Sunday, November 30, 2014

an Elf & the Nutcracker

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great time spending a the day with my in-laws. I ended up cooking my first turkey, which turned out amazing (if I say so myself)! My husband was trying to eat it right out of the roasting pan, so I took that as a good sign!


We had lots of leftovers, which meant that I didn't have to cook for the rest of the weekend! 

We stayed home and hid from the Black Friday madness, and only ventured out in the evening to go to the Nutcracker! Our cousin had a few parts, she was part of the dragon and one of the soldiers on horseback! She did great, and it was Alia's first time going to the REAL Nutcracker show! She was so excited that she kept asking me questions throughout the show!

The Ladies of our Family! 

Mommy & Alia


Alia & Auntie

We had such a wonderful time that we may have to make it annual thing! Maybe next year the Twins can even come... we'll see how brave Mommy feels next year!

You're probably wondering where the "Elf" comes into the picture..

Well if you keep up with the Seams Like Home Facebook page, last week you would've seen this cute guy hanging around our page..


He is a FREE project from WeAllSew.com, which is Bernina's Blog and has some AWESOME projects! I absolutely love how he came out. He was easy to put together, as you stuff the limbs and ears before you sew them on so you're not trying to wrangle his whole body trying to stuff him at the end! 

If you are looking to create your own "Elf on the Shelf" this year, he comes together in a few hours (maybe less if you're in a kid free zone!), he is a little bigger than the standard shelf elf, but still very cute! 

This time of year makes me so happy, with all the Christmas lights and SNOW (yay, finally!), it just seems magical! 

I hope you all have a magical week, enjoy the snow and...

Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (and Gertrude)

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Strait Family Thanksgiving!

This past week has flown by (quite a change from last week!) and I am starting to panic about how to prepare the Thanksgiving Feast for my family! 

Let me just admit right now... this is my FIRST Thanksgiving doing the cooking! :P I'm not going to lie.. I really hope it turns out edible! 

Got my Turkey in the fridge.. lots of veggies.. don't look too closely.. I know I need to clean my fridge! 


Other than stocking up on turkey, stuffing, and lots of veggies we've had a fairly low key week at the Strait house this week! I was able to get a little bit of sewing done this weekend though...


The twins have been a challenge during nap time the last month or so, and last week they destroyed one of their pillow covers, which led to creating these! The zig zag is a minkee and the thing1/thing2 is a cotton (pre-washed of course)! You can find a great tutorial for this at: 


My number of completed projects has been low this week, however, I do have a fun project in the works to debut next week, so stay tuned (it is SUPER cute)! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, I hope you get a chance to relax, eat lots of yummy food and just enjoy your families! 

And because I can, here are some moments from our family this week..

Ascher & Avalyn snuggled up with Mom!

Alia and her foam Gingerbread House!


If you are looking for a fun tradition/conversation starter for your Thanksgiving table, we have a great tradition from my husbands family..

When we sit down to the table, before we eat, we each share three things we are thankful for this year! It is one of my favorite traditions, it is always fun to hear what the kids say! 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Enjoli, Gertrude & Family











Sunday, November 16, 2014

Long week... new projects!

I don't know about you all, but last week was a long one for me.

I felt like the days went dragging by.. I had a few new projects in mind (of course, because I have like 100 UFO's waiting for me!) that I wanted to start on, but never enough spare moments to start them. 

At least that's how I felt by Monday night.. ehhh. You know you're in for a long week when you feel like that on Monday night! SO, I decided that I needed a little sewing therapy. On Tuesday night when my hubby got home for work, I was anxiously waiting by the door with my bag of sewing supplies, ready to head to the shop for my sisters "Spiced Chai" class. Momma needed a night off!

As most of you have probably heard by now... I am getting a NEWPHEW! YAY I am beyond excited. So in celebration of him, I themed my Spiced Chai for him! Here is where I'm at ... I only got through cutting the first night.. but it's a start!


I have been saving those glasses and mustaches for a special project, I think they're just so stinkin' cute! Hubby has a basketball game this week on class night, so I don't get to go, but, by some miracle of the stars aligning this week.. I have Wednesday & Thursday with kid-free time, so I plan on getting a big chunk of this quilt together! 

(Not to mention a few other awesome projects that you'll have to stay tuned for!) 

My other "must-do-now-before-I-have-a-conniption" project, was a new wallet made out of some cotton+steel fabric I have been hoarding! :P  This beauty is almost done, due to the mercy of my husband on Friday night! 


Loving those arrows!

I feel like it looks like a hungry monster... see how empty it is.. that's because I spend all my money on fabric! 

As you can see, all I have left to do is sew up the binding.. which.. yes.. I do..by hand! It really is the easiest way. If you know me, you know that I avoid hand sewing AT ALL COSTS! But, this project really requires you to get down and dirty with your needle and thread and sew by hand.

So, after Monday being a bit rough, my week recovered and I got a bit of sewing in... cross your fingers that this week will be a bit smoother, with a bit more sewing!

Happy Sewing,
Enjoli (and Gertrude)

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Happy (Belated) Halloween!

A Happy (Belated) Halloween to you all!

Since I know that you were all sweating and worrying about whether I would finish the costumes in time ... you will be pleased to know that I DID! 

I had two very cute little Minions and a beautiful Queen Elsa to take Trick-or-Treating on Friday night! 

Don't they look sugared up?! 

Miss Ascher enjoying a Twizzler! 

Avalyn was busy throwing her Twizzler on the floor! 

This week is short and sweet as I recover from the Halloween excitement and costume creation! 

Have a great week & Happy Sewing! 

Enjoli (and Gertrude)