Bib Towels

It has been raining non stop for a month now. OK, maybe not non stop, but pretty close. We get one nice day and then BAM! five days of rain. I am so over it, I just want some sun. I want to play outside, go swimming, and eat popsicles. One a positive note, (I am trying to be more positive lately) this incessant rain has forced me to clean up the house, move things around, clean out, donate, and get rid of clutter. It also finally gave me no excuse not to find out how to make hand towels into bibs. My friend had her little girl wearing one at M's birthday party and I again thought how I need to get more made. These aren't new, they have been around forever, but since I finally figured out how to make them, I thought I would share. If you know your way around a sewing machine, these babies will take you about 5 minutes. For you non-sewers out there, it may take you a few minutes longer, or you can just cheat like I did, I will explain below.

A couple months ago a nice neighbor brought me this fun bib to church for my sweet babe. I put it on baby M and I was in love! He couldn't take it off, which is what happens with most bibs, and it covered him so well that not a drop of food got on his clothes. Since that never happens I knew I had to make a few more.

After a fruitful IKEA trip I found some super cute towels for my bibs. I will admit, I splurged. I usually hunt around, find the deal, and love getting something super cute for cheap. This time I just went for the cute, honestly, I didn't have time to hunt for the deal. Splurging ever now and again is OK right? We all do it, or am I alone? Don't worry I saved money on other things, and I stayed within my budget.

I gathered my supplies. I used the blue one as my pattern and I was lucky enough that my Mother-in-law already had some white ribbing, woo woo!
You take your ribbing fold it in half and measure your baby's head. You want to stretch it a little bit since you will be stretching the bib over the head to put it on your babe.
Hand towel size is the perfect size for these bibs, I decided to put the neck line 3/4 of the way over, giving more fabric to the front of the bib.
Fold your towel in half and cut a small circle. Cut it small, a little at a time, constantly trying it on your baby. You DO NOT want to cut it too big, otherwise it won't work with your ribbing and won't fit as well. Cut a little, try it on, cut a little, try it on, until it just barely fits over your baby's head. If your baby is anything like mine, they will absolutely DETEST this process, and try to crawl away from you as fast as possible when they see you with that striped towel.
Once you have your hole cut out, you just sew in the ribbing, with it still folded in half. Just stich around the ribbing and the towel and it will turn out something like this....

Confession time, you all know I don't sew, this last part I did not do myself. My Mother-in-law was kind enough to sew the ribbing in for me. Aren't I lucky to have such a nice MIL? It turned out perfect and I love them! Since I splurged, I was only able to make 2, I would like a bunch more. Now I will be on the look out for some bargain ones.

Speaking of my fruitful IKEA trip, I CANNOT wait to show you what else we got. It is amazing, are you intrigued yet?

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

I wish I could say these eggs were ones I made, but alas, they are Martha's. She never ceases to amaze me with all of her talent. Though I may not be able to decorate them as cute as Martha, I do have a fool proof method for hard boiling eggs, for the perfect yoke and easy peeling. Before this I used to guess how long to boil the eggs, then some times I would end up with that yucky gray ring around the yolks. The other tricky thing was trying to figure out the perfect way to peel them without breaking the whites. You especially want them to be pretty if you are making deviled eggs, at least I do. I found this "recipe" in my favorite family recipe book (next to my Mom's of course), you may remember that is where I got my pizza dough recipe from. This method is the best, I have had lots of perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs since trying it. Also, a trick, before you peel your eggs, roll them on the counter, I have found this helps a lot with the peeling as well.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to a boil, cook 2 to 3 minutes, then turn heat off and let sit for about 20 minutes. Put in cold water, then store in the fridge.

-I have also found if you roll them around in your saucepan a few times before the water reaches a boil, it will put the yokes in a good place.

On another note, I am 95% done with all my birthday party projects. I have to make a couple things today, then the rest will be done when I get back from the Easter holiday. Here is one of the projects that got finished up this week......
My dot garland. I love it. I found this cute idea over at the Purl Bee. This garland was perfect for me for a couple reasons. First, EASY project for a non sewer like myself, you sew a line down the middle of the dots with invisible thread. So even if you can't sew in a straight line, which I can't, no one will know, because the thread is invisible. woo woo! Second, it is great because it is super cheap! My budget for this extravaganza is super small, so using some felt I already had, and invisible thread, dirt cheap. I even ended up buying 2 sheets of felt, it cost me a whopping $.50.

Have I told you my theme for my son's birthday? I can't remember if I have or if I am keeping it a secret. Any guesses with the color scheme from the garland?

Dig it out and use it up!

I have been Spring Cleaning for the past week, and one thing that I realized, is that I collect too much stuff throughout the year. I am from a long line of collectors. My grandfather had an entire orchard of things, mostly machinery, that he collected. My mother has a couple craft rooms filled with her wonderful collections. If I had the luxury of a craft room, it would be filled to the brim with crafts and my collections. It's probably a good thing that I don't own more square footage, because I keep way too much stuff as it is.

One of the things that I collect, and would love to use in my home, is vintage sheets. I buy them with the intent to use them in a sewing project, but it's too hard for me to cut them to bits.



I also collect fabric. It seems that whenever I find fabric that's on clearance, if it's in a shade of color I like, I buy a couple yards. This little obsession has led to quite a few baskets FULL of fabric.



I had a couple sick kiddos this weekend, so we couldn't leave the house. I decided it was a good time to get to work on some quilt covers for my girls. I was able to dig through my baskets of fabric and pull together some fabrics that coordinated well enough for this project.

My first attempt... big floral in the center was a little too over-powering. When I laid it on the bed, I didn't like it at all.



Second attempt...I love a plaid and floral mix, but wanted a little more color.


Final attempt... I found this cute plaid, buried in a basket, after I had cut all my green plaid strips. I started over with the multi-colored plaid. It may be too busy for some, but i think it's FUN!

Around the Town Tuesday...featuring Ogden's Christmas Village

We took a trip up to Ogden this past week to visit the Christmas Village. It was my first time there, and it was a really fun experience. The kids LOVED looking into all the little houses to see the unique ways they were decorated, Each one was charming and original, and it was a great Christmas activity to enjoy.


Western Santa....

and little elves hard at work.



Nutcracker collections.


Vintage Christmas, my FAVORITE!




Look there's even a stocking hung just for me...


This past weekend was CRAZY busy for me, because I was sewing Christmas skirts for my girls. It was my first attempt to sew anything "nice", and it was really HARD. It would have been easier if I had used an actual skirt pattern, but I thought I'd wing it. They actually turned out okay, and I got a lot of compliments. Next time I will start WEEKS in advance.

Making your own dress for a $1 a day: Weekend Website

A new dress everyday? Yes, please! One of my friends sent me a link to her favorite blog New Dress A Day, and I am LOVING it! Marisa decided to forgo traditional shopping for a year, buy a new dress a day, and make it fabulous! I am jealous for so many reasons. I don't sew, I had a rather unfortunate experience in junior high with making a monkey, his ears are on the inside of his head. Marisa does an amazing job of making these dresses go from drab to fab all on her $1 a day budget! Check out what she did with this beauty and have a great weekend!