just popping in...

Last night I whipped up my first (and second) "hooter hider". I made one for a friend and one for myself using this tutorial. It was super easy, took about an hour to cut out and sew two of them. My friend, Kim, just called to say she tried it out and loves it and her little one does too :)

We are getting ready to leave for Maryland in the morning, So far it's been a productive day, but now it is time for the hard stuff (folding laundry, packing, cleaning the house and car etc.) so I am getting my second dose of caffeine and heading for the laundry pile!

a backpack of her own

Being the youngest of 4, Tallulah gets a lot of hand me downs, but this time I decided it was time she got something of her own, made especially for her. I searched for hours until I found the perfect fabric for the job and finally, last week, got the notions and such needed to put it all together. I bought the pattern here and once it was all cut out I would say it took me about 3 hours to put it all together, not too bad for only my second time sewing a zipper and my first time using piping! The fabric is a light weight canvas, so it does not have a lot of body, which if I make this again I might try something heavier-weight, although I do think is was probably easier to sew the lightweight fabric than a heavier one... anywho, here it is, all sewed up!

I am so glad I bought more fabric than I needed and was able to make Lulu a matching Lazy Day skirt... my model was a bit resistant to pose for me though

We'll just pretend she was trying to show off her new backpack here :)

Wait, what is that? A smile? Still, no standing up and showing off her new digs, oh well!

What? Mama's taking pictures? "I wanna be in the picture too!" sings the chorus :)
I am off to enjoy the last of my weekend by taking a nap! Hope your weekend's end is full of sunshine, smiles and naps too :)

captive

Do you ever feel like you have so much to say, but you just can't seem to get it out? Like there are so many things spinning through your head and heart that you could burst but yet you remain silent? I have been feeling like that this week- totally overwhelmed with a need to create but not being able to find the space or venue to do it... like there was so much noise all around me that I could not make sense of what was in my heart until I was finally so overwhelmed all I could do was cry. Sounds traumatic/dramatic but in reality I am pretty amazed that I have made it this far in my pregnancy (23.5 weeks) with a generally even keel, at least- even keeled for a/this pregnant women :) Anyway, back to my story- so after an afternoon of tears and ruined pizza's (another story all on it's own) I finally found a bit of silence and allowed myself to just sit in it. One of the thoughts that kept ringing in my head throughout the week was "if I could get all this creative turmoil out of my head and onto canvas, what would it look like?" I have not found the answer, but instead decided to paint/glue/cut/sew the story as it unfolds, so here is piece one of what I think will be a series of pieces. I titled this one Captive, the next will be Breaking Free.This isn't the best picture as I took it at 9pm tonight, but I am too impatient to wait for a sunny day to photograph it right.

my quilt!

I finished my quilt Monday evening and finally go some pictures of it yesterday. Here it is, in action- don't look too closely though, I am not the best quilter, I am pretty pleased with it though!

williamsburg and old friends

Today we went to Williamsburg and met up with some old friends for the Home Educators Week. We only live 45 minutes from Williamsburg, so we usually end up visiting there a couple times a year just to walk around, but it has been a few years since we bought tickets to actually go into the different exhibits. It was fun to go see the blacksmith and silversmith and other places we usually just walk by, but the best part was getting to see old friends.

Hannah was Regan's first and best friend (they were 4 and 6 months old when Jen and I started hanging out, nearly 8 years ago!). Of course they have both made other friends since we moved away 4 years ago, but Hannah still holds a special place in Regan's heart and she is always happy for any chance to visit with her old friend.

Boys and their guns!

Tallulah and Peter are our youngest, about 6 months apart and today was the first time they have really played together...
so fun to see a new friendship beginning- there must me something really interesting in that corner...
or maybe not, oh well, they were having fun!


All our kids- I took about 10 pictures and every single one of them with silly faces! Oh well, I guess that's what you get at the end of a long day!
P.S. I'll post pictures of my finished quilt tomorrow!

got. to. sew.

Last week, when I was buried in school mess and who knows how many loads of clean, unfolded laundry I just had. to. sew. I couldn't even find my sewing machine plus I did not have what I needed to work on the two (sewing) projects I had going already and I knew that I really should not start something new. Then I remembered this sweet little embroidery project I had seen over at Nini Makes I had fallen in love the first time I saw it and knew I had to make one for myself. I decided it was a small enough sewing project to start and not feel too guilty about all the others I was leaving undone. You know they say "Imitation is the best form of flattery", so hopefully Nini does not mind me making my own little mushroom house just like hers!
I am thinking I may add a few more details to it before I am done, but for now I am enjoying seeing it sit on my sewing table while I sew my Anna Maria Horner quilt... I am almost done, just need to sew the binding on and wash, then on to that fab Japanese fabric I bought back in July!

Wishing you all Happy Monday!

weekending

my up and coming fashion designer

Regan came to me the other day and said she wanted to "decorate" one of her shirts. She had picked out a plain white, collared shirt that she never wears and had a plan involving ribbon, sequins and buttons. While I was making dinner, she started digging through the craft supplies and trying different thing, in spare moments here and there over the last 3 days I have sewn things on in her desired places and here is the final product! She loves her new creation and it looks like we may have saved a shirt from the sad life of sitting at the bottom of the drawer unworn!

random monday thoughts

It's been one of those days. Two little girls (I won't name any names) were up WAY too late last night and this morning me and a certain 8 year old struggled through school. Tallulah is dealing with her exhaustion in much more agreeable fashion, although I am not sure how "agreeable" we will find it when she won't go to bed tonight! Hopefully Preschool tuckered her out enough that she will still be sufficiently tired even after this late afternoon nap.
On a more positive note, Today in History we read about tribal religions and superstitions and Micah took it upon himself to do some hands on learning. He read a bit about tribal masks and made this one all on his own!

I have been feeling the need to do something creative and expand my skill base, but struggling to find the time to do it. I pulled this book off my craft book shelf today and started reading. I am really excited to get to the part where we learn some new techniques- I really love mixed media art and collage- I have always been drawn to it but could use some tips in expanding my technique. Hoping to carve out some time to start playing soon.

the party

WARNING: this post is picture heavy :)

So, here are the details of the American Girl Tea Party. I started planning two weeks ago, making a guest list, invitations, menu, shopping list etc. and last weekend I started baking the things that would freeze well. Friday I finished up the baking, Phil picked up the table and chairs from the church for me and I set the room up, as much as possible so that Saturday I only had to do the last minute food prep (sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, putting the cookie topping on the flowerpot pudding etc.). I was so well organized that I even laid down for a bit before the guests arrived! From now on I will always take the time to plan things out like this, it made the party, and the whole weekend, so much less overwhelming to have so much done ahead!

So, first the invitations, I searched online for ideas for the invites and came across these really cute cards on ebay- they were printed with a picture of your favorite American Girl Doll and personalized with your party information. I did not have time to order the cards, but I liked the way the invitations where worded, so to my paper craft supplies I went and here is what I came up with!

Next the menu. I had seen online where someone had adapted the menu from the American Girl Cafe for a party, so I decided to check out the American Girl Cafe menu myself. I love that a lot of the items have the dolls names as a part of them, like, Kaya's Blueberry-Lemon Scones. I changed a few things, but left most of it the same.

Here are a few pictures of the food.

You'll see those pots again later :)

and the table

This was our craft. After everyone finished their pudding we washed out the pots and decorated them with ribbon and paper flowers.

Glue Dots and two wonderful mom helpers made this a fun and relatively easy craft.

The favors. I fed the kids enough sweets that I did not want to send them home with too much more junk. The flower pots where just big enough to fit a handful of Strawberry Milkshake malt balls in with these tags tied on.
The game. I saved the best for last. Regan wanted to play an American Girl version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey and she spent all week working on her creation. First she scoured the catalog for the AGD with the most clothes and decided on Julie. She did all the artwork and everything on her own with not one bit of help from anyone!

Here is Julie

and her clothes

after the girls had pinned her

and all fixed up and dressed right.
The party was a huge success, Regan loved it and I think everyone had a good time!

happy birthday, regan!

Today Regan turned 8 and to celebrate we had 10 of her friends over for an American Girl tea party. I have over 60 photos from it all and lots of fun details to share, but tonight I am just posting some highlights from the party and the details (for all who are interested) will come later.

there were dolls

there was eating

there were cupcakes

and presents

there was sunshine and playing outside

there was pin the clothes of the American Girl Doll

but most importantly, there were friends
Regan said it was "The best day ever!" So thankful for all the friends who helped make it so special for her. It's hard to believe that 8 years ago she was just an itty bitty baby, seems like just yesterday!

finally done!

First, I want to thank you for all you comments about my scrap project the other day- you guys are always so kind and encouraging! It makes it so easy to share my projects here when they are so warmly welcomed by you all.

So, I kept feeling like there was something missing from the piece, but could not figure out what it was and then today, while I was trying to rest for a few minutes after school, it came to me-I debated about the color of the bird, because there is so much blue in the background, but in the end, the teal won out- it really does stand out more in real life than it does in the picture, but I took this picture at 10:30pm in a dimly lit hallway :)

And here it is, stretched on a canvas frame and ready to be hung. I think I am happy with it, it always takes a few days to "get to know" a piece before I can really say what I think if it, but it's not bad for my first ever attempt at fabric collage!