Day 7: Done with baby stuff for now

I finally finished the baby shower gift! I am glad to be done with that for now. Today I finished the booties and headbands. I got a text at 11:42 from my friend saying that the baby shower was at noon, and i thought the shower was tomorrow! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! But really when I think about it, who really has a baby shower on 1.) Halloween and 2.) Sunday. No one. Anyway, here are the booties I made and the headbands. I am keeping it short tonight because I am bout to go get my drink on with my man who is leaving for Taiwan for 8 months on Friday. Oye vey!

Day 6: Pumpkins

With Halloween just around the corner it is time for us to create some cool jack-o-lanterns. Hannah and I got to work and had a good time carving our masterpieces. The pumpkin I carved came right out of our backyard. We must have planted the seed two years ago because we were a little surprised to see a giant vine growing up out of the ground back in May. I had no idea what was growing, but I did know that it was in the vegetable family. Or wait, is it a fruit cuz there are seeds? I don't know but couldn't wait to see whatever it was spring forth from the vine. We were delighted to discover it was a pumpkin. Hannah was curious as to whether or not there would be a noticeable difference between our homegrown pumpkin and the store bought variety. There was a difference. My pumpkin seeds were already sprouting while still inside the pumpkin. My guess is it is because the pumpkin is older than the store bought ones.

I decided to go with the old tape-the-pattern-to-the-pumpkin method for carving while Hannah was daring and just let the jack-o-lantern emerge from th pumpkin without a pattern. Her's turned out way cooler. Mine is the spider.

I also made two receiving blankets for the twins that are due in a couple of months. The blankets are made from a super soft plush fabric on one side and the other is just a cotton print. The binding is bias tape. I learned how to miter corners too. Thought only dudes mitered? Think again!!

Day 5: Busy

I am going to keep this entry short and sweet because I am tired from the days activities. I will summarize in brief my day: sick kid (no vomit this time, see Day 5 posting), doctor's appointment, sewing, assemble dog house, grocery store, laundry, grocery store, pharmacy, pick up other kid, sewing,decorate for halloween, cooking, baking, pharmacy, sewing, glass of wine, blogging. Todays creations were all so fun to make and filled me with a deep sense of satisfaction at the end of the day.

Here is the dog house I assembled:



After getting the dog, Missy, acquainted with her new digs I did a little sewing. These are bibs for my friends twin nieces. The bibs are supposed to look like they have necklaces on them, one ruby and one emerald.



Then later in the day I had to make some dinner, so I made a delicious chicken noodle soup from scratch. Made the chicken broth too. It is the best soup ever!! The recipe is from All Recipes, but I alter it a bit. For starters I make my own broth by boiling chicken in a pot with water (duh!) and a bunch of spices and some veggies. I then strain out the veggies and chicken and cleverly blend the veggies and put back into the broth so my kids get the nutrition and I get to avoid any whining about too many veggies in the soup.







And by special request I made a pumpkin roll. Which is pumpkin cake with a cream cheese filling, rolled up and sliced. Yes, it is yummy!!





I did more sewing after dinner but have been forbidden from photographing it by my daughter Hannah. I have been working on her costume and am allowed to take pics on Halloween.

Day 4: Vomit

Okay, I know the title for todays post is rather crass, but this has been a theme today not only in my creative endeavors but also in my domestic life. We got a new puppy yesterday who barfed here and there after eating the cats food, and as if that weren't enough I went around cleaning up a few barf spots left by the cat during the night. How does vomit play into my crafting you may be wondering??? A valid question for sure. My friends sister is pregnant with twins and I am making some things for the babies. Todays project was "burp cloths", which is a pleasant way of saying vomit rags.
I found the cutest array of pink and brown fabrics and managed to make 6 of them in 2 hours!! I was impressed with myself I must admit.




After making these I had to walk away from the craft zone for fear of overdose. Picked up my daughter, went to the fabric store, the grocery store, and finally another night of school. Home again I feel the familiar pull toward the zone and I decide to make a headband out of some great trim I picked up at the store. It is a black and white sequin trim hand sewn onto a long black velvet ribbon.






A busy but productive day. Now onto reading the book I just got on the right way to raise a puppy...

Day 3: Little Things

Ever have one of those days where you have your hand in so many things that at the end of the day you have nothing really significant to show for it, except for a few half done things?? Well, today is one of those days. I had to do a little fabric shopping for a job that I got making baby items for an upcoming baby shower. I will be making some cute things over the next couple of days, check back in to see what they are! Got the fabric, washed it to pre-shrink, picked up my daughter from school, then had to head off to school myself! I am almost done with my special education teaching credential. Yay! I did get a few little crafts done during the day. I managed to sew a little, paint a little, and burn a little organza. The sewing project got trashed. In my head it was a really cute headband with pink ruffles, but when it came out of my head it wasn't pretty. But I did manage to make this cute little flower:



This flower is really cute attached to a hair pin or headband. This is made from different colors of organza that is cut into a circle and the edges are then burned to give the curling effect. Then you just poke a brad thru the layers and you are done!
I also painted some little wooden beads to look like eyeballs



I have these little jars that the eyeballs will go in for Halloween. I will post a pic of the finished product this week.

Time for school. I am bummed because I am thinking that all creativity will be put on hold during class. This was the first night of the new term and the teacher planned a little ice breaker activity. She talked about the importance of imagination as it pertains to literacy and fostering a love of reading in kids. My ears perk up as she expounds on the virtues of creativity. She then whips out her box of legos (being a teacher is the best, how many other graduate level courses involve legos??). She gives everybody a little pile and tells us to create something that pertains to our lives.
Here is my lego creation:

Day 2: Chenille Baby Rattle

Today was quite the busy day! I actually made a few things but have to add finishing touches on a couple of them tomorrow. With coffee in hand and plenty of ideas flowing, I wasted no time getting to work on a light blue chenille baby rattle. I love this coffee mug, it always reminds me to try to find the joy in the moment, as it is the journey and not the destination that makes up our life stories. Find the peace amidst the chaos.



I bought 3 different colors of chenille: pink, blue, and cream color. To make the rattle noise I picked up some large jingle bells to stuff in the bird. The pattern suggested a marble in an old pill bottle, that was just a little too ghetto for me so I decided to go with a brand new festive jingle bell.




I am not going to lie on this blog, I will share with you my mistakes as almost every item I sew has been taken apart and redone at least once. On the bird rattle I sewed the wings on going in the wrong direction. Got my trusty seam ripper out and took the stitches out. Hate when that happens. Luckily it didn't take too long to fix. After I sewed and stuffed the bird I hand stitched the last part shut and added the eyes. Turned out pretty cute!

Starting Small

I have always enjoyed sewing things for my girls. Halloween costumes, dress up clothes, dresses, you name it, I made it! They are now teenagers and sewing for them has challenges. The most significant being that forever 21 has just what they are looking for and often for less than it would cost me to make! Sewing for babies is so easy, they never give you any push back and everything is really small, which means it is easy to make. So, I decided as I embark on my year of creativity, I had better start small. A trip to the fabric store and some scouring of pattern books and I walk out with this pattern of vintage booties for babies....


And, a couple hours later I had successfully made a super cute pair of booties!