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.