Father's Day

Father's Day has long since come and gone. I've been waiting to post because I wanted to get a picture of Cam in his gift. Alas, I'm still waiting, so I'll share what we made for Poppy and Opa.

First, Opa. 

Opa has been sharing Greek Mythology with the girls. He has several children's books on the subject and shares with them about Perseus, Medusa, Zeus, Poseidon and the like. One of their favorite stories is about the Cyclops. I really thought Opa needed a Cyclops hood to have on hand at his house for Greek story-telling. Of course, I couldn't find a pattern for a Cyclops hood, so I had to make one up. I used a ping pong ball for the eye and drew on it using permanent markers. I added big ears and some fake hair. I think he loved it.

Now Poppy. Poppy is my dad. He grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. His family ran a grocery store and his dad worked in the coal mines. He has a handful of stories from his childhood that he likes to tell. He used to tell them to me when I was little, and now he tells them to my girls. One of the most memorable is about his encounter with a rattlesnake. Or, "Poppy's Snake Story". It is only a matter of minutes from when Poppy climbs in our car that the girls, usually Maggie, ask for "The Nake Tory". The girls have the story basically memorized. So, I decided it would be cute if they retold the story in their own words and illustrated it for him. Then I created a Snapfish Photobook that I was able to pick up at Meijer in a matter of hours. It turned out really cute and personal. I loved hearing how they told the story and what they felt were important elements. 

If you're interested, here is their version:

Lila: Well, you know when Poppy told us the snake story? He always told it for Maggie.

Maggie: I always like the nake tories.

Lila: So, he started off as “you know where Poppy came from?” And, I forgot it right now.

Lila: So, once upon a time when poppy was little, Poppy and our cousin Norman heard about a peach orchard on top of the hill

Maggie: No when poppy was grown up.

Lila: So, they went on top of the mountain and they took Norman’s dog Buster.

Lila: It was a short time.

Maggie: No, a long time.

Lila: No, it was a very short time. They picked and picked and picked and picked and picked and picked and picked peaches from the hill. Well, actually it’s a mountain. Not a hill. So, when they were done picking peaches, they started down the mountain. But, suddenly…

Maggie: They heard a tss tss tsst

Lila: He heard a rattling noise and a “hiissssss”. Poppy said, “Stop, Norman! There’s a rattle snake ahead!” But Buster kept going. And he trampled right up on the snake and the snake bit him right in the neck. But not very hard and not very easily, too!

Lila: The bite swelled up for a couple days. Poppy came to check on Buster, Norman’s dog of course. He was better, but it was a little swollen.

Maggie: Poppy thought he was going to die any minute, but he didn’t! Them ran home as fast as they could. Them thought Mustard was going to die any minute, and he didn’t die! Their friend was there and they went on top of the mountain again to shoot it and there was no snake. It’d crawled into his hole. The hole was this wide.

The End

I had some extra pages, so I decided to do an "About the Author" for each of the girls. The book turned out so well and Poppy really seemed pleased. 

A frustrating project

I made this swim cover-up for my niece from a towel. It has got to be one of the most frustrating projects I have ever worked on.  I got the bright idea as I was perusing Target.  I had one of those infamous "I could make that" moments. Oy. I checked the internet thinking surely someone had this idea before me.  Sure enough, there were several patterns.  However, the patterns for this style cost money.  Being the cheapo, I mean spendthrift, that I am, I thought to myself, "I don't need no stinking pattern".  So, I bought the towel, envisioned my project and set to work.  I had just received a copy of Sew News in the mail that had a tutorial about how to make a gathered top, like this project has, using elastic thread.  I had never worked with elastic thread, but the tutorial made it sound simple saying something like "wind your bobbin with elastic thread, sew horizontal lines close together down the top".  Ok, maybe that's my paraphrasing, but that's basically all the info it gave in regards to elastic thread and how this project might prove difficult. I did understand that the whole gathering process works better on lightweight material, but I also saw the pattern listed above that was clearly made from a beach towel using the same process.  

After stitching my horizontal lines with the elastic thread for the first couple rows, I was seeing NO gathering taking place.  After reading numerous tutorials and tips given by bloggers and the like, I finally was able to trouble-shoot somewhat.  It was quite frustrating because one blog would tell me to wind the elastic tight, while the other would say loose.  Eeek.  Some blogs talked about changing the bobbin tension. All my years of crafting and I didn't know how to change my bobbin tension... more tutorial searching... Ugh! 

When I finally got it to work somewhat, what I ended up with was a not-tight-enough swim cover.   I decided to cut the whole thing down to size, about half.  Which meant that the skirt was now not full enough to pull over.  It has to be stepped into.  So, the ribbon straps that I originally applied had to be removed because they made it so you couldn't step in! I replaced those with FOE that I had on hand in a pretty tealy-green.  Then, when I went to stitch the other side up, the seams were fraying.  OMG, I was about to throw the whole thing away. 

However, I got it to where everything seemed to be holding steady. I emailed my SIL to warn her of the need to step into the cover-up and put the darn thing in a gift bag.  I mentioned the gift to my niece since I was out of town during her party.  She told me she hadn't tried it on yet, but "It's really cute!" Thank God someone thinks so!

Baby gifties!

 A couple of my friends have recently been blessed with new babes, so I've been busy crafting away! I made this cute little froggie from a free online pattern.  Yay!  I love free patterns!  His bottom half is "stuffed" with a tennis ball which makes him a little bouncy. I debated whether or not to add the toes and I'm really glad I did, because I think they're so stinkin' cute.

My dear friend Jenny recently had twin boys to add to her brood of handsome guys (5 including hubby).  I felt like the twins might need matching sun hats and shoes.  I bought the patchwork fabric at Joann and think it turned out really cute.  While making these, I really came to realize how much I love my overlock sewing machine!  If you are a sewer and don't have one, I highly recommend it.  It does such a nice job finishing edges.  It took me awhile to get comfortable with it, but now that I am, I turn to it during almost every project.  It makes everything look more complete. The shoes were really a pain in the butt because of their size.  I'm not sure they will fit any baby feet, but I'm hoping to go meet the new guys soon and see.

I really love crafting gifts.  They seem to be well-received and, most of the time, the materials can be purchased for less than the cost of a store-bought gift.  Giving something personal and unique is fun.  I got a great book from my MIL for Mother's Day from my Amazon Wishlist full of great, small projects.  More about that to come.