Friday, August 31, 2012

Life At The Backside Of The Bus

I picked the kids up from school and whisked them off to take NEW first-day-of-school pictures :0/  For the first time in my photographic life, I accidentally erased pictures.  Not just a couple either...something like 200!  Even though my dear aunt claims blame for "breaking" the camera {I am still crying over the loss of the farm pictures Amy} it was a small computer error that resulted in the file loss and my two-day sick stomach.

Oh Well.  What can you do?

Here are our replacements :0)  Madison is absolutely LOVING school in South Dakota.  She loves the kids, she loves band, she even loves being one of two thousand kids at her school!


She really likes being asked about BOYS!
It seems that she has a boy partner in just about EVERY CLASS...
Not sure Mom is OK with this!!!


I can't believe my little Madison is already a freshman in High School.  Just so you know Madison, No, you will NEVER date those cute boys in class, and NO! You can't get your drivers license even though it is legal at 14 in South Dakota!  Happy 9th Grade :0p
Love you.



Eli was more than thrilled to discover that in our new home state, 6th grade is actually in Middle School!  He gets his own locker, has a schedule and several periods a day, and has a "Sick" pair of shoes to trample through the halls with.  I am not sure there is another thing on this planet that he wants...

OK, there is, but this boy is still happy as can be.  Love him too!

Now, if we could just work on your fashion sense :0}  Eli insisted on wearing his 8-bit tie for the pictures.  He actually wore it 3 of the first 4 days he had the tie.  Goofy boy. 

I ended up driving over to the bus garage so that I could get these pictures.  Just so you know, you need to check in at the office if you decide to do the same.  I actually drove a school bus in a previous life and didn't think it would be an issue for us to stand behind the thing for a few snapshots.  Low and behold, the manager came walking up and gave me a nice yelling-at before he told me to go ahead and click away.  
Thanks...I think.

Last, but definitely NOT least {just ask her} Princess Cinderella...formally known as Emmalee.  There is no shortage of personality in her body.  Emmers isn't in school yet.  Just as I was searching the internet for preschool lesson plans, a local here told me that they actually have Pre-Kindergarten...Yep..in school, sometimes all day, just like Kindergarten.  Wow!  A room full of 4yr olds!

If she gets any more spunky she just might find herself in Pre-Kindergarten.  I have no doubt that she is ready for the classroom environment, but I really can't believe, in a nation cutting education so short on funding, that they would actually publicly fund preschool.  Awesome!  We shall see. 

Until then, these darling baby blues are mine and we will be rolling playdough snakes and hosting alphabet tea parties to our hearts contents.  Love you baby girl.
Happy Back to School everyone!!!
I wish you many fabulous school-time moments...from the backside of the bus :0}


Featured and "Pic"ed and Saved

Hey, just dropping a line to let you know I have been featured by PocketChange in their 76th Best of Web post.  They feature a variety of fun and interesting blogs so go check them out!

Also, I got an adorable reader picture a little bit ago and really wanted to share!  Didn't Simone do a FABULOUS job with her Noah's Ark cake!!!  I don't think she has EVER used fondant before.  I am impressed.  After making one of these cakes I KNOW how stressful and difficult they can be.  Thanks for sharing Simone!!!

One more shout out...
I often get the chance to work with TheMotherhood.Com and I wanted to share {totally my own free will-no compensation what so ever} the program they have going on right now. 

Together with Shot@Life, if you visit the chosen blogger's sites and leave a comment {doesn't even have to relate}, for EVERY comment left, one child will get immunized!  How fabulous is that!?!  I believe a $20 donation is made for each and every comment, and $20 is just enough for one child to get the shots that could save their life.  HERE is that site if you are interested in donating a couple minutes, making even one comment, in support of this awesome cause.  



Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Geek Wear ;0)

My little boy is growing up to be quite the geek.  I love him.  
He is just like his father :0)
Eli is head-over-heals in LOvE with Minecraft, a crazy computer game.  In this game {note I am telling you about it like I know anything, pshaw!}  you stumble around this world made up of square things, smashing square things and looking for gems to purchase MORE square things...

Eli decided he NEEDED a Minecraft tie for church.
You see, I am JUST THAT BORED that I thought it would be a good idea to make one.

Here is a picture of an 8-bit tie Eli found on Amazon for Twenty something dollars.  When we were at the fabric store imagining how I was going to make the tie, I envisioned I would just cut out the tie shape, then line it with bias tape and call it good.  When I finally sat down at my sewing machine to make this...Sunday morning just after Eli asked, "Mom, Where is my Minecraft Tie???"  I decided the bias tape was the wrong way to go :0)  Can you say "La-Zee???"

So, I decided to cut out the green shape from a piece of broadcloth.  Remembering a trick I learned at the quilt store in Mesa, I used a glue stick {YES!  I said glue stick...like Elmers that is for sale for $.20 a stick right now} and rubbed it all over the back of the tie, then simply pressed it onto the piece of doubled-over black broadcloth.  I used the same glue stick to stick the two pieces of black together so they would not slip while I sewed, and zig-zagged a narrow stitch to permanently attach the green to the black.

Once that was done I zig-zagged around the black part, following the green about 1/2" out from the green.  Finally, I cut the black away, careful not to cut into my zigzag stitch.  I ran some FrayCheck along the edge to make double sure there would be no messy edges.  
At this point I stopped, pulled up the tie picture, and noticed that it had a design.  That was when I decided to do theTriple, double-stitched {to make it darker} stripes down the tie.
Cute!

Eli will probably shoot me if he sees this picture on here, but it shows just how proud he is of his tie!  He actually wears it EVERYWHERE!  He wore it to school yesterday and even put it on when we took some Back-To-School pictures last night.  Silly boy!  I am glad he liked his Geek Wear :0D


Monday, August 27, 2012

A Crafty Little T

I cannot believe that I didn't get the pictures from my craft party on the blog!!!  This is what we were doing while Scott was interviewing in Sioux Falls :0}  Way more fun on our side I think.  
I invited some of my crafter friends to come over for a finish project night.  There were swing machines whirring all over the place!  Forgive me friends if I can't remember exactly what you were working on.  I forget Ashley's first project, but I do remember the cuddly dolly she made for Morgan.  Stacie...I am thinking Stacie got more gabbing done than sewing, but knowing her she was working on a baby wrap or burp cloths :0)  Jamie was over there sewing away...was it headbands???  I have a terrible memory.  I can tell you what I did.  This was my first project:
I was a few days late with this set of quilt squares for our mail-order-quilting bee my cousin started.  After that I worked on a chevron quilt and then my own cousin quilting bee topper.  I will get pictures of those when I go back home this weekend.

Season, you had to know I would put your adorable picture on the blog!  Season was working on an I-Spy quilt for her handsome boy Brecken.   

Ivy was being very artistic over there with her art set, while Madison worked on a special playset for her babysitting box.

Um, not everyone was there to craft, some {Amber and Sara} chose more embarrassing activities, like challenging my 11yr old to a Just Dance competition.  Yes Amber, we are all very proud of you pounding an 11 yr old into the ground with your BOSS dancing skills ;0)

My real purpose in posting this party is to show you the fabulous crafty T re-fashion that Mary came up with. She made this yellow shirt earlier in the week and wanted to make a few modifications to her previous method.  Here is the jist: 
Start with a standard, non-flattering T-shirt.  You want one that is a size or two too big.

First, cut the sleeves.  Mary started about 1 inch out from the sleeve seam.  

She cut in a straight line, stopping just about one inch from the end of the sleeve.

Fold the cut side of the shirt over on top of the other side, then cut the other sleeve using the first as a pattern.  Not said very well, is it {tee-hee}

The piece cut off looks something like this.

Next, cut the neckline.  Mary started cutting about one inch into the sleeve top, then cut in a bit of an arch into the t-shirt ending about 2 inches below the original neck line.  When you are done, you should have pieces something like this.  

Finally, cut the bottom off.  This part will depend on how long you like your shirts and how long your body is.  Feel free to hold the shirt up to your body and double check your guess before you cut.  Mary curved the bottom of the shirt up on the sides.

When you are done cutting, it is time to sew! 
My friends LOvE to find their pictures on my blog!

Mary started out by sewing over all of the edges of the knit {where the cuts were made} with a small zig-zag stitch while gently pulling the fabric.  It is called a lettuce edge. 
You can check out a tutorial here for more information on that.  If you stretch the fabric while you sew you will get a cute ruffly edge, kinda like a lettuce leaf...thus, lettuce edge.

 Once all of the edges were done with the lettuce edge, shir the neckline with two rows of elastic thread.  What!?!  You have never shirred before?!?  No problem.  You can check out detailed instructions HERE, but long story short, wrap elastic thread around an empty bobbin, put the bobbin in the machine just like it were full of regular thread, thread your top thread, set your stitch length to the longest stitch you have, and sew in a straight line.  I guess you don't have to sew in a straight line, but for this shirt you might want to ;0) 

So, there you have a completed shirt...pretty much.  Mary added some ties and a belt too.  Here is how she did that.

Take the left-over bottom chunk, cut it into three 1" strips.  

From the sleeve extras, cut the very end off, just before the hem line.  That should give you a strip that is about 1/2" wide for each sleeve.

Take your sleeve strips first.  Grab them by the ends and pull just a little.  That will make the edges curl inside and you won't have to sew it into a tube.  

Tie a knot in the end. 

Grab your shirt and cut a small slit in the neck line centered in the front.  Be sure to stitch over the elastic thread where you cut into it so that it will stay in place.  Now you can sew the ties to the flaps in the neckline.   

Hold on a second.  I have to stop and look at this adorable sleeping baby!
Awwwwweee!  I love looking at babies...that are not mine.  He can stay as long as he wants to sleep here.  Feel free to take him home when he gets fussy ;0}

Now, take those three strips cut from the bottom piece of the shirt.  Cut them once so that you have long strands instead of loops. 

Run the three strands through the sewing machine so that they are sewn together.  I would recommend placing the strands on a piece of regular weight computer paper and then sewing them.  The paper helps to stabilize the loose strands and it just tears away when you are done.

Braid the strands together, then sew the loose ends together on the other end.

Mary made some little belt loops to hold her fancy braided belt out of some scraps of knit.

There you have it!  One fabulous shirt.  Did I mention that Mary bought this shirt from Micheals for $2!!!  It looks WAY too good to be a $2 shirt, don't you think?  Mary, have I told you lately that I LOVE YOUR HAIR!  

Here is a back view.   I can't wait to try this myself!  She made it look so easy :0)

Whew!  What a party!!!  We finished up somewhere around 6am.  Talk about fun!  I wanna do it again.  I miss my friends.  I was hoping for one more craft party before we moved.  We are headed back to pack things up this weekend.  If I have my way, I might just be able to squeeze one more crafting party in before we pull out of the driveway ;0)


Novelty Print Quilt Pattern

I have had a hard time finding good quilt patterns for novelty prints the past couple times I purchased them.  I made up this pattern so tha...