Thursday, January 28, 2010

Red Pillowcase Skirt

Now that Two has switched
her favorite color
from yellow to RED,
(did you see Sunday's picture?)
some new clothes were in order.


After the success of the yellow
pillowcase skirt from last year,
I found a pair of red pillowcases
at my favorite store for $2.



Cut them the length I wanted
(including waist seam allowance):

(I did 16" total for a calf length skirt.)



I wanted it to twirl
so I cut in the ends at an angle:

(I did 2" in on both sides.)



Sewed everything together,
slid some elastic in the waist
and......


$2 worth of fun!


PS. You know it's a hit when she wore it
for 4 days in a row!
And yes, I let her do it.
It's the simple things in life, you know?

PPS. When measuring your child's belly,
make sure she's not puffing her stomach out!
It might make your skirt
a bit too big!
But if it's in her favorite color,
I promise she won't care! :o)



Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Paintbox Quilt-Along

Someone is doing a Quilt-Along
to a quilt that has been on my to-do list!

And not just anyone,
but the actual person
who made the quilt
I fell in love with!

Oh happy day!

She announced the quilt-along two weeks ago
and I have to special order some of the fabric
(my choice, not required)
which will put me even further behind.

So, in other words,
I'll be doing the slacker version
of the quilt along. :o)

And I'm not trying to keep you in suspense
but Elizabeth at Oh Fransson has asked
that we not copy her pictures.
Fair enough.

So go here to check out the quilt.
Or here for the link to the quilt-along.


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Curly Hair Secret

Buy socks!


Or use your son's socks
that you bought a size too big
because you were in a hurry
and not paying enough attention...

I saw the idea here.
She has four daughters.
You know it's going to work.


Look at Two's hair the next morning!

(I used 5 socks.)

She loved it!
Said it was so bouncy!
And the curls stayed all day....
so much better than curling-iron curls!
And so much easier too!


Monday, January 25, 2010

Not Me Monday: The one with the bathroom obsessed child


My sixteen month old's new favorite place is not the bathroom.

He does not like to climb on the step stool and look at the baby in the mirror.




He certainly wouldn't brush his very own teeth while in there!




Nor would he ever make a mess by emptying out the bathroom drawers...
especially all of his sisters' hair accessories!

(Or be unhappy about being caught!)

Nope! Certainly not my child!

For more Not Me! posts, click on the top button.
And while you're at it,
why don't you read her post here
about staying calm and sane
while raising 4 (soon to be 5) children.
Brought me to tears.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

Felt Hair Clips

I recently made
Felt Covered Snap Clips
using Angry Chicken's tutorial.

They were super easy
and you really could go crazy
embellishing them.

I tried two versions.

(I found my snap clips at Joann's in the beading accessory/hardware aisle.)

The top one is with my sewing machine
the bottom is just needle and embroidery thread.
I like the top one the best
but to each his own!

Dress 'em up a little bit and
they would make a great birthday gift!
Or I've actually thought about making
one for all the girls in Two's class
for Valentine's Day....
They're that easy.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Welcome Home Quilt: Part 2

I have not abandoned the blog!
I have a sick computer.
And yes, I fully blame DaddyMan.
Because although he is a major computer nerd
our computer is broken more than
anybody else's I know!
Because he likes to do "stuff".
I don't even know.
Games.
Programs.
Stuff.
Stuff that makes my stuff run slow.
Ugh.
So now we have a substitute computer
while our computer is at the doctor.
For a month.
Ugh.

Silver Lining: It's still under warranty!
Okay, smile.
Whew.

Moving on!



****Spoiler Alert!!!*****

****Look away NOW if you just bought your first house!****


******
Okay,
I must be bad at math or something.
And not like math math,
but simple math.
Like counting.

Yeah.

Because I set out to make 20 blocks
and ended up with 22.
I cut up 10 FQ's,
they each had enough pieces
to make 2 complete blocks.
10 FQ x 2 blocks = 20 complete blocks
Right?

Now, the completed blocks are fabulous!
I figured out the dimentions
without a pattern.
Doing all sorts of math
and adding 1/4 inches and 1/2" where appropriate....
Hard stuff.

But counting out 10 FQ?
Ummm, apparently over my head
because all I can figure out
is that I counted out
eleven FQ.

Not 10.

Maybe I skipped a number???
It's easy to see how one could get confused.
I mean 1-10, it's kind of tricky!

But I laid out all the completed squares
and I am seriously loving this quilt.


And I actually like the extra length
another row added so
I'm going to add solid blocks
in two diagonal corners
to make it all work.

Here's hoping I can at least count to 2!


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Easy Guacamole

I have had such a craving for guacamole lately!
I made one batch using a store mix
and it was so good!
But I wanted to be able to actually make my own
with ingredients I generally have on hand
and ended up discovering a really great recipe.
So easy, so fabulously delicious!

Here are the ingredients:
(Salsa, salt, garlic powder, lemon juice, avocado)

The directions are per avocado:
(who's awesome idea was that?!?)

1/4 tsp salt
2 T salsa (I did 1T+)
3/4 tsp garlic powder (I did 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice

Smash up,
refrigerate,
serve.




YUM!!!

We actually served ours right away
and it was so good!
But I must say that it was noticeably better
the next day.
That "refridgerate"-ing part did something.

And everyone knows how to remove
the avocado pit, right?
Whack it with your knife and twist?

Well, apparently I did my very best
and whacked it too hard:

And since those pits are slippery
right out of the avocado,
not to mention my recent experience
with fingers and sharp objects,
I left them on there!
Thank goodness for a long knife!







Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Welcome Home Quilt

***SPOILER ALERT*** If you just bought a house
and want to be surprised, don't read a word further!


***********
Okay,
I've started a new quilt for a dear friend
who just bought her first house.

The fabrics were a FQ bundle and
I'm so glad that they were all picked for me!
I am not great at coordinating fabrics,
especially patterns!



These really aren't my colors,
so I don't know why I bought them,
but they contain my friend's:
wall color
couch color
and favorite color...
Could it be any more obvious that
these were destined for her?

In searching for a pattern,
I found a Turning Twenty quilt
that I just loved.

Not wanting to buy the pattern,
anyone can pretty much see that
they are just quilt blocks cut into thirds
so I cut all my fabric
and it seems to be working out!

Here's a sneak peek:


And to keep it real:

See that bottom piece?
You guessed it, cutting mistake!
Imperfection is allowed!
That's why I love homemade quilts.

Stay tuned for a finished quilt top!


Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sixteen Months!

Guess who?
It's Three!!!



He looks just like my baby pics here:

And oh my gosh, how I love those cheeks!


At 16 mos, Three:
*is still hovering around 20 lbs (under the weight chart)
*has 8 teeth
*can point to his head, nose, and feet
*says mama, dada, "Two", baby, thank you, Maisy (our dog), book, bye-bye, & go
*signs more, all done, drink & light
*uses a fork really well, but a spoon is a disaster
*generally starts chucking his food on the floor when he's all done
*loves to give kisses, blow raspberries, and make car noises
*sleeps through the night, and takes 1-2 naps a day
*is such a mama's boy, to the point that he has no lovey, just me
*comes over every few minutes to lay his head on whatever part of me is available for a quick hug, then back to play
*loves to climb on the couch so he can pull on the lampshade of our side table lamps
*can blow his nose
*likes to pull things out of the recycle
*sometimes puts his milk cup in odd places, like the cookie sheet cupboard

Monday, January 11, 2010

Not Me Monday: The one requiring a tetanus shot.



Well, it was not me who did something I know I shouldn't have done.

In my rush to get dinner into the crockpot early, just minutes before I needed to pick Two up from preschool, I did not do something that led to me not only ruin dinner before it even got started, but prevented me from picking up my child as well. Nope!

As I was not rushing to open cans to dump into my crockpot, I did not decide that my very-old-can-opener did a "good enough" job and just decide to push in the tomato sauce lid enough to pour the sauce out. I would never do this because I am always patient enough to work with my very-old-can-opener until a can is fully opened. When not pushing in the lid, like I have not done a million times, it gave! And boy did it! And of course, because I did not want to get cut, I did not jerk my hand out of there as fast as I could. Which, judging by the cut on my finger, was obviously not fast enough. Hmmm.

Pressure, cold water. Yup. Only, now I was late to pick up my daughter. I did not bleed all over the phone (or the floor, or the counter) while calling my mom to see if she could pick up Two. Or then calling my doctor for a tetanus shot. No, once again my patience won out and I waited until I could dial without creating a bio-hazard situation.

At the doctor's trip that ensued, they did not tell me that I could not have a tetanus shot! Even though I was well beyond the needing-to-have-the-shot-in-the-last-5-yrs range in cases of actual cutting on metal! There was no information on how the shot would affect #4 so they did not instead proceed to tell me all the warning signs of lock jaw!!!

While I was a little crazy about not getting the tetanus shot, the flip side was that I couldn't get my finger wet for a week. This did not lead to me telling DaddyMan that I couldn't wash dishes....

Just like when I got a 15 lb lifting restriction put on me earlier in my pregnancy...I definitely didn't tell DaddyMan that meant I could no longer do laundry... Nope, not me! :o)

What did you not do? Check out MckMama's blog for other Not Me moments!



Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Cozy Quilt

I finished another quilt!
This quilt belongs on the back
of our living room couch.
I pulled all the colors
from my living room curtains.
I just love it!


I didn't have a pattern,
but my inspiration was Stephanie's quilt
over at Jonquils & Ladybugs.
She participated in Park City Girl's Quilt Festival
and I'm so glad she did!


I used 12 fat quarters
and squared them up
as big as I could make them.
17.5" x 17.5" I think?
(Maybe less, since of course I made
some cutting errors! Shhhh!)
And then 4 or 5 inch strips of muslin.

As soon as I laid it out,
Two ran over to make
Quilt Angels.

My quilter worked with me
and really listened to what
I liked and didn't like about the last quilt.
Gave me some options.
And this is just perfection.
Look at all that puckery, wrinkly goodness!


The back is just some clearance fabric
I pieced together.


I hope this quilting kick lasts a bit longer!
I've got another quilt in the works.
Stay tuned...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Quilt for One

So this Christmas became the Christmas
of the unfinished gift.
Not that it was obvious.
But I was getting stressed
and decided that I needed to enjoy the holiday
a bit more and take time to appreciate
the real meaning of Christmas.

(ps. It's not homemade gifts.)

Sooo, I had planned on making jammies
but bought them instead.
No one knew.

I had planned on making
Christmas pillowcases
but put it off for next year.
No one knew.

Give my son an unfinished quilt?
Oh my, never hear the end of it!!!
It was only short the binding, come on now!
And actually, my daughter found it
much more hilarious than my son.

"Mommy gave One a quilt that wasn't finished!"
She told everyone!
"How was your Christmas?" That was her answer!

But all became well today.


One actually picked out the fabric himself
during a pre-Christmas trip to Joann's.
However I of course told him it was for somebody else.
And since he knew about the last CraftHope project,
he totally fell for it.


It's pretty big but not too big.
Good for snuggling or taking in the car.


Apparently it's also perfect for reading,
One's most favorite activity after soccer.

Would you believe I actually had to make him
put his book down so I could take all those
first pictures! Oh my!


Anyone elses kid just crazy over A to Z Mysteries?
The school library can't keep them on the shelf!



Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Blog Signature

Warning: I'm not even sure this is worth it's own post!

You know when you see a word
printed over and over and over again...
how it starts to look misspelled?

Did you ever think your name could do that too?

Well I found a free site that make signatures!
And I have to tell you, that after looking at my name
over 100 times (in different fonts)
it seriously started to look wrong!

But I found one I liked and here it is:


Want one of your own? Go here!
It's totally free, you don't even have to register!



ps. Still working on it obviously, but it was fun!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Not Me Monday: The one with the gum



It was not my child who took gum without asking. Especially since he knows he's not allowed to have gum. This rule may or may not have come from the fact that the last time he was actually allowed to have gum....I found it -chewed- on the floor. On carpet.

Saturday night, I did not discover my child chewing gum. When asked, he recovered the not-taken-from-Daddy's-stocking gum package from his room. After I did not give him a talking to, I did not figure the issue was officially "Handled."

Therefore, on Sunday, when I was cleaning off our dining room table, I was not horrified and irritated to find gum on my table!!! Not on the top, no, on the sneaky sides. Knowing which child was the culprit, that child was not immediately sentenced to cleaning off the gum plus the grodies that were not under the table. (That would just be gross.) Upon further cleaning, I did not proceed
to find four more pieces of gum!!!

Obviously I was not livid or completely frustrated! Plus, come on, my kid is smart. Doesn't he realize that if he just put the gum in the trash, I might never know about it?!?

And of course, when I sat to to write my Not Me Monday post, wondering what I might write about, I certainly did not find yet another piece of gum.....this time a different color....on the floor, immediately in front of the computer.

Where is all this gum coming from?!? I don't even buy gum!

ps. My child, who is not currently on my, not-my-favorite-child list (who has one of those? Certainly not me!) is now responsible for taking out the trash all week. From every single trash can. Think he might be able to find a trash can to put his not-swiped gum in by the end of it?



Click on the Not Me Button above for more Not Me adventures!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year!

From our adventures in trying to get home from the in-laws....some fun in a photo booth.

Imagine, someone hit the "go" button
before we had angled the camera!
With 5 people in that teeny booth,
I can't imagine how it happened! :o)

It's so odd to me that I'm the only
dark-haired one in the bunch!
It's like the Sesame Street song,
"One of these things is not like the other..."
So not fair! I'm their mother!

Happy New Year!