Meet Twinkles the Bear

So this past weekend Kara and I hosted our 6-year-old niece Ellie for a sleepover at my house.  Here is Ellie being officially welcomed via the vinyl chalkboard on my kitchen wall:

We picked up Ellie on Friday night, dined at Applebee’s, painted toe and finger nails, played the Fancy Nancy card game, made homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream shakes, watched the new Tinkerbell movie, and then all settled down for bed.  Come early Saturday morning, Ellie and I were watching cartoons and the thought came to me that perhaps it wasn’t the most exciting use of our time together.  I suggested a couple options for her to choose from (continue to watch TV, drawing pictures, perhaps a small sewing project) and she immediately jumped on the chance to sew.  We pulled out several sewing pattern books and started looking for the perfect pattern.  At first she was thinking she wanted a purse but then she saw a stuffed animal pattern and our search quickly narrowed.  Kara had joined us at this point and all three of us decided on this pattern:

The pattern is Peg Bear from One Yard Wonders.  Cute right?  Next step was picking fabric.  At first Ellie REALLY wanted the same fabric as the red polka dot Bear pictured in the pattern.  I actually happen to have that exact fabric in my stash but it is being saved for a particular project so I was hesitant to use it.  Luckily we found some other fabric in my stash that we all determined was even better.  Ellie was able to quickly see the vision of how cute the different fabric would be.  She is creative like that.

After a quick trip to JoAnn’s for some materials, we got started sewing in earnest.  Ellie helped with the pinning:

And the stuffing:

She had moments of pure happiness:

And even got a little stressed out:

In then end, it was all worth it for our work resulted in Ellie’s newest best friend, Twinkles:

I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun on a Saturday.  Ellie is a girl after her Aunts’ hearts as she kept exclaiming, “This is so fun” and “I LOVE this!”  Looks like the creating gene has bled to another generation.  We simply had a blast.  (The only damper on our day was knowing how much fun Ellie’s older sister Emma would have had if she too was with us.  Next time it is Emma’s turn.)

Ellie loves Twinkles for her perfectly hugable size, her adorable belly button and sparkly button eyes, and I hope partially because we created her together. We love you Twinkles.

Fun Fact: When Kara was little she used to have a pet bunny named Twinkles.  Ellie remembered the name and out of the blue decided to name her bear Twinkles in honor of her Aunt’s deceased pet.  She is a cute one that Ellie.

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Project Home: Living Room

Okay, I have been putting off posting pictures of my new home because, well, I am not done decorating.  But really, when are you ever done?  And why would you want to be?  A huge part of the fun is taking your time and to find that perfect deal or unique piece.  So I decided that I should just post pictures when I feel a room is done enough and I can update you with any big changes in the future.  So first room…the living room.

This was the first room to come together for me.  When I was in Hong Kong last summer I bought an oil painting I love and knew I wanted to use it as a starting point for my room.  I already owned a fair amount of furniture and was lucky that a lot of it worked into the vision of what I wanted to do.  Ever since I knew I was buying this place I started searching for the right pieces I needed and began stalking my favorite websites and stores for deals.  Here is the result…so far.

So, here is the before:

And after:

Before:

And after:

I am currently using folding chairs as side chairs (cute folding chairs, but folding chairs all the same.) To come soon are a pair of living room chairs I bought at a consignment store that I need to repair and recover.  Initially I had grand thoughts of doing this myself but of late I am more persuaded to pay someone to do it for me.  I’ll be sure to show you the finished result.

So there it is, my living room so far.  I wish you could all come over for some hot chocolate, knitting, and a great TV show on DVD.

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From the “probably shouldn’t admit this” files

Has anyone else developed a wee little crush on Chris Collinsworth while watching the Olympics?

Is it just me?  It is huh? I just can’t help it!  He really loves the Olympics–I can tell.  He gets all geeked out by being at the events.  And he and Bob Costas really seem to like each other.  And their jobs.  I find it all very charming.

On a related note, how good have the Olympics been so far?  I am loving it.  Part of me wishes I was participating in the Knitting Olympics or Ravelmpics or some other similarly named knitting challenge but if I started something new now I would never finish Vivian.  And I am so close.  So very close.

On an unrelated note, my next post will be 1. soon and 2. a house post.  So get off my back!  Just kidding .  I love you all and any amount of pestering you want to engage in is completely accepted and frankly, well deserved.

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