Another Chilly December Day

Yay!!  Another post from me today.  I have been going through some of my posts and adding pictures in, and reading though old posts.  So that got me to thinking, I think I will make baby E some fleece pants, either from this pattern here




or from another pattern that I've got roaming my brain.  But since it has been so cold outside (did I mention our nights have been in the negatives? It was -7 degrees F this morning at 7 am), I have noticed that her little legs and feet are cold after crawling around (oh yeah, she's been crawling about a month now -- she may be walking before me).  So instead of making myself wide-leg pants to fit over my leg cast, as I discovered last weekend that my boot-cut jeans fit just fine over it, I may make her some fleece pants from the yellow and black fleece pieces I have.  Booties too, if I can get her to leave them on, otherwise I'll have to put feet on the pants.

I am moving slow though my brain is zipping along.  I have decided I want to make all of my children "car blankets" in the "quillow" pattern so that they will have something to keep them warm during car travel and they won't need to denude their beds -- these I do hope to finish before Christmas.  Easy part of that will be the sewing, the hard part will getting my hubby to take me shopping for fabric. 
Here's a pic of the pattern you can follow the link to:



May you'll want to make some for your family for Christmas presents too.  ;)

April

Is it just me or is April flying by??!!  It's the 16th today, and hard to believe that this month is half gone.

Hubby is gone traveling for much of this week, son C went with him.  I am going to sew while they are gone, i am feeling the sewing bug biting again, going to make spring dresses for my girls, plus one of these for dd K.  I have the cutest fabric!

It's supposed to be spring but today is the 2nd day in a row that I have woken up to snow on the ground.  According to the KSL 5 Noon news, we actually have another day of potential snow, and definitely more of cold cold wind!

Yesterday during the Boston Marathon, some idiot set off 2 bombs (2 more were later found unexploded), killing 3 people, one of whom was an 8 year old boy who was there to watch his father run in the race.  How sad for this family, especially since the boy's mother is critically injured with a wound to her brain and his sister lost a leg to the same bomb blast that killed her brother.

It is good that there are still people in this world that are willing to come forward to help when the evil ones of the world decide to hurt and maim.  There are so many stories of the kindnesses shown after the bombings, shows there is still hope for mankind.

Ellynn -- 2 months

Yesterday, E turned 2 months old.  I took pics of her today which I will post soon.

Already she is different, she is stretching her footed sleepers to the limit.  She looks around and is awake more.  She coos, gurgles and babbles more.  She even smiles a bit though those are still fleeting and rare.  She also (most nights) sleeps for 5-7 hour stretches at night, and sometimes I even get to sleep for several of those same hours.

Yesterday I also completed her blessing dress, it doesn't look quite how I'd envisioned that it should but it is very close.  Perhaps i shouldn't have ruched it in 4 spots, maybe only three; and maybe I shouldn't have done 2 lines, and only did one.  But it is DONE!! And I do think it is beautiful!  E will be lovely and if I get one compliment on the dress I will be happy -- actually I don't need compliments to make me happy, they are just the icing on the cake (making a good thing even better).

Spring Break & life

It's the first day of Spring Break for my older boys.  It's not even noon yet and already they are driving me crazy with their bickering and picking of fights with their little siblings. Why??  "Well T and K are just getting into our stuff and we don't want them in our room."  Nothing new there. "Well just be nice to them and let them play in your room with you"  says I.  "Wahh.." says they.

Oh my!  I never would have made a good school teacher, so glad I never even tried too.  Because I'd have almost literally pulled my hair out before day's end.  I want to do that now.

Yesterday on Facebook I found a link to this guy's blog, he explains how I feel about fighting children oh so well.  I'd rather just tie & gag mine than hold them under water though.  ;)


So why would i really care about the fighting of my children?  Well this weekend is Easter, but it comes every year so no surprises there.  BUT, this year... it is also the Sunday when we are blessing our little Ellynn.  So... I am trying to get my house cleaned up, plus take care of my now 2 months old newborn, plus keep K out of stuff she doesn't need to be in, plus keep T from having anymore meltdown tantrums (and picking on K And waking up E) and also somehow keep the big boys entertained.  Well actually I've decided that I'm not going to entertain the bigs, they are in fact going to help me get house cleaned and ready to have a bunch of my family descend upon us Saturday and Sunday.  If the bigs don't like or cooperate with this, well I'll revoke their allowances AND electronic rights!!

Perhaps they will work if I promise we can play on Monday, no foolin'.  Its going to be in the 60's, maybe we will do a park day.

I do love my children, I just thoroughly dislike their recent behavior and mouthy attitudes -- I mean my boys here, though they are certainly teaching their younger sister poor behavior too.

On a happier note, I did get E's blessing dress completed last night, it is a white satin dress with a ruched white eyelet overlay.  I think that it looks very pretty, though I think that I got a little too exuberant with my ruching.  However,  I have once again remembered why I don't do zippers!  Ugh,it was supposed to only take me 30 minutes tops to put that thing in.  Nope, 2 hours later I finally finished with the thing and discovered that the outside (on the pretty side of the dress) was sewn crookedly... I stared at it then decided I could live with it as the dress wasn't going into a judged show. E won't care either and if i feel I need to fix it in the future well I can do that on a day when i have nothing else to do!  Haha... 

Am off to put E in her bed, persuade T & K to nap, and work on my dirty kitchen.  Well, maybe E can watch me clean since her brothers have now woke her up yet again. It is the continual story of my life.

Plans for the new year

I don't like to do resolutions, because I can't seem to keep them, however, I do like to make plans (maybe not always write them down, but definitely little ones that I keep in my mind from time to time).

So plans for 2013 include:

• Make 1 whole complete Quilt -- not very optimistic am I, huh?  But I know my track record, I have lots of half-finished or completely finished quilt tops but very few quilts to my credit that have been completely finished.  Most of these completed quilts have been for gifts for friends or family members, like wedding gifts.
• Actually it should be make 2 quilts, I need to sew the blocks together and complete the Peel Family Reunion quilt.
• Need to watch my spending more carefully -- friends of mine on the FL forum (frugalliving.about.com/mpboards.htm) have been talking about tracking their monthly expenses on spreadsheets.  This is a pretty good idea, and I need to think about doing this too -- plus maybe make up a 
• Price book.  I think that I could do this at about the same time, or along the same lines, as the track spending worksheet.
• Spend less time on the internet and/or on the computer.  Of course when baby #5 comes, there won't be as much time to do stuff, but then I'll want to sit and admire my cute new baby too.
• Refashion some of my shirts into tops or dresses for Dd2.
• Work on making stuff to sell in my Etsy shop again.  Dd2 has some cute little tops that were given to us, I've been thinking about taking patterns from them and making some to sell.
• Make a new blessing outfit for Baby #5 -- just been thinking of making one of each, and trying to sell the other one in my Etsy shop.  Now you may notice that I'm not putting a link to my Etsy shop, well that is because I have it on vacation mode as I've been so sick and out of sorts with this pregnancy.
• Oh yeah, and I need to clean my house (it's not filthy, just doesn't get a thorough cleaning as often as it should).  Maybe I'll even
• Hang some pictures on the walls.  Not to mention, get Dh to
• put shelves in my linen closet, so that everything isn't piled up on the floor -- which offers Dd2 excellent access to everything!
• I would also like to have a nice-looking shelf that I can use to display some cute stuff that I've got hanging around -- it would also come in very handy next Christmas to put my nativity on.
• Did I mention that I've been feeling a hankering to sew again?  I have lots of fabric, I should either make clothes for my 4 beautiful children (yes even for the boys though is more fun to sew for Dd2) or make some quilts.  The very first technique I ever learned from my Quilting Guild friends was string piecing (go here for a great tutorial), just the same thing as shown on the tute except I used 6 inch foundation blocks (5-1/2 completed blocks) of plain muslin -- I have lots of ugly fabric, some of which is outdated stuff I inherited from my Mom's fabric stash, have been thinking about making some quilts (yes more tops) out of it, because ugly quilts can be just as warm.
• Oh yeah, I should hang more clothes to dry on my drying racks, and even on hangers in the spare bedroom closet. Ya'know, save some electricity and all that.

Well I know there were more things that I've been thinking on, but I should think that is plenty for now.  I can certainly add more later.

Have a good evening, y'all.  Dh and Ds10 are busy playing the new hunting game from Cabella's that was Dh's Christmas gift to the family, and I need to get Ds4 and Dd ready for bed (plus check on the clothes in the dryer).

=) Gayle

Corduroy toddler dresses & patterns

I like to sew and have tried to include as much as I can in making in Christmas presents.  Now I already have a cute little dress picked out for Miss K's Christmas but i really want her to have a nicer long-sleeved dress as well.. but such things are in short supply around here.  So I've been thinking about making her a dress with long sleeves.  I will use the corduroy that I bought for this purpose last year, several pieces to choose from. I thought I had a picture of them but guess not.

Anyhow, I have been looking for possibilities for dress patterns.  I  think this one is cute, but would have to figure out how to make it long sleeved.  I love the tutorial that she gives for making the dress though, it's very detailed.

I really like the dresses from Leila and Ben, but I kind of want to not make this dress a peasant-style dress; though I may yet use their pattern if I don't find the kind of pattern I'm looking for.

I also like the long-sleeved dress shown here on this pattern: http://www.simplicity.com/p-4480-toddlers-dresses.asp; cute little pinafore pattern that is included too.

This pattern too, the dress in darker turquoise green/blue and I know how to extend the sleeves.

I think that I could combine the jumper with the shirt in this pattern as well to make a dress like I am thinking of.  This one comes with the added bonus of a leggings pattern too.

Oh, just found this one too.  From McCalls instead of Simplicity.  ;)  Here again, I'd adjust the length of the sleeve.

And here are dozens more patterns just waiting to be discovered... but that will be for another day when I'm not feeling droopy because I want sleep.

Anyhow, these are just some ideas to help me along.  Someday when I get my camera out again, I'll post pics of my latest projects.

=) Gayle

More pictures

Also want to post more pictures of dresses that I've made for Katelynn, these were mainly made in the Spring 2012.  May you enjoy.

 Another fun summery dress I made for Katelynn.

 This dress was one I made as a baby shower gift, the new Mom was thrilled.

I made this dress actually to sell in my Etsy shop, but it didn't, so I've been putting it on Katelynn recently for a church dress.  Lol, have been getting plenty of compliments on it there.

This fun little sundress i made for Katelynn, mostly because I fell in love with the fabric, now it is more or a tunic rather than a dress.

WOW

Just realized that it's been a heap long time since i last posted anything on my blog, gee I'm sorry about that.  LOL, Actually my brother-in-law did comment a week or so ago that I've not put anything on here in months, but I think it took this long for it to sink in.

So....

A slight catch-up is in order.  Of course, i have lots of pictures that I've taken but just not posted, for example, the skirts I tried to make in time for my ward's annual Spaghetti dinner (but then my machine died on me, wahhhh).  These cute little skirts are lined with white muslin, the lining doesn't have the ruffle though.    The orange skirt is size 4-5, the orange/turquoise striped one is 6-7 and the pink skirt is 8-10.

 

I made these skirts in May I think.  I'd also posted them on my Etsy shop, which I have put in vacation mode until I feel better. But more about that later.

Actually all my big news at once, because I'm feeling awee bit dizzy, and want to go lay down for a bit after I change K's bum.

In june I discovered I am pregnant with baby #5, we will keep baby#5's gender a secret, even from us.  I am only at 16 weeks so we haven't a clue yet either, but like with Katelynn, we don't plan to find out.  Baby #5 EDD is Valentine's Day 2013, I never get to my due dates, so baby will likely come early Feb. or late January -- I'd take his/her arrival on my Mom's birthday!

Also in June we bought a new-to-us, travel trailer.  WE bought it in Idaho Falls, ID, it's big,maybe bigger than we need but it's nice to fit in one spot when it starts raining while we are camping.

Kids are now back in school.  For a whole week now!  Last Wednesday, right after I'd dropped older boys off at school, I went to Walmart to acquire a few needed things.  Well,  I'd wandered all over that store, and got to the check-out stand, then without warning I fainted.  Store managers say that I had a seizure, but the ER doc we talked to at UBMC said it is likely that I was just shaking & jerking from having fainted -- until I know for sure what happened (and will likely never know because all my tests came back normal & no, no brain scan was done), I will maybe just say it was a seizure.  So my OB told me to go to bed & rest for at least a week to 10 days, well that time ends come Sunday morning.  I've tried to rest, but it's difficult.  You see....

Cole (boy #2) is getting baptized on this coming Saturday, September 1st and I kind of want my house looking cleaner than it is for that occasion.  Especially since my Daddy and maybe one of my brothers & his family will be coming this weekend.

Well, I will do what I can, and then hope they understand anyhow.

=)  Gayle

Yellow Dress is done!!

I finished the yellow under-dress for the turquoise jumper/dress that I made yesterday.  So here's a few pics I took tonight.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Now I need to go catch some needed sleep.

2 hour baby jumper/dress

Yep, I've been sewing again.  I love it, I just can't get enough of it, it's like I'm trying to make up for the year or so where I didn't sew a stitch until I made baby K's blessing dress, then didn't sew again until June last year.  Anyhow, now that I have this little shop, I want to make cute baby clothes to sell, but first I've been trying the patterns out on baby K.  So, here's the latest item, a reversible baby jumper which some might call a dress [but my Mom always called these "jumpers" so I do too].

Now I sewed the whole thing together in under 2 hours, but I cut it out on another day.  However it's an easy pattern to cut out, so anyhow here it is.  I used this pattern,

but I lengthened and widened the pattern after I traced it off (then figured out how to make the pattern big enough for a child up to 5 years). 

Then I used the two turquoise printed fabrics to make the jumper, but the bright yellow is going to be the under-dress for this dress, which can be worn as a dress on it's own.  The cute orange gingham is going to be made into a little blouse for my darling baby K to go with some pants I plan to make her from a gray w/ orange stripe sweatpants-type knit I've got (sitting on my dryer waiting for it's turn to be washed).  But that's another day's project.

And now for the jumper/dress.  It is sooo cute, and I couldn't believe how easy it actually was to make.  I have some gorgeous fine-whale corduroy I bought (at Walmart `cuz there's no where else to buy non-quilting cotton fabric around here other than the quilt shops), 3 different pieces, so this is great practice before I start working with them.  Now without further ado....

Just so you know the pics of the jumper was taken last night at like 1:30 am so after dark so the colors don't show up as good.  And now... on to change a couple diapers and to sew my lovely yellow under-dress for baby K.  Maybe if I get to it, I'll get the orange blouse cut out.  I'll be using Leila and Ben's pattern for 12-5T (but the pic on this one is so much cuter) to make the yellow under-dress as well as the orange gingham blouse.  I really like this pattern (and no I don't get anything for saying so).  Oh, the dress I made for my 300 fans on Facebook Giveaway is from this pattern, I used lots of shirring with I love!!  Here's another look at that dress.  Just look at the grin that popped out when I pulled out the camera, wasn't she such a cute model for this dress?

I just love peasant-style dresses & tops.  Maybe I'll even make some for myself someday.  And now off to sew some more...

Another fun one

You may have noticed that lots of my posts lately include links to fun stuff I want to try sewing.  Anyhow here's another one, well two actually.  Links to sewing your own business card holders, the first one is super easy, makes me want to go buy some thin clear vinyl to make one for me (and maybe a couple as gifts, she don't want us selling her ideas), here's the link to that one, did I mention it's easy?  ;)  Like 3 steps.

Okay now the other business card holder pattern is here, when it's folded up, it looks like a cute little fabric wallet.

 

Now you might wonder why I'm posting these, well I'm kinda tired of packing my cards around in my pocket where they get crumpled (because I hate packing a purse around, but I think I can handle one of these little card holder thingies).
I've had this idea running through my mind about how to make one, so I had to google patterns this morning (either that or doze off on keyboard).  These 2 aren't really what I want but I think I will make one of each for sewing practice (especially the one with vinyl), then try to make up my idea.  It's kinda a cross between these too, but different yet.  I love sewing so these will just be fun.

=) Gayle

Tuesday Jan 3rd... record posting day for me!

I think I posted 4 times in a row that day?!  Hmm... but I was just excited because I'd found so many fun things I just wanted to share with everyone (not that very many are interested in my blog, I know it's pretty boring lately).

Today I'm just kinda blah... then I go cough cough cough, hard as can be then I feel like crap again.  I couldn't relax and get to sleep until almost 5 am this morning, I woke up at like 7:43 am so I got a bit of sleep, but I think this might be one of those days when I lay on the floor & let the kids play on or around me. 
Part of my not sleeping is because hubby is gone to Kansas for 3 months, though he might get to come home for a week or so each month; and other part is because I get settled & comfortable then I start coughing like crazy until my lungs burn, my throat feels on fire & my heart is racing crazily.  I feel like it's the same cold baby K has but then again it seems related to this breathing issue I have & still need to get tested for (to see do I have asthma or is it COPD), guess I should try harder to find out, but it's hard to go out in public when you feel so crappy and people look at you weird when you cough hard like that.

Today though I hope to have a nap then get some sewing done.  I really miss sewing & plan to get a bunch done while hubby is away; plan to crochet up a bunch of my flower hair clips, say 3 or 4 of each solid color of yarn I have to be ahead a bit in case I start making a bunch of sales this winter and I can be ahead.  Have been thinking of all kinds of other things to make to add to my Etsy shop inventory, and I plan to give some sneak peeks of what these are in coming days & weeks on here.

For now though, time to go take care 3rd son T as he's still not potty trained (though he'll grumpily go sit on it if I tell him to, just won't do it on his own & hides away when he goes in his diaper); have decided not to push it much right now though, just too exhausted to care much.  Seriously if this stubborn kid of mine wants to have a sore bum, so be it!

=) Gayle

Something else fun I just found

Have you ever wanted to learn how to do SMOCKING? Yeah? Me too.   Well, I've just been reading along on Sew Homegrown, and up pops a tutorial by the blog author's Mom on SMOCKING! Yay!  Here's a link you can use to check it out!  I'm going to go finish reading about it, then I'm going back over to Crochet Spot to finish reading about the Magic Adjustable Circle because I got distracted.  ;)

 

I love the way little girls' dresses look so cute with smocking on them, guess it's time for me to get sewing again!!

Oh yeah, here's the rest of the story to go with the link for smocking above!

=) Gayle

Just realized........

that I have yet to post any pics of Katelynn in her blessing dress, so after I did some minor repairs, Jackson & I took some pics of our little darling in her gorgeous dress (I made it, so I get to brag I think).  Now here they are!

Okay so I just realized that these pics don't really show the detail on the dress, so will have to take some up-close pics of the dress then post them.  However, I think that you get the idea here.

Oh I'm feeling itchy-fingered!!!  I really want to sew something today, preferably a cute little dress for my Katie-boo!  But first my muffins!  (see previous post)

A future project

From one of my Yahoo groups, I found this link:  http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/07/angelas-diaper-bag.html; it is a tutorial to make a really cute diaper bag.  It also includes a pattern to make a changing pad with leftover fabric & iron on laminate which you can buy here:  http://www.thermowebonline.com/dyn_prodlist.php?k=82331.  I am going to have to make this one I think, then after I don't need it anymore for Katelynn, then I'll just use is as a tote bag.


=)  Gayle

So I've been sewing lately

Perhaps you didn't know, Jackson got fired from his job a few weeks ago after he dented the fender on "his" trailer.  Really a BS reason if you ask me, but of course I wasn't consulted.  Anyhow.........

Sewing has always been my stress reliever (except after Mom died, then it was just my grief therapy but that's a whole other story), and after I get to sew for awhile I feel so happy & calm.

So I felt like I needed a project to keep me focused and be happy for my children.  Then I remembered the Haiti Orphanage project for March that AC4C (Yahoo group), and I decided that I would make several skirts and pairs of pants for these children.  Now while these children are dying from lack of proper food and clothes won't help their hunger but they will be properly clothed so they can go to school -- so making the clothes will help me because it is a service that I can provide, and at the same time get my mind off my own problems.

Well, today I completed these skirts and pants, and will be sending them in a box along with a 'sweet little dress' [originally made for my Katelynn but I can always make her more dresses], formula samples, pencil sharpeners, diaper safety pins, receiving blankets, and 3 packages of (3 each) diaper shirts.  This little bit that I can do as a service for others is also a service to me too.

Now I'm going to try to insert some pictures and I hope it works.

Love ya'll,

=) Gayle

And a close-up of the "sweet little dress."

Check out this cute onesie

http://crapivemade.blogspot.com/2009...ie-onesie.html
I got the link from a message board I go to: www.friendsandfamilies.com.

I think that if I can find a long sleeved white knit onesie then I'm going to make one of these for Taw. Maybe even make a few for gifts as as few of my friends have just have baby boys. I could make onesies with Sunbonnet Sue on the front, like with the dishtowels I made & sold at the Farmer's Market (Vernal, UT) this summer.
If I get really ambitious, I might even post pics of the things I made & sold at the Farmer's Market too... but don't get too hopeful yet. I still have plenty of canning & procrastinating left to do to keep me busy.

=) Gayle