we went to the cabin...

This is where we go...

It's easy to find your way, with all the signs...

Even though the weather is fantastic, there is bound to be one stormy day, so a crafty day is planned...

When the kids look that cute, you know the grandparents will want to be crafty too...

Tie dyed t-shirts for everyone was super fun.  I got in trouble just today because the girls' tie-dyed t-shirts were in the wash.  The day we made these, it was so stormy and awesome (Andy and I really enjoy a good thunderstorm, we just don't get many of those in the Pacific Northwest).  

Finished.

All six pairs.
Three different pattern sizes.
Three bobbins of thread.
Two mornings of sewing.
I hope they fit each little person they are intended for.

sewing weekend

I'm sewing!  It all happened at once - yesterday I made a cutie-cute skirt and today I made 4 (not a typo) pairs of jammy pants.  The smallest pair is 12 months and the other three are size 3T and 4T.  I need to make two more pairs of jammy pants by next weekend - you will get to see why later.

The dress

This is the top of the dress, it's just a typical maxi dress, which means the rest of it is long.  To the ankle, long.  There is a slight problem with the front gather right at the cross over, so I am going to pick out a few stitches and redo the gather there - I don't want to be showing too much when I wear this dress!!!  As I mentioned before, I made it with 100% bamboo knit and it is so soft, so amazing.  It's not really good at the ol' toss and go though.  I had "rolled" it up and put it on the shelf in my closet and when I put it on tonight, it was quite wrinkly.  Not good.  But, right now, being this comfortable - I really don't care about the wrinkles.  Not one bit.  The back looks just like the front, except it has a tie right at the neck.  Very cute.  And, did I mention how cozy it is? 

Making and playing



Our second night camping was a little more slow and calm than the first night.  On our first night, we set up camp and whisked through dinner so that we could head to the beach to watch the sunset - it was pretty awesome.  I think I am really attached to getting sunsets out of our camping trips because it is something that is generally missed on a daytrip.  We are usually close to home by the time the sun is ready to slip below the horizon.  But a camping trip affords us the luxury of witnessing a fantastic sunset once in a while - and no late night rush for home.
So with this slow and quiet night at camp I made the girls a little treat.  I cut strips of fabric from one of Andy's old t-shirts and crocheted them with a single chain (all I can do) and slipped a glow in the dark pony bead on, between each chain stitch.  The girls loved the nightlight (but they also love their glowsticks - oh yes, that is now a tradition).  After they went to bed, I made them each one more bracelet but this time I used UV beads.  These beads were clear when I gave the bracelets to the girls, but they quickly changed to nice bright colors in the warm sun.  The girls really love these.  Now they want to make new ones with red and blue beads for the parade on Monday.
On our last day at the coast, we stopped off at this cute little beach (which I am pretty certain is freshwater) to play and have lunch before we headed for home.  Seals were playing in the water once in a while, tons of them were "sunning" on some land across the way and the girls really enjoyed this stop. 

Loved the dress so much...

I found this dress on the Garnet Hill website a few weeks back.  I loved this long, navy blue knit dress with cap sleeves but it was $88.  Really, that is not the most expensive dress, and it probably isn't an outrageous price for the dress either.  But - I have a sewing machine and I'm not afraid to use it.  Usually, the problem for me is that I will see something I really love but I can't find a pattern to get me there.  I am not a do-it-yourself without a pattern kind of girl either. 

But this time, I was in luck.  I found a $2 pattern at JoAnn's (McCall's 6070) and I bought really nice bamboo knit fabric from Fabric Depot with my 40% off coupon and ended up making this somewhat of a "knock-off" for about $20.  That is a great price and the dress is unbelievably comfortable (I'm wearing it right now, but I still need to hem it and I want to tack the front together for my own sake). 
The details are as follows:
Dress I loved - this one from Garnet Hill.
Pattern I used - this one from McCalls.
Reaction from the girls - "ooh, mom is getting all fancy on us".
Reaction from Andy - priceless.
If the sun comes out this week, I will most definitely be wearing it and I will make certain that there is a picture of it here soon. 

Teacher gift

I made this market tote for Emma's teacher as a year end gift.  I think she liked it.  The bottom is burlap, my first time sewing with it.

Sewing School

It's been over a month since I last posted on this blog.  Oops - not sure what happened there.  I guess we have just been really busy.  It's true.  So, it's time to play catch up, and I was thinking this would be a perfect place to start.  Sewing school currently has ten students.  All girls, seven 7-year olds and three 5-year olds.  Our last session was on Friday, and the girls made their first stuffies.  They drew their own design, colored it wtih crayons, sewed it to a piece of felt and stuffed it.  This is Emma's Georgia O'Keefe inspired pillow (she learned about O'Keefe last year during our art week in kindergarten and she still makes O'Keefe flowers regularly).  She also made a little kitten and a hamster (not sure where those are hiding).  We have had five sewing sessions now and the girls are really doing well.  I noticed this last session that once they have the instructions, they really work on there own with the sewing part.  They thread their own needles, tie a knot at one end and go to work.  Emma likes to have me add a few stitches to all of her work (some more than others).  The girls have made a needle case, a pin cushion, a bookmark, a bag and now a stuffie.  I love it.  We won't meet again until after school is out, but I have plans for our next few projects already.

Hula hooping, part 2

We made our own hula hoops this weekend.  I have wanted to try this for a while now and it really is so easy and fun.  My neighbor's son asked me for one today.  Hmm, we'll see...

Anyhow, Emma thought it would be fun to try using three at once ... I was impressed.  I might have to find some classes for her to learn tricks.  Or for me...

Progress

I have been planning this quilt for several months, if truth be told.  But, sometimes things take longer than you expect, especially with holidays and birthdays and little ones and such.  Fortunately, things are coming together now, progress is being made.  This one is for Emma.  The gold blocks highlight the gold that is found throughout each of the other blocks in the quilt.  The lavendar color is perfect for her room.  She only just realized that this was for her and she seems pretty excited about that.  I need to find a sheet to use for the backing before I can sew it together, turn it and hand quilt it with lavendar ties in each of those gold blocks.  So, really the ties will take some time (at night, on the couch, after the girls have gone to bed), but I now feel like this one is almost finished.  There is fabric and batting awaiting it's turn next - a quilt for Miss Sophie.

making things

These are supposed to dry up and become yarn bowls in a day or so.  We blew up a few balloons, dipped strips of yarn into some mod podge (have to buy a bigger container of that stuff next time), and swirled the yarn around the balloons.  I hope the girls get good results as they had so much fun with the gooey mess (they had to swirl the yarn in the mod podge with their own fingers, as momma was grossed out enough making my own).  This was a really quick and simple project that wasn't really that messy (except for all of the dried glue that we peeled off our fingers).

a skirt by accident

This skirt was made using my still favorite skirt pattern from this Japanese sewing book.  This is the first spring/summer version of this pattern for me, and I love it just the same.  However, this fabric took a long and windy road to become a skirt for Sophie.  Originally, I bought the fabric to make a skirt for Sophie, but Emma saw it and wanted a skirt from it, and Sophie liked Emma's fabric so I said okay, ironed the fabric and cut out the pieces for a size 120 skirt (best part of the pattern, it goes to size 140).  However, I forgot to add on the seam allowances (an important step when using Japanese sewing patterns).  It still looked to be large enough as the girl is still rather petite.  At least, things looked good until I needed to fold the back top to make the casing for two rows of elastic - oops!  There wasn't a seam allowance added for that and I would have to cut more than an inch off the length to make it happen.  So, Emma and I had a talk about what happened, she dug through my stash to pick out her new favorite skirt fabric and I made the cuts and eventually finished a spring/summer skirt for Sophie (the original intended owner).  I suppose it was fate.

Now - why I love this pattern so much:  the front pleats and the elastic being restricted to the back only makes this skirt look so much more polished and finished and almost professional.  It doesn't take that much more time to make and the sizing really works for my kids (when I do it right).

Heart Hands

Sophie drew this picture for me today.  She said the hands are above the head in the shape of a heart.  She likes to make a heart with her hands when she says she loves you.  Sometimes she spells it.  "s-o-p-h-i-e l-o-v-e-s m-o-m".  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever, no matter how she says it.  She usually follows it with a hug.  Love that.

Rubberstamp portrait

Emma's class made a print using their original drawing that they transfered to stamp rubber and carved. This inspired me a bit - and reminded me of 5th grade art class when we carved King Tut heads onto wood blocks and made prints. I loved that project. So, I decided to buy the cheapest set of tools and a couple pieces of stamp rubber to try this at home. One of my favorite blog reads just posted some rubber stamping projects and I was reminded of the self-portrait stamp they had done last year. A perfect project for us! Emma was happy to draw a little self portrait for me.

Once I had the picture, I turned it face down onto the rubber and rubbed the back of it with the pencil.  This nicely transfered the design, which I then carved with my super cheapo tools.  I used some stinky E3000 to adhere the stamp to an empty thread spool and now Emma has her very own, super cool stamp that she can use to personalize almost anything.  I just love it.  Thanks for the idea, Maya Made.

While the edamame was cooking

Sophie made some gift wrap for her gift to her sister.  The big 7th birthday is less than two weeks away.  I think that we ended up with hearts because there has been so much talk about and prep for Valentine's Day this week.  Emma will love it regardless, and we didn't have to buy anything to make some cute girly wrapping.

Love is in the air...

It is almost Valentine's Day (I can say that because Valentine's Day is one week before Emma's birthday and we have already starting making plans).  Right now, I love this pattern.  I love this yarn.  I love this book.  The accidental heart, well, I love that too.  Since this hat is going to a special little almost one year old, it makes sense that a little love would be in there.

Christmas Jammies 2010

I don't know why it looks that way, but Emma's pants are not backwards or hiked up unnecessarily high.  But, yes - these are the new jammies for the girls.  Flannel pants and cotton tees with a matching patch.  I think this is my favorite pattern for jammy bottoms now - McCall's 5744.  I need the next size up as Emma has maxed out the pattern capabilities and I think it's 99 cents right now at JoAnn's - a trip there may happen tomorrow, during football or something.

Stockings, family style.

I finished Andy's stocking with only a few days to spare.  He seems to like it and was pleased to find some goodies hiding inside on Christmas morning.  The girls' stockings were finished last year, so I am now the only one without a stocking.  It would seem that I have just under a year to pick out the right pattern and make the stocking so that we all have one next year.  The girls were a bit concerned that Santa wouldn't leave me anything since I didn't have a stocking.  I made sure that Santa put something in my felt stocking (those are just for hanging, not for filling but Santa made an exception this year).  I love that Sophie could fit inside hers.

Making the holidays!

Well, I am trying anyhow.  I had a really short list of what I hoped to accomplish for Christmas this year.  That was on purpose, in hopes of keeping it realistic and keeping me sane.  I think it worked.  At least, I did accomplish my short list, and a few extras... with 4 days to spare.  Here is the list without details or pictures because some of these are gifts that haven't been opened yet and I failed to take any pictures.
2 bags
1 double-ended potholder
1 mixer cover
2 pairs of Christmas Eve pajamas
8 ornaments for our tree
1 neck warmer (for me because Andy won't let me use my old one anymore)
1 knitted stocking for Andy (all of my family has one now, mine will be made next year)
2 doll items for the girls

Now - there are a couple more items in the works but I am not expecting them to be finished in time and that's fine with me.  I think I accomplished a lot this year (considering how slowly I work) and I am ready to start making a new bag for myself.  I just need to decide on a fabric combination.

Lady Liberty

Emma announced that she wanted to be the Statue of Liberty about the second week of school. I assumed it was because they were learning about patriotism and that she would change her mind in a week. She didn't. After a brief search online, I discovered that I could buy her a costume, torch and crown for $76 plus shipping. No, thanks.

I discovered that yes, indeed there is even a pattern to sew the Statue of Liberty - bought it at JoAnn's for $1.49, went back to JoAnn's a few weeks later to purchase the required 8 yards of green fabric and went to work. Aside from the giant, unmanageable piece of fabric, it was a really easy pattern to sew. But, I didn't like the torch or the crown and Andy wanted to help out. So, I bought some wire, beads, and ribbon to make the crown (that was fun) and Emma and Andy went out to the garage with the orange tulle and green florist's foam cone that I bought, a flashlight and an old tupperware container to create the torch.

We went to a Halloween Party with our neighbors last night and Lady Liberty was a hit.

Up next... Sophie the beautiful butterfly.