Preparing for Christmas

I can't believe I am so close to being done! I can't believe that today, alone, I finished 4 gifts! 4! AND, I still managed to have lots of playtime with my kids, prepare 3 full meals (including, yes COOKING a real dinner), wrap about 5 Christmas presents, and a finish a few loads of laundry!

OK, well, TWO of the items were practically done...Now, they are DONE, ready for blog pictures, and ready for wrapping. What a sigh of relief.

My Christmas cards are late this year. Unfortunately, we had to delay the portrait session due to stomach flus a few weeks ago, which means my order of cards is still yet to arrive. I think the actual snail mailing of my cards will turn out to be Happy New Year cards. So, without further ado...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS.

May your holidays be filled with good cheer and many blessings.

Handmade holiday

I wish I could share some things I have been working on....I can't until after Christmas. :)

I hope all you out there are ready for Christmas!

Thanksgiving Challah Bread

So, yes, Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago. I am finally getting caught up on pictures.

I made this challah bread for our special family feast. The item in the middle? A Teepee Corinne made in her class that same week! It was not planned at all, but the two fit together perfectly.

Never having braided Challah bread before, I took it on and had awesome success, thanks to the Internet and Maya who's tutorial was absolutely perfect! If you ever want to take this on, check out her link. Success on the first try, even with two little ones pulling on my legs most of the time.

Toothfairy Pillow

Toothfairy Pillow, originally uploaded by KathyMade.

The toothfairy pillow #1 is done. I am very happy with the way it turned out. Corinne loves it, too. It means so much more to me since she helped me make it.

She loves the Alexander Henry circle fabric the best. I love the Amy Butler Coriander in combination with all the other colors.

Of course, we have a few years until it's really used as a tooth fairy pillow. For now, it's a great memory.

Special craft time

Nap time, bedtime, those are the times I can get any crafting done.

Nap time might be dwindling with my oldest...that will be a sad day.

This weekend she "couldn't fall asleep" after many tries. So....I had her join me. I was making a toothfairy pillow for my niece, who is about to start losing teeth.

Like it? I was inspired by Stephanie, and Katie. Ever since I saw these, I had an overwhelming desire to try some patchwork. I also knew I wanted to make a tootfairy pillow to hold lost teeth and toothfairy treasures. Why not combine the ideas? See that squre in the middle? It's a pocket!

My helper loved the idea of it. She wanted one for herself, even though she doesn't really understand what it means to loose baby teeth since she is NOT a baby.

After showing her how to hold her hands and guide the fabric, and after letting her push the pedal while I guided the fabric, and after her picking out the next strip of fabric...how in the world can I give this item as a gift? Looks like I am now making 2 toothfairy pillows.

Good times in bloom

Life.

Puppet Show Time.

Row, Row, Row your boat time.

Alpaca open house time.

SHE walked up to them all, no problems. HE clung to me and only pet them while holding onto me.

Bloom time.

Family time.

My quilt is done!

MY QUILT IS DONE!

I have finally finished my quilt. I have actually been done for about two weeks, but was awaiting the right lighting to get the picture. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I stitched in the ditch for all the rows. I did some free motion quilting on the white part. I was trying to go for an all over meander in that area. It's definitely not perfect (hence, no pictures of the back), but I think it came out well for a first "real" quilt.

I learned how important a good quilting area is around the machine. I also don't have an extension table on my machine and I think I'll be putting that on my Chrismas list this year so I can improve. I think quilts of all sizes can make great gifts, given some time and pratice. Who wouldn't want to warm up in something that was handmade in love?

This is going to be a great gift to give. But, it does have special meaning to me, and I have become slightly attached to it. So have some others in the family.

Halloween Review

Dear blog,

I's been a while, again. I hope these next few posts hope you feel like I am keeping you up to date.

Halloween, 2008, Review

We had a great time on Halloween this year. It started early in the month, as my previous post talked about. We had pumpkins gallore between this trip to the patch, the field trip with Corinne's school to the patch, and some pumpkin gifts from friends. What do you do with so many pumpkins?

Painting them is a great option.

I have lots more painting pictures, but since I made the two of them strip down to minimal clothing...not a great idea to share on the WWW!

Trick or treating was a hit this year. We were visitors of a very friendly neighborhood, and boy did they go all out. Corinne got into it this year, wanting to run from house to house. She walked into any house when they opened their door too far! She also had NO fear of the scary houses. One was all decked out with smoke, lights, a moving ghost on a wire across the front yard, scary noises, etc. She had to walk through a tunnel with spooky lights to get to the house, and she went right up. No fear (ever). However, Nathan, he held my hand tight and didn't want to go anywhere near the noises. I truly feel that HE will protect HER one day.

The best part of trick or treating....checking out the loot on the return to the house!

A wonderful fall day!

Hello all!


Today, I got to spend the day sewing with my sister, and what a great day we had (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). Although she didn't get much sewing in, I think she had a great time finishing up another project - staining a piece of furniture. And, I got to get a lot further on the quilt! All is done but the binding - final pictures to come soon!


How many of you have been enjoying fall? I don't know about you, but I think it feels so nice to have a crisp breeze in the air this time of year. Something about the coolness of the air, the leaves showing their colors, the angle of the sun, makes it so nice to be outside this time of year! My sister and I also got to get a great run in today, and it was a great treat to enjoy the air, the city, the leaves all on foot.

So, being that it's fall, I thought you'd enjoy the pictures of a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Found!

(Yes, she picked out that outfit herself! I could not get her to change it...that girl has her own sense of style)

Hmmm...

This is it!

Attempt to get a group picture #1.

Attempt to get a group picture #2.

Flowers in the Fall

I am loving my garden right now. I have some great color going on. Not the oranges, reds, or yellows that you would expect me to be talking about at this time of year, but PURPLEY-PINK.

Absolutely gorgeous.

It was in this post that I first referred to these plants. I was wrong by calling them a hardy geranium. They are really Japanese Anemones, and what a winner of a plant. They started out small, and in two year's time they have really spread.

I think I can split them this fall or next, to spread the color throughout the garden. They are really a welcome plant this time of year.

A new cape!

No, I have not finished my quilt yet. I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting, now I have to move on to the free hand part...But, since the quilt is already late, I had to stop for a night and move on to fulfill an obligation. Way back in February, I made a Superman cape for a little boy for a birthday present (pre-blog days, so I don't have a picture). The mother liked it so much, she asked me in March to make a Batman cape for Halloween. So, it's been on my to do list since then!

This is the third cape I have made using this tutorial from Puking Pastilles. It's a great tutorial, a great gift, and such an easy thing to make and personalize!


This is a picture of the cape on my son, so it's long on him, but since the real owner is 4, it will be a great length!

Even the applique was easy!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Why not try again? This is pretty cute!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Tools of the Trade

Remember, in this post, I mentioned that I had signed up for a quilting class? I loved the class, and learned a lot. In that class the instructor had us sandwich a mini-quilt. She taught me some great tips that I used in the past two weeks when I finally sandwiched the quilt top I referenced in my last post. She taught us the time-saving tricks of:

• Always leave your saftey pins open when they are out of the quilt, they should only be closed when they are in your quilt.


• Add all pins to the quilt, without closing, then when all pins are in, go back and close them.


• Use a tool, called a Kwik Klip to help close the pins.

In the past two weeks, I have sandwiched, and then re-sandwhiched that quilt top. The first one did not turn out so well. The back had all sorts of lumps in it WITH the pins in it. Which meant if I had gone ahead and quilted it, then it would have been a very sloppy back. So, out came the pins and back to the drawing board I went!

My tools and timesaving tips:

• Don't use painter's tape. Nope, it didn't hold down my backing enough. Hence, the lumps. I used Duct tape the second time, and it went much better.

• Who needs a Kwik Klip, when you have a Strawberry topper-cutter?

Seriously, I don't know what this little utensil is called, but we use it in the summer time to cut off the tops of strawberries. It works great in that aspect, but I found a new use for it with the quilt. It holds the bottom of the pin perfectly, so I can just push down on that safety pin and close it up.

With about 100 or so pins in this blanket, your fingers can get really raw trying to hold that little pin in place. This little tool was a big timesaver!

Tasks for this week: Get to finally finishing up this quilt!

Quilt top done

I have been working off and on all summer for a gift for someone special for our family, the lady who watches my kids while we work. She is so good to the kids and to her family. She had it hard when she was raising her own kids, and now she gives back to them by watching her grandkids while the parents work. We're not family, but we're close enough in my book. It was a tearful day when I decided to take my oldest out of that setting and into a pre-school.

I have finally finished the top to the quilt. I am planning on quilting it over the next two weeks or so, so I can finally give her the quilt. I had hoped it would be an end of summer gift, but life got in the way of the final finish.

Each hand represents a child had in her house this summer. The age group is very large, so the older kids helped with the younger kids. I hand embroidered each one's name under their hand.

When summer started and most kids were back to school, I asked her if it was too quiet. She said it was nice, but she did feel like a lot of her help left!

As for the fabric, I bought a jelly roll of the Flutterby line for the strips. The brown is croduroy. I am hoping the contrast in fabric type will work ok. I think it offsets the hands nicely. Anyone had experience mixing fabric types in their quilts? I'd be interested in knowing how it turned out.

Fall Color Anticipation

Fruits of our labor. Fresh, warmed by the sun, home-grown tomatoes. Yum. What a nice treat to enjoy with dinner.


I am awaiting fall color from this plant. I'll have to look up the exact name, but this is some sort of hardy geranium. I was not sure about it, but was told it would have great fall color. Last year was the first year I had put them in. They were AWESOME flowers. At a time when there is not much flowering going on, when the garden's summer colors simmer out, this plant puts on its show. I am awaiting with anticipation some more color! See those buds? It's FILLED with them.

Stepping back, you can see they have a great mounded shape. I planted them behind some peonies...I'll probably move them after they bloom. The peonies are taller, so you really have to peer around those peonies to see what's going on with these geraniums.

Check out this combination! This was an unplanned combination that turned out well. I love the way the yellow from the Black Eyed Susans mix with the purple-ish color of the Sedum 'Autumn Joy'. It works well with each plant's bloom time, too. The BES bloom while the Sedum's green buds come out. Then, just as the BES yellow begins the fade, the Sedum begin their show!

And, while I am purusing through my gardens, what are my little helpers getting into? Anything and everything they can.

Refreshed yet?

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Woo hoo! Maybe I'll have a chance to win a new, cute outit or Corinne!

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

First Day of School

There she goes again, on to school again. She had so much fun last year that it was easy to take her again this year. I am so glad that she is learning so much, and has fun doing it. It sure makes it easier on me when I drop her off!

The best part of school is that every day is a new adventure. Some new activity, or new story, or new friend. We have enjoyed seeing her flourish in a school-like environment.

She is now in "Pre-K", but I think the curriculum is about the same as last year. ABC's, 1, 2, 3's, etc.

This picture was taken in our front garden, what she calls "Mommy's garden". I was going to take it by the light pole with the black eyed susan's still in bloom and the sedum Autum Joy starting out its fall show. But, nope, she wanted the picture to be RIGHT THERE. And, of course, Morgan got right on in the action!

Another year, many more adventures to come!

The dress she is wearing was made by my sister, Stephanie, using the Oliver and S Tea Party Sundress pattern. The dress was a gift. I have not been convinced that I like this pattern, until, of course, I saw the final product in person, and on it's even better! This is a very flattering dress, with a cute flair at the hips. It's perfect for Corinne, who I think has a long torso. She likes it, so that's what really matters.

I may attempt a winter dress of this pattern in Corduroy. I think it will be really cute with a matching long sleeve shirt and tights. And with Mary Janes, of course....

McCall's 5369

I made a special dress for a certain someone who had a birthday party recently. It took me almost every night for one week straight, but it got done in time for the party, which was my goal.

I loved how it came out.

I realized, though, at the cutting stage of this dress, that I am not good at critiquing the patterns I choose to sew. I need to improve here. Had I realized that each ruffle would need to be hemmed, and then sewn on, I am not sure I would have chosen this pattern. It took a lot of time.

In the end, it was worth it. She loved the dress. She wore it with no problems, and I was ready to hear the "I don't want to wear that" argument. Nope, it was her party dress, and she knew it, and she loved it!

She posed so great, too, for my pictures! Wow, it's amazing that she has become such a sweet little person.

I had to add two buttons to the bag, rather than the one it called for. The dress, size 4, was WIDE at the top. The two buttons I added enabled the bodice of the dress to fit better. I think it came out looking just fine.

This dress, size 4 came out a little short on her, so she wore some small shorts underneath. If I did it again (which I won't - nope, this was a lot of time), I'd add one more ruffle for length. I ran out of fabric for that.

Is it September Already?

Although my blog has been quiet during the month of August (and for the most part all summer!), it's not been quiet here. It's been a busy summer. August flew by.

This summer we've:
* Had two long vacations
* Visited DC
* Had a birthday party
* Hung out at home
* Enjoyed time on a boat
* Seen a helicopter up close and personal
* Ridden horses
* Introduced our little ones to fun on two wheels
* Gotten some crafting done

Back to reality this month...

More Summer Fun

I have yet to share some of the great stories and related photos from our trip to PA in early July. Below is a handful of pictures from that whirlwind trip!

We went to Hershey Park, PA, on July 4. What fun. The kids, obviously, were looking forward to a fun time!

Yeah! We are finally here! Let's have some FUN!

Waiting in anticipation for really fun rides. (Holding balloons, of course.)

And enjoying the rides when they got on. Lots of enjoyment. Corinne in the middle, Elissa to the right, and Ryan to the left. They all loved it. Look at Ryan! Can't you just eat up that smile?

We also took a train ride on a real steam engine train! I knew this would be a winner. We have a few train lovers in this house!

Isn't he a big boy, mounting that train stair all by himself?

This was before the train took off. That little hesitant smile should give away how much "fun" we had on that train ride. It started out GREAT. But, we had a meltdown in the middle. Not just a small meltdown, no, the big, all out, I am mad and going to let everyone on this train know it and too bad you are all stuck on this train with me. With nowhere to go. And no no way to make me happy. Nada.

Luckily, in the middle of the train ride, there was a place called Cherry Crest Farm. What a lifesaver! And, what a fun place to go! They had live animals, two huge jumping pillows, one for adults and a smaller one for kids. I have no pictures of that because, well, I was just having too much FUN jumping on that thing. Talk about AIR. They also had a large corn maize, a farm tour, games, and other fun, outdoor, things to do. And slides built into a hill that were the length of a snow tube ride. Again, no pictures. Too much fun going down those on a burlap sack! Corinne said this was the best part of the whole trip. She went down the slide, by herself, countless times!

We all held live, day old baby chicks! I wish I had a camera of Ryan's little GRAB of the chick. He picked one up like it was a baseball. Poor guy.

Yes, a good time was had by all.