for those of you who don't live in california or live in california but have been hiding under a rock - proposition 8 took away the basic right to marry from gay and lesbian couples.  i was a strong opponent to this proposition from the beginning because i think it is completely unfair and wrong for a general population to take away rights of a minority group.  unfortunately, proposition 8 passed by a fairly narrow margin and the right to marry was taken away from a select group of people.  since its passing, there have been local protests, countless new stories, facebook groups bound to overturn it and a nationwide protest (which i attended here in costa mesa).  i hope that the supreme court of california does the right thing.

okay so, maybe this isn't step one.  step one was the windows which are all replaced and painted.  it is amazing to have the bedrooms so quiet, non drafty and the windows are pretty! 

step two was taking out the old water heater and putting in the new one.  that was a long day - they were here rom 7 am to 8 pm!!  

now...on to the most exciting step of the week!!

before

 during

 after

look at all that space - it is like a mansion in here!  more photos here.

hopefully, i win this quilt, too.....

our friends PC and mariana are having a baby, due at the end of december.  PC was the best man in our wedding and mariana did our hair so, i wanted to make them two blankets instead of my usual one blanket.  i think i've made at least 15 of the same blanket for friends having babies.  it is the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Debbie Stoller's Stitch and BItch.  It uses eight skeins of Koigu  KPPPM.  I always change that to four skeins of KPPPM and four skeins of the natural KPM (color 00).  the second blanket i made is what i am super excited to give mariana.  i loved page's project from the purl bee, the cozy quick blankie ruby's room will be purple and black and white with musical instruments throughout the room (the parents are both drummers and mariana has an awesome voice, too).  so, instead of the shot cotton that page used, i used the purple string instruments from yuwa with the michael miller fleece.  it was super quick and it seems very cozy!  i wish i could curl up in it right now but, i'm a bit bigger than a baby!