Nice to meet you.

Meet Chu the Panda. He is the class pet for Mrs. LP's class this year. He gets to go home every night with one of the students who was a "bucket filler," meaning that they made good choices and were good helpers and good listeners that day at school.  Oct. 29th was Xochitl's second go-round with Chu. The first time we had him over a weekend and we got to do a lot of fun things. Xochitl was concerned about only having him for one night this time and took every effort to make the night unforgettable. Chu got to play at the park, play in the sandbox, watch a movie, and even have this very special dinner made for him by his hostess. Xochitl dutifully drew a detailed picture of all their adventures together. I hope we get him again this year! He's a very good house guest :)

Meet Halloween Deja-Vu. That costume looks familiar... isn't that?? Yes! It's the same costume Larry wore last year... only this year it actually fits him! It was an actual Disney Store purchase, on the pricier side, so I bought it bigish, and hey, I got two Hallween costumes for the (high) price of one! Or two Halloweens for the price of one? In any case, I'm glad it got more use.

 Meet Halloween Deja-Vu. Wait... Didn't we just do this? Yes... Xochitl wanted to be the sunshine again for the Lincoln school parade (my kids love to switch around costumes between events...) Later that night she was my star trick-or-treater dressed as a bride. This girl out trick-or-treated everyone else in the family! Her goal was to get the most candy, and boy did she ever meet that goal! Our neighborhood is pretty kid deprived, so the houses that do welcome trick-or-treated greet them with big smiles and handfuls of candy.

Meet the most famous and spoiled baby at Lincoln Elementary.  Between directing the Leopard Choir, doing music time in the kindergarten classrooms, and just picking up the kids every day, it seems like everybody at that school knows Jade and everybody tries to steal a hug, which she generally snubs... Anyway, her fame also gets her plenty of amazing hand-me-downs from devoted fans, which she loves to pieces! Give her a Belle dress, and she will no doubt give you a hug... So that's what she wore for all the Halloween festivities: "My Bella" as she calls it. 

 Meet the literal last minute DIY. Dawna has been asking for weeks to be Princess Leia for Halloween. We found a costume at Target back in September, but it just... looked cheap and cost a lot, so I passed, intending to make a costume for her. And then somehow, it was October 29th. Um... yeah.  My sweet Dawna never complained about my putting it off and then never having time for it. She was happy to use a costume for a nurse that Nana had given her for the Niles carnival.  And then the night of the 28th, she stayed up late deep cleaning my entire kitchen, hand-washing the piled up pots and pans, sweeping and wiping down the floor... so on the morning of the 29th, I had nothing to do... except make a princess Leia dress!

Having to work with only what I had at home, I looked up a few DIY ideas, ranging from cutting a hole in a sheet (literally...) to a super professional pattern. I went for something in between.

I used this old fabric that's been hanging around my attic since our wedding (it was used to cover up extension cords around the gym for the reception, haha...) Luckily Dawna had a cool looking silver loopy belt. It would have been nice to have some brown ear muffs to really complete the hair effect, but this didn't turn out too bad :)

And now, we are ready to meet November! 

Ginger the Guinea Pig

My sweet fourth grade daughter informed me that her teacher's birthday was coming up and she wanted to make her something cute and fuzzy because her teacher loves little animals. 

So, she went to work and found a pattern online (it was actually a whole site of free stuffed animal patterns that we will likely visit again.,.)

Then, she put the pattern up on the projector and traced it in the size she wanted. Then she cut out the pattern, pinned it to the fabric that she picked out from my FabMo (aka Fabrix) collection from years past, cut out the fabric, and picked out some beads for eyes. 

Then it was mom's turn. I did the sewing machine work, then handed it back over to her to sew the eyes and ears on and stuff. We finished it up by sewing up the backside, wrapping it up for Miss Chapman, and naming her Ginger. I think it really turned out cute! I was really proud of Dawna for finding and sticking with a project like this! It was really fun to work on with her! I hope we have many more Sunday night sewing projects ahead :) 

Good luck, little Ginger!

Eight to Midnight

Eight o'clock is bed time for the kids.  Eight to midnight is my time. The time to learn something new, the time to watch Netflix, or the time to take on an insanely large project.

These past two months, my eight to midnight has been a mission quilt for my wonderful in-laws who just returned from their mission in Japan. Jon's mom has/had a tradition of making a quilt for her missionary kids after they returned from their missions.  Jon's quilt is incredible. It includes a tie from each of his companions crafted into a block, an applique map of Mexico and the quilting surrounding it continuing the map with waves for the ocean and grid for the land, and embroidered names of each companion and the area which he served with that companion. It is exquisite.

Then one day it dawned on me: Who will make a mission quilt for mom and dad? Of course! I would! Why did I think I could accomplish such a feat? I dunno... it seemed like a good idea at the time.

So the next day, I searched Google images for "Japanese quilt," "Japanese symbols," and "Japan fonts." Then I drew a picture.  This is the picture:

It was just on the back of a piece of scratch paper.  That's how these things start, I guess.  With an idea on a piece of scratch paper.

And so it began. I shopped, I snipped, I sewed...

One Patch at a time... 

I decided to use applique since I don't have much/any experience with complicated piecing. I cut out each shape, starting with the largest piece and adding each smaller piece on top with fusible webbing. I used several different kinds. For the larger pieces of fabric, it was easiest to use the "one sticky side" style and for the small stuff, like the Japan letters and cherry blossoms, the double sided sticky webbing was the easiest--it made the fabric stiff and easy to get little details out of it, like the hole in the A's and P.

I had some trouble deciding what to put in the middle patch... so it was the very last one I made...

When I got the entire top pieced, I thought I was almost done... HA! Anyone who's hand quilted a king-sized quilt knows that piecing the top is just the beginning... then comes the framing and the HOURS UPON HOURS (for me and my slow quilting, anyway) of following the lines along the quilt.

My frames weren't big enough to do the whole quilt at once, so I framed and quilted the top third and middle, then re-framed to reach the other side

There's a delicate balance in quilting... the more lines you follow, the more details you quilt in, the more beautiful and intricate the quilt looks...BUT... the more lines and details, the more time you spend quilting. Mine was not the most detailed quilt, but I did like some of the small details I added, like the ribs on the fan and the criss-crosses between the patches. 

Mom Koberstein came and helped quilt a couple days, but a lot of quilting days looked like this by dinnertime: kid hurricane happened unobstructed... 

Coming down the home stretch! After completing the quilting at 1am on May 28, It was time to bind! On the denim quilts I've made, I used the backing folded over the top to bind the quilt, but I wanted to use binding tape for this one. I like the way it adds one little splash of color around the edges of the quilt.

 And then finally! On June 4 at 4:15pm, at Bay Aerials Gymnastics, I finished the quilt! The manager there came and asked what I was doing...turned out to be a little missionary moment of my own.

 Larry took pictures documenting the occasion.

At home on the floor all finished... 

And Modeling it on our bed!

 Close-up on the center patch...

 Close-up on one of my favorite details (which I fought hard against for a long time, but at long last, Jon was right about the cherry blossoms... I love them!)

And thus the Japan mission quilt was completed and presented to Elder and Sister Koberstein in remembrance of their excellent service in Japan!

In a Pinch...

So let's say it's Friday afternoon and you have a choir concert to conduct in three hours.  You needed black slacks but didn't have any so you went to Target last night at 9pm to buy some.  But let's also say you're unusually short and have to hem said slacks in the next, oh... RIGHT NOW!!!

So you measure and trim and pin  and get ready to press... and then let's say your iron is broken... and it won't heat up at all...  HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PRESS YOUR HEM???

Here's a hint:

 THAT'S RIGHT! Use your hair flat iron to press your hem!

Works like a charm! Got my pants pressed and hemmed in time for my concert :) And now you know what to do if you're short and your iron dies and you need to press your pants hem right now :) Aren't you glad you read this ridiculous post?!?!?

Christmas stockings

Yes, I know I'm behind in posting something about Christmas, but hear me out... 

I've now made a grand total of three Christmas stockings! My first victims were the members of the Evans family, who graciously accepted and even used my hand-knitted handicraft for Alex's first Christmas! The candle design for Brooke's stocking came from Grandma Frances's collection; the candy cane design for Jon's came from an internet search, and the gingerbread boy design for Alex's originated from a cross stitching pattern that I sort of adapted to knitting. Each stocking has its own unique toe shape since I experimented with a different toe finishing pattern on each one... but all of them held onto Christmas goodies just fine :)

Thanks, Grandma Severson, for spending the hours with me at the family reunion last summer to get me started, and thanks Brooke for making me feel like I did I good job :) 

Elsa Cape

Do you know what is totally impossible to find in stores right now??? Frozen dress-ups. Do you know what my girls are dying to have??? Frozen dress-ups. Solution? Make you own, of course!

I wasn't feeling up to making a full out dress, so we agreed on a shimmery Elsa cape! We had a fun trip to JoAnns to pick our fabric and one large snowflake button.

I drew inspiration from this No-Sew Elsa Cape Pattern, but with some adjustments. Including....

 *An opaque layer underneath the shimmery sheer. It has glitter in the fabric; what more could you want??

 *I finished the edge of the sheer layer by melting it, as suggested in the pattern, but I just hemmed the opaque layer. Then, I sewed the two layers together around the neckline and flipped and top-stitched around the same edge.

*And thanks to a computer-nerdy husband, who harvested some very strong magnets from a couple dead hard-drives, we sewed a magnetic clasp in under the button. I figure it's a quick release in case the cape gets stepped on (which happens constantly) so as to avoid the inherent choking hazards... Also, I skipped adding snowflakes... maybe on another day... they were just so ready to play with them...

 The girls have loved singing and dancing and prancing around in their beautiful capes!

Who's next?

Adele got one last October... Hannah is getting one this month...

Can anyone guess who the next flower twirly skirt is for???

Dabbling on in sewing again...

What is this thing?

It's a crayon roll! ... Sort of...

That was the original pattern anyway... I made a slight modification with the slanted seam so all the bells would sit evenly at the top...

I needed some way to store my bell pipes that also provided easy and organized access to them. Easy out, easy in... No loud bell clanking involved! Yay!

Thanks to the Pleated Poppy for the great tutorial! It always feels good to have a useful, one-evening sewing project! There's my adventurous sewing exploits for the week!

Top 10 Memories from Easter in Utah.

10. Moses and Kaylee!

I havn't had many opportunities in my life to meet celebrities, so when I saw Moses and Kaylee at the reception... woah... I became totally star-struck! Completely incoherent, googly-eyed, and silly... yes, that's how I met Moses and Kaylee... I adore them. But in spite of my goofy behavior, Moses was very gracious and Kaylee very sweet and I have even more admiration for them after meeting them in person than I did before, which is something that I don't think I could say about many super-stars. But here it is, a picture with me and MOSES and KAYLEE!!! WooHoo!

9. Lehi Legacy Center

On Monday, Heather took me down to the Lehi Legacy center, which is a lovely community place complete with pool, track, weight room, and yoga class! I paid $5 for me and Dawna (thanks for a BoGo coupon) for a whole day of exercise and fun! Heather and I ran a 5k on the track in the morning, then Mom and Dad met up with us and the kids for a swim. We had a couple minutes in the weight room, and then in the evening, Rob volunteered to put the kids in bed so Heather and I could go to the 8pm Yoga class. And that was AWESOME! I discovered I really like Yoga... and may find a way to get into a class around home...

8. Old friends, new places
Throughout the week, Sarah Jean, Edwin, and Leeland accompanied us on several outings, including the Lehi Legacy Center, BYU campus, and she even invited us to the Easter egg hunt she was putting on for her "music-makers"-like class in her ward. As always, she added life, energy, and fun to our trip, not to mention beauty :) But Sarah wasn't the only old friend we found in Utah... We also got to hang out with Stephanie, Kora, and Brighton! We were quite the sight at the swimming pool... all these California girls swimming in the middle of snowy a Utah spring... it was almost a full joyschool reunion, but unfortunately, we missed seeing Angela and Talmage :( darn kindergarten got in the way! Next time though... because there will always be another trip to Utah... there's just too many things to do and too many people to see for one week... this one was the "friend" trip... in July we're coming out for the "family" trip...

7. Attached at the hip...
This would describe Larry and Isaac most of the time, but Hannah and Dawna every waking second of the day... and even some of the sleeping seconds of the day as well. From dress-up to restaurant to Queen and servant even unto trips to the potty, they didn't ever leave each other. Side by side they vacationed, up to the last night, when the two of them amazingly slept in the same twin size bed, side by side. They were the best of playmates and incredibly cute! The boys echoed the fun with their twin "I dig dirt"s in the yard, wrestling on the trampoline, and casting their new fishing poles (courtesy of Papa Severson) over the back lawn and down the stairs to the basement.

6. Down by the river side
For FHE, we all trekked down to the river to throw rocks and try out the new fishing poles. We had a really fun time, even though we nearly lost several of the plastic fish that were tied to the poles... all were recovered though, thanks to the fine efforts of Abbie, Emma, and Heather, who braved getting wet to save the items floating downstream. Only one unlucky person had wet feet by the end of the evening... and we will leave his identity undisclosed.

NOTE: No Emmas were harmed in the making of this picture :)

5. 11 Years ago...
On Sunday we celebrated Abbie's 11th birthday... 11... Really, Abbie? I mean REALLY?????? sheesh... her birthday was complete with angel food cake, roller blades and a new CD player. I got to reflect on my sophomore year of high school, when I was visiting Utah during spring break and Abbie was born. At the beginning of the week, Rob was talking to a tummy and by the end of the week, we were talking to the baby... it was crazy how quickly things changed, I thought. Abbie was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen (I am partial, however, since she was my sister's baby). But she's never ceased bringing a quiet dignified beauty to her home, her friends, and her whole life! Love you, Abbie girl!

4. That was Emma?
And just like that, Emma grew up. "That was Emma?" was my comment upon hearing her practice piano. She plays the piano extremely well, she plays with her little cousins extremely well, and does pretty much everything extremely well. Emma let me do her hair almost every day for school and I had a great time with that! Her hair reminds me of mine-- I love it long and braided. I'll probably be begging to play with her hair once my goes all gray and frizzy... it will make me feel young again... wait a second... I think I just saw a movie about that! Aaahhhh!!!

Anyway, look out world, Emma is coming!

3. Old companions, new babies!
Oh good old Sis. Boren... or Groneman... or whoever... I'm so glad she had her baby early so I could come see little miss Lindy and her new mama! I must admit that I was a little nervous driving up to her place; it's been a long time since I've seen Katie and I can be a little socially inept sometimes... but as soon as I walked in, I remembered why I love Sis. Boren so much: she just makes everyone feel good about themselves, no matter what! Such an amazing example to me! I had a wonderful visit and got to hold the baby and everything! Such a cute little strawberry blondie! So So So good to see them both!

2. Quilting marathon with my sister

Can you believe I kept Heather -- HEATHER -- up till one in the morning, TWO nights in a row, working on a beautiful quilt! This was a serious quilting marathon, which included two days of piecing the top and one day where we borrowed quilting frames, mounted the quilt, tied the quilt, took it off the frame and did the binding... WHEW! It was a piece of work... and it generated a piece of art, containing the pants of Rob, Abbie, Emma, Danielle, Jon... and various unknown others...

Yes... Heather was up veeeeerry late... (that was at the Discovery Gateway, by the way... yet another fun stop along the way... ) but she was a master on the sewing machine by the time we were done! No project too big to take on!

1. Bro. and Sis. Evans!!

Of course the best part of the trip was what we came there to do: see Brooke and Jon sealed for time and eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. We have been the lucky observers of this relationship from day one-- literally-- when Brooke came home and said, "I met this guy, Jon, actually.. .haha! He was pretty cool... maybe he has some cute friends he can introduce me to..." to the "We're in a relationship on Facebook" to the "I love you" to the "Will you marry me?" and right up to the sealing room! (and hopefully we'll continue to be the close followers for many years to come!)

Being re-united with all our Riviera 15 roommates is of course the fortunate side effect of such a wedding. Brooke faithfully attended all of our weddings, and now was the time to return the favor! Sydney and Dawna had a lot of fun, too :) Thanks for getting married, Brooke and Jonny, so we could have such a fun trip!