Christmas dresses, part 65

They are still not finished. These are taking so long, I'm tired of looking at them. Note to self: start in Oct. next year. The zippers need to be double-checked because the pull came off of one. They all still need to be hemmed. And they all still need to have the lining attached to the bodice.

Today I did some more cleaning around the LR that needed to be done. Sort and toss.

I really want to play with my new sewing machine, but that part of the room is a mess so it's hard to work over there. sigh. That is work the kids can do but won't.

The 3-hour glucose test yest really messed me up! My legs hurt so much. Charlie gave me a benadryl and the rest of the day I had to sleep it off. I just want to have passed the test. I don't have much longer until my EDD, but I don't feel like dietary changes right now.

Christmas dresses

Ugh! I didn't have enough of the original material to make any skirts. So I had to find another fabric to use. Next time I'm ordering it all online. Early. With extra. Last night and today I got all the pieces cut out except for E's skirt. Fun, fun. I need floor space for those pieces. They are huge. The 6 yds I got of the dark green made L's and H's skirt. Got 5 more for E and O. I also found about 3 yards of this cute crafty material.

But, I did get a lot of cookie dough made with Beth last Wed. Now I have to bake it all up. The ones I have baked taste good. Walnut cut-outs. Charlie and the kids just made drop cookies instead of rolling them out. They taste like pecan sandies.

Then this morning we discovered that our van's rear door window had been broken. According the the deputy there were several other cars with the same thing. They believe some kids spent their Saturday night shooting pellets with a slingshot at vehicle windows. It gave me the impetus to clean the van and the truck. Much work, but pretty satisfactory to be done.

I love deliveries

My Sew Baby order came today. I got a fleece sock pattern. I'm not sure it's the one I want, but I'm going to try it. It has ribbing around the top. My RTW fleece socks don't. Ribbing would just be one more thing to buy. I've got a lot of workable fleece.

The Amy Butler Nappy Bag pattern came, too. I really want some funky fabric to use for it. Trying to remember to use the stash fabric, but there are some really cool, unique fabrics out there.

Some pretty pink and tan floral stretch poplin (1 yd) was also in the package. So were some freebies. A big snowman patch, a small stocking patch, a red boy's polo-style collar, and a girl's white/red scalloped collar.

So many fun things to play with as soon as I have more time.

Tunics, robes, and headscarves....oh my!

So far I've gotten 3 robes (1 more only needs a hem), 1 tunic, and 1 belt done. Several more robes and tunics are cut out. So much is "close enough," but I don't like having vague directions. Not nit-picking is great, but I hate not knowing exactly what to do.

Charlie got the broken window replaced. He feels good! He and J tried to burn all our yard debris, too, but that didn't work. It was pretty windy today.

O was really steppin' high today. She did so good walking! She is also mastering a good bit of sign language.

A lot to do

Beth and I are making cookies for Christmas. LOTS of cookies. Six different types, dozens and dozens of cookies. I'm entering all the recipes into mastercook. I'm afraid that I'm multiplying and such all wrong.

I've also started sewing for WLCD. This year I'm clothing the puppets. One tunic/robe and one head covering done so far. I'm never sure that I'm doing what Barbara wants. She usually gives me a bunch of fabric, some already cut out, and very limited directions. It always works out, but I hate feeling like I'm doing it wrong. I want to do a good job.

I'm also still going through the fabric stash. That is getting very tedious. It feels so good to see nice stacks of fabric though. Then it makes me want to use it all. Kinda cool. The Christmas dresses are next. The green fabric and a muslin fabric have been washed and are waiting to be cut out for the girls. The organizing is great, but it is so hard to get us all used to putting things back.

Sewing for Christmas

The jammies for H's IM in church are almost done. I just need to finish the armholes for the shirt. I put lace on the bottom instead of a ruffle. The bottom needs the waist done and the legs hemmed. I will put lace on the legs instead of ruffles here too. I just hope they work for IM. After this I need to pick out a dress pattern for Christmas. I also really need to do some pads, diapers, and mending. sigh.

Mending and misc.

I *finally* finished that pink shirt (Simp 4206) for L. That shirt pattern has really short shirts. I also mended E's Christmas '06 dress. I'd like to serge some of the seams to better finish them, but I need to get the serger adjustments made first.

I finished entering all my patterns into the patternreview.com site. It's neat to have them all listed in one place. I just need to be able to have pictures of all the patterns.

More later.

Deck the halls

And dress the girls.

Today I got 18.5 yds of material for Christmas clothes. I got some for jammies for H for her IM debut at WLCD. I'm going to be one busy sewing fool for the next 2 months.

O's check up with Dr. Bowlby went well. She just has that eczema-like thing on her right ear again. Yuck.

CR is gone to a men's retreat until Sunday. We'll be fine. Bored, but fine.

More sewing

The skirt for L got finished last night. It only took 1 yd of material, tho. The matching shirt should be done today. Then I've got to work on the shirt and pants for E and the pants for me.

We also have to get a bunch of school work done today. I forgot that The Oaks didn't have classes today so we got busy and drove down there for nothing.

Diapers are cool

My cloth diaper material came last week and I made 1 diaper. It wasn't that hard. I know I'll get better with practice.

The serger is still a pain to figure out, but I'm getting there. It is really helpful to have because it goes so much faster than the regular machine for some steps. It's just unwieldy, heavy, and hard to master.

I'm still working on the skirt for L. She didn't like the leotard I made for her. Maybe it will fit E. I mended a shirt for me and a dress for L. I've also been going through more fabric piles. That is tedious but motivating. I always feel like sewing after I've seen some of the good fabric I have. There were a couple of nights I worked on the Forever Project instead of sewing. It looks a bit better, too, with some progress.

And still more sewing

I got a terrific deal on a serger the other day. It still scares me, but I used it today. I finished up the doll dress for E (.5 yd) and a tiered skirt for H (1 yd).

I also got about half way through the same skirt for L. whew!

Off to finish the skirt now.

One shirt finished

I finished the shirt from Simp. 4206 for L. It's waaaaay to short for her so H gets it. Oh well. Maybe the skirt will fit. I need to get better at measuring sewing.

I also just finished the leotard for H. It's pretty cool looking. It took 7/8 yd just like the shirt. Another one is cut out for L.

More later.

Cleaning spree

This weekend I went through 2 boxes of fabric and lots of misc. sewing stuff all over the house. The fabric got measured and labeled and sorted by type. Many of my sewing supplies got sorted and put in neat little boxes. I tossed a lot, but it needed to be done. Old clothes got cut into usable pieces (seeing Beth's stash of denim squares motivated that).

Then I got working! I put in the music button for O's bear, mended 2 dresses, and finished the slip for E. What next? I do like making progress. Two things need snaps. I think I'll do those.

Sewing update

I made the little spider toy (Amy Butler 004, nap pillow) for Jacob. It turned out OK. I used glow-in-the-dark thread for all visible stitches. It's creepy looking in the dark if you don't know what it is. He likes it, though. It was about a yard of material.

The Easter shirts for the girls are toast. I'm having trouble fitting them. Also, now that the season has changed the obviously spring material is wrong. I'm going to try again with a different fabric.

I cut out a leotard for L. I need a fresh needle for it. I've never sewn such stretchy material before. A serger is recommended but I don't have one so I'm going to wing it. I would love to be able to make the girls' gymnastics clothes. The new ones are either boring or expensive.

More sewing

L needs some t-shirts because she is so long-waisted that regular ones don't fit after one washing. I got a pattern and some material (1yd) today at WM. Just add it to the list of stuff.

Depression

Why does it always seem to sneak up on me?? Go to sleep OK, wake up not OK. I'm supposed to go to play with a friend tomorrow. sigh. It's hard. It took all my energy to go shopping with L tonight because I promised her a pair of shoes. We got a lot of food, too. I also got 2yds of cammo netting for J's bag/net.

No sewing today. The shirts for the 2 big girls are coming together quickly. I think I really like having a supply of already-cut-out projects to sew.

Too much to do

I have to work on the net for J's birthday and the spider to in it. Need fabric first. Finishing tops for 2 of the big girls. Maybe I'll get some stuff for me sewn.

Need to do report cards for the kids and sign up for the next school year. More fun.

Finished some sewing

Finally, some sewing is done. I finished the yellow gingham top (7/8 yd) and the Olivia dress and panties (1 1/4 yd).

Wheeeeeee

I went for a bike ride this evening. E got a new bike last night and we tested it out. The whole family went on a walk. Charlie pushed the 2 pre-schoolers while the E, J, and L got to ride ahead with me. I haven't ridden my bike in quite a while. It was a blast. I'm just glad I made it for the entire mile.

The pedometer I have doesn't like the pants I wear. Either that or the kids mess with it. Sometimes it resets and sometimes it just doesn't count steps.

2007 Yardage in, Yardage out

This is my attempt to keep some sort of record of the fabric in and out of the house. I want to be a good steward of things God has given me (tons of fabric, ability to sew, lots of notions), and I know I'm not using it all wisely. I want to see that I am actually *using* the things I have on hand instead of just running to the store. I would also like to get a system in place for storing the fabric and having a record of the fabrics in my stash. A system is started for patterns.

I can only list the little that I know now and document fabric amounts as I organize them. Does God honor effort? I hope so.

+2 5/7/07 PPQ, just for fun fabric
+10 2/25/07 Williamsburg, white weave
+1.5 6/23/07 leftover VBS leather-looking, 7 (14"x23") scraps

Homeschool

Is not always cool. But yesterday it was pretty fun. We went to another family's house and learned about the sun. No work on my part. We are going to keep meeting. After space the units are done we will do the "Sugar& Spice" units from Marmee. Cool. Maybe we can do it here.

More later.

The tension mounts

Haha...bad pun. I think I have the tension problem fixed for my machine. The top and bottom threads need to be the same weight when sewing light fabrics. Now I'm back to sewing those skirts. Holly's is almost done. I'm hemming it and putting lace on the bottom. I'll probably start Lottie's this afternoon. Then the shirts. Then finish the pillows. Then start the dress for me. Then hit the mending pile. Nice to have the work, wish I had more time.

While having some down time in the van during PE for the kiddles I worked some more on the hand-sewn apron. The casing is done for the waistband. All it needs now is ribbon or string for the ties and a good hem. I am so proud of that thing. I'd like to learn more about hand-sewing.

Sewing

My new machine isn't working. Lovely. The tension is off. I hope it just needs to be cleaned. There is a lot left on my sewing pile.

Sick kids

The kids have been sick on and off since the 20th of Feb. It's getting tiring. O can't lose any more weight. I sure could, but she can't. sigh.

Breastfeeding has to be better than Pedialyte. The AAP (whoopee) recommends nursing for a minimum of 1 year. She just turned 13 months old. I did nurse some of the others longer than a year even if Charlie doesn't remember.

Today we learned about China and talked about it's 1 child policy. The kids were trying to decide who would be best if we could only keep one (or two max) of them. I'm trying to figure that out myself some days. They practiced writing the Chinese numbers from 1-9. Too bad our math isn't this exciting.

Birthdays and trees

If there's birthday to celebrate and there's nobody here to celebrate it for, is it still a birthday?

Today is my mom's birthday. She would have been 57. I still miss her so much. There is a big gaping hole. Last night I read James 1:3-4. Trials are for us, shaping us. Painful.

Today I:

1. took my meds
2. applied window film to half of my bathroom window
3. put away some wrapping paper to go up in the attic

Not really very productive.