Amigurumi Giraffe

Behold my third Amigurumi project. The first one I can't find (it was a fish). The second one still needs to be sewn together and stuffed (hopefully sooner rather than later). This one I needed to finish for someone at church who is about to have a baby. Since she earned her masters in Japanese studies, I thought she would appreciate it. I got the pattern from the book "Creature Crochet" by Kristen Rask. It was part of a kit that I bought from Barnes and Noble in their "cheap books/kits" section at Christmas time. I really like the patterns and they are fun to make. They're also fast which is nice for someone like me who likes a quick project!

Alice in Wonderland

My son's middle school put on a fabulous production of Alice in Wonderland last weekend. The school puts on a wonderful spring musical every year, but this year I got to help with the costumes! I made 5 (yes, that's right) versions of Simplicity 3878 for the mean, I mean, main flowers in the musical. The worst part of this whole thing was the cutting out and marking. Lots of pieces and cutting out things is never something I enjoy. Oh and the tulle. There was a million yards of tulle required (or so it seemed). I soon started referring to the dresses as Tulle monsters 1-5.


On an interesting side note, my son was not in the play, did not help with the play, but he did watch the play. After working on the dresses for many days and having our small house covered in tulle and satin, one of the dresses lay, almost completed, over a chair. Ben saw it and said, "What is that?" I said, "One of the dresses for the Alice in Wonderland play". To which he said, "When did you start making those?" Nice that my son is so observant. :) He thinks he would like to help on the play crew next year. I'll be happy to help sew some more.

For more info on the pattern and construction, click on my pattern review found on my side bar.

Silent Auction Sewing

Our school's silent auction is this coming up Saturday and I've been busy making a few things to donate.

First we have this lovely bag. What? You don't see a bag?

Here it is all open now. I made five of these, but one kind of got messed up so we kept that one and donated four. I found the instructions here. One change I made was to serge the edges and just turn them down and stitch instead of binding with bias tape. Saved time and money. I also made an insulated bag with directions from here. I forgot to take a picture, but I used the same material as the folding bags. It looked a little something like this (but more blue):

(I made this one as a Christmas present)

Here we have the class basket for Claire's class. The theme was "Let's Pretend". I made all sorts of great things for this basket. The masks I made using or adapting patterns from here. The capes I made using a pattern I found here. I had a lot of fun with this basket!

Every princess needs a cape and mask!

Here's Claire modeling the crown and the cape. I didn't have thread that matched exactly for the top stitching which didn't really matter around the edge of the cape, but really stuck out at the neck where I sewed the velcro, so I glued some jewels there to cover it up. Looks like I planned it all along! Claire woke up with very sore, puffy eyes on this day, so she didn't want to model the mask. I made the crown by tracing a foam crown I had from Michaels that cost a dollar. I added rhinestones and jewels to make it fit for a princess.

Love this mask!

Batman!!!

I love how this one turned out!!!

I made this set twice. Once for Eleanor's Class basket "Cooking with kids" and another set for Claire's basket. I got the pattern for the hat from YouCanMakeThis.com. I don't remember where I got the pattern for the apron, but if you google child's apron, you will find lots of ideas!!!

Can't wait to see how much money everything brings in. I hope lots!!!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

This funny girl who brings me more joy than I ever thought possible turned 3 today. I never really liked Valentine's Day, but she makes the day extra special for me now!!!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!

This cool dude behind the shades is now 12. That cannot be possible. Happy Birthday to my favorite boy!!! (Late, but posted on the correct date.)

Macy's Most Excellent Mall of America Birthday Trip

It's a little known fact (although I've told enough people lately so maybe it's more well known than I realize) that when you turn 10 in our family, you can either have a big party at some crazy place like Bounce U or you can go on a trip. It started with Ben and a trip to New York for his 10th birthday.

Macy's not much of a big fan of crowds and busy streets, so she decided she would like to try and go to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It's not that Macy's a big shopper or anything, but the kids have often talked about visiting America's Largest mall (well technically it's actually the second largest if you only count total square footage). Trent squeezed in a nice little business trip to London a few months before we needed to go which gave him enough airline points for two $10.00 airplane tickets and we were off.

Here's Macy on the Metro ready to start her most excellent adventure. Please note the book. Lots of reading on this trip!

Waiting at the airport. Very excited. Me, not so much. I bought Macy a new duffel bag with wheels for this trip. I failed to take the carry on luggage measurement requirements with me when we purchased the bag and so when we arrived at the airport we discovered it was 2" too long. We had to check it which meant we had to add $25.00 to our ticket. Ugh. I could have used a bag I had at home for free that would have worked (although I would have had to carry it instead of wheeling it).
We were able to check it for the low, low price of $23.00 on the way home because I checked it on-line the night before. I am all about the deep discounts I tell you. Well now we have a nice duffel bag on wheels for things like girl scout campouts and such. At least that's what I keep telling myself between slapping my head and saying "Doh!" Moving on . . .

On the airplane, ready to take off! Me, not so much.

Visiting the Lincoln Memorial. Did you know it's actually not in Washington, DC, but at the Chicaco O'Hare airport? It's true! Okay, the Lincoln Memorial is really in Washington, DC, but this replica is in the Chicago O'Hare airport. Macy has never seen the real one in Washington, DC. Maybe she'll get to someday if she's lucky.

Having a vanilla bean frappuccino (hold the whipped cream) while we wait for our flight to Minneapolis. When Macy was really little, like 2, one day at the mall she said to me, "Mommy, can I have a frappuccino?" A person in front of us stopped and turned around, looked at Macy and said, "That little one is too little to be asking for a frappuccino." She probably was, but hey they're good. Well I used to think so, but I kind of got burned out on them. I did enjoy a nice large caramel apple rolled in chocolate chips while we waited though. I'm all about the healthy snacks.

We arrived safe and sound in Minneapolis and a short shuttle ride and a short walk to the mall later and there we were. We had a yummy dinner with the fish at the Rainforest Cafe.

Macy made a souvenir penny. We were big spenders I tell you.

The next morning we woke up very early because of the time difference and had a lot of time to kill before the mall opened. I had this great idea to ride the light rail train to downtown Minneapolis because I thought it would be fun. It wasn't. It was boring. It was really boring. It was so boring it was painful. Macy was a good sport though and we got to see Target field which was impressive.

The world's most boring light rail train ride finally ended, the mall was now open and we spent most of the day playing at Nickelodeon Universe. We rode on a few rides, had a yummy lunch at Famous Dave's, shopped a bit and then rode some more rides. It was a fun day. The amusement park was nice and it wasn't crowded despite the day being a holiday. We finished off the night with a yummy dinner at Outback Steakhouse (at our hotel) and a very cold dip in the pool.

The next day we were back for more fun. Macy brought along Kit who (whom?) she purchased the first night we arrived at the mall. Macy has been volunteering for medical research and getting paid the big bucks. She's also been saving for a long time to get her Kit doll. She was very excited.

For Macy's birthday she wanted to have lunch with Kit at the American Girl Cafe. It was a lot of fun!

Kit enjoyed herself too. She especially liked the lemonade, french fries and whipped dessert with sprinkles. Kit's all about the sprinkles.

We spent the day shopping for souvenirs to take home, eating frozen yogurt and playing miniature golf. By the end of the day we were tired and ready to go home.

Alas, traveling with me, when flying is involved, is never an easy thing. I can count on one hand the times I've been able to fly somewhere without some kind of mishap-lost luggage, late/cancelled flight, etc. happening. I was hoping this trip would be different, but when we woke up the day we were to leave, 2-3 inches of snow had fallen overnight with about 5-7" more on the way.

"Don't worry!" I told Macy, "We're in Minnesota where they laugh at 8-10" inches of snow."

Three hours after our original flight was supposed to take off, the snow and wind finally died down and we were able to leave. Apparently they don't laugh at snow after all.

Here's Macy pouting because we really are going back home where we only have the 11th largest mall in the United States.

Not really, she was excited to get back home after such a long wait at the airport!

Here she is on the final metro ride home. We managed to forget our carry on while getting a quick bite to eat after deplaning. After much begging and pleading with the TSA agents (who refused to let us go back and get our suitcase), one took pity on us and went back to retrieve the suitcase. Macy had a scare on one of the escalators, but lived to tell the tale. Unfortunately she must have done something to her ankle because the next morning when she went to get out of bed, she couldn't walk and her ankle was swollen. Turns out she sprained her ankle and had to miss 4 more days of school.

She's on crutches now and can't participate in P.E. until next month. Unfortunately she didn't get to go to school on her actual 10th birthday but had to spend it at the orthopedist. I'm sure it was a toss up which was more fun-visiting the Mall of America or going to the orthopedist. On a disappointing note, it turns out that the Mall of America is not the largest mall in America if you count square footage. It does have more stores than the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania though and I don't think the King of Prussia mall has an indoor amusement park or aquarium. An aquarium? Yes the Mall of America has one of those, but we didn't go because we were going to visit the Baltimore Aquarium a week later, but that trip is for another post. :)

Happy Halloween!!

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, we had to be a little creative since we go to church Sunday evenings and attend services about 27 miles away from where we live. By the time we would have gotten home, it would have been too late to trick-or-treat.

We decided to surprise the mom of a former preschool student of mine that lives very close where we attend church services and then trick-or-treat on her street. Apparently they didn't have too many trick-or-treaters, so everyone was glad to see us. Here's the low down on who everyone was.

Claire was a fairy. I made her costume from McCalls 4887. We already had the wings, so I found material to match them.

To say she loved her costume would be an understatement. She would not stand still while I tried to take her picture. Unfortunately I have not mastered the art of sewing with multiple layers of tulle or embellished organdy, so this costume, while much loved, is not fairworthy.

Next we have Eleanor as Alice in Wonderland. I used Simplicity 2330 for her costume and am pleased with how well it fit her. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and the apron is pretty yucky on the other side and the dress puckers at the end of the zipper, so it too is not fairworthy, but doesn't Eleanor make a fine Alice?

Ben reprised his role as the Grim Reaper. We made his scythe from a bamboo pole I bought at the Dollar Tree and a piece of foil covered cardboard. It's still intact which is more than I can say for the one we bought last year which never even made it to Halloween. Pattern is Simplicity 5512. The neck runs small, just in case you were wondering.

Macy was a cat. Store bought. Easy. Thank you Macy.

Kate was a witch. I made it from Simplicity 5402 (OOP). You may remember that Claire wore the same dress three years ago when Kate was but a bun in the oven.

Our evening was finished up with a yummy (?) dinner at McDonalds and then off to home and bed. Claire declared this the best Halloween ever.