Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been so busy lately trying to get lots of stuff done--and trying to squeeze a couple of things in here and there for my little guy. I am getting closer to getting caught up, though--and that makes me feel great--even though I have a huge stash of stuff waiting on me that I want to do for my own family. So for now, I'm still not taking any new orders--but I am trying to post most of the things that I am doing.

I recently monogrammed some bags for a friend. She had picked up several things at Mike's Merchandise in Muscle Shoals, AL. I've never been to Mike's, but need to make the trip sometime--because she got some great deals. Mike's gets lots of stuff in, but you just never know what that stuff might be. I, personally, really like to go to places like this--because you never know what you might find. My friend got several bags/backpacks at Mike's for great prices. I did a drawstring bag for her and this L.L. Bean backpack:

She paid less than $4 for this backpack (I just looked and L.L. Bean has this exact backpack for $22.95). The backpack was new--but it did have initials monogrammed on it. I'm guessing they had put the wrong initials on it from an order. I got my seam ripper and took out that monogram (yes, you can do this sometimes--works best with simple monograms and on knits--when you can wash the item afterward, the fabric usually pulls back together--remember this when shopping at consignment sales: you just might get a great buy). You never know on backpack type fabrics how bad the holes are going to be from the previous monogram. Luckily--the monogram came out easily and you could barely tell where it had been--and I simply monogrammed my friend's little boy's initials over it. Love the aqua blue on the green.

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I had been hoping to have time to make my Jonah a marker roll for his Easter basket. I have gone completely overboard with buying stuff for his basket--all of the stuff is not going to fit--I know this for sure, because I've already tried! He is getting a couple of potties, too--not sure if he's ready, but thought we'd give it a shot (and we'll at least have them when he is ready)

I did not use a pattern of any sort for this marker roll--I just kind of used my judgement along the way. I got some Color Wonder stuff for his basket since he is wanting to draw/color more and more lately. I'm hoping this will be great for church. It's kind of hard to tell in the pic, but the red fabric has Mickey Mouse heads on it.

So...here it is:

I made it tall enough so that you can fold the top part down before rolling it up--to keep the markers from falling out.

Summer Fun

My sister-in-law contacted me the other night to ask if I would donate something for my niece's Kindergarten class for their Spring Fling. Her class is doing a Summer Fun themed basket. Luckily, I had just purchased lots of cute summer designs--and I had a couple of things in my stash that I could use.

 So, this is what I came up with:

When I think of summer fun--I think of the beach!

I had a couple of these towels that I had gotten at the Black Friday sale at WalMart for just $2. These are really nice big, thick towels, too. I had initially planned to just do the octopus with green eyes--and I was wishing I had some big blue polka dot ribbon, but no luck. I did have this small yellow, though--so I changed the eye color to yellow and sewed the ribbon along the bottom.

 I sure do wish I had bought lots of these towels---you can't beat the price and the quality is great! I do have one green left--but I'm thinking that I'll be using it to make Jonah a towel just like this.

Time for Time-Outs?

So my little guy is now 21 months old--and he's wanted to do everything by himself from the day he was born. He is very stubborn and independent. Up 'til recently--we've been able to get his attention and let him know when he wasn't supposed to do something--and that was enough. Now Jonah has learned that he has a choice in the matter--he knows when he's not supposed to do something--but he just might like to do it anyway. I just know that all this will power he has is going to be a great assett to him one day in the future--but, for right now, it's just getting him in trouble. I spent a week wondering where my sweet, little baby went--and also wondering why he was trying to break every bone in his body by climbing, jumping, pulling---and ultimately falling on that beautiful face he has. He became a stunt man overnight! And after what was supposed to be a fun day at the park turned into a chase after me because I'm not stopping for anybody--we knew we had to try something. So...welcome to the world of Time-Outs.

I was not sure that Time-Outs would work, because Jonah is still pretty young. I did some research--and it seemed that Jonah was at an appropriate age to try. I felt that it was no coincidence that the day we started Time-Outs I got an e-mail that said, "Is Your Toddler Ready for Time-Outs?"--from one of those sites that I had signed up on to keep my posted on what was going on week by week when he was a baby. Well, so far it has worked. That first day--he probably had about 5 Time-Outs. Fast forward to a week later--and he has only had one since that first day (that one was this morning: he had taken his box of oatmeal and was sitting in the recliner with the whole box poured all over him, the recliner, and the floor--I was only out of the room for a couple of minutes sorting laundry). And he has quickly corrected his behavior with the simple question: Do you want to sit in Time-Out? I'm sure that it won't always be this easy--but, for now it's working.

So...on a whim I grabbed a small rug we had and used it that first day for Time-Outs--and it worked fine: I can move it to room to room with me to keep an eye on him--besides every corner of our house has some kind of toy in it, so a corner was not going to work.

This picture is of the second time-out: he had already gotten the point. Yes, I know--he looks pitiful.

SO---I came up with this idea. I searched high and low for a placemat to monogram to become his time-out mat. I never knew it would be so hard to find a placemat I liked--I found the one below and figured it would do. I simply monogrammed Time-Out on it, but I can also monogram "Jonah's Time-Out Spot"--to make it personalized. And--it can simply be rolled up and put in a bag to take with you (consistency is important--especially when they are first learning). I thought it was a cute idea--

Price would be determined by the price of the placemat--total cost would likely be $10-12

~I hope to post soon on another project using placemats~

Cute Little Easter Truck

Here is an outfit that I whipped up for Jonah late last night. I'm hoping that it will be nice enough this afternoon for him to wear it Easter Egg Hunting.

I just love seersucker fabric. I knew I wanted to do this outfit in seersucker--I have some other summer shirts that I plan to do to go with the shorts. The shorts are actually reversible--they are green seersucker on the other side. I don't have a serger (maybe someday)--but I still want the clothes that I make to look finished--so I almost always fully line them or make them reversible so that they look nice---and they are really practical when reversible. I did not use a pattern for the shorts (I do have a shorts pattern). I recently got a pair of shorts for Jonah and liked the way they fit--so I used them for the pattern.

A side note on the shirt: I always plan out every fabric when sewing for others--but I decided to do this shirt late last night after I got in--so I had to use what I had (fabrics/threads). I still think it came out really cute. I almost always use Heat 'N Bond Lite on all my appliques, too. However, I had accidentally mixed my Lite with my Heavy bond--which you can't sew on: so I did not use any Heat 'N Bond on this project. SO---if you have not tried applique w/ Heat 'N Bond---you just have to! It just makes everything go so much smoother and look nicer, too! It makes it so much easier to cut around your fabric without it fraying. I could not cut too close to the fabric on this project because it was fraying--and I had lots of fabric threads to cut after the project was finished. And to make a long story short--I just couldn't stop thinking about my Heat 'N Bond Lite the whole time I was doing this project! It adds a little more time to a project (and really it's just a tiny amount of time) and it adds a little more money, too--but it's not expensive, either--BUT it makes all the difference!

Happy Birthday, Parker!

One of Jonah's good friends, Parker, is turning 3! I promised his mom that I would make him a birthday shirt--we worked together on ideas--and this is what we came up with:

Instead of buying a mouse w/birthday hat design (I've seen one on Etsy)--I merged two designs that I already had to create the front of the shirt. The back of the shirt is done in 2 seperate hoopings. This shirt was alot of work! It is pretty much 4 different projects on one shirt. In order to do a shirt like this--I would need to charge $30 (for front and back designs) to cover cost and time.

Lucky for Parker's mom---this is his birthday present from Jonah :)

I can also merge other designs if you see something you like. For example: I can do an applique birthday number on the front of a shirt w/something that goes with your theme (monkey, sports, princess, etc.).

Blog Traffic = Upcoming Giveaway

Well, blog traffic has definitely picked up. I started out in December with just a few hits each week--and today alone I've had about 20 hits--which means the blog has reached 1,000 (1, 019 at last count) hits! I will be posting info in the next couple of weeks on how you can be chosen to win something free from my blog--

I have lots of sewing and embroidering to do in the next couple of weeks--I hope to caught up soon so that I can make my son some cute summer outfits. I've always heard that people with embroidery machines almost never get to do something personalized for themselves or their family--I believe it now!

I found this adorable airplane fabric the other day--and I just couldn't pass it up! I hope to make Jonah a shortall out of it. This fabric would also be adorable for a boy burp cloth or bib. You have to grab up cute boy fabric when you find it--because you are lucky if you find any at all!

I also made these shirts for a friend for the Disney Live! Mickey Mouse Rockin' Road Show that is coming to Huntsville this weekend. They just had a new baby--so the grandparents are taking the new big brother to the show for his birthday. The design is on the left chest pocket area instead of the middle.

No New Orders

This message has just been added to the top of my blog:

I am not currently taking any new orders until I catch up with the orders that I have right now. I would also like to take this opportunity to do some stuff for my little guy (who is the reason I wanted to sew/embroider in the first place). If you have something that you would like just a simple name or initials on--feel free to contact me to see if I can work you in, But for right now, I will not be taking any new sewing/applique orders.

I will continue to post items that I'm working on from time to time.

Lots of Designs/Mostly Summer Designs

Here are some of the most recent designs that I have available.

 I probably won't get these added to the side of my blog right away:

EMBROIDERY BOUTIQUE

 (Currently having a half off sale--not sure when it will end)

PLANET APPLIQUE

(Currently has lots of designs for just .99 and others are half off)

I have several others that I want to get from Planet Applique--

but hubby will only let me do so much at a time! Even .99 adds up!

Last Minute Lucky Charm

I had bought some cute St. Patrick's Day fabric a few weeks back--just enough to do an applique--but never got around to doing anything with it. I decided at the very last minute to do Jonah a shirt for him to wear for church (couldn't have anyone pinching him!). I had a plain white shirt that I had planned to put it on, but I had left it in his room and he was napping--so I improvised. I had bought a 4 pack of brand new onesies (the nice Carter's ones) for like $5 at one of the recent consignment sales in his size. I had these in my sewing cabinet. It's been a long time since he's worn a onesie--you could tell because he was in a panic when he couldn't get to his bellybutton--which is his comfort thing that he does--he likes to stick his finger in it. He kept pulling at the onesie trying to get to his bellybutton!

 I used the Planet Applique shamrock alphabet applique design--and I left the letter out. I think it turned out great. I love how it added the extra stitching on top of the satin stitch in a different color.

Here's a picture that my little lucky charm actually posed for (kind of):

I consider myself extremely lucky and blessed to get to be his Mommy :)

We ate supper at the Wednesday night meal before services so Jonah got to run around in the MPB--and he got to run and play after services. Now I have a child who just does not go to sleep unless he is in his own bed. There are the extremely rare times that he falls asleep in the car--and tonight was one of those. He didn't even wake up when I took him inside and put him on his changing table to get him ready for bed. He played hard--and he was TIRED!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spotted Dogs and a New Big Brother

I have a really good friend who will be welcoming her second little boy into the world in the morning. I had promised her that I would do Big Brother/Baby Brother shirts for her as a gift. She requested that I put a "spotted dog" on the shirts because her almost 4 year old has recently fallen in love with them--so that's what I did. Because you can mostly only get onesies in white and I wanted them to match, I thought the shirts needed a punch of color--and what goes better with a spotted dog than red?

Also--anybody out there ever have an embroidery project that you just think is never gonna happen? Well, this was one of them. I bought a shirt that shrank and had to be replaced--only for that shirt to be eaten by my machine (after an hour of working on it and my machine, I was able to salvage it--only for it to be eaten again)--which meant I had to buy yet another shirt. I had problems with this one, too--but was able to eventually figure out the problem and make it work. I also went through 2 onesies--and continued to have problems when working on it. But, finally, I had a finished project. Somedays--my machine just does not want to be my friend :)

Baseball Season

Okay---one more design to post. Just noticed that Planet Applique (http://www.planetapplique.com/) just posted several new designs for just 99 cents! I had a request for a baseball one, so had to grab this design:

How cute would this be on a red or blue t-shirt?

Several New Designs

I have several new designs to add to my side bar. Applique Cafe is currently having a sale (30% off) through tomorrow, I believe (http://www.appliquecafe.com/). I needed just one design for a project I'm working on--but decided to go ahead and get a few more that I've been looking at. Here are the designs:

Easter Truck for the Boys

Simple Dog--Hope to post pics soon of a project using this design

Tree Swing Design--I've seen this with a name in the tree and it is so cute.

Boy Birthday Hat

Girl Birthday Hat

These birthday hats would make a great birthday shirt. I can add a number, initial, or name in the hat.

Upcoming Giveaway...

I'm glad to see that people are actually viewing my blog and I'm amazed at how it has grown. I started it mainly as a creative outlet to share the items that I am making--and in just a couple of months I've already had hundreds of viewers (694 at last count). I've probably had many more people view my posts, just not on my blog as I have my posts linked to my facebook account, as well. I've decided that once I get to 1,000 hits on my blog, I'm going to giveaway an item to a lucky blog reader. So keep coming back to the blog (or if you are reading this post on facebook--go to the actual blog page: http://www.shopawhalestale.blogspot.com/ )---and once I have reached 1,000 hits--I'll post info on how you can win a free gift from A Whale's Tale!

An Official Fan of Disneyworld

This blog post is going to have little to do with monogramming or sewing--and much to do about my recent trip to Disneyworld. I figure people are always looking for information on Disney--and I found it helpful when planning our trip, to talk with people that had been. Plus--2 families can go and have 2 completely different experiences. So here we go...

I can now call myself an official fan of Disneyworld. I spent 27 years of my life without ever stepping foot on that magical soil in Orlando, FL--I even stated on the way down: "Why would someone drive 12 hours to go to Disneyworld, when you can drive just 6 hours and go to the beach?" I am a great fan of the beach--it's my favorite vacation--I like to vacation and not have to do anything. Having said that--I think this trip to Disney can go down as my favorite vacation ever. It was great sharing the first time experience with my little guy who turned 20 months old while we were there (If you are a first timer, don't forget to stop at City Hall on your way in to Magic Kingdom to get your First Visit button). My husbands parents were able to go, as well--which made it an all around great trip. Plus--Jonah was free since he was under 3. He will not remember this trip, but we will never forget the faces he made this trip. It was magical!

We ended up driving a day early and splitting our travel time in order to avoid the snow that was forecasted all the way down to Dothan, AL. Splitting travel time worked out so well that we ended up doing the same on the way back. Jonah did great traveling--which always makes for a great trip. We were only able to do 2 days of parks due to this trip revolving around my husband's work conference. So we chose to do Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. The next two days were spent hanging out at the resort (which was well worth it) and at Downtown Disney. My husband was working these days, so it was just me, Jonah, and the grandparents.

Here is some information that I have found helpful:
http://www.allears.net/ You can find tons of information here. I mainly looked at dining info. You can find restaurants by location and even look at menus and pricing. You can also look at the character dining to see which characters to expect at which meals.
http://www.mousesavers.com/ You can sign up for e-mail updates and monthly newsletter with special events and money saving tips--we were able to get our resort at a great discount thanks to the info on this site
--Stay onsite--it is well worth it. Bus transportation was great--we never had to wait very long for the bus we needed. We stayed at Carribean Beach Resort (a Moderate Resort) and we were very pleased.
--Photopass: Disney has people throughout the parks that will take your picture at key locations and at character meetings and put them all on one card for you to purchase after your trip. Have them take lots of picures and when you get home add Disney borders, etc. The photo cd is supposed to be the best value--because these pictures are then yours to do as you please--but it is still pricey at $150. I have been looking for discounts--and apparently you are able to pre-purchase before your trip and get it for $100. If you are going with several family members--you can split the cost of the cd.
--I did not do this, but I saw that you can check out from your public library books on planning for disney trips.
--If you are planning on doing a character meal, you need to do book it ASAP--these fill up early. You can book these online at the disney website.
--Pick up your park maps and daily schedule as you enter the parks. The daily schedule will have showtimes for shows and parade times. I would highly recommend taking the time to see the parades and the shows.

MAGIC KINGDOM:

We started our day early and got to the park just before it opened. Someone had recommended that we see the park open--which was great. Jonah clapped all the way through the opening of the park--and for another 20 minutes after we were in the park. It felt like we did not accomplish very much this day. Of course, it is difficult to accomplish a whole lot at Disney with a 1 year old--but I think that next time I would like to create a list of things that we would like to do in the park. The first stop was the Dumbo ride for Jonah and Daddy (Mommy doesn't ride anything that goes around in circles). We also did the train ride and later that night did "It's a Small World". These were the only rides we did all day--although we did ride the monorail "just for fun". We spent alot of time in line to meet characters--which ended up being more than worth it since the characters were surprisingly Jonah's favorite part. He did not even like Santa this year, so I wasn't counting on him liking the characters. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to meet Mickey and Minnie with Jonah fussing the whole time because he was hungry and tired. He cried even harder once the line moved into the room where they were, but once it was our turn, I sat him down and he quit crying and ran right into Mickey's arms. It was priceless...

This is my favorite memory of the whole trip--I'm so glad that he loved the characters. He would cry everytime he saw one--but just because he had to wait to meet them. Now Jonah did not even know who most of the characters were. We had started letting him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before the trip--so maybe he would know who Mickey was (Jonah is an absolute Sesame Street fan--if something else is on, he usually asks for Elmo).

This was another favorite memory. Jonah was so tired when meeting Pooh that he hugged him for like 2 minutes straight without moving at all. He must have felt very cozy.

We grabbed a bite for lunch at Pinnochio Village Haus. For around $7 you can get pizza, a chicken basket or salad--which is probably as cheap you are going to find a meal in the parks. We did not do the meal plan--and we really did not spend alot of money on food in the parks. A good tip is to order a kid's meal for yourself--I did this several times--and got the same amount, or occasionally even more food, than the adult meals. We ate several times in the food court area of our resort--and it wasn't too expensive. I will say that we did the refillable cups for $14--and probably did not get our money's worth since these can only be refilled at the food court areas.

We went back that afternoon to allow Jonah to take a nap--then headed back to the park for the evening. I was so looking forward to sunny Florida weather and flip flops, but there was a cold front when we were there. This night was the coldest--and it was very cold! We fit a few things in before settling in to watch the fireworks. I learned quickly that you spend more time waiting at Disneyworld than you do anything else. The fireworks show was great--we then grabbed a quick bite at Casey's Corner before trying to find a spot to wait for the Spectromagic parade. Mainstreet was very crowded, but we kept heading toward the entrance/exit because we had decided that it was much too cold to spend anymore time in the park after the parade. Fortunately, there were many spots available in the front of the park--and we were able to exit quickly after the parade passed by us.

ANIMAL KINGDOM:

We almost did not go to Animal Kingdom because we had been told by many people that they did not spend much time there or they just weren't that impressed. I LOVED ANIMAL KINGDOM! This was my absolute favorite day and I could have spent several days here. This is the newest park--so it is laid out so well. The park is just as busy, but I felt like we were able to accomplish so much more because of the layout. We started our day at the Tusker House before the park opened for Donald's Safari Breakfast. The meal was great (but pricey--as are all character meals). I was a little dissapointed that the characters did not spend very much time at each table--but I did like that we saw most of the characters there, so there was no need to wait in lines to meet them throughout the day. Although--if you are doing the character thing at Animal Kingdom, they have a great layout for it.

After our breakfat, we headed for Kilamanjaro Safaris. This was my personal favorite of the whole trip. It's an open air safari ride where you will see animals roaming through 100 acres of savannah. You never know what animals you will see--and I would recommend going more than once, because you will likely see different animals at different times of day. This ride lasted for about 20 minutes. I could have rode all day long. We did one of the walking treks after this--definitely check out the gorillas. There are about 5 or 6 of them in one area. We also took the train ride to Rafiki's Planet Watch. This area seemed unfinished. They do have a petting zoo area there that is not too impressive.

We did several shows at Animal Kingdom:

--Finding Nemo: The Musical--which was great. You have to start getting in line for the shows about 45 minutes before showtime. Luckily you are not standing in line the whole time, because they do seat you when they can. We made the mistake of getting food to eat while in line (2 great big ole turkey legs) which had to be taken back to our stroller and hidden because the line starting moving inside and you couldn't take food in. I was starving, but was more worried about wild animals raiding my stroller while we were inside. Jonah couldn't take his eyes off of any of the shows. I was so impressed that he didn't mind to sit still for such long periods of time. I would highly recommend this show.

--It's Tought to Be a Bug 3D-- I think they run different shows, so you may not see the same one. The line winds down underneath the Tree of Life--I did not like this at all. Once you get to the doors, you are underneath the tree and it is dark and crowded. We had to wait for about 10 minutes until the doors opened. There are no real lines once you get to the doors--so that crowd kind of pushes you through to the auditorium.  This show is short. You wear your 3D glasses and are taken into a bug's life. There are some moments that may frighten small children. It gets dark, smokey, and loud--but only for a few moments. Jonah did fine through it.

--The Festival of the Lion King--This was a good show, too. We headed to it quickly after watching The Jammin' Jungle Parade (Have your kids sit on the ground along the tape--and some of the characters come by and shake hands). I will admit that this show wasn't quite what I expected. If you can get a seat in the front rows, there is a chance that you or your children might get to help out in the show. This show had lots of singing and some acrobatics.

CARRIBEAN BEACH RESORT:

My husband's conference started on the third day of our trip. We took this time to explore our resort. If you are looking to save some money on your disney trip, you can easily spend a day at your resort. Ours was set up as Carribean Islands, with lots of white beaches with hammocks (they offer boat and bicycle rentals), playground areas, and several pools. Even though the weather was cold, you could have easily swam in their heated outdoor pools. I was so glad that we took this day to recover from our 2 days of madness at the parks.

 

DOWNTOWN DISNEY:

You can also easily spend a day at Downtown Disney. If you stay at a DW Resort, the transportation buses will take you here, as well. There is lots of shopping and even more amusement options. Don't expect to get any deals on souveniers, though. I did have someone tell me that the best place to get souveniers is at the Target close to Disneyworld. We shopped for a bit and took in some music performed by an orchestra just outside the Disneystore (my little guy loves music). There are lots of food options at Downtown Disney. If you go into the Ghiradelli chocolate store--find the lady with the basket to get your free chocolate square (the soda fountain side smells delicious). I got a pretzel from Wetzels Pretzels that was really good and then we did lunch at Rainforest Cafe. This was my first dining experience here--and it doesn't really live up to the hype. Jonah did enjoy it and I can't help but post a pic of his shocked face when a thunderstorm came through (in case you don't know, periodically the animals come to life and an occasional thunderstorm passes through).:

To sum it all up---we had a great time. I would highly recommend taking a little one--or anyone at all. I can't wait to go back and explore even more. If you are planning a trip--ask other people what they did and look for info online. The whole process can be very overwhelming--there is tons of information. We did not plan alot--our plan was to go and have a good time. I don't think I would overplan (save room for some surprises)--but I do think I would make a loose plan for our next trip.