So, recently a friend passed along a fabric panel (you know a big panel of fabric with printed items on it that you just need to cut and sew) to me that she could not use. From the moment that she handed it to me I knew that I had found a new love. It is so simplistic! Some of you out there may think that I am off my rocker, but I love these things! Since I was given the ballerina I have been scouring Ebay and Etsy for fun fabric panels. I came across a monkey (he even has little clothes) for brother for Christmas and Sister will receive the ballerina. I have a few more hopefully in the mail and on their way to me also so stay tuned!

McCalls patterns are 99 cents again this week at Joanns and I feel like this is the first time that I have taken full advantage of it. I made my list and hit the store without the kids as to not be distracted from the task at hand which of course was finding my 10 (there is a limit to these things) patterns and making it to the checkout on my own time and not the kids meltdown time. It was thrilling! I decided to purchase a fleece jacket pattern in a feminine and masculine styles and then a pattern that included hats, scarves and gloves as well. I was anxious and cut into the hat, scarves and mittens last night. I finished up the scarves and hats leaving the mittens for another time but they were fun to make and came together pretty quickly. I of course had to play and mess around with the pattern a little bit but just because I cannot leave a good thing alone!

It has been quiet around here for a bit. There were lots of thoughts swirling in my head but none complete enough to write about. There were lots of projects cut out but nothing that made it to the sewing machine…yet! I have however in the last month sewed a button on a pair of pants for my hubby! Nothing amazing but yet still apart of life!

I decided to head out to a fabric shop that I don’t usually frequent this week and I stumbled upon a very happy find…some Katie Jump Rope fabric that was half off!!! That is right 50% off! Very exciting! I think that the green and blue print is very anxious to become a quilt and the orange print is pretty certain that it would like to become a skirt. Now I just need get sewing!

Sister got invited to a last minute birthday party so I was thrilled that she requested a doll for her friend as it comes together pretty quickly. I am still not sure how I feel about the little skirt but sister said that it is a must have, so it stays! I wish that the fabric would of been more than a scrap so that I could of made the birthday girl a matching skirt as well but that would be the negative of the scrap drawer. I really enjoy picking out the fabrics that go into these little dolls…mainly I love going through my scraps and salvaging some favorite fabrics! Happy day everyone!

So this was fun!!! I have really wanted to try out a push reel mower for a few months now. There is just something about them that says simplistic to me. Plus there is nothing like mowing in silence. It is an amazing concept I must admit. Brad had said that there was really no way that he would buy one until I had tried one so when a friend recently offered me a push reel I jumped at the chance to give it a good home. Today was my first attempt at mowing with it and I must say that while it was a little bit harder than mowing with a self propelled mulching lawn mower, I loved it! Yes, you have to work harder to mow…but is that really a bad thing? It is quiet which is fabulous! It is much greener! It does not kick up as much grass for your nose to breath in. Sure it leaves clippings behind but isn’t that better for your yard anyways.
I have to admit that there was one man who did a double take as he drove by and slowed down just past our house only to turn around and drive by again to verify that I was a crazy woman mowing with a push reel lawn mower. Some of our friends drove by as well and had a good laugh over me mowing that way. I don’t know what it is but I really do love it! To me there are lots of benefits to using it and very few negatives! Give it a try…you really just might enjoy it!

With the dress you must have a matching baby doll to bring along in tow. A friend that you can snuggle with and tell secrets to in the night.

When snuggle time comes the baby doll would most certainly need a cozy blanket.

And because we all know that sharing blankets is so hard the baby would need a matching blanket to match her baby doll…of course!

*Please forgive the desperate need for a very hot iron.

I am not sure what is going on with me lately but I just cannot follow a pattern! There is just something about needing to tweak or simplify patterns with me lately. I made this Comfy Jumper Dress from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches and ended up simplifying the pattern a good bit. It is still the basic lines of the dress but just simplifying the process. I am really excited with the way that it turned out and I really like the fun little lady bugs. I stumbled upon this fabric at Joanns and it was just one of those cute fabrics that begs to head home with you, thus it was added to the stash. This little dress is headed to a cute little one who has a wonderful mommy!

School started back for Sis today. She woke with a song in her heart and she was so excited for her new class. It blessed my mommy heart so much but at the same time she is just SO old! Gee! She warmed up to her dress and was so happy to put it on, however, I never did iron it. We found out at Open House last week that her backpack would need to fit a folder and her current backpack (no matter how hard I tried) would not fit that folder so there was a bit of last minute sewing that took place around here after all. I had ordered a pattern about a month ago on Etsy just to have for when brother heads to school (you can purchase it here). I pulled it out and altered it making it a good bit taller, wider (to fit the folder of course) and added a pocket. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I did also alter a few other things in the pattern such as using heat-n-bond to add a fabric to the inside and not padding the straps but again using heat-n-bond. I would recommend this little pattern as it does come together pretty quickly and easily (trust me,I sewed it the night before school). Sis was amazed that the backpack was ready for her this morning and she was excited to head off with it to school. She had a great first day which I am most thankful for!!!

It looks like I let the kiddos loose in the garden, doesn’t it? Maybe they were playing in the garden and became hungry and settled upon a yummy looking honeydew and just started eating away. Well, I know that it was not the kiddos as we have a tall fence around the garden and the kiddos need my help to get in and out. We added the fence to keep the bunnies out but I think that the squirrels have found a way in! Grrrrrr! I have caught them inside the fence before but I did not know that they would really eat anything but now I have proof that they would. I started noticing a few weeks ago that part of our vines were missing off the honeydew (see how some of the leaves are brown in the picture. . .stinky squirrels) and a lot of the little watermelons were disappearing. I was trying to be okay with it because was still had fruit that was growing and getting pretty large. Today I became not okay with it because this stinky squirrel ate a hole out of the melon. It was really fresh when I found it so I must of just missed him. Who knew that one would have to worry about squirrels climbing the backyard fence to jump over the garden fence and land safely in the garden to chew down a bunch of honeydew vines and grab a taste of a honeydew while he was at it. Grrrrrr!