Category Archives: Ian

Sweet Pea Pilot caps

So, did anyone out there follow the Celebrate the Boy month of February over at MADE?  Well, I, being the mother of many boys, certainly did.  I really wanted to get some 90 minute shirts made, but alas, they just ended up on that list.  You know, the list of projects I would really, really, really like to get to.  I need a laundry lady.  And a school assistant.  Then I could get to that list.

Then Meg contributed her Sweet Pea Pilot Cap pattern (gloriously, generously FREE here, just scroll down and look to the right).  No pattern drafting needed to get the project started, just easy pieces to cut and quickly sew together.  In a Saturday afternoon I had super cute, soft hats for my littlest boys.

he calls it his space-man hat

Ian calls his his space-man hat and is rarely seen without it.  (He’s 3 and wearing a size large.  This hat fits my almost 6 and 8 year olds too.)

I love how it frames Hunters perfect chubby face. (His is a medium.)

the sweet pea pilot cap

from behind

The pattern suggests you use a walking foot and stabilizer to keep your knit fabric from getting all puckery, but I just couldn’t wait until after I  made a trip to the store, so I did these without either.  I did use a ball point needle and my machine has a special setting for knit fabric and can somehow sense what pressure the presser foot needs, so my hats turned out pretty pucker free.

I made a couple for gifts at a sewing date with RaeLyn borrowing her walking foot.  I’m not sure if it made a difference or not.


small cappy gifts

I guess I’ll have to whip up some more to decide for sure.

THREE!!

look what i have...

Do you see that up there?  It’s a THREE year old who just finished saying, “Take a picture of me, mama!”

This is what was happening behind me:

making of the banner

Birthday banner making by Logan, fancy letters and all.

Ian’s birthday was furry of kid-made goodness.  Now that I’m writing this I wish I had taken photos of the cards Brenna and Jonah drew, but I did get a picture of the Mon-mon they designed and made for him.  (With a little help from me.)

the mon-mon and the crown

And it’s not just any Mon-mon– it’s a SUPER Mon-mon.  Brenna also made him the Birthday King all decked out with a paper crown and jeweled rings.

We had a couple of families over to share a dinner of pigs-in-blankets, macaroni and cheese, and carrots and dip.

with the banner and a reflection of friends

3!

Oh, and cake, of course.  Chocolate cake with pink frosting as requested.

We are so lucky to have this sweet, delightful little guy in our family.  I tell him every night I’m so happy to be his mama, and he replies right back, “I’m so happy to be your Ian,” and kisses my cheeks and chin and forehead.

(To see more pictures of the present opening click here.)

Trick or Treat!

When Brenna was  tiny I was very idealistic about Halloween.  I saw it as a little microcosm of life– that she could be anything she wanted, and I would help her get there.  Silly, I know, but the dressing up and making was so much fun.  As each new child has entered our family that whole idealism has, well, gone out the window.  Now it is a last minute scramble to get the costumes decided on and all the stuff gathered up.  Halloween ranks right up there with Christmas on my kids’ list of favorite holidays.  At least once a day, ALL YEAR LONG, Logan tells me what he’s going to be for the next Halloween.  I guess there is some magic in the thought that he really can transform himself into anything he wants.  This year he settled on being a pirate:

arrrg matey!

Jonah was an alien:

take me to your leader

Brenna was leopard:

grrrrr

Then there was Buzz– which has been Ian’s everyday uniform on most days lately:

to infinity and beyond

And for the third time we had a little dinosaur.  I made this hood and tail when Jonah was a baby.  Logan was only 3 months old his first Halloween, so he was too little to wear it, but Ian did, and now Hunter:

duh

(Barry took these pictures in the church parking lot during our Trunk-or-Treat.)

The only sewing I did this year was make Brenna a tail and ears to pin on to her sweats– the rest was just paint and hairspray and a good dig through the dress-up and recycling bins.

We lit our Jack-0-Lanterns and did a little Trick-or Treating around the neighborhood too.

all in a row

The Portrait Project

I’ve really needed updated photos of my kids for my mantle since, well, I think the last time I had pictures taken was 2 years ago.  I’ve got lots of snapshots of course, but I needed portraits.  The thought of making an appointment, getting everyone clean and dressed and somewhere on time has been giving me hives.

 I have big windows and lots of natural light in our family room, so yesterday I hung a big brown sheet at one end of the room and snapped away.   Most of the pictures I took turned out like this:

out takes

Out of focus, fake smiles, silly faces, or Ian in the Buzz Lightyear costume he found in the dress-up bin about a month ago and hasn’t taken off since (I had to bribe him with chocolate chips). Click here to see the out takes bigger, if you’d really like.

But the beauty of digital photography is that I could take LOTS of pictures.  I decided to go with black and white pictures so it didn’t matter what color the background or clothes were.  A few clicks in iPhoto, the Costco photo printing center, and $8 later, I’ve got these lined up on my mantle:

hunter

ian

logan

jonah

brenna

Not bad for a day’s work.