Mis
ter Bunny guards the porch. No porch pirate will get the eggs while he is on duty!
Racecar Bunny is on patrol!
Happy little bunny is wishing you a Happy Easter!
This cheerful little guy keeps all his eggs in the wheelbarrow!
Flowerpot bunny is kind of shy, but we found him!
And Winnie the Pooh wishes you a Very Happy Easter from the House at Pooh Corner in the Neighborhood of Make Believe!
The new car seat rules suggest that children in a car seat cannot wear a winter coat, so a few years back, somebody (not me!) looked at an old poncho from the 1970s and said, “Hey! If we add a hood to this, it will keep my kid warm in the car seat!”
It was a brilliant idea, but I cannot claim credit, as it was not my brilliant idea. At that time, it was not a concern in my world. MY kids wore heavy snowsuits in their metal-framed car seat, but modern car seats are different.
Fast-forwarding to today, the need for a carseat poncho is now real.
I looked at a few different sets of instructions available on line, and cobbled them together into a construction method that made sense for my brain. I am not offering these ponchos “for sale” but this is how you can make your own.
Sadly, I have not ever figured out how to make money off any of the “links” but you are welcome to use them if you need to order fabric. (I often see this weird disclaimer on plenty of blogs that states something to the order of “we make money if you shop from our affiliate links”) Clearly I am doing it wrong — fabric stores just TAKE all my money, they never send any to me!
I got the muscle car fabric and the fleece from JoAnn Fabrics
https://www.joann.com/
The fabric selection changes quite often, so I cannot promise the same muscle cars are still there, but you will find something that fits your child!
I got the cupcake fabric from Seweird Fabrics
https://seweird.com/
It was the perfect fabric for the child that adores that well-known mouse!
I had the silly idea that I could whip up two of these in one afternoon. It did not work out that way in the end.
The final fitting will require the actual child to be present – there is a possibility the hood might need made smaller and the neckline might need to be larger. Both adjustments are simple, but it is much easier to make the hood “smaller” than it would be to make it larger, and the reverse is true for the neckline!
Step one is to cut a square yard – a single yard of fabric is not a “square yard” because the fabric width is not always exactly 36 inches. As neither fabric was exactly 36 inches wide, I used my trusty yardstick to measure.
Fancy seamstresses have this super duper cutting table and fancy grids and mats and a rotary cutter. I have a yardstick and a dining room table and good sharp scissors.
LOL
No fancy equipment needed for this project!
Fold the fabric square in half crosswise, then fold it in half lengthwise. Fold the square in half to be a triangle. At this point, all of the loose corners will be touching. Round off the base of that triangle to make a big circle.
(cheaters tip: if that idea does not make sense, try folding a piece of scrap paper according to these instructions and cutting it. practicing on scratch paper is much cheaper than practicing on your good fabric!)
Lay the circle of fabric on top of your fleece, wrong sides together. Smooth out all the bubbles. You do not need to pin this step, because the fabrics cling together at this point. It made me think of the old flannel board stories I remember from my childhood – was that from Shari Lewis and Lambchop?
Cut out the fleece fabric around the fashion fabric to give you two circles the same size.
The next step is cutting the neck hole from the fashion fabric. Fold the circle into quarters to find the exact center. Mark the center point.
Lay a saucer on the fabric, centering it on the exact center. (try to get as close to the exact center as possible, but it is not rocket science)
Trace around your saucer.
Yes, it looks very small. No, it is NOT too small.
Cut out the center circle on your traced line.
http://minothouseatpoohcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MG_9999.jpg
The next step is hemming the fabric circle and the neckline.
Stitch down the hem and the neckline. I used a wide zigzag stitch to give it a bit of flexibility.
Place the hemmed circle on the wrong side of the fleece. The pretty sides will be facing out on both sides, with the wrong side sandwiched in between.
Get it as close to centered as possible and pin in place. Stitch over the outside hem stitches.
Check the back side BEFORE stitching to make sure the fabric is flat!
Hood
Cut a piece of fleece 18 inches square. I used my handy dandy high-tech yardstick and cut the pattern out of newspaper.
Hem about an inch on each side of the hood.
Close off one end and turn the
hood right side out
Pin the hood to the fabric layer.
Stitch the hood to the fabric, being careful to not catch the back fleece into the stitching. This is the point where the free arm machine is worth its weight in gold!
Lay out the poncho and carefully cut the center hole from the fleece. Cut it a little bit larger than the opening because you need enough fabric to turn under for hemming.
Pin the hem.
Stitch into place.
Fringe the fleece hem
Now baby will be warm and toasty this winter!
There are still a few more nights to enjoy the lights and music at the House at Pooh Corner.
The photo op has been getting a lot of traffic this year!
The Christmas lights are on at the House on Pooh Corner in the Neighborhood of Make Believe
Santa Teddy takes up the front porch, and gives a friendly wave to welcome all visitors
The turkeys were nestled, all snug in their beds…
Whoopsie, wrong poem.
The scarecrows are delighted that they are not covered in snow this year!
The scarecrow children are still happy that their parents had found their way home this fall.
Mister Turkey is watching for those sneaky hunters…
Instead of “Turkey in the Straw” we have “Turkey in the ball”
Winnie the Pooh and his friends all want to welcome you!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mister Turkey Chef is ready to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner.
Scarecrows after dark…
She started it all — she was the very first scarecrow girl we got.
Rabbit after dark — he does look a little bit sneaky, doesn’t he?
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!
By Lynn O.
Pearl I was
white
clean
If not necessarily pure
irritant
grain turned into
something precious
not exactly usual
fragile
easily misshapen
easily stained
easily shattered
Pearl I was
for the
bead representing
the month of
my birth
Pearl I was
pursued by
pirates
princes
and pirate princes
just out of reach
but always
smiling
Pearl I am
layers
of nacre
surround the
original
irritant
not
perfectly round
perfectly white
perfectly anything
Pearl I am
Daylight pictures of the display
The pumpkin patch
by Lynn O
Allium sativum
Garlic to us proles
Good to cure infections
And for your hypertension
But allium sativum
Will not help your voice
Sweeter song will not result
In fact your breath just might insult
Boswellia Serrata
Arthritis it will ease
For the aching in your ankle
and hurting knees that rankle
Boswellia Serrata
Will not help your voice
You do not sing with knees or wrists
the muscles make the voice exist
Mentha piperita
Peppermint to us
For colic, indigestion
And intestinal infection
Mentha piperita
vital for the throat
clears the mild obstruction
and sweetens every note
harmonies are sweeter
with mentha piperita
by Lynn O
she told me the wind
was passing souls
in winter
those souls
of whom Dickens spoke
abroad on Christmas Eve
wearing the chains they
forged in life
in summer
her soul
and maybe the soul
of her middle child
float In warm air
gently nudging the
windchimes
a greeting for
her eldest child
With all the specialized television channels out there now, you would think there would be one that was a totally politics-free zone.
No political ads, no campaign speeches thinly disguised as “talk show guests”…nothing.
I would tune my tv to that channel and leave it there — possibly forever.