I'm really excited about the Father's Day gift I'm giving my Dad this year. As a child, I would always ask him to "tell me a story I've never heard". He had so many interesting stories from his childhood to share!
Storyworth is a service that sends weekly writing prompts to the storyteller. They write a response to each one, and at the end of a year they are compiled and made into a keepsake book. You can also get additional books if there are several people interested in keeping the stories. The storyteller can choose to share their stories online with anyone they add to their list. I can't wait for my Dad to get started!
His wedding anniversary is the same week as Father's Day, so the first writing prompt is about his wedding day. Some others coming up are about family vacations, weathering hurricanes, and his grandparents.
This blog shares the triumphs and speedbumps of my "projects", from cooking and crafting to remodeling.
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Friday, June 9, 2017
Friday, October 30, 2015
Sports Jersery T-Shirt Quilt
I started this quilt over two years ago, and FINALLY finished it for the recipient. Now I get to share it with you!
I made this quilt for a young man who played sports throughout high school and college. He wanted to remember those years, but didn't feel the need to keep wearing shirts and jerseys from high school and college. He delivered more than 30 shirts to me, and I got to work!
I started by washing and drying all the shirts. All of my quilts are designed to be machine washable, so I wanted to make sure anything that might happen to the shirts would happen before I started the quilt. One of the jerseys was ruined in the wash - the lettering fell off! The rest came out just fine.
Next, I cut the shirts into 12.5" squares (to make 12" finished squares). Two of the shirts has a somewhat larger design, so I made a double-sized block that combined a larger design with a smaller one. I layered the thinnest jerseys over t-shirt knit recycled from the plain backs of other shirts.
I laid everything out in my living room, and arranged and rearranged until I liked how the colors were distributed. Then I got to sewing! Large 12" blocks generally come together easily, but because all the fabrics were different - some silky, some thick, and all with different amount of stretch - I did a LOT of pinning to make sure they would come together nicely. I don't know many quilters who work with high-performance athletic materials!
I chose royal purple minkie for the backing, and a thick batting. This quilt is designed for ultimate comfort!
To quilt the layers together, I sewed a 2" plus sign in each of the corners. This allows the quilt to be able to stretch, but still keeps everything from moving around during washing.
I bound the quilt with black jersey knit. This step took me over a year...it might be time to learn machine binding. Toddlers don't help the process either :)
I really love how this quilt came out. It's fun, super comfortable and snuggly, and a great way to hold onto fond memories (without wearing your old jerseys in public).
I made this quilt for a young man who played sports throughout high school and college. He wanted to remember those years, but didn't feel the need to keep wearing shirts and jerseys from high school and college. He delivered more than 30 shirts to me, and I got to work!
I started by washing and drying all the shirts. All of my quilts are designed to be machine washable, so I wanted to make sure anything that might happen to the shirts would happen before I started the quilt. One of the jerseys was ruined in the wash - the lettering fell off! The rest came out just fine.
Next, I cut the shirts into 12.5" squares (to make 12" finished squares). Two of the shirts has a somewhat larger design, so I made a double-sized block that combined a larger design with a smaller one. I layered the thinnest jerseys over t-shirt knit recycled from the plain backs of other shirts.
I laid everything out in my living room, and arranged and rearranged until I liked how the colors were distributed. Then I got to sewing! Large 12" blocks generally come together easily, but because all the fabrics were different - some silky, some thick, and all with different amount of stretch - I did a LOT of pinning to make sure they would come together nicely. I don't know many quilters who work with high-performance athletic materials!
I chose royal purple minkie for the backing, and a thick batting. This quilt is designed for ultimate comfort!
To quilt the layers together, I sewed a 2" plus sign in each of the corners. This allows the quilt to be able to stretch, but still keeps everything from moving around during washing.
I bound the quilt with black jersey knit. This step took me over a year...it might be time to learn machine binding. Toddlers don't help the process either :)
I really love how this quilt came out. It's fun, super comfortable and snuggly, and a great way to hold onto fond memories (without wearing your old jerseys in public).
Thursday, October 15, 2015
What to Put on a Baby Registry
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you click on the links. That said, this is the list I would (and did) give my best friend!
I am officially in that time of life where my friends are starting to add to their families! I often get asked what all you need for a baby, and instead of trying to recreate my list every time, I am posting it here, not just for my real-life friends, but for all my e-friends and those that love them and want to help them out!
I am officially in that time of life where my friends are starting to add to their families! I often get asked what all you need for a baby, and instead of trying to recreate my list every time, I am posting it here, not just for my real-life friends, but for all my e-friends and those that love them and want to help them out!
This list started from recommendations I got from two different multi-kid families, and has been tweaked and added to with my experience. This isn’t just a registry list, but also a shopping list for new families. There are definitely some things on here I wouldn’t put on a registry (looking at you, breast pads)!
I am aware of five popular places to register: Babies R Us, Target, Amazon, Diapers, and Buy Buy Baby. There are pros and cons to all of them, but overall their prices and selections are fairly equal. We experienced issues with Target not removing purchased items from the registry, and ended up with several identical bath towels, etc., which was kind of awkward at the shower and resulted in exchanging many items. I found returns via Amazon to be cumbersome. I didn’t use Buy Buy Baby but I have friends who like them. Babies R Us has probably been my favorite for registry stuff. I've found Diapers to be a good combination of fast shipping, low prices, and easy returns.
Keep in mind that not everything has to be new! We were fortunate to know some families who had moved past the infant stage, and passed along tons of clothing and baby items. A lot of stuff doesn’t get used for more than a few months, and gets very little wear. Ask friends if you can borrow or trade items, or look on Craigslist, neighborhood lists, thrift stores, or ask other parents at day care. The bassinet we used has now been used by five babies!
I'm not quite done tweaking this list, but I want to get it up on the web because I have a few pregnant friends I want to go ahead and share it with. Let me know if links don't work or if you have questions! I'll try to add links to Babies R Us and Amazon as I have time.
I'm not quite done tweaking this list, but I want to get it up on the web because I have a few pregnant friends I want to go ahead and share it with. Let me know if links don't work or if you have questions! I'll try to add links to Babies R Us and Amazon as I have time.
- Feeding
- Bottles: Don’t get more than one or two before baby, because you may go through many styles trying to find one they like.
- Sippy Cups: Nuk (3) (Target, Amazon): The soft sippy spout was great when transitioning from nipples. Nuk makes nipples and pumps that are interchangeable with these bottles, which is a nice feature!
OR Green Sprouts (3) (Amazon): Liquids only touch glass and silicon in this sippy cup, so I have been much more comfortable using these for warm liquids. They have more parts and assembly is more challenging, but they come with peace of mind.
- High Chair (Target): If you can get away with using only a booster seat, don’t get one! They take up a lot of space.
- Ice Cube Trays: Make and freeze single-serve baby food. 20-30 seconds in the microwave and you’re ready for dinner.
- Nursing bras: I love the sizing chart and options at Breakout Bras. My Motherhood bras were terrible. I like this sleep bra from Target.
- Room
- Crib: We went with an inexpensive, yet cute, one. I didn't mind as much when our little beaver chewed it up. Speaking of which, when once they can stand up, consider using teething guards to protect their teeth and the crib.
- Blackout Shades for Nursery Windows: Darker room = better naps
- Dresser: Make sure the drawers slide easily! Cute dressers lose their appeal if they aren’t 100% functional. We have the IKEA Hemnes, but changed out the knobs for cuter ones.
- Clothes - think about how old they will be at different seasons, how often you do laundry, and ultimately how well the baby can play and be comfortable. I was fortunate to get a ton of hand-me-downs, but I like Baby Gap, Old Navy, H&M, Target, Carter's, thrift shops, and ThredUp (online consignment).
- Sweaters
- Onesies (skip shirts the first year - babies are so much easier to hold when they are wearing onesies!)
- Pants (footed pants are awesome in winter months because you get to skip the hassle of socks)
- Dresses
- Zippered Footie Pajamas: Snaps are doubly annoying at 3am, go with zippers!
- Hats (2)
- Sunglasses
- Swimsuit: Make sure it’s the right size for summer months
- Socks
- Shoes: Optional for the whole first year, but they are super cute!!!
- Bows/headbands
- Laundry Detergent for Cloth Diaper and Wipes - Rockin’ Green (Amazon)
- Dawn Original Dish Soap (Target): You’ll be amazed how well this works when directly applied to food stains
- Bedding and blankets
- Teething guard (2) (DIY, Babies R Us, Amazon)
- Blankets (2)
- Waterproof Pack n Play Sheet (Buy Buy Baby): The mattresses stain so easily!
- Bath
- Wash Cloths (6)
- Babyproofing
- Outlet covers (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon) - We also replaced all of our outlets with newer, safer ones
- Furniture wall straps (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon
): Keeps furniture from tipping over onto kids. We also screwed some furniture directly to the wall or baseboards.
e. Blind cord wraps (Target): Yes, our baby managed to SWALLOW the blind cords!
f. Corner Bumpers (Target): Great if you don't want to replace your coffee table
g. Soft coffee table - Diapering and care
- I hate diaper pails: Gross, noisy, expensive, and they don’t work. We used gallon ziplocs instead.
- Earth’s Best Diapers (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon, Diapers.com): Great for kids with sensitive skin and environmentally-conscious parents
- Up & Up Diapers (Target): Bargain-priced diaper with wetness indicator. We loved these but baby’s skin was too sensitive for them
- Disposable wipes
- Grovia Cloth Wipes (18) (Amazon
): These work so much better than disposable wipes! I use one cloth wipe on jobs that take at least 5 disposables. We put used wipes in a ziploc and wash them when the stash gets low (every other day the first months, every week now that she’s older and in day care)
- Burt's Bees Diaper Cream (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon
): It works.
- Changing Pad (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Babyganics Sunscreen (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Infant Tylenol (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Baby Care Kit (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Thermometer
Humidifier - Travel
- Britax Travel System (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon): Whichever one you pick out, try it out in the store first to make sure you like how the stroller rolls and fold, and that it's lightweight enough for you to put it in your car.
- Extra base (Babies R Us, Amazon)
- Bike trailer: We are currently shopping for one of these. I can’t wait to take Savannah on bike rides!
- Graco Pack n play (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon): We didn’t need the changing station and only used the bassinet for a few months, so consider these features optional. Now that Savannah is older, we use this when we travel or when we’ll be at someone’s house during naptime.
- Diaper bag: Get a roomy one that offers lots of organization options. I really love my Kate Spade bag I found on Ebay!
- Eddie Bauer Padded Seat Protector (Target): Protects your seats from wear and tear due to the car seat and passenger within.
- Car seat arm rest (Babies R Us, Amazon)
- Baby carrier - we didn’t like any we tried, but other parents seem to love them!
- Toys
- Wubbanub
- Activity Toy - Infantino Go Gaga Giraffe (Target)
- Ring Stacker (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Balls (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Slide (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon): This was the favorite toy around 12 months!
- Jumperoo (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Play Gym (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon): Get one that folds up easily!
- Stuffed Animals: Baby slept so much better once she had something soft to snuggle
- Books: We really love Brown Bear and Doggies these days
- Sophie (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Walker (Target)
- Oball (Target)
- Play quilt
- Parenting Books
- Memories
- Baby’s First Year book (Babies R Us, Target, Amazon)
- Carbonite: The annual fee is worth it for me to know I won't lose all my photos and videos theft or a damaged hard drive.
- Camera: Please don't only use your phone for capturing memories!
- Video Camera: You forget their voice, their clumsy movements, the way they pronounced words. Get it on video, even the everyday stuff.
- Digital Photo Frame (excellent Grandma gift): Just email photos and they magically appear on Grandma's frame. You won't have time for printing and shipping photos.
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