Remember that beautiful Michael Miller fabric I bought? Well, I have started sewing with it. I won’t show you what I have been making with it yet, but I will give you a tiny peek.
Archive for May, 2011
A Sneak Peek
Posted in Sewing on May 31, 2011| 2 Comments »
Toddler Tuesday – Foam Art
Posted in Children, Toddler Tuesday on May 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This week, we decided to do some gluing.
I had these foam flowers leftover from a Hawaiian themed birthday party we did here last year. I just put some white glue into a container, gave my daughter a paintbrush (you can also use a glue spreader, or a Q-tip), some paper and the foam flowers. We use a paintbrush for spreading glue on the paper. I always seem to have a lot of small paintbrushes in the house and they really do work well for this.
Foam shapes are fairly inexpensive and are easy for toddlers to grab on to. If you don’t have any white glue, you can use a glue stick. It works just as well.
Activities like painting and gluing are great for developing fine motor skills and creativity.
Summer Pajamas
Posted in Sewing, tagged summer pajamas on May 30, 2011| 1 Comment »
About a week and a half ago, I made a top from the summer nighty pattern in One Yard Wonders. This past weekend, I made some bottoms to match.
I used the Easy-Fit Pants pattern found here. These really were super fast and simple to make. I made myself a medium, but I found the legs quite wide, so I think that I may do a size small next time. The ones I made are capri length.
The combination of the wide pants and the top with the larger bottom to it makes these pajamas a little too… well… maternity like. I am considering cutting the pants down and making them into shorts instead, or I might keep the pants to wear with another top and just make a pair of shorts to match this top. Decisions, decisions…
Overall, I feel that these two items are fairly well sewn. I just don’t particularly care for the way they fit me. It’s all a part of the learning process though, isn’t it?
Toddler Tuesday… on Thursday!
Posted in Children, Toddler Tuesday, tagged learning colors, toddler activities, toddler games on May 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Have you been joining us on our colour weeks? We have been having a lot of fun learning about colours here.
Today, we were playing a colour game using the game board from Twister. My toddler absolutely loved this!
Stand on a yellow circle!
Stand on a blue circle… a green one… etc…
How about we use body parts? Put your hands on a green circle! Put your head on a red circle! (This one got tons of giggles) Put your knees on a yellow circle!
We also did actions – bunny hop on the green circle, turn round and round on the blue circle, etc..
So grab yourself a Twister game board and have fun reviewing some of the colours your little one has been learning!
Where Did Tuesday Go?
Posted in Misc..., Toddler Tuesday on May 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I just realized that today is already Wednesday and I never posted anything for Toddler Tuesday! I do have a good excuse for you though – it was a holiday on Monday (Victoria Day) so Tuesday seemed like a Monday. Also, I have been entering all the giveaways found over at Sew Mama Sew! Wow! A lot of talent out there! A huge thanks to all those offering up some goodies!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a late “Toddler Tuesday”.
Summer Pajama Top
Posted in Sewing, tagged One Yard Wonders, Summer Nightie on May 20, 2011| 3 Comments »
I decided to sew something for myself the other night. I chose the ‘summer nightie’ pattern from the book One Yard Wonders.
This was pretty simple to sew and it took me about 2 hours to measure, cut and sew. I chose to do the top pieces in a medium size. They are a little roomy, but I think I would do them that size again but then overlap them to allow for a bit of extra coverage.
I was hoping to double this top as a summer shirt, but a simple mistake (that I don’t care to take the time to fix) made me decide that this will be a pajama top only.
Do you see the mistake?
How about now?
If you’ve made this pattern before you might be more likely to notice it. See the shoulder straps? They are coming from the outside of the top. They should be coming from the inside. This is causing the straps to bend in order to land on my shoulders and also affects the way the top fits. I really didn’t feel it made enough of a difference to fix it I were to wear them for pajamas. So I’m leaving it.
Next up? Bottoms to match!
Toddler Tuesday – It’s Orange Week!
Posted in Children, Toddler Tuesday, tagged toddler activities, toddler crafts on May 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This week we are learning about the colour orange.
I didn’t feel like messy art this week, so I decided to do squish painting. This is a great way to learn about mixing colours and is toddler friendly.
To do squish painting (this is my name for it), you need a ziploc bag (I like to use freezer bags because they are stronger), red and yellow paint and duct tape (this is optional but I certainly recommend it!). Put some red and yellow paint in the bag, in opposite corners, close the bag and seal it with duct tape to help keep it closed.
Now let your toddler squish the bag!
You can also make simple pictures using your finger.
While having all this fun squishing, your little one is making orange!
For snacks this week, we will be enjoying oranges, fish crackers, cheese and carrots.
My toddler and I have been enjoying reading I Feel Orange Today by Patricia Godwin.
This book is actually about feelings. I like how it relates feelings to colours. Often our toddlers act out in anger and frustration when they are having a hard time expressing how they feel. Learning the names of feelings is a first step in managing these emotions.
Orange is the color of so many things I see.
Would you like to sing a little song with me?
Orange juice and orange cheese,
Orange carrots, if you please.
Orange pumpkins, orange leaves,
Let’s sing a song of orange.
Spring Pajamas
Posted in Children, Sewing on May 16, 2011| 3 Comments »
A friend’s little girl turned 2 this past weekend. I made her some cute owl pajamas.
The top has short sleeves and the bottoms are capri length – perfect for Spring!
For the top, I used this pattern, but made some changes to get a top I thought would be cozy for pajamas. The pants were made using Simplicity 4557. The pants were supposed to be full length, but the pattern seems to fit a bit small and they ended up capri length despite me making a small hem on them. Thankfully we are headed into warmer weather and the capri length works well with that!
There were certainly bumps along the way with this project. I am, however, beginning to realize is that sewing can be somewhat forgiving and mistakes that we sweat over barely show in the finished project.
Welcome Spring!
Posted in Gardening, Misc... on May 13, 2011| 1 Comment »
It has been a longer rainy and cold season here than we are used to. Certainly, we have nothing to complain about compared to other parts of our country, but it has been a slow start to spring nonetheless.
We were lucky to have a bit of sun peek through the clouds today and my youngest daughter and I enjoyed some time outdoors.
Our lilac bush has flowers and they are starting to open and release their sweet perfume. I can’t get enough of their beautiful smell!
The bluebells are out and adding nice colour to our garden.
The oregano is bursting from all the rain we have been having! The rosemary is looking beautiful in bloom. It seems we have a lot of purples and blues in our garden right now.
And what would a morning outside be without a visit to our friendly neighborhood urban chicken?
I don’t know who enjoys visiting ‘Helen’ more – my toddler or myself! I grew up on a hobby farm and visiting this beautiful chicken fills me with warm memories of living in the country.
I hope that more sunny days are on their way.
The BEST Chocolate Pudding!
Posted in Cooking/Baking, tagged chocolate pudding on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
If you are looking for a great chocolate pudding recipe, you have come to the right place. I love this recipe because I usually have all the ingredients on hand and it is quick to make. The kids love it and it is so much better for them than the store-bought puddings.
The BEST Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients:
1/2 c white sugar
3 tbsps unsweetened cocoa
powder
1/4 c cornstarch
2 3/4 c milk
2 tbsps margarine or butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
In a saucepan, stir together sugar, cocoa and cornstarch. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in margarine and vanilla. Let it cool for a bit and serve either warm (my favourite!) or cold. Enjoy!!
(Please ignore the poor quality of the picture. My husband and I share the ‘good’ camera and the good camera was out with my husband. Also, when I moved the bowl of pudding onto the placemat, the skin on the pudding cracked causing the pudding to show varying colours. It really *is* good pudding and I promise you will enjoy it!)
Small Town Girl 