new stuff

the cutest jacket ever for Emily! it's baby whale corduroy with white pick stitching (I think that's what it's called). I don't think that type of stitch is called top stitching (Corinnea?). But anyway, I just LOVE it! It's very similar to the one she wore to the pumpkin patch.
I finally got these shoes for Emily that I posted about months ago .
This little zippered bag is for Jenny B. for her birthday.

I used the iron-on t-shirt stuff for dark fabric.
Here's the lining.
This Swing Bag is for her too but not as a birthday present.

I already gave them to her today so I can now post about it!

In the works

Two things in the works...

another Swing Set top from this Oliver+S pattern and Emily on the potty. I have video too I need to post. She brought her potty to the living room so she wouldn't miss a thing. Here she's putting a puzzle together. kind of gross but soooo funny! The top was started at QTYW with Sasha. I still have to sew the side seams and the hem.

Just one more I swear! (3 of 3 posts)

I love to take pictures in the same spot or in the same clothes.

I have photos of Emily in skeleton pj's from every Halloween. I have some for this year so you'll get to see them:) Yippee!
Emily was being sooooo good this year. She was saying cheese and posing but last year she was awful! We had to leave early.
Ava ah-rue and her NOT brown eyes:)

Pumpkin Patch 2

Pumpkin Patch 1

This is not meant to be artsy (the angle) we used a tiny tripod on a railing and I didn't feel like straightening it when I edited it.
Ludwigsburg Palace Pumpkin Patch, Germany. The theme this year is outer space.

Kimono pj's

Another project from Amy Butler's book Little Stitches for Little Ones. It's out of flannel but I can't remember what the name of the line is. I'm not done hemming the bottom. I was supposed to hem the sleeves but instead I used bias tape. I'll maybe finish the pants today, put Ava in the whole outfit and then post a picture.

I love little flowered fabric! It reminds me of a comforter I made while in high school (I was working at my 1st fabric store in the Carlsbad mall called Golden State Fabrics--I was 15!!) out of a fabric very similar to this with a solid peach flannel on the back (I don't even like peach now that I think about it!). It had tiny lace trim all around the edges. Sounds hideous and probably was (I know I used 100% polyester batting). I've had so many people tell me they think I'm a closet goth but you'd never think this if you saw that comforter! This just shows that it is totally possible to LOVE Halloween, Nightmare Before Christmas and very feminine tiny flowered things:)

Chevron

Amy Butler's In Town Bag out of Heather Bailey's Pop Garden. I lined it in the same fabric trying to match up everything. I might run by the store today for some of the other fabrics in this line so I can make a flower for the bag. I don't know why I made this bag because I haven't used a purse this size (it's about 10" long by 6" tall not including handles) since before Emily:) oh wait, I actually remembered why (seriously, I just remembered). I was teaching a class on Friday but no one signed up. Which is good because I can now go to QTYW:) Also I wanted to see if I could make this bag out of this fabric and have it look decent (the chevron stripes make it hard)

Dear the hole family....

A month or so ago Corinnea and I got on the subject of running away and I mentioned i had a runaway note I wrote when I was about 9 or 10 (1982-83?).I even have it framed! I told her I would find it and post it. Here it is written out just like I wrote it, spelling errors and all:

Dear the hole family,

I've ran away for good's no won

lik's me everybody hits and yels

i Love you guys i'm going with my

friend I'm going to be ware ing

my pants that i got at the grage

Sale Love it jeans with stars and diamonds

on them and a flowerd shirt that

tiy's in the front my vans and

my shirt is blue i'm going north

please find me becasue

I don't like staying alone at night

i Love you so much

Love Jenny

on highway

five

and then tell Chrissy's mom she went too.

I never really liked these things (taggies) but after Colleen put them for sale in the store and me looking at them everyday, I decided to make one. Ava (like every other baby) sucks on anything and everything. Especially tags, ribbons and the like. So this seemed perfect for her. I used some of my much coveted "dumb-founded bunnies" flannel and some solid white minky for the reverse. I talked to a customer yesterday about the one she had bought and she said to make the ribbons longer. I made them long and some I knotted and some I looped twice. Well... Ava couldn't care less that I made it and that it's there. She hasn't touched it except to throw it. I just did it last night but still!! I thought she'd be all over it. Jon told me to give it time..

Empire-waist top

This top is from Amy Butler's book Little Stitches For Little Ones.

6 more and a hat

I made 3 bibs and 3 aprons yesterday. When laying out the bibs to photograph, I laid the cloud bib on a drop of cooking oil (can you see the stain in the photo? or maybe I need an arrow?)! So now the girls have another bib. It's water proof on the vinyl side not the back side! That absorbs liquids:) Good to know.

And here's the hat Corinnea made that I posted about a little bit ago. Isn't it gorgeous! It's sooooo soft!

Best dressed Chef

It was tough but I persuaded Emily to put the top on. She kept saying Nooooo, not that one!! And she HATES having her photo taken now. You can't tell in these photos because I took about 30 and 25 are of her crying or hiding.
She's pointing to Ava saying she wants the toy she has.

Garden Party

I made this top again from Oliver+S. I love this pattern and the fit is really good on Emily (it's a size 2t). The fabric is Garden Party by Anna Maria Horner. I got the idea for the ruffle at the bottom from this flickr person (thank you flickr person!). The animals in the pictures were Emily's doing.
Does anyone have any suggestions for the back of this dresser? I need to wall paper it or paint it or something! I hate that you can see it in pictures. I know that someday it might be against a wall but for now I need to do something to it. There is a seam down the middle with clear tape on it (it came like that). What to do?? I like the idea of wall papering it or something similar. maybe tiny polka dots..The quilt Ava is laying on is part of the new bedding I got the girls from Pottery Barn Kids. It's the Brooke Collection. It will look better with the owl sheets, quilted shams and Owl pillows that are part of the line.

New shoes, aprons and a bib

I know these shoes aren't for everyone but I love them! They are for Emily and they remind me of my high school years. They look like Dr. Martens but for kids! I had an apple green pair, bright blue pair, red pair, black pair (I traded the green ones I think with my friend Stephanie for the black ones which I gave to Jenny Bean a couple of years ago) and I don't know how many other colors and styles (Jon had green suede ones when we met). I still have a black pair. Anyway, I fell in love with them when I was looking on eBay for different boots for Emily. They are Oilily (really good quality) and have really buttery soft leather on the inside.
another bib..
and two more aprons.

Delia

Here's Delia (formally Molly). Doesn't it look like she's got a lollipop? I'm reading a book were two of the characters are Delia and Ted. I think I'll have to try another female owl because Delia is not what I envisioned. We'll call the next one Ella after Ted's 1st wife (in the book). Ted left Ella for Delia. I made two vertical slits in the corduroy (button holes) so I can tie a bow near her ear or put a flower. The bow pictured is just to see what it will look like and I'm not sure i like it. Jon thinks she needs a flower but the beautiful ones Corinnea makes aren't right for it. Maybe a felt flower?

Fabric, carpet burns and feet

new bib/apron/art smock fabric. not as good a quality as the others but still... I need to see how it holds up in the wash.
Emily fell off my bed the other night head first..in her sleep. She does this every once in a while. It's scary but also funny because of the sounds she makes when it happens. I'll hear a thump then an "oh!", OH!" then crying. The "oh" is the funny part. I think the photo looks like an anti child abuse photo. Like a give-money-to-this-fund-to-stop-this-kind-of-abuse ad. or something..I can't put my finger on it. Big sad puppy dog eyes.
This picture of Ava makes me laugh because her foot looks freakish. Like it couldn't be hers. The orange shirt is Halloween pj's. I already have her in them because she'll be too big for them probably the time Halloween gets here. I was in the basement going through Emily's old clothes and seeing what Ava can fit in and then getting depressed because soon Ava will be in the same size as Emily! No kidding. One is freakishly small and one is freakishly big. Ok, not freakishly but you know what I mean. On Emily's growth chart at WIC she is going down for height. She's not shrinking but she's not growing as fast as the chart says she should. Jon's niece is very very small for her age. I can't remember exactly but I think she hasn't grown in a few years. She's 12 and wears a size for a 6 years old (that type of thing but again, I don't remember exactly what Jon's sister told me). She's had testing etc. done to see what's going on. So it's very possible Emily has the same thing or possible there is nothing wrong with her.. We'll see....
I'm still working on Chuck's girlfriend Molly. She should be done today. That's what I'm naming him. Unless someone has a better name...and yes, Chuck and Molly are my former bosses names.