More memorable phrases

It's been a while since I added to the list of Nathaniel's memorable phrases. I always pull the oldest ones to keep them with the newer ones so I have a full list. I think I'll start dating them.

6. I was explaining to Nathaniel (6) how my parents are his grandparents, daddy's mom is my mother-in-law and if my mom was living she would be daddy's mother-in-law. Nathaniel's response? "She's an angel-in-law."
5. "Does God make police cars?" I tell him "no, God gives us the intelligence and technology and man makes cars." His response. "Or girls. Maybe bad men make race cars." (9/21/08)
4. "I think we should get a green golf cart" (the neighbors have a golf cart that they drive around the neighborhood in). "That way we could go hunting in the woods." When asked what he wants to hunt he responded "we could hunt for bears!" (9/21/08)
4. "Why does God give morning breath? Why doesn't he just give regular breath?" (8/20/08)
3. "Why does God make Tornados if he wants to take care of us?" When I responded "I don't know" N suggested "let's dream about it."
2. "Can we see when we're dead?" Not having any idea where he's going I respond "no, we can't see or hear or eat or anything." His next question is "Then how can we see God when we're in heaven?" (5/18/08)
1. "Is the sky God's floor?"

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

This is a pretty cool giveaway. Maybe I should say it's not so less people are in the running. LOL.

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Simplicity 2931

Tonight I finished up another new shirt for M. Here she is modeling it. No, she won't be wearing it with a purple shirt, that's just what she had on (whoda thunk she'd be wearing long sleeves in Aug?). I made a size 12 but had to take it in on each side about 3/4", which I tapered down to nothing at the bottom hem. She's in between sizes according to the pattern but I think next time I'll make her a 10. Both of the last shirts I made I had to take in through the bodice.

I bought this fabric from Joann's. It was a home dec fabric that M just loved. It washed up very nicely and has a great soft feel to it. I think it will look very nice with either a forest green or brick red shirt under it.

K is saying how much she likes this shirt and how she thinks it will fit her. LOL. It remains to be seen if M shares it with her. Some days you never know with those two.

Win End of Summer Reads

My girls have been inhaling books this summer and these look like they will fit right in with what's been on the menu around here. Check it out maybe you'll win.

Win It: End-of-Summer, Back-to-School YA Book Prize Pack!

Want to squeeze in a few good reads before summer gets away? Need some fun titles to offset the sting of cracking open those textbooks for the first time? I’ve got THREE amazing books up for grabs. The winner takes the whole kit and caboodle. To enter, go to th Win It site and just leave a comment.

Simplicity 4127

I finished M's top from Simplicity 4127 today. This sure took me a while. I kept putting it down after each step instead of plowing right through. I think nice basic knit tops have really spoiled me. LOL. I added 5/8" inch to the neckline so it wasn't quite so low and then added 1 1/4" to the bottom of the bodice so it wouldn't end too high. I needed to take the back in a bit more than the pattern allowed for and I thought I got it just the way she wanted it but it is a little looser than she wanted and than what I thought I had. I had already put the zipper in so we decided it is ok. With just a tank on underneath it gapes a little under the arms. When she wears a long sleeved shirt under it you can't see the gaping as much. I didn't want her to feel restricted when she moves either as this has no stretch. I couldn't find a brown regular zipper so put in an invisible zip. I think I didn't figure out where the back would fold by the zip right, which is why I got a little more ease than I initially wanted. It does hang evenly on both sides, she just has her arm pushing it down on one side and not on the other.

New in the backyard

It is always nice to have people help with big projects. Working in the backyard is no different. Here are the most recent projects that have been completed in the backyard with the help of friends and family.



My ILs helped me dig out all the grass, haul compost to fill the area in, and edge this. My next door neighbor donated and helped me move all the plants except the ferns. Here's a daytime shot from straight on. You can see some space between the two large yucca plants. My Stella d'Oro day lillies will go there after they are done blooming.



Here's a nighttime shot off of the deck last night when it was raining. I have a couple of small bleeding hearts that I may add on the edge in front of the large sedum.



Here's the back of the house outside the bathroom and K's room. My MIL helped me add edging to this and the kids and my MIL helped me get the paving stones evenly down. The hostas were our $1.99 find at Home Depot.



Here's one of N's lily's that he bought with daddy and planted a couple years ago. They are just beautiful. This is the only plant that is doing this well. All the others are very small. Maybe if I keep the weeding up, keep them watered better, and keep the darn gophers out of there they will continue to grow.



M chose a Columbine this spring to plant in the back yard. It has doubled in size and is getting a new batch of flowers on it. They are so cool!

I will hopefully be going back to the compost place and get some mulch to put around all these new plants to help keep the weeds out.

Now that this project is almost done I'm considering other options to work on. Hmm.....

Bedroom/sewing room

About a year ago I decided to give up my sewing room so that the girls could each have their own room. In order to do that I had to move my sewing room up to our bedroom. With a little creative planning I have managed it, although there's not a lot of space left in the bedroom after this. If you're interested you may look at the new layout.

I have had to be much more organized and have a place for everything since the move so this is good. The girls get along much better since they can be apart and that is good too.

Curtains or sails?

M has two skylights in her room that let in way to much light at 5:30 in the morning so she requested that I make some curtains to cover them and she was willing to have this project jump to the head of the list of projects I have to do for her. So, with my MIL (who has made LOTS of window treatments) in town we decided to work on it one afternoon. My FIL was nice enough to hang the rods for us and between the three of us it took 4-5 hours for the whole project.

I decided the easiest thing would be to hang two long parallel rods above and below both windows and then hang them on the rods using the little white rings you use for draperies. (Don't know what they're called.) The rings slide very nicely on the rod. When she wants to open them she can just stand on her bed and pull them to the center. They are made with outdoor canvas which was doubled so they pretty much hold their shape as they are moved. These were moved to the middle once and then moved back once without straightening so you can see how nicely they hang either way. When opened they just fill the middle space perfectly and look great that way too.

We intended to make them so they were fairly flush to the rods but were tired by the end and forgot which number to work from when sewing on the rings. I actually like them this way. They kind of look like sails. They also give the room a very warm feeling when the light comes in. I told M that if she wants them less drapey we can take them down and I will teach her how to sew the rings on and we can move them. She just didn't see the humor in that. LOL.




From the side you can see the light coming in the window.



Straight on you don't even see the light out the sides. The window openings are recessed quite a ways from the roof so the light doesn't spread much .

Jalie 2788 Twist Top

Here's the second new summer shirt I've made for M. I didn't really like this pattern on the envelope but it is so cute in person. I didn't try to do any pattern matching with the fabric, as you can tell. The ruffle was supposed to be only one layer but with the patterned fabric I decided it would be better as two layers so I did a narrow hem on my serger to finish the edges. The pattern for the front includes a modesty panel but M requested I leave that off as she layers with cami's all the time anyway and she just so happens to have a black one. The back is supposed to have a tie way up at the neckline but she didn't want that either. I think it fits and looks great, although the twist on the bodice sure looks funny when it's not on her.

I made a size S with some of the yummiest 4 way stretch fabric from fabric.com. It was kind of a bear to do the hems around the arms and bottom as it's a bit slippery but the result is so worth it. She wears this and the other Jalie 2682 a lot. I have enough of this fabric left to make something for me too, although it won't be this twist top. LOL. The hems are even, btw, it's just that the fabric is so stretchy that when she didn't pull it down evenly it stayed that way.

Ottobre 1/08 #31 "Ball" Vest part deux

After having this sit cut out and then partially finished for a couple months I finally got it completed. Now after sitting on my camera for a couple months I finally downloaded the pictures so that I can blog about them. This is the same pattern I used to make K's vest only I sized this one up one size from a 170 and then ended up taking it in about 1/2" inch on both sides. It's still a little baggy but she's ok with it.

I used a twill polka dot fabric from Sewzanne's on the outside and a white linen that someone gave me on the lining. I didn't have enough linen to line the hood so used self fabric. If the linen weren't a bit see through this could easily have been double sided but didn't want to waste the snap parts as I don't think she'll wear it that way. For the elastic on the hood, I just cut apart hair elastics and sewed them to a regular elastic. Looks great and I can use whatever color matches this way. Probably way cheaper too. Guess you can't really see the toggles and elastic so you'll have to believe me that they're there. She's not gathering the hood anyway so I could probably have omitted those. The bottom fronts are even. Not sure why they look uneven in the picture.

I'd have to say these vests are probably the most challenging projects that I've done. The woven fabrics were much easier than the stretch fabrics to sew and get the lining even and such. This is the first pattern that I've done that's been fully lined and that was the hardest part of it for me. I think I figured out how to master it now so maybe lined projects will be easier for me in the future.

Jalie 2682

I whipped up a shirt for M out of Jalie 2682. This is the second time I've made this shirt. It goes together quite easily, although the four way poly/lycra knit fabric from fabric.com was kind of a bear to work with. I did match the pattern on the front bodice and then from top to bottom on the front. I didn't even attempt it on the back. I made a size S but maybe could have gone up one more size. For sure I will need to add some length to the bodice if I make this again as this one doesn't quite come low enough, although I think she pulled it down before the pics. Aside from the bodice being a bit short and the uneven stitching as I attempted to sew a straight seam over lumps and bumps while the fabric stretched, M loves her new shirt. The only change I had to make was to stitch the front bodice pieces together a few inches higher up than the pattern called for. My dd isn't into cleavage baring shirts, thank goodness! This is a very simple change to make; as long as you have the right needle that doesn't skip stitches.

Funny thing is that when taking these pictures I noticed that M's left shoulder is higher than her right. It's noticeable in the pics too. I think she was standing flat footed with her weight on both feet. Wonder if that contributes to her headaches and neck/back tension. Even after commenting on it and her playing around with moving her shoulders they went right back to being uneven.

Variety Show Performance

M and A playing Tango d'Amore at the Variety Show at school.

Old Purse, New Handles

Last year I made this purse. I have gotten lots of use out of it and spent a lot of time making it so when my handles started wearing out I starting thinking of solutions for replacing them. I looked for some rectangular shaped links that I could use to attach new handles and couldn't find any the right size. I finally found some circles at Mill End that I thought would work. After cutting the handles off and attaching the circles on one side I decided that rather than make two handles again I would make one and allow it to slide through the rings when I open the purse and back out when I close it. This also meant that I needed to sew the new handle to the top flap so that the handle wouldn't slide too far down and allow the purse to hang lop-sided. It's not perfect (who's looking as closely at my purse as these pictures anyway) but it will greatly extend the life of my purse.



As far as making the handles I didn't want them to start to wear as quickly as last time. I figure that I was initially supposed to use fusible batting and used regular batting so that probably decreased the wear of the fabric. This time, I used some sew-in interfacing that I had lying around and fused it to the handle fabric. Then I sat the batting on top of that. I folded the handle in half and then each side in half again; kind of like double fold bias tape. I stitched the outsides and then added stitching 1/4" widths apart to stabilize all the layers.



The hardest part was stitching the handles onto the existing purse straps. I initially tried to layer them so I could make another X through both handles for strength and also hide the ends of the straps. That was way too many layers for my machine to handle so I attached them with just one double line of stitching. You can see the ends of the handles a little bit but this was the best that I could do and again, no one will be looking at it as closely as these pics.



I really like this new handle. It is very easy to open the purse by sliding the handle through the rings and I just grab the end of the handle and it closes back up again. I especially like the new length. I guess I much prefer a shoulder-length purse than one I have to carry in my hand.

Ottobre 1/08 #31 "Ball" Vest

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of the vest that I made for K from Ottobre. From the time I traced the pattern out until I completed it was almost three months. Now, unfortunately, it barely fits so she won't get as much wear out of it if I had gotten it done sooner. Darn kid keeps growing! I made a size 146 lengthened to 170. Fabric is pique is from Sewzanne's.

Tiny Ottobre Baby Coverall

I got the second tiny baby outfit completed today. It is fun to sew for a little baby although it has it's challenges too. This time I made the Baby Coverall from Ottobre 3/05 #2 size 50. I thought the little crotch gusset was hard to deal with. Next time I'll sew it in with a sewing machine instead of the serger. I also had trouble with the zipper. I've never had as much trouble with a zipper as I did with this one. I'm not sure why. The little gusset going up next to the zipper didn't help. I don't think it was the pattern though, just me. The little arm and leg bands were sewn in the round and they're smaller than my serger foot. So, I had to sew them on with the sewing machine. This was really nice fabric so there was no issue with the fabric getting stretched out.

I used fabric and zipper from my stash and I didn't have a long enough zipper in blue or white so I used a sage green one. It looks a little dark in the picture but IRL it looks just fine.

I have a red and white baseball stripe fabric and I think this coverall would be so cute with that and red sleeves/cuffs. Not sure I'm up for another tiny baby outfit right now though. I need to move on to the girls' vests. I've had those patterns cut out for over a month now. Need to get them sewn. LOL.





While I'm blogging I might as well say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I don't do New Year's resolutions so nothing to post there. Just hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Year.