G is seven!

I can't believe I have a seven year-old. She is so big and so grown up. She really is such a good girl - she's polite, obedient, and really tries hard to always do her best. She's reading way above her grade level, and is great at math too. She shows a strong interest in geography, and loves to learn about different people and places. She's also athletic - right now she is in precompetition level gymnastics, dance, and soccer. And in her "spare" time she loves to ride her bike. She's a great sister, and loves Bryn soo much. Of course, we love her soo much too. She's a great girl, and I'm lucky to be her mommy.
For her birthday, she asked for an iPod touch, a cell phone, and a skate board. She got the skate board, and spent several hours on it learning to ride.

I also made her a rag quilt for her bed:
And my very first fondant cake. It looks like my first.

Easter weekend

Just photos:

More Boston

I took almost 250 pictures in Boston. This is only a very small percentage:

What to do with hole-y jeans

Is it just my kids, or is it a common thing that the knees of jeans wear out long before they grow out of the pants? Maybe its some conspiracy that clothing companies have figured out to keep us buying. . .

At any rate, it seems I have a plethora of holey-kneed jeans. So, I decided to try and make a cute ruffled skirt with a pair of my favorites.I cut off the legs, just below the pockets and I used a $.97 piece from the scrap bin (I found a cute piece with some sparkles that matched the sparkly thread in the jeans) to sew the ruffle. I even made some matching leggings with some ugly $1 ones from a thrift store (I cut about 4-inches off the bottom, and them made ruffles for the bottom of the leggings).
A closeup of the skirt and legging. I'm super happy with how they turned out - I think this is my favorite refashion so far.

quilted Easter table runner

I've been wanting a fun, spring table runner. I pieced this one together and machine quilted it along the seams (I think there's a technical name for that . . .) I like how it turned out, but I decided this one is going to be a gift for my mom. I had originally planned to give it to her for Mother's Day, but I'm thinking it would look good for Easter. So, its a "thank you" gift for watching my kids while I was in Boston.

It was super easy. I bought the pre-cut fabric strips (just from WalMart too, as much as I despise the place), so total time from start to finish was only about 4 hours.I had originally planned to just do the stripes going one way - but after I got it pieced, it was too short and fat. So, I cut about 8 inches off the entire length, and cut that strip into 3 equal pieces. I sewed one to each end, and then unpicked the middle and sewed one into the middle. I LOVE how it turned out. The change in direction added just the visual interest I was looking for.

Red Sox Game!

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Boston for my job. After the hotel was book, I pulled it up on google maps, and saw it was less than a mile from Fenway. Then, I pulled up the Red Sox schedule and saw they were playing the Yankees while I was there. And since it was my husbands birthday that same week, (and since he is a HUGE baseball fan) I knew the perfect gift: he joined me in Boston, and we went to a game.

I started looking for tickets online (since the game was already sold out), and found some FRONT ROW seats (granted they were outfield, but right in front of the Red Sox bull pen) that didn't cost an "arm and a leg". Maybe just an arm and part of a foot, but definitely not the whole leg. . .

We got there before the doors even opened, and we were among the last fans to leave. My husband was like a little kid - and I had fun too. ;)
But, every one of these pictures was taken FROM MY SEAT! We could talk to the pitching staff. We could see the whites of their eyes. It was worth it!
We also had many chances to see the cute rear-ends of all the players (what is it about men and baseball pants?)
This picture was taken by Paul and Maurine - the cute couple next to us. He was a die-hard Yankees fan, and she a Red Sox fan - and she told me its amazing they've been married for over 40 years with such a big strike against them. She also told me that she had prayed for two things that day: that it wouldn't rain and that the Red Sox would win. Her prayers were answered - gotta love faith like that.

The "monstah nah-choes" (does that sound like a Boston accent?) They sure were tasty. Of course we shared these.
The Green Monstah.
The catcher and a pitcher deep in conversation.

20 minute refashion

I have a seemingly endless supply of cardigans. While I do like them - they are the staple of my wardrobe - they do get boring. Hence, another refashion.

This time, I started with an old pink cardy. This particular one was a hand-me-down from my mother. She grew tired of it, passed it along, and now I'm tired of it too. But, its still in good shape and a shame to get rid of.

So . . .

I started with the boxy/boring cardy. 20 minutes later, and a little shirring:

Tada! I nice, ruffled look.
I promise it fits better around the boob area - its just that I'm moving my arm really far out of the way to take my self-portrait.

Braided rag rug

I came across this tutorial for a braided rag rug. Hers is gorgeous, and I decided that I wanted one too. I have a bucket full of scraps - surely I had enough.

Overall, I'm happy with how mine turned out (I seem to say that a lot . . .). I didn't have a piece large enough to sew it onto, so I just sewed it together with nothing on the bottom. Two problems:
1) the edges curled, not unlike a giant lettuce edge.
2) it turned out a bit skewed - ie. not entirely symetrical

I don't love the colors either, although suppose it is good enough to sit on the floor where I do the dishes (the former rug was awful!!)

Scraps

I think my husband may be right - I just may have some hoarding tendencies. But, why throw anything away when you can make a pretty pincushion with a scrap of paisley, small circle of felt, and some stuffing from an old pillow.

Or a pretty little flower hair clip from some scraps left over from a skirt.
I do throw out the stuff that I will honestly never use. I promise.

One (wo)man's trash

A few weeks ago, my sister told me she'd cleaned out her closet, and had 4 bags for the thrift store. I asked if she minded if I went through them first, and of course she said "YES". Yipee. I love thrifting - and free thrifting is the best.

I ended up with some gems - in fact, I took about 25% of her stuff. My husband thinks I'm becoming a hoarder. . . no comment on that . . .

One of my favorites was this shirt. I could hardly believe she was throwing it out. I just love the ruffles, and the light fabric.It did have some very small holes down around the bottom of the shirt, but since it was quite long, I was able to fold up the hem and shirr around the bottom. It turned out super cute. I also cut off the ruffles around the arms, and stitched them down the front.

It was SO simple, and literally took me less than 30 minutes. I got TONS of compliments. Its so fun too - I love new things that cost me nothing.
The finished product (er. . . close-up of the ruffles down the front.)