Bunny Containers

 I save all the cardboard containers the oatmeal comes in.  They're pretty handy for storing things after the oatmeal has long since been enjoyed. I also use them for giving cookie gifts-- the smaller containers hold a perfect dozen and I draw pictures and silly quotes on the containers themselves. Some brands have their designs printed right on the cardboard, which is easily painted over with white paint.  Another brand from a local food store has a paper wrapper, which I love, because after I take off the wrapper, I'm left with a plain white container!

Before Christmas, I saw a cute idea using the oatmeal containers as a gift box-- draw or paint a snowman body, then use a scrap of fabric for a scarf and another larger scrap for making a knit cap for the snowman to wear. Fill with candy or small gifts, as you would a Christmas stocking. What a fun idea!  Never got around to making them last Christmas, but here's my version for Easter:

Bunny containers!!

So easy to make and the kids had a lot of fun drawing faces and doing the ears. I looked online for bunny face patterns and there are hundreds of different designs you can use. Pick your favorite and draw away! I picked one out and drew it on a piece of paper, then told the kids to make a face like that and they personalized them with eyelashes or bow ties.

 We glued cotton balls to the back for tails and ears were stapled.

We have family coming over for Easter, so these will all be given away after I've filled them with goodies-- candy and little gifts. Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles will also get a picture of the kiddos inside their containers.

It's not too late to start saving your oatmeal containers. Buy a bunch and eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday or make granola or a bunch of oatmeal cookies.  It takes one container for one batch of cookies, so if you need 3, make 3 batches! This was a fun little project for the kids and a great way to recycle nifty little containers. Let me know if you make any!  

The Last November Day

I don't know how it happened!

I have heard all my life about how time goes faster when one gets older.

It's true, but I can't figure out how!

One minute it's still early November and we're talking with the Roof Guys and setting a date mid-month.

Then we get a call and the roof replacement is postponed to the end of the month and it's time to plan Thanksgiving dinner.

Now here it is, the last day of November, we still have the same old roof, and time is just zipping by!

Well, rather than focus on the negative (and flying time is a negative, right?), let's show you what I've been up to these days...

My sister gave me these vintage printed dish towels to embroider years ago. I love turtles and she saw these and thought of me (Thanks, sis!).  There's supposed to be a towel for every day of the week, but I only have two of them- Sunday and Friday. They've been sitting in a box for awhile, and I came across them and decided it was time to work on them.  The washable ink is starting to fade in some places, so better get to it before I'll have to start making it up as I go! I must say, I really like the detail I came up with on the stomach and the hat. Almost done with this one, and then I can start on the next.  The real question here is: Can I use them as what they were intended for when I'm done with them? We shall see!

Every year I do hand made ornaments to give as gifts. I try to keep it different and not too difficult since I have to make mass quantities of them. I get inspiration from other people, magazines, stuff I see in the stores, but this time, inspiration struck at home! Remember those spirograph drawing sets we had as kids?? Evelyn was drawing one night with the spirograph and I noticed how they could be snowflakes... ornament snowflakes!! Evelyn and I drew a bunch more onto tissue paper, then I embroidered right through the paper onto felt. Still a work in progress, but thought I'd share in case anyone wanted to try this.

We set the tree up two days ago. Only lights on it right now because I like to wait until kids and cats are used to having the tree around before adding ornaments. You can just see the curiosity getting ready to kill this cat, can't you??  I'm glad I don't have ornaments on this yet, because yesterday morning I found Peter somehow tangled up inside the tree, lights all wrapped up around him!!  Wha...?!?  A firm warning that the tree will get put up if he does it again and so far, no more mishaps. I'm thinking the ornaments will go up tonight after dinner.

Christmas shopping is just about done with, a few more items and I can call it good! Soon I'll be able to focus solely on crafting and baking and wrap presents little by little. I don't yet know what our Christmas plans are, but whatever they will be, as long as it's with family and friends, it's perfect! 

Let's just hope December doesn't fly by as fast as November did, hmm?

Rag Rugging It

I grew up around rag rugs. My mom made several-- one in the room my sister and I shared, one in the hallway, one in front of the door...  My grandma was a big believer in keeping idle hands busy, so Mom and her sister learned a lot of crafts growing up.

I always admired the rugs, though. I have fond memories of the one in our bedroom-- large oval in those typical 70's colors- brown, mustard yellow, and white. I remember it being huge and running into the room, landing on the rug and sliding a few feet.  I saw it years later, as an adult, and was shocked at how small it was!

I asked my Mom to teach me how to make my own rag rug a few years ago, and I hit the ground running, making several one year, but something always bugged me-- they didn't look like how I remembered Mom's rug looking like.  I had no example to compare notes to, so I just kept making them.

Then I found an old rug at a yard sale-- in decent shape and she let me have it for 50 cents. I grabbed it so I could at least have an example to refer to.

Here's the vintage rug.  It's a nice example, shows some wear, but it's still in pretty good shape.

Folded over to show the back side.

Here's the one I made several years ago, I meant to make this room-sized, but I didn't finish it because I couldn't shake the feeling I wasn't doing it right.

See how up close, the stitches look different? The vintage rug has nice, chunky, fat stitches. Mine are thin, plus mine is stretchy, as if I made it with elastic instead of cotton. I have a very hard time getting the edges to stay flat instead of rolling up, too.

So I studied the vintage rug. And studied it some more. The edge was kind of worn and starting to unravel, so I kind of picked at it, hoping to figure out how to make those fat, chunky stitches. Mom couldn't explain why the rug I made was so different from the one I found-- it's been nearly 40 years since she last made a rag rug, so she can't remember how she did it. She pulled out one of her rugs and sure enough, it matches the vintage one!

We both studied it, tried to decipher it, I crocheted a chain, tried a stitch, unraveled it and tried another one. I went online and looked up rag rug directions. I sent an email to a fellow blogger that posted a picture of her rug that also had chunky stitches. I couldn't sleep! I went through all my books looking up stitches. My mind just wouldn't let it drop!

Then, while lying on the bed, resting, talking with Andrew, my mind making imaginary rugs, I had a sudden image of how to do it! I ran for the needle and started stitching a chain.  I turned and made the stitch I saw in my head and I did it!! I got nice, fat, chunky stitches! Eureka!!

This is the result of one afternoon, frantically crocheting, making sure I commit that stitch to memory. I received a response to my email and she described it just the way I was doing it-- It's called a Double Chain Stitch!

Walter the Kitten approves!

Random Tidbits

It's nearly mid-February and I have hardly done any crafting this new year. I'm itching to do something, but haven't figured out what it is yet.  The flower embroidery I haven't finished is calling my name, as is the rag rug I started, um, 2 years ago. But I don't feel like doing them. I'm looking for something quick and easy, the sort of project that, hopefully, will give me a jump-start into crafting again.

Andrew broke out our old nintendo and super nintendo games a couple of weeks ago, while I was out for the day and he stayed home with the kiddos.  What a flashback it's been seeing games I haven't played in years! I remember many days of my youth spent playing Super Mario 3, Donkey Kong Country, and Zelda. I'm surprised at how much I remember and the girls are awed at my mad nintendo skillz. Actually, playing some of those games remind me of the frustrations I had back then, when my best friend could whiz through some of those levels and I failed over and over at the same stinkin' level, unable to move on. I was playing a round of Donkey Kong Country after the kids went to bed, stocked up on 99 lives at an easy level, then, I kid you not, I died 99 times trying to complete ONE lousy stop on the next highest level. I actually wished for my best friend to be by my side and handing over the controls saying, "here, you do it!"

Crazy, freakin' weather here. One day it's a balmy 50 and the next it's 17 degrees and we're freezing our butts off! Now that my little greenhouse is up, I need to set up a thermometer in there and check it daily, recording the temperature, deciding when is a good time to get my seeds started. Andrew and I are determined to make this year's garden the best yet, and we are planning to buy a new tiller with our tax refund money.  Fingers crossed we get back a nice amount.

Our current tiller is the kind that gets hooked up to the back of the tractor and tills 4 foot rows. Nice to start and end the garden soil with, but lousy to till between rows during the growing season. We had a little pipsqueak tiller, but it went kaput and research tells us that to get it repaired, the parts will cost as much as buying a new one. So we are opting for a medium-sized tiller, not too big for me to handle, but big enough to till between rows and keep the weeds down.

Previously, we used an old carpet as weed block between rows, which worked great the first couple of years, but now weed seeds have buried themselves in the rug pile and when pulling up the carpet at the end of the season last fall, it was quite an effort to yank them off the soil.  Weeds grew on top and their roots held fast underneath the carpet. I was sore the next few days from all that yanking. Plus, much of the carpet just deteriorated in my hands, which made it harder to pull up in some places. Going to start saving newspapers for weed block and along with the tiller, should do a good job in keeping weeds at bay.

Couponing has been good for us lately, our pantry is full, the freezer is packed, the bathroom closet is over-flowing with toiletries... Sure came in handy when we got a call from a friend, asking if we could help out a family when their new house burned down yesterday. Lost everything. They needed clothes for their 2 boys, 1 year and 4 years old.  I didn't have very much baby clothes left, but I managed to dig up some 18 month sizes and some clothes for the 4 year old. Some toys our kids no longer played with went to them also.  We also gathered up a box full of shampoo, body washes, toothpaste, and some other things they might need. My heart goes out to them and I count my blessings that we were able to help out just a little bit.

Valentine's day is tomorrow. We don't normally make a big deal about Valentine's Day, but I happened to have some left over valentine's candy after making goody bags for the birthday party last week, so we're going to make a scavenger hunt for the kids tomorrow.  After they go to bed tonight, Andrew and I will make maps and clues and hide little treats around the house.

Have you seen this? I made one for Andrew for Valentine's. Nothing fancy, nice and simple and we could always use matches around the house, so when I saw it, I knew I'd make one. I had enough to make two, so one for him as a surprise, and one I'll keep near the wood stove, for those few times when I have to start my own fire.

Oh look-- it's bedtime for the kids! Time to go!

Scratching the Itch

I've been itching to get on the sewing machine lately and it's so hard during the day with Peter fiddling around with all the buttons on the machine, pulling the spool of thread off, walking around me and tripping over the cord, that I just wait until the kids go to bed. But by then I'm too tired or I have something else more pressing than sewing, so it gets put off and put off and put off.

Sewing and crafting is good for me. It's good for my soul. Sooner or later I have to make time to do something and get it out of my system and when it's finished, I feel better.

Last year, a wonderful bloggy friend sent Evelyn a box of fabrics for Christmas (Thanks, Karen!).  I gave Evelyn most of it when I put it inside her very own sewing box, but kept out a few things-- either I thought she wasn't ready for it, or *ahem* I wanted it for myself. heh. Included in the box of fabrics was a set of charm squares, I think that's what you call them.  A rainbow of colors in the same design but different colors, all pre-cut into 4x4 squares. I've been itching since before Christmas to make something with them, but didn't know what.

Finally, inspiration struck and I spent several days looking at different pinwheel quilts on the internet, looking for a design I liked. I don't have enough squares to make a full size quilt, but I wasn't looking to do that. I just wanted to make something quickly. I needed my fix!

Ta-dah!!

 My first tiny mini-quilt. It's the exact size of a potholder! hahaha!

It's not perfect, some of the corners don't match up and I flubbed the binding.

I like the orange and turquoise together.

I like how if you stare at it long enough, the pattern starts to change-- squares, diamonds, triangles, squares within a square...

I'll probably end up using it as a potholder. 

I used a scrap of fleece as batting in the middle.

 

I see a lot of quilters adding a little something-something to the backs of their quilts,

giving it that extra special bit and I ended up with an extra pinwheel left over after I pieced the front together, so why not? There's my little extra special something-something!

I did this one, too. Can you see the diamond pattern?

Trying to line up all the tiny squares on this was tough!

I should have used a different fabric, switching out one of the red-and-white ones.

Like keeping the stripes, both the green and the red/white, and adding a different color stripe. The red-and-white polka dot is cute, but it doesn't help define the diamond pattern.

At least I got all the stripes lined up the same way.

This is also the size of a potholder-- the squares are the size of a dime.

 I'm thinking I'll finish it and let the girls have it for a doll quilt.

Beadin' Fun

We've had perler beads around forever! Feels like it anyway, as I am always finding a lone bead lost under the couch, stepping on one, or even, as some roll into the sliding door groove as we open and shut to let the dog out and the chickens peck what crumbs they can find in the groove, in the chicken droppings! They come and go, the girls get into a beading frenzy and it's several days of constant making things and me ironing endless little plastic pictures and then there are long stretches of nothing where the containers sit on top of the fridge, gathering dust.

Lately, interest has been high and the girls are finally starting to play around with their imaginations instead of strictly following the pictures on the containers. It used to be only hearts, stars, squares and whatever shapes the boards allowed them. I tried to show they could do pictures of their own, but they adamantly refused to stray from what the labels showed. Evelyn shows great promise with her color choices, but it was always the same shape, again and again.
They got a Disney set with clear boards you place over a picture and you place beads over it until you've finished, but some of those projects were pretty darn big-- they'd get halfway through before dumping all the beads off, giving up.

Yesterday, with a burst of enthusiasm and a promise of help from me, they completed some of the big Disney ones and then inspired by the feeling of accomplishment, they came up with many more all on their own!


Evelyn's finished Disney castle with a bridge that helps it to stand upright. A princess to go with it, made up by Evelyn.

Sylvia's BIG, BIG Disney princess that took a long, long time to finish. Too big really, there's not much you can do with such a big princess when all the other little toys are less than half her size. I caught Sylvia pretending she was a giant and smashing through the castle, stomping on all the other princesses. Guess that's about the only thing Big Princess is good for. (she's supposed to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but Sylvia changed the dress color from pink to blue)

The girls got little perler bead kits in their Easter baskets-- they were for $1 at Michael's. I picked ones with different board shapes that we didn't have and the owls were from one of the kits. The green owl came from the original beads and had enough to make two, which Evelyn made, then she made the pink girl owl from beads we had. So cute, I asked for one and I'm going to glue a magnet on it for the fridge. The other kits were bugs (caterpillar and butterfly) and a cat.

Evelyn wanted to make a prince for the princess to go with the castle, but when we made him, he was taller with his crown. Forgot a crown for the princess, so the crown-less princess got bumped down to princess assistant and a new princess was made, along with a little green chameleon.

The little green chameleon made Gretchen think of the iguana from Tangled and she asked me to make the tower, Rapunzel, Flynn and the iguana for her. Only fair, since I helped Sylvia and Evelyn with theirs. I totally winged it and it came out better than I imagined! I really like the tower and I made the center piece so it can stand upright, too. The girls are having lots of fun with this!

This morning, Sylvia begged for an Ariel mermaid one, so I came up with this and of course, the sisters each want one, but with a different color bikini top for Evelyn (pink), different color hair for Gretchen (yellow) and Flounder and Sebastian, too!

I'm so happy to see the girls are finally thinking out of the box and realizing they can make stuff up. Hopefully I'll see less hearts, stars and squares and more random items being made!

Kid's Workshop

Did you know that Lowe's hosts workshops for kids? Home Depot does, too. I knew about it, but never had the chance to go-- always something coming up to prevent us from going, you know, the usual family of 6 happenings. I happened to read somewhere that Lowe's was having a bat workshop for the kids and since we are big lovers of all things Halloween and a bat would fit right in, I signed the girls up. Andrew had to work that day, but I was determined to go anyway, making sure my Mom would come along and help with Peter.

They had a great time!! They got free aprons and protective eye gear, and a patch after they were done building their bats to sew on the aprons. It was difficult at first when Peter was between my legs and grabbing stuff from the kits, and then Mom buckled Peter into a cart and wheeled him away screaming. Once out of sight of me, he calmed down and Mom cleverly took him to the halloween/christmas displays to make him happy. Meanwhile, I was able to better focus on helping the girls and I realized I had "helped" them hammer on all the bat wings backwards! Oops! So I had to undo my mistake and then correct them. Would have been done sooner if not for that, but we were there about an hour.

We'll definitely go again, the next workshop is periscopes!! I loved those as a kid!

Highs and Lows

High:

All summer long, the yardsales have either been slim pickings or we haven't been hitting them with our usual ferocity. But the last couple of weekends, when we happen to go out and spot a yard sale on the way, have more than made up for the summer's misses.


On our way to the next big town over, we spotted a yard sale at a house that has not had a yard sale in the entire 5 years we lived here. It's a round-ish style house so I always look at it as we go by. Anyway, it wasn't a whole lot of stuff, but I saw this basket with yarn and other goodies and when I asked, the lady said it was $4 for the whole thing. Good deal! A lot of the yarn is new and it had 3 sets of knitting needles, a couple of knitting pattern books, a teach yourself to knit booklet, and some crochet thread. Evelyn has been learning to knit on those knitting looms and so getting cheap yarn for her to practice with is great!

There was one skein of this wool yarn and I claimed it for myself. Evelyn asked me to show her how to knit with the needles but I only know how to do one basic stitch. I used to make those little washcloths from cotton yarn and that was quite a while back-- at least 15 years or so. I had to really struggle to remember how to do that and the little teach yourself to knit booklet wasn't too clear with the instructions, or at least, not how I remembered it. I finally figured out the basic stitching and I have been knitting a little here and there. I'm thinking gift for Christmas, if I can keep it up.

***

Low:

I need to find a good, used fabric cleaner machine. I've been hoping to spot one, but no luck so far. They cost about $100 new and we don't have carpet except for in the apartment, so we'd only really use it on the couch. Either that, or we need to keep an eye out for a good, used couch. While Andrew was busy doing one thing, and I was busy doing another, Peter got into the fridge and dumped a nearly full gallon of milk on the couch. -sigh- It's still dripping milk an hour later. Even if we get a cleaning machine, it won't get into the insides of the couch, so it looks like our best bet would be to get a couch. Or else we put up with a stinky couch. -sigh- My plan was to wait until all the kids were over the age of 5 and then get a new couch, but this puts a little wrinkle into my plan. Not too sure what we are going to do about the couch. If money was no object, I'd get the couch reupholstered, but it's an issue, so what to do, what to do?

Maybe we'll get lucky again and score a couch at the thrift shop. There was a nice one there at the same time I saw the table and they were only asking $50 for it. It's gone now, but we could afford $50. Well. I guess we'll just clean up the couch as best as we can and see if it starts to smell in the next few days. It's not as hot now, so that helps. Rancid milk is not a pleasant smell.

***

Andrew is busy outside and I'm busy on the computer, so I better go and make sure Peter isn't busy getting into mischief.

-

Evelyn Is Eight!

Where did the time go? On June 5th, this girl turned 8!

How is it that my baby is now 8 years old?

It's hard to believe that this beautiful little girl was once in my belly

and now she is on her way to being a lovely young lady.
***

~8 Things About Evelyn~

1. She has lost 8 baby teeth so far.
2. She loves to play with her Barbie dolls.
3. She doesn't need me for a lot of things anymore, but she always says she needs me.
4. She wants me to pierce her ears. I did it for my friends but poking a hole in your own child's ear is something different. Brave girl, she sat patiently still while I fumbled with a needle, tears escaping from her clenched eyes and all she has to show for it is a tiny hole in her ear with no earring. We are taking her to a piercer at the end of the week.
5. She has a teeny bit of a mean streak and gets sent to her room when we catch her being mean to one of her siblings.
6. She loves to swing as high as she can and catch the leaves with her feet.
7. She has an adventurer in her and if we let her, she would explore the woods around us and we probably would not see her until dark.
8. She delights in meeting other 'Evelyns', even when the majority of them are old ladies.

~~~

I made her this '8' shirt.

Remind me not to start a secret embroidery project 2 days before it's due to be given.

I'd never done this before and I stayed up until 3 am to finish it so she could wear it on her birthday.


I think I did pretty good.
~~~

Happy Birthday my dear Evelyn,

May you celebrate many many more!

We love you!

~

Lucky!

When my sister and her family came up to visit, she made a few things for the girls and I. The girls sure are lucky to to have such a crafty Auntie and I'm lucky to have such a crafty sister!

She crocheted dresses for the girls' Barbie dolls!!

Many of my childhood memories of my sister are of her crocheting something. She would be sitting on the couch with a cat on her lap and making a lap blanket or an afghan or doll dresses or stuffed animals. Then she learned to cross-stitch and she would make all sorts of lovely pictures. She has always had the crafty gene and I love that she is so generous with her gift, usually giving the finished project to friends and family.

The girls love their dresses and have been playing with them non-stop!!

Thanks Auntie!!

:o)

For me-- she made this super-cute clothespins bag!

Oh my gosh! I just love this! She picked out fabrics she knew I would love (I do!), sewed it up and embroidered a lovely clothesline with laundry hanging. Totally made on the fly without patterns and I am just blown away by her creativity. I was going to make something similar for myself but hadn't gotten around to it, and I gotta say, I would have never come up with something as nice as this one!

I'm so lucky to have you for a sister! Thank you again for the great clothespins bag! Almost too nice to use, but I will use it and I'll think of you every time I do! I love you so much!!

:o)

WIP

Here's another Work In Progress that I have going on, among the many other WIPs I have!

I have had this idea rolling around in my head for some time--taking a frame and putting cork in place of the glass, then covering it in fabric, so that I can display some of my vintage flower pins. I have more around here somewhere. I tried to part with some and sell them on ebay, but I just couldn't bear to let them go, so they got swept into a box in the big office clean-up we did a couple months back. I need to dig them out so I can choose from some of my favorites and then hang them up in that blank space I have by the bed above my new lamp.

They haven't been pinned on yet, I'm still figuring out the placement and I still gotta find the other ones first. That blue and white one with the red center on the bottom? That's the very first one I ever bought, way back in high school, when I fell in love with all things "hippie" and that whole "make love, not war" era. Right towards the end of my senior year, I started going hippie and wore the long baby doll dresses, the big cloth headbands, birkenstocks, and scoured thrift shops for those cool vintage/retro clothes. When I signed my name, I would always add a peace sign, smiley face, heart and daisy beneath it. Sort of became my logo for a few years.

~*~*~

Things are getting busy here, as if they aren't already. Andrew finally tilled the garden the other day and got most of it done before he ran out of gas. Found a few lost potatoes in the freshly-turned dirt, some of them sprouting roots, so they'll be replanted. Andrew has a day off on Thursday, so we'll try and finish the tilling and then play with his new chainsaw. So much we need/want to do and very hard to find the time to squeeze everything in. I have strawberry plants and asparagus crowns I need to find a home for and I need to go egg-hunting. The hens have not been laying eggs in the coop lately and eggs are not in the usual spots in the pole barn, so that means they are laying in the woods. sigh. I need to watch where they hang out so I can try and figure out where they are laying, or fence them in to force them to lay in the coop. Just another thing to add to our already long list of things to do.

I won't complain too much, I'm glad Spring is here and there is a garden to work in, children to play with, a home to live in and a husband that loves me. Life is good.
-

oh happy day!

First, check out the temperature it was today:

Yeah! 80 degrees! Oh! It was so nice out! Too bad the girls were grounded. More about that in another post.

And look! The bunnies have come to town!

Ok, seriously, have you seen the finger puppet tutorial over at Purl Bee??
You have got to check it out! It's so easy and good thing, too, 'cause I found out about it only on Thursday. I cut out a bunch of these in an hour, then it took me about 15 minutes apiece to stitch each one up. These are going to be in the Easter baskets for the kids!


All I have left to do is the noses and their eyes. I'm skipping the tails because I know my kids, and any pom-pom on there is going to get ripped off. I think they look cute as they are!

I made 5 so far... I'll be making a few more for my nieces and nephews.

We're getting together with other family a week later for an Easter/Birthday party, so I have time to do those later.

Aren't they cute?! How can you look at these and not be happy?

The brown ones are chocolate bunnies, of course!

-

Happy Easter!

-

Show and Tell

Look what I made:

My sister sent me a link to this website after I posted about Evelyn's embroidery. There's some lovely stuff on there and it inspired me to make this. I like to draw flowers and I have a drawing book full of them... so I thought I'd take some of those flowers and try this. I've never done free-hand stitching like this before, so I think it's pretty good for my first time. I know it's not perfect, but I like it and that's what counts. I used DMC thread on muslin fabric.

The younger girls are quite envious of Evelyn's framed girl/cat and boy/dog pictures above her bed and have been asking for something to hang above their beds. I think I'll make another one with different flowers and hang them above Gretchen and Sylvia's beds. It's going to be a surprise for them and I'm pretty sure they'll like it. They have been constantly checking my work as I go and offering me plenty of "oohs" and "ahhs".

I have enjoyed doing this and I find bits of time to do it while I am waiting for the water to boil, or the computer to boot up, or while giving Peter a bath. I am already looking forward to starting the next one and I have ideas bubbling to the surface for another picture. I may have created an embroidery monster in me!

Play With Your Food!

Would you like some eggs and toast?

How about a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich with a nice crunchy carrot?


Maybe a nice cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed bun?


A breakdown of the cheeseburger:

This is everything I've made so far. It's fun!

I have a few more food items I'd like to make: pancakes, bacon strips, pizza, to name a few.
I went surfing on the web and it's over-whelming all the ideas out there! Also a little intimidating when you see some really exquisite felt foods! I saw a fancy pasta dish with shrimp and tomatoes and if I didn't know it was felt, I would have thought it was real!

Everything was made without a pattern, just cutting out shapes and sewing them together, adding a little detail by sewing lines on the lettuce and tomato, zig-zag lines on the burger for grill marks, and I used embroidery thread for the sesame seeds on the top of the bun. I'll post more later as I make them.
-

Bursting!

I can't believe how much Evelyn has really taken to sewing! She has really done so nicely and is a much better sew-er than I was at her age. She drew 2 pictures and wanted to embroider them, so I cut out two pieces of muslin for her, helped her trace her pictures, showed her a few stitches and she just took off! I'm just bursting with pride!

She made the girl and cat one first, then the next day, she did the boy and dog one. Both were finished in a couple of hours. I told her we'd get frames and hang them up and she couldn't wait for me to frame them, reminding me several times. They'll get hung up in her room. I love them!

Makeover!

A while back, on one of the blogs I like to read, she posted about taking a wooden Ikea end table and turning it into a little kitchen for her kiddies. It was inspiring, really. She took this little table and transformed it into a nifty play area-- cutting out a hole to slip a bowl into for a sink, painting rings for the stove area, a curtain for the front to hold dishes and pots. It's been a while since I read that post, so I can't remember all the details, but it stuck in my head. I'd been on the look-out for a little table like that on my jaunts to the thrift shops and yard sales, but had no luck. Of course, I am specifically looking for something and it is nowhere to be found!

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We had a plastic kitchen, but it was big and awkward and frankly, I didn't really care for it. It was down in the basement in the playroom and it was more trouble that it was worth. We sold it at a yard sale over the summer and I was glad to see it go, along with all the cheap plastic food bits as well.

In our effort to clean and declutter the house this year, we are moving stuff around, sorting through odds and ends, and downsizing on pieces of furniture.

This, used to house my sewing machine and my fabrics were in the cupboards beneath. It was getting to be an eyesore, plus the kids never left the sewing machine alone, always fiddling with the thread or flipping the switches or yanking on the cord. I was going to move it downstairs and add it to the sell pile, when it hit me-- this could be the kitchen for the kids!!


It's an old dry sink, not an antique. I could never cut up a perfectly good antique, but this is maybe 70's or 80's, made from pine, and has a cheap, fiber-board back. Nothing to cry over if I cut into it. After getting the go-ahead from Andrew, I spent the day yesterday transforming it into a kitchen for the kids.

Ta-dah!

Oh my! The kids LOVE it! They couldn't wait to move in and make it their own!

I knocked off the front part of the dry sink area, cut a hole in the top for a stainless steel bowl I never use for the sink, then painted rings for the stove area. 2 wooden knobs painted red and blue for the water and later, I'll make a faucet from pipes and add that.


Down below, I added thumbtacks on the back of one door for their utensils, and 2 screw hooks on the other door. I'll replace the thumbtacks with screw hooks later, we're afraid the kids may pull it out and Peter might put it in his mouth or someone steps on it. For now, it's pretty secure, so I'll just keep my eye on it.

My very own Vanna!

The kids have played with this non-stop since I finished it and I am so glad for the inspiration from a fellow blogger. How nice to re-purpose something that would have otherwise been taking up space. It's also the kind of toy that I don't mind people seeing, it looks like a piece of furniture and it doesn't stand out like a purple, plastic kitchen would have.

Grandma gave Sylvia and Gretchen some kitchen play things for their birthdays: A wooden and fabric cupcake making set, and a stainless steel pots, pans and utensils set (all from Target). The girls got a Christmas tin tea set from Santa that includes the tray, 4 tea cups, saucers, plates and a tea pot. I saw one on clearance from Walmart exactly like the one we have from Target, but with a circus design instead, and I would have gotten it if we didn't already have this one.

I don't want any more plastic food or plastic dishes. They're cheap and the dog thinks they're chew toys for her. I'll be making felt foods to add to their cupboard. There are lots of food patterns on the internet, so I'll be getting ideas from there. A few ideas: eggs made with white felt and a yellow felt circle in the middle; light tan felt bread slices; red circles for tomatoes; yellow squares for cheese; pink squares or circles for ham and bologna.... oh! the possibilities are endless!!

Maybe this post could inspire you! :o)

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Sylvia's Birthday Gift

I meant to make this for Sylvia for her Christmas gift, but I never found the time to make it. Since her birthday is the first week of January, I just bumped it to her birthday gift. I'd seen a version of this, commercially made, at a shop a couple of years ago and it stuck in my head and I knew I could make it better. It simmered on the back-burners of my mind for while, my mental pattern-maker tweaking and improving this and that, until I finally came up with this. No pattern, no measurements, all made in one night in 2 hours.

I used what fabric I had on hand. This was from a bolt of fabric my mom had that was in her house when it caught on fire, so there is discoloration on the fabric that will not wash out, probably from the smoke and soot. Ok for little personal projects and the kids didn't notice the stain. Knowing my kids, it'll get dirty on the outside, so I'm fine with it.

Open the top and bottom flaps...



...open the side flaps and ta-da!! A felt board with felt shapes to make whatever scene you wish to make!

I already see where I can make improvements-- I sewed two pockets on the bottom flap to hold extra felt pieces and the girls kind of struggle to get pieces out. Next time, I'll make it a folding flap that folds up and then when you flip it over to close, the pieces won't fall out. I know I'll make another one for someone else, and Evelyn and Gretchen are each asking for one of their own.


It's way better than that one I saw.. that one was just a felt-covered board and the felt shapes were in a zippy bag. This version is nice that they can save the picture, if they wanted, by closing the flaps and not worrying about losing the felt pieces. I also thought that I would add a handle to make it portable, but this is not something I want my kids to take along in the car, or else I'd find felt pieces here and there. I feel better about it being a home toy and I can keep an eye on it when they play with it and put it safely away out of reach of Peter's grasp.

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Andrew thinks I could sell some of these... Would anyone be interested in buying one, if I made extra to sell? Of course I would use new fabric and I'm not sure how much I'd sell it for, I need to research online to see if there is anything like this out there and what the average price is. Let me know if you'd be interested and if I get enough interest, I'll consider making a few extra.

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