A Family Affair

The paternal side of my family is rather large. My father was one of 8. My grandmother ('Gran') has 22 grandchildren. I have 4 siblings and 17 cousins. When get-togethers happen up around Philadelphia (where everyone aside from my dad lives), it's a big, noisy, raucous affair.

Since we live so far away, though, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. So, I stay in touch with siblings and cousins (and second cousins and aunts and uncles) via e-mail and phone calls and Facebook. One cousin that I've remained particularly close to over the years, though we've never even lived remotely close to one another, is my cousin Keri.

Her mom, my Aunt Lynn, is arguably the most creative of my dad's siblings. A one-time designer of high-end girl's dresses, Aunt Lynn has done everything from floral design to serving as a private chef to catering events and more. She's an excellent seamstress and her three children went on to embrace the arts as adults (Keri is the only person I've ever met who double-majored in math and art, while her sister studied sculpture and her brother is a musician).

As a stay-at-home-mom to Addison, Ella and little Izzy, Keri's been looking for work that allows her to tend to her trio while satisfying her creative leanings. Enter Too Cute Custom Crafts. This new Etsy shop is full of lovely place mats, with cloth napkins, baby-sized quilts and kid-friendly fiber toys on the way. The quilt shown above was a "Nugget" gift for Huxley. It's absolutely gorgeous and one of my preferred surfaces for working on "tummy time."

Keri is running an introductory 10% off sale to get her site up and running. To redeem the discount, enter the code NEWSHOPBLOG10OFF at check out. Here's wishing Keri and her clan a world of success!

*The top image shows, from left to right, Kristy (Keri's older sister), Keri, and myself, all sitting with Gran. I don't have an exact date, but I'm guessing it's from around 1978.