new dipes!!

a few weeks ago, i was very excited about miss mk going to the potty all by her herself, with almost no prodding or encouragement. i fretted that she was growing up too fast and that i wouldn't be able to make size "l" chloes toes dipes. http://www.chloetoes.com/store/Default.asp well, it was nice while it lasted. she hasn't shown any interest since.

today i made a sample size "l" dipe to see if it would fit. i had a bunch of pul from diaper cuts that i bought in february, lots of foe, some fleece, everything i needed. it turned out beautiful. i just love this pattern! the directions are great; the design is fabulous and the sizing is perfect. yay catherine! these are without doubt the best dipes i've ever made. they never stain! i can't say enough good things about them, as you can tell. :-)

molly's flat pants with extra molly pics

another mom from the nmsl list made these pants, directions are here: http://home.pacbell.net/kapleo/blog/domesticspherepatterns.html (bottom of page). i liked them so much i visited my stash and made some for mk. they were fast and fun, something i appreciate in a project right now. :-) the fabric was leftovers from various slings, so they were virtually free.

the model much preferred jumping off the coffee table to posing.

and, last but not least here are some nice recent molly shots::

(top) molly is doing her arithmetic, just like big sister and big brother. she is very proud of this. :-)

(above) molly models her "lee lee" (sling) with her twin babies.

a rucksack & mk's first sentence

today i finished a nice rucksack from this pattern: http://www.bethanyreynolds.com/quiltersrucksack.html
i really like the pattern and have made the preschool size 3 times.

here are two i've made for ds and dd a few years ago: ds's is the red and blue one, with some 1940s novelty print on it. dd's has fairies, similar to the flower fairies by mary cicily baker (?). i just love novelty prints.

this is a great pattern: fast, with just enough details to keep it interesting.






and here is the one i completed today:



the close up shows the detail of the fabric, all wwII slogans, i presume. my favorite: "our boys need sox. knit your bit".


as an aside, yesterday mk uttered her first sentence: "ah got shoosh." (i got shoes.) right after that came "ah got baby." she is the first of my kids that absolutely loves dolls. she feeds them, hugs them, nurses them. it is too cute!

my perfect 10 year old

diana turned 10 last friday. she had her party on saturday. isn't she the picture of young maidenhood?

she made her own birthday cake and planned her own party. we gave her roller blades. my sis and bil gave her: a zappo's gift cert. and an american girl gift cert.

guess who's 2 today?

our molly kate turned 2 today. how fast the time goes!

big sis made some chocolate cupcakes that she decorated w/gummy bears. she made 9 of them and put a letter of mk's name on each of them.

at two, mk daily improving her speech. cute words include: "heyps" for derriere; "ishi" for drink.

i had to include the pic of her in a dirndl. i bought it for a buck at a yard sale. it's a real german one. what a find.

a surprise and another ufo bites the dust

last week, while decluttering my sewing area, i came across 27 quilt blocks. i had started this quilt when diana (almost 10) was a toddler. it was one of my first forays into quilting. being a first time mom, i longed for something creative to do. i pieced them by hand, using templates from an old quilt book i found at the library.

the pattern is called "double x" and the book said it was simple enough for a child.

i decided to finish this quilt, so i made 3 more blocks, this time using a rotary cutter and machine piecing. i has so much fun making them, i decided to make another vertical and horizontal row. i haven't quite finished those, but am in the process. trying to decide if it will need a border or not.

it's finished!! it's on our bed as i write this. even though i don't think i'd ever make another scrappy quilt, this one just looks so friendly. :-)

here 'tis:

braggin' rights

i decided to give dd9 some blue peachskin from the stash that doesn't speak to me anymore. a whole five yards, so she had plenty to play with. this is what she did with it:

i love the way she works. she measures a little, but doesn't fret over it:-) and then cuts, and wings it as she goes along. she doesn't like finishing seams, so she doesn't. i find her way liberating to think about, and i usually don't tell her how to do things unless she asks. (as rowena says, "it's only fabric. they'll make more.") www.rostitchery.com

btw, she has her own sewing machine, and a corner of my sewing area. she looks charming in her creation, don't you think? i'm proud of her.

happy birthday dh!

these were made from the jalie pattern. http://www.jalie.com/catalog/casual.html#underwear i've made them before, and dh likes them a lot, as does my ds7. you should see how cute the little boy ones are.

the fit is really good and they go together very well. i got the professional-looking elastic from anne of needlenook fabrics. fabric is from the stash, so these were practically free to make! i found these work best in cotton lycra.

you can't see it well in the pic, but on the black pair i made a label and put his monogram on it with my trusty pfaff machine.

sorry to disappoint, but dh declined to model them for a pic. c'est domage:-(

another sweet dress . . .

okay, okay, but at least it's not for my 22 month old! the pattern is from b & b blueprints, http://www.bbblueprints.com/shelley.htm but i changed it in child's play. dd wanted the waist lower than the pattern had it; also the pattern only went to size 6. easy-peasy changes.

the fabric is a lovely houndstooth, very nice to work with: perfectly straight grain, a pleasant weight, similar to working with linen. i love white collars on girls' dresses. there's something very elegant and pure about them, i think. here's a back view with a little help from younger sibs:

as an added bonus, here's a pic of the whole family, minus yours truly.

blue work, or a very old ufo

i'm nearly finished with "the quilt". see here: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2171/2038/1600/DSCN0291.jpg as i was rejoicing in my long-awaited accomplishment, i happened to notice another quilt project i started in 2000: the blue work nursery rhyme quilt. i think the pattern is from betty alderman. flushed with the victory of finishing molly kate's quilt, i bravely examined it and noticed i only have to quilt the borders and put a binding on. unfortunately, it's so old i no longer have any of the sashing/border fabric around. oh dear, i'll have to buy some new fabric for the binding. ;-)

i was thinking of donating to a charity for a raffle, but it really has too much work in it just to casually give away. besides, it's really a nice quilt!

here 'tis:

here's a closeup of my favorite square, jack and jill:

when i started this quilt, i was just learning about quilting and found red work and blue work soothing, and very portable. now i have no idea what to do with this quilt, but i have a feeling that if i finish it, it will tell me where it wants to go. this is prolly more than you wanted to know about my quilting, but i really want to finish this off so i can KNIT again.

another dress!

hello, my name is caroline and i am addicted to making cute dresses for my daughter. i promise to stop now . . .
i designed this one in child's play. (actually i just did the bodice in cp; the skirt is simply a rectangle, no pattern needed.)

i can't say enough good things about this software program. i used their size 2, cause it's just too hard to measure a toddler. i love being able to decide how high i want my sleeve cap, if i want a front or back closure, things like that. it's so kewl that the program tiles out the pattern on my humble printer. www.wildginger.com

the design is simple, but very fun to make. i put tucks in the skirt so the dress can grow with molly kate. i find that tucks also add weight and the appearance of greater fullness to the skirt.

it's fully lined, except for the sleeves. i bound the armhole seam. i really like the way a bound ah seam looks--very classy. this dress makes me think of a dirndel. doesn't molly look like a german maedchen in it?

the fabric is linen/rayon from jaf. it was leftovers from slings i've made, so it was sorta free! hard to tell in the pic, but the khaki linen has pink and white flowers embroidered on it. imo, linen is one of the most pleasant fabrics to work with.

The Quilt

here's my quilt top that has taken me 2 years to complete! i bought the fabric when i was pregnant with molly kate. the pattern is from sweet dreams heirloom quilts for babies by gordon and young.
the instructions suggest hand piecing, and being me, that's what i did. i found that i got better control of curves and points by hand.

my friend linda
http://mamafitz.blogspot.com/
was kind enough to send me some scrumptious wool batt. it is so soft; i can feel the lanolin in it. do i need to add that it's a joy to quilt through? :-)

i took this quilt on vacation so i could hand quilt it--all those hours in the car! got a lot of it done, but still haven't finished.

i really love this quilt. when it is all quilted and bound, i think i'll (almost) have to have a little ceremony to release it so that mk can actually use it.

pretty in pink

here's a little dress i made for molly kate (20 months) out of a 23" long, 50" wide remnant i got from jaf. it was even 75% off, so it cost $1.70. pretty good, huh? i paid more for the lining and (invisible) zipper than i did for the fabric.

i don't know how well you can see it in the pix, but it's a satiny polyester with sparkles melded on it. irl, it doesn't look quite as shiny/glossy as it does here. What you notice first is the sparkles catching the light and emitting rainbow colors. a girl can't do without that, can she? and the best part is you can sew right over the sparkles with no fear about your machine.

i used child's play to design the dress. i chose empire waist and a flair of 2". i did the "cross over" of the bodice on paper, cause i'm still a little intimidated by the pattern editor. i selected petal sleeves as i'd never used them before. you can see the close up of the bodice and sleeves above.

i'm having too much fun making little dresses for my sweet baby. on this one, i liked doing the invis. zip. i'm getting better at these and agree w/those who say they'd never use anything else. i also like the way the inside of this dress looks: it's fully lined, in pink "posh", also from jaf. i cut the bodice lining on the bias and also lined the petal sleeves. i used bias tape to cover the armhole seam, which i think looks better than serging. heck, i should have taken a picture of the inside, shouldn't i? next time. :-)

i'm not as pleased w/this style as i thought i'd be, but i learned a lot making it. all in all, this dress reminds me of a rather loose cheong sam, which was not exactly what i was going for. that's ok, though, cause my model would look stunning in a paper bag!

peaches' jammies

here's another project i recently completed.


these are made from lovely soft cotton interlock. the neckline is bound in your basic white foe.

i got to use my pfaff 2046's fancy stitches a little, as you can see in the detail pix. boy, do those fancy stitches eat thread and take patience. worth it, though, i think. turns rather ordinary jammies into something special.

i designed them in child's play, using the no sideseam draft for the pants, and the classic blouse (i think) for the top. the top has fitted sleeves, but is very basic. a fast project, but dd9 is very happy with them. (peaches is her nickname.)

molly kate's new dress

this dress was made from some scraps from a sling i made for a friend.

i used pink batiste for the lining. the pink batiste was formerly a nightgown of mine, that didn't quite work for me. i had made it for her birth (almost 2 years ago now, sniff), but didn't like how it fit me.

i designed the dress using wild ginger's child play pattern making software. www.wildginger.com
i used the baby & me option for the first time (tipping hat to rowena). i used their standard size 2t, because it's so hard to measure wiggley toddlers. i added the peter pan collar as an afterthought. all in all, it was a lot of fun to make this dress. i especcially enjoyed doing the tucks. and. . . isn't she just the sweetest li'l thing?

it was very hard to get these shots, as the subject is *most* uncooperative. i actually took these in our church's baby room.

why i treasure homeschooling

after we'd finished our lessons for the day, the kids go outside to play in the beautiful spring sunshine. on this particular day, dd9 decided to take her silkies and make a canapy in our dogwood tree. doesn't she look charming up there? yes, i made the dress!

road trips are fun!

in early january my family and i took a road trip. we went to lancaster, pa to visit my nmsl friend, michele. see pic at left of michele and me in a chic cafe in lititz, pa. in the background is a fountain of ever-flowing chocolate. we went there after fabric shopping, naturally. we had such a great time. can't wait to visit her again!

then on to harrisonburg, va to see jennie chancey of sense and sensiblitity patterns www.sensibility.com from harrisonburg, we drove to asheville, nc. what a lovely town it was. all kinds of artsy shops--my favorite.

next, we drove through the mountains to nashville.

top above, my friend desiree & I go shopping in downtown asheville, nc. desiree and her family have recently moved from long island to asheville. i miss her lots. in the pic, we are purusing a bead shop.

directly above, my friend rowena and i meet at her shop in nashville. we had a short meeting, but i think we're kindred spirits. it was such a thrill to finally see her in person after all these years.

january was pocket diaper month

the above is a closeup of mk's new pocket dipes. below is all i've made last month.

i've spent most of january working on pocket diapers for molly kate. i just love making these: they're fast and i had everything i needed in my stash. who says my stash is outta control? :-) i can't say enough about how much i love catherine's chloe's toes pattern.

More Creations!

I made this for Diana, age 9. I really like the brightly colored fabric. I used my Child's Play pattern making software from Wild Ginger. I tried to do a flouncy, ruffley collar. Didn't turn out quite perfect, but Diana still likes it. It has a very high "twirly" factor. I just love to sew for my kidlets.





















Here's an apron I did from the Blooming Apron pattern. My Pfaff was in the shop, so I did this on my featherweight. I had never pieced flowers like those before. I also enjoyed using my bias tape maker for this project. I bought the main fabric in Columbus, Georgia at a fabric store that specializes in children's heirloom clothing. www.sweettreasures.com
naay, but they do mail order.
This is prolly more than you want to know about my sewing, but here ya go.

Hoodies are finished and a Diaper

I finished the hoodies. They turned out okay, kind of a fun garment. Very comfy. Your basic hoodie. I now have my digi cam, so we took some pix. Of course, having a digi cam doesn't automatically make me a good photographer, as you can see. Even though it's sort of a dorky picture (that's dd9, me with my eyes closed, and Molly Kate who snuck into the pix).







Next, I'm moving on to a "diaper a day." I'm using Catherine Decker's pattern, Chloes Toes. I'm doing the pocket aio. I love this pattern! It takes all the guess-work out of making diapers. So far, I've made three, but taken a pix of only the first. I decided I definately like knit pul better than woven. I dyed the foe (fold over elastic) with Rit. I'm also proud that I only used stash fabric to make these. It turned out nice, don't you think? Molly Kate (16 months) had to be chased down to take these pix.

McSewing 2 Hoodies

To the left, Molly Kate the most delicious toddler in the world, 15months, photo taken by her big sis.

I got up early today and did my "Flylady" chores for Monday. Therefore, I had guilt-free time to spend on sewing.

I logged in 3 1/2 hours in dribs and drabs. Yay! What took the most time was all the prep-work. This is the sky blue tie dye knit from www.fabric.com . I doesn't have great recovery and tends to stretch, but, hey, it was only $3 something a yard. Anyway, I spent a long time interfacing and serging the hems, as well as the kanga pocket edges. Imho, I think it's attention to detail such as this that make a garment look more professional.

I got all the way to applying the sleeves. In case you wonder what "McSewing" is, it's a term invented by the lovely and gracious Catherine Decker, a sewing pal over at the nmsl. (That's the nursing mother's sewing list, for all you unintiated:-) You make a bunch of the same garment at the same time, doing all the same tasks at once, i. e. interface everything that needs it at the same time; apply all the sleeves at the same time, and so on. She has made lovely McDiapers, McShoes, McJammies, and is presently working on McTshirts, amongst other things. I'm only making two of the hoodies at once, but McSewing forces you to think ahead and plan your project in the most efficient way.

I'm using the new Kwik Sew book for ladies' sewing for my hoodie. As I was working on it, I discovered that I had accidentally used a bateau neckline and that the shoulder seams are too skinny. {smacking forehead} Then I remembered that the nursing nightgown I made out of this pattern last year had this same issue. Oy vey. Can't do anything about it now, as I have no fabric left. It's intended to be a casual garment, so prolly it'll be okay. The good thing is that the hood itself still fit into the neckline properly.

Paean to my Wonderful Pfaff 2046

As I worked today, I was repeatedly struck by what a wonderful machine my Pfaff is. It truly is the Lambraghini (sp?) of my sewing machines. My wonderful dh got it for me last year. It was a b-day/Valentine's/anniversary gift. Pricey, yes. But worth it? Oh my, yes!

It does buttonholes without fuss. Had to do some for the aforementioned hoodies. It travels over lumps with no complaints. It hums along. I have recently learned how to use the alphabet function. Believe it or not, technology makes me nervous, and sometimes it takes me a long time to try something new, but on my Pfaff, it was easy.

I just looked up what "paean" means. Among the ancients, rejoicing in honor of Apollo. Has a certain kind of meter. Hmmm. Perhaps the above is not really one, but there it is. :-) Be forewarned, Gentle Reader, for I feel more paeans coming on soon. Subjects that come to mind are: my featherweight, my Palm Zire 31, my yarn stash, my treadle machine. And don't get me started on my dh or my spectactular kids! ;-)