Happy Mothers Day!

Just a quick post this morning to wish all you Mamas out there a wonderful Mothers Day.

"To the world you might just be one person, but to one person you might just be the world." Anonymous

 



Work It Macgyver

This is Macgyver.

Macgyver is our family dog. He is a six year old Chesapeake Bay retriever and we love him to pieces. He loves to swim, run, sleep and eat - not necessarily in that order.

During hunting season I always tie a piece of hunter orange fabric around his neck at the camp for safety purposes. I always think how cute the bandanna looks on him, and for years I have wanted to make a proper one for him - this week I did.

I found a bandanna style that I liked here. I especially liked the button detail but I couldn't find any large buttons that I liked so I decided just to make a basic style.

See how cute he is wearing it? Notice the pose? What a ham.

I am not an expert on sewing. In fact I haven't even hemmed pants. I have sewn a couple of buttons on shirts and that is the extent of my sewing repertoire. Here goes nothing...

To make this bandanna I went to Walmart and purchased an 18" x 42" piece of fabric, the name of the fabric is Chill by Fabric Palette. At Walmart there were two sizes of pre-cut fabric. I chose the largest of the two because Macgyver is a large dog and I wanted the bandanna to be proportionate to his size. After I measured Macgyver's neck size I had about 12 inches left over for scrap so, if your dog is smaller, the smaller size fabric will do just fine.

Because all sides of the fabric had raw edges I decided to sew each one with a basic straight stitch by hand. I figured if I didn't sew the raw edges, the fabric would pull away and in a day or so there would be no bandanna left. I measured an inch around the perimeter to ensure it was even all around. I would definitely mark a straight line to follow with my needle next time to ensure I keep the stitches straighter.

After all four sides were sewn, I folded the short ends toward each other to form a triangle and used fabric glue to adhere them and then ironed any wrinkles out. I am not sure if the glue will work - I am new to this sewing thing and quite frankly this was an experiment so only time will tell.

This project was very inexpensive to complete:

Fabric: $ 2.50
Thread and Needle: already owned (ya know from my button sewing days)
Doggy : Priceless

Have you sewn anything recently? What was your first sewing project?


I am linking this project on Young House Love as part of their Spring Pinterest challenge with Bower Power, Sparkle Meets Pop, and Red Bird Blue.

Children's Easter and Spring Reading

Hi! Hope your day is swell.

Abigail and I like to read. We enjoy going to the library, or the bookstore to pick out a few new books. Reading and going to the library offers a great opportunity for precious one on one time.

With Easter only a few days away, and since Abigail and I have been reading a lot of Easter and Spring themed books lately, I wanted to share a few of our favorites with you.

Peter Cottontail's Easter Book by Lulu Delacre

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Duck & Goose by Tad Hills

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Waddle,Waddle,Quack,Quack,Quack by Barbara Anne Skalak, illustrated by Sylvia Long

 

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Waddle,Waddle,Quack,Quack,Quack is a sentimental favorite because it was the first book I read to Abigail when we came home from the hospital after her birth.

 

 

 

 

 

The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs by Stan and Jan Berenstain

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 Clifford's Happy Easter by Norman Bridwell

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Do you have any favorite Springtime or Easter books? Do share!