Monday, December 27, 2010

the gloves

were a hit!!


I was a little concerned;
the black gloves gloves (made from swimsuit material)
were a bugger to get on
and Lily thought they were too tight.
But it turns out the blend and weave of the white fabric
is just perfect.

Friday, December 10, 2010

I just couldn't help myself


I know.
It'll take away a little of the thrill 
when she digs through her stocking.
But
Lily is going on a date with Daddy tomorrow
to see the Nutcracker.
So, you see,
I just had to....

Thursday, December 9, 2010

butter bottom


It's no secret 
Lily has an ample derrière.
Ready made panties aren't a great fit for her.

When I finished the princess gloves
the house was still sleeping
so I wondered what else
on my Christmas list
could I tackle?



They don't take long and I could easily
get rid of any evidence as soon as I heard Lily get up.
I dug out some shirts I'd bought 
just for this purpose.
I'd spent $1 total on all three!


In hindsight (hindsight haha ~ I kill myself)
I should have cut out the backs individually
instead of trying to save a few minutes
and stacking all the shirt fronts together to cut them out.
They're still fine
but the design should've been a bit lower down on two of 'em.

I don't think Lily will be as thrilled to pull these out of her stocking
as she will be her gloves
but they'll cover her booty
without crawling up her crack
and I'll get a kick out of 'em when I do the laundry.


fit for a princess


Like most three year old girls,
Lily is all about princesses.



She recently discovered Belle
and loves her long princess gloves.
So far
she's been content to use socks
or my disposable kitchen gloves.
Good imagination, 
that one.

I could have just ordered some online
but at $8 a pair
they seemed a bit overpriced.
Add to that
the sizing didn't seem to be real accurate
so I wanted to find some locally
to be sure they'd fit.
After the 7th store
I decided I'd just make them myself.

I started with a men's athletic shirt
- one of those polyester jobbies that  keep you cool and dry
while you work out.
It was a cheap-o one I bought on clearance at Dollar General
for a dollar.


I'd planned on making a nursing tank with it
but I never got around to it

I turned the shirt inside out and
using the hem of the shirt as the top of the gloves,
I traced my cut out
just-barely-enlarged tracing of Lily's hand
right onto the shirt


It probably would have been smart to use a disappearing ink pen
but I couldn't find it, so I just used a pencil.
Leaving the shirt intact and well-pinned 
I used a triple stretch stitch
and stitched all the way around the gloves.


Then
I carefully cut out the gloves
about 1/8 of an inch away from the seams.


Turned 'em right side out
and that was it.
Fancy dress-up gloves
perfectly fit for a little princess.


I think she'll be pretty happy to give me back my socks!




Monday, November 22, 2010

Samaritan's purse purse



I'm not entirely sure why
- could have something to do with having a passel of kids -
but we're just behind on everything.



I wasn't sure we were going to manage 
putting together shoeboxes this year,
but yesterday evening 
the kids all had a late snack
and wouldn't need dinner till 7:30 - 8ish
so we just loaded up and ran to Walmart.

the boys' box

The boys shopped for a boy, around their age,
and I took Lily & Lex'
 and we picked out stuff for a 2-4 year old girl we called  'Emily'.
I thought Emily was a great name;
usually Lily picks 
umm 
different names
like
Delucia
or Beniko.
But then I heard her chanting,
"Rocky loves Em i ly" (from The Three Ninjas)
The boys had 'named' their gift recipient Rocky...


anyways...

We picked out 2 little baby dolls
and decided we would make a little purse / doll bed for them.
Lily helped me choose the fabrics
(two fat quarters)
before she had to head off to bed herself.

She had a hard time 'getting' that this was for a little girl
we would never meet
this side of heaven.


She was really excited to play with 'Emily's' new toys with her.
I explained several times that that wasn't happening.
So, instead of playing with her,
we took some pictures of Lily using her purse bed
so little Emily would know how to use it
and included the photos in her shoebox of girlie goodies.


With the scraps from the bag, I made a tiny quilt
that ended up being just perfectly sized.
I forgot to take a picture of it
(and all the other fun stuff we bought)
but I made a sweet pillowcase dress, too
figuring it could be worn by anyone from a 2 yr old to a 6 yr old



I'm thinking maybe another little doll purse / bed is in order
ya think?

Saturday, November 20, 2010

back in the saddle again



Well.
I finally got to spend a bit of time sewing.

Well.
sort of sewing.
Is it sewing if it's paper?

I think it is....


I made 12 monthly journals as a gift for a dear friend
using double sided cardstock,
which I thought was a nice surprise on the inside :-)


I included 3 pages for listing 'gratitudes'
and 2/3 of a page per day
(3 days per 2 page spread)

These are really fun to make
and if you aren't trying to make a dozen at a time,
they go pretty quickly.


After doing a few, I decided I didn't like how it looked
machine sewing the pages in
so I ended up sewing that part by hand.


I pre-punched my holes with a thumbtack
so it went pretty quick

all ready for gifting

I hope she enjoys them.
And maybe,
I'll find some time to do other sewing soon, too!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Bloggers' Quilt Fest


I'm pretty bummed to not have a quilt to enter into 
this round of the Bloggers Quilt Festival
but it'll be fun looking through all the quilts
over the next several weeks.

there are already a ton of entries!


Just in case you missed it
or if you just want to see my lovely again :-)
here's my entry for the Spring quilt festival

Friday, October 22, 2010

well, that didn't go as planned


It's really nothing new ~ things not going as planned.
I don't know why I'm always surprised and disappointed
when it happens.
Guess it's that overconfidence thing.
It certainly explains why I'm so darn thrilled when I get it right.

I was so tickled to sit down and sew something;
it seems like ages.
and really could have purchased more fabric than I did
but I was prudent
and decided I'd go back as soon as I'd sewn up what I bought.

Before going to bed
I cut out fleece jumpers for the girls
using a shirt of Lily's as a guide.
I forgot that the shirt I'd grabbed was too big in the shoulders.

I woke up before Tyler left this morning
so he could put caladryl lotion on my poor poison-ivyd back.
I didn't end up getting back to sleep
so I got up and sewed.



Lexi's jumper fits okay - bit it's kinda snug going on.
and she could do with a little more leg room.
Lily's.
Now, Lily's looks fabulous.
So long as it's hanging on a hanger.
On her - it looks 
well
just bad.

And then there were the pants.
I founded the softest  fleece with rubber duckies for $3.99 / yard
and thought I'd whip up a pair of 18-24 months jammie pants for Aiden.
And while I was at it
I'd make a pair for Lex', too
they are, after all, the same size......


Anybody need two pairs of 12 mo. ducky jammie pants??

~

I have decided that before I sew one more thing
(unless I cut into that jersey fabric I bought for sweats for Jeremiah...)
I'm going to take super detailed measurements of the girls
and draw them out on graph paper.
Surely
that will keep me from making such ill-fitting clothes.

I can dream....

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

overconfidence


I think
perhaps
one of the definitions of overconfidence
is
ordering crochet patterns
when you don't know how to crochet.
and you sure can't read a pattern!

ya think?

Monday, October 18, 2010

whole lot of nothin'

Sadly
there's not been much creating going on around here
the past few weeks.
I spent an hour
 a week or so ago sewing
and got 6 blocks made for my paintbox quilt.
I had hopes of entering it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival
but my progress has been pitifully slow.
I'm feeling rather 'meh' about my blocks so far,
and if I hadn't invested so much time already
running all over creation gathering fabric
and cutting it
I'd probably scrap the whole thing.
That
and the fact that
I really do have high hopes of loving it when it's (finally) completed.

I did manage to find a perfect duck fabric for Aiden
and made a simple batted & bound blanket for his 1st birthday.
Of course
I failed to take a picture of it before wrapping it up.
Oh, I whipped up a quick bib out of leftover fabric, too

And that
has been the extent of my crafting lately.

I should remedy that.
But with what??

Monday, October 4, 2010

soap on a rope -- or something


We had a little bit of money left in the gas envelope
when September ended.
Now
a die-hard Dave Ramsey fan would dutifully transfer that money
either to
a) debt
OR
b) next month's gas envelope.
a) We have no debt.     b) It was my birthday
so I spent it. 



I've seen felted soaps on the world wide web before
and it's been on my very long list of 'things to do someday'
but when I saw Ginny's tutorial in Rhythm of the Home
(I have no clue what steps I took that led me there...)
I knew
now was the time.



It was much less expensive to buy un-dyed wool roving
which was perfect, 'cause I wanted to dye some with koolaid.
I knew we'd find something else to dye someday.
Seriously
if you've never dyed something with koolaid
you gotta try it!
Lime koolaid is the coolest!


I probably should have found a tute specifically for dyeing wool
though - 'cause it began to felt just from the dyeing process
which - for our soap was fine - 
but it might not be okay for other uses.





Lex' was serious about her soap!


I love the mouths!

uh-oh!

whew! rescued

Felting soap was really very simple
but Jeremiah thought it 'got old after awhile'.
Lily wasn't overly enthusiastic about finishing the felting process either.
Josiah is pretty excited to use his soap
but I think he could take -or- leave the making of it.
Brandon and I want to make more
which is good, 'cause we've got a good bit of roving left.


Monday, September 27, 2010

mountain of bags



I joined a preschool activity swap a few weeks ago.
Here's how it works:
Everyone is assigned an activity that a preschooler can do on his/her own
while momma is busy doing school with the bigger kids.
Everyone makes 20 sets of their one activity.
Then we all get together and swaps activities,
giving 20 kids
20 different 
self-directed activities.
pretty sweet, huh?

My assignment
 was to gather a tumbler and 12 - 20 plastic colored clothespins
for twenty activity bags.
I'm supposed to draw a face on the cup
so that the kiddos can not only have a
 'drop the clothespin in the cup' game
but a 'make funny hair for the face' game, too
by clipping the pins around the rim of the cup.



I ran all over town choosing just the right tumblers
and collecting enough clothespins.
15 seemed like a perfect amount for the cups I bought.
That's 300 clothespins!

When I got home from shopping
instead of putting all my activity sets together
 like I should have done
I started thinking,
"Where are these little kids going to put all those clothespins
while they're playing with them - when they're not in the cup?"
So I decided I had to make them all 
little drawstring bags to hold the pins.



I would have liked to have made these with cute fabric
but decided to go with something I already had
so I cut twenty notebook-paper sized pieces from 
an old sheet I'd used to make a muslin for some pants for Ton'.

Now, these bags are admittedly small at 4 1/2 x 6 1/2
but they're perfect for little hands and this project.
I accidentally made 21 instead of 20
and let me tell you
that one extra bag is a hot commodity!



Once cut, these only took 5 minutes each to make
so even though I made a buttload - it didn't take too long.
(Lana has always wondered - how much, exactly, is a buttload?)

I simply folded  and ironed the top (one of the long sides) down 1/4" or so
and then folded it down again maybe 3/4" 



then I unfolded the second fold, but left the first one
and sewed down the side and across the bottom



leaving a bit of an opening for my drawstring
just a tiny bit past that second crease



Then I clipped the bottom corners
re-folded the top that I'd ironed down earlier
and did a row of stitching along the top of the bag
 and another just a bit below that 
to create a casing for the ribbon.



I threaded ribbon through the hole I'd left in the side 
when I sewed it up which - if in the right spot -
was perfectly centered between my two rows of stitching.


Now that I've got that out of my system
I need to put together the requested activity.....


Friday, September 24, 2010

Tutu for Lex'

  


I wanted to make just a little something yesterday.
I tried
twice
to make some boxer briefs for Josiah
using his too-small shirts.
Let's just say - he doesn't have any new underwear.
Which means 
I hadn't made anything;
I'd merely attempted to make something.




I remembered the tulle I bought several months ago
to make a tutu for Lexi.
I'd made a no-sew one for Lily and wasn't overly thrilled with it
so I knew I wanted to make Lex's differently.




I used every bit of two 25 yard rolls of tulle
which was the perfect amount for a size 2/3, I think.
I like the look of it sewn
much better than the tied style
and still it only took about 40 - 45 minutes to make.




It also doubles as a fabulous hat.