Toothless Dragon Costume I sewed for Kayla

 Here is the Toothless Dragon costume I made for Kayla.  I couldn't find one to buy in her size so I kind of had no choice but to make up my own patter and figure it out myself.

I drew all the spikes and cut out plastic pieces from a milk jug to sew in each of the pieces to help them stand up.  Each piece had to be hand sewn on the black hooded sweatshirt to insure they were placed correctly and would stand up on their own.

 Kayla loves it!  The best part because I made the tail detachable and we bought detachable wings is she will be able to wear the sweatshirt to school everyday!

Minnie Mouse Stroller Bag

I decided to make a stroller bag to match Summer's Minnie Mouse stroller.  I had so much fun making it too.  I made it quite large.  In fact it would remind you of a beach bag.  I decided to add the white scalloped trim as an accent.  The bag has two sides as seen in the bottom two pictures.  I might add white scalloped trim to the other side as well.  I ran out so for now only the one side will have it.

3rd bag

Alyssa finished her third bag for her teacher.  She gave me a lot of grief over doing it and kept putting it off.  I received quite the sassyness over it! Her teacher is very happy with the quality and told Alyssa she is firm on paying her $100 even though Alyssa told her we thought $75 was fair.  Alyssa is considering saving up for an ipad now. 

She still has two more bags to make and plans on making one each weekend.  Let's hope her attitude is a little better now that she knows she is getting big bucks!

Latest grocery bag

 I found this fabric at a thrift store and was super happy.  Just in time for Valentine's Day too!!  I had enough fabric to make 3 bags.  One for me, one will be a surprise for a college friend, and one Alyssa is making for her teacher.  She has her first paid job making 5 grocery bags.  Her teacher offered her $20 a bag but I told her that I thought $15 was more fair.  I also told her I was going to take $20 for the cost of fabric because most of the time it costs $5 or $6 per bag in material cost.  She will end up making $55 for her first sewing job!!!

Another bag

 I had a little bit of time to make a bag today.  I found this fabric in a thrift store..enough to make two bags so it ended up costing $3 a bag for the fabric.  Usually I like to buy sheets since it is usually $3-$4 for one full or queen size sheet and I can make more bags out of that but I was in love with this fabric so I had to splurge.  Of course even this is a good deal compared to buying fabric new at walmart or Joanne's.  Their fabric runs a minimum of $5.99 a yard and a yard makes one large bag or two small bags.  I prefer the larger bags myself.

All the bags I made for Christmas gifts

 Here are all the different bags I ended up making for 12 people this year.  Now I need to make myself some so I am ready for the change this July.  I need enough to keep in both cars since Ed and I trade off driving both cars. 

 We picked dog lovers for this bag.

 Alyssa picked out this fabric, I love how picked polka dots for the inside. 

 We picked Hawaii lovers for this bag.

 I only had enough fabric for just one bag. 

I only had enough of this fabric to make one bag as well and it was the first bag I made. 

More bags

I made this bag, very happy with the fabric choice.  Alyssa is making one too for her teacher from last year.  She thinks this pattern will be perfect for Mrs. Weiss. 

Easy bag

 I made the easy reusable bag pattern.  I really liked it.  Best part it only needed to use pressing in the beginning and near the end.  Some of the other patterns were calling for pressing at almost every step.  I have never been a big fan of the iron.

Not sure if Alyssa wants to learn anymore or if she is just having a bad day.  She said she was no longer interested.  Kayla wants to learn though.  Tomorrow we shall try!!!  I hope she liked it!

Reusable shopping bag

 I tried a new pattern today.  I used a Walmart plastic bag as the pattern.  Very sturdy bag.  I have one more even easier pattern I found on youtube that I will try in the next couple of days.  I want to find the easiest pattern to teach Alyssa with since it will be her first time sewing on a sewing machine.

My first recycle bag project

 Starting next July all plastic bags will be banned in CA which means we will need to bring our own bags to stores.  I started making my own.  This was my first try.  I just took apart a Savemart paper bag and used it as the pattern.  I liked the bag but I did make a mistake and accidently puckered the corners.  I can do better next time.

I am also trying a Walmart plastic bag for my next pattern.  Once I complete that I am going to try both style of bags and see which one I like better.  The Walmart style will be easier to sew for sure.

Homemade Hooter Hiders

Since having Aly and KK new products continuely come on the market. In the past two years, a mom designed a nursing cover up and called it Hooter Hiders! These retail for around $35. I was in shock that a piece of fabric with a strap would cost so much money! So of course I did some research for a free sewing pattern. There are so many sites out there with easy to follow patterns!

I have so much fabric in bins that I have bought in the past so it was easy to find something I already had. The only thing I was missing was two small D rings. A pack cost just .78 for four at walmart! I made the nursing cover quite easily. The first one I did, I only made one sided as they suggested. I also didn't add the boning for a peek a boo sight for the mommy to see the nursing baby. I wasn't sure if it was something I would want. Here is Aly modeling the nursing cover for me!

Aly thinks it is funny that I made a Hooter Hider! She was laughing so hard when she learned what it was for!

I decided to make a second one. After reading some reviews on the internet some women said they liked to make it with a soft flannel backing so if you needed to use it has a burp blanket in public when you were done, you had something right on hand! I took their advice and made this one with a soft, dark pink flannel on the back. I did buy new fabric for this one which cost me a totaly of $7 for both the front piece and the back. I also bought some coordinating ribbon to use as the neck strap. I did decide to sew the boning in on this one to see if it is something I will like. So now I have two to try out. After I use them both I will decide which type I will sew more of for the future!



Aly makes such a good model doesn't she? I should have had her sit with one of her baby dolls and pretend she was nursing!

Preschool issues

On Tuesday when I picked up KK from preschool one of her teachers mentioned that they felt like she needed a nap and that I should change her to the napping schedule. I told the teacher that she hasn't taken naps at home in well over 9 months. The teacher said they she cuddled a lot with them and seemed very tired. So I left it at that.


I decided to call the preschool director this morning to discuss their concerns over whether or not she should nap. Here is how our conversation went (the condensed version):


Me: I was just calling to talk to you about whether or not KK would be on your napping schedule. When I picked her up from school one of your teachers told me that they felt she should be a napper.


Director: Wow, I am surprised that one of my staff members would make a judgement call like that after one day. She should take two weeks to get to know the children and then after that make suggestions accordingly. I am sorry if she made you feel like you didn't know what was best for your child. I will talk to all of my staff and make sure that they know the first two weeks are a trial time to observe the children and let them adjust to the environment. In the beginning they may just be overloaded and their needs could change.


Me: I am sure that KK is more active at preschool than at home but I am sure she was just cuddling up to the teachers because she is a very affectionate child. I wouldn't be surprised though if she was tired today as we woke her up an hour earlier than normal so Daddy could bring her into preschool. If you end up feeling she needs naps on the days Daddy brings her in I can definitely support that.


Director: Let's just see how she does today and go from there.


I hung up from our conversation feeling like she totally supported me.


Here is what happened when I arrived to pick her up at 3:00.


Director: We tried to keep KK from taking a nap but she just couldn't handle it. When it was time to go outside she was playing with the farm animals and didn't want to stop and go outside. She started crying. We took her outside and cuddled her and she fell asleep at 2:30. This isn't going to work for us. She needs to be a napper.


Me: I can understand her needing a nap on Thursdays when Daddy brings her but on the days that I bring her I don't think she will want or need one.


Director: We need to be consistent. It will confuse her if she is napping one day and not the next.


Me: I can understand that. How about on the days that I bring her you wake her up after an hour?


Director: Absolutely not, she needs the full two hours. We won't wake her up.


Me: That is going to cause her to be until 10 or 11 at night. That will be really hard for our routine and schedule.


Director: I don't think so, I think she needs the full two hours. She is on the go here and tires herself out.


That is the shortened version of our conversation. She was not going to budge. Our child will need to be a napper and they will not wake her early. I guess I just better hope that on the days I bring her it takes her a long time to fall asleep and when nap time is over the other kids may end up waking her up with their noise. I am going to use next week as a trial period for our family and if she is up till 10 or 11 I am going to talk to the director again. If we don't come to some kind of compromise we may be looking somewhere else.


I suppose what bothers me the most about the whole situation is that she was so supportive in the morning and really wanted a two week trial period. She stressed that they were there to support the families, not the other way around, and that they wanted to do what the families needed because that is their job. Then she totally changes her tune by the time I come to pick up my child! What is up with that???


So now that my daughter is going to be a napper she needed a blanket. Here is the blanket I made her:






KK's favorite animal is an elephant. I already had this fabric in my sewing drawer. I let her pick out the bottom flannel fabric and she picked out moons and stars. I think it turned out cute and it only took 15 minutes to make. I hope this will help her feel more comfortable with napping at preschool.

Finding Nemo doll blanket and a frog doll blanket

After making the Little Mermaid doll blanket and pillow for Alyssa's friend, the girls both really wanted one for themselves. KK decided to pick out Finding Nemo fabric which I already had a good stash of and Alyssa chose frog fabric that I already had as well!

KK has really taken a liking to Teddy and has been dressing him and feeding him his bottle. She really liked the blanket and pillow.

I thought this was a really cute picture of her even though her shirt is all dirty!

Here is Aly's frog blanket. It looks so cute. She has also started playing with her Teddy everyday and feeding him a bottle and changing his diaper.....that is where KK is learning it from!

She was really excited to see her new blanket and pillow as well. She wrapped up her Teddy in his blanket and carried him around for awhile.

I am glad that just a short amount of time sewing on a Sunday afternoon could bring so much joy to them.

Aly's first day of Kindergarten

Today was the big day! Everything went smoothly on our new morning routine thanks to practicing it all week. We needed to leave around 8:10 but our plan was so smooth we were ready 15 minutes early!

Here is Aly's lunch for her 1st day of school. She requested a bologna sandwich so I used fondant cutter to make her sandwich into fun shapes. She also had Pirate's Booty--otherwise known as organic cheese puffs, freeze dried strawberries, a cliff kids fruit twist, mini champagne grapes, and a fruit bar. I know a lot of fruit but that is what she wanted. I also put a surprise special note in her lunch that said, "Mommy loves you! I hope you are having a good day!" I attached a Hershey's Kiss to it.

Aly modeled for me on the stairs in her new outfit. She was very proud of how she looked in it and told everyone all about it. KK was feeling like she wanted to have a picture taken too so I took one of her as well.

Our first stop was to Aly's classroom. On the door was a note that we needed to go down to the big playground and wait in line until the teacher came and got them. I was a bit sad about this because I assumed that meant we couldn't walk them to class or see there classroom. Check out KK standing next to Aly in front of her classroom. She seriously thinks she is going to Kindergarten too!

Check out Aly's new frog Littlest Pet Shop backpack. She is so thrilled to have it! BTW because Aly was wearing a backpack KK ran and got a backpack to wear too! Check out KK, Aly, and Nathan on the playground. I started to take a picture of Aly and Nathan and KK jumped in! She really wants to go to school! Good thing preschool starts for her next week!

The first picture shows Aly's class and her teacher getting ready to go to the classroom. Thankfully the teacher was kind enough to let us go into the classroom with our kids. She said we could stay until 9:30 but I left at 9:08 as I knew Aly was fine and I wanted to give the teacher some space. The second picture shows Aly already making a new friend. She was also lucky enough to sit across from her friend Nathan.

While Aly was at school I worked really hard making a surprise for her. I spent the entire time making her a frog dress! I thought it would be a nice surprise for her.

When I picked her up she was a bit grouchy but only because of the weight of her backpack and the heat. It was really hot! In fact she told me it was so hot today that she didn't even play on the playground. She just sat in the shade with her friend Nathan.

She said she liked school and her teacher was nice. She did tell me that during story time the teacher told all of the children to be quiet and listen to the story. Aly said that her and Nathan listened to the teacher and didn't talk but many of the other boys and girls did. I told her I was proud of her for listening to the teacher and following the rules!

Do you know what Aly was begging me to do? She said she wanted to take the bus home from school tomorrow! I told her I didn't think Mom was ready for that yet, maybe next week, I need some time to let go.........................

BTW the whole way home poor KK was crying that she wanted to go back and go to kindergarten. She was very sad, I felt so bad for her. I can't wait till next week so that she will understand that she is starting preschool.