A Fast and Easy Christmas Dress......

I have a friend that has a precious 2 year old daughter.  I wanted to make something for her but I knew it had to be fast and easy considering how close we are to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So I turned to the Madeline dress pattern by my friend Samantha of The Handmade Dress.  I used a piece of fabric that had been in my stash for a few years.  I always thought I would make my Elisabeth a jumper out of it.....but she doesn't care much for jumpers anymore.  So I thought it would be perfect for this cute dress.  And honestly, I probably made this dress from start to finish in just 2 hours.  I can't tell you how many of these dresses I have made over the years.  I used to even make my girls Christmas nightgowns with this pattern.  Oh, and halloween costumes too!  This was one of my favorites...Pippi Longstocking!!!  Do you have a favorite pattern that you use over and over???

Happy Stitching!!!

Easter Sewing Round-Up....

Oh Friends!!!  It is almost Easter!!!  And we know that Easter is an extra special time for people who enjoy sewing!!! :)  I have stitched a bunch of precious little Easter outfits over the years.  I thought I would show a few here and add a few links if you want to dig a bit deeper on this blog.

First though, Easter is late this year!  Do you know why?  Do you know how it's determined when Easter is every year?  I didn't know until about 15 years ago when I actually looked it up.  Easter is the first Sunday, after the first Full Moon, after the Spring Equinox.  Pretty cool!!!

Ok....so above is one of my absolute favorite little boy Easter outfits!!!  This was made with a Creations by Michie pattern #102.  Here is the link to the blog post about it.

And here is a close-up of the adorable little chick made with the mother of pearl buttons.  So cute!!!

This was a super fun dress to make.  And I really liked working with the rick rack to create the flower.  You can read all about it here and here.  And you can read the tutorial about creating the tucked hem here.  I love this technique!!!

This precious dress was not created for Easter but it would be perfect!!!  Here's the link for more information and more pictures.  This dress was fun to make because I pleated the collar fabric together with the dress fabric and left off the sleeves.  So fun!!!

Here's a sweet little bubble that stitches up super quick!  I made this as a baby gift for a family at our church at the time.  Here's the link.  This bubble is fully lined and stitches up fast!  And it could easily be made for a precious little boy or girl depending upon the colors you use.

Here's another adorable little boy outfit.  Little boys can be hard to sew for...but they don't have to be.  :)  I loved sewing for my two boys over the years!!!  You can read more about this outfit  here and here. 

Oh my heart!!!  Another one of my favorites!!  I have so many favorites!!!  :)  I loved this dress as it was great for a little girl who did not want a bishop dress that year.  It was so classic and beautiful!!! It was made from a Maja's Heirloom pattern called Larkin.  You can read about it here and see more pictures.

I have plenty more on the blog and I'll dig through some more if I can over the next week or so.  But I'll leave you with this dress for now because it is such a quick and fun sew.  This is made from the Children's Corner Lillian pattern.  I cannot tell you how many of these dresses I have made over the years.  I love this pattern!!!  It is fully lined and stitches up fast.  Plus it is really a blank slate and you can do SO much with it!!!  I love it!!  This one has some rick rack around it and a rick rack flower in the center.  You can read more about it here and here.  

I hope you enjoy this flashback of some of the Easter outfits I've stitched over the years.  There are plenty more.  I will try to highlight some more soon.  Until then......Happy Stitching Friends!!!

xoxo,

Cindy

How to Make a Gift Card Ornament......

I had a gift card that I needed to somehow package for a friend.  I pondered putting the gift card in with their Christmas card but ultimately I decided to stitch a quick gift card holder.  I put the gift card down on a piece of blue felt and traced around the card leaving about a quarter of an inch on the two long sides and one short side.  I then cut a second piece the same dimensions but about a quarter of an inch shorter.  My two pieces were 3 1/2" x 2 3/4" and 3 1/4" x 2 3/4" and should work for any standard-sized gift cards.

Before I stitched the two pieces together, I took the slightly smaller piece and hand stitched a triangular piece of green felt onto it.  I used green embroidery floss to stitch the tree using a quick running stitch.  Then I used red and white floss to create the ornaments making simple french knots.  I used brown floss to make the trunk using bullions.  And likewise, using yellow floss, I created a five-pointed star on the top using bullions.  Next I put the two blue felt pieces together, matching up three sides, and using blue floss ran a quick running stitch around those three sides.  And finally, I stitched on a looped white ribbon so the card and holder could be hung on the tree.  I'm just thinking that even if you don't have a gift card to package you could put cash in the holder too.

I've made several of these over the years but I think this one worked up the fastest and I liked it the most. Stitching for family and friends is so fun this time of year!! I hope you consider stitching one this Christmas!  And if you do, I would love to see it!!!

Happy Stitching, Friends!!!

xoxo!
Cindy

Halloween 2012....

Halloween has come and gone this year.  The kids gave me a few day's notice this time so I was able to finish their costumes with about 1 hour to spare.  Can you figure out who they dressed up as?

They were from The Gilligan's Island, of course, minus a few characters.  However, we did have Ginger (with long sleeves because she knew she'd be cold), Mary Ann (with a coconut cream pie, of course), Gilligan and the Skipper too!  So much fun we all had.  We visited with some of our new neighbors and also went to our old neighborhood to visit with a few of our friends there too.  Oh, how I truly miss our old neighbors!!!!  It made my night when one of our old neighbors told me she was so happy we came by because every year her whole family looked forward to see what my kids were dressing up as.  I loved that!!!!

And for those that are interested; here are the sewing details.  The Ginger dress was made from a McCall's pattern #M6098.  It only had sleeveless and short sleeve options so I just drafted it to be long sleeved.  As a side note, this dress has absolutely no shaping and I wouldn't make this as a casual dress to wear but it did work for a quick costume.

Mary Ann was made from my old favorite stand-by Miss Madeline from The Handmade Dress.  As another side note here, my dear friend Samantha just had another precious baby girl.  You can see pictures of her here.

For Gilligan, I drafted his pants and I must say he LOVES them so much he won't take them off!!!  Sometime I'll have to get closer pictures so you can see the hip pockets and the detailing I put on them.  I love them too.  I think I'm going to get some more fabric and make him some more but in navy and brown.  He even has these on as I type this.  And his hat was made from this free pattern from Oliver + S.   (Ethan asked me if people would recognize him.  I told him other kids probably wouldn't but their parents would!!!  Funny!!!)

For the Skipper, I did make him a different pair of khaki pants but since I had to wake him from his nap to leave the house he wasn't too impressed with his pants.  I also made him a "belly" pillow to give him a Skipper's belly......but again, he wasn't nearly as impressed as I was.

As for moving news, it has gone well and we are now fine tuning everything.  I'll be back soon with more updates.  I hope you all are enjoying this lovely fall!  The colors of the trees in my neck of the woods has been spectacular this year!!!!  Blessings to each of you and take some time to stitch!!!

Recycle Those Christmas Cards......

Recycle those Christmas cards and get some sewing experience for the little ones at the same time. This is one of our all-time favorite Christmas crafts! We do these every year! And every year this craft really speaks to one child or another at our home.

This year it was Ethan's year. From the first moment I pulled the supplies out he was READY! He had so much fun making them and has shared several with church friends already!

They are very simple to make. Take a Christmas card and cut the front and back apart. You will only use the front piece. Then take a hole punch and punch holes all around the four sides. Then using a coordinating piece of yarn (or two pieces like above) have them work a whip stitch all around the card. (I don't tell them they are doing a whip stitch.) I stay close by and help to make sure the yarn doesn't get knotted...because it does happen. We also use a plastic darning needle to make it go faster...but it can be done with no needle or you could wrap a piece of clear tape around the yarn tip to make it stiffer and therefore make it easier to "sew" in the holes. Then using a tail that we left at the top center when we started, and the leftover yarn, we make a hanger.

I don't think you can mess these up. They are so forgiving and yet so fun! The smaller ones can be hung on your tree but we generally hang them on interior doors or furniture like above. And the little ones LOVE to give these as gifts! They are always SO proud of their accomplishment and how can you not LOVE that!???

Halloween 2011.....

Another halloween has passed by my sewing machine. The kids made their final decisions last week sometime. Elisabeth was Pippi Longstocking. Emily was Priscilla Mullins from the Mayflower. Ethan was Peter Pan.

Let's see. Ethan's was a bit tricky because I could not find a commercial pattern for Peter Pan. Finally on Sunday morning I googled some Peter Pan images and made a quick trip to the fabric store. Sunday night, late, I hand drafted a pair of pants for him. Then Monday afternoon I hand drafted his top. For his hat I took a piece of felt and worked with it and stitched it until we all agreed on the shape we liked. He loves it and hasn't taken it off yet! Yes, he even slept in it.

Emily was pretty easy because she decided she wanted to use her base dress from last year. To that we added a bonnet, collar, and apron that I made Saturday night. Not bad and she likes it.

A few months back I read Pippi Longstocking to Elisabeth, Ethan and even Ean. They all loved it! We talk about Pippi all the time around our house. So Elisabeth was sure that she wanted to be Pippi for halloween. I used the Madeline pattern from The Handmade Dress for the dress but did not add the elastic and coordinating fabric around the chest area. I made the dress on Sunday night and Emily stitched a few patches on it for me yesterday. But don't you love Pippi's hair? I do! And everyone that saw her last night had to comment on it. I told Elisabeth we should do her hair like this next summer to keep her neck cool. :o)

We had a ton of trick or treaters last night and I did not see one homemade costume in the mix. That's kind of sad, I think. I was surprised when I was looking at patterns while at the fabric shop. There are not many costume patterns available anymore, and hardly none for boys.

Oh, and I forgot to mention why there are no pictures of Ean. He decided to take a late nap and he missed out on most of the festivities. If he had been awake he would have been dressed up like Mr. Rogers. He loves Mr. Rogers! Ethan dressed up as Mr. Rogers one year too. So much fun!

Halloween Sewing....

Today I am knee-deep in halloween sewing. I have Emily and Elisabeth taken care of...well pretty much anyway. However, I am working on Ethan's now....and it's all green!!! I'm sure it will be easy for you to guess what he is dressing up as.

I'll be back with finished costumes soon. I hope! It feels great to be sewing again...but I could do without the quick deadline. :o)

Labor Day Blessings......

I hope you are all having a wonderful day!!! It's a bit rainy here but that is quite alright. We are enjoying a slow kind of day with a late breakfast, late lunch and a bit of painting thrown in just for fun. The girls are doing extra chores to make some money, Ethan is building a wooden railroad track, and Ean is playing with crayons. Wayne is supervising all the above and I'm sipping on a yummy smoothie while thinking about what to cook for dinner. Now if only I can get dinner made and cleaned up early....maybe I can work on a quick sewing project. Hmmm....sounds like a plan!!! I hope your day has been fantastic too!!!

Easter Frocks, Part 2....

I am back with Ean's sweet Easter romper. This outfit has quite a story....seems like that is a trend with me. I can't condense things well....I always want to give every last detail. That can be annoying for some. But anyway, that's just the way it is with me. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

So here is the outfit Ean wore for Easter this year. I hope to get a picture of him wearing it for you soon. But by the time we got home on Easter afternoon all he wanted was lunch and a nap and neither involved his outfit or a camera. Next year I've decided I'm going to take pictures the day before Easter....when everyone is still nice and fresh and in a great mood! :o)

I built this entire outfit around this "Easter Train" smocking plate that I picked up at our local heirloom shop sometime last year. The plate only has 6 rows of smocking so I started looking for a romper pattern that would accommodate just 6 rows of smocking. I looked through every pattern I have and finally decided to just make my own. Of course, I used my favorite blue/white gingham and it is fully lined. That should be no surprise for those of you that know me.

I was so happy to have this sweet little romper finished early. Then just a few days before Easter I realized I did not have a shirt for him to wear under it. So I quickly made a little shirt. It looks fine on Ean but this mannequin is a bit big for this small garment, therefore the collar is sticking out and looking all sorts of wonky. But trust me, on Ean it was looking just fine. Adorable even! But I am a bit biased!

And for extra exciting news, I won a gift at church this past Sunday (Mother's Day). They gave out three gifts. One for the mom there that had the most children and grandchildren combined (none had to be present). The sweet lady that won had 25 all together! Amazing. I hope I am so blessed down the road. The second gift was for the mom with the youngest baby....which was one of our sweet friends and her precious baby boy! And then the last gift was for the mom with the most children, and they had to be present with her....my row was over half-filled with my four little ones, plus Wayne, of course! The gift was a book about Moms!! I was so surprised and feeling blessed! I hope your days have been blessed too.

Happy Mother's Day......

(Ethan - in his sister's boots, playing in the sunshine)

A Mother can read all the child-rearing books and can subscribe to any theory of parenting, but what gets passed along to her children is something far more intimate and mysterious than anything contained therein. What gets passed along is her character, and it enters into her children as surely and as inexorably as water flows from a fuller vessel into a less full one.

--Laurence Shames--

Isn't this the truth?! Happy Mother's Day Friends!!! I hope your day is full of love!!!

Easter Frocks, Part 1....

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend. We sure did. So much fun in fact, that it seems like it has taken me 2 days to recover. Actually that is probably because I stayed up late for so many nights sewing. So I guess it is time for me to post some pictures.

First up is Elisabeth. She is wearing a dress made out of periwinkle blue Imperial batiste. She picked out the fabric and I picked the pattern.

The pattern is Larkin by Maja's Heirlooms. I have wanted to make this dress for years and now I have. It was a lot of fun to put together and smock. It seems to appeal to the older girls because it has some shaping with darts and a little different silhouette. But it appeals to the mamas because it is still modest and sweet. Plus we get to add a bit of smocking and embroidery to it. Oh, and some beautiful lace too!

Even the sleeves are sweet. I am crazy in that I enjoy stitching bullion roses. I had thought about stitching them completely around the neckline, and I still may. But I also like just a few in the center front and then on the sleeves.

Overall I thought the pattern ran pretty true to size. I did measure the pattern pieces before I started and compared that to Elisabeth's measurements. I tend to do that all the time now when I use an unfamiliar pattern. It can really save some grief later on....especially since I do most of my sewing at 11 pm. Elisabeth loves the dress and says she can't wait to wear it again. That makes it a winner in my book!

Sewing....Sewing....Sewing....

Yep, I realize Easter is only 3 days away. Well actually I only have two sewing days left. Hopefully I can knock out everything between now and then. Ean's romper is done. I would like to make a shirt to go with it...but we'll see if that happens or not. Elisabeth's dress just needs the buttons finished. I might put some embroidery on it....or I might not. I think it looks good without...but I know it would look good with some too. Emily's skirt is on my machine right now. I started it about an hour ago....then had to get Ean down for a nap. Ethan? Well, I am still not sure if I'll be making him anything. I'm leaning more towards khaki pants and a white long sleeve shirt...maybe a tie? And I had really wanted to make myself a new skirt and top....but I can laugh that one off already. I can guarantee there won't be time for that at this point.

Even with Easter so late this year....I can't seem to find enough time to get it all done. Then throw in dental check-ups for the kids, a belly bug for one of the kids, weekly piano lessons for several of the kids, weekly violin lessons for one of the kids, etc...etc...etc. Not to mention the daily schooling, meals, cleaning, laundry, etc! Wow, I'm tired just thinking about it all!!! But it is all good...and it's all just what God ordered. Isn't it amazing that nothing surprises God? He is in complete control at all times. The Master Orchestrator!!! I can relax knowing He is in control and I am not! And that His ways are so much better than my ways!

Back to Business.....

Yeah, it's time to start stitching Ean's Easter outfit. I've spent the last week editing our church cookbook and not only did it consume all my time....it made my eyes sore. I'm hoping I can smock tonight once I get all the house chores completed. After I post this I am going to start on a big pot of minestrone soup for tonight and some yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies too. Then I'm going to do a quick clean up around the house. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to smock a bit. I find that sewing or hand stitching is so therapeutic for me. Do you find the same? I know sewing frustrates some and therefore that can't be relaxing for them. But I do love it and it relaxes me.

Today is my Emily's favorite day of the year, I think. April Fool's Day. She spends her entire year thinking about various pranks to pull on us. This morning was funny though because she had one pulled over on her. She loves the Jumble in the daily newspaper...and she has gotten really good at them too. Well today it said they were going to discontinue the Jumble effective immediately. I heard her yelp across the house. It was funny when she realized it was an April's Fool joke. She is a funny girl.

Oh, and that funny girl has been busy. I can't wait to take a picture and show you what she has been working on. She has more tenacity than some adults I know. You just wait...you won't believe it either.

Ok, must get busy chopping veggies and making cookies!! My smocking is calling me!!!!

Our Annual Valentine's Day Tea Party......

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We sure did. The kids and I decided to make rolled sugar cookies this year for our tea party and I am so glad we did because we had a lot of fun and they were yummy!!!

We all took turns rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies. And of course, we all participated in the decorating too. Some were a little more heavy-handed than others.

We swapped handmade Valentine cards, ate yummy cookies and drank warm peppermint tea. And so another wonderful year with this sweet little bunch has been celebrated!!!

Here is sweet Ean during the tea party. We recently found he is violently allergic to eggs....so unfortunately he did not get to enjoy the yummy cookies. Ethan asked me last night if I could find a recipe for cookies without eggs so that Ean can have some next time. I thought that was so thoughtful of him!!! And I will definitely dig up a recipe next time for our Sweet Ean. He is such a blessing to all of us.

And if you look real close you will see he has been busy cutting his first molar this past week. He stayed up many nights working on this tooth. I remember telling my dad once that I hated when the kids were teething because they were in so much pain. His answer was short and sweet and to the point...."Well having teeth is better than the alternative." He was right as always!!!

I have actually worked in little bits sewing here and there lately. I have lots to share as soon as I get a few pictures taken.

Crocheting......

Although I haven't been sewing lately....I did manage to squeeze in a bit of crocheting over the past few weeks. I have made several of these precious angels and I must say they are mildly addictive!!! I have not kept any...but rather given them to some of my favorite people!!! I also hope to make several more and hopefully at least one for myself.

I think we all are finally feeling better. We were all SO sick the week between Christmas and New Year's. It was either a really bad cold + croup thrown in for good measure for Sweet Ean OR it was the flu. Either way....it was terrible and I wouldn't wish it on anyone!!! So if you are out there reading this and have the same thing.....I'm sending you {{{big hugs}}} because I know you are miserable!!!!

I hope to be back soon with some actually sewing to share!!!

You May Remember....

Ean ~ Recycled photo from Fall 2009

You may remember this sweet hat I made for Ean last Fall. Well it doesn't fit anymore as you would expect since baby heads grow pretty fast the first year. So for my next sewing project, hopefully later this week, I am going to make him another hat. I have to do some closet diving (that's where I keep my stash) for the perfect fabric...and I hope I come up with something good. This fun hat requires such a small amount of fabric that I really don't want to have to purchase any....surely I already have something that will work.

Ean ~ Recycled photo from Fall 2009

In other news....Christmas was wonderful even if.....everyone was sick with a cold and/or croup...including the big people! Then I broke a crown in my mouth (1/3 of it is now gone!) while eating a pretzel. Wayne tried to one-up me by breaking his big toe while playing with the kids. It's been an action filled weekend around here I tell you!!! Now hopefully things will calm down and I can get some good cleaning and organizing done with a little bit of sewing thrown in just for fun!!!!

It's A White Christmas After All......

We really did wake up to snow today!!! I think it may be the first White Christmas I ever remember. Wow!!! The kids are thrilled...well except for Elisabeth and Ean, who are both feeling a little under the weather. Yuck! Not fair to be sick on Christmas...that is what Elisabeth keeps telling me anyway. Fortunately, when she felt well enough to sit up at the kitchen table we brought in a tub of snow for her to play with and explore. Even with sickness, this Christmas will yield lots of precious memories for each and every one of us.

Wayne, Emily, Ethan and our beloved across-the-street-neighbor, Mr. Tom, built this snowman in a matter of minutes. They had so much fun and came in with rosy cheeks!!!

I hope each of you is experiencing the peace and joy of Christmas today!!! Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!!!

Christmas Preparations....

Wow, talk about laziness!!! I did not mean to be absent for the past two weeks...but it is that time of year when things can get crazy, and often do.

Christmas preparations are taking place in our house at quite a frantic pace. The gifts have mostly been ordered and I am waiting for their arrival so I can spend an evening wrapping them.

We've had lots of activities with our new church family. I don't think I've mentioned it before but we have found a wonderful new church home. We've been looking for a new church for awhile now...and we have finally found one and it is only 2 miles down the road from our house. It sure makes things easy and convenient.

Our Smocking Guild had our annual Christmas Dinner tonight and it was wonderful!!! Our hostess this year really out did herself and spoiled every single one of us. It was such an enjoyable evening!!! I did take Ean with me....fortunately he was pretty well behaved!

I have only made one gift so far this Christmas. And I can't show a picture yet...because the recipient hasn't received it yet. I'm hoping to make a few more things to add to the stockings for the kids...but we'll see how much time I have available as the week progresses. The ladies at Guild laughed at me tonight when I told them I hoped to do some sewing later this week.

My girls had their ballet recital last week. They both did extremely well, as did all the girls in the recital. It was a busy day, but fun.

Oh, last week we also took the photos for our Christmas cards. The kids were at the front end of a cold and we did not know it at the time. But it sure explained the lack of cooperation we received while trying to get a few pictures to work with. The photo at the top of this post is from that night. It's a little blurry....but if you squint at it just right...you won't notice so much.

Alright, I think you all know as much, or more, than I do now. The rest of the week is going to be busy too. We have a friend coming over for dinner Thursday night....we are so thrilled. We are also going to visit with a potential new piano teacher for the girls and a violin teacher for Emily. Then a Christmas Eve candle light service Friday evening and lots of cooking, baking and wrapping gifts thrown in as well. It's going to be a great week!!!

I hope Christmas preparations are going well at your home too!!!

xoxo,

Cindy

P.S., I also forgot to mention that Elisabeth had a birthday last week. See it really has been busy around here!

Happy Thanksgiving...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

from our house to yours!!!

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and praise His name.

For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations."

Psalm 100:4-5

Emily made us an adorable turkey center piece for our dinner table.

She also made place cards so everyone knew where to sit.

And I made the meal and the two yummy pie crusts and pies...pumpkin and apple!!!!

I hope your day was blessed and delightful!!!

Halloween 2010......

Another year of Halloween sewing is behind me. I should have known not to silently cheer when the kids kept telling me over the past few weeks that they did not want to dress up. Then yesterday when the realization hit them....it trickled down and hit ME too. They quickly decided they in fact DID want to dress up. So around 2 pm yesterday I visited the local H*bby L*bby with three little ones in tow. At first they could not decide what to dress as. Finally Elisabeth and Ethan agreed on Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. And then Emily decided on Clara Barton. We tried to brainstorm fabrics and patterns while standing there...and this is what we came up with.

I quickly drafted a pattern for a vest for Woody. I have not finished the edges but I will in the next few days. I can already tell this is going to be a favorite costume for Ethan...he insisted upon wearing it out to lunch today!!! For Woody's shirt I used the Luke pattern by my friend Paige. I drafted out the long sleeves on the fly...but it turned out great. What you don't see here is that I also drafted out long sleeves for Elisabeth's size too...and MADE the shirt....but Elisabeth decided last minute that Jessie should wear a white shirt....**sigh**. I also drafted out the chaps for Elisabeth on the fly....I used thin elastic around the back of her legs to hold them on and 3/4" wide elastic around the waist to hold them up. Too cute!!! And we know that Jessie usually has a red hat...but we could not find one on such short notice!

And Emily has already said this is her most favorite costume EVER! She has always loved learning about Clara Barton. She picked out a beautiful blue fabric for the dress. And she also picked out a pattern by one of the big four companies...it actually wasn't too bad. I rarely ever use them anymore because I really don't like them....but this one worked out fine. Although I did have to sew in 6 darts...even the sleeves each had a dart!

So there you have it.....Halloween 2010. I don't even like Halloween! My kids do not like scary stuff...and so they have always been good about dressing up in fun stuff or even as historical figures. One year Emily dressed up as Betsy Ross....that was still my favorite!!!

Ok, gotta run now. I'm worn out from all the sewing in such a short time frame. Now I need to clean up my mess and get working on the program for our next Smocking Guild meeting. Hope you all had a great weekend!!!