Undefeated!!! 16-0

On to the Superbowl!!!

Christmas gifties

So the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to disappear, and I wound up doing sewing right up until the last minute!

I think they all turned out cute though, and my dad's reaction to the shirts I made him was worth it. I just wish I could take better pictures, bad lighting.

I did three bears for baby cousins. They are a furry fleece with safety eyes/noses stuffed with polyester fiberfill and tied with a grosgrain ribbon. Oh my goodness, this fabric shed everywhere when I cut it! I swear, when I was done sweeping the fuzzies, it looked as though I had just given a dog a haircut! These came out so soft and cuddly. It is the same pattern I did for Nate, but I was able to shape the features better as I sewed. I also pinned better, and that makes a huge difference.

Some crayon totes and rolls for little girl cousins (These have been done for a while) Recycled denim with cotton fabric, and gros grain ribbon on the rolls. I also put a little pad of paper in the totes....art on the go!

My dad and the kids have a running joke about a penguin that lives at his house....so, this is for that. These pillowcases got a raised eyebrow, but I still think they are cute. Cotton/poly fabric.

A nod to Monty Pythons Search for the Holy Grail. This is on a hooded sweatshirt for my sister. She seemed to like it when she opened it. Pillowcases for my sister. She can play a ton of instruments, so I thought these would be nice. The music notes is cotton, the rest cotton/poly blend.

I did these for my dad and Nate. My dad is a little brother, and he is always giving me a hard time about not letting Nate do/have something because he's a little brother. So, he's been there, done that and now he has the shirt! Unfortunately, the picture of his reaction is a bit dark. I think he really liked them, though. He showed them to a neighbor that dropped by. He is so hard to get gifts for, but I think this was a good one!

Christmas fun

Christmas was so much fun. Maggie was the first one up. She came to get me, telling me that Santa left something in our stockings. I got up and went down to the living room with her, and she was right--Santa came.

It was still very early considering what time the kids went to bed the night before, so Maggie and I hung out and had our chocolate milk while we waited for Cassie and Papa and Nate to wake up. Cassie was the next one up, and Nate and Lino were last. The girls were super about being patient and waiting.

The girls were excited to read the card that Santa left for them, thanking them for the chocolate milk and honey bee cookies. Maggie asked if I drank the milk-'oh no, honey, that was Santa's chocolate milk. I put it out before I went to bed, I didn't see Santa'. (they put out the cookies, but we waited on the milk so it wouldn't get warm) Lino suggested the honey bee cookies instead of chocolate chip ;)

Nate was a little unsure about opening presents. He had to be 'helped' with the ones he did open. He was very excited about finding Ernie in his wish box.

Maggie had a trumpet in her wish box, along with some purple hair bows. Cassie got the new pink bows she wished for, along with a clarinet. Santa also put a harmonica in Nate's. Fun! Santa brought new slippers for the kids. Nate was so fond of his, that he refused to leave the house to go to my dad's in sneakers. He wore his 'melmo' slippers instead!

Maggie loves her new dinosaurs! I love that they have their own bucket to keep them in!

Taking a break to try out the new markers and paper that Santa brought. Thank you Santa, for making them washable markers. The marker came out of Nate's shirt and jammie pants!

Cassie got the princess carousel horse carriage that she wanted. She was very excited, and although I didn't get a picture of it, had a huge smile!

I tried to get a picture of Nate just as the horse pops out of the box. He likes it, but jumped back each time it opened.

I will post the pics of the things I made for my dad and sister later. It is very late and I should get some sleep! Lino is working an overnight --I don't sleep well when he is gone.

The day after. (part 1)

Fabulous Christmas had by all. After a busy few days, today we just relaxed today and I tried to find a place for all of the new stuff. (we were running out of room for the old stuff, I have no idea how I am going to fit in all the new stuff!)

Christmas eve was spent first at Lino's parents then we went to his Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner. The kids loved the toys that Grandma and Grandpa gave them. (Nate opened his later, he actually fell asleep while we were there)

Can you see Maggie's face? She is super excited about her new TRex Mountain with lots of dinosaurs! Cassie was just as excited about her new Disney Princess nursery (although, she needed convincing that it didn't come with a baby princess doll)

This was Nate at my inlaws house. He even slept while I put his coat on and buckled him into his seat.

Playing with cousin Leo and Leo's trains! Leo is just a couple of weeks older than Nate. We usually only get to see Fernando, Vanessa and their kids at Christmas. We love hanging out with them! Wish that they lived closer. Cassie had a great time 'playing' with baby Carma. She is just so cute! Both girls asked Vanessa if they could hold her, and Vanessa said yes...

Cassie really liked holding her.

And Maggie's turn.

Poor Leo was getting sooo tired, and decided he wanted his trains back. Nate gave a couple back, but while Fernando was talking to Leo, Nate walked away with the train in his hand....(he did give it back, and Leo and his trains went to bed)

Hmm, I didn't get any pictures with Vanessa in them!

We left shortly after that and went home to read Twas the Night Before Christmas by the tree and set out cookies for Santa.


.....more pictures to follow. This post is really long.....

My little artist

So I just emailed these to Lino at work. He had been meaning to take them in, but they have been hanging on the fridge for a few weeks now.

Maggie drew these 2 pictures of his work. The Container Store (where he works) is one of 3 stores in one big building. His store, a sandwich place and a Ben & Jerry's

Notice in the first one he has a belly button? I love when she gives us all belly buttons!

After she did the first one, she decided it wasn't right, so did this one with the sun and flowers.

I was amazed at her details, with the shop signs.

I just love watching when the kids draw stuff. It is so neat to see their creativity in progress!

Incredibly sad

I went out last night with Lino's mom to help her pick out Christmas gifts for the kids. As we passed by a display of toys, I asked his mom how one of the little cousins was as the toys reminded me of her. (She has Cystic Fibrosis) She told me she died on Saturday!

Alexis was only 11. We only saw her a couple of times, she lived down south, but she was just the cutest little girl. Such a big smile. Sweet girl.

I can't even imagine the heartache that her parents and family is going through.

I hugged my babies just a little harder last night when I got home.

Family Jammies Pictures!

It didn't go too badly. Our appointment yesterday was for 2:30. In normal weather, it would take us about 1/2 hour to get to the mall where we had to go. Because of the forecast, we left our house around noon ish, hoping if we got there early, they would take us and we could be home before the bulk of the storm.

A couple of flakes started to float down as we got into the car. Drive not even 5 minutes to the post office to mail a package, snow is really coming down. Debate, do we chance it, or try for another day? Call studio. No other times that would work for us. Drive a little more. Decide to go for it. Takes us about an hour and a half to get there. Still early for scheduled time, and they take us early! Yay!

Little man had napped in the car and was in a great mood, and didn't try to run away when I changed him into his jammies. All is good, until he sees the camera. Wow...he was not a happy camper. Felt a little bad for the kid trying to take pictures, he went and got someone else after it was clear that Nate wasn 't going to stop crying for him.

After 2 girls try, the manager came in. She was able to distract him enough that when he looked at the camera, he at least wasn't crying! Maggie and Cassie were super while all this was happening.

And even though Nate had a meltdown, we were able to get 2 nice pictures out of it all!

So, after we pick out the pictures, we went to the food court, the girls and I were super hungry. Most of the stores and food places had closed at this point (about 3:30)

Get to our car about 4:30, and wow the snow. Lino had already decided that we would take a back road home, which thank goodness he did. Yes, it took about 2 hours to get home, but if we had been on the highway, it would have been much much longer. The 11 oclock news was reporting that the traffic was still so backed up that there were schoolbuses with elementary kids on them....52 kids still not home at 11 oclock at night!

The kids are super excited about the snow, so today we are headed to the store to get snow boots for all and snowpants for Nate.

Busy, busy, busy!

Maybe it was all those years that I worked in retail, when the pressure of the holiday season had everyone stressed out, but the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to just fly by.

Now, with Christmas just a couple of weeks away, I still have gifties to make. I hope I can get them all done.

Also keeping me busy, aside from the usual laundry and dishes, etc. is Etsy! I decided to go for it and start an Etsy shop. http://www.mamasewsfun.etsy.com/ Slowly but surely, I am working on getting an inventory. I have even had a sale, yay! (although, it was from someone on a computer forum that has seen other things I have done; I asked her if she would go through Etsy for the exposure) And, another custom order might be in the works. Very exciting.

I am spending time on the Etsy forums, to try and learn more about the process, and pick up hints and tricks. Shipping can seem kind of complicated when you list an item, but from reading on the forums, I understand it better, so I will reevaluate my items and adjust the shipping.

As for our Christmas card picture....not that we are running late with it (refer to my comment about time between Turkey Day and Christmas) but we have an appointment at The Picture People coming up this week. We tried to go Saturday, but they were completely booked. It kind of stinks, because that company closed a ton of locations, our favorite one at the mall closest to us included, so there are only 4 studios within drivng distance, and the closest of those is going to be about 1/2 hour away. The others are at least an hour or more. So it could be completely hit or miss to get a 'fresh' picture of the kids after they have been travelling.... we'll see. I have a coupon, so it won't cost us anything but time.

The sweatshirt is one that I wore when I was pregnant with the girls. I actually used it as my winter coat...It was a good fit at the time, I was huge! And, I was plenty warm, given that I was carrying two little heaters inside!

Anyhow, Cassie and Maggie got a kick out of trying it on.I still wear it, it is good on cold nights when I have to get up with Nate..he doesn't like blankets....on anyone!

Just because it's cute!

Success....cookies and jammie shirts

Leftovers, the girls took these home from my dads.

Finished shirts:

Sneak peek:

T-shirts and cookies

Argh. The shirts for the family jammies are not going as smoothly as I would have liked. I am frustrated by it, too. I searched for a design, found a cute one we liked, spent a bunch of time getting it set up in the machine. Struggled with hooping a small t-shirt on the biggest hoop. Lino was able to get that done.


Great. Start stitching. It is looking super cute, yay! The design gets to the outline part, and oh no, it is somehow shifted! Boo! There were some puckers, too, but I figured that I could work that out with one of the bigger shirts, as they would be easier to hoop. Try Lino's shirt the next morning....argh! The outline goes wonky on that one too! Got some advice from the sewing boards I visit, and make a trip to Joann's to stock up on stabilizer. Try again, using the messed up shirt. Still no luck. Try yet again. It came out ok. I could live with it, but, I have to try and get it to come out ok on 5 shirts. So, now I am trying to think of an alternatative. I wanted these to be done already....

Cookies. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. We are going to Lino's parents house for the meal. His mom is a great cook. We will go to my dads for dessert time.

In the past I have made cheesecakes to bring, and cannolis. This year I just don't have the energy to do cheesecake. (I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a 'perfect' one, without any cracks...) So, I am going to whip up some meringue cookies, using my aunt's recipe. These were my absolute favorite cookies when I was little. My mom never made them so I only got to have them at Thanksgiving and Christmas. (keep fingers crossed that these turn out nice and puffy!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Jammie pants are finished!

Hooray! I finished the jammie pants with only a few snags. The girls pants wound up being really big. I was surprised by that but decided not to cut them down a size. I figured I could just double up on the cuff and then they could get an extra year from them. Sounds easy, but the extra fabric made it bulky and I kept getting wrinkles as I would sew.

I had thought ahead and was using a basting stitch (figuring it would be easier to let out next year), thankfully, because I had to redo the cuffs on Maggie's pants no less than 6 times! (I love my seamripper, lol) Cassie's weren't as bad.

Nate still wouldn't try his on, so I measured his from another pair of jammies. (Sneaky mama...)

So now I am just trying to figure out what kind of design to do on the shirts.

Nearly completed jammies! (with pictures)

Had a great sewing day yesterday, and the jammies are almost finished. I need to get more elastic and drawstring for the waistbands and once I have that, I can hem the legs and finish them! Everything went together smoothly (which is always nice) I did discover, though, that the childrens sizing on the pattern runs big. The pattern just had sizing, 2, 3/4, 5/6 so I went with 5/6. So, when I had the girls test try theirs on, they are long...very long. I opted not to take them apart and cut them down a size, I figure, it is an easy fix now and they will be able to wear them for a few years! I was a bit surprised that it ran that big. Most of my patterns size by measurements (chest, waist, etc)

Some pictures of Nate's pair:

Here is the fabric cut, with the pattern still on. I cut 2 pieces at the same time, being careful as the print on the fabric has a top and bottom! This is such a nice fabric to work with, it is a good weight.

Next, you fold and pin each leg, with the right side of the fabric facing in. I pinned both sections first, and then sewed next.

A close up of the seam allowance: (5/8th of an inch, in case any one is curious !) This picture doesn't show it, but I did another stitch (double seam), probably at 3/8ths in.


This next picture shows how easy making pants is! You turn one leg right side out, then put it inside the wrong side out leg. Line up your seams and pin together.


Here they are, sewn together in a double seam. The first is at 5/8th, the second is probably 3/8th.


Pull one leg out from the other:



Turn rightside out. All that is left is the casing on the waistband and hemming the legs. Nate wasn't in the mood to try them on and be measured, so I put the other 4 pairs together!

Fun, right? Lino even suggested that if I can get them done soon, we could have our picture taken in them for our Christmas cards! Can't wait!

Making progress

I hope to be able to post pictures of nearly completed jammies later today (I don't think I have enough drawstring for mama and papa's pants.) I should be able to completely finish the kids' pants though. I had hoped to be finished with these by now, but I had a horrible migraine the other day, it had me out of commission for pretty much the whole day. Thankfully, it was Lino's day off, and he was able to feed the kids! So, lost sewing time....sniff.

Halloween

We had a great time on Halloween. Maggie and Cassie were super excited to be Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty 'in the long pink dress'. I was excited that Nate fit into the duck costumes that I had made for the girls!


This year:

And Halloween 2004: Maggie and Cassie with my dad:

The duck costumes were fun to make. The legs are actually a full body suit. I did them out of felt, with the sleeves the fuzzy loopy fleece. The fuzzy bodies are a 'bubble' (shoulder straps and elastic bottom) done in the fuzzy fleece, which when cut, left yellow fuzzies everywhere! The hats have both the fleece and felt, I hand stitched the eyes in black thread. The feet were a bit tricky and if I were to make them again, I would make them bigger. They are felt, with a bumpy bottom for traction. The bubble and hats were fully lined.

All in all, I am pleased with how they turned out, considering I was still a beginner sewer!

Gifties in Progress

An action shot of my Embroidery Machine. I am the very lucky owner of a Brother Innovis 4000D. It really is an amazing machine. I can use designs that are built in, download designs from the internet to a memory stick or use a design card. I am able to edit the pictures on the screen, press 3 buttons and sit back and watch. (One of those buttons automatically threads the needle!! Fabulous!) It is a sewing and embroidery machine, although I have yet to use it to just sew. I am a bit intimidated by it, and I love my first sewing machine, so I have been using both. That works out nicely sometimes, I can be sewing while embroidering.


The piece with the E directly in front of the machine: a mistake. It stitched out beautifully. Unfortunately, when I was cutting out all of the pieces, I somehow managed to cut 3 of my larger sections just a smidge short. And there isn't anyway to save it. I gave myself a headache trying to figure out the math. Luckily, I have more denim and am now calling that E a 'test stitch'.

I wound up switching the colors on the E. With the exception of the Cootie Bug, those piles of fabric will all become cute gifties for Christmas.

I have washed the jammie fabric. I was completely amazed at how long 8 yards of fabric really is, when I was trying to get it into the washing machine. It doesn't seem so long when it is folded nicely. I always prewash my fabrics in case they are going to shrink. I would hate to make an outfit for the girls and have it shrink after it is done.

The next part of the jammies is tracing out my patterns. That is usually fun, because I always have 'helpers'. Hopefully Nate will take a great nap today, and I can trace away.

(for some reason, I am having paragraph spacing issues right now, sorry....)

Jammies

After our fun adventure in Target on Saturday, we went to Joann's. I love the fabric store. (I love it even more when Lino is with me to watch the kids, or when I can go by myself!!) The purpose of our trip was to pick out fabric for Christmas jammies. Maggie spotted some she liked, and tried to describe it. We wandered around the holiday fabric section for 10 minutes before Lino spotted it. Sparkly, sheer striped fabric; not quite jammies!

So, we looked at some more, and then found a good one that we all like! We wound up getting the whole bolt (8 yards and a few inches)

I also found some super cute bear fabric for a project!

Now I just have to cut and sew it all to gether for our family Christmas jammies. The fabric is just for pants, we will have white tshirts that I will paint? or somehow decorate Similar to last years for the kids:

Those were from fabric I had in my stash. I had enough to make pants for the girls and the top and pants for Nate. Green background with white snowmen heads. I was able to paint the snowmen heads on the girls' shirts. They picked the scarf colors. Green for Maggie and pink (surprise!) for Cassie.

No witty comeback....

Yesterday we went to Target. The girls asked for popcorn, so Lino went to get some and the kids and I waited by the dollar spot. As we were waiting (Maggie and Cassie in the shopping cart, Nate asleep in his stroller), he waved at the girls and they waved back. Well, three older ladies (maybe 50-70) were walking by and thought Maggie and Cassie were waving at them and stopped to say hi to them.

Them: "OH, you have your hands full!"

Me: (smiling) "I am very blessed."

They repeated that a couple of times. I hate when people imply that twins and/or 3 kids is such an awful thing. Yes, I am busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. At least they didn't start with the 'double trouble' that people usually say when they see that Maggie and Cassie are twins.

Them: " oh, your hands are full. Are they all yours?"

Me: (thinking WTH??) smile, and say "Yes"

One of the women "And another one on the way, too."

Me: (still smiling, but barely) "Nope"

Her: "OH, you're not pregnant??"

Me: "Nope"

Now, the girls are with me, so its isn't like I can be rude and say, 'Hey, thanks for calling me fat, not once but twice.' But it would have been nice to have some sort of comeback.


Then, one of the women asks if the girls are twins. Yes, I say. She told me she knew it, she could tell. She asked Maggie how old she was. Maggie told her. Then, she asked Cassie how old she was, and honestly seemed surprised that she gave the same answer! "Oh, really?"

Apparently she didn't quite grasp the whole concept of twins.


At this point, I am trying to maneuver the cart and stroller away from there, to get away from the crazy people. I told Lino, and he said I should have said something. Alas, no witty comeback, and we didn't see them again in the store. (Probably a good thing though, because he would have. )

"Atta Girl"

Today is my Mom's birthday. She would have been 64. Sometimes it doesn't seem as though it has been 8 years since she passed away. So much has happened since then. So many things I would have loved sharing with her. She was a fabulous cheerleader, always giving an 'atta girl' when something good happened.

I was fortunate in that not only was she my mom, she was my friend, too. I only hope that I can be as good a mother to my children as she was to me. Her patience, and wisdom. My late teenage years were 'challenging', and I had a very stubborn independant streak. My mom was relentless, though, in keeping her heart in my life. For that, I am thankful. We got through the 'challenging' times, and we became friends. For that, too, I am thankful.

None of us knew how sick she was the summer of my wedding. She had frequent bouts with pneumonia, but we didn't think much of it. About a year before she died, she was diagnosed with emphysema, but convinced us all it was 'fine'. The day after my wedding, she was admitted to the hospital and eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. She had a softball sized tumor that was wrapped around her heart. She died 3 months after, November 11th.

I miss her immensely.

Where to find time?

There are so many projects in my head...Halloween costumes for the kids, a skirt for me, outfits for the Christmas picture, matching family jammies for Christmas, and other fun things I want to do--sewing and embroidered.

Just a couple of extra hours in the day....when I am not too tired or the kids aren't needing things 'right now'. And when the chores are all done so I don't feel guilty wanting to take over the kitchen with my projects. (If we ever win the lottery, the new/renovated house will have a fabulous sewing/craft room!)


How do people feel about homemade gifts? Do you find them to be special? Would you rather have something store bought? Do you appreciate the time and love that goes into something that is made from hand (either mine or my kids'? )

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Catherine


Here are the rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 7 facts with you: some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
~~~~~~~~~~~`

So seven random facts:

1. Although math is my least favorite subject, I love finding number patterns and making number stuff (our family number is 17)

2. In elementary school I won a Rubik's Cube contest. I solved 2 cubes the fastest. I even taught the gym teacher how to do the cube in exchange for extra gym class

3. I believe that Lizzie Borden did not, could not have murdered her parents.

4. I have met Joan Baez .

5. I write with my left hand, but can write and do most things with my right.

6. Someday I would love to write childrens books.

7. I love silly jokes. Why does a seagull live by the sea? Scroll over for answer: If it lived by the bay, it would be a bagel (baygull!) Funny, right? And another one: Where does a general keep his armies? Scroll over: In his sleevies!



Now my turn to tag. I don't know if I have 7 people to tag to! Let's see.

Becca
Fantsypantsy
Melissa

3. I have 3....if I come up with more, I will amend my list.

Ribbon Blanket

Well, Leia was kind enough to send me a picture of the ribbon blanket I did for Arabella. I realized after I had gone to the post office that I didn't take one!

The blanket is anti-pill fleece on both sides, a light purple. The ribbons are gros grain and satin.

It looks like the name is off center, but I promise, it isn't! The really tall 'A' makes it look that way. (I almost redid the name, but finally convinced myself that it was fine) You can kind of see the topstitching in the picture. I am pleased with it. I don't know why topstitching makes me nervous, but I am using it more.

You can visit Leia's blog to see sweet Miss Arabella testing it out! I am guessing that it is a keeper....

Thanks again Leia, for the picture!

Amazing site with loads of creativity!

Thanks Catherine! She shared this site link with me, and wow! So much talent, and so many ideas.

www.craftster.org


Like I really needed any more excuses to avoid chores, lol!

Full moon on the internet?

Back in April when I started researching embroidery machines, I discovered some sewing forums. Seemed like a lot of friendly, super talented and creative people. The projects that were being posted were just amazing, and once I knew what machine I was getting, I started downloading free embroidery designs. (that have been beautiful to stitch)

Well, apparently there is a lot of dramatic back history, because within the last month, the one forum has kind of blown up. People who have seemingly done nothing wrong, getting banned; moderators deleting posts for their own personal agenda, administrators just sticking their heads in the sand hoping it will all go away. It is just crazy. Like a car wreck, you just can't help but read it, and it is sad, because 1) these are all adults, acting like 8th grade girls and 2) lost sewing time! The forum has a 'weird' feel to it now.

I find it strange, too, because another completely unrelated forum I frequent is having its own drama right now.....

Oops!

I totally forgot to take a picture of a project. I hate when I do that!

Murphy's Laws of Sewing

Growing up, my mom always talked about Murphy's Law (if something can go wrong, it usually will) I read this and nodded my head to a lot of them:


MURPHY'S LAWS of SEWING

Fusible interfacings always fuse to the iron.

The serger only eats the customer's garment.

If you need 6 buttons, you will find 5 in your button box.

The seam you meant to rip out is invariably the other one.

When you are in a hurry, the needle eye is always too small.

The fabric you forgot to pre-shrink will always shrink the most.

The pattern you wanted to make again will have one key piece missing.

If you drop something out of your sewing basket, it will be your box of pins with the cover off.

Whenever the construction process is going well, the bobbin thread runs outs.

The magnitude of the goof is in direct proportion to the cost of the fabric.

Your lost needle will be found by your son, husband or brother-in-law while walking around barefoot.

Facings tend to be sewn to the wrong side. (Opposite sides attract).

Collar points don't match, and you've trimmed all the seams.

The iron never scorches the garment until its final pressing.

Pants seams always rip where they are the most noticeable.

The steam iron only burps rusty water on light silk fabric.

The sewing machine light usually burns out on Sunday.

Pinking shears get dull just by looking at them.

Gathering threads always break in the middle.

The scissors cut easiest past the buttonhole.
(Anonymous)

Some stuffed animals

I found a stuffed animal pattern and wanted to try it. Cassie wanted a pink lamb, Maggie a green bunny, and I did the bear for Nate. The lamb and bunny are a fleece. The bear isn't fleece, but it is hairy looking.

The girls supervised the stuffing part. I think the bunny would look better with flatter ears, and I need to work on the lambs hands/feet. I want to modify the bear, too. Without his ribbon, his neck seems too long. I did the faces by hand, I really need to learn how to do hand embroidery! The kids like them, and I know for next time what to do differently!

The back. Notice bear is making an escape!