Kids Clothes Week Challenge, Day 2

Really a continuation of yesterday, as today's project is a skirt to match the top.
I made a Lazy Days Skirt, super easy, and so cute!
I have some boy plans for tomorrow, so I'm gonna get going on that.

In Which I Describe My Activities of the Past Weekend

The weekend of May 8 and 9 was very full of activities for me and my family.
Saturday began with a visit to Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival.
Last year my friend Nancy and I took our families and the kids got tired and chilled and we all went home, then Nancy and I returned alone.
This year we decided to skip the tantrums and go by ourselves.
I was having such fun I didn't take a single photo! But I did get some great stuff.
We were both intrigued by the corn fiber yarn. It's a little crunchy on the ball, but the samples they had after washing had a beautiful hand.

As Nancy is a spinner, she encouraged me to try spinning again.
The roving is from Handmade By Stephania, and I also got a new spindle.
This ball of roving exactly matched the scarf I wore to the festival, so I am going to try to knit some mittens to match out of this yarn.

One of the last booths we saw was covered in antique saris. The purveyor was selling them for people to cut them into strips and knit with them.
I couldn't bear to let this one go that road, so I rescued it.

It just happened that I had been invited to a birthday party that evening, and the dress was international.
I have another sari, but I wore this one instead.On Mother's Day after singing at church we took a trip to Gertens, which is a huge gardening store.
It was the first nice-ish day in a week or so, and we have a reasonable expectation of no more frosts, so we, and about 2000 other people, decided to put some new plants in the garden.

Sunday afternoon the House of Hope Choir School had their annual end-of-year concert.
Our 5 choirs all performed a couple of songs, and the 4th-12th graders sang Vivaldi's Gloria.
It was magnificent!
My kids gave me some lovely Mother's Day gifts -The Elder grew these marigold seedlings from seed at school.The younger made this at his preschool.
He has been telling me about a secret purple flower for about a month.
It was a real treat to see it in person.

I hope your weekend was fun, I hope your Mother's Day was relaxing, talk to you all soon.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

Meg at Elsie Marley is hosting a kids clothing week this week.

The challenge is to take at least one hour each day and try to make something for our kids.
Today I chose to make a shirt for my dear Elder Hug-a-Bug.

I had a couple of t-shirts that got washed with a chap stick, and they all got smudgy oil spots on them.
I cut one of them up using a tank top that fits her well
Then I cut a second one a little wider at the armholes and neck to make a fold-over facing.
Then I sewed the side and shoulder seams on my new (old) sewing machine that sews a zig-zag, and hand sewed them together at the armholes and neck.


Finally, I freehand drew a couple of patterns from this fabric and pulled a little Alabama Chanin by hand sewing around the shapes and cutting out the waste.
I am pretty happy with the results.
I think I could get hooked on this reverse applique thing. It's pretty swell.

Art

When I was little, and it may go on still, there was a section of the Saint Paul newspaper where folks could send in little stories and photos that were cute or funny or sweet, and there would always be a disclaimer on one section "Warning: Cute Kid Story Ahead."

I was always really annoyed by this.

What's wrong with cute kid stories?
And isn't the kid story cute enough that you don't need to en-cute-en it with a cheesy title?

Anyway, I was young and didn't have any cute kids of my own, and so I didn't quite realize how much people really like to tell cute kid stories, nor did I realize that people might not want to hear about other people's cute kids.

So flash forward 20 years or so, and here I am with a blog almost entirely dedicated to the cuteness of my own children.

That said, look at the wonderful art that my Elder Hug-a-Bug is making at school!
Now this first one is just cute.
She copied the emotions chart from school
This next one really shows by baby's skills
It's for sure that I wasn't making anything like this when I was 6.
She is really quite proud of her self-portrait, and so am I.

Some sewing

The fabric store where I work just started carrying the Colette line of patterns and I am in the midst of finishing a model garment for display.
The pattern is called Eclair. I have only the hem left, and I am pretty happy with the results.
The main fabric is Kona Crush from Robert Kaufman, and the contrast fabric is Diamond Mine from Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line.
It'll be the perfect thing to wear when Anna Maria Horner comes to visit Treadle! She's coming for a book signing in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to meet her.

Paper Typing Machine

I was cleaning out our garage last Saturday and I found one of my old typewriters.

I used to collect all sorts of things.
Egg cups, canning crocks, antique school books (o.k., I still collect these, but that's fodder for another post) and typewriters.
The typewriter collection was small, only 3, I didn't get very far, but I love their look.
At one point I had a Royal with beveled glass windows in the sides so you could see the inner workings.
I was young and foolish, and I traded it in for a bicycle.

In my freshman year of college I typed up all of my papers for my writing class on a portable Smith Corona that is green, and lovely.
I think it's still in the house somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.

The typewriter that I did find is this Smith Corona Silent.
Some parts had fallen off, but after a little tinkering I was able to make it type.
Now it's the favorite thing in the house for the children.In an occurrence of serendipity, Amanda has a post today about typewriters too.
Scroll down and see the line-up of kids on typewriters, so sweet.
I think I need to find one more for us.

I almost forgot!

It's not officially May at my house until I hear this.