Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day, we surprised sweet hubby with tickets to an event that I knew he'd love.  He was totally surprised when we told him he'd be playing with baby tigers at an event called 'baby tiger playtime'!  He's a big-cat fan.  

We traveld to a place called Wildlife In Need.  It's in Charleston, IN.  It's north of Louisville, almost towards Cincinnati.  It's a little on the pricey side, but it's a fundraiser and it's a unique experience for sure.  

First we got to play with a Capuchin Monkey.  They had a few babies, this is Harryanna.  She promptly stole Bee's glasses. 

She liked Lou too.  She stole his sunglasses.  Oh man, she was a cuddler. 

Her sister later sat oh Bee's head.  

So once you're in the playtime room, you sit on the floor.  You can sit, lay, crawl, whatever, as long as you stay low.  They first brought out some of the other baby animals, wolf cubs, boar, red fox, and some others.  They let them walk around and play while they talked about them.  

Then they brought out the tigers!  They got their bottles and then they were ready to play!  They moved so fast, but I think there were six in the room, and about 25 of us guests. 

For about 45 minutes, they just walked (or ran) around the room. They'd get distracted and stop and play with a toy for a minute, chase their tail, pounce on their friend, lay down for a belly rub, and just do baby tiger things.

Hubby clearly enjoyed himself! 

Lou's back was favorite perch for several different babies. 

The more animated and lively you were, they more you attracted them.  So, the kids were not without a tiger very long.  This white guy was our favorite. 

We are super glad we got a chance to experience this!  This was one of those things where I thought about it for days and went back and forth... it's too expensive, it's too far to drive, it would take most of a whole day on the weekend... In the end I decided those were all excuses and we need to make sure we're giving the kids experiences with us that they'll remember.  I don't think it's my job to necessarily entertain them all the time and make every day is a party, but I do want them to look back and remember that their childhood was pretty fun.  I think tigers fit the bill perfectly.  

baby shower- the sewing part 2

Yesterday I talked about my little sister's baby shower.  Here are the sewing projects I worked on for her.  I was off of school for the summer and I couldn't start packing the house for the move, so I just sewed! 

She sent me this inspiration picture months ago and I said it was not a hard pattern and I was excited to get to work on it.  I don't know where this picture came from, she just texted it to me. 

source: unknown

My mom made the curtains and I made up the quilt.  I misjudged the size of my quilt squares and ended up with tons of tiny squares.  The ones on my mom's curtains are the size we originally discussed.   They better match the inspiration picture.   

She had some crib sheets she liked delivered to my house and I used them and the inspiration picture to fabric shop.  I went to Joann's to shop since my mom needed to be able to pick up the same fabric a few states away.  I ended up using one of the baby sheets for the back of the quilt along with a strip of squares of fabric from the other side, which I like to do on my quilts.  

I don't know the finished size.  I just kept adding squares until it seems about right.  I think I could have gone just a touch wider.  

I've been seeing these bandana bibs on friend's kids and loved them.  I found a free pattern at White and Bright.    It was easy to follow and really a simple little pattern.  I used up fabric I had on hand.  

 I think we all decided that the lumberjack one was our favorite.  My dog has a matching coat- we call it his hunting jacket.  Pretty sure these are my new go-to baby boy gift. 

I've been waiting for an excuse to crochet edge something after seeing pictures of vintage baby blankets.  I guess this edging was popular int the early 1900's.  I like the juxtaposition of the modern flannels and the vintage edging.   It looked like for awhile that we were purchasing a house built in 1901.  I was looking at pictures getting ideas for decorating and ended off on a tangent. 

I looked for patterns online and ended up experimenting with them and tweaking them to find something I liked.  I sewed two pieces of flannel right sides together, flipped them, then did a zig zag stitch around the outside to help them lay evenly and to use the stitches as my spacing guides.  I used a number 7 hook and number 10 crocket thread.  I made a hole at the bottom of each zig zag stitch.  I could only do one or two at a time or the hole closed up as I was working.  I did two single crochets in each hole.  I had to poke the holes with my little sewing scissors and this proved to be a time consuming process, but it was a great project to take to soccer camp! I Then I did another row of stitching alternating single and double crochet stitches.  I tried a little scallop, but it looked feminine.  

I really love the way it turned out and it was a mindless project, which is nice sometimes.  If you need better directions, I started my research at Sew Chic. 

My sister asked me to sew a boppy cover and even sent a link to a pattern at Vanilla Joy.   Another easy to follow pattern.  The blue checkered fabric was a baby crib sheet from Lou.  The red chevron was from the quilt I made and the other's were picked up at Joann's. 

I ordered a wooded teething ring but didn't like the fabric once it came so I copied the little ear shaped and made a new one.  The other side is one of the red prints.  I think wooden teething rings are precious. 

I found some old PLU fabric from the days of sewing for my babies and knew a wet bag would be an easy little project.  She's not going to cloth diaper, but I think every diaper bag needs one.   

My former go-to baby boy project  is this little crochet newsboys hat.  I bought the pattern years ago from someone on Etsy.  I don't even see her shop anymore.  It's another fast project.  I've printed off the pattern and have it in page protectors because I don't know where to get it anymore. 

The last project was last minute, but easy and fast and might be the most practical gift.  This is a combo item.  Here is the general shape. 

It's a combo car seat cover (light weight), nursing cover, and shopping cart cover.   It's made out of super stretchy fabric that was a little tricky to work with, but at the same time, super forgiving.  Joann's only had five different print/color options for this super stretchy fabric but I do like what I ended up with.  If I make it again, I might go to the nicer fabric store in town and see what they have. This is an item I wish I had had years ago.  I found the tutorial at do it yourself divas.  

As she opened gifts and as I helped her unpack things in the nursery, I realized she doesn't have a baby carrier of any sorts!  It's a travesty! I'll be looking through my patterns and will sew a sling and mei tai carrier.  Because sewing is better than packing up the house! 

Baby shower and lots of sewing part 1

My little sister's baby shower was this weekend.  The kids and I drove up to the farm to stay and got to join in the fun.  And I got poison ivy... I always take a treat home from her house! 

Littlest siter, me, mama to be, Bee, sister in law

sister in law, me, little sister, our mama

It was a fun shower, hosted by her mother in law.  I planned two games and brought the punch.  I was happy to host again if needed, but was so glad when she offered.  We're trying to get ready for a move and I had a lot of sewing projects I wanted to get to for the baby.  I did the bridal shower last year and was glad to share the party planning! 

Isn't she cute?  And she feels super.  It's ok to hate her a little.  She's having a boy- I think I felt worse with Bee than Lou... I just remember I was sick a lot.  All day.  For months. 

I'll share my sewing project tomorrow, but my mom and I teamed up on some goodies for the nursery.  I did the quilt and she did the curtains.  It's a precious little room! 

Lou went, but announced it was mostly for cake. 

The two games I planned were a baby food taste testing and a name that tune game.  I just used a pre-made song compilation I found online. 

We also got to celebrate my mom's birthday.  It's not for two months, but she's moved so far away (11 hours!), we won't see her then.  

My kids always go right for the swing in the tree.  Can you see her- the tiny little thing flying through the air?  I think our new house can have a tree swing! 

My brother and his sweet wife drove down from Michigan and we always enjoy a visit from them.  My brother taught us a new card game he's been playing with his students- exploding kittens.  Here we are learning with our hands showing.  It's was complicated and a little weird, but my kids learned it the next morning and really liked it!