little pouch and washcloth

The general idea for this little gifty is from Bend the Rules Sewing. If you're reading this, Mindy, I guess it's not a surprise anymore...

semi-private

So I already used something from the trip to SAS Fabrics by the Pound... and made some new curtains for the bathroom. Here's hoping that the "rain glass" behind those curtains + the sheer fabric = enough privacy. Not like anyone wants to see us performing our daily ablutions, but, you know, just in case. I love quick sewing projects. In fact, quick projects are pretty much the only ones I can stand. No cross-stitch, no knitting (sour grapes because I can't even CAST ON!), no tatting. No macrame (hee-hee, I just love thinking about macrame. What could you possibly use it for except a hanging plant holder?)

Next project is refinishing the kitchen table. And cleaning out the garage. And maybe Pergo?

semi-annual trim fest!

So every time I'm in AZ visiting my family I make my way to this smallish warehouse of fabric remnants, ends, and trim and buys bags and bags of stuff. This time it was lots and lots of trim, including one roll with the words "disco wheels" printed on it. I think dh is going to be the possibly unwilling recipient of some kind of car accessory made with that trim. Everything is SO cheap (15 cents a yard, 99 cents a yard) that I just buy whatever I like and find a use for it later. My mom kept asking me, "Oh, so what are your plans for that trim?" I couldn't ever really answer her. Decorative washcloth? Change purse? Stuff it in a plastic bag and stick it in the bottom of the craft closet? Anything's possible.

sew fun!!

Couldn't help the pun there. What follows is documentation of actual free time. I needed to post it to remind myself that such a thing exists.

Exhibit A is a reversible apron. Exhibit B shows some lightweight baby wraps to be used as a cover-up when nursing or to swaddle a baby in Arizona heat without smothering her.

girly crafts

After seeing so many super cute dresses and bonnets and aprons and hairbows on flickr and various blogs (mostly angry chicken), I couldn't stop myself; I had to make some girly crafts. I opted for clothespin dolls and spent way too much time on them. Note to self (and anyone who wants to make them): use hot glue, NOT Elmer's glue, which you will have to just sew over anyway with impossibly tiny stitches, the pioneerish phrase "Hide a knot as you would a secret" running through your head the whole time. Also Sharpie ink bleeds into the wood, causing Dollie to look as if she had just watched "Beaches" and forgot the waterproof mascara, so use paint.
Here's hoping my 5 and 2 year-old nieces love bits of fabric and ribbon wrapped around clothespins. (I keep hearing the question,"What happened to their arms?" echo in my head.)

As with any project, there is a victim of my trial and error approach to craftsy stuff:

She's got her abnormally large eye on you!

pipe cleaner fun

The sick day also afforded me an hour to work on these pipe cleaner poinsettias. I stole the idea from a gift wrap article in Better Homes. The kids helped with cutting the pipe cleaners (I think they're called "bump chenille" or something like that) and bending the cut pieces in half. I hot-glued them to a small cardstock circle, and the kids helped with hot-gluing the silver beads in the middle. I'm kind of working on a tree with mostly white and silver ornaments, and I thought these poinsettias would look beautiful tied on with white ribbon.

how I spent my kid's sick day

We've had a strange on and off stomach bug in our house, mainly affecting Flash. It started the day before we were supposed to drive to Janette's house for Thanksgiving, and the nausea and vomiting have returned (pretty reliably) every 2 days. So Flash was home yesterday. After exceeding my limit of X-Box and TV, I took a deep breath and said, "Hey, why don't we decorate for Christmas?" Everyone cheered. So we decorated here and there, and the tree will come later. Super Q is so cute about it; wide-eyed and excited. He made a connection between every little thing we put up and Santa: "Santa will love this tiny bell, Mom!" It made the living room full of tissue paper, boxes, and sphaghnum moss worth it.