Birthday in the Mail

I sent Emily her birthday gift this year . . . late, as usual. I swear at some point I'll get better at that.

What I like about her birthday (and Marie too) is that I can send something very random and it's always received well. This year was no exception.

I was browsing on Etsy for something handmade, quirky and fun. I ran across this little necklace and knew she had to have it. We were both in Seattle for Christmas this year I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the homeland and I knew she would be too.


It's made by a designer that I can no longer find there. That's weird. Anyway, it's simple and really fun.

The inspiration for the ring came when I ran across this blog (via delia creates) and saw that she had turned a mini fabric rose into a ring. Are you kidding? So cute and so Emily. I don't think I can pull this off, but she totally can.

Gifts at Christmastime

Yep, that's right. Christmas gifts. I've been putzin' around here in Iowa this January. I have been working on a few things here and there, but clearly none of them are blog related.

So, now that I'm getting around to it I figure I should post about Christmas before I move onto anything else. And, nope, I'm not ashamed. So, here goes:

We got to go to Seattle this year to visit my family for Christmas. I loved it. A whole ten days to hang out with my family. It was really good.

We rotate who we buy gifts for at Christmas and this year we had my sister, Marie, and her family. So, of course, I can't help but sew a little something. I lost a couple of pictures (really not sure how that happened), but I can at least just tell you what I made.

photo courtesy of soozs.blogspot.com

Marie got a beach tote - made from this tutorial. For some reason my logical sense didn't coincide with the author's and I had a VERY hard time with this seemingly simple tutorial, but it turned out pretty cute. Seriously, it should have taken about 60 minutes and ended up taking at least 3 hours. Marie's was a blue/brown print with a white linen/canvas on the inside.

Her beautiful new son, Tommy, got a couple of things. First, were a couple of bibs. His were orange polka dot (love that fabric) and another with numbers all over. Really cute, but lost the picture.

He also got this ball. I got my inspiration from house on hill road, and she got the pattern here. This was fun and easy.



Jude, in turn, received a beautiful knitted hat made by his Aunt Marie. It's gorgeous and fleece-lined. I hate to say it, but I think we got the better end of the deal.

Isn't that amazing? You can click on the picture to look at it up close. I'm telling you - wow.

And, last but not least, we gave Tommy a childrens' bible. I must recommend it to you all just in case you're in the market to purchase one for your own child or a child you love. It's seriously the best and everyone should know about it! We received it from some dear friends when Jude was born and every time I read it to him it makes me cry. The words and the pictures capture God's story so well. I'm not kidding. It's fabulous.

Here's an excerpt from the intro:

"No, the Bible isn't a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It's a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne - everything - to rescue the one he loves. It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this Story is - it's true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling on Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them . . . "

I'm telling you . . . it's beautiful. You might even want it for yourself. Because everyone should know about a Jesus who loves them and wants to rescue them. Don't you think? I do.

All Those Christmas Cards

I LOVE traditional Christmas cards. Isn't it so fun to receive so many beautiful cards during the month of December? I very much anticipate the mail's arrival in December just to see who I'm going to hear from. There's just something special about receiving updates in an old-fashioned way from those you love.

In the back of my mind I've hoped to find a way to display all of the cards, but I hadn't settled on anything until this year.

I ran across this project on a blog I've really been enjoying recently, delia creates. She got the idea for the wreath here. It's such a simple idea - only requiring a piece of cardboard, x-acto knife, wrapping paper, tape, clothes pins, hot glue and ribbon.

I whipped it together one evening in about an hour while enjoying a movie. It's so easy and so cute.

Jammies for Jude

Each Christmas one of my favorite family traditions was receiving a new pair of jammies to wear the night of Christmas Eve. My mom is quite the seamstress and she would sew all of us a new pair every year. Often times we got to go to the fabric store with her and pick out our fabric and design. We waited with anticipation to see what she created.

I've decided to carry on the tradition at our little house. So, this year, for his first Christmas, Jude received his first pair of homemade jammies.

I made a onesie and a pair of pants, which I felt was the easiest way to avoid a one-piece that either zips or snaps all the way down the front. Too complicated.

I scored at Walmart recently and bought a couple of bolts of fabric for only $5/bolt. Did anyone else score in this deal too? So exciting. Anyway, the red knit is kind of vintage-y, soft and perfect for a long john look. It was a challenge to sew with, but as I struggled with it I kept telling myself it was "good practice". Which, it was. I ended up making two onesies and two pairs of pants until I could get the right fit all the way around.
I used my onesie pattern that I drafted. I also used this pants pattern, which I've used several times before. To add to the long johns look I added cuffs to both the sleeves and legs. Again, these additions were a bit of a challenge, but worth it in the end.

When it was completed I drew the little trees and freezer painted those to the front. I have to say my little guy sports the jammies well, although you might not be able to trust me on that. In this case I'm not only a biased mother but also the biased sewer. The main thing I guess is that I really enjoyed starting this tradition with him. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Christmas for Three

Yes, it's true. We've gone from Halloween to Christmas at this space in a matter of 4 days! Time flies, I'm telling you.

Well, Christmas is going to be a little different around here this year because we've added this little cutie to the mix. I'm looking forward to it!

By the way, did you notice he's wearing the hat my cousin knitted for him? Isn't it the cutest? I can't get enough of it. Or him, let's be honest.

My first order of business (before the real Holiday craziness begins) was to make sure Jude had his own Christmas stocking. And, while I was at it I made four! Oh my. No, I'm not exactly trying to estimate the number of our future children. I just thought that as long as I still had some of the fabric on hand I better make a whole lot so I "should" not have to make another set until I'm totally and completely sick of this one. Right? Right.

I made two each of these style (yes, they're a little different . . . look closely):
I couldn't bring myself to photograph all four. It made me appear crazy even though in my head I can justify that I'm not. Is this how I live my life? Yes, I'm afraid so. Hiding the craziness.

I made these two red stockings for Jesse and me back in 2007. I used the McCall's 3777 pattern. If you link to the pattern you'll notice that it looks a little dorky because of the fabric they used (I don't know who decides those things!), but I liked the shape of the stockings. So, I went with it. I tweaked with the top a bit until I liked it.

That year I also made a tree skirt. I was hoping they would all correlate without being too matchy. I think I did it. I'm happy with the way they turned out and I love pulling them out of the Christmas boxes each year. That's a good sign.

And, here are our stockings all lined up and ready. One for each us plus Scout.

Three cheers for holiday sewing! I love it.

Birthday Girls

My little nieces, Reagan & Peyton, celebrated their birthdays last week. Reagan turned 4 and Peyton turned 3. God bless their mother who had them just 13 months apart! She combines their birthdays every year just for sake of sanity and we encourage her to keep all the sanity she can.
I really debated on what to get the girls this year. I didn't think I was up for making anything, but once the ideas came I couldn't help myself. Reagan is our little girly-girl and Peyton pretty much wants whatever Reagan does. So, I started with some purses. I purchased the seersucker brown polka dot fabric at Hancocks recently. I think it was Hancocks or maybe it was Hobby Lobby. Anyway, I couldn't pass it up. The possibilities with it seemed endless. Turns out it was perfect for this project. Plus, I have some left over that I can use for a summer shirt. I think that will be so cute!

I ended up making the Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae. It's a fabulous pattern and a quick one to put together. I learned my lesson from last time and put some interfacing in it. Bright pink satin fabric seemed perfect for the liner. Because, really, what little girl doesn't love pink satin?

The purses had to look identical otherwise the girls would fight over them. So, I found some plastic letters I had on hand and sewed their initials on the inside. I figured it would be a nice little surprise for the girls especially because Reagan is just learning how to spell her name. Plus, my sister-in-law now has a way of telling them apart when a fight breaks out.

I stashed two headbands inside the purses for each girl.

The first was a pink headband with a simple pink bow hot glued to it.

The second were little roses that turned out exactly like I was hoping they would. I got my inspiration here - and she got her inspiration here.

I tried it out first with the original pattern and I ended up with this rose:

It's really pretty, but it was way too big for a little girl. So, I used only half of the pattern for the girls' headbands. Worked perfectly. But, of course, I still had this big beautiful flower on hand and nothing to do with it. At this blog (the original inspiration above) you can see that she added hers to a stocking cap. Fabulous idea.

Unfortunately, this style is beautiful in theory but it can only be pulled off by a small number of the population. Am I right? I tried it on, but it just wasn't me. Course, I knew that before I even put it on.
So, I packaged it up and sent it to my darling cousin, Eden - a beauty who can pull off this sort of thing like it was meant to be.

Halloween on Thanksgiving? Yep.

Boy oh boy has it been awhile since I've been around here. The last month got away from me somehow and I'm now forced to write about my Halloween weekend on Thanksgiving day.

I think my absence is because writing can feel exhausting for me. When I get tired or overwhelmed I choose not to write. I've been doing a bit of a transition at work and it has required lot of my brain power. I feel like I have had very few brain cells left to commit to anything much less this space. I think things are bit under control now, so here I am and here we go.

Over Halloween my Mom came into town. Oh my, was it fun to have her here! We shopped, laughed, cooked, talked, rested and took a lot of pictures of this little munchkin (how could we not?).

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch. Actually, we took three trips to the pumpkin patch and the first two trips were duds (as I made an embarrassing mistake of getting us all there when the patch was not actually open). However, when we finally made it it was worth it. We got some cute pictures. And, all of us together picked out three pumpkins - one for me, one for Jesse and a baby one for Jude.

After the trip to get our pumpkins I forced Mom to make strawberry jam with me. Strawberries not in season you say? Well, this little momma purchased some strawberries really cheap in May (before Jude was born) - was it part of my nesting? I don't know. But, I cut them all up and froze them knowing that I wouldn't be able to accomplish this task until I had a couple of months of mommyhood under my belt. So, October was time. Time for a bit of jam making.

Mmm. Mmm. Lots of mashed up strawberry goodness. I didn't follow the directions on the package exactly and that seemed to worry my rule-following mother. I must admit, I tend to be a better cook than a baker simply because my recipe-following behavior is a little free-spirited. It makes Jesse laugh when I predictably pull out of the oven a less than perfect batch of cookies. For some reason, though, I can't seem to reign in the free-spirit in the kitchen.

Look at that massive amount of sugar and pectin. Strawberry jam coming right up!

Batch one. Done.
And, here's the whole lot. Toast and jam for breakfast? Yes, please.

The next day we dressed Jude up as a dragon for Halloween. Mom and I decided he was not just any dragon, but "Puff, the magic dragon" no less.


We sang the song "Puff, the magic dragon lives by the sea . . . " all day long. And, although the costume was a bit hot for Jude he played his part well.

Roar!
He was the cutest dragon I ever did see!