This Is 40

Back in February, my best friend from high school welcomed her first grandchild into the world.

So exciting!

So weird!

Because — obviously — if she is old enough to be a grandma, then I must be, too. Never mind that the age of my kids renders that impossible — that’s a facade. We are no longer as young as we feel. And in that moment, I really did feel like I should get fitted for bifocals (which aren’t necessary yet, but who are we kidding?), bump up my collection of sensible cardigans, and settle in to middle age good and proper.

Instead, I made a quilt:

[Design: Crazy Nine Patch]

Turns out it’s a good thing I didn’t bother with the bifocals and the settling in — Grandma delivered her own bouncing baby boy the following week.

I guess it ain’t over til it’s over after all! Also exciting…and still a little weird.

So, with a foot in each camp, I went ahead and did the only sensible thing: finished up another quilt.

Actually, this one was finished already, now that I think about it. It was one that I made on a whim, then finished after years of leaving it to languish in a box, and then couldn’t bring myself to part with it. For such a time as this! I couldn’t think of a better home for it. Now to finally get these into the mail and off to Vermont for the happy family.

3…2…1…Blast Off!

The last day of school is finally upon us. I don’t care what the calendar says — summer is here!

Of course, not before we cart a few more tokens of our appreciation out the door.

For the “main” teachers:

A patchwork bookmark with a gift card tucked in. The design was very much inspired by this one, but I like bookmarks to be really thin, so I stitched patchwork to card stock instead. Oh, and I very fancily made a buttonhole at the top for the ribbon.

For the many other wonderful teachers, assistants, and our wonderful neighborhood crossing guard, cookies!

Apparently, I lost count in the wee hours of the morning when I was bagging them up, because he was giving them to any teacher he met in the hall on his way out. Hey, fine by me — better than coming home with a bag full of gifts like last year!

And, finally, a little something for his one teacher who is expecting a late summer baby:

I already had some bibs made up, but they needed snaps. This will show you how much I hate attaching snaps: rather than just hammer a couple in, I made up a whole new diaper clutch instead. Yes, last night. Or maybe that just shows how much I like making these, and how quickly they come together. Actually, it’s totally the sum of those parts.

Halfway through construction, I remembered that this was the fabric I’d used to make this same teacher a tissue pack cover at Christmas. Well, won’t she just be voted Most Coordinated Mom!

Also, once it was finished, the square of stitching where the Velcro is attached to the closure was bothering me so much that I couldn’t leave it alone. In the end, I just cut out a tiny patch and glued it right on.

See?

Easy peasy.

And that, as they say, is a wrap. Come on, summer!

Old School

I can’t be blamed for losing track of the day. Instead of simply celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day at its appointed time, my son’s school instead opts for Teacher Appreciation Week, complete with suggested assignments for exactly who to honor each day. It’s a touch overwhelming for the overthinkers among us. Anyway, the “specials” teachers are — aw gee, was that today? No, wait — that’s tomorrow; today was for the nurse. So art/music/P.E. are tomorrow, but the main teachers are to be honored on Friday, which to my mind meant that I didn’t even need to have my act together til mid-week.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up Tuesday morning and was informed my the morning news that it was the real Teacher Appreciation Day. And I didn’t have anything prepared for my daughter’s teachers. And we really do appreciate them, and I have to admit that it does stress me out a little bit to show up empty-handed after having been treated to years and years of complaints about parents who can’t be bothered to show their appreciation. (Yeah, y’all  — yes, all of you –know who you are. Save the commiserating for your colleagues! I’m one of “them”!)

Nobody panic, though. There’s still time to offer a token of thanks without breaking the bank or having a nervous breakdown:

You mean you don’t hoard glass jars? Well, then you may be out of luck. I, however, had two beautiful olive jars and some tulle. The youngest artist-in-residence decorated the cards with her trademark rainbow, and we were off to the store for the prettiest daisies you ever did see. And we were so pleased with our offering, and so were they. Happiness for all!

Teachers really are a deserving group, and my kids teachers — all ten of them — are terrific. Hopefully, Joey’s won’t hold it against me if they don’t all get something wonderful…or anything at all. ["Specials", I'm sorry! My act is not yet together as of this printing....]

 

 

 

Pattern Review: On-The-Go Diaper Clutch

Well, friends, today is a proud day: Heather just released her very first pattern, the On-The-Go Diaper Clutch. Cue the confetti!

Let me tell you, I was all too happy to be a pattern tester. You know I love a new addition to my arsenal of baby gifts! No surprise, this one’s a gem; pretty and practical.

My sister and I were talking about projects the other day, and I explained my take on “quick” projects. Usually, “quick” tends to cover anything that can be done in a day. And that’s true, to a certain extent, but when I spend an entire morning and part of the afternoon on something, and it ends up being pretty much all I have to show for my day, I have trouble looking upon it as “quick”.

That having been said, let me tell you that this here Diaper Clutch truly fits under the heading of capital-Q Quick. Fifty minutes from the time I cut the fabric [I take an inordinate amount of time selecting and cutting fabric, so I didn't add that in] to the snipping of the final thread, to be precise. In fact, this is actually the second one I made. The first one…well, I don’t know what happened to it, to tell you the truth. I took it with me to show it off to the pattern creator herself, and now it’s nowhere to be found. It’s not like this is a first for me, but still. No worries, though — I knew it would only take me a hot second to make up another.

That’s the true test of a quick project: Will it still seem so easy to snap together when you have to tackle it again? This one passes with flying colors.

If mine looks a little puffy, it’s because I subbed fusible fleece for the lightweight interfacing. Hey, it’s what I had handy. If you wanted to get all crazy and quilt the outer piece, the fleece would be the way to go. (I didn’t do that, mind you, but one could and it would be awfully cute.) Also, I tucked in the biggest hard-shell wipes pack known to man, which skews the appearance a little. It’s good to know it fits and closes well, but I’d go with a trimmer pack the next time. Or this time, when I pick up diapers to tuck into this gift in place of the giant swim pull-ups (yep, all that I had left in the house.)

Anyway, back to the pattern. Read it through one time before you get started, and you will be off to the races. The directions are super clear and very thorough. The pattern also includes some great tips for customizing your clutch. Try the ruffle closure; it’s really cute, and easy! (I know this, because I tried it out  on the first version. One day it’ll turn up and I’ll show you.)

Look how nice! Mom can just tuck it into her bag and go, and the diapers won’t be all mangled like they are when you throw ‘em in loose. (I know all about this, too.) Neat and tidy.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Get a hold of this pattern, grab your favorite fat quarters or remnants, and an hour later you’ll see for yourself. In fact, Heather has graciously offered up two copies of her pattern for my lovely readers.

First two to comment win — GO!

Update: Congrats to my giveaway winners, Holly and Mrsgingras! Be watching your inboxes for you Simple Analogy pattern pdf.

Getting Ready

Ah, Valentine’s Day. This year, with both kids in school (sort of), it’s double the fun.

After last year’s oh-so-clever stab at using what I had — which failed miserably — I was determined to do better this time around. After some thinking, I remembered that the whole friendship bracelet debacle only went terribly wrong (from a cost standpoint) when I had the bright idea to make them in the school colors…and then had to buy all new floss, thus defeating the whole purpose of coming up with a project that might make a dent in my overflowing supply of odd-colored floss. Doh! Therefore, the plan really could work this year with the girl’s class. Woo hoo!

Here she is, putting the finishing touches on her gifts:

Hey, she wrote her own name on the backs, too; definitely a team effort. [Idea and template can be found here, by the way.]

And, through the magic of Pinterest, I managed to find another cute idea that doesn’t involve candy. My son’s school doesn’t allow them to bring candy, which is a huge pain, but whatever.

Although I didn’t have the bouncy balls on hand, I did have everything else (except for a paper folder, hence the flathead screwdriver. I will have a tight crease on that fold!) I think this project is super cute, and am always so grateful to the talented artists who share the darn pdf files for the tags. SUCH a time saver!! Of course, the treat bags that I had were the wrong size, but it was nothing a little creative [off-center] cutting couldn’t fix.

All in all, both projects cost me $4.00, and — better yet! — they’re both done and it’s not 10:00 at night.

Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed.

 

More Monkey Business

Yes, we’re going to the same shower.

Confession: Sock monkeys are not my favorite. Something about that red mouth, it just kind of creeps me out. But monkeys are the theme for this baby girl, and I just happened to have a purple pair of socks for such an occasion (from when I tried to make myself make one for Project 15 and failed to get past the sock buying stage.) This pattern won me over — look at that cute face! Of course, mine came out a little crazy; I think I was using the wrong kind of socks. Well, gangly is charming in a sock monkey, no? Sure.

Some bibs and burp cloths to round things out:

I’ll spare you the story of the snaps. Well, actually, I’ll sum it up by saying that I put off setting the snaps for an entire week; bit the bullet and just got down to it; promptly remembered why I’d put it off in the first place. Ugh! Snaps!

Aside from that — so much fun to pull together.

 

Who Needs A Hug?

Right before Christmas, a certain little girl in the house requested an owl. “You know, an owl, that is a pillow, that I can hug?”

An owl, you say? Well, I was sure that could be arranged. Lo and behold, there was a super cute tutorial that totally fit the bill, and I had everything I needed to whip one up right at my fingertips.

But who could stop at just one? I remembered a doting grandmother talking about her little granddaughter’s love of owls, and thought she could use one, too. And then Craft Hope launched Project 19, which gave me the perfect excuse to make a couple more. These two began their journey to New Jersey yesterday.

[Project notes: The only changes I made were to double up the feet to give them a little more stability, and I topstitched the wings because I'm kind of a topstitching fanatic.]

There’s one more in production for my lovely niece, who requested her own when she saw me stuffing these two. “I need one to keep my dog [the one I made her a couple Christmases ago] company.” Now, how could I refuse that? The dog needs company!

In other news, the Christmas stuff is all down and put away til November. The house has never looked less cozy, unless you count the way it has looked every other January. Blah.

Ooh, Shiny!

It’s been a very strange, wonderful December. This was the most go-with-the-flow Christmas I can remember (which seems to be the case for many of us, I’ve noticed), with nothing going quite according to plan. For me, I just decided that I wouldn’t force myself to do anything. Unfortunately for my family members, this meant eighty-sixing the Christmas Eve soup dinner that I’ve hosted for the past couple of years. Fortunately for me, they didn’t seem to mind that much. It just wasn’t happening, and the back and forth will I or won’t I argument in my head was giving me anxiety attacks. I know! Over something so minor! But that’s the way it was, so I just let it go, and the stress rolled off with it. Amazing. Know what? My household reaped the benefit, because it was the most relaxed Christmas Eve we’ve ever had. Who knew?

That’s not to say that you should breeze through life only doing exactly as you please, but I think I’m going to be doing a lot more of this brand of gut-checking in 2013.

There was a lot that didn’t get done. I’m not going to regale you with all of that nonsense, because what’s the point? Well, here’s the point: I’m easily distracted. It’s kind of a curse, because distraction is the enemy of discipline, BUT it can also be a creative boon. In moderation/as part of your healthy diet/and all that. This was also the Year of the Pop-up, wherein I found that I didn’t have time (or energy or motivation) to finish some of the projects on my to-do list, but magically did find the time to finish ones that just popped into my head.

For example, the crayon wallet for a certain niece that totally needed one, right?

And why use fabric that you’ve already cut when you have the perfect excuse to use fun Seuss fabric?

Then there was the scarf for a woman I thought could use a little extra cheer, and — would you look at that! — wouldn’t that fleece make a great wrap?

And wouldn’t you know that making these gifts was about the most fun I’d had (it’s amazing how much fun making ONE of something can be after months of multiples) in a long time. The lesson? Make room for pop-ups! They’re fun!

If I have my way, this is going to be a big year for making. I’m already setting the stage, and can’t wait to get started on some new stuff. Happy 2013, friends!

 

All Candy Cane, All the Time

Can there really be such a thing as too much of a good thing? I think I’m testing that thoroughly with the liberal use of peppermint in my gifts this year.

The first time I came across Peppermint Popcorn Bark, I wasn’t so sure. And then it kept popping up on Pinterest. And then it started to sound good — REALLY good. Lo and behold, it is a tasty treat, and super easy to boot.

And who doesn’t like a sweet chunk o’ marshmallow in their cocoa?

Vanilla or peppermint? ‘Cause I got both! Here is the recipe for my favorite tried and true vanilla marshmallows. (I make the half-batch.) For the peppermint, I made another half-batch of marshmallows, but instead of using 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, I substituted 1/4 tsp. vanilla plus 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract (inspired by this recipe.) I think the tiny bit of vanilla keeps it from getting toothpaste-y.

Now the festive food making is almost done. There are a few more gifts to be wrapped, a little soup to cook, worship by candlelight, and a wild day of fun and family– hopefully followed by a few relaxing days of just about nothing. Sounds good to me!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and joy in the coming year.

 

 

 

 

 

Loving the Village

I really love making and giving gifts; you would think that this would be the total best time of year for a person like me, and yet….

Sometimes things get out of hand. Say, for instance, when you’re trying to assemble teacher gift. This is definitely an area where I find myself really wanting to do more, and yet wishing I could do less. I find the whole exchange very awkward, mostly because I’ve sat at table with too many teachers who complain about the crummy gifts they receive from their students. And hey, who hasn’t complained about a sub-par gift at some point in their life? But it does make me a little self-conscious. Still, there are practical aspects, such as a limited budget and a legion of teachers. So many teachers! But they are wonderful and have really been a blessing to my kids this year, so no one gets left behind.

The homeroom teachers (and the directors of my girl’s preschool) received Happy, Healthy New Year jars, filled with a tissue pack; lip balm; hand cream; Burt’s Bees throat drops; and tea. I made the purse packs for the tissues and found the rest at ye olde Target.

For the art and music teachers, I made ornaments:

(for the art teacher)

(Well, you probably figured this one out.)

Just as I was putting the finishing touches on the wrapping of said gifts — all wrapping/packaging materials which I dug out of my abundant supplies, thankyouverymuch — I realized that the P.E. teachers had been totally left out in the cold. Aw, man! Then I thought about baking a couple of kinds of scones and making little breakfast bags for them. And then I remembered that I had the supplies for these tasty treats in the pantry:

We have a winner! They are festive, delicious, and don’t require me to make a much larger mess out of my kitchen tonight. Joy to the world!

Now if I could just get my act together and finish up the stuff I wanted to make for the neighbors and a few other beloved local citizens, I’ll be golden. Then again, I might end up settling for preserving my sanity and taking the bronze in this event. Time will tell.