Rice Bags

My sister Jo requested a couple of these babies to keep the kids warm in the freezing Minnesota weather. (You pop them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and they stay warm and can be used as heat packs.) I decided to make her one too. And then I just had to make one for Andrew to give with his birthday present, and of course one for Anne also! Utah weather calls for this kind of comfort too! I loooove these and also the heating pad on my bed. They make me happy!

For Sarah, the Diego lover

A T-Rex for Sam
















Andrew's Stegosaurus


I made one like this for both Jo and Anne















Sorry about the inconsistent labeling. My cursor was jumping all over the place! I don't know what's wrong but this site doesn't like me to post pictures and label them! Thanks for looking at all my sewing I have shared recently. I like that it looks like I am a prolific sewer when in reality, all this took me months to finish. I drive myself crazy with ideas and things I am dying to make, but I am slow! All your comments totally keep me going.

The End of the Rainbow

At Christmastime, I got to take my cute little nephew Andrew with me to JoAnn's. I absolutely couldn't resist letting him pick out his own fabric for some jammies. First he was kind of leaning towards the red valentine fleece. Then he found the Snoopy St. Patrick's Day and was all for that! Then he was super good while I did the rest of my shopping there (decorating my thread rack with gummi lifesavers.) He was so fun to have along. I even bought him his own little retractable tape measure since he promised he wouldn't complain when I had to measure him. He told me jokes and wanted me to tell him one, but he told me it wasn't funny because he'd heard it so much already. (Curt's "freep who.") I just have to think about him and that kid makes me smile.

When I made the kids their stocking jammies at Christmas, he said "Hey - you should have made it so the stocking would open, so we could put things in there!" I had actually wanted to do that very thing, but by the end of those, I was definitely ready to be done, not to mention I was out of time! So... we decided this shirt HAD to have something that opened on it. At first, we were thinking of a shamrock and then we thought of a pot of gold and got really excited! I had a bunch of sewing to finish before I made these, but it turned out so perfect, because these were finished last week, which just happened to be... the week of Andrew's birthday! (He's a Valentine's baby - no wonder he's such a sweetie.)

The best part of all was when he got up from his party, picked the pjs up, and with a sly grin, stole away to his room to put them right on! Now THAT is why I love to make stuff for the kids. Aggh this kid is CUTE! He was even sick that night, but he was so sweet, polite, happy and grateful for every single present.

Oh - and he is holding chocolate gold coins in his hands. This is what he was dying to have to fill his pot with. Thanks to Gram for going all the way out to Zurcher's to get them!!! He walked around all night proud as punch having them in his pot.

That was a good collaboration. I think Andrew and I need to work together more often.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jake is my valentine this year and that's ok with me. He is at an age where it is hard to know what to give him for things like this though. I didn't want to spend a lot and I knew there wasn't much he'd get too excited about. And he certainly doesn't need anything new. So, I found this cute idea and decided he would at least like the novelty of it. I know we've all made Rice Krispy Treats a million times, but here are pictures of the process anyway, just for fun.

Mmm... butter and marshmallows melting together.

Adding the Rice Krispies



Then I formed it into a "kiss" shape




I taped these together to make the little paper that comes out the top.



A kiss for my valentine!

















I might take him to do something later too, if he's not too tired after his overnight scout camp last night.

Retro Day

While I am waiting for my sister to get her package so I can post the pictures of the things she hasn't seen yet, I just had to post this picture. It's All for All or "spirit week" at Jake's school this week and there is a different theme for every day. They usually have a strict dress code/uniform so this is really fun for them to be able to wear different things.
I L-O-V-E 70's dress up. I don't know why, I just do.

Does it get more stylin' than this?

p.s. - I want to say thank you so much for all the positive comments on the outfit. Every one of them made my day. I wish there was a magic wand that could make me stop second-guessing myself so much!!

Finished Sewing!

I have finished sewing a bunch of things!! I've had some things hanging around that I have been wanting to finish. I work a little here and a little there when I have energy, so things can take me forever but I am so happy these are all done! I am going to post the pictures over the next few days.

This outfit is for my niece Sarah. Here's the top - my dad said he hated it and it was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. Don't hold back Dad. So I guess I'm curious what you think. Is it ugly/cute/in-between. Or wait, maybe I don't want to know. Be a little gentler than my dad, please. And Mom, you don't have to answer.

I don't know if the ties at the neckline will bug her, but hey, I thought it was cute. And that's what's important right? Well that, and that the receiver of the gift likes it too. And I learn more with every project so that's good too.

This skirt - I kind of morphed another pattern from a skort pattern to a skirt because I didn't have a basic skirt pattern on hand - I hope it fits and works.

Some Fun Linkage

Black Apple's Cinnamon Rolls - wow.


Ikea's "Find Your Design Style" Quiz - I was Country Balanced. Hmmm not sure about that, but it was fun. This takes a minute to load. Quiz is at the bottom of the page.


This blog totally makes me giggle. Thanks for finding it Tiffany.


And you can't possibly miss engrish.com. This one has me laughing this morning. And this. This and this. I am seriously in tears. #2 really gets me here. Ok the whole thing is hilarious. My cheeks are starting to hurt now. Seriously. I need to stop now. No more. I think mistranslation can be pretty funny in every language. English is just so different from these languages that it makes for some tough translation work I guess!


And in other notes... Chuck is finally back. How much do I love Chuck? I haven't watched the new one yet though. Because then I wouldn't have any to look forward to watching. So I have to wait until I get another one on my dvr. I like the delayed gratification.

I'm a Winner!

My mom and my sister Jo gave me a gorgeous earring and necklace set for Christmas. It was so fun and I realized that I had forgotten how much earrings can really spark up the face and add that touch that makes a difference. My sister-in-law Anne is awesome at making jewelry and has made me some lovely jewelry in the past so I haven't completely gone off the jewelry boat. I am starting to care a little more about my appearance nowadays instead of just thinking about comfort.

Well... guess what?! Now I am adding these beauties to my jewelry collection!!!


I WON THEM! How exciting is that?! I can't believe I won - I entered the contest on the Mormon Mommy blogs just for fun by commenting, and lo and behold, I am the happy owner of beautiful new earrings. Second Sister's jewelry is exquisite and I wanted to share a few of her pieces here.
Pretty stuff. I love the names she gives them too, like Orchardist's Wife Bracelet, and Miss Havisham Bracelet.

It just goes to show you, it never hurts to enter a contest even if you don't really think you'll win!