polkadotbug

Wood Chucker Day

Can you guess what we’re having done??

That’s right!  What a big girl she is now.  She is so proud of herself and we’re so proud too. What trooper. 

Little Miss Molly was making me laugh so much today when she got home.  She really learned a lot at school today.

She taught me all about groundhogs- which are also known as “wood chuckers” ya know.  I think she was combining wood chuck and wood peckers.

They can only be found in two countries- Pennsylvania and New York City.

Molly told me not to question her though, she learned this from her teacher “who has been in kindergarten for 20 years.”  How could she be wrong?!

My last funny tidbit actually happened a couple of weeks ago.  We had a really bad storm here and for some reason they didn’t close school.  They’d already had a snow day or two on days that weren’t quite so bad, but this day school was on.  It was a blizzard. I could barely see enough to get down to the school to pick her up.  She got in the car and informed me that all of the teachers were saying that school should’ve been cancelled.  But, “it was up to the president.”  Molly says “Barack Obama was not looking out for the safety of the children.”  I immediately burst out laughing and tried to explain that it was not Obama’s fault (it was actually 4 days before he was even being inaugurated).  If only the President of the United States knew (in that much detail) what was going on in Western New York!

  

How sweet is she?!  I still can’t believe I have a blonde child, but she is so darn cute.  An angel if I must say so.  I want to chew on her marshmallow cheeks.

She decided to break up the photo session and set everyone free. First the puppy.

 

Then the doll.

Splish Splash

How cute is that?!  They had their first bath together and they loved it.  I was worried that Abby was too little but she sure proved me wrong.  She was a little maniac.  They’ve had a few since then and I’ve decided that bath night has also become “clean the entire bathroom night” because the entire place gets drenched.  They have so much fun though and Abby kicks and screams when it’s time to get out. 

Gosh, it brings back fond memories of bathing with my brother when I was little and how he had this neat little game of seeing how long he could hold my head under the water without actually killing me.  Those were the days…

The other day I was laying some fabric out on the floor when Abby ran over and snatched it from me.  I went to see where she disappeared to and found her in the other room getting cozy.

It’s so good to see that she has quickly fallen in love with Anna Maria Horner too!  Man, my kids have good taste.

I’ve been experimenting a little more with Andalucia and made a couple little fold over clutch bags. 

I have this problem lately where I just can’t stick to one thing- or even 15.  I’ve been jumping all over the place trying new things and I just can’t organize a thought.  I guess I am just an experimenter at heart.  It doesn’t help that I have a million blogs that I can’t stay off of and I want to try making every last thing that I see.   Oh well, at least I’ll never be bored- just confused.

Starting Off Slow….

I can’t believe this.  I’m not one to make resolutions but I thought I’d try this year.  I have been reading everyone’s inspiring lists of goals and resolutions for this new year of ours and felt compelled to try something. 

Not a whole list though, just one thing. 

I didn’t want to pick something too difficult, or something I’d feel too bad about not accomplishing if I started slacking.  I just decided that I wanted to try to tend to my blog more.  I have such a great time reading so many other blogs and I really want to be part of the loop.  I want to open up a bit and say more and throw myself out there… sort of.

It took me 2 weeks into the new year to even post about that great resolution of mine.  I know I don’t have too crazy of a life over here in Western New York but there must be something I can find to write about - even if it’s just something little. 

I think my problem so far has been that I felt like I couldn’t post unless I had something crafty to show.  Forget that.  If you read my blog only for crafty things, then you can skip the ones that may not be so crafty.  I can’t imagine there are too many people who read my blog at all, let alone for my crafty stuff.  There are million other people crafting more interesting things and blogging about it!  That’s where I find my ideas.

Ok, here is one crafty thing I did over the holidays.  I know I said I wasn’t only going to post about crafty things, but I do have a few to share.  I’ll start with this- a sweet little handprint project on some fabulous Andalucia fabric that I stuck in an old wooden frame I had sitting around. I just had to find a reason to get some of that on the walls – in the bathroom. 

I love it. Handprints are too cute.  It makes me smile every time I have to use the bathroom, that still doesn’t have a door….

Farewell Christmas

I can’t believe it’s already over and I am just now posting about it!  How sad.  Before everyone is 100% ready to be done with the holiday, I will share a few pics of mine.  I’m very relieved that the hustle is over, but we did have lots of fun.

Here is the ugliest sweater winner in the middle.  That would be my sister.  :)  I just looked like a dork.  Her sweater seriously gives me a stomach ache!   Ellie looked really wacky because she also had crazy Christmas pants on that you can’t see in the pic.  The Salvation Army can have their sweaters back now.

Next for a little carriage ride around the village.   I didn’t actually go on,  I stayed back and took the pictures.

Me, Molly, Abby, Santa and pony dressed as a reindeer.  This little event funded a wild horse rescue, hence the horse activities.  It was very cute.

Here’s some tree decorating.  It feels so weird to be putting these up right now when we are preparing to take it down! 

Abby fighting with some beads.

 

Finally, the girls playing in one of the new toys.

Ok, I feel better that I got something up here.  I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and is de-stressed and catching up on rest and relaxation.

Cheers!

Look Out Elementary School

Well, there’s the big girl standing in front of her school this morning.  She did so well.  It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I was pregnant with her and now she’s already in school!  I only cried a little bit, so I was proud of myself too.

Besides preparing to send Molly off to school, I have been chugging away at crafting things for the Art Festival coming up.  I thought I would see how much stuff I could get out of one yard of fabric.  I think I did pretty well. 

I started with a Buffalo Bonnet and matching fleece lined bib.

 

I finished by squeezing out one pair of reversible pants and a little matching purse.  I love this Kokka print with the big bold flowers.  They look just like the flowers that Molly draws with the huge centers.  The reverse side of the pants is Anna Maria Horner, from her Garden Party collection.

Let’s hear it for the boys!  I even went out on a limb and churned out a lounge pants/bib combo that’s made for a boy.  I didn’t do so hot finding designer fabric that I thought would be great for a boy, so I went to Joann’s. I got a neat dinosaur print and this puppy/dog house print.  I thought it was cute.  It is so different than anything I am used to working with so I did feel a tad strange.  These pants are also reversible with a very comfy gray knit on the other side. 

Hope everyone got the kids off to school without a hitch!

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P.S.  If anyone out there is interested in food (who isn’t?!) and wants to take part in a little challenge, my husband won last month’s Paper Chef food blogging competition and this month’s is underway now – the ingredients and rules are here.

Pretty Problem Pants

Hi!  I am here!  I feel like this is my special diary and I have this stong urge to write in it all the time, but can never sit down long enough to do it!  I liked this pic of Molly and I a lot.  We had the same color shirt on and Molly thought we were twins.  That's all I want to know is how I can transplant her hair onto my head.  It's absolutely perfect. 

I want to start by thanking everyone for my birthday wishes and healing wrist wishes.  My birthday was delightful.  The girls at work went all out for me and I came in to a desk covered with balloons, flowers, banners, etc.  My sister (whom I also work with) made me a wonderful ice cream sandwich cake. YUM.  Thanks Ang!  She doesn't even read my blog but I thought I'd throw that out there anyways.

My wrist is much better now.  It's still very sore but I can do almost everything.  I just need to go to physical therapy once a week so I can stretch out the tendon and massage the scar tissue.  Fun!

With the healing wrist I actually got around to a little sewing this weekend.  You can see the girlies in their matching pants.  I started with a pair for Abby and of course Molly wanted the same exact fabrics for herself.  I don't blame her because they are adorable patterns from Sandi Henderson's new Farmers Market line, but I only ordered one yard and I could've used a little more.  I love it so much that I guess I will eventually be buying a lot more.  I need a separate bank account for this addiction I've developed.  Why does everyone have to keep coming out with new amazing fabrics!  Of course I really don't have a pattern, so I did my classic "wing it." 

I must admit that they look pretty cute in the pictures but let me tell you the whole truth.  Anyone reading this who is not an expert sewer (a novice like me) should appreciate my blunders.  Abby's pants were sewn um... upside down I guess you can say.  Basically, what was supposed to be the legs turned into the crotch and the crotch ended up the legs.  This makes for a very "low rise" type of pants that only make it 1/2 way up the diaper and fall off continuously (doesn't help that the elastic was to big too also).  Elastic always gets me because I hate pants that are too tight and leave marks on their bellies so I overshoot.  Note to self... elastic stretches a lot.

With Molly's pants I made sure that I had the crotch/leg situation under control when sewing but I still didn't make the crotch big enough.  The I have been following has the front and back of the pants exactly the same.  Is this normal?  I realize that you need more room for the butt to fit in the back so maybe I should be looking into a different pattern?  Or should I just leave a really lot of room in the crotch area?  They looked really cute on Molly but she did have to keep pulling them up so her little butt crack wouldn't sneak out.  It was definitely a learning experience, although I still really don't know how to do it right.   

Oh yeah, the serged seams tore in the crotch area on Molly's pants before the end of the day.  I was told that I didn't have to sew the seams and then serge afterwards, that the serger would take care of everything.  Is this true?  Do I just have to reinforce the high stress areas? 

I hope you have some advice for me! 

Molly and Jessie

Isn't this funny?  These are some of the first things I made when I decided that I wanted to try and sew.  They have been stuffed in a basket in the corner since they were made.  This past weekend I moved all of my crafty stuff out of the dining room so we can begin demolition and Molly discovered the basket of firsts.  

The bonnet is Amy Karol's pattern.  It's where I started with the bonnets.  I was very proud of my first bonnets but my stitching wasn't so hot and it was still snowing so Abby couldn't actually wear it.  Since that time my bonnets morphed into a new shape and it's the perfect weather to wear them.  So now we are all happy!  I also made the little skirt that I had no idea what to do with, so it sat in the basket as well.  That's all Molly had to find was a matching shirt for Jessie.  She dug through her baby clothes bin (which is composed of old "real baby" clothes) and found a onesie to match.  I found some fabric scraps and ironed on a matching patch to complete the outfit.  

"Isn't she SO cute Mommy? " Is what I heard from Molly.

In the basket we also found one of the first dresses I made.  It just happened to be in the same fabric.  I obviously did a lot of experimenting with the apples and pears pattern.  It was a very cute pillowcase style dress but too short for Molly.  She was so excited to wear a matching outfit with her baby so we just threw some shorts on and she wore it like a tank top.  Now she was all ready to go to a birthday party with matching baby in tow. 

We had a great time at the birthday party/picnic.  It was Rosie's 3rd birthday.  Julia (my very dear friend whom I've mentioned in the past) and her mom (hi Judy!) throw a party for her at a local state park each year.  We always have a ton of fun and Molly loves the beach.  The weather also turns out perfect each year (normally weather and perfect cannot go in the sentence when you live in Buffalo).  Molly would've loved to stay in the water all day.  It was breezy and the waves were pretty big so I am glad Andrew was there to go in the water with her.  Bathing suits and I don't get along very well.  Little Abby thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with the sand.  Overall it was a great day and fabulous to see everyone.  Happy 3rd year Rosie, we hope it's a great one for you (and your parents)!!

Oh yeah, that's our backyard (that I mentioned needs a lot of work) in the background.  If you look over Molly's shoulder you can see our cute little garden that Andrew built.  We are all very proud of the veggie garden!     

Meet Honey Bear

Yay!  We used up some of my scraps!  It really didn't make a dent in the pile of fabric scraps, but I do feel better knowing some of it was used.  Not only did the leftovers get turned into something, but something that made Molly very happy.  It was such a great little project for the two of us.  I definitely had other projects topping my list of things to do, but this was worth it. This idea all started because of Chickie Poo.   He was purchased from Jeffrey Vincent at the Buffalo Indie Market.  She loves her Chickie Poo and decided that she wanted me to make him a buddy.  So she went swimming in my sea of scraps and chose the patterns she wanted to construct a friend with.  After a couple hours of excitement we had Honey Bear.  I'm not quite sure why Molly decided it was a bear, but we're gonna go with it.

Molly was so excited about the whole process and the final product.  I was really surprised seeing as she really isn't too excited about Mommy made products.  I guess it's because she took part in the construction and made the major choices.  I just did the dirty work.  It was a very fun process but I am definitely no expert in stuffed animal construction.  Yet another department I need to work on! 

Honey Bear is sleeping peacefully next to Molly tonight.

So...what do you guys do with your scraps?!?!?

Still Chuggin Along

This is one of the newest bags I have made.  It's amazing how just the fabric alone can make just about any bag look so nice.  I really enjoy this one.  Too bad I have to bring it to the Market.  Maybe no one will buy it and I can keep it for myself!

 

Another new one and a new style I tried.  I like it too, but not as much as the first.  I think I just prefer the bigger bags.  How great are the sunflowers?  They are from Molly and Andrew.  Almost every time they go to Wegmans they come back with flowers for me!  I know, not only does he buy me flowers, but he also does the majority of the grocery shopping!  And, did I mention how great he cooks?  I have it made.  Seriously.

Ok, just a short post today.  I have a long list of things to get done that isn't getting much shorter.  It is also early in the morning and Abby is next to me throwing toys on the computer.  I just wanted to get it out there that I am getting a couple things done!  Today I have my two girls and my sister Angela's 3 year old son too.  Mom (aka nanny) is on a 2 week vacation so we have to take turns staying home from work and watching the kids. Yikes!  I am so thankful for mom!  I just wish she would get home soon.  :)  I don't think I will be getting much done today...

 

Tons of Tutus (Tying Tulle Tonight)

Yet another Tina project for the market, if you can't tell.  I don't typically sit around tying tons of tulle knots just for fun.  The tutus are so easy to put together and turn out so cute.  It's great to see them all together when I finish.  Every newest one becomes my favorite. 

I was really surprised at the amount of tutus I sold at the last market.  I know they are cute, but I didn't think they would sell like they did.  I planned on having a lot more for this one, but my time is running short.  Andrew even helped with these tutus.  He cut the lengths of tulle while I pieced them together.  He thought he would attempt to put one together, but apparently it's difficult for large fingers to tie delicate knots of tulle.  Thank you Andrew! 

Just like a baby girl needs a bonnet, a young girl needs a tutu.  How's that for a sales pitch?  It just makes them feel so fancy.  I love how when Molly puts one on she immediately does a little dance.  The first tutu I sold was for a little girl on her second birthday and I was told she slept in it that night!  How cute is that!?  That's the greatest feeling, knowing that something you did made someone else really happy.  Oh the joys!