more hats

Ailidh's hat

and James's

 

and another for Joy

Wish I could crochet like that!

hat weather

We had the first real snow of the season this weekend!  Take a look at the hat my sister made for Joy.

 isn't she adorable?

Playing in the snow...

 Want to look at that adorable hat a little closer?

Good-bye, winter blues,

hello spring-time blue!

     It seems like we're just on the verge of spring here.  One day it's cold and grey, the next we're tantalized by a blue sky and soft breezes.  I am tired of the same old sweaters all the time, and I think the kids are too!  So I decided to make something a little bit more "spring-ey" for Ailidh. 

 

       

            I started with an old sweater of mine.  This sweater has always made me feel a bit dumpy.  Which, after 3 children, I need no help with.  So, instead of leaving it in the back of my closet forever, I decided it would be the perfect new spring item for my daughter.

(Actually, it doesn't look so bad on Cordelia, but that is because 

she's about 3 sizes smaller than my post-three-babies body!) There is also a real belt, 

but at the time of this photo it was being used as a leash for somebody's teddy bear...

    A couple cuts and a half an hour later (when I really should have been starting dinner for my family...), and I had a cute little sweater vest.

 How I did it:

I folded the vest in half and cut off about 4" from the side.

      Next I pinned up the new sides, leaving about 5" for a new arm hole, and about 6" at the bottom for the slits.  A quick seam, and then I overcasted the armholes, and made a tiny rolled hem along the slits at the bottom, and it was pretty much finished. 

         I still had the belt, so I cut it in 4 equal pieces and attached them about 3" back from the side seams, directly under the arms, and tied little bows.  That also helped give it a little more shape.
Then, because it kept slipping off her shoulders, I also added a little hook and eye in the front.

All finished!

a sudden fancy

After Bible study the other night, with the kids tucked safely in bed, I started pulling out my sewing materials to work on my dress (for about the 20th time).  As I was hunting for various objects I needed to begin laying it out, I started thinking about Ailidh.   Because who can stop thinking about this adorable little face!

 

More specifically, thinking about her coat.  It's been getting a little tight, this is definitely the last winter she'll be able to wear it.
     "Yes," I thought as I looked for my large shears, "she'll need a new one next year.  I wonder if I could make her one with something I already have.  Maybe a heavy sweatshirt."
      Then, as I spread out my pin board, "I have that old green sweatshirt.  I could play around with that and see how it comes out, then if I don't like it, I'll just throw it out."  So, again (for about the 20th time) I pushed the still uncut wool suiting aside, and pulled out an old sweatshirt and a pile of scraps.

      It's a pity, that wool really will make a nice dress some day.   But I must say, I think her new coat is awfully cute.  If only it didn't have holes and paint splatters all over it....

 How I Did It:

Here it is, more or less...
Start with a sweatshirt.

Fold it in half, and cut the appropriate shoulder width, down the side, leaving a curve for the arm, and tapering out toward the bottom.

 Cut down the front fold line, cut off the collar, and cut a gentle rounded shape.  Sew the new side seams.

 Take the old sleeves and cut a shoulder curve at the side near the cuff.  Cut the other end off at about the right length.  You can always cut it shorter after you try it on.

 Mark the waistline, and put a line of gathering stitches along it across the back, side seam to side seam.  Make a belt (I used scraps from Steve's old jeans!) and sew it down along the waist.  If you want ruffles around the neck, just fold a strip of fabric (twice the length of the neckline, from the belt) in half and gather the raw edge.  Attach it to the neckline.
Add snaps to the belt to close the coat, and any embellishments you want!

 Go play!

 

 And then, because after all, it is supposed to fit her next year, James sweetly volunteered to try it on.  In exchange for a candy...
He doesn't look quite as swamped as she does. 

     So, the idea was to just use this as a pattern coat and make a new, nice one with something that doesn't have holes and paint splatters all over it.  But we all know that once I've tried something once, I almost never come back to it.

This will probably be what you see Ailidh in all next winter, holes and all.

Unless I come up with another idea!

Thursday Thoughts

I keep a little journal next to my bed, and sometimes at night (if I'm not utterly exhausted!) I'll write down the little funny things the kids do or say throughout the day.  Just one way I'm clinging to the baby-ness, which is already passing much too quickly!
I also sometimes include something that really tickles me here, (in the little box on the top right) but they disappear as soon as I put a new one, so I thought I'd have a little re-cap of the toddler-isms from the last couple months.

Enjoy!

 Summer Days

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Steve, singing to A (whose nickname is "ladybug"): "Ooooh, bug bug of mine!"

A: "I not buga buga mine!"

Steve: "What are you?"

A: "I just buga."

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Very early yesterday morning I was nursing the baby when I heard a little voice say from A's bed, "Is it morning Mommy? I get up?"

"No, sweetie, it's not time to get up yet." I said.

I heard nothing for a minute, then, with a little sob, "Mommy, I havin a hard day!"

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Picking beans last night:

Me -- "JL, you have leaves on your back! You're supposed to pick the beans, not the leaves!"

JL -- "I didn't pick them, they just jumped on me. I guess they wanted a piggy back ride."

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We have JL's best friend A (our neighbor's little girl) staying with us this week while her parents are in England. The conversations between the two of them are hilarious! Listen in on this one with me...

I was explaining to the children that when we got home, the piano tuner would be there, so they could either play outside or be very very quiet and watch. JL piped up, "I want to watch because when I get big I want to try very hard to know what I have to do to be a piano tuner! Do you want to be a piano tuner when you get big, A?"

A replied, "No, I just want to be a person."

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JL, running up to me and sobbing; "I fell on the patio, (sob) and hit (sob) my head (sob)!"

Me: "Oh sweetheart! Let me kiss it!"

JL: "My head doesn't hurt, my hand does."

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JL: "This is my gun. I shot fire in the sky with it. It just shots water at the fire in the sky and puts it out. Because if there's fire in the sky, it might burn Jesus."

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James, reading his Bible to Ailidh --

J: "That's Mary"

A: "She sad?"

J: "No, she's a mommy, she's not sad. She's just..."

A: "She dead."

J: "No, she's not dead. She's a mommy. Mommies take forever to die."

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James, after a talk with Daddy about hitting his sister: "I'm sorry for hitting you, Ailidh."

A: "No, you're NOT!"

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 Potty Training

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James, saying bedtime prayers:

"Bless Mommy, and Daddy, and me, the one that's praying."

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After going to another event at the church where our homeschool co-op meets, James was excited to tell Daddy all about it:

"We went to my school, but it turned into a Baptist church!"

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After helping me shoo all the chickens back into the coop, James ran up to his daddy and said: " I am better than Mommy at chasing the chickens in. That's because I have CHICKEN POWER!"

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James, on the way home from Classical Conversations last week:

"Eliza and I were playing that God just made her and dropped her right down with her whole big body!"

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Ailidh, to a lady who was visiting: "My brodder hit me wiff a stick!"

Me: "Ailidh, telling something wrong that someone else did, when it's already been dealt with, is very unkind. That's tattling."

Ailidh to the lady, whispering: "My brodder hit me wiff a stick."

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James, as he came running in, crying and rubbing his knee: "I feel down in the garden and hurt the elbow of my leg!"

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At our church's fall festival Ailidh fell in love with a couple of ducklings. Someone handed her a feather "to keep". "No!" she exclaimed, a very worried look on her face. "The duck needs to hold ALL his feathers!"

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James, explaining why he yelled at seeing a cricket in the hallway: "I thought it was a stink bug, but then I saw it had big antlers!"

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Ailidh: "Mommy, I need a ice pack!"

Me: "Why, Sweetie?"

Ailidh: "Because, my, my, my feelings is hurting!"

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James: "Mommy, my bottom was snoring!"

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Ailidh, after we went over a large bump in the car: "Mommy, please be gentle wiff me!"

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James: "I loved the train ride! I waved at everybody I saw! Even everybody that wasn't looking at me! But they didn't wave back."

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Daddy, as we were sitting down to dinner: "Do you know why we pray before we eat?"

James: " 'Cause it's hot!"

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Joy: "Gaaa ya yaaa"

James: "She's singing 'Halleluia'!"

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Watching for Daddy