The Pillow Pet Thang

My youngest son just sweetly shared with me that he'd love a pillow pet for his birthday, which is coming up soon.  I was like, "A pillow what?"  No, I do not live under a rock.  He "likes the panda one best". 

We have only gotten TV streaming into our home recently, (which I think I'm somewhat regretting - even though the kids pretty much only watch that qubo channel) and I guess he saw a commercial for the Pillow Pet.  Well, after googling it to find out what it was, I realized we totally missed the big PP craze before the holidays, and glad I am.

But, I have to admit, they are super cuddly cute!  Even though they are only about $20, which isn't much to spend on a sweet little boy for his birthday, I'm considering making one.  I've found several blogs where the moms have sewn their own, and also a couple tutorials.   I will most likely be using this one, at Twelve Crafts Till Christmas.

I hope it turns out, I don't want to disappoint my little Budz.

My New Iron!

It's pretty sad knowing that a new iron is so exciting to me.  Can ya tell, I don't get out much?

Well, my daughter accidently dropped my old iron recently while helping me move my sewing and craft stuff down to the basement.  I had only had that iron for about 4 months and it was the first "nice" iron I had ever owned.  I was so happy with it.  It was a Black & Decker "Classic" - nice and heavy, big metal bottom - kind of like an old school iron.  I guess that's why they named it the "Classic".  I had gotten it on sale at Kmart and it was definitely the best iron I've used since I've been married.

Well, I was so sad when my sweet daughter unintentionally broke it.  I knew it was going to cost more moolah than I'd have available to replace it.  I didn't want to replace it with a cheap "waste of my time" iron - been there, done that.  I did check around and couldn't find a decent one for under $30.  Which may not seem like much, but definitely more $ than I could afford at present.  So, I just put it off and waited.

Well, this evening, my hubby and I were running an errand and I just asked him to stop by this store which I see all the time but have never entered...I wanted to know what it was all about.  It's called "Deals" but each time I've passed it I've never had the time to stop.  So, anyway, we stopped.  Basically, it's just a big "Family Dollar" store under a different name.  We walked around and picked up a few things.  And on the way to the checkout I saw this iron - well, actually I saw two irons.  One was a small lightweight iron, which I knew wouldn't do me any good and it was $10.  But then next to it, was this big, heavy duty iron and it was only $5 more!  WHAT?!!  I couldn't believe it!  My pulse began to race and my heart skipped a beat.  That iron was calling my name.  (sad, yes, very sad)  There was only 1 left and we scooped it up pronto, bought it, and carefully carried it home.  At home, I showed the kids my new find and announced that they could all look but not touch.  They were cool with that, and strangely not as interested or excited as I was. 

Isn't she a beauty?

And red is my favorite color!

So shiny and bright!

 

 

 

I can literally see myself in that sole plate.

It's a Black & Decker First Impressions Iron

Stainless Steel SolePlate, Steam Surge and Spray Mist, Vertical Steam, 3-Way Auto Shutoff, Auto Clean System, Large Water Tank, and Retractable Cord.  Yay!

I'm going on about it, I know, but it's so hard to sew without a good iron - and a good iron makes quite a difference.  And it was such a great deal!  Only $15!  *sigh*  (yes, I'm smiling as I type this - how pathetic am I?)

I have tried it out and so far, so good. 

I am a simple, simple, woman and apparently quite easy to please.  :)

Crochet Problems

I am slightly frustrated with my crocheting right now.  I have tried several different patterns for hats and none of them seem to be coming out as the pattern picture shows.  I even purchased a pattern online and have had quite a bit of difficulty with it.  I've been doing a lot of ripping out and restarting, and I'm not that quick of a crocheter so all this time spent with nothing to show for it is a little sad.  :( 

Sewing is so much quicker for certain things.  But, I do love crochet - not ready to give up on it yet.  I just wish I could find a "fool proof" pattern - if there is such a thing - for a nice slouch hat.  I'm going to keep looking and trying.  I've also been looking at slipper patterns and giving them a try.  Hopefully, I'll have more than dishcloths and scrubbies done soon - want to get some gifts ready but it's taking so long, grrrrrr.

Okay, going to dig in and try again.  

Monkey Business

I had found this free, adorable, Molly Monkey pattern at mmmcrafts website.  I had downloaded it quite awhile ago, but just got working on it this past week.  It's not finished yet, but here's what I have so far.

(these pictures were taken with my phone so they're not the best quality)

 I have the beret sewn but still need to sew on it's ribbon band.

 I edge stitched all around the shoes and the red flowers and also added a few french knots to dress them up a bit.  I loved doing this hand stitching and wanted to make more of these shoes because they are so adorable!  But I don't have anyone else to wear them.  :))

My daughter had her own ideas about how she wanted the face to look, so it's slightly different from the original pattern.  I didn't sew up the skirt yet, but hope to get that finished this week.

My boys loved this doll and when they saw that there was also a Mikey Monkey pattern, they sweetly requested it.   I had so much fun sewing Molly that I am looking forward to sewing them a Mikey.  By the way, the Mikey Monkey pattern can be found at mmmcrafts Etsy shop.

 

(Thank you Larissa for such lovely patterns and instructions!)

Stuffed Toys

I've been feeling crafty lately, but I think it's because it's been SO long since I've done much sewing or crafting just for fun.  It seems that recently the only time I sew is when I have to make something.  And for a while I was doing some sewing for profit.  But, after I officially gave that up and put my machine away, I hadn't touched it for some time.  But, I finally pulled out the old Kenmore last week and got to work on a couple projects that didn't NEED to be done, but were just for enjoyment.  Here they are:

I did a couple little Owls for my boys.  I found this free "Easy Owl Pattern" at Toad's Treasures on blogspot.  Thank you Emily!!

We took a trip to the fabric store and I let my boys pick out their own fabric and decide on it's design.  They also did the stuffing and together we got them done in 1 afternoon.

My 10 yr. old decided that he wanted a "tummy" on his, which was not on the original pattern, and so he picked an old world map design fabric for that. 

 

It's hard to tell here, but my 7yr. old picked out black and white checkered and zebra print felt for the eyes and feet, and the wings are black and white owls.  He later wished that he had picked a "tummy" piece as well, but he's still happy with it.

These were so easy and so much fun to make that I definitely want to make more of them.  I actually picked out fabric to make an owl for myself, but I haven't gotten to that one yet.  That will have to wait for another day.  :)

Crocheting Again

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been here.  Hard to keep up sometimes.  Anyway, I've been crocheting again.  I would like to do it more consistently, along with sewing. 

I still consider myself a beginner at crocheting. 

Here are couple things I've been working on lately.

The first is my Blue Bird.  I have fallen in love with many of the amigurumi animals, especially these cute little birds.  I was a little chicken at first to give it a try (pardon the pun), but I finally just dove in and did it.

These are all supposed to be single crochet and crazy enough I had forgotten how to do that most basic stitch.  So, I googled it and watched the first video I found on it.  The funny thing is though, that without my realizing it, they had showed the wrong way to do the stitch.  So, I did the whole bird in this other stitch, half way between a single crochet and a half double crochet, (not sure if it's even a stitch) and I was thinking that my bird seemed a lot bigger than the one with the instructions.  Now I know why, ha!  Oh well, I still think it turned out okay.  I kind of made my own tail, since the instructions I had didn't explain how to sew it on.  And I didn't have any of those "safety eyes" so I just embroidered the eyes on along with the beak instead of using felt.  For my first one, I was happy with it.  It quickly became my daughter's and she named it Bernard, and my other kids all want one now. 

I didn't completely follow the instructions from any one website, otherwise I'd post it here.  But, here is a link for the one that comes the closest to it at Bitter Sweet.  Her birds are adorable, and she does lovely work on so many other items.

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Here is my other crochet project, which I just started and finished last night.  It's a winter hat with ear and front flaps.

The hat looks orange in these pictures, but it's actually red and black.  I used Vanna's Choice 100% acrylic yarn from Lion Brand.  The pattern is the Earflap Hat  also from the Lion Brand website.  I wasn't completely happy with the pattern and I had to adjust it quite a bit, which was a feat for me since I'm such a novice crocheter, but in the end it didn't turn out too bad.  I'm not sure I would use this pattern again.  I am definitely looking for another earflap hat pattern though, because my other two kids would really like to have me make them one. 

And this is the VERY first time in my whole life I have made a pom pom.  It was so much fun!  And SO easy!  I am now looking for things I can use these on because I just want to keep making more and more, ha!!

Oswald Chambers

I have been using "My Utmost for His Highest" for years as a devotional book. Even though I've already gone through it several times, it continues to stay fresh for me. Here are just a few thoughts of his that have really been impressed on me.

John 16:33 ~ "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

"An average view of Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble.  It is deliverance in trouble - which is very different."

"God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome.  The strain is the strength."

"If you spend yourself physically you become exhausted; But if you spend yourself spiritually, you get more strength."

"We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception what God is aiming at, as we go on it gets more and more vague."

"God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at."

 These last two quotes are especially meaningful to me.  And God used a natural instance to open my eyes even more regarding being "short-sighted" when it comes to His working.

When coming home from somewhere I usually turn onto our block and drive past our house to the end of our street and make a U-turn at the corner so I can be facing in the right direction to park in front of the house.  Well, recently, while driving home with the kids in the car, I decided to just pass our street and go down one more block and come around, avoiding the U-turn at the corner.  Well, my youngest exclaimed, "Mom, I thought we were going home, you passed our street!"  I said, "We are going home."  And he replied, "No, we're not, you passed our street."  The other kids in the car made an attempt to explain to him what I was doing.  I thought it was interesting that it seemed that he couldn't understand but mainly because he simply would not accept the explanation.

Our Father showed me, by His Holy Spirit, that this is what I do.  And, apparently, I do it often.  Many times when I question the work of God in my life and my family's it's because I am short-sighted and I look upon His work as "missing the mark".  Sometimes, I'm not even recognizing God's hand.  The other interesting and startling thing to me about this quote of Mr. Chambers is his usage of the phrase "missing the mark".   The Greek word hamartia is translated sin in our New Testament, and it is deeply rooted in the idea of missing the mark.  So, in the same way, when I consider God to be somehow missing the mark in the way that Oswald Chambers mentiones it, I am considering that work of God to be sin.  Looking at it this way definitely hit home with me and has truly humbled me and brought me to a new place and way of thinking about Jehovah and Yeshua. 


Thank you Yeshua for being our Redeemer, You are truly the Beautiful One, the Christ, the Lamb for sinners slain.  Praise and glory and honor be to You and our Sovereign Almighty Father.  Glory to God!!  Praise and Adoration be lifted to You beautiful Savior.  Thank You, Praise You!  Yeshua Christ the One Messiah!  Hallelujah!  Amen!