Fun Day Sunday!

I usually do my Fun Day Sunday post on Wednesday, but am doing it a couple days early this week. These posts provide simple craft activities to go with wonderful children's books...or at least that's the impression we want to give the kiddos. The ulterior real motive is to help those children acquire great literacy skills and a love of reading.

Children LOVE this week's book, with its beautiful illustrations of Rainbow Fish's shimmering, sparkling rainbow scales.

I am all about sneaking in a character lesson whenever possible, and this book does a great job of that. Because of his lovely scales, Rainbow Fish starts off the story as the most beautiful fish in the sea. However, Rainbow Fish KNOWS he's gorgeous...he's quite conceited about his good looks and is extremely rude to the other (plain-looking) fish. It doesn't take long before none of the other fish will play with him. Through the help of a wise octopus, Rainbow Fish learns to share and ends the book with only one shimmering scale, but with a boatload of friends (couldn't resist the bad pun. Sorry.)

So, as you read the book, remember to ask our comprehension questions: "Oooh, what do you think will happen next??", "Why do you think the other fish won't play with Rainbow Fish?", etc. You can also have your child retell the story, focusing on the beginning, middle and end of the story.

The craft is simple enough! Cut a wedge out of a paper plate (a wedge that's less than 1/4 of the plate works great), staple it to the other end of the plate, then have your child draw an eye above the mouth. Allow your child to decorate the fish by gluing on pieces of tissue paper and ONE piece of aluminum foil for Rainbow Fish's remaining glittering scale.

That's it! You and your child can finish the activity by enjoying a snack of some goldfish crackers or Swedish fish candies together.

I hope you enjoyed this week's book and activity. Thanks for stopping by!

Finally, Something to Show!

This will be a quickie post tonight, since I still have some things I need to get done before I hit the sack. I got started working on my project and time got away from me. So, without further ado, here's what I have to show you:

I'm calling this the front, because I love the softness if this fabric. (YES, more monkeys!)

So I guess that makes this the back:

It's a taggie lovie for my little love, Zoey.

Surely there are others on the planet who had never previously heard of a "lovie". A "lovie" is like a drag-around blanket, only small. Ideally, it should be made of satin and soft stuff for the recipient to rub and feel. My sensory version has strips of trim sewn around the outside...again, for the little recipient to rub, feel and even chew on. The "tabs" are usually made of satin ribbon, but I decided MY little recipient needed some variety, in both tactile and visual texture, so I added some grosgrain ribbon and even some rickrack!

Off to vacuum up the multicolored fluff that is covering the 'studio' floor. (The monkey fabric is almost like faux fur and sheds like crazy when it's cut.) Thanks for stopping by!

Survivor

I am one. Maybe not an Ultimate one, but still, I did survive the ropes course! The morning part was actually fun - it involved figuring out how to work as a team to accomplish various goals and, best of all, nothing was higher than about three feet off the ground.

The afternoon, however...well, that was a different story altogether. The lowest thing was a swing that started at about twelve feet in the air. I did swing on it. Yay, me! I was proud that I did SOMETHING, at least.

The next-lowest thing was a cable suspended TWENTY-FIVE feet in the air between two trees. We were supposed to climb up a rope ladder, then up a telephone pole to reach the cable and then walk across it. I got as high as the top of the ten-foot rope ladder and realized that I was so scared I couldn't make my hands unclench from the rungs! Long story short, you won't see me doing this any time soon:

Heck, I don't even own a French maid outfit.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to the 'studio', to cure my sewing withdrawal! (Shhh, don't tell my principal, but I'd choose sewing over climbing any day!)

Once Again

I got...nothing. I stayed late at school and then spent the evening trying to organize my mountain of paperwork. OH, and I also had a "vision" of myself with a broken arm after the ROPE CLIMBING that I have to do tomorrow. I'm picturing it like this:

And certainly NOT like this

or THIS!!!!!!!

The release listed "things that may fall onto your head" during the climb. One of those "things" was...OTHER PEOPLE.

Maybe I need this:

Check back tomorrow. Hopefully, my arms (and my head) will be intact!

I'm Here to Complain

Just thought I'd warn you, in case you didn't come here to hear me whine. As I figured might happen, I got home from my first day back at school feeling too wiped out to even venture into my 'studio'. So, my first complaint is this: My job is interfering with my free time, LOL.

What does this cat have to do with anything? I have no idea...I just liked it.

I know that lots of people don't HAVE a job to complain about, so I'm not really complaining about that. I just wanted to say that I may not be able to crank out embroidered stuff and/or blog daily, as I've done all summer.

And while I'm whining, let me just tell you...I'm already SCARED about Saturday. The powers-that-be at school have decided that we (grade level leads) will go do this:

from 9 AM till 3 PM on Saturday. What is that, you ask? It's a ROPES COURSE. As in, climbing onto something high, strapping yourself to a zip line and shooting back to the ground...being suspended in mid-air on a ROPE. Now I ask you, knowing that we are all a bunch of mostly-middle-aged-not-necessarily-real-fit women, do you think this sounds like any sort of activity that we are going to be able to even DO, much less ENJOY? I'm thinking NO.

Okay, those were my two complaints for the day. I'll be back tomorrow and hopefully, with a better attitude and no more complaining. I had hoped to get back on track with Fun Day Sunday...maybe I can stop whining long enough to post that tomorrow. Thanks for putting up with me!

All Good Things...

You know what they say about all good things...how they come to an end? Well, today is that day for me. Tomorrow is the first day back at school for teachers in my school division. Students don't report until after Labor Day, but teachers go back tomorrow.

I was SUPPOSED to have been in workshops on August 18th and 19th, but a co-teacher graciously offered to sub for me so that we could travel to CT to see Zoey. As a small token of thanks, I made a surprise for that teacher, whom we affectionately call Martha...as in Stewart.

Luckily our "Martha" does not yet know about my blog and anyway, the recipient of this little lunch bag will actually be her daughter, since "Martha" already has a monogrammed lunch bag. Our "Martha" has a monogrammed EVERYTHING, including the laundry bags I showed you a while back.

So anyway, here is a pic of the little lunch bag. I used a Skip to My Lou tutorial and fancied it up with the monogram...easy peasy! I'm going to make something similar (but insulated) to hold baby bottles for moms on the go...

Thanks for stopping by!

You Were Warned

I told you that you would not have to ASK about my grandchildren. Here are just a few of the gazillion many photos I took. I have not taken the time to Picnik or otherwise edit these pics, but here you go anyway. These two are from her first photo shoot. I hear that her agent is already demanding a rate increase for her, LOL!:

Do you love the hand under the chin on this one?

This one is for scale, so you can see how tiny she really is:

She already recognizes mommy:

She has wild hair, like her daddy did at her age:

If you can't trust Pop Pop, who can you trust!? She actually really loved being held by him and rarely fussed when he held her. She didn't appreciate the bunny ears, though.

And just because I'm a big proponent of keeping it real:

In case you're not sure what she's saying, it's, "UhWAHH! UhWAHHH!!" I love that baby.

I'm BAAAAACK!!

Hi, everyone!!!!!!!!!! Just popping in to say that we got back from Zoeyland late last night. I will TRY to post later today and yes, you are going to have to see a few baby pics. (I promise to just show you a few of the gazillion I took.) A good friend told me (actually, a couple good friends told me this) that it's hard to describe the bond between a grandparent and a grandchild. I now know that is absolutely true. Who knew that a tiny person could wrap her little fingers around my heart that fast?! I'm already looking up cheap flights for a quickie weekend visit, LOL.

Hopefully, by tomorrow I'll be back on track and able to talk about something other than my granddaughter. Maybe I'll even be able to post my latest sewing/embroidering creation! Of course, it will probably be FOR my granddaughter, so there's really no getting around that.

I don't really knit, but you get the idea. Thanks for stopping by!

Just Checkin' In

Just wanted to let you know that Nannie and Pop Pop are alive and well here in Babyland! Zoey is truly amazing. I don't care what anyone says, she DEFINITELY smiles. She is just a total joy!!

We are off to pick up our older son and his wife at the airport and by this afternoon, we'll all be together for the first time in a year. Well...for the first time EVER, if you count Zoey into the "we". Hopefully, we'll have some nice pics to show soon. Thanks for stopping by!!

I Have a Name!!

Hi, all!!!! I am just popping in from my 'remote' location. I wanted to let you know that I'm snapping pics galore and will be posting them ad nauseum in a few days.

You probably think I'm a little bit biased, but Zoey is undoubtedly the cutest and most perfect baby ever. Let me just say that her pictures do not do her justice and that is not just my opinion, it is a FACT.

Oh, and one last thing, because it's bathtime for Zoey and I'm not missing THAT, so I'm outta here in a minute. I was very excited because my husband and I have finally decided what we want to be called. (Now if only the grandchildren will cooperate, LOL!) My husband was easy...one of our sons calls him Pops, so PopPop seemed pretty natural.

For me, though, it was way harder."Grandma" was already taken. "Grammy" makes everyone sad because it makes us think of my late mom. "Nana" is nice, but just conjures us a sweet, kind, bespectacled Mrs.-Claus-type person and that is just not me. Suddenly, it hit me like a bolt...NANNIE!!!!! I LOVE it!! Like "Nana", but with ad edge!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Excitement!

I'm SO EXCITED!!! We have moved up our departure time to go see Zoey!! Our house-sitter was able to adjust and we are OUT OF HERE as of tomorrow!! I am not sure I'll be able to post from my 'remote' location - I'm sure it will be hard to type while holding my granddaughter. And I plan to be holding my granddaughter pretty much constantly.

In the meantime, here is a bib/burpie combo I did for Zoey's mom's friend's little boy.

I combined a couple of designs. I just love this wizard frog! It seemed appropriate. Oliver is a very early preemie and I think he must be a magical little boy, to be doing so well!

On the burpie, I added a couple of magical sparkles and I prevented the embroidery machine from stitching out the frog so that I could hang his hat on the "O".

Here are the pictures that I promised you yesterday- Zoey's quilt! The front (admittedly, not a stellar picture):

The back:

A closeup:

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll try to touch base if I can and if I can't, you'll know my arms are just too full!

What I Have to Show for Myself

Is not all that much. I did manage to make Zoey this cute soft book:

Really, what could be better than Beatrix Potter's illustrations? Look at the dad bunny in the pic below, with his pipe in his mouth and his superior expression!

Oh, and guess what!? Zoey's quilt is DONE...labeled, washed and dried so it's nice and soft and crinkly. I'll take pics of it outside tomorrow and hopefully, you'll be able to see the texture and colors.

However, I couldn't resist showing you a pic of the label:

Which leads me to my current dilemma...what to call myself!?! Am I Nana? Grandma? I'm definitely NOT Granny, LOL. I guess ultimately, Zoey will probably make that decision for me.

I'll never forget what our older son called my mom...Boyda. Apparently, he THOUGHT he was saying Grandma. My mom would enunciate slowly, "Say Graaaannd - maawww." He would answer obediently, "Boyyyyyyy-duhhh!"

Hmmm, "Granny" is sounding better all the time!

Can You Stand Some More?

And then I promise I'll stop for a while. Till someone sends me some more pics and heaven help us when I get to CT and have my OWN camera.

I really like this one...he's checkin' her out.

Even you non-Steelers-fans have to admit this Steelers onesie is pretty darn cute. Trevor says he thinks Zoey has a jeans skirt that's like as big as a wallet.

Now I know they say babies don't smile and "It's just gas.", but this sure looks like a contented smile to me! I think she's dreaming about how much Grandma is going to spoil her.

I guess eventually my feet will eventually be back on the ground. I did finish the binding on Zoey's quilt and hopefully, I'll have pics of it tomorrow for you. Thanks for stopping by!

Zoey Pics!!!!

My favorite so far!:

Zoey Sighting!!

Waiting on pics from Zoey's auntie, who I think is still visiting at the hospital. But here's one pic, and our son does not even look tooo scared to hold his little bundle...

More pics as soon as I get them...of that, you can be SURE!! You know that line, "Ask me about my grandchildren!"? You won't need to ASK!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for all the nice comments and emails!

I'M A GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG, I can't really post right now. I had planned to catch up on Fun Day Sunday, but Ms. Zoey has arrived and I can't think straight. Only camera phone pic so far...trying to get a better pic of her to post. CONGRATS TO ALL!!!!!

Shhh, Don't Tell Cassie!!

Don't tell Cassie, but I think I like the giveaway handbag better than the zebra one I made her. I think I'm just not a zebra-and-pink girl. No matter...Cassie likes the handbag well enough for both of us!

Anyway, here's the front of the giveaway bag. Karen wanted a monogram, which is definitely more subtle than the appliqued C on Cassie's bag. But I kind of like the monogram. It lets the ribbon/button trim really stand out:

The lime greens really do all match...not like they look in the pics. The back looks the same as the front except for the monogram. Here's the inside:

I like the bamboo handles. Here's a closeup of the ribbon-and-button trim:

That's it for today. It is 100 degrees here - I ran some errands and now I'm exhausted, LOL! Well, with no Zoey sightings yet I guess at least my husband and I don't have to jump around in the heat like this:

No wait...I don't really think either of us look like THAT. Maybe 35 years ago ONE of us did...

Status Quo

The monogrammed handbag for our giveaway winner, Karen, is complete!! Well, it's complete except for a little bit of embellishment that I want to add. I should have it done tomorrow and hopefully be able to show you some pics! It turned out CUTE, if I do say so myself!!

Other than that...have you scrolled down to see the baby tickers lately??
ZOEY IS DUE IN FIVE DAYS.

Let me just tell you, my nerves are shot. My poor son...I tend to answer his phone calls by hollering into the phone, "IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?!?!!!". Heck, even my husband commented today that he just can't concentrate because all he keeps thinking of is Zoey!

So, no change in the grandkids-status-quo. I'll keep you posted, but if you feel the ground shake, it's probably me and my husband celebrating Zoey's birth! Kinda like these guys (but older and probably without the coats):

Thanks for stopping by!

Bib and Burpie Combo

Just a quickie post today. Since I received an order for a burp cloth and bib set, I didn't get to work on my GIVEAWAY handbag. As soon as I post this, I'm off to cut the fabric for the bag!

I thought you might be interested to see the new method I used to make the burp cloth, courtesy of the ultra-nice Mrs. Goodneedle From the Strawberry Patch. My equally nice friend Linda sent me a link to Mrs. Goodneedle's tutorial and I fell in love with how she bound the edges of her burp cloths! I decided to try it on this customer's order for little James. I'm really pleased with the results!

As usual, my photography skills are not the best. The diaper is bound in red, which you can kind of tell if you look at the upper edge of the diaper in the pic above.

I'll be popping these into the post tomorrow morning for a really quick turnaround time, since I only got the order this afternoon. I don't know about you, but when I order something, I really wish I could have it YESTERDAY. Little James won't have to wait toooo long!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the pics. Off to work on the giveaway handbag!