Summer!

Happy Summer Solstice! The weather may be crazy, but Summer is officially here...

Wishing you all a wonderful start to a beautiful season!

-Lisa

Star Wand Tutorial

With Summer Solstice being tomorrow, I had originally wanted to make a couple sun wands for the kids. Austin, not surprisingly, wanted nothing to do with a wand - it's girly you know. And Hannah begged for a princess wand - so this is what we ended up with. To my delight, it is much loved, and was pretty easy to do.

If you want to make your own, follow the directions below.

What you need:
Felt - enough to make your desired shape twice (we used wool felt)
Cookie Cutter - for making the shape
Colored pencil
1 Small, thin dowel rod
Sharp Scissors
4 (or more) Strips of ribbon cut at desired length (I did 3/4 of the length of the dowel rod)
Embroidery thread in contrasting color
Hot Glue gun
Small rubber band


1) Trace your shape using the cookie cutter and colored pencil, on the felt two times

2) Cut out the shapes, and the ribbon strips.

3) Place your identical shape pieces on top of each other and sew a blanket stitch around almost the entire shape using embroidery thread. Make sure to leave an opening at the bottom so you can insert the dowel rod. Don't know how to do a blanket stitch? Here's a quick tutorial on that.
I didn't have enough of the yellow thread left, so I added the purple at the end to avoid having to start over - oops. Make sure you cut the thread a lot longer than you think you'll need just to avoid this.

4) Layer your ribbon strips on top of each other with top ends meeting, and sew a quick knot or two to secure them in place.

5) Attach the sewn ribbon end to the end of the dowel rod with a very tightly fitted rubber band. We used the tiny bands you find in the hair accessory section of the store, these are nice and small.

6) Add some hot glue around the end with the rubber band, and carefully insert the dowel rod far enough inside the shape so that you can no longer see the rubber band. Squeeze it quickly and hold it down to ensure the glue sticks to everything and won't come loose.

That's it! Now go enjoy your new magic wand!

Simple Pleasures

Sometimes, some days, I have to remind myself that the day is not about how much I can get done. But really about the moments I have with my children. That missing a blog post, or only getting one row of knitting is just fine. A homemade meal, hot and ready on time, three times a day, just is not a reality right now, and that's okay.

These are the times when I seem the most able to relish simple pleasures. Something as small as a butterfly fluttering across a little ones shoulder as it races away. Or an unexpected "I love you momma", right when I think I'm at my wit's end.

Today, right now, the simple pleasure I'm loving the most is this jar of flowers. The entire house smells so sweet and light. And the image itself just makes me smile every time I walk by.

What's your favorite simple pleasure right now?

An Elfy Kind of Hat

I love this hat, I really do. I think maybe I just love hats though too. This is the third knitted hat for the baby, and well, how many hats does a little baby really need? I'm still debating adding the pom poms to the bottom of the ear flaps. I can't decide if they will be more trouble than their worth - oh well, I have time to decide.

The yarn for this project came from www.handpaintedyarn.com (a favorite yarn site of mine by the way). It's a chunky merino wool that varies in thickness, and gives the hat a nice pebbled look. Love.

And yes, I will share action pictures when the little one shows up :)

Tiny Knit Hat

Oh how I wish you could feel the softness of this cute little purple hat. I swear, it's the softest texture I've ever laid my hands on. The yarn is baby alpaca, and was purchased here. The hat has space to thread decorative ribbon along the edge, but I decided against it - I like it just the way it is. You can find the easy to knit pattern here.

I've used baby alpaca before, and nothing is as soft as the yarn I used for this project. In fact, I made our little not-quite-here baby girl a sweater and shoes out of this yarn as well. She'll be born near the end of Summer, so I'm hoping to get a lot of use out of these as the air becomes chillier. The sweater and booties still need buttons, so I will share those another day.

And, when our baby girl out-grows this little hat of hers, Hannah's baby doll will have a new accessory...

Take care!

Gone Fishing

Our family has found a new favorite. Fishing. I was a little skeptical at first, thinking a two year old with a hook adorned stick would be a disaster. Well, we never gave that idea a chance to present itself. I attached a heavy lure to the end of her pink pole (yes, everything MUST be pink) so she could practice casting into the water on her own. She is a very determined "I do it myself" kind of girl.
And Austin, oh my. All he wants to do is fish. We had to drag him away from the pond - and for good reason, the kid is good. He caught 4 fish this day, within an hour. Don't worry, all were carefully put back in the water to swim away.

She caught some algae here...

Have a great day!

Scrappy Summer Pillows

I'm so excited to share these scrappy pillows with you today! Granny Grace generously gave me some beautiful Henry Alexander fabric a few weeks ago. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was, especially because I had been eyeing some of this exact fabric for a while, going back and forth as to purchasing it (glad I didn't).

Then came the dilemma of what to actually make with the fabric. At first I wanted to make a sundress for the baby, she will be a late-summer babe after all, but it seemed a shame to make something that will only be used for a few weeks. Which led me to the decision to make both. I had almost a full yard of the bright lemon print, and that's plenty for the dress and the pillow.

I followed the scrappy pillow pattern in the book Sewing Bits & Pieces: 35 projects using fabric scraps, by Sandi Henderson. I love this book, and would recommend it to anyone not wanting to waste all the little bits and pieces of fabric from bigger projects. I've made a few of here projects from the book already, and everything turns out so cute.

Again, these don't really match the room, but I don't really care. They add the perfect bright touch that I've been needing in our house lately.

Take care!

Lisa

Summer Trivets

With all the crazy weather here in the mid-west, and the not quite Spring quality to the air, I decided to take it upon myself to bring a little Spring and Summer into my home.

A few weeks ago, I came across some adorable watermelon trivets in a magazine. I fell in love instantly. The problem though, is that all of the pictured trivets were vintage. Meaning I would either have to try my luck this summer scouring lawn sales, flea markets and thrift stores, or find a pattern to make my own. So I searched.

And searched.

And searched.

I almost gave up, because every pattern I came across was either for crochet (which believe it or not, I don't know how to do), or it just didn't look right.

Finally though, I found this. I'm sure you'll laugh, but I immediately bookmarked the page in my phone, ran to the store to purchase some cotton yarn and a few hours later had my very own watermelon trivet. I love it. I love that it's bright, and that it doesn't need to match the rest of the kitchen. The contrast brings a bright and summery feel to the table, and that's exactly what I was looking for. I may have to make a few others too... Orange or lemon anyone?

Take care!

Lisa