Chenille Scarf

Finally back to sewing! I cancelled my November sewing class because I wasn't feeling up to it. Good thing I did, because that night was when we checked into the hospital to have a baby.  :)

I wanted to go back in December, and my friend had missed the night she signed up for, so we were able to go together on the 18th. It was great to have a night out again! The project for this month was a faux chenille scarf. I had no idea what it was or what it would look like until the night of class. When I saw the pattern I didn't love the look of it, but thought it would still be a good idea to learn a new sewing technique so I headed over to the rack of fabric.

 We were told to get two yards of yarn-dyed flannel. Unlike regular flannel, yarn-dyed is the same look and feel on both the front and back. I picked out a light blue with dark blue and beige plaid.

The instructor told us what to do and we started cutting...come to think of it, I didn't even use the pattern I bought! That's okay, I guess I'll have it for future reference if I want to make another scarf later on. Anyway, this project couldn't have been easier. We layered strips a certain way, then sewed down the length of them back and forth until we reached the edges. Then we used a fun little tool to cut the flannel between the seams. After the scarf was washed and dried, it was soft and frayed on both sides to give it the faux chenille look. Some people cut the seams at the end to give it tassels. I couldn't decide if I wanted them, so I left mine solid. Here's the finished scarf....

It turned out to be a pretty cool project! I was going to make a few for gifts, but it was too close to Christmas and I didn't get time. I'm glad I learned how to make them, though.  :)

2012 is Over Already?!

Wow, this year went by fast! They say the older you get the faster time goes by...I think I'm starting to see the truth in that!
The last time I was able to log in was to announce Elise's birth. Let's see...what has been going on with our family since then...?

Well, to start with, Elise has been such a sweet and easy baby. She loves to be held and snuggled and just last week she started smiling. Is there anything sweeter than a baby's first smiles?? Those big wide, toothless smiles that just melt your heart and make you smile right back at her. :) And she's been sleeping for 5-6 hours at night, which is wonderful!

Parker seems to love his little sister and sometimes will ask to "Hold it Baby?" (translation: hold the baby?)

He's been a helpful big brother, bringing her toys and burp cloths, and always telling me when she's crying. Sometimes he will ask her what's wrong or try to tell us she needs a bath.  :) Hopefully they're close enough in age that they'll be good friends in a couple years.

I think we've adjusted pretty well to having two little ones! There's more laundry, more crying, WAY more diapers, and it usually takes an extra half hour to get out the door when we try to go somewhere. But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world! I took me a while but I'm finally realizing that housework and errands can wait. Baby snuggles and toddler playtime are more important.

Christmas was fun this year, as always! Parker helped Kyle put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. He was very busy carrying branches back and forth and once the lights were on we let him help hang a few of  the ornaments, including the Phineas and Ferb one he picked out at the store.

Parker was having a great time walking around the tree looking at all the pretty lights and ornaments. But soon Kyle discovered him behind the tree, sitting on a present picking at the paper! So we had to put a gate around the tree to keep him out until Christmas. I think one of the highlights for him every day was turning on the lights. I've always loved Christmas, with the tree and all the decorating involved but I think it's even better now that Parker is old enough to enjoy it, too. Seeing his excitement when the lights come on or when he gets to go up close and touch the ornaments makes it so much more special! 

Since Parker is able to make simple projects, I wanted to start a new tradition of having family time to make holiday decorations. The first thing we made was paper gingerbread men. I got them from Target's dollar section. Basically it was a large gingerbread man cutout and it came with two sheets of stickers for the gumdrops, icing, etc. They only had two, so Parker and I each made one. 

 Then a few days later we all made Christmas trees. I picked up green foam sheets at Joanns and cut them into tree shapes then pulled out an assortment of buttons, pompoms, beads and star stickers I already had here. I put drops of glue on Parker's tree and let him decorate it. He was actually doing pretty well until he got distracted by the stars...he pulled them all off the tray and decided he was in charge of handing them out. He was a little stingy with them, so we had to swipe a few when he wasn't looking...  :)  

Notice the pile of stars??  :)

Elise was 'helping' Daddy with his tree. 

The last thing I did with Parker was bake Christmas cookies. I didn't have time to make them from scratch though, so I cheated and bought a package of the Pilsbury kind that had trees in the centers. I let him put them on the cookie sheet, which he thought was super fun. But when I took the tray to put it in the oven he got a little upset--he wanted to eat them right then. Poor little guy. But he cheered up pretty quickly when he soon got to eat a cookie that he helped make!

Christmas morning was pretty relaxed. Parker woke up early but was content to play in his bed for a while so we could sleep in. After we were all up and had breakfast we started opening presents. Parker was having fun for a while, then he started getting a bit restless so we opened a couple of his new toys so he could play. And he loved the bows. When we were finished with gifts, I looked at the couch and he had pulled out all of the bows and had arranged them by color! Who needs all those gifts when you can just play with the boxes and bows?  :) At least he realizes what gifts are now, unlike last year. We didn't mind that he was a little slow opening them. It made it last longer. I'm sure next year he will be tearing them open! 

So that was our little Christmas together--a quick look at some of our family time over the past few weeks. We've had a wonderful year overall and have been blessed in so many ways! I'm so thankful for my family and look forward to seeing what 2013 brings. Happy New Year!!

:)

Meet Our Newest Family Member!

Yes it's been a long time since I've logged on, but I've had a good excuse for being a bit busy. Meet our newest little family member--Elise Macartney!!

Her due date was November 16th. Thankfully she decided to come early and made her arrival on the 9th instead. She was 7 lbs, 6 oz and 20 inches long. She's the sweetest baby and we're all totally in love with her!  :)

He's Two!!

Parker's 2nd birthday is next Wednesday so we decided to plan his party for today! We invited several of his little friends from church and had the party at lunchtime so the toddlers could all be home in time for their much-needed afternoon naps.  :)

We decided to keep it simple, so lunch was a 'make-your-own-sandwich' bar. I made a big bowl of chicken salad, then picked up a few different kinds of buns, meat and cheese as well as a few sides--chips, potato salad, fruit, etc.

It seemed like an easy and filling meal but there was one problem...the little birthday boy isn't a big fan of sandwiches. He usually picks out the cheese and leaves everything else. I wasn't sure about the other toddlers' preferences either, so I made them a special little meal....

I had seen something on Pinterest called 'toddler buffet trays.' She had gotten ice cube trays and filled the little holes with toddler food/snacks. It looked like a fun idea and something Parker would like so I stopped at Dollar Tree last week for a few ice trays. They turned out pretty cute and the toddlers seemed content to pick away at whatever food choices they liked.

Shortly after lunch one of the little girls informed me she was ready for cake, so we brought out the dessert. I had wanted Parker's party/cake to have a theme that he would recognize so Kyle looked at a bunch of cakes with me and we decided an owl one would be cute. Park has a stuffed owl he carries around and he makes the hooting sound every time he sees one. When he saw the cake this morning I heard him shout, "Owl! Whoo...whoo!"  :)

I gave him part of the small owl cake and some ice cream. When his own ice cream ran out, he reached over to Kyle's plate and started helping himself to more. Then when I looked over a few minutes later, he had pulled Kyle's whole plate over. He had a utensil in each hand and was eating off both plates.  :)

After dessert we had him open his gifts. I thought he'd be more into it this year, but he still gets distracted too easily. He opened one and wanted to play with it--didn't care that we were putting other bags/gifts in front of him. He just wanted to keep pushing the buttons on the truck he just opened. We eventually made it through all of them but it took a while. By the time we finished it was already time for the party to end and a few guests had to leave. But before we sent them off we gave out marshmallow pop favors--large marshmallows dipped in chocolate, then rolled in either sprinkles or oreo crumbs. I wanted to give out something edible and these were something I could make a few days before the party and have them ready (and out of the way) early.

So that was our day. Hard to believe our little man is two years old already!! Thanks to all of our friends who could come and help make today special!  :)

Baking Basket

Our niece had her 11th birthday party last weekend. We decided kind of late that we would go and I went out the night before and picked up a gift. I knew what I wanted to get, I just hoped it would still be available. A couple weeks earlier I was walking around Joann's and I saw a book called "Almost Too Cute to Eat." It's a book that shows how to make cute little snacks--cookies, cupcakes and other sweets--the perfect gift for a girl who likes baking. I had only seen one copy though, so I was happy to see that it was still there. Along with the book I got a couple packages of candy melts, lollipop sticks, cupcake papers and big colored sprinkles--some of the supplies called for in the recipes. And I wasn't sure how to wrap everything so I bought a small basket, too.

Now to put it all together! Here are all the supplies I used:

I didn't measure anything in the store. Fortunately, the basket was just big enough to hold everything. It was a little tight, but I think gift baskets look better when they're full--makes it look like there is more in it. I already had a cellophane bag at home so I dug that out and some matching blue ribbon. The bag was a little wider than the basket though so once it was tied I taped the bottom corners of the bag toward the back so it wouldn't stick out. I also trimmed a few inches off the top of the bag so it wasn't overly tall. I think it worked pretty well! Here it is when finished...

It was the first gift opened by the birthday girl and she seemed pretty excited. Hopefully she has fun making all the cute little sweets!

Bunny Ears

I was looking at patterns on Etsy a while ago and came across a few for little fleece hats. So cute!

I bought a pattern that makes five hats--bunny, bear, cat, cow and monster. And the pattern ranges in size from newborn up to 8 years old.


I wanted to make one for baby girl and I thought if it turned out well maybe I could make one for Parker, too.  :)



The first one I tried was a newborn bunny hat. There were only three pattern pieces to cut out and it took about 30 minutes to make, from start to finish--gotta love quick projects like that!  :)





The ears stick out a little more than I thought they would, but it's still pretty cute. I may try making another one with the bear ears

Fun with Foam

I was looking for some new ideas for toddler activities and I came across one that I was sure Parker would enjoy--pushing golf tees into a styrofoam block!  :) I found the idea on Pinterest (of course!) and thought I'd try it, since it only took two supplies. I was at Michael's last week and picked up a small block of styrofoam, about the size of a brick. I was pretty sure we had some tees at home with our golf bags.

When I went out to get the tees later they seemed a little sharp and I started re-thinking the idea...I didn't want Parker to hurt himself trying to push them in. But as I set them back down I noticed a small bag of golf ball markers. They're also made to stick into the ground, but the tips are plastic and rounded so there'd be no danger of him poking his little fingers.

I set the block on the table with the bright colored markers and Parker immediately became curious. I set him in his chair and showed him how to push the markers into the foam. His eyes lit up and he couldn't wait to try. He loved it!!

The markers were small so I stayed with him while he was playing just to make sure he didn't put them (or his little foam-covered fingers) in his mouth. He put the markers in and then pulled them out over and over. And over. He didn't want to stop! He played with it for almost 45 minutes straight before he put it down, and even then it was more because I was wanting to stop.

The only problem with foam is that it makes a mess. Even with the plastic wrap on the foam, it still left 'crumbs' everywhere so when he was finally done playing I threw it away. I think next time I'll let him push the markers into a lump of playdough and see how that works instead.
I love finding new things for him to try! It's fun to sit and watch him concentrating so hard on something.  :)

Purse

I had my sewing class on Thursday and the project was a purse/tote bag. I went fabric shopping the week before and almost picked out brown corduroy and coordinating cotton for the lining. Then I put it back, thinking that almost all of my bags are black or brown. Not that that's bad since they're all different, but I thought I should try something else and use fabric that was a little more bright. So I picked this...

I'm not sure what I think of it now that it's done! I wanted something bold, but the bag turned out bigger than I thought so it really stands out. Guess it's fun for those days I'm wearing mostly black or grey. It'll add a little color.  :)
And I do like that it can hold a lot. I went next door to a birthday party today with Parker and my new bag easily held his diapers, wipes, changing pad, extra pants and his water cup, as well as a few things of my own. If I decide not to use it for a purse, it would make a fun diaper bag for baby!


The pattern is called "Grommet-Go-Around" and it's an easy bag to make. A few of the steps were a little confusing so thankfully our instructor showed us some shortcuts when making it. I'm thinking I might tweak the pattern to make it a little smaller and try again...but maybe with a more subtle fabric.  :)

'New' Shirt

A few months ago Kyle took me shopping for new maternity clothes! It was fun picking out and trying on some new things. I ended up getting several shirts and a couple pairs of pants. Although I've been wearing most of those clothes this summer, there was one t-shirt that always seemed a little big. But we both liked it so I went ahead and got it, hoping it would fit better once I had a little more, uh...girth.  :)
But I tried it on this week and it's still a bit loose. Wearable, but not the best fit. I wasn't sure if I could still return it after having it so long so I decided to make a minor alteration instead.

Here is the shirt. I love the print and the colors but it was too loose in the middle. I needed a way to gather it under the bustline. I tried sewing a piece of thin elastic across the inside, but it didn't look right so I picked it out. A lot of the maternity tops we've seen are empire waist style with a belt or ribbon around them, which I opted to try with this shirt.


I bought two yards of 5/8" red ribbon and got out a package of ivory embroidery thread and a needle. I tried on the shirt first to figure out how far down to put the ribbon...on me it was 6-3/4 inches from the top of the underarm seam.











Making the loop was simple. I pulled the needle through, knotting it inside the shirt. Make one big stitch the width of ribbon, then knot it again on the inside of the shirt. It made a perfect loop to hold the ribbon in place.

Once the ribbon was threaded through the loops I lit a match and melted the ends slightly to keep it from fraying. That's it!

Here's a picture of the shirt now...

Maybe not the perfect solution but it works. I wish I had thought of doing something like this sooner so I could have gotten more wear out of it!   :)

***

My other sewing time this week was spent making a double-sided blanket for baby girl. We'll probably use some of Parker's blankets too, but just so they're not all too boyish I made this one super girly--pink with kittens on the front and white with pink dots on the back.

Can't wait to wrap baby in her new blanket!  :)