Skirts

My sister gets me motivated to make things some days.  She found a pattern for a skirt that she loved and somehow I ended up making the skirts... I am hoping she does some applique on shirts to match.  I made 3 skirts, one for each of my girls and one for her daughter.    I only have downloaded pictures of the 1st one I finished.  I had her try it on to check the elastic around the waist, and it took a while to get it off of her so I could finish it.  Even if it didn't match her outfit. 
I love them and think they turned out great. 

Scout's Solid food

We started Scout on some solid food, and it is fun to feed him. He is still learning. He is growing fast and is keeping us busy.  I sometimes feel bad that he doesn't get as much of my attention as the other kids, but I think he gets all of their attention.  They love to pick him up and pretend he is a doll.  I am wondering how they will treat him when he starts crawling and getting into their stuff.  We will have to wait and see.

Mail man set

I found a great idea of a cool toy to make... Check it out, Mail for kids  I made my own, but had a little bit of variation.  My envelopes are felt, but the letters are cotton fused onto Peltex and serged around the edges.  I also made a mailman's bag to go with it.  Actually I made 2 sets, 1 set went to my neices, and 1 set will be given away as a 2nd Birthday present this weekend. I made a bunch of envelopes in all colors, and they have velcro in 3 spots on the front.  The address labels are cotton on felt, so that you can write names with a marker, and you can change the addressee and return address.

 Inside is a letter with rick-rack for writing.  I assume that with normal use some child will add their own writing with markers, and that is cool too, then the rick-rack is just lines for writing.  The backs of the letters are plain white for drawing a picture if desired.

 I also made some postcards

 Then of course you need a mail bag to put all the mail into.

 And since it is for a little girl, it needs to be reversable and have a cool pink stripe for a purse.

 I hope they like them.  I found a pattern for making a mailbox, so that may be my next project.  I may also have to make some more for some boys.

Sewing for babies

I have been making more burp cloths again.  These were at a Thank you gift for a friend and then I made some for my husband to give away to a co-worker.  I also gave a pacifier clip and a teething ring toy.
Burp Cloths for a baby girl.

 This is the teething ring toys.  They are simple and get soaking wet, but it absorbs the drool and then you just throw them in the washing machine. Scout loves his and they are usually attached to the ExerSaucer.

 The end also has a snap, so you can attach it to the car seat or stroller and it won't end up on the floor.

 This was a set of burp cloths and rings for a baby boy.

 This is a bib clip, basically two hair clips, covered in fabric and attached to a ribbon.  When dining out, attach a napkin to the ends (similar to the bibs at the dentist's office)  Then you don't have to cram a filthy bib back into the diaper bag, you just throw that part away.   I will use one of these for Scout and I haven't given the other one away yet.

Scout is teething

Scout got his 1st 2 teeth over labor day weekend (4  and 1/2 months)  He was not cranky or fussy, but I just wondered what he had managed to get in his mouth and reached in to find that he had a tooth, the next day he had 2. 
He is a very good baby, but is drooling everywhere.  I decided he needed something to help.  I got a bib out of the drawer and some terry cloth from an old diaper pad cover and copied out the shape.  With a little surging, clipping, turning, top stitching and some velcro, I now have an ugly, but very absorbent little bib.  It works great.

Munchkin's cape

The kids teachers always need things for their classrooms.  Buddy's teacher asked for dress up and doll items.  I figured I could work on that.  I made some little feece and velcro diapers for the baby dolls and then I made a cape with some knit fabric.  Of course I had to make 2 of them, just so Munchkin could have her very own. She requested a hood too.
This is pretty simple, it is just a rectangle of knit fabric, (originally intended for a maternity shirt I never made) I serged all the edges, and then I cut arm holes and serged those.  Then I added a hood on the top (serged all around)  I kind of like the arm holes, then they can wear it outside climbing and playing without me worrying about anything around their necks that can snag on stuff.

It actually looks better than the pictures show, I did not have a very cooperative model.

Craft time Again

Ihave been spending a lot of time sewing lately, with a little paper crafting thrown in for good measure.  I gave some stuff away without taking pictures of it, and then quickly realized this and went around and took pictures of all the stuff in the house I have made lately.
1st off, my cool fall shelf.  recent project, my cool leaf rubbings on newspaper.  So simple and cool.

I also made the 2 little pumpkins that go with the big one someone gave me.  One is felt and the other is quilting cotton. 

Hurricane Irene

What happens when a hurricane hits home.  School is cancelled for 2 days. You stay in the house and play games, then when it is done....You hang out with all the neighbors in the street.  You help cut up some trees.  You drop off all the stuff from the freezer at a friends house.  You sweat in 90 degree heat.  You live without power for 3 days.  You take pictures of the trees fallen down in the neighborhood.  They are pretty boring pictures so you only get the 2 within sight of of our house.  After the hurricane then kids went back to school with generator power only, so no AC.  It was a hot week at school.

Mermaid sighting

What do you do when you have some time to spend before going to violin lessons?  You find another mermaid for pictures of course. 
Buddy didn't want to be in the picture, he decided to sulk in the van instead. 

 This little scout even smiled for his picture.  He was having a good time playing with his burp cloth.

 The only picture of Buddy, walking along the wall to go check out the crabs on the stairs leading to the water.

1st Day of School, August 2011

This year 3 kids are going to school, 2 full time and one only a few mornings a week, but she will tell you all about being a big kid and getting to wear a uniform like the other kids.

I love this picture, mostly because you can see Daddy in the reflection in the door.  He is making faces trying to get the kids to look at him and smile.

This little Scout is still home with me.  He is fun to play with and I will keep him home for a while.

Princess' camera

Princess got a camera for her birthday last year and we never downloaded the pictures until this fall.  She took a lot of bad pictures, but amazingly, she took some good ones too.  The mommy pregnant pictures all got deleted, but here are some others.

 This is the only picture I took because I couldn't find my camera at the time.  Daddy was showing the kids how to write with charcoal left over from a fire the night before. 

Summer Family pictures

We did get to spend some time with Daddy's family this summer and I finally got the pictures that everyone else took.  It is a little bit fun to look at them now.

How many girl cousins can fit on the swing? 

 This is the whole family. 

 Our family, the hardest to get everyone to smile and look at the camera.

Grandma and Grandpa with all 8 grandchildren, all in the hammock.  That is a lot of little kids, ages 2 1/2 months to 7 years old.

Bikes

We got Princess a new used bike and she loves it, so now we take lots of bike rides around the block and through the neighborhood.  The two big kids really love to race. Check out the streamers on Princess' bike.

 
 Munchkin keeps up with Scout and I in the stroller.

 This picture makes me laugh, they wanted one together, so they put down their kickstands and then told me to take a picture of them both "looking like we're moving" 

Boats

One of the projects the kids and I made this summer were little sailboats.  They were made with winecorks, toothpicks and paper.  They were good for about an hour of fun in the kiddie pool filled with flower blossoms. 

Children's museum, July 2011 edition

The kids really like the children's museum.  We went again the kids had lots of fun.  They of course had to go fishing off the tug boat.

 Then Princess got to drive the bus to her choice of destinations.  (the ice cream store)

 We also played in the kaleidescope room.  The kids and I love this room, they stand in front of a reflective screen and then the image is shown in front of them.  The lights keep changing, so it isn't ever the same.

 The big image on the left is me trying to get a picture.

 I tried to get a group shot in the huge chair, but Buddy only pouted and Scout only screamed.

 He seemed to spend a lot of time screaming in the children's museum.  Maybe we will have to go when school is in session with just the 2 little kids and he might like it.