back to school sew along part 2

Several weeks ago Meagan posted on her blog about a "back to school sew along", perfect just what I needed for a little motivation with a pattern I have had for awhile....lookie what I made with it....Here is Emily "modeling" her new jumper...problem is....apparently she "just isn't into wearing skirts/dresses anymore" WHAT THE?????!!!!! There was a time that I could not even beg or plead or bribe the girl to wear leggings let along a pair of jeans (gasp!!)



Anyway....I had to bribe her to do this little "photo shoot" with some pumpkin pie...good grief, some people's children....

She chose the orange buttons which I was pleasantly surprised because usually everything is pink or purple or lately a little turquoise but orange was not what I expected when I asked her to pick the buttons.....AND...pay no attention to the gap in the middle of the jumper, I did not buy enough buttons but will be this week so the little scrapper can wear this when I beg and plead now that "she just isn't into wearing skirts/dresses" what the?!!!!!!!?!?!?!?

Somewhat of a happy camper...knowing she has pumpkin pie coming.......

disguising a DS

Recently a little girl in our house got a Nintendo DS for her 7th Birthday, I'm told this is just the beginning of electronics (and expensive) gadgets for kids these days....lovely....anyways....I thought being the "sewing mamma" that I am.....hey....that is an idea for a DS game...they have Cookin Mamma....how about a Sewing Mamma?......anyways....











This is what I came up with for her to use to store her DS. I used some of my cutsie, girlie fabrics, lined one of the linings with batting for a little extra cushion when dropped and reinforced the handle with some cording I had from another crafty project....

Then to close the bag I used a good, sticky Velcro....works like a charm! I got this pattern from Sweetwater last year when I won 7 of their patterns off their blog...this one is called "little details" so easy and so, so quick. Speaking of Sweetwater.....take a lookie at their blog....they gave a couple "sneak peaks" at a new line they have coming out in 2011........holy cuteness! DARLING!!!

I did a little fabric shopping last week on fabric.com (gotta love free shipping all the time on any purchase over 35.00!)....got a few prints I had been eyeing for a while....these 2 are from the Robert Kaufman line "metro cafe" I did not know what I wanted to use it for so I only bout 1/2 yard of each....I have a feeling I should have ordered more.

sweet girl

Today is my little EmJem's 7th birthday...how time flies......we had a little family party last weekend, it was strawberry themed, she and I were really happy with how it turned out (I don't think anyone else noticed, ha ha!)
We found a little strawberry necklace at the mall, so cute!

She wanted pink (of course) cupcakes so we did 1/2 pink and 1/2 white and had little "7" flags and strawberry picks in them and some of the food trays. I had also found some fake strawberrys at Michael's so we put those out on the table too along with some strawberry candy and strawberry gum.

Here she is with her DS (enter singing of angels here)

Last but not least I took Emily, her brother and my niece to Build A Bear yesterday so she could pick out a little something for "Cutie" her cat...oh to be 7 again.........

back to school sew along

So a local gal...Megan....writes "crafty" articles for the Spokesman Review is having a "back to school sew along" thought I would join....gives me motivation to start and finish something with a time line, GASP!!! I have had this pattern for a year....maybe 2? Time to get crackalackin! Bad picture (I know!) but here is a picture of the pattern with the fabric that I helped Emily pick out (since this is for her) she originally picked a fabric with owls on it but standing in line at JoAnn's I kept going back and forth in my head about things she has that would "go" with the owls and it just wasn't happening....so on to plan "B"...the chocolate brown with all the colorful bubbles...perfect...

So here is the fabric.....it is 9.99 a yard...I needed 2 1/3 yards...had a scratch off coupon worth 70% off....got the fabric with tax for 7.87! YAHOO! I can't wait to get started on this....I was so excited too when I started reading the directions (always a good thing) and realized the buttons I was dreading to put on the jumper...just for DECORATION....Sweet! no button holes to make!!!

I don't know if I will get this done by the first day of school (September 1) but I know I will have it done by the cut off for the "sew along" in mid September.....

berry birthday

We have a berry special birthday in the house this month....Emily will be turning 7. My hubs happens to be out of town on a business trip on her actual birthday so we will be celebrating a little early this year...just decided this a few days ago...the date...that was it....until Monday night when I stumbled up some berry cute strawberry and gingham paper napkins and cups for .60 cents for each package at Michael's! I was so excited, they are so stinkin cute....I ran the berry idea past Emily and she loved it. Also while at Michael's I strolled through the clearance isle and what do I see? Two darling packages of strawberries (see below in photo) for 1.99 each....adrenaline is pumping, ideas running through my head, fun fun fun!!!

Up until last year for Emily's birthday we always had her parties at home, simple, had a few friends over but the $$ always adds up so fast for the gift, goodie bags, decorations, food, invites, the time, energy...it can get a little crazy....last year we let her have her party at Chuck E. Cheese :/. I will admit it was nice having someone else do the party, tell the kids what to do, where to go and the little goody bags were included so was the hefty price attached with it for food, etc. Emily really, really wants a Nintendo DS this year, really bad....so I told her she could have a friend party or a DS...decisions, decisions....she settled on the DS...we still want to celebrate her and her day so we are having just a small family gathering to celebrate her with some family goodies from Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins....keeping it simple and small along with the price tag for the theme....so far so good....I have also picked up some darling cupcake wrappers, happened to see some cute "berry sweet" ribbon on an end cap (once again at Michael's) and used a 40% off coupon for the paper/envelopes for the invites, these cost me next to nothing!

We are leaving Sunday for 5 days to Seattle then her party is a few days after we get back so I am trying to get it all out in my head what we are going to use for a little decor here and there and the goodies and food but I am keeping it simple and inexpensive, still gotta get that DS!!

teacher gift 2010

The school year will come to an end for Emily on Friday, summer here we come!! Once again we just loved her teacher. Last year I made her kindergarten teacher a special gift. This year it was Mrs. Brunton's turn. :) I used several Moda Sweetwater au.then.tic charm packs....instead of running to the store for one more pack I used up some of my stash....I think it turned out really well. During the school year I emailed the student teacher for her class asking her to snoop around for me and find out Mrs. Brunton's favorite color.....green.....lots of green in this quilt!

Here is a close up of the label....I even found some flannel fabric with green in it for the backing.

All wrapped up ready for a gift bag.

Here is Mrs. Brunton and Emily after opening her gift, all smiles by everyone. (Emily is wearing a crown because they celebrated her birthday at school today, it is not until August though)

Emily's first quilt

A week or so before my birthday last month Emily kept telling me about something she was making me at school. Everyday she would come home and tell me she had worked on this present. Finally she got off the bus one day and I noticed she had a little project in her hot little hands. She was BEAMING, so excited! I thought I knew what it was but just to be sure I said "tell me about it" (instead of "WHAT IS IT??") she was jumping up and down, it's a quilt! it's a quilt!! for you for your birthday! Emily's first quilt, for me. :)

This top photo is the actual project she put so much time and effort into. Look at all the triangles, look at all the nicely cut squares and the big rectangle, she was so proud of herself. She said she used pink in it because that is her favorite color and she used yellow in it because that was my favorite color as a little girl...the green, red and purple...that is because she is a 6 year old girl I guess, I think the pattern is cute too. I really love it. She had some time to kill so she did another "quilt" on the back. This larger one got cut down but I had to take a picture of it too. I have now framed my birthday quilt and have it in my craft room.

What I think is so neat about Emily's first quilt is that she gave it to ME. I think it was about 15 years ago my mom took a quilt class. The first quilt she made was a wall hanging, she gave it to my Grandma, her mother. After finding out my mom had taken a quilt class I thought to myself (no offense mom) "if my mom can quilt, then I can quilt" so I took a quilt class and gave that first project to my mom. Now years later my daughter gave me her first quilt, even though it is not made out of fabric it is made out of love and I know she was thinking of me the entire time she made it, I just love it.

teacher gift

Pictures of a table runner I made Emily's first grade teacher...used up a bunch of Christmas themed scraps I had lying around....Emily said she loved it :)

all she wants for Christmas....

...is her two front teeth! :)

first day of the first grade

Today is Emily's first day of school...big 1st grader!!little brother getting in on the photo actionDaddy walking Em into school (mommy is the photographer) This is Emily's good buddy Bradley....they went to 2 years of pre-school together then we realized we lived in the same school district, went to kindergarten in the same class and again this year :)

Emily with her new teacher

6 years ago last night....

August 25, 2003 ...I had a baby girl...we named her Emily Margit....she made me a momma....I love her to bits...I am her Kanga and she is my roo....

girls weekend

The Divine Miss. Em and I are going on a road trip this weekend...yahoo...we are going to Seattle! While staying with my bff Cheyenne we are going to go to Ikea and this store Daiso, it is like a dollar store but a Japanese dollar store, whoo hoo!! We are also going to visit a couple other bff's from growing up (I have a lot of bff's because I never had any sisters!) Hope everyone has a good weekend.....My husband, son and 15 year old nephew are taking out our new camper/trailer for its maiden voyage!!

teacher gift

Emily had the best teacher this past school year, Mrs. Clarkson....love her! All of us in our family love her, love her, love her!! She is the best!

One example of why we love, love, love her...in February Emily passed out at school, fell on the black top, head first, threw up...then a 911 call and her first and hopefully last ride as a patient in an ambulance....Mrs. Clarkson was so sweet...that night I called her to give her an update and she said "how is our girl?" I just love this woman you can tell she truly loves each of her kindergartners!

I wanted to give Mrs. Clarkson something to show her how much I appreciate all of the blood, sweat and tears that she put into my child for this past school year so I whipped up a nice sized patchwork throw for her to use while watching a movie, snuggling under to keep her warm and cozy and this is what I came up with.