Baby No Name is Coming!

We are off to the hospital to welcome the arrival of our little "Baby No Name!" Please pray for her safe and healthy arrival.

I will be back to show you pictures when we are all recovered. Have been up since 3am this morning~~~.
Love,
Vicki

Made some more - (and they're out the door!)

Twelve done - and fifteen more to go! (That's almost halfway-right?)

Just wanted to share some

pictures of the

latest

little bird nests

that were just finished.

In addition to the beautiful yarns,

these little nests

contain

bits of shredded paper,

ribbons,

and

twine fragments.

They each have little

leaf beads

that

dangle

down

the

front.

I counted as I made these nests

and was shocked to

discover

that each nests

contains

over 40

different yarns!

It was very windy here today

and taking these

pictures

was a real

challenge!

I caught one little nest
as the wind
picked it up
and
took it for a
ride!


They are so beautiful,
I almost hate to
see them go!

Recently, I received an email
from someone who
wanted to know
if
these little nests
could be used outside
for real birds~~~
so here is my disclaimer~~~
these little nests
are designed
for
decorative purposes
only.
(although, I am sure that some little bird would just love to live in one!)



Here they are, packed up
and ready to go
on their little
travels.
~~~
These little nests are traveling to
Germany,
Denmark,
New York,
Georgia,
and
Arizona
~~~



The weather these past few days
has been just
splendid!
So
I decided to move
the bird nest
assembly station
to my
front porch!
So Wonderful

to feel the

breezes !!!

On our recent trip to Atlanta,
I was lucky enough
to shop at
three
wonderful yarn shops!!!
~~~
These are my "green" purchases
for use
in the
little nests.
~~~
Those of you who purchased
bird nests-
will most certainly
see these
beautiful yarns
again!
~~~
(Don't anyone tell the gardener ---
there is almost $150 worth of beautiful yarns in this bowl!)
Shhhhh!
Top Secret!

My newest little find ---
just perfect for little bird nests.
These lovely little bluebird eggs
are really
"Bunny mix" M&M's.
(On sale now - if you can find them!- for about 75% off!
Aren't they wonderful?

~~~

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful and oh so welcome spring weather!

~~~

Coming up next---

Spring pictures of the Biltmore Estate - and- here at our home!

Vicki

Beautiful Baby Shower

A new baby is like the beginning of all things~~wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.


Finally! I am so excited to share with you all some pictures of our beautiful baby shower. The quilts that you will see in the pictures were all hand made by my mother and grandmothers. They are priceless and precious heirlooms for myself and my sisters.

These gorgeous tissue paper flowers are actually made from kits that were purchased at the Dollar Store. Each kit makes 25 flowers of assorted styles. There was just no way that I could ever find the time to make all of these flowers. A huge thank you to my dear friends Eloise, Marsha, and Kim for putting these all together for me!

The flowers were arranged in Vera Bradley diaper bags and used as decorations on the gift tables.

The beautiful mother-to-be, our sweet, sweet, Alicia.

Don't you have to have a baby at a baby shower? Here is our adorable little Maddy girl. Doesn't she look beautiful in her pretty dress?

My friend Mary, made this little flowered lamp for "baby no name's" nursery. She also made a little daisy lamp. She copied them after a popular Pottery Barn design. (I plan to make a special blog posting about her creation of these lamps - so watch for that!)

Mary and little Maddy girl. (Mary is wearing a beautiful necklace and bracelet that she created. Her jewelery is simply stunning!)

This is a picture of one of the gift tables before it crashed to the floor - just minutes before the shower started! (Apparently, the maintenance man who sat the tables up - did not lock the legs! Thankfully only 4 bottles of water were broken - it could have been a total disaster! ) We were just finishing the clean up when the first guests began to arrive!

This baby shower was such a collaborative effort from so many people. I simply could not have done this all by myself!These little bunny gift tags came from Belgium! I purchased them from Bumpkin Bears. The water bottles were given as gifts to everyone who attended the shower.

~~~

The Evian glass water bottles were purchased at Big Lots ($1 each). My friend Marsha drove a 50 mile radius to purchase bottles from other stores for me. Finding enough of these bottles was a serious challenge! Thank you, Thank you Marsha!

The beautiful 5 tiered diaper cake was created by Nancy of Babylovediapercakes. This cake was amazing - it contained over 250 pampers diapers as well as blankets, toys, lotions,... Nancy shipped it to me in a huge box, already assembled and it was perfect when it arrived! The little knitted rabbit was purchased by me - I requested that Nancy leave the top of the cake plain so that I could add the rabbit. If you ever need a diaper cake - you simply must visit Nancy!

My sweet friend, Eloise made the most adorable little diapers that we used as nut containers. She used heavily starched cotton fabric and cut it into little diaper shapes and then glued the corners together. They looked so lovely on the food table! Thank you so much Eloise! ~~~The decorated grapevine tree that Mary designed was the focal point on the beautiful food table.

Everyone loved the white chocolate covered Oreo cookies! Amanda from Mandie's Candies created these just for me - adding the little pink bunny rabbit to match our baby shower theme. They were delicious and looked so beautiful in the pink depression glass bowl that once belonged to my mother. Amanda was a dream to work with! Please visit her if you need something created for your special celebration.

My friend Cathy, created these beautiful "dipped pretzel" gift bags. They were to die for! Tied with little pink and white ribbons - oh they were so lovely! Cathy is one of those people who can do almost anything. She is a creative and talented artist as well. She is available for future "pretzel dippings" as well as the creation of beautiful one of a kind cards. She can be contacted at cathcraft@earthlink.com

(Thank you also dearest Jan for your gift of these little goodies! )

Alicia and I are pictured by my knitted storybook blanket. I can hardly wait to hold that little baby and tell her stories about her blanket!

The beautiful petit fours were made by a dear friend, Suzie. She has made cakes for every wedding and shower in our family. She even catered the rehearsal dinner for my son and Alicia's wedding. She is amazing in her creations! They were absolutely beautiful!
Thank goodness for the petit fours - that way I could not mess up the cake cutting like I always seem to do!

My dear friend Jan made this beautiful multi-colored sweater and hat from yarn that we purchased in Estonia when we traveled on a Mediterranian cruise together. What wonderful memories this holds~~~

Mary knitted this little flowered sweater and hat for our "baby no name". Is this not adorable? Won't she be just so "chic" wearing this little ensemble?

Do you have a friend who makes you smile all the time? Meet my dear friend, Maria. She is such a wonderful friend and so much fun to be with - I always tell her that she is the "best date I ever had!" Maria brought her own equipment and video taped the entire shower! Priceless! Thank you so much dear Maria!

Almost 40 people attended the shower, and Alicia received so many wonderful and generous gifts. She and little "baby no name" are so blessed to have so many thoughtful people who attended the shower and gave such precious gifts.

Another beautiful baby quilt- this one was lovingly made by Grandma Debbie. She worked on this cross stitch quilt for over a year! Isn't it beautiful? Another heirloom for this baby.

Maddy entertained herself and all of us at the shower. She was eager to "help" Alicia open her gifts!

We love our little Maddy girl! Don't you just want to squeeze those little cheeks?

The night before the shower - we all gathered to begin setting up for the big event. Mary brought her adorable little grandson. With a little assistance - and some prompting - Maddy girl got her "first kiss"! Is this priceless or what!

There are 2 slideshow of more baby shower pictures just below. (If you want to watch the slide shows - you might want to turn the music on the blog off first!) The first slideshow is short and only takes less than 3 minutes to watch. The second slideshow contains all of the pictures and takes about 10 minutes to watch. So you can choose depending on how much time you have to invest!

Enjoy!

Create a slideshow

Customize a slideshow design

Nesting - The Knitting of "YOUR" nest

If I were a bird, I'd sing a song
and fly about the whole day long~~~

And when night comes, I'd go to rest

up in my cozy little nest.

Spring is here and all around us, little birds are setting about the task of building their nests. They gather sticks, and moss, and grasses and~~~ yarn.

Birds build nests, secret and deep

in holes in old trees,

and banks that are steep.

(Yvonne Winer)

As promised - the nest building (knitting) has begun! All the little birdies who placed orders will soon be rewarded with a cozy little nest.

Nests will soon be delivered to the states of

Virginia, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona,

Oregon, Kansas, North Carolina,

New York, and Georgia.

Nests will also be delivered
to the countries of
Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada,
Denmark, and Israel.



If you placed an order for a little bird nest
and your state or country was not listed above,
please contact me via email!
My email address is listed at the top
of my sidebar.




More than 60 yarns have been gathered from my stash
for the making of these bird nests.
Browns, and tans and blues, and greens.
Eyelash, furry, angora, mohair,
tangled, knotted,
and
curled.



Each little nest will contain between 25-30
different yarns in a variety of
styles and colors.


My goal (cross your fingers!)
is to have all the nests
delivered by
late May.


Can you keep a little secret?
(5 little nests will soon be delivered
to their new homes!)


What about little fall and winter birdies?
Don't they need little nests?
Of course they do!




Anyone who is interested
in ordering a little knitted nest
may contact me via email.



The next little round of "bird nest knitting"
will begin in August.
This little birdie
will knit for about 6 weeks
to fill those orders.

(No yarns were harmed

in the making of these

photographs! )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How About a Little Spring Give Away?
This sweet little Vera Bradley EMMA bag
in the beautiful spring design called
"Sittin in a Tree"
will be given away
on April 30.
~~~~~~~~

Here is how you can win--

Just leave a comment on this posting

anytime between now and April 30.

You can enter as often as you want!

(Really - you can!)

~~~~~~~~~~

Every time you enter,

I will put your name in a basket.

If you are a follower, please tell me so

the first time that you comment.

Followers will receive an extra entry.

~~~~~~~~~

If you wish to post about this give away

on your blog

please do so and leave me a comment about that also.

You will earn 2 extra entries for that favor!

All of my followers who leave comments,

will also be entered in a

special contest to win this

little clutch purse!

~~~~~~~

(the contests are open to everyone

no matter where you live)

~~~~~

Let's Celebrate Spring!

Vicki