Work on it Wednesday

Today I've been giving Miss O. sewing lessons. She's been begging to learn for ages and now that she can reach the foot pedal and the machine bed at the same time, I couldn't put her off any longer. I don't believe in toy sewing machines. I think you should have the proper equipment for the job and that means a machine that actually sews. It'll prevent frustration and foster a love of sewing IMHO. I let her pick out her own machine from my collection awhile back. The girl has her standards. She was drawn to a Bernina 801 sport. It's actually a nice little machine for her. It all metal, mechanical and only has 6 different stitches. Nothing for her to mess up or break. She's super proud of "her sewing machine". We also put together a little sewing basket. She has her own pin cushion, scissors, seam ripper and thread. Initially I had her working on scrap fabrics, but she became easily bored with that. I have to admit, she's pretty good. She can sew fairly straight and she has pretty good speed control with the foot pedal. She always remembers to lift and lower the presser. Today she announced that she wanted to make a skirt. She picked out some fabric from my stash and we roughly measured her for a little skirt. She informed me that she thought she needed "a yard" (perhaps she's been to the fabric store one too many times). She didn't need a yard, actually she really only needed about 1/2 yard, lol. I set her to work. She did everything except the ironing and putting in the elastic. Great job! Project Runway, watch out!!!
I don't have time to do it right now, but I'll get a picture of Miss O. and her space skirt as soon as I can. Too cute!

Tales from the cookie jar

M. is a die hard hardcore chocoholic and I think his most favorite chocolate fix is homemade chocolate chip cookies. I have to admit, they are pretty tasty, but they've become somewhat of an obsession with M. He reports to me frequently the status of the cookie jar, but it's in such a way that might have you wondering, um...does he want me to bake more? Our conversations generally go something like this with M. peering into the empty depths of the jar: "There's only three more cookies left, someone should make some more." Me: "M., would you like me to make some more cookies." M: sly smile and a nod. So, I find myself employed part time as a Keebler elf. I guess there's worst occupation to have. Here's a tasty recipe to make with your own cookie monster.



Chocolate chip cookies


1 cup softened butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs one at a time and vanilla. In a small bowl combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Summertime Dress

I've been doing quite a bit of sewing lately and whipped this little round neck dress up for Miss O. who promptly proclaimed "This dress is perfect for hot weather, I'm going to wear it every day". I got a kick out of that. It is perfect for hot weather. I made it out of some lovely fabric from my stash and it just looks fun and fresh. Here's a few shots of my girl in her summertime dress.

You know you're a mom who sews when...

Yesterday I had the sweetest conversation with O. I was asking her what she wanted to do the next day. I wondered if she wanted to go to the gym with me? She said no, but that she would like to go to the fabric store. In fact what she said was "Let's go to the fabric store, the fabric store makes me happy". Oh my goodness, she really IS my daughter! I said, sure we could go to the fabric store since it makes me happy too. To which she responded, "Good, we should go to the fabric store since it makes us both happy.". That's my girl! She really gets me!

Work on it Wednesday

Today I'm going to prep for my sew in that I have planned for when I go on vacation in a couple weeks. I'm going to pick out all the fabric, make sure it's washed and ready to go, cut or trace the patterns and fabric and get everything ready so that when I sit down to sew I can work efficiently. As I mentioned before I'm making the spring and summer stuff for O. & the boys. I will start with E. because although he remains reed thin, his legs are getting longer and he is due for some pants that don't show off what color socks he's wearing. I'll be using mostly patterns from Ottobre, KS and a couple vintage New Looks I have. I'm hopeful that the latest Ottobre issue will arrive in my mailbox before I begin since it's up on the website and usually the hard copy isn't too far behind that.

Family Night!!

My son E. is a real family man, the original Mr. Family Values. Whenever I don't have to work on the weekend he plans out our entire itinerary for the day from breakfast to bedtime. He loves doing things together as a family and it makes me glad to know that these times are so special to him. Luckily, because I'm home with my kids during the week we do lots of activities together, but there is nothing like the times when all six of us are together, like tonight. We are having homemade pizza (made by my resident pizza chef, Mr. Family Values himself), dessert fondue and board games. What's so special about this you ask? Well, it's really all in the details. You can't quite appreciate all the planning that has gone into this evenings festivities. And it's all been planned by E. He began planning it out yesterday and hasn't stopped talking about it since. And I mean this literally. He has left no detail to chance. From how he would decorate the dinning room to which dishes we should use and what games we should play. He planned out the menu. Agonizing over which fruits would go best with the fondue. At one point he suggested that we wear formal attire. I had to put the kibosh on that idea. Bless his little planning heart, he's driven me crazy!!! But, when you think about it, it is kind of sweet. He told me recently that he loves family day (the official name given to the times when all six of us are together), and I have to agree...I love it too.

My super power is...

sewing fast under pressure. Let me explain. From a kids perspective I guess when your mother sews you take for granted that whatever you decide you want her to make can be accomplished lickety split. Case in point, yesterday M. reminded me that today was "PJ Day" at school. He excitedly told me how he would wear his pajama's and eat pizza for lunch. I smiled and suggested he could wear some of the flannel pj pants I had made him recently. He thought a moment and then said, "Well, you didn't make me a shirt for them". Ever quick on the uptake, I said "Oh, you can just wear one of your plain tshirts with them." For which he responded "I can't, we have to wear pj's." I attempted to explain how a tshirt could be considered pj's. Well...his little eyes welled up so finally I relented and said "Go upstairs and pick out some fabric and I'll make you a shirt." He came back with some scrap (of course it had trains on it...which he absolutely adores) that I was quite skeptical of getting even a shirt for a doll out of. I told him as much and then said I would see what I could do. Fast forward to midnight, I have traced out a tshirt pattern from my favorite Japanese pattern book, cut out the shirt and some pants and serged and top stitched them both. This morning he was all smiles. Of course since he was in bed when I was putting in the elastic I made it too large and had to take them in this morning. All total it took me about two hours to make the pj's but the smile I got was priceless.
I'll have to add a picture later. We were in too big of a hurry to get off to school this morning to get one.

Knit and Learn

Ugh! I should so know better. I like to knit late at night while lying in bed watching tv (I know, multi-tasker) and sometimes leave my in progress work on my bedside table. Well...my kids (remember how I said I never finished anything before because my kids always pull it out. Well, I go walking in my bedroom and my little darlings have not only pulled off at least a weeks worth of my hard work, but also unrolled my ball of yarn. I was so upset. Now, it's only taken me three days, a look at knittinghelp, a trip to the library to check out a book on fixing knitting mishaps, and about a hundred rows put on my needles only to realize that I had been purling when I should have been knitting. Finally today, a breakthrough. I finally ripped it out (isn't the term frogged) down to where I thought it looked right (way, way, way down...oh I will never finish this sweater) and started again, for the millionth time. I thought about what it said in that very helpful library book...and low and behold...it looks right. Now, I had planned to do some sewing this evening, but I think I will knit, knit, knit...oh wait, I'm should be purling some too. Ah...kids, gotta love them or else you just might have to kill them.

Happy Birthday!

Yay! My big boy is six! Happy Birthday E! I hope you enjoy your gifts and learn to play that guitar Musicman! We all love you! Make a wish!

The taste of Summer

I just finished sewing O. the cutest little summer top. I see many more of these in her future. It's McCall 5568. It's pretty easy, although I didn't like how they have you close up the collar. Too much hand sewing for my taste. Alternatively, I've altered it to be buttoned at the shoulders on the next version I have cut out. I'll see how that works out. The pants are from last summer (although they fit much better this summer), it's Burda 9708
My girl will probably never make it big as a model as she was too concerned with seeing what the pictures actually looked like than posing for them. Nonetheless, I thought she looked pretty cute

The next generation sewer and a dotty dream

My little boy E. is very interested in learning to sew. It had been a dilemma to find a machine that was suitable to teach him on so that he could operate the machine independently. I finally solved the dilemma by setting him up on a vintage kenmore 47 (a thrift store find that cost all of $8, woohoo got to love those thrift stores) that operates with a knee pedal so that even though his feet don't reach the floor he can still operate the machine. He's so excited and has decided that he will make an Anakin Skywalker cape. Ambitious indeed, but I guess when you're young your only limitation is your imagination, lol!




Oh and here's a bag I made, it's called the Dotty Dream Bag and it's a free pattern from Ottobre. The fabric and trim came from my stash. The dot fabric is Chez Ami from the licorice line and the floral is a fabric one of my fellow sewing mamas, Eva picked up for me probably a year ago. I've been saving it for just the right project, I think this bag is it.

My birthday girl

I'm usually don't post more than once/day. But I couldn't resist posting a candid action shot of my girl in her birthday shirt (it's hard to catch her in a pose...she's gogogo!)I whipped up a cupcake shirt for her. I did the embroidery on the front using my ellure. It's a great little machine and terribly underused, but remember I said I was going to try new techniques and challenge myself so I'm learning to use the ellure so there should be plenty of embroidery in the future. It's far from perfect...I think It's too low. I marked it higher, but got nervous that it was too high and moved it down, should have left it alone. Also I learned what you should do if your thread breaks while you're doing embroidery...after the fact. I had to handstitch a few fill in stitches, but that's ok, live and learn right? Anyways...here she is, my big girl in all her pinkness and cupcake sweetness!

The things we do for love...or for peace and quiet

I've just gotten back from signing S. and E. up for summer camp. Yep, signups start now and slots fill up fast. It's a great day camp program and super cheap to boot! Here's the kicker though, I got up at 4:30 and was there by 5:30, chair and coffee in hand and I wasn't even first in line. I was #14. Number one said they got there at 3:30 and someone else came right after them. It's insanity, but I'd rather wait in line in a storm than come up with 8 weeks worth of activities to keep 4 bored kids entertained. So, even though I'm still a bit chilled and pretty sleepy, I did it for love and for a little peace and quiet.