a baby. The pad part even attaches by velcro so that you can throw that part in the wash

Here’s a peek at the goodies inside the bag.

I embroidered a couple burp cloths

and a few newborn onsies for Elena

I’m really happy with the way everything came out .. and the tiny onsies .. seriously adorable!!

Yep .. I took the sewing machine to our local repair shop yesterday .. and it worked totally fine. Yeah .. my sewing machine made me look like an idiot in front of the nice sewing machine guy. But hey, at least it works. Yesterday I finished my first apron to put up on etsy (FINALLY), embroidered both Belle & Ella’s future quilts, and finished Belle’s quilt top. I LOVE Belle’s quilt .. it was seriously the easiest one yet, but the colors and theme .. it just looks fantastic put together. I can’t wait to show it off. I’m going to try to finish Ella’s quilt before she stops by on Thursday, I should be able to get it done if I don’t clean tomorrow (this place is disgusting and needs to be scrubbed down badly)

Sean woke me up for the shuttle launch last night .. it was so beautiful. There was a thick layer of clouds, almost like fog but really really high. When the rockets ignited the whole sky turned yellow, almost daylight. It was amazing. It didn’t last long because of the clouds, but I think we could actually see a little more of its path to orbit then everybody at KSC. I was kicking myself the entire time that I hadn’t brought my camera out with me, but to put together my camera, tripod and find my remote switch at 2:20am was just too much to think about. Next time I’ll set my camera up before going to bed. Hopefully there will be a next time Oh! And I happened to put on HDNet after the launch to see their coverage .. they had 5 or 6 HD cameras set up capturing at different angles and different locations .. 2 of which were from a distance with water & marsh between the camera and the shuttle .. seriously beautiful images. I have no idea when or if you’ll be able to see those .. but def. tune into HD Net after the next launch because they have some beautiful shots. Oh heck yeah – http://www.hd.net/ – they’re replaying at 10pm tonight .. hopefully they’ll continue to replay it and you’ll be able to DVR it.

UPDATE – Liz picked StudioElla as her new photography name .. and her site should be up and running soon!

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Oh, and if you can think of a good name, please leave a comment, its really tough to think of anything decent

I broke my sewing machine today .. I’m very upset .. I’m afraid that I actually might have done some damage to it months ago (before Christmas) and it finally just had enough of me playing rough with it. But its less then a year old and should still be under warranty. I’m hopefully going to bring it to an authorized dealer this week and see what they say about it. Cross your fingers its not an expensive fix. I was actually trying to finish up projects to finally put together AuntieErica.com .. blah.

Update on the Cadbury conspiracy – I went to ANOTHER Publix Friday and they were nowhere to be found! But I stopped at Walgreens next door and picked up a dozen They’re tempting me from my freezer .. mmmm.

Just incase you were wondering, here are some possible answers to that do you know me quiz from a few days ago:
2. Take a stab at my middle name. – Lynn
3. What is my favorite color? – I really dont have one, blue, yellow, pink or purple would probably be the best answers
4. Color of my eyes? – Blue
5. Do I have any siblings? – Yes, Liz
6. What’s one of my favorite things to do? Photography, sewing, snuggin (Sean or pups), hang out with friends or family.
7. What’s my favorite type of music? Almost anything is acceptable here, but based on my 3 favorite XM channels I listen to: Indie/Alt Rock (Ethel), Pop (20 on 20) and Vocal Dance (BPM)
8. What sport do I like to watch? Football
9. What is my favorite drink? Dr. Pepper, Beer, Mt. Dew, Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee & Starbucks Hot Chocolate
10. Do I have any special talents? I’m actually really good at building furniture, my knees bend the wrong way, and see #6 above
11. What am I most adamant about? No idea, I really dont think I’m passionate enough about anything. Maybe being close to my family
12. How many children do I have? 2 furry kids – Daisy & Frank, or Little Girl & Big Boy

I picked up quilt kits last fall, fully intending to make quilts for my little girls for Christmas. Well Christmas came and went .. and last weekend I decided to give Halle’s a shot before her 2nd birthday party. To my surprise I had the whole front (the quilt part) done in less then 2 hours. Today I finished it off by added batting and the back piece, so now its finished, and its actually snuggly I didnt actually ‘quilt’ the whole thing .. meaning stitching through all the layers to keep them together forever. I’m nervous that it would look terrible on the back, so I’ll try with the kit I bought for myself later

As a bonus here are a couple puppy pictures. The other day Daisy was lounging on the futon with her head on a pillow and the blanket gently draped over her .. but I didn’t have a camera. So I got up for the camera and of course she left her spot .. but a few minutes later she was back almost in the same position .. she has quite the life huh?

The flash always attracts the puppies

This shot is just funny .. that’s Daisy on top of Big Boy (I think she fell on him) while he’s yawning

Also .. I canceled sewing wednesday apparently, as I’m sitting on my couch not in the craft room

In other news, if everything goes as it should, I could be substituting as early as next week! I know I said it would take 3 weeks after my last post, but when I went to turn my application in, the woman told me I could schedule my interview without waiting the 2 weeks! Most likely its because I have previous experience. Anyways, yesterday I had my interview and drug screening, which both went well. So 1 week from yesterday I can find out if I’m clear and ready to teach.

In the photography business, I’ve started to publish my recent ‘shoots’ on a blog that’s linked to my photo site (email me for URLs, I dont want photo clients finding this blog). It was kinda neat to revisit my sessions of the past year, and see my favorites. Putting that together also helped me book my first wedding .. score!

Tonight I’m reviving sewing Wednesday, even if it is just me sewing alone I have some new fabric and want to put together a few aprons to sell online, and I have 24 zippers on their way for my ‘purse pockets’ .. so I can start figuring out a pattern for that and cutting up the cute fabric I got for them Link to that site is coming soon!

I’m considering making a few more and putting them up on my new Etsy account (thanks for the encouragement Keri) I’ll be sure to post here when and if I make any to sell

Friday night / Saturday morning we made these. They were soooo good! We ended up making the dough and rolling the rolls Friday night, then refrigerating them overnight. Saturday we took them out and let them warm up and rise for an hour before baking them. The only changes we made to the recipe was to double the vanilla in the frosting, and baked at 350 for almost 45 minutes (might have been a little too long).

Saturday was party day. We were up bright and early enjoying our cinnabuns Ella had a blast on the playground, going down the slides. What’s really cool is that apparently when you reserve the pavillion at this park, they include free skate rental, and they have an outdoor skating rink! It was pretty neat to get a bunch of the adults in old school skates. I actually did it, and after about 8 times around, I realized how old and out of shape I was, my back was killing me from trying to keep my balance The party was a big success and you can check out some pictures here.

This morning we got Ella into the studio for a few shots before Liz and Ella headed home. I just had to share one of my favorites.

After finishing the Eising’s bag, I decided to throw something together for Ella since I’m heading down for a visit this afternoon. My machine does embroidery, but before this morning, I could not get it to work right for the life of me. All that changed today though, I apparently was using the wrong needle. Anyway, here’s my personalized, reversible, and fuzzy little bag for Ella Click on the pictures to see bigger versions!