Mortie the Monstapus!

So while Niall was napping one evening, I decided to make him something (since I never make him anything crafty, which I realized and wanted to fix immediately!). I decided to make him a little foot warmer because he has poor circulation and his feet are always cold. But I wanted it to be a very cute foot warmer, so I came up with this!

I originally wanted to make a monster with little fangs, but he ended up looking like a monster-octopus, so we named him a monstapus.

 Sorry for the bad lighting, it was late at night. I was so thrilled with Mortie's original shape, and when I sewed him he shrunk and I was really sad. I've learned that when you make little stuffed things you want to account for lost material.

Anyway, first I cut out the shape I wanted him to be. Then I cut out little eyes and a mouth, and sewed both of those on. Next I sewed the body together, right sides together and left a little hole so I could flip it right-side out and fill it with rice.

 A knitting needle really helped me poke out all the holes.

So there's poor little Mortie before he got stuffed (his head is so small!).

 Filling with rice...

And Ta-Da! There he is! I thought he looked a bit silly, but Niall LOVES him. He is so excited about him, and he wants me to make more animals for him, ha! He also came up with the name Mortie. I intend to make him a large rectangle-shaped ricebag for when winter actually hits, because Mortie is too small to even cover one of his feet!

Fabric Lunchbag!

I used some of my favorite fabric to make a lunch bag for my first day of school last Monday. I think it's pretty cute! It doesn't hold it's shape very well, but it works!

I used this tutorial to make the bag. Mine is a little smaller because I didn't have quite enough fabric, but it doesn't hold the shape like the fabric in the tutorial, so it's alright. Here's the basic shape.

After sewing them together, here's how the corner looked (it took me a bit to figure it out).

 And here's the bag all finished!

 It really didn't want to stay upright for me to take a picture.

So there you go, and now I have a new lunch bag for school! :)

Fabric Footrest

Ever since I saw Amy Butler's Gumdrop Pillows I've wanted to make a footrest. We don't have a coffee table and I always want to put my feet up on something. I found this tutorial and thought, "I can do that!" So I did.

I cut out all the pieces. I didn't have a large piece of material like in the tutorial, and I wanted to make it more colorful, so I sewed several smaller pieces of fabric together to make up the longer one.

Here is the long piece all sewn together.

I had to pin the long piece all the way around the circle, which I had never done before. I found that my long piece was a few inches too short (as you can see on the bottom left), so I used a small piece of one of my newest fabrics to fill in the gap.

Here is one side all sewn together. I then had to pin the other side of the long piece to the other circle and sew that together.

I actually used about twice as much stuffing as is shown here. I even cut up an old pillow and used that! I also made a great discovery- stuffing is super duper cheap at Goodwill! I literally only paid about $4 for all of this.

And the stuffing begins. I had no idea how to do this, but it took forever.

And here it is! Niall is showing off how nice it is to put his feet up.

I still haven't sew the opening together where I was inserting the stuffing. I am planning on putting a bit more stuffing in it because it is not as firm as I want it. It's also a bit bulky, but I think it's because it needs more stuffing. But it will definitely do for now!

Sleeping Bag Zip Pull

The weekend before we went to Montana, we went camping with Niall's parents and our nephew. I wanted to make something to help me get my new sleeping bag open and closed fast because I get a little claustrophobic in it sometimes. So I made this scrappy sleeping bag zip pull.

First sew the scraps together.

Then fold them over length-wise and sew down the open side

Pin a safety pin to one side and push it through to flip the fabric right side out.

Then sew to the zipper and you're done!

I really like this zipper pull because it's cute and helpful and differentiates Niall's sleeping bag from mine, since they look exactly the same.

More antique finds!

My mom and I went to an outdoor antique vendor sale at this amazing place near Newport, WA called The Foxwood Tea House. We found so many great things! Then after we shopped we had tea and scones in the tea house. It was so fun and dainty, we fully intend on going back for high tea sometime!

I am obviously getting into jar collecting. I just love them! I've put everything in them- from spools of thread to pasta. They are great for everything. And cute! I've decided I really like the blue jars the most. And the lightening jars (with the metal hook). I got very spoiled with all of these. My mom and I stopped in at a local "garage sale" in the middle of nowhere and found all kinds of junk, and she spoiled me and bought me all three of the lightening jars.

 I've been looking for a little stool for a long time. I'm so short and I can never reach the top of our kitchen cabinets, it drives me crazy! So I was extremely happy when I found this little guy. I'm currently in the process of painting and sanding it, so watch for that in a later post.

 I love love love these old windows. I have a few ideas for them, but haven't decided exactly what I want to do with them just yet. With school starting on Monday, I probably won't get around to finishing them for awhile. But I do have plans... ;)

The Dirty Dash 2011!

One of my best friends Phoebe and I signed up for a 10K mud/obstacle race this summer called The Dirty Dash. It was so much fun! A beautiful course, silly costumes and friendly fellow runners made it a great time. Here are some highlights of our race!

Look how clean we are!

Should we go over or under?

Under it is!

We did it!

 Pretty darn fun!

What a blast. Challenging but fun.

We fully intend on making this a yearly tradition. It was a beautiful but really challenging course. We got a few scrapes, bloody knees and bloody heels, but it was totally worth it. :)

Summer 2011 Vacation!

Well, Niall and I ran off to Montana this last week for a nice vacation. It was actually very eventful. Here are some of our favorite highlights...

We started out Sunday morning with Niall's Triathlon in Spokane. It was a beautiful morning!

So proud of him!

 Later that day we headed over to Libby, MT. Papa Rod made Niall cook him omelets for breakfast. :)

 Day on the River in the driftboat

 Seriously beautiful.

 This was the only picture we took this day. We bought a mini plastic boat and it was very... small. Made for an interesting little ride on the lake. It was definitely made for one person. As in one child. Ha!

Next was the Swinging Bridge!

 We went to Ross Creek Cedars in Montana, which had some HUGE trees! Can you even see me in this photo?! It was awesome.

And finally, The Lookout! I booked an old fire lookout for us on top of Baldy Mountain/Buckhorn Ridge in Montana. It was one of the most interesting experiences!

Beautiful sunset.

And there she is! The Lookout! It was a very unique experience that I'm glad we got to enjoy. It was so strange being in the middle of nowhere, up on top of a mountain at 6500 feet, with no one for miles and miles. A bit freaky, but very awesome!

For the end of the week, it was off to my dad's ranch in Cascade, MT! 

 We rode the fourwheelers, Niall made his first kill (makes me cringe a bit!), went fishing, and went to the Montana State Fair. A nice way to finish off the week!

A different kind of beautiful.

:)