Christmas Mitts!

This project is still a work in progress. With the addition of another layer of Insulbright in The Idea Room's updated oven mitt tutorial, I realized that my binding could be a little wider. I missed the tape a couple of times so it looks a little messy. And that is why these will be my Christmas oven mitts and not wrapped and under a tree. So, until I can get wider binding this week...this project will have to be on pause.

Teaching Moment

We know that B is still too young to fully understand a lot of things but we also know that his mind is like a sponge right now. He is taking in so much information with all of his senses, sometimes it is hard to make sure that it is all positive.
Today, we got out a gift a couple of friends gave us for Christmas last year. This little Nativity is a great interactive tool to tell the story of Jesus' birth. It will be a tradition in our house to read it and open all of the boxes and set the Nativity up before Christmas.
This year, we had a little issue with B trying to eat the book and all of the pieces but I think that he thought that all parts of the scene were pretty cool.

Getting In Gear

So this week, I plan on cranking out handmade gifts like my life depended on it. I completed one and a half projects tonight. Well...kind of. One project was more of a test run and now I have to figure out what I need to do to make it better. I won't say who the gifts are for but I wanted to go ahead and post them in case anyone needed a couple of good project ideas for gifts.

I really liked these towels from Pottery Barn Kids so I went searching online for a way to make my own. This kid's hooded towel was made from Skip To My Lou's tutorial. It was very easy to make and add a little personality to. I've seen a few patterns/tutorials on these and like this kind of full bath towel shape the best. I think that it will last longer for growing kids.

As you can see, one of my models was more than willing to pose for the camera, but since he was unable to er...stand on his own. I went with the vacuum for the full length shot.



I made my own binding with fabric specifically purchased for this project and I'm very happy with how both towels turned out. Hopefully their new owner will like them too!



Check back tomorrow and I will hopefully have another project completed! :-)

Happy Anniversary! 5 Years!

One day at...


this girl...


met this boy...


They fell in love and exchanged these...


A couple of years later they adopted this little cutie...


Then a few more years went by and they came home with this little cutie...


Sweetie,
Thanks for balancing me out and sharing everything with me for the past 5 years. I can't wait to see what the next 50 have in store for us!

I love you!
P

Goodness Gracious!

It's December 10th already and I have to turn this...



into this! All before Christmas!

For The Men In Your Lives

Well, at least for the little guys...but who knows, maybe you know a big guy who would like one of these. I made the following for our friends, Ordell and Beth's youngest son's birthday. He turns the big '3' on Saturday. He is really into toy trains and cars so when I saw this car cozie tutorial, I thought of his upcoming b'day. Hopefully, he will like it and it will be a great traveling companion for the whole family. I made two of these this week, one according to My Little Gems pattern with a ribbon tie and one with a velcro closure. After I made the ribbon one, I thought about the many times the little one would be asking mommy or daddy to tie the roll closed for them and that just might start getting old for mommy and daddy. So voila! Velcro to the rescue! It was a pretty easy tutorial and I thought that it turned out pretty good. B may be getting one of these babies next year! Here is another tutorial with a little variation on Homemade by Jill.

Don't Judge...

...unless you have the entire story. This is what I was thinking today as I was walking around our small-town grocery store with B strapped into the cart. There, I felt many mothers' eyes fall upon my child. You see, my son managed to somehow get into the store with only one sock on. And yes it is quite chilly outside today. But no, he did not leave the house that way nor did he get into the car that way. But somewhere between the car and the area in the store where you pick-up a cart we were solo on the socks. He didn't seem to mind and I wasn't going back out to look for it since I was only there to get out of the house and to get a couple of things. I got a few comments from folks, pointing his bare digits out to me. I'm sure they were just trying to be helpful... Then I saw a more eyes being drawn to the sockless foot and even a couple disapproving shakes of the head. Am I that bad of a mother? No. They don't know that my 7 month old gets his kicks from pulling socks off and hiding them from his mother. For some reason I have been resistant to putting shoes on B. He can't walk, why does he need them? I guess my answer is, to hold the socks on.