Some pics

Okay, here are some pics of my last few projects! Here is Charlie, in his new matching get-up (minus missing slipper, which I'm apparently going to have to re-knit.) I will be taking the top button off and sewing up the buttonhole, because there's no way I can button it without choking the poor little guy!


Next, is baby Hermione. Ari likes the sweater vest look, and says she doesn't want sleeves on her. I still need to sew the blanket, though. (It will take all of 5 minutes.)
Ari's birthday was nice. She loved her doll! I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow. Her cake didn't turn out how I wanted it. :0( I just tried to rush it too much. She still loved it, though.

We have another injury of the day! This time, it was poor little Charlie. :0( We had Charlie vs. the Rocking Chair, and the rocking chair won. He now has a nice vertical line in the middle of his forehead. I'm not sure how he got a vertical line from the rocking chair, but that is what the other children reported his head hit. Poor little guy's had a rough last few days!

We went to Cleveland Saturday, to take the little kids to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Melodie is at Disney World with my mom this week! They are having a blast. We initially wanted to take the kids to Memphis Kiddie Park, which is kind of like a fair/carnival kind of rides amusement park, just for little kids. Unfortunately, the "isolated" T-storms turned into an all day long shower, so we went to the museum, and were going to head back to the amusement park if it cleared up. We walked out of the museum, and low and behold, sunny skies were just opening up! We headed back to the amusement park, and it had closed. Evidently, they must have given up on the rain. (There were people there when we went by in the morning, but the rides hadn't been going.) So, we went to White Castle, where Ari got whacked in the head with a box of chicken! (It was a Church's/White Castle.) The guy felt so bad, he won her a prize out of the claw game.

All in all, the kids had a pretty good time. Then we got lost on the way home, and went like an hour out of the way. Oh well, it was a nice, scenic drive. ;0)

Poor little Charlie's bum was worse for wear after his all day long sitting marathon, though. He was in pretty bad shape yesterday, but was doing better today, you know, until the rocking chair thing.

Friday, we are taking the kids to COSI! I can't wait! I think I'm more excited than they are. I'll be taking Ari's sock to work on in the car on the way down, and finally finish that.

Some progress to report!

Well, I am very happy to say, I finished my OWL! I knit the 2 baby camo bibs, a sweater for Charlie, with matching slippers (of which the children have already lost 1) and little leg warmer/hamhock covers for winter. He also got a new pair of socks.

I did not finish Ari's socks in time to turn in for complete points. :0( I am hoping to finish them by tomorrow...when my sweet baby girl turns 6!!

I did get a wonderful present for my birthday, though. My dad bought me a new sewing machine!! It is awesome. Though, it still doesn't have all the stitch options I had hoped for, I am still THRILLED with it!

Yesterday was the first day I got to use it. I made Melodie a purse with matching coin purse (cursing my snap attacher....grrr. It's a hand press, not part of my sewing machine, and let's just say, I now have to cover the hole I accidentally pressed in her purse! sigh) And I made Ari a baby Hermione doll she had asked for, for her b-day, to go with her baby Harry. I just have to embroider the face tonight and whip up some clothes and a blanket. I ♥ my new machine!

I'm hoping to work the heel on the sock tonight, and I'll probably have to finish up the foot tomorrow during lulls in work. I've also got to bake her cake tonight. She was inspired by one of her friend's b-day cakes, so I'm tweaking it a little bit because I don't have the necessary baking apparatus to recreate that one! I'm doing a quarter sheet cake, and we're making cupcake fairy houses on top! My mom got me a piping tip and dye set for my b-day. (I had been buying tips as necessary.)

Stupid Sewing Machine

So, the new fabric was finally the push I needed to start up the sewing machine. I got started on Melodie's sun dress from my stash last night. I've had the fabric for like 2 years. I had cut it out about a week ago. So, last night I start. And.......something went wrong. I think it might be my bobbin tension, which I messed with and didn't get help from. Any sewing gurus out there that can give me some input on what would cause the bobbin thread to loop 600 times and bunch on the bottom of the fabric, get stuck in the sewing machine, and repeat every 2 inches? :0( I so need a new machine! I'm going to hint around for my birthday, rather strongly, that I need a new machine.

We went to the park yesterday with my grandparents. The kids had a blast! The creek was almost dried up, so they went down in the creekbed looking for rocks. We went walking along it to the little pools where there was still water to find minnows. While Atley and Melodie were looking for rocks, he started happily shrieking...."Mommy, I found a snake, and I touched it!" OMG! I couldn't believe he touched it. He's usually skittish about stuff like that. I was very proud of him. I did also have a little talk with him about not touching snakes unless a grown up tells him it's okay, because some snakes are poisonous and all snakes bite!

Oh, on a funny note, Atley just walked in wearing one of Charlie's shirts....size 12 months! That's my scrawny boy! lol

Injury of the Day: This one, for a change, goes to Ari! She was going into the bathroom at the park to rinse out her cup to get some water, and she ran the door into her toe and busted it open. Thank goodness for being prepared for Melodie's injuries of the day, I had my first aid kit in the truck and very easily scrubbed, disinfected, and bandaged the bloodied toe.

Fabric Pictures!

Ok, I know I've been saying this for weeks. Jaydee, just for you, here are fabric pictures! ;0)

These are from Joann's a few weeks ago. The one on the right is to make Ari a dress. (and enough for at least a doll dress and maybe one for Melodie too. But hey, it was $1.99 a yard!) The one in the middle is to make the boys some summer pajama shorts/pants. The one on the left was a remnant of the smocked sundress material I had hoped would fit Ari, but unfortunately it didn't, so I'll be making a baby sundress to put in my Etsy shop. And, as you can see, Charlie had to sneak in because he has decided he is quite a ham in front of the camera now!

Ok, this picture turned out pretty dark. On the right, you can barely see the gray fabric with pink butterflies I got to make the girls winter skirts for school. I'm thinking of going pleated, and I'll probably have to make some matching pink sweaters! The one in the middle is Shrek fabric. 99 cents a yard! I got 3 or 4 yards I think, I can't remember right now. I'm going to make the baby a shirt out of it, and then make some stuff for my Etsy shop. The fat quarters in the front are for bib backing for bibs for my Etsy shop. The blue on the left is to make Melodie a dress. Isn't that beautiful fabric!?! It was only $3.74 a yard because I got the last of a bolt, and they take 25 cents off a yard if you buy a whole new bolt or finish one off. So, about $4 for that beautiful embroidered dress...can't beat it!


And, here is Charlie in his new sweater with the neverending sleeves. I still need to get him some buttons, but I haven't been to Joann's for awhile. He was happy to see his picture, and went and got his sweater and handed it to me. He's such a smart baby!! (If I do say so myself, which I do.) ;0)

Been Caught Stealin'

So, yesterday morning, we do our normal weekly shopping trip. I take my own reusable bags, so we went through the self checkout, as usual. Atley got a piece of candy because he had written his name all by himself the night before, and he had to get his K shots yesterday. We get out to the car, and someone was parked close next to us, so I was watching the girls get in so they didn't ding the doors. I saw Melodie toss something on the seat. I knew she hadn't taken anything in the store with her. I went to see what it was, and saw a jumbo pack of Juicy-Fruit on the seat!

I was furious! I still am. And disappointed. I marched her right back in to the store and made her give it back and apologize to the manager, who talked to her. (although, not nearly as sternly as I had hoped.) I'm going to have my uncle (a detective with the Highway Patrol) have a talk with her, too. After the boys had their shots, we went to Twistee Freeze for ice cream, and she had to sit and watch. (Dan says I'm messed up.) She also will not be participating in cake and ice cream, goody bags, or party games at my cousin's son's b-day party this weekend. Dan says I was being too harsh to keep her home completely. (Which really surprises me, because he's usually slightly stricter than me. I figured he'd say I wasn't doing enough! go figure!)

Today, poor Charlie seems pretty miserable. They wanted to give him 5 shots. One of them, we're deferring, but I still didn't want him to have 4, so we split them up. Thank goodness! I can't imagine how miserable he'd be if he'd had 2 more! Atley is fine. Now that the shots are over. My goodness, I didn't know the little weasel was that strong! It took me and the 2 nurses to contain him enough to get the shots. He still squirmed a little much, and they had a hard time getting 2 of them to stop bleeding. He has made a full recovery and shows no ill effects, though! :0)

I know, I still need to get those fabric pics up. I am battling this sweater. I've got about 1-2 more rows of ribbing, BO, and seam! Then, I can put pics of everything up!

Headache

So, today I have a headache. My mom gets migraines, really bad. I'm lucky and only get them very occasionally. I think from Charlie's stint of not sleeping, and my staying up too late this weekend, plus the muggy change in the atmosphere, I got one today. :0( I really am lucky, though. I only get one maybe 3 times a year. My mom gets that many a week. I don't know how she functions.

Well, against my better judgment, I let the kids play in the back. I figured taking the chance of a repeat of the other day was worth it to my poor, throbbing head to have some slight quiet (if you can count Charlie growling quiet...silly baby.) Oh, he's making "car noises" for a wagon. Anyway, I took a nap earlier (with the kids safely inside) and feel slightly better now. I can work, which is always good. I need to go down to the dollar store and get some Gatorade. It probably wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did if I could have gone down earlier, but when it started coming on, Charlie was napping. I ended up taking a bit of a nap with him until Atley came in and woke him up, but it was enough to at least take the edge off...yay!

My fabric trip was a nice surprise! I got some GREAT finds! I'll try to get some pics up later. I started cutting out some stuff last night from my stash. If I've said my yarn stash is bad....it's NOTHING compared to the fabric stash. Hopefully, Melodie will have a new dress tonight! Then, I just need to find my pajama patterns. I had gotten them out to lend to a friend a few months ago, and now I have no clue where I put them. *sigh* Well, if nothing else, Joann's is having a $1.99 pattern sale this week, I think.

I should be finally finishing Charlie's sweater for my OWL tonight. I finished the front last night. I just need to do the edging and seams! I have to look over button holes, because I've only done them once, and I want it to button, not snap.

Good Day

Well, I've had a pretty good last couple days! Yesterday, I went to my BFF's baby shower. It was fun. I got to give her my yarned goodies. I still owe her a dalmatian hat, but I figure I can give that to her in the hospital when baby is finally here! Oh, and it was so funny, my other BFF (the 3 of us are pretty much 3 peas in a pod) was babysitting her little niece who is 1 month older than Charlie. We sat them at the head of the table in their highchairs next to each other so they could play. It was too cute! They held hands. They shared pancakes, eggs, and Cheerios. She kept putting her finger in his mouth, and he'd suck on it. Then, he'd check out her buttons. They even shared toys! No fighting or biting at all. Very impressive for one year olds! We've decided they make a cute couple and are destined to be together. (We had decided that when Charlie was born, though!)

The girls got to help with the presents. They took turns holding the trash bag for the wrapping paper and were so excited. Ari won a door prize! She got a movie night gift basket, which is her favorite thing in the world.

My mom took the kids for an overnighter afterwards. I must say, I did enjoy it, although strangely, spring break went much happier and smoother than I thought it would, crappy weather and all! It was a pleasant surprise. Maybe summer won't be so dreadful this year...we'll see!

Dan's friend came over last night to celebrate his birthday. I made his good cake, and they both loved it! His friend kept saying how he hates chocolate cake and icing, but that was the best he ever ate, and he just loved it! Yay for me and my cake!

My mom still has the kids. I got the lawn mowed this morning. I'm doing good on getting work done. Charlie just laid down for a nap. It's been a good day!

I'm almost done with Charlie's dino. I hope to have it done tonight. I just need to do the feet and embroider the eyes. I finished the head last night. I can't wait for his birthday! I can't believe my sweet baby is going to be 1 already. He is still SO close to crawling. He gets on all fours, and then sits back down. He's doing good pulling himself up now. Hopefully in the next month or so, we'll finally get him walking, or at least scooting/crawling in the right direction! (He can scoot himself backwards on his belly with his arms. He can scoot on his butt wherever he wants to go, though.) Charlie will be getting a sock monkey cake for his birthday. I'm going to do a banana pudding filling in it! I can't wait. I'm so excited to get started on it!

I've also been inspired by Inspired Mama Musings (her button is on my blog! Check her out, she does some AWESOME work!) to break out the good ole' sewing machine again. I've been wanting to, but I just haven't had the drive to sew. I admit it, I'm lazy. I like to sit on the couch and knit. I have to sit in an uncomfortable wood chair to sew. But, I think I'm finally going to make the girls' dresses I got the fabric for last year. I really want to take the kids to get their pictures taken at the park. I'm hoping my mom's boyfriend will take some so Dan and I can get in them, too. We haven't done a family picture since Melodie was a baby, so we're long overdue! I was going to make the boys matching overall outfits, too, but my mom picked up a little short outfit for Atley on her last vacation, and it happens to match almost exactly a little outfit that used to be his that Charlie can wear now, so I think I'll leave them at that. I do need to make him his Spiderman jammies I've had the fabric for for over a year though. He doesn't really have any summer jammies for this year that will fit!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wow. That's all I can say, wow. Some BEAUTIFUL custom, hand sewn children's clothes. This just blows my mind. I've always considered myself a fairly accomplished seamstress....not anymore!! Wow, again, wow.