Adventures in Sewing

Maybe it's the new emphasis on self-sufficiency in our struggling economy. Maybe it's my tendency to want to do solitary creative things. Maybe it's because I grew up watching my mother sew. For whatever reason, I got a hankering sometime ago to learn to sew. So...

I asked for and got a sewing machine for my birthday back in November. Between the manual and lots of online tutorial videos, I've been doing pretty well, I think!

I made a bunch of these cute rice-filled owls. When they're heated in the microwave, they're so cuddly! We gave one to each of the munchkin's neighborhood friends for Valentine's Day. The kids don't seem to mind that they're a little wonky! It was a little difficult for a first project, but hey, I learned some skills and nobody feels obligated to wear it in public. (The tutorial is here.)

After the owls, I was ready to try an actual garment. So, I made a skirt for the munchkin. Again, I followed some online instructions, and it came out great!

To go with the skirt, I embellished a ready-made sweater with a little flower from the skirt fabric and made a matching sash. Cute, eh? I'm really happy to be able to make some skirts for the munchkin because so many that we find ready-made are so short.

For a play at school, she had to dress as Sarah Plain and Tall. So, I found a calico dress in a way-too-big size at Goodwill and turned it into a long skirt, paired it with a shirt we already had, and made an apron from some flour sack dishtowels. I think she looks pretty convincing!

 

 Actually, I'm thinking that this costume was a little too convincing as now the teacher is asking me to sew things for the craft fair. Hmmm.

Cookies!

Cookies! 

I used Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe and the corn syrup icing recipe from Karen's Cookies. I had a lot more icing than I had cookies. I guess that means I need to make more cookies!

Happy 9th Birthday, Munchkin!

Her actual birthday's still 19 days away, but thanks to other weekend commitments in the coming month, the party was today. It was a beautiful day for it, and we couldn't have asked for nicer girls. They were all so polite and well-behaved. One of them even said, "Wow, Mrs. Lowe, you did a lot of work for this party!"  I just love her! The pennant banner above was easy to make using scrapbook paper, an alphabet stencil, a marker, and some ribbon. I could have bought one, but this one's more special.

The munchkin opened her present from mama and daddy early after mama and Auntie finished decorating the cake. Since the theme of the party was "An Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social," we had some fun with the cake.

My poor photography doesn't do the cake justice. It was adorable! Tasted good, too. Again, we could have bought one, but then I we wouldn't have had the satisfaction of seeing (and tasting) something we did ourselves. Besides, sis-in-law and enjoyed making it together. I thought it looked great on my vintage milk glass cake pedestal.

I found some cute ideas on the internet using Starbucks Frappucino bottles, and adapted them for our party. It was really tough to drink all of those Frappucinos. (Ahem.) The round portion of the bottle label was free to print from the website Eat Drink Chic, and you can edit the words yourself.  I attached them to the bottles with clear packing tape. I ordered the straws here:  Pink Polka Dot Drinking Straws.

Our party started with chalk on the front drive. As the girls arrived, I had them draw their dream ice cream sundae. We had some quite interesting and large pictures to enjoy!

Next, we enjoyed an ice cream cone relay. The girls divided into two teams which they named "Ice Cream" and "Sprinkles." They took turns balancing a styrofoam ball on a waffle cone while they ran down around an obstacle and came back. We played for the best two out of three, and the winners got to be first in line for the food.

The girls really enjoyed playing a version of Duck, Duck, Goose that we renamed Banana, Banana, Banana, Split.

The girls created their own ice cream sundaes. I used some of my vintage Lu-ray pastels to hold the toppings.

All of the topping labels were found at Eat Drink Chic.

Since I'm a complete ribbon junkie, it was easy to use ribbon I had to create this ribbon topiary for the table. (Click here for instructions.)

There might have been just a little too much sugar at this party...

Of course, presents were next!

I found a bunch of ice cream cone containers of bubbles, so I let the girls take them outside and go crazy with them after the presents.

I send the girls home with gift cards from a local ice cream shop. I put each one in a glassine envelope and used a little wooden ice cream spoon as a tag. The printable tags that say "Thanks for Coming" are from Eat Drink Chic.

Labor Day Weekend Accomplishments

I did it! I accomplished enough to feel like I'm not behind, and at the same time, I had a lovely, enjoyable holiday weekend. In addition to the usual laundry, grocery shopping, and playing for church, I got a couple of clutter spots cleaned up, did some shopping for myself, caught up on some work for my piano studio, and spent most of Monday blissfully crafting in preparation for the munchkin's 9th birthday party next weekend.

We're having an ice cream-themed party for just a few girls, and I'm having a great time planning all the little details. I've found lots of inspiration on the internet. Here are a few photos that have sparked ideas:

Amy Moss at Eat Drink Chic

One Charming Party

I did a practice run on this cake last weekend. It turned out great! I'm not so good at piping that pretty edging, but my sister-in-law is, and she's coming up from Florida. Woo-hoo!

Living Locurto

A Little Loveliness

Amy Atlas at Sweet Designs

Amy Atlas at Sweet Designs

Bakerella

I'm seeing beautiful tablescapes, lots of vintage-style elements, custom labels, grosgrain ribbon, pretty paper straws, and everywhere a pennant banner. I'm incorporating all of these elements into the munchkin's party. I can't wait to share the pictures!

Shake Your Buttah!

Click on the youtube video below for the soundtrack to this post.


It was raining. We were bored. I was checking out blogs and the munchkin was watching TV. Suddenly, I shouted, "We've GOT to do this!"

I don't think the munchkin even looked up.

"Tell Daddy I'm going to the store, and I'll be back in a minute."

By the time she said, "Huh?" I was gone.

I came back soaking wet but carrying a prize - a pint of heavy cream. And, well...a few more things. I don't know about you, but I've never, ever been able to go to the grocery store and buy only one thing. But, I digress.

"Do you remember reading in Little House In The Big Woods about how the Ingalls family made butter? Well, we're about to make butter."

"COOL!"

I found the idea at Houseful of Nicholes. It looked easy, and it was! We decided to try two methods and compare the results. For the record, I used ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream from the grocery store - no special brand. We put about 1/3 of it into a plastic container with a tight sealing lid and a clean marble. I gave it to the munchkin and said, "Shake this 'til you can't hear the marble anymore." She shook it all over the house, and we sang "Shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...shake your BUTTAH! Shake your BUTTAH!"  It wasn't long at all before we couldn't hear the marble anymore. We opened it up and looked inside. We had whipped cream.

"Is that butter?"

"Nope. Now, you have to shake it some more until the buttermilk separates."

So she shook it all over the house for another several minutes until we heard sloshing. When we opened the container, this is what we found.

In case you were wondering, the container's not dirty. It's stained from the soup hubby takes for his lunches. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

We drained the buttermilk off and shook a little more, and drained more buttermilk off. Then we rinsed all of the rest of the buttermilk off and marveled at the miracle of butter!

We put the rest of the cream into the stand mixer. My results were pretty much exactly like the Nicholes'. (Check out her great pictures.) I knew we had reached the goal when the mixer started slinging buttermilk all over the kitchen!

Mix in a little salt, and you're good to go!

Knot So Hard Flip Flops

In some of my internet surfing recently, I turned up a tutorial for these flip-flops at The Mother Huddle. My munchkin loves wearing flip-flops, and I love how cheap they are since they are trashed by the end of the season. What we don't like are the blisters those rubber straps make between her toes. The solution is to cut off those rubber straps and put some cute fabric in their place. It's ridiculously easy! I think I might have to make myself some, too!