Henry drools a LOT. Anna spit up when she was little and I thought Sarah drooled a lot. I have to double-bib Henry and often his shirt is still soaked underneath when I take off the bibs for his nap. So, today I cut up a terry cloth baby towel and made three double-thick bibs to try and help with the laundry situation (since I double-bib him I have half as many bibs available which means I need to wash them faster). I don't know how well these are going to hold up but they turned out better than I thought they would. Just don't look too closely. The important thing to remember here is that they are keeping drool off of his shirt and chest because he is starting to get a bit of a rash from it constantly being wet around his neck and chest. Poor little guy.

Posted by Becky at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I still have a little work to do on Sarah's costume but she was really happy with it (and so was I). Anna's & Henry's are store-bought, obviously!

Posted by Becky at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna designed this skirt today. I have promised her I will sew up the sides so she can actually wear it out of the house.

Posted by Becky at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was raining today so we we made playdough this afternoon. I used this recipe and I really like how it turned out although both Anna & Sarah seem to have gone a bit crazy with the green food coloring...

Posted by Becky at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna has been "Star" for a long time now. She actually changed her name to "Starsong" on her 4th birthday and yesterday she was playing with play-doh and we have a star-shaped cutter. She cut out a star and said she wanted to keep it so she could have her very own star to sing to, hug, play with, and be her friend. I said she couldn't keep the play-doh one but I'd make her one if she wanted.

She requested a "white star" and wanted no embellishments. Of course I can't just make her a star, I have to make Sarah one, too! So, I had some old baby blankets we had gotten from someone else that were fuzzy on one side and satiny on the other which met her requirements exactly.

The girls loved them this morning when they found them and I think they've played with them for more time than it took me to make them which is all I had really hoped for! Anna is sleeping with hers tonight and said, "I love it!" and gave me a big hug. Sarah said, "it's cute!" and then proceeded to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to it.

Posted by Becky at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna & I melted all of the crayons we had (these are the same crayons we've been using since Anna was one) and the girls and I had fun coloring with the new round ones. We seem to have had a lot of orange ones. The instructions are here.

Posted by Becky at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This was Sarah's first time painting with a brush. I love the intense look she has on her face in this shot!

The girls have had so many fights over the child-size sling lately! I should have brought one that my mom made home with me but since I didn't I decided to just make one myself. It as a quick project even though I haven't used my machine for months. The girls loved it but I think the thrill is gone now that they don't have to fight over it any more.

I downloaded Cars for the girls to watch tonight and I wish Craig had been home to see Sarah watch it (he was in Ulsan on a business trip). She was oohing and ahhing and ohhhhhing, laughing, and dancing the whole half hour. Anna was excited to get to watch it again, too.

Posted by Becky at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The purple & white tutu I made for Isabel.

Sarah got gussied up, too.

Anna was invited to Isabel & Emma's joint birthday party today and Sarah came along because Craig was supposed to go sailing (he got rained out but since I asked about bringing Sarah along I decided to just bring her anyway). The party was at the indoor play area above the market and the girls had a great time. This was the first birthday party where Anna obviously had fun and ran around and played which was really nice to see. Also the place was big enough that Sarah was able to have fun, too. It was more fun going to the play area with other foreigners than when I've just gone with the girls on my own, too.

Posted by Becky at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I made Sarah a blanket out of minky material for her birthday because Anna received one as a gift when she was born and I felt like Sarah needed a blanket that was so soft. This was super easy and I think it will be part of my new standard baby gift to give out.

Posted by Becky at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chocolate fudge cupcake with mocha buttercream frosting

I've learned that it takes me at least two tries to get something right when it comes to sewing. I guess that's what it means to be a beginner. It took me three to four tries to get these cupcakes though. The fourth (the one in the single photo) still isn't "perfect" but I'm not embarrassed by it at least. I may try to make a couple more to replace at least the first two. Anna is having a blast having parties with her cupcakes though!

Posted by Becky at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I copied the design of another of Anna's barrettes to make this "orange blossom" barrette for her. My hand-sewing isn't perfect but it was cute enough to send her out of the house in this morning.

Posted by Becky at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are the hearts I made for the girls; Anna's is in front and Sarah's is in back.

Anna & I made sugar cookies today for Valentine's Day. She wanted stars in addition to hearts. I left her in charge of the sprinkles and she knocked a bowl-full of them on the floor in the middle of the decorating. She's a good kid though and helped me get it all cleaned up in time for her friend Gwenn to come over for a playdate.

Anna seemed a little better with this playdate and I'm not sure if it's because she knows Gwenn's mom a little more (she has helped out at the school) or if it's because we've been having playdates more frequently. We are going to have Kristin over next week without Laurel to see if Anna is more comfortable without the "strange" adult around (thankfully Kristin should be fine without her mother!).

Posted by Becky at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Latte art & photo by Craig.

Posted by Becky at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Becky at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna is alternating between Strawberry Shortcake characters now: Orange Blossom, Angel Cake, or Apricot. I made her some felt apricots (I didn't have any orange felt on hand or I would have made the oranges already) to cart around when she feels like pretending to be Apricot.

Posted by Becky at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have found that I need approximately three tote bags for my shopping at Home Plus so I decided to make a third one so I could quit buying that last plastic bag. I messed up the sizing on this one a little but it works (I made it last night and tested it out today).

Posted by Becky at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I volunteered to work on the Playschool web site in September and finally sat down to update it today. Take a look for me and let me know if anything looks goofy on your operating system/browser set-up.

Posted by Becky at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I made Craig's iPod Touch cozy today following this tutorial. I had to make the thing three times due to faulty measuring/wrong seam allowances. It's not perfect but Craig says he'll use it (even though I think he's just being nice... let's see how long it takes for him to "misplace" it.).

Posted by Becky at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finished Anna & Sarah's cats tonight. I tend to lose steam when it comes to detail-work but, overall, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I got the pattern from Wee Wonderfuls. I made Anna's first because I knew which fabric to use (she just fell in love with one I got in my Sew, Mama, Sew shipment). I made Sarah's a little bigger because, as a new sewer, I had a little difficulty with the small size of Anna's. I messed up Sarah's cat's head a little because of this though and I kind of wish I had just stuck to the original sizing. Oh well; I like Sarah's cat's eyes more than Anna's cat's so I guess it all evens out.

I am planning to make an owl for Sarah and a bunny for Anna for Christmas and also an i-Pod cozy for Craig (he knows this, obviously). Hopefully I don't run out of time/drive to complete them before the 25th!

Posted by Becky at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I saw this felt gingerbread house and thought I'd try it myself; Anna had a lot of fun decorating & re-decorating this morning. I made pockets and put cardboard in between the layers of felt. I had a tough time getting that roof on with hand-sewing because of incredibly awkward angles but for the most part it has been pretty quick & easy! I followed the gingerbread house design from Joy of Cooking. I hope to spend some more time making nicer decorations but I have a few other projects to complete before Christmas as well and Anna's having fun with these decorations as-is. I originally thought I'd leave one roof-side not attached but ended up sewing a button on the bottom so I can store the decorations inside the house.

Posted by Becky at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Top row is a gift, bottom row is for Anna & Sarah.

(I made one as an ornament for the tree with pink "frosting" around the edge because this year has been all about pink around here).

I finally got the embroidery floss to finish these gingerbread men this morning. I went to the Cross Stitch Store three times last week (and also tried to go to the two in Gohyeon) and it was closed every time!

Posted by Becky at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I placed an order from Sew, Mama, Sew for part of my birthday present. Anna fell in love with one of the fabrics right away so I will make something for her for Christmas out of that one. I have a whole list of projects to do so I'm excited to finally have some fun fabrics to work with! I should take these down to the "good" sewing store and show them what to order.

Posted by Becky at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found a cute hands and feet turkey to make with the kids today. Sarah's is super tiny and super cute (not that Anna's isn't, mind you). Anna helped glue hers together.

Posted by Becky at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I decided to make a copy of my favorite grocery shopping bag (my Al Jarir bookstore bag that I bought as a souvenir of Doha the last time I was there; coincidentally the first and only time I have ever experienced an "ice cream headache"). I had to have Craig help me out with some of the mental gymnastics involved at the end but we figured it out and it looks great! Now I have two bags to bring to Home Plus each week. I added a lining and a pocket to mine as the Al Jarir one was just a canvas bag without a lining.

Also, I should note that my thumb is still numb/funny from cutting out those leaves yesterday. I threw out the cheap-o scissors I was using and will buy a new pair from Office Depot next time I'm there. Ouch!

Posted by Becky at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I wanted to do a craft with Anna today and found these leaf templates online. I made mine out of felt while she colored hers. My hand seriously hurts from all of the cutting I did but I think that both garlands turned out really cute (Anna's is hung with pink string, mine with green). I will keep both garlands and re-use them each year.

Posted by Becky at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna wanted to pose the mice for a picture right away.

I convinced Anna to get in the picture as well (but she would not look at me).

We did video chat with Nana & Papa on Sunday and Nana said she mailed some mice for Anna and to watch for the package. When I was opening it I asked Anna what she thought was inside and she was so excited for "mice!" She was thrilled and when I ask her which one she likes best she says, "the pink one. And the white one. And the grey one." I guess she likes them all. Thanks, Anita!

Posted by Becky at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I made Sarah's elephant so much faster (and better) than Anna's because I didn't do as much hand-sewing and left off the party hat and ribbon around the neck. I did remember to put nostrils on the elephant this time (with embroidery floss; I didn't have the floss yet for the eyes, eyebrows, & mouth but I like them more than the ones on Anna's as well). I also put the elephant nose on more straight (the pattern called for it to be a little crooked but when your sewing isn't up to par then it just looks like you did a bad job sewing instead of being quirky and cute).

Two notes: (1) Thank you to all of the experienced sew-ers who have emailed/posted comments with help and encouragement! (2) Anna overtook my pincushion and it is now a "strawberry cake" so I'll have to make another for myself.

Posted by Becky at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been daydreaming about just walking into a fabric store and getting everything I want and need for my little projects all at once and in the same store. I go to the "good" sewing store at least once a week and hope I can find what I want or communicate my needs. It's hard because I don't know what I'm looking for all of the time and the woman at the shop does not speak much English at all.

Today I brought in the last little bit of fiberfill I had, along with the original packaging, to show the lady what I wanted (more fiberfill!). She sold me a plain white pillow. This is fine, I can't imagine I'll be making a ton of stuffed animals, but I do want to make Sarah's elephant and a few other projects that require stuffing. I also found some cute buttons today.

On my way back through the market I spied in the "other" sewing store a cute fabric to use on the bag for me that I want to make (like my Al Jarir bookstore tote bag I bring to the grocery store so I have to buy one less bag). The second store didn't have a coordinating fabric so I had to walk back up to the first store and see if they did. They did so I was happy. Now I just have to decide how I want to make my bag.

I happened to see Mijung & Jaynie still at Davinci's so Sarah & I popped in there and I asked if I really have to go to Busan to get some variety and the other things on my sewing wish-list (Sarah & I went to Gohyeon on Saturday hoping to find another sewing store but we did not). It sounds like I do need to go to Busan for more stuff. However that's not so easy right now and I may end up just ordering some stuff from the US because it might take just as long as getting to Busan (it's a ferry ride over which would mean missing/bad naps for Sarah and I hate nursing in public, there's a taxi from the ferry terminal to the sewing store which I'm not keen on doing with kids (no carseats if we take the ferry; otherwise it's a 3 hour drive or we take the car ferry which can also be a pain, but probably our best & safest option)).

I mentioned that I was in need of some embroidery hoops and floss and Jaynie said like it should have been obvious (she has lived here since 2003, a few months before we got here the first time): go to the Cross-Stitch Store! Duh. I didn't have time to go right then so I went tonight and was really happy. I got a couple different sized embroidery hoops and a bunch of floss for about ten dollars. (Let's ignore the fact that I have a nice embroidery kit in storage in Texas right now; I hadn't used it since I lived in Boston so it didn't come with us.)

Anyway, the point of all of this rambling is that at the same time I find it frustrating that there isn't such a thing as "one-stop-shopping" here, I am kind of enjoying the little missions I've created by trying to find everything I want.

Posted by Becky at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both of these projects are from Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals.

I told Anna I was going to make an elephant for her and she picked out pink for the body and stripy fabric for the clothes. I can't help but think the elephant looks a little like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh because she is pink, but Anna seems to like her. There was more hand-sewing on this project than I like so I will change things up a bit when I make Sarah's grey elephant after I procure more fiberfill to stuff it.

I have found myself really needing a pincushion the last couple of projects so I decided to make this cute one. This was all hand-sewn which, again, I do not like to do. I think decorative embroidery is fun but I don't like hand-sewing seams, etc. Overall, though, I think I learned quit a bit with these two projects and am thinking about the next projects already...

Posted by Becky at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both of these projects are from the book Bend the Rules Sewing.

I decided to start a new tote instead of trying to re-do the other one. So I took the kids into town to get the strawberry fabric and some different material for interfacing. I made this tote one inch bigger all around and had no problems at all (I still don't know what the deal was with the other one...).

I wanted to make a hat for Sarah, too, so I got to it tonight when the kids went to bed. The hat instructions had no actual measurements or clues how to measure for someone's head so I cut it as indicated by the pattern and ended up with a hat that fits my head! The hat was supposed to be for a child so I'm not sure what the deal is there. The project calls for a button in the middle of the flower but I don't have any buttons on hand so I may just leave it as-is (unless I find an awesome button). The project was pretty easy so I might try to scale it down to Sarah's head and re-do it (or not, she actually has plenty of winter hats handed down from Anna).

Posted by Becky at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I sewed this strawberry onto Anna's dishtowel for her kitchen. The stitching isn't pretty but Anna is pleased.

I really wanted to try something from one of my new sewing books so I went for the tote bag for Anna this morning. I need to re-do the top stitch because it is not good. My fabric bunched up, the thread got all knotted, etc. The trouble is that I'm not exactly sure what the problem was this time around. Too much fabric for my machine (there were three layers: outer, inner, & facing)? Or was it the bobbin again? I was having a frustrating time getting my needle threaded, too, so that didn't help at all. Again, Anna is happy with it, but I don't want to let her take it out of the house just yet.

Posted by Becky at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am so much happier with the blanket I made today (very quickly, I might add; it makes a huge difference when you actually know how to run your machine!). So, I whipped up a batch of oatmeal cookies and brought them and this blanket over to my neighbor with the new baby. I did a much better job. The corners weren't perfect but they weren't bad, either. I'm excited to try something new for my next project (probably a tote bag for Anna).

Posted by Becky at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I hope to get some better shots later on this week (Craig had my "real" camera in the trunk of his car but I didn't realize it until I already had the shoot set up...)

Edited 10/31 to add extra photos from this session as Anna's wings didn't really hold up after the Halloween party at our apartments tonight (so no second photo shoot).

Posted by Becky at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have a strong desire to be a crafty person so I decided to sew a "ribbon blanket" for my neighbor's new baby. I should have paid more attention to my mom's instructions on how to use my sewing machine but I think, ultimately, I had to learn through trial and error. This particular blanket will not be my gift to my neighbor because I know how shoddy the inside stitching is. I will make her a new one and actually be proud!

I have a sewing book and a "softies" book that I want to make a few things out of. I'll post pictures when I finish another project.

Posted by Becky at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)