Birthday, Thanksgiving, Advent

Time flies when you're having fun. It flies even faster if you're having fun and working non-stop.

Here's one week's work. Or, approximately ten hours of Gilmore Girls episodes worth. Time management has never been my strong point, so of course these are getting all the attention while my personal Christmas projects gather dust. Soon, soon. 

Birthday came and went (I grow old!), Thanksgiving did the same. "Buy Nothing Day" turned into "Do Nothing Day" and we barely even left the house all weekend. So many projects, so little time. The Halloween and Fall decorations are finally down, the Advent wreath is up, and we're slowly preparing for the Christmas tree. It is hard to get the tree up when the kids keep dumping ALL THE TOYS where it needs to go. I don't have an Advent calendar. I don't have a pile of 25 books to unwrap each day. I don't have the three dollar felt tree kit from Target that everyone is dying to have (though, I admit that I keep checking for it). I don't have kids who care about these things, so we will be ok!

In house excitement, we came up with a more-permanent-temporary fix for the leak in the kids' room which initially involved spray foam and then turned into some other kind of spray sealant. Many, MANY days of rain mean leaky roofs and grumpy humans. Don't ever buy a house with a flat roof. I love this house, and historically it didn't have a flat roof. I pushed, but not hard enough, to change it back to a plain dormer before we got our new roof.  Can't anyone just patch in the roof, you ask? No, of course not! Not stone-coated steel! Some day. Not soon, not soon.

A Tribute to Gutermann 266

I can't decide if this means I do too many sewing projects with blue, or not nearly enough. Gutermann 266, I had no idea how much I love you.  I found these gems while trying to apply the principles of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to my sewing supplies. I would say that these most definitely spark joy, so they stay.

Organizing sewing things is much, much harder than I thought. I can't find some easy, intuitive way to store things. I ogle pinterest sewing rooms, but I don't want to go out and buy a ton of matchy-matchy storage containers just to have them not be what I really need. I thought I knew where to start, but now I've hit a road block. My sewing stuff is still piled up in the living room, and baby stuff is still piled up in the sewing room. At this point, I feel like I need to be next to the kids, and having them up in the sewing room is almost out of the question. How do they ALWAYS find the sharpies?! There's also the small matter of finding wasp carcasses up there. How? Why?? And life wasps in the basement. Again, how? WHY? For now we'll stick with our "make it work" set up of sewing in the dining room then shoving everything into the parlor and closing the pocket doors when company comes.

November, already?

Halloween has come and gone. Kids' costumes were ready for the preschool party on the 29, adult costumes were ready in time to scoot to Lauren's work to trick-or-treat on the 30th. Hot glue was still wet when we dashed out the door, but dry by the time we arrived. Win! The kids got some candy, but they were mostly interested in playing in giant pits of balloons. Can't blame them! PX did get a little upset no one knew who we were--oh son. You come from a long line of geeks. Get used to it. Today I have to put away all the Halloween decorations and find all the Easter eggs (from Mike's costume, Easter Bunny).  The kids keep hiding them...

I used to be vehemently opposed to letting anything Christmas related creep into the house before Thanksgiving. Now, if homemade gifts are going to be ready in time, I have to work early.  All the ornaments for the extended family are finished but need labels attached (hand made stamp from The Small Object two years ago).  My new job (!!!) involves sewing, so I am very glad I got the ornaments done. What little free time I had is earmarked for drool pads! Striking a home/work balance when I'm not making enough to afford a sitter and the kids aren't big enough to safely entertain themselves while I work is going to be interesting. So far I've learned that they can't be trusted with pin cushions or drawers of sharpies, and all my attempts at organization have been undone. Never a dull moment!

Making but not Sewing

Lots of making-stuff these days. Preschool had a car show last week. Ignorant me, when I saw this on the calendar six weeks ago I assumed they were *going* to a car show. Not *being* a car show. P decided he wanted to be an ambulance. Grandpa helped construct the body, I covered it with red poster board, and P decorated. He is especially proud of the face on the front and doors that can open and close in the back. I am especially proud of the blinking bike light and the fact that it looks like a kid made it. Worth mentioning, so maybe I remember in two years when we do it all again: the tankless water heater was the biggest box used by any kid, and he was the only one without straps to hold it up. He put his hands palm-up under the roof of the car, which worked fine. For the next one, I'll probably aim for something more like a diaper box.  Of course, by then diapers will be a distant memory, right?? This was a fun project, but of course we ended up with a stressed-out-time-crunch right at the end. I like making; I don't love deadlines. Speaking of deadlines, Halloween is a BIG one...

Progress is being made on one of the four costumes, anyway. I'm having a hard time finding fairy wings. Gah! Time to turn to Amazon, I suppose, but I'll have to do it soon! Time is a-wasting! Next year we'll just be the Tiger family. Two of the four of us won't even need pants!

RASKOG is the new EXPEDIT

Figuratively, anyway. In 2012 every blogger had an Expedit. In 2015 it's the Raskog. And it must be in turquoise. Literally speaking, everyone knows KALAX is the new EXPEDIT.

I accidentally spent five hours in the new Ikea on Monday. Not in an, "Ooo we had so much fun and so many meatballs, the time just flew by!" sort of way. In a, "This store is brand new and we don't know much about Ikea and DEAR GOD THIS SHOULDN'T TAKE SO LONG!" sort of way.  This was not my first trip to Ikea (that was in Germany) or even my second ('cause it was 2012 and I needed an Expedit). The trip started out as a feat of efficiency.  Many, MANY parking lot attendants ushered us exactly where we needed to park, and we got inside and found my sister. Then my children needed to try out every single bed. Every one. Sorry to the employees who had to fix all the bedding; I REALLY tried to stop them. The kids were up and down, in and out of the Ergo, the cart, and my arms. I think Lil Bit ended up on my left hip for at least three hours. My arm! Then we got in the queue for lunch....45 minutes later, we realized there was a second place to line up, with no actual line. We decided to hold our spot, which was a mistake. We should have moved. Live and learn, and eat some meatballs.  Or, in my case, veggieballs.  The kiosks weren't working to get set up as a family member (another 20 minutes wasted), the friend we were with didn't actually need the delivery service (another 30 minutes...), and once we checked out I promised the kids some chocolate from the Swedish market (in line another 20 minutes).  In the end, we came home with two Raskogs, a lazy susan ("UNCLE RYAN HAS THIS AND WE NEED IT!"), and four curry-colored kitchen towels (because turmeric stains eeeeeverything). 

Step five: Line up the bins and then throw it on the goddamn floor because it's just time to give up.

I'll admit that assembling the first one took some time. I didn't catch that some of the tubes weren't symmetrical and it DOES matter which direction you have them going.  The middle shelf is supposed to be height-adjustable, and I think if I had just pressed on it would have been OK, just fixed on one side. I can't tell if the grates were directional or not. I googled a bit and found a LOT of blogs explaining how to assemble them...some claimed it took several days. It did not. Even with two toddlers hiding the bolts, it did not take two days. The second one took 20 minutes, tops. The first one immediately went to work holding blacksmithing tools. Did I mention the family took up another hobby? Someone decided someone needs a suit of armor in honor of birthday number 4. Many Amazon purchases later, we had ourselves a nice pile of thingamabobs and dodads piled in the foyer.

But not anylonger! They're contained and can easily be moved out to the porch. Done and done. The other cart is supposed to be mine (since I'm the one who wanted it), but it has held everything from blocks to cars to electrical tools and twist-on wire connectors. Once the newness wears off, it'll be mine. Or, I'll just have to go back and get a third. In turquoise, of course.

On My Nightstand: October 2015

As soon as we got into our guest room in Santa Fe a few weeks ago, PX dumped out our bag of books and carefully stacked them on "my" side of the bed. "That's where they belong!" he said.  Amazing. I never thought twice about the giant stack of books next to my bed, so I certainly didn't think he noticed.  I thought it would be fun to document what's on my nightstand every once in a while.  This is one of those things that readers (all four of you, heyyy ladies) may or may not find interesting, but I definitely will want to read ten years from now. So bear with me.

Bottom to top:
It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig (Victory Belt Pub., 2012)
I love food, and I love knowing what food is doing in my body. This is like taking the food info out of The Primal Blueprint, expanding on it, adding recipes and a high level of playful attitude. The extent of my university biology education was sorting through leaves and seeing what bugs we could find (seriously) and spending two class periods talking about e-coli break outs (complete with drawings of port-a-potties in spinach fields). Science doesn't come easily to me, even though it is what I am MOST interested in, and I have to read and re-read and discuss it to make it stick.

Lovable Livable Home by Sherry and John Petersik (Artisan, 2015)
So many projects, so little time. Signed by the authors who came to St. Louis and gave a lovely presentation about homemaking. Tons of pics with a few projects scattered throughout. They don't have precise instructions, but the emphasis is really on making stuff your own, so I guess that's easy if you have to wing it! I started reading Young House Love when it was This Young House and I stumbled across it while trying to plan my wedding. I was hooked. I miss it, but I admire the way they're putting themselves first. I still have moments when I look at my house and think, "Dang, YHL would have been DONE with these projects by now!" Not sure how they did it.

Sewing to Sell by Virginia Lindsay (Stash Books, 2014)
I already mentioned this one when writing about the sperm whale backpack for the big cub. I keep renewing it from the library, but I've had it for two full months now and I guess I need to give it back. The projects are really well-designed, so I'm tempted to buy it. The advice from a business side is maybe useful, I guess? It is definitely more about marketing than about "How to not go to jail for doing your business all wrong." It doesn't even mention things like CPSC requirements for children's items, and I am just really frustrated with things that make it seem like all you have to do to open an Etsy shop is take a picture and post it.  I guess you CAN do that. But shouldn't? Clearly I'm overwhelmed and bitter about the whole "knowledge begets responsibility" thing, since plenty of people selling kids' stuff just....make, pic, post, sell. Some day. Just not today.

Fun with the Family in New Mexico, 4th Ed. by Kate Winslow and Julia Ward (Globe Pequot Press, 2004)
Most of the things we did in Santa Fe were, in fact, recommended in this book.  I'll certainly check it out again for our next trip.  It's a big state and we haven't done a whole lot of exploring yet. The restaurant suggestions were not so good (both in quality, per the opinion of our hosts, and accuracy--several had closed), but that is to be expected with an eleven-year-old book.

My Quotable Kid (Chronicle Books, 2009)
A gift from an aunt, Christmas 2013.  We get to write down things that PX says like, "I don't need to think! I have LIGHTNING in my brain!" but the downside is that it makes me compare the kids.  Lil miss is hilarious in a way that can't be quoted, so it's hard to capture that.

Santa Fe, 5th Ed. by Lawrence W. Cheek (Compass American Guides, 2009)
This book was written by a native, who really likes mentioning he is a native, and it starts out by telling us in Santa Fe it is normal to work three jobs and barely make ends meet. Womp womp. I didn't read it cover-to-cover, so I can't say if that tone carried through the book.  I'll probably check this one out again, too, because it was so thorough. Lots of historical context, many day trips, and very, very detailed descriptions of things.  Where Fun with the Family only had one section of one chapter dedicated to Santa Fe, this is a whole book, so they're different by equally valuable.

Falcon Guides Best Easy Day Hikes: St. Louis by JD Tanner and Emily Ressler (Falcon Guides, 2011)
Library book! This guide has several things going for it. It is super detailed, describing the whole lengths of trails down to the tenth of a mile. It includes quite a few Illinois trails (woo!). And, it is small enough to take on the actual hike. Downside is that it is from 2011, and these kinds of books get outdated pretty quickly.  The only error I noticed was that they said there was no curfew in Forest Park, and there definitely, definitely is. If I had more time and a shorter bucket list, I'd do something crazy like make it a goal to hike through the entire book in a year. Maybe in 2017!

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, 2001)
Sometimes I read fiction.  I stole this one from Liz while helping her clean out her bookshelves before she moved. Progress is slow because I keep losing my spot and forgetting all the details.  This is why I never made it past a few hundred pages of Game of Thrones! (Not on my night stand. That one is IN my night stand.)

Five Wriggly, Wiggly Caterpillars by Debbie Tarbett (Caterpillar Books, 2012)
There are always kids' books in our room. Always! This one is a solid choice--good rhymes, bright pictures, take-away-one math concepts, and butterflies at the end. A gift to PX from a great-aunt on his first Easter.

What are you reading? What should I add to my pile?

Rocking Chair: Third and Final Post

 It's finished!  And I can tell I am glad to be done with it and moving on because I didn't bother to "style" these photos even in the least (or even check to make sure my ISO wasn't set at 3250, ha!).  I did think it would be funny to photograph it in a different room, since I already posted pics of it in the kids' room, dining room, living room, and outside.  But nope, living room will have to do. And, I can't get the wrinkles out of the back cushion.  Oh, well!  Done, done, on to the next one. I really like it without the skirt.  I made both cushions reversible--teal for when we need something more "neutral" (yes, in our house teal is "neutral") and patterned just for fun.  The fabric is the last bit of this I have from a trip to Sarah's in Lawrence in 2011. It was used on the poof in the nursery, then in bunting, then the coordinating fabrics were used for crib skirts and teething pads. As much as I still like those fabrics, I'm glad I got a solid rather than mixing and matching the three patterns for a fourth time. The kids squealed with delight and then fought over it, and now they've completely forgotten about it.  So it goes!

I absolutely over-bought on the teal fabric.  I may or may not be daydreaming about a teal corduroy suit and dress for the kids...

In other news, the adults spent the weekend cleaning out the summer kitchen. I wish the days were a bit longer (or that I didn't have to quit early to run inside to cook!), because we definitely got to a point where we just had to shove things back in.  Most of our energy went into grouping like items, and we'll go back and organize it better.  The bad news is I talked myself out of getting a Raskog utility cart from Ikea for our gardening hand tools. Like every other room in our home, we have an unclear vision for what we'd like the room to be, and no inkling how to get there. The good news is that there is room for me to put my bike and the trailer, so it doesn't HAVE to be in our foyer anymore.  Now, it'll only take me four months to actually move it back out there...

Rockin' Chair: Part 2

It is at this point in the process that I am ashamed to admit the rocking chair will require three separate blog entries.  That's half of my posts thus far!

I cleaned up a bit for you guys. I didn't want 18 mid-progress Christmas ornaments to distract you. Plus, spoilers. I started by measuring the base of the seat.  This is where my handy-dandy cutting mat really..uh...comes in handy.  My sewing soulmate (Aunt K) gave it to me for my birthday two years ago and it is used non-stop! I added four inches all around and made my cuts to the turquoise colored corduroy.  I knooow I just got RID of the cord, but I couldn't think of anything else that would wear so well!  And all my utility weight fabric would show ALL the dirt. We got the cord today at JoAnn. Speaking of...

This is NOT the way to cut fabric for a customer. Holy heck. If I had the time, I'd have a Tumblr dedicated to bad JoAnn cuts. The worst ever was when I got such a severe parallelogram that I didn't have enough yardage for my project. Clarice never would have stood for this nonsense! (Clarice worked at the old JoAnn location on Gravois. The charming one with all the leaks in the roof. You know the one. Infinitely better than Super Joann locations.) (Also, I just had to go back and switch all the "Joann's" to "JoAnn".  Who knew JoAnn was the Aldi of craft stores?)

At this point I started wishing I had kept the old cover to use as a pattern.  Send in the freezer paper! I just had to trim the edge a bit, then I marked it with where I needed to make my cuts. This picture looked a lot sharper on my little lcd screen. Hrmm. I made cuts where the seat met the seat back and did a very narrow 1/8 hem around them.

Then outside with all my tools to staple it to the bottom. BH was napping, and I didn't think a staple gun and hammer would help with that.  I hate upholstering things. I can never get the corners to look great, and it's always puckered. What's funny is the one upholstering expert I know is the nicest person ever and would probably give me the side eye for not asking for help. To which I would respond, "I can do it mySELF!" Following the trend of use-what-you-find, I used a tiny crochet hook like an awl to poke through the fabric while putting the screws back. 1. Blue tape kept them totally organized. Win. 2. I'm glad I took pictures of the chair before I took it apart because on one side there were seven holes and only five screws. Whew.

Boom! Next up: cushions. PX looked at it and said, "Uhh...I wanted the whole thing to be that blue." Wait for it, son. Wait for it!

Hiking: New Mexico Edition

You didn't think a blog named "Stitchsmith" would be ALL about sewing, did you?  Heavens, no.

We've had it on our mind to get to Santa Fe for about 9.5 years now.  That is, we've been plotting our return ever since our first trip back in 2006.  Our colleges happened to have the same spring break, we borrowed a CRX and Mike drove 18 hrs. in one day. Note to self: learn to drive a stick already, would you?  A few things have changed in the past 9.5 years, and we've been awfully consumed by weddings, babies, and work, but we finally made it happen.  Little girl needs to see her godfather, after all. This time, we broke up the drive into two days, and we were pleased to notice Texas no longer has different speed limits after dark. Winning!

It probably came as no surprise that all I *really* wanted to do was hike.  We popped into the Plaza of the Governors, but shopping and little kids just isn't my jam.  PX asked for a garden, and we happened to find a Stations of the Cross garden next to the Basilica.  BH and I went into the Basilica, since I couldn't remember if I went in last time (quickly realized I had not--in '06 saw the Loretto Chapel with its miraculous stairs). And then I ate green chile. 

 Our first adventure was to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. (No, sis, I didn't get our passports stamped. Dang! This is managed by the BLM, not NPS) It's about 40 miles outside of Santa Fe--a beautiful, scenic drive. $5 admission got us in.  No visitors center or amenities, but the bathrooms were a step up from port-a-potties, so that was good.  We should have brought more water!

Here are the rocks for which the area is named. See, they look like TENTS. Get it??  At this point I should mention I was carrying our new Olympus T-4, which is waterproof and shockproof and babyproof...but has plastic over its lens, and the plastic is often subjected to fingerprints and smudging.  I never think to wipe it before taking a picture. Blast. We did the Cave Loop Trail. BH started in the woven in a FWCC, PX was on back in the Ergo.  Then PX wanted down and BH wanted dad, so she ended up on his back in the Ergo. PX drew pictures in the sand explaining how the great volcanoes of long ago (the 1980s) created the tent rocks. Ha! The tail was well-marked, with signage explaining the cave (couldn't go near/in, it's on the side of the cliff) and the tent rocks.  Next time I'd like to do the Slot Canyon Trail, which goes high above the trail we were on. The guide book specifically said it wasn't for people carrying babies on their back. Haters. Kidding--there are narrow passages.  And taking babies to the top of a cliff doesn't sound like the safest idea unless they're both securely wrapped, which PX was not. Next time!

On our last day in town, we did the Dorothy Stewart Trail. It's 1.6 mi, and the trailhead is very close to St. John's College. We did get a little lost getting there.  Finding it again might be a trick. The trailhead was on Camino de Cruz Blanca, and the trail connected with the Dale Ball trail system, and maybe even with the Atalaya trail system (which I THINK starts at St. John's).  Typing Dorothy Stewart Trail into the GPS took us to a coffee shop in SF, so that was...not helpful. The internet descriptions of the trail were unclear (often combining it with the other trail systems), so we weren't sure what we were getting into.  We knew the hike was going to be somewhere between 1 and 6 miles. I thought I found a map of the trails, which would have been infinitely useful, but the link on the Santa Fe government's website didn't work.  Thanks for nothin'!  Once again, BH started in the woven in FWCC, and PX was on my back in the Ergo. At some point through the hike we switched.  PX ended up in a ruck carry on Mike's back, and BH was in the Ergo on my back.  She is currently on a back-carry strike, and she made it VERY clear she was unhappy.  The Daniel Tiger soundtrack saved the day, and I felt like a doofus for streaming music while hiking. At this point, I realized I had paused my hiking app, so I don't have very accurate stats about our journey. Dang!  I do know we changed elevation more than 200ft over the course of the hike.  It's probably more like double that because the part that got skipped was pretty steep.

Here we are, gazing over Santa Fe. PX was in the Ergo, on cactus watch. Every time he saw one, he scared me half to death alerting me of its location. I'm afraid it is time to size-up carriers. His legs are barely supported by the back panel. I'm torn. He's at a point where he often wants to be more independent, so would a toddler or pre-k sized carrier be worth the money?  Everyone raves about Tulas, but they also treat them like glass, and I need something that can get dragged through the mud.  Side note: at the SF farmer's market, there were tons of people baby-wearing. One mom had her kid on her back in a carrier I didn't recognize and the child had chewed 3/4 of the way through the strap. Egads! And then I ate green chile.

We're at a funny stage in our hiking life.  The kids are big enough to constantly voice opinions, but not actually big enough to hike for any significant amount of time or distance.

Rockin' Chair

This rocking chair has seen better days.

Where do we begin? With a bullet-pointed list.

• The corduroy is at LEAST thirty years old and has never been cleaned.
• Staples are coming undone.
• The cushion on the back of the chair was mysteriously attached permanently to the chair (look at the second knob doo-hickey from the left). 
• Bottom left corner is peeling off.
• It wobbles a LOT. 

But! It's a family heirloom, and kids just destroy nice stuff anyway, so I've let it sit as-is since we brought it to our home.  When we were packing up my parents' house a very wise aunt suggested I NEEDED to keep it.  It didn't take much convincing to agree, though I wish mom and dad had kept the all-wooden one.

Because cleaning wood is a heck of a lot easier than upholstering. 

Here's the bottom of the chair. Yes, I thought it said "ass toys" when I first glanced at it.  Eek. The only thing holding on the skirt was a line of staples which I easily removed with the wrong tool. Note to self: organize the tools. I snipped off the one loop connecting the removable pad to the chair. I still don't understand how mom accidentally sewed it on. It looks like it would have been a LOT more effort. Maybe she was sick of us taking it off and playing with it. That's a pretty likely scenario, actually...

 Bottom of the chair! Complete with particle board (guess it HAS to be upholstered after all), a few screw holes, dripping poly, some splitting wood (uh, what was that about....wobbling?) and a few extra screws.  Not sure what those are all about.

I saved this picture on my computer as "naked chair", which might cause a few double-takes in the future. Here's the progress as of the end of nap time today. I need to clean it really well and think about what comes next. I *think* that unless I do a skirt again, I'll need to remove the legs. All those extra screw holes and splitting wood makes me think I should leave that alone and just make a dang skirt. Decisions, decisions!

Christmas is coming

The goose is getting fat.
Please to put a penny in the old man's hat.

Time to get to work! I didn't labor over finding exactly the right cross-stitch pattern for the kids this year.  I opened this book, found a pair of reindeer, and said, "THAT'S IT!" We'll pretend they're moose. Some day, they'll get gorgeously stitched elaborate ornaments on 22 ct linen with half-stitches and blending and on and on.  This year, they're getting reindeer.  And I'm starting early so there are no close calls.

But maybe I should make their Halloween costumes first...

School Bags and Moose Jammies

Most average human beings would roll their eyes at me for feeling like we've officially over-scheduled our kids.  PX has preschool 2x/wk for 2.5 hrs, and each kid takes one thirty-minute gymnastics class. You guys. That is FOUR DAYS IN A ROW I have to BE somewhere ON TIME with my ACT TOGETHER. And really, preschool days count doubly because I have to drop him off AND pick him up! ON TIME! Which, according to my observation, means fifteen minutes early.  Poor Bebe. If she naps after he gets home, she's up all night. If I toss her in her crib as soon as we get home at noon, I have to wake her up prematurely to go get bro. We'll figure it out. Or continue to suffer the sleep deprivation we've all felt the past ::double-checks math:: 42 months.

The boy's bag. It's the "Great Big Tote" from Virginia Lindsay's Sewing to Sell: How to Sell Locally & Online. Hm. More on the book another time. For now, let me just say I requested it from the local library BEFORE I found out about CPSC/local/state/fed requirements. So it is great, but the topics covered have taken a backseat to legal stuff for now.  Back to the bag: I completely redid all the measurements to make it more Finn-sized. It's about 14 x 16 x 2.5, with 18 inch straps. It's a bit large! The pockets are just right for storing contraband toys, like trains and dinosaurs. 

The front pocket is a squid, colored with heat-set crayon and gel pen. It is lined with a DS Quilts print, which I used again for the back pocket. The teal doesn't read quite right from far away, but up close I really dig it. The sperm whale fabric is from the "Don't be Crabby!" line for Robert Kaufman.

As soon as I presented the bag to PX, BH pointed to herself and said, "Ah-MAH!" Which means something along the lines of "Gimme!" and "Me, TOO!" She doesn't need a bag, but she sure could use another moose shirt. How many moms have had to say that? Every single day, we ask what she wants to wear and she signs moose. Every day. If she can see her moose shirt in the dirty laundry, she drags it out and tries to put it on. I guess it IS rather special--a four-times-handed down shirt from all her Conley cousins. Aunt Liz gave her moose jammies from Bar Harbor, but it's a wee hot for them yet. Mama to the rescue. A onesie and pants set.  These are upcycled from a pair of PJ pants my Aunt Mary Jo gave me (Christmas 2003) and were finally worn beyond repair.  The pants are loosely based on Georgia Leigh's Ankle Biter pattern. Mike said, "Hey! You have a pair that look just like this!" ::thud::

The onesie was leftover from the pile of blanks I bought for PX's monthly onesies. I had the Wonder-under (actually...not Wonder-under. Wonder-under is the "Kleenex" of fusible stabilizers. This was actually Heat and Bond Lite), thread, and elastics, so this little set cost me nothing but time. In other news, moose antlers are really REALLY hard to stitch around. The onesie stretched (knits! ahrg!) and the plaid stretched and it isn't perfect. Next time I'll try with an open-toe foot.

Not a bad week for sewing, really. Not the best week for photography (might need a spot besides the clothesline) or laundry (sweet lord, it is piling up!) but that's ok, too. 

Hello again.

Time to get back at this whole blogging thing. For now, I'll focus on documenting my sewing projects.  I'll probably share about our family's adventures--our travels, our wacky old home, our frequent invasions by neighborhood goats.

Our newest adventure started today as our first-born started school.  "Mama, I need a sperm whale shirt to go with my sperm whale backpack." OK, then. Not sure if he's spoiled or just has more-than-average amounts of autonomy when it comes to fashion design, but he got his shirt. He got his backpack, too, but that hasn't been photographed yet.  Not with the good camera, anyway!  It has been filled and dumped, and filled again, and dragged through the yard, and off to school.  But no photo (yet).

The shirt has a mommy whale, a daddy whale, and a baby whale. "But shouldn't there be a fourth whale? Maybe a baby sister whale?" "Nope." The child knows what he wants. Always. He chose exactly which whales, exactly where to put them, and exactly which color blue to use around their edges.