It's Great to Be Eight!

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

For the last several years, husband and I have spent most of July traveling, but due to Covid, we aren't able to do that this year.  But one event I would not miss was B's baptism. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we baptize children at eight years old, once they're old enough to understand what they are doing.  B turned eight in April, but unfortunately, due to Covid he wasn't able to be baptised then.  Luckily, restrictions were lifted enough that he was able to be baptised on July 4th.

One of the other things that was delayed by the Covid quarantine/lockdown was a double birthday celebration for B and his grandad.  Their birthdays are just one day apart, and they had planned a picnic (mostly so that B could try out his Boy Scout cook kits that Grandad had given him.)  So while we were waiting for the other family members to arrive, we headed to the park to have our picnic.  B chose a menu of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee spaghetti and hot dogs, 😂😂😂 (again so he could get maximum use of his cook kit.)  We all ate spaghetti and hot dogs from the cook kit "dishes" and cleaned up with the few paper towels we remembered to bring. 

And lest you think B was unsupervised, that is far from the truth.  His Uncle Sean (being an Eagle Scout himself) was Johnny-on-the-spot in the supervision department.  Naturally, Grandad supervised as well, so B was well looked after.

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

Finally, the time arrived, we all got ready and headed to the church.  B was very excited.  Granny and Papa provided the lovely towel.  Grandad and I made sure he had a new shirt and tie for the event.

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

Several family members were able to be present to share B's special day.  (Utah allows groups of up to 25).

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

Afterwards, the kids played with their cousins for hours!  (They have a lot of cousins - this was only 3 of the 5 families on SIL's side.  Our only other grandchild and her parents live in Canada and the border is closed, so they could not come.)

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

We had some quieter moments too.  (I love this sweet pic of E and her little cousin just chatting.)  We had a lovely dinner of beef brisket and pot luck sides.  (I made gluten free banana pudding, and it was a huge hit!  It was cool, creamy, and so delicious.  My SIL said he hadn't had banana pudding in years.  I am always thrilled when I can make a gluten free dish that everyone enjoys!  I'll share the recipe below in case anyone is interested.  Please note that this recipe is only gluten free - it is NOT fat-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, or flavor-free.)

And then...  Fireworks!

Congratulations, B!  Happy Birthday, America!  And happy belated birthday to B and Grandad!  Needless to say, the kids (and adults) were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was truly wonderful.

Gluten-Free Banana Pudding

1 box GF graham crackers
1 box Jello vanilla pudding (it's GF - good to know, right?)
1 quart heavy cream
1-1/3 c. milk
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 bananas

Place 3 graham crackers in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Mix vanilla pudding with 1-1/3 c. milk, then add 2 c. heavy cream.  Set aside.

Whip 2 c. heavy cream until stiff.  Add sugar and vanilla.  Set aside.

Slice bananas. 

Line the bottom of 9 x 13 glass dish with the GF graham crackers.  Spoon half of the pudding in a layer on top of the graham crackers.  Place a layer of sliced bananas on the pudding to cover.  Repeat.  Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle crumbled graham crackers on top.

Making HTV Shirts with the Grands - Part II

Making HTV-vinyl shirts with the girls wasn't nearly as straightforward as it was with B.  Naturally, the girls wanted shirts, but they had chosen to make rompers instead of shorts, so they had nothing to pair it with.   

A and I spent quite a long time perusing the Silhouette Design Store before she decided she wanted a Disney-esque design (she is currently writing a book about Disney!). She chose this castle design.  We didn't have an appropriate-color shirt her size, so it involved a trip to Joann's.  I wish I had thought to buy glitter HTV, but I think I was a little afraid of it (and with good reason, it turns out - HINT:  Be sure to test cut first and change the settings as necessary.  The settings in the machine didn't adequately cut the vinyl, and I had to play with them some to get it to play nicely.)

When we got home, I worked to size it for a shirt her size - as you can see in the photo above it was sized for a full 12x12 cut - way too big for a shirt for a 10-year old.

I tested the design first on a scrap of vinyl, and E requested that I make it into a shirt for her Willa (Wellie Wishers American Girl) doll.  That actually made making E's shirt much easier later.

And naturally, I had to make Mary Ellen (A's American Girl Doll) a matching shirt as well.

Cutting the vinyl wasn't really a problem for the castle, but I forgot to reverse the image for the word MAGIC so naturally I had to do that twice.  Since I didn't have glitter vinyl, we used the same layering technique we used for B's paw prints for a more pronounced look.  As you can see, I'm no expert in sizing complex designs. 

Photo credit:  Cherri Woodruff

Luckily, A was happy with it just the way it was.

Going with the Disney theme, E had chosen Cinderella's Coach as her image.  This looks so cool, doesn't it?

But here's the image you see on the Silhouette.  Each of these is a different color vinyl, which is fine, but resizing all of these disparate parts and getting them to match up is beyond my skills.  I really need expert instruction if I'm ever going to manage this!  (I really wish I could get some in-person instruction on my Silhouette.  Melissa at Silhouette School provides great tutorials - I couldn't have gotten this far without her! -  but to do a project like this, I would need someone holding my hand in person.)  I tried it nevertheless and wasted almost a whole roll of vinyl in the process.

Since the design she chose was impossible (at least for me) I decided to make E's shirt match the doll's shirt.  And because the grands had to go home before I got E's shirt made, I had some time to get some glitter vinyl cut (which was amazingly hard to find due to the manufacturing/transportation issues because of Covid apparently).   

By the time I realized that the pumpkin coach was not going to happen, understood  that a test-cut was needed for glitter vinyl even though I used the suggested settings, and wasted almost a whole roll of glitter vinyl on a pumpkin coach that was too big anyway, I was so frazzled from all the failed attempts that again I forgot to reverse the word "magic" before I cut, so yet more glitter vinyl was wasted.  Hopefully this is a lesson I will remember next time.

In the end, the girls were thrilled with their shirts - and so were the dollies, I hope. 

Making HTV Shirts with the Grands - Part 1

As I mentioned in this post, B made himself a pair of shorts when he visited this summer.  Naturally, we needed to make a shirt to go with it.  I had a red shirt his size in my stash (and now I know that red is his favorite color!) and we headed to the Silhouette Design Store to find the perfect design to go on his shirt.  Of course we decided on paw prints to match the shorts.

I don't use my Silhouette Cameo very much - in fact, it was a Christmas gift from husband in 2012 and I'll bet I haven't used it a dozen times - so I tend to forget exactly what to do to make this process go smoothly.  Luckily, A helped me make our shirts last year, so she remembered a lot more than I did.  B really wanted a red paw print on the front of his shirt - did I mention red is his favorite color? - and I said I didn't think it would show up.  He said, "Grandma, couldn't we put black behind it so it would show up?"  I hadn't tried layering vinyl in this way before, but it worked marvelously.  He obviously has some of his mother's and sister's design savvy. 

Last year during the Amazon Prime Day sale, I had bought a Cricut Easy Press at a steal of a deal.  I had looked at the larger presses, but I have no room for one, and I honestly don't use it that often...  In fact, I hadn't taken it out of the box until the day we made this shirt.  But WOW!  Does it make a difference!  Last year, I tried to press the designs with my steam iron and it was a nightmare.  The press makes it so much easier.  If you can afford one, I highly recommend getting a press.  (As I linked to Amazon just now, I noticed that there are several knock-offs of the Cricut press, and I have no idea if they are as good as the original, but the Cricut is easy to use and I got great results.  Just be sure to keep the time/temperature card handy.)

A and B both helped me weed the paw prints, and B thought it was great fun to use the Easy Press, so this turned out to be a super-fun evening activity with the kids.

Stamping with the Grands

Usually, when the grands come to visit, their mom schedules them for lots of activities (besides beach-going) so that they won't get bored.  This year, due to Covid-19, that really wasn't an option.  My daughter said she was going to go buy them some craft supplies, and I almost choked!  No one in this house should really ever need to buy craft supplies again.

Once upon a time I was a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and to say I have stamping supplies is putting it mildly.  I have an entire closet filled with stamps and scrapbooking supplies.  [Sadly, many of my stamp pads haven't been used in so long they have dried up and SU has changed the colors in the meantime, so I had to cull through the stamp pads and throw out the ones I didn't have re-inkers for.] Anyway, one rainy morning, I dug out the basics and we headed to the kitchen table.  Unfortunately, we were so busy I didn't think to get pictures, but they really had a lot of fun.

Before we started, we had a little lesson on cleaning the stamps after every use so they didn't mix ink colors and ruin the pads I had left, and I turned them loose.  Instead of creating a card design, like I would have done with adults, I let them just stamp to their heart's content. They were delighted.  And they were very good about cleaning stamps after they used them, which made me very happy.

They had a great time creating cards to mail to their friends.  In fact, they had so much fun the first time, they requested a second session to create cards for their dad, who had had to return home by this time.  I think this may be an activity they will request year after year.

Annual Beach Pilgrimage

You would think, living as close to the beach as we do, that I would spend a lot of time there.  Nope.  I really hate sand, and the way it has of sneaking into EVERYTHING.  But my grands love the beach, and once a year, just before they leave, I make my annual beach pilgrimage.  Their mom tells them, "Grandma doesn't love the beach, but she loves you, so she comes to the beach with you every year."  She nailed it. 

This year, the littles were playing in the sand before I even got my beach chair set up. 

I don't have sunglasses, so B shared his with me. =)

I was afraid I had waited too long, because it rained all morning, but by afternoon, the sun came out, leaving the day cool and breezy - just perfect for me, in fact, although the storm left the waves too high for the kids to do more than get their feet wet.

Still, they had a great time, and spirits were high - at least with the youngest two. They built sand structures (I wouldn't exactly call them castles) and had a blast.

They shoveled and dug and had a glorious time.

And E buried B in the sand.  Of course she did!

We had a grand time, and stayed much longer than usual since it was so nice and cool.  A truly wonderful day at the beach - and it's rare for me to say that.

Making Barbie a Swimsuit

I mentioned in a previous post that when Ken got here, all he had was a swimsuit - in fact, when I got my first Barbie back in the day, the only item of clothing any Barbie came with was a swimsuit.  Times have changed!  Apparently, the constant beach-going got the kids playing "go to the beach" and E wondered why Barbie didn't have a swimsuit.  I was pretty sure I could fix that pretty easily.

It was not as easy as I thought.

I scoured Pinterest and the internet for a Barbie swimsuit pattern.  No dice.  The closest I came was this outline on Pinterest.    There was no .pdf pattern and no real way to print it out.  I finally took a screen shot, dropped it in a Word document, and sized it as best I could using the ruler guide on the screen.  Barbie's body is about 5" from shoulder to crotch, so that is the measurement I used.

Once I got the pattern printed out, I cut it out of a piece of scrap knit I had.  I liked the red mostly because the Barbie I had when I was little had a red swimsuit.  The pattern as it printed was about the right length, but way too wide, so I had to fit as I went.  It's still a little big, in fact, but I decided to go with it because it is easier for little hands to manage.

So now Barbie and Ken both have swimsuits and can go to the beach (or the pool) whenever they wish.

Sewing With Grandma - Part III

This segment of Sewing With Grandma had to wait until the item was gifted, hence the delay.  Rather than make the shorts that I had planned for us to make together.  "A" decided she wanted to make her other grandma (Granny) a quilt.  I allowed her to choose any fabric bundle on my shelves (and there are plenty) and she chose Mimosa by Another Point of View.  This rainbow colored bundle was just perfect for her project.

I suggested a Plus quilt, but she asked if there was a pattern somewhere for hearts.  I turned to Cluck Cluck Sew's heart quilt tutorial, and we got started.  Alison has created a super simple, but very fun quilt block that was just perfect for her idea.

I helped her cut the pieces, and showed her how to draw the lines on the background pieces to snowball the corners, and she got started.  I worried a bit that she would lose interest after a couple of sewing sessions, but she was very diligent.  Naturally, this project took place over several days.

Once she got the blocks made, we brought in the portable design board and she got to work.  This child has a knack for design (just like her mom!) and she knew exactly what she wanted.  The idea to have a solid block between each heart was entirely hers, although I helped her figure out how many blocks she would need.  Once she had the layout, she put the blocks in rows and sewed the rows together.

Once the top was complete, she asked me to quilt her masterpiece.  Naturally, I was thrilled to do it.  (Maybe next year, she'll want to do it herself.). She chose a remnant piece of blue plaid for the binding, and it was obviously meant to be, because we only had about 5" of binding left after we bound the quilt.

Needless to say, Granny was thrilled with her gift!  And hopefully, A will have great memories of sewing with Grandma.