Christmas Pajamas

Now that Halloween is over and Thanksgiving and fall shirts have been received,

it's time to start planning for Graysen's Christmas outfits.

I've had the green pjs for a couple of months trying to decide what to put on the front.  I had my favorite reindeer in mind all the time and decided to go with that - simple and cute too.

 

Photographing in the early-morning sunshine makes them appear mint, but they're a really a pretty Christmas green.  I ordered them in August from ARB Blanks, and the reindeer is from Applique Cafe.  The owner of Applique Cafe has a blog that has been pretty helpful for me learning to embroider,  and I had a chance to go to Beth's Heirlooms in Wetumpka last night where she had a 2-hour demonstration and discussion.  It was pretty fun, although I had learned almost everything she said from the blog.  It was still good to get out and listen to questions and answers and watch them use a 12-needle machine.  I don't think I'll ever graduate to more than a single-needle one!

Mike and I were discussing the bow.  The reindeer is so plain it needs something else, so a bow works for a girl - but what if you have a little boy?  It's supposed to be Rudolph with that red nose, so I guess it's really supposed to be a boy anyway.  It does no good to over-analyze children's embroidery.  Graysen will probably like it just fine.

The aqua and pink dress is packed and ready to mail along with the baprons from yesterday.

Right after she was born, I found some red shoes for "one day" that I found on sale after Valentine's Day.  Emily tried them on her last night, and if she won't grow much before Christmas, I think they'll do just fine for the holidays.

 

 

I thinks she considers them 2 new toys attached to her feet.

 

 I have babysitting at church this morning and then home to recover (probably a nap). 

 

Baprons, videos, and a sew-along. And my Favorite Baby.

I got this little email from Graysen labeled, "If you love me, you'll send more baprons."

 

I made this yellow one before she was born.  It seemed so big then!  She's learned to pull the Velcro bibs off, so these work out well with the ties and because they cover so much of the body.

I originally used the pattern and tutorial from a blog, Craftiness is Not Optional.  Since then, since so many people were copying her pattern and selling them, she decided to sell her pattern.  All I needed to know was the length of the binding, so I searched around and found that information.  If I make any more, I'll buy the pattern since it includes sizes up to age 3.  Oh, bapron is a cross between a bib and an apron.

 This is what I ended up with: 

 

I fought with that bias  binding a LOT and did it really 3 different ways, but I think we've finally come to terms, and I'm okay with the last method.  Sewing it down on the wrong side, folding it toward the front and top stitching or zig-zag stitching.  It will do fine for bibs that will be covered with food.

I entered a sew along through Facebook from Whimsical Fabrics.  The pattern was Children's Corner Lucy, and I used a sweet aqua fine-wale corduroy with an applique of a little Christmas tree in pink. Danielle and Emily posted 4 days of instructions with pictures and ideas and instructions, and it was up to us to be as creative as we wanted to.  I think 6 of us ended up finishing our project.   It was not easy, but it turned out really cute, and if it fits Graysen, it will be a perfect dress for this year.

 

It's lined and so soft.  The covered buttons were easy to make, and the buttonholes even turned out without a problem.

 

This embroidery pattern is called Whimsy Tree Applique from Embroidery Boutique.  It stitched out so well and was so easy.  I'll use that one again.

 

The little pockets in the pattern were cute - if a little tricky to make - but I conquered them.  My dress was a little too small for pockets, so I left them off, but it's nice to know how to do them.

Emily sends me funny and sweet videos of Graysen sometimes, and since I can't save them to my picture file, they kind of scroll off the page in my emails.

I think I've figured out how to transfer the here, so now I'll have them in one place.

The latest ones.  They made me laugh.












Crafty daughter did a fabulous job of making her own costume as well as Graysen's for Halloween.

What I did in October

 

Besides being my favorite month weather-wise, I feel like we've had a very productive month, getting a lot of things marked off our lists.  Mike's list is actually written down and taped to the kitchen counter - not the ideal place, according to me - but better than not having one at all. 

My list is swirling around in my head with all the 500 other things I'm thinking about, so it's a wonder anything gets accomplished.

So what have we done?

Mike has set up a carpenter's shop in the garage and constantly busy.  He hates it when I call it puttering.

I can't even remember everything he's done this fall.  He has pressure-washed every surface that doesn't move and some that do (my car).   Every paintable exterior surface has been caulked and painted and caulked again.   The storage house has been completely repainted.

He has waged war on water damage and replaced wood with non-wood that is impossible to tell the difference.  Every window has been caulked and all the metal and woodwork around them have been painted.   Door thresholds are next as well as new doorknobs on the back and side doors. 

It's hard to remember a whole month of activities when I can't even remember what I did yesterday. 

I go to help make turbans for cancer patients on Wednesday morning with a wonderful group of ladies.  We have a lot of fun and hopefully turn out something that will help someone.

We laugh a lot, share our problems, and pray for the ones receiving the turbans as well as our friends and family members.

We made baby blankets for the daycare on the other hall, and they rewarded us with a wonderful platter of pastries last week.

 

A little bit more active is my Friday morning babysitting for a young mothers' Bible study.  I think I've already included some of the pictures, but I always have some new ones.  It's hard to take a picture because one of the 1-year-olds has an uncanny way of hearing the click and buzz of my camera every time.  This causes him to come crawling over to try to find buttons to push.

I love to see this sweet view.

 

I noticed these on the front porch this morning.  Just a few weeks before gloomy weather.

 

 

I've sewed another stack of jerseys.

Finished Sarah's cross.

Participated in a sew along.

It helps to have pictures for every step of the instructions.

These are the 6 dresses in progress plus the instructors.  Which one is mine?

 

How about this one?

 

 

Sherry brought me these two soft book panels to make for Graysen.  I've cut them out and just need to cut the batting to size and sew them up.  She did the same ones for her Emma.

The big project for Graysen for Christmas - a smocked dress.  I have the fabric, the smocking plate, the pattern, the thread, and the tiny little pearls.  All that remains is for me to get in there and get started. 

I'm so impressed with Emily's talent.  She had the idea to make an owl costume for Graysen for Halloween.  She emailed me one day and asked a question or two about the instructions.  I didn't think much more about it until I saw these pictures on Facebook.  Not only did she make a perfect little owl costume for Graysen, she made Mother Owl wings and a mask for herself. 

This will be it for October, I think.  We have 6 weeks before our (hoped for) Christmas gathering in WA.  I need to get on the ball and get some things done.

I took a little time off, it seems

I haven't been just sitting around admiring my neat sewing room.  There's too much more to do to enjoy it yet, but it is a big improvement.  I've actually moved those stacks of cloth around and used some of them.

Besides the jersey-making, I've done some embroidery this week.  Sharon, a mother of 5-month-old twins asked if I could make some bibs more exciting.  They were nicely bound in striped fabric and just begging for designs.

Two of them got owls.

 

 

A chick and a hippopotamus.

 

And 2 monograms.  I love how these turned out.  One for Hannah and one for Nate.

 

 

I have 2 turkeys to do for my favorite boys, but I decided to try out the fabrics Amanda and I had talked about.  This may not be the exact combination she picked, but this is a shirt I did for Graysen.

 

 

Except for turning the back fabric sideways (because I cut it too narrow), I think this is a pretty combination.  Turkeys are not the most beautiful of creatures, and I don't like a lot of the patterns I see, but this one makes me happy.  A plump little turkey who wishes he were a peacock.

 

 

Or she.

 

 

 

I needed a bright orange polka-dot bow, but I needed to get a package mailed, so this was as close as I could come.

 

Mike has been busier than I have the past 2 weeks.  I mentioned that I thought the white wicker chairs on the porch would look good black - to match the front door - and he agreed, and over the course of about a week, this is what we have now.

 

 

Luckily the cushions look better with black than with white.

 

 

 

He even painted the table, and the coleus is now living there.  A nice place to sit and drink a cup of coffee if we would ever take the time to do it.

 

 

 This is small potatoes to the other stuff he's been up to.  The new pressure washer has gotten a workout.  Not only have the porch, patio, driveway, and all walks been cleaned - he's pressure-washed the woodwork on the whole house.

That led to painting all the woodwork - a huge job.  But with this magic tool, he's been able to stay off the ladder for all but the last touch ups.  It's his favorite toy of all time, I think, and he was glad to demonstrate all the positions and all the areas it will paint.

 

 

 

 

So no ladder mishaps, but there was the painful attack from an "Africanized killer hornet," that took offense to his white painter's turban/doo-rag.  The stinger is still in his forehead.  He has confirmation from our pastor that he saw a nest of them in his lawn mower when he opened it; they didn't swarm, but they all "turned around and looked at him."

 

It's time for lunch, so I'll come back and post pictures of our Turban Ministry at work and a few more of the Friday morning Bible study kids.

 

The sweetest picture lately of sweet Graysen.  She turned 8 months old Sunday.  How can that be?!