Some Art I've Been Working On

Way back (about a year ago!), I got involved in a collaborative with Pam and a couple others with the theme of Motherhood/Birds. Well, life got hectic, as you all know, and I never had a chance to work in Pam's book. So I have finally taken the time to do it, and here are the results. The top piece I really love, but I'm not so crazy about the second piece. Here they are:
Here's a detail of the piece I like:

And here's the one I don't like so much:

Then I also made a frame for her, sort of as a thank-you for waiting so long, but also as a thank-you because she sent me a wonderful vintage baby album a couple months ago when she heard I was pregnant. What a sweetie! Anyway, this stuff got sent out a couple days ago, so will probably arrive at her house while she's away at Artfest. I'm sure it will be quite a surprise to come home to, as she's probably forgotten all about this collaboration at this point! I hope she likes it all! Here's the frame:

I also did a spread in Riley's book about him learning to talk. He says about four things at this point, the cutest being "thank you" every time you hand him something. I struggled a lot with this spread, but in the end, I'm really pleased with the results. Here it is:

Finally, I did a spread in Noah's book as well. It's about him being fussy and spending a lot of time in this swaddling wrap that I bought. He's a tremendously sweet baby, but I think I got a little spoiled with Riley, who literally never cried as a baby. So a normal fussy baby is new to me! Thank goodness for this wrap, because he loves it in there! Here's the artwork:

I've also been doing a bit of decorating in the boys' rooms, especially Noah's, but I'll wait for another post to show that. I haven't taken photos yet, plus I'd like to be closer to finished before I show how things look... So I'll leave you with a glimpse of what a lot of my day looks like:

I'm Pretty Darn Impressed With Myself!

My mother-in-law is visiting for the week, so as a result, I've had a little extra time to work on various projects. So I decided to tackle a bedspread/quilt for Riley's toddler bed. Now keep in mind that I've never really done any quilting, and that I'm a mediocre seamstress at best. So here is the result- it really came out well! I didn't run into any major problems while sewing it, which is amazing, since I seem to have problems with just about every sewing project I ever take on.

It certainly isn't the work of a master quilter by far, but I somewhat enjoy the handmade quality of it. And I might be fooling myself, but I envision Riley looking back and remembering this bedspread- the pom-poms. the pictures and characters on the fabrics, etc. I know that I remember my childhood bedspreads with fondness-the red calico, the "Holly Hobby"-style pastel patchwork print, and the pink ruffled one when I decided to decorate my whole room in pink...

Anyway, here are some photos. I took a photo of the whole room, in addition to just the bedspread, to give some perspective on why I chose the colors that I did. And although he isn't actually sleeping in it yet, Riley seems to approve!

Not Much Writing, But Lots of Photos

Here are some things I've been up to. I don't have a lot of time to write, but thought you'd appreciate some photos!

A photoshoot on the couch with Noah:

And how about this? I did a similar photoshoot with Riley when he was about this age, and as I looked through the two sets, I found these two photos. The top one's Noah,and the bottom one's Riley. Although they have very different coloring (hard to see with the sepia), they are definitely brothers!

I found these two cuties at a children's consignment shop. I think the circus-themed one will go in Noah's room, and the bird one will go in my still-coming-together studio:

Some more decorating. Jason painted the kitchen dark brown (to contrast with the yucky "peach"/whitewash-y cabinets), and I hung some doll figures above them. The cabinets are almost tolerable now! And I painted/hung some shelves in Riley's soon-to-be room. See the photos a couple posts ago to see the curtains in that room. I still want to make a bedspread for his little toddler bed:

And finally, a spread in Riley's book. As I'm sure all new second-time moms feel (and add to it everything else that's been happening in my life the last few months), I constantly feel like I'm neglecting Riley and not giving him enough attention. So this spread is about that (you can see a closer view on my website if you're interested):

Not too bad, but there's still so much more I want to do! It just kills me being limited to one naptime a day to really get things done! Never enough time...

Progress...

I've gotten a couple more things done in the past few days, amidst the naps, the feedings, the trips to the store, and the games of "I'm gonna get you!". Firstly, I made a slipcover for the crib bumper to match the new curtains in Noah's room. Here's a photo of him on top of it.

It isn't in the crib yet because I still need to add the ties that attach it into the crib. But I think it came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! And the most amazing thing is that the only fabric I purchased for it was the offwhite chenille for about $9! Everything else was from my fabric stash- it really didn't take a lot of any one kind of fabric, but it did take lots and lots of small "squares" of different fabrics. But I think it's the cutest! Next step in there is to paint the walls (that's Jason's territory, so it will have to take a place in his endless queue of "honey-do's"...).

I also finished the first spread in Noah's book. It's a spread about the details of his birth. I did a similar one in Riley's book when he was born. I am just so afraid that I'll forget the details of how things took place, so I wanted to get them down on paper. This birth was so different from Riley's. With Riley, I had an epidural for probably a good 10 hours, so I was so much more aware of everything that was happening since I wasn't in pain. But without an epidural during Noah's birth, I wasn't able to focus on anything but my pain, so I sort of feel like I missed a lot. But oh well, it was different, but it was still as wonderful!

So anyway, I also used some significant items in this piece. The "It's a Boy" plastic piece was in a bouquet of flowers sent by Noah's grandfather when he was born. And the blue crepe paper was hanging from a "Welcome Home, Noah!" sign that his aunt made when we returned from the hospital. I always like to use mementoes like this when possible. In fact, there's a whole section in my book about it!

I'm not sure what my next project will be. Maybe I'll start doing some work in Riley's room... I'll keep you all posted!

Photos of What I've Been Doing

So now that I'm not pregnant anymore (thank goodness!!), I've got so much more energy! There are so many projects that I want to get done, most namely getting the house finally decorated. We've been here in Florida for almost three months now, and our entire front room (dining/living) is still filled with boxes of all my knick-knacks and decorations. So I'm just itching to get it done. Unfortunately, taking care of a 16-month-old and and newborn leaves me little time to actually do anything. I'm pretty much limited to about 2 hours a day, when Riley is napping, and hopefully Noah cooperates and is doing the same.

Anyway, I've got numerous projects that I'm trying to complete all at the same time. First is the family room. Here are some photos of what I've accomplished in there. I'm lucky to have some built-in shelves to accessorize- much easier and more "baby-proofed" than furniture. The whole bottom section is devoted to baskets for toys- I'm still getting used to having to work those into my decorating- primary colored plastic just doesn't necessarily fit my style!

Next are the two kid's rooms. I'm sort of working on both of them simultaneously. Riley is technically still sleeping in the nursery, so some of his stuff is still in there and some of it is now in his "big-boy" room. My first step for the rooms was to make curtains, then I'll decorate the rooms to match. I bought these two adorable fabrics online. The first are Riley's curtains, and have vintage nursery rhyme images on them. His walls are minty green on two walls and yellow on the other two. The second are Noah's curtains, and have vintage alphabet illustrations on them. His walls will be (haven't been painted yet) a light salmon-y orange and a country blue. I still plan to make a bedspread for Riley's toddler bed and to make a slipcover for Noah's crib bumper to match the curtains.

Then, I'm also trying to get back into doing some artwork. I need to get a book started for Noah, and also do some catching up in Riley's book. And Pam, I've still got your book to work in- I promise I'll get to it soon!! On a side note, I know that I haven't posted artwork here for so long. The reason is that most of the artwork I've done for the past six months or so is going to be in my book, so the publishers don't want me to show it. But now that I'm finished with the book, I'll be able to start showing it again- yay! I hate not showing my art, because it sort of messes with the continuity of my website, etc., since most of the art I do flows in a timeline. But, I digress... Anyway, yesterday I was able to begin Noah's book. I plan to do a two-page spread about his birth, and I got one of the two pages done (again, during Riley's two hour nap!). Here's a snippet of that page. Once I finish both, I'll show the whole spread.

And finally, of course the biggest project I've been working on is raising my two kids! That is going great so far. Riley's adjusted really well, and Noah is still proving to be a pretty good baby. We've been doing lots of things with my sister and her two kids, which is really nice because it gives Riley some other interaction during a time when he otherwise may be feeling a little neglected. So here are some photos of the two of them. It's amazing how few photos I've got of Noah compared to what I had of Riley at this age, but I guess that's the curse of being a second child. At least the one's I've got of him are cute!

Before signing off, I'd like to thank all of you for the support and wonderful comments and emails you leave for me. I'm sorry that I'm not the greatest at responding to them all, but please do know that they are very appreciated. I have a hard enough time responding to emails from my mother at this point, so I hope you can understand....!

Introducing Noah Benjamin Moortgat...

Noah Benjamin Moortgat
February 6th, 2007
5:06 AM
9 lbs. 8.5 oz.
20" long

He's here! And a day early to boot! I was scheduled to be induced Wednesday the 7th, but on Monday night I went into labor, and he arrived Tuesday. It was a quick labor, only about 7-8 hours from the very first contractions. I wasn't even sure it was the real thing until about 2:00 AM, and when I got to the hospital, I was already 6 cms. dilated. Unfortunately for me, everything progressed so quickly from that point that there was no time for me to get an epidural. Boy, I thought I knew what pain was until I had to deliver a 9 1/2 pounder naturally! I'm fortunate it all happened so quickly because I seriously couldn't have taken more than a couple hours of that! But he is here, safe and sound, and I am recovering extremely well, much faster than I did with Riley. And in the end, it's sort of a nice thing to know about myself- that I could handle it.

So, I may be biased, but I think he is an extremely handsome boy! He definitely takes more after Daddy than me-he has got jet-black hair, olive skin, and dark eyes. I guess we'll see how much of that changes over time, but it's interesting to have two kids so different-looking, since Riley is much fairer like I am. He has a very sweet disposition so far, much like his big brother did when he was born.

And speaking of big brother, Riley definitely seems curious about this new family member, but doesn't seem to be upset about the change yet. It helps that he is getting lots of attention from Grandma and his aunts right now, too.

So, anyway, here are some preliminary photos- he's just starting to open his eyes today, so hopefully I'll get some nicer ones in the next few days. Thanks for all the well wishes that I've received in the past couple weeks, and I'll keep you all updated!