five little mice

I did a little felt crafting last week that I thought I would share (especially since I don't have a sewing project to share with you... yet!). Marcus loves the felt board that Teacher Tom uses during Circle Time at preschool, so we thought that an end-of-the-year felt board present would be a great idea. Originally, Marcus was going to help me make it, but he lost interest when he discovered that we wouldn't be using the sewing machine much. Oh well. It is the thought that counts, right?

Marcus' favorite story on one of his old music class cd's (Music Together from Chickadee Music) is Five Little Mice. So, that's what we (I) made. Here's the story:

Five little mice went out to play,
Gathering crumbs along the way.
Out came pussycat, sleek and fat,
Four little mice went scampering back.


Four...
Three...
Two...


One little mouse went out to play,
Gathering crumbs along the way.
OUT came pussycat, sleek and VERY fat,
The mouse ran away, whatd'ya think about that?!

I did use a little bit of sewing to affix the eyes, nose, and mouth on the cat.

And I gave the mice some floppy ears, button eyes, and yarn tails. All and all, I was pretty happy with how this came out, and Marcus was very excited to give it to his teacher.

I have a few sewing projects planned for this week. I definitely need to make some large, absorbent bibs for Morgan. She is a serious spitter. It is amazing! I also just spent a luxurious hour this afternoon shopping for fabric (ALONE!) for two baby shower gifts. My fabric store bliss was interrupted by a text from Chris reporting that there was a fairly substantial potty accident and a hungry baby, so I hurried home. I was thankful for that hour, though. Sanity restored!

:) Shelly

lego sacks

I'm not sure if this is a permanent return from my blogging hiatus, but I just had to share this project with someone because it is so awesome. If you have as many Lego pieces as we do, you should definitely make one of these. It is saving my sanity in the clean-up department. 

I made Lego Sacks for the boys for Christmas this year. I used this tutorial from Make It Perfect (a blog my friend, Eva, suggested to me). I had been thinking about this project for a long time, and when it only took about 2 hours to construct both bags, I thought Why did I wait so long?! 

Each Lego Sack is a circular play mat that has drawstrings which, when pulled, gather up all of the itsy-bitsy Lego pieces on the mat into a tidy bag for storing. This one is Marcus' bag - he was with me at the fabric store when I purchased the fabric and selected sharks for the outside and flames for the lining. The woman who cut my fabric said This will be one dangerous Lego Sack!

I forgot to take a close-up pictures of Charlie's Lego Sack, which has darling rocket ships on the outside and is lined with blue dots. I wish I had found that rocket fabric before I made the curtains for the boys' room (well, technically IKEA made the curtains, but I had to cut them down to size and hem them). The rockets would have matched perfectly!

I've actually sewed a few little things since Halloween, but mostly I've been creating privacy for us in our new house by covering our windows. Hemming curtains purchased from IKEA and Target is not exciting blogging material, but I am very happy with how cozy our new house is becoming as a result. I have to admit, I had one set of window panels custom-made because our front windows are very wide. It was so fabulous to order them online and have them arrive and fit our windows perfectly only 3 weeks later without having to sew a thread. :) I have no shame, no regrets!

Hope you are all having a happy new year. I have a couple of other baby-related projects to post, and when I finally finish the room I'll share a picture. Another confession: be prepared, because most of the baby bedding was made by Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod. I am making a quilt, though... we'll see if that gets finished by Baby Girl's arrival! I sure talked a big game back in my first trimester when it seemed like nine months was forever. Six weeks to go!

:) Shelly

fort building kit

Hooray! I actually sewed something this past week. Nope, it wasn't this. It actually wasn't as exciting as this, but I had to do a little happy-dance about it because I sewed for the first time in two months! It felt great!

So, what's this? Well, this, my friends, is a Fort Building Kit made by my buddy Anna. She put this together for Charlie for his fifth birthday, and we've had some good times with it. I apologize for not taking a photo of the cute drawstring storage bag that all of the supplies are stored in. I also forgot to snap a picture of the darling inventory tag that Anna made before Marcus ripped it off of the bag and immediately lost it somewhere in our house.

The kit contains: a drawstring storage bag, two bedsheets with many ties sewn onto the ends, rope, small and large clips, various sizes of suction cups, and a flashlight.

On our first attempt at building a fort with our kit, we found the rope to be very helpful to clip the sheet onto.

We also found these clips to be the handiest. Here they are clipped onto Charlie's bed (the dowel rod is from a pirate flag that was hung as decoration for the fort).

These suction cups were surprisingly strong and gave our fort some good height on one end. Here you can see the ties that are sewn onto the sheet edges in several places.

Beware of our fort, ye landlubbers!

Marcus added the mop in the middle of the fort to keep the ceiling from hanging too low. We left the fort up for a few days, then it came down by the natural force of two wild boys.

Love this! Great gift, Anna! Anna told me that she got the idea from an auction item at her preschool's auction, then just did a search online for "fort building kits" and designed hers from there.

I warn you that what I sewed a couple of days ago is totally lame compared to this. I am working on Halloween costumes now, though. So, that is promising, right?

:) Shelly

pirate hooks

Sewing around here should actually be renamed slowing. I've managed to cut out all of the pieces to make the two bags for the Bo M. Karlsson auction in August... but that's about it. I'm hoping to light a fire under my sloth-like self this week. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a craft (this word is used loosely) that Charlie and I worked on while Marcus was napping the other day. Pirate hooks!

Marcus was very pleased with his surprise new pirate accessory. These hooks continue to provide hours of fun with only minutes to make! If we stick with a pirate-theme birthday party for Charlie this year, I think I might use black cups and silver pipecleaners to make these for the craft.

Hook How-To

1. Tear off a sheet of aluminum foil and roll it into a thin strip.

2. Poke two holes into the bottom of a paper cup.

3. Insert the foil strip into one hole in the paper cup and bring it back up through the other. Adjust length so that you have one long end and one short end.

4. Twist the short end onto the long end.

5. Shape the long end into a hook.

6. Say Aaaarghhh!

Marcus can make a mean pirate face.

As can Charlie!

The best things about these hooks are: 1) They are cheep and easy to make 2) They won't make a scratch on the skin if they accidentally hit someone.

I'll sew something soon!

:) Shelly

toolbelt for Marcus

I am slowly getting things ready for Easter baskets this Sunday. Last week I sewed up this cute little flame toolbelt for Marcus. He is forever putting tools into his (and my) pockets, so I thought he would like his own belt.

Marcus is a lover of fire. Kind of scary. The fabric is Alexander Henry (I also used it for this superhero cape). I used this toolbelt tutorial from Make It and Love It.

Charlie also has a toolbelt like this that he made himself. It has been out of commission for a while because it was torn during some serious construction play, but I finally got around to fixing it up.

This Thursday I will be fashioning a pirate vest for Charlie. I am hoping that it turns out because I only have one night for sewing before Easter Sunday. Crossing my bunny ears!

:) Shelly

another pirate belt

Last week Charlie asked me if we could sew him up a new pirate belt. He was really enjoying the pirate belt that he sewed himself, but felt that a cross-body belt would better hold his sword and scabbard.

It was funny because Charlie didn't really want to sew any part of it this time around - he only wanted to design! He ordered a waist belt with a cross-body belt attached. Then he suggested we add a pocket to hold his "treasures" (those would be Connect Four game pieces). Charlie sat next to me at my machine during the entire project, monitoring my handiwork for quality assurance.

Charlie actually has an eye patch, but prefers to use his hand.

Apparently, this pirate belt design is more ergonomically correct for scabbard/sword carrying. The belt totally reminds me of a crossing-guard belt! I was having elementary school safety patrol leader flashbacks!

The pocket ended up being Charlie's favorite feature of the belt.

Arrggg... thar's me eye patch, matey!

:) Shelly

fraternal twin owls

Last weekend I made these cute little owls for my friend, Aya, who is about to have twin girls!

I used this tutorial (and pattern) from Toad's Treasures. These owls were very fun to make, and the project was a big-time fabric scrap buster! Gotta love those!

I stumbled upon the tutorial after seeing my friend, Karen's, owls made from the same pattern at her house. She used fleece, knit, and felt to make her owls, so they were especially soft and cuddly. I chose to use flannel for the body, cotton for the wings, and felt for the eyes, beak, and feet. You know me and my flannel obsession!

Is it bad that I have a favorite? You should never have a favorite twin, right? Well, I don't give a hoot (ha!)... the yellow one is my favorite!

I'm kind of sad that they've already flown away to their new nest in Aya's babies' nursery. I know they will be very happy there, though.

:) Shelly

a belt by Charlie

This afternoon Charlie and I set to work on a project he's been wanting to make for a while now... a belt.

After selecting the material from some of my larger scraps and watching me cut it to size and iron it out, Charlie set to work sewing it together. We set the machine speed to "low" and he chose a to use a zig-zag stitch and black thread.

I set the foot pedal on top of a storage box so that he could reach it. He really enjoyed using the foot pedal - in previous sewing adventures, Charlie has always just used the automatic button feature on the machine to sew.

I sewed the velcro tab onto the belt, but Charlie did the rest.

He had a hard time guiding the material without tugging on it, but I think his crooked stitch lines are adorable.

The reason why Charlie was so excited to make himself a belt was because he needed something to hold up his pirate sword and scabbard. I never thought I'd be *that* mom who buys her kid pretend weapons, but I've come to realize that pretty much anything can be turned into a sword by an imaginative 4.5 year-old (recently a roll of contact paper - seriously!). The truth is, this fascination with pirates is really fun for Charlie and for me! I love watching Charlie turn the couch into a pirate ship using cushions (walls), wicker baskets (seats, hatches), coasters (portholes, ship wheel), and a hairdryer (anchor). We've made some safety/respect rules about sword play which Charlie follows pretty well. He invites his friends and brother into his pretend world that he's made up from his creative young brain. What can be better than that?

So, I say, "Go Charlie with your big imagination!"

And Charlie says, "Aye, aye, Captain Mom!"

:) Shelly

sock monkey aprons and more

I've taken a little break from sewing. We have had a lot going on with our new house project, so my evening sewing sessions have been replaced with early bedtimes this past week. I do still have one project in the works, a bag from the book One Yard Wonders. I am working on this bag as part of my Thursday Night Sewing Club with my pal, Anna.

Speaking of Anna, since I have nothing to showcase this week, I will brag about the darling apron she made for Marcus for his birthday. Charlie is wearing his apron, which Anna made for him a year or so ago. Next to him is not Marcus, but Charlie's friend, Lachlan, who happily donned Marc's apron to make some cookies while Marcus was sleeping.

Why is Charlie looking so forlorn, you may wonder? Well, he was convinced that he didn't like honey... which is what we were using to make these very yummy gluten-free almond flour cookies. His mood lightened when I broke out the chocolate chips, and by cookie-sampling time he was a believer in the tastiness of the bees' sweet nectar.

This was my first big success using almond flour. I won't even describe to you how horrible my first three attempts turned out. Yikes. You can find this gluten-free, almond flour chocolate chip cookie recipe at comfybelly.com, here.

I love sock monkeys, which is why I extra-adore Anna's aprons. Posting the sock monkey aprons reminded me of my only attempt at creating a sock creature...

I made "Wonky" (who was truly wonky!) using the book/kit, Stupid Sock Creatures.

It was a decent first attempt, but when I look at Wee Wonderful's or Sew Much Ado's doll/toycreations, I totally want to try again.

I am still going to make Marcus a cape... someday. I just got a little bit lazy and a little bit overwhelmed by the crazy number of gifts that kid accumulated between Christmas and his January birthday. Whoa. So, I figure he could use a gift-getting break, anyways.

:) Shelly

from aunt "selly"

Our two weeks in Chicago are coming to an end - we fly back to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. I squeezed in a couple of additional on-location projects on Tuesday night. These are gifts for my sister, Mel's, kids. I had grand plans of making special somethings for each of my two nephews and two nieces, but I only managed to accomplish half of them. Zach and Maddie will be recieving a package in the mail soon, I promise you, Amy and Kim!

I made this ballerina backpack for my niece, Abby. She was very interested in Charlie's and Marcus' Hobo Sacks, so I decided to make her a backpack version.

My mom had this book sitting near her sewing machine. It is full of quick, easy bag ideas, and the directions are written very well.

I made Abby's backpack using the instructions from this page - I just sized it down a bit to fit her petite frame. You could easily make this backpack using the Hobo Sack from MADE directions. You'd just need to make the straps longer (take the length of the backpack panel + width of the backpack panel, then multiply the sum by 2). Leave 1/2 inch gaps in the bottom corners of the bag, then thread the ends of the straps through the holes and stitch them closed.

Charlie was a good sport and modeled the backpack so that I could check the fit before Abby came over.

Hooray! The backpack is a perfect fit. I was so happy that she liked it so much.

I also made another tool belt using this tutorial from Make It and Love It. My nephew, Bobby, is a big tool guy.

Bobby was not too excited when I tried to put the belt on him. He was more interested in acquiring the hammer that was hanging on the loop. So, here's a picture of Marcus sporting the belt. I'm sure Bobby will eventually like his belt - especially when he can put it on himself!

Wish me big buckets of luck for my plane ride home tomorrow - I'm flying as the solo adult with my two little hooligans. Yikes. My mantra: We will survive.

Felt is my trusty friend.

Oh, I just love felt... it never disappoints. And, I have so much leftover from the Playhouse Teepee project.

Charlie and I made this yesterday during Marcus' long siesta. Charlie can count to twelve well, and I think that he actually has the number sense to understand value in smaller numbers. Once he hits the teens, though, it gets pretty wacky ("eleventeen" is my favorite). So, we traced his hands and feet in felt, cut them out and glued them on to a piece of cardboard (much like how we made the Weather Wheel). Then I labeled each finger & toe with a number from 1-20. I hung it right next to Charlie's Weather Wheel, above his chair at the kitchen table. This way we'll have lots of opportunity to practice.

I also used felt to fix another project that I've been tackling on and off for quite a while.

I made this bean bag way back when Marcus was wee and I was still nursing in the middle of the night. Marcus' room is teeny-tiny and cannot possibly fit a chair inside of it, so a bean bag was a quick, inexpensive solution to my need to sit on something other than the floor at 3:30 am.

Charlie is as much a fan of the bag as Marcus and I both are, and the bag has found its way upstairs in the living room as a result. These boys are pretty rough on the bag, though. This rough play has caused the appliques to tatter and fall off. So, it was time for a do-over. I was never totally in love with the design, anyways - it was too much!!

So I spent a ridiculous amount of time ripping all of the applique stitching out with my seam ripper. Seriously, it is embarrassing how much time I dedicated to this bean bag. But, once I started, I figured "I'm into this thing, so I'm going to finish it!" So, once the bag was free of its old design, I cut out some cute little woodland animals to sew on - out of felt this time so there would be no fraying. Need a template? bunny, squirrel, birds

I decided to keep the design simple this time and just sew on three animals. It is hard to tell by my unsophisticated camera's picture, but the bunny is gray. I was delighted with the color scheme of gray-brown-blue.

In fact, I was pretty happy with these little guys in general, especially the bunny.

And Marcus loves the fact that the bean bag is back in action. I'm sure it will be destroyed in a matter of weeks, but oh well. Then I can practice my new mantra, "Ahhh, boys!" (shrug and eye-roll).