The Nesting Magpie

Taggie Blanket

2009-07-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of 2 1/2" squares in my stash from when I was making baby blocks. In an effort to use up some of these lovely pieces of fabric, I decided to make a little taggie blanket. All the fabric and ribbons came from my stash, so I feel quite good about this little project. It was very easy and pretty fast since most of my fabric was already cut out!

I can remember my daughter playing with all the tags on her stuffed animals when she was a baby. She would flip them all over and play with the tag on the bottom. It was adorable to watch and I look forward to watching our new little one play and grow. I'm also enjoying watching how excited our kids are watching me grow and get bigger.

I love this fabric. It's Moda's Woodland Bloom. I've been considering making my own baby bedding out of this fabric but I'm very indecisive right now. And I'm trying really hard not to get baby stuff-itis and focus on what is really important but it's really hard. There is so much cute baby stuff! I figure it's okay if I'm making the stuff because then it isn't just stuff, it's handmade with love and a possible future heirloom. I truly cherish all the beautiful items that my Mom made for my older daughter. It's nice to know that even though my Mom is no longer with us, this baby will still have and wear items that her Grandma made.

This blanket will go to my cousin. She had her little girl about a month ago. But I will definitely make one for my little girl. Oh, that's right, it's a girl! We had our ultrasound and it revealed a healthy and active little girl. What a blessing!

The Summer Bounty Begins

2009-07-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

We have a family garden this year. My Dad always does one and my sister and I were excited to help him this year. This being my first year living nearby in a very long time, I was looking forward to helping out and eating up with everyone. For the past 6 or 7 years I wished I could be here and I'm so excited to here now. In the past I've heard all about the veggies and the blueberries. Oh, the blueberries. I've been envious of the wonderful blueberries. Well, I'm envious no more! We spent some time this past weekend at my Dad's house, weeding and harvesting some of the goodies that are ready. The kids love watching everything grow and are excited at dinner when we eat food from Pop's garden.

This is our first summer squash. It's huge! It surprised us by growing so fast!

And isn't this the cutest baby cucumber!

More summer squash on the way.

Tomatoes,and the blueberries!
The kids were happy to pick the berries.
My son wore his this cape most of the day. It was really cute and fun. Oh, and if anyone has any great idea's for summer squash feel free to share. I think I'm going to have more than I'll know what to do with it!

Fast and Easy Baby Gift

2009-07-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

One of my cousin's recently had her first little bundle and I've been meaning to put a couple gifts together to send out to her. I started working on a dress for the baby but it's been slow going and I'm not crazy with how it looks so far. So, I decided to just make something else but I wasn't sure what to make. Then, I was catching up on some podcasts the other night while cooking dinner and I heard what sounded like a cute and simple idea on the Lion Brand podcast, YarnCraft. It's their Eco-baby Bunny Blanket. It worked up very quickly and is so cute. Now I need to make a couple more since I like it so much! And it would be really easy to turn this into other animals too.

We had a nice day today at a local lake enjoying the sun and the water. The older I get the more I love being outside. Hope you had a nice day and a nice weekend too.

The Nesting Urge and Baby Gifts

2009-07-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am 22 weeks along now in this third pregnancy of mine. We found out a couple of weeks ago that this little blessing is a baby girl! I had no preference for boy or girl but am just thrilled and ready to start getting ready for this little one. We still have some rearranging to do around here to make room for this little one so that she can have a space of her own. So while we get all that rearranging done, I've been making items for my niece, Evelyn, who is due any day now.

So far I've made Evelyn some cotton wash cloths and a lovely little sweater. The pattern for this sweater was from Crochet Today magazine. It was really easy to follow and turned out great. Instead of using the yarn they recommended, I used Patons Grace yarn. It worked great and I love how the sweater came out. I'm working on a little dress for a cousin of mine that just had a little girl last month (better late than never).

Summer is now in full swing here, although the weather is still wierd and abnormally cool in the low 80s, but it's nice. We made forts in the kids room last night and they attempted to sleep in them. I say attempted because my oldest realized sleeping on the floor, even in a sleeping bag, can be uncomfortable and climbed in her bed. My son can sleep anywhere and had no problem. They are still enjoying their fort today.

Welcome!

2009-05-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I did any blogging. Things had been a little difficult after my Mom passed away and I think I just need a break. But I missed blogging, so here I am again!

There have been some interesting changes around here lately. I kinda stopped running my Etsy shop. I've had a couple sales but all the CPSIA garbage has really bummed me out and left me uninspired. I'd still like to have a shop but I really just want to make stuff for people I love right now. My sister-in-law is due with her third little bundle of joy in July and I have started making items for her new baby.

And in bigger news, I'm expecting! I'm due with our third little baby in November! I'm really excited, now that I'm not throwing up anymore! So there will be a lot of baby projects coming up. It's nice to be back.

Craft ADD

2009-03-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

After having trouble writing down the pattern for the star block, I decided to take a break and work on something else for a bit. I started a number of different projects and then decided I should really work on Easter items for my kids. I want to make one stuffed animal for each of their baskets. I decided to make amigurumi dog for my son. I've been wanting to do some amigurumi so this was a great oppurtunity to start.

I chose the Patty the Puppy pattern from the Lion Brand website. It worked up very fast and I think he's adorable.

Now to start an animal for my daughter.

A Peek at Spring and Writing Patterns

2009-03-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was just beautiful here in Connecticut. It was a nice warm-ish 60 degrees and sunny. It felt necessary to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head outdoors. So we went on a family walk on a local walking trail. It wasn't much of a trail but we all had a lot of fun. It felt good to be out of the house and having fun outside. It will be even better when the tree's start to grow back some of there leaves and things don't look so dead. It was such a nice day.

Now it is cold and wet outside. It even snowed a little today but luckily it's already melted.

I've been trying to write out the pattern for the star square and it is just not going to happen for my 100th post. I'd still like to do a giveaway, so I'll just come up with something else instead and keep working on the pattern. It amazes me that I've been reading patterns for years but I'm having a hard time writing it out. And to top it off, when I was blocking the last square I made, I noticed an error in it. Arg! I will keep working on it though and hopefully it will be ready soon. I really wish I could make a crochet chart but I don't have a clue if that's even possible. So, I'll keep writing it out.

Star Squares

2009-03-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

After staring at my beautiful orange tablecloth for a couple of days, I just couldn't take it anymore. I got out some cotton yarn and a hook and proceeded to decipher the pattern from the tablecloth. And wouldn't you know, it wasn't that hard!

I just need to write it down now. I started writing it down but it was harder to write out clearly than I thought it would be. My husband would appreciate this as he is a technical writer, but I'm not willing to divulge this bit of information to him yet.

I decided to try this in the cotton yarn because I was hoping that it would give it a more casual look. I like crocheting with thread but it has such a formal look. I'm really happy with the look of it. I'm thinking of making two more for a pretty table runner. I think this would look really nice in a more exciting color too but I was trying to use my stash for now.

I am almost up to my 100th post, so I'm going to try to get the pattern done for a 100th post free pattern! Wish me luck!

The Orange Tablecloth

2009-03-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

This beautiful tablecloth was made by my Mother. I have a lot of memories of her crocheting over the years. I remember one year she crocheted a very beautiful and intricate tablecloth for a co-worker. He paid her a couple hundred dollars for it. I remember that our dog (who she hated) chewed the pattern up on her and she had to tape it back together to see the diagram. She really hated that dog after that incident. I don't remember her making this tablecloth but I have always loved it. I love the color and the block pattern.

I've looked for similar patterns online because I would love to make another tablecloth. I think at some point I will sit down with this table cloth and try to duplicate the square. I did find a similar pattern today with ravelry. The star pattern in the middle looks the same so a lot of the work is done for me. This is a nice pattern too. I just like the one my mom used more. When I work out the pattern I will be sure to post it for all.

For a Friend

2009-02-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

My best friend's birthday is in May and I have been wanting to cross-stitch something for her for a couple of years now. Well, I finally started it last month. I figured that if I started it in January I could get it done in 5 months! I'm a bit slow with cross-stitching. I get really excited to start the project but my energy fizzles out on it and then it doesn't get finished. I am determined to finish it soon though and I am making good progress so far.

It is from this book that I found at a craft store years ago. It has some lovely patterns in it.

And it has some nice idea's for finishing projects including pillows and wall hangings. I'm not sure yet exactly how I will finish this project. Any suggestions are welcome!

Pretty Lady in a Yellow Dress

2009-02-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

I finished another bear last night. This is my fourth one and I'm very happy with her. She really wanted a yellow dress and I think it suits her.

I'm working on another boy bear tonight.

New Bears

2009-02-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some new bears lately. I've been making them from some upcycled materials. I felted some pretty wool pants and also used some nice linen pants. I'm having fun making clothes for them now. Here are the first couple that are done.

10 Things to Try or Make This Year

2009-01-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

1. English Paper Piecing

2. CoCo's Bobble Dress

3. Make a Steiner Doll

4. Try Freezer Paper Stenciling

5. Crochet a Butterfly

6. Crochet a Coin Purse

7. Make a new friend

8. Make a Girls Spring Mini Tote

9. Sew Some Bitty Booties

10. Make a Penny Rug

Do you like my hat?

2009-01-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

I have been to try a knitting project on circulars or double pointed needles for a while now. Then I saw the cover of this Knit1 magazine and I knew had to make this hat. I love the hat on the cover (the bright pink one) and with all the cold weather we have here, I decided to go ahead and try. I had to frog it a couple of times because I kept messing up the brim. I didn't feel to good about it either since the brim looked like the easiest part of the hat! But I persisted. And after a couple of days, I now have a lovely new hat.

It's a bit bigger than I imagined and my daughter says it looks like I have a cherry on my head but I love it! My husband was a little nicer, but he laughed a little too. He said that he thought I made it to make other people smile. It's okay, I'm smiling too!

A New Rhythm

2009-01-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

It's time to get back to a new rhythm. Ever since we moved to our new home in Connecticut it has been a struggle to find and stay in a new routine. The move was an obvious, huge change. School starts at a different time here, thankfully later in the morning. Just when we had gotten used to that schedule, this little guy started coming by in the morning while my sister went back to work. After a couple of weeks I am used to have him with us. The holidays, and my Mom's passing away at New Years threw me for another loop. And once again I feel like I am trying to find that new rhythm.

I have been spending some time this week getting organized, both around the house and with my craft supplies. I think I'm making progress. I've also been completing some projects that I had already started. I finished this tea cozy for my sister (it was supposed to be a Christmas present but we both got delayed with family matters, better late than never right?).

I love this cozy. I knitted it using Lion Brand's Wool-ease yarn. And she says it keeps the teapot nice and warm. I tried finding a nice comtemporary looking crochet pattern and never found one that I liked. I even checked in Ravelry. The pattern for this one is available at Grand Purl Baa's blog for free. She also has many other cool tea cozies. I just might have to make one for myself soon.

My Mother

2009-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

This new year has started on a somber note for my family and I. My mother, who has been battling breast cancer for over a year and half, passed away on January 1st. Even though she has been ill for a long while now, this still feels too soon and unexpected. I cannot begin to list the many things I learned from my mother. She was a strong and courageous woman and I miss her. She taught me everything crafty that I know. She was always making something right up until a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Mom for all that you taught me. I am consoled in knowing that she is free of her disease and is vibrant and beautiful with our heavenly father. I love you Mom.

A New Pal

2008-12-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, my son and I have been spending our mornings with someone new. And here he is...

It's my nephew. The one that I made those booties and blanket for a couple of month's ago. My sister has gone back to work part-time and now the little dude is hanging out with us during the day. He's a very happy and sweet fella and we like having him around. It does make it a little harder to get crafting done during the day, but there wasn't really much time for that anyway. It's also good because it tricks me into thinking I could handle three kids just fine, which is nice in case we decide to add another member to the family one day. Anyway, isn't he cute?

Like his shirt?

Thifty Finds

2008-12-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

I was at one of my local thrift stores on Friday and I happened to look in the housewares area were I spotted these cute dishes. They had to come home with me.

There are five plates and four cups.

The plates have little lips to hold the cup in place.

One of my favorite things is the detail to the back of the plate, which was hard to get a good picture of (it's been pretty cloudy here in CT).

The set only cost $4. Score!

Counting Down to Christmas

2008-12-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm feeling better about my crafty mojo and somewhat better about managing my time. The biggest task on my plate right now is finishing up Christmas gifts that I am making for people. I haven't made very much this year, especially compared to last year, and it's less than what I would like to make for people. At least I was good and not starting more than I could finish. I'm only making three gifts this year. This bag for my sister-in-law:

A prayer shawl for my mother and a knitted toy zebra for my son. I was almost half done with the prayer shawl when I decided I hated the stitch design that I chose. So, I boldly frogged it last night and have started a new version which I am liking much better. I will try to take a picture soon.

The zebra is from this book and my son has been asking for it since I finished my daughter's Mommy Bunny. I am about half way done with him. The good thing is that both my son and my mom live near me so I can work on their gifts right up to Christmas day! Are you still working on your Christmas gifts? Will you finish in time? I hope so!

Maybe I Could Be a Morning Person

2008-12-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. I hate morning. My first thoughts when I wake up are usually trying to figure out how I can take a nap during the day or how I need to get to sleep earlier at night instead of staying up until 11pm. And I'm grumpy until at least 10 am. Maybe 9:30 sometimes.

But sometimes I would like to be a morning person. It sounds kinda nice. Wake up before everyone, have some coffee while reading the paper or going to a walk. Getting some peaceful time to myself before I need to be ready to help others. Is it possible to make myself a morning person?

Ever since we moved to our new home, we have been off our schedule. And life is a little different here. School starts a little later. My husband is working from home. Even my schedule of household chores (while it was never very rigid) is different now. And it gets dark so freaking early!! I am finding it challenging to get into a routine and I'm wondering if I should just get my a$$ out of bed earlier. So, when does everyone else get there stuff done? When is your time for you?

(This is just a random, but pretty, picture of our new street from a couple weeks ago. It seems wrong to post without a picture!)

That Crafty Mojo

2008-11-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

Since moving it has been hard to get my crafty mojo back. I have managed to get some crocheting completed over the past month or so, but those have all been from patterns and not anything I created. It's been a while since I've sat down and worked on my own idea's. And I guess it's like any other muscle, if you don't use it, you lose it (or at least it gets saggy and wimpy). My crafty muscle feels a bit saggy. So, I've decided to do something about it.

Last weekend I made myself my own workspace. It's not big but it should function okay for now. So now that I have a space to work in, I am going to make myself sit down and "work" for at least a half hour a day. That should (in theory) be doable most days. Today I decided to do some sketching. And the sketching lead to sewing.

I think this bunny is adorable. I used some fleece scraps that I had on hand from last year and I put a little jingle bell inside her. It's nice and soft and cuddly. I would like to try doing some softies in fleece, but I need to work through my fabric stash a little more before I buy any more fabric.

But I would love to hear from you, how do you keep or revive your crafty mojo?

Settling In

2008-11-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, most of the boxes are unpacked and we are settling here in cold Connecticut. The cold has been the biggest adjustment so far. My daughter loves her new school. We are still walking when we can. The kids still ask to walk even when it's cold which I think is great. I have been spending lots of time with my parents and sister too and I am loving it! It's been so long since I could just hang out with them and I truly thank God for this time with them. It's a great blessing.

I have been busy crocheting lately getting ready for the holidays. I crocheted this pretty bag for my sister-in-law. It's in the latest Interweave Crochet. It's called the Oxford Town Tote. The pattern was fun to do and easy to follow. I used a different yarn than they did but I love the way it came out and I hope my sister-in-law will too! I am going to make a lining for it to make it more finished.
I also made a couple of hats. The purple hat is for me and the pink one is for my daughter. I just really needed to make us hats to keep us warm! I found this free pattern through ravelry. It's from rheatheylia. The pattern is the Divine hat. I added the flower though. I thought it needed a little something.
I have also reopened my etsy shop. I missed having it open and it feels good to have it going again. I haven't had much time to do to much for it yet, but I'm hopeful that I will get some stuff done soon!

My son currently has a stomach bug (which my daughter had last week!). Let's pray I don't get it! Or anyone else in the family!

Relocated

2008-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we are all moved in to our new home in Connecticut! The past month or so has been a real blur and it is nice to be settling down. I now live just minutes from my parents and my sister and I am loving being so close to them. We arrived in time to see some of the fall foliage. I haven't really taken any pictures yet but we did get a new camera so hopefully I can post something soon.
My etsy shop is still closed for now. We are still unpacking boxes and I'm not really sure where or if I will have a crafty space in this house. I would like to reopen, I'm just not really ready to do that yet. I have been working on a crochet project. I purchased the most recent copy of Interweave Crochet and I just had to make the Oxford Town Tote for my sister-in-law. I have her for Christmas this year (we drew names) and I think she will love it. I'm doing different yarn thought but I'm really happy with it so far. I will try to take a picture soon. Hopefully I can get more stuff unpacked this weekend and I can get a little more crafty stuff going! Have a good weekend!

SOLD!

2008-09-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we officially sold our house yesterday. It was on the market here in Florida for 11 days! We are really excited and very busy now getting packed to move. I am so excited that I will be living near my parents and my sister again! It has been over 10 years since I've lived near any of them and I look forward to doing all sorts of little everyday things with them. I can't wait!

A Busy Time

2008-09-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

I know I have been quiet for a while but lots of stuff has been happening here. We officially listed our house and have been very busy with that. I am doing well, I just need a little blog break. I will be back soon with, hopefully, lots to say.

Finished Knitted Mommy Bunny

2008-09-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, here she is. I love her and so does my daughter. We had a wonderful weekend. My daughter is now 6! That sounds so crazy! We went to Disney and had a ton of fun on her birthday. Then we visited with family all day Saturday. It was a great weekend and a great birthday. Hope you all had a great weekend too.

Fingerpuppets and Lasagne

2008-09-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've been in a finger puppet mood. It started with my daughter's present (I just have to sew her little bunny finger puppets together and it's done!). Now I find myself wanting to crochet more of them. I'm thinking about putting them in my etsy shop. I have felt a little uninspired with my little shop lately. I have a hard time making the same items over and over again. I don't mind making the blocks, I still enjoy them. I just think it would be nice to add some new items too. And I think these are really cute. While I was crocheting yesterday I had an idea. Here he is...

I still want to give him arms and a tail. I think he came out pretty cute. I embroidered on his face but I decided to try some safety eyes so I ordered some last night. I'm excited to play with them and try them out.

I also have to tell you about this recipe. It's from Emeril's new show Emeril Green and it's a Turkey Lasagne. You can find the recipe here. It was so good! I saw the show that he made it on and I had to try it. First you have to make the Turkey Bolognese. I made that Tuesday night and served it with some pasta. Then I used the leftover bolognese for the lasagne. I altered the lasagne recipe a little by using dried spices and less ricotta cheese but it was really good. The kids ate it too! That's always nice.

Also, our house officially goes on the market tomorrow so let's all say a prayer for a quick sale so we can get moving!

It's A Boy!

2008-09-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

My sister had her baby yesterday! I'm so excited! They are both doing well and are healthy and safe. I wish I could be there and luckily we will be going up in a bout a month or so. I remember those first moments and days with our children and they were so precious to us, I hope that my sister and her husband and soaking in every moment. What a blessing! Thank you Lord!

In crafty news, I have been rather uninspired. I did bounce around flickr last night and starting feeling the crafty juices flowing. I think I just needed a break. I have been working on my daughter's knitted mommy bunny. Here is what I have sew together so far.

Sorry the picture is blurry. I'm very happy with it so far. I am taking my time sewing it together and trying to make sure that everything looks really good and not rushed. I had a little trouble sewing the head together. I wasn't clear on exactly how they fit together and instructions just said, "sew together head pieces." I did finally get it. Her birthday is Friday so I only have a couple more days to work on it, but I know it will get done.

I've also sewn together one of the little finger puppet bunnies. I thought it was so cute that I decided to try crocheting a little finger puppet with some leftover yarn. The pig on the right is the first one I made but my son wanted a smaller one to fit his finger better. The one in the middle is the smaller one. I think they are cute but I might try making them arms. I need to try some other animals too!

More Knitting

2008-08-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's been busy around here lately. School started and so far my daughter likes it. She has noticed that kindergarten is more work than Preschool was and isn't really too happy about it. The other night she said, "I don't think I need to go to school anymore. I think i know everything already." I laughed pretty hard.

I have been trying to organize all my craft stuff so that I can have it out but make sure that I'm organized enough to put it up quickly if someone wants to come see the house. I also need to make sure that I only have out what I am working on and that I don't spread out. That's the most important thing since I seem to get out multiple projects and then work on what I feel like. Right now I have wrapped up some etsy projects and am working on the knitted bunny for my daughter. It's this one.

I will take some pictures and post them soon. I have almost all the pieces for the bunny done. When they're done I sew her up and post pictures. The pattern calls for wool yarn that you felt. I'm not doing that but it still looks nice. I have to say that I do really like this book. I am still a beginner and it is just great. It has easy to understand instructions and clearly explains how to do some of the stitches that beginners like me might not know. Good book.

Also, Mindy over at the Propernoun featured me on her blog. Thanks Mindy! Check out her site.

The Storms End and Baking Bread

2008-08-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the rain has finally slowed down here. The tropical storm has passed us leaving a lot of flooding in it wake. We are very fortunate that we personally faired very well during the storm. Our house is up a little higher and we are glad that there is no flooding around our home and neighborhood. Our town received over 20 inches or rain in some areas! That's incredible. So far I have only been to the grocery store and post office so we haven't seen much of the area since the storm hit. I've seen some area's on the news that look really horrible and my thoughts and prayers go out to those families.

We have also done very well being couped up! The kids have played incredibly well together and yesterday was the first day that they seemed a little bored. I am also ready to get out for a while. I did manage to tidy up my craft area (again) and get some projects completed. But the best thing I did was bake some of the Barmbrack Bread like I planned. It was very good and pretty easy to make. I did cut the amount of dried fruit down by about half since my hubby isn't too big on raisin's and such. I will definitely make it again!

The Wind and the Rain

2008-08-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been raining here now for 3 days thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. I can still here the wind howling a little but it really isn't too bad. Monday was my daughter's first day of school and the school's have been closed since Tuesday. She is a little disappointed at not having school (she is now in Kindergarten) but is enjoying a couple more days to play with her brother all day.

I have been busy cleaing up my craft area and getting some projects completed. We are putting our house up for sale so it is important that I am very organized. That's not easy for me. I figured the best place to start would be to finish some of the wip's. Yesterday, I finished making some friends for this little pig from a couple of weeks ago.

Then I finished putting letters on some blocks.

I also completed another little book the other day. This was my favorite page.

I have a bunch more to do and hopefully today will be productive since we are stuck at home again. I also plan on making some Barmbrack Bread from Down to Earth's blog. It sounds so good!

Sweatshirt Refashion

2008-08-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've had this sweatshirt in a bag for a while, awaiting a makeover. It was my husband's sweatshirt, but somehow it ended up in the bag. I'm sure I stole it at some point because it's hideous and I didn't want him to wear it. Well, I was at Old Navy the other day and they had these cute little kimono style cover-ups to go over your pajamas. I thought they were so cute! And what a great idea. I tend to sleep in tank tops a lot but sometimes I want just a little something to cover up before bed, but I don't really want a whole large robe. So, I thought I would try to make something similar out of that plain old sweatshirt. This is what I started out with (I took the picture after I had cut off the sleeves to a 3/4 length).

Then I cut the waist band off and cut off the collar too, about an inch below the collar. Then I made one cut straight up the center of the front. I cut close to edge of the waistband and cut it to make a belt. And here is the finished product. The original sweatshirt was pretty large on me (I think it might have been either an XL or 1X, I'm not sure and I threw the collar away) so it wraps nicely. I'm really happy with it and I think it will get a lot of use this winter. And it was fast and easy too!

The Pig is Done!

2008-08-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

I finished last night and am really happy with it. I am finishing a really simple scarf for him and he will be on his way. My kids love him, so hopefully my nephew will too.

Knitted Pig Toy, WIP

2008-08-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get this pig done. It will not be done in time for my nephew's birthday, but he's only 2, so it's okay. He'll forgive me. I was really excited to knit up the last piece last night and then this morning I began sewing all the pieces together. The body turned out nicely.

Then I started putting the leg and foot together. It didn't look quite right so I tried to take it apart and do it again, but it was hard to tell which thread was which. And then it happened.

I snipped the wrong thread of yarn. FRACK! I don't think it is fixable. I think I need to knit a new leg. FRACK! O well, at least it wasn't a larger piece, right?

Embellished Girl's Dress

2008-08-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't had the time yet to refashion any of my clothes yet. It was a fun and busy weekend, but there wasn't a lot of time for crafting. I'm hoping to get to some refashioning soon though. I took my daughter school shopping for clothes and managed to find her some very cute items at a good price. I found myself feeling a bit torn or where to buy her clothing. I was originally going to go to my local consignment (our thrift shop never has anything good) but while I was at Target I noticed that they had some really cute tops and bottoms for $4 each! Come on! I would have paid almost or maybe even that much at the consignment, so I just bought the clothing where I was already. I saved on gas, right?

One of the items I bought her was this cute denim dress. I really like it but it looked a little plain, so I suggested adding a little embellishment to it. My daughter wanted strawberries so that's what I did. I just used some regular acrylic felt (the t-shirts I made earlier are holding up well with washing) and made some easy strawberries and a couple little flowers. She loves it and I do too! I think a little rick-rack along the bottom would add to it even more!

I'm still working on this knitted pig for my nephew. So far I think it looks cute. It's hard to tell all in pieces but I feel pretty good about it. I'm hoping to finish him tonight. So I better get going!

Wardrobe

2008-08-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

I think it's time for a wardrobe weekend. It's been a while since I bought any new clothing. I haven't shopped partly because we've been trying to save and partly because I'm not even sure what I would want. But I caught a glimpse of myself in the changing room while my daughter was trying on school clothes, and I didn't like what I saw. It wasn't my weight that was wrong, it was my clothes. My clothes looked all wrong from the back. Not flattering at all. The shirt was especially unflattering. It just didn't fit right. It will not be worn again.

So, I think it's time to think about what I would want if I went shopping and then see what I can do with what I have. I have a large bag in the closet that is waiting for some refashioning. Doing this will also help with cleaning out my closet, which I haven't done yet. Hopefully, I can get at least one refashion done this weekend. I have a large batch of blocks to sew together so maybe I can also use the sewing machine for a refashion while it's out. I will have to head over to the Wardrobe Refashion website for some inspiration. Wish me luck!

Knitted Toys

2008-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have still been busy cleaning and getting the house ready to put on the market to sell. I am really excited about moving and can't wait. I hope it doesn't take too long to sell as I am anxious to go now! When we go to Connecticut in October we will look at apartments and rentals since we do plan on renting for at least the first year. Yeah!

I have been doing some crafting lately, but not nearly as much as I would like to be doing. I have been inspired by Little Cotton Rabbits to try knitting some toys. Her toys are amazing! I don't think I can make anything nearly as nice but I can try! I found this book at my local craft store and bought the yarn right away to try making the pig on the front. My nephew is celebrating his 2nd birthday this month and I am hoping to get it done to mail to him soon. It's going pretty fast, which is surprising given my inexperience with knitting. I do find knitting to be much easier since discovering the continental knitting style.

I am hoping at some point that I might get the courage to try knitting in the round. The Purlbee has a really cute knitted rattle that I would love to try, but I don't think I am ready yet. I am thinking of making this cute momma bunny pattern for my daughter. Her birthday is next month already! Wow, that went fast!

Cleaning and Sewing

2008-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have been in a clean frenzy the past couple of days. One of my favorite shows right now is How Clean is Your House? I love those two ladies. Kim and Aggie rock! They have some great cleaning tips on this website. It amazes me how many things you can clean with baking soda! What really gets me is how some people live. I have never loved cleaning but it never fails that I watch that show and it makes me want to clean. My house is looking pretty good right now. I even cleaned out the inside of the washing machine the other day. I'm almost starting to enjoy myself which worries me a little bit.

We really want to try to sell our house soon so the cleaning is also necessary. The only room that really still needs a good go through is the master bedroom. But I am waiting on some boxes to pack up most of our books and clutter. In an effort to clean up some clutter (while waiting for the boxes) I am trying to work through my craft stash. I have had a bunch of projects started and they have been laying about on the dining room table. So I decided to work on getting some of those completed today. It's going pretty well so far. I can almost see the dining room table! How nice!

Here is a fabric ring that I have been wanting to try. I don't have a pattern but it seemed simple enough. The lines should be straighter but the toughest things was that I think I sewed the pieces in the wrond order because I had trouble turning it. I just might be better off looking for a pattern and saving myself some time. No point in reinventing the wheel...so to speak.

Busy Week

2008-07-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week. We had some family come to town unexpectedly and a lot of the week was spent visiting. It was a lovely, but tiring week. My camera is still broken but my MIL is being so nice and letting me borrow hers until I figure out what the deal is with mine. I don't really have too much to say. I have been getting another small batch of blocks wrapped up and in my shop. They are coming out very cute. I like the fabrics a lot. I am trying to use more fabrics that are good for boys as well as girls. Here are just a couple pictures.

I also made this cute little pig. I am thinking of making a couple others like it but with different animals to make a set.

Lastly, I started knitting another pair of booties for a neighbor. I really like this pattern. It's the same pattern I used for my sister's baby booties here. If you need to make booties, give them a try.

Also, I did finish reading The Toxic Sandbox and it is an incredible resource. I truly recommend it for everyone, whether you have kids or not. I also found out that there is a website that you can check out (duh, like there isn't a website for everything now). Here is the link to the website if you are interested.

My Camera Broke!

2008-07-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

I went to use it the other day and all I see is black. It turns on and acts like it is taking a picture but all the pictures are black. I am taking it to the shop to see if they can fix it but I'm not too hopeful. It's not that old though. Why aren't things made to last longer? We didn't drop it or anything. It seemed fine one moment and then broke the next. Hmm.

I have one other project that I did for my sister's baby that I haven't shown you yet. I took some onesie's that I purchased and I put some little felt animals on them. They came out really cute. They're a lot like the one's I did for my kids that I blogged about here. Here are the one's I did for my sister. Totally easy and super cute! The one's for my kids have washed well too.

Healthy Reading and Sewing

2008-07-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

After my son was born, like a lot of women, I had trouble losing those last 15 pounds. Around the same time my best friend was having some health issues with her daughter. Her pediatrician recommended a book by Marilu Henner called Healthy Kids. At the time my library didn't have the book in stock but they did have her Total Health Makeover, so I borrowed it and started reading. I learned a lot from that book, and from Healthy Kids. I did lose those 15 pounds but more importantly it got me started reading books about health and nutrition. I love You: The Owner's Manuel by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen. It's so readable and so informative.

Then, about a year ago, we learned that my Mom's breast cancer had returned and she has been fighting it ever since. Over the past year, my sister and I have started learning more about our health through nutrition and now we are both reading about how our environment around us effects our health. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I remember doing the dishes one night and wondering what was in my dish soap. It was one of those antibacterial dish soaps too. I wondered if it left a film on my dishes and if I was in turn cooking that antibacterial ingredient with our foods and eating it. Was I drinking it in my water glass? I don't know the answer to that yet, but it started me asking even more questions. (I use an all natural dish soap now and I'm convinced my dishes are cleaner. If nothing else, I feel better.)

My sister is currently reading target=topGreen Babies, Sage Mommies by Lynda Fassa. So far she loves it. I am currently reading The Toxic Sandbox by Libby McDonald. It is stunning and so filled with helpful and useful information. And right now on Amazon it's only $5. That's a bargain! I'm tempted to go back a get a couple copies for everyone I know, whether they are parents or not. I also purchased The Green Parent: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Earth-Friendly Living. I haven't looked at it much but I will let you what I think when I do get to it. I am amazed at all the information that I didn't know. And now I find myself wanting to be very careful with all items I craft with too, and find out exactly what is in all my supplies. Do you wonder about this stuff too?

Sorry to go on about non-crafty stuff but I really wanted to share some of these great resources with you and also share my thoughts too. I have also been sewing a lot this week. I have a big batch of blocks almost done. I found some very cute fabric that I knew had to be blocks. It has cute little crabs and fish on it. So I decided to make some fish and a starfish to go with it. Thanks again for letting me share.

Two Baby Cardinals

2008-07-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

I was pushing my son on the swing yesterday when we say a male cardinal on the power line above us. He was chirping and he had a seed in his mouth. I remember thinking when I saw him that he looked a little frazzled. He wasn't quite as red as he should have been either. Then I heard some loud peeping coming from a tree nearby. The daddy cardinal made his was to a tree and then I saw the nest and so little heads popping up and peeping very loudly. It was so cute and wonderful to watch. I watched for a while and managed to get a couple pictures of the babies. They aren't great pictures but still kind of cute.

I watched the mom and dad cardinals take turns bringing the babies food for a while. They looked tired but they kept on going. Feeding and flying off, feeding and flying off. It's somewhat comforting to know that new parent fatigue is pretty universal.

Baby Gifts

2008-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

My sister's baby shower was yesterday and although I wasn't able to be there I hear it went really well. I am sure that they now have everything they need for this special little boy. The good news is that I can also show you what I have been working on for the past couple of weeks.

First, I crocheted this blanket. I used this pattern from Lion Brand Yarn but I used this Bernat Satin yarn. This yarn is so soft and lovely. The blanket is basically one giant grannie square but I added a decorative edge to it. I also only used four colors for the blanket which is different from the pattern but not a big deal.

Then I found this pattern for a cute baby hat at Haakpoes blog. This hat was a ton of fun to make. I'm sure I will be making it again.

I had a really difficult time finding a pattern for boyish looking crocheted baby booties. It was really infuriating. I found one on the lion brand site but it was horrible. Something is truly wrong with the pattern. I tried it a couple times and it just wasn't right. I finally decided to try knitting a pair of booties. I finally found a really adorable pattern on Saarjte's blog. I am not a knitter and I know that mine have a couple errors in them but they still look really cute. I will definitely make these again too.

Dino-Might

2008-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

I was inspired the other day to try to make a dinosaur. I don't exactly know how it started, but over the past two days I have made two dinosaurs. Here is the first one.

I am still working on the pattern and I learned a couple important things with this first dinosaur. First, I don't like how the acrylic felt in holding up, or rather, not holding up. The underneath part is pilling already but the top is okay. I have noticed lately that some of the acrylic felt is thicker than other types. The felt on his tummy felt pretty thin and it isn't holding up well at all. Second, I need to put some kind of dart or something on his legs. I'm not sure if dart is the correct sewing term for what I mean but without the darts his little legs fly out to the side. He's still cute though.

The second dinosaur is better. His legs worked out well with the darts. I kind of copied the darts on these patterns to see how it was done. (BTW- I'm sure I could find a cute dinosaur pattern but since I would like to sell a couple in my shop, I'm nervous about copying someone's designs. This seems easier, somehow.) I only had a couple minor problems with him that I can watch for next time. I'm not crazy about the fabric either. I think I am going to have to look into fleece or flannel for sure. Right now my son has these dinosaurs. He doesn't see anything wrong with either of them.

Gone Baby Gone

2008-07-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well, all my sister's presents were shipped off yesterday. They should arrive in time for her shower on Saturday. I wish I could be there but we are really trying to save money so that we can move there soon. So I will keep saving and try to fly up when this little guy is born and then we were planning on all flying up for Christmas too. We better save all our pennies for all these flights.

Now that my sister's baby stuff is done for now, I'm not sure what exactly to work on. I worked yesterday on finishing up some soft books that I had started a while back. I actually got one done yesterday and started putting together a second. I am hoping to get it done today but we will see. I have a very large mountain of laundry to do and a bunch of other cleaning too. So, we'll see how much sewing I get done. I am on the look out for my next crocheting or knitting project. I really enjoyed doing a little of both for my sister. Now, I want to do more. I also noticed how difficult it is to find cute patterns geared for boys. Why is that? I had the hardest time finding a pattern for boyish booties. It was ridiculous. I will be sure to tell you more about it soon. I will leave you with a couple pictures from my latest letter book. It's now up in my shop.

Embellished T-shirts

2008-07-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been busy finishing my sister's baby shower gifts the past couple of day. I have been able to get everything done except for the booties. I have been trying to make this pair of booties, and after three attempts, I think there is something wrong with the pattern. They either come out too small or way too big. I just can't get them right. So, I will look for another pattern today and see if I can come up with something.

On Thursday night I decided to do something cute for my own kids. My daughter helped me pick out a couple of plain t-shirts at target and I embroidered these cute little felt animals and sewed them onto the shirts. My daughter said she wanted a sheep on her shirt and my son wanted a dog. Here are the shirts together (a little wrinkly, o well).

I designed this sheep just for my daughter. I think it's cute.

And this dog is the same one that I use in my soft letter book.

I'm really happy with the way they came out. The kids wore them for the 4th of July, which was a lot of fun. We went to see fireworks last night. They were beautiful. Only my son didn't like them. He covered his ears and closed his eyes. When they were done I asked him what he thought and he said, "I hated it." Well, maybe next year he'll feel differently. If was still a fun day.

More Crocheting

2008-07-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

I finished the blanket for my sister's baby the other night. I love how it turned out and I think that she will too. I have some yarn left over so I thought I might try to make something else for the baby. I found a cute pattern for some booties that didn't look too girly, but I just couldn't get the size right last night. First I tried the smallest size and it looked like it might fit him for a day. No. Then I tried the larger size and it was way too big. So, I gave up on those booties.
I decided to look on Ravelry and find a cute little hat pattern (why is it so hard to find cute patterns for boys?) I found one that I like and I started it last night. I hope it is big enough. I am using two colors for it and this is the first time where I have worked with two colors without fastening off between colors. It's kind of fun. I'm really enjoying all the crocheting right now, which is good. Not for my little shop but that's okay. I'm enjoying myself and that's what really counts. Here is a picture of the hat in progress (look away sister!)

I'lll put up a link to the pattern when it's done. I don't want anyone (my sister) to see what it will look like all done yet.

I Can't Show You...

2008-06-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

the blanket I have been busy crocheting all weekend. I am almost done with the baby blanket I am making for my sister's baby. It looks really lovely and I can't wait to take some pretty pictures of it. I only have one more row and then a border and it will be done. Yeah!

As usual, I purchased more yarn than necessary so I will have about 4 extra balls of yarn. I am thinking of making some booties and maybe a hat to go with the blanket. I need to look for some patterns. I am sure I will find something that I like. I will be sure to post pictures of everything when I am sure that my sister has received everything.

This past weekend was filled with movie watching. Friday I dropped my kids off with their grandparents for a sleepover, and immediately went to the the Sex and the City movie. I have been waiting weeks to see it and it did not disappoint! I have been desparately seeking a great chick flick lately and this really hit the spot. If you haven't seen it yet, go now!

Also, are you on Library Thing? If so, can you tell me what the point is? Is it really just a social network around books? I've been seeing it around more and I'm not sure if this is useful or not. Just wondering. Thanks!

Salt Dough Craft Project

2008-06-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I purchased this children's art book to get project idea's to do with the kids. We did our first project from the book on Tuesday and it was a lot of fun (and easy). The project was a salt dough one. I had never heard of salt dough before but I hear it has been around a long time. There are ton of recipes for salt dough online, the recipe I used from the book was just like the one found here. The dough was really easy to make and easy for everyone to work with, even my three year old. What I liked was that it gave us something to work on throughout the day. In the morning, we made the dough and formed it into shapes. Then in the afternoon, after the shapes had baked and cooled, the kids were able to paint some of them. It was a lot of fun. We will definitely do this again. It would be a great way to make Christmas ornaments with the kids. I really had fun too, so even if you don't have little ones, this is still fun to try!

Elephants On Parade

2008-06-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

This first half of this week has been all about elephants. First, my elephant pattern is my first free pattern. I'm really excited to hear how it works for people so if you make it please let me know how the pattern and instructions worked for you. It's the first time I've done a pattern and I'm the only one who's used it. I did test it but that isn't really a good indicator of how well done the pattern is since I know it already. So, anyway, please feel free to let me know how the pattern works for you if you use it. Thanks!

Also, I've completed the four elephants that I wanted to have done this week. They are currently up for sale in my shop. I'm really happy with how they came out.

Now the rest of the week will be about my sister's baby. Her baby shower is in about 2 1/2 weeks so I gotta hustle. I worked on the blanket a bunch last night and it is really coming along nicely. I should have it done in a couple days. I have to wait until her shower to post pics.

On a completely separate topic, I did a really fun craft project with the kids yesterday. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Want a Workout? Open a Coconut!

2008-06-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to let the kids pick out some new produce to try while grocery shopping today. I saw that coconut's were on sale so I showed them to the kids. They were really excited when I showed them how you could here the milk inside when you shook the coconut close to your ears. So we bought two. We got home and the kids were really excited to open up the coconut. I knew that it would take some work to get it open (I've seen Castaway!) but even I was surprised at how long it took. After smaking at it with a knife and mallet for a while, I finally put a screwdriver into two of it's eyes to let the milk out, then I wrapped the coconut in a kitchen towel, went outside, and smashed it on the concrete. It actually worked very well. I broke it into so many pieces that the flesh came off the shell nicely. Then we all tried some. The kids were unimpressed to say the least. So now I need to know, what do I do with this coconut? Any ideas?

Also, I'm very excited to announce that I have my first free pattern available. It is for Ellie Elephant and the pdf is available on the left. Be sure to let me know if you make one!

Elephant WIP

2008-06-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to finish up some projects that I started and never completed. I am also trying to use up my stash before I buy anymore supplies. Okay, I really just want to use some of my stash, let's be real. I purchased some really soft flannel a couple of weeks ago in a lovely lavender color. I immediately knew that I wanted to make some elephants with it. I started making them last night and they are coming out pretty cute. There will be four of them and I am pretty sure that they will be up in my etsy shop soon (unless one of my kids confiscates one for themselves!) Here is a picture of one that is mostly done. (Sorry for the poor picture quality)

I have also started working on the pattern for the elephant so that I can put it up as a free pattern. I am hoping to have this done soon. I went and had the pages scanned for me today and it was too easy. I was hoping to have all the directions and such done today too but our car brokedown (it's fixed now) and it took a lot of the day up getting it fixed. I hope to have it done by Tuesday, so check back soon!

Planning Our Summer

2008-06-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Our last guests for June left us this morning and I have been busy getting caught up since they left. I got a load of laundry done, cleaned out the fridge and freezer (I wasn't sure what was in the freezer at all but it wasn't to scary) and I even mowed the lawn for my dear hubby so that we can have a fun, relaxing weekend. Now, I have started making a plan for our summer. I have a large dry erase board calendar that I am filling in with all the things that we want to do this summer. I have found that the older I get the more I appreciate organization and the benefits of being organized.

On the calendar I am putting all sorts of things including: things to cook with/for the kids, things to do around the house, places to go, crafts to do, movies to go see, and also my planned meals. I started planning most of our meals when I became a stay-at-home mom and we needed to cut back in our finances. It really helped us and still does. But I have been totally unmotivated and preoccupied over the last month and things have gotten off track. I am now ready to get back on track and this plan is just what I need.

I am really looking forward to doing lots of fun things with the kids this summer. I think sometimes I am too strict and I have been trying to relax and just have more fun lately. I want the kids to remember having fun and not me having a cow over some dumb mess. It also gets super hot in the summers here so I need to have indoor projects planned too. In an effort to get the summer off to a good start, I decided to make these bubbles that I saw on Sparkle Power's Blog. I knew that we could make our own bubbles but never looked for the recipe. It was really easy and the kids really love it. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I will. I even bought them the big bubble wands at Target. Even my 3 year old can use them by himself. They're great!

There hasn't been much crafting the past couple of days, but I make this little felt goldfish a couple of days ago. He is currently in my etsy shop. I am trying to slowing build up my inventory again. Slowly.

Toad Stool Swap

2008-06-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy this week. My brother-in-law is here for a visit so I haven't been taking much time to do things on the computer. My etsy shop is also looking a bit bare too. But we have been having a fun time visiting and taking the kids places. I have been working on a couple craft projects in the evenings. Mainly a little blanket for my sister's baby. The baby shower is next month and I need to have it done soon to ship out to her. I will post a picture of it soon. It's coming out very nicely. I would also like to make her a couple other things for the baby. Hopefully I will have time to get it all done.

A week or so has gone by so I feel confident that I can post some pictures of the toadstool that I made for the toadstool swap. My partner, Yarni Gras, mentioned that teal and brown as one of the color combo's that she likes. Since I like that combination too I made a toadstool those colors. Here are some pictures.

Feel free to check out the toadstool group on flickr too. There are lots of very nice toadstools there. And thanks to LucyKate for hosting the swap and the tutorial!

Completed Jungle Set

2008-06-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

It's done! The completed jungle set.

I finished the tiger last night and made the palm tree too. I still need to made a little base for the palm tree so that it stands up easier but other than that, it's done! Here's a picture of the tree and the tiger.

It feels good to be done. On to the next project, a baby blanket for my sister's baby. The shower is in less than a month!

Still on Safari

2008-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Or in the the jungle really. I am currently still working on my jungle animals. I think they are all coming out great. I finished the elephant last night and started on the tiger. I have the tiger's body done but I still need to give him stripes, and a face. I think he will be really good when he is done. I am excited to be almost done. Here is the elephant.

In other news, have you checked out the free Adobe Photoshop software? I heard about this a while back but put off looking at it. I finally did this weekend and I love it so far. It is integrated with flickr so it is super easy to get your photos into, and they offer some really great tools. I have been having a lot of fun with it. They have a fun feature where you can take your photo and make it look like a sketch. Here is the elephant as a sketch.

How fun! And it is really easy to use. Check it out!

A Giraffe and a Toadstool

2008-06-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty busy around here. It was my daughter's last week of school this week. I am really looking forward to our summer together. We are getting our first visitor of the summer next week, her Uncle Paul, and we are all really excited to have him come visit. The next couple of days will be spent cleaning and preparing for our guest so that we can just visit and enjoy our time together while he is here.

In craft news, a couple of exciting things this week. I received my toadstool from my toadstool partner, Yarni Gras! It is so cute and I love it! Thank you very much Yarni Gras! If you haven't checked out Yarni Gras' website, head on over and check it out. She also sent me this really cute book thong that I am sure will get a lot of use. I am also happy to say that the toadstool I made is currently on the way to Yarni Gras. I will post pictures of it too once I'm sure that it has been received so as not to spoil the surprise. If you want see pictures of everyone's toadstools you can check out the flickr group too.

I have also completed the color book that I was working on for a customer. I think it came out really good. It took longer than I thought it would to finish but I am happy with it. Here are a couple of the pages in the book. You can see the rest on my flickr page if you want.

I am still working on a jungle animal playset. I finished my first giraffe last night. I love him. I made him from my own pattern based on the bedding picture that my customer gave me. He is made from felt and is cute and soft and cuddly. My kids are dying to play with him! He's becoming good friends with the monkey right now.

Stitching Straight Letters Tutorial

2008-06-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I would trying doing a little tutorial about stitching letters onto felt. I am sure that there are other tutorials out there, probably good ones too, but I figured that I would share my technique too. It's really easy and probably a no brainer but here we go.

The first thing that I do when I need to stitch letters or words onto fabric, whether it's felt or fleece or cotton, is go to my computer. I print out (in any document program) the letters or words that I want to stitch onto some regular (cheap) computer paper. For example, I am currently doing the letters for a My First Color Book, so that is what I printed out. Then I cut out the letters in a nice size block leaving room to pin it onto my fabric. You want it pinned securely so that it doesn't move around on you.

Then I just stitch right through the paper. You can use whatever stitch you like. This time I am using a simple backstitch.

When you are done stitching, gently rip the paper away. It is a good idea to hold down the stitches with one hand while you tear with the other otherwise the stitches can get pulled out of shape. I usually come apart pretty easy, just be gentle.

When you're done pulling the paper away you will see that you have nice, straight stitches and words.

What I really love about this is that since I am using my computer to print out the words I can use any font I choose. It really gives you a lot of options. I have done this with fancier fonts and different stitches and it always comes out nicely. And I like not having to spend a lot on supplies too. I often print up a bunch of titles at once for my little books to save paper and I think it works out great.

I hope you find this helpful and not lame. :)

Monkeying Around

2008-06-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've had someone that saw my farm set ask me to make them some jungle animals. I was a little nervous about it since I haven't make these animals before but I'm also excited to try. I have a picture of the bedding that will be in the bedroom that the jungle critters will be in too. It's really cute bedding with a giraffe, monkey, elephant, frog and tiger it. I decided to try to make the animals look like the animals on the bedding, as much as possible. (This is a link to the bedding if you want to see a picture of it). So here is my first little monkey.

I am really happy with him. I sewed pipe cleaners into his arms, legs and tail so that he's bendable. I want to make another one just for me! I'm not sure which animal I'm going to try next. Maybe the elephant.

I spent yesterday trying to organize my craft stuff and the kids craft stuff and make it more accessible for all of us. I am still reading The Creative Family and I really like it so far. It's what got me organizing. I am not an organized person by nature but I have really come to appreciate how much easier being organized can make things. I organized the kids little table in the kitchen and my stuff in the dining room. Yes, I mostly do my work in the dining room. Doesn't everyone? I bought myself a pretty trunk to keep my stuff in so that it's organized and available but still neat and not all over the table! So far I love it. I can actually see the dining room table! And the kids seem to like having there stuff accessible and organized too. I think the best thing I did for them was buy a cheap, but cute, vinyl tablecloth so that clean up is easy and I don't need to freak when they craft at the table. Here's to hoping we keep up with staying organized!

Getting Ready for Summer

2008-05-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Next week is my daughter's last week of school. So, yesterday I went to my local book store and got a couple books to help keep us busy while we are at home. I bought The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule and The Little Hands Art Book. I am going through both and making note of things that would be fun and getting supplies together. I started reading The Creative Family yesterday and it is really good so far. You can also check out Amanda's blog here. I will let you know if you do anything great from either of the books.

I am hoping to do more projects with my kids this summer. I wish I was one of those crafty moms who was always doing fun stuff with her kids but that isn't really the case. I tend to get tense with all the mess and need to relax. I will work on that this summer. I think I will make smocks for the kids to do projects in so that I don't freak over laundry and stains! That should make it more fun for me anyway. I don't remember doing much when I was a kid but if anyone has great idea's please feel free to share them.

I am currently working on a couple projects for a customer of my esty shop. She saw my little farm and requested that I try some jungle critters. I was a little nervous but they are coming out great, and I'm having fun too. I'll post a couple pictures when I get more done. I did finally finish the blocks for my neighbor but I forgot to take pictures. Oops. But since I hate to post without a picture, here is just a random picture for you. It's the oleander in my backyard.

Pretty Pincushion

2008-05-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

I was feeling a little blah yesterday so I decided to make myself something pretty. I kept seeing the pincushion on the cover of this magazine so I decided to make one. It was really easy. A lot like making baby blocks. The hardest part was the ribbon. I broke two needles doing the ribbon. The patterns says to use a doll maker's needle for the ribbon and I'll be honest and say that I don't know what that looks like and I don't have one anyway. So I used a needle with a nice long eye, but it just wasn't strong enough and it snapped when the ribbon was half done. Another needle, just like it, did the other half. luckily it broke on the last pull and I was able to finish. I'm really happy with it. It was just the little pick me up I needed.

My First Farm Playset

2008-05-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after a couple days, here is the complete set!

I love the way these came out. I wasted a day trying to figure out a way to make barn be able to open to play in but I was unable to do that. I will keep trying though. I love each of the little animals. They were really fun to make. I made each of them from scratch and without a pattern so I feel really good about how they came out. I will definitely be making more of these.

I am also trying to figure out a way to make patterns for my soft books to sell but I'm not sure the best way to go about it. I don't have a scanner and my patterns are mostly hand drawn. I need to see if I can go to a local copy shop and see if I can scan the patterns in. If anyone has any knowledge on the best approach for this sort of this, feel free to let me know! I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and a great week!

Working on a Farm

2008-05-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have been home a lot this week because we have been having our bathroom tub retiled and a couple other things in there done too. So I've had time to try to work out some of my idea's. Someone suggested to me that I should try to make a mobile and I really like that idea. Well, I have a really simple idea of what I want to make and I have come to realize that I need a much clearer vision! I wanted to make a farm themed mobile so I made a barn but I thought it looked to small, so I cut out all the pieces and made a new barn. Well, it's too big! But they are both really cute. I also made a little pig which I think is just the right size. You can kind of tell how much the barns differ in size since the same pig is in both pics. (I love the pig! I am making one just for me to keep!)

This picture is the small barn and the little pig.

This is the bigger barn. It's way too big for a mobile, I think. But I do have some very cute plans for it.

And here is a closeup of the little piggy.

He's only about 2 1/2 inches long and about 2 inches tall. I want to put him in my pocket and carry him around. Is that silly?

So I started out trying to make a mobile and have learned an important lesson. It's good to know exactly what you are making when you start out! But I do think I will end up with something totally wonderful, so it's all good.

Also, here are some pictures of the star-gazer lilies that my husband and kids bought me for Mother's Day. They are blooming now and are just beautiful. Have a nice weekend!

Favorite Crafty Magazines

2008-05-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

These are my favorite crafty magazines right now. They have a lot of really nice, small projects in them. I haven't done any quilting yet but I really would like to try it sometime. I figure I might start with a small project like a table runner or something. And since I am really into sewing right now, as opposed to crochet or knitting or cross-stitching, these magazines are really inspiring me. There are so many projects in each one that I want to do. A lot of times I will get a magazine or book and only like a couple of projects in them, but I could do each one of these and love them! They do have a website for you to check out too. The link is here at All People Quilt. Some free patterns are available there too!

This is one of my favorite projects in them. It's in the Quilts and More magazine. I think they are just the prettiest coaster's. I also think that they would make a lovely gift. The hexagon's are pieced together with English Paper Piecing. I have seen this method before and I think it looks like fun. There is a great tutorial on it on Sunshine Creations blog. I will definitely have to try this sometime soon.

Embroidery

2008-05-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

I spent all day yesterday scrapbooking and I am almost done with my son's baby album. Just in time for his 3rd birthday next month. Better late than never, right? It was a nice day and I really enjoy getting together with this group of ladies. However, with all the sewing that I have been doing lately I am considering giving up scrapbooking. My husband really enjoys doing the digital scrapbooking (although he doesn't call it scrapbooking because it sounds too girly). Plus, he's really good at it too! We are currently trying to get ourselves together to list our house for sale and move to be closer to my family and I think I might let him take over the scrapbooking after we move. I just find that I would rather be sewing! Or embroidering, or crocheting! I like the end product of scrapbooking and I love the people, but I don't get the same kind of creative satisfaction from it that I do from sewing or crocheting.

I did manage to get some projects completed on Friday though. I feel better not to have so many things started and undone. I will try to finish up more by the end of this week. I finished some blocks (that were gifts) and have cut out the pieces for more blocks which are for my neighbor's granddaughter. I love this fabric! I think these blocks will be really great.

I also worked a little bit on this embroidery project that I started a long while ago. It's an old tea towel that used to belong to my husband's great aunt. When she passed away I inherited some of her craft supplies which included some great old tea towels that still need to be embroidered. They are very pretty and I will probably give a couple to my husband's sister to keep when they are finished. Whenever that is.

I have been wanting to embroider more lately and I am sure it's because I have been reading the Feeling Stitchy blog. If you haven't been reading it, check it out! If you really want to be inspired, check out Jenny Hart's website. She's amazing!

Scattered

2008-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

How many projects do you have going? I currently have 3 soft books going (I should be able to finish one of them this afternoon), some fabric blocks ready to be sewn together, a goldfish ready to be sewn, and I'm sure that there is more stuff out there that I have started but haven't finished yet. Am I the only one that does this? I doubt it, but it is now to the point where I'm annoyed with my own behavior. Oh! I also started embroidering some vintage towels that my MIL gave me (they were my hubbies great-aunts). It is started to be disorienting having this many projects going at once! I am determined not to start anything else, I promise, until most of this mess is completed!

I do think that I've decided on a blanket for my sister's baby. (I am not starting it yet!) I decided to check on ravelry, which probably would have been a good place to start in the first place, and I found this blanket. It is a star shaped baby blanket. I really like it. Plus, no one else will make her a blanket like this! No way. Even if she gets other blankets, this one will be different. I don't think I've used ravelry as much as I could, but lately I haven't been knitting or crocheting much. I'm getting the itch though! This blanket will be good. If you have a ravelry account, feel free to add me as a friend. I'm mkjn on ravelry too!

And just because I hate to post without a picture, here is a picture of some blocks that I made for a friend that I scrapbook with. She often babysits her two baby granddaughters and I thought these would be a nice addition to her nursery. I love the little bunnies!

Summer Bags

2008-05-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have been wanted to make a couple summer purses for me and my daughter and I finally found the time yesterday. They came together very quickly and I am really happy with how they came out.

My daughter is very into pink right now so I had to use a pink fabric for hers. The fabric has pretty pink roses on it and I have pinned a beautiful butterfly to it that I purchased here. (I also purchased these earrings from evanrhett's shop and I love them!) My daughter just loves her little purse and I am really happy with it too! I didn't line her bag because I figured it is mostly just for play. I am also thrilled with how my purse came out. I have had this fabric for a while. It was an impulse fabric purchase from Joann's a couple of month's ago. I was going to make a skirt out of it but I had trouble picking out a pattern that I was happy with so it has just been sitting in my stash. I finally decided that it might make a cute bag so while I was at the craft store this weekend I purchased some handles and found time to sew on Sunday.

My Mother's Day was really nice. My daughter painted me this pretty little watering can at school and it is lovely. She also colored some pictures for me and she even drew a picture of me. It is really cute. I love that she is starting to draw such cute and recognizable pictures. It's just too cute. My husband and the kids made breakfast and dinner and I had time to relax. It was a lovely day. I hope your Mother's Day was nice too.

Mother's Day

2008-05-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

I have been busy the past couple of days helping out my neighbor in her flower shop. Mother's Day is a busy holiday for her and I am glad to be able to help out. Plus, earning a little money is a good thing too. This Mother's Day is one of mixed emotions for me. I am so happy to be spending the day with my own kids just playing and having a nice day together. My daughter made something for me at school and you can see that she is just brimming with excitement to give it to me. I am excited because she is excited. My son is excited because my husband took the kids to Target today and they bought me some Swedish Fish (one of my favorite candies). I know this because my son was so thrilled at buying candy (and the possibility that he might get to eat some) that he told me all about it. He still needs to learn about surprises.

My mixed emotions are because I am so far from my own Mom and she is pretty sick right now. I don't really want to go into it too much but I just miss her. That's all. I would love to be able to spend the day with her too. Maybe next year.

Craftwise I am just working on more blocks and soft books. I have about a half dozen or so projects going in one stage or another. I really need to start getting some stuff completed! My sister found out that her baby is a boy and so now I need to start planning baby projects for her too. I want to crochet a blanket for him but I can't decide which one to do. I really like this one from the Lion Brand Yarn website. It's called the Crochet Baby Log Cabin Blanket.

I really like their yarn. Of course, I would use more boyish colors. What do you think? Any suggestions for good boy crochet projects? Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!

Embroidered Pillow

2008-05-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

It's done! I finished it last night and I love how it came out. I put some cute little flowers around the drawing in the middle and I put my daughter's name under the picture along with the date when she did the drawing. I think my Mom will love it. Now I need to run to the post office and get it out! I better hurry

Belated Birthday Treasures

2008-05-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

My sister was so nice and made me some pretty bracelets and earrings for my birthday. (The earrings are not pictured since they are currently in my ears ). They arrived a little late which I think is nice because it makes my birthday last longer! The bracelets and earrings are really pretty and I am sure that I will be wearing them a lot. She also made this really beautiful little beaded purse for my daughter. It is only a couple inches wide and it is so pretty. She has been making these for a while now and every one of them is just beautiful. In case you are wondering, these bags are knitted! She has the tiniest knitting needles and she strings all the beads on before she starts making the bag. I think they are amazing.

On another note, I have signed up for my first swap. I am excited to do this and wanted to share with you. LucyKate is having a Toadstool Swap and I am sure that it will be lots of fun. If you haven't checked out LucyKate's blog, now is a good time to visit. You can still sign up for the swap too!

Kid's Art Embroidery

2008-05-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy weekend. We spent Saturday out with a couple from India. They were very nice and we had a lovely time. And yesterday we took the kids to Disney's Magic Kingdom. We had been planning it for a while and it was tons of fun. It really is the happiest place on earth. Our kids were so good and just had a great time.

It is a little bit of a drive for us (about an hour or so) so I brought my embroidery in the car with me. I decided to try to embroider this picture that my daughter drew and make it into a pillow for my mom. Mother's Day is swiftly approaching and I am trying to get this out to her in time for it. (I am really going to have to hurry!) I love the way it is coming out. Here is what I have done so far...

I am embroidering on fleece because I want it to be a nice soft pillow. I am pretty happy with how it is turning out. All I did to do this was take a water soluble pen and try to draw my daughter's drawing on the fleece. Now I am just embroidering over those lines. So far it has been really easy. I will show you the finished product when I am done. As a side note, my daughter saw it in the car yesterday and she was so excited to see what I am doing with her drawing. It was cute.

Fishy Business

2008-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

I had a customer request a goldfish and I couldn't help myself, I made two! I couldn't find orange wool blend felt at the store (they had every other color) so I decided to try fleece and also flannel and see how it went. I made the fleece fish first and he is totally cute. My daughter wants one now too. He is really adorable.

I had thought about trying to make a couple stuffed animals in flannel and I thought this was a great opportunity. It was a good learning experience. The flannel is not as forgiving as felt and fleece. Every little imperfection is visible to me. But I do like that it is very soft and it shows the detail stitching very well.

The flannel is also very washable (as is the fleece). I love working with the felt but I have concerns about using the wool blend felt on kids toys. I am not sure how it will clean up. Common sense tells me to make something for my son, let him play with it for a couple of weeks and then try to clean it. But that would be to easy :)

Wii Are Having Fun! And Sewing A Little Too.

2008-04-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

Well the new Wii is definitely addictive! I like that my daughter is able to use it really well too, since we did want it to be for the entire family. She is a very good bowler, golfer and boxer. She especially enjoys beating her parents! I wish I could say that we were letting her win but that isn't always the case! I am sure that we are going to enjoy having this in our family for quite a while. (Don't worry, this won't turn into a Wii Crafting Blog! Ha!)

I have managed to still get some sewing done. I am almost completely done with another First Letter Book. I really like these books. They are just too cute! And still fun to make, which is even better! Here are a couple of close up pictures of the objects that go with the letters.

I just love the way this book looks when it is all put together. Doing this book also makes me want to do some embroidery. Mother's Day is coming up and I am thinking about trying to take my daughter's drawing and doing an embroidery of it on a small pillow for my Mom. I feel pretty safe writing about this because she doesn't really read this blog. I think it would be pretty quick to do but I will need to start soon. I'm inspired by all the redwork on flickr and think it would be nice to do this embroidery in one single color, just like her drawing. I think my Mom would like it. And I'll have fun making it too!

Scrapbooking and My Birthday!!

2008-04-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday I spent all day scrapbooking and it was great. I finally worked on my son's baby album and I managed to get about half of it done. The scrapbooking event was sponsored by Creative Memories and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to have an entire day without someone fussing at me for juice or a snack. Here are some of the pages that I got done. They are very simple and I am really happy with how they came out.

I am excited to finally have made some progress on his book. Next month is another full day crop and I am hoping to get his book completed. Wish me luck.

Sunday was also a special day. It was my birthday!! And look what my amazing hubby got for me-

I was so happily surprised! We don't usually do this much for our birthday's but I love it! It feels like a gift for the entire family. My kids are still little but they are both doing really well with it. My 6 year old is a pretty good bowler! My husband and I boxed last night and he knocked me out. I wasn't real happy about that but it was still fun. I hope you had a nice weekend too!

Springtime Crafts

2008-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

I go to the library a lot. I have always loved libraries. Growing up, our local library was nearby and I used to walk there all the time. I would just wander the aisles looking at all the different types of books. I did the same this when I was in college, which was great because the library was huge. I could wander for days. Lately my favorite section is the craft section, no surprise. I love looking at all different types of crafts and I love that I can take the books home and try them out before deciding if it is something I would get enough use out of to own. The other day I found a book that I am loving and wanted to share it with you.

It's Crafting Springtime Gifts by Tone Finnanger. It is just an adorable book with tons of cute projects. I can't decide which project I would like to try first. There are some adorable little patchwork totes , cute rabbits and adorable hearts. And all the projects look really easy and not to overwhelming. I am going to try to do a project or two and I will be on the lookout for this book next time I am at the bookstore. It is just too cute. I haven't seen any of her other books but after doing a little Google search I see that there is an adorable blog devoted just to Tone Finnanger and her books. It looks really interesting too. Be sure to check out Tone Finnanger/Tilda Addict.

On another note, I am scrapbooking all day tomorrow. I am really excited. My bag is packed and my pictures are organized. I almost forgot to pack my ticket which would have been very tragic! The convention center is probably 20 miles away so I would be in a lot of trouble. I will be sure to share some pics with you when I get done. Hope you have a nice, relaxing weekend!

Getting Ready

2008-04-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have a full day of scrapbooking coming up on Saturday and I am busy now trying to get ready for it. It should be a lot of fun. It is at the Convention Center and is this huge all day event type thing. I have never been scrapbooking at this big a location but the ladies that I usually get together with once a month to scrapbook with heard that it would be a lot of fun. So I am going. I have also planned to finally do my son's baby album while there. Yes, he is almost three. I know. Anyway, now I have the task of organizing all the pictures from his first year, and getting prints made if I need any. I know that I am missing some prints. I am also very worried that I will miss a cute picture (like there aren't a million other cute pictures of him!) so I am trying to go through everything very carefully. I probably should have started this earlier. It looks like my system of just putting pictures of him in a box wasn't as good an idea as I thought it would be. Huh.

The other day, my daughter drew me a picture. That isn't really anything new, but I am in love with this picture. Check it out.

(Sorry about the poor picture quality). I just love this picture. I think I'm going to try drawing out a version of it to embroider. I love how happy she looks. And what really kills me is her little nose up in the air and the pig tails! I just love it. I have to do something with this! Every time I walk by it, I smile.

One more thing. I love to read but haven't really gotten much reading accomplished lately with all this crafting going on. Well, I read on another blog, sorry I don't remember which, about Janet Evanovich. Everyone was raving about her but I had never read her. So, I picked up her book when I was at the library (she has a bunch, I picked up the first One for the Money). It was an incredibly fun read. I really enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it.

My Favorite Soup Recipe

2008-04-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is hands down my favorite soup. I love it. It is any easy, healthy vegetable soup that, for some reason, my children eat! It is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine and can be found here. It freezes extremely well, and is highly adaptable. To make it a little more of a meal, I like to add cheese ravioli to it. I have also added small pasta shapes to it and cooked rice. I love it so much, I just had to share it with you. The picture above is the batch that I made yesterday. It is delicious! Enjoy!

More Soft Books

2008-04-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

I find it hard to stay focused on one thing at a time. I had cut out the pieces for a bunch of different soft counting books and put them in bags so that I could just pick them up and start stitching. I also like to put one in my purse and then if I am out or in the car and hubby is driving, I have something to work on. Well, I have gotten distracted and they have been sitting for a couple weeks now. I think I needed a brake from them anyhow. But the past couple nights I got another one done and now I am ready to finish the others. I was trying to make a couple that were definitely good for boys, since I know that it can be hard to find boyish things that are still cute. So I decided to do a sporty book. Here are some pics.

I am very happy with the way that it came out. I really like the soccer balls. I think that they are my favorite. There are also some adorable baseballs and tennis balls in the book too. It's nice and simple but cute too.

I also made another chicken the other day out of fabric to see what it would look like, but I think I like the felt one better. What do you think?

He's okay, I guess. Maybe I just like felt too much.

More Cow Now

2008-04-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

I should complain about not being able to get stuff done more often because right after I wrote that I managed to get work done on my little cow. Plus, I managed to make a pig too! How exciting! My son was happily playing with his cars next to me while I got their bodies all sewed together and the ears and other pieces cut out. Then last night I finished up all the detail stitching while watching the movie Gone Baby Gone. I love the way they came out. I used regular acrylic craft felt for the pig. She is nice and cozy but I am a little concerned about how she'll hold up if she is played with by a boisterous child. (Do you sense my lack of faith in the durability in acyrlic felt?) The body of the cow is made with a wool blend felt that I like a lot. I had never worked with wool blend felt until recently and I am totally falling in love with it. It is so much nicer to work with that it will be hard to use regular acrylic felt. Although I don't mind using the acrylic for the smaller detail pieces on stuff. Only the cows body is wool blend, the rest is acrylic. Ok, whatever. Here they are!

My only problem now is that I am too in love with them to list them for sale in my etsy shop. I am going to try making some animals out of cotton fabric which would be easier to care for with little one's anyway.

On a completely unrelated note, have you been to the Real Age website. I have started reading You: Staying Young and I decided to check out the website. I took the Real Age test and it said that I was 3 1/2 years older than my actual age. Needless to say I went right out and got my husband and I pedometers, since our problem is a lack of exercise. He is worse because he has a desk job. The goal with the pedometer is to reach 10,000 steps a day. The first day wearing it I did great with over 11,000 steps by the end of the day. Yesterday I only had around 7000. Today is a whopping 13,000 and it is only 6:30pm. Yeah me! I really do recommend everyone take this test. It is shocking to see the results. Good luck if you take it!

Update: I have broken down and decided to put these cute animals in my shop. I decided it was best when I found some wool felt online that i would like to buy :)

Not A Cow

2008-04-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

I was too tired Sunday night to start working on the cow I want to make to go with the chicken. We had a pretty busy weekend and I just didn't have it in me Sunday Night. Monday was laundry and cleaning day and not much else got done. I was finally able to sit down last night and start working on the cow. The only problem is that the body just doesn't look right. It looks more like a dog body to me. I think it needs to be wider or fatter. I think I might just take the udders out and make this a black and white dog. A black and white dog could be really cute, especially since our family dog, is black and white. I will need to restart work on the cow.

I am not sure how some mom's get so much done while at home with their kids. I find it difficult lately to get anything done (with crafts) during the day. My daughter is at school but my son is home with me and he has stopped napping. I used to get a lot done during his naps. I could get house stuff done and still have a little time for me. I miss nap time. I remember when my daughter stopped napping and I missed it then too. O well. They grow to fast. Today he stops napping, tomorrow he's in school, then he's driving and moved out. It all goes too fast. I will just try to enjoy him today. It's all I can do (and he is super cute).

Cluck Cluck

2008-04-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished up my first batch of blocks and I am very happy with how they have turned out. They are currently listed for sale in my etsy shop. I went to Joann's the other day and managed to find some more fabric that I really liked for more blocks. It was difficult to find something that I liked for little boys but I think that I did okay. I tried to just get some bright colors and I am happy with what I purchased.

Last night, I decided to start something new that I have been thinking about trying to make. When my daughter was about a 2 years old, my grandmother made her a really cute barn shaped bag with little stuffed animals in it. It is really adorable and she really liked it and my son now plays with it. I have since found out that she made it from an old Butterick pattern. I saw it the other day when looking around etsy here. I don't have this pattern but was inspired by the little animals my grandmother made from it to try to make my own farm animals. So, last night while watching a movie with my hubby, I made this.

I think it's adorable. I tend to love whatever project I am working on, or just finished and this is no exception. I just love it. I am going to try out my skills on another animal tonight while we watch part 6 of John Adams on HBO. Maybe I'll try a cow. Hmm.

Stacking Up

2008-04-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have still be working on some cloth baby blocks all week, but I am finally getting them finished. Here is a picture of some completed blocks all stacked up. I am happy with how they have come out. I do think that I need to find another fabric so that I can make some blocks that look more for boys. I had hoped that the blue shades of this fabric would work for boys or girls, but I'm not sure now. I think I need something decidely more boyish. I am going to try to go out this weekend and find something that I like that will work. Maybe I can just find something cute with bright colors that will work for either boy or girl. Oh what a shame, I need to go fabric shopping. ;)

Crochet Flower Baby Blanket

2008-04-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the prettiest blanket! This blanket is from The Purl Bee website. They have amazing projects on there website. I love to crochet and I do believe that I will be making this blanket in the future. My sister is pregnant and we are not sure yet whether she is having a boy or girl, but if it is a girl I just may make her this blanket. I love the colors too, but my sister might like girlier colors.

I am still working on little baby blocks. Stuffing and sewing. But they do look really cute!

Blondies

2008-04-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

My son and I made these blondies this afternoon. I have had these planned for a couple of weeks now. I was waiting to make them for a day when the kids ate their dinner in peace and without a lot of prodding. Last night they finally ate really well. And go figure, I made salmon. I thought for sure they would hate it but no. They both ate all of it and my daughter loved it. So today, we finally made these. They are so good. They are from Martha Stewart Everyday Magazine. The recipe is here. They were super easy and very yum!

Stuff-itis!

2008-04-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

I gave up shopping for Lent and I did really well. I only allowed myself to buy absolute necessities and tried really hard to not buy anything I didn't need. I only slipped up once (I had such bad PMS and I am sure I did it for all the wrong reasons, but whatever) and I bought some scrapbooking paper and an issue of Vogue.

Well, Easter has passed and Lent is over and now I feel like I have binged. I really haven't bought too much when I think about it but it feels like more. I bought a purse that I had been drooling over at Target (and it was half off!). I finally purchased all I need to scrapbook my son's baby album, and he will be three in June. And this weekend I bought some shorts and shoes that I do believe I needed. I live in Florida and I didn't have any shorts. That's wrong! I didn't really need this though, but I love it! I remember seeing this griddle/grill on HSN and I really wanted it then but it was something like $80 and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But I saw it about a month ago at Sam's and it was only $50. Only it was during Lent and I had to let it pass. Well, Lent is over now, so I got it this weekend. I used it already last night. And yes, it is everything I hoped it would be.

On another note, my hubby and I watched the movie Dan in Real Life this weekend and I thought it was really good. My hubby said he felt like he had been tricked into watching a chick flick because he didn't realize from the preview that it was a love story. O well. I liked it and he seemed to enjoy himself too. I do wonder though, why is the Mom always dead. I know it makes the viewer more sympathetic to the character but I am starting to worry for my own safety! Really, think of all the movies where the Mom is dead or dies. Practically all the Disney movies, Harry Potter, Love Actually, Sleepless in Seattle, even Garden State (which I love). I can't think of more but I would like to know what else. Can you think of more? Because I know there are tons.

Block Party

2008-04-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make some soft blocks for a while now and I finally started making them on Friday. I am having so much fun making them and I think they look so nice. I love the Moda fabric that I bought for these. I can see how people get addicted to buying fabric. I could easily spend a ton of money on fabric for these cute little blocks.

I think I am going to put letters on them. I did one just to see how it would look. I think it looks really nice. Another good thing is that they are just the right size for little hands. My daughter keeps wanting to play with them too and she is 5. She did the lovely pyramid in the first picture. I just love them.

We had a really nice weekend. Saturday we packed a picnic and went to a nearby state park, Hontoon Island. The kids loved it. It was a bit more rustic than I had thought it would be but it was really nice. We took the kids on a 2 1/2 mile hike. They were quite hot and tired by the time we finished. My hubby and I did not realize how far it was until we had already walked quite a lot. But the kids did super. Then we rented a canoe and went for a ride. I had never been in a canoe before so I asked the Ranger if there was anything that we should watch out for and she replied, "Just gators." Oh, how nice. This also had my daughter sufficiently freaked. Luckily, we did not see any alligators. I was actually a very nice canoe ride. Short, but nice. The kids keep asking to go back. I am sure that we will.

Daydreams

2008-04-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

A happy little arrival today of some fabric squares that I ordered. It is so nice to go to the mailbox and find such pretty things. Much better than junk mail or bills. The squares are by Moda and it is there Daydreams line. I want to make some cute, soft alphabet baby blocks and I think that these will perfect.

Also pictured is a page from the little alphabet book that I am putting together. I think it looks really cute so far and I am excited to get it done. I will be working on it tonight while watching a movie with the hubby. It will either be Primary Colors or August Rush. We'll see.

A little Update

2008-04-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have been working hard to get some items done for my Etsy shop the past couple of days. I didn't get done all that I wanted too but o well. I was slowed by our trip but I think it was worth it. My daughter is on Spring Break this week and I am hoping to do some fun things with the kids during the day. I was thinking of either the zoo or the beach. I can't decide though. I am leaning towards the beach (which is unusual for me as I am not a beach person).

I have started working on a small alphabet book with just the letters A-E in it upon request of a customer who loved her counting book so much. I hate the idea of breaking up the alphabet but it is probably perfect for little ones anyway. I doubt they would make it through all 26 letters. So far it is coming out so cute. Here is a sneak peak...

This is the dog for the letter D. I decided to embroider on his details and I love the way it came out. I think he is adorable.

On a completely separate and non-related note, my hubby and I have been watching the John Adams miniseries on HBO and if you aren't, and you have HBO, you should be watching too. It is just so good. The acting is good and the story is great. We don't usually have HBO, but we recently switched cable companies and they are giving it to us free for a couple of months. I am really enjoying it and especially the John Adams miniseries. I think this is great, especially during this election year.
On another non-related note, there was a really interesting article about biofuel in this weeks Time Magazine, if anyone is interested. I was really surprised.

Vacations Over...Back to Work!

2008-03-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we got home yesterday and it is back to the daily grind. We had a wonderful time visiting my family. It was much colder in Connecticut than it is here in Florida but it was a nice change and worth every chill to be able to spend time with my loved ones. It does make it harder to come home. I really liked being able to spend time with my parents and my sister and her husband. It really makes you miss all that day to day time together even more. I can't wait to go again but we probably won't go again until around Christmas. I would love to fly up for my sister's baby shower but I am not sure that will be possible. We'll see. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip. The first one is the kids on Easter Sunday. They both looked so nice. The other is of a cute chipmunk that lives in my sister's front yard. I just think he is the cutest thing.

I didn't get very much done with all my crafts. I am still working some counting books. I have finally made some progress over the last couple days. I made a Counting Vegetables book and the Cauliflower took forever. I had the brilliant idea to use french knots all over the top and they took a lot longer than I thought they would. But I think that it came out really nice.

The corn came out pretty cute too. Now I really want to get a couple more done soon to put up in my etsy shop. I also want to try making some blocks. And I have had a request for an ABC Book, so I need to get on that too. So much to do. Vacation is definitely over.

Butterflies

2008-03-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have much to write today. Getting ready for vacation. Packing for our flight. But something exciting did happen today. The butterflies emerged. This morning the chrysllis' looked like this...I checked again after I picked up my daughter from school and they looked like this...
They are amazing and beautiful. I love watching them emerge and am sorry that I missed most of the process but at least we got to see them before they flew away. And now I have to get all of our stuff packed so that we can fly away. See you when I get back.

Acrylic VS. Wool, or a Blend

2008-03-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of cutting out more counting books and I have decided to experiment with a wool-blend felt. It is 35% wool (if I remember right) and it was quite a bit more expensive. I really like the feel of it but I am not sure if it is worth the extra cost, given what I am using it for. I know that the acrylic cleans up pretty nice and seems to be quite durable. Since I am basically making a toy/chilren's book, I am wondering what would be best. I like the idea of the wool because it is natural and it really does have a very nice feel to it. It feels more dense.

I did find this felt at Wal-mart by The Kunin Group which is called ecospun which is "polyester made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles." Isn't that nice? I would love to know what anyone out there thinks.

I am still busy trying to get ready for our trip next Tuesday. I told my daughter that I was making her a little bag, which I really want too, but now I really have to find the time to make it. I have the fabric all picked out, I just need to sit down and do it.

Speaking of fabric, have you seen the new Amy Butler fabrics? This one is my favorite. Although I like them all.

Here's to hoping for a productive weekend, for everyone.

A Color Button Book

2008-03-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get as much done this past weekend as I was hoping to get done. My husband's best friend came for a visit so I didn't get too much done that night but we hadn't seen him in a couple of years so it was time well spent. I did start working on a little color button book for my son. I've had this idea for a while now and I decided to sit down and make it before he gets too big for it. He kind of already knows his colors but that is beside the point, right? I still need to write the names of the colors on a couple pages and maybe make a cute cover but other than that it's done. I really like the way that it came out. All of the pieces come off of the buttons so as he gets bigger he can practice putting the pieces back with the right colors, and he will also learn how to do buttons. I think it's really cute.

We are going on vacation next week to Connecticut to visit with my family. I am really looking forward to it since we haven't been since last June. But I feel so busy. I have a long list of things that I want to get done before we go. I've had an idea for a little dress-up bag for my daughter and I am hoping I can get it done so that she can have something new to occupy her on the plane. I am also hoping to get the pieces cut out for more counting books so that I can bring them with me to do while I am there. Too much to do.

I am also contemplating the best way to run my etsy shop. I put up an announcement that I will be posting new stock on the first of every month. I am hoping this will be good all around. It will give me time to make items and also give customers a definite time to look for new stock. I guess I have to try it to see if it goes well. I am also thinking that I will add color books (without all the buttons) like the counting books. I think they are just so cute. Well, I have a lot of work to do.

Productivity and PMS

2008-03-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well, this has been a long week and it wasn't until today that I really got a whole lot done. I have been working on a couple more counting books. I finished this really cute counting fruit book at the beginning of the week and started on another bugs & blooms counting book, but it is still not done. I think I am going to force myself to stay awake until it is entirely done. I love the way the counting fruit book turned out and I am definitely going to make more. I am also going to make a counting veggies book which I think will be equally cute.

PMS took up most of my time this week. It pretty much had me too frazzled to do much of anything. I haven't felt this bad from PMS since my son was born. It isn't this bad every month (good thing for hubby and kids) and I haven't been able to tell if there is anything that triggers a bad month. I've tried dietary changes, teas, exercise (although, not as good as I should) but so far nothing has really worked. I would like to try the exercise more but it's difficult with little ones at home all day. Plus, I don't really have room for a treadmill or anything and the videos don't go well with my little ones. They get in the way too much and ask obnoxious questions. Anyway, I am feeling better now and less like a possessed woman.

So, finally, this afternoon, after a morning of cleaning and laundry, my son took a short nap and I was able to sit and work on cutting out the pieces for more counting books. It was nice to get something done. I plan on working on them some more this weekend. I also plan on making a duct tape dress form this weekend. I will post a picture when it is done. I am hoping that it will make my refashioning easier since I am making a couple things for myself. I even bought some purple duct tape for the top layer of the dress form so that it won't be that icky gray. Here's to hoping it comes out good.

Waredrobe Refashion and Some Other Stuff Too

2008-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

First, some sewing news. I have signed up for 2 months of Wardrobe Refashion. I have been enjoying all the creative projects over there for a couple of months and after thinking about a little, I decided to pledge. I only did the two months since I am not sure how far I will get with my small stash and so far I have not had much success with my local Goodwill. I am excited though and already know what my first refashion is going to be. I am turning one of my hubbies old shirt's into my shirt. I am sure that it will be interesting.

Last night I finished another counting book order and I think it came out really cute. I had a very interesting 24 hour craft bug where I was unable to do french knots, but luckily it passed. It has to be the most bizzare thing to happen to me in a while but I actually could not do them. I have no idea what I was doing wrong but luckily I'm fine now. It's all good and the book is really cute. I especially like the barn for number one. I already have some other books ready to be sewn together which should be really cute. I am trying a cupcake and ice cream one that I think will be super cute.

On another note the catepillars in the butterly garden have been very busy. Right now a couple are doing this ...
One is doing this ...
And 3 look like this...
Pretty soon we can watch them emerge, changed and new.

Fair Weather

2008-02-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

We have been having really nice weather lately. Not at all like winter. Not that winter in Florida is ever that bad. The plants in the yard are acting like it's spring. My oleander is starting to bloom and there are a couple other plants that have new growth on them too. We also planted a small butterfly garden last spring and right now we have a bunch of queen catepillars eating at the milkweed and I think a couple are on the move to make their chrysalis'. It is an amazing life cycle to watch. We saw quite a few Monarch catepillars in the fall and it was fantastic. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids! I want to make the butterfly garden a little bigger this year and I should probably do it soon.

This weekend was very productive. I went scrapbooking on Saturday and got a bunch done and I started crocheting a Market bag with a pattern from the Lion Brand website on Friday. I finished it last night while I watched the Oscars. I love watching the Oscar's but I am the only person I know who feels that way. My husband was nice and sat with me for a little bit but he doesn't feel the same way I do about it, which is okay. It was nice to sit and watch and crochet. I even finished my bag. If the yarn color looks familiar it's because this was the same yarn I used with the cable scarf. I like it much better as a bag. I even used it this morning when I took my son to the library. I think that now it is back to counting books for a bit since I have a couple that I think will be really cute. I also have a couple of ideas for children's activity bags that I am trying to work the details out on before I sit down and try to put one together. So many projects, so little time.

Busy Busy

2008-02-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have managed to get a couple things done and am feeling very proud of myself (at least for today). I finished another little counting book and I have to say that I absolutely love it. I think it came out just too cute. I think that they are all cute (so does my son, Sam) but there is something about the latest one that I really like it. It is called Counting Bugs and Blooms and I have listed it in my Etsy shop. I loved the entire book but my favorite was the ladybugs with the number five so I am putting a picture here.

Also, despite being tired from the day's activities, I managed to get some sewing done last night. After the kids went to bed I got out the iron and the sewing machine and set to work at making this little shirt.

This is not the most flattering picture but I really like the shirt. I think it could have been a size smaller, but since this is really the first thing that I have ever sewn for myself to wear, I think I did pretty good. It is from New Look 6775. I will definitely be using this pattern again. It was easy to follow and I just really like the style.

A Knitting Lesson

2008-02-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

I was listening to a knitting podcast the other day from the Lion Brand Yarn company and they were talking about different styles of knitting. I was very intrigued and decided to google "continental knitting" out of curiosity. Well, after a bit I ended up watching this little video on You tube . I couldn't believe it! I had to try this, so I grabbed my knitting and sat in front of the computer and gave it a try. Well, I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. I love this technique! It is so much faster for me! I had to relax and get the tension right but I love it. The bad news is that I ruined my first cable scarf. O well.

You can see that this is just not right. The gauge is a little different and to be honest, I made a couple mistakes during the learning process. So I have taken this little project apart. It's for the best really. I wasn't too crazy about it. I like the cable but not with this yarn. I think that this yarn is destined to be a dish cloth or two. I will need to get some nicer yarn when I am ready to try the cable scarf again. But at least I learned a couple things from this whole project. I learned how to do a cable (pretty easy) and I learned that I like continental style knitting. Not too bad, I think.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a really nice day. I spent the morning working in my neighbors floral shop. I have worked with her a couple of times now and I really enjoy it. She was short handed yesterday and so I actually got to do a couple of arrangements. It was a lot of fun. The great thing is that she thought I was pretty good too so she is going to train me in floral design so that I can help her even more around her busy holidays. I think that this is awesome, because not only do I get to help her, but I also get to learn something fun and really cool. The more I think about it the more excited I get. I took a picture of this little arrangement that I did with some flowers that she sent me home with (a perk to working in a flower shop, fresh flowers!). I think that it came out pretty cute. I didn't have any greens or fillers around to fill some of the gaps in, but how bad can flowers look anyway.
I am still working on the counting books and knitting my cable scarf but I haven't finished anything lately. My laundry is piling up too. O well.

Another Book and Some Ravelry

2008-02-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Well, one more little felt counting book is done. I think that it came out pretty cute. I was able to finish it last night after the little ones were off to bed. I accomplished a lot last week with cutting out all the little pieces for about 10 books so now I am in the process of sewing them together. I am glad to say that this one took only 3 nights to sew together which is better than a whole week, especially considering I don't get much time at night to work on them. Some nights I am just too sleepy and slow from the day.
I also bought a little organizer for my templates so that I can keep them nice and neat. Right now the dining room table is quite a mess. I really need to clean it up today. It is officially on the "to do" list.
Oh, and good news. My Ravelry invitation finally came! It didn't take as long as I thought it would. It really only took about a week or so. It is really an amazing place. There is so much to do and see. It makes me want to knit and crochet more. I have already seen some things that I want to do. I found a group that does these amigurumi crochet figures. They are so cute. If you go to this blog, she has done some beautiful work. http://owlishly.typepad.com/ Very, very cute. I think when I finish knitting my scarf I will try crocheting one of these little guys. There are just so many groups and things to do on Ravelry that I can see spending a lot of time there, and piling up even more projects that I would like to do. I need to sleep less.

My first cable and some more felty bits

2008-02-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I did start my first cable scarf the other day and it has been going pretty well. I have made a couple errors but at least I am pretty good at taking rows apart and not dropping any stitches (and I think I will have more practice at doing this before this scarf is completed). I am finding the only thing that I need to get used to is all the counting. Counting what stitch I am on and what row I am on. My sister said the best thing to do is not try to remember but to keep notes on a little note pad. I am also starting to be able to tell what row in the cable I am on now by looking at it. That was not the case when I started. It just looked like a big mess of stitches. I am also enjoying the knitting because I can do it at night on the sofa while relaxing with my hubby.

And despite my saying I would take a break from the felt counting books I have started a bunch more. I am currently cutting out all the little felty bits for about 4 books and then I can just sit and stitch them up. I am hoping that will help me get them sewn up a little faster than the last book. But I am very happy with the way the Counting Flowers book came out. And it is more important that the books are well done as opposed to speedy. I started counting books for fruit, dinosaurs, more flowers, and I think a counting on the farm book. I think they will be really cute when they are all done.

On a completely separate note, I am also happy because we have switched cable companies and I know have Bravo back and can watch Project Runway. I am not big on reality TV, we watched one or tow season's of American Idol and that't pretty much it. But I really like Project Runway. I love watching them create different things every week. It's inspiring. Makes me want to sew!