Another Proud Mom Moment...

...brought to you by Allie!

This letter came home from school on Tuesday.

We could hardly wait to see which art project of Allie's had been selected to be framed and displayed in the school.

She hoped it was her picture of Maty...and it was!

Here she is being introduced by her principal, Mr. Seiser, at the Stettin Recognition Program today.

And here are the other students whose artwork was also recognized.

Now Maty will be forever immortalized in a hallway of Stettin Elementary as a "furry kitty, cute meow, playful friend"!

A Kitten with Mittens...Literally

Helping me make mittens has been very tiring for Polly.


Here is my last batch of completed mittens. Six of these are already spoken for and I'm thinking of keeping a pair for myself.


I've made a total of 44 pairs of mittens. Some I've given as gifts to friends, family, and Allie's teacher. One pair was made for Jason's coworker who gave me four of her old sweaters. And the rest I've sold for $20-25 each. I've made close to $500 so far, and minus the cost of supplies, that's a profit of $300!

Back to the Cutting Board

The Finished Product

Betcha Can't Guess What I've Been Doing

Student Art Show at the CVA

You may remember this piece of pottery that Allie made last year while taking a class at the Center for Visual Arts. Her plate, along with other student artwork, is currently on display in the Loft Gallery for all to see.

We attended a reception last night in honor of the artists whose work is being featured in the show. Grandma, Grandpa, Jason, and I all felt very fancy as we walked around, wine glasses in hand, nibbling hors d’oeuvres, and looking at the artwork. The kids had punch and cookies.

And I know Allie felt very special!

I Knitted a Hat

I just knitted my first ever hat! I found the pattern here. It was Easy Peasy! I goofed up a little on the very top but you'd never know. I added a button on top for a special decoration and it also hides the mistake. Next project...a hat for Allie.

Update: Here is Allie's hat, same mistake, same button to hide the mistake. Maybe I need Knittin Brit's help after all.

I Knitted a Scarf

I'm so proud of myself! This is the first time that I have actually followed a knitting pattern without any help. Sorry Knittin' Brit but your services will not be needed this week after all.

I got the yarn and the pattern at a knitting shop in Sturgeon Bay called Spin. The yarn is made from alpaca and you can find the pattern here. It was very easy to make, once I reminded myself how to cast on. And at the end, when I wasn't sure how to knit into the front and the back of each stitch, I found out how to do it here.

Ta Da!

Rag Quilt

I made another quilt this week, although I don't think you can technically call it a quilt since there is no quilting involved. It was very, very easy to do and I found the instructions here.

I bought a "Quilts with Style" do-it-yourself kit from JoAnn's (with my 40% off coupon of course). I really liked the fabric colors and it's challenging to pick the right amount of coordinating fabrics so I figured a kit would make it easier the first time around. For the inside layer, I used cream colored flannel and for the back, I used cream, light brown, and dark brown flannel. The most tedious part was the cutting of all the blocks and the snipping of the fringe once the quilt was assembled.



But I think it turned out so cute and it's very warm and comfy. I've seen some of these made up as baby blankets on Etsy. I think I'll make one up the next time I need a baby gift.

Meredith's Twirly Skirt

Since my sewing machine is out, cluttering up the kitchen table, I decided to make another project. I got the idea here. I really like this gal's blog. Although I don't know her one bit...she seems like someone I would be friends with. She has two daughters, a cat, likes to knit, and sew...read more here. So I thought I'd give her twirly skirt pattern a try. This was harder for me than I thought it would be. Either I didn't cut the fabric pieces correctly or I miscalculated Meredith's measurements but when it came time to try on the almost finished skirt, something was way off. Luckily, thanks to the skills I learned while making American Girl doll clothes, I knew how to fix it. I'll only be making one of these, since (sadly) Allie doesn't wear skirts anymore.

A Perfectly Imperfect Quilt

The other sewing project I recently completed is a Ragged Squares Quilt. I found a tutorial on how to make it here. It looked like a do-able beginner quilting project so I gave it a try. The placement of the squares and the stitching does not need to be perfect. You leave some of the raw edges exposed so when you wash and dry the quilt, the edges of the squares begin to fray. I made a few mistakes along the way but because of the shabby look of the quilt, you'd never know it.

Here is a closeup view. Can you see the frayed edges?

I'm sure this won't be my last quilting project. I had two kids fighting over who got to use it first. But in the end, the cat won out!

Up next...a twirly skirt for Deefers!

Scooby Doo Pajamas

It's March and I'm bored. It's not quite spring but I'm tired of winter. No more knitting and making mittens. What's a girl to do? Well, one stop at JoAnn Fabrics on Thursday and I had two sewing projects to keep me busy.

I finished both of my projects today. It consumed every spare minute...for 48 hours. I should just take my time but I like to get stuff done, see the end result. And I don't like to have unfinished projects lying around.

The first project was a pair of Scooby Doo pajamas for each of the girls. I got the flannel print fabric at JoAnn's and the solid t-shirts at Old Navy. I used a basic pajama pant pattern for the bottoms. For the tops, I cut out a picture of the Scooby Doo Gang from the left over flannel and appliqued it onto the t-shirt.

Pretty cute, huh?!




So what was the other project? You'll have to wait till my next post to find out. But I ran myself "ragged" to get it done!

Do You Remember Fashion Plates?

I do!

I have fond memories of playing with these as a young girl. Unfortunately, I no longer have my original set.

Because I could not justify spending $50 to $100 to replace my beloved childhood toy (yes, that's how much they can go for on eBay), my kids have been able to use the set from 1978 that belonged to Jason's sister.

I also have a set that must be from the early '80s. I found it at a garage sale for $2.00.

Deefers was bored this afternoon so we got the fashion plates out and started designing.

Can you guess who did which drawing? I hope so!

P.S. If anybody out there is holding on to an original set of the pink fashion plates from 1978 or the blue plates called "More Fashion Plates" please let me know. The set I have is incomplete (and if Jason's sister is reading this, she'll probably want them back).

Making Mittens

It's been quite a while since my last blog post. I'm still recovering from the holidays...they were more stressful than normal. That's probably because...aside from getting ready for Christmas, shopping, baking, and working...I made about 30 pairs of recycled mittens!

My friend Charity and I watched this video and we learned how to make mittens out of old wool sweaters. We spent a lot of time searching for sweaters at Goodwill and other local second-hand stores.

I planned on giving mine as gifts to teachers, friends, family, and co-workers. I even made some extra large mittens for Jason, Uncle Todd, and Grandpa to use for ice fishing.

Once word got around at work that I was making mittens, I had several people inquire about buying them from me. I charged $20-25 per pair and ended up selling $150 worth of mittens the week before Christmas!

By selling my extra mittens, I was actually able to break even on the amount of money I'd originally spent on the supplies to make them.

Unfortunately, between the two of us, I think Charity and I bought every cute wool sweater in Wausau. Now we'll have to wait till next winter to restock our supplies and make more mittens.

The Empty Bowl

On Saturday, the girls and I attended a local charity event called Wausau Area Empty Bowls.

"Come together with your friends and neighbors to end hunger in our neighborhood! Pick out a handmade bowl, enjoy a meal of soup, bread, beverage and dessert and leave with your bowl — now empty — as a reminder of all the bowls that need filling in our neighborhood and community… and that you’ve done something to help fill them! All proceeds will benefit the food pantry at The Neighbors’ Place."

Besides wanting to help those less fortunate, we were on a mission to find the bowl that Allie had made during one of her classes at the Center for Visual Arts. There were hundreds of bowls to choose from, all made by local artists, students, and residents of the Wausau area. I had no idea what her bowl looked like but I was amazed when we finally found it...it's beautiful!

Art by Allie

Allie took a class at the Center for Visual Arts in downtown Wausau.

For three Saturday mornings, she worked on a pottery project.

And this is what she made... a fish plate which is now proudly displayed on our fireplace mantle.

We Just Love Perler Beads!

Even Dad couldn't resist the temptation to create!

Becky Homecky Strikes Again!

Here is a picture of the girls modeling their new capri pants.

Sorry Knittin Brit, these britches have elastic waistbands. Please forgive me.

And here they are in their new nightgowns.

P.S. I have a pot roast in the oven too!

Mia's New PJ's

Within hours of Mia's arrival, Allie realized that her new doll had nothing to wear but the clothes on her back. She was in dire need of two things...a swimsuit for our trip to the waterpark this weekend and a pair of PJ's. I explained to Allie that the doll was in no way going near any water but that didn't matter. She was going with us to the hotel and would need a suit even if she wasn't really going swimming. And she absolutely could not be without a pair of jammies.


My first impulse was to head straight to the computer and look on eBay for what she needed. And while I found a cute swimsuit at a decent price, I was not able to find a pair of PJ's that I felt was worth paying the $10-20. So then I thought, I've got a sewing machine, I was in 4-H, and I took Home Economics in High School...why can't I make my own AG doll clothes. So off to JoAnn Fabrics I went.


I found a pattern, an adorable cupcake print fleece fabric, and was assured by the sales lady that this was a very easy project. And the best part, my bill was only $5.20. That afternoon I sat down to read the pattern and it looked as if it was printed in a foreign language. There were words like FACING, BASTE, CASING, and GATHER. I began to panic!


So I called in an expert. Our Grandma Fay has been sewing AG doll clothes for years, outfitting all her granddaughter's dolls many times over. She was willing to come over and walk me through the process, step by step. And what a process it was. It took us 3 and a half hours to get the majority of the project done. And after she left, I had a few more finishing touches to complete. It was a difficult and "putzy" job but the look on Allie's face, when I showed her Mia's new jammies, was well worth it.

My Brother-in-Law, the Sculptor

Allie is not the only artist in our family. My brother-in-law, Todd, created this magnificent mini snowman yesterday. The beer bottle was strictly used to show the scale of the sculpture...and to provide the snowman with a hat.