Pumpkins

We won't be in our current house for Halloween.  Hopefully we'll still find something fun for Little Sir to do on the other side of the state (hopefully we aren't so exhausted from the move that we don't feign a complete lack of knowledge of the holiday.)

Before we knew we were going to be moving so soon I had started a makeover on my small nod to fall.  I finished it up today (as I'm trying to finish all of my in-progress projects before we pack up our lives.)

Little Sir LOVES pumpkins.  In fact his very first outing ever was to a pumpkin patch.

This is him at just over a year.

 And last year.

I'm betting that there will be a fun place near Omak to find pumpkins this year, but in the mean time, we can enjoy some that won't spoil if I forget to unpack them!

The biggest one was at Target, must have been left over from last year, as it was in their clearance section for a dollar.  I just dusted it with a little gold spray paint.
   

 The middle one I found at Ross.  It was kind of country-ish colors so I spray painted it copper and then dusted it with gold as well.
 

The small one came from Joanne's.  It was your typical orange resin decorative pumpkin.  Not my style, so it got a couple of coats of cream paint, then a dusting of copper, and finally some glaze.

With the delightful enthusiasm of a three year old, Little Sir thinks they are wonderful.  I kind of like them myself.

A Wreath Commitment (for the children!)

I'm not really a person who decorates for the different holidays and seasons.  It's not that I don't like seasonal decorations, my Mom always had cute decorations for the holidays.  I just have a hard enough time keeping my house dusted and vacuumed.  I don't want my valentines decorations still up at Easter, and I know that is what would happen, so my holiday/ seasonal decorations are minimal, very minimal. 

Little Sir is a very passionate and excited child, though.  Last year after he went to bed on "his" Christmas Eve I felt a little guilty so I threw up a garland, a strand of lights and a few ornaments.  (We celebrate early because we usually spend Christmas in Utah with family.)  He was in awe, I think it is the only time I've ever seen him (even briefly) demonstrate reverence.  He also LOVES pumpkins because of Halloween, and last year we didn't even carve them, we just put them out on our front porch.

So, I decided that I didn't need to make myself crazy, but I could still brighten things up a bit by at least changing out my wreath.  This means I either have to buy or make a wreath for every season except Christmas.  We always have an evergreen wreath at Christmas.  I LOVE the smell of the branches, and it is easy, so it's a tradition I embrace.

OK, so fall/ autumn/ harvest. . .



I do love fall leaves, but I wanted something different than the usual fall leaves on a grapevine wreath.  The wreath is a simple willow wreath from the dollar store which I spray painted a glossy black.

 
I chose a wreath garland from Joann's that was very neutral, no bright oranges and yellows.  I wanted something a little more subdued.  I dusted the garland with a gold spray paint, lighter in some areas, heavier in others.


The pumpkins are foam pumpkins that I Modge Podged aluminum foil to and then glazed.  (This took WAY longer than I should have let it, but I just love how those little pumpkins turned out!


 They are simply hot glued to the willow wreath after the leaf garland was carelessly wrapped around and secured.


The little nests are made from corn husks.


Which got lightly dusted with a cooper color.

So happy and fallish, it even inspired me to buy a small fall decoration for my home.  Details coming soon. . . .

A Frugal Fix

Little Sir it getting bigger and as his body grows so does his will.  He has officially given up sitting in his awesome high chair (scroll to the bottom of that post.)  We have agreed that he can sit on a regular chair either on him bum or on his knees.  Well, he can't really reach yet when sitting on his bottom, so it's usually his knees. . . or I should say, it's sometimes his knees because meal times at our house sound something like this. . .

"Little Sir, on your knees!"
"On your knees!"
"LS, on your knees RIGHT NOW!"
"You are going to fall off that chair and crack open your head- it will hurt- now sit on your knees!"
"LS, if you don't sit on your knees RIGHT NOW you are going to go back into your high chair!"

Monday evening, after a fun day at the part with friend we were having a particularly difficult time.  In complete exasperation I groaned "Little Sir, why can't you JUST. SIT. ON. YOUR. KNEES?"  The funny thing is, he answered.  He told me it hurt to sit on his knees and showed me the scraped up knees he had acquired earlier at the park.  Well, what do you know, I'm a horrible mother sometimes.

So I asked him if he would like a pillow to kneel on and he said "YES!"


I went to the family room and retrieved one of these horrible throw pillows that we have been throwing around our living room for years and years.  I keep meaning to get rid of, but always forget when I'm going to Goodwill because they are still in the living room being used as toys, dog beds, laptop desks, kneeling cushions. . . you get the idea.

Little Sir was thrilled and stayed kneeling the entire rest of the meal.

I had also just received a package in the mail from the Duke's grandmother with some boyish fabric in it that had been in her stash and she was hoping I could use.  It was sitting on my stairs waiting to be put away and there was one piece of fabric that Little Sir just would not leave alone.  He wanted it as a cape, as a blanket, as a tent, he just wanted it!

I had an idea, and tonight while the Duke was eating a late dinner, I sat at my sewing machine and worked out a boyish solution to our meal time mayhem. 


Cute, don't you think?


It's a simple pocket pillow cover with two ties sewn into the back seam.


The ties were even free, some bias tape a woman threw in at a garage sale when I bought a sewing pattern from her! I zigzagged down each side of them in red to for a bit of detail.

I'm so happy with this.  Not only do we have a solution to the kneeling problem, I don't have to look at my ugly and unwanted throw pillows anymore.  Well, at least one of them.  I think there may be another little boy or girl in the near future who will need a seat cushion to kneel on.

I'm sharing this project:

Genius in my Head

You know that day when you were a child. . . that day that it finally clicked and you had learned to ride a bike. Do you remember that feeling? Millions of other kids have learned to ride a bike, your dumb older sister could ride a bike, but still, you felt like a genius for having master the art of two wheeled locomotion.

That is how I felt about this project.

I have seen them all over blogland. Like here, here, here, and a bunch of them here. A zillion and one people have done it before me, but it was so easy, I made it a little different than any others that I have seen, and I absolutely love it.



Now my camera has a pretty little dress to wear. I also made mine removable so that I can change it if I want to. Oh, and I didn't use any of the tutorials, I thought they were all a little too much for basically a tube of fabric. I just laid my camera strap on my fabric, ripped the fabric in the appropriate places, sewed it together and put it on. No pattern, no measuring, just fast. It only took about 20 minutes to make it.

Highly Distractable

that's me. . .

I've been experiencing a bit of a crafting/ decorating frenzy as of late. The problem is. . . . oh look at that!!! -now what were we talking about?

Yes, it's true. The Duke calls me a "strong starter" - a nicer way of saying I have a problem with finishing things I start, or at least finishing them in a timely manner.

I have a quilt that is half bound sitting in my kitchen where I sew.

My kitchen chairs are painted, but the table is not.

There is a wreath in parts sitting next to me.

Last week at a garage sale I found a fantastic huge frame w/ hooks on it. I've painted it, but it needs to be glazed and have the hardware reattached.

I also have these two very cute boys that I'm working on raising. I have a feeling they are going to take a while, but I'm very happy with how they are coming along! (Ha, I crack myself up!)

YEP. Highly distract-able.

I did get this project done, after it sat on my kitchen table, driving all of us crazy for about two weeks!


My jewelery had outgrown my small jewelery box. Also, I've never cared for storing earrings and necklaces in a box. I end up not being able to find one earring and the necklaces get tied in knots.

Solution. . . I picked up two framed at goodwill. One divided, the other not. I took out the glass and the back. Then I painted them and glazed them yellow to tone done the green a little and give them some depth. Then off to the hardware store where I picked up some screen fabric and a couple of screw in L hooks.


I chose a few scraps of cute ribbon and hot glued then to the back of the frame to hold my earrings that don't have posts or hooks (you know, the ones w/ sort of C shaped clamps.) Then I cut the screen fabric to fit the frame and hot glued it to the back too. (If you make this, be sure to keep the screen material very tight as you glue it down, and glue it all the way around.)



Next, I screwed the L shaped hooks into the top of the second frame. I didn't like how "hard" the hooks looked so I also added the ribbon to them to soften them up.

I stapled the long yellow ribbon to the back of the second frame to hang from the wall. If you are only going to hang necklaces from the hooks, you can hang it from the frame's hook, but if you are going to put earrings on it you need some room in the back. (Some felt furniture pads would work great to hold it away from the wall a little bit) You would also want to be able to easily access the back, so hanging it from a ribbon is necessary. I just like the way it looks. Using an easel, like I did with the divided frame also works great.

Have you guys heard about the CSI project?  CSI = Create, Share, Inspire.  I'm loving the projects I've been seeing over there, so I thought I'd link up. . . check out some of the other projects created with materials from the hardware store.

A Better Bracelet

OK, I get the idea behind the rubber bracelets. They are cheap, you can put a message on them to spread awareness. Lance Armstrong. . . yeah yeah yeah. BUT. . . no matter how noble or beautiful the idea is that is imprinted on them, and no matter what fabulous color they are, these things are far from stylish.

I had two of them floating around in my "everything" drawer for over a year. They were from an adoption conference Link and I went to in 2008. They were imprinted with the saying "Birth Mothers Never Forget." They were pretty much doomed to living in my drawer until the next time I decided to clean it out, until I saw a cute solution to their lameness at Blue Cricket Designs.


Cute!


Just some ripped fabric strips and a hot glue gun and PRESTO!


Something you would actually want to wear, and will still keep your favorite cause close at hand!

I'm sure you can guess where these are going!

I Heart Bags

I'm not sure what I did with things before "green" bags became popular. I think I probably have 10 or so of those big IKEA bags. I use them constantly, and not just for my groceries. They have become indispensable to me.

So, like the good little crafter that I am, I figured I should make a few.

This is what I came up with.



It's a large bag, with a circle bottom and a wide and long sling-like strap.



Vintage fabric, I made my own coordinating bias tape (I now have a reason to HEART my iron,) and either canvas or stiff interfacing on the bottom for extra strength.



AND it's reversible!

I made three of these, one for my grandmother, one for my sister, and this one was for my friend Sarah.

There will be more!

Friends, it's been a while

So, many of you all ready know that the Duke and I have recently suffered through a failed adoption. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. I lost my child. . .

Life goes on even if we don't move with it at first, eventually we are pulled along and reality forces us to keep moving.

Much of my knitting, as of late, had been for the birth parents of our baby. I don't have pictures fo the things I gave them, nor do I really have the desire to blog about those things I still have. They are tangible totems of my pain that I am not ready to share with the world.

I have been doing some other crafting though, and thought it would be a good place for me to start- some of you may remember from my pregnancy that things shaped like mushrooms make me very happy!



Pin cushions. You can either make them into a ring or just have them sit near your sewing and make you smile!

I will send one of these little adorables to the first person who can correctly recall (or look up) what the mushroom shaped object that made me happy during my pregnancy was.

Have Fun!

Christmas Crafting

Not all of my Christmas crafting has to be kept in secret.

My SIL doesn't generally read my blog, so I feel safe in showing what I made for her.



Here is another fun look at some of the magnets. I really am having a lot of fun making these and choosing images for various family and friends.



Lastly, instead of wrapping my gifts this year I have made reusable cloth gift bags.



In addition to the "green" aspect, there is a great functional benefit. I have never been able to wrap my presents prior to flying. TSA looks down on that I guess. Well, if they see something they want to take a look at in my gift luggage, they can just open up my gift bags and peek inside. I don't have to rush to wrap all my gifts last minute.



Lest you think this seems like an awful lot of work- let me assure you that this is not the kind of sewing that would make your Grandma proud. I rip the fabric to the appropriate size, fold it in half, a seam up each side. Next, a quick "auto" button hole, then fold down the top and seam the casing closed.



It actually takes me the same time to sew one of these up as it takes to wrap a present. The plan (or hope) is that after doing this for a couple of years I will have enough bags in the appropriate sizes that there will be limited additional bag "wrapping".

Yes, Yes, I'm Still Here

I know I haven't been around a lot as of late. I somehow have three months worth of things that I need to get done (wonder how that happened?)

I can't post knitting because I am working exclusively on a Christmas present. I thought I would show you another project that I have been working on, and having a lot of fun with.


I got this idea from my friend Jessica's blog.



They are magnets, I just love looking at them all in a bunch like that. It reminds me of the symphony warming up- just random snipits of loveliness mingled together.



And as, always, I am being entertained by Little Sir.

A few days ago I was making breakfast and while I had my back turned to him he started laughing hysterically. I turned around and this is what I see. . .

"Look what I found Mama!"


"I'm big and can make my own breakfast!"


Yes, my funny little boy, that is a real life lesson in bitterness.