Tutu Pretty

In the spirit of Christmas, I volunteered to help a family in need by making a Christmas present for the 2 girls.  If you read our other blog, Bloggle Baby, you know that I recently learned how to make a no-sew tutu.  I thought it would be fun to make one for each of the girls.  I found out their favorite colors and approximate waist sizes and got to work.  I sewed on flowers for an extra touch of whimsy.  ^_^  I also made a matching hair barrette with the leftover ribbon and tulle.  I like how they turned out, but I especially hope the girls that I made them for like them even more.  :)

Purple Tutu and Butterfly Hair Clip

Pink Tutu and Butterfly Hair Clip

What do you think?  Will the girls like them?

Where We Stand

I've been playing around with our camera's panoramic function.  I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet, but I wanted to post some pics of our progress.  These were the best of the bunch.  ^_^*

Nursery

Guest Room

Hallway

When we have finished these rooms, I will break out our tripod and take better panoramic pics to show you.

Last night, I was finally able to decorate the Christmas tree while Jim was outside staining.

I still need to add the tree skirt.  We also need to find a decent tree topper.  We looked for one last year, but didn't find one that we liked.  We'd like to find a star that lights up instead of an angel with a tree stuck up its butt.  LOL!  We put the tree in our dining room this year since the library is still full of stuff for our upstairs projects.

Stocking Feeder for the Birds

If we get around to putting lights up outside, I'll take a picture of them.  I'd like to at least get a picture of our Christmas tree from outside.

Other House Distractions

Besides working on the nursery, guest room, upstairs hall, and stairwell; we've had some side projects pop up.

Unwanted House Guests:  Shortly after we brought Avonlea home from the hospital, we discovered that she wasn't the only new resident.  Three different types of bees decided to move in as well!  A family of bumblebees and some type of smaller bee tried to move into our basement.  At the same time, a type of wasp or hornet was getting into our house via the downstairs bathroom's vent.  Yikes!  We decided to call an exterminator to take care of the problem.  We haven't seen any bees since, thank goodness!...

Well, except for this one.

Winterizing: The weather-stripping on our exterior doors were disintegrating, so we've replaced them.  We've also covered all the older windows with the plastic film to prevent drafts and air leakage. 

Roof:  We noticed something wasn't right with the ridge vents on our roof, so we called a roofer.  It turns out that the nails holding the ridge vents down were popping out.  The roofer removed all the nails and caulked the holes.  He then secured the ridge vents down with screws.  This should prevent the ridge vents from separating from the roof again.  Fortunately, he only charged us $110.  While he was up there, he also removed an old TV antenna for us.

Our home minus the antenna

The roof line looks so much nicer now.

Mutiny! I'm Taking This Blog Back!

After Avonlea was born, we decided to split our 2 blogs between us.  I would write mostly on Bloggle Baby, and Jim would take over Blue Century Home.  Unfortunately, it turns out that Jim isn't much of a blogger (as is quite evident); so, I'm reclaiming this blog.  ^_^

Since we've made quite a bit of progress, and it would take me forever to give each piece justice, I'll just do a quick recap of the past 3 months.

We utterly failed at finishing the nursery before Avonlea was born.  In fact, we are still working on it.  However, we have made some significant progress on the upstairs.  The walls and ceilings are painted, trim is completed in both bedrooms (except for the closet baseboards), carpeting is picked out and ordered, and we have finished staining all the stair parts and hallway woodwork.

Here is a picture of Jim holding Avonlea in the nursery before the window trim was up. 

Our sliding 5 panel closet doors that we bought way back in April-ish.

Our 4 panel door

The windows with custom-made window sills

The trimmed-out Guest Room

This is a picture of Jim ironing on the veneer for the landing.

The stair landing balusters lined up in our garage for staining.

Jim has spent a lot of time and effort on building the newel posts.  I would post pics, but I'll leave that to Jim. He wants to write about how he built them, and I don't want to give away any spoilers.  All I will say is that I think they look great!  :)

As I've mentioned earlier, we have ordered the carpeting for the upstairs.  We have chosen Shaw Stainmaster carpeting.  The hallway and stairs will be a medium brown with a leaf pattern.  The nursery will be a light beige and the guest room will be a light grey.  Jim wanted to go lighter in the hallway and stairs, but I was adamant not to go too light.  I don't feel like having to constantly clean the carpet (especially on the stairs).

Hallway and Stairs:

Style: Lasting  Color: Amaretto

Nursery:

Style: St Amien II  Color: Bridal Veil

Guest Room:

Style: St Amien II  Color: Mineral Alloy

Right now, they are scheduled to install the carpeting on Dec. 22nd.  If all goes well, Avonlea might have her nursery by Christmas.  ^_^*  Well, almost...her closet won't be completed by then since we want to try something fancy besides just a single rod for clothes to hang on.