My Mom, by Buckey

Just to keep things even...

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"I love you."

2. What makes mom happy?
"Giving her something."

3. What makes mom sad?
"If I take something from you."

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"Tickle me."

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"Living at the farm."

6. How old is your mom?
"7."

7. How tall is your mom?
"Almost as tall as dad."

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Read."

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"Work."

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"Maybe for being rich."

11. What is your mom really good at?
"Doing your work."

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"Playing video games."

13. What does your mom do for her job?
"Taking care of me and sisty."
Sisty = nickname for 'sister.'

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
"A salad."

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"That she loves me."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Phineas and Ferb."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"Play."

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"We both love each other."

19. How are you and your mom different?
"You don't play video games."

20. How do you know when your Mom is mad?
"When she's talking low."

21. How do you know your mom loves you?
"She hugs me."

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"To the grocery store."

My Mom, by Addie

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Addie...clean your room"

2. What makes mom happy?
"Hmmm...let me think...Wine!"

3. What makes mom sad?
"When there's no burgers and rice to go with red wine."

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"When she tickles me."

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"She was a bookworm."

6. How old is your mom?
"Uh...40. I think."

7. How tall is your mom?
"2 inches"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Drinking wine by the pool."

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"Throws away all my toys."

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"Scrapbooking."

11. What is your mom really good at?
"Scrapbooking and loving us."

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"Hmmm...Uhhhhh...I have no clue."

13. What does your mom do for her job?
"Keeps scrapbooks. Wait -- she watches us!"

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
"Is wine an option?"

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"How nice and awesome she is."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Daphne."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"Well, we do a lot of stuff, but one of them is swimming. Well, I swim while Mom is drinking wine."

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"We both like reading."

19. How are you and your mom different?
"She has glasses and she's a fully qualified adult."

20. How do you know when your Mom is mad?
"She screams."

21. How do you know your mom loves you?
"When she hugs me and cuddles me and picks me up from the bus and lets me sleep in the office and a lot of other things I don't feel like explaining."

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"The Pomerantzes house."

Got My Mojo Back -- With a Vengeance

So, after a hiatus from sewing, I am back with a vengeance!  I have sewn three skirts, a pair of very wide-leg pants for myself and two skirts and a dress for my daughter.  Here is my crowing achievement:  a Bo-Peep Skirt from the book, Seams to Me.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this design and plan to sew these things all summer.  I just bought some fabric in bright blues and greens to make one for myself. 

At any rate, here is the first of many Bo-Peep skirts for my daughter:

Isn't it adorable?  I love the ruffles just being on the side panel and there are so many possibilities for different looks.  My daughter said she didn't want one too crazy (there were two pictured in the book -- one was very cool, with bright blues and lime greens; the other was more subdued in pinks and blues, which is the one my daughter preferred) and I think I sufficiently restrained myself in the above design. 

The next skirt(s) I make, I will place the ruffles a little lower.  On my rail-thin daughter it is OK to have a ruffle at the hip; but this won't work so well for me! 

Adorable Apron (under 90 minutes!)

My sister-in-law asked me if I could make her an apron for work.  She said it needed to have pockets and could be funky, the rest was up to me.  I took a look at a pattern in One-Yard Wonders and adapted it to make the apron reversible.  Here's what I came up with:

My sister-in-law loves pink and I thought these fabrics fit the bill.  I was considering putting some green ric-rac along the tie, but decided against it -- it would have added another five minutes to my sewing time!  LOL

Pink side

Cherry side.

I think I have enough fabric to make another and I might just whip one up for myself!

Thanksgiving Craft

Well, it's that time of year again. And if you think I'm referring to Christmas carols, breathtaking snow scenes and joyful family gatherings, then we've never met! No, I'm referring to the constant complaints from certain children that 'there's nothing to do,' 'everthing here is boring,' and 'I wish I had different parents.' Or maybe that's just me...

At any rate, here's a cute craft that should keep the kids busy for an hour or so -- and if you're lucky their fingers will stick together with the tacky glue and this will keep them busy for another hour, or so! :-)

Any way, here's how to make some cute napkin rings to grace your Thanksgiving table. You will need:
paper towel or toilet paper tubes
Tacky Glue (you have to use the stuff called 'Tacky Glue', regular Elmer's Glue won't work)
a foam paintbrush
different kinds of dried beans

First, cut the tubes into slices about 2" wide, or so. I used a big bread knife for this.

Then, slather the tacky glue all over the outside of the cardboard tube.

Arrange beans in patterns, or just roll the gluey tube through a plate of beans. We tried it both ways and thought each was cool.

You could also decorate these with buttons, sequins, foam shapes, feathers, fabric, or beads.

Here's Addie concentrating hard on creating her first napkin ring.



Here are a few of our napkin rings, drying on a newspaper.



A finished napkin ring. We can't wait to take these to the farm for Thanskgiving!

Ixnay on Ristmas-Chay

So, yesterday was our neighborhood's trick-or-treat night. Since this is the first year that Buckey really could understand the concept, I took some time yesterday morning to tell him about it...that he'd get dressed up in his vampire costume, take his pumpkin bucket to our neighbors' houses, knock on the door and yell, "Trick or Treat!" and then people would put candy in his bucket.

For the next seven hours, Kiefer followed me around the house with his empty trick-or-treat bucket, repeating, "I want candy!" *sigh*

I guess this means that it's Ixnay on Ristmas-Chay until the morning of! (For those of you not well-schooled in the fine art of Pig Latin that translates literally to "Nix Christmas," which means I better not tell him about a guy coming down the chimney and leaving trucks and diggers under the tree until Christmas morning.)

Silly kids! Here's our vicious, blood-sucking vampire at his preschool Halloween party:
Here's our wicked witch, who had just been given the go-ahead on trick-or-treating:

Both kids on our front porch at one minute till 6 (the official start of trick-or-treating):

Happy Halloween!

Patchwork-Trimmed Baby Blanket

My cousin and his wife welcomed the newest baby to our family in June. I am just now getting around to crafting a gift. Sorry, baby Ramsey! Anyway, I decided to make a blanket with a patchwork edge. Here's what I came up with...



Closer view of the various patterns used:



Finished dimensions are 34" x 37".
Time to complete: under 90 minutes.

Here's how:
Get a square of fleece, 1/4 yard each of 4 coordinating flannels and matching or contrasting thread.

Cut two of the flannels in half (parallel to the selvedge edge).
Cut one of the flannel into fourths.
Leave one of the flannels uncut.

Arrange the flannels to your liking. Sew them together with a 3/8" seam allowance. Press the seams open or to one side.

You should have a rectangle of fabric. You are going to cut this fabric into strips perpendicular to your seam lines, so you need to have a straight edge to start with. I used a rotary cutter and mat to square up and slice a straight line. Then I cut six strips each 6" wide.

I folded them in half and ironed them. Then I placed the fleece inside the flannel trim right up to the fold line and pinned in place. Using a fairly tight zig-zag stitch, I sewed along the flannel edge. I wasn't too concerned with perfect neatness, but I made sure to sew all edges down, since I didn't hem the trim.

That's it -- a funky fleece baby blanket!