Hats, Hats, Hats

After making my kids their hats, my college friends' kids their hats (6 or 7 of them) and another two hats for a friend-here-in-town's kids... I've definitely made good use of this pattern! 

(Fleece Aviator Hat by Tie Dye Diva)

Blue and yellow have been the majority... perfect for some future jackrabbits! :D 

And then a Vikings and a Twins set...

It is a quick and easy pattern, and fleece comes in so many options!  But, I think my kids still fit in theirs, so I think my to-sew list is hat-free this fall! I'm sure the following year I'll have to make a few more... but if their old hats fit for one more year that means they will have lasted three winters! Can't beat that!

Turns out that I posted back when I made that first batch of Jackrabbit hats... almost two years ago! (Here)

Emery's Baby Bag

I had a particularly happy phone call from a friend back in November. She and her family were moving to our town! Woohoo! 

She has a son about 9 months older than James and had a little girl in August. I usually give myself 6 months to a year to finish these special baby gifts, but since she was moving to town, I wanted to hurry and finish it for when she first visited our house - so, a baby bag finished by the time little Emery was 4 months old! (Gotta love a great reason to have a deadline!)

A big thanks to my Mom for sewing the name (as always), and for sharing her machine - hers sews through the thickness of the denim, corduroy and interfacing much better than mine. Most of the fabric came from fat quarters won from giveaways, but some of it was purchased. I loved using the more feminine decorated demin on the back which was a remnant from JoAnns, I believe. 

So, welcome back to SoDak friend!!! I'm so excited to see our kids become friends :) 

Family Adventures {July to August}

In no particular order...

E just keeps growing up... her speech is continuously improving and her vocabulary is expanding. She still loves books and fruit snacks and dancing. She has started keeping her sunglasses on for longer than 5 seconds, she goes in spurts of letting me put bows in her hair, requesting two bows at a time, and then refuses bows on other days. One day she decided to reach for the moon.

We attending a family camp mini-session at Mt. Carmel in Minnesota. It really was a wonderful few days... 

... we attended with Dan's parents and sister's family. E went on her first kayak ride. We were in cabin 9 :)

We spent quite a bit of time with my family - both at my parents' lake cabin and at their home. My older brother's family was around for a couple weeks and we wanted to get in lots of cousin time! (E found a Mickey fishing box at a rummage sale and now thinks fishing is just so much fun!).

Then we had to say good by to that family (the top picture shows my other brother and his wife doing a good-bye selfie with our nephew)... they are off on a 2 year adventure to Guam where my brother is now one of the general surgeons at the naval hospital. E said good-bye to Lolo... the only other girl cousin on my side (she has 2 girl cousins on Dan's side). Two years will go by quickly, but the kiddos will surely have changed a lot!!

Last but not least... we froze some corn :) Our garden produced quite a bit of sweet corn, potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The carrots grew but they are not the best. We have a few pumpkins ripening still along with some decorative gourds. While the garden produced broccoli and okra, the broccoli never grew big enough heads and the okra was picked too late. We enjoyed this first year in our garden and look forward to applying what we learned next year!

James at 4 Months {JT Update}

Hip, Hip Horay for this little guy being 4 months old! 

We definitely turned a corner on his fussiness around 3.5 months... he still doesn't like his carseat all the time, and I'm pretty sure we've hit the 4 month sleep regression... but he is so much happier than he used to be! Praises!!

We celebrated his baptism. Doing so had us serving lunch to around 50 family members and friends at our house. It was our first big hosting event and it really went well! It was so wonderful celebrating James' special day surrounded by so many family and friends! I figure we won't have to worry about hosting that many people again until high school graduations (just a few years away, ha!), as hosting holidays or even birthdays will never be to such a large group. A big thanks to my mom for helping clean the house and to everyone who helped in the kitchen on that day. I appreciate all of you!

This outfit was one that Dan wore, so I had to to make sure to take pictures in it before James outgrew it! Future baseball player? We'll just have to wait and see...

The many faces of James :) 

The top two are during breaks from the carseat going to and from family camp.

Then we have a smile of stealing Sister's chair after she had gone to bed... and then I was trying to teach him how to play with his toes.

What?! He's not crying in his carseat? Yay James! And, special daddy-son bonding time.

Cute toes during a nap :)

Time with cousin Lolo and with Grandpa Tim.

Sister time!!

More special people... 2nd cousins, first cousins and mommy's running friends!

Stats:

• Size 2 diapers
• Slowly transitioning from 3-6 month clothing to 6-9 month clothing
• Lots of drool and finger chewing, but his doctor doesn't think his teeth are even close to coming in
• He can finally keep the pacifier in by himself, although we try to only use it if he really needs it - like in the car, hanging out with anyone other than me, and if he's just being super fussy
• He loves his crinkly book and softie
• He has a very strong grip!
• He loves to stand and smile and chuckle
• Rocking is still the quickest way to get him to sleep
• For most of the past month, he had been waking about once a night to eat
• He still doesn't like bath time
• He loves his sister (except when his sister pokes him in the face, ha!) and his sister loves him!

School Days for a Baby

I finished this quilt up last winter... and I was happy to find the perfect recipient! 

A friend of mine is being induced this morning (please send up a few prayers for her strength and patience!), and her baby shower was just a few weeks ago.

She is a school teacher and she loves Laura Ingalls Wilder... this School Days fabric by Moda was just a perfect combination of pioneer education :)

The backing is a solid navy combined with another vintagey-children print (sorry I'm not sure the name/designer/manufacturer). Quilting was a simple grid of 1/4" away from each seam. It washed up well!! 

The mommy-to-be said the fabrics match her living room perfectly, so I hope Baby Addy gets to have lots of floor time on it :) 

The Bags Keep Coming! {ALYOF}

This bag needed to get done before the first Thursday of the month... and I did it! The sweet little recipient and her mother traveled up for lunch. Two other friends joined us as well... just a little college teammate get-together :) Friends forever!!

Except for the side fabric, the rest of the cottons were all giveaways. Such a great way to use up those fat quarters when I don't have time (or the need) for any more quilts.

I had some trouble with my machine not liking the thickness of the straps, but we powered through. The Brother machine has served my mom and I well since I was in high school (my ten year reunion is next summer!), but it may be time to upgrade. Mom recently purchased a new Viking machine, which I am currently testing to see if I like... she is starting school soon, so she won't be needing it for a few weeks. I have plans of making another baby bag, quilting a lap quilt and working on a knit outfit on the Viking to make sure the machine works well for all of my sewing interests. Oh, and I also need to test the buttonholes! Good thing we are done with most of our summer traveling and that James is past his colic-y stage ;)

 Just a few shots of the back, straps and inside. Only one more of these bags to go (for my newest nephew)! Well, until this winter when another teammate is due with her second :) Babies, Babies, Babies!

ALYOF Info...
Goal Post Here
#29 in the Goal Linky Party

Wedding Reminiscing [Reception Details]

The last post in my Wedding Reminiscing Series...

Here we have... the Reception :)

Remember how I really didn't enjoy bossing my helpers around to decorate for the reception? And even so, the decorations turned out really well! I loved how it all came together...

The Head Table

The Head Table with a few of the circle tables to show all they all coordinated.

My mother's wedding dress, my mother-in-law's dress and my grandmother-in-law's dress. 

(I wish I would have had these labeled).

Old wedding pictures from my family and Dan's family. (I wish these would have been labeled as well).

The punch table and the gift table (the cards were put into a hat box - it's hidden there on the left side).

I loved borrowing glassware and doilies from family members and being able to use them at the reception, along with the old dresses and photos. It was nice connecting to historic family celebrations in that way :) 

All in all, the wedding day was a fun day (that I'm glad that I never have to do again!, Ha!)

Wedding Reminiscing [Reception Tables]

It's Anniversary Month!

Now it's time for my least favorite part of preparing for the wedding...

When I am under time crunch and there is a lot to do and a lot of people are looking at me for directions... yikes, I was not a fan. 

And yet, I know we couldn't have done all the decorating by myself and I am so very much appreciative of all my helpers... my mother, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers

Wedding Reminiscing [Pics at Home]

It's anniversary month! 

Here's a few shots from right after the ceremony...

What wedding wouldn't be complete without some car decorating?? We decided to skip the limo/party bus and just drive our own vehicles from the church to the reception (25miles apart). We also had a stop along the way... at my parents' house!

We decided to do our outside pictures at my parents' house which is in-between the church and the reception, so it worked out really well to do these pictures after the ceremony. Our only worry was that we didn't want to keep our guests waiting too long at the reception, so we tried to make this stop relatively quick. Above you see the outhouse that is now a garden shed and my old playhouse.

The playhouse has special meaning to it, as that is where Dan had proposed 6.5 months before. (My dad built the playhouse when I was still in elementary school... you can read the full proposal story here.)

We took a few pictures out in the long grass... and hoped that ticks stayed away!

And one last shot... from the old swing set :)

Wedding Reminiscing [That Morning]

It's anniversary month! 

Let's travel back 4 years to the morning of the big day...

When the girl who took these pictures was married, my friends/roomies/teammates started a tradition. We went for a run together on her wedding morning. It was no different on June 11th, four years ago. After a fun night of rehearsals and catching up with family, I woke up early with my girls and we went for a run... a few miles around the town. The fun thing with my wedding is that I grew up 20 miles away from our college town, so we were able to reminisce back to our college running days while running in celebration of my upcoming vows.

Twenty miles away at my parents' house, Dan gathered with his groomsmen, my dad and my uncle (who was staying at my parents' house). They got out targets and guns and had a fun time...

Growing up in the country certainly has its perks! (Lots of space and the neighbors aren't close enough to care about gunshots!)

After my run, I showered and headed over to the hotel where one of my cousins was staying. She works in a salon in the Cities, and I was lucky enough that she agreed do my hair and make-up! (I could really go for a nice cut and color from her right now, but now that we all have kids, the times that we actually get together are too busy for hair care! Guess I need to find someone I trust here in town... Sigh!)

Popeye Skater Dress {Plus November's ALYOF Goal}

Remember good-ol' Popeye? And his beloved Olive Oil and little Sweet Pea? 

Ok, I admit, I don't remember watching the cartoon that often... but I certainly remember his love of spinach :)

I found this knit fabric (selvedge says it was made in 1987 for Peter Pan Fabrics, Inc.) while buying a bundle of fabric from a lady on Craigslist back when we were still in Montana. I always knew it would make some really cute clothes!

Here is a Skater Dress (pattern by Kitschy-Coo) made for a sweet baby girl recently born to my first best friend (her husband was also a classmate of ours). I made the 6-12 month size (free add-on to the pattern), and I'm crossing my fingers that it will fit this coming summer.

I hope to finish Evelyn's version soon. I started them at the same time, but then some travel plans came up and I needed to finish this gift quickly. E's dress has a few differences, so I'll be sure to post it when I finish it! Actually, let's make finishing that dress my November goal. Wish me luck!

Grady's One Year Bag

You had a glimpse in this post of one of my mom's common baby gifts... the Monikered Baby Bag. Evelyn attended her first birthday party of a friend last month, and I decided to make him a bag! His mother is expecting another little one this summer and I look forward to making that baby one as well!

These bags are perfect for carrying toys and books... they can even double as a diaper bag. Evelyn's cousins in California use them for church activity bags - each boy has his own bag, which makes for less fighting :) We use Evelyn's for her toy bag when we travel back and forth to the grandparents' house.

Mom used to make these in only one color of corduroy (I still have mine somewhere in my old bedroom). Now, the corduroy is only used as the lining, while we use interfaced cottons and old blue jeans on the outside. This was my first time making one myself (well, Mom helped with the letters and the denim pockets), and I have a few more in my to-sew pile. Maybe one of these days I'll write a "tutorial," although, these are very adaptable - they have to be with all the different lengths of names out there - so the tutorial would be more like guidelines than actual rules ;)


Linking up to Ellison Lane's Crafty Traveler Linky Party

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a fun and safe Thanksgiving! 

May you be surrounded by loved ones on this happy day!

(This was the 115th postcard I scanned. I have scanned a total of 168 so far, with quite a few left to go. I love these postcards!)

7 month Ramblings...

Last week, Evelyn passed her 7th month mark... here's what she's been up to!

• Up, up and up! If she can pull herself up on something, she'll find it. This bookshelf is around and behind a couch, but she found it! And now, it's one of her favorite places to be. I like to think it's because she loves book, but really, she just wants to feel like a big girl and pull herself up. 
• The first place she ever starting moving upwards was on her changing table in the bathroom. Even weeks later, it's still cheap entertainment for when Mommy needs to do her -ahem- business. 
• You can see in the top picture that she's up on her feetsies... you'd think it would be easier just to stay on her knees while playing with her bouncy chair, but nope... that's not good enough. Little E needs to be on her feet.
•  

Smiles. AND TEETH! This past month she gained 4 pearly whites on the top. This brings the total to 6. Three of them poked through during the same week... let's just say that she earned a new nickname (lil' monster). She is also earning those monstery stripes this past week... we're both fighting colds (and the time change is still affecting us), so she has not been sleeping well...

• We spent one weekend up with my parents - look at us being all helpful in the garden with Grandpa! Ok, really, she is just enjoying some more crunchy leaves. But I'd like to think we were helpful in the same way that being entertaining is helpful :)
• I made her a bow to match a dress for family pictures (you'll see those pictures around Christmas time).
• We had a shopping day with one of my college friends/teammates. E had her first experience strapped in the kid's seat of the Target shopping cart. I can't decide if I want to make/buy a shopping seat cover. Do you think it's necessary?
• Ev's second cousin came over for a play date. He's about 8 months older that she is, so she had someone to push her around in the walker!
• We said "see-you-later" to Evelyn's aunt and uncle this past month... they're off to New Zealand for two years. But before they left, E got one last piano lesson with Auntie Amy :) 

Her formal monthly pictures will be posted soon, too! Sorry there hasn't been many project posts lately. I'm squeezing in some sewing here and there, but limited time (lil monster!) and limited quality light in my sewing area hasn't really motivated me to blog about my two current projects! Hopefully soonish...