2009-01-30

i cut my baby's hair off today.

before



and after








here's an update on the crochet baby blanket i've been working on. it will be completed tonight. i am so excited. it will be the first item i successfully finished! and i am able to say it was done correctly!




and here is another blanket i've started. it will have 5 more panels just like this one. it's made from chenille and is sooooo soft.

2009-01-28 MY NEW BABY!

ISN'T SHE PRETTY?????????

2009-01-24 ycmt quilt and basketball tourney!

forney 7th grade boys won 3rd place in the tournament today! woo hoo. here's a picture of my awesome son, bray, with the trophy!!!



isn't he the bomb, baby?!?!?! i just love watching him play basketball.

step 6 of the ycmt quilt--all squares sewn together and evened up into 6 inch squares.

2009-01-23 happy birthday boston

it's my baby's birthday. *sigh* they grow so fast........ i was on the phone with my mom and boston decided to marker his face. i thought that my mom needed to see a picture of this so i took one.



apparently, boston wanted to send memaw another, new and improved picture cause he came back to me smiling looking like this.



at this point i got off of the phone and found and then rehid the highlighter that was used to decorate my child's face. oh! but that didn't deter bossy. as i soon found out--he had a hidden treasure of pens and markers in one of his play bags. i, of course, took them all away and put them up high. but not before he had a chance to do this.



what a birthday face, hu?


on to crafty things.....

here's the baby blanket i'm working on. it will be for my cuz marc and his wife, meredith. they live in california and are expecting a little girl, addison, in may. i'm praying and hoping this will be my first correct, completed crochet project!



and last year i made this dress for indyanna. at the time, i posted a picture of it on my dress form. here it is on indyanna.




and, an twirly action shot!





progress is being made on the ycmt quilt-a-long. i'm working on step 5. the left square is serged together.

2009-01-20 ycmt quilt update

end of step 2




step 3 and step 4

2009-01-19 mtm

here's what the kids had for muffin tin monday lunch today

chicken nugget bites, ketchup, ranch, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus, animal crackers, shredded cheese, and those orange cheese cracker thingys.

2009-01-16 ycmt quilt-a-long

i am doing the ycmt quilt-a-long. and let me tell you, this was a hard project for me to even start. i am the type of person that when u start a project, i need to finish it before moving on to the next project. and this is kind of a slow moving, go with the flow project. nothing wrong with that. i'm just not used to it. although, crocheting is not a fast moving craft for me either. so maybe between the quilt and the crocheting i will learn to relax and slow down a little.

step 1: all the squares cut out




step 2: drawing a line from corner to corner

2009-01-15

well, i finished the knit dress and jacket. it's really really cute. unfortunately it's about 2 sizes too small and really sucks to my gut. it's not flattering at all. i guess i can either lose weight or make another dress in a bigger size? i'll prolly do the latter. it's such an easy pattern and whips up in under an hour---that's sewing time AND cutting time.

(excuse the picture quality. you take what you get when you have children taking the pictures for you)




isn't the fabric cute? the dress fabric is just ridiculously awesome. my cuz cassie gave to me at christmas time. the jacket material is actually a loose woven sweater knit i got for $.99 a yard about 2 years ago.

btw, the sweater is not uneven on the ends. guess it's just the way i threw it on at the time. oh! and don't you just love the matching green socks?!?!?

2009-01-14

here's the crocheted hat i am working on. it's ok.


i went to a crochet and knitting meet up last night. i learned ALOT in just an hour and half. i feel tons more confident in my crochet work now. enough that i started another project. it will be a dish cloth.



and in food news......i ran across a blog that does mtm's. a.k.a muffin tin monday's. i've decided to incorporate this into our weekly lunches. i didn't do it on monday this week cause we were all getting over a stomach bug and lunch needed to be very light.


1st row: crackers with jelly, eggs, eggs, peas
2nd row: chicken sticks, tuna quesadilla, bacon, turkey breast lunch meat
3rd row: cinnamon graham cracker sticks, applesauce, apples, mushrooms

i am excited to report that boston and indyanna ate it up! boston is an excellent eater and will eat anything. indyanna, on the other hand, is the pickiest eater i've ever known. i am very happy to report that she ate everything except the peas! i guess presentation IS everything.........or at least a big part of it today.

2009-01-12 janurary's list

things i would like to complete by the end of january:

1. knit dress and jacket, view A and D
2. car organizer
3. bath mat
4. attempt #2 at crocheting. crochet hat it looks like what's on the cover. you crochet it flat and then slip stitch it together to form the circle. *btw, attempt #1 did not work out. i put the project down. i realized that the yarn wasn't the right type and the crochet hook is not the right size. so i'm just gonna pull it all out and use the yarn for something else. i am not ready to give up on crocheting yet.
5. start and be at least half way done with indyanna's valentine dress, view C
6. quilt sew along
7. ornaments

2009-01-08 a big day for bray

2009-01-07 nanny's coat

this may be THE project of projects for me. at least it has been thus far. well, aside from that purse that took me forever to make. but we're not talking about that. we're talking about this:

it's the coolest, cutest, most rockin'est coat i made for indyanna. it a combo of views b and d from mccall's 5743. basically, i made view d but add the hood from view b. it's meant to be made out of fleece. but silly me forgot to pick up fleece while at the store. so i went rooting around in my stash and found this awesome woven piece of material that my cuz cassie had given me a year or so ago. i have to put the buttons on it and it'll have to go to aunt jawana's or aunt brandy's for buttonholes but, other than that, it's finished.

my machine has decided that it no longer wants to do buttonholes. period. end of subject. i can't wait for that bernina i'm gonna get SOON.


here's the lazy, lazy, laziest of all dogs that ate my banana bread this morning. she had to nap after eating all that yummy deliciousness. she's too spoiled to sleep directly on the floor. the kids made a bed up for her. usually she sleeps on the couch. all. day. long. i think it's funny how they gave her a pillow for her head and her butt.

2009-01-06 part 2

here are all the ingredients for our dinner tonight.

we had lemon pepper seasoned talapia served over a bed of rice. mangoes. broccoli. and mac n cheese.

ignore the package of choc chip muffins in the picture. i didn't make them.

you might have noticed the almost/on the verge of being yucky bananas that don't look too appealing (ha--get it!) in the midst of all the ingredients, though. they were for the homemade banana bread i made! yummmmmo.


you can't tell that i love and use this recipe all the time, can you?


my cuz cassie gave me this awesome collection of recipes 13 years ago. in it there are family recipes and other assorted recipes. she typed them all out and put them in a three ring binder. it's one of my most cherished positions. that book taught me how to cook! well.......that book and alot of calling relatives to figure out what i was doing wrong. (heck i still do that. i called my mom tonight asking how to cook the talapia. she said cook it till it flakes. i said ok. and commenced to cooking. i called her back about 30 minutes later asking what "flakes" means! LOL)

oh my goodness, i just took the bread out of the oven--literally. and it smells goooooood.


in non-food and more crafty related news, we have decided to recover our nasty kitchen table chairs. seriously, they were gross. and people didn't want to sit on them even when i said, "it's dry! i promise nothing will get on you if you sit there!"

before

ryan stapling

finished covering

and the chair back together.

we only got one done tonight. that's ok. if we do one a night we'll be done with the whole set in a week. to me that's progress. sweet.

1/7/2009
UPDATE ON THE BANANA BREAD i got one small slice last night and it was deelish. so good and moist. i left it on the counter. this morning while we were all gone dropping off bray at school, apparently the dog thought it was good too.

2009-01-06

day 6 of crocheting. i seem to be doing it all the time now! i take the project everywhere and anytime i am sitting still i work on it. while waiting in line to pick up the kids and then later, bray, from school. while bray was getting his hair cut. while watching tv. while on the potty. guess that's the way to do it if you wanna get it done, right?

btw it's now 19 inches long. oh and if you look at the top of the picture you can see a "sneak peak" of the next sewing project i am working on. i made a list of sewing projects the other day. this is none of them. i should finish it tonight though. then maybe i'll tackle that list. or maybe i'll make a car seat organizer.



this is not sewing related but food related. and to me food needs to be listed as a craft form.

anyways, i want to make sure everyone in the world is aware of these awesome crockpot liners.



they totally rock and make clean up a breeze. i find them on the bottom shelf near the plastic baggies/plastic wrap/aluminum foil at my local walmart.

2009-01-04

i seriously apologize for the horrible pictures. it's the best i could get.

this is the silky green pillowcase i made for my sister, kaylee. the pink monkey ultra soft fleece material is actually just that! material. it's big enough for her to use as a blanket so i left it alone and gave it to her just like that.



this is a fleece pillowcase with a black silky contrast i made for my mom. she specifically requested one. she loves it!



remember when i gave you a sneak peak on my silent auction project? well here it is complete and hanging on my mom's wall.

2009-01-03

day 3 of crocheting. and actually, i think i'm starting to like it. i'm def getting the hang of it therefore, i'm not as bored/stressed/irritated with it as i was on day one.



it now measures a full 9 inches. only 17 more to go. i know it's totally wonky. i can't really figure out why. i know i'm doing something wrong on the ends. i just don't know what. i'm hoping that i will figure it out before i finish the thing. if not, it'll be ok. i'm sure as i do more and more projects i'll figure things out and work out the kinks.

after i complete this cowl, i'm going to attempt a scarf. i think.

i don't know what i was thinking but i totally forgot to take pictures of the pillowcases i made for bray, kay, and my mom and i also forgot to take pictures of the outfits i made for my two nieces. i'll have to take some pictures of the pillowcases tomorrow and hopefully i will get some pictures of the girls modeling the outfits soon. i did have to redo demi's pants cause i made them too long. they originally had one ruffle and were cut up on one side. i chopped all that off and added three ruffles to the bottom of the pants. here they are revamped and ready to wear.



i think they turned out cute. actually, they were the pants that almost didn't happen. first i made them too long. then when i cut them off the pants legs were to wide for my ruffles. so i had to fix that. then when i went to attach the ruffles to the pants i wasn't paying attention and attached them wrong side to right side. uuuuuuugh. anyways, i fixed it all and they are done now.

on to the next project. something for ME!

here's a list of the things i will be working on next.

1. something made from knit for me.
2. indyanna's valentine dress (she's going to a daddy/daughter dance!)
3. quilt follow along with the ycmt blog
4. continue working on the crochet project