Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

Not much to say, except we're excited about Valentine's Day coming up (in spite of the fact that I vowed never to celebrate it!). 

At the fabric store last week, I spotted this hearts-and-cupcakes fabric in the remnants bin. There was a little less than a yard, and I just knew that it was destined to become some quick little skirts. So I literally whipped these up in about an hour, and here they are!  Mostly I just wanted so share these cute little girls with you.

Can you tell Lydia is saying "cheese?"  Hannah has already taught her the art of the phony picture taking smile.

An Easter Baptism

I guess it's one of the perks of being the pastor...Jonathan and I were talking about how it was about time to baptize Lydia.  I asked when he wanted to do it; really it could be any time at all.  He said, "How about Easter?  That would be cool." 

And it was!

Remember those matching Easter dresses I sewed?  Lydia didn't wear hers to church.  Instead, she wore the family baptismal gown. 

(By the way, we didn't leave Hannah out of the pictures.  She's there (above), behind the baptismal font.  You can just see her elbow below the flowers.)

This is the gown that Hannah wore when she was baptized.  And I wore it too, although not when I was a baby.  It was my wedding dress.  I cut it up (gasp!) and in the ultimate refashion, made it into a wee heirloom. 

I know that some people are horrified that I would dissect my wedding dress, but when I got the dress, I intended to make it into a quilt.  I still want to, and while the best parts of the bead work went into this gown, there is still a sizable amount of fabric waiting to be stitched into a lovely quilt.  As a matter of fact, instead of a guest book at the wedding, I had everyone sign pre-cut cotton squares with a fabric pen.  Those also sit, pressed and waiting to be the quilt's back.  One day, it's going to be a really neat remembrance of our wedding.  Maybe a ten-year-anniversary project?

The dress is sewn from a purchased pattern, which apparently I don't have any more.  When Hannah was baptized, it was very hot, so she didn't wear the jacket.  I tried to make it as unisex as a wedding dress can be, and in a large-ish size, so it would be suitable for girls and boys of a variety of ages (and sizes).  I don't know whether or not any future grandchildren will wear this, but I wanted to make sure that all of my kids would fit.

The actual baptism was a very nice event.  The real perk of being the pastor is not choosing the coolest day, but being able to baptize your own child.  I was able to baptize Hannah, and so today was Jonathan's turn.  We told Hannah she had a very big job of being the Big Sister, but she wasn't fooled.  Thrilled by the chance to get up in front of the whole church and show off a little, she stood on tip-toes and peered at the water, did loop-the-loops around the font, and finally settled in the front row next to a friend.

Not to be outdone, Lydia almost toppled a flower arrangement before she pulled off Jonathan's lapel mic right in the middle of the prayer.  But not a tear was shed, and she even seemed to enjoy the water.

Well, on to Easter.  We did all wear our matching dresses to the church Easter egg hunt.

Hannah was thrilled by the amount of candy that was strewn about, just waiting for someone to pick it up - like manna in the desert.

 Lydia took the first opportunity to snitch Hannah's basket and see what all the fuss was about.

 All in all, a very good day!

Matching Easter Dresses

Remember how I've been telling you about the Big Sewing Project I've been working (and reworking) on?  Well, it's finished!  In January, after my Christmas gift debacle (and I still haven't finished Jonathan's present yet...), I decided that the first thing I was going to do this year was make Easter dresses.  Then I could work on other stuff. 

So, here they are.  I choose coordinating fabric and some of my favorite dress patterns.  The next door neighbor has taken down his fence, which made for some nice pictures.

Hannah's dress is from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love, by Langdon and Pollehn.  I've made it before, and it looks so much cuter on a kid than on the clothes line. 

Lydia's dress is the Party Dress from The Cottage Home.  Isn't it sweet?  It was a dream to sew, except for the part where I re-sized the bodice much too small, and had to pick out the whole thing and do it over again.

And this is a smocked skirt for me, from Make It and Love It. 

Aren't we going to be cute?!  After these were all sewn, Jonathan reminded me that we're going to baptize Lydia on Easter, so she'll wear the family baptismal gown to church.  Oh well.  We'll look good in our pictures, right?

No Slip Dish Towel Tutorial

I've been eyeing some great tutorials on Pinterest about "stay put" or "no slip" dish towels.  The idea is that the towel is attached to the oven door, and they don't fall off...or get pulled off by little hands.  I often find my dish towel in places like the couch, or the girls' bathroom, or under Hannah's bed.  Not handy when I have wet hands! 

This isn't a new idea, but this is a fresher, more modern take on the craft bazaar, crochet top towels.  Here are some really great ideas I've pinned:

The Stay-put Kitchen Towel from Pin. Sew. Press.; The No-Slip Dish Towel from Martha Stewart;

and Stay Put Dish Towel from Sassy Sanctuary.

One of my New Year's goals is to work toward a paperless kitchen.  So I went out and got some new dish towels.  I already have dozens of towels, but most of them pre-date Jonathan, so I decided that it was time for a little update.  I adore flour sack towels (and have two whole sets of hand-embroidered ones that have seen better days), so when I saw a set of brightly colored flour sack towels today at Target, I was so excited.  I love that they are very thin, which makes them dry fast after use.  Or at least they did when we lived somewhere without humidity.  Now, nothing drys fast...

But as soon as I got home and logged into Pinterest, I discovered that none of the tutorials I had been looking at would work for my big, square flour sack towels.  They were meant for smaller, rectangular towels.  So I took some ideas from all of the above sources, and did a mash up.  (Guess who loves Glee?)

Ready for a sewing tutorial?  Here goes...

I started with my towel.  I folded it in half, and lightly pressed the center seam as a pinning guide.

Then I pulled this wonderful stuff out of my stash.  I googled it, and unfortunately, I don't think they make it anymore.  (Please tell me if they do!).  This is mesh elastic, and it was originally purchased by my grandmother, probably in the late 70s or early 80s.  My mom sent it to me last spring.  (Can you see that she paid $.55 for it?)

There are three thin cords of elastic, woven together with a clear, stretchy cord.  You sew through it a couple of times while stretching the elastic, and it makes a sort of smocked look.  I used up a whole bunch of this when I was mass-producing Christmas pageant costumes in December. 

Since you probably don't have 30 year old notions sitting around, you could reproduce this with a thin piece of regular elastic, although it would be more bulky than the mesh elastic.

You can just pull the elastic tight while you are sewing, creating a ruffle.  However, I wanted to make sure that both sides of the towel were gathered equally, so I cut two matching lengths of elastic and pinned them before sewing.

I stitched the elastic 1 1/2 inches from the center on both sides. 

Then I added a 1/4 strip of Velcro just below the elastic on each side.

And here you go!  It was a super easy project, which took about 20 minutes.  The Velcro holds the towel in place just enough to deter removing it from its place, but is easy enough to detach that it can be used for drying dishes as well as hands.

And for the rest of the no-paper? I'll keep you updated when (and if) we put that roll of paper towels away for good.

Toddler Bed Sheet Downsize

Buying a toddler bed wasn't one of the best purchases we ever made.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have opted for a twin bed when Hannah outgrew (or more like outmaneuvered) her crib.  But a toddler bed is what we have, and so we are left with the task of buying bedding for it.  Up until now, Hannah has used (a) a crib sheet with no top sheet, or (b) some bright red Elmo-in-an-airplane sheets. 

When we bought the Elmo sheets, he was Hannah's obsession.  (What is it with that guy?  Having watched hundreds of episodes of Sesame Street - or rather, dozens of episodes hundreds of times - "Elmo's World is definitely my least favorite part of a show that I otherwise really enjoy.)  Little did we know that we would move into a new house and re-create her room as a girl's pink princess extravaganza!  But the red airplane Elmo sheets lived on, because they were what we had.

I wanted to buy a new set of sheets, but they don't make a set of sheets for toddler beds.  They made four piece sets, that consist of a flat and fitted sheet, and regular-sized pillow case, and a comforter.  Really, people?  Kids need lots of sheets for middle of the night changes (you know what I'm talking about), but how many comforters does a kid need?  We didn't even need the Elmo comforter; thanks to lots and lots of really nice grandmas and church ladies, we have about a dozen beautiful, hand-made toddler-sized quilts that are so much more wonderful and meaningful than any comforter sold in stores.

So...what to do about the sheets?  I saw this wonderful tutorial about how to make your own crib sheet.  Perfect!  I ran out to the fabric store, ready to buy four yards of something really cute, maybe even in flannel.  Then Jonathan did the math (why is it that it never occurs to me that $8 times 4 yards is way too expensive for little girls' sheets?), and that was abandoned. 

And then one day, I was in Target, and I found a set of really cute, really pink twin sized sheets on clearance for nine dollars.  Aha!  All the fabric I would need, plus a pillow case, and some of the seams were already sewn!  A win-win-win.

I started by picking out the seams of the fitted sheet.  This was super tedious, but I was able to salvage the elastic, which made the project even cheaper since I had originally counted on buying elastic.  I wish I could say that I made this nice little opening, and then pulled the elastic out, but it was sewn in along the entire edge, meaning I sat for an entire evening ripping out stitches.  I am happy to report, however, this was the hardest part of the whole project.

Something, maybe being tired of the tedium of picking out all those stitches, emboldened me to rip the fabric instead of cutting it.  Oh boy!  I would recommend buying some cheap sheets just for the sheer joy of ripping them in half.  What a cool feeling!

The bad news was, in my sheet-ripping euphoria, I didn't measure very carefully, and ended up having to sew the fitted sheet "sideways," with the pattern running long-ways instead of top to bottom.  But other than that, I am so very pleased with the way they turned out.

The tutorial for the fitted sheet was very easy to follow, and came together in no time.  The top sheet was even easier.  I kept the existing top, with the nice finished edge, and one of the finished sides.  Then I ripped (!) the bottom and the other side to size, and stitched them up.  Done!

So the Elmo sheets are retired (at least unless needed for middle of the night sheet changes) and the total pinkification of Hanhah's room is complete.

Crafter's Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house

Not a present was finished

Not even my blouse.

The stockings were hung

By the fire with care

Hoping that someday

All the names would be there.

  

And even more hopeful,

That on Christmas morn

Some presents would fill them

Or some ornaments adorn.

The children were sleeping

Quiet unaware

That while they lay dreaming

Mama was in despair.

For you see, good old Mama

(a.k.a. Old Saint Nick)

Was locked in her sewing room…

And herself she could kick

Because piles of presents

Planned with such care

For a fun, homemade Christmas

Lay everywhere.

A scarf to be knitted

Is not long enough

And some scrappy stuffed animals

Still need to be stuffed.

A lap quilt for Grandma

Is still only a top

And that sweater for Daddy

Should have come from a shop.

And a present so lovely

On mom’s brand-new machine

(That she can’t quite use yet)

Is still only a dream.

“I’m keeping it simple,”

Mom had announced,

With a vow that this Christmas

The stress she’d renounce.

“But that’s how Christmas

Should be,” Mama sighed.

“I want everyone to have

A hand-made surprise.”

Daylight’s in four hours.

It can’t all get done!

Good thing that my presents

Aren’t the only ones.

But amid all the panic

And last minute sewing

I can take a deep breath because

There’s one thing I’m knowing:

Even though my gift list’s

Ambitious without reason

I remember that presents

Aren’t the point of this season.

For this day that is dawning,

This new Christmas morn,

Is to celebrate Jesus

The Messiah is born.

Pumpkin Shirts

Yesterday morning, the girls and I met friends to play. While the kiddos were swarming over the play equipment, my friend said, "Oh, look at that girl's cute appliqued pumpkin shirt." Little did she know that she sparked some kind of dormant pumpkin mania deep within me, which caused me to stop at the fabric store on the way home and crank out knock-off pumpkin shirts before supper.

I started with white shirts from the thrift store. This is why the shirts are so different from each other. They are also not ideal for a pattern (turtleneck and a pocket), but that's what I found, and they cost me a grand total of $1.30. So...two white shirts.

Next, I found some pumpkin clip art, which I enlarged for the baby shirt and enlarged some more for the toddler shirt. I transferred the outline to fusible web...

...which I attached to orange polka dot fabric. I also drew some stems freehand and cut those from some brown polka dot fabric.

So here are all my pieces, including some extra-large green rickrack for the vines. (Hannah got a real kick when she learned we were buying something called "rickrack." That was funny enough to keep her entertained while we were waiting at the cutting counter.)

I fused the fabric to the shirts, then stitched over the edges. In retrospect, there should have been some stabilizer under these, but good enough is good enough.

For the finishing touch, I added some buttons from my stash.

And voila...here are some cute pumpkin shirts for my little pumpkins to wear. (Too bad I didn't get obsessed with these before we went to the pumpkin patch, huh? That would have been super cute.)

Baby Name Banner

After my online search for the perfect purple elephant fabric, I went to the local JoAnn store and bought some fabric. As it turns out, none of it has elephants (in fact, some of it has birds), and most of it is not purple, but green. But I'm very happy with...

This fabric is destined to be throw pillows to liven up the futon that somehow found its way into Little Sister's nursery.

And this fabric is for some to-be-determined crafts, including a very cute name banner I finished today. The pattern for the banner is from a lovely book called Winsome Baby by Nancy Halvorsen.

Since Baby's name is top secret, I will not show you the whole banner, but here's a look at one of the letters, so you can get a sneak peak of what it's going to look like. (Also for those of you who are trying to figure out what the baby's name is, this will give you a small hint. As a reminder, it's a name from the Bible. I chose the letter "A" because it is intentionally obscure; this will eliminate a couple of names, but you will find that most woman's names in the Bible have the letter "A" in them...)

Next up for the nursery is painting, so we're looking forward to big changes coming soon!

Pink..uh, Purple...Elephants on Parade

Having picked up some of the mess in Little Sister's room, and not yet to the point of painting the walls, I've started contemplating what is going to go on the walls after the paint. I have all kids of fabulous ideas, from a quilt, to a name garland, to strings of embroidered elephants all in a row, trunk to tail.

My brilliant idea for this Saturday morning was to browse at the local fabric store for some purple elephant fabric. Then, half way through my bowl of cereal, it occurred to me that this would probably be a totally futile search. What are the odds of the fabric store actually carrying purple elephant fabric? Instead, I started searching online.

Boy, is there a lot of really awesome pink elephant fabric! And blue and green and yellow. Purple? Not so much...

Here's some of what I like:

This is from the Ele line by Premier Fabrics. I liked the motif when I saw it in Candy Pink and Chartreuse (not together...thank goodness!). So after some searching, I found this color, called "Bella." I thought I'd found the perfect thing, but upon further investigation, I realized that "Bella" is just another name for light pink.

Here's the Chartreuse, by the way.

I REALLY like this one, called Urban Circus, from Robert Kaufman. Why, oh why, is everything pink and green? (Why, oh why, is our nursery purple and green?)

This one is very cute, but has nothing whatsoever to do with my color scheme. It's called It's a Jungle Out There, by Hoffman Fabrics.

And this one's from the Bliss Flannel line from Free Spirit. Not quite purple either.


I guess that this point, I'm still leaning toward the Ele line...not sure if I would just pretend the light pink is lavender, or use the chartreuse and add my own purple accents. If anyone out there knows about some purple elephants, I would love to hear about them! And stay tuned. One of these days, there will be cute purple(ish) elephant stuff for Baby's room. I'm just as excited as you are to find out what it's all going to look like!