new(er) sewer

It's been so long since I updated this thing that my third baby is almost as old as the second kid was when I last posted.

I've been sewing. One of my friends found a free sewing class in a town a half hour away, so we've been going. I'm so stoked I'm trying to start a similar group locally. The best part? Mary is old enough to help me now.

Today we made this bag. We got our first letter from our new sponsor child in Bolivia, and Mary wanted to make her a book bag just like I made for her the first night at the new sewing class. Except the latest bag is way better. It's big enough to fit small exercise books and some soft-back phonics books, and the strap is long enough to go over the shoulder. Best part? Total cost: $0.

Before this bag, Mary requested a "mat." I'm not exactly sure what she was envisioning, but she's pleased with the result. She sleeps with it, wraps it around her like a cape, and otherwise cuddles up with it. The top is made from three fat quarters from the bargain bin at the quilt shop, $5. The white strips and blue corduroy backing were picked up at the Recycle Exchange for about 25¢.

I've also cleared out the storage area downstairs and turned it into my own little space. It needs some paint on the walls before I put p shelves, and I'm working next to the furnace, but it's MY space. There are two doors making for a quick exit, and BOTH of them have locks.

I made a coordinating crayon roll from the same set of fabric as the bag. Only took me about an hour! (not including time I was called away by kids, dinner, bedtime, etc) Isn't it pretty? I even made matching ribbons. It's meant to fit 8 jumbo crayons, but it also fits 24 regular ones.

Mary's List

Mary: Go car, Mummy!
Mummy: You want to go car?
Mary: Yeah! Go a mall!
Mummy: What do you want to do at the mall?
Mary: Umm... buy.
Mummy: What do you want to buy at the mall?
Mary: Umm... bananas!
Mummy: You want to buy bananas? What else do you want to buy?
Mary: Umm... milk!
Mummy: What else?
Mary: Umm... potatoes.
Mummy: And what else should we buy.
Mary: Umm... POOPOOS! *obnoxious laughter*
Mummy: You want to buy poopoos???
Mary: Yeah! *more obnoxious laughter*



She went on to also list fishies and cereal. So since we had nothing in particular else to do, we got ready to go to the grocery store. Mary helped me write our list. Then she chose a few extra things to put on.

We walked through the store without argument and collected all the things on the list, and nothing more. Mary had a great conversation with the check-out lady about her poopoos and who might eat them, and how yummy they were. They also discussed her housecoat. Then I asked Mary if she would like to go home, and rather than insist on going into the rest of the mall, she said yes.

Bread

Three weeks ago I bought nearly-expired organic milk at the grocery store. They mark it way down - $1.50 for a 2L and $3.50 for a 4L. Less than half the regular price and well under the price for non-organic milk. We almost always drink it, but this one jug got forgotten till after it was expired. I didn't want to give it to the kids, so I saved it. A week later, I tried sour milk biscuits. Or hockey pucks. I guess the milk wasn't sour enough. Today I tried sour milk bread. Yum!

Warrior Girl

Scott has always called Mary "Warrior Girl" for no particular reason at all. And now we have this photo.

Green Goals

Goal set: Find a butcher/farmer's market source for meat (sick of plastic and styrofoam packaging)

Goal accomplished: Start collecting warm-up/cool-down water in the sink, and start collecting the drips from the leaky faucet outside to use for watering

Goal set: Switch to cloth "paper" towels and, maybe, cloth toilet "paper"

Goal accomplished: Bake a successful loaf of bread.

***
Healthy Eating Win: Homemade whole wheat multigrain bread
Healthy Eating Fail: Perogies fried in bacon fat with full fat sour cream and bacon bits on top, with a side of bacon.

Park

The best photos are unposed candids.


This photo was posed. Bleh. And I wanted Mary in there too. As usually she was attacking me yelling "you! you!" because she wanted to see pictures of "you" (herself). I told her to go give her brother a hug. The following was the result.









Our original purpose for going to the park was leaf collecting. So we did that, too.

Most people would delete this photo. I like it.

Mary helped Thomas collect leaves, too.









Really, he must have liked it down there. Normally he hates being on his back and would squirm onto his tummy and either crawl away or push up to a sit. But he just laid there until Mary and I were done with leaves.

Then, after a break to play with four dogs who arrived in the park to play ("doggie! leaves!") Mary showed off some of her new skills on the jungle gym. I must say, I was pretty surprised.

A Skirt for the Whole Family

I couldn't get her to sit still or pose. She just wanted to look at the pictures on the camera. But here is Mary's new skirt.

It all started with this:

Dad's pants, salvaged from the charity bag.

Cut off the legs. I did it about 2 or 3 inches below the crotch. Then...


... cut off the crotch!

Come on, admit it. You've always wanted to do that.


Turn skirt inside out and pin crotch pieces together, front and back.


Attempt to distract your toddler from repeatedly climbing on the table by giving her your keys and wallet.


Now sew a straight line from the existing seam down to your new hem. Do this front and back.


Hem the bottom to desired length. I left it long (well, long for a toddler).


Et voila! The skirt in this form will be a nice short sexy skirt on your average 38-inch waisted man or woman.

What's that? You want to make it smaller?


I cut two holes on the inside waistband on either side of the zipper and fed the elastic through there (actually, I fed a piece of ribbon through first, then pinned it to the elastic and yanked the elastic through.

Now, before I cut and sewed the elastic on, I tested out a longer piece on myself. Fit great! I modeled it for Scott. He liked the leg. And HE's the one who pointed out that it would fit him just fine, too. And with the elastic with button holes, like they make for kids' adjustable waist pants, you could easily achieve this. They just didn't have that at the store I went to.

All done!