Skirt woes

Well, I made me a skirt. I started making the spring ruffle shirt I linked, but it was looking way too much like a maternity shirt, so I decided to try and make it into a skirt. While sewing it, it looked very cute. But once I put it on and took pics of it, it's way too poofy in front and doesn't quite hang right in back. ugh. So, I'll probably unstitch it and try and turn it into a simple A-line skirt. Hope it's salvageable since I really like the fabric and my wardrobe needs a little color! I could still add the straps and keep it for a maternity shirt, but I would like some use out of it now.

Idea for later

This summer still is going full speed, but when things settle down I think the next project I want to do is a family flag.  Maybe those of you that came to my home remember seeing it by our kitchen table.  It had each member of the family holding hands in a circle with all the things we do and want inside the circle of our family and black arrows bouncing off the outside of the circle representing the bad things that we don't allow inside our family.  I'm not sure exactly what I want mine to look like, I just think it would be fun to get the kids to help me make it and a good visual they would understand.

Jessica's Menu Helps ~ 30 meals

1. crockpot bbq beef sandwiches
2. crockpot angel chicken pasta
3. grilled sandwiches (lots of yummy varieties) and soup
4. oven baked chicken (leftovers make yummy sandwiches, wraps, and then
5. homemade noodles and soup with the bones and leftover leftovers :)
6. a surprising forever favorite seems to be hamburger gravy and rice
7. (hawaiian haystacks, or stroganoff are branches of this too)
8. shephard's pie
9. spaghetti
10. pizza
11. alfredo w/ broccoli
12. chicken parm
13. chicken pot pie
14. lentil soup
15. homemade chilli
16. lasagna
17. manicotti
18. chicken enchiladas
19. tacos (w/ homemade taco bowls-new recipe yum!)
20. blts
21. fried rice and pot stickers (Sam specialty)
22. baked potatoes
23. 2x baked potatoes
24. oven potatoes, carrots and chicken
25. tinfoil dinners (even yummy w/o tinfoil and just in the oven or stove)
26. bbq chicken
27. hamburgers
28. hot dogs, etc.
29. chicken dumplings
30. anything that can be eaten in picnic fashion (esp. pb&j sandwiches w/chips, apples and juice is a SUPER fav here)

and this is what she's trying for dinner tonight: chicken wraps  wish me luck!

Lisa's Menu Helps ~ meals by category

SOUPS

Lentil soup

Chicken noodle soup

(Quinoa lentil soup)

Italian Wedding soup*

Sweet potato navy bean soup*

Split pea soup

Chili



MAIN DISHES

Beans and rice

Mushroom beef stroganoff and potatoes

Stir fry

Lasagna (beef or tofu)

Hawaiian haystacks

Fish tacos*

Fish (with lime juice and cilantro) with cooked greens and fries

Tuna with parsley, lime juice, celery, cous cous and fresh spinach

Tuna noodle casserole

Bach (broccoli, cheese, and ham sauce over cornbread)

Taco biscuit pie

Pizza

Sweet potato burritos (normal burritos with a layer of mashed sweet potatoes- cook sweet potatoes in microwave 7 min. with tips pointing to center like spokes of a wheel)

Chicken quesadillas

Chicken salad wraps

Black bean burgers*

Asparagus, tomato, chicken pasta (olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic, parmesean)

Mushroom cheese chicken & potatoes

Pasta primavera (alfredo sauce)

Chicken salad sandwiches*

Veggie face (squash hair, cucumber eyes, bell pepper mouth, etc.)

Veggie rainbow (beets, carrots, broccoli, purple swt potato & mashed potato clouds)

Chicken, broccoli, rice and cheese

Pesto

Savory crust chicken bake*

Chili cheese fries

Curried quinoa with peanuts, yogurt, mango, red bell pepper and jalapeno



BREAKFASTS

Eggs and toast

Cracked wheat

Pancakes

Waffles

Muffins

French toast

German pancakes

Crepes

Oatmeal

Grits

Hard boiled eggs

Fruit and yogurt



LUNCHES

Salad

Peanut butter Sandwiches

Pasta and red-sauce

Hummus and veggies

Melted cheeses (grilled cheese sandwiches in waffle maker) and V8 (warmed like tomato soup)

Leftovers

The start of Celia's 30 meals list

I'm hoping that by making up this list I'll somehow get my food mojo back. Right now cooking, eating, and grocery shopping are all "eat to live" sort of chores for me.

1. Ground beef tacos/tostadas/double deckers/soft tacos/ navajo tacos
   
2. Bean and beef/chicken/rice/veggie burritos
3. Scottish meat pies
4. Beef Stew
5. Roast and potatoes
6. Mini meatloaves (take em or leave em)
7. BBQ beef, chicken, pork sandwiches
8. Sesame chicken and rice
9. Classic chicken and veg stirfry over rice or noodles
10. Millionaire chicken and rice
11. Chicken Taco Soup
12. Crockpot Swiss Chicken
13. Monterrey Chicken
14. Chicken Fajitas
15. Café Rio Salads
16. Chicken or ham and broccoli braid
17. Israeli couscous and grilled veggies with chicken satays
18. Regular or White chili
19. Scalloped potatoes and ham
20. Habichuelas
21. Posole
22. Falafal and pitas
23. Artichoke and spinach lasagna (or regular lasagna)/raviolis
24. Mahi Mahi fish tacos
25. hamburgers/hot dogs/black bean burgers
    

We're having major food issues and many of these foods aren't necessarily "once a month" foods. We like them, but not enough to have them that frequently. So I guess I really need a "40-50 meals" list to keep us happy! Matt's pretty burned out on food lately too. Things on his no list: sandwiches (unless on homemade french bread with lots of goodies), chicken (unless it's marinated overnight and grilled), flour tortillas, and salad (unless it's "different" from my normal garden salad).

I basically try and make what Matt and I like and not cater to kids. Unfortunately Matt and I don't seem to like much these days. Even my Mexican food seems like it falls short of my expectations recently. Dean (Age 2) refuses to eat any pasta. We don't eat it that often anyway, but it's annoying when I do. He won't even let it touch his mouth unless he HAS to eat it in order to get his night time milk. He also won't eat potatoes in any form other than oven fries. Oh, and a casserole? Forget it. He mainly eats fruit, breads, fresh veggies, steamed broccoli, and occasionally cheese or some other form of protein. He'd live off of Isagenix bars and shakes and milk and fruit if I let him. Luckily Walter (11 mo.) eats just about everything. He seriously eats twice or three times as much solid food as Dean!

Works in progress.

I have all the wood cut for the picnic table. I've done everything myself so far with my one little miter box and hand saw. I feel good about what I've done. Now I just have to sand and assemble. I had to get a little creative on the larger pieces that didn't fit in the miter box as well as the angles it didn't have. I essentially made my own miter box with scrap wood. I think I'm on track, but we'll see how it all comes together. I did the majority of the cutting at night after the boys were asleep, but I just wasn't getting it done as quickly as I'd like, so I did a little cutting that past Saturday day. Of course that meant a very cute little helper. It was very hot this week here in TX, so I tried to get everything done while I had a little shade! (I was still in my pjs!)




I'm also currently working on a spring ruffle shirt from a Sew Mama Sew tutorial done by Made by Rae. I want to turn it into a dress with a belt, but I don't know if it will work. I'll either have to modify the sleeves or just wear an undershirt. I'm leaning toward the latter, but we'll see how it looks once I have it pinned up.

I've also been doing some Letters of the Week with Dean. So far we've done:
a is for apple (he enjoyed making seeds with his black marker as well as coloring on the paper plate. He thought that was a great idea since it wasn't his normal paper)
A is for alligator
O is for octopus we used gift ribbon for the legs and I thought it looked nicer than the tissue paper
P is for popcorn
J is for jelly bean he totally didn't get the whole "j is for jelly bean" on this. He was way too busy eating. When I said, "J is for ...?" he kept saying "Jungle" (hence, the J is for Jungle craft) and "then I'd say, no, what do we have on the paper?" and he'd say "Beans!" Oh well. Whatever.
J is for jungle
i is for ice cream (i turned it into a lowercase. thought it worked better that way.)

We also made a shape house

I've decided that doing anything with snacks or treats really stresses me out. He couldn't care less about gluing treats or snacks on a paper if he can eat them by the handful. I anticipated him eating some, but he was digging in like he doesn't get treats very often! Oh, wait. He doesn't. Plus, you can't really save them. I like the ones I can save and/or make into a book later.

We've mainly used elmer's glue, markers, and construction paper because I don't have a whole lot of supplies. I really need to remedy that. He's really enjoyed the craft time together. I usually do it during Walter's morning nap so we have some fun alone time.

progress...

My quilt is taking much longer than expected... I now have it basted. pin basted.

XO

Maren

Baby Gifts: Applique Onsie and Baby Shoes

I made a couple of baby gifts for some gals having baby boys.  I used the stardust shoe pattern found here to make these fun shoes. I finally broke out my linen for the shoes- love it! I also made some applique onsies. The W stands for Wyatt. I haven't made the shirt yet to go with the blue shoes. Still waiting for that little one to be born.

XO

Maren

Amy Butler Birdie Sling

I made another bag from Amy Butler's Birdie Sling pattern. I made one previously with some Dick and Jane fabric, but I wanted one that was a little more girly than kiddy so I made this one. I know the fabrics are a little crazy, but it was fun. I added the pink panel in the front because I couldn't decide if I wanted my bag to be pink or orange - so I did both :) I really like the way the panel changes the look of the bag.

XO

Maren

Refashion: boys boxers from t-shirt

I was so excited to try out this tutorial for T-Shirt Trunks and make some boxers for my little guy. I love the way they turned out. They look like pirate undies. ha ha ha....

XO

Maren

Refashion Skirt and Leg Warmers

The baby is crawling. When I realized that she could get up our step in the living room to our hard tile kitchen floor, I knew I wanted to get her some baby legs/leg warmers to protect her little knees. When I was at Target in the baby section I saw some baby legs for about $8. I remembered my SIL put together a tutorial to make some toddler leg warmers, so I wandered to the adult sock section. Sure enough their knee highs were on sale for $2. So I bought 4 pairs, came home and made legwarmers. Four pairs for the price of one. Yay! They fit both my 2 year old and my baby. On my baby I scrunch them up a little bit. I love them. I love being able to put my baby in a onsie in the summer but I can put these on when she is crawling around and I am going to love them in the fall and winter when I can put them on my preschooler with a skirt.

Speaking of which, after I made the leg warmers I decided I wanted some more cute skirts for my little girl. So I followed my SIL's tutorial for these skirts made out of old t-shirts. I LOVE them. I have been stockpiling old t-shirts for projects like this.  I used three different t-shirts to make these. The second one was made out of a man's t-shirt (large I think) so it is extra full even though I took it in a little bit.

As a side note, I love Abby's tip on making ruffles super easy. Set your tension to the highest setting and use a basting stitch. And to make mine even more fluffy I pulled the thread at the top of my machine while I was sewing pulling the stitch even tighter.

XO
Maren