Little Somethings

It is Sunday. It seems like every time we go to church the kids get sick after with some virus. And then we're usually sick so long that we miss church one or two weeks then I find myself wondering if we should really go again or not. It costs us weeks of sleep disturbed nights and poor miserable kiddos. This week the kids are still sick from last week, when we did go to church. I've spent most of my time taking care of the crabby one year old. But I must be growing up (and it's a good thing because I'll be 30 in a few months) because I don't mind not doing my projects I wish to be doing... and not getting much sleep. I'm loving just holding the kids, reading to them, and putting myself fully into raising them.

But, yesterday I went to a baby shower. And I always like to make at least a little something for a gift. And I had no time. The evening before the shower I brain stormed and worked on these projects mostly while holding the sleeping baby or sitting right next to her. This was a special shower to bless the mama too, who just had her 5th boy. So yes, Mama was due for some pampering. I hand stitched her a lavender sachet with some linen scraps and embroidered it with thread and wool. The lavender was dried from my garden and smelled so heavenly while I was filling it. I love the smell of lavender and use it sometimes when the kids or I are crabby or especially need a good sleep. It also wards away bugs and it's nice to use a sachet in the closet, car, under a pillow to aid sleep, or anywhere really.

For the new boy (blessed to be the fifth brother in an awesome family) I threw together a sweet cuddle monster... or robot... or thing. Whatever he is, he is snugly and very soft. Maybe I'll make a few more and share how easy they are to make.

I seem to be all about providing comfort lately. :)

Drew's News

Well, I was going to do this a while ago but never got around to it. Though this newspaper is now a bit out of date it's still so cute that I want to share it and it's still a very fun idea. Drew's arch nemesis this year and last year in school was writing. I say "was" because I think she's conquered at least her attitude about writing which is a good deal of the battle. It was so fun that I think we will all be writing newspapers again! Whether for special occasions to save in a memory box or just a documentation of what our family life is like at the moment, it's educational and creative. It (of course) reminded me of the March family newspaper of "Little Women" and that (of course) made it that much better.

page 1

page 2 (rain+sun=rainbow)

page 3

And I didn't even have to pay for the Droid ad. This paper is amazing! She came up with some ad and joke ideas and ran with it. I hope you enjoyed it.

A Quick Skirt

Yesterday, I was looking for a quick simple project and I found it at the thrift store. This XL shirt was a dollar and is mostly wool. I grabbed it and decided I'd figure out later what to make it into. Well, it made a super comfy casual skirt. For the waistband I used a leftover waistband from an old pair of knit shorts I'd cut into rags. My skirt was so easy to put together using that waistband that even with kids around it was a very quick project. I've decided that this is a genius way to make skirts and will be using it again!

So here's all I did. I cut across the top right below the armholes.

I checked the waistband's size to the top of the skirt. The waistband easily stretched to the same width as the cut top.

I marked the centers and sides with pens.

Then I matched each center and side together and pinned. I just slipped the waistband over the skirt to do this. So the wrong side of the waistband was against the right side of the skirt. This helped it lay nice and flat when I was done. The raw edges of the waistband are on top but they just curl a little. Knit doesn't really fray. :)

I set my machine to the longest stitch length (6 stitches per inch) and sewed it using straight stitches. This works great on my machine but you could certainly serge it or experiment with zigzag stitch or even a double needle. I got plenty of stretch with a long straight stitch.

Then it was time to sew. I stretched out the waistband while sewing it which lightly gathered the skirt material. It took at least three hands to do this at some places so just have patience. When stretching it you need to have one hand holding the waistband in front of the foot and one behind it... so that you aren't bending the needle or pulling the fabric in the opposite direction that the feed dogs are moving it.

un-stretched

stretched

and keep your ties out of the way because you don't want them stitched up

and you can ease extra top fabric under the presser foot with something flat and straight edged 

  That's it! I love my new comfy skirt! In fact I'm loving skirts a lot right now so I think I'll try this technique again soon! See the baby's hand? There's the proof it was made with two busy kid's underfoot.

Israel wanted to show off his thrift store finds too. We love treasure shopping as we call thrift store shopping in our family! His shirt and shorts were $1 each and are perfect for romping outside in the awesome weather we've been having.

My Easter Story

We like to tease our children. Sometimes we forget to tell them later that we were teasing. It happens. Yesterday, Drew began to teach Israel about Easter egg hunts. "Mommy and Daddy get plastic eggs that open and they stuff them with candy and hide them for us." Andrew and I looked at each other with glints in out eyes and gave her the crazy look and pretended to not know what she was talking about. "Plastic... eggs? Fill them with stuff?" (It really does sound ridiculous so it was easy to pretend that it is.) She gets this smile and rolls her eyes in the "Oh goodness, here they go again," way. So for a while Andrew and I pretended to be more and more confused with each of her explanations. "So what is in these PLASTIC eggs? Chicks? Who lays these eggs? Plastic chickens?!" "You must have dreamed this, Drew. It sounds really strange." Israel is young enough that he doesn't quite remember last year so even though he tried to be on Drew's side (any side that includes candy is good) he was more easily confused.

After they went to sleep last night, I was putting treats into those plastic eggs that I had previously denied the existence of. Suddenly I realized and said, "Oh, Andrew, we forgot to tell the kids we were kidding. Oops." But then I had another idea later so I decided to extend the joke. This morning I started, "So, your dad and I found some of those plastic egg things you were talking about. My only question now is that you were talking about 'stuffing them?' Do you stuff them like you stuff a turkey?" There was a chorus of nos. "Ok, ok, then you must stuff them with stuffing like a stuffed animal, right? Fluffy white stuff?" The kids again asserted a negative and said candy was to go in the eggs. I expressed my doubt again about the whole concept. "But, guys, what do candy stuffed eggs have to do with Easter? Did Jesus hand out eggs with candy in them after He rose from the dead? I don't think so!" I was really having way too much fun with this. Drew asserted that Christmas trees have nothing to do with Jesus' birth. That backfired quickly though as I seemed to ponder that and then said maybe we shouldn't do Christmas trees anymore. Then she kept telling me, "But, Mommy, it's just transition. Is that the right word, transition? When you do something every time. Yes, it's transition, Mommy." By that time I was laughing out loud, hard. When I could muster it, I explained the word was tradition.

Well, the joke is over. As they were walking away from the hunt I asked them if they liked it when we tease them. Drew said "Yes!" and Israel said, "No!" at the same moment. It is fun. We love that our kids are growing up with awesome senses of humor and that we all love to have fun together and spend time together. Hope you are having a lovely day celebrating that He is risen too!