Bouquets From The Backyard

The daffodils bouquet for a dear friend.  

The girls put together this mini bouquet for me.  

The holder was this twisted pea pot F found. Brilliant!   

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Snow Sculptures

The snow this year has been...umm, frustrating.  We waited and waited to bring the kids to have some snowy fun.  Finally, the day after Presidents' day, we made the trip.

Let me just say that we are not a skiing/skate boarding family.  Tried and never got interested enough.  I guess less things to pack and wash for me. ;)

We have an artist in the family.  When he's not on the computer, he's pretty creative (though he claims that he has put his creativity to good use especially online.  Humm, I'd beg to differ.)

During this trip, he did not disappoint.  His creations reflected who he is with a sense of humor.  

My favorite is this "Help the snowman". 

Snow frog 

X marks the spot. 

Nope, not a sculpture.  Just me and beautiful Maxie watching Z hard at work.

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TinTinMama?

     VS.    

We were over at our neighbor's and started talking about the cartoon character Tin Tin. My neighbor asked F if she knew who Tin Tin was and had a good laugh when hearing F's answer. F: "That's my mom! TingtingMamMa!". Hahaha. Oh, baby, your mama is not as famous as Tin Tin. Or, perhaps I could change the blog name to "TinTin's Mama" instead to draw more misled crowd? ;)

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Size Down Hoodie

Went to the flea market with F one Saturday.  There was a liquidation sale.  Bags of brand new hoodies were $4 each.  I just could not let this opportunity pass me by.  Got a medium size for F.  It was baggier than I hoped for.

Baggie from every angle..

I turned the hoodie inside out and had F wear it.  Carefully pinned where I'd cut the excess with a few inches of room to wriggle.  Sewed along the pinned lines.  Cut the unwanted fabric off.  Zig zag the raw edges.  

What F had was a fitted hoodie.  

The only thing that puzzled me was that her smile disappeared when she put on the now "better" hoddie.  Why, honey, why?

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Valentines 2012

These are the Valentines the girls made this year.

The Butterfly Valentines came from Skip To My Lou.  Printed them on card stocks.  Had JJ cut them out.  Instead of inserting lollipops, I cropped JJ's face from a picture, arranged 30 of them on one sheet and punched them out with a 1" circular punch.  had JJ glue the picture from the back.  We handed those JJ butterflies out to the Bible Study teachers with Belgian chocolates on top. 

JJ made two heart wreaths for her 5's Bible class teachers.

F made one for her school teacher.

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Hot/Cold Pack

Back Pain Relief Gift--Get better soon, my friend!

My back was really sore the other day.  I could not sit straight the whole night.  The agony of back trouble.  Then, I remembered a dear friend who has been suffering from back pain for months now.  The thought of her just propelled me to make this pack.  I made a muslin case for the flex seed (mixed with scent oil) and a little removable "pillow case" with the heart print.  Praying that she will find comfort and encouragement in this small gift, but mostly in the Lord, Jesus.


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Bubble Wand Solution

Whenever the kids want to play with bubbles, I usually hesitate to say yes.  The most annoying thing about bubbles is that the kids ALWAYS get sticky.  Sometimes, I get sticky, too, when the wand drops into the bottle and gets too difficult to fish out.

 Like all kids, Joy loves bubbles.  My solution?  Bubble wand extension!  Just got a pair of disposable chopsticks and attached it to the wand with a piece of trash bag tie. 

 No mess, no stickiness. 

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Gathering Foot How-To

  
I was over at Amazon and saw a need for a how-to for the gathering foot.  I left a comment and thought I would post here, too.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown to using the gathering foot:

1. set your machine to straight stitches. 

2. bring the needle to the far left needle position. 

3. set the thread tension on high and to the longest stitch length. 

4. sew slowly and leave a few inches of bobbin thread in case you need to adjust your gathers.

In the case of gathering one piece of fabric while sewing it to another piece: 

The bottom layer will gather. So with right sides facing, lay your longer piece of fabric (to be gathered) on the bottom and the main fabric on top. Sew in the same manner as if you were gathering one piece of fabric.

Hope this helps.

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