Family & Friends
R’s Birthday Dress
This is the little dress that I mentioned sewing as a birthday present during KCWC. I think it’s so cute, and it was really easy. I started with my free The Tank pattern. I lengthened it and added some flare to the “skirt”. I grabbed the hood from my Charlie Tee pattern and used it in place of the neckband. Finally, I added a second layer just under the hem and used the rolled edge setting on my serger to make a lettuce edge on both hem layers.
The birthday girl wore her dress to our house last week, and I was able to snap a few modeled pictures to show you! It works well for chasing bubbles with big sister.
It’s perfect for sliding, too!
I also just have to show off the gift that Samantha made. She’s really becoming quite the accomplished knitter. Is this the sweetest little doll you’ve ever seen?
Today, I’m back to work on those summer wardrobes for the boys. Officially, June 21st is the first day of summer, and I have every intention of being done before then. It’s really been summer here in Dallas for quite some time, though, so I’d like to finish sooner rather than later!
Fun and Fellowship in St. Louis!
On our way home from Michigan last week, Samantha and I stopped in and visited with my dear friend, Julie, and her girls near St. Louis. I wish we’d been able to stay longer! We had such a nice time–we packed quite a lot of fun and a little bit of work into a day and half. Julie and her husband have a beautiful new home, and she was excited to share some of her ideas for decorating, and I was thrilled to offer my suggestions for paint colors and wall hangings. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy decorating?
Monday morning, we packed up the girls and Charlie and headed for the park. Charlie fell asleep in the car on the way there and slept in the stroller while mama got a little bit of knitting done.
The girls had a blast on the merry-go-round!
Since Charlie was sleeping soundly, I wandered over to the swings where Julie and I sat, swinging gently and visiting. That is until Samantha grabbed the camera, and Julie decided that I needed a push!
Hee-hee! I really need to laugh like that more often!
Back at the house, the big girls went to work baking cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes–chocolate cupcakes which they topped with chocolate frosting, chocolate chips and chocolate kisses. Did I mention chocolate?
So it was with complete chocolate overload and some amazing memories made that Samantha and I headed home from our girls’ road trip. We had such a lovely time enjoying each other and spending time with friends, old and new.
The 1st Annual Diva Conference
Isn’t that a beautiful group of moms and babies? I had such an amazing time in Michigan with all of them!
Early, early last Thursday morning, Samantha and I packed our bags and Charlie into a rental car and took off on a girls’ road trip. We drove up the eastern edge of Oklahoma and straight across Missouri and stopped for the night just across the Illinois state line outside of St. Louis. Friday morning, we headed even further north through Illinois, across the northern tip of Indiana and into Michigan for a weekend meet-up with a group of mamas who I’ve known online for years but never before met in person! This group of ladies all belong to the board, Diaper Sewing Divas, which is a lovely community of moms who sew diapers and lots of other things for their little ones.
I was so incredibly excited to get to meet Jamie, my close friend for years and my former business partner. Through a series of events (blessings, really!) she was able to travel down from Canada to the US to join us. We chat online everyday, but we have only talked on the phone a few times. One of the first things she said to me was, “You sound so American.” Hee-hee. I think I’m supposed to sound American! It was such a joy to get to actually hang out and talk . . . in real life! (Jamie shared the story of her adventure on her blog here: Jam Side Up: An Adventure in the US.)
AmyJ, another wonderful online friend, and her girls also shared our suite with us. (Pictured above are me, Amy and Jamie.) Amy’s girls are so sweet. Charlie just adored playing with them, especially in the cupboard under the sink!
On Friday evening, we all slowly arrived at the hotel and visited, played and swam in the hotel pool. Saturday the whole group met at a nearby park for a picnic lunch, conversation, playing, knitting and some baby-wearing lessons from Dawn who is truly the queen of babywearing! (I’m so excited that I know how to get Charlie wrapped on my back now!)
When the picnic was over, a few of us wandered over to Ivelise’s Yarn Shop in Benton Harbor. It is a such lovely shop with a great selection of yarns and a warm, welcoming feel. Samantha left with several skeins and a few patterns. (She actually knitted a whole scarf on the way home! I’ll have to show it off later, though.)
Part of the group met for dinner at Panera. The photo at the very top of this post was taken there as we were finishing up.
Back at the hotel after dinner, we gathered in the meeting room for some games, knitting and, of course, more conversation! I actually had the privilege of planning the games, and I think everyone enjoyed them. (At least they didn’t complain.) We started the evening with each mom pinning two I-Spy squares to her shirt with a safety pin. Each time you said the words “kid” or “kids”, you lost a square to the mama who caught you using the word! A few moms lost their squares right away, but we kept the back and forth exchange going until we were wrapping up our time together. The winners were the two who had the most squares at the end of the evening. (Pictured below are Gina and Amy with their squares still attached and Beth with her empty safety pin!)
For our second activity, we each brought a yard or two coordinating half yards of fabric wrapped for a fabric gift exchange. (Here’s Katie opening the fabric that I wrapped for the exchange in recycled brown paper with selvage “ribbon”.)
Our final game required a bit of preparation. I took a night or two ahead of the conference to go back through our sewing board and choose pictures of items in the show-off forums that I thought were fairly recognizable. I copied each picture, blew it up and glued them randomly on a trifold display along with a list of the names of the board members who made the items. Each conference attendee tried to match the names to the items they created. Two of the moms actually got every one correct!
The winners of our games took home one of my patterns or one of these mason jars that I packed full of sewing notions and tied with more selvage ribbon.
Sunday morning, we had breakfast together, snapped a few last pictures and said our teary good-byes. The weekend went by way too fast! I can’t wait to do it again! There are already plans being made for a second conference next summer.
Samantha and I continued our girls’ road trip with a couple of days in St. Louis before heading home, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to share about our time there.
Home, Again! Tomorrow is Catch-up Day!
Samantha, Charlie and I had such a lovely time on our road trip to Michigan and back. We made some wonderful memories with some amazing women, and I’m excited to share some of them with you! Tonight, though, I’m exhausted, so sharing will have to wait a bit.
I’m a day later arriving home than I originally planned because I had to detour around Sunday night’s tornado damage in Joplin, Missouri. My heart and prayers go out to everyone there. I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through.
I apologize that orders received during my trip will also be going out a day late. I’ll get those shipped out before the post office closes here tomorrow. I will do my best to handle pdf requests tonight and get emails answered tomorrow morning. (Trust me, you don’t want to hear from me tonight–I’m so tired, I can barely think straight!)
I’ll leave the 20% discount code, “Michigan”, up until I get up and around tomorrow morning. Use it while you can! If you’ve been waiting for them, the Undercover Bottoms Boxers are restocked and ready for you.
Penelope in Stripes for the Spring Top Sewalong
The Spring Top Sewalong starts at Made by Rae tomorrow, and since I had some sewing time this morning, and well, it is Mother’s Day, I sewed a top for me!
I tried out the Mod Kid Penelope pattern for this one, and I am so happy that I did! Seriously? From tracing the pattern to pulling it on, my total time investment was about an hour and a half. (I actually spent more time adding the trim to the sleeves than the whole rest of the shirt took.)
I was a little unsure when I pulled out the pattern and saw the seam up the sleeve, but I have to say that I love the way the stripes come together at an angle there. It’s such a unique detail that wouldn’t have happened with a traditional set-in sleeve.
I used a cotton/lycra jersey for the body and just let the bottom edge roll up rather than hemming it. Because of the way the body/sleeve is cut out on this pattern the sleeve edge didn’t roll, so I added some detail with trim that matches the neckline. I think it finished the top off nicely!
One more picture thanks to my very sweet daughters who when they saw that I was chopping the pictures off at the waist, insisted that the extra 15 pounds of baby weight that is still hanging out on my hips is beautiful, and, well, it is Mother’s Day, and if those 15 pounds mean that I have a house full of the joyful laughter of children today, then I think I’ll celebrate them.
Happy Mother’s Day to each of you!
Mama-Made for Her Baby Girl
Every baby deserves something mama-made, right? Our oldest daughter, Morgan, found out a few weeks ago that the little one she is expecting is a girl! (After three boys in a row in this family, we’re all pretty excited about having a bit of an excuse for pink and ruffles.) Easter Sunday, last week was a bit overcast and rainy, so Morgan and I spent the late afternoon in my sewing studio working on this sweet little Itty Bitty Baby Dress.
The expectant mama did a lot of the sewing herself (and daddy hung out with us watching over her shoulder, too).
Do you think it fits?
I’m sure this is just the beginning of what will be quite a bit of baby girl sewing for our granddaughter . . . just have to get those summer wardrobes finished for the boys first!
Happy Easter!
It’s almost bedtime here, but I wanted to stop in and say Happy Easter to my wonderful readers. We enjoyed a lovely day of celebration today. I pray that each of you did, too!
We had five of our six children here with us today, and our son-in-law, as well. We snapped a few quick pictures in the backyard after church (just before the clouds and storms began to roll in) in our Easter attire. (Our church is really very casual, so we don’t dress up often!)
Our youngest two little ones are wearing shorts that I made for them. I’ll share about them later this week. And, Morgan (our oldest–you can see her little baby belly above) and I spent a few hours after lunch this afternoon sewing up a little dress for the new little girl that she is expecting. I promise to blog about our sewing time later this week, too! Right now, I’m heading to bed where it looks like I’ll be cuddling with several little ones who are not happy at all with the thunder and lightning that are still flashing and banging outside our windows.
2011 Summer Wardrobes–Charlie’s Tops
Finally! A post about Charlie’s and Jamie’s summer wardrobes! In case you haven’t been following my blog, one of the resolutions that I made at the beginning of the year is to sew at least one of my children a whole wardrobe for one season. Not only did I make the resolution, but it was printed in the Spring 2011 edition of Stitch magazine! (Now there’s a way to make sure that you follow through with a resolution–print it in a national publication!) I’m actually working on sewing summer wardrobes for my two youngest boys, Jamie and Charlie.
First up on my list is Charlie’s summer tops. I had originally planned to do six, but he ended up with seven. I’m going to show you six tonight and save number seven for tomorrow since I think it deserves a post of its own.
Top #1 is a Basic Charlie Tee in Michael Miller Dino Dudes with coordinating MM stripes. (This is the picture from the new cover for The Charlie Tee & Hoodie.)
Top #2 you’ve seen before, too. This is the Ringer Charlie Tee that I used for my Easy Applique Tutorial last month.
Tops #3, 4, 5 and 6 are all done in my newest tee pattern which will be released later this week. This is just a quiet sneak peek!
Here’s Top #3 in MM Dino Dudes with a different color stripe.
Top #4 has the optional color-blocked sleeve and MOM Robots.
Top #5 features the once enormously popular Mint Chocolate Zoo.
Top #6 rounds out the group in Zoo Animals on Red matched up with a Chez Ami stripe.
I Spy an Adoption Shower . . .
A wonderful young couple that serves with us at GFA is in the process of adopting a very sweet little boy who is about 2 years old. A couple of weekends ago, some friends threw them an adoption shower, and I sewed up this fabric I-Spy/Memory game for their new little guy.
I used the Memory Game Tutorial over at Kindershop Online for the pieces, and then added this drawstring bag to store them in. (I made one of these for Jamie for Christmas two years ago, and it’s the one sewn toy that he has played with the most!)
New Cover for the Charlie Tee & Hoodie
I mentioned in my last post that I’m working on sewing up new samples of each of my patterns to update my covers. I’m using Michael Miller fabrics for the ones that I’m working on right now. (You already know how much I love Dino Dudes!) It’s spring here and perfect for getting outside to take pictures. I’m thrilled with the new cover photo for the Infant & Toddler Charlie Tee. What do you think?
I have lots more to do. Summer is going to be here soon, so I’m taking advantage of all this sewing to work on my two youngests’ summer wardrobes. No, I haven’t forgotten my resolution to sew everything they’ll need for summer–its coming along nicely. I just haven’t had time to post! I’ll do my best to post my checklist along with pictures of what I have done so far later this week.
