You've got a sparkly

We were in Kauai earlier this week, and at one of our stops we saw this spider. It looked like it had a jeweled belly; I swear it sparkled. And the spider was large and therefore scary, but I thought it was fascinating how its legs are situated; definitely different from traditional spiders.

Luckily we took the above close-up photo, because it was so hard to find in the picture below. I couldn't find it on the computer screen, even zoomed way in--Todd found it.

I love examples of how things are supposed to work--the spider is camouflaged, and we know camouflage works, but wow this is a great example of how.

The spider is about the length of four of those holes in the pole. I told you it was huge.

Also and seriously, you'll be my hero if you know where the title of this post came from.

One ring to rule them all

In Middle-pacific resided two persons called Jen and Todd. One day they went to the perfect beach. They spent much time in the water--they played in the waves, dodged man-of-wars, and gazed at the beauty around them.

As always, Todd wore his One Ring. For 18 long months this ring had been his constant companion. It had transformed him into a great husband, and he had come to rely on its power.

On this day, however, the ring abandoned Todd.

For a long while, despite the risk of sunburn, he braved the crashing surf trying to locate the ring. But his search was in vain.

His precious was lost.

I'm hoping some lucky Hobbit with a metal detector finds the ring and enjoys it, because it really is a nice (fortunately replaceable) ring.

Luckily, of all the places to lose a wedding ring, the ocean in Hawaii is a pretty dang good one.

7 months

I don't know if I've done a pregnancy update on this blog yet so here it is.

Yesterday was two months to my due date--woohoo! She moves, forcefully, quite often; I love feeling her move. I have very few complaints about the pregnancy, and I'm thankful for how lucky I've been.

We went on a movie sites tour yesterday and had a great time, even if we again didn't get to see them filming LOST. It wasn't overcast yet, though, so we did get to see the top of my favorite mountain range (I had to get a belly shot in front of the mountains).

We also saw two rock formations that look like gorillas kissing. Do you see it? Kinda random and fun.

UPDATE: And in total geekiness, here's the golf scene from the first season of LOST . . . with the kissing gorillas in the background. Who knew?!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

And, much earlier than I imagined, I've finished the outline and pattern for Baby Pink Sassy's stocking. Apparently sewing all those straight(ish) lines on the place mats did help me. That and being able to sew for as many hours a day as I'd like.

I'm incredibly tickled with how it turned out. I didn't make up the pattern--I do not have that creative gene. I based it off this cute little drawing, from a really fun site that gave me way too many stocking ideas.

It's not finished yet--we're not going to pick a name until we meet little miss sassy, so the stocking is going to be in pieces until the end of November. Luckily that's still enough time to finish it before Christmas, and more importantly before the Christmas decorations go up. That's my favorite part anyway.

Here's the entire front. I'm so excited about the feather in his hat. I also had to add a little bit of flair in the corner--do you see the snowflake?

The back. I love this fabric.

And the middle. No one will really see this, which is sad because the gingerbread men are adorable, but this fabric was too fun not to use.

Like I said, this project went much faster than I anticipated, so now I can start on her baby quilt. Which scares the crap out of me.

A year and two seasons of Ugly Betty later . . .

(And one season and 26/27 episodes of Grey's Anatomy.)

I finished the place mats (8 for each holiday) and runners (4 each). Yea me! I bought fabric nearly a year ago, but it has taken me forever to get the momentum started. Not working, and having great shows to watch while I sew, helped a ton. What does it say about me that I need background noise to be productive?

I'm really excited with how they turned out. Looking back now, I should have coordinated the colors better, had one common color in all the stripes. Though at the same time I'm happy they turned out how I initially planned--lots of fun fabrics I loved that don't necessarily coordinate but make me really happy.

I still need to iron and starch them into submission (which will be interesting because I don't iron so I don't know how to use starch).

Here's Christmas. I love the striped material. And the nutcrackers.

On the opposite side of that (they're double-sided, with one pattern on each side) is the appropriately- but boringly-named "Pretty."
Here's Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday, especially as far as colors and patterns, so the place mats make me giddy.
And here's the opposite side of that, Thanksgiving. These are surprisingly my favorite runners and place mats, probably because all the pieces have brown in common. Hence my realization I should have coordinated better. This was a great project to (1) get me used to and not afraid of the rotary cutter and cutting fabric in general, and (2) practice sewing straight lines. Which it turns out I can't do, especially if the lines are thicker than the sewing machine foot thingie. But hopefully no one will notice except me.

My next project is a stocking for Baby Pink Sassy. I'm excited to start.

Here's the (very small) pattern for the place mats and runners. If you want the Excel version, let me know.