I needed to take a break tonight from my other project, so I thought I’d try my hand at making some of these newborn knot caps. The pattern is offered by Amanda Soule as part of her new website devoted to crafting for goodwill. This particular effort is in connection with Konbit Sante, who will be distributing Safe Birthing Kits in Haiti.
Having never sewn on a stretchy material before, I was a little nervous about using a regular machine rather than a serger (which I don’t have). All that worrying for nothing…these were so stinkin’ simple to assemble I could easily make a whole army of them. Plus, thinking about the babies whose tiny little heads might be warmed by these caps just made making the hats that much more fun. At this point, I’m thinking my only limit will be the number of shirts that I can scrounge up (aside from the whole reality of time constraints).
I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that last photo up for very long, so I decided to get the “real” Halloween pictures posted tonight.
Last year we high-jacked a photo session that some friends of ours had set up for their son at the mall. The pictures came out so wonderfully cute that we decided to take our girls back again this year.
Annabelle made the very big-girl decision about what to dress up as this year. I had been throwing ideas out at her for weeks: a pirate, a bear, a bumblebee. Nothing interested her. Then, one day her daycare center sent her home with somebody else’s underwear because I had forgotten to replace her spare. They happened to be Tinkerbell underwear, and the rest is history.
Thankfully, I had more say regarding Charlotte’s costume. I was flip-flopping between Princess Leia and Little Red Riding Hood, and had even begun making a felt beanie with little buns attached. Ultimately, I decided that the cute factor was a somewhat higher for Red and, since I already had enough red felt for the cape, I went with it.
And here they are together, partners in crime.
I also have to say thank goodness for these wonderful internets. I had a great starting point for Annabelle’s costume after finding this skirt pattern (see the bottom), and this hooded cape (found via The Crafty Crow) was absolutely perfect for Little Red Riding Hood (and it was very easy to make). For the rest of Charlotte’s costume, I made a simple apron for her to wear over a dress she already had. I wish I had a better picture of the apron, because it really is adorable. I’m now determined to find a way to incorporate them into her wardrobe more.
I went into planning this party thinking, “Fall Harvest.” You’ll see from the pictures, however, that my one-track mind kept bringing me back to pumpkins. Lots and lots of glorious pumpkins!
The favors: Pumpkin finger puppets
These little finger puppets were super easy, albeit somewhat time consuming, to create. I made about 10 of them and each one had a different face. I really had fun with them. 
By the end of the party the kids were really getting into them, too. One of the kids decided he needed one for each hand!
The Games:
One of the games we played was a pumpkin roll. It was absolutely perfect for the little ones. We have a slope in the back of our yard and they had a blast rolling their pumpkin balls down the hill and then running down the hill after them to bring them back.
Not quite as popular was the pumpkin ring toss. Although a few of the kids gave it a go, it proved a bit too challenging to keep their interest for very long. Perhaps it would go over better with an older crowd. All you need is a pumpkin with a nice long stem and some rings. We made our rings by cutting some rope and attaching them using masking tape (which can be seen partially on towards the bottom of the photo).
The Cake:
For the cake I went out and bought a fancy pumpkin cake pan, which is really just two bundt cakes joined together. It was supposed to look like this:
I should know better than to try something fancy. It was doomed from the beginning. As I rushed around at the last minute trying to get everything together (as usual) I relinquished the task of putting the cake together to my mom. Who then passed it on to my dad. By the time I came back to check on it, my husband’s cousin was putting the finishing touches on it.
The cake was a excellent reminder that setting a picture-perfect, Martha Stewart-esque table is really not that important after all. Plus any attempt at something fancy would have been thrown out the window by all that debris left on the table. Good, grief… you’d think we would have cleared the table before setting out the cake, wouldn’t you? Just FYI, it was a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing.
Decor:
We kept things simple by sprinkling pumpkins, gourds, and acorns throughout the tables and such, and picked up some hay bails for extra seating.
Lastly, we have the birthday girl’s dress. Which I made. Which we did not get one SINGLE good picture of. Which got icing all over it during the cake eating. Which completely fell apart when I washed it. I’ll paint a picture for you: dark green corduroy, a-line jumper, little felt squirrel applique on bottom right-hand side. Very cute. The end.
And of course I have to include a picture of the birthday girl eating her cake.
Such a fun day…happy birthday baby girl!
This is Janie.
Janie was conceived from the Wee Wonderfuls Kit, Chloe, and Louise pattern and, after laboring over her for nearly a week, I was happy to introduce her to our family this morning at approximately 10:15. She’s named after my grandmother (Marjane) who turned 74 yesterday. Janie has spent much of her time in the yard and in the kitchen, and appears to be getting along splendidly thus far. She’s pretty quiet, but I think that might change once she really starts getting acclimated to our home.
Welcome to the family, Janie!
