Busyness

Well, we've been keeping busy around here! Hope had her 5th birthday. She told Ginger that she was 15, and on our way to church she informed us that she doesn't do bad things like interrupt conversations anymore. I have no more babies in the house! :( If I had kept on at the rate I was going at in this past decade I should have had three more babies by now. I miss them a lot, but I am starting to enjoy my big kids more. I also like having a little more freedom to be able to sew, which is a good thing since I forgot to get Hope a birthday present. When we got home from church I raided my pink fabric stash and busted out a sparkly dress in record time. She loved it! Thank goodness little girls are so easy to please.

Sorry it's fuzzy, she couldn't stand still!

Let's see... oh yes, last week Faith and I had an opportunity to volunteer to help train Chico and Sacramento police horses not to freak out when confronted with a noisy crowd. It was a lot of standing around but was also pretty fun. The riot police even trained with us. Faith was so ecstatic!

Earlier that same day Abi and Lily got a chance to attend a free cooking class for kids put on my the Galley, a local kitchen supply store. The instructor had the genius idea of giving the kids plastic lettuce knives to cut the soft veggies with. They're sharp enough to cut soft things with, but not sharp enough to cut little fingers. He gave us one ;) They loved it so much they want to sign up for the next class.

Last but not least, Violet finally birthed her babies! Sadly though I'm pretty sure they're both boys. We'll have to sell them. Violet and Daisy are different as night and day. Daisy is a loud, pushy pig who will eat herself sick; and Violet is a timid, gentle sweetheart who will scrounge for Daisy's leftovers. Daisy moaned and yelled LOUDLY all night during the birth of her babies; Violet was so quiet we didn't know she had her babies till the next morning. I had to separate Daisy into a different pen because she was jealous of all the attention Violet was getting and kept on ramming her and trampling her babies. The good news about daisy is that her milk isn't sour anymore and we can drink it now without getting sick. I think she just ate something that disagreed with her last time we let her out to graze in the yard.

Well, I guess that's all I'll post for now. Things are happening all the time around here so that I can hardly keep up! Now this is what home schooling is all about! I love it!

This Chick Rocks!

New Dress A Day

365 Days. 365 New Outfits. 365 Dollars.

 

Marisa takes totally horrible Thrift Store bargain bin finds for a buck, then mends and alters them into super cute garments (mostly). She's a bit more artsy and flamboyant for my taste, but she certainly has guts and a style of her own. I'll have to try some of this action myself, she's got some great ideas! ;) Warning: her blog rates a 10 on the addictive scale. Seriously, I stayed up till 2 am looking at all her before and after pics. 

My Baby's Sewing!

This has got to be the easiest pattern ever! It's just one pattern piece that you use to cut 2 pieces out of the fabric with. Cut on the bias (diagonally, see pic below) so the bottom end flares a bit when finished. To find how big to make it just measure your hips and add a couple more inches. It's better if you make it a little loose rather than too tight, you can always take it in, but it's harder to let out. As for length, measure from your waist to your knees and add 3 inches, (one for bottom hem, two for waistband). So really, you don't need a pattern for this at all. It's just a slightly shaped rectangle/square.

Then you sew up both side seams, front of fabric pieces facing each other (pic1). For the bottom hem fold up 1/2 inch and iron. Then fold up 1/2 inch again iron and sew (pic2).

You do the same for the waistband except that you fold up 1 inch to make a wide enough casing for the elastic to slip through, iron and fold up another inch so you have a finished edge (pic 3). When you sew the waistband leave a 2 inch opening so you can thread the elastic in (pic4). Here's a tip: clip a large safety pin onto the end of the elastic before you thread it through. That gives your fingers something easier to handle and it goes more quickly. After you thread the elastic through cut it to a comfortable length for your waistline, not too loose and not too tight. Sew the ends of the elastic together and tuck it into the waistband casing (pic5).

Lastly, sew up the 2 inch gap, turn right side out and voila! You have yourself a snappy new skirt! I think this will work with just about any fabric, but probably something that's not very stiff. You'll need about a yard and a half. (Since you're cutting on the bias you'll need a little more room.) You can always use the scraps to make a headband! Happy sewing!

A Week of Clothes

Ever since we got our new machines I've been washing clothes like a mad woman. We've had dirty clothes knee-deep in our hallway for many more months than I'd like to admit. But we've finally got it all done! The next logical step for me was to go through every article of the kids' clothing, sort out the winter stuff, and give away as much as possible. I try to do this every spring and fall, but I didn't do a very good job last time and it got outrageously out of hand fast.

Well, you see that pic above? (My 9 year old Abi is there to give perspective.) In case you can't tell from the pic that's about 5 cubic square feet of clothes. And that's JUST winter stuff! I had already sorted out the summer items into 5 separate bins, one for each girl. And that pic was taken after I had sorted out 8 garbage bags full to give to the thrift store and 4 bags to give away to friends. I'm exhausted to say the least but so happy to have it done.

Before you think I spend a fortune on clothes let me direct you here where I wrote about how I keep our clothing cost to a minimum. I decided early on that I don't want my girls to get used to over-priced mall shopping or think that they are somehow entitled to have the trendiest outfits. There's no way we could ever afford that! I do have a couple bins of clothes that need to be mended or altered, (mostly small repairs like missing buttons or pin holes), and I have a few ideas on things I can do to "cute" them up a bit as well. Like strategically placed cloth flowers over ketchup stains! I'll post about it when and if I actually get around to doing it. But for now, I'm going to beg Patrick for a back rub!