Jersey Knit Infinity Scarf

I'm so excited about my latest sewing project - a scarf!  What's more exciting is how fast, easy and cheap it was to make!  Seriously.  You need to make one.  Now! 

I've been eyeing up a very similar scarf at Lululemon for quite some time now, but I just can't justify paying $58 for it.  Last night I went to Fabricland for their 50% off sale and scored some great jersey knit fabric.  I LOVE this purple colour.  Not only is the colour great but the fabric is SO soft!  I couldn't wait to turn it into a scarf.  I followed this YouTube tutorial, where I learned this tube type of scarf is called an "infinity scarf", and whipped it up in no time.

This scarf is really versatile, as you can wear it as one long loop, or wrapped around your neck two or three times.

Or, you can wrap it behind your shoulders for a little summer cover-up, or shawl.  How cool is that!?

I loved this scarf so much that I immediately sewed up another one with one of the other fabrics I bought.  It's a pretty aqua and deep charcoal with a thick stripe.

I apologize for the photo shoot, but it's better to see the scarf in action than on a table!  Plus, my husband wanted to try out a new lens for the camera!

Happy Birthday Lily!

Oh, my!  The time has truly disappeared and given me a 4 year old!  

My sweet, precious little Lily turned 4 on May 30th.  Hubby and I toasted to being parents for 4 years.  Crazy!  We still remember the night, morning and afternoon of her birth like it was yesterday.  Yes, it was a long one, but so special and miraculous.

We celebrated Lily's birthday at one of our great local parks, just like last year.  It was the perfect day.  Although calling for rain and thunderstorms, we completely lucked out and didn't have either.  It was a bit of a pinwheel themed party, so I had fun sneaking in a few pinwheels here and there.  I made my own pinwheels out of scrapbooking paper.  They were really easy to make and they look adorable.  I used them for display in some large mason jars and I made some smaller ones to put on top of the cake.  Here's the tutorial I used.  I bought a bunch of big, colourful pinwheels to display all around the tent and then sent them home with the kids as favors.  It worked out perfect!  They were colourful and fun and everyone loved watching them spin in the wind.

I made some pinwheel puff pastry treats, one was pizza and the other pesto, and then a variety of pinwheel wraps (pb & j, cream cheese and cucumber, salsa and sour cream), along with the usual party food. 

 

I made the birthday banner for Lily's birthday last year.  It has been used for every family birthday since.  Definitely worth making one!

 

That's one giant pink cake!  Lily wanted both vanilla and chocolate, so I layered them on top of each other and covered them with delicious buttercream icing.

Lily was so happy that the weather cooperated and she was able to play in the splash pad.  All the kids had a blast running through the cold water.

 

 

You know I love sugar cookies so having an excuse to make some new ones was pure fun.  I had the idea to make Lily's head into a sugar cookie to hand out as favors, along with the toy pinwheels.  I just wasn't sure where I would find a cookie cutter in the shape of a head, so I made my own.  It was actually really easy to do.  I followed this tutorial.  What would I do without the internet?!  I decorated them with my usual Meringue Powder Icing.  They turned out really well, and looked pretty similar to Lily, I must say so myself!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate Lily's birthday with us!  We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends!

Pretty Little Knit Stuffed Bunny

I'm sure I've told you before that my sister-in-law (my husband's sister) is a very crafty, talented young lady.  Well, look at this adorable little bunny she knit for my daughter's 2nd birthday back in April!  It arrived in the mail and brought a huge smile to all our faces.  The wool is so soft and beautiful and coordinated together in the prettiest of colours.  Look at those little Mary Jane shoes!  Too sweet!

 

 

 

Little V loves her sweet bunny, as you can see.  Thanks again, Auntie Marybeth!

   

Busy Spring

Hello-o-o-o!  Sorry for my absence, but spring is a busy time around here!

Here's a few snippets of what I've been up to lately... Gardening. Picnics. Gardening. Birthday parties. Gardening. T-Ball. Gardening. Trike-a-Thon for charity (Cystic Fibrosis Canada). And of course, some sewing! 

Seriously, the garden has been a lot of work this year.  On top of our usual list of things to do in the spring, we started our own plants this year from seed and built a fence around our veggie garden to keep out the bunnies.  It still needs some painting, but for the most part, things are finished.  For now.  Phew, exhausted just telling you about it!

Oh, to add to the exhaustion, I did the 10K Sulpher Springs Trail Run on Saturday. I felt like a kid again racing in the woods.  I had even run on some of the trail before when I was a kid running cross country.  It was a great race.  I was happy to only be running the 10K and not the 100 miler, like many participants were doing.  Crazy!  As I enjoyed a huge Indian dinner that night I thought of those poor buggers still racing in the woods!

I have a back log of posts to share so stay tuned.  I promise I'll be back quicker!

Friends birthday party.

Girls decorated their bikes for the preschool Trike-a-Thon.

Getting the garden ready and building the fence.

Blastball!

Little L's first soccer game.  Little V proudly wearing L's old uniform.

A true sign of spring - seedlings!

Decorative Fabric Kite

I don't know about you, but with spring, comes many, many jobs!  It seems like our To Do List keeps getting bigger, rather than smaller.  Most of the work that needs to be done is outdoor maintenance, but of course we add to the list, like building a picket fence this spring.  We had several determined bunnies in our yard last year that we must keep out of our veggie garden this year.  We also decided to start most of our veggies from seed this year, which meant veggie gardening started in March rather than May.  As my husband says, we have a little grow op in our basement!

But moving on... let's check one thing off my list... a blog post!

I made a cute little fabric kite to hang on the wall in the girls playroom.  I looks so sweet.

It was fairly easy to make and as you can see, I whipped it up without paying too much attention to detail.  This is something I rarely do, if ever!  But, I knew it would still look as lovely hanging on the wall in the play room whether or not the seams were sewn perfectly!  

To get started, I drew a template of a kite on freezer paper, cut it out and then cut four triangles of fabric to sew together.  After sewing the triangles together I sewed a quick hem along the edges.  I made some really basic little triangles and sewed them to the corners to create little pockets to tuck some wooden dowels underneath to create a frame for the kite.  Then I tied on some twine at the bottom for the string and I tied little scraps of fabric to it for an extra cute kite look.  Do those things have a name, or a purpose, other than looking cute?! 

Flying a kite is a great springtime activity.  Now we have to get outside and fly our real one!