Still here...

I am still alive. Honestly!

I have just been super, super busy the last couple of weeks.

 

We first went camping for a couple of days followed by my sister's wedding.

 

The next week, I canned.

46 quarts of apple juice,

7 quarts of apple pie filling, and I'm not sure how many pint jars of pickles--there's 60 down there right now--a couple left from last year.

I believe there's around 30 some jars of beans.

 

 

And, I still have to do the beets--that is on my to-do list today.

And, maybe the carrots as well....(not today though--they're still in the ground)

 

We had to take the potatoes and beets out of the garden rather suddenly--we had a major hail storm that demolished the plants.

 

 

 

The kids enjoyed the aftermath!

Thankfully the potatoes and beets are underground. The carrots actually look pretty good yet--that's why they're still in the garden.

 

 

 

To top it all off, we have started home schooling last week and it takes some time to get a good routine. Especially since this is the first time ever for me for homeschooling. It is slightly overwhelming! But, already there is some progress.

 

 

We bought a new coffee table...

 

 

To store our homeschooling books.

 

 

 And, we had fun becoming Vikings!

 

Layered Ruffle Skirt

Not so recently anymore, I saw this cute skirt and, I knew that one day, I'd HAVE to make one.

What better fabric to use than the bright, colorful, Rhapsodia fabric fat quarters? So, after I had made the Itty Bitty baby dress over here, I had plenty left to make this. So, I looked up the original tutorial here, and started planning and scheming away.

After much deliberating and pausing in my work (as in weeks), I finally decided on the lengths of the strips, and wether or not I'd add another layer of fabric to thicken the top white (Walmart cotton) layer, I finished!

I even added a ribbon to cover the top raw edge--my first sewn ribbon ever.

And, a ribbon tag to tell what is the back. Not that it matters.

I really like the layers upon layers of bright, colorful ruffles. And, so does my daughter!

International Post

I received a lovely package from a friend in Cuba the other day.

She sent a lovely Cuban gift and some Cuban cookbooks.

And, I wanted to send her a small token as a thank-you.

Yep, handkerchiefs.

I had some white cotton from Walmart, and I stitched some fancy stitches to pretty it up a bit.

I like how they turned out--very pretty and feminine.

They are on their way!

Itty Bitty Baby Dress

Remember that Rhapsodia Fat Quarter Bundle I won? Well, I found out that a certain sister-in-law loved the bright colors, and it just so happens that she had a sweet little baby girl last week. So, I cut into that beatiful, bright fabric and sewed up an Itty Bitty Baby Dress from Made by Rae.

I really like how the different, bright colors worked together--I even added some extra color by doing some color blocking on the front bodice.

 I didn't add the piping and I actually made a hem instead of using bias tape. The dress was bright and colorful enough without the added detailing of piping and bias tape.

This is such a fun, quick pattern for a newborn dress--perfect for baby gifts!

Rhapsodia

This came in the mail yesterday!

Eight lovely fat quarters of Rhapsodia fabric.

They were sent to me by A Joyful Soul Fabrics after I won a giveaway on the blog, Quilting, Losing, and Tea. 

They're quite pretty--now just to figure out what I am going to make out of these!!!

'Little Heartbreaker Pants'

So, I sewed up some pants for my oldest son this week--the 'Little Heartbreaker Pants' from the book, 'Sewing for Boys.' They look pretty neat but they're wide--even though they have the adjustable waist. I think next time, I'll have to sew up the size 2/3 and add the length for the 4/5 or, make them even smaller as my boys are pretty skinny!

I used a dark charcoal grey corduroy that, I believe, I got from the second hand store awhile back.

The contrast fabric is a quilting cotton from Fabricland that I bought when I first started sewing over two years ago. I used that same fabric for curtains and the 'Let's Go Fishing Hats' over here.

For the cuffs, I cut the fabric the opposite way to add some extra texture.

I like the whole faux fly thing--it makes them look less homemade and more professional.

Some bluish fabric peaking out of the pockets.

And, the back and front facing are also the same bluish fabric.

I find, especially with a thicker fabric like this that the back gathers rather roughly from the elastic--no nice, even gathers. Has anyone tried it with a thinner fabric and had any improvement on this aspect?

To add some detail, I added pockets to the back. Now that I look at the pictures, I think I would move them a little further off center and make them a bit bigger. But, this'll do nicely for now--he needs some pants--the jeans from Old Navy just don't last--they both have holes in the knees in less than 3 months of wearing them!

And, I'm linking up to Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Crafts for the Sewing for Boys Sew Along.

T-Shirts

I really like the Jalie 2805 pattern. I can make nice, modest t-shirts in a rather short time.

I recently made two of them as I have a very hard time finding t-shirts that are high enough in the front to not 'flash' people when I bend down or when one of my kids pulls on my shirt.

The grey one has the short sleeve option while the turquoise one has the cap sleeve option. I'm not sure what I like better yet.

Blue fabric: Turquoise knit. Sorry it's not more specific, but that is the info I got for that fabric when I bought it!

Grey fabric: Rayon Blend Baby Rib Knit in Heather Grey. Both are from Fabric.com.

I top-stitched the grey one around the neck opening because it wasn't laying quite right but the turquoise one didn't need the top-stitching. I think it's just the way the different fabrics drape. The pattern doesn't call for top-stitching the neck opening.

And, it's a dream sewing knits on my Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine. It has this lovely overedge type of stitch and the presser foot pressure can be decreased quite a bit so it works great.

My kids (and later my husband) looked at me like I had gone crazy when I took these t-shirts out to photograph them when there was a rain 'storm' coming. The fact that I would go out when it was just starting to drip was beyond my children's comprehension and when they mentioned it to my husband he shook his head and laughed. What can I say, I wanted to get the pictures done that day, and it's a good thing I did--the last day and a half have been super windy and rainy and cold. Definitely not picture-taking weather!