Babies and Mothers

This weekend was kinda crazy - actually, all of last week plus the weekend equals REALLY crazy... at any rate, lots of things got done (and lots didn't ...)

One thing we had going on this weekend was my friend Mackenzie's baby shower. She is having a girl which of course got me SUPER excited!!! I love little girl stuff!

One thing we received for Aaron from my parents was a set of wipe-able bibs. We lost one in the move but the other is used on a regular basis. Our other ones are nice but throwing them in the wash is a pain, the velcro sticks to everything and ruins clothes and then when we run out it is a rush to get one clean. So, I thought I would make a few wipe-able bibs for Mackenzie's little girl along with a changing pad that latches closed and holds the diapers and baby wipes so all she has to do is pull it out of the diaper bag and she's all set to go.

For the bibs I used one of Aaron's as a pattern and made it a tad smaller. Same with the changing pad except I made it bigger (I always felt Aaron's was too small considering how much he wiggles around... half the time he is not on the pad). I used a vinyl table cloth to make it wipe-able and added a few embellishments I got in my Pick Your Plum giveaway box of goodies from Keeping It Simple. I know they are plain, but that was kinda the point - that way the embellishments don't get dirty and then the item has to be thrown in the wash.

These were way simple and then made complicated by my sewing machine... Combine the words "Walmart" and "Cheap" and "Sewing Machine" "few years old" and you'll begin to see my problem. The regular stitches often bunch but that doesn't bother me too much... what bothers me is the fact that it can't seem to handle a zigzag stitch! Trust me, I've tried everything, it's simply a problem with the machine. I was planning on zigzagging each item around the outside twice but after re-threading the machine 15 times per item, they each only got a once-around.
All the embellishments were hand sewn since that's what I like best (and because of my machine problems afore mentioned... I've been tempted to beg my family for their serger but I am sure they're using it, so for now it's on my "want in the future" list -- along with a nice sewing/embroidery machine and a quilting machine and a silhouette machine... a girl can dream, right?).

Mackenzie's sister asked me to bring treats for the shower and since I don't get to make many treats these days I readily agreed. On Tuesday, after my cake disaster... I had 4lbs of butter-cream frosting left over (please don't ask) so it was a no-brainer that I was going to use that... the question was how. I thought about cake balls but wasn't in the mood for making a cake from scratch, but we had brownie mixes, so I decided on brownie balls... I'm sure there's some way to make them look all pretty, but I didn't take the time to research it. I simply
broke apart the brownies, mixed in the frosting (not all 4 lbs, don't worry) and then dipped them in melted chocolate chips. Despite their ugliness, they tasted amazing... One comment included a fear of going into a chocolate coma and another asked if they were "special" brownies that included some of that *wink wink* "special oregano" (hinting at addictive drugs)...










 I also got a chance to work on the Mother's day gifts for my mom and my mother-in-law. Since one lives in Utah and the other was out of town in Israel I didn't feel a rush to get them done by Mother's day... Plus, on Mother's day I didn't know what to make my mom, but when my little sister informed us all that she's pregnant (HOLY COW!!! AWESOME!) I decided to make her the same thing I was planning to make for my mother-in-law -- a block that says, "Grams'/Gramma's House, where cousins gather to become best friends."

I was planning on using vinyl but when Michael's informed me they don't carry vinyl I was too lazy to go to another store. So I decided to use paint markers instead... Overall, I think they turned out quite nice!

Now that my crazy week is over... I have another one in front of me... lots to do, but all of it is fun. Most of it ties in with my calling in the Young Women's and I absolutely love it!