While waiting for closing day (which kept moving back, and back again, and again) I made two more outfits for the girl. I took pictures of the other, but after moving to a newer computer, I can’t seem to find them. So I noticed she was wearing this one today and I had to get a few pictures of her with her new rabbit.

The yellow floral at the neckline I picked up from Joann’s clearance rack. The lining I picked up from Goodwill. The oriental calico I found at a garage sale. The calico for the capris was handed down from my great aunt. And the yellow bias binding I also found at a garage sale. I love mixing fabric! I also love that this outfit probably cost less than $2 total.

And of course, I love that my daughter still thinks it’s cool to wear stuff that I make. She got a sidelong glance from one of the older girls in band. But when she saw the same girl give me the same look she decided it must just be because that girl has no style!

Wow, two months since my last post. Let me apologize for all the comments and questions left unanswered! It has been a crazy time. It seems to me that was about the time we started house hunting since my parents were listing the house that we were renting from them. In the end we were unsuccessful and decided to go on the vacation that was planned and payed for before we knew this summer would be full of transition. It was a wonderful two weeks off the grid and away from the pressure. We arrived back with two weeks to move out of our house and in with my parents while we continue our house hunting. That is behind us now, and I needed some sewing therapy. Joann’s clearance fabric to the rescue (my stash is all in boxes!)

The girl has been asking for a “play dress”. I thought that could be fun! But of course the quilter in me had to piece together a bunch of different fabrics first so it wouldn’t be boring!

I made a size 10 (even though she is 12) because she is so narrow. But it ended up too short to wear alone. My mom kept laughing to see that I passed on my spindly legs to my daughter. It is pretty funny to see your old legs running around on someone else. And back to the dress… I made two. One is for our neighbor’s daughter. I thought the girls would be tickled to have matching dresses. And now that my “to do” list is all packed away with the boxes in the basement, I feel like I have time on my hands. My next project is to hurry up and finish the quilts in my last post, so I can ship them and not move them to our new house… when we get one.

I did take a few close ups of the quilt. The color isn’t quite right. The binding is a little more navy blue than it looks in the pictures.

I like to hand stitch the binding. I just don’t feel like I have enough control with the sewing machine. Heather’s seamless binding tutorial is great, but since I used 4 packages of binding for this quilt, it makes more sense for me to use mitered corners. I actually do this by hand… the control thing again! It is the same reason I can’t get into computer graphics. I just can’t supress that urge to grab a pencil.

Here is this weeks WIP (”Work In Progress” for my friends out there not familiar with the crafty blog lingo.) I am attempting the freezer paper stencil project. This afternoon, I had only succeeded in giving myself reason to use two green band-aids! My son was pretty impressed by the war wounds.

Tonight, I have gotten a little farther. Cute snail, great tips from Beki, and a browse around the Boden website have me feeling like success is just around the corner. My bandaged fingers are crossed!

Back at home. Day 1 was wonderful… a day filled with relaxing and sweet feelings about being home with my kids and how precious they are. Day 2, the fussing and whining started again, my mental “to do” list hits, and I was overwhelmed, again. I guess, I really am home! Not crafting much as I am catching up on time with my kids, laundry, and everything else that has been left undone while I was away… I have yet to clean out my fridge, scary! I just wanted to post this little baby outfit that I finished while on my trip. It is for my baby niece, Amelia. It is late since she is over a month old already. I hope it still fits!

I like the way the satin binding worked out but, I thought better of the ribbon ties, after it was too late. Sorry, Jeff, I know those little ribbon bows might be tricky for manly hands. I used my own baby pants pattern. It is available here if anyone else wants to use it. I also did my own variation of this pattern, mostly because I don’t like following directions. Some day I will actually study those instructions and figure out what it is they are telling me to do… until then, I am afraid it will stifle my creativity. As for my new niece that lives sooooo far away, I can’t wait to lay my hands on her… I am so excited that I will get to meet her in September. I just can’t wait!!!

Last week when I was out at the thrift store I found this fun pillowcase. I was also excited that it was half off! Man, how lame when I don’t even want to pay full price at the thrift store!

I also spent this morning recreating the newborn baby pants pattern that I used last week. I had made some alterations to a larger pattern, but stupidly forgot to record my changes and couldn’t find my scrawled notes anywhere. So I started over. The problem was I had this new pattern and I hadn’t actually tested it. I kept eyeing that pillowcase and finally gave in. I am very excited about the results.

Someone is going to have a pretty funky baby! I haven’t decided who yet, since I am sure that not all of my friends who are having babies will really appreciate this groovy print. The man came home, held them up, and said, “That’s disgusting!” So I guess it isn’t for everyone, or everyone’s baby! I made my pattern and turned it into a file this time, so I don’t have to recreate it every time I want to make a pair of baby pants. Smart, huh? And I put it up for you to download here. Open and print with Acrobat Reader to make sure the sizing stays the same. And I still haven’t tested this on an actual newborn, so use at your own risk!

Okay, I am at it again! This is the second of my three pajama shirts that have sleeves that are not as long as I would like them. I don’t want them to go to my wrists, I want them to go down to my knuckles and keep my arms completely warm when I sleep! I have thought about replacing them, but reading this book and watching the crafting community using what you have in April made me think about what I could do to solve this problem without running straight to the store for new pajamas. The first step to making your sleeves longer is to cut them off. I know, it is a little counter intuitive, but go for it!

Then sew in some some extra fleece to lengthen! I used contrasting thread so that I could put together a tutorial later.

And viola! More comfy pajamas… and all for free, using what I have on hand.

I am starting to see potential all over the place, such as the fleece hoodie the boy is about to outgrow! I may not have to buy my kids new clothes for awhile! And I am going to throw this into the “Everyday Creativity” Whip-Lash competition on Whip-Up. Go check out all the fabulous stuff people are making by following the links on the right side of the Competion page.

I have a couple of fleece sweatshirts that I use as pajamas. I like them because they keep me warm along with the fleece pajama bottoms that I made before we returned from the tropics to the wintery northern United States. But the sleeves have felt just a little too short. I guess they weren’t really too short or I would not have tolerated them as long as I have, but since I wanted my sleeves to hang down to my knuckles to keep me warmer, they were still a little shorter than that desired length. So I set out to make them longer. With some scraps of fleece I had on hand, I added a few inches to each sleeve. I think they look kind of fun.

I have two more shirts that I plan to do this to, and I realized the Boy has a fleece hoodie that I could extend the life of by adding some length to the sleeves. I am excited because it was relatively easy and I like the length of the sleeves now! Yay!

I was thinking about entering it in the Whiplash competition over at Whip up, although I have to say I am quite confused about the parameters of the competition and the meaning of the theme Everyday Creativity since I haven’t had a chance to read the book they are giving away. Slight Catch 22 there! It sounds like humor is a factor, although I am not sure this qualifies as humorous even if the Man laughed heartily when he saw what I was up to! Has anybody read the book? Can anybody enlighten me?

The Girl is going to an overnight birthday party tonight for a friend. It was the perfect chance to try out this skirt design. I have so many fun fabrics and putting them together is so fun. I also have been collecting a lot of rickrack, cording, lace, and bias binding from places like freecycle and the goodwill store in our neighborhood. It was really fun to mix in some of those elements and use the pom pom trim! I also finally figured out how to use the gathering foot on my sewing machine. What an amazing time saver!

Here is the Girl modelling it before it gets gift wrapped. She is much tinier than most of her friends so it shouldn’t be this long on her friend and she had to hold it up so it wouldn’t slide off her miniscule hips. She likes it and I hope her friend will, too. They might all just think I am crazy. And I guess, I have been realizing lately, that I am okay with that.