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)

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: 

http://www.vanillajoy.com/free-boppy-slipcover-pattern-and-tutorial.html

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

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)

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) 

Gert's First Weekend Away!

This weekend, Gertrude got to go to a BIG Bernina event with Seams Like Home, the first ever Alaska Sewapalooza! She was in a room surrounded by other Bernina's (7 and 8 Series machines) and she had a great time! Though I think she may be a little worn out.. she has been protesting a bit at the amount of things I've made her do today!

A week or two ago I picked up some blank canvas bags to embroider for the girls' Trick or Treating bags! And as you know, one of my favorite embroidery sites, "Urban Threads" had some awesome designs I just had to put on these bags! The design pack is called "ApotheScary" and comes with some cute printables, so you can have a whole theme going on at your party! :) Gertrude only asked me to stop a few times! I think they turned out pretty cute! (Color coded of course so we know whose bag is whose!)

Gertrude working away on Trick Or Treat bags!

Completed bags! Sergio even got in on the action to help me finish up the inside seams!

Since Halloween is this week, I figured I really should get the twins hats done for their costumes! They are going to be a yellow and a purple minion! Last week I shared with you the gal who was my inspiration (and also who I copied!), though she included her whole family in the Despicable Me fun!

But of course, me and my procrastination... the hats are about 20% done.. :P I have the "hat" part cut out and experimented with some yarn for the Purple Minions hair (Avalyn) but thats about as far as I got today. 

The two Minions have been sick the last few days.. actually all of us have.. I think we keep passing it back and forth, so our schedule has been way off the past week, which of course makes it hard to get much done! 

My hope is that next week you will get to see some very adorable pictures of three little girls, Two Minions and an Elsa all dressed up in their Halloween best! :) And, if all else fails and I don't get the costumes done, well... the twins will just go as each other! :P 

Happy Halloween week and Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (and a very tired Gertrude)

P.S: Ohh, I almost forgot. I am doing a Pumpkin exchange (kinda like Secret Santa) with a Moms group I am part of. The other Mom I got really likes tea, so I found this cute little tutorial for a travel tea bag carrier- thing! :P I whipped one up today, and it turned out pretty good if I say so myself! 

 

I even put her initials on it! :P You can put a few tea bags in it, or for those long days, it will hold up to four bags at a time!!

Well, despite my best intentions of getting the twins' Minion hats done this weekend.. I got distracted by this cute little hedgehog baby quilt for my sister! I started this cute project while we were in Valdez for Quilt Festival and have been wanting to come back to it since then! 

This is a great pattern from one of my favorite designers, Elizabeth Hartman! You can check her out at www.ohfransson.com! She even has a new book coming out on November 1st that I CAN'T WAIT FOR!! :) The new book is called, Patchwork City! 

Isn't she just too cute?! Technically her name is Hazel, according to the pattern. Though if my sis ends up with a boy, I feel that I'll have to rename her to something more masculine?! :P Or something like that?!

Anywhooo..  this is what the twins' hats look like currently .. hah I guess I'd better add it to my "Must-Do" list for this week! I know once I get in gear, it shouldn't take me too long.. right?!!

 I promise that next week, I'll have some finished hats to show you! :) 

Until then, enjoy the snow and Halloween festivities!

Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (And Gertrude) 

P.S: Who can find the boo-boo I made on the first hedgehog?! :P 

Elsa & Two Minions

It is that time of year again... get to work creating the Halloween costumes. The last two years, Alia has been very decisive on who she wants to dress up as.. and well the twins didn't get to vote!

This year, Alia waffled between, Cat-in-the-Hat, Elsa and the Grinch! :P Not sure where the kid comes up with stuff! She finally decided on Elsa, which is great because on our last trip to Denver I hit up a Disney store and bought her a stuffed Olaf and Elsa dress! (Very excited to not have to make that costume!) 

We're missing a few pieces... the crown and shoes... if you stumble across an Elsa crown or shoes, let me know! 

Now, for the really exciting part... The Twins! This is the first year I am dressing them up! And since we celebrated their 2 year birthday with Despicable Me 2, I decided to carry that theme on to their costumes! 

If you know my girls at all.. you would know that when Avalyn (7 minutes the youngest!) gets crazy, she very closely resembles a purple minion! And Ascher, while a bit more mellow..is still the more mischievous one, so she gets to be a yellow minion! 

Just to give you an idea! :P Her hair can be that crazy, though her teeth aren't quite so terrifying! 

As soon as I decided, I of course went straight to Pinterest. And what did I find...

The Perfect Tutorial!!

First, let me say a HUGE thank you to Blogger "Another Big Bite" for posting this tutorial and doing all the hard work of figuring it out!

She has a great tutorial on how to create these hats! If you're looking for some inspiration, or even just something cute to make you smile, head over to her blog! Her and her hubby dressed up as Lucy & Gru! Super Cute! (Not sure I can talk my hubby into dressing up as Gru though!)

I've collected my supplies and plan to tackle these this week, hopefully Gert and I can work through them and get something half as cute as what she has done!

I hope all of your Halloween crafting is going smoothly! Please post pictures of costumes or projects you are working on!

Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (And Gertrude)