Whitney Dinner

Uncle Leonard was in town last week and I went to dinner with him and some of Jon and Sharon's family. Here two of pictures I took in the terrible lighting at the restaurant.

Handsome brothers.

Sarah was Maggie's pre-dinner entertainment, and she was good at it!

Last Zoo Trip

If you're tired of seeing pictures of Maggie at the zoo, then you're in luck: our passes expired today. We met up with our friends and had a good time.

"More tasty girls!"

Checking out the meerkat.

Can't they both look at the same time? Immediately after this, Colette got down to see the picture on the camera, so I didn't get any more.

Eye Mask and Pillowcase

I used a silk nightgown of my mom's to make these items for my sister. Here are instructions I've published for the eye mask. For this one, I added a layer of brown felt to help block the light. I also used elastic lace (originally bought to make baby headbands) instead of elastic. I can't find the pillowcase instructions I used, but it was really just two rectangles sewn together. I used the existing hem of the nightgown for the hem on the pillowcase.

Wonder Box

First of all, how cute is this fabric? I can't get over how adorable it is.

We made Wonder Boxes at Enrichment this week. (Someone else made mine because John is out of town so I had Maggie with me...) You heat up your food, get it to boiling, then put the pot in the Wonder Box and keeps your food at the same temperature to continue to cook it. You can use it if fuel is scarce or to keep something warm or cold on the road.
It was a really easy project. I had to buy 2 1/2 yards of fabric, and pay $4 for the filling. Then you are supposed to get a tub to put it in, but I don't have one yet. Here is a link to more information, the pattern, instructions and recipes.

Blankie Sack

Maggie has been super picky about how her blankie must cover her toes, both while sleeping and in the car. She wakes up in the night and wants us to come in and rearrange her blankets. I didn't want to make a sleep sack because it involved fasteners and I wanted to use things I already had. Also, I'm lazy. So I came up with this idea: a blankie sack that fits around her waist. Tasha expressed concern that Colette would remove a blankie sack and put it over her head. So if your child is like that (Maggie is weirdly not), think twice before using something like this. We got two of these fleece blankets from Maggie's hospital stay. I thought about using two to make a sleep sack, but this only took one. The fleece was about 3'x3.5'.

I folded the blanket in half lengthwise and sewed the bottom and side together. Then I turned down 1 1/2" at the waist and made a casing. I threaded in some 1" elastic, cut from an old pair of PJs and measured to fit comfy around Maggie's tummy. Then I closed the casing. This entire project took about 5 minutes. No more kicking the blanket off! Cost to me: $0. Now I just need to stick the Piglets to her somehow.

Thank You, Goodnight Moon

I actually got Maggie to put on her mittens today. Threats didn't work (we have taken her home from the park when she refused to wear them), but she was intrigued by the mittens in her Goodnight Moon book.
I explained they are like socks to keep her fingers warm and she can wear them at the park, riding her car, or on a walk. So she did! I think this is the first time she's posed for the camera.
Bonus picture of Maggie's first bubble bath, complete with a "winkie." She won the bubbles at the library.

New Baby at Our House

We're dog sitting!

Mischief

Do you ever wonder what Maggie's toys do all day?

Camouflage.

Look at the Christmas tree.

Play the piano.

Decide what's for dinner.

Watch TV (that's our Nativity set, with Little People friends).

Go for hay rides.

Eat a snack.

Eat each other.

Sew.

Block traffic.

Work on the computer.

Personalized Board Book

Rachel gave Maggie a frog puppet named Keleti for Christmas. She made a board book about his early childhood to go along with it. She used the same board books I used to make Maggie's ABC book (instructions) (blank books sold here) by innocently asking for one during her visit in October.Rachel took pictures of Keleti all over Budapest and London. She printed them with a little narrative and glued the pictures to the book. So simple and so cute.
You should do this for a child you love, but I will pass on Rachel's warning about the funny looks when you carry around a frog puppet on a piece of rolled up poster board and take pictures of it.

Spelling Bee

Felt Food Accessories: Menu and Drawstring Bag

I made and laminated menus to go with the girls' felt food sets for Christmas. I just typed it up in Word and copied it into two columns. It is two sided. I took them to Kinko's to have them laminated for just over $1.

For Colette, I made a drawstring bag with a pocket in front for the menu. (I didn't make one for Maggie because she has a play kitchen to keep her food in.) I cut a piece of fabric twice as wide as I wanted the bag (plus 1 inch for seam allowance) and just as tall (plus 2 inches). Then I cut out a piece for the pocket.

I folded the top of the pocket down twice and sewed along the top. Then I folded the sides and bottom of the pocket in and pinned it to the front of the bag. Then I sewed it on close to the edge of the sides and bottom.

To make the casing for the drawstring, fold the top edge down once just to hide the raw edge and once again big enough for your drawstring (I just used 1/2" ribbon). Press and stitch close to bottom edge of the fold.

Then put right sides of the bag together and sew along the bottom and side of the bag, leaving the drawstring casing open.

You can tuck the raw ends of the casing into the casing itself. Thread the drawstring through the casing by attaching a safety pin to the end and working it through. Tie knots in the drawstring to keep it from getting unstrung. If you are using ribbon you can keep it from unraveling by melting the threads together at the end over a match.

Wallet #2 - Passport Wallet

I made this wallet at Rachel's request. She wanted something that could hold her passport while traveling, and her 10 post-graduate-research-student library cards the rest of the time. I basically made it exactly like my wallet, only I added two pockets, one of which is the length of the entire wallet.

Cut out the following:
Main fabric:
5" x 11" for exterior
5" x 5" for front pocket - fold in half and press
5" x 6" for pocket
Lining fabric:
5" x 11" for lining
5" x 10" for pocket
5" x 6" for pocket
Interfacing (this will make the exterior on the first pocket stiff and sturdy):
4.5" x 10.5" - adhere to wrong side of exterior
4.5" x 2.25" - adhere to half of folded pocket

Fold all pockets in half and topstitch on the fold. Baste pockets to lining. I sewed one 5x6 pocket to the 5x10 towards the top, the lined up the other two pockets at the bottom.

Lay the basted lining with pockets right sides with the exterior fabric. Stitch all the way around, leaving a 2" opening at the top. Snip corners. Turn through opening. Attach snaps or velcro. Edge stitch around the flap of the wallet, closing the 2" opening.

I adjusted the width of the wallet so that cards would fit snugly. The seam allowance was about 1/2".

Bedside Organizer

I made two of these, outer space for Leonard and scotty dogs for Rachel. Now I need to make myself one, because these are way better than what I am trying to use. You put the drawer liner between your mattresses, then you can put books, lotion, pens etc in the pockets.

You need a piece of rubber drawer liner and a length of fabric as wide as you want your organizer to be (I used 1/2 yard for Rachel's and I think that was the best - 18 inches x fabric width (40-44 inches)). This takes about 10 minutes if you iron.

Fold the fabric right sides together along the factory fold with the selvedges together. Sew along the two sides and turn right side out. Press. Fold up the bottom end as deep as you want the pocket (mine is about 8 inches). Iron, then topstitch in place along each side, then stitch where you want to divide the pockets. Insert the drawer liner into the open top. Fold down the raw edges on the top (should be the selvedge) and pin with the drawer liner in between them. Sew along the top edge, enclosing the drawer liner. Ta dum!

I got the idea here, but my way is easier and looks just as good and doesn't use as much fabric or expensive notions.

New Year's Activities

On the 30th at the zoo with Ember.

Those girls sure look tasty!

Yummy Christmas tree! Each of the giraffes was eating off of one, and we saw one strung up for the elephants as well (they were inside due to the cold).

Logan and Ember spent the night.

We spent New Year's Eve at John's parents playing games.

Today we took Maggie to the Aquarium.