Two New Finished Projects! and some cute pix :)

Okay, I don't know what happened here, but the post I originally made for this disappeared - a couple days after I posted it. So I'm going to try to remember all the stuff that was on it. Hope that doesn't happen again. It never has before, and it sure was aggravating.

These pictures were just too cute not to include. He was clowning around for the camera.

The other day I was eating some ice cream and had a sugar cone I was dipping into it and biting off (it was easier than trying to eat it in a cone). The 2 year old came over and asked, "Mama eatin' ice cream?" I said yes. His reply - "Mama! Use your fork!" Stinker.

While my daughter and I were out shop hopping, we stopped at Toys-R-Us and picked up this folding table. I was needing a smaller table for the daycare when I just have a couple of kids, and this seemed ideal. It just happens to have a dry erase board top, which is fun.

The 18 year old drew a picture of a guy - which the 7 year old immediately said was dad - same mustache and sparse hairs. He then drew an identical one of himself - minus the mustache, and with much more hair:)

The two year old loved the box. He went "fishing" with a tiny fishing pole while standing on it. Not sure what he was trying to catch, but he worked at it for a long time.

The 7 year old decided we ought to use the table to play Chutes and Ladders. It was a challenge for all of us to fit around the tiny table - the game board just fit on it. Of course everyone but the two little ones used larger chairs too.

It was a fun game though.

Now on to sewing projects. A year or so ago, I made these zippered bags to use for money bags - sorting my daycare income into specific categories. The prison like brick fabric bag holds my money which is designated to the IRS. Fitting, don't you think? The blue flowered bag holds money I want to use to pay off debts - which is the purpose of having the daycare. Then, the turtle bag is my fun money. I had been gathering money into the turtle bag for a long time, in anticipation of the big shop hop.

The other day, my 2 year old found the turtle bag, and announced, "Money all gone!" Yep. That's right. I spent it all on fabric!

So having spent all my fun money, I figured it was time to start actually making something with all that fabric. So I started with my two easiest projects - lightweight blankets for the new baby. I was sitting out on the porch swing with the daycare kids one day when I figured out that a new baby needs a little protection from the sun and wind. I thought the combination of one piece of flannel and one piece of cotton would be perfect - no batting - just a lightweight blanket similar to a receiving blanket weight, only much prettier :) All I did was layer two 1-yard pieces of fabric, square up, then pinned them together and rounded the corners.

I used a plate to trace around in order to round the corners.

Baby blankets are so much prettier with rounded corners.

This is my favorite of the two blankets - the black with the animals is a flannel and the green is a cotton. I sewed a grid pattern onto it to quilt it - wrong sides together, then just added binding.

I used bias binding on the black blanket. This was much easier than sewing it right sides together and flipping it, then stitching down, which is what I did on the dinosaur blanket, which I made first. I think the bias binding makes it look sharper too.

I considered making custom binding, but didn't want to use up any of my new fabric on that, and since I had a ton of bias binding on hand, the decision was easy. (I have a great stash of binding from when we lived in the south, and I had a cheap outlet for the stuff - a place called The Rag Bag. Seems like the binding was 3 pkgs for a dollar - or some ridiculously low price. I stocked up before we moved back to Wyoming!)

The retro design is a cotton, and the dinosaurs are flannel. I quilted a grid on this one too.

I think this color combo will work better for being out in the sunshine. The black might be a little too warm. On the other hand, it will be nicer for the cooler fall days.

My 2 year old saw the blankets folded up and stacked, and announced, "L---'s blankies - All done!" See, I am accomplishing something! I find it very motivating to know I spent so much on fabric, and have just what I need to make several projects. It makes me want to get in gear and accomplish a lot. Now if my schedule would just cooperate...