Been doing a lot this week! I can't believe it's finally the last week of school. My mother's birthday was on Monday so I drew her a little cake on a card.

I also started making all these pillows. The Bethlehem Star pillow is for me. I made the star over a year ago just to see if I could. I had grand plans to make a picture entirely sewn out of fabric that would incorporate the star. Then I realized I wouldn't want to hang something like that on my wall! So finally, I have a completely normal, completely lovely accent pillow for my couch. And it has a little lace on the back. Just 'cause. The two pillows in the bottom picture are some I made for my mother's birthday. It's an amazing Schumacher fabric. It was so beautiful - it was quilted with tiny little diamonds, and over this beige background, was stitched a "center border" motif with loops and flowers. I placed the center of the motif more on the side on my pillows so you could see some flowers too. My sister gave me a great big sample rectangle and it all went on these pillows.

Here are some shots of the bulletin board I painted several weeks ago. It's very aqua. I'm still getting used to it. I gave myself a little pat on the back for choosing a reddish orange for the accent. It's just out of my comfort zone. I like that bit. I'm sorry the pictures are so small. When I shrink them and make a tiled arrangement it helps me upload them. I drew the stencil but ended up only cutting out a few bits. I stencilled the bits on, and then added the rest by hand, like all those tiny leaves. There's a little butter-moth in the corner that ended up being covered by the calendar. This is the only spot in the house I can really put the calendar and still write on it. I'm keeping lists and a couple of bible verses on there too.

I'm so excited! On Sunday after church we are going to Dallas-Fort Worth to visit my parents (Granny & Grandfather) and my mom's dad (Papa Pete!). Papa and my Mom have planted a large vegetable garden - something my kids don't have any experience with. I am super-excited!

To Do before I go:

Finish all projects for My and Rebecca's secret project.

Sew a dress out of white eyelet (this was supposed to be for Easter, and then Mother's Day. I am determined to wear it this summer. Determined.)

Make invitations for Peter's birthday out of origami paper, blank cards, and a photoshopped Team UmiZoomi picture.

Let the madness begin. (As in crazy, not angry - hopefully!)

A few little tips...

I found a wonderful book at the library called:
"Pretend Soup"(and this link has lots of pictures!) It's a cookbook you can use with your toddlers. I let Peter pick out a recipe to make and he picked "Carrot Pennies." We made them a couple of times and gobbled them up. He's not really interested in making them any more, but when they show up at dinner he's thrilled to eat them. Maybe knowing how they're made (with butter and brown sugar) makes him feel like he made them every singe time. James likes them too and I think he helped make them once. There's at least one more cook book compiled by the same lady called "Salad People." I just can't say enough about this wonderful book. Peter wanted to read it before bedtime. Every recipe, and all the children's comments that are sprinkled throughout the book. Each recipe has simple pictures that represent each step. Things like "stir", "flip", "pour in." He wanted me to read every step of every recipe!



Tip #1 If your toddlers need some buildings to rampage through, house lego men, or use as target practice here is an easy recipe for a house made from a cereal box.


Cut where I've indicated. I cut the top and one side together. Then you can use the top and that side (brown side up this time) to draw the other side. You won't have to worry about drawing or cutting perfectly because that way, they'll match.


You should have the sides (the part with all the vitamin info) sticking up. Those fold down toward the slanted roof sides. Use big old masking tape (or something) to tape down.


If you want a prettier house (that doesn't say, for example, Raisin Bran Crunch across the front). I suggest you dismantle the box. Turn it inside out, then follow the instructions. Then you can paint it!
Tip #2 The pot rack makes an excellent drumset.


















Tip #3 Quesadillas made from colby jack and apples (I think these are pink ladies) are actually quite delicious.










Tip #4 If you need to measure how long you want a skirt or dress to be, and there's no one around to help you. Draw a mark on your leg with a washable marker. Line up your measuring tape with the mark (I lined mine up with the 5" spot so I had to subtract 5" at the end). Tape it on your leg. Roll the tape up to your desired waist and read the number! Voila!

Here is the weekly schedule that Peter and I are doing for fun together, almost every day. Stars are for "Today" and anything that we think is extra special, like the Library. Or you can see on Monday there is No School! It's Memorial Day and also Granny's birthday.

Here's a close-up. Peter takes a nap nearly every day. All the nap post-it's are different colors so they look pretty all lined up. I try not to have any colors that are the same next to each other. Sometimes we have to move something to a different day and it happens. We don't worry about it. We talk about what today is, what tomorrow is, and what yesterday was (what day of the week). Then we sing the days of the week song to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

I think it helps Peter to know what to expect during the day. Sometimes there's a dinner menu post-it and sometimes there's not. I do think Mark and James like to know what dinner will be so I've tried to do it more often. The main thing is that there's something to look forward to almost every day, and that toddlers can learn that sometimes we have to be flexible and move something over to a different day. Peter quite likes moving things around actually. The fun of that helps him to be flexible. He really liked the lunch post-it (yellow, near right) and ended up moving it down several days and requesting pb&j and an apple for lunch so it could look like the picture (that's a fold-over sandwich). He was also much more excited about going to the Parcel Store to mail Granny's present because the post it showed it getting to her (light green next to the sandwich and apple). Peter likes to move the "Today is" star over to the next day (whenever we remember that is).

The whole thing is just a poster board and colorful Post-It notes. I drew a top "border", measured it, divided by 7 (roughly 4" a column), and divided it into seven sections. I wrote a day of the week in each section. I left the majority of the poster without any lines, and it helps us not worry if our post-its are crooked. I did spend the money on post-it's which went against the grain, but I decided to invest in it as a learning experience. Also the supplies are versatile and if it hadn't worked we could have used everything for something else!

A beautiful flower from mother's day. James pick them out - aren't they lovely?

Hankies for Natalie

I've been working on these for a friend who is getting married on Saturday. I'm pretty sure none of her bridesmaids read my blog so we're okay! I was so excited to get to do this for her because she is so special and friendly, and well to be honest I really like her so I'm trying ingratiate myself. Yep, once again, using handcrafts to manipulate people into being my friend. And if you gotten something embroidered from me, I feel that way about YOU too.
I'm also using this post to test the "small", "medium", and "large" settings on blogger.

This one was my favorite. I love how the little butterfly turned out.What I did to create the designs was very simple. I drew squares that were the size I wanted the letters to be. Using a pencil I wrote the letter in the square using pretty handwriting. If I didn't like it I erased the bit that needed help fixed it. In the end I went over it in pen. I put a paper over that and traced my letter adding flowers and clover and leaves. If I didn't like it, I just traced a new one. It really helped to have the template in pen under there ready to give me a fresh start. When I was satisfied I went over the new design in pen so I could trace that on fabric with a fabric marker. Here they are all stacked up and ready to go.I have to tell you all about my wonderful Mother's Day.

I got breakfast in Bed (James' idea) with a card from Mark and one card for all the three boys - they all wrote their names in it! Okay not Phillilp.

We went to church and heard a wonderful sermon on Hannah (from Samuel 1 & 2) and not idolizing motherhood (or anything else). We were also part of the baby dedication and Phillip was dedicated.

Afterwards we went for Chinese food. Yummy and not too pricey! It was not a buffet (we love chinese buffets too!) so the boys had a menu experience - it just all seemed a little fancier than we usually do. I don't know why we've been places with menus before...

When we came home we all put on flip flops and went to the beach for a photo shoot! You'll see those pictures soon on my "Breezy Braided Beach Skirt" Tutorial.

After the beach we stopped by LaKing's a candy and soda shop on The Strand in Galveston. (Granny's Treat). We headed home for toast and milk and showers. And THAT was my awesome Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to me! Here I am with my three wonderful boys.Unseen is my wonderful awesome (sexy) husband taking the picture!

Space Craft and Milk Bag

All kinds of fun going on here at my house. This craft for one. I wish wish wish I could post the link to the site where I first saw this. But I forgot it and can't find it anywhere. In my head it's associated with Celebrate the Boy but it doesn't seem to be one of their official links. Argh.James and I dismantled as many broken toys and stuff as we could find and kept all the outside plastic pieces. Then, we went to Home Depot and got some adhesive (and two cans of spray paint). We used an epoxy that came in two tubes that squirt as one. Pretty Cool. Thanks also to Robert for the advice on epoxy!
Then when his sleepover friend arrived - they played Wii. Finally I couldn't take it any more so I made them build space ships. Yes, I was more excited than they. But they were jazzed about the results.

I have also wanted to make this reusable grocery bag set. Especially the milk and meat ones. Here is my attempt. Note to self: actually follow directions next time instead of looking at the picture and thinking: "okay that looks pretty simple/easy/fun." I mean honestly how many times has that thought gotten me in to trouble? I'm pretty sure getting various body parts stuck in things, mangling clothes to make them "better" and at least one son - all had that in common.
But anyway, I'm happy with it.
I'll do better with the meat bag.
And I think it's super cool that I made the plastic fabric out of melted grocery bags!

Happy Cinco De Mayo Everyone! I have to go make a breezy beach skirt for the:

Summer of No Pants

at which I will be a guest blogger!

Hello my nearly a dozen followers! I thought I'd post a picture of a quilt I'm "working" on for Phillip. By "working" I mean it's about half quilted and has been sitting in it's hoop under the table by my nursing chair for about two months. But now that I've made two shirts (almost) and two pairs of underwear and a skirt (still needs hemming) maybe I can get back in the mood to hand quilt.

The color of the green is really hard to capture. The embroidered square in the first photo can be seen in the upper RH corner of the second photo. It is of the same fabric I used for Phillip's little coming home pinafore - in the third photo (there's a tiny appliqued brown bear on that).

The blue in the quilt is really a tiny gingham, oh yes it was used as the edging for Rosie's dress which I just realized I never blogged! The darkest red is really a calico that I used on Mom's oven mitt for Christmas. The green baby-buggy fabric was a gift at my baby shower (where it was also the table cloth!). As you can see, there's not a single solid in there. Two kinds of polka dots, YES! No florals, three plaids, and my favorite, the circus fabric. I tried to fussy cut the circus fabric but it was just the wrong size square to look it's best that way. A little bigger, or a little smaller would've been better. The size of the square was decided by the smallest scrap that I really wanted to use and I hate sewing really tiny squares so - oh well. I love it. It came out looking way more sophisticated, random, and homey than my quilts seem to do.

So I really like it. Now to finish that hand-quilting!

Date Night Blouse

I've hit my annual new year Sewing-Fever. So I went to my stash and found this great polka dot fabric. I always have turquoise/aqua on hand because it's my favorite color to wear. This is the 4th top I've made using my standby NewLook pattern, but its the first time I've done it without sleeves.Peter snuck in for the end of my photo shoot in the bathroom. So tried to take picture of him in his new haircut....there he goes!

So anyway, I barely had enough fabric for the thing so the yoke sags a little (no lining), and the inside has some rough edges.

But on the whole I'm pleased.

I like it best with the sweater.

After the "'shoot", Pete had an idea for a recipe. While I was downloading pics he got out the ingredients - scaring me to death...but the result was ok.

Ingredients:

popcorn

raisins

gummy snacks

baby carrots

He ate it all up!

More Christmas Stuff

These are the felt cupcakes I made my nephew and niece for Christmas. There are about a billion cupcake tutorials out there, like here, and a really sophisticated one here and did I use any of them? No, I didn't because I don't have a printer to print up anything. So as a result they have sort of drunken sailor early in the morning look about them. The thing that I did that's new, that I haven't seen before is simple - I didn't! No I haven't just gone crazy...I DIDN'T do something that I've seen everyone else do as the finishing touch - sew on the decorations. I cut out circles, squares, stars, spirals and one "drizzle glaze" splotch, and then put them in a baggie. Now they can be rearranged in different combinations. As an added bonus, they can be scattered all over my sister's living room floor for a post-ticker-tape parade effect! Go check out these adorable sister and my so talented sister here!

Stitchin' Time

This is an embroidery I made up to go with some chinese food I delivered to a friend with a new baby. I said that I was bringing egg rolls and we got to talking about chinese food we love. Then she mentioned that her husband loves crab rangoons. It was super easy to do, all backstitch with a couple of french knots. I did it on a flour-sack towel. I was inspired by the Pleasant Kitchen Towels on Posie Gets Cozy (they can be downloaded from a sidebar). I'm making those too! Here's Sunday:

Fancy skirt update

On Saturday I must finish making my fancy skirt, yea even by Friday it must be done.

Because I'm baby sitting on Saturday, and going to the concert Saturday night.

It's coming a long well. First I made myself a basic straight skirt from a pattern I had in my archives. I made it of a thick unbleached cotton, a kind of canvas. I fitted to me as exactly as I could myself (yearning for a dressmaker's model like Barbara), then put in a side seam zipper. I forgot to put in a pocket which I usually do even when there's no pocket in the pattern. I cut out 6.5" strips of unbleached muslin (I had a lot) and what I could find of bleached muslin (not so much) and ironed it into a 3.25" ruffle. I liked the length of the raw edge of the skirt so I lined the ruffles up with it (I will hem it under later and I won't have to worry about perfect evenness because it'll be hiding uder the ruffles) and hand pleated them in a random, organic fashion.

I was striving for an orderly randomness.

I got about halfway up before I ran out white.

A slit in the back gave me a little trouble, as it's "two ruffles tall." I didn't want it to be really noticeable. I ended up starting and stopping the ruffle at the very bottom, and at the top having a ruffle cover up the slit. So I now have a 5" slit that looks like a 2" slit.

Today I will be cutting out more white ruffles (and being very careful with my rotary cutter so as not to need to get more stitches) and ironing and pinning. I will be trying to get as much done today as possible because I also still need to make a waist band. Maybe I can work a cell-phone pocket into that?
Although the rest of the skirt is cotton muslin, and therefore, not shiny - I thought I'd make the waist band out of a bit of off-white satin that I have. I plan to make it at least 3" tall (maybe more) and incorporate two cloth-covered buttons of the muslin. Then, if I ever want to tuck in a shirt to be more fancy the satin will show.

I'm excited because I think I'm creating a skirt I can wear for Easter (to our very undressy church) as well as to an evening at the Meyerson Concert Hall in Dallas. No easy feat, it required several phone calls to my Cedar Rapids style pulse-keeper. She keeps me from getting to historical when I sew.I can easily slip into what was stylish in 1780. But when I show up somewhere with pannieres on I feel stupid. I have the heart of Tasha Tudor but not the stamina. Oh well. My man probably prefers it that way!

In other news, Corrie and I have added more content to our website! You can now read the first chapter of each of our novels. Also Corrie has written a tasty essay on humor! Come see us at: reformedromance.com !

Oh I almost forgot. I've looked all over McCall's, Butterick, Vogue, Burda (I'm heading for Simplicity next) because I want to make a shirt like this. Does anyone have any ideas where I should look? I have fabric that I haven't known what to do with and this would be perfect! The original blouse is from Modcloth.com but it's not in my size.

Sunshine and Shadow

Amish quilters have a pattern they call "Sunshine and Shadow." When you see the quilt it's an obvious name because it's made of lights and darks, yet the name has a deeper meaning. Everyone's life is made of sunshine and shadow, and as any quilter knows, without the darks, the lights aren't nearly as pretty. This pretty much sums up my week.
Sunshine: On Monday I woke up with lots energy for cleaning the house, and I did! I did five minute room rescues, I windexed, I vacuumed, I decluttered the kitchen a little, I even wiped down the toilet! Then Peter and I ran errands and visited friends. Incidentally, while we were visiting my friend Biak, she told someone I was her grandmother. A lovely woman named Nee, explained to me that in their culture the word grandmother means lovely, that Biak says I am her "lovely", her "grandmother." I still don't really get all this, but it's exciting to be a grandmother this young! Peter and I did all this AND got home in time to find:

More Sunshine: My mother unexpectedly visited bringing me firewood! Yay for Mom, yay for firewood! She hung around a little, and got to hear Peter talk a lot. Usually he's lost in James' chatter and everyone else's talking. She got to hear him say

"GRANNY!"

"I go potty a little tiny bit!",

and after she invited us to Chic-fil-A

"We go EAT! You come with us Granny?"

Shadow: James had gotten in a little trouble at school (I later decided - unfairly) and on the way home committed the unpardonable sin of asking if he could invite a friend over for his birthday - IN FRONT OF THE FRIEND! Mark had to stay late to get some work done -but those shadows were slight.

Sunshine: The next day - not so much get-up-and-clean energy, but still I "juned" around and we went to the library. Mark was home for dinner and all was well.

Shadow: The big one loomed on Wednesday - Peter woke up from his nap half-covered in throw up. This is the second grossest thing to have your child covered in. All the bedding went in the washer eventually (it took three loads), and he had a bath right then. But he threw up two more times. I don't mean to complain, especially in light of a little girl I know who has a fever, cough, earache, and won't drink any fluids - poor baby. The last shadow is that my sister Rebecca is moving away today - literally driving north as I type. And it's not even that I'm going to miss her - which I will - but that I'm jealous that she's getting to go live in a whole new place with snow! It's an adventure! But you know it all made me really grateful for Monday.

A little more Sunshine: Peter is doing much better today. Mark will be home soon hopefully. But the biggest beam of light is that this is a three-day weekend for him (Monday is off) and being together is always nice.

Merry Christmas!

This is my last blog for this year and to steal and idea from Lady Linguaphile it's only a picture blog! Merry Christmas Everyone!
Can you find:
2 scissors?
a giraffe?
gold beads?
where the time went?











How Pete brought me his apple:

Lots of Ruby Dolls from One Red Robin. I gave them to all the girls that would be here this christmas. I wonder if they'll name them?

I had an absolutely wonderful Christmas! It's amazing how we saw so many people and did so much but I don't feel totally stressed out. It's not over yet so it could happen but I'm going to have faith! Here are some pics of all we did!

From left to right: my homemade candies, our big family caroling, at the San Antonio Riverwalk...
There were also train rides, leaf-blowing, tree-house climbing, treasure-hunting, road-tripping, present wrapping, present tearing open willy nilly, xylophoning, movie seeing, and bread baking.
I'm so thankful for my wonderful Christmas.

Miscellany

I've been slaving away this week on Christmas presents, mostly just for my adorable niece and nephew. While I sew Peter likes to bring me a "cup of tea". He's very careful and brings me the empty china cup: "Here go Mommy." I drink it and say thank you. "Want sommore? - Ohkay, I be wight back - ohkay Mommy?"
I've been thinking I should try to make my own boys something so they don't feel left out. Today I proudly butchered one of my older son's sweatshirts to make pants for my two year old from the tutorial I saw here.
I've been virtually nosing around Australia via the links on one of my favorite blogs: One Red Robin and Skip the Chips.

Can anyone tell I've just learned how to insert links into my text! HA! Unfortunately I can't find my camera at the moment or I'd put up pictures of the pants, and all the other things I've promised to put pictures up for.

Instead I'll just tell stories.
Building 4 is the apartment building where I go to visit Chin families. I look after all the families in building 4 - I try to visit them all once a week. The one I frequent most is: Biak & Sui Zam's apartment. (Biak and Sui Zam being the moms of the two families that live in that one 2 bedroom apartment) I was happy this week because Sui Zam was up while I was there. She's hardly ever been around since she got a job. Yeah for the job! Sad for me missing her because she's really awesome. I so wish we could communicate better because I know she's really funny - I've gotten good at reading faces - I know she'd be sarcastic a lot! Biak is full of sweetness and has a baby boy who is starting to smile. The highlight of the visit for Peter was when we showed off one of our mom-lays-on-the-ground-and-flips-him-over-with-her-legs-tricks. All the ladies exclaimed at that! We also showed a little girl (daughter of a friend of Biak's) the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book. She's 13 months old and all she really wanted (like all toddlers) was to just stick her diminutive finger in the holes. Eventually Peter got her to pretend to eat the strawberries.

Interesting note:
Words that are the same in most Chin dialects:
Strawberry
Banana
Mango
(lots of other fruits - you get the idea)
Merry Christmas
Bible
Jesus

I was chatting with a friend of James' who is from Chin State, Myanmar and he was telling me all about his families emigration to America. It was quite complicated. At one point he was living with his grandmother for several months while his parents (in Maylaysia at that time) worked to get him out. James told him that we pray for the Christians who are being tortured and killed there and he immediately responded "that's why we left!" I asked him if his family had been tortured, and he said "no - because they left" but he knew people who had been.
I am so thankful at this very moment that I do not have to flee the country, leaving my child behind because of torture and threat of death. Right now Peter has a fever, and I'm dissappointed that I probably won't be able to do the things I'd planned to do today, but I have medicine, we have clothes, we have heat, we have a home.
I am so so blessed.

Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas (that one was in Chin)

Lissa