The Yoders Five

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Baby gifts du jour

So, I haven't actually done any projects to speak of for a month now. You thought it wasn't possible, huh. Well, I was good and fried after school ended this year, and really needed a break. I haven't even set foot in Jo-Ann's....(Mark cheering in the background.) However, I've had this backlog of baby gifts I made and have been meaning to show you.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you've got three nieces, five cousins, a sister-in-law and a bunch of friends all pregnant at the same time. I've been turning to simple projects like blankets and burp cloths made with ultra cute fabric. Most of these were done in April and May:

Burp cloths....I can't decide if the fat shape is better than the skinny shape. The backs of the pink polka dots ones remind me of Neapolitan ice cream. (yum) (And don't ask me why the carpet color looks so different from those two pictures--it is the exactly same spot. Pff.) I always use cotton flannel for at least one of the sides when I'm making burp cloths.

Lightweight one-ply knit blanket for my cousin's baby in Texas (serged around the edges)

Thick, fluffy fleece blanket (print on both sides) I found as a remnant and made into two blankets--finished with a blanket stitch on my sewing machine. Cute, huh!

Double sided cotton blanket (harder than it looks...)

Double sided cotton blanket with ribbon straps sewn on to become a car seat canopy. Don't mind the wrinkles...

And my personal favorite for ease and cuteness, Claire Bella flannel (1 yard each), serged around the edge. I found mine at my local Ace Hardware, which has a really good fabric section. But you can also buy it HERE (cheaper, actually) at fabric.com. You will be powerless to resist this fabric line. *swoon*

See how adorable and simple, paired with the freezer paper stenciled onesies I made?? ♥

Squaring off the fabric is my least favorite part of all this--as it is next to impossible for me to cut in a straight line. I hate it. I use a bowl to gauge where to round off the corners.

Eventually, I figured out that if I'm doing a two sided blanket, I should cut one side first and then lay it on top of the bottom piece and cut around to match the edges. Actually, the printed side should be face down so that you don't have to flip it over to sew, because then everything won't match exactly anymore. My blood pressure is rising just typing about this.

If Luke's awake, he's no help at all (big surprise). He likes to come and plop down on the fabric like it's a picnic blanket and then kick his feet and crumple everything as much as possible. Just like my cat used to do!

He also likes to yank on the threads, mess with the tension dials (RIP, serger...I still haven't gotten it fixed yet)

...And sit on my lap and grab at all the moving parts as I'm sewing (my cat used to do that, too).

I look just like my sister Meg in this picture.

And no baby girl gift would be complete without one of my bracelets... A couple months ago, I needed to make a couple, and so of course ended up making ten. I used freshwater pearls, sterling plated beads and clasps, Swarovski crystals, Czech beads and garnet. I take custom orders for them, btw.

So that's what I made a few months ago. Let's hope I get my mojo back and get back to crafting soon!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Three days, three parties

We sure packed it in this year for the 4th of July weekend. Saturday, we drove down to my family's monthly lunch and took a dip in their pool:

Maria and Emery

Ava, Grandma Carolyn, Hattie and Madelyn

We picked a few cherries off their poolside tree. Luke's face...haha! They are sour pie cherries.

Sunday, we ditched church to go hang out with Mark's family in Apple Valley. His parents don't live up there anymore, but his sister Sheila bought their cabin so it's still there for get-togethers like this. It was HOT. It was about 107° in Hurricane and 100° in Apple Valley. Their swamp cooler doesn't do squat when it's that hot. So it was about 80° in the house. (I keep my house at 74° at all times, year round. It's the only civilized way to live.)

Kathy (Mark's mom), Aunt Doris, Sheila

Frank, Amy, Mark and David playing Hearts for hours on end like they always do

Luke and his second cousin (?) Andrea Brown

Frank (Mark's dad), Madelyn, Luke, Dave Plastow, Mike, Andrea and Alison Brown

Uncle Mike horsing around with Luke

Yesterday, (July 4th) Mark had to get up bright and early to help with the ward pancake breakfast while I lay comatose in bed because Luke had kept me up till nearly 2:00am. He and Madelyn ate breakfast there and then he spent the rest of the day on the yard, video games, and napping.

I spent the day cleaning, putting away approx. 1,000 things and organizing all the toys in the kids' rooms. It was not as exciting as you might think.

Finally around 9:30, it was fireworks time. We drove up to an empty lot on the hill a couple blocks from us and had a view of the whole city. This year they finally allowed aerial fireworks for the common folk, so they were going off everywhere. I stood there holding Luke for 20 minutes while he jabbed the air with his little pointer finger at every firework he saw and said "Duh-Zuuh!!!". He loved it.

Back home to shoot off our puny little fountains

"Wow"

The best part for me is always the "sparks", as Madelyn calls them. Already looking forward to next year!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Luke outdoes himself. Again.

Mess of the Day

by Luke

Yesterday morning I was sitting here at the computer when I heard a swishing sound....I thought, "That sounds like someone's coloring with a marker." Luke was standing on the open dishwasher door. I walked over and he had a BLACK SHARPIE and had done this:

Picture's a little blurry probably because I was shaking with fury.

Not pictured: his jammies, the counter+grout, a cup, the scissors and tape measure inside the drawer and the Strawberry Quik container that he also colored on.

Luckily for him (and my so far immaculate criminal record), I was able to scrub the marker off with some baby wipes, Fantastik and a scouring sponge. Then I forced Mark to put on some more drawer latches, which he was supposed to do a long time ago but hadn't.

The Yoder family lives to see another day.