Birthday Fun

Our sweet little niece turned 4 this weekend so we've been busy making her gifts. Buggy was in charge of the customized wrapping paper. I cut a section off of our roll of blank newsprint, opened a new box of crayons and set her to work. I didn't take a picture because... well, lets just say she doesn't have a future in the wrapping paper industry. She kept getting side-tracked by absolutely everything except her project.


My contribution was a new outfit, and since the birthday girl likes dresses and ballet it was a tutu-ish skirt with this matching top (seen here modeled by the lovely Buggy):




It was pretty simple so I thought I'd share how I made this little embellishment:


1. I cut out a paper heart the size I liked and pinned it onto the wrong-side of the shirt using a four-year-old body as a placement guide. I also added a layer of light sew-in interfacing, I'm not sure that this step is necessary but I used it since this was my first time sewing on a tee (I did all this on the wrong-side so I could keep track of my interfacing, which wouldn't be necessary if you skipped it). Then I carefully stitched around the pattern with pink thread:


It occurs to me that this would be a great embellishment on its own, assuming your bobbin does not implode three times while trying to sew a tidy heart. This is how mine looks on the right-side after this step:


(My crummy sewing skills are only surpassed by my even crummier photo editing skills. Ah well, you get the idea)

2. I cut some 1-inch strips of tulle and stitched down the middle with a long stitch. Pull on one thread to ruffle it up so it matches the perimeter of the heart and pin it down using the stitching as a guide:

3. Then just carefully top-stitch along the heart. I left the ruffle thread in because I thought it added to the look nicely (and because separating it from the tulle is a pain in the kazoo). Here we see my model workin' the entire outfit:

The skirt was inspired by this tutorial on Pink Picket Fence. I made a basic three tiered-skirt and sewed on a couple rows of ruffled tulle per tier. I could do a little how-to for the skirt too if anyone is interested.

Monkeying Around

I've been eyeing this sheet the past couple of times we visited the thrift shop. It was $1.99 but since I didn't have anything specific in mind for it, I kept passing it up. But this time it was on sale for 75% off! Of course, I couldn't pass on that. Any suggestions?

Then I spotted this:
The tag said full-sized sheet, but I saw the buttons running down one side and knew better. A duvet cover for $2.99, with a cute monkey! You can't beat that with a stick.

I'm taking a break from canning and wanted to show off my treasures. Now I'm off to load up the canner again. Is it weird that I love that little snap sound the lids make when they are sealing? Yes? Oh well, story of my life.

pin cushion

I have a sister-in-law who is creative with paper crafts and can do some amazing things with family photos (whereas mine are languishing in the hard drive or shoe boxes). She has recently taken an interest in sewing and stopped by for some pointers on how to get along with her machine. I am, of course, the perfect person to ask as all of my machine meltdowns are met with complete grace and composure. And if your child is in Sunday School with my daughter, I have no idea where she learned that word.

So I wanted to make her a "Welcome to Sewing" gift and decided on a pin cushion. I used the free pattern from this site and included my BFF: a stitch ripper.

I love these buttons and wish I were a better photographer so you could see how they catch the light and sparkle.

meringue pie makes me nervous

I once had a cat named Willy. One day after having left a lemon meringue pie on the kitchen counter to cool, I walked in to find a third of it gone and Willy buried neck-deep in the remaining two-thirds. I let out a screech and he popped out wild eyed and covered in sticky meringue. I haven't had a cat since who showed a weakness for pastries, but I always get nervous that I'll find my pie has been wrecked by a feline.

So I'm sure by now word has gotten around about my witty and informative blog and I've attracted legions of followers. Maybe one of you super-cool people could tell me what I'm doing wrong with my meringue? This is a picture of the 4-egg meringue I made yesterday. Shouldn't it be, um, bigger? A little more voluminous?

fungus fun

We've been impatiently waiting for a good rain and last week the sky let loose. So this weekend found us in the woods hunting for little spots of orange under the trees. We found quite a few for this early in the year.

I didn't find the first one of the year (we always have a little contest) but this is the first one I found.

We still had a few left last night so I made pizza with chanterelles. Mmmm. It was out-of-this-world-yummy. I was a little worried that the fabulous taste of the mushrooms would be lost in the flavor mish-mash; but really it made a great pizza. Here is some of the leftover 3-cheese with mushroom variety.

Circle Skirt

They say your way of thinking completely changes when you have kids and I find that to be true. For example, I hadn't really thought about it but after cruising the toy section I realized Barbie is a little trampy.
"Whaaat", you say. "The venerable doll who has entertained generations of little girls? "
Don't believe me? I have evidence to back my claim. Seriously, do you go camping in strappy platform sandals? Does your veterinarian/pediatrician/daycare provider, etc. wear a mini skirt? Do you know anyone who owns silver vinyl capris?

So what's a mama worried about role models to do? Not buy impossibly skinny dolls Make your own clothes, of course!

Here is our best doll modeling her new circle skirt. The plan is to make a few outfits to wrap up in time for Christmas. I think a new doll (and a top) is in order.

Thrifting

We stopped at our (sorta) local thrift store today and found some treasures. Tuesdays are 20% off and they add that to their tag sales, so you can really add up the savings. Like the alarm clock I got for 90 cents. WooHoo! And I do specifically want one, I didn't just get it because it was a sweet deal. I'm trying to set up an Etsy shop and find there just isn't enough time in my day if I get up when I hear the baby's first holler. But I'm not much of a morning person so...
Buggy (oldest daughter) picked out a bag of pop beads (I'm a sucker for anything I remember from my own childhood). And my favorite? Its a toss-up between my new handbag ($2.29) and this: