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mending: t-shirt holes

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I usually don’t spend time mending holes in my daughter’s shirts. She’s growing so fast that it doesn’t seem to make sense. However, sometimes holes happen to a favorite shirt — one we bought a little big so she could wear it a long time.

Usually, holes show up in sleeves and seams — easy places to hide a few stitches. This one was right in front. I was extra careful, but there was no hiding anything. So I decided to turn it into a decorative element.

I don’t do a lot of embroidery. I’m not the best at it, but I sewed a little daisy in matching thread. The result is actually kind of cute. I’ve seen people mend holes with a star stitch, but I think this is a little nicer. Of course, it would help if all of the petals turned out the same size!

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restrained love for old books

The city library’s book sale was this week (and still going on if you’re local) and I exercised great restraint. I limited myself to two hours and $20 and spent less than that in both time and money. Even more surprising: I didn’t buy anything for myself. Since downsizing my personal collection and getting an e-reader, I’ve been very picky about what I purchase for permanent storage on our shelves. I also happened to be listening to Throw Out Fifty Things on the drive to the sale, specifically the chapter in which a woman had let go of twelve boxes of books in her attempt to declutter her life. (Maybe the universe was trying to speak to me?)

I found a few illustrated German dictionaries to add to my daughter’s collection and a very cool National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our World. Serious stuff aside, I bought some fun things including these Charlie Brown comic books.

comics

I remember spending hours as a kid devouring these over and over. After my daughter became addicted to this Mutts book, I knew she’d enjoy them. She commented that they were a little worn and was sad that someone didn’t take very good care of them. I had to remind her that they were printed the same year as I was born, ahem, and that they had indeed been well cared for over the (cough — many — cough) years.

Add in a few chapter books and a dinosaur drawing book and I had a very happy girl. Watching her read brings such joy to this mama. I hope she never loses her insatiable appetite for the written word.

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could cutoff jeans be more brilliant?

cutoff shorts

On the way to school: “Mom, my legs are cold.”
On the way home from school: “Mom, my legs are hot.”

I have a theory. Sometime, way back when, a child uttered those phrases over and over in a whiny voice, until her mother couldn’t take it anymore. The mother grabbed a pair of scissors and jeans with holes in the knees and BAM. Cutoff shorts were invented.

I’d like to thank her for that moment. You see, shorts and skirts are too cold for 50 degree mornings. Jeans and leggings are too hot for 80 degree afternoons. Cutoff shorts are just right. (This is starting to sound like a fairytale.)

My daughter just might wear these everyday until the first frost. Thank goodness I made two pairs.

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a birth day book for the birthday girl

A few weeks before my daughter’s birthday she put three stacks of 8 1/2 x 11 paper — stapled journal style — on my desk. Two were 24 pages and one was 10 pages. “Mom, these are books for you to make for my birthday.” It wasn’t really a request, and it was too sweet to be a demand, but the message was clear. I tried hard to come up with something meaningful, but lets face it, there were a lot of pages to fill!

birthday book

The day before her birthday she started asking all sorts of questions about the day she was born. When did I start labor? How long was I at the hospital? What exact time was she born? All those questions gave me an idea.

I wrote down the story of her birth when she was four weeks old. At one point I was planning to post it to the blog, which was the “mommy blog” trend at the time. However, it seemed too personal to share for some reason. Yes, I know that must sound odd from someone who has been sharing her life online since 2003.

birthday book

The book turned out to be much smaller than she had requested — eight 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 pages. She was surprised when she saw it. I had hoped that she would read it immediately and we’d have a special mother/daughter bonding moment, but that was not the case. You see, we also gave her the game Brave. She was infinitely more interested in Merida and her mother than our story. Also, I think she was disappointed that my book had no pictures.

Oh, well. I’m sure she’ll read it eventually. In the meantime, I’ve still got those blank pages on my desk. Now that the pressure is off, maybe I’ll come up with a way to fill them. After I help Merida up and over the waterfall, of course. Seems I’m the only one in the house who can get her to do a triple jump.

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my daughter’s second art show

art camp lincoln childrens museum

You may remember the excitement of my daughter’s first art show last year. Well, this summer she did the full-day elementary art camp and had a blast. Once again, the campers exhibited their artwork, but this year they did so at the Sheldon Museum of Art. She was pretty excited.

In addition to showing us all of her work, she took us on a tour of some of her favorite exhibits that she visited earlier in the week. She was so excited and proud. It was adorable.

art camp sheldon art museum

I still need to write about the other camps she’s taken this summer. She came home from science camp exclaiming she wanted to be a scientist, or maybe an artist that draws science pictures. This week was insect camp. She brought home a jar of mealy worms, which I’ve been told are really dark winged beetle larvae, and tomorrow they are having cricket cookies for a snack. Oh, my!

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fabric for a baby quilt

baby quilt fabric

My friend Lauren used fabric to cover shelves and make embroidery hoop swatches for her baby girl’s nursery. We were chatting about what to do with the leftover fabric and I suggested a baby quilt. Let me tell you, when I saw all of this cute fabric, I was so happy when she said yes. These prints are so sweet!

I can’t make my standard Easy Baby Quilt, but still want a design that’s simple. Maybe an Easy Baby Quilt Level 2? We’ll see.

knitted sweater update: It’s finished and adorable, but not yet delivered.

kombucha update: OhMyGoodnessThisTeaTastesSoGood!

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easter craft: coffee filter basket

coffee filter easter basket

My daughter brought an Easter craft book home from the library in February. I figured it was too early to write about the basket we made, so I waited until closer to Easter. Whoops! Better late than never, right?

coffee filter easter basket

I have to say that I was impressed with how this project turned out. It’s a pretty sturdy little basket. I no longer have the book, so here is what I remember about the details.

  • She colored the coffee filters with washable marker.
  • Turned them upside down on a yogurt tub and painted on a mixture of white glue and water, which made the marker colors bleed into each other.
  • We tied a ribbon around the basket to give it shape and let it dry. I was worried it would stick to the yogurt tub, but it came off easily.
  • I hot glued the handle, which is two twisted pipe cleaners.
  • She cut some grass from construction paper.

The book was All New Crafts For Easter, and I have to say that we are officially fans of Kathy Ross. It’s hard to remember all of the projects we’ve made from her books, but here are a two: heart-shaped Christmas card box and reindeer puppet.