A Look Back at 2011

Wow, it's already the end of 2011!  So much has happened this past year.  We had an early miscarriage in January, but God blessed us with another pregnancy and we are anxiously awaiting our baby boys arrival this coming January.  Kevin and I taught two Financial Peace Unniversity classes, which encouraged us to pay off my student loan early.  Recently, we were able to purchase a 2005 mini van for cash!  God has blessed us so much this year!  I also began homeschooling Kindergarten! 

I am amazed at how this blog has grown, and how my own sewing, crafting and blogging skills have grown along with it.  This is my 157th post for this year!  Thank you to all my readers for your support and kind comments, every one makes my day and gives me encouragement.  Here's the list of the most viewed posts this year, some might surprise you!

1.  Pipe Cleaner Bugs  (This one surprised me!)

2.  Fleece Tie Blankets for Charity

3.  Draft Blocker

4.  Little House on the Prairie Dress, Apron and Bonnet

5.  Beaded Christmas Ornaments with Kids

6.  iPod Touch Fabric Cover with Armband

 
7.  Apron

8.  Homeschool Space  (it actually still looks like this - almost!)

9.  Morning Board for School

10.  Hot Air Balloon Birthday Cake

11.  Diaper Bag  (This is my favorite project for this year so I had to include my #11!  I'm so excited to use my new custom diaper bag!)

My other favorites were: Plastic Shopping Bag Holder, Frilly Apron for a Pregnant Belly, Apple Pie Filling for the Freezer, Bunk Bed Tent, Maxi Skirt, Farmall Tractor Cake, and Reversible Nursing Cover. 

Did you have a favorite post from this year?  I'd love to know what it was!

Happy New Year!  May 2012 be your best year yet!

Gg Goat - Homeschool Highlights in MFWK

This week we learned the letter G, and all about goats.  We learned about sacrificing goats in the old testament in the bible, and how Jesus took the place of the goats.  Our bible words were "Jesus died for my sins."  We also took a look at how farms work, and all the different animals.  We made the puppets above and used them to sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".  Caleb was also a sheep in our churches Christmas program.  His class sang "The Friendly Beasts", and Caleb had to say the lines for the sheep.  We listened to this professional version of the song, The Friendly Beasts, which is actually quite funny!

Here is the cover of our lap books.  They cut out the letter G from magazines and glued them to the top, then added grass and a goat.  Our printer ran out of ink, so I wasn't able to print out any other activities, but it turned out okay since it was the week before Christmas and we had lots of other things to do, like make cookies with friends and go shopping!

And this week I remembered to take a picture of our books.

I'm hoping to get in 3 more units before our baby is born at the end of January, Cc Cow, Hh Horse, and Ee Elephant!

Plastic Shopping Bag Holder

What a cute way to store your ugly plastic shopping bags!  The tutorial I followed came from Make It and Love It, a wonderful blog full of tutorials.  This was so easy to make!  I planning on making myself one too, and I think I'll make a couple mini ones to put under the bathroom sinks and in my craft area.  Instead of using ribbon for the hanger, as the tutorial suggests, I used a piece of the checked fabric, only because I didn't have any matching ribbon. 

I made this for my mom, below is the entire gift set, including the table runner, pot holders, and dish towels.  It matches her apron and recipe binder cover that I made for her birthday.

Now, go make one for yourself to get more organized in the new year!

Quilted Table Runner and Pot Holders

This is a short table runner, more of a centerpiece I suppose, with two matching pot holders.  I used a pinwheel block for them all.  They are machine pieced and quilted.  The pot holder on the left is quilted inside each triangle block, but that left a large hump in the middle where all the triangles come together.  When I did the second pot holder (on the right) I decided to stitch in the ditch instead, and I think it turned out better.  I did the same thing for the table runner.  These were gifts for my mother, and they match her apron and recipe binder, which were birthday presents this past year.

The idea for the pot holders came from watching a DVD called Homestead Blessings - The Art of Quilting.  In this DVD, the West ladies show you how to make the pinwheel blocks and then how to make the pot holder, as well as several other quilting techniques.  I also enjoyed their sewing and cooking DVDs.  

Christmas Highlights and Gingerbread Houses

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  I hope all of you did too!  Kevin, the kids and I celebrated as a family on the 23rd before heading out of town to visit family.  The first thing we did was make gingerbread houses, our tradition for the past 3 years.  (See last years houses here, and the recipe here)  We had a little trouble this year with our houses staying together, so Caleb's became a saggy A-frame instead!  But we persevered and had a great time (and a sugar buzz).  In the picture above from left to right is Kevin's, mine, Rebekah's, and then Caleb's.

Before we open presents, we always read the Christmas story.  We don't ever want to forget the true reason for the season!

They loved their aprons!

I think Caleb liked his tie too.

And here's baby Mollie all decked out in her new pajamas.

The paper dolls were fun, but it was hard to share the board...

Bean bag tic tac toe went over well too.  I reused a box to wrap it in, and you should have seen the look on Caleb's face when he thought he was getting dishes!  Priceless!

The rest of the Christmas holiday was spent with family, being spoiled with presents, good food, and treats galore!  Here is one last picture of the kids playing with their cousin, isn't he a cutie? 

Paper Dolls

These are the cutest paper dolls ever!  I used my Cricut to cut them out, using the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge.  Then I laminated them using a new laminater I just bought!  I wanted to use it for this project, and I know it will come in handy for school.  Velcro dots (a lot of them) make them stick to each other and the board.  The board is one of those thick foam poster board.  I covered it with felt, using rubber cement and hot glue to stick it down.  I used only scraps that I had already, so I was impressed with the scene I was able to create!  The back of the board is covered with plain pink felt.  The rough part of the velcro sticks great to the board!

Here are all the pieces I made for them.  The top set is for Caleb, and the bottom is for Rebekah.  I would love to make more pieces, including more animals, buildings and trees, etc.  I ran out of time for more though.  The Everyday Paper Doll cartridge has so much on it, it's my favorite!

I have to admit, they took longer than expected to make, and my hand was really sore from cutting them all out, but aren't they cute?

Little Boys Tie with Velcro

This tie is for my 5 year old son.  He likes to wear ties to church to be like daddy.  I used leftover fabric from another project, and some velcro from my stash, so this tie was free for me to make, yeah!  I found the tutorial on Very Homemade.  It was very easy to follow, and didn't take long at all.  It's a little difficult turning it right side out, so she recommends using a safety pin to help, which it did.  I might make another one using one of my husbands old button down shirts.  I didn't think of that idea until this morning...

The neck strap has velcro on it, so the tie never has to be undone and the little boy doesn't have to stand still while you try to tie it, a great feature!