my first dress.

i have been trying to post this for over a week. . .please, blogger, let me post again! whatever i did to make you mad, i'm so sorry! it won't happen again!
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i did it.

i made her a dress! after 3 mostly successful skirts and a pair of pants for him i got on with it and made a dress. i'm totally proud of it. and the girl in it, too!

her grandmother left me a little stash of fabric last time she was here. so, that's what i used. i made the little pocket out of a linen scrap and did a bit of embroidery on it.

i got the pattern here. and how awesome is it that you can get sewing patterns on etsy and ebay for FIVE bucks. love it. love. IT.

i had a few snags with this pattern, but i believe it was me, not the pattern. i'm a newbie and a bit of a nervous sewer so i get tripped up easily.

also completed this week :: rocket shorts!!!!!! i have yet to get a final fitting and photo of that, but it's to come!

now i'm off to blog surf and be inspired by all the crafty mamas out there. anyone else as excited as i am for Amanda Soule's new book coming soon?

rocket and roll!

this june has been so wet and rainy and dreary. . . but we've managed to make some fun stuff! in fact i've been so busy at the sewing machine, that i haven't had time in the kitchen or at the computer to post much. but, that's a good thing, right!?


here's mommy's latest. rocket shirt! he proudly wore it to camp today. it was the only solace when he learned it would rain. again. and not go swimming in the lake. he had, instead, the happiness of "rocket shirt!" it is imperfect. as you can see. as most of my sewing projects are.

the template can be found on this awesome blog. isn't it good? i added the lightening/flames. he HAD to have some fire on there. who can blame him?

the sewing obsession continues...

i made another skirt! the first one was cute, but i wanted something a bit more. . . flouncy. this one is maybe *too* flouncy and it's too short, but that's ok because it's still super cute. so what if it looks like a tu-tu!

and then of course the boy started to ask, "mommy, when are you going to make something for MEEEEEEE?" and so i made some pants. my first ever! (don't ask me why he is showing you his butt.)

they are a little "off," unfortunately. the truth is they were awesome--until i realized they were too long. i was REALLY proud of them, but then in the hemming i messed them all up. o well. live and learn, right?

more sewing projects :: a sweet skirt!

i finally buckled down and made my first wearable! it's a skirt for my wee one made from an old sheet. working with a sheet is great because there's a built-in hem! sweet! less work for me, the newbie sewer. i did manage to sew a little pocket on there, which she uses for a little stone. in and out, in and out it goes.

it is full of imperfections, but it FITS. so, major score there. next time, i might try to make it a little flouncier. we'll see. i have a list of projects......curtains, dish towels, picnic blanket. i tend to get idea-crazy. biting off more than i can chew!

but i have to admit---it's super fun seeing her in something i MADE!

back to basics

i love it when worlds collide and separate things i have been thinking about/working on come together.

lately on my mind a lot is how we eat around here. specifically, the processed foods. don't get me wrong. we don't eat a lot them, but the granola bars, breakfast bars, plastic-bagged bread and cereal are plentiful around here. even though they are organic, it still....bothers me. we eat them for convenience. but, what is IN the things we unwrap and eat? even the natural ones have a long list of ingredients and some i don't recognize. so, how can i get back to eating in a way where i really know what is going in my kid's mouths? how can i be more in touch with my food?

so, this week (despite my horrid head cold --i cannot believe the *stuff* that is coming forth from my nose) i have managed to make 2 loaves of delicious light-wheat bread, whole wheat oat-sesame crackers

...and in the world of crafing/sewing, i had recently finished 30 placemats and napkins for bb's school and i was looking to do something more....3 dimensional, so i decided to do up some fun draw-string bags.

the idea for the bags struck when i began to think about re purposing a few items around here. (repurpose is my new favorite word. both for it's meaning and how it sounds. it's fun to say! repurpose!) i had this old polka-dot changing table cover just sitting around. no use for it anymore. hmmm...what to sew!? then, the bag idea. a quick Google session and i had some tutorials to work from.

and here it is. it now holds all of my daughter's little felted gnomes and other handmade critters.


how do these seemingly separate things come together?

i was looking online at how best to store the bread when i remembered a recent post on the Soulemama blog. turns out her research into how bread was stored in the old days yielded simply this, "fabric." so, amanda (Soulemama) made "breathable, but tight" linen drawstring bags for her bread out of vintage tea towels. great! turns out that these 2 creations of mine can help each other. bread, meet bag. . . i do believe i have some linen fabric in the cabinet....

crafty goodness :: bean bags!

i'm totally a novice sewer. that must be said up front. however, i'm REALLY enjoying learning. a lot. i decided to make these really cute bean bags. i figured i get to sew AND the kids get a little toy out of the deal. what could be better!

as usual, i didn't have the right "ingredients" for the project, so i had to improvise. i used felted wool (old sweaters) rather than actual felt. so, this, i hope, is to blame for how funky these came out. i like them, but they're totally off kilter. but, in the end this doesn't matter. the kids love them.

we tried filling them with popcorn, beans and rice. the popcorn is definitely the filling of choice. they make a satisfying sound when you toss them.



this idea comes from nikki at whiMSY love. go check out her tutorial.

she makes it easy for us novices to follow along. and her bean bags are way more nicely done than mine. i will try again when i have practiced more and have the felt to work with. the sweater was just too....chunky.

anyway, thanks again to, nikki for a great project!