Easy Peasy Skirt from Fitted Sheet

This was probably the easiest piece of clothing I've ever sewn. My mother-in-law gave me a bunch of material from a fitted sheet in a really pretty cornflower blue color. The sheet was the kind that had elastic all the way around, and not just on two sides or just the corners. She used the middle, flat part for something else and gave me the edges to use for whatever. I took one length of it and sewed it together for a skirt with a back seam. Then I simply hemmed the bottom. Voila! A skirt for my four year old. Sorry for the poor picture quality; Naomi is almost never still and these were taken on my phone's camera. 3.1 megapixels, but still not as quality as our regular camera.

Naomi trying desperately to be still.

We like the whole skirt over jeans thing here. It's warm and cute.

And what photoshoot of Naomi would be complete without this face?

Newest Obsession

Mmm! I totally love rice crispie treats, and I think it's the marshmallow flavor I love best. I don't really understand how marshmallows have a distinct flavor all their own, being mostly just sugar, but I love the smell, taste, and texture of them. Anyway, I discovered a new way to make single servings of rice crispie treats that require so little work, and I'm just thinking that it's such an obvious thing that I wish I'd thought of it myself. I read about it here, and thought to myself, I must bookmark this page because this is something I must try.

All I do is take a handful (read: LARGE handful) of marshmallows, any size, and a pat of butter and stick them in the microwave until the marshmallows get all big and puffy and the butter is melted. Then I stir in the rice crispies until it looks about the right consistency. Then, if I can stand it, I let the mixture sit for a few minutes to solidify more and then chow! I haven't revealed this newfangled thing to the girls yet, because I'm not quite sure I'm willing to share it yet. I know they'd love it.

Gooey Goodness!

What was Lurking in Our Yard

Mushrooms are just gross to me, especially giant ones I've never seen before growing in our yard. However, the girls were totally fascinated with them and got a kick out of me kicking them over (no stupid pun intended, well maybe). I looked them up online, and I think they are what's called The Shaggy Mane. Here they are:

This makes them look really small, but they were not. Supposedly that black stuff around the edge of the opened one turns to this inky black goo that drips down. Nastiness becoming more nasty. I made sure they weren't around to do that.

Freakier en masse!

Ok, that's all for today's lesson in mycology.

Completion!

Hooray! Today, I finally sat down and finished the sweater vest I've been working on for a month or so. I took a break from it for a while because life just got plain busy, and, though I desperately wanted to finish it, I set it aside to do some work from home that I do. I pulled it out here and there to do a couple of stitches and such. Yesterday, I weaved in all the dreaded ends, and today I sewed on the buttons for the final finishes. Here are the pictures.

Here's the front shot. The pattern called for all one color, but I didn't have enough of one color for the project. What I did have was two skeins of each of these Lion Brand Wool-Ease colors. I also made the straps slightly narrower and added a colored trim on them.

This is the back up close. The straps are sewn onto the front and then two buttons are sewn onto the back in order to button the straps down in the back, making their length adjustable. Notice the single large button in the middle; I used that with a loop attachment rather than the five buttons along the middle back opening as called for in the pattern.

And the back shot. My seam is not quite perfectly straight, but it'll do, Pig.

I used this pattern from the Lion Brand website, in case you were wanting to try it yourself. It called for organic cotton yarn, but I chose this thicker, wool-acrylic blend, making it a sweater vest rather than a simple empire waist tank. It'll be more useful up here in chilly Wisconsin.

Breaking the Silence

So, I haven't posted lately as life has been tremendously busy. I started homeschooling my preschooler last month, beginning to teach her how to read, memorize Bible verses, use scissors, write letters better, and sit still through longer stories like Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter stories. Funny thing is, my 2 1/2 year old can sit still longer and more patiently than she can, so I think it's influencing her to want to do school more.

I have, however, been working on that empire waist sweater vest I mentioned last post, and have nearly completed it. But I get short increments here and there to work on it with all the craziness of our schedule lately. Our church is in the process of planting a church in downtown Milwaukee, and my husband is on the worship team at both our current church and the new church plant in Milwaukee--he plays bass, just so ya know. But, it's kind of cool, because just last weekend, we both, independently, felt God telling us to go to Milwaukee and be a part of this new church. It's funny, because prior to that, neither of us really felt called to there, but, like Psalm 37 says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." He is placing that desire for Milwaukee there. Notice the tense of verb I used in that sentence...it's a work in progress. Someday we'd still like to go back to Madison and start a church there. We love Madison. And then to the nations. Someday.

Anyway, between busy Sundays, an awesome youth group (for which my husband is youth pastor) where God is doing some amazing things in the kids' lives, my husband's newest side job for a parachurch ministry, Campus Way (also working with young folks), and the delights and energy of three children all under age five, takes up most of our time. So, blogging has been slow for me lately. But I'm still here, breaking the silence.