Tesla's Mom

In Retrospect

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:50:00 +0000

Sometimes, it's only obvious that something is a bad idea after it's to late. Let me explain. Saturday night we went to a concert at KidsQuest. Tim Noah was performing. Now I LOVED Tim Noah as a kid and now that I'm older and have kids I still love him. His music is fantastic. It has all the right themes.

This was the only pic I could get from his website.
(He's won Emmy's! Impressive!)

His songs from my favorite CD In Search of the Wow Wow Wibble waggle wazzie Woodle Woo include:

Zoom
If I Only Knew
If I Was
The Monkey Song
Big Booger
Tears On My Toes
Little Miracles
Sunshiney Mornin’
Musty Moldy Melvin
Friends With A Song
Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle WOO
I Can Do Anything

When I was in first grade this CD came out and Tim Noah did a tour around our area. Now I thought that he was HUGE, a rock star. Just huge. I believe it was really the first concert I ever went to and it was great. I remember listening to my tape and jumping on my bed and singing,

"Teacher, teacher, teacher can’t you see
That Big Booger’s pickin’ on me"

From his song Big Booger. I was picked on a lot when I was a kid so it really resonated with me. Now as an adult I listen to the lyrics from Sunshine Morning or If I Was and all I hear is positive reinforcement. The best one though is I Can Do Anything. I love it. I think it's so important for our kids and us to remember, we can do anything.

We went to the concert and it was a great venu for it. KidsQuest is a children's museum that really appeals to toddlers. It has water tables, toys, sand boxes and a thing that swallows up scarves and blows them out again. I made sure Jason sat down in front and got us a good spot before the show. Tesla had about 15 minutes of playtime before the show and she was loving it. I kept telling her okay, see the guitar, Tim Noah is going to come out and sing to us, and we're going to sit and listen okay? And she'd say, "No, I want to play." Okay fine, but when he comes out we'll sit and listen. Okay??? OKAY?? Why oh why do I try to reason with a 2 year old. Two things I forgot to mention, one was that Tesla did not get a nap. She usually naps for 2-4 hours and that day she hadn't gotten one. She stayed in her room for quiet time, but didn't actually nap. The second thing was, that I was really excited about meeting Tim Noah and didn't know if we'd be able to or not, so I made Tesla a t-shirt to up our chances. I thought about having it say, "my imagination takes me high" which is a great lyric from his song Zoom. But then I thought that sounded a little drugy or anti-drugy, it was just confusing out of context. Instead I chose, "I Can Do Anything".

This is where the in retrospect part comes into play. Tesla sure did prove that shirt. She was everywhere! EVERYWHERE. Now she's a super super friendly not shy kid as it is, so for her to talk to everyone and give them toys is not unusual, just with the shirt on it was pretty funny. At one point she is in a pit of stuffed animals and she is giving all the adults sitting around it a stuffed animal, and she fixates on this one guy, and keeps giving him stuff and touching his leg, and he's looking like, what does this kid want. She just wants to make friends and play. Several times people looked around for her parents. We were there just standing watching her, it's not like she was screaming on top of being friendly (which some kids were doing). Another time she was in the tree with a woman and her daughter and you could tell by her face that she was having a blast playing with them, and when she saw me she hid behind the mom, playing. It was pretty funny. Other kids were so shy they wouldn't look at Tim Noah or others if you looked at them they were terrified. But not T. Perhaps her t-shirt, should have said, sometimes I can be timid. Just sometimes. Do you think putting the behavior you want on your kids t-shirt would do it?

So after the concert I wanted to get a picture of Tim Noah and Tesla together. This was the best that I could do.

Good shot, no? Well fine, how about me and Tim?

See that wasn't so bad.

We also bought his DVD, which is so good, and totally works today, even though it's over 20 years old. Jason and Tesla watched it yesterday while I sewed and he was really impressed. It's really a fun DVD and so cleverly done. Tim Noah also does a children's theater up in Snohomish, and I think we're going to have to go to it. It should be fun!

I've posted a bunch of links to Tim Noah's website. Just so you know, although I encourage you to get the CD and DVD for your kids, I have no vested interested in it, other than you also enjoying his music.

More Beep Bots Love

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:19:00 +0000

Do you remember the PJ's I made for Nigel? Well due to a miscalculation on my part, I ended up with an extra three yards of fabric. I was using my husband's calculator and it's reverse polish notation and well I couldn't figure it out and it was late in the evening and I had to place the order right away, so I ended up with 3 extra yards. Yes in in retrospect even the next day, I was like wait, that's not right. But fortunately a friend loved the fabric and asked me to make some PJ's for her son. The bottoms turned out really good. I even added in pockets which I had never done before and I did a separate waist band in a coordinating fabric.

See the waist band, and pockets are in a coordinating fabric.

Close up of the pockets.

Well I couldn't really stop there, I asked my friend if he'd like a t-shirt as well with an appliqued robot on it. I should have taken a close up of the applique but this is as good as it's going to get.

But there's more! She also wanted a pillow with the fabric. She wasn't specific about the pillow other then it would cover a 20x20 pillow from IKEA. I originally cut it 20x20 but it ended up 20x18. Not sure how that happened, my cutting mat is upside down and it always throws me when it's like this, I could just flip it but there always seems to be better things to do. Anyway, I wanted to do a red piping on the pillow and add a zipper. Both things I had not done before and I do enjoy a challenge. I would like to say it was super easy but really it wasn't. There are not a lot of tutorials that include both adding a zipper and pipping so I had to figure it out on my own.

The zipper pretty much ended up hidden.

Her it is in all of it's glory.

Of course the pillow is 18x20 now, so I went ahead and made a custom pillow for it using some white fabric I had on hand and fill I had.

Here's John in his robot glory. I had to beg him to try it on, he looks so cute. It was worth all the begging and pleating. He looks like he's saying "beep bot, beep bot."

A Vacation!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:13:00 +0000

You know it's funny, I have my favorite bloggers and get so annoyed when they take forever to blog again, so I feel bad when I don't blog too. Like I've been lazy, but the truth is our son has been knocking our feet out from under us. He's adorable, but he's waking up twice a night again, and we are tired!!!!! It's such a bummer too, because we were in this nice little routine and it was working out well for everyone. A friend gave me the Baby Whisperer so I'll try that out and see if it helps us. Her kids are all on a good schedule and I trust her for advice about this so I think it will.

Anyway, this has got to be quick, the little man is stirring. Last week I went away on vacation with Tesla and Ben. We went to Camano Island in Puget Sound. A friend had rented a house and invited us along. It was great! At one point we had 10 kids with us! Running around, having a great time. One of my friends had bought fabric so that we could make something for the girls. We decided on skirts. In all I made 7 skirts! SEW much fun!!! Here are pictures of everyone in their skirts.

Tesla, Laura, Daniella and Dina.

Lilly and Pea. Lilly got to choose the length of her skirt and was so pleased with it!

A blanket for Ella

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:39:00 +0000

I really need to make some of these blankets for my kids. All I have made for them so far is two simple albiet soft flannel blankets and of course clothes, bibs, burp cloths, small taggie blankets, but I haven't made this one.

Minky Dot side. Ella is embroidered in a light pink. The actual color of the Minky is a dark pink. It's not fuchsia.

Flannel side. Summer Song Birds by Riley Blake.

All folded up.

These blankets are so soft and cuddly. I'm thinking of making one that is square, perhaps with different flannels on one side to be a play mat. Ben loves the minky though, he always calms right down if we set him on it. I really do need to make him something. Well I'll add it to my WIP list!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see the progress on my projects!

My Dads Rock!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:34:00 +0000

Almost 2 months ago, my friend Lauren contacted me about a very special gift she wanted me to make. Back when I lived near Lauren I had given her some bibs. Frankly the best bibs ever and she wanted me to make some for her brother and his husband, who are expecting. If you remember back in April I mentioned some new fabric that I couldn't tell you what it was for, but that I would be able to soon, well this is it. I know bibs you say, what so special about that? Well every baby is special and such a wonderful joy to be expecting. I don't know if you can totally understand until you start to want one yourself. For us it was pretty easy to conceive. I got pregnant about 3 weeks after we got married with Tesla. To get pregnant with Ben it took us 8 agonizing months. I know it's crazy to think the turmoil we went through to get pregnant when all we had to do was do it the old fashioned way and wait for the right time. For some of my friends it hasn't been so easy, and for Lauren's brother and husband, well it's down right impossible. I can't imagine wanting kids and not being physically able to have them, I mean their guys in the first place so it's pretty conceivable that they wouldn't carry a kid. However, Lauren who is just about one of the nicest people I know is their surrogate. I am amazed every time I think about this, it kind of makes me teary.
Lauren is a pretty awesome person. When I moved to New Hampshire I didn't know anyone, and when I met Lauren and the other ladies of Stroller Strides I felt like I was part of an instant community. She's super confident, spunky, quick witted and funny. What more could you want in a friend. I loved the way that she talked like she'd been there done that with kids. She just wasn't going to let certain things happen, and you know I really admired her for that. I have to say that a lot of my confidence as the boss of the house comes from talking to her about her kids. She just tells them how it is and that's the way it is. I immediately loved it, because with the amount of kids that we would ideally like to have, I just can't be a push over. Thanks Lauren for being awesome.
Okay, so back to the fabric. Lauren asked me to make some bibs and burp cloths for the baby(s) at this point she didn't know how many she was having. She picked out some super cool Michael Miller prints and asked me to embroider on one of them. I am pretty sure I am going to have to make one more with the same thing written on it. It's just not possible for one baby to have the embroidery and not the other.

The four prints. I usually do a white flannel on the back but Lauren wanted a print on the back that way they were reversible.

The embroidery says "My Dads Rock!" in a copper orange embroidery floss. I tried a bunch of different colors but this one worked best to make it pop off the bib.

The bibs and burp cloths.

All rolled up and ready to be sent. Lauren originally wanted them to look like cupcakes in a box, but then said just put a ribbon around them. So I used some of this rainbow ribbon which is just so pretty and appropriate!

Lauren said the guys loved them. I was really delighted to hear and that everything is going well so far. I am hoping Lauren will want me to make some more stuff for the twins, I have quite a few ideas and I'm thinking some of the Ann Kelle rainbow stripes will get worked in for the future. Oh and I just realized that this post is just in times for Father's Day! Happy Father's Day Lauren's Brother and Brother in Law! Can I suggest a celebration of sleep? I'm thinking with twins, this may be the last Father's Day for awhile that sleeping in will be possible!!!

WIP Wednesday #2

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:07:00 +0000

I am so happy to participating in my second WIP Wednesday. Participating in Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday is a huge motivator and I have been cranking out projects. It feels so good to say I got something done. Even just cutting and washing fabric for projects feels more accomplished.
So my first WIP Wednesday post is here. In that list I show you some of the fabrics I am using for future projects. Today's post will just show the final product and the progress and any new items that have been added to the list.

1. Stash Basket for Chrissy X 2 she can choose, in both Garden and Bright by Ann Kelle.*DONE* She's now trying to decide which one she'll choose or if she wants to get both. They are so cute.

Michelle's in one of the baskets to show relative size.

2. Pillow Case for Hudson/Sarah just like the one I did for Cohen. *DONE* and mailed.

3. Blanket for Madison/Shelby *DONE*

This posed a definite challenge. The blanket is 3' by 4.5'. One side is Minky Dot and the other is a stripped flannel. The Minky dot has a shiny slippery back side which means that the flannel does not stick to it, causing the blanket to bubble. I made one like this for a friend in a smaller size so I know this happens. When I make it for the small Baby Cuddle Blankets it's not an issue because they are so small. When I talked to one of the employees at Pacific Fabrics about it, she said that it would be better if I made the blanket flannel on flannel and then it would stick together. All I could think at the time was "Uh, really ya think? That's not really the point though hello!" She did give me an idea though. What if I did a layer of less expensive flannel on the inside. Then I could quilt the Minky Dot to that layer of flannel and then add the nicer more expensive flannel with the ribbons at the end. That solves the issue of the Minky Dot shifting while quilting because that layer of flannel won't be seen. It worked perfectly. The two flannel's stick to each other really nicely and the blanket with the little added weight really is pleasant to cuddle up to. I should probably make some for my kids.

4. Blanket for Shelby's niece. (Fabric chosen, embroidered and cut, just need to sew it all together.)

5. Dress for me. This will be a knit shirt type dress in a Michael Miller print called Aromatherapy. (Fabric washed.)

6. Skirt for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here.

7. Dress for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here.

8. Shirt for Tesla (Oliver + S) you can see it here.

9. Dress for Tesla - Macy Giggles. Using the same pattern from that I used with this dress.

10. Ironing Board Cover - in a Red Ta Dot by Michael Miller *Done* You can read about it here. It's really pretty.

11. Pj's for John in Beep Bot Flannel

12. Pouch for gifts - Can't say for who. I made one though for my Chiropractors daughter. It's so super cute.

13. Pillow Case for my MIL or a table runner.

14. Quilt - I have the fabric and pattern just need to cut and get started. It's from Oh! Fransson.

15. Blanket for Cooper, using this fabric.

16. Blanket for Finley, using this fabric.(Cut and embroidered.)

17. Bibs, burp cloths and blanket for Kate - Still waiting on the okay.

18. Bibs for MaryKay.

Here are my stats:

Projects at beginning of last week: 17

Projects completed: 4

Projects added: 1

Starting this week with 14 projects.

I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back on this, with a 5 month old and a two year old who I just started potty training yesterday, who so far has and 5 accidents today alone, it feels good to write this up and show that I have accomplished a couple of things. Of course it's taken me about 5 hours to write this post. Better late then never!

My goal this week is to get all the clothes cut out and bagged for sewing, and to at least 3 of the cuddle blankets and a set of bibs done. Seems both ambitious and like it's not a lot. We'll see, the potty training goal may exhaust me.

Here is Tesla in all her glory... She had an accident on this chair today while painting though this pic is from another time.

Wish me luck!!!

Don't forget to go back to Freshly Pieced and see everyone else's WIP lists and progress!

Thanks for visiting Tesla's Mom, feel free to leave me a comment, about the WIP's or about the potty training, and become a follower to stay up to date with the latest at Tesla's Mom!

A New Ironing Board Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Inspired by the beautiful ironing board cover I saw on Sew Dang Cute's blog in April, I made a new ironing cover for me. My old was icky to say the least. I don't know why stores don't provide you with cute ones or perhaps they do and I was to cheap to buy it, but my old one was a funky material that ripped easily and it didn't stay on the board well, so I was constantly ironing on the padding underneath. I took Sew Dang Cute's directions and modified them a bit. One thing I did was I added a scrap of fabric at the top of the board underneath to hold the cover on better. Tam did this on her's too, but mine didn't have it originally so I eye balled it and made it work. I also didn't use all the same string and such from the original like she did, I bought everything new. I did use a very similar fabric though which I only just realized now that I had to look back to get her link. It's kind of funny. I think it's just that red is the best color out there so who wouldn't want a red patter for their ironing board.
Below are the pictures of the board, I forgot to take a before of it so I just laid the old material down over top the new so that you can get the gist of it. But just imagine the foam underlay sticking out and it being more wonky on top. You also can't see the rips in the cover, but it is ripped. I have to mention that I have only had this ironing board for about 3 and a half years, there's really no reason that it should be ripped other than it's crappiness factor.
Before:

After:

When it's nice out, I prefer to iron outside. Don't you???

So there you have it. What an improvement right? I used Michael Miller's Ta Dot in Red. It's scrumptious. I picked it up at Fabric Depot for under $5.00 a yard! It inspires me to decorate my sewing room now.

Thank you for visiting my blog as always! Please leave a comment to let me know you've been here and become a follower to get all the latest news!

Bolt!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:46:00 +0000

Last week I told you all about the flannel I bought at Fabric Depot in this post. I still have other fabrics I bought there but I need to tell you about my experience at Bolt Fabrics. Oh my goodness, I was so excited to go to Bolt, it was like going to where the superstars go. The day was really beautiful and hot out too, and after this winter it was a bit surreal to have sunlight. Bolt is located on a street with lots of restaurants, boutiques and homes. It's so very cute. I found a parking space right in front and it was all I could do to not run into the store. The store is small and filled with fabric, but not cluttered and overwhelmed. It was lovely. The employees were super helpful, I was trying so hard not to gush. When I finally got to the counter to have the fabric cut I couldn't help it though and told them I loved their blog and they really got me into reading more blogs about sewing and how much I loved it and how wonderful they are and gush, gush, gush, gush. There was no stopping me really. The ladies were so nice, they just said "thanks it's so good to hear that people like the blog." Dang they were so much cooler then me, seriously. But I did hear them say the best thing to another customer. She was looking for fabric to line a fairy house so not very much fabric and when she said thanks they were so helpful and she loved the fabric they helped her choose, one of them said "Thanks, we want you to leave Bolt cheering fabric!" How cute is that? I wrote it down as soon as I heard them say it because I knew I wanted to tell you all about it.

I know what you want to see, what did I buy???

Marbled Magic by Fabric Freedom
Photo from: www.fabricfreedom.co.uk

Michael Miller Wheel Dot Charcoal
Photo: Fabric.com

Jay MacCarroll's Habitat in Peach
Photo from: www.freespiritfabric.com

Ann Kelle's Urban Zoologie Whales in Aqua
Photo from: Fabric.com

Aqua Appleville by Suzy Ultman
Photo from: www.robertkaufman.com

Summersault by Erin McMorris
Photo from: www.freespiritfabric.com

Marcia Derse Third In Line Collection Tourquoise Birch Bark
Photo from: http://www.marciaderse.com/

Victoria & Albert Bottles Turquoise/Multi
Photo from: Fabric.com

Spring by Manaluna by Sew Happy
Photo from: www.robertkaufman.com

Opal Owls by Tina Givens
Photo from: www.freespiritfabric.com

Geeks Gone Wild Space Invaders Green/Black
Photo from: Fabric.com

I also bought a small rotary cutter there and that's it. I wanted to post the fabric before I cut into them, but then I was talking to my Chiropractor telling her about the fabics I bought on my trip and she asked if I could make something for her daughter using the space invader fabric. I of course said sure and made her this:

The lining is from the garage sale I went to a few weeks ago and I blogged about here.

I have to say I had so much fun at Bolt and the whole time I was fabric shopping. I really love all the fabrics I got at Bolt, they really inspire me to sew and create. Thank you so much to the ladies at Bolt for being there!

And thank you for visiting my blog as always! Please leave a comment to let me know you've been here and become a follower to get all the latest news!

PJ's for Nigel

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:28:00 +0000

As many of our friends know, we have dinner every Wednesday night with Nigel. Nigel and my husband used to work together on a hardware project for a large software company here in Redmond. *wink, wink* When we returned to our home here my husband called him and said, "Man you have got to be social, we have so many wonderful friends on the East Coast I need to be social with people on the West Coast more or I am going to be miserable." The first week we got back he came for dinner on a Wednesday and that was that. It's been over a year and a half and we have added our son to the mix and now the 5 of us do dinner each Wednesday. It really is great. It breaks up the week and it allows my husband to be social with one of his favorite people. They also kind of work together again and geek speak a lot. Occasionally we invite others to join us, and when we have guests in we've always included Nigel. He's becoming a very good member of the family, and he just so happens to share my birthday! I knew there was something good about him.
Last year for Nigel's birthday we got him a picture of our daughter. He really does need an updated one and one of Ben but I didn't want to start a trend. So I was thinking and thinking about what to get him. When I came up with a great idea. But there was no way I could finish it in time, however I started to do some research to see if I could even find fabric that would match my idea. While doing that Jason says to me, you know you should make some PJ's for Nigel in that Beep Bot fabric if it comes in flannel. There is no way I cannot take a suggestion like that. So of course I immediately switched course and found some flannel Beep Bot! YEAH!!! I ordered way to much of the fabric and it was delivered Tuesday morning before our weekly Wednesday dinner in which we were going to celebrate our birthday's. I somehow managed to wash, dry, iron cut out and complete the project in time for our dinner celebration all while watching both kids, making a cake and making dinner for 13! (Okay 5 of the guests were 2 and under, but I'd rather take credit for the larger number of guests.)
Nigel loved the pj's and they fit perfectly. I however could not get him to model them long enough to take a picture. Bugger. But I took plenty in advance. He said every time he looks at them he laughs and that can't be bad.
The fabric is from a wonderful online store by the name of The Enchanted Room.
Here they are.

Here is the full length view. They are actually the same length I just didn't straighten them on the floor.

Folded in half to see the robots better.

Completely folded so you can see a closer view of the cuffs.

W.I.P. Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:45:00 +0000

This week has been incredibly unproductive sewing wise. My adorable son has started getting up twice a night and it's taking it's toll on all of us. Hence me writing this at 4am so that I can actually feel like I accomplished something.
Anyway, I am super excited to be participating in WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. I have been wanting to do this for some time but really didn't have a list of items I was working on. However after my trip to Fabric Depot and Bolt in Portland, I know have enough projects going on that I feel like I better have a list that holds me accountable. My list consists of some items that have been cut and others that I have the fabric for but still need to cut. Okay here we go!

1. Stash Basket for Chrissy X 2 she can choose, in both Garden and Bright by Ann Kelle. (Cut)

Photo from www.annkelle.com


Photo from www.annkelle.com

2. Pillow Case for Hudson/Sarah just like the one I did for Cohen. (Cut)

3. Blanket for Madison/Shelby (Cut and ready to be sewn.)

4. Blanket for Shelby's niece. (Fabric chosen)

5. Dress for me. This will be a knit shirt type dress in a Michael Miller print called Aromatherapy.

6. Skirt for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here.

7. Dress for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here.

8. Shirt for Tesla (Oliver + S) you can see it here.

9. Dress for Tesla - Macy Giggles. Using the same pattern from that I used with this dress.

10. Ironing Board Cover - in a Red Ta Dot by Michael Miller

11. Pj's for John in Beep Bot Flannel

12. Pouch for gifts - Can't say for who.

13. Pillow Case for my MIL or a table runner.

14. Quilt - I have the fabric and pattern just need to cut and get started. It's from Oh! Fransson.

15. Blanket for Cooper, using this fabric.

16. Blanket for Finley, using this fabric.

17. Bibs, burp cloths and blanket for Kate - Still waiting on the okay.

Okay so that's what's going on. I'm really excited about each of these projects. I love that I have so many things that I HAVE to do. Sometimes being a stay at home can feel like there's no expectations of you accomplishing something creative or anything other than dinner, laundry and care for the kids. But to make a list that HAS to get done, I feel like I'm actually doing something, which overall makes me feel good.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, be sure to hop back over to Freshly Pieced and read what others have on their WIP lists. Don't forget to leave a comment, you know I love it and to make it extra special won't you become a follower?

Flannel Flannel Flannel!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:22:00 +0000

This past weekend was my birthday and for my birthday we went to Portland. We stayed at the lovely Inn @ Northup Station. It was such a nice all suite hotel. I picked this hotel because it was in the neighborhood we wanted to stay in, it had a full kitchen and the decor was vibrant and young, and I thought my daughter, Tesla, would like it more than someplace with more sophisticated decor. The last time we stayed in a hotel it was a bit of a disaster and this time it was perfect! We brought Ben's Pack and Play for Tesla to sleep in and then Ben slept in the hotel's Pack and Play. The room was large and we had a lovely little patio that we could sit on and watch the trolley/literail thing go by. Tesla really liked that. The hotel had a nice continental breakfast in the morning and our room was close to the dining room which meant that when Ben woke up at 5ish, I could take him out there so that everyone else could sleep. I thought I did not bring my camera SD card so I didn't take any pictures of the hotel room but please go visit their site and check it out, the interior colors are stunning. In fact I was talking to a woman in the breakfast area about it and she said that after staying there the first time she repainted her sewing room in the same colors. Which of course I asked her about her sewing and about her sewing machine and it turns out she has the same machine as me! Crazy right?

On Saturday I dropped everyone off at the Oregon Zoo and headed on to Fabric Depot. Where I preceded to spend 4 hours shopping for fabric. It was so luxurious. I'm going to break up the pictures of the fabric I bought since I bought lots of flannel and then lots of everything else! So here it goes!


All Star 2 Main Stars Green Flannel Riley Blake Designs

The next one was bought for my friend Marisa.

All Star 2 - Blue All Star 2 Mini Dot
Riley Blake Designs


Wheels by My Mind's Eye Riley Blake Designs

Zoo Friends by Kelly Tanner
Blue Hill Fabrics

Dino Dudes for Michael Miller

Bliss 26 Circles Ocean
Westminster Fibers


Della Flannel by Valori Wells for Free Spirit Westminster Fibers

Summer Song was bought for a particular friend in mind.

Summer Song Pink
Riley Blake Designs

The next one was bought for my friend Marisa.


Jungle Friends by Kelly Tanner Blue Hill Fabrics

Sprinkles on Top
Michael Miller


Dumb Dot Michael Miller This image is not exactly correct, the dots are actually a light pink. I'm working on finding a better image.

Well that's all the flannel I bought. It's all so pretty. I bought a lot more fabric though so I'll be posting some more about that another time!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, leave a comment to make my day! Don't forget to become a follower so you can be kept up on all the latest posts!

Portland Bound!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:06:00 +0000

We're heading to Portland here soon for the purpose of fabric shopping! I read the blog by the store Bolt and have been wanting to go there, also there is Fabric Depot. But where else should I go for fabric and other sewing items? Any suggestions???

TGTM

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:56:00 +0000

What? Don't get it the title? It stands for Thank Goodness for Thriftshare Monday! YEAH! Because I wanted to participate in Apron Thrift Girls, weekly Thrift Share Monday again, I actually did some research on what garage sales I would go to instead of just seeing one on the way home from my weekly Saturday morning ~~break~~ errand. There were three that I had chosen. Two started at 9:00am and one at 10:00am. One of the 9:00am ones promised Little Pet Shop items and I had my eye on a Blythe doll for Tesla so I definitely wanted to stop there. The other 9:00am one seemed close by so it would also be good but nothing spectacular listed. The third one at 10:00am was a fabric sale. Specifically. Crazy. My friend Amy actually told me about that one. Thanks Amy!

Okay so the loot.
First garage sale I spent $5.10. (Note to parents, I know your daughters are super super cute and they act like adults but please make sure they can do math before letting them be the bank at your garage sale. They had to recount everything several times and gave me to much money back after I gave them a $20 and 10cents. Of course I corrected them. ) The Littlest Pet Shop items were a no go but I did find some other very cool things, well cool to my lovely 2 year old.

Here we see, two Chelsea dolls, you only see one here, the other immediately lost her tennis outfit and left to explore the rest of the house. Their names are Genny and Ava... I'm starting to run out of names and those are names of two little girls that Tesla plays with. Two little people, one Jesse figurine and a wooden bead necklace. All for 25 cents each. But along with this loot was the best find ever and has not left Tesla's side since Saturday morning.

See the horse? Her name is Beauty. She's the best. Tesla is just getting down from her chair in this picture to get Barbara (a Barbie, clever name right?) so that she could ride Beauty. That's my husband playing with another find, but more on that in a bit.

Besides a book that I managed to not get a picture of, the last thing I bought at this garage sale was this MAC chair. It was only $3.00 and came with the bag to carry it. The seat snaps into place and is much lower than a lot of the child size chairs. I took this picture next to Ben so you could see the relative size.

Okay so on to the next garage sale. First I saw this Bead kit that I thought of getting for my niece she's big into beading but I believe she's getting some Ithing for her birthday and I figured she'd need itunes or some sort. I find the whole itunes and ithing gift terribly boring, but I'm pretty sure the icompany is marketing to me. Well I passed on the bead thing and saw this instead.

Snap Circuits Jr. A friends son has this or the non junior version and we thought it was pretty cool. My husband is an electrical engineer and even though he could technically put together something that did more then this that needed to be soddered together I thought that at $5.00 he could use this with kids to get them excited about science. When I got home I showed him the box. Not even 30 seconds later he had it open and was putting it together.

Check out that smile on his face while Tesla pushes the button.

Next and last, I went to a fabric sale out of a garage. This woman apparently does this sale all the time once or twice a year. She used to work at a quilt shop and is a pattern designer. Everything was priced at $4.00 a yard with smaller cuts available. I spent $17.00 on fabric and here is what I got.

I want to make something for my step dad and nephew with these music notes.

Auntie Bubbles is going to get a pouch or three lined with these owls!

I actually have some larger red tomatoes that I think will be made into a pouch with this as the lining.

Not sure what to do with this, but I thought it was sweet.

Definitely a pouch.

Day of the dead by Alexander Henry! YEAH!!! I can't believe I finally got some!

Other pretty fabric!

So that's everything I got! I think I did pretty well. I spent $27.10 total. A bit much to be spending unplanned but the fabric really was a great deal. Did you go thrifting this weekend? What did you find? Don't forget to see what others found this weekend at Apron Thrift Girls link ups!

Thanks for visiting my blog, leave a comment and make my day! Become a follower to make it extra special!

A Pillow Case for Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 28 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

On Friday, I told you about the pillow case I made for Cohen. Today's pillow case is for Cooper. Cooper is also turning 3 on June 11th. He shares a birthday with my cutie patootie niece Sophie who will be 9! It's going to be a busy afternoon for us, with both his and Sophie's birthday parties. Luckily Sophie's party is just the kid one. They are doing it at a bead store which isn't incredibly appropriate for my Tesla, who has a tendency to eat pretty things that look like candy. So we're just doing a drop in, in the evening on that one.

Cooper is having a Farm party at a horse farm not to far from us. There will be horse rides and Tesla is so super excited about this, I can't tell you. I told her the other day in the car and she started singing Happy Birthday to Cooper despite the fact that he wasn't with us. I think it was just to try and speed up the process of riding the horse. I just have to mention that Cooper has this delicious little dance that he does when he's really excited about something. He kind of gallops in place almost. It's so cute. Oh and his smile. His smile is the cutest thing I have seen. He tilts his heads, squints a little bit shrugs one shoulder up and smiles. The first 30 times I saw him do this, I thought that is the most adorable smile I have ever seen, and then one day I saw a picture of his mom from high school (gotta love fb), and there she was 20 years earlier doing the exact same smile. How cute, that her smile is passed down to her son. (PS: his mom isn't really old enough to have been graduated 20 years just seeing if she's paying attention. ;) )

Even though Cooper is big into horses and diggers like Cohen, when I asked his mom what she thought he'd like on his pillow she said firetrucks! So I found some firetruck fabric. It's called Under Construction Firetrucks Blue and is not by a specific designer.

Picture from Fabric.com

Here is the front of the pillow.

Here is the back of the pillow.

Now I know for sure Cooper is going to love the pillow case because I showed him the fabric and he did his little dance. I hope he can sleep well on it!

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Thanks for visiting my blog, leave a comment to make my day! Become a follower to make it extra special!

A Pillow Case for Cohen

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I have been working on more pillow cases! My daughter has a couple of friends that are both turning 3 within the month. One today and the other on the 11th. These boys are super cute and I just adore them and their moms. I'm sure their dad's are great, I just don't spend enough time with to say I adore them. Anyway, both boys are into trucks of course. Since I had recently started making pillow cases for Tesla I asked the mom's if they thought the boys would like a custom pillow case, and after I got the okay from them, I started looking for fabric.

Cohen is really into diggers. He's huge into diggers. One time we went to the community center to play in their open play space and there were diggers outside digging a trench and he pretty much just stood there watching them and laughed as only an excited 3 year old can do. He's really adorable. So for Cohen I found this Michael Miller Tot Town Dig It White.

Picture from Fabric.com

Here is the pillow front.

Here is the pillow back.

The pillow is more like a sham style. I like having pillows that don't have to be straightened up. I made these tight fitting too. That way even with the less dense pillows that we tend to give our toddlers it would fit well. I think he's really going to like it. I'm not sure his mom is doing a public birthday party for him so I'm going to need to coordinate getting this to him. I kind of want him to have it for his birthday. I don't really care if he knows it's from us. I just want to know he loved it.

Happy Birthday, Cohen! We love you!!!

I was going to do all three pillows at the same time but decided while writing this post to break it up into three different postings that way I can tell you a little bit about the recipient.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Leave a comment to let me know what you think and become a follower to stay up to date with all the latest!

Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Wow, what a fantastic couple of days! Thanks so much to Sew Mama Sew! for hosting such a wonderful Giveaway Day! There were really some fantastic items being given away, and although it looks like I didn't win anything, I sure feel like I did with all of your wonderful comments!

So who is the winner? I used the Random Generator to select a number. I think I messed up when I said that I wanted the widget to be editable after the code is created, so you're not going to see the result below. It's the first time I have used it and I can't preview a working one. So the first time that I hit the generate button the winning comment was #18!

<br>The numbers generated by this widget come from RANDOM.ORG's true random number generator.<br>

Number 18 came from:

Candice @ Made With Love said... I love the blanket! I have a baby shower (for a girl) to go to in June, and this would be a perfect gift! Thank you for this opportunity! :)



Thanks Candice for entering! I checked out Candice's blog, Made with Love man I wish I had won what she was giving away!


I just realized I could still enter her giveaway and did! Everyone should hop on over there and enter to win one of her kits! I absolutely love them!

Candice I'll email you as soon as I can to get all the info for your baby shower gift! I hear the masses stirring awake so I need to get off now! Everyone else, I do make these cuddle blankets to sell. I can make them gender neutral for all those requests. I sell them for $20.00 each so if you'd like to purchase one please contact me! Thanks for visiting my blog, leave a comment to make my day! Become a follower to make it extra special!

May Giveaway! Sew Mama Sew!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 23 May 2011 04:27:00 +0000

Hi Everyone, and welcome to Tesla's Mom! I'm super excited to be participating in my first giveaway and on top of it to be part of the May Giveaway Day hosted by Sew Mama Sew!I started this blog a few years ago to create a place for our friends and family to keep up to date with our lives. Back then we were living in New Hampshire which was quite a ways from Seattle where I am from and my family lives. In that time we've moved back to our house in Redmond, Washington and closer to my family. It's been great being close to them and they have been able to be a much bigger part of our lives. We still have family and friends on the East Coast though and so I continued with the blog. Well at some point I started reading a lot of sewing blogs. Being a sewer myself I found it wonderful to be able to read about people's sewing creations. Since my son was born just four and a half months ago, I have been reading more and more and have loved the community that is the quilting blog community, and I want part of it! The ladies and men for that matter are so creative, and supportive of each other, and I am learning so much from all of them and that's why I've decided to partake in today's giveaway.

For today's giveaway day I am giving a custom Cuddle Ribbon Blanket to one lucky reader. These blankets are fantastic. I've recently been making them for friends who have had babies. (I'm just at that age where everyone is having kids!) Each blanket measures approximately 10.5" by 10.5" with approximatly 1.5" of ribbon on each side. I will also embroider a name of choice on the lower right hand corner.Winner must be located in the US. I will not ship internationally.

Here are some pictures of my little guy enjoying his Cuddle Ribbon Blanket!

The giveaway will be open until May 25th at 5:00pm Pacific. To enter leave a comment, letting me know if you'd like a blanket for a girl or a boy. You can enter a second time if you become a follower, be sure to leave a second comment. I will let the random number generator choose a winner. Your prize will be mailed out by May 30th! Good luck and don't forget to visit the other participants of the May 23rd Giveaway Day!

Toddler Cuddle Blanket

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sun, 22 May 2011 01:04:00 +0000

My friend Denise asked me to make a larger cuddle blanket for her sister in law who she was throwing a baby shower for. I really wanted to do a matching bib and burp cloth so I added those in. Denise bought all the fabric and then some for payment. I love the way these turned out. I hope she like them!

Gift Set

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 21 May 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Here's one of my more recent orders, I just completed. It includes a Baby Cuddle Ribbon Blanket, 1 Bib and 1 Burp cloth in matching fabric. Looks so sweet. For the bib I was able to use my new snap press and the polyacetel resin (plastic) snaps. They work really nicely and my new snap press is a cinch to use! The bib is now adjustable and would fit someone as small as Ben who is just 4 months or Tesla who is over 2 years old. I love these bibs they cover so well and are very soft on the skin. Unfortunately Ben is not the best model, he's a great tester though. There's a few of the same type of pictures just different views of the items.

Burp Cloth, Bib folded, and Baby Ribbon Cuddle Blanket

Burp Cloth, Bib and Baby Cuddle Ribbon Blanket (Minky Dot side up)

Bib and Burp Cloth. Bib is adjustable.

Ben modeling the Bip in toddler size adjustment.

Bib modeling the bib in infant size adjustment.

Baby not included

Cuddle Blanket Love

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:45:00 +0000

Ben loves his cuddle blanket. He thinks it's very funny and yummy.

Fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:57:00 +0000

I have been working on a bunch of embroidery this past weekend. I have a few projects that I'm doing that I'm embroidering names on and so I thought I'd just cut the fabric out and just get all the embroidery done in advance, that way when I wake up in the morning I can just sew and complete rather than design the look still. I decided before doing anything I needed to just break down and do some sampling of the embroidery on my machine. I have tons of fonts but not all of them are great for embroidery. I'll have to do some more but once I did the Garamond I knew it was perfect for a classic serifed font. I also ran out of room on this fabric to do more, so it was a good stopping point. The English 111 is really strange. It's the most cursive looking font, so I thought it would be perfect for embroidering little girls names but it will not make the full capitalized E. Strange right? Not sure what's wrong with it. I have a friend who's daughters name is Elena and I made a little cuddle blanket for her, but then had to redo the top because it wouldn't show that E. Does anyone else have this problem?

Above are some embroidered names on a red Kona Solid for some little boys I know. These are eventually going to turn into pillow cases for them. I don't have Cooper and Cohen's accent fabric yet, so it'll have to wait. I love the way these turned out. Very strong and clear looking. I used the Garamond font.

What are your favorite fonts for embroidery? Do you have a favorite sans serif one? Or cursive one?

Thanks for visiting Tesla's Mom! Don't forget to become a follower so you're up to date on the latest news. Leave a comment, you know it would make my day!

Thrift Share Monday - Always Say Yes

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 16 May 2011 22:55:00 +0000

Once again I'm able to participate in Thrift Share Monday hosted by Apron Thrift Girl. This past weekend I was not able to go garage sale shopping. After the week we had getting everyone healthy again after the crud hit our house, causing my 4 month old to be hospitalized, my 2 year old to get two ear infections and run a fever for what felt like forever, and my poor husband to be incapacitated by nausea, headaches and fevers I needed to run some serious errands. We didn't leave the house pretty much for one week, and although I don't really mind being a home body, I needed time away from my lovely family.

Despite everything that happened last week we did manage some crazy great thriftiness. First I got an email from a woman on Craigslist who had listed a playhouse and slide but hadn't listed a price. She said she was going to relist it but for some reason again didn't give any details and waited two more days to get back to me about what the price was. However she inspired me to look on Craigslist again for a playhouse, and managed to find one for $35.00 within 5 miles of our home that had just been listed. So we got it!

My daughter loves the house. We set it up at a really perfect time. We'd been inside for what felt like forever. We have American flags near our front door and she decided that she needed one on the house. Not in front of her front door, but on the roof. I asked if it was so that everyone knew she was American, and she said "NO, no American." Hmmm must work on that patriotism.

Another thrifty thing we did was say yes. My MIL called a few weeks back and said that a friend of hers had some clothes for our son that are handme downs from her grandson. So I said sure if she wants to mail them to us, we'll take them. I learned awhile back to just take any handme downs people want to give us. We have a lot of storage space and if there's something I don't like I'll just give it away, or if it's kooky and not my style keep it anyway for a laugh! Not a problem. Then another friend, Tracey, asked on facebook if anyone wanted hand me downs for girls size 4-8. I jumped on it immediately. Tesla may be 2 but she's wearing size 4 and we can store clothes that are to big for her, so why not? We sorted through all these clothes this weekend, and I can tell you with the exception of underwear and perhaps a few other essential items, we're not going to need to buy clothes for our kids for few years. Seriously. That's a pretty cool feeling to know you're set for clothes for awhile. So here are some pics of my cuties in clothes that were handed down to us and cost us nothing!

Ben in a flannel/hoodie.

In his concert clothes... Wait I wasn't even alive. Do you think this may be Beattle related?

Tesla lounging in a very cute red knit dress.

Ben in some jammies.

Okay this picture wasn't from this weekend's hand me downs but from some we got 2 years ago from a friend who said "here you want more kids, take these, you'll probably have a boy."

Nap time is apparently over.... Check out the other links on Apron Thrift Girls blog to see what other people have been thrifting this weekend.

Gnoma Claus by The Happy Zombie

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Fri, 13 May 2011 19:51:00 +0000

Have I mentioned my love of the The Happy Zombie??? She's a rock star in the sewing world. Seriously. Everyone knows her. She's constantly mentioned in magazines and on other blogs. I learned about her in the fall, while reading a post by the Bolt Neighborhood Blog. I mentioned it back in October here. I love reading her blog. It's really inspiring. The colors are bright and cheery so I always feel uplifted and like I can do anything. Her favorite colors are Red and Aqua, which were my wedding colors. So I feel like we're kindred spirits. I imagine Martha, Monica and I one day chatting over coffee as we take a break from our sewing or crafting. I'm on a first name basis, with all the greats, don't you know? Another cool thing about Monica is that when you comment on a post on her The Happy Zombie blog, she actually writes back to you. Not just a standard, thanks for commenting, she actually writes back personally recalling things you wrote on your comment. Seriously, the first time she did that I just about pee'd my pants. Super excited, I felt so special. Now I kind of can't wait for her to write a new post just so I can comment. *he he he*

Okay so enough gushing.

Last year, The Happy Zombie came out with a really fun Holiday line that included the Gnoma Claus. Well I knew those would make great gifts for Christmas, so I immediately bought a few panels. I quickly did nothing with them. My dreams of completing a bunch of hand made holiday gifts last year were squashed by my pregnancy. I was just tired and uninterested in doing anything. But now I'm not pregnant and I decided to go ahead and start on THIS years holiday gifts!

This morning I made the first of many pot holders! I also want to make cute little pillows with this. I find the Gnoma Claus to be just adorable! Thanks Monica for creating something that is just well.... Happy!

Monica, along with the other rock stars are in Salt Lake City at Quilt Market. I am so looking forward to reading all the reports about it. You can see the button for the KPKM radio on the right side of my blog. That's Pam from Pam Kitty Morning who organizes all the reports and does fun videos at Quilt Market. She's another rock star. Both Monica and Pam have new lines of fabric out, you can check out their postings about them here and here.

Well that's enough for me for one morning. I need to go eat breakfast before the rest of the house wakes up!

Thanks for reading along! Leave a comment and become a follower! You know it would make my day!!!

PS: Thanks Blogger for deleting my first posting and making me rewrite this. Thank goodness I subscribe to my own blog in google reader and could just copy and repost.

May Giveaway Day Participation

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I have decided to participate in the May Giveaway Day, hosted by Sew Mama Sew, on May 23rd! You can read all about it here. I have been making super cute cuddle blankets for babies and think I'll make a customizable one to giveaway! So even if your baby is to big for it, you can add a friends babies name to it and it would make a wonderful gift. This is one of the first steps I'm taking to start my business by increasing readership! Please be sure to Follow my blog so that you'll be up to date with all the news!

Pillows

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Recently we've been trying to move T into the big girl bed. Our attempts have not been working. But in the mean time we set up the big girl bed with a pretty cat quilt and cat pillow case cover.

My mom had this quilt made for me when I was a little girl. It's in fantastic shape, it looks brand new. When we I was looking into bedding for T's bed I was just shocked at all the pricing and the fact that everything was either girlish or boyish. I didn't want anything that was to girlish because she'll be sharing her room with her little brother at some point. Hence the trying to get her into the big girl bed.

Anyway, she won't sleep in it. But she will sleep with her cat pillow case cover. Which is a problem, because it's a pillow case cover not a pillow case. It's comfy but it's at least 25 years old and looks great and I would prefer it didn't get ruined by little mouths and oily faces. (I'm well aware that it will most likely be ruined anyway.) She would also pitch a fit if we tried to give her something else though, so what happens if the pillow case cover is in the wash for nap or bed time. Or she gets sick on it and I can't just rewash it. I knew I needed something different. Something she'd be excited about sleeping on. I took her to the store and showed her the Toy Story and Disney Princess sheet sets and I asked her which one she'd like. She just said "No Woody, No Princess." Great. Then I decided I'd make a pillow case for her. I found this beautiful fabric, which was out of my price range for a pillow case that I wasn't sure if she'd like or not.

So I went to Joann's. I found some really cute fabric of, princesses walking dogs and doing other things, cute cats and colorful stars. I've only used the princess fabric so far but she loves the pillow case and is using it. So I'm happy. Here are two versions of it.

I have to credit my husband with the idea of the second one. I was complaining that I had a bunch left over but not enough to do a whole pillow and this is what he came up with. It's my first pieced thing. I'm pretty excited about it. T is sleeping on the first pillow, the second one I made for a friends daughter. I need to make one for her son too, and then I'll send it off.