Projects of Late

This mama's hands have been busy! It's probably more accurate to say this mama's machines have been busy. I've been working on some gifts for my friends and for my sister's friends. I'll be adding more pictures as I finish other projects.

Roses - these turned out very nice.









Seashells









Tea Set









Sunflowers













Bluebirds - I love the blue and white! Makes me think of Blue Willow dishes.












You may have to click on the picture to see the little ladybug on each hat. I was dying to try out this font so I bought these and embroidered them for some special little girls. Olivia chose red for herself. She got a green ladybug so it would show up against the red.




Ladybugs here, too.













Very pretty blue and white interior fabric. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but it's got flowers and butterflies.







I had a hard time deciding what color thread to use for this.








This is for wearing under the button-up shirt above.

Econobum One Size Cloth Diaper Kit Giveaway

Visit this website to enter for a chance to win. You must enter by Friday, Nov. 6, at 9:00 am CST.

Smartipants One Size Pocket Diaper Giveaway

Enter by October 30, 9:00 am CST, to win 3 Smartipants one size pocket diapers. Click here for details.

More Embroidery Samples

Olivia and I went to a tea party with some friends. I made bags for the girls and added Karen's name and some pretty fabric to a purchased bag.





Kitchen towel for a friend









Here's a bag I recently finished.












Close-up of the embroidery

Pearl Paradise Akoya Pearl Necklace Giveaway

Click here for details on how to enter. Pearl Paradise is giving away a 7.0-7.5mm Akoya pearl necklace.

School is (almost) in session!

We're about to embark on our homeschooling journey! I was thinking about waiting until next year and starting Olivia with 1st grade, but she said she wants to start kindergarten. We'll have our first day of school when Joe starts, which will be Monday. I plan to follow his calendar. I've been brainstorming and making lists of activities we can do. I found some recipes for play-dough, finger paints, and other good stuff. We'll work on writing (some letters need a little attention). We'll also work with numbers. She can count pretty high but doesn't recognize numbers after 10. I also want her to learn the coins. She's been wanting to buy things (she saw a Tinkerbell kite somewhere), so I'd like to take her to the store, let her pick something, pay for it - let her experience the whole thing.

Those are a few ideas I've had. She's reading a little - I think she's doing pretty well for her age. Today she was reading in her coloring book. She got stuck on "triceratops" but otherwise did well!

Breastfeeding Awareness Month

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month and August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week. Baby Blues has always been an advocate of breastfeeding. Here is a compilation of breastfeeding strips. These are hilarious! At least I thought so.

Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries

Make that "several bowls" full of cherries. This mama's hands look terrible. They look like they belong to a mechanic. Kroger had cherries for $0.99 per pound. I think I bought about 10 pounds of cherries Monday. Then I sent Joe by to get another 8 pounds or so Tuesday. It seems all I've been doing for the past 2 days is pitting cherries. We've eaten quite a few and I made some jam. I ended up with 11 or 12 pints. I've still got a few bags of cherries in the fridge. I think next will be a pie.

Samples of my Embroidery

I've been playing around with my new embroidery machine. Here are some of the things I've done. The butterfly was my first attempt. I put it on an old washrag.





Mama wanted A's put on her pillow cases. I did 3 sets.








I made my brother-in-law some candy for his birthday and used this kitchen towel for wrapping paper. This was tricky because I had to do one line at a time. I'm gonna play with some free software that will, hopefully, let me program several lines at once.



I also put his name on a bath towel...








...and some flowers on a hand towel and wash rag. As it turned out, the flowers didn't show up too well against the brown towels.






The other day I bought some new designs that I want to use for baby quilts. I've started embroidering one - I'll be doing a little at a time as I have a few spare moments - and I'll post pictures when I finish. I plan to offer them for sale on Etsy.

Pearls!

Yesterday I added some jewelry to my shop, including some pearls. Here are a couple of samples. I was working on a pearl bracelet when my pearl reamer broke, so I've gotta order a new one. When it arrives I can finish the bracelet, make some more earrings, and make another strand of pearls. In the meantime I'll be working on other items. Click here to see what else I added.

A Few Pictures

Jesse is helping Daddy fix the vacuum.











Olivia is filling up her wading pool.











Jesse is looking out the window.











Olivia has been playing in the sand pile.

FuzziBunz Giveaway!

Win three FuzziBunz cloth diapers. See Two of a Kind for details on how to enter.

Jesse's 1st Birthday

Today is Jesse's 1st birthday. My little baby isn't so little anymore. We had his party on Saturday. I'll add pictures later - I've gotta get the ones two other people took. I've also got to reduce some that were taken with my camera. Here's one of the birthday boy I took this morning. He's such a handsome fella!

Wet Bag Giveaway

Soft Cloth Bunz is giving away two Planet Wise wet bags. Click here for details on how to enter.

Gro Baby Giveaway

I just heard about this. Banana Peels Diapers is offering 4 ways to enter for a chance to win. 4 winners will be chosen. You have to enter by 11:59 pm May 9.

My New Toy

Last week I had a birthday. When my family started asking me what I wanted, I told them I'd like donations toward an embroidery machine. They really came through! I've ordered a machine and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. The machine has many built-in designs, but you can also download free designs from the internet, so I've been looking around to see what's out there. Don't be surprised when you get monogrammed towels for your birthday!

Win an Organic Mei Tai

Kathy at Crunchy Bunch is having a give-away. Click here for details.

Baby Tai

I just found out about this give-away from one of my friends. Click here.

Valentine's Day Sale

I'm having a Valentine's Day Sale at my Etsy shop. I lowered the prices on the bracelets. I'll be happy to do custom orders, too. Just let me know what you want!

Growing Paynes

We were supposed to host a cookie swap today, but I had to cancel because Olivia got sick. She's been coughing and sneezing and has spells of lethargy. I wanted to share recipes, not germs! Judging by the toys strewn around the living room, she doesn't feel TOO bad.

Jesse has been a busy boy. He's got 4 teeth, pulls up on everything he can reach, and cruises along holding on to the couch. He's perfecting the art of sitting down from a standing position. And he must be working on another tooth because he's really been gnawing on things. This morning he tried to eat an apple.

Never a dull moment.

Reusable Produce Bags

I've been carrying my own shopping bags for a while and got tired of bringing home a bunch of plastic produce bags, so I made my own reusable produce bags. I've only been using them a week, but so far they're great! I've written up a tutorial (with pictures!) so you can make some yourself if you're a little crafty. My pictures aren't great, but hopefully they're good enough to help you follow my directions.

I bought 2 yards of tulle (54" wide). I cut it lengthwise into thirds, then cut each piece in half. So I had 6 pieces, each of which was 18"x36". These bags are a little large - good for a bunch of apples or potatoes, or maybe some celery or lettuce. You'd want smaller bags for a couple of kiwis or a few avocados. I bought some more tulle (this time red) to make some small bags. I purposely got a different color so I can just reach in my bag for large (green) bags or small (red) bags. Choose your thread and ribbon to coordinate or contrast with your tulle.

Fold each piece in half widthwise so you have a square. Leave the side opposite the fold open, but sew each of the other sides to within about 2" of the edge opposite the fold, backstitching to reinforce the seam.

Fold open one of the side seams. Fold each raw edge down (your fold will follow the seam). Sew down one side, turn and sew across your side seam, then turn and sew up the other side.

Fold the top edge down about an inch and stitch around the entire top of the bag. I backstitched across the side seams to reinforce.

Cut 2 ribbons (only 1 is shown) a few inches longer than twice the width of your bag. My ribbon is about 38" long.

Attach a safety pin to one end of the ribbon and thread it through the opening of your bag.

Keep threading when you get to the opening on the opposite side. When you reach your starting point, tie a knot. I didn't take a picture of this, but I think you can manage :)

Repeat the procedure for the second ribbon, starting at the opening opposite your knot. (Refer to the next picture.)

Turn your bag inside out and you're done!

Now go shopping!