Candy Corn

I saw this tutorial for a candy corn pillow, and decided that I could modify it to make bean bags. Bug is only recently interested in throwing balls, so I thought a 'toss' game would be good for her. To encourage a 'toss' I made little mats to aim at, using the same basic steps as this tutorial, just no ric rac.
I made my bean bags a little smaller than the tutorial, and cut the cream and orange pieces 2" and the yellow 3", so the finished size is about 5" tall. The mats I cut at 9" x 10" (oops, wanted them square... oh well. the kids haven't complained yet!). Bug was up most of the night last night sick and not in the mood to try a new game - she loves to 'collect' similar things, and to break up this collection was more than her tired two-year old mind could handle. Tomorrow I will try setting the mats out around her and have her toss and aim at them. Poor little girl was so exhausted!

So she went to bed and Moo played 'clean up' the bean bags and put them in a basket. I can't believe how much fun she had cleaning these up!

Tick-or-Treat bags

I made Bug, Moo, and little cousin Muh-Muh trick-or-treat bags with adorable spider fabric from Mom's store. I did a tutorial HERE. I love how they turned out!

The Sweet Dress

Confession: I am scared to death to sew anything with sleeves. It probably goes back to 4-H sewing when I was 8 and Mom insisted I pick something sleeveless. She said they were just too hard to do, and we moved on with an easy jumper pattern. I have never sewn sleeves, so summer sewing has been quite convenient. Now with this snow... I wasn't quite sure what to do until I found this pattern "The Sweet Dress" from Leila and Ben. It was a breeze! Still no 'setting' sleeves, but it doesn't seem so far out of reach now.
I hate to buy nice fabric for something I am not sure will work out, so the girls and I headed to our local thrift store, and this beauty from J Crew was waiting for me! Bug said she liked it, and so we got it for $1.50. Much better than a yard of fabric at $8 or more a yard!

While I was sewing it, I asked her if she thought she would like it. She did a great big sigh, tilted her head to the side and said "I sure hope so!" Turns out she loves it!

I also had some winter owl fabric I picked up at JoAnn's on sale a year ago, so Moo got one too!

I love that it is a short sleeved pattern, making it great to layer with - many more copies of this one to come for sure!

Bow bows

Over the last couple weeks, Moo has been getting called a little boy more and more... and I don't love it. I thought I was doing pretty good about dressing her in pink, but I am noticing that even a hint of neutral in her clothing (like, say, jeans) and she's suddenly a 'he'. So my solution? Bows! Okay, so not actually bows, but hair clips. Bug still calls them 'bow bows' and so that's what they are at our house. Even an elastic is a bow. These are my favorites! I love that they are so easy to make - a little ribbon, a little hot glue, a clip, and some velcro and you're done! The velcro helps it stay in a little better - I just use the 'loopy' part of the velcro and glue it inside the top part.

{pebbles}

I am still new to quilting my own tops, and stippling what I have done the most of. Today I decided to make a new baby doll blanket (six doesn't seem to be enough around here) so this is what I ended up with! Pebble quilting! Still needs a binding, but I couldn't get it back long enough to sew it on...


We also have a polka dot obsession lately, so I thought Bug would love it. So far, she loves keeping it out of Moo's reach.

'... so Moo go her own! So far she thinks it's really fun to sit on. As long as it's getting used...

As a side note, I really love how it turned out. It took a LOT of thread. Like 2-3 bobbins for a doll quilt. Seriously.

Goodnight, Monkey

I spent this weekend finishing this quilt... it was my first attempt at an unconventional log cabin block, and I love the results. I am not so crazy about the sock monkeys, but I love it nonetheless.

Machine quilting is coming a little easier to me now, but I am not sure I want to do anything bigger than a baby quilt. I'm sure after a little while I'll forget how long it takes with two kids at my feet and try it... Now I need to decide what I am going to do with it - pray for a boy next? Hang it in Mom's quilt shop? For now it will sit on top of the small pile of 'I finished this whole quilt' right next to the 'I have the quilt top done but haven't finished it' really big pile. I have my work cut out for me with that pile!

Lots to do...

We had family come to town today, so I started my day off cleaning the house, doing dishes, mopping, etc. I started in on my girl's closet, but found a shirt that I really like, but was stained. I hate that. So... I got my sewing machine out and started to play. Who needs a clean house anyway? Here it is - inspired by Alexis! Thanks!

Somehow Moo managed to stain the bottom of the shirt, which worked out well for this project. Please understand I am not playing favorites... Moo will just wear what I make. I have some Bug projects coming up soon.

I took this brown fabric that I love, and cut it into 1/2" strips. I used two, but I don't know how long they were. I folded and pinned and pleated the strips into the shape I wanted - a nice little heart. I sewed down the middle of the strip, then did it again...

... and again... until I had reached the center.

Here it is all finished!
This girl is an adventurer! This is the best shot I got out golfing tonight... Love the Tetons in the background!