Things I dig Friday: Thunder thighs and sewing inspiration

I promise there will be sewing related links coming in this edition of Things I Dig Friday. But first a few things I dig here on the home-front. And one anti-dig.

I snapped these photos of J.J's baby legs just kick kick kicking. Don't you just want to bite them?

We took the boys to the zoo on Thursday morning and had a fabulous time. I dressed them in their matching "Big Bro," "Little Bro" shirts, all excited to get some great pictures of them with ferocious animals in the background. And then left my camera in the car. Bummer! So I had to have a little photo shoot with them when we got home. Getting a good picture of both boys is so so difficult. One of them is always moving. Luke makes funny faces and puts his hands in front of his eyes. Jack slumps and gets very wide-eyed, like he is totally alarmed. But I did manage to get a few decent shots and wanted to share them. I am having so many days right now where all day long I think, Today is a very good day. This truly is the happiest time of my life. I know this blog is about sewing, and that has a lot to do with my current contentedness. But those too little firecrackers do, too. And so I just have to include some photos of them. It makes me even more happy to share. :)

And now, onto this:

This is my anti-dig. Luke got five stitches in the bottom of his foot on Tuesday. Quite the drama. He stepped on a piece of broken plate that had traveled from our kitchen down our basement stairs without us noticing. Seriously, the boy has had open-heart surgery, and I'm pretty sure these stitches will be remembered as far more traumatic for him! He was a screaming, thrashing, moaning, sweating mess. It broke my heart. And now he is hobbling around on his tip-toes. Ouch. Don't you feel bad for my little guy?

OK, so that's my life this week. And here is what I have been digging out in blog-land.

Seriously obsessed is how I would describe myself. I stumbled onto the blog The Sew Weekly a few weeks ago. It is fantastic. Mena has challenged herself to sew all of her own clothes. She recently made eight dresses in seven days. And they are all to-die-for cute. They're amazing. Go check out her blog and see all of her creations and tell me you aren't inspired to try to make a dress yourself.

Over on the blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! there has been a great series of posts about making skirts and dresses with tutorials galore. It's all part of something called The Summer of No Pants, in which participants sew four skirts or dress through the four weeks beginning Monday. I am about 99% sure I'm taking part! (The other 1% is the commitment-phobe part of me.) Scroll through the posts and I'm sure you'll find something you want to make. She also has discount codes listed for buying patterns and fabric. Isn't this fun?

I just found this blog called Wild Olive and have been learning quite a bit about embroidery. She's doing a series right now called Embroidery 101, and it is really helpful for someone like me who knows NOTHING about embroidery. I was inspired to learn after Prudent Baby announced an embroidery contest. It's really not about the contest, but that sparked me to think about what I would want to enter. And that led me to an idea I really want to turn into reality. And soon. So I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and this blog is helping big time!

How cute is this dress? I found this blog called Sew Sweetness through The Summer of No Pants. I am now hooked. I love finding blogs that are exactly what I want to read. This fits the bill for me. She reviews patterns and makes adorable stuff. I'm pretty reading her site was the final straw to convince me that I should attempt to sew myself a dress. Yup, I think it's coming.

That's it for this Things I Dig Friday! Looking forward to a weekend that is scheduled to include sunshine, warm temperatures, a night out with the girls, flower planting, a visit from my parents, my husband's first softball games and a cookout. Hopefully, I can sneak a little sewing in there, too. What's on your schedule for this weekend?

Things I dig Friday: Easter egg decorating

As part of our family-fun Thursday this week, we decorated our Easter eggs. 

Nothing too fancy. Just good old vinegar, hard-boiled eggs, and food coloring.

Well, I did take a crayon to a few eggs while they were still toasty. The warmth melts the wax, which slides around the egg to make a pretty subtle effect.  See? In the middle there?

We then plopped them in a basket with homemade "grass" -- the shredder fillings! So don't look too closely in there, or you might see my personal business. I love the way the shredded paper looks. I don't know if this counts as upcycling or recycling. Either way, no annoying plastic fake grass to be found around the house for weeks? Bonus!

If you'd rather get fancy with your eggs, I save a few links this week for you to check out. Feast your eyes on these speggtacular egg-decorating tutorials. (Ha! Get it? Get it??) 

 From the blog, Missy Polyclay comes a tutorial for making these sweet, yarn-wrapped eggs. I love the striped look.

The tutorial that inspired me to try the crayon technique came from Family Fun Magazine's Web site.

 I've seen several tutorials for this technique and it is beyond cool. I am so doing this one next year. Using silk ties to dye awesome prints onto your eggs. Super neat. From the blog AnalogLovesDigital.

Adorableness alert! Adorableness alert! These are so cute. I will eat them now. OK, so they're form a blog called Yesterday on Tuesday. She painted the eggs, applied glitter, created the fabric words and then Mod Podged them together. A lot of work but how cute?!

Please Google "chalkboard eggs." Buy some chalkboard paint. Boil some eggs. And lookie. How cute and fun. These ones come from the blog Cynthia Shaffer.

If I featured your project, you can grab my "Krista Loves Me!" button and post it, if you like. It's over yonder, in my sidebar. You don't have to, but I just made it. It is new. Don't you love new things? I do!

Things I dig: Trampolines and more

Before we get to the links, can I tell you? Taking a toddler to a trampoline gym. FUN. That's what we did on our family morning this week. We hit up toddler jump time at a place in Warren called All World Gym-Flip City. It's a gymnastics gym with a tot time for little kids each weekday morning. It was nearly empty. It was only $5. And so. much. fun!

I never knew how fun a giant pit of foam blocks could be. Also, I am not positive that the adults were supposed to be playing on the trampolines as much as we were. But hey, no one stopped us!

Loving having this family time together on Thursday mornings. It's so nice to go do things when they are mostly empty!




OK, onto my round up of links I just had to save and share with you this week. No real theme this week. Just a lot of wonderfulness!

Starting with this. It's a handmade birthday wreath. Check this out, from the blog Silly Pearl.

How freaking cute is that? And get this... she MADE all those noisemakers! Made them! I would so not have the patience.

Next!

I love this simple to make fabric bunting from the blog Three Pixie Lane. It's so sweet. And I really, really want to sit on that bench. Don't you?


Next!

How smart! I am thinking of doing a gallery wall in our dining room. Or perhaps the stairway. But I've been slow to move because it seems daunting. How to get all the pictures right? I've seen gallery walls that look amazing. And some that look very hodge podge. I want amazing. Well, this would probably help get you there! Stephanie from Stephanie at Home shows how to use Power Point to build a mock gallery wall. Love this idea!

A few more....

Love this scrappy sun-glass case made by Pink Stitches.

Cute spring printables from the blog Flamingo Toes. I hate peeps but they sure are cute!

And to wrap it up....

Resse's Eggs. Are delicious. We all know that. Which is why I had to save this recipe shared by All Things Fabulous for making your own Reese-style chocolate eggs at home. All that deliciousness with no weird packaged food stuff? Yes, please.

One last thing: If you're in Metro Detroit and you like handmade stuff, you'll want to check out the Craft Revival in Ferndale this weekend! I went last year and it was a cute little mini-indie craft fair. Lots of good stuff. The Web site says they have a craft for kids who visit. Might try that out! It's noon to 6 p.m. at the Loving Touch. I'll be there after we do the obligatory Easter Egg hunt in the morning!

What links are you loving this week? Have you ever gone trampoline bouncing with your kids? What are you up to this weekend? Please share in the comments!

Linked at...

Family Thursdays

We're trying to institute a new tradition here: spending our Thursday mornings together doing something as a family. Something that isn't what we do most mornings together -- eat breakfast one-by-one, putz around the house, workout at home while Luke spins in circles pretending to exercise, playing random games Luke invents, taking care of chores, paying bills, returning emails, surfing online, etc. Some of it might be defined as "quality time together" but certainly not all of it. So the new goal is to try and get a few hours of good quality time doing something together each Thursday.

I hope a lot of those Thursdays wind up looking like today.

We did brunch. I heart brunch big time. And we tried a new place -- Mae's in Ferndale.

I feel like I'm the last person under the sun to try Mae's. Now I see why. First of all, it's adorable. Very vintage charming. Faygo stickers, old black and white photos, turquoise vinyl, mismatched salt and pepper shakers, water carafes on the table to greet you, thrift store cups.

 Isn't it sweet?

Of course, who cares if it is cute if the food blows? Alas, it did not blow.

 Gypsy omelet with red peppers, mushrooms and shaved parmesan. Awesome. And the multi-grain bread was the prefect kind of chewy.

Mae's also specializes in fantastic soups and baked goods. That's actually one thing that drew me in -- I kept seeing their soups and baked-goods-of-the-day on Twitter. Then I'd walk around the rest of the day with drool on my chin. If you can't read it, one of the soups is Dill Pickle Potato. Unique, right?

We left with two of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Pretty sure the secret ingredient in them is coffee. They're delish.

It was lovely.  I wish it had been warmer so afterward we could have gone for a walk or to a park or something. Hurry up, Michigan, warm up! But still, lovely, and I'm excited to see what the new tradition brings us.

Do you have a designated "family time" each week? What do you do with that time typically? I'm trying to gather some ideas for our future Thursdays together. I'd love to hear yours so please, do share!

Pssst: Very cool giveaway happening on the blog Gwenny Penny for a blog redesign from Simply Klassic Blog Design! Go enter, but please, let me win, OK?