Projects, part one

I have several projects that I need to complete before birthdays and Christmas arrive(Abby and Scott have birthdays in December). Most of these need to be done on the sewing machine and I've been putting them off because I dread cutting fabric! The pinning and sewing part, no problem. The cutting of the fabric before the pinning and sewing gives me the shivers. But, last night and this morning I managed to whip together one of the projects and it was much easier than I had thought it would be!! For Abby's birthday she is getting some things to help keep her entertained at church and I wanted to make a little cloth bag to keep them in. So, I decided to make a pillowcase into a drawstring bag. I happened to have bought a couple of pillowcases at DI last year that I was planning to make into summer dresses for Abby so I dug those out of the fabric boxes.

I didn't take a picture before I cut it but this way you can sort of see how I cut it.

I sewed up the bottom and one side.

I added a buttonhole on the top of the bag (what used to be the cuff of the pillowcase).

Folded the cuff towards the inside and sewed around the bottom of it.

Threaded the ribbon through the buttonhole and worked it through the inside edge with a safety pin. (It's folded over in this pic)

After finishing the edges of the ribbons, here is the finished product!!

                                                    (It's a little twisted in the picture)

I can hardly wait for Abby's birthday so we can fill this cute little bag with her church busy toys!! I am super excited to make similar bags for other purposes now that I know how easy it is!!

I found the tutorial for the bag here, http://makezine.com/craft/how-to_tuesdays_pillowcase_lau/

I didn't do a hanging strap, used ribbon instead of twill tape and cut mine to shorten it and make it narrower.

New teeth

About two weeks ago Lilly's first tooth broke through, right in front, on the bottom. We were super excited for her! She has been rather crankier than usual these last few days and then yesterday while we were pushing her in the stroller at the mall, she tipped her head back to look up at me and smiled and there are now two teeth! The second one is small and must have just barely broken through her gums! It's right next to the first one. Our little baby is growing up, I can hardly believe it!

What does the fox say?

We enjoy using a theme for our Halloween costumes every year, when possible. This year our families costumes were loosely based off of the Music video for "What Does The Fox Say".

Our ward trunk or treat

My parents came down to have dinner and help take the girls trunk or treating. Abby loved having her grandparents around! (Lilly slept up until it was time to leave for the trunk or treat, or I'm sure she would have been just as excited!)

Our growling little lion. What an appropriate costume for Lilly who is the growling-est baby I have ever seen.

Our cute little cow. Abby loved her costume and didn't ever want to take it off.

She was so excited to give out candy to "the kids". She even ended up wanting to give out candy from her bag of candy as some stragglers made it to the parking lot as everyone was starting to leave. What a generous little cutie!

Right before the Halloween party a week before Halloween.

This soon turned into....

this, which turned into....

this! ("Get it off me"!)

And meanwhile, Abby couldn't be happier in her costume...

Once we got there and the hood came off, she was a happy camper.

Strengthening daddy's roots.....

Having a blast on the trampoline!

Sorry for the over abundance of pictures but it is a rare moment when the girls will hold still for long enough to get a decent picture so I couldn't resist sharing the cuteness. 

We do enjoy Halloween and the chance to dress up and have a little fun in our family!