Hannah and I braved the cold and went into Manhattan for the day today. I kind of hemmed and hawed about it this morning because a) Hannah woke up at 1am in hysterical tears, no idea why and b) I had planned on meeting up with Kathy but didn’t have her Christmas and birthday presents ready yet. Somehow these things, combined with the cold, just felt too insurmountable. But, I dragged myself out of bed at 8:30 this morning and got us out of the house.

I’m so glad we went! I had such a wonderful day with Baby Girl!

We were going to the February meeting of the NYCMMQG, and even though we were half an hour late I had a great time. I’m always so shy at these guild meetings, and I don’t know. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming, but I just feel tongue-tied and self conscious. Maybe it’s because I look at work like this

and this

and I just feel a little awestruck by the skills and creativity. Let’s not forget our president, Victoria Findlay Wolfe of Bumble Beans Quilts, who was invited to create this pair of shoes for an upcoming auction:

Insanely cool. And then there’s our guest speaker Linda Lum DeBono, who brought projects from her book Sew Merry and Bright (which I ordered on my phone from the meeting).

Obviously I love this Advent calendar:

And this little Russian dolls ornament is so clever, I love it!

So yes, I feel like I have a long way to go with my craftiness to catch up to these folks. But I always get so much inspiration from them, and I love going when I can. I’m also the Charity Chair for the guild, and I have done absolutely zero in that role…this also makes me feel awkward when I go. But Victoria runs her own very successful charity organization, Bumble Beans Basics, and so the charity work seems to run itself through her.

After talking to a couple of other ladies there who’ve had babies recently, Hannah and I headed from Midtown to Chelsea, where we spent a couple of hours walking all over having a great time. We went to City Quilter and then walked passed a Marimekko store I didn’t even know was over there (I’ve only been to the tiny Uptown store). It was amazing.

Gorgeous fabric everywhere I looked, but so pricey; it was $53/yd. I came very close to buying some but decided until I have something specific in mind to use it for it would just sit in my stash being way too precious to cut. Sometimes that depresses me a little, so I’ve put it in the back of my mind for when the perfect project comes up.

And then there was this raincoat in Hannah’s size. The absolute quintessential print in a baby raincoat, I was so tempted. But again, it was pricey ($68). I may still go back for this, though. I really loved it. I tried to make a smooth getaway from the store after drooling over stuff for half an hour, but Hannah and I got stuck in the glass doors on our way out and had to be rescued. I move like a gazelle, I’m telling you.

We walked the Union Square Market.

We bought baked goods for Adam.

We bought baked goods for me at Baked by Melissa. Our last stop was Books of Wonder, where I read some of this year’s Caldecott books to Hannah. I have one left to track down, and then I can post about them all. She was particularly excited about Creepy Carrots; Peter Brown’s illustrations made her giggle and smile.

We headed home from there sufficiently pooped and exhilarated. I needed a day like this to recharge, I’ve been sleep deprived and a little stressed out since…well, since I went back to work, really. I realized today that we’ve just passed the halfway point of the school year, so from here to summer it’s a downhill slope! I can’t wait to hang out with Hannah every day and have more adventures, but today was wonderful for reminding me how many adventures we can have even when I’m working. She’s such a great little lady, so sweet and happy to go with the flow.

My fabulous and amazing mentor Dee sent this out today, and I love it. Zazzle is now selling prints, tees, bumper stickers with this Burning Through Pages graphic (in addition to some other equally outstanding book nerd goodies). I support everything about this.

And she has adorable taste, this was my favorite theme as well.

Yesterday I took her up to the Paramus Container Store as part of a whirlwind day visiting folks. We saw an old high school friend of mine, Ryann, who’s asked me to make a baby quilt for the little girl she’s having Christmas week. We had lunch with my mom and coffee with Kathy, and in between that Hannah was introduced to her mother’s annual holiday tradition.

Now before anyone suggests that I influenced her decision making, let it be known that I held up a variety of options, 2 at a time, and she made clear decisions about which one she liked. I had greens (like last year’s cherry red and kelly green, I never posted photos of that one) and other color schemes, and she always went for these colors. I mixed in the same papers in a different hand a couple of times, and she still picked the one she liked (like these polar bears she loved). I even held up papers in the same color story, and she would either pick one definitively or grab them both and wave them around (so both went into the cart). So I feel this was as unbiased an experience as you can have with an 8 month old, and since she will be the one playing with most of this paper I figured she should have a say in it.

And she did.

And I’ve got my new fall shoes ready to go.

Boots from Lands’ End and pumps from Aerosoles. Now if only it weren’t still 80 degrees outside….

Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn, Derbyshire, Sheffield, The Bakewell Show, Bristol, Bath, and Stonehenge.

Okay, this is the last of my posts on our 2 weeks of adventure introducing Hannah to all of England. After we left Stonehenge it was time for a wedding! I’m not going to post a lot of photos from the wedding since it was Morgan and Katie’s own wonderful, beautiful day to share. But we do need to take a moment for Hannah’s wedding outfit.

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