What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

Yikes, I know, time to update the blog already! Well here's what I've been up to while Lincoln is sleeping instead of blogging (which is what I normally do when he sleeps).

A Blanket For Shark Bait

Well, a few years ago I inherited a sewing machine from my great-grandmother. The thing is probably older than I am, and it weighs more than Lincoln (probably about 50 pounds, no exaggeration) and it is practically an antique. It's been sitting in my mom's barn for a few years. Well, I've gotten the sewing bug lately, so instead of making a trip to Hooper to use my mom's machine every time I wanted to sew, we decided to dig this dinosaur out of the barn. And guess what...it works! Thanks to Aaron who put a lot of TLC and some bike chain grease into it for me. Anyways, it's the perfect thing for a beginning sewer.

Back in October I made a baby blanket for Aaron's sister Stacey's baby Jeremiah. It turned out so well (at least as far as my very limited sewing skills are concerned) that I wanted to make another one for Shark Bait. I got some material (and who knew how difficult it would be to find six different kinds of fabric that had a similar theme/color scheme to them?) then I cut it out, and we decided to make the quilt a little bigger than the original pattern called for, so Aaron (the math brain in this relationship) helped me adjust the pattern size and keep all the right dimensions. And then away I went on the sewing machine.

I think it came out pretty darn good for a first try all by myself. There are lots of crooked parts that you can't really see, and a couple lines that don't match up perfectly that you can see. But all in all I'm happy with it, and I'll probably keep sewing.

Yesterday I went up to Hooper and my mom helped me put the batting in and the backing on. So now all that's left is to sew up the little gap where we pulled the quilt right side out and then it'll be all done!

In the midst of this project, I decided that since Lincoln has started using a pillow now, that I should probably make him a pillow case so he doesn't have to keep using our old camping one. Well, at the fabric store (it's starting to be a dangerous place) I found the cutest pirate material, so I got it to make Lincoln a pillow case out of. Then I got to thinking how we are going to take all the crib bedding out of Lincoln's crib to use for Shark Bait's crib, and how Lincoln wouldn't have a dust ruffle on his crib anymore (I know, disastrous!) and I got to looking at the dust ruffle, and it didn't look too difficult, so I made the decision that I would make Lincoln a dust ruffle and a blanket to match his pirate pillow case. And if I still feel ambitious after that, I'll attempt curtains for his window! Wow, so I did the pillow case at my mom's yesterday (sorry no picture yet, Lincoln is currently napping on it) and at night while Aaron does homework I've been working on the dust ruffle. I'm pretty excited about it all.

Trying Out Christmas Gifts


Also I've been trying out all our new Christmas gifts! Aaron's mom gave me a Pampered Chef melon baller/cookie scoop and a Pampered Chef cooling rack and a PC cutting board, and a PC potato peeler. I have been going to town! Isn't it amazing how a few good tools can make life so much easier? My cookies were so round, and all I had to do was use the scoop. No more balling them by hand. And even better than round cookies, when I pulled them out of the oven to put on the cooling rack, they didn't fall between the cracks (which is what they always did on my old ones) so they stayed in a nice shape instead of sagging through the bottom. I was very pleased with the results. And Lincoln and Aaron both seemed to like the cookies, so I guess it's a keeper. :)

Oh ya, and a quick side note that has nothing to do with this post: Lincoln's souvenir from Texas finally fits him! Hooray! It's cute too. Don't mess with Texas. Ok, that's all, back to the post.

My parents made us a book case. Which I was really excited about because our other three were running out of room. So I've been reorganizing books so that we can spread them out across 4 book cases. Admittedly, one of the bookcases is only a half size, we used to use it for the reference shelf, but now we've emptied it and it's in Lincoln's room holding all of his books.

Teachin Linc to Be a Band Nerd