Made with Love

I couldn't decide if I should include Abby's present in with the birthday post, but I thought keeping them separate would be more fun, and I want to highlight Abby, just as I did with 

The Professor...

As a homemade gift for Abby, as I explained in my post about The Professor's present, I tried to come up with something that would be both neat, and fun for her. So, I came up with the idea of turning some of her clothes into doll clothes. I sort of went off the tracks from my original idea, but ended up with a good result anyway, so I count it as a win! 

I started off with a skirt of her's that was too small. 

(It had built in shorts, so I removed them.)

Then, I cut both sides of the skirt to remove some bulkiness and width. After I eyeballed it, I measured it against the doll and sewed it at the right width. 

Done. 

(And of course, I made her a cute little vest because I just couldn't resist!)

Then, (and this is where I went off course), I took a skirt of mine that I didn't really like, and made a skirt for Abby, and a halter dress for her doll. 

This is my skirt, which I took apart, including the elastic, and Abby's skirt.

And this is Abby's skirt with the doll's dress. 

This one was a little more complicated, but it turned out pretty cool. It's a little too tight, so I may have to make a few adjustments, but she liked it, so that's all that matters to me!

Next year, I will have to get a little fancier! 

{Daily Odd Compliment: Compared to what I would do for you, The Legend of Zelda is just child's play}

The Professor's Present

It's the end of the world! And Xavier's birthday, so I thought I would shake things up this year.

I don't normally get Abby some birthday presents, so this year, I am starting a new tradition (I have been trying to create traditions for a few years now). I am going to take something of theirs, and revive it into something else. 

To kick this off, I converted a playmat, made by my mom, into a quiet book. 

Here's how...

 This is what the blanket looked like... 

First, I took the backing off (the bottom left-hand corner shows it), then I seperated the squares into strips, which is how my mom originally sewed them...

I had my awesome Mel to help with any seam ripping and creative layout...

 We took some of the squares off of the 3 piece strips, because not all of them had something the baby can play with. These are the first pages of the book, when you open it, which I left how they were...

 For the third page, I added a few buckles and will add a few buttons to hook onto...

 For these pages, I just added a piece of ribbon from another square, with a fastner, and sewed the velcro on that was ripping off...

 This is the front (or back, but I think It should be the front) which I got Mel to fringe a collar from a modified shirt, to create and X...

And this is the back, which I left as is (and if some of you recognize it, B, it's because it's from my 2002 Prom dress :) )

All in all, this was a pretty simple project for me! I'm very lucky to have such a great semstrest as a mother because all the ground work for this was already done! As a bonus, this was a lot of fun to put together for The Professor! Hope he enjoys it!

{Daily Odd Compliment: Is heaven missing an angel? If so, I'm sure you could find it.}

Serene lunchtime

Yes, serene.

The baby slept, so I sat outside in the sun, then made some lunch. As I ate, I watched

Easy A, which reminded me of when Jay and I went to see that movie on a rainy Friday, during our honeymoon in Boston.

I love September!

With both our birthdays coming up, as well as the bridal shower (coming soon to a post near you) and bachelorette party, there's lots of energy in our house! I almost forgot! JOURNEY!

I can't wait!

{Daily Odd Compliment: Your eyes are as blue as the ocean. Unless they're not.}