Projects! Projects! Projects!

I have always been REALLY good at starting projects.... but not so good at finishing them. For example: my sophomore year at college my roommate, Jill, taught me how to knit a scarf. She then went to serve a mission. I faithfully kept knitting but my scarf kept getting wider and wider. Needless to say, I never finished my scarf but I still have it just in case I feel the need to start knitting again.

For the past two years, I have saved blog posts, after blog posts, after blog posts, of crafty
projects that I wanted to do. In the TWO YEARS of saving ideas, I have only finished ONE project (a grocery bag holder).

One day, a friend invited me over to make a wreath out of lima beans. I made the mistake of sending Eric to the store to get some lima beans....

He called from the store and said, "They don't have a very big selection of beans. They have black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans."
"Are you sure you are in the right aisle?" I asked him.
"Yep, positive! I'll just get the biggest bean."
"Umm, okay."

I wasn't able to make the wreath with the friend because Kinsley came down with a fever. But a few days later Eric and I were at the same grocery store and I pointed to some lima beans. He said, "Well they didn't have those in the Mexican section!" (sigh*)

(here is my lima bean wreath)

Well, Eric's mistake got the ball rolling. One day he came home to utter chaos.... beans, scissors, papers, ribbons, material, glue sticks, hot glue, super glue, buttons, my sewing machine, thread, file folders, hair clips, coloring pencils.... (you get the idea) were strewn about the dinning area and kitchen. Eric asked me what I was doing. "Projects" was my reply. "At the SAME time?" was his response. I told him about my list of projects I wanted to do but never got around to doing them- so I am starting now. He claims that I am "nesting" but I assure him I haven't even STARTED that yet but I will soon.... (I have another list of things we need to do before the baby comes).

I wanted to teach Kinsley her colors so I made her colorful bean bags (out of the pinto beans Eric brought home from the store).She also likes to help me cook so I decided to make her an apron out of a dishtowel.
Then I had a bunch of file folder game ideas that I wanted to make her.

I still need to laminate them and put Velcro in the right places but you get the idea.Next came the bows. A girl can never have too many bows right?!?!?!
And lastly, a car seat cover for traveling on an airplane. When Eric and I bought Kinsley's "big girl" car seat it came with a selling feature: a plastic cover. We loved arriving to our destinations with a clean car seat (her baby car seat got really dirty and greasy when we flew)! But the plastic cover only survived a few trips. I contemplated using a lot of Duck Tape to fix it and hold it together but then I had the idea of making my own. (Keep in mind I have NEVER sewn anything from a pattern and I have NEVER sewn on a zipper.) So, I cut up the plastic cover and made my own pattern and began sewing......

It turned out okay (as long as you don't look too closely). The zipper was a challenge and later I discovered I have a zipper attachment thingy on my sewing machine. I called my mom after I finished the project and she said, "Why don't you make a huge bag that ties on the top?" Yes mom, that would have been easier.
We will see how it holds up on the airplane. With my luck... I'll be using my mom's idea next.