Pants!

I think it was on the Made blog that I saw a tutorial for making simple pull-on pants for boys. So obvious, really, but I never would have thought of it myself. You just trace a pair that you already have, cut out 4 pieces, and sew them together. Oh, wait. I forgot the step where you rip it out umpteen times because you can't figure out how the heck pants are assembled.

Anyway, this super-cute elephant fabric jumped out at me when I went to Spool in Philadelphia a few months ago. I had to get some since Z loves elephants. I was pretty happy with how the pants turned out, and Zack seemed to be OK with them, too.

Note the armful of trucks. This is a constant around our house.

And they worked for an impromptu dip in the pool, too.

I was so amused with these that I had to make him another pair. This is a craptastic picture, but I love this pair--gray cotton with a chartreuse waistband. He looks like a little yoga boy when he wears them with his Crocs.


After making these I had a sudden flash of brilliance--that this technique would probably work for simple drawstring pajama shorts for me, too! I wear pj shorts all year long, but the only ones that I can find that I like only come in flannel, cost an annoying amount for what they are, and, well, flannel in summer? Not so much. So I tried it--traced a pair of the ones that I like, used some cotton that I had, and sewed them up (after ripping them out about 3 times). I used grosgrain ribbon for the tie. And now they're in the laundry, so no pictures. But as far as I'm concerned, the experiment was a success that resulted in some lightweight pj bottoms that I'll wear a lot. Woo hoo!

Spring Stuff & a little bit of Christmas!

I started this small Christmas sampler about 2 years ago but lost interest in it because it was sort of insignificant looking. I got the idea to use a memory box to frame it and make it more interesting. Good thing I have so much Christmas stuff. I crawled through alot of boxs to find this stuff!

I realize this may not be to everyone's liking but I have a thing for old tombstones. It was a ton of stitching but was the first new project I had done in cross stitching in a long time. It was also fun to put together. Got me up at that sewing machine.

This is my bits and bobs necklace. Just old 'junk' I picked up here and there. Every time I have it on it gets noticed. Must be the disco ball;). I am thinking of doing more since I have LOTS of 'junk'.

Some of the stones for these necklaces came from our trip to Yellowstone. I didn't know what to do with them but then I saw the site (Tweak? Treet?) on PW's blog and thought I'd give it a try.

The pear is stitched on all 3 sides with different motifs and sat unfinished for 3 or more years. I was afraid of the finishing job. It's scary to cut into fabric that not only ravels like crazy but has a significant amount of stitching on it. It actually went well once I got brave.

So that's it! I should have broken these up into 5 separate blogs but I figured I would just lay it on you all at once.

It's Finished & It Fits!!

Wow! It's been so long since I posted I almost forgot how. I finished Oliver's sweater and amazingly it fits, well, like it was made for him. I didn't change a single thing from the pattern. I LOVED that there was not one single seam. It was a fun pattern to do. Now if I could just knit faster. I also made the mask and Oliver liked it. He's big into super heroes right now. Working on some other things so maybe it won't be forever until I post again.

The drought has ended.

So I've made some stuff. Actually, I've been making lots of stuff, I just don't quite get around to posting.

So in some strange way, this is my favorite corner of the house, though I don't seem to be able to photograph it very well. Something about the Zack-height hooks, with the little coats, and the little boots just gets me. And I've just added a little bag to the hooks, to wrangle his hats and mittens.

A closer look.

The owner of these little hats, coats and boots just turned 2. Somehow. I'm not entirely sure how. But he is quite quick to tell you how old he is when asked.

Less than a week before his birthday party I got the idea that he needed a Birthday Crown. And wouldn't it be cute if I were to give those away as favors to the other kids? Though at the time of this brilliant idea, only one other little girl was coming. In the end, 5 other kids came. So I made 6 crowns.

This is Zack's.


These are the rest.

Here's an action shot.

I must say that the crowns weren't a bit hit with the under-10 crowd. The kids were either in the don't-put-anything-on-my-head stage, or the I'm-too-cool/old-for-this stage. But I knew it was a bit of a crap shoot going in, and I had a lot of fun making them, so I didn't really mind.