Jan/Feb Sewing Adventure Project

I was not at all excited about this project... I mean, it's a scarf. I live in IOWA- our winters are practically arctic. I have enough scarves... one for each coat, with a matching set of mittens and a hat. I'm way picky about my mittens, so when I find a set I like I buy the whole shebang. And really? THIS is the example?



Right. I can't think of a single instance in reality where I might wear that. Not only is is nowhere near my style, it isn't practical for the insane cold. No creative juices or outside-the-box thoughts were flowing.

I read and re-read the description of this thing, and decided to make a manly version for hubby. Surprise him for Valentine's. In the car last night, I asked him hypothetically what kind of scarf would he make if he could design it himself... turns out, he doesn't want another scarf- he likes the one he has. The Prince, however, NEEDS a scarf. "So my neck and face don't get cold, mom! And I want a rocket one!"

Fan-freaking-tastic. The last time he wanted a "rocket"-something, he was not thrilled with my finished product.

He brought up the topic of his new scarf again this morning, so I suggested maybe Cars fabric, or Diego... he thought Cars would be really great, and he wanted one that had The King on it. Uh-oh... I've never seen fabric with anything but Lightning McQueen or Mater... but off to the fabric store we headed. Miracle of miracles, we found BOTH fleece and flannel that have Lightning, The King, and Chick Hick! It was "just what he wanted!!!"

We also found some cute fabric for the Princess, and extra fleece to make her a set of matching mittens. As soon as we got home, he insisted that I put the fabric in the washer so I could get started making his scarf sooner. Before dinner, both scarves were done (except for the button), and they are so cute! The kids' patience was wearing thin, so I'll have to do the button placement in the morning... I'm not doing it as the pattern says, because the Prince wanted his scarf to be long enough to wrap around his neck like mommy and daddy do... so the Princess' scarf is long enough for that, too. I wish I'd made his longer, but it will do the job. They are both 40 inches long (the directions said to make them 33 inches), his is 6 inches wide and hers is 4 inches (as opposed to the 7 inches indicated in the book).


flannel on one side


fleece on the other


flannel on one side


fleece on the other

Princess is an independent thing, she has to do everything for herself like her big brother. She is also very petite (she recently jumped to the 10th percentile). I can't find any mittens that fit her that have thumbs- all the baby mittens I've found are like socks for their hands... she HATES this, HATES that she can't do anything with them on. So tonight I decided to make her the set that is later in the book. I traced her hand and decided that I'd need to shrink the pattern to fit her hands (because it says it will fit kids ages 1-3). Several tries later, it looked like 85% was the right size.

I felt like Finny tonight. I was not having any fun making these darned things. I realized just how frustrated I was when my computer announced the time (I've set it to do that), and I swore at the computer. Yikes! Talk about taking out my frustrations on an innocent bystander! :) But the mittens are done. I used the same fleece that is on her scarf, so they'll match- good grief I hope they fit her! At this point, I think they'll fit once she has her hand in, but I'm not convinced that her hand will fit through the opening. Frick.



A couple of shots of the happy kids wearing their new scarves:





How about one more cute photo to close with?


My kids and their cousins playing in our front yard in early December- we gave their Grandma an 11x14 of this for Christmas

Updates

So, I guess I should either make a point to post more often or not feel slightly disappointed when some of my favorite bloggers haven't posted in a while... I just clicked through my bookmarks and had a brief "bummer" thought when I noticed that someone hadn't posted since the 8th. When I got over to blogger, I noticed that I hadn't posted here since the 9th, so I really don't have any room to talk. (I have a goal to post on my other blog every day... trying to get rid of a few extra pounds before spring!)

If you've been wondering, the lipstick came out!!! Hooray! Three cheers for isopropyl alcohol and liquid dishsoap! The alcohol really did the trick, and the dishsoap got out any traces that remained. I wonder, though, if part of the reason it was so easy to get out was that the lipstick was from The Body Shop- a company that keeps their products as natural as possible with very few "unnatural" ingredients. Princess got off without much more punishment than a shower with soap and shampoo- that was enough to piss her off and know that mommy was not happy with her.

I've been reading here in the blog world about everyone's adventures at Target, primarily in the 90% off Christmas topic, and I thought I should add my adventures. (Or lack thereof.) I went the day after Christmas and stocked up at 50% off, knowing that things would get picked over FAST. I went back a few days later and reshopped at 75% off... then returned several things that I'd purchased twice- returning them with the 50% off receipt. I knew this would be ok (though the Guest Services lady didn't seem too thrilled with me), because I worked the Guest Services counter during college... you can do it but they aren't happy about it. Side note- I bought a Christmas tree at 50% off that year, then when everything went to 90% off I returned it... and immediately re-purchased it at 90% off, plus my 10% employee discount. I ended up paying $9.00 for a $100 tree!

I got my copy of Simple Gifts to Stitch today! I'm looking forward to getting started on the first project, but am not looking forward to a table runner that I heard mention of....

I'm leaving in a few minutes to go help with snacktime at the Prince's preschool. Today they are celebrating his 1/2 birthday, even though he's been 4.5 for a month now ("That's the funniest thing I've ever heard, Mom!"). They asked if we could celebrate in January because December was so busy and there were already 2 actual birthdays to celebrate. I'm so excited about snacks today, though, because I've been planning this for a while. Last year I didn't realize when they celebrated his 1/2 birthday, and just sent regular "approved" treats. But for birthdays you can bring "real" treats- it doesn't have to comply with the list of ok foods! I felt so bad that I knew I had to do something special for him this year. I made cupcakes in ice cream cones, topped with frosting and sprinkles to look like ice cream sundae-cones! I'm really excited, and I'm taking my camera to hopefully be able to capture some shots of the kids enjoying...


I had to make 20 to take for snacks!


Seriously, am I an awesome mom or what? :)

Iowa Caucus Results

As I type this, 100% of the Democratic results are in, and 87% of the Republican results.

A surprisingly large victory for both Obama and Huckabee, if you ask me... while I knew that both had very good chances of winning tonight, I did not expect for their margins of victory to be quite so big. Please don't believe everything you hear/read. Iowa voters did not vote for Hillary tonight because they didn't want to vote for her- NOT (I repeat, NOT) because she's a woman. I have heard countless people say that they would certainly vote for a woman- but the right woman. We take this seriously folks, and aren't about to vote for a woman (or not for for her) simply based on her gender- her third place result tonight was legitimate.

I did make up my mind and vote for a candidate in my party... also a candidate that won tonight... but my guy did not win my precinct. (Although he lost the precinct by a mere 3 votes!) Hubby had a hard time deciding, too, and voted for my second choice- and afterwards admitted that he wished he'd have voted as I did.

After the results were announced, delegates to the county convention were elected- hubby and I will both be delegates- and the evening adjourned. At the county convention, we'll vote again for our a presidential candidate and the field of delegates will be narrowed for the state convention... those delegates will vote for the candidates once again just before the National Convention.

Exciting stuff. We decided to head downtown to celebrate with other politicos and media, and to hear a candidate's remarks following the caucus results. On our way we decided to go to the party of the candidate that I'd voted for (thinking it might be a bit more interesting than the other), and were lucky enough to find a parking place about 3 blocks from the hotel. The place was packed, FULL of media, and buzzing with excitement as the results were rolling in. While we were waiting for "the man" to make his entrance, a reporter from his home state approached hubby and I and started chatting about the caucuses (past and present) and how he's been amazed the last week or so about how many media folk are in town. He actually said that walking down the street in Des Moines, he's felt as if he's in DC- seeing so many media that he knows or is familiar with. (This reporter is apparently based in DC.) We chatted with him for a while, said our goodbyes, and continued the evening... but a while later he came back to us and asked if he could use some of our comments in a story that he was working on for his paper- with a deadline that has past (as I type this). I'm looking forward to digging for the story online tomorrow to see how he interprets our thoughts.

Now the caucuses are over and I'll be able to focus on something else for a while. I have a quilt that needs binding, and hubby has TWO t-shirt quilts that he wants to be my next priority. I'd like to know what the next project is going to be from AfricanKelli and Finny, so that I can get thinking about that.