nautical rb skirt and the first pie

i liked mk's ruffle back skirt so much, i went back into the stash and made one for diana. the khaki and navy blue struck me as being nautical, so diana chose a sailboat applique, which i put on the pocket.








as a bonus, here are a couple of pics of diana's first pie. it's apple. :-) she did it all by herself, using freshly ground whole wheat *and* seven grain flour. the recipe for the crust came from a booklet published by keepers at home. we loved it!

a ruffle back skirt

sheila from nmsl sent me this pattern to test. it is too cute. i used fabrics from the stash and came up with this. miss m really likes it, too! as a side benefit, i learned how to gather on my cs machine. this works very well, esp. when you have to gather lots of ruffles.

new projects

even though i've been a lame blogger lately, i've still been sewing.

here are some dresses i made for my dd's. the pink ones were inspired by rowena http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/2006/12/almost_christma.html . after i made the dresses for dd1 and dd2, dd1 went and made one for her american girl doll, kirstin, and also one for the mini-kirstin that dd2 is holding.

the green dress was designed on cp. diana really likes the puffy sleeves. i love this about cp: you can do what *you* want.

the fabric is a nice cotton/lycra with great recovery. this dress is supposed to be like the one land's end sells. it's a casual play dress.

i think i put too much fabric in the skirt, but diana likes the twirl factor. peeking out from behind her is our toddler, wearing longies that i knitted, as well as a tshirt i made her (from kssft). it's so gratifying to see one's creations on one's loved ones. :-)

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.