Debate

Was debating leaving a post tonight or not...but, oh! It's past my one-month mark for writing, so, why not? The past hour or so, I've been carelessly looking at blogs and Googling "free sewing magazine" without luck while I wait for my friend to call. She just moved out this weekend and we're doing a late night cleaning sans kids. Sans kids. That's a weird phrase. Ok, I'm tired.

I did some random cleaning today and found one of two lost camera cards (that's what we call them). The other I'm afraid will be forever lost in toyland or a land fill after being handled by one of the kids because I left it in the computer's SD slot. I even took apart the computer today to see if he/she slipped it into one of the bigger slots, but nada. On the camera card I found these:

I last-minute-and-one-month-late made and sent my mom a handmade gift for her birthday. My mom lives in Hana, Maui, which is like the most remote town in the world (taking into account that Hawaii is in the middle of nowhere). It takes 2.5 hours for a Hana-an to drive to the nearest WalMart, now that's remote. Mom didn't believe me when I blamed the late arrival on her remote-ness, but she said she liked my gift anyway.

Fabric is a brocade from JoAnn, pattern from: Craftster.

This was a thank you gift to a family friend of ours, Barb, who also lives in Hana. She sewed and sent some aloha print baby items with my mom when she came out for Kalei's birth. The first nursing cover I made 2.5 years ago was for Barb's daughter, Sally, using this Eyes Wise swirly fabric. I used the scraps to make her mom a little case. Awww.

I swear I don't make the kids do this for my blog.

Saw this on NieNie's blog and wanted to share:

Shabby Apple

I should be writing this on my new fashion blog, but since I don't think anyone's ever read it before besides me I wanted to include it on my ever-so-famous family/sewing blog...

Has anyone ever bought or tried on a Shabby Apple dress? I am so in need of a Fall dress, and was getting ideas on line and found this company that seems to have only modest designs. So, before I'm banished to the Target Clearance racks I thought I'd investigate these guys. How do they fit? Do they wash well? Any info is helpful. The prices aren't too bad...I think...I don't know. I signed up for their email list but who knows how good the coupons will be. In these tight times, it's just nice to dream, huh?

I also love their girls dresses. I see some Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey and Anna Maria Horner fabric in there.

Lucky Nanny

It was a good week, a lucky week, maybe. I found myself on the receiving end a lot this week.

Before we left Grama and Grampa's on Sunday, Grama asks me if I "would use some 100% Swiss cotton lawn" she's had for years. "Uhhh, yeah?" I told her with a smile, and she went into her hope chest and brought back a couple stacks of fabric. The blue on the top is a silk blend from Thailand. My dad had a friend of his bring it back for my Grandma, I'm thinking in the early 70s. Next, the white cotton lawn (nightgown, anyone?), and the brown is a couple yards of 100% linen. Linen! I've never bought linen fabric, it's always so expensive. Maybe a Village Frock with red buttons for Keira is in order for Fall.

When we got home from Idaho on Sunday, I found a New Look dress pattern sticking out from under my doormat. It made my day. I knew it was from someone who reads my blog or from church who knows I sew. It was just a nice surprise. I like the pattern, too. All week, I didn't know who left it, and today found out it's from my friend, Gen...thanks, Gen!! The fabric is also from from Grama. It's called chintz and it's a cotton with a sort of glaze on it that makes it shimmery (not heavy like oilcloth). She said people used it in the 80s for curtains. The yellow fabric is leftover from the house we used to live in in California, it's about 30 years old, but looks brand new, thank you, hope chest.

Free fabric arrived in the mail. I found this New York fabric store on line that carries nicer fabric and will send you a few samples for free. I asked for ones that I've never been able to buy (Liberty London Tawna Lawn, like $40 per yard and the green is Echino by Etsuko Furuya, like $25/yard), yeah, and I've never seen any Utah fabric stores carry them, so I wanted to see and feel them in person. I'm considering making fake rabbits feet out of them to hang from my keychain and I'll rub them for good luck. Gross.

Oh, then, my friend, Brianna, was over at my house while Ryan was trying to make a smoothie and witnessed our blender crap out (all over my counter). Later, she happened to inherit a way nicer blender and passed it on to us. Thanks, Brianna!

Ryan said the kids had a surprise for me after work one night. I haven't laughed that hard in a while...Please don't call CPS on us : ).

Weekend Recap

We drove up to Rexburg, ID to visit my dad's parents this weekend. It was such a nice drive up, and such a relaxing getaway. Besides catching up and showing them the new baby, and eating eating eating her good cooking, I remembered a lot of things around her home I decided to take pictures of:

Rexburg was a small town when this photo was taken, according to Grandma, 4,000 people. Now there are close to 30,000, and that's not counting the BYU-Idaho students. My grandfather owned and ran a men's clothing store on Main Street for 50 years called Vern and Ferrell's. Grandma and Grandpa got married when she was only 19. That's my dad, around 7 years old. She had one more boy after this photo was taken.

Grandma is a crochet-er (and a seamstress). I remember reading these sayings on her wall when I'd "help" in the kitchen during my visits during my college years. I used to catch rides up from Provo to Rexburg by finding people on the Ride Board at BYU. Yeah, you'd just walk up to this map in the WILK and you could find drivers or riders' phone numbers to a chosen destination and split gas costs. I'd never let my daughter do that nowadays (ok, she's only 3), but if she wasn't, I still wouldn't let her. Those weekend visits to their house always rejuvenated me and I miss them.

When I was in elementary school, we left Hawaii and moved into my grandparents' summer home in Escondido, CA. We lived there for a few years till we bought a new house down the road. I remember this lamp in our living room. Once, I knocked the other matching lamp over and chipped it (probably while dancing to the Fame theme song. I'm still gonna live forever!)

Grandma loves Hawaii. These were in her bathroom:

We spent a lot of the weekend on the back deck. Outside was the only childproof area, and when the kids were outside, Grandma and Grandpa...and Mom, and Baby Kalei, and Dad...had some peace.

My grandfather suffered a stroke just 8 months ago, but is now walking on his own (no cane or walker), speaks clearly, and makes us so proud. Keira fell asleep on him and woke up when she heard my camera shutter, so I told her to pretend she was sleeping again. I remember being held by him like that when I was little, too.

.25

Today is Kalei's 3 month birthday. I told her that she is one fourth of a year old, whatever that means. I suspect a newborn's month is like 5 years to us in terms of how much they grow and change,maybe like God's days and our thousands of years. She is so much more interactive than just a week ago, she likes to engage in conversations of, "grrrrl," "haaaaa," and waits for you to take your turn saying your sound till she does hers. She recognizes her sister with a smile when she sees her; she cringes and gets serious when she sees "big brother" coming her way...he still can't handle not squeezing her, it's too tempting.

Shower Privée

I made a shower curtain yesterday out of 108" wide 3 Sisters Moda material I bought a year and a half ago that's been sitting on the shelf. Originally intended for the back of a duvet cover, I decided to nix the patchwork duvet idea and make a shower curtain. Guests and family and our children have been braving our liner-only shower for 2.5 years here at the condo, so it was about time.

I used the clear shower liner as a pattern for the dimensions and to be able to cut straight lines, took up my whole living room. I added a few inches on each side for the seams. I made button holes along the top to insert the shower rings into. The whole thing took about 2 hours.

Simplicity 4077

So I made my first button down shirt, finally. Simp 4077 View E. This out of Anna Maria Horner fabric Gordon and Lyn gave me for my birthday in May. It took me a few weeks to finish, sleeves one day, hemming another, fitting it using the darts for my "nursing figure." I will definitely use this pattern again, but there are things I'll change:

1. the shoulders need to be widened. I do have broad shoulders, so the sleeves begin probably an inch too close to my neck.
2. maybe I'll buy the pattern again and cut a ize 10-12 (Joann has them for $1 once in a while, just jump on their mailing list to find out when) . On the back of each pattern, they'll list what your measurements should be for each size. I took my fresh-out-of-pregnancy measurements and circled what my hips were, waist, etc. (see photo). According to their measurements, I should have cut a size 16. I haven't worn a 16 since my mission. I must have been in denial because I cut a size 8, so to make up for it, I skipped the back darts, let out the front darts a bit.

3. that darned Chinese collar was a beast. It was my first time doing a collar like that, and I had to tweak and tuck it a bit (see photo). I will try it again, I think I cut the wrong size for it so kept trimming it to fit the neck of the shirt.

What I like about Simplicity 4077:

1. the cap sleeves. I love 'em.
2. I love wearing quilting fabric. This AMH fabric was nice and soft. I've made clothes for myself before but only with upholstery-type Ikea fabric. I can't wait to make more quilt clothes for myself.
3. I lengthened the shirt to reach my hips, so it's almost a tunic, and I love the length. I despise short shirts nowadays. Surprisingly, this shirt took 1 yard of regular sized (44" wide) fabric. I only had 1 yard of it...another reason why I had to cut a size 8 instead of 16.

Here's another dress I saw on Make Something that I think would be fun to make using elastic thread to shirr the waist and neckline. Maybe I can sell an organ to afford some of this Liberty Lawn fabric:

Recap

Been on a 2-month hiatus, it seems, so here's a recap...

Kalei is growing in leaps and bounds. When we blessed her at church, she wore the same dress my grandmother had made for Keira. I made each of our girls headbands for their blessing day...ok, I decorated store-bought ones with white roses...and will give them to them when they're older.

Kalei on July 5th at 2 months on the left; Keira on the right in 2006 in Hawaii:

Two of our neices from Arizona were with us for a week. They wanted to rent every movie Kristen Stewart's been in, Zathura, Into the Wild (had to say no to that since 'cause of the rating--wish I were the "cool aunt"). And after one or two hours of YouTubing "New Moon" with them I was pooped. Ahh, to be tween again and eat a whole bag of candy and stay in your jammies all day (at least we have one thing in common). I still miss them and every time I surf past 100.7 FM on the radio I get teary-eyed.

Gateway Mall, downtown Salt Lake

A purse I made for McKenna from a blanket she brought with her:

My internet/computer was down for a week which meant I couldn't work, blog, or email. Amazing how much more time I had with the kids and for myself. I wasn't drawn to login every morning--it's just part of my morning routine. I got more sleep because I didn't need to "wind down" after work and sew till 1am. With more sleep, I was unusually happy--not as testy with the kids. I didn't have to break out of that "blog fog" when you've just been clicking and reading and trying to catch up with everyone and their "news." The house was cleaner...which also added to my happy state. And without having to work, I had dinner ready for Ryan when he got home. I do like my job, been with ComTel for over 5 years, but it was nice to have a break.

Kalei 2 months, smiling and cooing all the time now