Christmas is Coming!

As Christmas is fast approaching, this is what we have been doing: Amy and David attended "The Nutcracker" in Style. The fancy hat was made for the character "Millie" in the musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (which we will be working on for the next few months), but it was too small. Amy claimed this one so I'll have to make another. Amy, you are too cute at the theater! And, I've been making some special occasion dresses. One sweet Rose has a baptism coming up in February and some other nieces needed Christmas dresses. I know there are others left out, but they will have their turn next year.

Desert Hiking

We have a tradition of going on a hike the day after Thanksgiving. It is a great way to not go shopping and get out into nature to appreciate the good things in life. This year Grandad chose a good challenge for us, near mile marker 31 down by the Salt River (past Bulldog and just before you get to Saguaro Lake). Loyd and his boys came and were up to the challenge as well. This was quite a steep climb with falling rocks and cactus around every turn.

After eating our snacks on the top of the mountain, we chose the easy way down,.....sliding.

Oh, I forgot, the first part of the hike was walking across the Salt River. Some of us brought our water shoes so the rest of the hike wouldn't be soggy. I thought this was so cute of David helping Amy across the river.

Usually the Salt River is much higher than this. I have tubbed down this river several times as a kid with all the drunkards. It was quite an education.

Cody didn't want to get his shoes wet, so Grandad carried him. Thankgoodness for Grandad, or Indiana Jones. (Dont' you think he looks like Indiana?)

All in all, it was a great hike and we can't wait till the Christmas hike.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving Day started out bright and early with the Mi Amigo's Turkey Trot. It was just 2 miles. My friend, Angela, ran with me and David joined the challenge. This was the last leg of the race and I threw my head back to do the "Chariot's of Fire" run to the finish.

After the race, we had our big Thanksgiving dinner at noon at our house and 35 of David's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins joined us. Sadly, I'm still looking for photos of the event. We had tons of food, games, prizes and lots of visiting. No movies this time.

We Love Our Veterans

We wanted to honor our Veterans on this Veteran's Day so we went to the Mesa Veteran's Day Parade on 11/11/08 that started at 11:11am. We waved, clapped and hooorahed all those who have served our great country that live in the Valley. It's a good feeling to say "Thank You" to our Veteran's while they wave and say "You're Welcome!"

While the kids mostly complained, but later admitted to having a good time, I got a little teary eyed when I noticed where we chose to sit down to watch the parade. If you look at the red balloon, you will see the steeple to the "Ice Cream Church" that was the ward building of the old 5th ward where my family attended when I was little.The picture below is taken to the right of us. It is the Heritage Academy School that was an old church built by David's Grandpa Potts. As you can see, we sat in a very special place in good old Mesa and we had a good time. Next we went to Subway for lunch, Cody went to a friend's house, and the girls and I shopped. We got some good deals too.

Trick Or Treat

These are my crazy kids that are growing up way too fast. They had a lot of fun dressing up for Halloween and collecting tons of candy. So much sugar was consumed that Code Man was sick today and stayed home from school. Pathetic.

Trick or Treat Bags

Trick or treat bags are so fun to make. We should really decorate these more. They were $4.50 on sale at the store and they are FREE at my house!

I'm Melting!

Shellbell and I made this witch costume today. She didn't want to model it on herself just yet. The striped stockings are my favorite part because it is a short dress and so the stockings cover up just the right amount of leg. (Amy told me to write that.) The total price of the outfit was around $20, the most expensive costume I've made in a long time. The hat and stockings were %60 off at JoAnn Fabrics. They had some good stuff this week.

Poodle Skirt

This is Mini Zo's Halloween costome this year. It is the easiest 30 minute costume. We even used the glue gun. The black neck scarf was $2 on clearance at Target. Total cost $13. The poodle was the big cost of $5.
This pattern is a hand me down from Nonna. The date on it is 1986. You gotta love that.

Compare and Contrast

I got the Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons in the mail today and I couldn't believe how similar the bedding was to ZB's. We are so in style!

Special Angel

I had the opportunity to get to know a very special little girl who is with Heavenly Father now. It is a blessing and a challenge to sew one of these bereavement outfits, but I always feel that I am just a tool being used for good in God's hands. I think that everyone, no matter how small, deserves to have the dignity of being recieved into heaven dressed in their Sunday best. This little girl was an extra special spirit that Father needed back with him right away. My heart goes out to her dear family who just have to wait a little longer to get to raise her.

Big Z's Blessing Jumper

Well, it's been awhile since I blogged. We sold our home, packed in a day and a half, moved, unpacked, and I'm finally getting back to some sewing. It is always an honor to sew a blessing outfit for a little one. It's a chance to think about that child all day. This is my nefew, Big Z's. I think he is going to be quite a great kid. Z the Great!

It is made of a natural linen with some pin tucks and a few embroidery stiches. Notice the initials on the collar (Foo Foo's Zoo did that for me).
Yes, boy bonnets can have a few gathers.

Music Man

This was the best shot I got of Shellbell in her green plaid jacket (that I made for Zoie bell) and navy shirt. She wasn't wearing her fabulous hat that Zoie bell made when she was in Music Man a few years ago.

Shellbell, Code Man, and Mini Zo were in the musical "Music Man" this past week and here are some of their costumes. Shellbell was the American Gothic Farmer's wife, Code Man was Withrop who talks with a lisp, and Mini Zo was in the band. Now think the minuet in G: Ladi dadi dadi dadi da, ladi da, ladi da.

Red Velvet Polka Dots

Here's my new Piano Bench cushion! I love how it turned out.

Piano Bench Cushion

This is a piano bench seat for my friend Kim. It is looking a little big because I modeled it on my piano bench. Her bench is just a little bit bigger. It will be secured to the bench with this elastic on all four corners. Notice how cute the cording looks.

For Sale

I did some work for a friend this winter/spring and I never took pictures. Her home is up for sale now so I grabbed some of the pictures. Her home is so beautiful. She has worked very hard on it. This is the master bedroom. I did the red chair slip cover, the three large pillows on the bed, the red curtains, and the folded duvet cover at the end of the bed.

Here's that cute table cloth. It looks so much better at her house than mine.

15 ft curtains. We didn't hang them perfectly spaced, but it will do. It was very hard to stand on the latter that high and space the curtains evenly. She did the right side, I did the left. Bathroom curtains

Here are the hope chest cushions.
Girls' shower curtain.
And Boys' shower curtain.

Amaryllis

This is a costume for Music Man. Remember the little girl who takes piano lessons from Marion the Librarian? Her name is Amarillys and she is in love with Winthrop who has a lisp (played by my fabulous son, Code Man). All three of my kids are in the play this summer and it has been a lot of fun. There will be more costumes to come.

Table Cloth

Obviously, I need photography lessons, but here's my latest project. The black and white check is lined and notice how cute the cording is on the red table cloth. This is for a 48" circle table. It would have been fun to put a large 1.5" cording on the black and white table cloth, but it wasn't in the budget. It would have taken over 9 yards. Figure the circumference (sp?) go ahead. 48+30(to the floor) divided by 2 = the radius then, times pie. You know. Don't forget a yard is 36". Am I close?

Rocking Chair Slip Cover

This rocking chair cover was well used. Here's the after picture. Slip covers are amazing!

The Big Sister Apron

When a new baby comes home and gets all the presents, the big sister gets this gift from me. I hope that the new big sister will put this to good use.

Asian Lamp Swoopy

I made two of these swoopy curtains for a new friend. They are in her girls' rooms. Cute and simple. I fell in love with this Asian Lamp material. If you look closely, you can also see a one inch stripe through the pink material. I trimmed it with green and the tabs are green. It isn't quite hung properly enough for the tabs to hang perfectly, but you know when the dad hangs the curtain, it only goes up once. Good enough.

S-M-R-T I am so Smart!

Shellbell is in the National Jr. Honor Society now. We always new she was S-M-R-T! She is so Smart! This is what brings the scholarships for college if you can keep that GPA high.

Party Shirts

It's a serious tux in the front and a party in the back! What a great idea to whom ever invented these party shirts. It was very easy to just take off the sleeves and back to the tux shirt, use those pieces as your pattern, and then put them back together. The American Flag shirt was my sample and I assembled the Mexican Bird of Paradise shirts. Too cool!

Scripture Bag

Can you tell which one is store bought and which one is home-made? A cute little girl in the neighborhood wanted one but her mom said no because they cost $22. So, we made one from scraps of material I already had and it only cost $2 for the zipper.

Slip Covers

I love slip covers! These are the latest.....a bench in the bathroom. I got the bench at the antique store for $30. I love the legs.
A bench at the end of the bed. It was dark green, from Walmart about 10 years ago. And a velvet poka dot chair. I got it at the antique store for $48. It's a crazy floral underneath. It only took 5 yards of material.