Feeling Crabby?

 

I am short on time, very short! Before I board the plane in the morning, I wanted to share this cute brother/sister pair Mommy had cut out before she left. I had a hecka time deciding on what to embroider on the bodice fronts. I finally settled on this friendly little crab design.

I used Creations by Michie's Baby Playsuit. I have used this pattern both here and here. I have never seen it on the recipient, so it will be fun to see that. Nor had I ever made the little girl version so this was a first. But oh so fast. Unless you sew the size 6 month waistband to the size 24 month skirt and vice versa. Agghh.

The fabric is grey gingham from Bessiemary. The trim is whipstitch piping from Farmhouse Fabrics. I bought a couple of grab bags of this trim years ago from Farmhouse. I haven't come close to using it all up, and I use it a lot. It is great for when I don't have a piping to match or the time to make piping.

And the piping looks sweet with the pop of the red buttons on the back. I swear I ironed these outfits but it sure doesn't look like it. Oh well they will need ironing for sure after I get them out of the suitcase.

I am outta here tomorrow. Blue skies, warm sand and some sweet, sweet hugs await me on the other side.

Pretty Ponies

I have finally made my way back to the sewing machine. Handwork is still a tiring process but I have been able to finish some things. I have spoken of our "village" before that lovingly sews and smocks for our babies. This is a leftover from last summer that never made it to the machine. The smocked piece sat on my cutting table all winter waiting for me to get to it. The plate is "Merry Go Round" from Terry Jane Collins. I bought this plate when my youngest daughter was a baby. She is almost 27 if that tells you anything about aging in your stash. The polka dot pique has been in the closet for a few years as well. Now that I think of it, the only thing I bought for this project was 2 skeins of floss and snaps. 

The pattern is an out of print Children's Corner pattern called "Chrissy." I will admit that the pattern is not my favorite. I love the concept, there are some ready to wear things out there based on the same concept. I was not a fan of how the "skirt" attaches to the bishop style collar. It is top stitched on. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Children's Corner patterns, this is the first time I have encountered an issue with any of them in almost 30 years. I forged on because I wasn't going to waste this precious smocking done by my friend Rachel. The panties are Frannie Baby also by Children's Corner. Sadly this will probably be the last of these I can do, she has almost outgrown this size.A lot of stitchers don't like the wide crotch in the Franny Baby bloomers, I love them because they are perfect over "fluffy butts" aka cloth diapers.


This will be packed into my suitcase to make the trip over the pond soon. Mimi needs to get her hands on those babies. I think Mommy is mistreating her. J/K but this is the picture I got in an email this morning.

Look at that pitiful face. It seems Car-Car, the dog, stole her cheese. What is the world coming to when a girl can't even enjoy an afternoon snack of string cheese?

I have a brother/sister combo finished except for buttons. I will post that soon.

Happy Mother's Day

 

 Happy Mother's Day to those that made my name, "Mom" and now "Mimi." They have all called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day but in reality I feel like I should be the one wishing them sentiments of the day. Without them, I would never have been a mom; the only job I have ever treasured.

 

Thoughts Of You

© Paula Stone  

 Memories of another time still come
To me and fill my mind, with thoughts
Of you when you were young. I lie awake
‘Till the morning sun comes creeping
Through my window shade, as I dwell upon
Mistakes I've made. What I would give to
Go back in time and feel you’re little
Hand in mine. To cherish each fast and
Fleeting day. To hold you close and kiss
Away, each pain that life will have in
Store and try to give you so much more.
You are part and will always be, imbedded in the soul of me. While I'm
Here, I want to say, that I've loved you
Each and every day and when my time on
Earth is gone.
The privilege was mine to have been your Mom

Walking in Memphis

No not really. Wrong song anyway. My husband and I went to see "Memphis" Sunday afternoon. Great show! Wonderful music.

I particularly loved this dress Felicia wears. I couldn't find a close up anywhere  but it was awesome. I always love those multilayer chiffon skirts, the way they move as they walk and dance.  ::sigh::

If you haven't heard any of the music from Memphis, here is just a small taste.

Saturday Stumpwork

First posted at Kay Dennis Stumpwork

Just a quick peek at some gorgeous stumpwork. It is a 3-d piece based on the knot gardens by Owen Davies.

First posted at Kay Dennis Stumpwork

This is a closer peek at one of the inside corners. Love it. It is amazing what can be done with a needle and thread.

First posted at Kay Dennis Stumpwork

This "stonework" sun on the outer brick wall with its cushion of hydrangeas underneath make me smile.

Vintage Children's Corner

Available on ebay

"Jeffery" is an old standard of Children's Corner patterns. I am not sure if it is still in print or not. I still have it in my stash though I haven't made one in a long, long time. It used to be my go-to for baby boy gifts. It is a classic style.

So classic that here is Baby Hank wearing the Jeffery I made for my Godson, 21 years ago. It is smocked with Ellen McCarn's Stick Horse. The romper is made using Imperial poly/cotton microcheck, lined with white Imperial batiste. All still available today.

Oh, how far we've come. That yoke could sure have used some German interfacing. I also have a tendency to use smaller piping now. I remember being so proud of stitching on the navy blue buttons with red thread. I thought I had hit the pinnacle of design choices. It didn't take much to tickle me. All that aside, our prince is a cutie in a vintage treasure.

Thank you, faithful reader, for all of the emails inquiring about the babies' transition abroad. I think they are all finally settling in. Princess has turned into a full fledged toddler with all of the fun and challenges that brings. Baby Hank has taken the change in stride. Mommy says he is growing like a weed and the dog, aka Car-car, is lapping up the fenced in yard. She can hardly get him to come inside. Lastly, Mom and Dad have finally recovered from a wicked case of jet lag. 

My shoulder is slowly getting there. It has three weeks to be "Done". I've got places to go.

Sometimes Bigger is Better

 

For most toddlers, eating is messy business. Like this little one. No this isn't Princess, but she gets just as messy. I amazingly don't have a photo. It isn't always easiest or possible to strip her down every time she ate and I got tired of soaking her clothes. So another solution was needed. I went searching for some BIGGGG bibs that weren't plastic. She wasn't a fan of the long sleeved bibs.

Wicked Big Bibs to the rescue. I found them while searching on etsy. I bought just one to see how it would work. For a bib they were a bit pricier than I could pay to buy several, so I used the one I did purchase for a pattern and then went went stash diving.

This was the result. I just stitched a sandwich of two cotton prints with one layer of thin batting in the middle. Trimmed it all with bias binding and stitched Velcro to the neck. Now Mommy has several for home and at least one to keep in the diaper bag. The men around here kept calling them welder bibs. I didn't care, they did the trick.

Sorry for the poor picture, must have been taken with my phone. If you squint you can see the legs of the bib reach over her knees

as well as over her shoulders. The next batch I make I will use heftier Velcro. All I had in the cabinet was soft Velcro. I thought that would be best against her neck but it makes it too easy for her to tug it off. Spaghetti is still eaten half naked but it works great for most meals. You could use purchased bias tape but I preferred the self bias.

Not very glamorous sewing but necessary. Now onto some smocking!

A Little Eye Candy

first posted by FrancesSuzanne

You have already heard me lament over the fact that I wasn't able to do any Easter sewing, but thank goodness others did. Found this sweet, sweet bishop while cruising through Flickr.

first posted by FrancesSuzanne

Nothing over the top, just sweet and pretty. You can't ask for more on a beautiful spring day. Nothing more just a little eye candy for you.

Have You Drunk the Kool-Aid?

Have you taken the plunge into the newest time sucker? AKA Pinterest? I think I would almost try to be kind and say "Don't do it!" but it has a sweet seductiveness to it like the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies, except I think you can resist the cookies more easily.

I'm not going to get into the conversation of should you pin or shouldn't you? I have received a few emails asking me what I think of the bru-ha-ha of pinning vs not vs copyright vs etc etc etc. If you know me very well, you will know that I don't have a horse in that race. Maybe it is because I am not a designer. I just feel like if I have posted a picture on my blog then it is out there already. I can say a thousand times, don't lift my pictures; but we all know that not everyone follows the same honor code as I might. There is even a Pinterest Etiquette. Some of it is common sense but we know that sometimes common sense isn't very common at all.

graphic from Positively Splendid

• I will say, if you do "pin it" give credit where credit is due. There is an option for adding a text caption to what you pin, even though almost all of my photos are "marked" give a shout out to the blog in your text, or what you liked about the item you pinned. 
• Pin from the original source. If you are trying to pin one of my tutorials, open just that post (by clicking on the post title) and then pin. If you pin from the main page, it will bring the searcher back to the main page and they may not know how to search for that tutorial about French seams.
• Also, check out a pin before you "re-pin." I have been guilty myself of quickly repinning without checking. Sometimes the link doesn't work, goes to a dead end site, or to be quite honest, is lame. 
• If you pin a recipe and or idea, try it and find out it is nasty...delete it! For instance, there is a recipe for potatoes. You may have seen it, it is a whole peeled potato sliced really thin but kind of left whole and then baked? NASTY! The time it took to slice that potato into paper thin slices was so not worth the results of dry, chewy potatoes.
• Follow those with similar pins, you will get even more ideas you don't have time execute.

graphic from Positively Splendid

• Whatever you do, don't pin from Google images or from a tumbler site. It NEVER leads back to what you are pinning without a lot of lost time searching through pages. I waste enough time there, don't make me hunt for that darling idea through pages and pages and pages. You see I am like a bloodhound, if I have scrolled through a half a dozen pages searching for something it becomes like a challenge. A little switch goes off in my brain that screams "I will not be defeated! I WILL find it!" Two hours later and still no luck. Aggravating!!!
• Also, don't clutter up my screen by copying the ENTIRE text into the pin description. I often look at Pinterest on my phone. You are just making my time fly by when I have to scroll through all of that text on my 2" x 4" screen to get to the next pin.
• Unless you want all of your facebook friends to know what you are up to, log into pinterest independently. Not through facebook. I waste as much time as everyone else, I just don't feel the need to broadcast how I waste my time by having it show up in the facebook newsfeed.

Enjoy Pinterest for what it is, a place of inspiration. I have used a lot of ideas, recipes and shopped from pinterest. It was great at Christmas for my three girls. They pin things they like, I purchase. Kind of like how they used to go through catalogs as kids and circle the things they liked. I am assured it is something they will enjoy or need yet it is still a surprise.

Pinner beware though, at times it will make you think that everyone's refrigerators look like

Pinterest

this on the outside and

Pinterest

this on the inside.

Instead of the electric science project that it really is.

Pinterest has a tendency to make you think that other pinner's homes are straight out of a magazine, their children are polite and that they wear pearls to cook dinner. It is a lie! No one posts pictures of reality only what they wish was their reality.

Not everything on Pinterest is the bees knees. Just as there are some really cool, beautiful, darling things on Pinterest; just like everywhere else there is some fugly there too! Some things that make you tilt your head and say "huh?" For the most part, there is some wonderful things to discover.

Follow me on Pinterest, see the button on the top right column. See you there!

A New Normal

 

Life is much quieter these days. The great exodus took place last week.

I will have to go buy a suitcase in order to go visit. Not a suitcase left in the place. This doesn't give a true picture...

I could have sworn it looked more like this.

Princess had lots of fun trying to undo everything Momma did as she prepared to depart. I hear that is a trend that has not changed since they arrived at their destination.

Baby Hank seemed to take the whole thing in stride. Save a whopping case of jet lag, he has taken the relocation much better than Sissy has.

I took my time last week wallowing in a good case of separation anxiety. Everyone needs a good pity party every now and then. Yes, I know there is email, Facebook, Skype, Face Time and Tango. Trust me when I say it doesn't take the place of hearing "where's Mimi?" every morning. We will adjust. I have a visit planned very soon. I am a mom who needs to see where her kids lay their head at night.

I do have lots of sewing projects piled up, my shoulder is slowly allowing me to get back to normal. Operative word is slowly. (FYI protect your rotator cuff!) Yesterday and today I have been plowing through the mess in my sewing room. Why is that the dumping ground for everything just because someone doesn't know where it goes? And when you are working with your non dominate arm, it is even more of a process. Oh well. Needs to be done.

On a happier note, I had a little happy arrive in the mail last week. Marilyn over at Pink Martinis and Pearls hosted a giveaway a few weeks ago and shock of shocks, I won! It was a bright spot in my week. If you need a great cookie recipe, hers is the best. I use it all the time.

Off to sort, move and tidy a bit more. I will be back much more regularly now and hopefully with something to show for my time. As always faithful reader, thank you for the emails of good wishes and concern.