T shirt!

I sewed a T shirt! and it is recognizable as a T shirt! And nothing got jammed in the new sewing machine. Early on in my sewing career, I had a pretty bad experience with knits, and I decided I needed more sewing experience before trying them again.

This is the raw edge raglan from Sewing For Boys. It was pretty easy. The only thing that didn't turn out great was the collar, and I think that's just a matter of practice.

I've got to say that success feeds my ambition. The Celebrate the Boy series Here and Here was also very inspiring. So many ideas for cute clothes to make little boys look cool!

Snow day

(outside our front door this morning)

snow day?really? this is more snow then we've gotten all year.
Both boys at home with me alone.
Thomas and Timmy and Atlantis.
short but frequent trips outside to relish winter's last? Hoorah.
a pile of coats and boots by the front door ( I thought we were done)
a turkeybreast in the oven for Passover dinner, just us and not quite kosher.
A play room full of toys becoming the place the boys want to be.
New markers waiting to be colored with.
And whatever else we come up with to spend this quiet day.

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More QCT and some knitting

I have been on a reading tear of late. I made a new year's resolution to read along with Diane Rehm's reader's review. January was The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, something I would never have picked up on my own, and it was somehow unexpectedly entertaining and challenging. February was The March by E.L. Doctorow and I consumed that in a little over two weeks, leaving me time to pick up good old Harry Potter, something securely in my comfort zone. I am about a third of the way through " The Order of the Phoenix"

Knitting wise I am moving along on Yogurt's vest, which might become a short sleeve sweater instead. At 6 st/inch this isn't super fast, but it is coming along. Lifestyles? Yarn in navy from the stash.

I also finished a pair of Quick Change Trousers ( QCT ) from Handmade Beginnings. The boys let me do some sewing on the weekend, and I finished the rest in 15 minute intervals alotted to me by Yogurt during the week. I just finished them this morning. I had to avoid the temptation to play with my new machine which arrived Monday! But now I am freed up to play with it.

So far I am crafting all out of my stash ( new sewing machine excluded, it was time for something which might be able to handle knits), but the temptations are strong, so very strong. Let's see if I can make it another month or two




A little close up on the knitting. Hard to see the detail in Navy!

Linking two places this week! KCCO and Small Things, and stash bash here too!

Have a lovely week all!

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I sometimes like to an anti-perfect mommy blog. Meaning I might let you see glimpses of the not perfect way I am raising my kids ( and not meaning I am in anyway against the perfect parenting blogs with their pretty glossy pictures, because I like those quite a bit).

This is one of those posts.

Daddy was away in London-town this week.

I would like to thank the creators of Mystic Power Rangers. You allowed me to get little to bed without the interruption of big.

We watched a bit more TV than I would normally allow, and I will be paying for that next week, when things are back to normal.

I even let Yo watch a little Backyardigans, and Pound Puppies. He really likes the opening theme to Pound Puppies.

We ate at McDonald's one night this week ( we never do that), but I did make cauliflower curry, and Pizza did eat it.

Pizza was allowed daddy's spot in my bed, he brought all his blankies and made a nest surrounding himself that took up 3/4 of the bed. I ( and Yo in the wee hours) slept on the remaining sliver.

I somehow and for some reason sewed a skirt. I think this helped keep me sane.

I did no laundry, and will be regretting it this weekend.

I did do the dishes, but just about everything else in the house was overtaken by the chaos of two little boys. Things were allowed to stay where they lay.

I looked over in the wee hours to see the boys holding hands, but if Pizza woke up to find Yogurt on his blankie......not good.

I am glad to report Daddy is back and things are returning to normal. Hopefully we won't have to do this for awhile.


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Skirt

Things been a little crazy round here, you know? The burst of activity that started the year, hmmmmm... It evaporated when Febuary came. It has something to do with little Yo's health related issues, which put me over an edge of worry, which somehow makes me unable to do anything. But also I don't love what I got going on the needles (knitting). And I can't seem to sew anything other than quick change trousers.

Case on point: Trouble finishing seams on my skirt: I accidentally pegged the fabric while sewing a zigzag on the seam allowance. This was easy to correct, but I also ruined a pair of pants for Pizza, and had to cut out the seam and re sew it on this skirt for doing something similar when sewing a seam allowance down.





I don't know why this keeps happening. Am I rushing too much? Does the lack of a proper ironing board cover mean I'm not really pressing things adequately? Am I just too distracted? To focused on trying to finish something and not
really being present for the process itself.

So I doubled down, used an old quilty thing as a temporary ironing board cover ( my old one up and died, whatever was holding its shape just stopped doing it ), took things a little slower, and pressed things a little better. And I was able to finish the skirt, with pockets!



It is a simple skirt made from 2 yds. of Amy butler fabric I bought over a year ago. I cut it in half. Sewed the two rectangles together. Finished the seams with zig-zag, and sewed down ( urgggg). Made a two inch deep ordinary hem. Made a casing at the top,pulled the elastic through, and there you go. (Lookie there no pattern. I can actually make something without one.) Now I need boots to wear with it!

I think a shall link this one up to the Stash busting business, at CCM, although I am a day late. So far I am sticking to the moratorium on new craft projects. And I apologize about the blurry picture, but you get a glimpse of Yo to make up for it. The only way I actually blog these bays is via iPad and iPad photos which aren't always the greatest.

Overwhelmed

The touch of his tiny hand on my breastbone, thump, thump, as he settles into his morning nap. The delicious weight af his head resting in the nook of my arm,the warmth of his body against my legs. His peculiar smell, of baby sweat, the tomato soup he had for dinner last night, and something sweet. His gentle breathing.
Faced with being the adult, the one who must decide. What if I choose wrong, what if happenstance or slight risk or error were to do the unspeakable. For I won't write it not here. What the hell do I know about risks and complications, of general anesthesia, of anemia? In the end it isn't so much choice but trust in those doctor's, but they are only human, and this doesn't seem good enough, not for my little one.


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Creating

Saturday afternoon. he with his duplo blocks making "a really big space ship" . Me with my needles making a really big vest thing.



During the week I had a sick baby at my side. I took advantage of his lack of mobility and sewed for the first time in months. While it was sad that the baby wasn't crawling around very much, the first time we have seen his disease affect him in a real noticeable way, the sewing helped me keep my mind occupied with something other than worry, something positive. After many 15 minute interludes of sewing, I was able to finish a pair of quick change trousers, a pair that has been in the planning for at least six months. Of course we wore them all weekend!




Over the weekend I was able to cut out for another pair. And when I declared at 4:00 on Sunday that I was going to retire into my sewing " studio" to work for one hour, guess what happened? My older one followed me into the living room, and said he wanted to learn. He has had a heavy interest in the mysterious sewing machine for awhile. So I suggested we make a tote bag for him to take to school. He picked out the fabric. He ironed it. I cut it. He picked the thread. We went over the sewing machine basics. He pushed down the pedal ( with great glee) while a guided the first few seams through. He is too short to both reach the pedal and steer, which is just as we'll, because I don't want his fingers getting crushed by the needle. So he helped sew the basic bag, and I made straps, and am in the process of hand sewing them onto the bag. He wants it done by tomorrow, but that is not going to happen.




crafting on with Frontier dreams
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