Matching Cousin Hoodies

Well, this post is long over due. 

I made matching sweatshirts for the three cousins last year in October.

Fabric: Raspberry Creek Fabrics' custom French Terry and coordinating textured french terry and cotton-lycra jersey.

Pattern: Hey June Hatteras Hoodie

They received them on this little girl's 4th birthday! We have since celebrated her 5th birthday... so I hope you enjoyed this flashback to last year :D 

Handmade in the Wild: Celebrations

Just a celebrations where handmade outfits have been found!

Dan's birthday... He has always preferred pie over cake (and even then, he'd rather have extra steak than dessert!).

Happy Fourth of July! We spend the 4th at my parents' lake cabin, and we had just come back from outdoor church (so technically, this was on July 5th!)

The local college's homecoming parade (it has nothing on my alma mater's Hobo Day parade!). We enjoyed the parade with some of our friends. Always fun to spend a Saturday morning chasing candy with friends!

Birthday: Ev wore a Magrath from Sew Much Ado. (post here)

4th of July: Ev wore a Felicity by Peekaboo Pattern Shop (post here) and James was in a Schoolboy Vest by Sew Much Ado. (Looks like I need to write a post about the vests I've made!)

Parade: I'm in a Hey June Lane Raglan made from cotton-lycra... the grey is an Art Gallery print and the blue is a navy dots from the Club line by Raspberry Creek Fabrics.

Pretty in Peplums

Remember when I tested two different patterns for Sew Much Ado Patterns last year? Well, Abby (the designer) gifts each pattern tester a free pattern from her collection as a thank-you for helping with the process. The first pattern I chose was the Schoolboy Vest, and then the second pattern I chose was the Pretty-in-Peplum top and dress. Let's just say that I went crazy with making these once I received the pattern!!!

Here's one in Springs Creative princess knit and Art Gallery knit for the sleeves... we gave this as a birthday gift to one of Evelyn's friends. 

I won this "Happy Fall Y'all" panel from Peekaboo Pattern Shop, so I purchased just a little bit of coordinating material to make a fall top for Ev. It probably didn't get worn as much as it could have because we were having difficulties understanding the difference between a one-day holiday and a full season... toddler/preschoolers... :)

She definitely wore this one a few times though - a Halloween top made from two different thrifted tops I purchased the year before. 

Last, but not least, I made coordinating tops for Ev and her cousins! I finished them in time for Kae's birthday celebration last October! The girls really do love matching, and these tops are so easy and quick! The green fabric is designed by Lizzy House, but I can't remember which fabric manufacturer she designs for. The solids either came from my local shop or from Raspberry Creek Fabrics on Etsy.

Pocket Full of Posies for Miss K

Miss K is turning 3 tomorrow! Happy Early Birthday! 

And so, for my niece's third birthday, I made her a skirt... she is also getting some paint markers, a book and a shirt that I stenciled (but forgot to take a picture of it!).

Pattern: Pocket Full of Posies by Elliedactyl

Fabric: Pink Cotton/Lycra - local fabric store, Purple (interlock?) - Hancock Fabrics, Black Flowers Scuba Knit - Clearance from Girl Charlie (out of stock now)

Doll skirt for "Baby" was roughly made using the same pattern with a little modification. It fits E's dolly that is about the same size as "Baby," so I'm crossing my fingers! I'm also crossing my fingers that the skirt fits Miss K. I had her measurements from making the matching cousin pajamas, and the skirt fits E, so I'm pretty hopeful :)

E was actually really good about me making this skirt for K. She would ask who it was for and when I said that is was a birthday present for K, she would sometime ask where hers was... she never whined about me not making her one, though, so I was pretty happy about that :) I am actually making her a similar skirt with the scuba knit and pink cotton/lycra... but instead of purple pockets, she'll have Minnie Mouse pockets (I just picked up the Minnie fabric this week... I have a whole pile of items to sew for E now that will have splashes of Minnie on it!)

Anyways, the birthday party isn't until Tuesday, and I am so excited about her gift. I really hope she likes it! We continue to pray for the adoption process... hopefully by Christmas she will be my niece for good! :)

James {3 Month Update}

This little man is 3 months old! (Well, 3 and a half months now, but who's counting?)

He can be quite smiley when he wants to be! He continues to grow, although we won't have official weight and height measurements again until his 4 month appointment. He's still in size 2 diapers and 3-6month clothing.

As always, everyone is happier when Daddy gets home from work :) James can be pretty selective of who he allows to hold him, and while he is the most content with me, Dan is able to calm him down with a pacifier and white noise. 

Daddy celebrated his 30th birthday this past month! We didn't do anything too exciting, but it's near the 4th of July, so with all the traveling we did to see family that weekend, it just felt like one big birthday celebration :) 

James' first 4th of July was spent both at my parents' lake cabin and my inlaws' farm. He never was around the fireworks that much, so we'll have to wait until next year to see how he likes them (E's favorite is the smoke bombs). 

Happy (5th) of July! We didn't get into our patriotic gear until Sunday for church. 

Since James is getting more and more content, E can hold him more... and look, he's smiling at her sisterly kiss :)

Like I said, he is getting more and more content, which prompted us to stop his reflux meds after the 4th. There was no change afterward, so I knew that it was OK to stop. 

Tummy time is always more fun with new friends (even if they live on diaper boxes). For about a week, he was doing lots of rolling from tummy to back, but then he stopped... I'm guessing he figured out how to do it, so he practiced it for awhile, but since he prefers his tummy, he decided to stop doing it as often :)

He still hates his carseat, but he doesn't seem to scream 80% of the time any more... maybe closer to 75% ;) We had to capture him looking like Budda while (gasp!) sleeping in the car!!

Cloth diapers were introduced this month! We still use a lot of disposables, but the cloth seem to be working just fine at home. Oh, and he's able to hold on to toys we give him for little bits at a time. Hopefully, he'll start reaching for them himself soon.

We have pictures of E balancing on Daddy's hand at this age as well.

His cousin who is a year older than him doesn't appear ready for a sibling yet - look how he his hugging my sister-in-law's leg! So cute :) 

Cousin time at the cabin!

E does a decent job of sharing, as you can see on the top picture. I'm still on the look-out at rummage sales for a boy-ish chair or couch for James.

Documented proof that I had both kids sleeping on me at once in the rocking chair. E was crabby after not sleeping during her naptime, so I was singing and rocking both of them... and they both fell asleep! I don't see it happening again anytime soon, ha!

A few snapshots of E... fishing with Grandpa, swinging with Daddy and feeding her other grandpa's cows!

A little snippet of E at three months... Blog Post

Birthday Presents(!)

Yikes, here we are just finishing up celebrating Evelyn's birthday and I'm just now posting about a few of the gifts I received (my birthday was way back in January).

Several of my gifts will be highlighted later, when I have a house and a place for then... but for now, here is a little vintage-y, fabric-y and foreign-y goodness :)

My sister-in-law went antiquing to find me this first gift! It's a FireKing jadeite mixing bowl and it's been on my  list forever. I've seen them frequently, but I've just never allowed myself to buy one.

Now I have one! It was so thoughtful of her to take the time to search and buy it for me. I cannot wait to use it!!

Sticking with the Jadeite theme... these were purchased on Ebay as a gift from Dan. He came up with the idea (I'm always drooling over Fire-King Jadeite), and I was more than happy to "help him" find my birthday present :)

I was able to buy four of them, and adding them to the one we already own, we now have 5! According to my mom, they are too nice to use for everyday. Hmm... I'm more of the mindset that they are too fun not to use for everyday!

These came all the way from New Zealand! Dan's sister and her husband are living down there for two years. The hat will be perfect for going rummage saling and just hanging out at the lake, and I'm sure the slipper-socks will be used a lot next winter!

Admittedly, these two pieces of lovliness weren't for my birthday. My inlaws recently returned from visiting the afor mention "foreigners" and this fabric (along with the beautiful coasters below), were gifts from the travelers.

I definitely have to come up with the perfect project for them... They are way to pretty not to use them!

Here are the pretty coasters! My sister-in-law and I decided to do halvsies... we split our sets so we could have two designs instead of just one. They make me smile :)

Like I said, there are more fun pieces I hope to show you in the future. All I can say is that I am surrounded by amazing family! They are a blessing in my life :) Thank you to all!

Evelyn's Birthday Celebrations

When Evelyn's birthday came around, we had several small celebrations. I prefer keeping birthdays low-key, so these little get-togethers were fitting for her first birthday.

 

On Saturday we went out to eat with my family and then had cake at my brother's house.

Sunday was one of our nice South Dakota Spring days...

 Spring here is unpredictable, so we need to enjoy the nice ones as they come. To do so, we took a nice walk around Dan's grandparents' neighborhood.

Evelyn's great-grandpa (Dan's grandpa) has a birthday a few days before her, so we had fun celebrating both of their birthdays together.

 Evelyn still is learning how to "blow" out candles... we'll work on it some more ;)

 

On her actual birthday, she opened a few more presents at breakfast in her birthday chair (just a balloon tied to her high chair). Her favorite gift by far was her little red wagon! She has just loves that thing... she loves being outdoors!

We'll leave you with a cake picture... because what kind of birthday post would this be without a cake picture?? :)

Wave Your Flag! {Blog Hop}

Welcome to my day on the Flags on a Stick blog hop! 

For this hop (that the amazing Mdm Samm thought up and instigated with the wonderful Thearica as organizer and cheerleader), we were supposed to create a flag... Thank you to both of you for all you have done, and of course, lots of love to our hop sponsors (See Mdm Samm's post for their information)!

I made a Birthday Flag!

You see, little Evelyn will soon be turning ONE! And, I wanted a little something to spruce up the dining area for her special day (this is definitely an inside flag). I also want to be able to use it through the years and use it for all the birthdays in the family... therefore I made it reversible!

See, here's the boys side! 

No, this is definitely not a crazy way to say that I'm expecting a little boy to be joining the family anytime soon (uffda!). I just figured if Evelyn and I get to enjoy the girly side on our birthdays, then Dan needs a boyish side for his birthday :) 

... 

... 

... and if it would so happen that we are blessed with a baby boy someday, then so be it, I already have a birthday flag ready ;)

I've been wanting to practice my lettering appliqué, since I plan on helping Mom make more of these Monikered Baby Bags in the near future (her usual new-baby-gift). I think I got plenty of practice in with this project! My flag turned out to be about 16" x 30" with the hanging sleeve.

While planning this project, I also wanted to use up my scraps - each of the letters were cut from my scrap bin of 5" charms. The balloons are made with 3" scraps, and the prairie points (a first for me! such fun!!!) were made with triangles cut from more 5" charms.

The ric-rac is from my stash (the blue package actually had a copyright of 1931 and told me to wash it by boiling it with pure soap or soap flakes. Hmm... not exactly my usual washing routine...)

The white fabric, binding and sleeve material are also from my stash.

I chose a windy day to take pictures... 

But then again, it's usually windy here... that's just the way of life out here on the prairie! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now, go see what kind of flag everyone else is waving today...  And be sure to share some love with them!
March 27th

Bumbleberry Stitches

Quilted Delights

Red Quilts

On the Banks of Frog Creek (I'm waving from here!)

Words & Stitches

K and S Sweets and Stitching
~*~*~*~*~*~

PS: The entire time I wrote this post, I was singing my alma mater's fight song. The first lines go like this...
Ring the Bells for South Dakota...  the yellow and the blue...  daaa, da, da, da, da, da, daaaa, da...  da, da, da, da, da, da...  (Can't you tell I know it real well?! Ha). However, for this hop, you know that I couldn't sing it correctly.  I had to sing it like this... WAVE THE FLAG FOR SOUTH DAKOTA! :) That is all.  Happy Hopping!