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

Wonderful Wednesday

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to while away and hour (or two) with my blog!  But this afternoon, all three of my children are asleep at the same time (hence the title, "Wonderful Wednesday"), and I have no very pressing duties elsewhere, so here I am!

Want to see some of what I've been up to in the last couple weeks?

I bought material for a new dress for me!  I even went so far as to cut it out, and then got sidetracked with turning
                       this

button down shirt that was getting too small for James

                  into this

 winter toddler dress

Perfect for walks with Mommy...

Or a game of football...

Then I finally fixed the waistband on this skirt, which has been sitting in the "do something about" pile for about 3 years...  It just always looked a bit funny at the waist....

 I used a strip from a t-shirt to make a wide wasitband for it.  I love the way it turned out, but sorry, no photos!

       I also have been working on a really neat project with a whole group of local ladies. Remember this advent calendar?  I was helping a friend finish some advent calendars to sell, the proceeds from which went to buy sewing machines for several orphan girls and widows in India, giving them a way to support themselves and their families.  (This is all through an organization called Global Partners)

        Well, now we are working on designing "Poverty Dolls" for the Indian girls to make and sell back here in the States.  We're doing 5 dolls, representing 5 people groups that are largely unreached with the good news of the gospel of Christ.  We had a fun "work night" (can you call it that if you have popcorn and brownies, and lots of laughter and conversation?) to try making dolls out of different kinds of materials, and try out hair and faces.  We came up with several things we liked, and several we didn't like.  By 11pm we had gotten a lot done, but had to call it a night!  Several ladies took dolls home to begin working on their clothing.  I got the Pingdi people of China, and the Tai Dam people of Vietnam.  I've had so much fun trying to find photos of traditional dress and figure out how to make it for an 18" doll!
Here's what I've come up with so far...

 Vietnam

 China

 Still work to do, but they're coming along.  I'll keep you updated on the project!

For the guys

I really wanted to make something, but men are so much harder for me to come up with something for!

So I made these silhouettes using their wedding photos.

 Steve's sister

 Steve's other sister, and new brother-in-law (remember the wedding this summer?)

 My brother and sister-in-law, along with our sweet little niece!

I saw some silhouettes at a craft fair, and loved them.  The man making them was amazing - he just looked at a person, started cutting a blank piece of paper, and seconds later had an amazing likeness!  I am nowhere near that talented, but by finding a photo in profile, laying in on top of a black paper, and cutting around the profile, I was able to come up with a fairly recognizable likeness.

I want to make some of my babies now!  That's the trouble with giving gifts you like -- you can't keep them for yourself, and by the time you are done, you want to move on to the next project, not repeat the one you finished....

pink and white

Here's the last set for my last sister...

 This pink knit scarf has three rows of ruffles along each end.  It's a tube shape, so it's a little heavier.

 The purse is white duck cloth, with a pink flocked muslin lining.  The suede flowers and strap are actually from a ladies jacket I got at Goodwill!

blue and white

 Here's the scarf and purse that I made for my sister.  I think this scarf was my favorite - I love the blue.  Actually, I want one for myself! 

The lightweight scarf is a blue cotton knit, with a ruffle all the way around the edge.  I overcasted the edge in white, to add little contrast, although being knit, it didn't really need anything.

My sister is a vet tech, and I wanted something for her that was a little more casual, but still pretty and feminine.  The purse I made out of  more of Steve's old blue jeans!  The lining is a white flocked muslin from my scrap drawer, and the flowers on the outside are white duck cloth.  I attached them with bar pins so they could be removed for washing.  I love the ribbon gathered edges at the top.