I saved these two dresses for quite a while. They’ve been too short for Estella for over a year but I couldn’t bring myself to give them away just yet…
I decided to make them into skirts to get a little more life out of them. I added a simple fold over yoga waist to one of them and a plain waist to the other…both from the same ribbed material.
Of course one of them is super big and the other a little big but she likes them and will get use out of them. She’s wearing one of them today…it’s kind of hanging down around her hips but she insisted…
Some coloring on a giant roll of paper. Something about a giant piece of paper is much more interesting to color on than a normal little one. Given Kyler’s love of coloring on everything but paper I was happy that he spend some time actually coloring on it.
Estella was always very good about coloring on paper. She colored on the wall once or twice but pretty mch listened when I told her to stop. Kyler, not so much into the paper. I find marker and crayon and chalk all over the house. He’s colored on every single couch pillow, it’s on most of our cabinets, most of the window sills are scribbled on and I even found marker in his ear yesterday…the child is out of control.
Since I’ve been so good with finishing up old projects (yep, pat-pat on the back) I decided to start a little project I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve been loving all of the fabric pennants I’ve been seeing around the Internet so I decided to make one for each of the kids rooms.
The triangles are done and now I just need to figure out the best way to hitch them all together…a fun, quick little project!
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***My camera decided that it didn’t want to turn on today so all of the pictures are from my phone…probably not the best quality***
Yesterday I was feeling quite good about my snacking choices…
But this morning I was coming off of a poor night’s sleep and decided that it was a good day to make an angel food cake.
I’d never made one before but it sounded yummy so I gave it a whirl. I bought an Angel Food Cake Pan (a great excuse to go to the kitchen store 
) and I found this recipe. And then of course needed to know this and this too.
It all worked out in the end and I made a successful angel food cake and I made some strawberry sauce to go with it too. I don’t have a grand finale kind of photo, the light was all gone for the day, but it was delicious. I’m sure I’ll make one again…I’d love to find a recipe that doesn’t have quite as much sugar in it but since I don’t know much about baking I’m always hesitant to alter a recipe.
Sorry, no kids or crafts today…not a very exciting day. I’m continuing to finish up old projects so I’m hoping that soon I’ll be able to start in on some new projects and then I’ll have fun things to share!
And just for fun – my first baby testing out one of those old projects getting finished up…
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The Batwing Quilt is done and will be off to it’s new home soon. It turned out really nice and it only took a year 
Remember this quilt? From way long ago? Well, it too is making a comeback. I started quilting it today and when it’s finally done I think it’ll live on the bed in the studio/guest room. I still really like it and I’ll be excited to have it done.
A little crafting for Estella…
And a little crafting time for me…
I replaced Estella’s cardboard dollhouse with a foam core one. The cardboard one wasn’t holding up to the weight of the furniture and I think the foam core will be a little more sturdy.
And I’ve finished working on a present for a little person. My kids want these pretty badly so I have a feeling that I’ll be making more…
Vacation is almost over. We haven’t done anything spring break-ish or particularly vacation-y but it’s still been a busy, full week. I know the rest of the school year will be just as busy with rehersals and recitals and assemblies so even though it was busy, it was nice to not have school and dance classes added into the week.
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Some total randomness from the last week…
Estella helping with the mountains of laundry that seem to accumulate almost daily.
Planning out our gardens…realizing that once again we’re falling behind with the garden. Some of the cool weather crops should have been planted already and we’re behind with getting our starters planted…
I finally re-threaded my serger with black thread. I’m sure that doesn’t seem all that thrilling but trust me, it is. You need a degree in rocket science just to get this thing threaded properly…
One new project thrown in with the finishing up of old ones…but only because it’s a gift…otherwise, I’m still moving along on the old stuff.
The entryway is painted and we have some hooks and a shelf up. We still need to put up more shelves and finish the trim and all that good stuff but for now it’s nice to not have to see drywall and spackle!
See? Total randomness. Perhaps I’ll be back soon with slightly more organized thoughts…
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Continuing to finish up old projects…
The Batwing Quilt is quilted and the binding is sewn on the front. Now I have many days worth of hand sewing to finish it up.
Some other hand sewing…putting a felt scaly creature onto a quilted linen base for some fun pillows. I’ve finished one and have three more to do.
The Modern Baby Quilt (or Hexflower quilt as I like to call it) is done. Now I just need a baby to give it to…
And some other projects getting finished up on the house too. The entryway is actually ready for paint…and some shelves and hooks. It’ll be nice to have it done and more functional. Ky watched intently as Walter sanded drywall…he doesn’t realize just how badly that job sucks…to him it looked like a lot of dusty fun!
Estella’s interest in food is slowly taking over. This week at the library she came home with four food related books. She’s also been cutting pictures of food out of our junk mail…we find piles of coupons and food advertisements all over the house.
Naturally she wants to make every recipe in every book but we need to find ones that a) someone will actually eat, and b) she can make herself. Yesterday we made fancy fruit kabobs. I know she’s capable of making more challenging things but I have yet to figure out how to let her be in the kitchen on a chair making something and keep Kyler out of the way…
Kyler doing a little reading
Though he continues to make progress with the signing and he’s starting to work on more sounds, this week was frustrating. I’m not sure if we’re just all frustrated with the difficult communication or if some teething and a mild cold is playing a role in this weeks increased frustrations. Another appointment on Monday with his Speech Therapist and his big hearing screening on Wednesday with the audiologist.
Today I’m off to visit with some old friends for the evening…should be lots of fun!!
Posted in House, kids, quilts, works in progress | 1 Comment »
I’m keeping to my plan and finishing up some incomplete projects. I think I finished the top of this quilt last summer…I remember photographing it on the grass…I guess finishing it has been a year long project. I don’t have a use for it yet but it’ll be done!
I’ve finished the quilting and I’m halfway through the binding. Yep, another one quilted with parallel lines…I’m not very creative when it comes to quilting so I stick with what works. This time I did it on a slant though so that’s a bit different…
I’ve finally pieced together the giant blocks for this quilt top. It’s the Batwing Quilt from Fat Quarterly. I think this one is from the end of the summer as well. I’m fairly certain I stopped working on this one when I started all of the quilts I made as Christmas gifts.
It’s pretty big, 78×104, and yet another quilt with no particular use in mind. I’ll probably quilt it with parallel lines too. Variety is apparently not the spice of my life. Mostly the parallel lines are simple and easy, and since I don’t have a sewing machine built for quilting I have to do what I’m able to do…
Ky was behind me on my chair while I was sewing, patting me on the back saying, “Mama” over and over…not super helpful but cute!
Estella loves reading books with food in them. She always chooses books from the library based on their food images and the other day she spent time looking through my cookbooks with pictures in them.
I wonder what she’ll be when she grows up…a cook, a food photographer…
I needed something to fill the kids baskets up a bit and luckily I saw this post only hours before. Really simple, but not something I would have thought to do.
And just in time for the Easter bunny, we colored eggs tonight.
Estella told me when she was done that she was feeling proud about how her eggs came out. It was very cute that she felt so pleased with the job she had done. She should feel proud, she carefully colored them all in different sections and stripes…none of them ended up that mucky jumble of colors you get from dipping them in every color available. Such a big girl!
Happy Easter!!
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When I got home from work today there was some heavy duty artwork going on.
Estella was making flip-flops out of paper. Not sure where the flip-flop thing is coming from…maybe she’s getting antsy for some more warm weather…
And Kyler was doing a little coloring of his own…
I finally finished the group of bats I’ve been working on.
Now that I’m done with the bats and the baby quilt, I’m hoping to start finishing up a few of the projects I have laying around that I’ve never gotten around to finishing…
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A little painting yesterday afternoon. It started out as making some paintings by folding over the paper onto the paint (Rorschach style) but that wasn’t working out quite as she wanted so it ended up as some stamping and sponging…
And face painting…
He was having a great time and ended up covered ear to ear and up his arms.
The Single Girl baby quilt is finally done! The colors are again terrible in this photo but between my broken camera and a dreary day this was the best I could get.
I rounded the corners…I thought it would be a little softer for a baby instead of the pointy ones.
I kept the quilting simple and went with plain parallel lines.
The sewing, quilting and binding really didnt’ take me long, the motivation to actually do it all took the longest but now it’s done and I have some bats waiting to be stuffed.
I woke early this morning with a killer migraine. I’ve felt it coming on for the last few days but there really isn’t much I can do to stop them. By the time Walter got home from work this morning I was crying on the bathroom floor…fun. He fed the kids, sent Estella to her room to watch a cartoon and play, and left me on the couch with Kyler playing in the living room. About an hour and a half later when my medication finally kicked in and I lifted my head up, this is what I was faced with…
Yep, almost enough to make the headache come back! Thankfully I was able to get up, clean up and get Estella to her birthday party on time! The kids are resting now and I’m thankful for a little quiet time to relax too.
Hopefully the rest of the day will be a chill end to the weekend…
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A stack of bats ready to be stuffed…
Ky has been loving this book lately. I’m not sure where it came from but every time we ask him to pick out a book to read, he chooses this one…
And tonight I finally sat down to start quilting the Single Girl baby quilt…and I actually finished it too!
I’ll try to get the binding on tomorrow and work on the hand sewing portion this weekend. Hopefully I can get it into the mail before the baby comes!
Hopefully it’ll be relaxing around here this weekend…not much planned…a little sewing, a birthday party for one of Estella’s classmates and probably some more of the usual cooking and cleaning and chilling.
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**My camera was dropped on it’s lens a while back and some of these photos show the damage it sustained. The colors are off and it’s impossible to focus it…a new one is on my wish list…but since I took them, I’ll share them…**
Estella and her St Patty’s day craft…started at the Celtic Festival and finished at home.
She was very interested in St Patrick’s Day this year and the crafts and Leprechaun hunting went on for days after the holiday passed.
I came in to the kitchen a few times and found Kyler feeding Peanut frozen food. I had to break down and put a safety latch on the freezer…that’s the floppy thing in the far left of the picture. The latch got caught in the door the other day and and the freezer iced up and required a defrost and a clean…Kyler was very eager to get in and help out in anyway he could.
The finished baby quilt top is hanging on the wall waiting for me to sandwich it and quilt it. I feel like this is one of the smaller quilts I’ve made but is taking me the longest…I’m really creeping along on this one.
I wish I could get a better picture of but myit camera is just not cooperating…the background is much deeper…
The weather has been gorgeous this week and we’ve been enjoying it as much as possible. Peanut and Estella decided to continue enjoying it while inside…
…while Kyler made a giant puddle and played in the sink. He would play in the water all day long if I let him but I usually have to be the meanest mom ever and call it quits when he starts to dump it all over the floor.
We had our first meeting with the speech therapist this week but mostly went over test results and made a game plan. This week’s assignment is to only respond to signing or attempts at forming words…no more handing him everything in sight to stop him from screaming at us. It’s been slow going but hopefully it’ll click for us all at some point…
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