As reasonable as can be expected

The Bear Cub's First Valentine

2012-02-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

I got my first Valentine?

It's from Wyatt at Penny's Peeps?

Wait, what am I so excited about? He has like a dozen fiancées and probably sent out 150 valentines.

Ah, well, he's cute and I like him anyway.

Tell you what, Wyatt. I'll be your valentine, if you can keep up with me on the dance floor.

Happy Valentines Day!

Another Ottobre 04-2011-13

2012-01-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

I made another one of these blouses.

This one isn't near as nicely finished as the orange version I posted earlier. My serger, sewing machine, and the coverstitch machine all hated this fabric. It's a shame because it's quite pretty and I have a bit left. I'm not sure where it came from, but my best guess was that it was from a Hancock's in SA that went out of business. I also don't know how long this shirt will last as the serger and the coverstitch machine poked some holes in it and I had to try and try again to get either machine to finish any particular seam. Don't be too impressed, but I actually broke two of the needles in the coverstitch machine at the same time. I'm blaming the fabric as I wasn't tugging on the fabric other than to stretch out the seam for sewing. I sure hope the nerdlet likes this one as much as she seemed to like the orange one. Hopefully the next shirt I make, which is also an Ottobre pattern will actually fit the bear cub.

Nerdlet's Orange Shirt

2012-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

I've been focused on long sleeve tops for the bear cub because I can't buy them and the hand-me-downs don't work since her arms are so short. However, I traced two shirts for her that turned out to be way too big and so the nerdlet is getting them. This is Ottobre 04/2011-13. The nerdlet couldn't stop dancing for me to take pictures.

I followed some great tips on my new Brother Coverstitch 2340CV at this sewing blog. It helped me immensely with getting my fabric free from the machine. I still had some issues but this is only the second item I tried and it was well after I normally go to bed.

Here are some close ups of the stitches. I didn't have four orange spools so I used a multicolor quilting thread I had for the looper thread.

One final note. I was so incredibly tempted to bind the collar and sleeves in this gorgeous purple knit I bought, but my mother talked me out of it.

Then, this morning, when I asked the nerdlet to pick out some pants, you'll notice what color she chose.

My New Coverstitch Machine

2012-01-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

I read a sewing blog that convinced me to finally buy a coverstitch machine. I've wanted one for a long time but couldn't really justify the machine with how often I make myself knit items. Lately, however, with making so many sweaters and tops for the bear cub, I've been sewing a lot of knit items, and considering how many more years I have to sew for the girls and how many sleeves I'll have to shorten, it seems I could justify it. I'm thinking that I'll need to make or hem about 80 outfits to make it worth it and as I finished one and have five more in the works currently, it shouldn't take me long.

Here is the new machine.

Like Elizabeth's, it is a Brother Coverstitch 2340CV.

The first top that I decided to finish was originally made by my MIL. It was supposed to be a sleeping bag for the nerdlet as a newborn. The nerdlet, however, soon showed that she was unwilling to be swaddled or completely covered. The nurse in the hospital told me I wasn't doing it right and when she tried to swaddle her and the nerdlet screamed until she was let free, the nurse told me she was born spoiled. Anyway, it was never finished and I saw it in the giveaway pile at my MIL's and swiped it for a top for the bear cub.

Here is what the stitches look like when done. I used three different yellows that I had on hand and didn't really think about the order. Also, I just eyed the amount hemmed so the cut isn't nicely under the stitch as it would be in a more important outfit, but as I was just trying the machine out for the first time, I didn't bother measuring and ironing.

And here is the finished item.

What are my first impressions? One is that the cord is too short. I sew off the counter in the kitchen and I'll have to get an extension cord if I want to do this with this machine (at least until I have the girls potty trained and we stop using the playpen where it is, since the only outlet on the island is behind the playpen and Darth Baby has no sense and loves to pull on and chew cords). Also, because I sew at the counter I am standing up. This machine's pedal isn't sensitive enough for the position and I'll have to find a spot to sit down until I get good with it as I don't want to sew over my finger because I'm concentrating on the right foot pressure instead of the actual sewing. I'm also having a hard time getting the fabric out from under the machine after sewing. I think this might be that I just having figured out how to do it right yet though. The manual is extremely short and not very detailed so I'm going to spend some time on the internet googling the use of the machine and see if it helps.

The newborn outfit fits the bear cub fairly well as a t-shirt. I cut off about four inches from the bottom to turn it into a top and I hemmed the sleeves as closely as possible, and newborn sleeves apparently are three quarter sleeves on the bear cub. I do like this style for her though because like her sister, the nerdlet, her head is really big for her shoulders and most things that fit her this well are really difficult to get over her head.

Ottobre 6/2011-3 Takes 2 and 3

2012-01-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

The bear cub is in love with these lined sweaters.

The chevron fabric is one of the fabrics I bought at TexStyles. The owner has a cousin with Ds and mentioned that his cousin really doesn't like seams. I told him that I didn't think the bear cub has this issue but she likes these sweaters an awful lot and all of the seams are enclosed and not against the skin, so it is quite possible that even though she hasn't complained about them that she doesn't care for the feeling of them either.

The other sweater is from fabric I bought off the clearance table at Hancocks. It is quite thick and will be very warm for her. We only have a few days each year that merit a sweater like that, but I think that these sweaters should fit her next year also.

Here are the sweaters lined up.

The second chevron sweater is for my friend's daughter, who is also a princess with Down syndrome, and who is a day younger than the bear cub and almost exactly the same size.

I WILL have a bath

2012-01-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

I went to visit my mom this weekend and while I was bringing in our stuff from the van, Darth Baby and the bear cub decided to have some fun.

There was luckily no water in there. All weekend, when anyone opened the bathroom door, they would hightail it in there to climb in as fast as they could.

My routine for potty training the bear cub usually entails afterward allowing her to play in the soapy water after I wash her hands for a while. Today, she convinced me that I shouldn't leave her alone to do this anymore.

AustinTexStyles

2012-01-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

My sister let me know about a fabric store in Austin called AustinTexStyles. Since I am visiting my mom with the girls this weekend in Austin, I had to stop by.

This is what I came home with. $14.00 total for a yard of each of high quality sweater fabric. I'm a little reluctant to let you know that this is more than I normally spend for fabric as I'm quite cheap, but two yards of fabric will make the girls four sweaters (or more).

The store itself isn't impressive and the name of the store isn't on any signs outside, but the fabrics speak for themselves. They also have trim and other items. I only took a few pictures as I was leaving as an afterthought, but here they are.

If you are looking for high quality wearable fashion fabrics and you have the chance to drop by, I highly recommend it.

Waiting Office Rules

2012-01-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

The bear cub has to have a couple of eye surgeries. The first one was done a week ago and was to open the tear ducts. Her pediatrician suggested this when she was very young because every morning I would have to use a damp cloth to wipe her eyes of all the crust on them so that she could actually open her eyes. I had asked if it was hurting her any or a danger to her and they had told me it wasn't so I passed on the surgery. She had to have it now, though, in order to have the second surgery because it causes a greater chance of infection if it hasn't been fixed. The surgery has a success rate of 95% and from the bear cub's follow up appointment, it looks like she falls in the 5% group and will need to have it performed again. Despite her ducts still being too small, she is orders of magnitude better. They had to open a space in her sinus cavities in order to get to the tear ducts and because of this, she seems to be happier and breathe easier in addition to having more room to hold tears. The doctor gave us appointment in six weeks to look at her again and see if she improves any without surgery before discussing moving forward. The second type of surgery she needs is to cut and realign the muscles in her eyes so that they see level which will result in her holding her head straight instead of at the tilt she currently has.

I'm currently fighting a sinus infection and have a doctor's appointment later today. I've spent a lot of time waiting in doctor's offices lately with the three girls and these are the rules I'd like to implement:

15 minutes: I pull out the cheerios or other snack that isn't too messy.
30 minutes: I pull out a messier snack, something along the lines of an orange or juicy plum. I also stop trying to control any screaming or noise making.
45 minutes: I pull out permanent markers and paper to let the girls draw on.
1 hour: I take away the paper and rest my eyes.

I'd give them caffeine, but I know they'd then see me right away and I'd be stuck with three hyped up little girls and have to deal with them myself. Maybe I'll pull out the caffeinated drinks for second time offenders.

Good-bye 2011

2011-12-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

January

Darth Baby signs mama and I actually get it in a picture.

February

The bear cub stands independently for 15 seconds and takes her first independent step. We had real snow, enough to actually collect.

March

The nerdlet threatens to run away for the first time. Darth Baby holds herself in a sitting position for the first time. I saw 'Wicked' in the theater.

April

I start Darth Baby on solids. This was a big month for all of us being sick with a number of different things.

May

My older nephew graduated from high school and my younger nephew had his first communion. The bear cub learned to sip from a straw cup. So did Darth baby. Darth Baby starts rolling over. The neighbor's tree knocks off pieces of our roof. The bear cub starts walking a few steps at a time. The nerdlet, Q, and I went to the beach for Mother's Day.

June

Suki (my younger dog, age 9) had a huge cyst removed from her butt. I made a bib pattern. The nerdlet finally hit 25 pounds. The bear cub went to the beach for the first time and shows that she can eat yoghurt with a spoon.

July

Darth Baby was baptized and starts climbing. The bear cub starts walking full time and we start potty training her. I had my first sewcation.

August

Darth Baby starts crawling. She also starts pulling to a stand and she got her first tooth. The National Down Syndrome Convention was held in San Antonio and I learned a great deal and got to meet with a number of online friends for the first time. The bear cub ends up in the ER from a fall but was fine and was shown to not have AAI.

September

Baby starts standing independently, cruising, and taking steps. After so many months without any rain, we finally get some again. The nerdlet has her first roller coaster ride and loves it. The bear cub inherits some Sure Steps and starts walking everywhere without issues.

October

Darth Baby starts walking. The swollen lymph node in my neck is tested and turns out to be solid lymph tissue. Darth Baby starts tries meat for the first time, decides she likes eating after all, and starts self feeding.

November

The girls and I go with my mom to visit relatives in El Paso, Yuma, and Las Angeles. The girls see their first movie. The new roof is finally done. The nerdlet gives herself a haircut.

December

Plumbing issues again. Washer and dryer break down and have to be replaced. The bear cub's first eye surgery is scheduled. Darth Baby starts speaking words other than Mama and Daddy. She says cat, dog, up, bye-bye, and this.

Ottobre 6/2011-3

2011-12-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas at my mom's, I was lucky enough to have time to trace a few patterns for the bear cub. Her measurements are all over the place with her waist and hips at newborn size (56), her torso length longer than the nerdlets (98), and her height at 86 cm. For this sweater, I made a straight 92 and just shorted the sleeves 1 1/2 inches. When I make this again, and I most surely will, I will shorten the sleeves less and take some of it out of the cuffs.

She really liked this and giggled as I put it on her and tried to help me get it on faster. Also, she wouldn't let me take it off of her even though it is 74 degrees in the house (~23 Celsius). It fits her great and it is now the only long sleeved item that fits her well and it will be very warm as it is lined.

The nerdlet was quite jealous and has asked for her own, but that will likely not be happening as on cold days she insists on her short sleeved dresses and often ends up taking her stockings off, but I did let her try it on before I finished it.

Just a final note, this sweater probably would only take an hour to make if you are alone. With three young girls it takes 10 hours, not including tracing the pattern off.

BurdaStyle Magazine 01-2012

2011-12-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

I'm mostly uninspired by the January magazine, but there are still a few pieces I'm considering.

First the line drawings.

And the views at a glance:

I liked dress 109, but there is no way that I would ever make it for myself. Besides it being sleeveless I don't think it would be that flattering on anyone that is very curvy.

Dress 110 is nice. I wonder how it would look if I added the sleeve equivalent of a dicky. Is there a word for that?

I also like top 116, but it doesn't seem particularly special to me.

I really liked the plus sized top 130 on the cover.

And 133 intrigues me, but it may just be the pattern of the fabric that I like.

The costume patterns cracked me up. I especially thought the USA astronaut stuff was amusing considering we don't really have a program anymore.

Next months preview didn't really draw me in either. I don't exactly see a trend of outside pockets catching on at all.

5 Things I Don't Like

2011-12-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

1. Lately there has been a lot of fanfare about Elf on the Shelf. I read this, which is talking about the holiday tradition gone overboard. Personally I find him creepy and I can only imagine the screaming the nerdlet would do each day as she saw him and thought he was watching her.

2. Another thing that seems to be wildly popular but I've never understood the draw of is the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I read somewhere that the movie is better if you watch it with the though that the whole thing takes place in the friend's head, but I haven't been willing to watch it again to see.

3. White Chocolate. Yuck.

4. Snow. It's really the cold I dislike so much. Being cold is physically painful for me and not just uncomfortable. Last year when San Antonio had its first real snow in like 20 years (enough to collect and actually make snowballs and small snowmen), I was not even tempted to go outside. Q took the girls for brief jaunts to play in it. Even when I was little I wasn't really tempted to go play in the snow and only went if I was forced outside. I went on a single ski trip about a decade ago and was afraid I would be miserable and while I enjoyed myself, I will admit to not wanting to extend any of my time outside.

5. The People of Wal-mart Meme. I hate these posts/emails with a passion. Can't these poor people just be left alone?

Sani-Sacks Galore

2011-12-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

I've been busy today. I finally finished the sani-sacks for the therapists and relatives.

I managed to split the snap on the UT version, so that one was pretty much a waste, and on one of the blue calico ones, I put the flap snap upside down, so that is why the flap is folded under again. I'll be loading up on snaps at the next notions sale.

The rest of this post is going to be about how I made two sacks in one hoop. I really hate wasting the embroidery stabilizer and decided that I needed to find a way to conserve the material. I was thinking about just making the smaller sack size with the medium eyelet, but found I could fit two medium sacks in my largest hoop.

I placed the two side by side with one of them rotated 180 degrees.

In this picture of step A, the two sacks are offset by only about 1/2 centimeter. I found that ideally, I like 1 1/2 centimeters between the bottom of the sack on the right and the top of the sack on the left so that there is enough space to trim the fabric and separate the sacks easily.

Step B is even easier and I just placed them side by side without offsetting them, still turning one 180 degrees and trimming the side of the right sack close to the edge.

Now, at some point I can get to sewing some clothing for myself and maybe a few items for the bear cub (since she needs shorter sleeves on her long sleeve items and her sisters can easily wear store bought).

Christmas Sani-Sacks

2011-12-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

I finished the first of the Sani-Sacks. I made the medium size as my first sample that I made a while ago was the small and looking at various stores in four states, I never found any sanitizer in a container small enough to fit in the small version.

One of the therapists chose UT fabrics and actually asked for the UT bag, but I said it was spoken for and unfortunately I don't have any more of that fabric. If I have time between now and Monday to finish all the Sani-Sacks and make another bag in this fabric, then I will make her a UT bag also. I made a mistake on this sack but if she wants this one, I will give it to her with her gifts. Each therapist is getting one of the bags, 3 nylon scrubbies that I crocheted during the drive out west that I made in early November, and a tote on a hook (possibly with sanitizer in it, depending on cost).

Here is the tote, sans snap.

2nd Sewcation 2011 part 2

2011-12-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today was the second and last day of this sewcation. I made bags for the bear cub's therapists. I also made one for my sister. I wasn't planning on making one for her, but as I hadn't made one in a while, didn't have a pattern, and didn't want to mess up with the nicer fabric, I decided to make one out of the UT fabric as a trial run first.

I also started on making the Sanitizer totes, but I only got the fabric cut out and prepped. In the picture, you can see the other totes I made for the therapists.

For any of Q's or my immediate family, if you see a pattern you like, let me know so that I can give you that one. Otherwise, you'll get the one I choose as a best guess, except of course for my mom that will get the kitties (though I do have more kitty fabric so let me know if you like that one and I'll make another).

2nd Sewcation 2011

2011-12-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

I'm having another sewcation. Q took the girls yesterday evening to visit my mom's with the instructions to not return until tomorrow evening. I spend last night and this morning cleaning.

And the rest of the day I was completely immersed in finishing the Christmas present for my BIL (my younger sister's husband). Each year I try to spend a lot of time and energy for one big gift and this year was his turn. I only finished the top and won't quilt it until it stop raining because we have a lot of power outages and I don't want to risk plugging in the quilting machine. Here are two views of it unquilted.

I was skeptical that I chose the wrong borders as I was putting it together but I'm pretty pleased with it. My sister said he prefers scrappy quilts and that really isn't my thing, but I gave it a shot. I'm planning on quilting it with red thread as soon as the rain lets up and hopefully I can get it shipped so it doesn't arrive too long after Christmas day.

When Is It Acceptable?

2011-12-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

I went to Wal-mart today on the way home from Katie's 4 year appt at the doctor for milk and bananas. As I was getting bananas, an elderly lady wheeled up in her scooter and asked me for help. I got her the bananas she asked for and she turned to my girls and waved to them. The bear cub waved back and the lady said, "Oh what a beautiful Mongoloid child!"

I started to correct her, "She's not Mon.."

"Dear, I'm a nurse or I was before I retired in 1974, and I know a Mongoloid when I see one."

"She has Down syndrome. It isn't acceptable to use the term Mongoloid anymore. It's offensive." I told her.

"Everything has changed so much." She was shaking her head as she wheeled away.

One thing is true though, the bear cub sure is beautiful.

Starting School

2011-12-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

In the process of just trying to get an appointment to get the bear cub evaluated for school, I learned a lot about how hard dealing with public school and ensuring that she get the best education possible was going to be.

First they gave me a hard time about showing up in the first place. They left me a message saying that I could not have an appointment because she was too young, even though I knew of more than one parent who was scheduled to be there that had a child younger than the bear cub. The lady that left this message did so after their operating hours and when I called immediately back, the receptionist gave me a hard time about calling after their operating hours and questioning the message in general. I still have this message on my phone.

Then when I did show up, although they had my name at the front desk to get a visitor's pass, I was not on any of their other paperwork. They were so very generous in allowing me to sit in on their information meeting, which I recorded. It was given by a speech therapist and gave me a lot of positive feelings about what to expect, until the meeting was over and they directed me to another room where the other personnel told me that what I heard wasn't true and that I must have misunderstood what was said. I basically was told I had two options: PPSC in a non-inclusive setting, which was 3 hours a day five days a week or Head Start which was inclusive, but in which I would get no therapy, which was all day five days a week. I was also told that putting my 20 pound little girl in a five point harnessed car seat was not going to be possible. The lady who knew about the Head Start Program basically told us this and then ran out saying that she was double booked and had to go to another school.

In addition to this, I had a wonderful conversation with the lady that scheduled my evaluation. She asked me what my concerns were. I was a little thrown by the question, thought a bit, and answered that I was concerned that my bear cub would not get the education she deserved which would help her live up to her potential so that she could be independent and have a good and happy life. The lady rolled her eyes at this and said she meant does she have any medical issues that need to be addressed. I explained that she had an issue with her eyes that would be addressed with surgery but that would be taken care of before she entered school most likely and that there weren't any other medical issues that I could think of. She rolled her eyes again, sighed loudly, and asked if she had Down syndrome. I said yes. She told me I should try to just answer the questions asked. I explained that I had answered exactly the question asked and that I did not think that her having Ds was an issue and I didn't appreciate the way the question was asked or the implication that there was something inherently wrong with her. Needless to say or write, I was not left with the impression that the public school is on my daughter's side or looking out for her best interests.

After some very fortunate chance conversations with a first grade teacher that works in our school district and a therapist from Brighton, I learned that these things were not true and that I did have more options. Both encouraged me to look into Brighton Center and also to acquire an advocate. I've signed up for some parent advocate training, am looking into finding an advocate for any future meetings, and called to tour Brighton Center.

Today I was scheduled to tour Brighton Center with the bear cub and look to place her on the waiting list for the transition class, a class geared to children that had not turned three and were learning the skills to make them successful in the classroom prior to entering preschool. When the bear cub and I showed up, she decided to show off. She was very friendly and waved to each staff member that she was introduced to. I was shown each room as we passed them and before going to the transition classroom, we were shown the pre-K 1 classroom full of 3 to 4 year olds. Once the door was opened, the bear cub immediately walked in and went to sit at the table and chairs were the children were making ornaments. The teachers told the class to say hi to her and they did and the bear cub said 'hello' back. This is something that we did not know that she would do. Before now, she has not said 'hello'. The children finished their ornaments which consisted of pushing cotton balls into a clear plastic bottle and then having the contents scented with some sort of oil. The bear cub resisted the teacher doing this hand over hand, but she was willing to choose to take the cotton ball out of my hand to do it herself.

After the craft, the children went to sit at circle time. The bear cub first decided to try out some of the other chairs at the table, but then very shortly went to join the circle trying to pull off the bib that I had put on her as she has been drooling lately. After I helped her get the bib off, she bounded into the middle of the circle and started dancing. She looked around and saw that none of the other kids was dancing and singing and then sat in the circle and started clapping and waving her hands along with them. They had a song where they were signing the alphabet and she was moving her fingers the same way that she does at home when we do the alphabet song (she can't quite sign any of the letters but she does try). While she was doing this, the staff that was giving me the tour told me that she seemed to fit with this group perfectly and that they would put her on the waiting list for Pre-K 1 instead of the transition class. I was so thrilled to hear this and agreed that I thought that was best.

After circle time, the children were getting their jackets on to go outside. The bear cub wanted to line up with them, but as I had left her jacket at the front of the building I figured it was time to leave them. I told the bear cub to say good-bye and she waved and signed 'Thank you'. The kids all said good-bye to the bear cub and one little girl came and told her good-bye up close and they hugged each other. The bear cub resisted leaving and was clearly unhappy to go and was signing play more on the way out.

The therapist told me that the big obstacle that the school would put in my path to having the bear cub have PPCD at Brighton Center was that they would not have a spot for her and I'm hoping that the bear cub will move to having a spot at about the same time that she turns three when she would normally start preschool(since we can't really afford to pay for the preschool for very long). I'm also attending my first parent advocacy training session tomorrow.

Wish the bear cub and me luck!

2nd Eddie Cap

2011-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

I tried to list the changes and adjustments that I made to the tutorial for the Eddie Cap and realized that there were a lot more than I thought so I decided to do another Eddie Cap, this one with the tweaks that I made from the last one detailed so that someone could follow along. Also, I used directional fabric and quilting cotton, so I'll be adding my changes for that also.

I made this cap for a 22 inch head.

The items you'll need:
A little less than ½ yard fabric. In the first Eddie Cap that I made, I used a very flowy, medium weight polyester. In this version I used quilting cotton.
Lightweight Interfacing for both bill pieces and for the top piece.
Regular weight Wonder Under for the front band piece
Peltex or other stiff fabric for bill stabilizer (not necessary if you are using thicker fabric)
Scissors and rotary cutter
Ruler
Chalk or something temporary to mark the fabric (I didn't use this at all, but it helps to mark points)
Pins
Sewing machine
Iron

As the original tutorial here used 1/2 seam allowances, I did also.

The pieces.
Top piece: 13 inch square piece of fabric and 13 inch square piece of interfacing
Bill Pieces: 2 pieces 5 inches x 8 1/2 inches of fabric and interfacing and 1 piece of 5 inch x 8 1/2 inch of Peltex
Outside Band piece: 2 1/2 inches x 24 inches of fabric and Wonder Under
Inside Band piece: 2 inches x 24 inches of fabric

Measure 3½” in both horizontally and vertically from each corner cut diagonally to form irregular octagon with 5 inch corners and 6 inch sides. This may be clearer in the orignal tutorial.

The bill.
Stack you rectangles making sure everything is lined up. Fold rectangles in half long-wise and cut the shape of bill that you desire. Notice the direction of the fabric on the bill. You want the top of the design to be toward the top of the bill.

Apply the interfacing to the bill pieces and the top of cap.

Apply wonder under to the wrong side of Outside Band piece.

Cut Peltex to shape of the bill.

Stack the bill pieces right sides together with Peltex on outside.

Sew the 1/2 inch seam around.

Then trim the curve very close to the seam. I try to trim to 1/8 inch or less. You can also clip the curves, but this makes life a lot easier, imo.

Flip right sides out and press.

Then make lines of top stitching. On the previous cap, I made 6 rows of topstitching spaced 1/8 inch apart. This cap has 4 rows spaced 1/4 inch apart.

Cut a curve across bottom open edge to somewhat match the top curve of the bill and set aside. The original tutorial suggests that the bill should only measure about 3″ wide and 4″ wide at the ends. I actually cut both of mine to be 2 1/2 inches in the middle and nothing off the ends.

Sew each band piece right sides together at sides to make 2 circles. Press seams open. Finish along top edge of the 2″ x 23″ inside band.

Tear off paper of Wonder Under.

Baste the bill to interfaced band, right sides together, noting the direction of the outside band. The pattern should be in the same direction as the bill. I start in the middle and sew outward and sewed this with 1/8 inch seam.

And because I'm directionally challenged, I now checked the outside to make sure that I sewed it correctly.

Then starting again at the center I sewed the other half of the bill to the outside band piece again using 1/8 inch seams.

Then to sew the outside and inside band pieces right sides together (the finished end of the inside band piece will be away from the bill), I again started in the front middle and sewed towards the back, this time using 1/4 inch seams.

The I sewed the other side and checked around to make sure that the seam matched well. Notice how beautiful the logo is matched with the center (this is important because in the next step I screw it up).

Again trim close to seam. Pay attention or you will have to redo the band as I did, which results in a less than perfect finish later.

Fold outside band in half to form hem at the top of the band and press making sure that the seam between bands is pressed well. Do this in very small pieces at a time and very slowly as the Wonder Under is not going to allow you to reposition this.

It is now readily apparent that I messed up the band. :(

Since I have an octagon 44 inches in perimeter and I need it to be the 23 inches of the hat. I need to take out 21 inches, which is 2 5/8 for each of the eight sides. For this, on each of the long sides of the octagon, I folded out a scant 1 3/8 inch out of each side. Once it’s folded and pined, the edge should form a curved edge. Also, the inside folds should look like a “V” and the outside should have two straight pleats. This is also demonstrated in the original tutorial.

Starting at the center front, sew top of cap to the inside finished edge of the band, but be sure that the middle of the top is lined up with the middle of the bill (both for the piece and also the direction of the pattern of the fabric). Stop before you get to the back pair of pleats.

Again I check the direction of the pattern and fabric.

Then starting at the middle, sew the other side again stopping before the last pleat.

Adjust pleats so that top fits band perfectly.

Finish sewing top to inside band.

Topstitch 1/8 inch from bottom of bands. Topstitch again 1/8 inch from top edge of outside band, straightening top piece to lay flat as you sew.

You should have a finished cap now.

Open Flower Scarf

2011-12-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

During our trip west last month, my mom saw a scarf of my aunts that she wanted replicated. Today when I was at JoAnne's, the bear cub fell in love with a skein of yarn. She carried around like a stuffed animal and rubbed it against her face and hugged it through the whole store. Since it was obviously going home with us, I figured that I should go ahead and make my mom's scarf from the yarn. My aunt doesn't remember where she got the scarf and I googled a bit trying to find the pattern, but since I never found one even remotely similar I went ahead and made one.

This isn't a final version as I can see a number of areas for improvement, but it is quite similar. My aunt's version could also be used as a belt and my version here could only be used as a belt for someone size 4 or smaller. I used a size I hook and I think if I make it again I would use a size G. I also think that I would try to find something to stabilize the center better (though a version that I unraveled that had open spaces in the petals of the flower held its shape better). My mom suggested the rubbers rings that are used to seal canning jars. Also, there were 21 strings of chains instead of my 11 chains.

Eddie Cap Done

2011-12-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

I finished the Eddie Cap. I was going to make the nerdlet one, but when she saw the thicker fabric I chose, she said no. I got my mom's head measurement hoping that it is close enough to my older sister's so that she could have it if she wanted. It is telling that when the nerdlet saw how cute it was turning out she tried to reclaim it.

Here is Q modeling it.

I really like this pattern quite a bit and will likely use it again at some point.

Thursday Fun

2011-12-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

I have the privilege of picking up my niece, the drama princess, on Thursdays after school. Most Thursdays I try to have something fun to do. We've made cupcakes and muffins and brownies and done various crafts, but I've decided to switch to cookies at least until Christmas. Today, we made snowman cookies.

My niece isn't encouraged to do a lot of free form creative things often and was trying to impose rules on the nerlet's cookie making. I explained that they both could make cookies however they wanted with the number of eyes or mouth pieces that they wanted to without anyone telling them how it should be done and after the drama princess thought about it, she decided to go wild. Here are the final cookies.

I think they did a great job, don't you. These were actually the last ones done by my niece and I'm so proud of her for going outside of her comfort zone.

Conscientious Parents

2011-11-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today I'm grateful for parents that are conscientious of how sending a sick child to school, day care, or therapy can infect other children. I'm so thankful for those parents that cancel plans in order to keep other children safe. I try very hard not to let my girls pass on what they have and I'm appreciative when others do the same.

I still didn't get the Eddie Cap made because it takes a lot longer to wrap 24 books than I thought. Last year I asked for Christmas/Holiday traditions to start with my little ones because I didn't really grow up with any to pass on. The one I decided to try this year is to wrap 24 appropriate seasonal books and the girls I and will unwrap one each day until Christmas. One of the books is actually a coloring book which I figure we can color together. I was also planning to mix in some seasonal videos to watch, but I never got around to acquiring any. Most of the books I wrapped were books we already had or books that were on clearance after last Christmas. The nerdlet helped me wrap the gifts and had a lot of fun pulling pieces of tape for me.

The New Roof

2011-11-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here is what the roof looked like when we discovered the hole in it.

And here is the new roof.

I can't wait to see what it looks like when the solar panels go up, hopefully next week.

I was going to make this today. I pulled out the quilting cotton that I used for my sister's quilt last year, but it turned out to be too thin. My husband has the perfect fabric for this in one of his few long sleeve shirts, but I doubt he'll donate it to my project. If I can find the time tomorrow, I'm planning on trying it again. My friend on facebook is doing a craft a day until Christmas and I'm going to do my best to follow along (at least the good ones).

Today was a very good day. I'm feeling grateful for so many things, particularly my wonderful family. I'm so very blessed. I'm especially grateful today for the DSASA (Down Syndrome Association of San Antonio). We have Kindermusik on Tuesdays for about half the months of the year, which is wonderful for all my girls and also for the mothers of the kids, too. The teacher of the class is a very patient woman (with the kids and the parents) and we had our last class of this year today. I know my girls will miss going until the classes resume next year and I'm so thankful for having the opportunity to go to these sessions.

New Roof

2011-11-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

A short while back, our favorite neighbor's tree knock a big chunk of our roof off (and his own). Our insurance came and looked at it and said that we needed a new roof, not just that section. Q and I discussed it and decided that we would get bids for the new roof and also for solar panels. Since there are a number of rebates (including a large one from the city electric company) and we got some decent bids, we are replacing the roof with a metal roof and having the solar panels installed. Today they started the work and it looks like the roof will be finished tomorrow and I'm very grateful that the roof is being done so quickly. I don't know how long it will take to add the solar panels, but I'm hoping that those will go up quickly as well.

On a side note, to those considering a home equity loan, it is a very long drawn out process and if I had known what it was going to entail, we would have just refinanced the house which would have been a little more paperwork but better overall.

BurdaStyle Magazine 12-2011

2011-11-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

I really like this months Burda. I got it a few days ago, but I only got the chance to go through it today.

First, here are the technical drawings.

I recently learned that not all the versions of the magazine come with the pictorial style overview, so I'm going to post those, too.

I really like 107 and I think it would be fairly flattering on me.

I also really like 103 and 105, though I do wonder if I would like it as much without the really cool texture of the fabric they used (I'm trying to not purchase fabric for anything but use stuff from my huge fabric collection).

The only children's pattern I'm interested in is 144. I think the nerdlet would love it, but I'm afraid if I made her a version of this painter's smock that she would insist upon wearing it everywhere.

Normally, I stay away from anything that has any bias at all, but as the skirt part of 123 that is cut on the bias isn't as all near any curves, I'm wondering if it would work better. I also like this style as a top.

I would make a dicky to cover the cleavage of dress 106B, but I like the style a lot.

I'm not sure that I would make any of the dog items, but I'm glad to see them. If my sister sewed, she would definitely make this for her chiweenie (sp?). She wanted him to be Sherlock Holmes for Halloween and this would have been the perfect pattern.

Finally, the preview for next month. The plus size preview is in the upper right corner and I'm eager to see it. I think the produce costumes are hilarious, but they may someday serve me useful in a school play.

The Muppet Movie

2011-11-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

Q decided to spend big and take us to see a movie. This is the first movie that we have seen as a family of five, the first movie that the nerdlet has watch the whole thing (she fell asleep at 'How to Train Your Dragon' which was the only other one she had been to), and the first movie ever for the bear cub and Darth Baby.

It was definitely a success. The nerdlet apparently thought she was going to see the penguin movie and kept asking me the whole time when the penguins were coming on. The bear cub clearly had to struggle to stay awake, but she was successful and made us let her free so that she could dance through the credits. They both paid close attention and clearly understood at least somewhat what was going on and the bear cub was signing appropriately for the story line which thrilled me to pieces. Darth Baby fell asleep in my arms about 15 minutes in and slept for the rest of the movie.

I'm so grateful that my girls were incredibly well behaved and that we had a wonderful family outing. I don't know that we will do it again soon as movie prices have gone way up since the last time we went, but at least worrying about the how the girls are going to behave at least won't be a factor when considering it.

Make Up and Sibling Rivalry

2011-11-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

For the nerdlet's birthday, she got a gift certificate for Toys R Us. I told her she could get anything in the store that it would cover and I was unsurprised when she headed straight for the arts and crafts kits. I was, however, very surprised when she picked up the box of children's cosmetics and insisted that that was what she wanted. I tried hard to convince her of anything else but she kept insisted on her 'treasure box of beautiful'. I made her carry it and explained that she could get it but would not be allowed to paint everything at her whim and only would be able to use it at specific supervised times. Right as we were deciding to leave she told me she wanted to put it back and picked up a watercolor book and some watercolors. A few days later she decided to spend the rest of her gift certificate on what she calls a dirt truck, but is a Caterpillar toy bulldozer. So yesterday I was extremely grateful to have missed the four-year-old with makeup bullet.

Today I am grateful that my girls do not fight over things. I was reminded today by the nerdlet's godmother's husband how rare this is. My girls get along so well and have pretty much from the beginning that I've started to take it for granted. All three of my girls are pretty good at sharing with each other and I'm a super lucky mama to have children that play together well.

Double Day

2011-11-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

I didn't post yesterday, so I'll list two things today.

I'm so very thankful for having an adequate water heater. I'm thankful that I can still get warm water for my shower when there is other water being used, such as the dishwasher or a load of diapers (pretty much the only laundry I wash in hot water).

Today, I'm especially grateful for this wonderful day of thanks. This is my favorite holiday. I love how you feel when you contemplate all the wonderful things in your life that you have to be grateful for. I've done this November thanks thing a number of times before and I find that by Thanksgiving it is so easy to find things to be Thankful for and that in general I'm in a better mood than at the beginning of the month. I really needed this little boost this year and am so glad that we have this holiday to inspire this.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New Photography Piece

2011-11-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

In the past I've mentioned that my FIL is an award winning photographer. One of his photographs that won an award a while back as part of the award was to have it printed on canvas and my MIL preferred to have it printed on normal photo paper and framed with a mat, and when I asked what they were going to do with the canvas version, I got an 'I don't know yet." So, of course, I offered very excitedly and pointedly to take it off their hands. So today I'm grateful that my beautiful new picture is currently adorning the wall by my front door. Obviously I'm not near as good a photographer as he is, but here is a picture of it's current home.

One step at a Time

2011-11-21T17:53:00.001-08:00

I love my gym, but for almost the last three years, I've had to make appointments for every time I went 48 hours in advance. This is because as long as you have a little one in the baby room, you have to make appointments for them since there is limited space. To graduate from the baby room, they have to witness the baby take 10 steps. It took forever for the bear cub to graduate because she so rarely would take so many steps and never in front of them. She finally did very recently. Today I'm grateful that I no longer have to make appointments for the baby room because Darth Baby (after a whole lot of coaxing and the staff requesting that I go home and try another day) finally took 10 steps in front of them.

Quilt Pixilation Tutorial

2011-11-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

I bought a game today call Ji Ga Zo, for the reason that it breaks down a picture into various color blocks (that are graded) so that you can then put them together to make a picture. It was being clearanced and I bought it to turn it into a quilting program. My idea doesn't look like it is going to work well, though, because the picture will end up being 20 x 20 pixels, which for most pictures will not have enough clarity to be recognizable. However, I do think that I have a solution to that, too.

I'm going to demonstrate with a picture of the nerdlet after she cut her hair two days ago.

Then I used MS Office Picture manager to crop it so that there were much fewer details for my image to contain.

Next I used MS Office Picture manager to take out all the saturation. This is done by going back into edit picture and choosing color; then just slide the saturation bar toward zero.

Then I went back into edit picture and chose resize and resized it to 50 x 50.

Here is a photo of this enlarged (since I couldn't find a way that it showed the pixels otherwise).

Then to see the different pixels, I opened the new picture in MS Paint and zoomed in large enough to see it. I'm currently having Q look for a way for to order the pixels in some way so as to assist with the fabric purchases, but worst case scenario, this is definitely something that you can match to.

Appliances

2011-11-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

Today I'm extremely grateful for the crockpot and deep freezer. I went out the night before last to pick up some medicine for Q and unfortunately I went on an empty stomach. My original intention was to pick up a sandwich at a fast food place on the way and I thought about how much cheaper and better it would be for me to buy something for dinner while I was out and instead of hitting Walgreens for the medicine, I went to HEB (our local grocery store). Also, I decided to make a mini-Thanksgiving for us to have at home instead of waiting for family meal at Q's parents on Thanksgiving. That way I could have oyster stuffing without forcing my tastes on my in-laws and not feel guilty about taking a turkey drumstick. I would also say that I'm really grateful that you can just buy drumsticks. I made the entire meal, which turned out to not be so mini, and most of it went into the freezer today after we ate. Also, I cooked the drumsticks and the sweet potatoes in the crockpot at the same time, which came out perfect. I'll do the regular baked potatoes the same way if I decide to do this again. While out, I also bought what I needed to make caldo and chorizo. The majority of the caldo is also in the freezer and likely most of the chorizo will go in the freezer tomorrow. The deep freezer is the smallest one that they sold when I was single and I'm beginning to think that it won't be long until I feel the need to upgrade, but for now my little freezer is definitely serving us well.

Eating Well

2011-11-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful that my girls did not inherit Q and my eating issues. We were both extremely picky eaters growing up and yet my girls will eat almost anything I put in front of them.

The nerdlet was born knowing how to eat and we could barely keep her away from food the first four months. She would scream to have food that we were eating when she was just weeks old and developed her pincher grasp at 3 months and would try every chance she got to dig into our plates (she still does). We introduced avocado on her four month birthday and she didn't have any of the typical issues you see when you introduce food. She sucked down the tablespoon of food I made for her and when she realized that I wasn't giving her more, she shoved the bib in her mouth and started sucking that. The pickiness that she does exhibit has to do with quality (like eating Chik-Fil-A chicken strips but not chicken nuggets from other places).

The bear cub is even less picky that her older sister. I was so worried about her when I introduced food to her which was also at four months. I had read all about how children with Down syndrome were especially prone to have taste and texture aversions and that the best way to combat this was to introduce foods early and often. So that is what I did. I followed the exact food introduction schedule that I had used for the nerdlet. She would allow me to place a small amount in her mouth. She'd tolerate it for a bit and maybe even chew a bit and then spit it out. At 15 months I still had not gotten her to swallow anything but breast milk and formula and only from a bottle. We had a nutritionist recommend switching her to Pediasure and at about a eighteen months she finally decided to start swallowing (thanks to her sister sharing cookies with her). She still doesn't eat enough to sustain herself and mostly only eats about 2 tablespoons at a time before she is done, but she rarely refuses anything.

Darth Baby was the least accepting of food. My plan was to again use the same introduction schedule and she quickly let me know that she wasn't going to allow me to even put it in her mouth. Nothing. Not even a taste. No way. I offered pretty much every day and she made it very clear that she wasn't interested. Then just about a month ago she decided that it all looked very good and started eating everything. I will admit that Darth Baby did not get the healthy introduction of foods that her sister did because of her resistance and she does show a marked interest in the unhealthy options that include a lot of sugar, salt, and fat. She is big into meat which isn't a particular favorite of either of her sisters, but she does seem willing to eat and try new things so far.

I'm just really thankful that I don't have to struggle every day trying to make sure my girls get enough good food. I am working on the bear cub eating enough as she is still getting most of her nutrition from Pediasure which bothers me a lot and not just because it's expensive, but I love that all three of my girls are accepting of a lot of fruits and vegetables and different varieties of flavors.

Bon apetite.

My first set of babies

2011-11-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

I'm so grateful for my pets. I call them my babies still, even after having kids, and while they aren't near as spoiled as they once were, I love them so much.

This is Ally. I call her Ally Bally or Baby Girl. When I got her she was between 4 and 6 months old and that was in 1998. She's going to be 14 years old soon, and I'm thankful for that because when she was rescued she tested positive for everything except rabies and parvo. She has weekly trips to the vet for her heart worms, stomach worms, and mange and had so many drugs in her system for so long that they told me that she likely wouldn't live to see 10 years. She has been there for me through a divorce, a few breakups, a marriage, three moves, and a few job changes. She is amazingly intelligent and incredibly loyal and sweet and docile as can be.

This is Jasmine. In a way, she is the last gift I received from my ex-husband. She and her siblings were dumped in a box on his parents doorstep and his father was just going to let them starve to death. She was 3-4 weeks old when I got her in August of 2000. She is all cat. She is smart and athletic, and as you can probably see from the picture, dripping with attitude. Some how although she was so young when I got her, she already was a touch feral. She believes that Ally is her mom but tolerates me and Q pretty much as the only humans that she lets get near her nowadays.

This chubby thing is Misty. She is crazy but so incredibly loveable. She is the softest cat that I've ever felt. Q rescued her from an abusive home in 2001 and very shortly after that, she came to live with me. We renamed her Diva, but it didn't stick and Misty she still is. She has a special relationship with the bear cub and pretty much lets the bear cub do whatever she wants to her, but stays clear of Darth Baby and the nerdlet. This wonderful cat is stuck in kitten mode and will play until she drops. She also gives great lumbar massages (though so far only to me).

This is Suki. I tried so hard after getting this dog from animal control to rehome her, but I'm really glad that I was never successful. I got her in 2003 when she was about 3 months old and it was clear pretty early on that she was meant to be a working dog, either a drug or hunting dog. She has an amazing sense of smell and you can see her track the paths of other animals when she comes into a room. She also likes to hold smaller animals in her mouth, though she has never hurt them. She can jump the 6 foot privacy fence without a running jump, and she likes to sit on the fence like a bird and terrify people walking or jogging by. She is fiercely protective of my girls and will let them crawl all over her. A lot of these traits have caused me some grief, but she is definitely worth it and I'm glad no one ever took her off my hands.

I love these girls so much and my heart breaks just thinking about how much I'm going to miss them when they are gone.

The Zoo

2011-11-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful that Q took some time off to spend with us and that there were lots of animals active at the zoo. Normally most of the animals are either sleeping or hiding behind things, but today was really good for seeing them up and moving around.

The rock squirrel isn't an actual exhibit. They are everywhere in the zoo. This was in the Cassowary's home.

The wattled crane reminds me of a crane crossed with a turkey.

The crested porcupine

The red kangaroo

The cassowary

Warthogs. Sometime this summer, there was a girl around five or six running towards them all excited and when she got there she yelled to her parents, "They're soooo beautiful." I thought that was great.

Sumatran Tiger. We go to the zoo a lot and this is the very first time that I've seen him active or close and he was both.

Speke's gazelle

Addax

This lioness seemed to get up from sleeping just so I could take a picture.

This jaguar's cell mate is currently in the San Diego zoo being mated. He seems really lonely.

Dama gazelle

The okapi. I love this animal. He is one of my favorites, but I never can seem to get a good picture of the ones they have.

Red river hogs

Reeve's muntjac

Last but not least are the nerdlet's favorites, the flamingos. I think these are Chilean flamingos.

These aren't anywhere near all that I took, but some of the better ones.

An Abundance of Thanks

2011-11-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

I ventured out to El Paso, then Yuma, and finally to Los Angeles. We had a good trip though my girls and I all were sick and I now have a high record for most times being thrown up on in a week which is unlikely to ever be toppled. I'm going to give a quick catch up on my thanks which are really all today's since I didn't keep a running record.

Nov. 8: I'm thankful for access to the internet. Who knew when I ventured out that I would be forsaking my habit of regular communication with my friends and family that live in the computer? I also was unaware that people were still accessing the internet with dial-up connection, which after having waited 10 minutes for my first page to load, I gave up.

Nov. 9: I'm thankful for having an opportunity to see some of the many beautiful sites in the US and their sunsets.

Nov. 10: I'm so grateful for having such a wonderful extended family and being close enough (I wish it was literally, too) to have my kids know them. Here is a pic of Darth Baby with her 2nd cousin's child (my first cousin's grandchild).

Nov. 11: I'm grateful that there are still some beaches left on the coast in California. This was the day that the nerdlet was puking all over me and I don't think that anything would have cheered her as a visit to the beach did. In my naivety, I was under the impression that from LA that you could just drive to the coast and see the beach, but apparently it is covered in industrial piers. We did ask the border patrol where to see beach and they fortunately directed us to Long Beach, which was a small little beach but nicely clear of people on this cold, overcast day.

Nov. 12: I'm grateful for relatives like my sister and my cousin that think nothing of driving 2 to 3 hours to visit someone that they haven't seen in ages. I hope we made it worth it for them.

Nov. 13: I'm grateful for beautiful churches. We went to mass at St. Thomas More in Alhambra and it was filled with beauty. Also, I LOVED that the sermon included a piece on how everyone could learn from a child with Ds giving their all while participating in the Special Olympics. I was even more thrilled when multiple people welcomed me as a visitor after mass and was jealous upon hearing their menu for after mass which include a lot of Mexican delicacies.

Nov. 14: I'm grateful for the many varieties of cactus in the world. I especially enjoyed seeing so many this trip and spent a great deal of time trying to get a good picture of a Saguaro cactus, which mostly only grows in Arizona.

Nov. 15: I'm grateful for 24 hour loratidine with sudafed (Claritin D).

Nov. 16: I'm so very grateful that we had a safe trip and made it home happy and healthy.

Relations by Marriage

2011-11-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful that so many of my family members have found great significant others to support them and live their lives together. I love so many of these relatives that have come into my life and I really love seeing my family members happy.

Road Trip

2011-11-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Today I'm especially grateful for an uneventful trip from SA to El Paso. My girls took it so well and are having a blast bouncing off the walls in our hotel room. Here's hoping that they aren't disturbing any of the other hotel guests. My mom is doing a fairly good job of keeping them from being too noisy.

My Image/Young Image Magazine

2011-11-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

For my upcoming birthday, I got the five My Image and Young Image magazines that have been released to date. The magazine is offering the five back issues for € 20,95 here.

I received them on Halloween and between trick-or-treaters, I browsed through them. I really like a lot of their designs and would love to make a number of them. The instructions are either poorly translated or poorly written and I think that even the easy patterns will require some pattern knowledge to construct, but I hopefully shouldn't have a problem. I'll let you know.

Digital Cameras

2011-11-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

I'm grateful today for living in an age of digital cameras. My parents bought me my first camera for my 10th birthday. It was a Kodak Instamatic. It would have been great except for almost immediately, Kodak lost the lawsuit with Polaroid and I could no longer use it. It took close to four years before they issued the credit for the new replacement camera which did not even cover the cost of the camera and I had bought a cheapo camera in the meantime. Even with close to three decades of practice, I'm still a fairly lousy picture taker. I take pictures of my girls almost daily (though I've gotten kind of lazy about posting them for the relatives daily) and I usually take a bunch and I still often have to settle for pictures that are less than perfect. I have a very nice camera that my mother bought me that makes a huge difference in the pictures and it is great to be able to have a semi-preview of what the picture is going to look like. I also love that I can go back and see almost a daily progression of how my kids are growing. I wonder if my grandkids will sift through my photos they way that I cherish each of those I come across that were my grandparents.

Grandmothers

2011-11-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today, I am so very grateful that my daughters have three wonderful grandparents that are nearby. None of the three have had issues with the bear cub's diagnosis and all three work hard to accommodate the nerdlet's unusual needs.

My mom is always willing to drive an hour and a half (each way) to be there for my girls. She never tells or promises them anything without following through or having a really good excuse. She shares her creativity and whimsy with them. She gives them all love and attention and treats them as individuals. She is sometimes skeptical of my parenting techniques but is always follows through with my choices and helps me when I need it.

Q's parents are also great. His dad works hard to learn anything to help with his grandchildren. He is always willing to spoil them by giving them what they want and thinks of them and their individual interests when they aren't around. He is an award-winning photographer, and if there are any pictures of the girls posted that catch your attention from their greatness, it is one of his. For every event, he takes his pictures and makes dvds movies with music for all of us to watch.

His mom spends a lot of time giving the girls love and attention. She is constantly finding new things to buy for her granddaughters. Our house looks like a toy store exploded in it mostly to her efforts. If any of the girls need to be held, Grandma Elmo is always willing to pick them up and cuddle. She also does a mean Elmo impression (in case your wondering where the nickname came from). When we visit, Grandma Elmo will pop out the toys and treats before you are done saying hello.

Every kid should be as lucky as my three when it comes to grandparents.

Wonderful Little Girls

2011-11-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

I have such wonderful little girls. I am so grateful for each one of them. They are so incredible perfect that I am astounded by them daily. Before Darth Baby was born, I would tell everyone that I would take two more just like the bear cub and the nerdlet. I don't say that I would like three more just like my three, but that is only because I don't think I could handle the six of them, and I would still take another one of any of the three of them.

Advocates for Ds

2011-11-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Today I have the first transition meeting for the bear cub to enter preschool. She is 31 months and the school will pick her up when she turns 3. I was trying to be optimistic about it since I do know people that it has gone well for, but I'm already having problems with the administration in that I received a phone call saying that she was too young, even though I know that children younger than her will be at that meeting today. That was cleared up. (I think. We'll find out when I get there.) I also had a few issues with their pre-registration form, which I think is really poorly designed and it doesn't have any explanations to guide you. Apparently, they don't believe that ASL is a language, which irritates me, and while the state took the 'r' word out of their vocabulary and abbreviations legally, this hasn't yet made it to the schools (or at least their forms).

Anyway, hopefully it will go smoothly. I bought a fancy digital recorder and made sure that I know how it works. I'll make sure to have a snack on my way in so that I don't turn into a grouchy mama bear when I need to be pleasant. I also am going to go with a friend to hers for support so I'll be getting a small preview of what to expect for mine which is shortly after.

So today I'm especially grateful for all the advocates that came before me: Those parents that fought so hard to not put their kids with Ds in institutions; The mothers that fought for their sons and daughters to be included in the regular schools, in regular classes, and receive the same instruction; The fathers who fought for the laws to change and give our kids the legal equality they deserve; The people with Ds that worked so hard to show that they are more alike than different and that they can achieve the same things that their peers without Ds can; and All those who know and love someone with Ds that have fought for those loved ones and given them and their families the support they needed to accomplish these feats. I'm am not unaware of how hard a struggle it was and while it isn't over I am so very grateful to have their shoulders to stand upon. I know that because of all of these people, my bear cub is going to have a real chance of meeting her potential and knock the socks off of those that think that people with Ds can only be busboys and dishwashers.

Thankfulness

2011-11-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Last year I made an entry every day about what I was thankful for. I was thinking that I didn't really feel up to it this year and that I wouldn't be online the whole month to do the entries anyway. I wasn't feeling particularly grateful and after thinking about it a little bit I decided that this was probably one of the best things that I could do for myself right now.

I'm going to start the month off for being grateful for healthy eating. I'm grateful for Greenling, where I can have fresh produce delivered to my door every week that is local and organic. While I will absolutely not pay $120 for an organic free-range turkey, I do feel that they give me a good value for what I do buy. I'm also grateful that my girls are picking up good eating habits from watching me and being offered such healthy choices. My husband and I were extremely picky eaters and I'm loving that my girls are willing to eat the fruits and vegetables that I offer them.

I did a quick list of what I was grateful for last year. I don't promise to not have any repeats, but in case you are interested, here it was.

1. Good Pregnancies
2. The shaping of the past
3. Arts and Crafts
4. My mom
5. Being Female
6. Costco
7. Benefits that the Bear Cub receives
8. Places that are GD friendly
9. Being a Military Brat
10. People tolerant of me
11. Beautiful Weather
12. My In-laws
13. Ultrasounds
14. Good Authors
15. San Antonio
16. Chocolate
17. Husband allowing me to sleep
18. People that care
19. Air Conditioning
20. Baby Doe's DNR was lifted
22. Hubby and good self-help books
23. Waning OCD
24. Cleaning supplies
25. Thanksgiving as a holiday
26. That Thanksgiving went well despite issues
27. The relationship between my hubby and mom
28. Lack of censoring from my parents of what I was exposed to
29. Sufficient income and security
30. Thanksgiving leftovers

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Unicorn Costume

2011-10-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

The nerdlet just had to be a purple unicorn for Halloween this year. I looked for a costume and almost all the costumes were for the girl riding the unicorn and were a little out of my price range. So I ended up being conned into making one. It still needs hemming which I will do today, but I thought I'd post the preview.

The costume is from McCall's 4618, which is a pattern for toddler costumes for cats and other animals. I made it from a stretchy polyester knit which I now despise. The mane is yarn that I sewed to grosgrain ribbon and then sewed the ribbon to the back of the costume. The horn is a toilet paper roll that I cut up and paper mached. I was going to paint it but my mother brought me what she said was gesso but turned out to be glue. I ended up covering the horn in gold duct tape and then glitter and shoving it through a hole in a makeshift headband.

BurdaStyle Magazine 11-2011

2011-10-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

First the line drawings.

I actually like a number of the line drawings, but I think that they ran out of time making this issue and the photographs are all over the place and don't really show the outfits.

This picture is the reason I think they ran out of time. "What? The model doesn't fit into the dress and we don't have time to fix the dress? We don't have time for this. Just put her naked behind it and shoot it any." I actually do like the dress and here is the same dress sleeveless in black.

I think though that I will wait until someone else makes it before I even consider it as I don't know how well endowed the model is. If it is the dress that makes her look so curvy then I'll definitely be shying away from this.

Not exactly a fashion novelty, but I do like it with the ruffle down the front as in the next to pics.

I think this one could be really flattering, but I'm not sure I have the patience to do all the redrafting necessary to be able to make it fit me.

The drawing shows an interesting jacket, but again I'm wondering if the photography is covering up lack of finishing or something else.

I definitely like this top. I have to wonder why it only goes to size 42. It's an easy fix and an easy draft which really makes the size choice odd.

I really like this top.

I would have passed on this tunic dress based on the line drawing, but if I can find a drape camouflage-style fabric, I will probably add this to my huge pile of wants.

Prior to having any kids, I had a tiny waist for my size and would have loved this skirt.

The fabrics are awful in this shirt and the similar dress below, but I'm intrigued by the pattern. I'm also loving how ruffles are in style right now.

Sani-Sack

2011-10-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

I used the embroidery machine to make an in hoop design for this. It is a tote that will clip onto a purse or belt loop to carry your sanitizer. I think it is a super idea and planned to make one for everyone I know as a Christmas present. I now realize that I will not possibly have time to do so but I still will make some for the bear cub's therapists and certain family members that I think will appreciate it.

The reason that there isn't a sanitizer bottle in the tote right now is because all the ones I have are larger and the Target I went to only had the larger ones in stock. I only made this one as a sample anyway and now I know to only make the larger ones unless I have a smaller bottle in hand to give with the tote.

Really Expensive Drying Rack

2011-10-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

I've had my longarm quilting setup since January 2007. It is 14 feet long and has multiple horizontal bars. It just occurred to me today that it is an excellent drying rack for long pieces of fabric.

We've been trying to get the nerdlet not to scream no all the time by encouraging her to find other words to get what she wants across to us. A recent funny way was, "I rule that out with a ruler!"

As a birthday present (I will soon enter the last year of my fourth decade), I'm going to get the issues of My Image and Young Image. I'm looking forward to that.

Here's a picture of my girls and my niece, the Drama Princess.

Getting a picture of the four of them together without a shopping cart is about impossible.

BurdaStyle Magazine 06-2011-111 Again

2011-10-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

My last post is here about this pattern. I wear these shorts a lot and as we are still hitting temps over 100 here in SA and it will be a while yet left of warm weather, I decided that I need a few more pairs. I actually cut this one a few months ago, but stopped because I sewed the sides and gave them french seams and didn't want to undo them to put the zipper in. I finally decided this weekend to go ahead and give them an elastic waist instead of putting the darts in and making them fitted. I also changed the length of the shorts by adding two or so inches. I will definitely be making more of these, but future ones will likely have the pockets (and the side zipper my first pair has).

I really enjoy the way these fit. Here is the link for purchasing the pattern if you are interested and don't subscribe to the magazine.

Some embroidery projects

2011-10-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, I pretty much spent the week doing some embroidery on pre-made sweatsuits. Q's grandmother has been admitted to an assistive living center and her son that is primarily taking care of her is color blind. My MIL decided that it would be a good idea for me to dress up some sweatsuits with embroidery and then he could use the embroidery to match the colors. I learned a few things in the process of embroidering the sweat suits. One is that sweatshirts are a completely different animal from other types of clothing. Another is that using fleece for applique is a pain in the butt. Here are the finished items.

The fleece for the outer heart didn't press down the same with the embroidery stitches.

I'm surprised at how much I ended up liking these faux cross stitch butterflies.

Squeezing a large embroidery pattern on a small pair of sweat pants became to much for me and I decided to end it when the main colors were done.

I have used this rose pattern before and will definitely use it again. It is one that came with the sewing machine.

I decided to change the colors from the top to the bottom because you couldn't tell there were two reds. I changed it to much though I think. Overall, this embroidery pattern is extremely poorly designed and I likely won't be using it or any of the others that came with it again.

Here is a link to my facebook business page where I have posted pictures of the Linus donation quilts for the Bastrop fire victims, if anyone is interested.

Siblings and Ds

2011-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the nerdlet meeting the bear cub for the first time. She has loved her sister from day 1, as much as a sister can love a new baby regardless of the number of chromosomes. I've posted on the benefits to a sibling of a person with Down syndrome, how studies show they are more compassionate and have better self-esteem and fewer instances of depression, but if you would like more info on the most recent studies, feel free to head over to The Chronicles of Ellie Belly Bear to learn more. Everyone should be lucky enough to have a family member with Down syndrome.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness and Down Syndrome Awareness Month

2011-10-01T05:38:00.000-07:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Down Syndrome Awareness Month. A lot of mom's blog every day in October about facts about Down syndrome. I won't be doing that, but I do want everyone to know how wonderful people and children are that have Down syndrome. People and children with Down syndrome are capable of doing almost everything that a person with a mere 46 chromosomes can do and there are a lot of misconceptions about them that I wish were not so I do plan on sharing at least a few posts. I also plan on sharing a bunch of pictures of my beautiful bear cub and some of her gifts.

In this picture, the bear cub just turned one.

Second Zucchini Recipe - Chocolate Zucchini Cake Brownies

2011-09-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

I'm had a hard time with what to call this recipe. It's based on chocolate zucchini muffins, which would be better called cupcakes. I think if you frosted it and called it a cake, no one would really question it. There was one snafu while I was making it in that the nerdlet poured an unknown amount of oil into the batter while I was taking the bear cub to use the bathroom so I had to guess how much more to add when I got back, but they came out tasty so I figure there must be some fudge factor in regards to how much oil to use.

2 C sugar
3 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 C sour cream
2 C grated zucchini (about 2 medium peeled)
2-1/2 C flour
1/2 C unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix zucchini, sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and sour cream. MIx dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in wet mixture and blend until batter is smooth.

Pour batter into 9 inch square pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The First of the Zucchini Recipes

2011-09-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

My local box from Greenling this week contained 12 yellow squash, which I'm pretending are zucchini and as some of them looked like they weren't going to last very long, I'm trying to use them up in a hurry. Yesterday, I used 4 of them up in zucchini bran muffins, chocolate zucchini bread, and taco shells.

We had the taco shells for dinner and Q and the nerdlet loved them so they will definitely be a repeat item. I first saw them on pinterest and dismissed them because the recipe didn't really read very Mexican, but I reconsidered them when I saw that a number of people were making and enjoying them.

My recipe is a smidge different as I chop up an onion pretty much any time I ground beef and I was trying to use up my squash.

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 medium onion
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 4 once package cream cheese (next time, I'll use asadero)
18 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 cup Monterey jack cheese (shredded)
1 ½ cups tortilla chips (crushed)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a fry pan cook chopped onion until almost clear, add ground beef, zucchini, garlic, and taco seasoning and cook until the ground beef is thoroughly cooked. Add cream cheese (next time I will use shredded asadero), cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. I did not allow the mixture to cool and put it into the shells hot as soon as the shells were done. While burger is cooking cook the pasta shells and drain. Rinse with cold water and toss in a little olive oil.
3. Pour salsa in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
4. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place the stuffed shells in the baking dish and cover the tops of the shells with taco sauce. Sprinkle top with chips (which I didn't use) and the two cheeses.
5. Cover and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted. If you allow the meat mixture to cool, you will have to cook the shells much longer to reheat the meat.

Serve with sour cream, black olives, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, or anything else that you like that goes well with tacos.

BurdaStyle Magazine 10-2011

2011-09-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

I know I'm overdue for posting this month. I've had the magazine for 1 1/2 weeks, but here are the November line drawings.

Usually I think the line drawing doesn't do the dress justice, but in this case, I thought the line drawing looked more interesting.

I guess I'm really into the flowy ruffles lately. I even kind of like the puffy sleeves.

I really like this one, but the open area is too big if you have any cleavage at all.

I really like this dress and will likely make it. It is also in the plus sizes so that makes me happy.

The kids clothing is cute, but nothing small enough for any of my girls.

And last, the preview for next month looks interesting.

Summer End Update

2011-09-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!

I love this picture of my girls.

I've been quilting up a storm and am up to 16 quilts done and a quilt top made myself, and I have three more that I plan to quilt today and tomorrow so that I can pick up some more tomorrow afternoon. Unless anyone expresses interest, I'm not really planning on posting more pictures of the donation quilts. I am extremely pleased to know that over 200 quilts have been donated so far.

I've also decided that I'm going to make a mini Giant Dahlia quilt for the 2012 SAQG quilt festival. I'm also planning on entering one of my pieced quilts and possibly a third quilt depending on what I get done. I really need to start attending the quilting guild meetings again. I haven't been to one since I learned I was pregnant with Darth Baby.

I received the September version of the Burda magazine so expect another post soon on that.

The girls are doing well. The nerdlet likes to spend her days crafting and has been a little out of sorts lately, I think because I've been letting her routine slide a bit with my attention to the quilting for the Bastrop fire victims. I do plan on letting up on that soon though, at least a little. The Bear Cub is doing really well with her walking and is working on mastering running and uneven surfaces. Her potty training has good days and bad days. It's frustrating to Q because most of her bad days are weekend days. Darth Baby went from crawling to pulling to a stand to cruising in less than a week. She is currently standing for up to about a second without support and has taken a step and crashed forward immediately, but I think (and hope) that it will be a while until she's walking. She doesn't lack for motivation, but she isn't very balanced or coordinated. I love watching the three of them together as they get along so well. Most of the time, Darth Baby and the Bear Cub are trying to get into something together and the nerdlet is doing her own thing, but when she is interested, her sisters are more than happy to play as a threesome. I wouldn't have thought the harmony they have was even possible.

There are days, like today, when I would love to have an efficiency somewhere else that was immaculately pristine and sound proof as a hideaway where I didn't have to worry about where I stepped or what anyone wanted, but overall I love being a mom and wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

The Miniature Show Quilts

2011-09-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

I took pictures of the miniature quilts and had to go back and retake them so that there would be some perspective, hence my fingers in each quilt. I love that people make these, even though I have never made one myself.

Polka Dot Pineapple

Granny's Little Flower Garden

Happy Snails to You

Many Mini Stars

Miniature Primitive

Let's Make Some Butter

The Itty Bitty Yo Yo Quilt

Fall Breezes

The Q.U.I.S.C. Quilt

African Violets

Feathered Lone Star

Birds of a Feather

SAQG Show

2011-09-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, my MIL and I took the bear cub and Darth Baby to the San Antonio Quilting Guild show in Live Oak. It's a small show that seemed smaller this year, but I always enjoy it. This year I took lots of pictures. In fact I think I got pictures of almost every quilt. I my pictures from the show on my site in a list, but I'm going to share some of my favorites with you.

Remembrance. I love the words in the quilt.

Baskets, Baskets -- Fruit and Flowers. I love the use of colors in this one.

Zebra Safari. It's a small applique quilt that makes me want to do a series, even though applique isn't really my forte

Old Sol. This one was inspired by a class. I'm going to have to find some classes to take, and hopefully one by Susan Carlson.

Cannonball Dahlia. This is actually from a pattern that I saw for sale. I considered picking it up.

Shadows of New Mexico -- Mission Churches. I would love to see a version for the beautiful missions we have in San Antonio.

Robynn's Renaissance on Pointe. This is a machine embroidered quilt. I love the material used, too, which was a luxury fabric.

The Wedding. When I eventually do a wedding ring quilt, I will likely do one with a base color other than white. This picture doesn't really show the beautiful purple used.

Color Me Happy. I love the way the black makes this scrap quilt really pop.

I'm going to post the miniature quilts in a subsequent post as I want to share them all. I'd love to post all the art quilts, too, but my pictures of them didn't come out well enough to really do a separate post. If you want to see them, on my link they start at #285 and end at #312.

My favorite was this one. Tattoo Virgin. At first glance I thought it was just painted on the fabric and then quilted, but it is actually applique.

Flying Home. I liked the spin on a very traditional quilt. It was in the group quilt category.

Dotty. It's a block of the month sampler.

I was surprised by a few things. One thing was how fabulous the quilts from kits and block of the months came out. Where are the quilters finding these wonderful patterns? Another thing that surprised me was that while I normally see a lot of other people taking pictures, this time I saw a lot of people taking pictures of themselves with certain quilts (and I know they weren't the artists) like they would in front of a tourist statue or the like. Also surprising was how many of the quilter's names I recognized. The last surprise was that there was a young girl with Ds there that upon seeing the bear cub came and picked her up and they instantly bonded. I wasn't there or I would have gotten a picture, but my MIL said that the bear cub recognized herself in the girl and acted like she does in front of the mirror.

I really need to enter one year. I really think I would like to see my quilts hanging with all the others. I don't think I'd possibly win any of the categories in a San Antonio show as I didn't agree with most of the judges decisions and they seem to favor traditional patterns and colors and I don't really do quilts like that.

Trip to the Lego Store

2011-09-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

The last time I was in Austin I went to the Lego Store. I hadn't been to one before and we made a special trip to a mall on the other side of town that we never go to. I also went to Auntie Anne's pretzels, too, which I hadn't had since before my pregnancy with the nerdlet.

Here are some of the displays. They were behind glass so my photos didn't come out that well.

The Death Star $400.

The store was really crowded or I would have gotten pictures of all the displays. They also had one wall where you could select specific pieces and fill a bucket for purchase. I never had Legos when I was little or I might have bought some of the specialty pieces, but I didn't really know what each piece was for just by looking at them. As it was I was tempted to buy one of the large sheets that act as a base.

I did buy two small Lego sets (though not from the Lego store) and both sets were missing pieces. I was quite upset since Legos aren't cheap and I would expect a much, much higher level of quality control. However, I went to their site and found it extremely easy to order replacement pieces. Also, I got three separate emails from representatives assuring me that the issue would be taken care of and that the pieces were on route to me. I emailed them when I discovered the missing pieces which was on a Sunday and the first email reply I got back was within an hour. Anyway, I was very impressed by their customer service.

Quilt Tutorial

2011-09-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is going to be my first quilt tutorial. It is a simple quilt that goes together quickly. It took me about 2 1/2 hours for the 60 inch square quilt and that includes pictures. Here is the finished quilt, which you can see Darth Baby has already claimed. I believe this quilt top is simple enough that a beginner could sew it and I'm thinking about testing it on the neighbor as her first sewing project.

You need 53 x 40 1/2 inches of color A for the stripes and the longs sides of the border, 21 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches of the color B for the stripes and the corner squares, and 11 inches x 40 1/2 inches for colors C and D. If you are purchasing it, you will want to ask for 1 1/2 yards (or 1 5/8 if you don't trust the straightness of the cut) of color A, 5/8 yard (or 3/4) of color B, and 1/3 yard (3/8) of colors C and D.

Start by cutting two strips 5 1/2" in all four colors. I did not bother to measure the 40 1/2 inch lengths yet.

Cut 4 strips of 10 1/2 inches by 40 1/2 inches of fabric A. For these I did measure both directions. Make sure to trim off the selvages.

Cut 4 squares of 10 1/2 inches x 10 1/2 inches.

All seams will be sewn with a scant 1/4 inch seam. This means that as close to you can get to 1/4 inch, but just a line under. On my sewing machine foot, I use the inside edge of the 1/4 inch mark.

1. Sew the long strip of fabric A to the long strip of fabric B. First press with the right sides facing.

2. Then press open. Pressing is different than ironing in that you use the weight of the iron to do the work and do not move the iron back and forth too much which can stretch out your seam and distort your block.

3. Next sew fabric C to fabric B. Then repeat the pressing process.

4. Sew fabric D to fabric C. Press again.

5. Trim the selvages from one end.

6. Cut into 20 1/2" blocks.

7. Repeat steps 1 - 6 for the second set of 5 1/2 inch strips. Then arrange 20 1/2" blocks into the pattern.

8. Sew the top two blocks together and the bottom two blocks together. Press again.

9. Sew the top and bottom pieces shown together. Press again (notice a theme here?).

10. Sew the squares of fabric B to both sides of two of the 10 1/2 inch strips of fabric A, and press.

11. Sew the other two 10 1/2 strips of fabric to the center piece you finished in step 9, and press.

12. Sew the sections you sewed in step 10 to the top and bottom of the main piece.

13. Press and you have finished your quilt top.

If you make a quilt using this tutorial, I'd love to see it. I think it would make a great baby quilt or donation quilt, too.

More Quilts for Bastrop

2011-09-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I am very pleased with the caring that seems to be around. A number of adoptions that I have been watching have become fully funded, including Amy's adoption of Liam, so thank you to everyone that donated to that. Also while not fully funded, I have seen large jumps in a number of other adoptions also. The other thing that pleased me immensely is that although the Bastrop fires last count is over 1700 homes lost or very damaged, they are no longer in need of clothing. This means that an awful lot of people have given. If you still wish to donate money or item, here is a link to what they need and where to donate. There is even a link to donate money online (through Paypal, I think).

In the last five days, I have completed 8 quilts, 7 of which were tops made by other people for the fire victims of Bastrop. This is a quilting record for me. I've made more than one quilt in a day before and also quilted a quilt a day over the course of a number of days, but I've never quilted some many quilts so quickly. Granted the donated quilts are all lap sized quilts, but I'm still feeling fairly productive. I've also learned that there is a mess limit where Q will actually start cleaning instead of just leaving it to me, and it isn't near as high a limit as I would have thought. He told me it is romantic cleaning for our anniversary which was yesterday, which makes me very happy.

Here are pictures of some of the quilt tops.

Very simple design of non-traditional fabrics. I was worried how the quilting machine would handle the denser fabric, but it sewed through it smoothly.

This has to be one of my favorite donated quilts that I've quilted (and not just now but including the ones I've done in the past, too).

This quilt was so perfectly stitched and pressed that my MIL thought it was cheater's cloth until we turned it over.

I'm pretty sure this quilt and the next were done by the same person. I love the dark and bright colors used.

I love the butterflies in this quilting pattern. I don't use it very often because I have to run the machine at half the speed or less than I normally do, but I really wanted to bring the butterflies from the fabric into the quilting.

I decided to run two quilts at the same time using two different quilting patterns. I definitely will not be doing that again.

I wish there was a way to ensure that everyone that lost their homes would receive quilts, and while I can't do that I plan on doing what I can. I read a post in another forum about donating quilts and a lot of people were arguing that money would do more good, there was one person that posted about how the quilt they received meant so much to them when they lost so much and I really hope to bring that sort of comfort to as many families as I can.

More Quilting for Fire Victims

2011-09-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy quilting tops for the Bastrop fire victims. My mom asked if maybe it would be better to donate blankets and of course donating blankets or other items would be great. I think when you receive a blanket after you have lost everything, you will feel like you have the blanket you need, but when you receive a quilt that is made with love that you will know that people out there care, which of course, we do. I think there is something about receiving a quilt that makes you feel special.

My grandmother made us all quilts. I'm not sure if she is color blind or what, but I have heard comments basically stating that they are the ugliest quilts that the person ever saw. I loved my quilt. I slept with it all the time and used it for building forts and keeping warm, and every time we moved that quilt went with me. It was well used for a good 25 years before it mostly fell apart and even then I couldn't bear to part with it and would find all kinds of uses for it. I have lots of fond memories involving that one quilt, the only quilt that was mine growing up.

I've seen a number of ugly quilt contests and there are a couple of things that always strike me. I don't think very many of them are that ugly and wonder why people would enter the quilt. I also find that the ones that I do think are ugly someone else thinks is wonderful and is making the same comment about liking it that I am making about another. My point is that every quilt will have someone that likes it. So if you have an unfinished top or a completely quilt that you just think is atrocious and can't stand to look at, please donate it to the fire victims. I guarantee that someone will appreciate it.

I dropped off quilts at the Quilt Haus in New Braunfels yesterday and they still have a number of quilts that need to be quilted. If you need to practice your quilting, this would be a good opportunity to do so and benefit people in the process. When I first started using my quilting machine, the instructor of the class told us that the perfect way to practice was to do donation quilts and this is a great opportunity.

Here are some pictures of the two quilts I dropped off yesterday in the hopes that they will inspire someone to make a donation quilt. Simple quilts made from scraps can still turn out quilt lovely.

Back to quilting for me. Have a great and safe weekend.

Quilts for Bastrop Fire Victims

2011-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

The last I read over 600 families are without homes due to the out-of-control wildfire in Bastrop.

Quilt Haus in New Braunfels sent me the following email:

Project Linus Call for BLANKETS for BASTROP

Our Project Linus chapter is one of the closest to the Bastrop area, where nearly 500 homes have been destroyed by the wildfires, and evacuations are ongoing.

WE NEED BLANKETS to deliver to the shelters!! We'll gladly accept baby/toddler sized blankets, up to lap/throw sizes for the teenagers affected.

Please help! We need:

donations of finished quilts/blankets (made with a personal touch, of new materials)
donations of crib size batting (45x60")
donations of backing fabrics (1-3/4 to 2 yard pieces)
machine quilters who will volunteer to quilt the many tops we have on hand
volunteers to bind quilts
volunteers to wash and label finish quilts

You can also help by spreading the word to all your friends! Thank you in advance for your generosity to those many, many families affected by the Central Texas wildfires.

I am quilting some of the tops they have and donating batting for them. If you are in the San Antonio area and don't want to drive all the way to New Braunfels, you can drop off any materials to donate with me.

Also, if you wish to donate other items, here is a link that gives information. I have a friends that works in Austin that has volunteered to drop off items that fit in her car when she travels there on Monday and if we have enough I would be willing to make a separate trip in my van to take items up. Just let me know.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

Ottobre 5/2011

2011-08-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

I received my Ottobre magazine today. It's ... interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I sort of feel like I have to make a few things to determine if I like it and want to keep the subscription. My pictures are a little blurry as the paper in the magazine is much more slick and glossy than the Burda magazine so I had to forgo the flash.

Here are the technical drawings.

I kind of like this one. I don't know how it would look on me, but I know I would wear it happily, and it does have princess seams so it should be easy to adjust.

The high waisted shorts remind me of Burda 08-2011-130 and I'm tempted to make them both to see which ones I like better.

Ottobre 5/2011/10

Burda 08/2011/130

These two dresses have a similar silouette and I'm not sure I like the position of the dart. I also sort of wonder what it would look like when I did a FBA if it was one dart or if the other dart was placed in the normal spot. I might end up with a triangle on the side of my chest. It would probably be a bad idea to make that triangle in a contrasting color ending up with big arrows pointing to the breasts, huh?

I also would definitely bring that bow down in size.

I do want to make these pajamas. I'll have to put a shelf bra inside at the very least, but it will be a nice change from the basic Ts (with attached shelf bra) that I currently use.

I really don't know when I'm going to get to sew soon though. The bear cub is now walking pretty much all the time and her potty training is going fairly well, though we still haven't had a completely dry day. Darth Baby is also now crawling. So in a little over a month, I went from one walker, one crawler, and one immobile to two walkers and a crawler and that crawler seems to have very few self-preservation skills. The end result being that what little free time I had has just gone up in smoke.

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches and Laundry Questions

2011-08-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

So I joined pinterest mostly to see other people's sewing and quilting links, but I've been getting caught on all the recipe links.

One of the links that I saw on a bunch of friend's boards is for breakfast sandwiches. It's simple enough to do and you probably don't need a recipe.

I used cheddar and colby jack for the cheese, whole wheat muffins, and eggs. I also added turkey sausage to half of them.

Here are the finished sandwiches. I will be freezing these for Q to grab in the morning for work.

I've gotten a few questions about the laundry soap:
Can I use it in a high efficiency washer?
Yes, I think so. I googled a number of things to determine the difference between HE detergent and regular detergent and also the differences in the machines themselves and how they handle the detergent. I also found a couple of quotes from the manuals of HE washers and letters from the manufacturers of the machines in response to this question. The general consensus is that HE detergent does not create as many suds as regular detergent, and the laundry detergent I made makes very few suds. Chemically they should act the same for cleaning. The recommendation from others using this same detergent in their HE machines is to use only 1/4 cup of detergent for each load. Also, I've read the recommendation to occasionally run a hot wash in your HE washer with just vinegar to clean the system regardless of whether you use this recipe or a store-bought detergent and that seems like a really good idea.

Aren't you worried about it causing rashes on your babies?
Well, I really didn't consider this at all. I didn't consider it when I used regular detergent when I first had the nerdlet and everyone was recommending to make sure I got a really gentle soap either, but this soap is going to be more gentle than store bought detergents on both your baby and the environment. However, the diapers have all been through the wash using the new detergents and Darth Baby actually seems to have less pinkness than before even when I use the plastic diaper covers that usually cause it.

How long did it take to make?
It took me about an hour, but that is because at every step I had to go searching for something. Where is that bucket? What in the world did I do with my immersion blender? How am I going to stir the five gallon bucket? Nerdlet, can you go get the funnel from your toys in the bathtub? Anyway, you get the idea.

Well, that is way better than making lye soap.
I think my MIL thinks I'm too nutty crunchy. She thinks I'm a bit weird for breastfeeding and making my own baby food. I get the impression that she isn't entirely comfortable with my using cloth diapers (and when she has had them they have been in disposables for the most part - or at least they come home in disposables). When she heard I was making my own laundry soap, she obviously was picturing the old way her mother used to make soap. Just for the record, I will never be doing that.

I was actually surprised at how much interest there has been in the laundry soap, but the way I figure it is that if it doesn't work for you, you have wasted $7.00 and an hour of your time. If it does work, then you have a product that is much cheaper (even accounting for your time) and that is better for the environment.

Laundry Detergent Update and Making Crayons

2011-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

I used the laundry detergent on the load of diapers which included some quite nasty ones. After the first wash, instead of just starting the wash again like I normally do, I pulled out the diapers one by one and examined them and smelled them. This isn't really a fair test as I have never done this, not even once, with my regular detergents (Tide or Wisk). Most of the diapers were spotless and completely odorless. One of the diapers was obviously a poopy diaper and still had a very faint coloring and a few of them still smelled when I put my nose very close. After the second wash, they were all clean when I pulled them out. I went ahead and ran them again since that is what I am comfortable with. After going through the dryer, I put my nose to every diaper and none had a scent. I'm also going to mention that my nose is extremely sensitive and Q says that my pregnancy nose hasn't gone away. So I would say that it looks like the detergent is definitely good. There is absolutely no trace of the scent of the essential oil I added and I used 1/4 teaspoon, so I'm not sure if I would even add it at all in the future or quadruple the amount.

The nerdlet asked what we were going to make today when she got up. I was already planning on melting crayons so that is what we did, but when she asked I wondered if I shouldn't pull back a little on all the things I've been trying to do lately so she didn't come to expect it and get upset if I didn't have a major activity planned.

I've been saving the broken crayons since the nerdlet was a baby. Most of them were crayons from restaurants or that were stepped on by either me or Q. My girls tend to be very gentle with their crayons so I can't really blame them. You can see the fancy storage container I use for the broken crayons here. The brown silicon pan is for brownie pops. The other two are for regular muffins.

These are the broken crayons distributed in the pans. I used very little in the brownie pop pan on purpose and distributed the rest as evenly as I could in the smaller of the regular muffin pans.

This is what they looked like straight out of the oven that was set at 375 degrees F. I left them in just until they looked pretty melted, but I didn't time it so I can't really tell how long. If I had to guess I would say about 10-15 minutes.

You should wait until they are completely cooled. If you don't this is what happens.

No problem though because I just remelted them. This time I used the microwave. Did you know silicone pans are microwaveable?

Here are the smaller ones from the brownie pop pan, which I did wait until they cooled completely. I don't know if the clear wax that separated out was because of the large variety of crayons I used or if they were overheated from being such as small amount and cooked at the same temp and for the same time as the much larger muffin pan. I suspect the latter. It is wax though so easy enough to remove.

Here is the reason why I chose the brownie pop pan and why I made them so small. They are perfect for little hands and also perfect for teaching the correct grasp for holding a writing utensil. They are so perfect that if crayons are still on sale for school starting I will buy some specifically for making into these shapes.

If you have a little one that is starting to write, especially one that has special needs and will need to develop the right finger and hand positions, I cannot recommend this enough. Both the nerdlet and the bear cub showed that they can and will hold these the correct way and didn't have to be shown. Even the muffin tin crayons make them hold it between their fingers, but the brownie pop crayons were definitely better at getting the exact finger position.

Laundry Soap

2011-08-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

I made laundry soap. We do a lot of laundry. Besides cloth diapers (I typically wash the cloth diapers three times, once with vinegar) and currently lots of training pants and outfits for the bear cub, I also end up washing a ton of rag towels because we use them to clean up messes by the kids and animals, water spills, and whatever else, and all that is in addition to the normal laundry that accumulates by a family of five.

I found the recipe here. It's pretty simple to do. All the ingredients cost me less than $7.00 and should make 192 loads, and that will leave a lot of extra Borax and Washing Soda so each additional 192 loads will cost about $1.00 until I run out of those.

The ingredients. I also added sage citrus essential oil, but I think that was a waste since the Fels Naptha Soap has such a strong scent.

This is the grated Fels Naptha Soap being dissolved in water on medium low heat. The Fels Naptha Soap has a really strong odor and gave me a headache. I might try a blend of Ivory and Fels Naptha in the future. The nerdlet kept telling me I was the best mom the whole time I was making soap. I'm not sure if this is because I let her help or that she thought that making laundry soap was so cool.

Before pouring it into the gallon container. I lost a bit of it because I wasn't patient enough to let it completely drain from the funnel before adding more.

After using the two gallon containers we had in the recycling bin, I had to scavenge for another container to put the remainder in. So I used this bottle that was waiting it's turn in the kiln.

The total amount for 1/3 bar of soap and 1/2 cup each of Borax and Washing Soda was 62 loads (1/2 cup each), plus a few extra in the grape juice bottle. I'll let you know how the soap works after trying it on the next load of diapers.

FYI: For those wondering, before potty training we used around 2000 gallons of water a month. Our neighborhood average is about 6 times that. So the washing of diapers doesn't take that much water, even when running the loads 3 times. I have heard the argument that the water waste is worse than throwing away diapers and I just wanted to dispel that horrendous myth. I also think that likely three times isn't necessary, but I'm just more comfortable with that.

Sesame Street Playhouse

2011-08-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

Do you ever buy your kids toys because your nostalgic about them? Apparently I do. One of the first toys I remember playing with besides blocks was an old Sesame Street playhouse.

We either got it used or the pieces were lost fairly quickly as we didn't have all the pieces shown. We had Big Bird and Mr. Hooper and the two beds, but I don't remember many more pieces. While googling it I discovered that it was a 1974 toy and so it could have been used or it might have been purchased for my older sister and been through the ringer by the time I was really old enough to play with it.

Last night I spent some of the girls' Christmas money on my new toy.

I also bought Ernie and Bert to go with it. I would have bought Big Bird, but I didn't see him available.

BurdaStyle Magazine 09-2011

2011-08-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

I received my September edition of the Burda Style magazine today. Apparently every September is the Folk-style Special and there is tradition German Folk attire in it every year. The preview looked really bad and the posts I've seen on other blogs had me thinking the whole magazine would be awful. I found it not to be the case really. While I wouldn't make the patterns with the ribbon trim so that it looks so much like festival clothing, there are a lot of the patterns that I think are somewhat wearable and I know that the nerdlet would wear the kids clothing if I get around to making it.

Anyway, here are the schematics:

Here are the pictures of the outfits at a glance from the table of contents. Q really likes 104 which is also on the cover. I'm not adding anything to my list right now, but I actually can see making some of the folk costume blouses in the future.

That's all

Burda Plus Autumn/Winter 2011

2011-08-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I got the new Burda Plus magazine today. I've read that the Burda Plus patterns are all duplicates, but I only recognized a few of the patterns from the magazines I've received and the pictures are different. For a pattern to be plus sized the size is at least size 44, which is size 14 in the US.

First a picture of the technical drawings.

My mom would love the coat 405. She had me make her a similar coat in 2002.

I really like dress 426. Too bad I can't think of an occasion that I would ever wear it.

I can certainly see myself making and wearing 429.

Another dress I like is 427. If I make the shorter version and use a less fancy fabric, I might be able to make it a dress I would have an opportunity to wear.

I think 435 looks ridiculous. Click on it to blow it up so that you can really appreciate it.

I really like jacket 419, which I would want in a brick red or terra cotta, though I think it looks vaguely Star Trekish. I could totally see one of the female Klingons wearing it as they faced off with Picard or harassed Quark.

Q really likes jacket 420, and he even likes the studs, which really surprised me.

I didn't take any pictures of the pants or skirts as the photos didn't really show much of the design, but I can see making any of them, though maybe not in the suggested faux leather they have for the leggings.

The Selfish Seamstress is Back!

2011-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

The Selfish Seamstress is Back! If you follow sewing blogs, then you know who I mean. If you don't, you can ignore this post.

The Bear Cub's Signs

2011-08-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

I made a list of the signs that I've seen the bear cub use. I may have forgotten some.

again
all done
apple
aunt
baby
ball
banana
bath
bear
bird
book
car
cat
cereal
cheese
chicken
clean
cookie
cracker
dad
dance
dog
down
drink
eat
extra
finished
fish
flower
fold clothes
go
grandma
grandpa
hat
help
ice cream
I love you
jump
like
me
milk
mom
more
music
pet
play
please
potty
rain
shoes
sign
soap
socks
special
spider
stars
thank you
time
train
up
walk
wash hands
water
yeah
you

Potty training was going fairly well after almost three weeks and we were having two or fewer accidents a day and most of those were pee accidents. Then I decided to take her to the National Down Syndrome Congress Convention on Saturday and after four accidents, I put her in a cloth diaper. I didn't take her on Sunday, but my husband and mom had her in a diaper that day, too. If I had known, I would have just put her in a diaper and taken her with me. She's been back in panties since Monday, but is obviously having a hard time with going back to using the potty. We're not having any poop accidents, which I'm really glad about, but I'm a little frustrated with how many pee accidents we're having. I may have to go back to taking her every 10 minutes, but right now I'm resisting the idea as I don't want to feel like I'm spending the day in the bathroom again. Also, even though she uses the sign potty, she doesn't use it to tell me she has to go. She's still doing fairly well, but I hate that we've back stepped a bit.

She does have the routine down though. She will get up after she is done and play with the toilet paper if I don't have some handy. She can't get it off by herself so she'll just unroll it a bit. Then she'll climb the steps to wash her hands. She'll stretch to turn the water, but she's a bit short and will actually scrub her hands once I put soap on them. The hand washing is the best reward for her actually going and she gets upset when she hasn't gone and I don't let her wash her hands.

Liam again

2011-08-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at the National Down Syndrome Congress Conference. It was wonderful seeing so many people with a direct connection to someone with Down syndrome. If you don't have someone with Down syndrome in your intimate circle of family and friends, then you are definitely missing something. We like to say that our kids have something extra, but we could also say the rest of us have less, less hugs, less love, less acceptance, less peace, less understanding of what is important.

Amy understands this so much that she is adopting her fourth son with Down syndrome, Liam. She still needs $8K to be able to rescue him and bring him home. My younger sister is a Tastefully Simple representative and she is donating 100% of the profits of an online catalog party to Liam's adoption. Just go to the Tastefully Simple website and order delicious gourmet food products to help with Liam's adoption. Just list me 'Kimberly Hughes' as the host and my sister will make sure the profits are directed to Liam's adoption. This is the last week of the party will end on August 15th.

I saw a package of beer bread mix at my local grocery story and I couldn't help but have a bake off.

Both asked for 12 oz of beer and I used Corona light.

Although the package of Firenza makes an almost insignificantly smaller loaf and has slightly less dry ingredients, somehow it was a much drier loaf.

The Tastefully Simple bread mix was about the same price after shipping (cheaper without shipping), but it was much, much tastier. So if you like beer bread, buy it now through the catalog party. The spinach and artichoke dip and the Fiesta dip have been a hit at the two parties I have served them at. I also am very fond of the Almond pound cake.

As always you can skip the party food and donate directly to his adoption here, and donations are tax deductible.

Learning to Sew

2011-07-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to craft and sew and paint. My mother had little patience for teaching. She's pretty much show you something once if she even agreed to it, and if you didn't get it, you were out of luck. I don't remember her teaching me to sew, but I know I was really young. I remember when we were stationed in Alabama (ages 6-9) piecing remnants together for doll clothes before my mom would tidy up and throw them away. I made this pillow at age 9 (excuse the wrinkles, it has been in a bag in the closet for years/decades).

I begged my mom to teach me to sew on the sewing machine my whole childhood. She attempted to teach my older sister and ended up with a broken sewing machine and no patience left and refused to teach me. I finally saved enough money with babysitting money and bought one for myself at age 16, the summer before I entered my senior year of high school. I bought the cheapest Brother machine at Wal-mart and learned to sew from the manual that came from the machine and the instructions that came with the pattern for this doll, which was my first sewing machine project.

I mistakenly thought that a smaller project would be easier. When I presented it to my mom, she asked me why I would choose such a small doll to make and asked me if it wasn't hard. I had no frame of reference. Yes, it was hard, but I didn't know if it was harder or easier to make than anything else. At that time, I also didn't know about any other tools I might need, such as a seam ripper, and I didn't know what tracing paper or a tracing wheel was, so I pretty much winged it. The doll has lots of flaws and many were corrected with hand sewing, which I was pretty good at. Since then I've read anything I can get my hands on about sewing. I'm constantly trying to improve and I'm sure that there are lots of basics that I'm still in the dark about, even as I've mastered some advanced techniques.

The moral of the story is that if you want to learn, just jump right in. I know a lot of people online will tell you not to waste your money on a cheap machine or only buy a machine that was built at least a half a century ago and made of all metal, but I disagree. If you have never sewn on a nice machine, then you won't know the difference. I used that cheap machine for 7 years before I upgraded and although I would have liked a nicer one, I made Renaissance festival costumes and quilted quillows on it. There are a ton of basic sewing books at library and don't be too embarrassed to ask other customers at fabric and craft stores (I don't give much credit to most employees though, especially if you look younger than 50).

Feeling a need to donate

2011-07-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, please go here to see a list of children that are currently still in institutions waiting to be saved but lacking funding. They are all beautiful children with Down syndrome. Donating directly to their adoption funds is tax deductible.

Project Runway

2011-07-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

I watched my first episode of Project Runway last night. How are they on season 9? Have they run more than one a year or has it really been that long since I watched tv? I realize that it could be both. After all, I am watching Buffy and Angel for the first time.

I was surprised by quite a few things. First that I really liked it. I really like sewing and I love art, so you would think I would be into fashion, but I'm really not. I never have been. My style likely has always been best described as creative nerd and that began way before nerds were at all remotely popular.

Second, I was surprised that I liked a lot of the designs. I don't know what I expected, but I guess a lot of runway fashions have really struck me as awful in the past and so I supposed that all the fashions I would see would be like that, over-the-top and unwearable. I loved Bert's dress and if I had that model's body I would totally wear that, even in those colors (though I'd probably prefer slightly different fabrics).

Third, I did not expect that my husband would have such strong ideas about fashion. Seriously, I know that everyone would be surprised by this not just me. After all, this is the man that cares so little about clothing that if I don't turn his shirts inside right before putting them in his closet, he will wear them inside out and not notice. BTW, he like Julie's top that she made and was completely surprised that I did not agree. Really, Q? Really??? At least he agreed that Rafael's design was by far the worst.

I did not expect that Heidi Klum would be so mean. I don't mean just with her criticism, but with the joy she seemed to take with delaying revealing the judges decisions. She also seemed pretty happy to bash on the designs.

I don't know much about fashion hosts or Christina Ricci, but really? That CR was one of the judges really surprised me. I don't know if anyone had told me that before and I just forgot or wasn't paying attention.

When I saw that Anya had no sewing experience, I was rooting for her immediately. I was surprised that the other designers were, too. I actually was surprised at how the designers seemed to be rooting for each other. I got the impression that these shows were all back stabby kind of shows and I didn't really get that. I also thought Tim was wonderful in the way he dealt with everyone.

I'd love to tell you a favorite that I'm rooting for, but I am intrigued by a number of them. I do love all the quirky personalities. I will say, it wouldn't disappoint me to see Laura go at all. Even before she made the 'speak foreign' comment, there was something that struck me wrong about her. Obviously it is petty of me to judge based on a comment and a feeling of superficiality instead of the design, but there it is. I didn't care for the outfit she designed, but I didn't hate it either, so it really is about how she came across.

Finally, I want to play with the tablet and whatever program they have on it. It looks like fun.

Sewing Withdrawal

2011-07-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

I put my sewing machine and equipment upstairs to prepare for Darth Baby's baptism gathering. I left it up there until after a party I'm planning for the parents of children with Down syndrome that will be in San Antonio for the National Down Syndrome Congress convention being held in Early August. So I was going through sewing withdrawal pretty bad anyway when I got the new Burda magazine (08/2011). I've already read a couple of reviews bashing it and I have to say that I must be in the minority because I really like it.

I like both the jacket and the skirt in this picture. Since I have to add 2 1/2 inches for the FBA anyway, it might divide it into two darts.

I really like this skirt. I don't know how it would look on my figure, but I think I'd like to find out.

I'd like to try this dress also. It reminds me of a Vogue pattern that everyone and their dog seems to be making. The skirt is kind of growing on me, too.

Everyone seems to be making fun of this dress (everyone being two so far, but I'm sure the list is growing), but I love it. I wouldn't make it in pink though. Luckily, my cousin has supplied me with a bunch of knits to choose from.

Okay, these pants are clearly ridiculous. I wonder if my mom would like them (just kidding, Mom).

These shorts were designed for me. Yes, I know that they are probably designed only for me, but it is likely that they will make it on to my sewing pile, especially since warmish shorts are perfect for Texas in late autumn and winter.

And the last image that caught my fancy. I really like the top. The pants are kind of eh, but I'm wondering if I might like them more if they weren't pink. There is a lot of fabric around the hips, which I imagine wouldn't be flattering anyway.

I'll leave you with a pic of the preview page for next month. Now this gives me a lot to laugh at and wonder about.

Butter

2011-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

I made butter!

I have a Vitamix blender that is about 20 years old that I love and has gotten a LOT of use. It has been through at least five moves and been dropped many times. The last time I dropped it or maybe the time before, it lost it's ability to have variable speed and is stuck on max, but because these blenders are really expensive, we were continuing to use it as I mostly make smoothies and it was still good for that. I was using almost every day and sometimes more often. Costco had them on sale this past weekend and Q agreed that considering how often I used it and how useful having variable speeds are that we should replace it. I've had it since Saturday and have already used it 6 times. This morning I used it to make butter, marvelous, fabulous unsalted butter. The nerdlet was trying to scoop it out of the blender to eat it straight.

I started with 2 cups of whipping cream.

Then blended it on and off at half speed for about 5 minutes.

Then I poured out the liquid.

And I just had to store it in an old 'I Can't Believe It's Butter' container.

I can't believe how easy it was and how good it came out. If you have a Vitamix, I highly recommend you try it at least once. The whipping cream cost about a dollar and a half and you can buy a pound of butter for $3, so you aren't really saving any money, but it's so cool to do.

On another note, the Tastefully Simple party to help fund Amy's adoption of Liam is still going on. To order, go to Tastefully Simple and list me 'Kimberly Hughes' as the host and 100% of the profits are directed to Liam's adoption. This party is going to run until August 15th but Amy, Liam, and I would all love it if you ordered now. At Darth Baby's baptism, I served the artichoke dip, the taco cheese ball, and the chocolate pound cake. The dips were finished within minutes of coming out (and this was a small gathering). I ended up scraping the bowls before they went into the sink. I really recommend the artichoke dip. Even my husband really liked it and he doesn't care much for artichoke.

I don't know if the pound cake wasn't devoured because they were full on the dip or if it just wasn't as appealing, but it came out really wonderfully in the Wilton giant cupcake pan. If you are having a hard time getting a box mix to work in your cupcake pan, this is the mix to use. I measured out 2 cups of the batter to ensure that I put equal amounts in both the top and the bottom and it came out perfect, not over or undercooked anywhere in the cake.

As always you can skip the party food and donate directly to his adoption here, and donations are tax deductible. Thanks so much!

Another Where Have You Been Post

2011-07-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we baptized Darth Baby.

We had a gathering afterward with food from Tastefully Simple which I had planned to do a separate post on, but I didn't get pictures of the finished food before it started disappearing. I'll post about it in a bit, but there will be a definitely dearth of pictures.

Monday I started potty training the bear cub in force. Poor thing didn't know what hit her. She isn't showing any signs of readiness, but her sister didn't show very many (really only not being wet all the time) and she was potty trained in three days. I knew the bear cub wasn't going to be as easy, but I have a strong belief that if you miss your early window you have a child much older that is still struggling.

I'm using the same technique as I did with the nerdlet which is just to go cold turkey. In the morning, the diaper comes off (with my oldest we didn't do nighttime diapers so slightly different) and she goes on the potty, I entertain her until she goes the first time. Then we go to the potty every 10 to 15 minutes all day long with lots of praise when she gets it. I also offer lots of drinks, but Chloe isn't a big eater or drinker so she isn't really drinking any more than usual. That was pretty much all day all week. I've even been taking her out with panties. Today is day seven and we're at about a 50% on the potty 50% accident. Once we have a higher success rate, I'll move the time to longer between trying.

Bear is tired of potty training though. I put her on the potty and tell her to sign potty as I do it and instead she signs "I baby". She also went over to the diaper changing table and started pulling on the edge like she wanted up. Overall though, I think we're doing okay and she isn't really resisting going to sit even as often as we do it.

My mom and a lot of other people think I'm crazy and I know she isn't ready the way that is traditionally thought, but I have confidence she'll get it. It will just take longer. Of course, you also may see a post in three months that I'm finally giving up for a little bit. I am just that stubborn.

Greenling Again

2011-07-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

I know that I said that I wasn't going to order a local box from Greenling again, but I lied. This is actually my fourth one. I just love the fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to my door, and my sister stated it perfectly when she said it is like food tasted when we were little. It tastes like it is supposed to taste. My sister and I used to get in trouble because we would eat the stuff out of the garden and farm at my grandparents, and these fruits and vegetables taste like that did. Also it is getting me to eat stuff that I wouldn't normally buy and I'm reveling in it. If you live in the area covered by Greenling, I can't recommend it enough.

The box as I opened it.

Purslane. I will be making a green smoothie out of this after I taste it. I've been meaning to try it but unwilling to butcher my beautiful purslane out front.

Blueberries. The nerdlet grabbed these right away so that I could wash them and she is snacking on them right now. I've learned that when I open the box, she is expecting to eat something out of it right away. I disappointed her last week.

Tomatoes.

Basil. I think it's spicy globe basil. When I opened the box, the smell of the fresh basil hit me and it was divine. I'll be using this with the tomatoes and picking up some fresh mozzarella, I think.

New potatoes.

Figs. My mom loves these. I'll definitely save some for her.

Onions.

Nectarines. I love nectarines. I could eat all four of these in one sitting.

Yellow bell pepper. I'm thinking of picking up some chorizo and combining it with some of the onions and peppers and having breakfast burritos all week.

Eggplants. I'm thinking some baba ghanouj, but that still leaves a lot of eggplant. I'll be researching recipes, I guess, unless anyone has any suggestions.

I do have a coupon code for people trying it for the first time, KIMHUG241, but I think it isn't stackable with the one you get from their website and their coupon is better, but I'm posting it just in case anyone tries it.

Simplicity 2369 and a RTW Copy of a Top

2011-07-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

My sewcation is almost over and I ended up making 5 separate items of two patterns.

The first was a top and a dress from Simplicity 2369. I really love this pattern. I feel like it's flattering and I like the way it feels on me.

The second pattern that I made was the copy of the RTW top that my sister requested. I made the one in green for me to make sure that it worked. Then I practiced using my new finger removal tool by stacking fabric to cut to make two more. The black one is for my sister. Even though they are the same size, the yellow and black fabric is much tighter as it doesn't stretch as much.

It's much more flattering on my sister, who is five inches taller than me, but I think it is somewhat becoming on me, too. I didn't get any of the shorts made yet that I had planned, but I do have a number of patterns traced from Ottobre and Burda for when I have an opportunity I'm missing Q and the girls terribly and can't wait for them to walk through the door.

Another Liam's Adoption/Tastefully Simple Party Plug

2011-07-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

As my readers know, my sister has agree to donate 100% of the profits of an online catalog Tastefully Simple party to Liam's adoption. What a deal - buy and enjoy gourmet food and feel good about helping save an orphan. Amy, the mother, has three other boys with Down syndrome, one of which is an adult, so she knows what people with Down syndrome are capable of. You can view her blog about her family here.

Today I made the beer bread, both regular and whole wheat (I just had to compare) and the potato cheddar soup.

I chose the Corona because it was one of the few I could just buy one of and I figured I could melt the bottle in the Kiln.

Oh, how I wish you could smell this picture.

Both beer breads are awesome. You can see in the picture that the wheat bread didn't rise as much and I was afraid it was going to be dense and awful, like wheat breads used to be in the past, but the flavors were incredibly similar, with the wheat having that nutty tastes that wheat breads are supposed to have, but still being sweet and airy. My house smelled like beer and I was thinking the whole time the bread was cooking that I should have used a soda or something other than beer, but the taste of both of the loaves was really good. I'm not really a drinker and I really dislike beer, but I heartily recommend these breads.

As for the soup, I'm not really a cheese soup fan and so this soup isn't really my thing. It IS much better than the dehydrated potato soups that I've tried from the grocery store, and I certainly like it enough to eat it, but it isn't good enough to convert me to choosing a cheese soup over something else. In short, buy the beer breads!

To order any of these or the biscuits from this post, go to Tastefully Simple and list me 'Kimberly Hughes' as the host and my sister will make sure the profits are directed to Liam's adoption. This party is going to run until August 15th. My suggestion is to order a few things you like to try now (most of it is great party food), then you will still have time to order again more of the things you really like before the donations are closed for this adoption.

As always you can skip the party food and donate directly to his adoption here, and donations are tax deductible.

Knit Skirt Copy of Ready to Wear

2011-07-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

My sister asked me to copy a RTW skirt that she has had for a decade and a top that she has had for two. I copied the skirt last weekend while I was visiting my mom. I didn't have my serger and so I used french seams for the entire skirt which is why it is a little wavy. This also resulted in the waist seam being stretched out some, but since it has a drawstring waist, it isn't too big a deal. The RTW skirt had pockets which my sister asked me not to put in, but I liked the detail so I went ahead a put the seam on the sides without the pockets.

Here is the skirt.

It is made of mostly rectangles and trapezoids and if anyone is interested in duplicating it, here are the dimensions without seam allowances.
waist band 3" x 40"
tie 68" x 1.5"
front piece 14" x 16"
back piece 14" x 17"
top sides 6" x 8"
bottom sides (here is the trapzoid) top 6", bottom 6.5", front 8", back 9"

My sewcation is going well. I traced off Simplicity 2369 and made a top and and dress from the pattern, which I will post later. I sew and serge standing up and spending all day going from tracing on the floor to cutting and sewing standing up has been really hard on my back. I'm hoping to make the top mentioned above and some shorts for me tomorrow, but we'll see how sore I am tomorrow (and how soon Q is coming back with the girls).

Sewcation and Another Birthday

2011-07-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday again (my second this year). Even though the calendar still hasn't told me it is, I know because my cousin has sent me another birthday gift! I'm going to use it on my very first sewcation this weekend. Q and I have an agreement where we spend a weekend a month apart and even though we did this this past weekend, he has agreed to take the three girls and spend the weekend with my mom so that I can have some time to sew. How many men do you know that would volunteer to take three babies and spend a weekend with their MIL? Isn't he the best?

Here are the pictures of the fabric.

This one is going to be my dress for Darth Baby's baptism next week.

Any bets as to how long until I lose a finger?

Liam's Tastefully Simple Party

2011-07-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, here is another plug for Liam's Tastefully Simple Party, where my sister has agree to donate 100% of the profits to Liam's adoption.

I had not prior to yesterday tried anything by Tastefully Simple (though I did order some through Liam's party). Yesterday, the nerdlet and I made the Perfect Parmesan Biscuits.

These were so easy, you start with three ingredients, mix them together (about 15 stirs), and pop them in the oven.

My sister likens these to the cheese biscuits at Red Lobster and while I can see the reason she does that, these are much better. They are light and airy and full of cheese flavor. Also, they are not overly salty like the ones at Red Lobster but still full of flavor. Both the nerdlet and the bear cub enjoyed them, too.

To order, go to Tastefully Simple and list me 'Kimberly Hughes' as the host and my sister will make sure the profits are directed to Liam's adoption. This party is going to run until August 15th. My suggestion is to order a few things you like to try now (most of it is great party food), then you will still have time to order again more of the things you really like before the donations are closed for this adoption.

As always you can skip the party food and donate directly to his adoption here, and donations are tax deductible.

Bon appetit.

BurdaStyle Magazine 06-2011-111B

2011-06-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

I made another pattern from the Burda Style Magazine, this time a pair of shorts, and I love them. I think I'm going to make a lot more pairs. The largest size of the pattern was a 44 so I graded up to about a 48.

front

side

back

I also did my first review on pattern review, where you can get more information. Here is the link.

Simplicity 4076

2011-06-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Remember my making this before? I had cut the right side (or left) out twice instead of one of each and so half the shirt is always inside out. Most people would consider it a wadder and toss it, but the knit is super comfy and so I've been wearing it as pajamas...a lot.

After making this first shirt, I had cut out another, this time correctly, but only got around to sewing it yesterday.

(I'm not angry. I'm not sure why I look that way.)

Unfortunately, I have stopped breastfeeding since then and so have lost four inches off my chest. I was going to make this smaller, but laying it out there was no way that those giant circles were not going to be in an inconvenient place. So it was made as is and it still works, but it reveals more cleavage than even normally and hangs funny a bit under the arms, but it is still better than almost all RTW and I am a little short on clothing that fits better (note the skirt in the picture which I made while pregnant with the nerdlet but am still wearing due to a shortage of summer skirts and shorts - note that but try to ignore Darth Baby's gift on the skirt).

I think reading Australian sewing blogs is adversely affecting me as I have traced out a (BS) Burda Style jacket. I probably won't be making it for a while, but I'm really happy with the tissue paper fitting. I do wonder if I need a new way of making an FBA, since all the ones I've seen lower the bust point and usually that is too low to begin with (due to being extremely short torsoed not from being overly perky). I use the Palmer and Pletsch method mostly for my FBAs.

What I want to make are the jacket or matching dresses for my girls, but after a finishing a few more pillowcases, I will definitely be working on more me clothing.

Save Ivan/Liam!

2011-06-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone that has been reading my blog for any period of time knows that I always have one or more adoption of a child with Down syndrome through Reece's Rainbow that I am watching. Melanie/Lucy's mom is at the orphanage getting her right now. Lera's adoption is fully funded and they are completing the final steps before they can go get her. Alexander's adoption is almost fully funded, and they are gung ho about going to get him even if no more money is donated, but they are having to wait for some issues with the political system in the country of Alexander's orphanage. So now I am advocating for Liam.

My sister is a consultant for Tastefully Simple. It is a company that sells gourmet food products that I had never heard of before she started selling it, but apparently is extremely popular because as soon as I start talking about it, everyone cuts me off having heard of it and obviously knowing more about it than I do. She has agree to do a fundraiser donating 100% of the profits of an online catalog party to Liam, who is still $9K away from being fully funded. Go to Tastefully Simple, pick out your products, and list me 'Kimberly Hughes' as the host and my sister will make sure the profits are directed to Liam's adoption. Liam's mom, Amy, has adopted multiple times before and if you go to her blog, you can see pictures of her three handsome sons that have Down syndrome.

Of course, if you don't eat or know anyone who eats, and therefore cannot fathom buying delicious food, then you can, of course, donate directly to Liam's adoption here.

Finally, a giant thank you to all those that have donated to this adoption or any of the others or who have already purchased. Every small amount counts.

Simplicity 4243

2011-06-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

I've had this pattern for a long time.

Sometime early in my pregnancy with the bear cub, I modified the pattern to fit the nerdlet and cut it out but I had severe Carpal's Tunnel during my pregnancies and never finished sewing it. So I finished it for Darth Baby to wear today. It's a good thing I finished it now as it doesn't look like it will fit her much longer.

It's perfect in the stitching and the binding and almost completely unfinished on the seams. My serger was giving me a hard time and instead of spending the time fixing it I took shortcuts, such as zigzagging some of the seams and ignoring the rest. It is made out of Tutti Frutti fabric which is great for clothes for little ones as it is super easy to sew and clean and requires no ironing. I love that the many outfits we have made with this fabric (my MIL has made a bunch) are all still unstained.

I also made a ton of red bias tape. For less than the cost of one package, I bought the fabric on sale to make 25 to 50 yards depending on width and it took me a little less than 3 hours to make it from start to end. I will confess to hating making bias tape, but I can't see spending money on it when I go through so much.

I ordered Ottobre magazine and got the first issue and I'm excited about trying it out. The one I received is all children's patterns and many require bias tape so I'll likely be making more in the near future.

Making Nylon Scrubbies

2011-06-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is what I have been up to other than parenting my three girls lately.

Cutting them is a bit of a pain. It's basically eight yards of course tulle cut into 3-4 inch strips. Normally I do this with an old rotary cutter and it is done fairly quickly, but with three little ones and all the activity around, I ended up having to cut them a few strips at a time with regular scissors (definitely not my fabric scissors).

You can use pretty much any small crochet pattern you want. I basically double crochet in circles until I run out of the ball, though in previous years I have crocheted other shapes just for fun, like hearts.

More bibs

2011-06-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

After trying out the new bib pattern on Darth Baby, I realized that none of the other bibs we had were going to make me happy anymore and that I had to make a bunch more. I picked up a package of 18 wash cloths at Wal-mart for $4.00. These were a little disappointing because they were about an inch smaller on all sides than any I had at home which made for much smaller bibs that likely aren't going to fit her too much longer (though they still fit the nerdlet). I ended up feeling tired of making bibs after 12.

Here are pictures of most of them (some are still in the wash).

The nerdlet claimed this one as her own.

If you have a baby with reflux, these are definitely great bibs for you.

People Can Be So Nice

2011-06-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

My debit card expired this month. I had gotten the new one but had accidentally left it on my computer. I didn't realize that the old card would not be good through the end of the month or I would have been more careful. So I went grocery shopping after the gym on Friday with the three girls on the way home. When I tried to check out and it rejected my card, I was really out of luck as I didn't have any other way of paying. I really didn't want to reshop for all the things I had and was trying to convince them to leave it in the cart so that I could pay for it after coming back. They wouldn't do that so I called my husband so that he could bring the new card. While I was doing that a couple of customers paid for my groceries and left. So I couldn't even thank them properly. When the cashier told me to call my husband back and tell him never mind, I burst into tears. To anyone that has done anything like this before, THANK YOU!!! Anyway, I intend to pass it on and will be donating the amount of my groceries to one of the Reece's Rainbow kids.

After I had gotten home, it occurred to me that I knew the new expiration and the security code on the back and that I should have asked them to key it in. Le Sigh.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Making Bibs

2011-06-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

I decided to make my own bib pattern. Darth Baby has pretty bad reflux and we go through a stack of bibs for her each day. On top of that, she has taken to leaning over her bib to spit up so that she gets everything past the end of a normal length bib dirty. The bear cub is still teething so often she'll soak a bib, too. So I was in need of a new design.

First I tried this free bib pattern. It definitely covers a lot, but it is big even on the nerdlet. Also, it takes a full hand towel, which I don't really want to waste on a single bib. Here was the result.

Next, I tried this free bib pattern, which was much smaller and covered most everything except the sleeve area. I used one of the newborn cloth diapers I had to make it. The bear cub did not seem to think this one was comfortable and complained until I took it off of her.

So I decided to make my own. I wanted one that I could use the wash cloths for that you can get a stack of new ones fairly cheap (I think you can get a stack of 20 for around $5.00). I also wanted one with sleeves so when Darth Baby leaned over like she does before spitting up, it would still catch most of it. This is what I came up with. I think I'll applique a heart in the pink from the sleeves on it later. All of my models are napping right now.

And if you're interested a quick picture tutorial of what I did.

If anyone is interested in the pattern or a more thorough tutorial, let me know.

Audrey's Day at the Beach

2011-06-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Q and I took the bear cub and the nerdlet to Audrey's Day at the Beach, a meeting in Rockport of families with children or relatives with Down syndrome. We wanted to do this last year and the year before but family things kept us from going this year. We actually missed my nephew's eagle scout meeting to go this year and almost cancelled it again, and although it was a difficult decision for us, we decided that it was important for us to spend a day celebrating the bear cub's extra special chromosome with like families.

I often say that every family should have a child with Down syndrome. This trip really brought this feeling to a point. It was so wonderful seeing almost every family around you being blessed by trisomy 21. There were people on the beach that were not apart of our group. About 20 feet from us was one such family. The mother was smoking and the father was yelling at the two kids about how to properly build the sand castle to hold water. The two kids were working hard trying to please their dad. Watching them I kept thinking that there family was missing something, and to me it was obvious what it was.

The bear cub had a blast. She kept waiting for us to turn our backs and each time she did this.

We got to see dolphins, all kinds of birds, and George Strait's home.

Q and I spent a lot of time in the sand digging holes and making arches, which the girls loved.

On the way to and from the beach we got to see the wind farm in Sinton, TX, which I though was just beautiful and I couldn't get pictures that really captured the beauty of it. I would love to see these around my city all the time.

It really was a great trip and I hope to be able to take my family again in future years.

Nerdlet is an Artist

2011-06-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

The nerdlet loves drawing, especially when she gets access to permanent markers. She's been at it all morning, about 2 1/2 hours so far. She also has an incredible attention span.

She started telling me about a specific picture she was drawing. "The boy wants to go to the gym."

I was only half paying attention. "You want to go to the gym?"

"No, Mama. The boy wants to go to the gym, but his mom says no. She's driving the truck. She's not going to the gym, and she yells 'Get out of my way! Get out of the way!' She's going to get gas for energy for the truck. Here are the pipes that the oil is in under the car."

Normally, she just draws abstract shapes, but today she drew two about cars and roads (in addition to a stack of abstract work). While her daddy was leaving this morning, she said she was drawing a blockade on the road. The red is the blockade and the gray is the road.

She's clearly an artistic genius!

See Me For Me

2011-06-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Copied from Melissa'a wonderful blog.

See Me For Me

When you look at me -
What do you see?

When you look into my eyes
Do you see beautiful blue,
sparkling with joy, delight
in my accomplishments
Or do you see that "almond shape"
or "brushfield spots"?

When you look at my hands
Do you see them reaching
for toys, writing the alphabet,
throwing a ball, doing a
meaningful job
Or do you see a "simian crease"?

When you look at my face
Do you see the resemblance
to my parents, that I have just had
my hair permed
Or do you see a "flat face" or
"epicanthal folds"?

When you look at my behavior
Do you see my feelings of
pleasure and anger, my desire
to achieve, my frustration in
being treated like a baby
Or do you see the "stubbornness"?

When you look at my development
Do you see me playing with peers,
participating in sports, growing
into a productive adult
Or do you see "low muscle tone" or
"the eternal child"?

When you look at my family
Do you see loving parents wanting
to challenge me to my ultimate potential,
sisters and brothers who have a better
understanding of the differences in us all?
Or do you see a family torn apart by my
difference, constantly in crisis, unable
to accept, never to feel the joy of
having a "normal child"?

What Do You See?
Look At Me.
Look Closer.
See Me For Me.