ponderings and projects from one crafty mama
After much waiting, the snow and cold weather has arrived. We got about five inches of snow at the house this weekend, and the kids were all glad for the chance to get out and play in the snow. Mama was not so glad for the chance to shovel the driveway so we could get out of the garage, however. Here are some pictures I snapped before my fingers went numb.
Where did the summer go? I’m still in denial that the calendar has turned to September. This year, A. is in third grade and E. is going to first grade. They will both be out of the house all day every day. So, many days it will be very quiet with just me and E-boy in the house.
Here are the girls all ready for their first day of school:
Due to a bus snafu, we didn’t get the traditional picture of the kids walking up to the school bus, so you’ll have to imagine that one. Maybe one of these days I’ll take a picture of them getting on the bus to sort of reinvent the occasion…okay, probably not.
While my days are a little more quiet with the girls away at school, my afternoons have suddenly become filled with soccer practice and gymnastics lessons. It’s taking a bit to get used to this new routine of fitting in dinner, homework and activities. I think I’ll have to dust off the crock pot to help me out with dinners some nights!
My oldest child has reached 48 inches.
This summer, we have been frequenting our local waterslide park. There are lots of slides that are fun for kids of all ages (and Hubby), but two of the slides require riders to be four feet tall to ride them. Each time we go to the park, A. asks to be measured, hoping to get the coveted “4” stamp on her hand. Last time, the man told her, “maybe next year” as she missed the mark by maybe 1/4 inch. This time, the girls in charge of measuring granted her wish! She got stamped with her “4” and rushed off with Daddy to ride the “big” slides. And I’ll admit, I took advantage of her company, and enjoyed a few rides with her on the “big” slides, myself.
Here’s what E-Boy managed to do the other day while I wasn’t looking.
He used a chair to reach the drawer in the kitchen where I keep pens and pencils, took out a blue highlighter, and decorated himself. When I came into the kitchen, he looked up at me and said “me ba”. I’m not sure if he was acknowledging what he did was bad, or telling me he needed a bath to wash off the blue.
A few weeks ago this same child got the better of me when it comes to punishment. His sisters were each sitting in a corner for some infraction that I don’t recall, probably bickering with each other. E-Boy sat down in a third corner for a self-imposed time out. I explained to him that he didn’t need to sit in the corner because he wasn’t in trouble. He got up, hit his sister, and asked me, “now me in trouble, mommy”. Yes, sweet boy, now you’re in trouble. What in the world am I going to do with you?
I just adore these dresses I made for my girls! The pattern is from the most recent issue of Ottobre design.
For the denim dress, I did topstitching with two threads through the needle, hot pink and red. I love the emphasis this gives to the topstitching, and the color combo is just plain fun! I used large pink buttons on the pockets and sewed them on with red thread.
The corduroy dress is cute, too. But, it taught me an important lesson. When sewing a complicated pattern, with lots of pieces and topstitching, patterned fabric is not the best. All the work I did sort of blends into the bold heart print. The kids love it anyway, though, and that’s what counts.
This is the time of year when I feel inspired to sew for the upcoming season. So, even though the weather has been swelteringly hot, I’ve been sewing with corduroy. The first project, a “round neck dress” in corduroy coordinates. I love the colors in these fabrics, perfect on my blue-eyed-blondes. Thanks to Mary for the inspiration to use this summery pattern for Fall sewing, it worked out perfectly!
Actually, I have to let you know, this is the sample for the next size range of my round neck top/dress pattern. I had so many requests to make this style available for older girls, I drafted three more sizes, which fit girls approximately size 8 to 14. Look for it coming to my Etsy shop soon!
I also faced one of my sewing fears: the zipper fly. I’m really proud of the way these pants turned out, even though they’re not perfect, I know what I should do differently next time.
I had a little bit of a blog break there…actually a little bit of a break from everything. The family took a camping trip to the lake. We did some boating, fishing, hiking, biking and genral relaxing around a campfire.
Hubby made a friend right when we got to the campground.
We did a little fishing in the creek:
And found a little snake:
Here’s hubby “walking on water” a.k.a. standing on an old pier right under the water that he found while snorkeling.
A. and E. were practicing their casting:
My girl is getting so grown up!
Here’s E. acting goofy when she sees the camera:
And E-boy’s cheesy grin:
And one more, just ’cause he’s cute:
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.
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!
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.
that*darn*kat 