Cleaning things up

Our bathroom has held two empty picture frames side by side for about nine months now. I hung them up with the best of intentions—get the frames hung and out of the last moving boxes in the garage, and then find the art for them when I had a minute.

Finally, today, after looking around a bit and not seeing quite what I was looking for, I made these two little printables: Wash and Dry. I just wanted something that was clean, simple, and that would tie into the teal tones in the bedroom. 

The color didn't translate as clearly in the jpg files that I put up here, so if you'd like a better version, I've put the PDFs up here. Enjoy!

Sewing Sabbath

I made my first self-binding baby blanket today to bring to Father Javier. My goal is to make 3 before I go to Albuquerque.

The lady in the tutorial said it was a 10-minute project ... For me it was more like 60 :) But a lot of that was just figuring things out. I bet the next one goes quicker.

And check out those mitred corners :)

Pillow time

Made the first for a graduating senior who loves pastels; the second for Calvin Jesse who insisted I make him one too when he saw the first :)

Project done

Made these sweet little baby gifts yesterday for a friend. Thought they turned out pretty cute :)

Trunk or Treat

We had so much fun dressing up as "Little Red Riding Hood" this year! Miss Lu was a big hit as the "Granny" with her missing teeth :) And we even won a prize for the best costume theme—even Calvin Jesse was excited about that one! (Ok, he was mostly excited that people were clapping for him, but still, it was really cute.)

 (I totally made this cute little bunting to decorate our car!)

Daddy's little helper

Ready

Set

Go!

Calvin Jesse was so dang cute helping Dad build the playtoy the other evening--he kept going around with the wrench saying "I helping! I helping Daddy!"

Progress was made!

Raining babies

In the next four days I'm helping to host two baby showers. Yikes! (Seriously, I don't what it is, but people around here have tons of babies. Which is a good thing, but it does lead to a lot of showers. Hey—any excuse to get out of the house for a bit, right?)

Anyway, I'm in charge of little favors for both showers. And while the favors are essentially the same (one's a mixed bag of deluxe malt balls and yogurt covered raisins; the other has the two in separate bags) and I used the same bags for them, I think they came out cute and different enough that people who go to both showers won't be too disappointed at getting the same favor ... I hope ... oh well, they're all done!

Season's end

Lucy's soccer team had their "big game" day for their last day of practice. I'm really proud of her—she's learned to run after the ball (as opposed to just running around), how to protect it by blocking out, how to dribble, and even scored a few goals here and there! She had great coaches, so to say thank you I made these cute soccer cookies to hand out to all the kids and coaches during the awards ceremony. When Lucy saw me frosting them in the kitchen she said "Oh thank you Mommy—I feel loved and special that you're making these cookies for my soccer team!" Too cute :)

 

 

(If for any reason you need little "Go Team!" flags for an upcoming event, here's a JPG of the ones I made.)

Rainbows for Miss Lu

Miss Lucy and I made the following rainbow to hang on her bedroom wall. We followed this tutorial. The whole time we were melting the crayons, she kept on shouting "Come on Red! Go Red! You can do it! Go, go!" to encourage the appropriate color to both melt and run clear down the canvas. Gotta love her enthusiasm.

Summer's end

How I Spent My Tuesday Night:

The result? Fourteen quarts of beautiful honey-colored peaches to last us through our snowy New Mexican winter. Totally worth it.

Happy half birthday!

Miss Lu has a summer birthday. But she did not want to miss out on a chance to celebrate her birthday with her kindergarten class. So I made the cupcakes, Mrs. Whitaker provided the crown and a cute little gift, and we partied. Calvin Jesse even made a guest appearance, much to everyone's delight.

Now Miss Lu thinks she should get extra TV time, since she's "really almost six already."

PS I'm really happy with how the cupcakes (from scratch!) turned out. Prettiest cupcakes I've ever made :)

 

Count on it

Miss Lucy (in the car): "Hey, I can count to a billion!"

Mr. Nick: "Really?"

Miss Lucy: "One, two, three, ... [continues] ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one-hundred! One-hundred one, one-hundred two ... [continues] one-hundred eight, one-hundred nine, a billion!"

(I'm working on pictures for the baby's room ... this one's still evolving)

We've been busy ...

... canning peaches!

Lucy has decided that she loves canning. She's a great helper. She wants to help with every step of the canning process ...

It took a few days, but we eventually ended up with 20 beautiful (and sealed!) quarts of peaches to add to our cupboards. Now, onto the garden salsa and pickles!

Pillow time

I've been making pillows. This one was for a friend who graduated from high school. I thought it turned out super cute.

PS I love my sewing machine. Lots of love.

Webbs = Winners

So. As the Activities Committee, Mr. Nick and I (with help from our honorary committee member Miss Lu) hosted a ward 5K run/walk in conjunction with a healthy breakfast and a massive clothing swap. There was awesomeness to spare. Behold:

Mr. Nick "winning" the race (ok, just posing after we set up the ribbon)

Miss Lu winning the kids' race. Really. She definitely does not get this from my side.

Mr. Nick handing out the awards to the winners with Miss Lu accepting. 

This all seems to indicate that the entire event was just the Webbs running around and having fun, but there were other people there, and other winners too. But this is a family blog. So it's about one family. One winning family :)

And just to prove I was involved, here's the poster I designed (really quickly) for the event:

Nick was making fun of the guy with the little red box around him, but I assured him it was a design element. I liked it, at least.

My sewing machine came

I picked it up this week. Tonight, Lucy and I decided to give it a test drive.

Behold, the pocket skirt!

I used two kinds of stitches! (You can't see the zig-zag; it's on the inside of the hem.)

Lucy put it on and said she wanted to wear it for the rest of the day, and possibly to bed. She then commented on how it didn't twirl like her twirly skirt from Nana. But she likes it anyway. I told her I'd try for something more twirly next time.

It's lined, hemmed, and I made it in about an hour and a half (and that included figuring out how to wind the bobbin). The machine behaved quite well; I even think Nana will like using it when she visits :)

I'm trying to buy a sewing machine

It's not going so well. I know what I want and where to get it, but for some reason they're reluctant to sell it to me. Maybe they need evidence of my inner craftiness: behold, the bag I made for my mom for her birthday. See, I so can handle a machine.

Sharpie madness

When we moved, I promised Miss Lu I would make a headboard for her bed. It only took me half a year to get around to it ...

Thanks to my awesome photo skills, you too can make your own :)

Supplies:
Plywood (cut to the size you want your headboard to be—mine rests on the ground, so it's biggish)
Batting
Fabric (we used a twin bottom sheet—I cut the elastic out)
Staple gun
Sharpie

1. Lay out all the batting in layers slightly bigger than the board; place board on top

2. Feel pretty awesome about using a staple gun to secure batting to board

3. Feel less awesome as you struggle with the contours of a fitted sheet

4. Regain staple-gun awesomeness. Work hard to make the corners neat and tidy. Realize no one will ever see this part, and take a picture so others can appreciate it.

5. Flip it all over, and start drawing on your "headboard" with a sharpie. Realize you like drawing with sharpies, even though you have to be careful because, well, it's a sharpie.

6. Oh yeah baby—headboard! Revel in its charm (read: imperfections). Revel!

7. Call in Miss Lu. Observe gratifying reaction. Consider using sharpie on other surfaces. Reconsider.

3 Questions

I have been asked 3 questions in 3 days about this purse. Where did I buy it, where did I get it, and how much was it. 

I made it out of an old men's sweater I found at DI. I felted the wool, cut off the arms and neck, sliced the arms into straps, sewed up the bottom, and put a little bird on it. And I love that when it gets dirty, I just throw it in the washer.

Using old things for a new purpose makes me irrationally happy. I don't know why. But there it is. Apparently, 3 other people like the look too :)