Gingercake

Fun with HST

I bought a stack of solids and finally starting cutting into them using this method.  It's really cool to try if half square triangles interest you!  I love fun sewing tricks, don't you?  I enlarged the fabric pieces to 18" x 18" since I wanted bigger triangles.  The baby enjoyed chewing on the fabric pieces as Cal and I messed around with a quilt design.

She is getting big!  Almost 5 months already.  My original idea was much more random piecing (like this) but my 5 year old was really interested in making a pattern.  I am feeling a little over the chevron look but we were both pleased that it all came together like magic since I didn't even plan on the pattern!  Quilting is super cool like that.

I'll be sure to give more details as I get further along with this project!

Another Spring Break Adventure

Last year we went down to the Smokey Mountains but this year we stayed a little closer to home and took the educational route.  Washington DC is only about 5 hours away from us and we have friends that live close to the city.  We had a great time!  I will admit that parking is tough and the METRO is super expensive for a subway, but once you get on the Mall, the DC experience is fantastic.

Our ambitions we pretty toned down- Travis and I aimed for only a couple of spots on each of the 2 days we were there.  This strategy made everything less stressful.  It was hard to see all those big and beautiful museums and not even attempt to go inside (we did brave the air and space museum but it was super crowded and we only stayed about an hour), but it would have been a nightmare to try and drag them through the lines and crowds.

One of the reasons for the crowds was it is cherrry blossom season.  Due to the cold weather, the trees were only in bud but we did get to see these beautiful Japanese magnolias in bloom.  They looked like heaven after such a long winter!

When asked what their favorite thing about DC was, the kids all agreed that they loved playing in the reflecting pond at the national scuplture garden.  Travis loved the Lincoln Memorial and although I loved it all, I think my favorite part was watching the kids crawl around on Albert Einstein...

And what about the baby?  It turns out almost 5 months is a great time to travel with a baby!  She was content in her stroller and loved all the sound and action.  I admit I was pretty nervous about how she would fare, but she did really well inspite of the interuption in her routine.

We spent 2 days in DC and then traveled back up to Pennsylvania and went to Hershey Park.  What a great park!

I can't handle roller coasters so I was happy to stroll the baby around while Travis and the "big" kids went on the rides.  Hershey park is only open on the weekends right now and have special springtime rates.  The weather was great and the crowds were pretty minimal.  

Did you go anywhere for Spring break?  Do you have any recommendations for next year?  The kids are hoping we take a little trip each year and I am game!  Hope you all are finally enjoying Springtime!

Preschool Valentine Craft

Here is the craft I am doing with Cal's preschool tomorrow morning.  I admit I was a bit of a grumpy baby coming up with this.  First, I waited until this morning to make my plan.  Second, I kept waffling about my plan.  Third, I had to haul Cal and the baby all the way to Micheals!  But now I am happy and think the kids will like making these boquets for their moms.  What do you think?  Are the craft mom for your kid's party?

It is just cupcake liners (3 per flower), pipe cleaners, shredded paper to hold them in, and take out containers (3 for $1!).  Pretty cute and I think the 4 year olds can handle it!

The Studio at Contempo Owl Bag Sewing Class

A couple weeks ago, my friend Amy Frank asked me if she could use the Lola Owl Sewing Pattern for a class she is teaching at the Studio at Contempo in Boalsburg PA (near State College).  I said yes (of course!) and please send me some pictures.  I have heard from past customers that girls this age love to sew up Lola and I wanted to see some proof!

I wish I could have been there to take this class too!  I bet these girls had a blast sewing up their bags.  You can almost hear all the giggling and chatter as they choose their fabrics and work on the sewing machine.

For more information about the classes, visit the facebook page of the Studio here.  Amy is teaching several classes and having a wonderful time sharing her love of sewing with kids and adults.

These girls (and their owls) are totally adorable!  Thanks Amy and great job girls!

 

Sewing with my (Lefty) Daughter

A week or so before school started I asked on the Gingercake Facebook page about ideas for sewing with my 8 year old.  Thank you so much for the good advice!  She decided on making a tote bag together with a pocket on the front to hold some STUFF.

Sewing with my lefty daughter was a bit more of a challenge than I thought.  She had a lot of trouble with my sewing scissors (in fact could barely cut with them at all!) and when she used the rotary cutter, she had to turn it in all sorts of funny angles and then still couldn't get a good cut very easily.  She loved slecting fabric though and using the machine was fun with me helping to guide.  The bag took about 3 hours to make over 2 days.  I tried hard not to rush her although I did feel like the whole project took a lot longer than I planned for a simple first adventure into real mother/ daughter sewing.

This past Saturday we made this cute water bottle cooler (with insulbrite batting!) together before her soccer game.  She wanted it to match her uniform and we had fun searching for just the right colors.  She did most of the sewing and then we put the snaps on together.  This time I did all the cutting since she got all grumpy when I brought out the cutters.  "Do I HAVE to use those again??!!"  Hmm.  Cutting is a really big part of sewing I thought.

So now I see that I can purchase lefty scissors and even a lefty rotary cutter online!  What do you think lefty sewers?  Does she just need to get used to living in a righty world or will the purchase of lefty accessories make sewing that much more fun and accessible for her?    I couldn't find a good child lefty set so it looks like I would have to buy the real (and pretty expensive!) thing for her.  This would certainly be worth it if it meant the difference between having this hobby to share together and her giving up since using my tools is too hard!

 

Scavenger Hunt Adventure

I try to have some sort of outing each day for the kids.  We did not join a pool (I'm not a huge hang at the pool girl anyway) and since I am trying to get ready for a show next weekend, the kids are spending lots of time at home doing not much while I sew away.  I have found that a few hours of concentrated time with them each day seems to fill them up enough that I can get work done the rest of the day.  Eases my mom guilt quite a bit too!

Our daily activities include quick trips to and Aunt's pool, bike rides, the library, visits to friends & last friday was a trip to our local audubon nature reserve with a printed out scavenger hunt.  This was a great hunt- fun and easy.  I was as determined to get it done as the kids were!

After the obligatory playing by the water fall and then playing billy goat gruff on the bridge (this is a tradition that my husband played on this same bridge as a child and we HAVE to play it everytime we come to the sanctuary- I was the big billy goat gruff and although I don't have a picture you can imagine the scene of PG billy goat fake kicking her 4 year old for yourself.), we got down to business on the trail with our hunt.  The whole excursion took about 2 hours.

We also added our own things like seeing a chipmunk, hearing a bull frog and seeing lots of mushrooms...

 The kids actually had to take 3 of the 4 mushroom pics since after taking the first one my ever growing belly was not letting me back down on the ground in that position again.  Good job kids!  Anybody a mushroom expert out there and can tell me what kinds these are?

Most of our simple outings are not too memorable but this one was really nice.  Thanks to chainsg super mom for making up the scavenger hunt list!  I am always looking for easy & FREE ways to help entertain the kids so I hope this may inspire you too!  Now back to that sewing machine...