Just a quick post today. I thought I’d show you the cute little bunny Brenna made for a friend’s birthday.
She made the pattern and did most of the work. I helped with sewing some of the tight curves and turning those skinny feet right side out.
And check out the cute little tail! News is that he is much loved in his new home.
It was a long time ago that I carved this block to print an all over design on fabric. Since then sewing projects took over my studio and left me no room to print. Last week Barry had Veteran’s Day off and he helped me dig out of the mess and organize it– which left me with a clear drafting table and room to print fabric!
Add to that Pillow Week hosted over at House on Hill Road and I had a perfect use for my handprinted fabric. Even though I didn’t get this photographed and blogged during Pillow Challenge Week, I did get it made. That counts, right? You should check out Erin’s pillow posts— there’s lots of information on closures and stuffing, and lovely pillows to look at.
I printed on plain linen and am pretty happy with how it turned out. My pattern matched up!
I’m wondering if I need to add something to my ink so it’s not quite so sticky next time and soaks into the fabric a little. This went really fast, though. I went from cutting and ironing my fabric to cleaning up my ink mess in less than an hour– printing 1/2 yard of fabric.
I also made a simple striped stamp and printed a long 1/4 yd. of fabric, then cut it into triangles to make the other side. There’s an invisible zipper in the bottom seam, so the pillow is totally reversible.
I’m excited that my all over pattern repeated so well! It’s fun when experiments work out.
This morning as I was getting dressed I noticed that the knee of my favorite (read only) pair of jeans that fits right now had a little hole worn in the knee which promised to grow to much larger proportions the first time I kneeled on the floor to play blocks or read stories. So, I promptly headed down stairs to my sewing machine and got to work.
I just cut a scrap of denim from an unrecoverable pair of kid jeans and pinned it inside, then zig-zagged the bejeebers out of it. I used a grayish blue thread on top to try to camouflage it a bit.
Then I trimmed the patch inside with pinking shears.
I find myself needing to do this a lot. You see, I am not a shopper. Spending money gives me stress. I don’t like to buy things I don’t absolutely love, but often when I find something I do love it’s too expensive, so I won’t buy it anyway. I guess that’s why I only have one pair of jeans. These Eddie Bauer classics are the only kind I’ve found that fit just right and look cute, but I have a hard time spending the money to get a pair or two more. I shop for my kids the same way– hardly ever. This is posing a problem now that the weather is cooler because my kids need pants. I thought I had just bought them all some, but as I caught up on laundry and put away all the summer clothes this week I realized that “just” that was in my mind was a year ago or more. Every pair I found had holes in the knees or patches or holes in the patches.
The problem is, my boys especially wear holes in the knees of their clothes within a couple of weeks of getting new ones. I’ve realized I can’t buy cute jeans from the Gap or Old Navy because they just won’t last– it’s all the rigorous Lego playing that they do. I usually end up with a stock of these Land’s End double kneed pants because it takes a while to wear through both layers. They just aren’t the most fashionable thing.
Anyway, I’m gearing up for the shopping I need to do. I’m thinking I probably need to work up to 5 pairs of pants for each kid. 2 pairs of everyday pants or jeans, 2 pairs of sweats (because that’s what my kids will wear everyday if they could) and a pair of nice pants for church and such. Does that sound about right? My friends out there with lots of little kids– how do you keep up with kids’ clothes without breaking the bank? What number of shirts, pants, etc. would your ideal kid’s wardrobe consist of? Are you a mender?
As for me, I’ll probably be sticking to this one pair of jeans for quite a while longer.
I noticed as I was reading this morning that you can hardly even tell they’re patched up. That’s got to make ’em good for another year at least. Right?
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
