Leah and I had fun playing with her blocks yesterday. This is just half a second after she just knocked down a tower.
The tower of blocks comes tumbling down.
Or, you can knock the blocks down one at a time.
In her kitchen, cooking food to eat,
Rocking her baby dolls to sleep,
Tea time is very sweet,
All of these make her day complete!
Today, our sweet niece turns 2. Happy Birthday Emmie!
We couldn't make it down for the party, but I made another superhero cape and matching felt crown for her. Watch out Birmingham, here comes Super Emmie!
I was finally able to complete a project for myself! A new laptop sleeve from the new handmade. Maybe it'll make taking minutes at church meetings a more exciting task!
I volunteered to be a pattern tester for the Scientific Seamstress's latest pattern. It's a reversible romper in sizes NB to 5T. There's also a "girlie" option to add ruffles on the bottom. I decided to make the romper for Leah and it turned out really cute and fits her well. Look for the pattern to launch next week.
In explaining to Chad what a pattern tester was, I described it in software terms, "It's like beta testing for patterns." He got it.
Edit: It's here! Go buy it now!
Now that my "12 Days of Christmas {crafts}" is complete, I'm back to my regularly scheduled crafting posts!
Molly was invited to her friend Julia's 4th birthday, so I made the birthday girl a felt crown. Molly has already requested a crown for her birthday party. A red one to be exact.
I made homemade pure vanilla extract for my Mom, Mother-in-law and myself. Chad and I do not drink alcohol, so I got several funny looks when my family realized that I had to go to the liquor store and buy the vodka to make it!
If you are interested in making this too, I bought Madagascar vanilla beans and 8 ounce bottles from Beanilla.com. I made larger bottles than in the link above, so I used 4 beans per 8 ounces of Ketel One Vodka. The instructions on my tags were, "Use ½ amount called for in a recipe. Refill with Vodka as needed. Allow to ferment 6 weeks."
And there you have it, folks. My "Twelve Days of Christmas {crafts}" is complete. If you missed any of them, here's the list again for your reading enjoyment!
Appliqued kitchen towels
Monogrammed clipboards
Reusable travel lids
Coffee cozy
Number bean bags
Felt bracelets
Buttercup bags
Superhero cape
Knitting needle roll
Ribbon tree shirts
Dignity robes
As Jen already said, we drove to Mooresville, NC, on Boxing Day to continue celebrating with her family. Mooresville had just gotten some snow, so several of us took the opportunity to do some sledding. This was actually Molly's first time sledding (yes, I know it's odd that we get plenty of snow in Maryland, but her first time sledding was in North Carolina). Molly had a blast, and even went by herself several times.
The focus of this year's Batson Family Christmas was "giving back" to our communities. For the person whose name we drew, we were to select a philanthropy of our choice and donate our time in honor of that person.
I drew my grandmother's name. She is a survivor of breast cancer, so I wanted to use my sewing skills to honor her. In searching for a project, I came across the Cancer Care Center's Dignity Robe Program. The program was started in 2006 to provide women receiving radiation therapy with a better robe than the standard hospital gown. The "dignity robes" have strategically placed Velcro to keep women better covered.
After talking to Arlene Segar, she mailed me two robe kits with pre-cut fabric and Velcro, as well as a sample robe. She included a sweet note saying, "Your grandmother will be very proud of you." And I hope she is!
Christmas music isn't just great for singing, it's great for dancing as well.
The day after Christmas we headed to Mooresville, NC for the Batson Family Christmas. We exchanged gifts with my immediate family at the hotel before the larger family gathering. Molly was jazzed about her new Disney princess slippers.
Emmie checking out her new felt bracelets.
Leah's ready to play with this wooden puzzle.
Everyone checking out Emmie's new baby stuff.
We all got together to give G'mom and Grampa a new camera. It's a Canon S90, and it's very snazzy.
Leah looking super cute in her new towel from Aunt 'Chelle.
Aunt 'Chelle, you look a little yellow!
The fam
