I plan to sew this on Sunday morning…

It will hang in our daughter’s room.  I used a thrifted pillowcase and just folded the raw end over.  I’ll sew it shut along with attaching the ribbon on Sunday.  The letters are ironed on and at this point, I’m choosing not to bother sewing them.  It really did not turn out how I thought it would / planned it to.  It was originally going to be framed, but that idea got tossed out when I couldn’t fit the fabric into the frame.  At least I can return the frame.  Not really loving the blue and brown letters either, but it is what it is.

This shelf…

My brother-in-law custom-made it for our daughter’s room.  I designed it and am so glad my measurements were spot on.  Yay!  I polished it with Three Beeautiful Bees Beeswax Polish.  It only took about 25 minutes to polish too.  Another Yay!!  The top shelf is for books, but it is still a little high for her with her stool, so for the next few months we will leave them where they are.  When this little one comes though, she will have to adjust to the books being up higher (she’s pretty resourceful) because we will need the space.  Love this!  Now, where to put all her Christmas gifts??

This pizza…

I bought this the other day with some of my birthday money from my in-laws.  I have been wanting this for our daughter for a little while now and she absolutely loves it!!  She plays with it frequently and ‘roasts’ pizza for us a lot.  She will not give you just plain cheese pizza though…you need the toppings she will tell you.

Green & Blacks Organic Dark Chocolate…

Yum!!!!!

What have you been enjoying lately?

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Today is Cookie Monster’s birthday.  We are celebrating here.  We made No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies.  I actually tweaked the recipe a little this time and added 3 1/2 cups of oatmeal instead of the 3 cups the recipe calls for.  I also chill mine for a little bit.  They are yummy!  Our daughter really wanted to make a cake, but I figured one cake this week will be plenty (my birthday is later in the week).

We have also been singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cookie Monster.  Something fun for Monday I guess.

Hi there!  Hope you all had a good weekend!  I really enjoyed myself this weekend!  I spent a lot of quality time with my husband and daughter.  We carved our daughter’s pumpkin on Friday night.  Saturday we trick-or-treated the grandparents and attended a graduation / Halloween party at my mom’s.  No door to door for us though.  Our daughter fell asleep a few minutes before we arrived home and was cranky when we woke her for supper, so we didn’t even make it to our neighbor’s houses.  Oh well, I guess she is only two and there is next year to look forward to trick-or-treating.  Sunday brought a trip into town for me, some daddy and daughter time and lots of afternoon fun!  I bought our daughter this pizza and she played with it pretty much continually ever since.  I also bought our baby two Sandra Boynton books.  Fun!

Saturday after all the festivities, my husband and I were both TIRED, but somehow had a big burst of energy after our daughter went to bed.  I decided to sew.  I got all of my machine sewing done and finished the hand-sewing on Sunday afternoon.  Here is what I made…

More Klean Kanteen Cozies and 4 newborn knot hats

The knot hats were made out of some old shirts of mine…repurposing.   Yay!  They were pretty simple.  Just hope they actually fit the little swimming in my belly.

A snake…that doesn’t really look like a snake, but we’ll go with it.  It was made out of an old shirt sleeve.  I say, it just ate a rat and that is why it is the funny shape.  My husband kept making fun of it…I’m sure you can see why. 

I also attached a ribbon to this pink bag and made two bags out of my old halter tops for our daughter to lug stuff around in.

I’m not sure what next week will bring.  I’ve been wanting to make some framed fabric word art for our daughter’s room, but yet to find the right fabric or the frame for the project.  Oh well, at least I have the font of the letters picked out and printed (that was a job in itself).

Any sewing your way?

I am really getting more and more into traditions.  I had some growing up, but it was more of where we would go when and not so much what we would do.  For example, it was always a given on Christmas Day that we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I like the idea of knowing where we are going on what day, but I also really like the idea of having fun things to do at home that are a given.  I want my children to grow up remembering these traditions and to want to come home to mom and dad (even when they are older and we are no longer super).  I want to be able to reminisce with them and form lots of special memories.  I really think this helps us all bond too.  As our children get older, we are open to their ideas too!

Here are a few traditions we have already started here:

*  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas countdowns.  These are really simple!  For Halloween and Christmas it is a long paper chain (black and orange / red and green) to a pumpkin or Christmas tree.  Each day we take off a chain link and count the number of days until the upcoming holiday.  This has also been a good way to get some more practice counting.  For Thanksgiving, I just made a turkey body out of a paper grocery bag and crafted some paper turkey feathers.  Each day we take off a turkey feather and count again.

*  Birthday (for our daughter only, not for us, although a tradition for us is in the works…)  She gets to wear her birthday crown, have whatever she wants to eat (including if she wants birthday cake and ice cream for breakfast), open presents, wears a sewn by mama birthday shirt and do whatever fun activity she would like to do for the day (the last two years we have just picked the zoo for her, but this coming birthday she will pick).  We also hang a mama sewn fabric birthday banner.  We also make sugar cookies cut out into the year (for example, last year was 2 and this year is going to be 3).  (Thanks to my sister for this cute little tradition!)  My husband even got ‘30′ cookies last year!

*Christmas:  We always go to my mom’s on Christmas Eve to eat and open presents.  First thing in the morning we open our stockings, eat breakfast and open presents.  Then, late morning my husband’s side of the family comes over.  We watch the Christmas Story (typically while our daughter has napped as it is on over and over again for 24 hours on TBS I think).  We play cards, open presents, eat lunch and supper, and just enjoy each others company.

*  Christmas tree:  Last year was the first year we ditched our artificial tree for a ‘real’ tree.  I’m so glad we did.  We just went and picked one off the lot.  We will definitely get another ‘real’ tree, but I’m not sure if we will just get one off the lot or cut one down…to be decided.

* Easter:  I cut out paper bunnies and our daughter searches the house for them.  She loves this!  Each year it will get more challenging and fun (for her and us).  She finds her Easter basket and also some mama sewn fabric eggs.  We then head over to my sister-in-law and brother-in-laws house for an Easter lunch and egg hunt.  We had been going to my side of the family for Easter for as long as I can remember, but I have to say we really enjoyed ourselves so much last year that we will now start going to my husband’s side.  (My side has so many gatherings that it is nice for a change of pace.  Plus, it makes my husband happy.  I think he has always felt like his family gets left out of the holidays and I don’t want him to feel like that.)  Leading up to Easter, we also dye Easter eggs.  Last year I made the egg dye and it turned out really good (cheaper too).

*  Valentines Day:  I really want to keep this about love and friends.  Not so much about romantic love, but about loving and being thankful for all the love and support in your life.  We have a special Valentines Day dinner and our daughter gets a few special things (I think last year she got a book or two and some small treats).  My husband and I might exchange a small gift like chocolate or his favorite beer, but no big bouquets of flowers or romantic dinners here.  I also make Valentines Day cookies in the shape of a heart.  Our daughter will be more involved in this process this year.  I also cut out paper hearts for our daughter to find, just like we do at Easter.

*  Oktoberfest:  We just started celebrating the last day of Oktoberfest this year.  My husband is half German and I really want to bring some cultural awareness into our lives.  We just celebrated this year with Oktoberfest beer (for my husband) and a German dinner.  There are some activities that we may try in the future, but this year was just the start.

*  Footprint and Handprint Christmas Ornament:  The daycare our daughter attended her first year made us this cute little fabric ornament using our daughter’s hand and footprints.  I am continuing that.  I have the 2007 one (from daycare) and I made a 2008 one.  I will make the 2009 one sometime in mid-December.  I’m not sure if we will hang these on the tree or if we will do some kind of display.  We will see.

What we want to start implementing:

*  St. Nick’s Day:  I really loved this thought and think it is something easy and fun to implement.  We will leave a pair of shoes out on the night of December 5th and see what St. Nick brings us in the morning.  This is yet another way to celebrate our German (not mine) heritage.

*  Cookies for Santa:  We will be leaving Santa cookies this year too and a glass of milk of course.  Not sure if we will pick a cookie that Santa will have every year or if it will vary…we will see.

*  Advent Calendar:  I found a tutorial last year on a cute little felt advent calendar and sewed it back in September or so.  I have all the presents wrapped and ready to go for this.  Super excited to start this tradition.

*  Thanksgiving ‘What I Am Thankful For Tree’:  We are going to get a medium-sized branch and I’ll cut out construction paper leaves and we will all write down things we are thankful for during the month of November.  Hopefully, we will have a full tree by Thanksgiving.

*  Birthdays:  We will expand the birthday celebrations to my husband and I.  We will get to pick what we want to eat that day (since my birthday is in a week, I plan to pick orange juice, french toast, coq au vin, chocolate cake and ice cream…two flavors) and some place we would like to go.  This year I’m picking the zoo, because they have a free family day and honestly, it is the only way I’m getting my husband to go for a 2 plus hour drive to a zoo that will be crowded.  We will also start watching home movies this year. 

*  Kids Day:  My husband had this tradition growing up.  Somehow he and his two siblings conned their parents into having a Kids Day, because of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  Kid’s Day was always right before they went back to school in the Fall.  They each got a gift and did something special.  This sounds like fun to me.  I love giving gifts and having something fun to look forward too.  I’m sure we will keep it semi simple.  It would be really great if I could make a special breakfast, lunch and dinner for each of them (or maybe just a special dinner).  I would definitely be a short order cook that day, but with a little planning, I’m sure it would all work out.

*  Giving to needy families.  We would like to start some kind of tradition to give to others.  I’m not sure what this will look like yet.  It could be a toy for Toys for Tots or a blanket for Project Linus or even volunteering somewhere.  We will see, but something I definitely want to instill in my children.

What are some of your traditions?????

Well, what can I say?  I’m glad I sewed the mail bag earlier in the week, because I had very minimal time to sew today.  We have a lot of household projects to do and sewing just took back seat, as did football for my husband.  Instead, we spent the morning putting trim on the new front door and our daughter’s soon-to-be new closet.  My husband also spent a good amount of time investigating a water issue in our basement.  It is a weird one…just shows up front time to time in one corner and then a small puddle in the middle of the floor.  Doesn’t make sense and we haven’t been able to figure it out.  It doesn’t coincide with rain and the downspouts are not clogged.  Ideas??  We didn’t get our daughter’s shelving up in her closet or the tie backs for her curtains installed, but hopefully both of those things will happen this week.  They are absolutely driving me nuts and would like to get them done.  I’m such a doer that I stress myself out.  Ugh!

Anyway, here is what I sewed today…

It is a ‘draft snake.’  I found the tutorial a while ago in a book and just knew some day I would use it.  Typically this time of year we start to throw an old towel in front of our basement laundry door to keep the draft from coming into the entire downstairs.  Instead of a towel though, we will now use this draft snake.  I used three different patterned dish towels that I bought a while back to make a dish towel apron for a bridal shower gift.  I liked the pattern, but didn’t want to use them in my kitchen.  There they sat until this project came along.  I really could have made another draft snake if only I had more dried beans and rice on hand (and more time this morning).  I’m not sure what I will use the rest of the fabric from the towels for, but I’m sure it will eventually get used somehow.

Check out this awesome giveaway at Nicki’s Diapers!  I just am absolutely falling in love with all of their products!  I am planning to cloth diaper this next little one and just love all the information I have learned from the blog and the very helpful store employees!  My husband and I are planning a big shopping day on December 5th, which will include a stop at Nicki’s Diapers to pick out what we are going to cloth this little one in.  Right now we are thinking prefolds, but we are still open to all options!!

I couldn’t wait until Sunday.  It just seems that Sunday sewing does not always happen, so I get a little antsy and need to sew mid-week.  I’ve been reading Handmade Home and although I have found many projects I plan to eventually sew, I have really found more inspiration to repurpose stuff we already have.  Here is what happened.

Our old front door had a makeshift curtain on for the last sixish years.  Since we replaced the door, the makeshift curtain got replaced as well with three small charming, non-curtain needing windows.  Oh, what to do with a displaced curtain?  (Back story:  Curtain was really an airline blanket I thought was mine to keep after my first flight about 10 years ago.  I thought, they are not going to reuse this…boy, was I wrong.)

Well, our daughter had been really into playing mail on Tuesday (day this was actually created and sewn, much to the displeasure of my husband who kept asking, “Are you almost done?  I thought it was only going to be a few minutes?”) and she is already getting some felt mail for Christmas, so I thought she needed a mailbag to go with her mail.  Don’t you think?

Here are some photos of the creating going on:

Here is how I repurposed what we already had into something new and unique.  The blue ‘body’ of the bag is a small portion of the blue airline blanket curtain.  (Note to self:  Do Not iron this crappy material…it sticks to your iron and causes you to curse.)  The white MAIL letters are scraps of white wool felt from some wool felt star ornaments I made.  The beige strap is part of the curtains I made a few weeks ago out of the thrifted slipcover.  I also had some white embroidery floss lying around and that is what I used to hand stitch the letters onto the bag.

The strap is a little long, but fits our daughter without dragging on the floor.  I thought a little longer is better than too short.  So far, she has played with it a little.  I wouldn’t say it is a big hit with her, but I’m sure it will get some use.

What repurposing have you done lately?  Oh, and does anyone have a tutorial or pattern for hospital scrubs for children?  I’d love to make some for our daughter!  I did an online search with no luck!  I have some Dora fabric I was going to make into curtains, but I already made curtains, and honestly, I’m not really into the character stuff all over.  Scrubs would be perfect, because they are usually a little ‘loud’ anyway with characters and stuff.

I have been wanting to make a new tree skirt for a while now.  The one we’ve been using for the last few years is a vinyl-like material.  I’m not a big vinyl fan myself and the color I really didn’t care for either.  I’m not one to run out and buy a lot of seasonal stuff, so I’ve just been using the vinyl-like gold one for the last 8-9 years.  It is time for it to move onto another home for sure!

Well, I’ve been trying to go through a lot of my wedding decorations from 3+ years ago and I came up with a solution.  I decided to use the satin piece of fabric that was used on our wedding cake table at our wedding reception.  It is about 5 yards long (if I’m remembering right).  I was going to sew it, but I actually like the look of it more tussled and flowing under the tree.  I’m just going to wrap it around the bottom of the tree and tuck under the ends.  Simple.  Done.

I also have set aside some of the little flowers used as wedding decorations for art projects for our daughter.  I have the tulle set aside in my sewing stash, although I’m not sure what I will eventually use it for.  I’m giving some of the ribbon bows to my mom for holiday decorations.  I’m going to use a few of the satin bows on our tree too.  I’m still left with what to do with some larger rose like fake flowers and also some candle votives that look like wine glasses (sort of).  I would like to keep some of the stuff, but I’m not sure why quite yet.  It is just taking up precious space.  Any crafty ideas of what I can do with the extra stuff?

Yummy!  This recipe looks delicious and very healthy.  I’ve made black bean burritos once, but this one definitely packs in more nutrition.  Yum!  Yum!

Our daughter will love them too!  She will probably roll it apart and eat the beans, but that is where all the good stuff is anyway.

Not sure that I will go all out and make the homemade salsa, but you never know.  I’ll let you know how they taste!

Also, like that the recipe uses dried beans and not canned.  No one wants BPA Spinach and Black Bean Burritos now do they!?!?

Any healthy recipes you like?