More Hooded Towels

This is a burgundy strip towel with a solid hood and bias tape in the color of denim. I thought the contrast looked very nice.

Blue & Brown strip with blue hood.
"All wrapped up"

How it looks from the back.

Names all embroidered

Close up of the hood and embroidery

Closeup of the blue hood

I loved making these and giving these. So much fun!!

Hooded Bath Towels

Hooded Bath Towels were "The Gift" for the holidays this year. They were so much fun to make and didn't take all that long.

Some of the monkeys modeling....

They are a very nice size and hopefully absorbent!

Each one is personalized by hand - my zig zag stitch could use some improvement!!

These made their way all the way to New York.

I used this tutorial to make them: http://www.makeandtakes.com/easy-hooded-bath-towel

and it was very clear and easy to follow.

Bijouterie

These are my first go at wire knitting. It took most of one day to figure out how to get it to work. They still do not look like the pattern picture, but I think they are very pretty and the recipients will love them!!

Made for 14yo daughter
For 11yo daughter

For 8yo daughter

Bijouterie

from Knitty.com

I used regular dead soft 28 gauge craft wire - single strand

Size 5 triange beads (instead of the pearls-I liked the colors better)

Very fun to do, but also very hard on my index finger. It is bruised!

Blended

We have a blended family. I celebrate Christmas and my husband celebrates Hanukkah. Makes it kind of great for the kids :o) Every year my in-laws host a Holiday party and all the cousins (or most of them) come. We only give presents to the kids and then we have a gift exchange for the adults. It's one of those games where all the gifts are piled up in the middle of the room and each person who brings a gift gets a number. Then we start opening the presents in number order - the person with number 1 opens a gift first, then #2 and so on. When your turn comes up, you can either choose an unopened gift or "steal" one from someone else who has already opened up a gift. Choosing a gift for this exchange has been kind of a stressor for my husband and I. Some of his cousins truly have everything. This year I decided to make our gift - it will be interesting to see how it is received.
We chose Hanukkah coasters because the majority of the people at this party celebrate Hanukkah. The total cost (I am planning on making 8) is approximately $12.

One finished coaster. These are very easy and so much fun!!

In the end there will be two of each design.

5 more coasters to go!

This is a free pattern over at The Purl Bee

How to keep the 4yo busy.....

while helping older kids with homework...

scissors, wrapping paper, & glue.....
regular paper and a tray to protect the table from the glue.

lots of glueing and fun

some of these I helped cut out - because I was "playing" with him.

He decided to start cutting the animals in half and putting them on the paper like a puzzle. He really thought this was a hoot!! It also bought me 30 minutes of time for one of the other kids to read out loud to me. Phew!!

Poor baby.....

My poor baby is sick. Lots of fluids, reading of books and some TV.

Another Santa Cross Stitch update

Frantic and furious would be the description of the work being put in on this Santa Christmas stocking that was supposed to only take a year to complete. The general thought was that consistent attention and by consistent is meant daily - it would be a cake walk to complete not only the stitching, but also the sewing together to make the stocking.

The above is the last progress shot.
Here is the top of the stocking - lots done

Here is the middle/part of the bottom - lots done.

This is the stocking progress in full as of 2 days ago. Lots done - lots still to be finished. While it is the journey that is important (and believe me, the journey is still so much fun), the finished product is important also. This is not a surprise gift, DD#1 knows all about it - she also now knows that unless by some miracle there are a few more weeks added between now and December 25th, there is no way the stocking will be ready. She is fine with that - "Mom, that's ok" she said, "I will love it whenever it is finished." With those words echoing in my head, and the understanding from such a young person, the race is on to see if the impossible can indeed be made possible!

Halloween Humor and Fabric Pumpkins

We love to decorate for Halloween and we also like to make some of our decorations.

These are little fabric pumpkins that the kids sewed by hand.

We went out to the yard to find twigs for the stems.
A little 4yo decorating humor.
He placed this skeleton jumping with his hands in the air...
Everytime he walked by he would crack up laughing.

Liked the first one soooo much had to do the next one the same way!
Note missing foot and half a leg - eaten by our STILL teething dog, Kate.
Yes, she eats everything......I think she has goat somewhere in her family tree!

This is teen humor. That is the door to our bathroom...

To make the pumpkins we first traced circles onto fabric. We had several different fabrics.

Then we cut out the circles.

and the fun began. This is at about 6:30am one Saturday in October.

Now you know how we spend our weekend mornings!!

They all loved this craft! I thought it was great that they can all sew.

Look at that concentration - this is his first time with a needle and thread. I know, I know "Bad Mommy!" - our first child was 18 mos old when she learned and she had her own embroidery hoop at that age!! Well......life takes over!

After sewing around the edge of the circles, pull up thread to form a cup and stuff.

Get some twigs from the backyard.

This was easier for some more than others..

Stick the twig in the top, pull tight, knot and presto! A pumpkin!!

Finishing up.

Helping a sibling. The hardest part was getting the string to knot tight enough around the twig to get it to stay in.

"I want to make one into a purse....."

After a lot of work and more stitching by mommy than by boy, we have a pouch to carry "treasures"

Her wee tiny pumpkin.

This one loves ALL crafts and these are only two of many that she cranked out in a relatively short period of time! No pictures of the teen -- she slept in until around 9:30 or so and made hers then. But the rest of us were on to breakfast and other things by then. Oh....to be 14 again.....and to be able (and allowed) to sleep in until it is actually light outside!!

Most of the pumpkins all together.