Salvaged

Goodness! What a ridiculous couple of weeks it has been.

Long story short: The pre-Easter virus stretched halfway through the week, seemingly went away, and then returned in time to make Easter a little bit of a chaotic bust for half of the household.

The night before Easter, I realized that I hadn’t — how you say? — arranged for the Easter Bunny to stop by our place. Oh, oops.

Pinterest to the rescue! Whipped these up on the sly and added a couple of treats. The kids were happier than I thought they’d be, so that was a plus.

And lather, rinse, repeat. It just seems like the month of April has been swallowed by little upheavals and I’ve been more easily beset than usual (which is to say: completely off-track.) But we just keep moving forward, right? Yes!

My girl had a Fashion Show/Tea Party Day at her preschool this morning, and I just couldn’t bear to send her in the blasted red satin-y dress that she insists on wearing any time it appears in the closet. Sunday to church? Yes. Monday to Grandma’s? Sure. Thursday to school? By all means. I’ve given up on trying to convince her that it’s a little ridiculous, and I don’t care as much as I used to about people thinking I’m an idiot to let her out of the house that way. I’m all about choosing my battles. I’m also getting pretty good at choosing my weapons; in this case, a sundress. Apparently, sleeveless totally trumps satin.

I picked this skirt up at Old Navy about a year ago, on clearance, because it was long and pretty and my size. Turns out that it looks horrible on me, but I held onto it in case I had a change of heart. (You know how that goes.) No such luck, but I was pretty sure that I could turn it into a dress for the girl, since it came mid-calf on me.

Voila! I cut off the top of the skirt — right about the lettuce ruffle edge — and finished the inner edge, which also secured the lining to the outer shell again. Then, I added about twelve rows of shirring. The rows should’ve been spaced further apart, but I only realized that after the first two were done, and well, that was two rows too late for me. Charge on! Lastly, I made straps out of the discarded skirt top, and there you go. Getting the straps placed correctly took about as much time as the whole rest of the process, but it still only took me a couple of hours. Truth be told, it’s a little on the short side, but it’s floaty and fancy and she was thrilled and it was free. Happiness all around!

 

Dapper

Dressing a boy is not nearly as much work as dressing a girl. For one thing, the options are limited. Most of the time, I find this to be a good thing; no fuss, no muss. I can buy a stack of shirts and a stack of shorts at the beginning of the summer, and that’s all she wrote. Mix and match, my friend — it’s all good.

A couple of times a year, though, it’s a real pain. Want to find something fancy for your little girl? Pick a store, any store! You may not be wild about the selection, but you’re sure to be overwhelmed by the choice. Thinking about sprucing up the young man (without turning him into Little Lord Fauntleroy, which will hit you in the pocketbook and is doing him no favors I’m just saying)? Well, good luck to ya. You might find a few outfits, but I’m not a huge fan of “outfits”. Could I just get a tie? Maybe one that’s not blue striped?

I will say that I managed to find a couple at Children’s Place [think I was lying about the blue striped thing?], but the one I picked online doesn’t match the sweater I picked out. Also, much to my secret delight, he said he’d rather have a bow tie. Well!

Once again, a big thank you to you crafty sisters out there. I found this tutorial yesterday, and cranked this out immediately:

Pretty hip with the t-shirt, don’t you think?

Anyway, I was thrilled with how this turned out. (It’s the little things.) I can’t wait to make more, although I’m not sure how many he’ll need. Still! The only things I did differently were to use the machine instead of hand-stitching; pressing in a 1/4″ fold on each of the long sides of the neck-band rather than stitching and then turning it, because I go crazy when I have to turn narrow tubes like this; and when attaching the second piece of Velcro, I just folded the unfinished edge to the top — tucking it under the Velcro — so that it gets caught in the stitching when you attach the Velcro. [If you have any questions about any of that, just leave a comment and I'll try to explain it more clearly.]

Isn’t it nice when something comes together quickly and easily? Celebrate the moment, friends!

All Over the Place

I’ll tell you what: as much as I dislike March, I’m torn over how to feel about it being so close to the end already. What is going on?!

Is Easter really next week? So, there’s only a half-week of school coming up? Really?

It’s all a bit much to process. Do I still have time to make a Spring/Easter wreath? Is it worth it?

Do I even care about making one anymore? I think the question points toward an obvious answer….

On top of that, my friends keep having babies, and even grandbabies (talk about hard to process!), and the “get this done now” clock in my head was just buzzing louder and louder until I finished up the squares for this quilt, which steamrolled its way right to the top of the list. Oh, but the relief of having it that much closer to done. Totally worth throwing closet cleaning to the back burner…except now the clock in my head it buzzing over that! Whatever. It’s always something.

But I digress — back to Easter. Which is, I say again, next week. Now, in a rare move, I actually managed to get my kids their duds before Good Friday (which really doesn’t seem like it should be the unofficial Easter finery shopping day, you know?), and I love this little dress.

Except for that tacky little daisy:

Yeah, we can do better than that. A little fancy fabric, a little candlelight, and voila:

I salvaged the button from the original flower, and just love love love this version. (I basically used this beautiful tutorial as my guide. Thank you, Autum!) Granted, it still needs to have the pin attached — and the button, for that matter — but it’s as good as done. In fact, the glue gun is already out, thanks to yesterday’s crazy tangent project, but that’s a story for another day. As you can see, I even made a second flower for Little Fancy’s hair. I’m on a roll!

Things are happening, friends. The quilt squares from the beginning of the tale? They are already down, stitched, and basted onto the rest of their little quilt sandwich. Happening, I say!

Keep It Going Full Steam

It would seem like my main two goals (on the making front, that is) would work together well. Number one is to use up what I have; the second is to not put a project aside until it’s finished. Decide on something, prep it, and crank it out.

Oh, but, whoops! These squares have been sitting on my sewing table for at least a week, probably two. (Probably more, but really that’s beside the point.) Also, there’s a similar one sitting on the shelf all cut and ready to go, and that’s not even mentioning the denim one that’s sitting half on the table and half in a box below. In fairness, that one is in limbo because I ran out of materials, and not at all because I ran out of interest after cutting the first fifty-six squares from the legs of old jeans. Nooo….

You can see where this is all heading. Backward, and quickly. So, today, I decided to fight the urge to start on a brand new and exciting quilt in favor of finishing a half-done one. (Let’s not talk about its companion, please. It’ll get its turn soon enough.) And now it’s all done but the snipping, ready to be put away for next year. A small but significant victory in the war on…myself? Yeah, that’s about right.

*****

A couple of nights ago, I was in a sad state and just poured my heart into a post about some of the ways in which I’ve missed my dad over the six years he’s been gone. Then I woke up this morning — the anniversary of his death — and realized that the writing was really enough for me, and that the story didn’t need to go any further than my drafts folder. It can be summed up thusly:

I love my dad. I miss my dad, especially when there’s a particularly good game (it never did matter which sport) or concert on TV.

I don’t like March, but I try to make the best of it.

I can’t believe a day will come when I’ll stop missing my dad, or when I’ll stop dreading March.

No good month filled with terrible memories March.

Pattern Review: On-The-Go Diaper Clutch

Well, friends, today is a proud day: Heather just released her very first pattern, the On-The-Go Diaper Clutch. Cue the confetti!

Let me tell you, I was all too happy to be a pattern tester. You know I love a new addition to my arsenal of baby gifts! No surprise, this one’s a gem; pretty and practical.

My sister and I were talking about projects the other day, and I explained my take on “quick” projects. Usually, “quick” tends to cover anything that can be done in a day. And that’s true, to a certain extent, but when I spend an entire morning and part of the afternoon on something, and it ends up being pretty much all I have to show for my day, I have trouble looking upon it as “quick”.

That having been said, let me tell you that this here Diaper Clutch truly fits under the heading of capital-Q Quick. Fifty minutes from the time I cut the fabric [I take an inordinate amount of time selecting and cutting fabric, so I didn't add that in] to the snipping of the final thread, to be precise. In fact, this is actually the second one I made. The first one…well, I don’t know what happened to it, to tell you the truth. I took it with me to show it off to the pattern creator herself, and now it’s nowhere to be found. It’s not like this is a first for me, but still. No worries, though — I knew it would only take me a hot second to make up another.

That’s the true test of a quick project: Will it still seem so easy to snap together when you have to tackle it again? This one passes with flying colors.

If mine looks a little puffy, it’s because I subbed fusible fleece for the lightweight interfacing. Hey, it’s what I had handy. If you wanted to get all crazy and quilt the outer piece, the fleece would be the way to go. (I didn’t do that, mind you, but one could and it would be awfully cute.) Also, I tucked in the biggest hard-shell wipes pack known to man, which skews the appearance a little. It’s good to know it fits and closes well, but I’d go with a trimmer pack the next time. Or this time, when I pick up diapers to tuck into this gift in place of the giant swim pull-ups (yep, all that I had left in the house.)

Anyway, back to the pattern. Read it through one time before you get started, and you will be off to the races. The directions are super clear and very thorough. The pattern also includes some great tips for customizing your clutch. Try the ruffle closure; it’s really cute, and easy! (I know this, because I tried it out  on the first version. One day it’ll turn up and I’ll show you.)

Look how nice! Mom can just tuck it into her bag and go, and the diapers won’t be all mangled like they are when you throw ‘em in loose. (I know all about this, too.) Neat and tidy.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Get a hold of this pattern, grab your favorite fat quarters or remnants, and an hour later you’ll see for yourself. In fact, Heather has graciously offered up two copies of her pattern for my lovely readers.

First two to comment win — GO!

Update: Congrats to my giveaway winners, Holly and Mrsgingras! Be watching your inboxes for you Simple Analogy pattern pdf.

So Late, It’s Early

True confession: The embroidered Elf Stichette in the center took a while to make. Embroidery always takes longer than I think it will, but it probably would have come together faster had I not left it sit in the bag for one full year. When I took it out, it turned out that only the smile and the cheeks needed to be stitched. Er….

Also: I didn’t even take Joey’s Christmas quilt out of the box this year for fear it would start the “where’s mine?” chorus from the girl. He didn’t notice it’s absence, but I felt badly about it. I knew what I’d done.

Goodness. The pains I’ll go through not to finish something! I’ll tell you, I remember starting this quilt long ago, but I can’t put my finger on exactly how long. It’s been at least two years, but I have a bad feeling that it may have been three. Oh, who cares? It’s done now! I finally pieced it after Thanksgiving, and decided to put the pedal to the metal to get. it. done. a couple of weeks ago.

And — voila! — just like that, I’m officially months and months ahead of the game. The first gift of the Christmas ’13 season is in the bag!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

It’s that time of year again, my friends: Rodeo Time! Now I’m not much of a rodeo fan, but I do love Go Texan day and all that goes with it.

Elementary school hoedown? Yay!

Western duds? Yeehaw!

Oh, but oops — Little Girl didn’t have anything even remotely Western. Luckily, I found this bandana print at Mom’s, and a ton of black lightweight denim fabric. That was on Friday, which left me plenty of time to whip up a little skirt over the weekend.

Except…

…when I pulled the denim out of the wash Friday night, black linty dust flew up in a cloud. It also coated the inside of the washer, the dryer, and the garage floor beneath the vent. What the? When I washed it again, more of the same; the fabric apparently was disintegrating. Well, great.

So much for free and easy.

But not so fast. That’s not the Spirit of the West! I got myself to Joann’s Monday morning, and found a really cute piece of slubby denim (on sale, no less.) I used this old faithful skirt pattern as a guide, along with a combo of these two ruffle tutorials. Done and done. I’d picked up a white shirt at H&M a couple of weeks ago, so it was just an applique away from being a super cute outfit-maker.

Can you tell that I’m a little pleased with how it turned out? And she’s been twirling around ever since, so I guess it is officially a winner. Of course, tonight she plans to switch it out for her fanciest satin dress before we go to Cubbies.

As it turns out, she’s only a little bit country.

Spring Wear!

Well, Little Miss has now decided to refuse to wear pants. Leggings? Sure. Pants that are just like leggings, but a little looser in the leg? Absolutely not. Since regular pants, like jeans or khakis, had long ago been forbidden (pretty much since she could voice an opinion), we are down to skirts and dresses only. While this makes getting ready for church easy, and will make her a fine deacon’s wife someday, it kind of throws a wrench in her current wardrobe.

Did I mention that her Winter/Spring wardrobe includes Carter’s knit pants in just about every color? And that they’re sized to last her through next Fall? Sure. “Get ahead”, indeed.

This week’s cold snap notwithstanding, it’s been warm enough for bare legs, so I figured I’d better get cracking on the skirts.

There’s actually one more, but it already made the trek upstairs and someone’s too lazy. I’m someone.

Oh, and this here skirt was way too exciting to make:

A cute little skirt from a discarded shirt?! Oh yeah! Again, there’s a green one (which was the first off the press, and may or may not be a wee bit snug) which is already in the regular rotation. Needless to say, my husband’s shirts are barely safe.

Even more impressive? I started and finished these bad boys the same week. Progress, friends!

More Monkey Business

Yes, we’re going to the same shower.

Confession: Sock monkeys are not my favorite. Something about that red mouth, it just kind of creeps me out. But monkeys are the theme for this baby girl, and I just happened to have a purple pair of socks for such an occasion (from when I tried to make myself make one for Project 15 and failed to get past the sock buying stage.) This pattern won me over — look at that cute face! Of course, mine came out a little crazy; I think I was using the wrong kind of socks. Well, gangly is charming in a sock monkey, no? Sure.

Some bibs and burp cloths to round things out:

I’ll spare you the story of the snaps. Well, actually, I’ll sum it up by saying that I put off setting the snaps for an entire week; bit the bullet and just got down to it; promptly remembered why I’d put it off in the first place. Ugh! Snaps!

Aside from that — so much fun to pull together.

 

And For Him

There are really only so many refrains of “Is mine almost finished?” that a mom can take. This week’s sewing time, in large part, was dedicated to shutting that down. (AND finishing another project — oh that’s right! Doing things, I tell you!)

Not that I can blame the boy: somewhere there lies a stuffed robot sans face from when I promised to make him a little stuffed friend. It was more appropriate when he was three, but if he catches sight of that thing, he still sends up a half-hearted, “Momma, is my robot ever going to be finished?” I think we both know that answer to that; it still stings. Now, though, I can always point back to when I very speedily made good on the next-in-line position of his cozy quilt. Such a score!

There are two more of these in the queue, but I don’t know if I have the wherewithal to muscle through them right this very minute. See, but even just typing that made me want to go ahead and get started on the blue and green one, so who knows. Or maybe the Christmas one (because it’s never too early, except for in January, when it actually may be), just so that I can clear the space on the flannel shelf. Decisions, decisions.