Showing posts with label round-up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label round-up. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2015

2015: Year in Review {Round Up}

I have not posted in over a month? Things have been crazy with the holidays! Parties, my little guy turning 5, Thanksgiving and Christmas! And soon, the New Year will be here! But, I wanted to share with you your favorite posts with the top views, my favorite posts and say a huge Thank You for reading!

Your Top 10 Favorites
































Oh, these were some of my favorite projects! I loved sewing/making/doing each and every single one of them! It has been such a fun year, even though I don't feel I have posted much this year due to the pregnancy.

Here are my top 5 favorites from the past year. They are in no particular order. :)

My Top 5 Favorites















This last one, more of a reflection on my part had no pageviews at all. It was my first time doing a blog tour on my own. It was fun. I was excited about it, but al around it didn't get much views. I ended up competing with a big time blogger running a similar type tour at the same time (which I had no idea about until after), and I had just gotten back from vacation. I had scheduled the posts ahead of time, but it made promoting the tour a little crazier than I had anticipated. 

Least Views



The blog tour was so much fun! The ideas were awesome and I learned a lot about actually doing a blog tour on my own. I have more ideas for blog tours too and really would love to try doing some more. We shall see where this new year takes us!

Thank You!

Thank you for the memories and thank you for reading.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Round-Up: A Week to Beat the Heat



Thanks for following in this fun week! So many activities to do while you and the kids are facing these higher summer temperatures!

In case you missed them, check them out!





Kelly J Designs: Painting with Water

What do you do to stay cool?

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Flying Geese Block: Multiple ways for the same block: A Round Up {quilting}

I decided to start working on the pattern for the Over in the Jungle jelly roll quilt, and in the digging process of finding the cutting dimensions (on a slip of paper with the scraps) I decided to look up the different was to make a flying geese block. Essentially, that was the route I took to make the blocks and wow, there are a lot of different ways to sew up a flying geese block! 

The Berry Bunch: Flying Geese Tutorial Round Up

Pat Sloan has a video tutorial on how to sew them. Check that out here. She also give cutting instructions for a few different dimensions.

Connecting Threads has a tutorial for the method with a 'no waste' method too. Check out those two methods here.
Or check out the no waste method at Generations Quilt Patterns. I've never tried this method but it seems pretty cool if you have a bunch to make!

Check out doing this with triangles over at All People Quilt. This one scares me because you are sewing on the bias edge. I would probably warp and stretch the fabric. 


Connecting Threads also has a tutorial for folding the rectangle so you get almost like a 3-d effect slightly. It seems interesting. check out that tutorial here.

Stitch This has the different method with charts for cutting. check out those here.


The way I do it is the line drawn method. Though I might try the no waste method, it looks really cool! I do love the little triangles left over though. They are so fun to turn into improv-blocks, mug rugs, and such. 

How do you sew up the flying geese blocks?

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop Round Up: and their Semi Annual Sale!

This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commission for purchases made after following my links to her shop. All reviews and opinions are my own.

I love sewing up Peek-A-Boo Patterns Shop's patterns for my kids, and they are having a sale! I haven't been sewing too much for them lately though, as they really aren't in need of clothes for this short moment in time. At least until they have their next growth spurt and I am pretty sure at least one of them is preparing for one!


(head to Peek-A-Boo Patterns Shop and use the code "MDAY25" and get 25% off your purchase, ends on the May 25th!)

In honor of their sale (and the small frequency that a sale there occurs) I thought I would put together this round up of some of the creations I have made for your viewing. ;)
You can see most and a few more of my Peek-A-Boo creations here. I say most because there is more that I haven't blogged about.



The cute owl overalls I made when I tested the Lullaby line overalls


Have I inspired you to sew? ;)

(head to Peek-A-Boo Patterns Shop and use the code "MDAY25" and get 25% off your purchase, ends on the May 25th!)

I picked up some of her new Women's patterns and also hope to sew up some more things for the kids, once they've grown some more that is!

Happy Sewing!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

My Baby is NOT a Baby! {potty trained! and a quick round-up}

I can't believe my baby girl is potty trained. Aside from night time that is. Does that even count?

She decided towards the middle of last week that she did not want to wear diapers. So We decided to go bare bottom...

Little did I realize that her sitting on the potty was also practice for actually potty training. You know, because babies use the potty before 2!

The Berry Bunch: My Baby is NOT a Baby! {potty trained! and a quick round-up}


Now I now that kids can be potty trained early, and sometimes it just emphasizes the potty usage when there is an older sibling that does.

I didn't expect it.

Baby girl essentially potty trained herself. In 3 days. She has even made 2 trips out of the house without any accidents.

When wearing a diaper, she started pulling the "potty" yell after she did her business. When we went diaper free (no pull-ups or even underwear of any kind), baisically naked, we had only a handful of accidents.

I remember doing this with little man. He was a little harder. Took a little longer (like a week), and needed incentive: potty chart with smiley faces, jelly beans, chocolate... But he would loose it if he had an accident. We did the no diapers with him too. He was ready, but didn't want to give it up. He wanted the Big Boy Undies more though...

Honestly, if I were to do it all again I would do it the same way. I'm still waiting for the regression with Baby Girl. Like this was a fluke. After all she is only 21 months, not even 2 yet (but almost)...Accidents will happen. That's a given.

There are so many resources of potty training without diapers (quitting diapers cold turkey). So many people have written blog posts about them. And a lot more since we went through this with Little Man.

I thought I would compile a list of different reading for you if you were going through the same thing as I am right now, or did 2 years ago...

Parenting.com - Extreme Potty Training - a fairly humorous diary account of a mom's bootcamp style potty training with two twin boys at 2 years. We would say the same thing with accidents. we didn't need much reward besides clapping for little girl.

Alphamom - How to Potty Train Your Kid (Boot Camp Style) - We did not do underwear right away. Neither kid like the feeling of pee running down their leg being stark naked. We did underwear by day 3. and I didn't bring only 1 pair of change of clothes... My little girl prefers to be naked. It's hard to use that as a consequence when that is what they want.

The Unemployed Mom - 15 Tips for Potty Training Boot Camp Style - Totally makes it easier when you remember to bring the training potty with you. It was difficult going out with little man without a potty and so much easier when we brought it with us for little girl. Positive attitude is half the battle. You don't want to discourage the little learner.

Four Moms For Moms - Potty Training the Cold Turkey Way - I almost needed to use candy as bribery for my son. Towards the end we used it as a counting game (subtracting and counting again). Anything can be turned into a learning experience. Little girl didn't even care about the candy... You really don't need all the baby potty training paraphernalia. Just strong whits, positive attitude, and endurance to make it through to the end. They will get it, eventually. Every child is different. Read your child;s cues.

BabyCenter - Potty Training in 3 Days or Less - honestly this was too much to read for me... too much prep. I would much rather dive in head first and get it over with... Like showing the kid how to do a potty dance... I never did that, didn't need to. A kid will think of something all on their own once they have the control. You'll see it too... But it does off some great resources at the end.

Toilet Training in Less than a Day by Nathan Azrin (1989) - I haven't read it, but it shows parents have been doing this for a while, right? Your local library might have a copy.

These are just a few in the web bound with LOTS of info... I'm sure you can find whatever you are looking for!

Happy Training!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Be Sew Busy: A Zipper Pouch Roundup

Have you experienced the amazing-ness that is the zipper pouch yet? They are incredibly handy, great for organization, and they are super easy to sew.


I have had a fascinations with zipper pouches for a while. I carry one for coins in my purse all the time. I have several lying around the house with their contents in constant rotation.

You can take any zipper, any shape of fabric, almost any pattern, and turn it into a zipper pouch! I think my favorite is like the Quilted Pencil Zipper Pouch I did for One Thimble.

I have a new fascination with feathers since the MOPs theme for the year and the messenger bag I made to carry my discussion group leader stuff. I wanted to do some type of feather and turn it into a zipper pouch but I decided to do something different... Stay tuned!

Here are some cool ones I have found floating around the web!






















Techniques for making the perfect zippered pouch






Check out some more on my pinterest page for zipper pouches... Sew Busy: Zipper Pouches

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Round-Up: DIY St. Patrick's Day Shirts

For the last 6 years, since the hubby and I have been married, I have bought St. Patricks Day shirts. This year was the first year where I really sat back and considered making one for the kids. I have one up and coming for Baby Girl, but as for little man I am a bit stumped. I decided to compile some of the ones that I enjoyed and thought would be fairly easy. But I guess I kind of expected there to be more out there! There really isn't a whole lot.

free image from here

Most of them are freezer paper stencils, but check them out and let me know, what do you do?











6. go the kiss me route with this Freezer Paper Stenciled Shirt from Lovely Indeed


You can use word processor to type up your own image.

Here are some awesome Celtic fonts you can download for free (check it out, there are tons!)




I have lots of ideas for my little man now, and I am totally digging all those fonts and I might just go on ahead and make my own printable to freezer paper stencil for a shirt for him!

Check back later (Monday) for what I made for Baby Girl!

Do you do special outfits for your kids for St. Patrick's Day? What do you do?