Hollyhocks

Sneaking a Peek at the Nursery

 

The nursery is ready and waiting for the babies. There were times when I was afraid that my children would come home to find themselves sleeping in dresser drawers...but the DH came through with hours and hours of work and he even put the linens and dust ruffles on the cribs... I did the years of collecting and lots of pointing...

I made the swag over the curtains months ago and we're still deciding how high to have the mattresses initially. In the old days the crib moved, now the mattresses can be raised and lowered...We have heard that twins like to be in the same crib for the first few months. I think that's just adorable.

The quilts are vintage. I didn't realize that I had 2 and that one had pink borders and one had blue. The buntings are from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law (merino wool with polar fleece linings, from landsend.com) and the teddy bears, complete with recorded womb sounds, are from my parents.

The vintage Irmi lamps, switchplate and mobile are some of my favorite touches.

The "theme" of the room is the Children's Bedtime Prayer...Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep...but I am picky. I like the original version "if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take" not the "new", gentler "angels watch me through the night, wake me with the morning light".

 The scale is an Amvets find, the bibs are from my blogging fairy godmother Nicky and the tin holds silver feeding sets that originally belonged to the DH and his dad.

The chalkware babies were just too cute. They were in the basement at an estate sale last year.

I have a bunch of vintage chenille bedspreads stored in the room.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep nightlights...

Vintage wall decorations and...

The cutest doggone rug ever, from the DH 6 years ago, before the 1st miscarriage. I never used it because I always believed that the same soul from the first baby was still just waiting to be born...and I wanted to have her rug ready for her nursery. The funny thing is, Cadbury likes to curl up on it. I think he knows they're labs. Lately we've been finding Cadbury's toys and marrow bones in the nursery. I hope that means he's getting ready to take up residence in there and protect the babies... I also wanted to add that as soon as the big blue rug was laid, Cadbury promptly threw up on it! Oh well, I'm sure he won't be the last...

Thanks for stopping by...day 108 on bedrest. I can't believe that we have made it this far. Thank you to all of you who have sent encouragng notes and comments...now who wants to sign up to babysit? The job comes with all of the homemade baked goods you can eat...that is,  once I can stand up!!!!

33weeks, 5 days

Edited to Add: The Dear Husband has written instructions so he can make the blog announcement when the twins arrive.

Garden Gone Wild

Here is what happens when you neglect a garden...in my case...it flourishes.

My brother weeded once on Mother's Day and my husband once in June and...

The Bee Balm is Bountiful.

The Echinacea is Excellent.

The Rugosa Roses are Robust.

...And I am going to ask one of the menfolk to cut the Chamomile so I can dry the flowers for tea or potpourri...and I didn't even show you the golden and red raspberry plants and the lilies...I remind me of Oliver Wendell Douglas of the show Green Acres, gardening on his little terrace. I don't care if it's a tiny yard. It's going to be productive!!! (My secret is TONS of mulch).

So far, so good at Camp Bedrest. Big OB appointment on Weds. Hanging in there, although at this point I feel like a visitor in my own body. Thank goodness for TUMs and labrador retrievers...and don't even ask about my ankles...although my toes are pretty. DH painted them.

32w,6d  (unbelievable).

Almost There and a Little Cotton Bear

Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get this little bear for my future daughter? I'm sure many of you have heard of a little blog called Little Cotton Rabbits...Well, Julie started the blog and began to post about her handknit toys and cupcakes. Each animal has a name and a unique face and article of clothing. My bear is named Pia and she is made of bamboo and cotton yarn...I think. I'll have to read the tag again. She arrived gift wrapped with cute little cards and tags.

These animals have become the "must-have" handmade for bloggers everywhere. They sell out so fast that Julie emails ahead of time to alert her fans about planned sales of a few animals and they sell out in 2 MINUTES!!!! She had over 4500 hits in minutes for one of her sales. One Sunday at 5PM  I raced to her site and typed as fast as my hands would move. I still can't believe I got one!

The animals are pretty adorable. I will just have to keep (my future) Aurora from spitting up on her precious toy!!!! The next timed sale is Sunday at 10PM UK time. Good Luck!

32w,3d

Happy Independence Day

Today I thought I'd share a sample of the samplers...or is it embroidered sayings? Whichever...I collect them because I love the handwork and many of the sayings are true "words to live by"...not all are framed yet so here are the ones that are...

Isn't this one great? I found it at an estate sale, in a box of yarn and fabric....

I have a necklace with this sentiment on it...I just love it.

This one you've seen...

...and my favorite...below

The entire text of the poem is available online. I had trouble with the link. I keep it in a folder on my desk at work as a reminder. I also love the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (I think that's the proper title). Isn't it wonderful to live with things that were made by the Head, Heart and Hand of someone before us?

This is what things were looking like on the way to the Dr. Tuesday. It's always nice to stand up!!!!! Cadbury came from the living room and insisted on being in the photo. We had a family/church shower on Weds. which I spent in a recliner for a good portion of the time.

I'll post some of the amazing things with which we were showered...I love our baby car seats and high chairs!!!! It's just so funny to see 2 of everything. Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks.

31w, 3d

Collecting From the Couch

Well, the Dear Husband has been out estate saling for me again. He found these adorable bowls and the cup and I have to figure out a way to use them in the nursery.

He also found this embroidered apron...

...this embroidered rooster tablecloth....

...and this wonderful frou-frou baby dress which laundered beautifully. Pretty great haul for a trainee, huh?

In his "spare time" the DH painted the trim in the nursery and this armoire (it's periwinkle in real life). I think it needs vintage Meyercord nursery decals on the doors, doesn't it? I am starting to get really excited about the babies now. I am jumping up and down (inside, but not enough to go into labor!!!)

Today's Dr. visit was good. The babies look great. I had one contraction while I was on the monitor and they had me drink water and I didn't have another,,,so that's good. Back to the sofa. I ordered the nursery curtains online--thank goodness for online shopping. Thank you all for visiting Hollyhocks.

31 weeks!

Edited to add: Mary Ellen asked if we had a current weight estimate for the babies...yep. They're trucks. Aurora was 3lbs. 9 oz. and Joe was 3lbs. 15oz. when they measured them last week. Both are ahead which is good and both are "practice breathing". Next measurement is in 2 weeks....

Fred. We Hardly Knew Ye....

 

Fred from Fredsworld, an enormously popular and funny blog, has decided not to blog anymore. He will be sorely missed by the thousands of us who appreciate his knack for finding a vintage item with good lines, painting it "duck egg blue", white or "Cath red" and wowing us all by adding it to his gorgeous and inviting home. Here was a guy who got "us". He crochets, makes quilts and LOVES to poke around boot sales and antique shops. His wife Hayley is a lucky lady.

Fred plans to blog once in a while on Hayley's pretty site Happy Loves Rosie, but it's not enough. If you know Fred, or if you can appreciate a man who knows his way around a tag sale (he cooks and bakes too), please stop by Hayley's blog and beg him to come back. I'm going to head over there as soon as I finish here. Fred was the first person to link to Hollyhocks from his blog and I had a huge increase in traffic thanks to his generosity. We need the male perspective...especially when it agrees with ours. 

This is the 30s type of fabric from Superbuzzy I was telling you about...oh, how I wish I could sit at my sewing machine....

I know that I have a vintage apron somewhere that is the spitting image of the 2 floral fabrics...

My work baby shower was Monday. My bosses decided that, even though I had only registered for one of these super amazing (picked out by the DH), high tech

"newborn soothing centers", since I am having twins, they got us 2!!!!! Along with a color video monitor. The shock and awe over these amazing gifts completely overshadowed the horror of having my boss in my house when it hadn't been properly cleaned in 12 WEEKS!!!!! We have had such fun playing with all of the features of this great  toy and we both wish they made them for adults.

My college roommate got us 2 of these. They rock and vibrate and you can feed the babies in them, and then they convert to toddler rockers. It takes a mom to know about clever things like this. I can't show you the super deluxe playpen/changer/bassinet my friend Carisa got us because we took it out to play last night and then it took Army Corps of Engineers skills to get it back in the box. Soooo, we are totally spoiled. The family shower is next week and I can't wait to see everybody. The work shower would have been just as fun just visiting and drinking punch in my hostess/friend's immaculate house. The joy people feel over these long-awaited babies is so touching. The best part of the experience is sharing it with everybody in our lives. One coworker started buying baby clothes as soon as I announced I was pregnant and filled a wicker laundry basket with clothes, board books and monogrammed blankets....

I have lots to look at on bedrest this week.....Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks!

30w,2d!!!!!!

Snips and Snails

I originally wrote this post on Thursday and scheduled it to publish today, but Typepad decided to post it under the date December 31, 1969!!!! I was tempted to leave it there. I would have been considered quite the visionary, especially because there was no internet then, but here I am, Back in 2008 and on the sofa, instead of building block cities and waiting for the ice cream man...

As I perused the fabric archives recently...I like to call it Fabric Heaven...oh, the possibilities...I realized that all of my fabric is "girl fabric". It won't do to have Baby B crawling around in Freshcut bloomers. Superbuzzy to the rescue...

...All boys love cars, don't they?

...and dinosaurs?

...and even more cars...

...and since Baby A will be named Aurora Paige I had to get some Sleeping Beauty fabric (note the adorable brown dog).  Am I the last person to know that Sleeping Beauty's "real name" is Princess Aurora? My Aurora will be named after the Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem Aurora Leigh  for lots of reasons...Ms. Browning was bedridden for years (months are tough too), she had her child when she was older (Go Liz!) and it's a lovely, long novel of a poem that really speaks to women.  I really like the name Leigh too, but Paige has been a favorite for years....and...speaking of brown dogs (were we?)...

I admired Barbara's vintage fabric find and she sent it to me. I feel really guilty about that, but once I am up from Camp Bedrest I will send her some vintage silk embroidery floss. Barbara finds the best 30s-50s things and photographs them beautifully.  Stop by her blog some time. I know you'll like it.

I just got this fabric because I like to look at it. I think it's relaxing.  I also have some retro Japanese fabric to show you. It is the spitting image of 1930s American feedsack prints. I think Japanese textile companies do an amazing job of capturing not only the print, but the "old fabric" tint and feel.  I'll post about it next week.

I hope your weekend is sunny and bright. Everything is growing like crazy here because of all of the rain.

Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks.

29w,4d

I Could While Away the Hours

 

Confferin' with the flowers... Wow. The peonies are ruffled ball gowns of pink this time of year. I think they may be my favorite flower. Sorry daisies, I had to move on.

Well, it's 11 weeks on the sofa today and I bet you think I have been crafting up a storm...Hmmm, well, I did make those stuffed birds...Mostly I just while away the hours with magazines, books, TV, phone calls, visits and watching babies kick. I have a bag of jewelry making supplies next to the sofa...where it has been for several weeks, untouched. Late one night a big fat spider walked into the bag, so it may not even be safe to make jewelry....

 

I do love the quiet. At first I missed the hustle and bustle, but now it's nice to sit quietly and peacefully and think. You do get into a routine after a while. I like to think about the babies, and Christmas with the family, and possibly having my brother and his family come to visit later this summer. I think about how lucky I am to share my days with Cadbury.

 

Their lives are way too short for the joy and comfort that they bring. When I say my prayers at night, the same prayers I have said since I was a child..it hits me how many of the people I pray for have died. I wish my childen would have more relatives on my side of the family...I'll just have to make sure they have lots of people around them who love them.

 

I wish I had cut more of the lavender. A lot of it is starting to flower now. The Dr. said that I can attend my work shower for a bit on Monday if I stay seated with feet up. It will be fun to be a pregnant lady out among people. I only get to do this once, so I have really missed the sweet comments people make to pregnant ladies.

 

A few years ago we visited a friend in Provincetown, on the Cape. It was one of those non-Disney type of vacations where the memories are more sensory than amusement related. I remember most the lavender, the wisteria and the light scent of saltspray roses wherever we walked. Last year I saw the roses at a local nursery and I planted 2 of them. Now, throughout the summer, whenever you sit outside there is a faint scent of old roses in the air. It's hard to complain about bedrest when you get 2 babies at the end and you can sit outside and sniff roses and lavender and marvel at peonies. I hope this finds all of you blooming. I also wonder if the garden shop on the Cape is still there...It was called "Consider the Lilies"...

Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks. Fabric post next time.

29w, 2d

In response to a question...edited to add- The goal is still to get as close to 36 (or more) weeks. The doc wants to very slowly increase my activity level (from nothing for 11 weeks) so that I am less deconditioned when the twins arrive. If things progress, then all bets are off and I may need additional restrictions/treatment. They really are flying by the seat of their pants on pregnancy complications like this. A lot of people are amazed that I have made it this far without a cerclage. The thing is...there is no conclusive evidence that bedrest changes anything. They just do it because there's nothing else to do. I could get on my soapbox about how if men were having babies, I am quite sure that they would not be told to lie down for 3-5 months...and they certainly wouldn't call it an "incompetent cervix". They would come up with a much better sounding name! 

Father's Day and Show and Tell

Hello and Happy Father's Day. Since my stepdad is in a long term care facility and I am on house arrest, I didn't think I'd get to speak to him today. My sweet husband told me that he was going to take the dog for a walk and about 20 minutes later my SD called on my husband's cell phone (he didn't want a phone so you have to visit if you want to see him). That was so nice...he got to see the DH and DD (dear dog) and we had a nice phone visit.

Well, if it's Sunday, it must be Show and Tell Sunday, hosted by Heidi this week. Today's topic is "your favorite find". As most of you know, 2 of my favorite finds ever are the redwork quilt top (11/4/07 post) and the Dutch Pram (10/28/07 post). They are 2 finds that made my heart race.

Of course, I do have lots of other things to show you...the sampler above is one of my favorites because, on the back, there is a little handwritten note that says "stitched by my mother at the age of 89, without glasses". I love that.

This is a collectio of hand-dyed wool that I found at an estate sale, stuffed into bags. I gathered it up, sorted it and now I have beautiful wool pieces for projects. It was used for handmade wool rugs.

I also found this great book and yards of cream colored wool at the same sale.

...and the estate sale of a former seamstress was filled wih yards and yards of Italian wool and Ultrasuede.

This child's sewing machine was a pretty great find. It was marked $75, then half price, and then because the sale was ending, I got it for $10.

...and, of course I love all of the vintage baby finds that will soon be displayed in the nursery...

I'll leave you with a photo of Cadbury, the only dog in the world who runs to the door to watch a thunderstorm. We just adore our quirky furry son.

Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks!

28w, 5d

Am I In Provence?

Nope. Just my own domestic powder room. I scurried out to the front yard and cut this lavender in about 30 seconds lest I be caught by the bedrest police, or my own neurotic worries that even though I can go to the Dr. every week for 2 hours (albeit in a wheelchair), even one minute standing otherwise will cause me to go into labor immediately... Since my current mobility options are limited, the only dark, dry place I could think of that was immediately at hand was the guest bath. There will be tons more to dry soon. Meanwhile, the room smells heavenly.

I'd like the babies to smell like lavender, chamomile and lemon balm....mmmmm. Remind me to post about the recipe for natural laundry cleaner that I found in my internet travels this morning. Then, remind me that I will soon be the full-time working mother of infant twins and may not have too much time to be concocting herbal alternatives to grocery store items...

I wanted to show you the tapestry and linen tea towels my boss sent a few weeks ago. I still find it hard to fathom the fact that someday my own children will be seesawing away...minus the knickers, ruffled shirt and pet goose, unless of course, my son has a penchant for period dress...

...and now for some blogger goodness...

I entered a giveaway at Wanda's blog and lost. This is what she sent the over 35 people who didn't win, a tag kit, filled with all kinds of sparkly ephemera...I am so glad that I lost! Although the winner got a pretty sweet package of vintage kitchen stuff...

Erna, whose work and sense of color I admire, sent this pick-me-up package from The Netherlands...

  

...A piece of Dutch fabric and 2 adorable little hedgehogs. I'm sure the mailman must think I have quite the cosmopolitan lifestyle, unless he has noticed that I always seem to be home when the mail comes....

Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks.

28w, 2d