Togetherness Makes: Part III

 After a trip to Anthropologie, Mom and I were inspired to make Christmas tea towels.  Kristin stopped by to share her scraps and add to the general festive fury.  We came up with some cute appliques.  I'm not sure what to do with mine, though.  Open my Etsy shop again?  Give them as gifts?  Keep them all for myself? 

We also whipped up some new pj's for Lucy and Henry.  

  

These pj's for Henry almost got finished.  They still need buttons and hemming.  Thankfully, I still have a couple more weeks until Christmas to finish them!

Togetherness Makes: Part II

I saw this on MarthaStewart.com and thought it would be a fun project to do with Lucy and Mom.  The project was kind of addictive and fairly inexpensive to do, albeit sticky.  I think we all had stomach aches from eating too many gumdrops by the time we were done.  But, it was definitely worth it! 

You can find instructions to make your own gumdrop wonderland by clicking here.

christmas birdie

Christmas Birdie Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Togetherness Makes: Part I

Petit Jean

It's pronounced "Petty Jeen", for anyone not from Arkansas and it was our first stop on a whirl wind week with Grandma J (aka the other half of this blog).  It was our first visit to the state park and we couldn't decide if we had just missed the peak Autumn colors or if we had had such a dry summer, the trees didn't have it in them to put on a show.  But, the weather was perfect for picnicking and the hikes were great.  Lucy found lots of bugs to her immense delight.

This little grasshopper offered bunches of entertainment (and a little terror) when it hopped from Lucy's hand to Grandma's shirt.  

                                       

We hiked to a couple of caves.  This first one had faint pictographs on the rock ceiling. 

Part of the hike travels over these "Turtle Rocks", which we though were volcanic but I think there was a sign that said the cracks were caused by erosion.

The last cave we made it to was called "Bear Cave".  This is a picture of two bears and one baby squirrel:

This was the perfect way to kick off a full week of fun.  Stay tuned to see what else togetherness makes!

Shutterfly Offer

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is sending out (and receiving) Christmas cards.  I love to see how friends near and far have spent their year, where they've been , changes that have happened over the past 12 months, how their kids have grown, etc.  I love picking out a card that represents our little family and hope it will brighten its receivers day.  I love addressing envelopes and attaching Christmas stamps.  I love this tradition so much that I usually buy my cards during post holiday sales and save them in my stationary closet (don't judge me) until the next year.  This year, however, something even more delightful has presented itself.  Shutterfly is giving away 50 free photo cards for bloggers.  I saw this offer on my friend Jen's blog and thought I'd give it a try.  So, now, comes the fun (read hard) part... choosing which Shutterfly card to order!  I've got a few ideas, but am nowhere near a decision.  There are so many cute cards to choose from!  We already have our Christmas family photo, so I'm looking at cards that will compliment the coloring and orientation of the picture.  I really like the idea of the story cards.  Which one do you like best?  

If you would like a Christmas card from me, please let me know by posting a comment!  If you are a blogger and want to get in on this amazing deal, click here:

http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

A Re-Gift, of Sorts

A while ago, my good friend Wendy sent me a little package in the mail.  I love Wendy and I love packages, so I knew it was going to be good.  The package was full of Laura Gunn's Lantern's Bloom fabric.  Specially cut yards from Laura's PERSONAL collection.  That's right.  Fabric sent straight from the designer's studio.  Does it get any better that that?  I am a lucky girl to have friends with such connections.  I wanted to think of something extra special to make with such an extra special gift.  Something about this fabric really reminded me of another friend.  Every time I looked at it I wanted to make something for her.  As her birthday approached I started this quilt.  And then her birthday passed and it wasn't finished.  But, I finally got a chance to finish it up and I think it turned out really neat!  Happy (late) birthday Emily!

I followed the same general idea I had for this quilt I made last year out of scraps from my local fabric store's "garage sale".

Made From a Sheet and Not a Ghost!

When I was a kid, the default Halloween costume was cutting two eye holes in an old bed sheet and throwing it over your head. Presto! You were a ghost! It was the one costume that accommodated that bulky jacket Mom insisted you wear on those chilly Pacific Northwest Halloween nights. Well, this year, I put old bed sheets to other uses.

21 month old grandson, Benjamin, wanted to be a chef like Daddy! Using an old white sheet and Simplicity pattern 3650 make believe dreams come true.

Several years ago, Dan attended culinary school but lost his chef hat. I made one for him using the pattern for kids, just made the circle top two inches wider and adjusted the band length to fit an adult head.


Ben turns his back on two cousins who have come trick or treating at Granna's house. The blue alien costume is one I made for Uncle Peter 30 years ago!




Grandsons enjoy Halloween cupcakes decorated with marshmallows, white chocolate chips, gummy pumpkins and lots of sprinkles. As much fun to eat as they are to make! Perfect treat after all that trick or treating.

Leah wanted to be Princess Leia for Halloween and insisted on a hood attached to her white dress. How to do that with a back closure? With small white buttons on the shoulders, the hood is attached with thread loops. You can barely see it in this picture. I fashioned the dress from another old sheet and a basic costume pattern (Simplicity 3595--love those $.99 pattern sales!). I used the dress view and made it longer, added a zipper closure in the back, flared out the sleeves and made a slightly V-shaped belt that buttons in the back. Velcro would also work. I also added a little mandarin collar for that Tatooine look!

\\

Holiday Dish Towels

I made these for Jenny's birthday. I wish I knew what kind of fabric the off-white is. I bought it two years ago at JoAnn's and they don't seem to have it anymore. It is 100% cotton woven fabric, almost like a tight waffle weave. I stitched a narrow band of contrasting fabric to a holiday print strip about six inches wide. Then I stitched the right side of the contrast piece to the wrong side of the white. When I flipped the print piece to the right side of the white, I pressed about an inch of the white piece up, giving an extra band of white below the contrast piece. I top stitched the both sides of the narrow contrast band. Next, I pressed under 1/4 inch at the top of the accent piece and top stitched it in place. Then I pressed a 1/4 inch hem on the sides and top of the dishtowel and stitched.

On the Halloween towel pictured here, I simply attached the wider piece to the white fabric so when I flipped it over the narrow band was at the top.