February is for Making New Things

At least it was for me this year!

A few weekends ago, our good friends, Kyle and MaryEllen, came over to make funnel cakes. Tiffany and Victor gave Paul and I a funnel cake maker for Christmas...they always give fun food gifts like that! We had lots of fun stuffing our faces and filling our bellies.

I made Ellen make the first batch because I was nervous I'd mess it up

Kyle getting ready to snatch the first funnel cake

Paul looking on jealously (is that a word?) at Kyle eating his funnel cake

YUM!

The second new thing I made this month was a baby blanket! Last year I decided I wanted to learn how to sew. My mom is an expert seamstress, so of course she is a little upset that I decided to do this after she left for a mission. Don't worry, Mom, you can teach me more experienced things when you get back after I've mastered the basics!

My friend, Lindy, graciously came over one evening to show me how to work my sewing machine and stayed by my side as I worked up a nervous sweat making this blanket. Thanks to her, my first sewing project turned out great! I was worried that my stitching would be all over the place, but it wasn't as crooked as I was expecting. Here's the finished product (it needs to be ironed):

I was so proud of myself, so I had to get on Skype with my mom that night to show her my blanket. She had me hold up the stitching and the sides where the front and back meet close to the camera so she could critique me. Ha ha! I was thinking about giving it away if it turned out nice enough...it did, but I just can't seem to part with the first thing I sewed.

Thank you, Lindy!

I was so excited to finally know how to work a sewing machine on my own that I couldn't wait to make the next project. My friend, Cidne came over earlier this week and we made leg warmers for our kids out of adult socks. I didn't think to take a picture of us sewing, but here are Olivia's leg warmers. Don't look too closely because I totally didn't sew one of them very straight:

Olivia wore them the next day and looked so cute in them! I'll have to remember to take a picture the next time she wears them.

Thanks to Cidne for showing me how to make leggings, even though it took us over an hour to do a short project because of your curse...ha ha!