More Receptacles

This is a custom order for a very old friend of mine.
I actually went shopping specifically for print fabric
since few of what I already had were particularly inspiring.
R, all these are on their way to you right now!


First, these drawstring pouches - so much fun to sew,
not the least because of all the different ways
to combine fabrics.





The piping around their bases makes them keep their
shape - there is no interfacing at all.




And they can be folded down to become fabric buckets.


Next are these purses for some young ladies
who are between 4-8 years old:

They are reversible, and have felt initials appliqued on one side:






The idea came from the very talented Karin here, who
kindly let me take her original idea and butcher it make
everything roundish. My first pattern was awful and I
threw everything out and made a brand new one-piece
pattern which worked a lot better. Thank you, K!

And finally some scrunchie gifts for more little girl friends:


It dawned on me sometime between the Owie Dolls and
these pouches and purses that I now have four full-time
jobs - the shop, and Emily, Jenna and Kate. Weird feeling.

More, More, More Kindness

This post should have been four posts posted when they actually happened, but I am putting them in one because I am ludicrously disorganized . Ever since I started this blog, I have been blessed by the kindness of strangers - people whom I've never met in person who leave great comments, who direct me to fascinating sites, who tell me I'm funny on days when I've had a Let Us Not Scream At The Children episode and who let me win things on their blogs. And sometimes even send me things in the post just to make my day. I want to show you some of these unexpected little presents!

About a hundred years ago (ahem), Sabrina from Twiggles and Trunks read this post in which I whined about ikat (pronounced eee- kutt, incidentally, not eye-cat) and sent me these cushion covers. Not ikat, but oh, so Blue and Beautiful! And she was nice enough to say that I could, if I wanted, cut into them and Make Stuff. I looked at them so many times, thinking of various things they could be morphed into but I couldn't, couldn't make myself cut them up. Maybe someday I might, because I am betting this fabric would look awesome as so many things in my head now, so when that happens, I will brag about them here. Thank you, thank you, Sabrina!

Then in the Spring, Misty.Creek won one of my giveaways and to thank me, later made this lovely bag and these washcloths for me! Thank you! Thank you! I wish I could crochet because I'd make several hundred of these washcloths and never touch a terry cloth again. And everything in blue! Divine.


And here's what came in the mail just before the weekend, from Laura at Betula'Loo, for the kids! So they could be occupied while I sewed! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... Look at all these secret weapons:



The kids will not get to see them till closer to Christmas - I am planning to save these for Christmas Eve, during the long wait between lunchtime and gift-opening time in the evening. We are going to have a blast!

Oh, and she sent this for me - to make lists on! Whooooooo!

Thank you, Laura!

And finally, here's an award bestowed eons ago upon me by The Activity Mom:


Thank you! Thank you!

I am supposed to share 7 Who Knew? things about me, so in return for all your kindness, wonderful readers, here are 7 bizarre facts about me:

1 I cannot eat turkey. I used to have this ability, but after pregnancy, childbirth and whatnot, I no longer find this edible. I cannot explain it. It tastes.... weird. Thanksgiving, as a result, is often.... interesting.

2 When I was a younger person, I used to play a small number of common computer games. I was, however, abysmal at them. My brother had to hack a particular game called Super Fighter (variant of Street Fighter- there, you now know how old I am) to give me unlimited lives and weapons just so I could get past Level 1.

3 I almost became an English teacher instead of a Physics teacher. At a crucial point in my college years, I had to choose between English and Physics as majors and I picked Physics because I thought grading lab reports would be easier than grading essays. Turns out I was right.

4 I used to be able to swim laps, and do splits, and dance, inline skate, a tiny bit of aikido, rock-climb, and scuba dive. My skin was not always pasty white. I also used to watch TV.

5 For a number of years, I was convinced that the only man worth marrying was Kevin Spacey.

6 My weirdest dating experience was when my orthodontist asked me out (I was no longer his patient). That was not the weird part. The weird part was that I said yes. This was because I my best friend told me "frankly, you need the practice". I knew it was doomed from the start when I couldn't call him anything but "doctor".

7 There was a time when I thought airplane toilets were cool. Strangely, people shunned me whenever I picked this as a conversation starter, though.

I am supposed to nominate other bloggers but I like breaking the rules, so I shall instead tell you my three favorite posts from The Activity Mom:

1 Very cool Button Snake activity. I want to do this soon with Kate!

2 TV Detox Tickets. I think there are days when we need these, and badly.

3 Printable Advent Calendar - beautiful and so clever!

4 Slotting Game - I wish I'd seen this when my babies were babies still. They would have loved it!

5 Color Hunt Game - The girls love collecting and sorting, especially Jenna. I am so going to do this with her!

OK, I lied about only picking 3. It was hard to just pick 3. She has so many fun ideas on her blog, and songs! Songs! Love them!

Snowmen

We made some snowmen yesterday. Coincidentally, the
first snow of the season began the day before, but these
were not those kinds of snowmen.

What we used:

• Polystyrene balls (2", 2.5", 3") - from the craft store
• Hot glue gun and craft glue
• Buttons
• Construction paper - black for hat and orange for nose
• Foam sticker scraps - black for eyes
• Little sewing pins for the mouth
  
• Twigs
• Fleece strips for scarf
• Scrap cardboard for base
• Craft knife

Prep work:

1 I cut small circles off one spot on the small ball, and off opposite poles of the large ball and medium ball. This was to give the balls a flattish base to sit on, and flat surfaces to stack and adhere to each other.


2 I made top hats:

I rolled and glued a 4.5" x 2" strip of black paper into a tube.
Then I made snips around both edges, abut 0.5" deep:

I folded one snipped edge inwards for the top of the hat,
and spread the other edge outwards for the brim

I glued on a circle to the top and trimmed it to fit.

Then I added a donut-shaped brim

and glued it on.

3 I also made carrot noses (rolled a 1" quadrant into a thin cone and glued it), and cut out little eyes from foam sticker sheets.

The girls got to work this morning, first building
a tower of snowballs and then embellishing them
to look snowmanish.



Even little Kate made a snowman with a little help.
Her favorite part was sticking the pins into the face and
pressing the buttons onto the glue blobs on the body.
Yes, she was heavily supervised, to the point that she
was almost unhappy, muttering, "(I want to do it my)self!"



When we ran out of pins, we used foam sticker
shapes for the mouths.



We finished four snowmen before the kids
decided to move on to something else.

And when we ran out of other embellishments, we stuck
adhesive gems all over the balls to make tree ornaments.


P.S. I know polystyrene is environmentally unfriendly
but I am a sucker for all things round.

Chez Ami Sale!

Knowing that I am in great need of help shopping for fabric online, my lovely sister-in-law told me about Chez Ami's clearance sale today! Some pretty knits and twill and broadcloth type fabrics here for $2.50 a yard and $5 shipping. Remembered that many of you have asked where to buy nice printed knits. This might be worth a try. Joy, I bought stuff. Look what you made me do.

Advent!

December! And it still looks like fall outside. It is a gift.

Set up our advent calendar today, on a random cardboard circle
from the Cardboard Closet (where we store all our packing
supplies). Couldn't be bothered to go out to buy artificial snow,
so I stuck on bits of fiberfill. Not sure I like the dry ice effect
but it was convenient.

Numbered the trees and stuck them on.

Emily's preschool teachers sent this superb little advent
calendar resource home with the kids this week. They are
meant to be paper chain links, with part of the story of
Christmas written behind each. Beautiful.

I rolled them up and put one under each tree, along with
edible treats and little slips of paper for a craft, a Christmas
movie or a Christmas book for the day. The girls popped the
first tree off today and got to pick a book from the
Christmas Book Basket.

Here's something new we did today. Emily was our instructor
today while I was putting Kate down for a nap. She made this
in school last week and she thought it would be a fun
craft to teach Jenna.

It is the easiest thing in the world - cut a paper shape out,
bite mini-marshmallows in half, and press the sticky halves
down onto the paper. Leave to dry overnight (or longer)
so the marshmallows harden.

I cut out two shapes for them, and she showed Jenna what to do.
Here's her flower:

Jenna ate most of her marshmallows,
so her finished star is a bit minimalist.

Unrelated, I covet this coat from Boden. I've seen it in
person. It is spectacular, if for the topstitching alone.
Actually, I covet a lot of things from Boden. Like this tunic.
And this top. And that's just in the women's section.
Aaaaaaaaaah...... Well, off to bed now.