preschool class quilt
Hey look! Starting out the Year of the Tiger with a huge FO. Awesome! And as a chronic procrastinator, I take great pleasure in typing this post. I finished it 2 weeks (!!) before the deadline.
I used mostly kona cotton for the solids and the backing is from Ikea. I had to cut it up a bit to fit the entire back but it worked out. I think it cost about $8 for the roll of Ikea fabric. The batting is low-loft cotton batting, I bought a roll of the twin size with a coupon from Joanns. Before cutting anything up, I washed all the fabric on hot and stuck it in the dryer. I didn’t want the black binding to bleed all over the rest of the quilt.
I had the kids draw on white squares of kona cotton 11X11″ in size. I got this great idea from a friend online–I cut pieces of freezer paper and ironed them onto the back to stabilize the fabric for the kids to draw on. It worked great–the fabric didn’t slide around and it was like drawing on paper.
I used 1/2″ seams for the entire quilt and the double fold binding was 1/2 machine sewn and hand sewn on the back. The finished size turned out to be 54X65.5″. I started hand quilting it but after about 10 minutes I gave up and just ran it through my machine. lol Maybe if I was keeping it for myself I would have tried harder with the hand quilting.
Anyway I’m glad it is all done. If anyone is interested I’ll type out the exact measurements for the fabric. Just leave a comment below! I wonder how much it will fetch at the auction–the teachers say they haven’t had class quilts for a couple of years because no one really sews much anymore.
Thanks for looking!
eta: Some rough measurements 
materials:
kona cotton 44″ wide, washed and dried
1 yd black (binding)
1 yd grey (sashing)
2 yds white (quilt blocks)
1/4 yd light blue (sashing)
1/4 yd yellow (edge)
1/4 yd purple (edge)
1/4 yd pink (edge)
1/4 yd green (edge)
low loft cotton batting, twin size
1 package printed fabric from Ikea, washed and dried
1/2″ seam allowance for the entire quilt
cutting measurements:
white blocks: 11″ squares
light blue corner squares for sashing: 2.5″ squares
grey sashing: 2.5″X11″ pieces
edge: 4″ strips
double fold binding in black–machine sewn on the front and hand stitched on the back side
That’s about it, you should probably get extra fabric just in case there is a mistake in the cutting, I didn’t have much room for error.
Filed under: FOs, crafts with kids, quilts, sewing | 7 Comments
Tags: cute drawings, FO, kids drawings, machine quilted, pastel, preschool class quilt
candy apples!
There is a reason I don’t bake anymore!!!!!! And this is what happens when I make sweets. Eeeeeeeee time to run screaming before you fall into a chocolate coma by looking at these pictures. But once a year is definitely ok, right?!?!?
Here are a ton of pics of our afternoon of fun. The first one is my sweet baby with the maniacal gleam in her eye!
Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments
terrarium tutorial
Whoa it’s December!!! Yay, my favorite month. So today I’m going to post about our little terrarium experiment that we did yesterday. This week is “G” sharing at Micah’s preschool so she decided she wanted to bring a garden to school.
*This was after persuading her to take her squirt gun out of her backpack. (yikes) I do have to give her credit for coming up with something that starts with “G” on her own, though! Man, I think I should start checking her backpack everyday…*
So we made this cute terrariums and that took care of present for dh at the same time. I hid one away so he’ll be getting one for Christmas.
I don’t know why we haven’t made one of these before, it would be a great project for a kid of any age–E-chan had fun with the rocks and did a bit of helping by climbing on the table and trying to grab the dirt. Here’s a little tutorial to help you make your own. They only cost a few dollars to make so it’s a good thrifty gift idea too!
Mini Terrariums
Supplies:
1 pint size glass bottle (I used the wide mouth Kerr jars from Safeway)
3-4 Tbsp of sand
2-3 Tbsp of activated charcoal
rocks, gravel, aquarium gravel, beads, or glass
damp dirt
moss
small plants with roots
little toys
spray bottle of water
chopstick
First go find everything on the list. I went to Petco and got the activated charcoal (which helps filter the air or something like that?), moss, and rocks. You can order moss online and it usually comes dried in a plastic package. In some mysterious way after you wet the moss it comes alive and starts to grow. Wow that is so weird. I tried to find a little package of charcoal but all they had was this big bottle in the fish section. It looks like this:
The moss cost about $6 and we had enough to make 6 pint sized terrariums. I think we put too much in each bottle, so you could stretch that to even more. The moss is probably in the reptile section of the pet store. The one I got is called “frog moss”.
Ok so I made this fancy diagram for you guys since we didn’t take pictures while we were making these (I didn’t think they would turn out!). And the baby was eating the dirt so it was hard to do everything at once.
It’s pretty easy! You just layer everything in there and spray it with the spray bottle. Use the chopstick to move things around and to make holes for the plants. I used dirt from outside our apartment, and also dug up some little plants that were growing around the sprinklers. The dirt was already damp so you should probably spray the dirt before putting it in the bottle if you get dry dirt.
The best part was finding things to put inside. I made button mushrooms for mine. P.S. Use E6000 to glue the buttons together, that shit is awesome. (Although carcinogenic so open a window when you use it) M put some toys in there.
I think those are my plastic animals from when I was little…we have all kinds of weird stuff around. Polymer clay figures would go great too, and I saw a plastic chair and fridge on Etsy that would go GREAT in one of these! Here it is: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32525772 (Not sure how big it is, though) The other ones have beads, buttons, and shells in them. How cute would it be to have themed gardens for each season!!
I’m not so sure about how to take care of them–supposedly you only have to water them 1X a month and trim the plants so they don’t get too big. If the jar gets too damp, take the cover off and air it out for a day. Too much water will kill your ecosystem, apparently. I hope ours live for a while!
This post is brought to you by a packet of VIA instant coffee, a piece of marionberry pie and whipped cream, a well timed nap, and preschool. YAY for blogging! YAY for free time! AND NOW IT’S OVER because I have to go pick M up from school.
Please please comment if you make a terrarium and link me to your photos. Thanks so much!!! Remember, these make great gifts on a budget!!
Filed under: apartment living, crafts with kids, environment, gardening, home sweet home, rainy day crafts, tutorials | 4 Comments
Tags: beads, dirt, gardening, glass mason jar, indoor, kids, moss, plants, terrarium tutorial, terrariums, tiny ecosystem, toys
happy turkey day!
Um whoops? I am averaging about a blog post a month. lol
K here’s proof of us still alive in our pajamas after an exciting session of eyebrow plucking.
God my camera is just a little too good at taking sharp photos, so I made it real small. ha ha ha
So we’ve been pretty busy with M now in preschool. She is doing great there and loves it. I’m all for homeschooling correctly but let’s face it, I DO NOT have the patience to give her what she needs in terms of interaction with other kids, and well…just patience in general. Plus, I went to public school so I’m a fan.
M’s preschool is a co-op so I have to work there once a week. I was catching every germ for a while but now it seems to be ok so it’s a lot more fun. We also have these “jobs” that are supposed to be done and one of my jobs was to make the December name tags. I made penguins–aren’t they cute? Sort of winterish, rite? I tried to make them pc and not just Christmasy. lol The important pieces are sewn on so hopefully they won’t lose too many body parts. Used E6000 (yeah baby) for the eyeballs and felt glue (yes this exists!!) for the shapes.
The names of the kids in M’s class are kind of crazy! There are 2 Jacks, 2 Dominics, 2 Aidens, and 2 sets of twins. ?? So weird.
Micah took it upon herself to make her own rendition of a penguin. So cute!!
So M’s off of school today so we are going to try and figure out what to do for decorations this year. Also, I have to work on this class quilt that I somehow agreed to make for the school auction. Yikes, I better get to cutting. Ok hope to be back to post more soon. ♥
Oh wait! I almost forgot. We have been getting ready for M’s school days by packaging up her outfits–she can choose which bag she wants to wear that day. The ziplock has everything she needs–shirt, pants, socks, and underwear. It is working! So if you have trouble with getting your kids dressed, you might try doing this on Sundays. Also on my very LONG to-do list is to make cute drawstring bags with the day of the week on them so we can hang them on the wall. Let me know how it works out and I may try to make some for my Etsy shop!
Filed under: crafts with kids, holidays, organization, sewing | 1 Comment
Tags: coop school, crafts, felt, getting dressed, kids and clothes, nametags, organization, organizing, penguins, preschool
kitchen
Popping in to post some kid lunches!
ww pasta w/jar spaghetti sauce, steamed vegetables, and chicken breast
The kids love eating tortillas and cheese–M wants to eat them for breakfast sometimes. This time I put in some baby spinach.
Lots of times I find half eaten pieces under the table or inside of books–I think I have E-chan to blame for that!
And for the last pic of the day, my clean kitchen floor! It usually has crap stuck all over it and cereal swept to the corner, but I figured out how to get it super clean! I got a magic eraser and went to town on the linoleum. So easy and now it’s squeaky clean!! I have to use gloves to use those things and I’m not really sure how they work, but I’m ok with that if my floor is this easy to clean all the time. Yay!
Filed under: bento, cleaning, cooking, home sweet home, kitchen | 6 Comments
Tags: bento bako, cleaning, cooking, kids, kitchen, lunch, lunch boxes, magic eraser
?
Wow I can’t even think of a title. lol Running low on brain cells, plus I am finally going to admit that I am sick. It just hits you like a truck when the weekend comes around, doesn’t it? Sorry to leave you that last post with the big plate of hot dogs. Blech. Here is something to cleanse your palate:
We ate tacos for like 3 days in a row. Good thing the people I live with don’t complain too much about the food. I’m so lucky! These just have salmon and cheese, but on a different night I added some black beans. Canned….I’m not that organized, guys. I’ll give you my salsa recipe so you don’t have to buy jarred salsa.
Salsa
2 Roma tomatoes
1 small cucumber
1/4 onion
cilantro
2 stalks green onion
jalapeno peppers
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
rock salt
Cut up the tomatoes and cucumbers into little cubes and sprinkle on a tiny bit of rock salt. Chop up the onion, green onion, cilantro, and peppers (I never have fresh jalapeno peppers so I just use the dried red pepper flakes) and add them all to the tomato and cucumbers. Add the olive oil and lemon/lime juice and let the salsa sit for about 15 minutes at room temperature. Wow so easy, right? Now go make some and leave me comments on what you eat with salsa. Chips do not count. CHIPS ARE THE DEVIL! I can’t buy them anymore because I seem to eat the whole bag. Must be the salt—mmmm, salt.
Filed under: cooking, health, home sweet home, kitchen, recipes | 1 Comment
october
K hot dogs are kinda gross (make that really gross), but M wanted to make these from this Halloween magazine we got at Barnes & Noble. Can you tell what they are? Mummies! With mustard dots for eyeballs! They are wrapped with those refridgerated breadsticks that you can bake in the oven. I think these were in there for about 20 min.
I so should not have made these, but M wanted to make some cupcakes. I used yogurt in place of all the oil and they turned out totally yummy! Ok so maybe they would have been healthier if I had not made them at all…
Filed under: cooking, crafts with kids, holidays, kitchen, recipes | 6 Comments
Tags: cooking, hot dogs, kids, mummies, october
bento bako 2.0
Lunch for the kiddies:
rice with furikake
chicken and vegetables
mini muffin and strawberries
Look at these cool lunch bags we got from Whole Foods! They were only about $1.50. COOL!
Filed under: bento, cooking, health, home sweet home, kitchen, recipes | Leave a Comment
Tags: bento, food, kids, lunch, recipes, snacks
tuna mac and cheese
I was at Whole Foods the other day buying some fruit and vegetables (pretty much the only thing I buy there because I can easily drop $100 without knowing it!) and there was this display with these mac and cheese boxes and cans of tuna.
So I bought a couple of boxes and for dinner we had this totally easy yummy tuna mac and cheese with vegetables.
All I did was cook the pasta and add the cut up broccoli to the pasta water 4 minutes before the pasta is done. I like to mix the cheese powder with milk in a separate bowl (don’t believe the writing on that box of mac and cheese, there is nothing “natural” about powdered cheese!!!). Then I added some butter to the pot and heated up the tuna and some sauteed kale that was leftover from the night before. Then I put the pasta back in and added the cheese powder mixture. Super easy dinner, and everyone liked it. This is two boxes of mac and cheese, btw. They eat a lot.
Here’s a picture of my plate–of course I dump pepper and chili pepper flakes all over it. Hmmm those are paper plates and dessert spoons…..every single dish and utensil was dirty but I’m not even going to complain about that right now. I figure it’s a success if the kids eat at least 1 green colored vegetable thing a day.
Oh and one more funny picture of E-chan’s favorite thing to do these days…and yes my kitchen floor is always that dirty and cluttered. Okay I admitted it!
Filed under: apartment living, cooking, home sweet home, kitchen, recipes | 3 Comments
Tags: cooking, dinner, easy, kids, mac and cheese, recipe
bento bako 1.9
I think I am liking this preschool thing. I get to drink a lot more coffee AND I have time to blog now! Blogging makes my blog happy, it’s been so neglected lately. Once a week M goes to school 30 min early to eat lunch with the other kids. Here’s her food for last Wednesday. Grandma in Japan sent her a brand new hello kitty lunch box with a bunch of bento accessories, isn’t it cute? VERY pink. LOL I kind of worry the teacher might get annoyed with M and all her “stuff” that needs to get put back in the bag but I figure I’ll wait until I get a complaint before sending something with a little fewer parts. Plus M is really into tying knots these days–you never know when you will find something completely tied in knots around here.
And little sister’s:
rice balls, frozen vegetables, boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, and tea
Filed under: bento, cooking, health, home sweet home, kitchen, parenting, recipes | 4 Comments
Tags: bento, child, eating, first day, food, kid, lunch, preschool, snacks
-
-
-
Blogroll
