Peanut Blossom

5 Ways to Kickstart the Disney Magic

I am so excited to share with you that we are taking the girls on our very first trip to Disney World next week. Handyman Tim has been working an insane schedule that has been hard on every last member of the family. We've all had to sacrifice precious time together and it has definitely taken it's toll. I decided that we all needed a little Family Togetherness Bootcamp type experience and where else is a better spot to do that than Disney??

Tim has never experienced the Disney Parks before. He has no idea what he's in for. The Peanut knows we are going but can't even imagine what she is about to see. Little Pea is just happy to be along for the ride. I'm the only one who knows and appreciates what this trip will be like so I've been doing my best to get everyone excited for this big unknown. 

For the last two months, I've been looking for ways to give the girls little teaser items to be used on our trip. So today I'd like to share:

5 Ways to Kickstart the Disney Magic Before Vacation!

1. Matching outfits from Etsy: According to friends who have visited the parks far more recently than I have, it is a pretty big deal to let your little princess dress up to play the part at the parks. Neither of my girls are overly into the Princesses, we don't own any of the costumes already. I couldn't imagine spending the money on expensive costumes just to dress them up in hot and scratchy tulle and satin for an amusement park visit.

Luckily for me, both girls LOVE Minnie and Mickey Mouse. I was able to find these adorable halter tops and ruffled shorts outfits on Etsy.  They are all cotton and much more comfy and breathable than any costume would have been. I love the cheerful polka dots! I know my girls will love wearing them this summer even after our trips. Money much better spent!

2. Disney Pin Trading Lanyards: This is another new-to-me item that didn't exist during my last visit to the parks ages ago. Disney has been offering these adorable metal pins for trading since 1999-ish. The kids (or parents too) can trade pins with anyone else they find willing at the parks. There are castmembers that walk around wearing lanyards of Official Castmember pins that are looking to trade with guests. This sounded like something the Peanut would love to experience but starter sets of 4 pins and a lanyard ran about $30. That seemed super high to me and the sets came with such cute pins that I knew the Peanut wouldn't want to trade! Kind of missing the point, right?

I took to Ebay and was happy to discover several sellers offering huge lots of pins for a fraction of the price. We acquired a random assortment of 25 pins for about $15. I didn't care if they were cute or not because they are meant to be traded away. To make it more fun for the girls, we put a single pin inside of each plastic Easter egg along with a few coins for our Disney Jar. They hunted for their pins on Easter morning and it was a huge hit.

The day before Easter, I realized they still didn't have anything to pin the pins on since I hadn't purchased lanyards. In a fit of inspiration, I decided to sew my own. I used this tutorial from Simply Cotton here and followed it almost exactly. The only difference was that I cut my fabric 3 inches wide and instead of folding each side in half way, I only folded them in 1/4 way so that the final width of the strap was a full inch. It's the perfect size. I cut them to be about 24 inches long so they are just right for my girls' necks.

3. Birthday Pins from the Disney Store: The Peanut's birthday was on March 28. Little Pea's will be just a few days after our trip on May 6. When a sales clerk heard I was there shopping for supplies to announce the trip to the Peanut on her birthday, she told me about their special birthday pins. If you're going to be celebrating that occassion on your vacation, you can pick these up for your child. Write their name on the space and have them wear them to the park. I'm told they'll receive special Birthday Girl treatment. I'll have to report back as to just what that might mean!

4. Disney Gift Cards for Special Occassions: The Peanut just lost her very first tooth last week. The Tooth Fairy in her infinite wisdom decided to bring a gift card from the Disney Store in just the right amount for the Peanut to pick out the stuffed animal she's had her heart set on ever since she heard of the trip. (It was her first tooth afterall. I'm sure the Fairy won't be this generous next time.) The gift cards can be set for any amount and can be used at any Disney Store on or off the parks. I've even heard they can be used for snacks and beverages and anything sold at the parks so it would be a great stocking stuffer, birthday treat, Valentine gift, Easter basket filler, etc. etc.

5. The Birnbaum Disney World Guide for Kids: My neighbor just recently told me about these adorable guidebooks made specifically FOR kids. They release a new one every year and her daughter has one for each of the years their family made the trek. It is part guide, part activity book, part scrapbook. The Peanut was thrilled to receive her very own copy since Mommy has had a mile-high stack of guides sitting on the living room table for weeks. At age 5, I feel she is just a smidge too young to get the most out of the book, but I don't regret the purchase at all. Ages 7+ might enjoy it far more. 

My homemade costume debate

It's that time of year again! I know it may seem early, but if I'm going to be sewing costumes for 2, I need to get a jump start.

Ok ok, truly I'm just excited. I love Halloween costumes. Love them. I'm so glad I have kids to dress up and it just gets more and more fun each year as the Peanut starts to tell me what she envisions for her costume. I do 99% of the work but she did come along on the fabric hunting expedition and helped me plan for the details. 

When the register rang the final total for our supplies I did stop to think, "Wouldn't this just be cheaper to do if I bought a pre-made?" That idea has been nagging at me all weekend. I can easily justify the cost for the learning lessons we get in planning a homemade version, but still I hate to think of "wasted" money.

Then this morning at Target I noticed the costumes were already out for sale. Little Pea will be going as Tinkerbell this year and I haven't thought through the specifics just yet on her outfit. They had a Tinkerbell costume for sale and I just took a peek to see if maybe I should cut corners on her costume. $30!!! What?!

I opened the bag up to take a peek at the dress and was horrified at how cheaply the outfit was made. I doubt it would hold together for one wearing. I'm quite certain that with $10 worth of green tulle I can come up with something far better. I've never felt so good about spending the time and effort on their costumes before. I just can't wait to dig in!

My emotional design roller coaster

I finally did it. I took a big breath and ordered fabric for the next step in my master bedroom makeover project. I've been patiently waiting for Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden fabric to be released and I now have my hands on it.

And so begins my emotional roller coaster. "I love it, I hate it, I love it, I hate it." Back and forth and back and forth until the project is complete. More often than not it lands on, "I Love It!" I just have to have some faith.

While I was waiting for my happy little bundle to arrive, I pulled some fabric from my stash to try and fill it out a bit. I found some nice pieces from a Fig Tree Quilts charm pack I bought a few years ago. I had pulled all the pinks and reds out for a Valentine's project and the corals, greens, and browns were just waiting around collecting dust. I actually think they work perfectly for this.

After a lot of thought, I finally settled on the projects I want to tackle. Rather than redo our duvet cover, I'm leaving it as is but I'm going to sew a bed runner with coordinating throw pillows. What is a bed runner? I had no idea till just last week. A king-size quilt is expensive and difficult to make and truly all I wanted it for is to be folded as an accent at the foot of the bed. A bed runner does just that! It is like a table runner but for your bed--a long colorful accent piece to be laid at the foot of the bed. Brilliant!

I couldn't find a pattern I like well enough online. So, I'm going out on a limb and cobbling together my own. I found the dimensions I want the final piece to be and I'm going to be tweaking a baby blanket pattern from Camille's book here.

I'm still not sure what I'll do about the pillows, but I figure I'll wait and see how the runner turns out before deciding. In the meantime, I have to get past just how bold the colors and fabrics are for this space! This is so not like me. When I first laid them on the bed to see them in the room, I nearly had a heart attack. They are so much brighter and the prints are so much larger in scale than what we had in there before. 

I'm going to either love this or hate it. Crossing fingers for the first. 

A little summer guilt

Oh have I been twitching to do some sewing. I feel guilty sewing in the summer but fall isn't coming fast enough. I finally gave in to temptation yesterday and played with the fabrics for my next project.

Today I think I'll cut them. That makes it real. Nap time can't come fast enough.

March of Tools: My hand-me-down Kenmore

In my opinion, a fantastic tool does not mean that it is the newest, the latest, the fanciest version out there. It's all what you do with it, right? Every sewing project you've ever seen on this blog has been worked with this second-hand Kenmore sewing machine. 

My mom originally purchased it as a "cheap back up" when she wanted to sew a few curtains and mend a few items of clothes while living in a temporary condo with my dad many years ago. Her heavy duty all-metal awesome machine was at home so she didn't need anything fancy. When they moved back, she gave me this machine "just in case." 

She still tells me she's shocked what I've churned out of it. As you can see from the photo, it is not a digital sewing machine. There are no fancy features, I'm pretty sure it was as basic as Sears sold at the time--10 years ago. For the crafting I do, my only complaint is the size of the machine between the upper arm and the deck below. I do struggle to get my quilts through that space and a bigger machine wouldn't hurt.

But that's not enough to leave me lusting after a new one. This little guy is serving me just fine and I'm perfectly content to wear him out. So don't let your lack of a fancy machine give you reason to avoid trying sewing crafts if you want to. Pretty much any sewing machine you can get your hands on will help you get through plenty of projects!

A week for experimenting

I feel like I've been in a creative rut for a few months. This week I'm mixing things up a bit and it's doing wonders for my energy level. I'm looking forward to sharing some of my trials over the next couple days, but today's project is definitely the one I'm most excited about.

When I got back into quilting and sewing three years ago, it had everything to do with the discovery of Moda Fabrics. I absolutely love how their fabric is released in design collections and I'm nutty over their precuts. It is the fastest way to getting that patchwork quilt feel without having to invest in a large stash to mix and match. All of the projects I've done have used fabrics from one single collection, I've been too scared to branch out. Why would I when the designers did the hard work for me? Stick to the options from a collection and I'm guaranteed to like the outcome.

There's nothing wrong with that method. I have some gorgeous blankets to prove it. But, it is starting to feel a little like taking the easy way out. I was so impressed when my friend Lindsay branched out with a totally different fabric for the back of her quilt and I'm so pleased with the final outcome. I decided to suck it up and try something a little different.

I've been hanging onto 2 charm packs of Hunky Dory fabric for well over a year. I love that the pink and blue flowers in the line remind me of Little Pea's nursery. I've been meaning to make a Wild Thing quilt for the girls and I to snuggle under together but I haven't wanted to invest in the remaining fabric necessary for the borders, binding, and back. Since I held out so long, Hunky Dory is super hard to find anywhere so it was the perfect project to try my first mixing experiment.

I'm going to use:

2 Hunky Dory charm packs (left)
A big bold yellow floral from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet
A pink and red berry print and an aqua polka dot from Bonnie & Camille's Bliss

I still haven't purchased the back fabric, so who knows where that will come from. I want to see the full top before I commit to such a large piece. These colors and prints make my eyes so happy. I've got them stacked here on my desk just to enjoy them until I cut in. 

And as for the rest of the fabric in that pile in the top photo, I have some fun projects up my sleeve for sharing another day. You'll just have to stop by again to find out!

Elephants on parade

I gave the Peanut a copy of "Fanny" for Valentine's Day because we loved it so much when we discovered it a few weeks ago. I knew we needed our own copy. It has been the favorite story before naps this week.

Despite the repeated read-throughs, I was still surprised when after the 4th or 5th time the Peanut paused to ask if Fanny made her dolly with her sewing machine. When I replied yes, she asked, "Can I get a sewing machine and fabric for my birthday?!" with such a sweet and quiet excitement in her voice. She seems to be in such awe that people can actually "make" something as wonderful as toys.  

I told the Peanut that she is still too little to have a sewing machine all of her own. Fanny is a bigger girl and maybe when the Peanut is that big we can get her a sewing machine. Until then, would she like to make something special together with my sewing machine? Her eyes lit up and I got a very enthusiastic "Yes!"

A quick hunt on Etsy and I discovered Retro Mama's fantastic pattern for stuffed animals. I let the Peanut choose between the bunny, owl, and the elephant. The elephant won hands down.

My to-do list was a mile long today, but she was not going to let this rest until we had made this elephant. Thankfully the pattern is super easy to whip together and that I had a nice little stash of extra fabric from recent projects. 

I pulled out the fabric options and let the Peanut choose which color she wanted for the body and the ears/tail. This is entirely her doing. She's still too little to help with a lot of the process, but she sat next to me while I cut out the pattern pieces, traced them onto the fabric, cut the fabric and assembled all the body parts. We had a few moments of impatience with her wanting to help more than she could, but I promised that when it came to the stuffing, it would be all her job! 

We stuffed her new elephant friend right up, stitched on some eyes with embroidery floss, and took a quick picture to share here:

They're taking a nap together as I post this. I've now been instructed to make one for Little Pea. Today. Why do I have a feeling we're going to have piles of elephants around our house??

Pink and aqua and flowers all over

I finally finished my friend Lindsay's quilt. Hooray! This is the first non-shower-related baby quilt I've made in a long time and it was so much fun to work on. All this wonderful pink and aqua and big bold flower prints was just perfect for my January/February eyes. 

It is always so fun to me to see how the final product turns out after just a random pile of fabric arrives at my door.  I love love love that chocolate brown mixed in. Keeps the whole thing from being too overwhelmingly pink, if you know what I mean. 

This time it was the back of the quilt that surprised me most of all. Lindsay went out on a limb and chose a pink floral fabric not initially part of the line of fabrics from the front. It was the only fabric I was even a little bit nervous about but I absolutely love how it turned out in the back. It looks so pretty with the aqua binding.

Great fabric selections, Linz! Can't wait to hand this over to you this weekend so it can be put to good use by  Miss Z! 

Puzzle piecing with the Peanut

The Peanut has become obsessed with puzzles the last few months. Her Grandma brought her a couple during a special Thanksgiving visit and kindled a passion we were not prepared for! The Peanut has spent hours doing the same 3-4 puzzles over and over and over again. It is fun watching her pick up speed with these special toys, she basically has them memorized now.

As I continue to work on my friend Lindsay's quilt, I decided to get the Peanut involved (and away from the television.) I laid the top of the quilt out and told the Peanut it is like one big puzzle. Each block is a piece and they all fit together. This definitely piqued her interest and the next thing I knew she was helping me sew by bringing each block in order and placing the finished one back in place. She loved turning the blocks "wrong" on purpose so that she could fix it and set them back "right" again. 

She's napping now and I have half a row to finish. I could easily have it done in 10 minutes or less but I promised the Peanut not to touch it till she woke up. The last four blocks will likely take 30 minutes or longer while I wait for my assistant to replace the finished ones and bring me the next set of strips for sewing. Time well spent, if you ask me.

Burst of color in the middle of a bleak winter stretch

Last year at this time I was pitching all my "should-do's" aside to hurry up and make Little Pea a baby quilt. That project quickly turned into 2 baby quilts since I decided to make one for the Peanut as well. Working on all the flowery girlie goodness was just what I needed during January and February when it is grey and dismal outside.

No more babies are on my horizon and there seems to be a small break in the baby delivering parade of my friends. Lucky me that my friend Lindsay decided to provide me with a project for her little darling, Zoe. Lindsay tried her hand at choosing fabric for a quilt for the very first time, didn't she do a great job? She stuck with mostly Moda's Fandango and a great pink floral for the back that caught her eye.

Choosing fabric for someone can be the most fun but also the most stressful part of this kind of project for me. When I opened up the fabric bundle from Lindsay, my very first thought was that I could not have picked a set of fabrics that fits her personality any better if I had tried. I guarantee my photo doesn't do them justice and I confess that little stack has been adorning my fireplace mantle as colorful inspiration for a few days.

This weekend will be time to dig in and I can't wait!

How to perk up a doll bed

All the Peanut wants from Santa this year is a "dolly and a cart." Translation: a miniature grocery cart with a doll to place in the child seat. She saw it in a catalog in early October and has been 100% consistent with her singular request ever since. This is only slightly miraculous since the Peanut has shown ZERO interest in dolls her entire life. She adores her stuffed animals and plays with them intensely but quickly tosses any doll we give her off to the side.

While I really don't mind if she likes dolls or not, a part of me is super happy she has finally shown some interest in what was one of my favorite things to play with as a young girl. So, assuming that Santa's elves have been accurately reporting back with news of just how good the Peanut has been, we're expecting said dolly and cart to be showing up in a couple days.

And what is a dolly without a place for it to sleep, right? You may remember my holiday shopping spree at Ikea a couple months ago where I picked up this doll bed.

It is the perfect size and such a simple shape. But, I think it is perhaps lacking in the character department. I couldn't leave well enough alone, I had to tinker.

And this is what will be wrapped up and waiting for the Peanut's dolly on Christmas morning. I made the doll quilt out of "Bliss" by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. It features the Peanut's all time favorite color--blue--spruced up with some festive red, pinks, and greens. I love how it turned out and I can't wait to see what the Peanut's reaction will be. This could truly be a hit or miss item. Maybe it was a little bit more for me than for her, I guess we'll find out soon enough!

The Year of the Girl and a quilt to match

I know so many people who just have had or are pregnant with a baby girl. It is starting to get a bit crazy! Over the holiday weekend I attended another baby shower for an upcoming little girl and I absolutely had to make the little sweetie a quilt.

When I make a baby gift for a friend, I try to draw inspiration from the things on their registry. Do they like bright colors? Pastels? Animals? Classic and elegant or dramatic and modern? With my dear friend Heather, I had absolutely nothing to draw on. She found out the gender of her little one mere days before the invitation to the shower hit the mail. I had to order the fabric right away with nothing but a few green towels on her registry to go off of.

Thankfully I know Heather pretty well. We did live together as roommates for a year and as housemates for 2 more years. She has been part of my closest circle of friends for longer than I care to start counting. After some thought, I decided that the quilt definitely had to be girlie but that it was ok to go a little bit more bold. Heather is a perfect combination of trendy and preppy and I can fully expect her little one to follow in her extremly stylish shoes.

So Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane it was. I've been dying to work with that collection for a while now! I love that the final color bundle I chose was nicknamed the "Kissing Booth". The fabrics are a beautiful range of pinks from pale to bright/hot and that extremely vibrant clementine yellow keeps it from being too sweet. I chose everything online so when the package arrived at my door I almost had a heart attack with just how vibrant it all was. Thank goodness for fabric designers who know their stuff. Once I pieced the top, I can't imagine it without that range of color. I don't know which one I would have dropped if I had to leave something out.

Forgive the snapshot, in my hurry to finish this project and then jump into Thanksgiving meal prep I totally forgot to do the customary photo shoot!! I'm so mad at myself. These were taken at the shower itself. (Thanks, Jodie!)

The back is a little overwhelming, but I do that on purpose with baby quilts. This is meant to be put on the floor for baby to play on, that bottom should be getting dirty and beat up. You definitely want something that isn't going to show stains, etc. I think Heather and her baby will be so blinded by the clementine, they won't notice a little dirt it may pick up!

This project couldn't have been more fun for me to do this November. As the increasingly gray days closed in, I loved being able to play with all this color. So here is one more explanation for my quiet crafty corner the last few weeks. These darn surprises really take a toll on my blogging!!

So one more congratulations to Heather. I cannot wait to meet your little girl!

Christmas tree skirt, the final chapter

If you saw my giddy announcement over the weekend over on Facebook, then you know that the Christmas tree skirt project is officially done at last!

Well, there's "done" (: good enough to put into use) and then there's "done" (: anal retentive me wants to add some flourishes that do not affect the skirt's usability and may or may not ever actually happen.) For now we're going with done, the first part. The skirt is 100% in "put me under the tree" mode. 

I honestly could not be more relieved. There is a huge weight off my shoulders that I didn't really realize was there in the first place. I knew this project was nagging me, but now that is cleared out of my creative space I feel excited to get back to my machine again. 

The irony in all of this is how little time it took me to actually finish it once I picked it up again last week. There is a very real and powerful thing that happens in a pregnant woman's brain, I believe. When I was struggling with this project last winter, I simply could not figure out how to approach the next step. The only thing I could think of required way more work and effort than I could muster for the project so it was entirely set aside. 

After so many months of stewing over it and as I finally recapture my non-pregnant cognitive abilities, the final solution hit me like a lightening bolt. I was all stuck on how to attach the ruffle and in the end it took me less than an hour to put it together. Even the final binding took about an hour once I got my materials all set up.

After all of this drama I was worried I was going to hate the darn thing and resent seeing it under our tree. Quite the opposite. I'm so pleased that I finally finished it that I can't wait to see it put to use. My favorite part about it now that it is done is how the skirt is reversible. If I decide I don't want to show off the patchwork quilty side, the back is just a pretty solid red damask. Very elegant if we decide to switch it up some years.

But darnit, after all that work you can bet your bottom that the quilty side will be showing off for quite a few years to come. 

Ghost of Christmas Past

November's arrival hit me like a ton of bricks. Halloween was here and gone in the blink of an eye and now I find myself in full throttle Christmas planning. My free time is precious to me and I'm starting to realize just how insanely organized I need to be to finish everything I want to before the holidays are over. My first step was to sit and assess where everything is at and what needs to be done. I'm making lists galore.

The first thing I noticed when I started to take stock of my to-do's is one somewhat famous little piece of craftiness from last year that has gone unfinished:

You can catch up on the backstory of this project here, here, and here. This darn tree skirt from last year sat in my sewing room all of January as I promised myself I'd finish it before packing away my Christmas decorations. But by the end of January, my sights were set on Little Pea's arrival, not on looking backwards at a holiday we had just finished. 

Then came the big office move from my old location to my new special spot in the basement thanks to Handyman Tim. All this summer that darn skirt was staring at me, but honestly who wants to work on Christmas in July? Not me.

So here I am in November. And that skirt is still staring at me. I have projects galore I want to jump in on but I know myself all too well. I finish this now or it never gets done. I'm using my projects I'm super excited about as bait--I'm not allowed to even touch the fabric for them until I get this skirt DONE. 

You'll be proud to know the finishing process has already begun. I'm hoping to share this long and tortuous project with you by the end of this week. I have to admit it feels pretty darn good knowing that this will be a finished item ready before our tree pops up in the living room Thanksgiving weekend.

Stay tuned. . .

Making up for last year

Trick or Treat snuck up on me last year and instead of the homemade costume I had planned for the Peanut, we ended up going with a store-bought one. I have absolutely nothing against store-bought costumes, I just really enjoy the creativity involved in making one ourselves. 

This year I vowed to be different but once again, Trick or Treat time snuck up on me. I just wasn't finding the inspirationI needed and had no idea which costume to make. I took the Peanut on a scouting trip to one of the costume shops that are popping up all over and could not have been more disappointed in the selection.

Who in their right mind is making Trick or Treat costumes for young girls that are made out of tank-top style sleeveless outfits and short wispy dresses?! Sure they are adorable, but we live in the Midwest and it is usually COLD for Trick or Treat. No way am I sending the Peanut out to freeze her bottom off in a little slip of a thing.

So back to the drawing board we went. We sat down together with a costume catalog and talked about what she might enjoy dressing up as for the holiday. Finally we found the inspiration we needed and I couldn't be more excited about the costume I'm going to put together for her. 

I've gathered my supplies and the crafting will begin shortly. I just couldn't help teasing you with this little intro to our project. I'm hoping to share a tutorial once I'm done with it. 

Any guesses what she might be??