Rainy Day Skirt

It's kids clothes week challenge over here and I thought that I'd participate this year. I've got so many project ideas running through my head that I figured this would be a good chance to get some of them done or at least started! Hop on over to elsie marley and read all about it and join us!!

I started off my Monday morning on the right track with this super cute little rainy day skirt for Sage. I love this fabric and got my hands on some of it yesterday and couldn't wait to get started.

Sage clearly likes it too, which makes her mama pretty happy!

Rocker Re-do

Dennis eyed this old rocker at a recent garage sale and snagged it. That very same weekend he picked up some spray paint and got to work. I regret that I didn't get a complete before picture but imagine that the paint was a faded red just like the seat.

Before:

On Monday I grabbed some cute oilcloth, pulled the old cover off and stapled the new one on. We now have a "new" rocker on our back porch.

After:

Vintage Market

Last month I participated in my first market selling my sewing goods. It was a bit nerve-racking since I only had about 2 weeks from when I was asked to participate until market day. So I spent every extra minute sewing. I decided to only a few different products which included aprons, clothespin bags, snack bags and lavender sachets. The market itself was really fun - it's held in a charming old farm building.  Here are a few pictures of my booth.

I'm hoping to do more shows like this in the future and include different products. A little etsy shop might be in my future too.... stay tuned!

Oliver & S Ruffled Halter

I came across this free pattern here and got right on it. I've had this cute white lace fabric for a while and thought it would be perfect. Plus - I love a little girl in white in the summer! It came together really fast and the instructions were really easy to follow.

Purple Flamingos

Sage has a darling pair of pants that have a shirred waist and sweet little bows on the back of the legs. They are lightweight and perfect for summer around here. Sadly, she has almost outgrown them. I decided to try and re-create these sweet little pants and shorten them a bit. I have some super lovely fabric that I had in mind for these pants but I was a bit afraid to cut into it for fear they wouldn't turn out. And so... I turned to my stash and found some purple flamingos to use for my test pair. The shirring of the waist worked amazing. I cut slits up the back of the leg and added a little bow. Perfect pants for running around outside, helping Daddy with the wood pile and proclaiming "Sagie so tough!"

Jammies + Clothesline = Happy Mama

I can never believe my luck when I find Anna Maria Horner (my favorite fabric designer) fabric on sale. A few weeks ago, it happened again - I found this lovely AMH voile for half off!!! So I bought 2 yards figuring I would surely think of something to make. And I did. I decided to make myself a new pair of pj shorts in this super soft, lightweight fabric. I used a pretty simple pj pant pattern from my Weekend Sewing book and modified it to be shorter then just added some curve on the outside leg. Love!
The other thing I have to share is my new clothesline. Well actually it's not new. But it's new to this house. I love drying my clothes on the line in the summertime. There is something about the fresh, crisp clothes just off the line that I love. So hubby kindly installed this for me last weekend. It's accessible right off my back porch so I don't have to go far to hang my clothes. Now all I need is some sunshine so I can get my clothes out there!

I still haven't got around to making tags to attach to the clothes I make but I have been experimenting with fabric paint. For these shorts I simple sewed on a piece of ribbon and stenciled a "V" on with some fabric paint.

Father's Day

For Father's Day we decided to go to Emerald Downs to watch the horse races. We took Dennis' parents and surprised his dad, who had no idea where we were going. Emerald Downs has "Family Days" starting on Father's Day and it was great for the kids. They had pony rides, face painting, bounce houses and lots of other activities for kids. We of course had to do the pony rides. The people running the pony rides were awesome. I swear the kids got at least a 10 minute pony ride!

The races were great fun to watch too. It took a while for us to figure out how to actually place a bet but when we did it was fun to go watch the horse and pick one to bet on.

The thing that interested Wyatt the most was a little show they had going on called "Predator's of the Wild." It was a traveling show which included snakes (lots of snakes), alligators, possums, armadillos, skunks, etc. Wyatt loves anything that has to do with animals so he was intrigued and we ended up watching the show a couple of times. The kids even got to get their picture taken with an alligator! Don't worry - his mouth was taped shut!

All together we had a fantastic Father's Day! Hope you did too!

Strawberries

One of my favorite things about summer is berry picking. Today's forecast was the best for the week, so I decided on a whim to take the kids up to Sequim and pick some strawberries. The weather was great - clear blue skies but not too hot for picking. We had a great time. Looks like my week just got a little bit more busy as I will now be making jam. Whenever I go up to Sequim, I like to stop by Sunny Farms. They always seem to have great deals on produce. Today, I couldn't resist the 15 pound bag of rhubarb. So looks like I'll be making strawberry-rhubarb jam and may even try my hand at using honey instead of sugar.

June

Summer is here (sort of) and we are out and about having fun! I've started our summer bucket list and I'm looking forward to having lots of fun with the kids this summer. What is on your summer bucket list? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Teachers Gifts

I knew that I wanted to make some gifts for Wyatt's teachers and I knew what I wanted to make them. But, for some reason I didn't start these gifts until the last day of school. So of course, I was a frantic mess trying to get these done. But they turned out great and his teachers loved them!

The Sunday Dinner Apron:

Graduation Night!

The Big 5

Wyatt tuned 5 last month! We had a little party with his friends. I was hoping that the weather would have been a bit better for his party, but it wasn't meant to be. The kids didn't mind one bit and had fun inside and outside despite the rain. When I asked Wyatt what kind of cake he wanted he said a dinosaur cake. I did a little research (umm...pinterest) and found some inspiration.

While browsing pinterest I found some cute and simple party favor ideas that Wyatt helped me make for all his friends. Gummy skewers!

This photo sums up our 5 year old: wearing a camo shirt that says "Carhartt, the definition of tough."

Maxi Dress for Me

I don't generally like sewing for myself because I haven't figured out how to make clothes fit like I want them to. But I've been pining over this adorable maxi dresses on pinterest and today I decided to go for it.
So I followed this easy tutorial with a few changes. The fabric that I decided to use for the skirt happened to be knit. Truthfully, I was nervous about sewing with knits. I've made attempted to make a few things in knit in the past and it wasn't pretty. But a while back I had bought a ball point needle and I'm telling you it made all the difference. Sewing this dress was a breeze. Honestly.
I LOVE the results.

 

Hubby only agreed to take pictures for me if I included some of his handiwork. So please note the birdhouse bench and the new fence in the background.