adventures of the miebs family: beloved projects

i have a sewing machine, therefore, i am a sewing machine. right? ok, so not always. but, over the holidays, my ol' kenmore was put to work. as were my digits. lots of pining (and poking) and ironing, a few seam ripping sessions, but mostly, success.

the first project was the quilt for my father. merry Christmas! funny story, shortly after dylan was born, my dad and sue came to visit. as a gift (ha!) he brought me a large bag of old t-shirts, some threadbare, to be made into a quilt. at the time, i remember thinking ah yes, 'cause you know i'm gonna have so much free time with a newborn and a 2.5 year old to just plop down at my sewing table and knock this right out. yep. well, as it went... 20 months later, the blanket is finished!

in my defense, i never attempted to start it. didn't even pull out that bag-o-tees until the first week of december. ben and i sorted through the plethora of graphics. (see, didn't i tell you he always gets pulled into my projects?! it's the ~~damn~~ math portion! gets me every time.) we decided on a size for both the back logos and for the few front pocket logos that would work for the entire layout.

my initial plan was to do a mixture of square sizes, like 9x9 with 4.5x4.5 intermingling. but thankfully, there were only four pocket-sized squares so we piled them in one square and did the rest of the quilt with large 12x12 sized squares. (i think. i can't actually remember if that was the ending size.) ok, guess the specifics aren't exactly needed. i just knew this flannel quilt needed to be big. better to be too big than not big enough. ben was able to wrap this around his shoulders, lay down and still be covered. perfect, comfy-cozy.

the majority of the tees were aeroplane (as my grandpa jack would say) themed. it's funny how i hear his voice in certain situations with certain words. bat-trees is another one {batteries}. miss him.

you know how hard it is to find non-girly, non-flowery, masculine fabric?!

this is the best i could do.

(and i can't believe that mix up of squares!!! i'm just now seeing this! at the top, that blue and orange need to be flipped! all the times ben and i scoured this, making sure the surrounding, "touching" fabric and tees, matched! gah!)

dylan approved.

back of the quilt.

if he didn't like the bold colors of the front, the back would be a nice compromise.

(turns out, he liked it all!)

i just love standing back and admiring the finished piece. it's such a great feeling. kinda like in the middle of mowing the lawn. you glance to the other side of the yard where you were, and then to the other side where you still have to go. (i'm having a flashback of the sesame street NEAR and FAR episode. tell me you know what i'm talking about.)

accomplished. love that. don't get enough of that feeling. but, it's all relative. at the end of the day, the kids are fed, watered and bathed. they're in clean jammies, lovies within arm's reach. they're alive. and {majorly} loved. that's a pretty great accomplishment. hey, mom, that pollyanna moment was especially for you.

ok, here, you'll see 9 finished headbands, but in all, i made 30. they were all different; so much fun placing the random fabrics together. i gave away a lot but still have plenty more to put together and send away... takers? i made sizes to fit my girl all the way up to this girl. jb was my model for a few, as there are several little ladies in my life. (but, don't tell ben that his son was modeling flowery headbands. please.)

in between the sewing, i did a little baking. we made sugar cookies, gingerbread boys, peanut blossoms, caramel corn and went through tubeS of sprinkles. we vacuumed a lot, too. while my hands were consistently sticky and gooey and because i usually had two kiddos up on our high stools, i couldn't get to my camera. however, when i was slopping the popcorn balls together, i convinced ben to snap a quick shot of the delicious mess. need to make more of these with extra marshmallow and less confectioner's sugar. next time.

ben bought me this 30-count container of thread for Christmas. how thoughtful! the man went into jo ann's - by himself - during the holidays - no less! whatta guy. he's a total triple threat. and what a great gift for the kids, too, i guess. they love dumping them all out, placing them back in. jack even placed all the reds in a clump, the greens over there, the browns and grays in a line. look out. that's eerily like someone i know. {me}

playing nicely.

duey, you pick up dese ones wight dere.

a chinful of thread.

already learned this much needed carry.

i predict seeing this pose, but with dirty, dusty rocks, this summer.

ok, so this was more ben's project than mine. while i've helped many times in the past, this year was all him. his friend, jerry, came over to help with the process of cutting. (did you catch that? ben and jerry. oh, how i love saying that.)

a moose will likely last a year, for us. we don't eat beef, unless someone else is serving it. at our house, we eat moose tacos, moose chili, moose in our lasagna and manicotti. this year, we ordered a few pounds of chorizo burger that i brown and then mix with scrambled eggs and cheese, served into a spinach tortilla shell. best part about it - it's something the kids enjoy too!

this moose provided 260 pounds of burger, 50 pounds of roasts (great for the crock pot), 30 pounds of steaks, several pounds of bacon burger, breakfast sausage and the chorizo.

frozen solid meat from one moose.

shot near mount susitna, on new year's eve.

so this isn't my creation, even though i've made play capes in the past. my girlfriend has been actively selling, setting up holiday bazaar booths at local venues and even selling on etsy. i love supporting local crafters. she's done some really cute capes with applique, this cherry one in particular. and, i love that it's reversible.

for a girlfriend that knits, i decided to construct a knitting holder-type-roll-up-thingy. got it? the holder has 4 sections with 3 pockets in each, in varying depths. this gal will hold an assortment of needles, including those little (and large) hook dealies. {can you tell i'm a knitter?} she may even hold a small roll of yarn.