2014 Christmas Photo Shoot

The kids had a short school day so it was the perfect day to take them to the mall to get their photo taken with Santa earlier this month. They did so well this year. No tears. I even got the girl to sit on Santa's lap. Big accomplishment. When I got them settled and walked out of the photo area I heard my son ask Santa if Rudolf was real. Poor guy. He didn't stumble looking for an answer so he must get that one a lot. 

This is what they wore. And they looked cute! 

Mall people were taking second looks, staring, some people made comments about my daughter's outfit, some asked where I got them from. They were impressed when I told them that I made it. One even asked if I sold things because she was looking for ties for her two sons. *snicker* Sell things. Job, kids, laundry people. 

Here is a little idea of what happens when I try to get my kids to cooperate during a photo shoot...

I started with just my son because he put on a Santa hat. My daughter went to go look for hers. She didn't find it. It showed up later.

He's cute and funny. Merry Christmas!

I go through all of this:

They're giving me mean looks because they had not been the greatest listeners while we were at the mall, and I had been fussing at them.

Ha! The faces and expressions. Bored son?

We will not cooperate.

Ok. It's getting better.

Or, maybe not.

LOL. I love these photos, even if it is not what I was going for.

The happiness is returning...?

Making silly faces can be helpful.

My girl in the top photo. ♥  One is looking good, the other not so much. We are getting to close though. 

To get to this:

There are my sweet kids. Thank you for the cute photo.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Extravaganza: Blue and Red

I am so loving the fabrics I used to make these two outfits for my daughter. They are just so fantastic! And she looks so cute in them.

Up first is the peasant dress with matching dark blue ruffle pants. The main part of the dress has little houses all ready for the winter on a blue background. I used some snowflake fabric on a red background for the accent pieces. 

The dress can be worn by itself, or with some leggings or tights, and even layered with a long sleeve tee underneath, or maybe even a sweater or cardigan for added warmth. The dress is a bit longer than I would like for the pants, but she'll be able to wear it for another year or two, hopefully.

I, of course, made my son matching ties. One with the houses and a red snowflake knot, and the other with just the snowflakes on red.

Here they are together sporting the different ties and hair bows. So many options to wear!

 Here is a closer look at the hair bows. A funky hair bow, and a regular hair bow/bow tie.

Which brings me to the next outfit for my daughter. The pattern is from Simplicity (1793). I've used it before to make two outfits for a friend's two girls. This time I used it to make one for my girl.

Stop the cuteness! Too much!. 

I shortened the top middle skirt piece a couple of inches, because the finished product seemed a bit too long for her. As she grows I can let it back out. I made the size 5 pattern for her and is not snug fitting at all. I added the zipper in on the side this time. I left it out on a friend's outfits because the girl's didn't need it. So my girl definitely has some growing room.

I used Dana's KID shorts pattern to make the pants.

The tie in the back is great for making sure you get the right length of straps for your child. The bow normally looks better, but I had washed this outfit already and hadn't ironed the ties at that point. She can also wear this top as a dress. There are so many options!

I turned the hair bow into a bow tie for my son by using the neckband from his ties and slipping the bow onto it. They all look so good on him. 

I happened to be shopping at the Dollar Tree for some easy Christmas gifts and found the cutest pair of knee socks. I turned them into leg warmers for my girl, and they happen to coordinate with the above outfits! Woohoo!

Peek-a-boo Santa. Found you! It's hard to tell close up that she has Santa leg warmers on, but if you are farther away from you can definitely see him. Santa is going down a chimney and waving. You can't quite see his hand.

The back of the socks have the back side of Santa. Love! If her boots were a bit shorter you see more of the chimney, but when these were socks the chimney bricks went all the way down to the toes.

They are just so awesomely cute! 

If you happen to see any more at the Dollar Tree would you pick up 2 or 3 more pairs for me? Thanks.

I am loving that there are so many options for these outfits: funky hair bow or regular, ties or bow tie, peasant dress with or without pants or layers, Simplicity top or dress, leggings, pants, Santa leg warmers... Mix and match!

All of the fabric came from JoAnn's except the dark blue ruffle pants which came from Hancock's Fabrics.

I did a Christmas photo shoot with the kids in the Simplicity outfit and the houses tie. It was the outfits I put together when I took them to see the mall Santa. They looked amazing. Post to come soon on that one.

Christmas Extravaganza: Red and Green

I dare you to sing this:
"Oh, Red and Green Christmas trees, and Green and White Striped Pants."
Catchy, huh?

Anyway.

Next up in my Christmas sewing extravaganza is, as the title says, lots of red and green.

This is a very festive outfit. Totally adorable.

I made my girl a A-line top from Dana's First Day pattern, and some ruffle pants using her KID shorts pattern.

She also has a matching hair bow and a green button for the closure.

I love the mini-ruffle on these pants!

A better view of the hair bow, and a closeup of my son's matching tie. I love that I made the red tree be the center for the knot. Handsome fellow.

This tie is the perfect length for him. Sometimes he even does some cute modeling for me. Thank you, son.

Another outfit coming up soon. :)

Christmas Extravaganza: Reindeer

I had seen this applique online (Pinterest, most likely) and thought, "Well, that would be easy enough for me to do." So I did.
It is just the cutest little red nosed reindeer.

My girl has a red nose, too. I found this blinky light up nose at JoAnn's and knew my kids would love playing with them. And they have.

This is a simple applique using fabrics I had on hand, and a couple of black buttons for eyes. The reindeer even has a hair bow.

The full effect.

I made my daughter some pants using minky fleece. I call them her snowball pants. They look so comfy on her. She likes that they are soft.

I also made a reindeer shirt for my son as well, sans hair bow of course. We just haven't done the photos for it yet.

They look adorable, even if it doesn't show. :)

Christmas Extravaganza: Colorful Snowflakes

Read the first Christmas Extravaganza post here.

This colorful snowflake fabric was just too adorable to pass up at JoAnn's. I made my girl a peasant dress with long sleeves and matching ruffle pants. She also has double hair bows (or use one as a bow tie for my son), and he has a matching tie.

The colors are much prettier than photoed.

Here's a truer photo showing the colors of the outfit.

The dress is on the long side, so she'll have years of growing room. I did have to shorten the sleeves though. 

I didn't get a photo of my son in the matching tie...yet, or in time for this post. You can and will see the other ties I made for him.

My little snowflake girl is ready for the holidays.

Christmas Extravaganza: Greetings

First up in my Christmas wear sewing extravaganza, (too much?),we have the Christmas greetings ensemble.

This fabric is so sweet. I made my girl double matching hair bows that can also double as a bow tie for my son. Ha!

So cute!

I made her ruffle pants from Dana's KID shorts pattern, and an appliqued long sleeve matching tee.

She's just adorable in this.

I found a snowflake template by just doing a search and adding a bit to it to make it more unique, and to save me some tight angles for pivoting during sewing.

Of course the boy is not left out, he has a matching tie. You can find free tie patterns on Pinterest. I have several pinned to my Boy board. 

Looks good on him. I was running short on fabric to the tie ended up a bit shorter than I had intended, but it still works. 

Then, I made them take photos together. What an endeavor that always is. 

Christmas Sewing 2014

This is what I have been busy working on for my children.

Christmas wear, matching hair bows/bow ties, and ties.

Posts coming very soon!

I heart denim

I got this super cute heart bottom weight fabric from JoAnn's. I had my husband's grandmother do some embroidering for me for this outfit. She actually did it over the summer when I was doing the back packs for the kids and shorts for the boy.

I did matching short sleeve and long sleeve tees to go with the ruffle pants, which also have her initials on it. :)

They are super cute. I love 'em.

She looks great in it. Can't wait for her to wear it some more.


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P.S. Christmas sewing posts coming shortly. Get excited!

What is going on in my world

So. The holidays are coming, and I feel that I am ready for them, for the most part. The kids are looking forward to Christmas, seeing their grandparents, and all the other festivities. All of which are quickly approaching. But let's back up a little bit.

My birthday falls smack dab in the middle of November. I had sent my husband a short list of things I would like for said birthday and/or Christmas. He followed through on some of the items, granted there were a few things on there that he just wouldn't be able to pull off, like ensuring that I would get or take a nap. Not a guarantee, and a little unfair for him. Granted I do ask Santa for the same thing when I take the kids to the mall. He kind of gives me a strange look as well. Do people not ask for naps for Christmas?

One of the things I was in desperate need of was a new battery for my laptop. The original one just could not hold a charge for very long anymore, and it was getting shorter and shorter by the day. So happy to get a new one for my birthday. Yea!

The other thing that I got was a quilting book that I had my eye on since Dana let us know it was available. I am so thrilled to have it as a part of my sewing and crafting book section of my studio. 

I only have a few books, and that is just fine with me because I have to really like what I know about it to add it to my collection. I love having a little part of bloggers I follow be a part of my little sewing corner.

I guess this means that I will actually have to make a quilt one day. Not a problem, it's on my things-to-do-one-day list.

Also, for the past couple of months I have been thinking about everything that has taken place in my life. Some milestones have come around. One being that 10 years ago my boyfriend proposed to me, and we got married the next year. I was finishing up my graduate degree and needed another job to replace the one I was losing so I went back to teaching gymnastics, and met my good friend (that I sew things for sometimes). We've been friends for 10 years. 

It's gone by so fast, and to see how much our lives have changed is just amazing. I know that we will always have a connection that few other people that we know share. I love that about us. 

And finally, sometime between my birthday and Thanksgiving I finished my thesis and turned it in to the Graduate School, thereby officially completing my Master's degree. The degree actually came a couple of months later in the mail, as well as a copy of my thesis, but it was such a nice accomplishment to be able to go home for Thanksgiving that year and have people who know how important education is, and how hard you have to work to accomplish something like that to be happy and proud of you. (side note: these people were not my family, but my future in-laws. My family is kind of oblivious to the work that goes into something like a Master's degree, which can be evidenced by a couple of stories I could tell you, but will not share because this post is getting a little long.)

So much has happened in the last decade. Life has changed. Jobs have changed. Things have gotten accomplished. New beginnings have occurred. It's been pretty fantastic and I look forward to what another decade holds for my life.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Giraffes, and pink/gray

Hi.
I've been away for awhile, taking some much needed time off work, working on a separate grant for the kids' school, and celebrating my birthday. Yea! My twin and I turned 70 together (35 individually). I had a pretty good birthday which I will try to share about later.

Anyway...
I don't always just make things for my kids. I do make things for a few friends when they ask, and sometimes even provide fabric.

I made this sweet giraffe outfit for a friend's little girl. It is her birthday outfit.

I found a giraffe silhouette online and used it to make the applique. I made the giraffe print ruffle pants using Dana's KID shorts pattern. Those pants are adorable. I hope the baby has a great first birthday!

I also made her this CUTE pillowcase dress. The fabric was $2 a yard at JoAnn's! Hard to pass up.

For my other friend that I have made more outfits for, we found this fabric and pattern at Hobby Lobby. The pattern is Simplicity 1793A.

So much cuteness! We could just stare it because it is so pretty. The matching ruffle pants are just too much. Gah!

I love how it ties in the back. Her kiddos look amazing in the outfits as well. Although, they did require some alterations. Somehow both of the girls' pants ended up too short. I did add another ruffle to the bottom of both pairs so that they would fit better.

I mean, it's just so pretty! Love it.

Monster Jam-mies

I have been wanting to use this Peek-A-Boo pattern for while now. I got some inspiration from the Facebook group in terms of fabric. People kept posting photos of things they were making with this completely adorable Monster Jam fabric from JoAnn's. I just had to get it. I knew my boy would love it.

I made him some Alex and Anna winter PJ's. I used the size 7 pattern size so that he would have some growing room.

Awesome! I used some purple rib knit for the cuffs. There is no purple in the fabric but the color works anyway. They look so comfy.

The fit is great is also. He looks cute from the front and the back. The best part is that he loves them as well.

The totally loves the rock 'n roll theme of the fabric. He's a rock star!

I have a raglan tee pattern that I am also going to make him using this fabric. I just need to sew it up.
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And I did just that...

Not the greatest neckline, but whatever. I love the color blocking as well. My son loves these new things that he can wear. He has worn the pj's several times already. And that makes me happy.