Whatever you do…

Don’t enter this giveaway.  I want to win it myself.

The Start of Fall Sewing for my Boy.

During the last week, I’ve been sewing some of the items I have planned for my kids’ fall wardrobes.  I had put off so many personal sewing projects while I was working on my undies pattern, I was itching to get started.  Here is what I made for E-boy this week:

This tee was super-simple, but I love how it came out with these stripes.  The jeans have green topstitching to accent the separate curved leg panels and knee darts.

This hoodie is made from cotton/lycra french terry.  I actually made one for each of my kids, and they have been trying to find excuses to wear them even though the weather has been hot lately, so they must like them.

And another reverse applique tee, this time with a robot motif.  The colors are actually lime and chocolate, which looks great in real life, but horrible in the photo.  Can I say again how much I love this technique for little boy tees?

So, after I had made these pieces (oh, and one more striped tee that somehow didn’t get photographed) I went through E-boy’s things from last Fall and found that many of them still fit him, so with the addition of these adorable mommy-made pieces, he’s pretty much set.  Not that it will stop me from sewing for him if I want to, just I’m assured he won’t be going naked anytime soon.

A Little Baseball.

E-boy has developed quite a love for the game of baseball.  Daddy can hardly walk in the door from work before E. catches up with him, grabs him by the hand, and asks, “throw some balls for me, daddy”.

 

Check it out!

My latest pattern hit my Etsy shop this morning.  Pull out your knit scraps and get ready to sew up some new undies for your children.

Today I Dyed.

I had this adorable fish print twill to make into a pair of shorts for e-boy, but the background was white.   Not only is white not exactly a practical choice for a toddler boy, I already had made him a pair of shorts this summer with sharks on a white background.  So, when I had sewn up the shorts, I decided to garment dye them in this royal blue that reminds me of water.  The end result: I love them!

My Voice is Echoing in my Head.

Years ago, when Hubby and I were planning a road trip during which we’d have to keep a toddler and an infant occupied in the car for hours on end, I borrowed a stack of books from the library and recorded myself reading them aloud onto a CD.  What do you know?  It worked keeping the kids occupied, despite the scratchy, less than studio-quality sound.  After the trip, the CD ended up being put away with a bunch of other CD’s we rarely listen to. 

However, my children have now grown a bit.  They can read.  They have a CD player in their room, and are allowed to choose music from the CD drawer with little supervision.  When they found the CD labelled “story time” they put it into their CD player and turned it on at bedtime.

I was in the other room when I first hear the noise, and to be honest, I couldn’t figure out what it was.  The TV was off.  I was the only other adult in the house.  Yet I heard another voice speaking?!?  I came out to the hallway where I could hear more clearly and realized they’d found the story CD, and were halfway through listening to my voice reading “make way for ducklings”.

The kids are tucked in bed now, hugs and kisses given.  This is the time of night where the house is usually eerily quiet, yet my voice echoes on.  And I think it’s kind of sweet that my girlies are drifting off to dreamland while listening to me read them stories from so long ago.

I’ve Succumbed to Peer Pressure.

Thanks for all your comments on this post.

Try it!

I came across this recipe the other day, and had to try it.  Here’s my attempt at “chocolate cake in a mug”.

In a mug, mix 4 T. flour, 4 T. sugar and 2 T. cocoa.

Add 1 egg, 3 T. milk and 3 T. oil.  Mix well!

Microwave on high for 3 minutes.

Turn cake out of mug onto a plate.  Enjoy!

I was unsuccessful in convincing the children that I was making scrambled eggs for my breakfast (hey!  there’s a scrambled egg in there!) and they had to come over to see what I was doing.

The verdict:  Not too bad!  It definitely wouldn’t compare with an oven-baked cake, but it was quick and easy, and went well with my morning coffee.  The only clean-up is the mug, tablespoon, and wiping up the microwave where the cake dripped while cooking.  Compared to “real baking” that’s definitely a bonus!

It’s Summertime

And apparently I’ve been to busy to keep up on blogging.  With three kids underfoot all day, it’s no wonder. 

We did manage to get away for a few days camping, but only ended up taking a few pictures because I didn’t know where hubby had stashed the camera.

And for the last few days, we’ve been watching the smoke in the sky to determine exactly how close the wildfires are. 

I took this picture last night from my own front yard:

And here’s one Hubby took: