Here we go again... an exercise in stupidity part 1

Why do I do this to myself? It is a strange form of masochism clearly. Tonight, I started another Roman shade. Why?? This has never, traditionally, been a terribly successful project for me. But somehow, I'm determined to slay that dragon yet. If you are hoping for masterful sewing and a tutorial from someone who really knows what she's doing, don't waste your time with the rest of this post. 

You see, Elio, my wee Elio, has graduated to a big boy bed. Bittersweet. Gone is the lovely green and yellow decor and the ADORABLE Dick and Jane quilt made by his nonna for the crib. In comes the plaid (matches his brother's bedding should we ever go the bunk bed route), and the new blue wall colour:   

 (Please excuse the lame photo- it takes a magician to get a good picture of a perpetually moving 2 year old).

This also called for new artwork. I'm very happy with these- the photos don't do them justice. All this is, is scrap booking paper and cheap Ikea picture frames. Add some Elmer's school glue stick, and bada bing:

This change also required new curtains. I love Roman blinds. Yes I do. They are clean, and functional and not prissy in the least. I first attempted these in our old townhouse (you get dumb ideas when you're pregnant). I wanted to pretty things up for our first baby. Being a townhouse, we had to leave up the blinds that were there, but I still thought we could do something that looked nice on the inside. The windows were gorgeous, but a big pain. They were super big, and triangular. I thought and planned, and the end result was fairly successful and pleasing.

Not bad for a first effort. But there were problems. First of all, I chose adorable quilting cotton as both fabric and lining. This was like any girl's favourite shoes- cute, but completely void of functionality. There was no room darkening quality at all here. And because there was a full set of blinds behind it, that didn't matter. Fast forward to Elio's room. New house, smaller window. Easier right? Ha. This time round I chose a white denim, lined with blackout fabric. These heavy weight fabrics, are not the easiest to sew without shifting in such large pieces. The truth of the matter is, Elio's Romans were completely disastrous. Amelia Bedelia makes a window treatment. Absolutely everything that could go wrong did. It is such a long story, a post unto itself really, that I will quit now. Suffice it to say, I narrowly escaped being admitted for psychiatric evaluation. My poor husband. It was ugly. Here's what they look like: 

They are done in such a way, that they can be buttoned down to the wall (so as to discourage my gopher of a son popping his head out to enjoy the view when he should be napping- geez, it's like playing whack-a-mole). They are nothing spectacular by any means. That being said, the simple line and the flat, economical (not full I mean) appearance, does wonders to make the teeny room look bigger and taller. At any rate, I did swear that I'd NEVER do another Roman blind as long as I live. 

Ha. So the other day, I was attempting to change Matteo's sheets, and I was wedged between his dresser and the bed, wrestling with the fitted sheet whilst swearing under my breath, when the absolute stupidity of the room set up really hit home. I quickly saw the solution, a far more attractive and functional order for the furniture. Naturally, when I thought about moving the furniture, I began looking at the walls. Naturally, I discovered the walls could use a lick of paint. Naturally, I decided that this room too would benefit from Roman blinds. Please- someone put an end to the ludicrousness of my logic (or lack there of). Ding round two. But here we are. I write this after my first evening of sewing. So far, nowhere near the cuss count of round one. So far smooth sailing. But I'm a slow learner. I still, despite having done this before, haven't figured out best way to ensure no puckers and lumps.  At any rate, here is the complete idiot's guide to making Roman blinds (and by that I mean it was written by a complete idiot, not intended to be read by one): 

Step 1: Buy lovely fabric and preshrink the stuff. I chose a cute diamond patterned cotton (quite heavy) for the blind itself, white poplin for the casings, a blue and white cotton stripe for the valance and 100% room darkening blackout fabric for the lining. I'm also garnishing (huh. perhaps wrong choice of word. It's late. Embellishing, that was what I was aiming for) this with red piping on either side and some lovely red and blue buttons. You also need velcro (prickly side sticky, soft side sew on). I'm also going to try use washers as weights to hopefully keep it hanging nice and flat, but so far I'm not convinced it is working. Also, the Roman shade from hell experience taught me that red piping, IS NOT COLOUR FAST. So for the love of the land, prewash that with some vinegar to bleed out the excess dye.

Step 2: Cut out your blind. Measure 9 million times to make sure it is the right size. I make mine about 3 inches wider on each side than the window opening, and 6 inches longer. The numbers are arbitrarily picked, but they seemed generous enough to ensure full coverage. Pin in piping on the sides and sew up, leaving an opening at the top so you can turn the thing:

Step 3: Turn the blind right side out. I like to top stitch mine. Don't forget to insert the weights (washers) if you are using them, before you close and top stick your opening. Ahem. Seriously, don't forget to do that or else you will have to stitch rip a hole and put the washers in that way. Exhibit A:

Step 4: Sew on the soft side of the fabric to the top edge. Maybe pin it in place or it will look like you sewed this after drinking one too many margaritas, and you will have to stitch rip it and redo the thing. Ay. 

Step 5: Know when to quit and save the stitch ripping for tomorrow. 

Ok. Not masterful. But A for effort right? Stay tuned... there will be more to come no doubt. 

Happy trails! 

Life is just so daily...

Wouldn't life be wonderful without all the dailyness? It has rained fish and frogs all week and finally this morning, what could that enormous yellow thing in the sky be?? Sun! And here I am. writing a blog post, procrastinating yet again, from the daily chore I should be doing. Ironing. I would rather be knitting or sewing, or outside cleaning up my yard, but no. It got to be too much. Every time I went into the laundry room, I avoided touching or looking at the leaning tower of ironing, for fear it would finally topple. In the pile: about a million sets of sheets, 5 thousand pairs of pants, 98 tea towels. Sigh. Yes, I'm one of those weirdos who irons pretty much everything. Especially my sheets! Sheets in this house get changed simply because they are too wrinkly again, never mind dirty. I like the way ironed stuff feels. What can I say, I am incredibly type A.  I'm a throw back. It is my Italian nonna coming out in me... and no, I don't iron my mutandi (My aunt recently asked me that personal question, so I thought I'd beat you to the punch with the answer). On the upside, I did iron some fabric I bought and pre-shrunk. My next thing on the list is yet another Roman shade. Yes, I did swear up and down, I'd never make another one. But after the disastrous start to my last set (trust me, it is a blog post in and of itself), they turned out well. And looking around Matteo's room, it looks shabby in comparison to Elio's newly painted and shaded "big boy room". I've got some ideas to make things look better in there, so new paint and shades it is. Stay tuned. If all goes well, I may have some step by step photos and how to's this weekend. Back to the ironing board I go...
Happy trails!

Ok I lied.

So I lied. I promised myself I would do nothing yesterday. Three words for you: SHORT ATTENTION SPAN. That's what it boils down to really.

Last week I heard from a friend who is having a baby boy soon. Baby news is always exciting! And it makes me want to knit. I am by no means professing any kind of proficiency when it comes to knitting. I can knit, and I can purl- neat and tidy. Therefore I can do anything that requires those two things fairly well. Anything beyond that is an exercise in frustration (and foul language). I'm not brave enough to try much beyond that as my mum is too far away to fix my mistakes and pull me out of my jams. That being said, I have found my skill has improved with time and practice. And from time to time I have had good success using http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips- there are great videos there and clear how-to's. So if you are wanting to learn- that's a great place to start.

Here's what I love about knitting for babies: they are usually small and achievable projects that I can usually do while watching TV. Here's what I hate about it: What is with putting babies in pastels all the time? Blah. Boring and washed out colours. This is fine sometimes, but I really love babies in vibrant colours and I have found it difficult to find affordable yarn in bright vibrant colours, but still in baby weights. I am always drawn to tweed-like yarns and deep colours, that are often bulky weight, and that's a problem because it is hard to find patterns for babies that use bulky yarns. However, after a good hour of online searching, I finally found a pattern I liked for a hoodie, and we're giving it a go. I'm not sure I will like the results. It is knit on size 8 and 9 mm needles- it feels like I'm using the Friendly Giant's knitting needles. I don't love the look of that, but I shall persist. I have a feeling this sweater will end up being waaay too big for the baby (I don't mind growing room, but within reason). So it might be for Elio. We will see.

Anyways, here are some of my favourite knitting projects I've done:

Here's my dirty little knitting secrets: I LOVE self-striping yarn- you just knit, and it makes the pattern for you- no carrying a multitude of colours behind. It is brilliant!!

Happy Trails!

Let them eat cake! (Or maybe, let them eat one spoonful, then say they had enough...)

It's official. This morning Matteo turned 5. We survived a chaotic, albeit, very fun party. This was the first party where many parents dropped off their kids rather than staying. That adds an element of challenge too- I now have PROFOUND appreciation for the patience and talent of Matteo's preschool teachers. But, for the most part, everyone left happy, and it was pretty memorable.

It's funny, but one of the things I spend the most time on, and feel the most proud of is the cake for a birthday bash. I say it is funny, because you are talking to someone who, as a kid, would SOB over the prospect of going to a birthday party and having to eat cake. I loathed the stuff. My mum would say, "Just tell them you don't want any." But I would reply in tears, "But you always say I have to eat everything someone puts in front of me and they always put cake in front of me." I can still remember a milestone in my life- going to Shannon's birthday party and her mum had made a sherbert cake shaped like a watermelon slice, with little chocolate chips for the seeds. No cake, no icing. Heaven. At any rate, I spend a lot of time thinking about the cake. Maybe because I watch Cake Boss and naturally assume, I too am as talented as Buddy Valastro. This is never the case, but, I never seem to give up that hope. Usually, I send the kids to daycare while I bake and decorate the cake. Why? Well, ahem, the air is never bluer than when I bake a birthday cake. Things start to go south, and all of a sudden, my large vocabulary is involuntarily forgotten in favour of a myriad of expletives and horrendous expressions that would make a sailor blush. It's ugly (not to mention shocking coming out of a 5 ft tall elementary school music teacher). This time, however, I baked while the kids were in bed and my husband was on the couch with his ipod in his ears. And miraculously, only one cuss was let go, and it was not a major. Plus, it was smooth sailing- 4 hours top to tail. Here's what it looked like:

I like doing fondant. It is like playing with playdough. Once I figured out how to cover the cake, the rest is super easy. Plus, for an icing hater like me, you can get away with very little buttercream underneath. I always find that when doing a buttercream iced cake, you really have to use a ton to make it look right. Now, this cake is not huge. And I suppose I thought more would be consumed, so I decided I'd better make a small batch of cupcakes too. Enter Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphone. What?, you ask? This dude:

The Muppaphone. Matteo loves this as it sings one of his favourite songs, the Witchdoctor. And if you haven't seen this- you tube it. You won't regret it. Here's the cupcakes: 

 Here's my list of dirty little secrets: I don't make cake from scratch. If I'm going to spend the time on decorating the thing, I don't want to spend the time on baking it too. Plus, I discovered an awesome recipe for cake mix pound cake. It uses a package of instant pudding and produces the most delicious dense and moist cake- perfect for decorating. I also don't make my fondant. I have made my fondant, it isn't that hard. But it is time consuming. Plus when I stupidly dyed it toxic waste green by over doing the food colouring, and had to start from scratch, sending my husband out at 8 p.m. for more glycerine or something, I threw in the proverbial towel. I save my coupons from the craft store and refuse to buy the fondant for less than 40% off. I will occasionally colour purchased fondant myself. I'm getting more confident there. I dyed the lime green and the yellow on this cake. 

This party was a good one. Very fun. Man, was I glad I had lots of activities planned- that many kids left to their own devices in my very small house would have produced an explosion of toys and noise that would have turned your eyelids inside out. My favourite activity was the ribbon pinata- it was spectacular fun! Here are some photos of the day:

 A decorated house- ready for a party!

 My brilliant mum sewed this banner. It is cloth and I love it so much. She made separate Matteo and Elio banners- I just pin them on for the appropriate birthday. 

 My muppetly man models the shirts that I made for the guests instead of goodie bags.

 Love that kid!

 Good groceries as my sister says- waiting for feeding time.

 The finished ribbon pinata. I will always do this from now on. Try it- you'll love it too!

Craft station set up and ready to go. 

As much as I'm already thinking ahead to Elio's birthday in June, and I will admit, I am, I plan on doing sweet NOTHING tomorrow! 

Happy trails all!

A Very Muppet birthday- Part Two!

Phew. The kiddos are in bed, angels that they are, clean and well-fed. This leaves me with the house to myself to get organized (Ethan's out tonight, so it is pretty quiet). I think I'm getting there. Good grief. So much to forget- I'm terribly grateful that my head is, in fact, attached. It would just be one more thing to remember. I do believe that most things are organized for Matteo's little shin-dig. I think that all is left is the ever important cake. Not tonight. I'm too tired to take on that old chestnut.

Thankfully, I've got things sorted out for activities and crafts. It's kind of fun to do some sort of craft that the kiddos can take home don't you think? As much as I love crafting, I have yet to find many great projects for 4 and 5 year olds. I'm not patient, and I may, according to most, be a rather type A, neatnik sort of person. Ok. I'm just plain fastidious. This is what I came up with. We shall be making, Kermit the Frog door knob hangers. Kermit's simple shapes lent themselves so well to this one also. All it took was cutting pieces out of felt. The kids shall assemble and glue them on. I think they'll be cute. The door knob hangers I got at a craft store, on mega sale. Did I mention, I'm also really rather cheap? My ever-patient and indulging husband painted them with some leftover latex for me. Here's what it all amounts to:

I'm always at a loss for party games. Especially indoor ones. I seem to have a bazillion ideas of things to do outside. But unless building an ark is one of them (or perhaps shovelling the driveway this year), I'm often out of luck for usable outdoor ideas in January. Luckily, my kid loves to "pin the ____ on ____". For his cowboy party when he turned three it was "pin the tail on Bullseye the Horse". For his Cat in the Hat party when he was 4 it was "Pin the bow on the Cat in the Hat". This year's reincarnation: "Pin the nose on Beaker". My friend Alysn just did the same thing  (Pin the Hair on Rapunzel) for her daughter's birthday, and it was so impressive, because unlike me, she is a wonderful artist and actually draws the things! I'm always impressed by that. Me, I resort, like any self respecting, unartistic elementary school teacher, to using an overhead. And one wouldn't truly be an elementary school teacher without laminating it. Here's Beaker:

I did several decorations (Kermit, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and Fozie) in this fashion as well. Why bother you ask? Believe me, I've asked myself the same question. Well, I think I shall make a mighty muppetly bulletin board for my classroom later- may as well make things that can do double duty right?

I bought some little prizes for this game. Everyone will get one, the winning person shall choose first. When exploring www.ikatbag.com I loved her idea of a punch board to pick prizes. The idea is you have a board, with several holes cut out (her's looked like a cupcake). Across each hole you put tissue paper, and the kids punch their wee hands through the tissue to find their prize. What better way to feature that epic entrance sequence at the opening of the Muppet Show?! You know, the one with all the lit arches and all the characters in an arch of their own? Ok. I'm a mega nerd, I freely admit that. Check out the above website for good instructions. I made mine out of two diaper boxes (the ONLY think I will miss about not having a child in diapers should Elio finally decide to get on board my potty training band wagon). I stacked the boxes to make a shelf and just taped the prizes in place. Here's what it looks like:

 Thanks to the Family Fun website for the Muppet printables- the characters worked pretty well for this.

 Nothing scares me more than 4 and 5 year olds blindfolded with sticks, swinging at a pinata. It's terrifying. The Mexicans are a brave people. Not to mention, that is decidedly an outdoor game. Luckily, ikatbag had a solution for this too. The ribbon pinata. It is constructed out of cardboard with trap doors in the bottom. The pinata is divided into compartments in the inside- so that the game is longer than one lucky pull. You stick a whole bunch of ribbons that are attached to nothing in the doors of the pinata. Only one ribbon is firmly affixed to each door. Kids take turns pulling ribbons in the hopes of  finding the ones that will release the candy. No blindfolds. No sticks. It's genius. I made mine to resemble (and I use this term very loosely) the Muppet Theatre. Here's what it looks like:

 I haven't yet put in the blank ribbons or the candy.

 I used a glue gun to firmly secure the ribbons to the trap doors.

Done.

Last game. If there is time we will play pass the parcel. I bought some more el-cheapo prizes, and will wrap them in one present with several layers of wrapping. We will sing a song and pass the parcel. The child holding the parcel at the end of the song will get to unwrap a layer of the parcel and keep the prize they find. Every kid gets a layer to unwrap and a prize.

Phoof. That's a lot to get through. We will likely not do it all, and that's fine. I was a Girl Guide in my glory days: Be prepared. Old habits die hard.

Happy trails!

Muppets are great: Party part 1

I am about to become the mother of a 5 year old. Don't ask me how it happened. I blinked and Matteo went from this:

to this:

Woah. At any rate, I find myself planning another birthday party. It would seem that birthday parties have now become this overblown mega deal. Everyone seems to go to fancy indoor playgrounds, of gyms etc. And man is that expensive! (You want $300 for a 5 year old's birthday party?! Right. I'll just phone Switzerland and move some money around.) When I was a kid we'd rent a movie, eat hot dogs and chips, play outside and call it a day. So, I'm pretty much determined to avoid major production if I can. That being said, since Matteo's birthday party is in January and the weather forecast is usually Biblical rain, I'm not that crazy about a bunch of little kids running around my rather small house with no focus or plan. The theme birthday party seems to be a hit in this house.

I'm sad, or maybe happy, to admit that Ethan and I are the kind of parents determined to brain-wash our kids with all those things we are nostalgic about. Enter the Muppets. We started early on this one. By the time Matteo was 2, he was well acquainted with not only all the best characters from Sesame Street, but also a selection of favourite Muppet show episodes. The legendary episode featuring Paul Simon was, and still is, his favourite. It is so great- how many puns on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" can you come up with. Matteo had about 10 by the time he was 2. I digress. We were so excited this year when the Muppets Movie came out. And we were even more excited when it was, in fact, completely wonderful. It delivered in a big way- somehow it re-introduced a whole new generation to the loveable characters without sacrificing their integrity (even if they are now owned by Disney). Here was born this year's birthday party theme.

I spent a good deal of time online finding great ideas for this one. I have to say, thank you big sister for the awesome find: if you haven't already, check out www.ikatbag.com . This woman is PHENOMENAL and has more artistic and creative capability in the fingernail of her left pinky than I have at all. Her site is chock-ablock full of great and creative ideas. I've used several of them for this party, adjusting them to fit our needs. Another source that was invaluable was http://familyfun.go.com/. This is the website for Family Fun Magazine which is so great and full of very feasible ideas that are usually made of very common, cheap and easy-to-find things. What more can you ask for?

So for the last couple of weeks, I've been sewing and glue gunning, getting ready for Saturday's party. Here's our party favour. I hate making goody bags. They cost a ton, and usually are just full of junk I wouldn't want kicking around my house. This year I decided to go a different route. I found a website that sold plain t-shirts for cheap ($3.19 per shirt- I know, right?!) and made each kid a Kermit t-shirt. Pretty easy, albeit, time consuming. All it took was some fusible webbing, fabric scraps, an iron and a sewing machine and after a few hours of work I had 9 lovely appliqued Kermit shirts. The template for Kermit came from a book that my Aunty Sandy bought for me (she is so thoughtful- always considers your interests when buying presents and seems to find the coolest stuff). My mum made a fantastic quilted wall hanging for Matteo using this book for Matteo's 1st birthday. It leant itself very nicely to this project too- from t-shirts, to crafts, to cake. Invaluable.

Here's what the t-shirts look like. Pretty cute I think. Plus, they are usable- a bonus in my book! Stay tuned for more birthday party madness: decor, cake and activities to come.

Quieting the beast within...

My kids are great. They are fun, sweet, usually polite and full of energy. BUT. I can safely say they are, perhaps, the loudest children in the world. There is never a moment of quiet. Particularly my little Elio. Elio is 2. For those of you with kids, I need not explain what that means. But even for a two year old, this kid is loud. His pipes might serve him well in the future, should he select a career in Wagnerian opera. But for the time being, it is tricky to go anywhere that requires, say, quiet.

A month or so ago, a mum on a Facebook mom's group that I belong to posted in search of "Look and See Bags". I had no idea what these were, so I did what any self respecting woman of the 21st century would do- googled it. One site of a crafter who made these swore they kept her kids quiet for an hour at a time. Enough said. I'm sold. Looking at the things made me realize this was a very doable project, and in fact, I just happened to have all the fixings in my house already.

The concept is super simple. Picture a bean bag with a window. Inside, hidden amongst the pellets are a myriad of what my son Matteo calls "smalls". I don't know about you, but in our house, we are inundated with "smalls"- those teeny tiny toys that seem to get lost, until you step on them, shooting pain straight through your foot. In fact, Matteo has so many smalls (an embarrassing testament to the number of Kinder Surprises that he has consumed in his 5 year existence), that we bought him a tackle box to store the things. The thought of a craft that made use of some of these was naturally very appealing. The idea is that attached to the bean bag is a list of all the things to find within. Kids manipulate the pellets to move the objects around, trying to find all the treasures. Brilliant!

These were a fairly quick project- two completed in a couple hours, even with my basic sewing skills. I played with various ways of putting it together. I really wanted a finished edge around the window, which seemed to be difficult. In the end I made the front of mine by finishing the edge of four strips of fabric. I then sewed them together in such a way that the finished edges created a rectangular shaped hole. I then took a piece of clear tablecloth vinyl and sewed it over the hole to create the window. All that was left to do was to sew on a solid back leaving a hole for stuffing. I then filled the bag with pellets (available at fabric or craft stores) and knick knack paddywhacks. Before I put in the knick knacks though, I made sure to take a photo of what was going in to each bag. I then had greeting cards (nice and small, not to mention cheap and cheerful) made with the photos. I sewed the cards inside two pieces of table cloth vinyl so that they are protected from getting grungy. All that was left to do was close up the stuffing hole, and attach a ribbon (in my case ric-rac) so the inventory cards could be attached. I found old key rings to use to accomplish this. If you ever do this, I recommend keeping your stitch length short so as to discourage any "leakage".

Tonight was the first time my kids got to play with them. SUCCESS! So gratifying- it is so deflating when you spend time on something that is met with mediocre response. In the words of Matteo, "I love my I-Spy Game!"

Here's the finished product. Kind of fun.

Why, hello!

I'm curious by nature. I love to know what other people are up to and am always curious as to what keeps others busy. Me, I love to craft, sew, knit, cook. I am always looking for a new project, grabbing whatever creative seeds happen to float past me. Sometimes they work out beautifully. Often, they don't. Here's my little record of those things that keep me sane: thread, yarn and school glue.