Last Minute Halloween Costume

Do you need a quick Halloween costume?  I came up with this idea for our trunk-or-treat tonight.

 Use felt and two clips

 Hot glue ovals to clips

Put a dab of glue and pinch the ears.  Glue on to the clips and let sit for a minute.

Ta Da! I just need to paint my nose and whiskers on.  I'm still debating on whether or not to wear a tail.

Have a Happy Halloween!

My First Giveaway

A few posts ago I showed you some of my halloween decorations.

Did you notice something similar in each picture?

It's the pumpkins of course.  My mom and sister have fun little company called Annie Janes.

For my first giveaway I am offering a twelve inch pumpkin from their company.

Click here to see what exactly I'm offering.
 I will let the winner pick the fabric. 

These are great because you can keep them up for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

To enter the giveaway, please:
1. Comment on THIS blog entry.

2. One entry per person.

3. Contest will close this Saturday, October 30th at midnight (PST).

4. PLEASE leave your e-mail address if it's not attached in Blogger - I need some way to reach you..

Goodluck!

Train Quilt

Do you ever feel like people hate your children?  I took mine to the fabric store and the oldest one wanted to tickle the youngest.  The youngest doesn't like to be touched--so he would scream each time my oldest would touch him.  At one point an employee came running back to see if everything was okay.  I was a bit confused as to why she was running back to help me--then I remembered that most people aren't used to little voices shrieking for no apparent reason.  My fabric was cut at record speed--other employees came to get us out of there as fast as possible help.  Last time we were there my daughter set off the emergency exit alarm.  Fun times!

I only have two children--how do people shop or get anything done with more children?  

Back to the shopping trip.  My little guy saw this train fabric amongst all the fabric and starting yelling "Choo! Choo!"  I pulled it out to quiet him and thought it was pretty cute fabric.  I'm not a big fan of panel quilts--it kind of takes the fun out of quilting--in my opinion.  When we got to the cutting table I tried to sneak the fabric back but he saw it and wanted it cut.  It was a good deal so I got it.  This last weekend my parents were in town and my mom brought her sewing machine. 

She was able to piece a border together--it went together perfectly.  The corners lined up and we didn't really measure anything.  After the top was put together I pinned the front, batting and back.  My mom wanted to get out and enjoy the amazing weather and took the kids to the park.  While she was out I quilted it.  I love her sewing machine and realized that I have outgrown mine--I'm not so much a beginner anymore.

Do you like the gloves?  I needed the traction so my hands wouldn't hurt after I was done, it worked great.

We wanted a simple border and loved how it turned out.

The background tied the colors in perfectly, and worked well with the quilting.

The yellow binding and small border on the front helped the quilt to "pop"

Have any fun fabric store shopping experiences?

Doughnuts--you MUST make these

I've seen this recipe around and thought I would give it a go.  Oh my!  They were delicious.  This recipe is going in the binder and is now a new family favorite.  

This is a horrible picture with bad lighting because it was at night, these were so good there weren't any left in the morning.  My hubby made the dough for me because he stayed home from church with a sick child--he did a great job.  Ree Drummond on the Pioneer Woman does a great job explaining every little detail of the recipe.  I did purchase a thermometer, it only cost $3.75! 
The doughnuts were just sweet enough. The outside was crisp with a perfect fluffy inside that melted in your mouth. The kiddos loved the doughnut holes--just right for little hands.

Here is the picture of Ree's doughnuts just in case you weren't tempted by my treats.

Mine did look like this, I promise. 
Eat them with a little fresh Apple Cider and you will be in Fall heaven.

Halloween Kids Craft

Doing crafts with children can raise your blood pressure.  It's messy, if you are a control freak it is hard to let a child do something that could end in a mess.  That being said I think this project is doable and fun for everyone for children ages 4 and up.  My little guy was taking a nap, I wouldn't have attempted this if he had been awake.

I bought a 5 pack of t-shirts at Walmart along with some fabric paint.  We had a cousin visiting us for a few days and wanted him to make a souvenir.  We did this project outside, because the weather was fantastic and paint on grass is easy to clean.  Before we started I set a few ground rules:

1. Squeeze gently.

2. Use one paint at a time.

3.  Recap the paint when you are done with it.

Here is a spider web--I taught the children how to squeeze gently.  For the most part they were really good about not squeezing out too much.  My princess made a huge pile of white paint--when it dried it was much flatter.  They had such a great time doing this.

I also bought matching sweats and added a spider web to the side of one of the legs.  One of the webs is sliver, the other is glow-in-the-dark.  I would suggest buying an extra glow-in-the-dark bottle, it is a popular color.

Memories and Fun...what more could you ask for?

Sundress & Bloomers

I know it's October and it is Fall and it is getting cold outside, but I couldn't resist making a sundress and bloomers for a baby shower gift.  The fabric was just asking to be shirred and made into something cute for a little girl.

I made the dress without a pattern, the bloomer pattern can be found here.

If you haven't tried shirring yet, you should--it's fun and easy.

Halloween 2009

Should I feel guilty that I bought my little guys costume this year?  It was $12 at Costco--how could I pass it up when it would cost me more in material and time to make it?  For my little girl she wants to be Sleeping Beauty--at our house she is called Cinda-cutie.  I had to convince her that she really didn't want to be Penny, from Bolt.  Once she saw all the princess costumes at Target she said she changed her mind.  I have all the satin and just need to sit down and design and make the costume.  Here is a peek at her princess costume from last year.

This dress a was a bit heavy because it had 15 yards of material.

She looked quite the part as Belle.

 The inspiration

The pattern.  I know Belle's dress is off the shoulders--but a 3 year old does not need to dress like an adult.

I'm linking up here and hope you will to, give us all some costume inspiration.

Candy Corn Circle Skirt

After my fun with the circle skirts I wanted to make a skirt for Halloween.

These are some of my favorite Halloween candy and were the inspiration for the skirt.

Three layers, each a different size circle.

I love the way this turned out.

Perfect circles, in perfect Halloween colors.

The flower was the corner of the skirt that you cut out for the waist--I cut the white and orange circles down, folded and gathered the middle and stitched to keep in place.  The flower itself is just safety pinned to the skirt, because the edges aren't finished I didn't want it fraying too much in the wash.

Happy Halloween!