Covered in glitter and recriminations

In spite of my Big Plans to make more felt toys and other handmade goodies for Christmas my two-year old niece Ella is the only one getting a handmade gift this year. Armed with my lessons learned from my first attempt at Kitschy Coo Pettiskirt tutorial I got to work.

The first time around I messed up my seam allowances and ended up with something very poofy due to short layers. My tulle was also too lightweight and wispy (read that: cheap). This time I got stiffer, sparkle tulle. So stiff in fact that I still ended up with something way poofier than I was aiming for.

I've had the sweater for months and wanted to make a pettiskirt to match. Due to the weird effect of a flash on the sparkle tulle and the seafoam underskirt you'll have to take my word that it *does* match.

The satin underskirt matches the tutu of the ballerina on the sweater. Which also matches the top cuffs of the baby legs I made.

As I was pulling the elastic Rylee walked by and saw the pile of princess craziness on my lap and proclaimed "That's mine's."

When I tried it on her to check the waist fit she immediately began to switch her hips and declare "I'm the true princess!" She was also willing to model the underskirt, if not change out of her favorite monkey pants.

She was finally willing to grudgingly concede that it was "Lella's" and mommy would make her one soon. So I'll be blogging a third attempt at some point in the near future.

And lest you think I'm the worst mother in the world for letting her be barefoot outside in the winter I'll just add that it was almost 60 degrees. So I'm only a moderately bad mother. For that reason at least.

This goes down in my house a few times a month

We have two golden retrievers, a female named Gala and a male named Marc Anthony.  We call Gala our nanny dog, because she's always taken care of all of us as best as she can without thumbs. Sometimes when something terrible happens to Rylee - getting her milk in the wrong cup for example, as happened in the video - it makes Gala very, very sad. She will come from anywhere in the house to be sad near Rylee, as you see her in the video. Sometimes this will make Marc Anthony sad. And the result is funny and sad, in proportion to the amount of sleep I've had.

As a bonus you can hear the best Christmas album ever at the beginning before the family starts in. Enjoy!

When favorite things collide

I love sewing for Rylee and had a few ideas for a handmade costume this year. Then someone offered me this free, new-with-tags pig costume.

I love free stuff almost as much as Rylee loves the first piece of Halloween candy.

I made the bag. Last year. It counts.

Mmmmm.....

Sung to a tune I think only my sister knows

Where are you going, my little one, little one?

Where are you going, my baby, my own?

 

Turn around and you're two. Turn around and you're four.

  

Turn around and you're a young girl...

 

...going out of the door. 

Turn around, turn around

 Turn around and you're a young girl...

  

 ...going out of the door.

 

I wish I had before pictures

We've been (finally) tackling all the storage needs in our house over the last month or so. We got new desks, re-arranged the office/sewing room and re-did the closet in the Master bedroom and Rylee's room. It's still a disaster area, but we're getting there.

I'll post pictures when it's all done. I'm so excited!

Doing my civic duty. Possibly for the wrong reasons.

Arizona has an early ballot system where you can vote by mail and not have to go to the polling place on election day. As the stay-at-home mom of a two-year old, this appeals to me greatly.

When we were out walking the dogs the other day I said to Eric "I like the convenience, but I wish I could still get my little sticker for voting." And yes, I was pretty serious.

So imagine my thrill when the balloting material came. They have my number.

Thinking

I'm thinking, more and more, about maybe, possibly, could-be-willing-for-the-right-thing, going back to work.

Here's how that's shaking out:

Angsty posts to Facebook about applying for a job: 1
Supportive comments from friends saying GO FOR IT: 28
Days since I applied to the first job: 2
Number of times Amazon has contacted me about a job in  Seattle: 2
Number of times the company I applied to has contacted me: 0
Day care facilities I've contacted as part of my process: 2
Number of times I cried watching a virtual tour of a day care: 1
Number of times I've changed what I think I want: 387478329783474938283744389
How many minutes since I applied to a second place: 5

Don't know what I'm hoping, but here's hoping!

Skinny and powerful, I'll take it

Since I chose to have children with someone who gets up at an uncivilized hour I have a child who gets up way too early for my taste. Most mornings Rylee and I spend a few minutes snuggling in my bed watching The Incredibles. It's "mommy's resting time."

This morning she announces excitedly, "Here comes Dash and Mommy!"

Fall paisley and philosophy

I made this dress a few days ago and I've been wanting to get a modeled picture of it. But Rylee and I are both sick so there's no energy or patience (on either of our parts) for that.

The picture doesn't really do justice to the colors which are lovely, creamy browns and pinks. I bought them for her fall wardrobe but with no particular pattern in mind. I finally decided to use Simplicity 5695, which I originally bought because I couldn't get hat measurements quite right.

Because it's for fall and temperatures in Arizona in the fall can drop all the way into the low 70s, I made the sleeves slightly longer. I had my Cool Girl confidence to do something so simple and I like how they came out.

Sewing this pattern coincided nicely with a philosophical discussion over on Amanda's blog about non-technical sewing.  My first official foray into sewing was helping my mom, just a tiny bit, sew a prom dress for me. She was an accomplished sewer and made a lot of our clothing back when it was something you did to save money rather than the complete money-sucking hobby it is today. She was very clever with mixing and matching patterns and I remember picking out a couple patterns to merge for that dress. (I also vividly remember being tortured as a smaller child by long trips to the fabric store, a tradition I have happily continued). She could make anything. Anything. She once made my dad a suit. Although I don't think she ever drafted anything from scratch.

After she died I sewed a few costumes for my nieces because that was something she had always done and I wanted to continue that. Sewing costumes can be low stress because as long as they last a single night or two you're good. The most involved modification I ever did to those patterns was replacing all zippers with velcro. I also made a very easy vest or three for my sister's girls, cutesy little things made from holiday fabric with festive buttons.  Back when I was super skinny I made a few sundresses for myself but with no knowledge of FBA even skinny-me wasn't going to get a big wardrobe by my own hands.

Fast forward to now when I'm starting to sew more for Rylee. So far, this time around has been a LOT more fun. Why? Because of the wonderful, generous non-technical (and technical) sewers on the internet. There's a post I've been meaning to write for awhile called "Why Commercial Patterns Make Me Cry" and it will be heavy on those line drawings that purport to show three steps in a single picture. Because I usually have to stare at them for a good hour or so to figure out what is actually going on. The instructions usually make that worse. I think this is why I stayed away from sewing for so long (that and the FB with no A :-)

As I sewed the dress that is ostensibly the topic of this post I was thinking "This is just like vegbee's peasant top and I can make two of those in the time it's taken me to trace the pattern, cut out the tissue, pin the fabric and cut it out."  And you know what? Vegbee's tutorial was just as cute, way more fun and a LOT less stressful. I'll probably make the next dress like this one from that tutorial plus a few rectangles for the gathered tiers. Because do perfectly squared off corners REALLY matter in a dress for a two-year old?

I'm so grateful to and indebted to those I've met through these sewing blogs not only for the support and friendship but for the loads of free information. And this isn't limited to tutorials and patterns, either. I also now know that the Big Four aren't the end-all of commercial patterns. I bought my first Jalie pattern earlier this year and I'm going to put some Ottobre issues on my Christmas list.

So there, Butterick.

Sharing

I made another dress in Rylee's fall wardrobe and I think it's super cute. But I'm too lazy to take pictures of it today.

Go watch all four videos by this woman instead. You're welcome.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7148143/

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7179585/

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7191147/

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7205061/

Scotty dog plaid in peek-a-boo pleats

Rylee foiled my plans to reuse a lot of last winter's wardrobe, purchased a bit large, by having a growth spurt over the last few months. I recently inventoried her warm weather clothing and came up with several pieces that still fit, but precious few outfits.

Being a crazy, anal-retentive, list-making psycho prudent shopper, I made up a list of everything she has that still fits and what she needs to match it.  I then cross referenced this against my stash, my patterns and my lusty sewing dreams and came up with a pretty big project to get her outfitted for the winter with minimal outlays of cash.

Here's how the first one of those projects shaped up.

Had this shirt which should still fit this winter:

Had these in my stash. The dogs from an impulse purchase last year and yards and yards of the black for making boys bowling shirts:

Found this on Etsy. And after purchasing it even saw the same style skirt on Peggy of Mad Men wardrobe lusciousness.

And had this today:

I'm planning to add black quilted buttons to the top of the pleats. Those need to be purchased and coupon commotion starts tomorrow.

Note to self

Waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I got home from playgroup:

At least I remembered Rylee's lunch and the frozen meals for the new mom. And the banana bread.

Kitschy Coo Pettiskirt, Version One, Lessons Learned

Because princess-itis has seized our household - earlier and with greater intensity than I could have ever imagined - I decided the time has come to venture into tulle territory. I didn't enter lightly, having wandered on these plains of desperation, climbed these cliffs of insanity while sewing a Tinkerbell costume ten years ago. But motherhood has its costs and pay them we must.

I armed myself with the high quality Kitschy Coo Pettiskirt tutorial and took Rylee shopping to pick out the tulle. I have to thank Amanda here not only for a great tutorial but also for her unwavering support as I begin life in a princess inhabited household. It's nice to know we're not alone in our trials.

My first attempt will be for At Home Dressing Up and not for Public Wearing or Viewing but I do have some valuable lessons learned.

1. Gathering on the serger does make quick work of the gathering but it will certainly eat into your seam allowance if you're dumb enough to forget to add extra for the necessary trimming of the ugly serger seams. This will render your pettiskirt a tutu.

2. Cutting tulle while it's still warm enough to require ceiling fans running will make you cry.

3. Things that are more fun than gathering yards and yards of tulle.

4. Even if you spend an entire nap time (PLUS some) sewing something you already spent an entire nap time cutting out, right after nap is not the best time to present a bratty little ingrate slow to wake toddler with her new princess dress.

5. Things that are higher quality than the tulle I bought.

6. Things that are sadder than watching your rolled hem fall right off the skirt because it was too narrow and the satin frayed away right underneath it.

7. The smirk that makes it worth it and might even make me try again.

Circle of Life, US Mint style

I finally completed my set of the 50 State Quarters. The program ended in 2008 but it took me a long time to get that final Hawaii quarter. I had one last summer and accidentally spent it. A year later my sister gave me one when we were shopping together.

It was an odd feeling looking through the book. I put the first quarter in it in 1999. The dot-com market hadn't crashed yet, let alone the housing market. The twin towers were still up. Skirts were short, unemployment was down. More personally, my mother was terminally ill but still alive. It was two years before I would meet Eric, and Rylee wasn't even a dream.

The antepenultimate quarter is Arizona, a state I never imagined I would move to and my state of residence when I put the Arizona quarter into my book.

I've been putting quarters into this book at four different homes, doing five different jobs, in two different states, single, married, childless, pregnant, a ma-ma, a mommy.

I can't think of anything else that I've done for 10 years. I've only been married for eight, never lived at a single address more than seven, never worked a single job longer than four. I felt a weird sense of accomplishment.

And then I popped out the first eight so Rylee and I could buy carrots to feed the giraffe at the zoo. Because come on, it's over ten bucks and I'm no sucker.

Eyes on the prize, or being lazy with clip art

This is me, cutting tulle under a ceiling fan and gathering it under same.

This is Rylee, dancing with a scrap of tulle she found when she got up from her nap (Joy shown 1/10000000 scale).

I should have a pettiskirt in a day or two.

Apples and Pears shirtdress

Well, one post in two months is pretty pathetic, even with a long vacation thrown in there. I keep planning to post some pictures of what we've been up to but we didn't really take that many on vacation. And sewing is dragging right now.

But I did manage to sew something with the Alexander Henry Apples and Pears that I coveted for so long. Thanks to KID, MD (the sewing goddess) for the idea for this adorable shirt dress. So super cute!!

Because I just took a serger class and was all geeked out with new techniques, I did a rolled hem on the sleeves and bottom. I wanted a more casual look and thought it might be cute. Eh. It does look cute enough, but I'll probably save it for knits from now on.

I also tried cloth covered buttons for the first time. I don't know why I waited, because if you can put the lid on a bottle of ibuprofen, you can make these things.

I made size 2, even though Rylee is very small in the chest. It came out a little long, but not ridiculously so. She refused to hold still long enough for a picture so all the pictures from the front are just of her lunging for the camera with a maniacal grin on her face. So here's the length from the back.  With all her newly grown curly hair.

A glass is half-full kind of morning

We'll just call taking your diaper off so you can surreptitiously poop by your art easel a "potty training readiness sign."

And hey, if I hadn't caught the dogs eating it, who knows how long before I found it?

Off we go!

Rylee and I are taking wing to Michigan again. Some cousin-y goodness, some grubby camp fun and then some beach time with Daddy. Should be a hoot!

I'll try to post pictures and what-not.

Disney Princess Dress

My very first commission! I made this for a friend for her daughter's birthday. She bought the fabric and paid me in a precious barter more valuable than gold: a night of baby sitting. Woot!

It's the same design as Rylee's ladybug and monkey dresses. Time to get away from licensed fabric for awhile, but children want what they want. :)

A certain, covetous two-year old had to keep repeating the mantra "is add'son's pre'cess shirt"

An object lesson

Since I was up -  courtesy of my beloved daughter - at 6am on a Saturday I figured I might as well make pancakes. I retrieved all the fixings from the fridge and Rylee asked to see the eggs.

Figuring it's never too early to teach her to cook I opened the eggs and let her carefully examine the four in the carton. She wanted to hold one so I pulled one out and handed it to her, all the while admonishing her to be careful and gentle.

As I was explaining that eggs are fragile and will break if we drop them, the remaining three eggs fell out of the carton and on to the floor.

And we thought our babies grew up fast

On June 7th I first noticed our hummingbird mommy sitting on her nest. I had noticed her flitting about a day or so before and I think she laid her eggs right about this time.

On June 24 I took my first peek into the nest and found a little blob already about 3-4 times the size of the egg (or shell) in the nest with it.

Things moved quickly after that. Mommy sat on the nest less frequently, but came by often to feed the baby. I never managed to capture her actually feeding, but here's a picture of her on June 26th.



I did catch a video of the little one giving himself a bath, though, on July 3rd.





And we started seeing a lot of this greedy little mouth sticking up higher and higher (June 29).


Yesterday I noticed he was getting a bit too big for his quarters. Beak and bottom were both sticking out all the time.

Today I noticed him trying his wings a little and I thought it might be The Big Day. But then he snuggled down back into the nest as if perhaps the thought was still too scary.

When I saw him venture out of the nest onto the light I grabbed the camera again.




I watched for awhile as he screwed up his courage. I put the camera away and came back to the window to watch just a little bit more.

And as I was watching, he flew away.

Decisions, decisions

We finally got a decision on wearing yesterday's character tops.  And the winner is...

Dora!

But wait. What's the touch of green at the neckline? And why does Rylee look a little puffy. And what's that green bit protruding from the bottom...?

And at the sleeve?

Yes, indeed. We've reached the stage of life of a toddler dressing herself and her choice today was not to choose! It was too hot for two shirts, though, so before leaving the house we had to wrestle her out of one of them. She was distraught until handed two scraps of fabric. Then all was well. I should have kept my scraps and sewed a big, makeshift lovey out of them.

Happy 4th!

These tops are licensed for home use only

Rylee's current obsessions - held with the ferocity and transience typical of toddler obsessions - are Dora and Toy Story. So what's a mommy to do but bust out some licensed fabric for her precious?

Behold the Dora top, with another pair of shorts made from the same pattern as her birthday shorts.

The polka dot fabric was supposed to be for a dress someone asked me to make her daughter, but it didn't match the main fabric for that outfit. The perils of online fabric shopping. Lemons into lemonade at the neckline and in the britches.

Woody and Buzz don't have matching bottoms, but we have plenty of shorts to match this peasant top.

Here was her reaction when I showed them both to her and asked her which one she wanted to wear. We have the same problem when she's trying to decide which one to watch. Why not both?

And here's her reaction when she figured out I was taking pictures of her reactions.