Sometimes You Need a Valori Wells Pick-Me-Up. . .

I have been a touch discouraged about the coat fiasco, so I needed a boost. You know, the kind of boost that gorgeous fabric and an easy pattern can give. So I cut out a dress yesterday, while dictating spelling words to my happy homeschoolers and then sewed up as much as I could yesterday. The problem with on-the-whim projects is that sometimes you don't have everything you need, which in my case was a zipper. That slight set-back was quickly remedied last night and this morning the dress was finished.

The t-shirt underneath the dress came from Walmart. Organic cotton t-shirt for $4.50???? Yeah, okay you are coming home with me!

The pattern is Butterick 4842 which I found at a local thrift shop, but it looks like it is still available. I did lengthen the pattern a bit, but I think that's the only change I made.

Princess H. isn't the only one with style today. Notice Pumpkins shoes on the wrong feet? Yeah, style is what this family is all about!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Pianos

Several days ago, my children had an opportunity to play "lunch music" at a local nursing home. It was fun to see the smiles that it brought to the lovely people who live there. Little Pumpkin did her part by dancing to the blues pieces and swaying to the slower ones.

Just another way, Simply Music has blessed our lives. Love that program!!! We are so fortunate to have found a wonderful teacher in our area.

On the topic of piano's and yet totally and completely unrelated in any other way, I wanted to show you one of my favorite garage sale finds of the summer. This beautiful needlework was in a hideous frame and this frame housed a hideous picture so I bought them both and made things right. ☺ Guess where it happily hangs now. . . yep, right by the piano. Yeah, I'm clever like that.

Oh, and don't even ask about how Pumpkin's coat is going. . . Grrrrr. . . lets just say that I'll be headed back to JoAnn's soon for more corduroy. I will NOT let this project defeat me. ☺

A New Project

Hopefully this will turn into a coat for Little Pumpkin. If you never see this fabric again you will know that it did not go well.

For some reason, this project intimidates me. Have you ever wanted to make something a lot, bought the materials to do it, and then got too scared to try??? That's kinda where I'm at.

But now that I've shared this with you, I'm going to have to do it-right??? Right.

Random bits of Fall

Fall is so beautiful with its bright colors

The crisp air that causes rosy cheeks. (And runny noses so don't look too closely ☺)

The wonderful smells of a freshly baked, spicy, gingersnap cookie mingling with an aromatic cup of coffee.

Can you hear the rustling of the leaves?

Everyone seeking out the warm, sunny spots in the room. Have you ever noticed that the sun gives a room a wonderful cozy fresh smell? My Hubby can't smell the sunlight so I might be completely crazy, but my kid's know what I'm talking about. We might all be crazy together. Don't tell me if we are☺

The stark contrast between light and shadows that the intense sunlight brings.

I hope this beautiful fall day brings you a lot of little things that you can enjoy.

Waffles with White Sauce

My heritage is Norwegian on my Mom's side and German Mennonite on my Dad's side so my food loves can be a little mixed up. At Christmastime we usually have special foods from both. Lefse for the Norwegian in us and Peppernuts for the German Mennonite.

When we have waffles, my German Mennonite heritage insists that we have White Sauce to go on top. My kids love it, Hubby doesn't. It is kind of like a thin homemade vanilla pudding that is poured over the top of your waffles. Yum!!!

White Sauce for Waffles:

2 Cups Milk
1/3 c. sugar
2 T cornstarch mixed with a little water or milk to make a slurry
1 tsp. vanilla (unless its Monday morning, then you might need a little more☺)
dash of salt.

Bring milk, sugar, salt to boil. Whisk in cornstarch slurry until thickened. Take off heat and add vanilla. Serve over waffles.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we visited a fabulous pumpkin patch based on the recommendation of Pampering Beki. It was wonderful, completely free, and our family had a ton of fun.

Super P's plan for getting the pumpkin is clearly not working.

Super P. is shucking corn (at least I think that's what it is called.) They had a bucket of corn cobs ready to be shucked. You drop one in, turn the wheel and the corn falls into a container below and the cob comes out the front when it is done. Pumpkin just liked playing in the corn.

We were given a tour of the whole farm in the tractor pulled trailer. If you live locally, you should definitely head out to the patch.

What did you do this weekend??? ☺

Cold/Flu Survival

This past week, we have been struggling with cold/flu symptoms. On Thursday, Princess H. complained of aches and then on Friday, Hubby also was achy with a cough. Blech. . .

So I decided enough was enough. I made homemade Chicken Noodle soup, which is the only way to eat Chicken Noodle Soup. (Hubby likes Lipton's Cup of Soup -ummm. . . can I just say Yuck!!) I'm not sure why Chicken Noodle soup is the thing to make when you are sick, but it is so I made it.

Then the Bulk Herb Store posted directions for a mustard plaster so we tried it too with Hubby as a guinea pig. I like to experiment with old-time remedies (My brother told me one time that I'm a hippy-want-to-be. . .yeah, he might be right) and hubby is grudgingly supportive unless it involves him. But this time he really wanted to go to a gun auction on Saturday (today) so he let me try whatever I wanted.

Guess where Hubby is today. . .






Yep, he's at the gun auction. Maybe it worked too well ☺

Fall Portaits and a Goose

Yesterday we were busy homeschooling when I looked out the window and saw a beautiful overcast day with little wind and it wasn't very cold. Kid's! Hurry and brush your hair-we're taking pictures!

We went to a local park nestled alongside a housing development. There is no playground equipment, but it is a beautiful place for a nice walk or in our case taking pictures.

The fall foliage is sooo beautiful this year! Last year the leaves just turned brown and fell. On facebook someone mentioned "Isn't it incredible that even the death of God's creation is so beautiful??" I had never thought of it like that, but it is certainly true.

Now we have to decide which picture to put on Christmas cards. ( I can't believe I already have to start thinking about Christmas cards!) In my extended family, Christmas cards are VERY important with a Christmas letter tucked inside. In hubby's family, no one writes a Christmas letter. Is that a regional thing? Do you write Christmas/Holiday letters and cards?

And here is a picturesque goose swimming in the pond, but would he oblige us and be in the background of ANY of our pictures???? Of course not! Picture us standing on the shore yelling "Here Goose!!! Come here!!!!" He is one snobby goose.

My Favorite Toddler Bib-Tutorial

Toddler's are such messy creatures aren't they? Pumpkin needed another bib so I thought I would show you my favorite toddler bib. Want to sew with me???

Gather your materials:

• Pattern (click to download on scibd)

• 1 fat quarter for the front of the bib

• 1 fat quarter for the back of the bib

• batting, flannel, fleece, or old towel for the middle layer (use whatever you've got)
  

• 1 pkg. (3 yds) of extra wide double fold bias binding, or make your own.

• thread

• any embellishment you want (appliques, embroidery, ric rac, the sky's the limit☺), optional

Take your backing fabric and place it on top of the middle layer. (I am using an old towel that we got for our wedding 12 years ago!!! It needed a new use☺) Smooth it out. You could pin the layers together with safety pins, but I didn't. Next comes my favorite part.

You could skip this next step and buy pre-quilted fabric, but I'm telling you this is insanely fun. This is what I did: I set up my treadle sewing machine with my brand new walking foot (how have I lived without a walking foot this long????) and doodled (I know its really called stippling, but its less intimidating to call it doodling) all over the backing of the bib quilting the old, disgusting towel to the backing. Start on one side of the fabric and go down in a random pattern and then turn around randomly and go back up. Meander around until you get to the other side of your fabric/batting sandwich. I tried not to sew over any of my stitches that I had already made. That's the only rule. Too much fun, I'm telling you.

You could accomplish this step in a variety of ways. A darning foot and lowering the feed dogs would be really fun and probably easier (my treadle doesn't allow me to lower the feed dogs so that's why I didn't try this method) way to doodle. If you only have a regular straight stitch sewing foot, you could sew wonky lines down your fabric. I think it would be really cute and creative that way. Use the attachments you have.

Here is the backing all quilted. If you want to embellish the front at all, now is the time to do that. I didn't because frankly I want to be able to use the bib and not worry about the glob of spaghetti sauce that got on my beautiful applique. If I was making a shower gift, I probably would have made it a little fancier.

Using the downloaded pattern, cut out the front of the bib then lay it on top of the batting/towel with the back of the bib facing down. Pin around the bib making it nice and smooth.

Stitch around the bib very close to the edge (1/8"). This will make all three layers act as one layer and it will secure all of your quilting stitches before you cut it out.

Your bib should look something like the picture above.

Cut out the backing of the bib using the front as a guideline.

There, now the bib is ready to have the bias tape applied. First apply bias tape to both armholes. Use any method you like to use.
This is how I did it: If you look at the bias tape, you will notice that one side is folded over shorter than the other. Unfold the short side and with right sides together match your raw edges and then sew along the fold line. Next, fold the wider side over to the back and top stitch close to the sewn edge. (next to the ditch) You could also zig zag to catch the bottom side of the bias tape if you like that look. It would definitely be the easiest way to do it.

Next, sew the bias tape around the whole bib except for the neckline. Start on one shoulder next to the neckline and sew the bias tape to the shoulder just like we did with the armholes. ( Again, use your favorite method, but this is what I did.) The short side of the bias tape should be on top unfolded with raw edges together and stitch right sides together on the fold. When you come to the other side of the shoulder measure approx 5 " of the bias tape to complete the armhole. Continue around the bib and leave 5 more inches for the other armhole. Then fold over the wider side to the back and top stitch, starting at the shoulder, close to the already stitched edge catching the back of the bias tape and sewing it down. The 5 " of bias tape that make up the armholes are top stitched together so that it does not come unfolded. Now your bib should look like this:

The rest of the bias tape will be used to finish the neckline and make the ties of the bib. Find the middle of the remaining bias tape and pin it to the middle of the bib neckline. Pin bias tape to the neckline. Stitch down the short side of the bias tape to the neckline right sides together using the fold as your stitching line just as we did before or use your favorite method of attaching bias tape.

Open up the ends of the bias tape and fold over approx 1/2 " and then refold so that you don't have any raw edges exposed that could fray on your tie.
Begin top stitching the bias tape starting at one end of the tie going across the neckline to catch the wider side of the bias tape to the back of the bib and then on down the other tie.

So there ya go! Your snazzy bib is all done!

Feel free to use this tutorial for personal or commercial use, but please mention my blog as the source for the pattern. Thanks.☺

Warning!!!

Combining candy corn with dry roasted peanuts could possibly cause you to gain at least 5 pounds.☺

Handmade Gifts

Little Pumpkin's birthday was filled with lots of handmade gifts. I have already given a peek into this first gift. The older kiddos decided that they should make a dolly blanket for Pumpkin. We spent one day coloring squares of a thrifted white sheet using Crayola fabric markers. After you iron them they are supposed to be colorfast. I am not a quilter, although I would love to be, so I fumbled my way through piecing the kid's artwork with sashing. I have no idea if I did it right or not. We didn't add batting so we just sewed it right sides together and then turned it right side out and top-stitched around. Princess did the top-stitching. She is starting to get the hang of using a sewing machine and its fun to watch.

We added a label on the flannel backing with signatures of the artists.

I made Pumpkin a poncho which kind of reminds me of Sherlock Holmes in pink. I used a discontinued pattern and then altered it by cutting it up the front and adding three inches to each front piece to fold under to make a facing for the buttons/buttonholes.

Because the fleece was a plaid and I wanted the plaid to match up, I had to add three inches to the back also. I wasn' t really planning on that little detail so I was getting pretty frustrated (okay. . . extremely frustrated ), but finally decided to make a pleat in the center back to allow for the extra 3 inches.

I ended up really liking the pleat because it adds to the Sherlock Holmes look we've got going on here.

Pumpkin also really liked the drawing pad/ crayon holder. She was mostly quiet during church, and I think mostly quiet is pretty good. Hopefully it will continue. . .

What are your favorite gifts to make? I'm starting to think about Christmas and would love more ideas.