Besckety

Olivia and Isabelle both had some really sweet things for me today for Mother's Day that they made at school.  I really love the handmade stuff.  This, in particular, just made me giggle...



I like how she decided that walking was a better relaxation technique for me than getting on the computer.  (Note to self:  spend less time on computer...)  I would never say my favorite food is tacos, but when I do take them somewhere for dinner, it's usually Mexican - because it's cheap, they love it, and I hate McDonalds.  But the best part is "besckety."

If you say it out loud, you'll get it.  Besckety... spaghetti.  Olivia loves my besckety sauce and usually won't eat any other kind.  Makes me kind of proud.   Lucky for her, that's what is on the menu for Mother's Day tomorrow. 

I finally finished my Grandma Violet pillow tonight.  Except for the buttons... where are the buttons?  I can't find them.  Figures.



I loved this project.  It's a pattern from The Royal Sisters.  I've admired her blog for a long time and when I went looking for pillow patterns, this jumped out at me.  Isabelle picked out the yarn, because it was supposed to be for her birthday, but I didn't finish it in time.  Now, I'm thinking of trying to convince her in the morning that her Grandma really needs this Grandma Violet.  I'll offer to make her another pillow from a couple of other patterns I snagged this week. 

I had to make the pillow insert myself... and it's not quite as full as I'd like, but it'll work.  It's as big as I could make it... the muslin was only so wide.  =)  Actually, in retrospect, I could have made it bigger.  I'll keep it in mind when I make the Grandma Daisy pillow.  For myself.  =)

And as a sidenote... last time we went to my mom's, she asked me to mend a shirt that had a popped seam.  It should have been a 30 second fix.  Just run it through the serger for about 3 inches and done.  But noooooooo.  Lucy threw a fit and I had to rethread her.  So a 30 second easy-peasy project turned into an hour of me swearing like a sailor.  I swear they make those things so only someone with child-size hands can thread it.

I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day!

That was fun!

So, I told you my idea of making a quilt top curtain.  I had planned on finishing up the lab coat I started, but since I won't see the MDO director until Monday, and I was just in a mood, I decided to bust open the jelly roll and start playing around.

I decided that since this won't have a backing on it that I should use the serger.  I didn't think using it as a curtain would cause the ends to fray like crazy or anything, but it would need to be washed occasionally. It was actually pretty easy and came out looking very clean on the back.

I finished one square.  I'm thinking there will probably be 9 squares.  Or 6... depends on how far the jelly roll goes.  My brain isn't doing math tonight.  My kitchen window doesn't need to be fully covered, so I'm good either way.

Here is my first attempt at a log cabin square...



Sidenote:  Is that not a hideous paint job?  Ugh.  My landlady loves it.  The girls' bedroom is worse.  It's a terrible shade of green and white faux something or other.  Gross.

I'm so impressed with myself.  And I really enjoyed it.  It's so much more relaxing than sewing a dress. 

I think this is going to be neat.  Maybe after this, I'll make something really colorful for the girls' bedroom.  Rainbow colored maybe.  I should start stocking up on fat quarters or something.

In other news...

Zoe made me the neatest Mother's Day gift at school.  A really clever twist on the whole hand print with poem thing that they always do.  Look...



It's a washcloth.  I thought it was so great.  =)  I actually want to go buy some more washcloths and do Olivia and Isabelle's hand prints on them and then frame them to put in the bathroom.

Might be a good summer craft project....

All sorts of crazy.

I've been thinking a lot about summer break, since it's sneaking up on us in less than three weeks.  Summers can be pretty stressful around here with my bunch, because when they get bored, things get destroyed.  I would like to avoid as much destruction as possible.  Obviously.

I decided to have a little "family meeting" with the girls and start discussing how things are going to go this summer and start drilling the rules into their heads.  My husband has a hard time waking up in the morning, so I was trying to explain to them that they cannot go outside unless he is fully awake just in case they need him.  Isabelle starts listing off reasons they might need him, which included Big Foot coming in the yard.  I'm glad she has all the bases covered there.

Then we were talking about not making big messes and getting into things like scissors and somehow Isabelle starts asking about what happens if Daddy makes a machine that can make more kids and we end up with two more Isabelles.  Heaven help me if that were to happen.

Once she started in on Daddy's plans to make a disappearing machine, I saw that I had clearly lost all control over the meeting and decided to adjourn.  I had no idea I married a mad scientist, but Isabelle certainly has faith in him.

So... on to a crazy idea I have.

I don't really quilt.  I have made a quilt top before, but it's just a quilt top... it's never been put through the whole sandwiching, quilting, binding rigamarole.  I keep thinking I'll do it one day, but I always find something else to do.  I do like the concept of quilting... making the top anyway. 

I have a few friends that quilt, as well as my little sister, so it's quite often that a pin for a quilt design pops up on Pinterest among my friends' pins.  Like this one...

Source: berlinquilter.blogspot.de via Trina on Pinterest

Now, the thing about this picture that has my wheels spinning is not that I adore the quilt - and I do, it's really pretty - but I really love the look of it in the window.  It reminds me of a stained glass window.  So I thought.... why can't I make a quilt top curtain? 

I can. 

And I think I will.

A friend of mine mentioned that you can get fabric cuts at Tuesday Morning at insane prices... like the jelly roll I picked up for $4.



They had full yard bundles, 6 yards for $8... fat quarter bundles...  layer cakes... the prices varied from $4 to $24 for a huge fat quarter bundle.  Granted, most of it was - in my personal opinion - ugly as sin, but I think I definitely snagged a good bargain.  Especially since this is just an experiment and - bonus - I don't have to cut my own strips.

Anyway, this is pretty much the color scheme I aspire to in my kitchen (like I have some kind of decorating theme anywhere in the house...) and it's one of the smallest windows in the house, so I think I'll give it a try.  I will probably go the log cabin square route like in the pin.  I might be a disaster or look like a mess, but it will be fun to try.  But if it looks like a blue-green stained glass window when the sun shines in.... I'll be a happy woman.

More Teeth

Shhh.  Don't tell anyone, but I caught the Tooth Fairy!



She's pretty cute, huh?  I think she needs a wand.  I have to dig out my felt and see if I have any white and then find some sort of stick.  She's pretty tiny, so the wand has to be pretty tiny, too.

She's a gift for our dental hygienist.  I hope she likes her.  =)

Today I got off my lazy behind and took the girls to church.  Zoe has been asking lately when we're going, so I knew it had been too long.  I want to take them regularly, but I'm just so lazy on Sunday mornings that I find excuses.  This morning, Olivia and Isabelle made little prayer books and drew pictures of the things they wanted to pray about. 



They both prayed for my mouth.  Isn't that sweet?  I promise none of my teeth are jagged and pointy, despite the fact that they've felt like monster teeth lately.  I've actually felt really good the past two days.  Thank God for antibiotics.



I was confused by this picture.  Olivia explained that it's Grandma.  I asked her what was coming out of her mouth and she told me it was her breathing machine.  My mom has emphysema and has an updraft machine, but I really don't know when she's ever used it when the girls have been around.  It just goes to show how observant children are, even when they don't let on.  It made me a little sad that they can see that my mom has trouble breathing, but I'm so proud of how compassionate they are.  My kids are just precious.

We opted out of Family Fun Day today for just a ride around nowhere and a family trip to the grocery store.  It actually was the first time ever that we walked out of the store without me chanting "Never again.  Never, ever, ever again."  Of course, Bill and the girls stopped at the deli to get a snack and didn't catch up with me until I was almost finished....  but we were all there, if not together.  =)

Working on a diaper cover tonight.  I have no baby bottom to try it on, only some measurements a friend took for me, so we'll see how it goes.  =)

Back to life...

I've spent most of the past week in considerable pain with an abscessed tooth.  I really haven't done anything that didn't have to be done.  I get to have a root canal at the end of the month... in a tooth that I have already had a root canal in.  There are 3 roots in that particular tooth and I don't know if he just did one or two last time, but there is definitely at least one he didn't.  It seems like ages before he can do it, so I am crossing my fingers that the antibiotics keep this at bay until then.

I'm a geek, so I was googling "tooth 14" to see how many roots it had and I found this page that showed what emotions and other body systems were "linked" to each tooth.  Like astrology in your mouth.  I didn't peruse any of my other teeth, but I thought it was really interesting the emotions that are linked to this particular tooth and how it was fitting that it was the one hurting.  I think it's a part of the holistic medicine concepts.  I don't know if I really subscribe to all of that, but I do find it very intriguing.

Anyway.

I obviously haven't been very crafty.  I finished my baby sock  monkey pattern and didn't touch a hook until last night.  Despite the other things I need to be doing, I started a Tooth Fairy amigurumi.  I planned on making this months ago... for our dental hygienist.  My kids love going to the dentist and she's the main reason why, so I wanted to make her something.  Our first couple of dental experiences with Olivia and a pediatric dental office were less than stellar (a room of 6 or so dental chairs filled with screaming children.... Olivia was terrified), so I just want to show her some appreciation for turning that around.  And who knows?  Maybe I'll rack up some Karma points and either get an earlier appointment for my root canal or, at the least, my tooth will be fine until then.  I'm just so nervous it will flare up again....

I'm just glad to be feeling like a human being again.  =)

You're his cheeseburger, his precious cheeseburger...

Tell me you know that song?  It's the best Veggie Tales song ever.  In fact, I can't believe I haven't taught Isabelle to sing it yet.  I'm a failure as a mother.



I just realized I never shared Isabelle's cheeseburger that was supposed to be a pillow but wasn't.  I didn't get it finished for her birthday party.  I didn't even get it finished in time to give it to her on her birthday, but I did finish it on her birthday, so that has to count for something.

Here you go... all Instagrammed and everything...





I'm just impressed that I figured out how to get Instagram photos onto Flickr.  I've been geeking out over Instagram for a couple of weeks.  Yes, I know... I'm way behind.  I didn't know I could get it on my Droid.

Anyway, in case you were wondering, I used this pattern from Nerdigurmi.  It's free and you don't have to sew all the components together... it's all one continuous piece.  I didn't put a face on it.  =(  And I got in trouble for forgetting to put the sesame seeds on it.  For shame!

Coming soon....

I've had a request to shrink my Sock Monkey beanie to baby-size and that's what I'm working on right now.  I should have it finished in the next day or two.  I'll post it up here in case anyone else was wanting to make an itty bitty version.


In addition, I'm going to try to work out a Sock Monkey diaper cover.  When I went looking at Sock Monkey diaper covers, I was kind of baffled that I couldn't find any that actually looked like a Sock Monkey butt.  I saw a few with tails, but none with the sock heel design.  So I'm going to try to work that out.  I may not be able to make it work, but I'll be so excited if I can.


Aaaand... I was asked by the Mother's Day Out director to make a lab coat for her little boy's Mad Scientist party next month.  I could not find one little lab coat pattern, but I think I have it figured out.  I might post a little tutorial explaining what I do when I'm finished.  


This is what I like best... figuring out new things.  I have been thinking about the whole flea market plan and I am just so afraid that I'll be unhappy making up an inventory, even if it sells well.  I think maybe these requests are a sign that if I want to try to make some money with my crochet/sewing skills that patterns are going to be the way.  For now.  I am going to set a goal to have at least one pattern other than the Sock Monkey things by the end of May.  Any suggestions on what I should create?  I have several ideas.  As usual.


So that's what's going on over here.  I can't believe it's already May.  And Mother's Day is less than 2 weeks away.  Good grief.  School's out in less than 4 weeks.  Crazy. 


All right... back to work...