Buttoned Up

Last night at Sewing, I stitched on the button to Bryn's dress. It's done and ready to wear! And I have time to spare. It is only the 4th dress I've ever made, and I feel happy about how it turned out. I still have lots of progress to make, but am glad to have a functional, completed project.

The first two dresses are unwearable.
The first stained when I left it soaking in OxyClean too long (so sad, and my own fault). It would have been OK, but the color on the embroidery thread bled onto the fabric. 
I'm not pleased with the gathering at the waistline on the second. Perhaps I will fix it if my baby is a girl so she can wear it at 18 months. If not, I will probably get rid of it in our move.
The 3rd is Bryn's blue dress I worked on earlier this year. It is unfinished due to the changes I need to make in the neckline, but the plan is to finish it for her birthday. It is too tight going over her head and needs hemming.

New skills: Please skip if sewing bores you or you don't want so much detail.
This time I used a catchstitch to hem the dress. It looks good and has some flexibility built in. I learned how to cover a button with fabric, and finished a few days before the deadline (which might be the best part of the whole project). This was the first "special occasion" fabric I've ever used, and the first time to use a serger to finish the hemline. I used a new stitch on my serger, the 4 thread safety stitch, and appreciate the "safety" of this stitch. I.E. you can mess up with it and still be OK, you have some seam allowance left over in case you need to pick something out. I basted the side seams and sleeves before sewing them in, due to my serger anxiety, and it worked really well. Great idea to baste something you are scared to sew--I've never really used basting before, but I will in the future. 

What's up next? Some secret Christmas sewing. Must get started!

Fall Wall: Complete

Our fall wall is a work of art! Everyone colored a pumpkin and a turkey, but we also had pilgrims and Indians, cornucopias and fall leaves. We've loved the color in the kitchen. My favorite turkey is this one that's smart enough to hide.

I have used this website for many pre-school ideas, and we used this one for all the fall wall pictures.

We've finally turned on the heater and put on the flannel sheets.

It's time for Christmas cards, winter scenes, homemade marshmallows and hot chocolate! Happy December!

Pie Night and Sea World

Nathan and the kids had Wednesday through Friday off, so here's a quick recap.

Weds night we had pizza and pie with friends (8 pies, one was missing in the photo above).
Thursday we enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal with friends. We brought the rolls, cranberry salad, and apple turkeys (made with apples, toothpicks and gumdrops). We also went on a walk without jackets. Lovely day.
Friday we went to San Antonio to the temple.
(On this day I also hit 34 weeks, which means they won't stop labor any more if I go early. I won't go early, but . . . . )
Saturday we went to Sea World. This was our family Christmas gift, more photos to come. It was perfect. 70 degree weather, not too crowded, and we saw everything we planned to see and more.

This week

My baby dropped.
(As in, my baby is now in a lower position in my abdomen. Happy in some ways, more pressure in others. I will be waddling from now until the end of my pregnancy. 7 weeks to go and I do not usually go early, so not expecting any changes).

We hosted Cub Scouts. We are meeting in our home due to remodeling of our church building. We played "Eagle Golf" (a game with plastic cups and dried pinto beans), and talked about having courage during stressful situations: Be brave, be calm, be clear, be careful. Another new scout this week.

I worked more on the baptism dress. Hoping to finish by Tuesday pm when Thanksgiving break starts for my kids. My pace is so slow, but seeing it come together makes me think it is worth the effort.

My neighbor gave me some collard greens and mustard greens to try. I was skeptical, but really enjoyed them. I enjoyed their unique aromas, both while washing them and then boiling them.

I made this for dinner tonight: Italian Style Roast. A nice twist on the typical Sunday pot roast. I didn't follow the recipe strictly . . . too much salt and onion soup mix (my opinion), and not enough carrots. Also, I decided I needed NO NEW RECIPES. Again. I have so many recipes already!

Nathan spoke in Copperas Cove. It is a city southwest of where we live, and on the way we passed Fort Hood, the largest army base in the country, where the recent shooting happened. It is HUGE. You can't see much from the road except tons of equipment and many, many brown buildings. There was a large hill, and I asked Nathan if he thought it was man made or not. He thought not, but I think it was too tall to be natural and would have made a nice overlook point, a place from which to see the whole base.

We felt grateful for the soldiers who serve our country. Several shared their experiences during deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan. My favorite was this, shared by a soldier who’d served twice in Iraq. He said the second time was scarier than the first, but both were scary. He grew closer to Heavenly Father as he read his scriptures daily and prayed. He said something like, “I knew that I wasn’t going to make it out of there . . . so I turned everything over to the Lord. When I went out into combat with mortars falling all around me, I knew that I was going to be OK, because I had the Holy Ghost to guide me.” Thankfully the first thing he "knew" was wrong, and he did get out.

I met a sister who lives on a wheat farm near San Saba, TX. Hard Red winter wheat. I would love to go see that. She drives an hour and 15 minutes one way to church. Our drive was 45 min.

We passed the Copperas Cove High School. Home of the "Bulldawgs." Our favorite feature was the 6 foot yellow bulldawg tracks on the streets surrounding the school. We knew we were close to something big.

Andrew came home from church with these jokes:
What did Brigham Young see when he looked at his right hand?

One thumb and four fingers.


What animal can jump higher than a house?

All animals, houses can't jump.



Have a great week!

FHE: GRRRR + Attitude

Shopping for an FHE idea?

Most Monday nights Nathan and I take turns teaching lessons. Last week he taught us a way to remember the 10 commandments with hand signals. Perhaps we'll post photos of that another day, it is quite clever.

This week, I went to one of my quick back ups, the last page of the FRIEND magazine. There I found this idea:

"Read “My Gratitude List” (pages 6–7). On a piece of paper write “GRRRRR” and on a second paper write “ATTITUDE.” When we are unhappy, how can gratitude help us to be happier? Slide the second paper over the first so that all the letters are covered except “GR.” What word do you read? Talk about how having gratitude can make our bad attitudes go away."

At the end of my lesson, Bryn said, "Where did you get that?"
She thought the GRRRR + ATTITUDE was brilliant. So did I.
Try it out sometime this month. (It will work better if your learners can read).

For our activity, we cleaned out the fridge. It was long overdue. Morning sickness prevented my wanting to do it for a long time, and now it's my size. My little helpers were happy to unload and re-load everything I wasn't. Pretty sure that "cleaning the fridge" will repeat as a FHE activity.
Thanks family!

Not much else to report. Our camera is down . . . so it might be a little slow for awhile.

This year I'm grateful for:
70 degree temps in November
My neighbor's fresh garden lettuce
Homemade bread
A husband that loves children
His career in a beautiful place to live
General good health & access to medicine
To be able to be a stay at home mom
Laughter in my home
To know how to read
A college education
A piano in my home
My ancestors
My siblings
My children
New life to come
The Cat in the Hat (I read it every day to Diana before her nap and she can finish almost every line. Her favorite line, "What a shame! What a shame! What a shame!").

What are they waiting for?

Something I love about where we live is witnessing the southward migration of birds. Every day hundreds of birds pause on the buildings, wires, trees, and fences along our main street during the early morning and early evening hours. Nathan made this video on the way home from work today at 5:45 p.m.
We think they are grackles, but do not claim bird expertise of any kind.
ENJOY!

If you didn't watch with your volume on, you missed something and better try again.

Eye Candy

I frequently feel a need for color therapy. Nothing works quite as well as a trip to the fabric store, but looking through my own fabric can work wonders too. The fabric came from my mom's stash, one of my favorite places to shop (or just window shop). Thanks, Mom!


This is called a Box Pouch, and there is an online tutorial for it if you want the link here.

It went together really quickly and is nice to have a zipper that is more functional than the last one I did. If you've never sewn in a zipper, this is a great place to begin. I started and finished all today, from shopping to completing! I love a finished project.

Tonight at our sewing group, I cut out the pieces for the final baptism dress, so that is moving along as well. You might not see it until after the baptism, but you will probably get a report when it is complete.

P.S. a little SEWING TIP:
At our last sewing meeting, our teacher said that we should change needles with each new sewing project. She sews a lot, and so probably needs to change that often. I don't sew nearly as much as she does, but figured since I couldn't remember the last time I changed a needle, it was time. I put in the new needle for Bryn's blue dress, and noticed a big difference.