Ella's Playhouse

About a month ago, I began planning to make her a tablecloth playhouse for Ella's 2nd birthday.  I had seen several online that were adorable but really expensive. Many of the tablecloths were based on using a dining table or a card table.  Unfortunately our dining table has a large trestle so there would be very little space for Ella to play.  So, I started looking for card tables.  They were expensive as well and all of them came with chairs.  So, my husband offered to make a frame out of PVC pipe and fittings. This was a perfect solution because we could make it as tall or taller than Ella and replace parts if necessary or break it down completely.  We sketched the design that we wanted and took measurements based on our table at home and Ella's height.  Then, I calculated the fabric I would need for the walls since I already had LOTS of fabric on hand.  I didn't have enough of "one" fabric to do the walls so I headed to Hancock's Fabric while hubby went to Home Depot.  I found lots of fabric on sale and scored a beige fabric that was 108" wide. I bought 3 yards for about a total of $12 thanks to a 40% off coupon.  Husband got all he needed (and more) from HD for about $8.

  

I begin cutting the pieces from the wide fabric from the wall, curtains from some leftover hello kitty fabric that I had on hand, window frames (2) from pink bias tape, the roof from a scrap of brown fabric the door from leftover red fabric from Ella's quilt.  It took quite a while to cut the wall pieces because the wide fabric was really cumbersome.  But once I had all the pieces cut and pinned together the sewing went really fast.  After sewing and fitting it to the frame, I made a few adjustments and decided to decorate the sides with butterflies and letters.  I made a theater on one side so that we could do puppet shows.  After getting it done, we revealed it to Ella and she ran into it and began popping her head out the windows and giggling.   Not bad at all for about $25.

Ella's First 1st Day

Ella started her preschool on Monday.  How cute is she??

Hot summer days

The last couple of weeks have been busy at work and hot at home.  We've been escaping the heat by visiting the local splash pads and our friends' pool.  Our 4th of July was a quiet one spent hanging close to the house, grilling out and sipping on homemade sangria.  Since I've blogged last, I've been doing pretty well working out consistently.  I've hit the pool a couple of times, rode my bike a couple of times, and worked out a couple of times with a dear friend doing our own version of a boot camp involving weights and running.  Today, we rode with the Mamma Jamma group on the 24-mile route through the neighborhoods of Austin.  I know I could be doing more but I feel better.  It feels good to be moving again. I underestimated the power of the "vision board".  It's on my dresser and every time I see it, I ask myself what I've done to fulfill my board.  It could be as simple as hugging my husband or riding my bike. I think about it a lot and especially the visuals on the board.

Super Ella

I had a lot of fun making this Super Ella cape and onesie for Ella to wear to a friend's superhero party.  I started with a generic cape and customized it.  First, I traced the letter E and various sized stars on blue and white pieces of felt, cut them out and sewed them on the cape and the onesie with silver thread for some sparkle.  I then hemmed up the cape a bit so that she wouldn't trip on it.  I love it and so does she.  She zipped around the yard and the house and growled.  It brings back so many memories of me as a child proudly wearing my supergirl or wonder woman underoos and fighting over who was going to wear our only red towel as a cape.

Trending... Frockets!

My niece came to visit for Spring Break and tasked us with making "frockets" which unbeknowst to me is a style trend amoung college coeds.  It's simply a tshirt with a fabric pocket.  So, we worked together make a frockets for the family.  


Pictured here is the one I made for Miss Ella.  I used leftover scraps from a quilt that I made for Ella and a tshirt that I got onsale at Old Navy.  I love how it turned out and it was so simple.  And it only cost about $3 compared to the original Frocket cost of $30+.

I also love watching Ella run around the yard.  She's fascinated by all the flowering weeds.  She picks them and of course tries to eat them.  She'll laugh and run up to me to show me her flower.  I can't wait to show her bluebonnets and other wildflowers.  

A Classic Jumper for Ella

I made Ella this Classic Jumper from One Yard Wonders.  It's the first item I have made from the book and I'm looking forward to making more.  The instructions were pretty easy to follow.  The only difficulty I had was of course the button-holes.  After spending a couple of hours fighting my machine, I gave up and had a friend do them for me just so Ella could wear before she grows out of it.  I used the 12 month old measurements which hopefully she won't outgrow for at least a couple of months. I love the dress on her and she loves the buttons.  She ran all around the house and yard so it's obviously super comfortable and the length is just right.  The length of the dress looks longer than it is in this picture.  It falls just below her knees.