Changes

All of a sudden life has taken a little bit of a turn. With the kids slowly moving into school full time an opportunity for me as an adult, ie not just mother, came up and I took it! I am now an employed (part-time) mama. I'm excited for what I'll be doing but nervous for the changes in the family. Knowing that I'll still have plenty of time with the kids has made it a much easier transition for me. And on an up note the kids have learned that I can do other things than laundry, cook, and play trains. Although I think they were a bit surprised when they found out it had nothing at all do with sewing, that I actually had other talents. It's my other love, educating, and so it doesn't get any better than that!

But since my life now needs to be a bit more organized, priorities arranged, etc., etc. I'm sure this blog will suffer slightly. Hopefully not too much because I so enjoy my time sharing what I'm doing, thinking and responding to the people that are so kind to take the time and comment!
On that note I'm hoping I can get to do a little bit of boy sewing this month sponsored by Made By Rae. If you have a boy, or ever tried to sew a gift for a boy, you know how hard it is to actually come up with good sewing projects for them and I'm excited to try all the great ideas already being added to their flickr page! Today's post on cuff pants is one I definitely think needs to be tried sooner or later.
So Happy Thursday and thanks for sticking with me through all these exciting and sometimes scary changes in life!

A Project.....Right Now!

When I was sifting through my blog reader I came across this post by Craftzine for fabric corkboard mosaics. And while I usually read these projects and bookmark them for a later date, usually forgetting I even did so, I decided I needed to do this project...RIGHT NOW. So that's exactly what I did. I did not have circular corkboard, although I'm sure I could've cut circles if I was really ambitious from my square board. I threw them all together in less than an hour, hung them up and am truly happy to have a little more organization going on in my house.First I made a square board for my daughters room next to their desk for art, etc. Because it was bigger than the circles shown in the tutorial I simply used another nail on the bottom.Up next was my sewing room. I have a huge wall of peg board put in from the previous owners that I love but also can be a little unattractive. Adding a few fabric boards did the trick to make it feel a little more inspired. Although I think eventually the peg board needs to be painted. Can you paint peg board once it's hung? Any thoughts?Anyway, super easy project and super cute. What more can one ask for?

My Husband's Crafty

I may be able to do things with fabric but when it comes to colors and artistic talent my husband takes the cake. He does naturally what I can't do even by following the lines! Can you tell I'm a wee bit proud?
I may have mentioned before that all of my children have birds as their middle name. My oldest is Wren, my middle is Jay and my youngest is Kestrel. With each child that's been born my husband has drawn a representation of their bird with their initials making up part of the bird.
When we moved into our current house we had a huge blank wall in our dining room that we didn't know what to do with. Shortly after my husband penciled in a huge tree with the kids birds on the branches. Over Christmas break he finally completed painting the tree and I'd have to say he did an amazing job.As you can see I covered up part of our name in the photo...I'm sure you understand. :)

Pioneer Party....Done!

My oldest had a wonderful pioneer party this weekend and I'm so glad we threw one for her. I was glad when it was over and I could put my feet up but she had a great time and all the kids were really great.
I made her a covered wagon cake using paper to form the top. I was completely paranoid that it would not work like I thought it would in my head but I was pleasantly surprised and I did keep telling myself they are only six no one will care. My daughter's covered wagon people from Schleich pulled the whole thing together nicely.
We ended up rolling out cookie dough and cutting out shapes and then while they baked the kids searched for Lincoln logs we had hid in the house so they could build their own log cabin. The game the kids loved the most was our version of marbles where they had their own marble and had to roll it into different places in the cabins that were built for prizes. All in all the three hours went by super fast and most importantly the birthday girl had a blast.Note: You can see the "family tree" my husband painted in the background, more on that tomorrow...

Adventurer

This is my last installment of Christmas sewing.....I think. Last but not least was my son who needed an outfit to match the adventure game my husband had made for him. The game consists of flashlights, cards, cave music and searching for lost treasure. Perfect for a little boy. So I made him a vest with lots of pockets out of suede and a satchel to match. I didn't have a pattern for his since it was a little last minute. I just took one of his sweater vests as an estimate for the vest and added pockets on the front. For the satchel I just made a simple messenger type bag and shrunk it to fit him. All in all it turned out pretty cute. My husband was convinced he needed a genuine Pith helmet to top it off. It also turns out no one makes pith helmets for 2 year olds so he can be comforted in the fact he can wear his hat when he graduates from high school.

Prairie Girl

My oldest daughter is really into Laura Ingalls Wilder, really anything that has to do with pioneer life in general. So for Christmas I made a pioneer outfit just for her, complete with pinafore and bonnet. I was terrified at first of attempting the pattern because to be honest I'm just not a pattern girl. I'm more of a dive in and figure it out as I go sort. But I was pleasantly surprised and only had to ask for help from my mother-in-law once. It is a tad big, which I wanted, because I want her to be able to wear it for awhile! To top off the outfit her grandparents gave her black riding boots and a matching pioneer outfit for her doll. I loved that she got things she could use her imagination with. She wore the outfit all the time over break and a pioneer birthday party in a week is in the works. Pioneer games here I come.
Note: The pattern I used was Simplicity 2843 and I used basic green gingham fabric for the body, with some vintage lace around the yoke and cuffs.

Back

Yes, a another month has gone by without much going on here on my side of blogland. But I had a much needed break to focus on some sewing projects, focus on a little more simplicity in my life and getting the most out of my kids before school started up again. Now that everyone is back into the swing of things I'm getting back in the saddle as they say and reorganizing my crafty life. I have lots of things to share and photos to bombard you with! I'm sure by the time I get to some of them it will be almost spring but that's okay. Slow and steady is my mantra in 2010. Regular programing starting tomorrow...