Welcome To The Family

This last week, we added several members to our new family.  A few weeks ago, hubby came home with a kitten in our garage.  He fed it dog food.  And then my brillant, allergic to cats husband decided we should keep it.  He wants an indoor/outdoor cat that will keep the rodent population down.  Well, she came back.  Apparently the neighbors on both sides of us have been feeding her.  They probably bought cat food.  We fed her canned chicken and tuna.  Because that's what we had.  So this week I bought actual cat food.  And she's stayed around.  I couldn't get her in to the vet to get fixed or shots till the beginning of October.  So here she is.  Meet Hurricane.

And even though her name is Hurricane.  I'll call her Hurri.  And that is what happens when you live in a house with boys.

We also got a couple turtles.  Those were brought by my mother in law.  Apparently she bought a turtle for every grandchild.  Glad we only have 2 kids.  Anyways.  They're the kind of turtles that hibernate from the end of October to March/April.  That's my kind of pet.  And they live outside.  Once they get a little bigger.  And then when they wake up for the summer, we can get them tagged.  But until then, here they are.  I call Rionn's turtle Tubby.  He's always eating.  And Jet's is named Speedy.  They'll probably end up with some ninja turtle name.  But until then, I'm keeping Tubby and Speedy.

The Pinterest Shirt

I love doing 5k races.   I absolutely hate the bulk t-shirts that you get when you do one.  As a plus size woman, they are neither comfortable or flattering.  So I searched pinterest after deciding that I don't need to do a tshirt memory quilt.  So I decide to retrofit it.  And I came up with a tank design that I figured would be easy and cute.  And not to mention time saving.  So this is how I turned this shirt into a tank.

So I started by cutting off arms and the neck.  But here's where I changed it from the pinterest version.  I cut in a straight line just below the neck in the front.  And from the ends of the shoulders in a straight line in the back.  The pinterest version cut straight across the front 1-2" down from the bottom of the collar.  I tried that an a previous shirt.  And it made the shirt way too short.  And the part of the "sleeve" that goes under your arm was too tight.  It was less comfortable than before I hacked it all up.  But altering the pattern on the neck line was better.  That way it kept it's length but fit a bit better in the arms.   It also allowed all the printing on the front and the back to be fully seen.  I used red thread on this shirt so it kinda blended in with the printing.  Depending on the shirt, you'll definitely be sewing over the printing.  

City Fun Days

This last weekend, I didn't get much crafting or sewing done.  It was our city fun days.  They hold a 2 day crazy event weekend every September.  The kick off the weekend with a 5k early Saturday morning.  We did it.  One of hubby's coworkers drove up to run with us and so did a family friend and her son.  Rionn roller bladed the whole the time.  And his buddy rode his scooter.  Hubby's coworker ran the whole thing.  And our friend stayed with the boys.  Jet slept in the stroller the whole race.  LOL.  But there had to be half our city running/skating/walking this year.  I ended up walking with some of the other Kenpo moms that were pushing strollers.

The first 1,000 registered people got t-shirts.  I turned mine into a tank top while Jet was taking nap #2.  I ordered Jet a youth xsmall.  It was still to big.

After the 5K we went to the car and got chairs and walked back to main street to watch the parade.  Rionn's school was in the parade this year.  As well as some of his buddies.   Jet was so excited about the parade.  I forgot this was his first parade where he was aware of his surroundings.  And he loved every minute of it.

Then after the parade, the city has booths, and live bands, and carnival games, and food trucks at the lake.  And boy did the boys have fun.  We went home for lunch and naps.  At the lake, we had tacos from the taco truck.  And went around to all the games and rides.  Jet was too small still for all of the stuff so he made me chase him every second of the evening and late afternoon.  My mother in law came because she loves the lake part of the weekend and the fireworks.  She helped me chase.  

And after the concerts and games were over, they had their fireworks show.  Our city has one of the best around.  Everyone gathers at the soccer fields behind to watch the fireworks.  Not only are they well choreographed, but it looks like you can reach up and touch them.  And I also forgot that this was Jet's first real fireworks show.  And he oohhed and ahhed.  He was so captivated in them.  I think.  It was either the fireworks or the granola bar he had.  Then we came home and headed for bed.  It was a long day.  We stayed home Sunday.  We were tired from all of Saturday's activities.  But I'm sure everyone that went back the second day had a great time.  

Feeling A Little Baggy

Rionn's little friend had a birthday this weekend.  And well, what do you get a 9 year old girl?  Well, my kiddo thinks that girls want cars, transformers, and star wars stuff.  As well as legos.  But, being a female, and a once 9 year old, I knew that really boyish stuff wasn't going to fly.  And we've also known this girl since kindergarten.  So after he got some mood telling jewelry and dice earrings while we were in Vegas, I got to thinking.  I figured that I could make her a purse/tote since I have a super easy pattern.  So I made a purse.  I very girly purse

I had some leftover fabric from the slings that I made.  And I had some bandana fabric too. (Her party was camo/hunting themed.) And then I had just enough silver fabric for the lining.  

She loved it.  And she liked the mood stuff too.  But her parents were so excited that she got a big girl purse.  While I'm flattered, I'm not really sure that this is a real grown up purse.  It may be in shape or size.  But I'm no Louis Vuitton.  Yet.

The Baby Bundle

My mother called me the other day.  She needed a baby quilt, ringsling, and changing pad.  In just a couple days.  And she didn't want to spend a bunch a money.  LOL.  So I pulled out some extra squares from a previous baby quilt order, and pulled out a changing pad that was already cut out.  So I got off the phone with my mom and went online to order rings.  After that I got the rings ordered, I got another phone call to drop off a packaged that was left in the car from weekend.  Which happened to be over by JoAnn's.  I dropped off the package,  Stopped by JoAnn's to buy fabric for the ringsling and quilt back.  I also needed batting and thread.  And headed home to start sewing.

I started with the changing pad.  By the time I got home, it was almost 10:30 and our school district gets out early on Wednesdays.  So I put the changing pad together after I put the over tired toddler down for a nap.  I finished the changing pad just in time for school pickup, snack time, and karate.

Thursday I started on the quilt.  I had extra squares from a baby quilt I did right before Jet was born.  Luckily there was a mix up when I ordered that fabric.  So I had tons extra.  I didn't even need to add a border.  So I dropped Rionn off at school.  And started sewing squares together.  Once the grumpy toddler was down for a nap, the sewing went together much more quickly.  But all in all, it turned cute.  I was almost secretly hoping she wouldn't like it and I could keep it.  But she said it was fine.

Yesterday I made the ringsling.  I had to wait for the rings.  So I cut, hemmed, and prepped for the rings.  Luckily they came around lunch time.  And so I finished it.  And just in time.  My mother came to pick up the baby stuff.

                                     

So I've decided that I'm going to call this the baby bundle.  I mean, what new mom doesn't need an all in one changing pad, a baby quilt, and a baby carrier?  I may make them in matching sets and sell them.  But probably not until I have a preschooler, and uninterrupted sewing time. 

Of course that may be a while.  I mean, Jet just turned 18 months old.  

Dying A Little

I was going through my closest trying to pack for a weekend getaway.   And I had no clue what to pack or even wear.  We were headed to Las Vega  n to meet up with some friends.  And I came across my wedding dress.  We didn't didn't have a fancy wedding.  In fact we had a courthouse wedding in Vegas.  So I thought I'd dye it so I could wear it.  It's a great sundress.  It's just white.  And I'm not exactly great at keeping things clean.  The dye I got was denim.  And while I was going for navy, I figured it would be dark enough.  I'm happy with it.  It didn't turn out navy.  But it's definitely not white.   And I already have cute shoes to go with it. 

A Little Carried Away

A couple weeks ago, I had a friend mention on Facebook how she hated her store bought pouch sling but her new squish loved it.  So I offered to make her one.  I asked her what she liked color and pattern wise.  She told me teal, gray, polka dots, and chevron.  So I found this fabric.  Pretty much hits the nail on the head, right?

And then, because I didn't buy or make her anything for her shower, I decided to make her a backup one.  Or since it's a little on the dressy side, a night out sling.  Because let's face it, breastfeeding mother's don't get to go out much.  But there may be occasion where it's needed.

 So I spent the weekend sewing slings.  And thinking how my babies are growing up way too fast.  But that's ok.  There's always time for new chapters in our life.  And Jet hasn't totally lost the baby in him yet.  He still hasn't started talking.