buoy that's a cute coat

I want to share another super cute pattern from Anna Marie Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.  I picked out the fabric and my super sewer mother-in-law put them together.

They are so incredibly cute that I wish there was a pattern for Thom's size. But I doubt he would wear it. He's getting pretty picky these days about what's cool and what's not.  I'm not too pleased about this new development.

Wondering what the kids are holding? Lobster buoys.  My in-laws took a trip to Maine and they came home inspired to have the grandkids paint their own buoys. My father-in-law carved each child their own. I must confess. I had to paint one too. They are so much fun. We hang them on our fence.

It was damn near impossible to get the kids to stay still for photos yesterday.  I started sweating and the photo session had to end.

This photo wasn't taken on a nature hike. It's in my backyard. Things are a bit on the wild side right now.  Believe me, it's the least of my worries.

Thanks Mom for making these super cute and special coats. And for coming up with fun projects to do with the kids like paint buoys.  I love that my kids are growing up surrounded by art and creativity.  They will become crazy art people just like us.

Maine Lobster Buoys by Bill Revill

thanks lizzy

I wanted a really fun sweater from Anthro to wear to Thanksgiving dinner, but I didn't want to spend a hundred and fifty bucks.


This was a problem.


Until I clicked over to my good friend Lizzy's blog and found a little inspiration.


I went to Target and bought this sweater for nine dollars. Yes, nine dollars. It was on sale.


Then I came home and cut up and old t-shirt.


I created little rosettes and ruffles and voilà!


Birdie liked it so much she barfed all over it, but not until I gathered up all the compliments on how cute it is.


I love it when I am able to save money by being creative. It makes me feel like a real pioneer woman.


A well dressed pioneer woman.

apron bib pattern

As usual, I should have just posted the pattern with the original post. Hope everyone that wanted it can find it here. I wish I could email it to everyone that asked, but it would take all day, and the boy wants to go to the pool.

Thanks everyone, for thinking my invention is as cool as I do. Us moms need a pat on the back every now and then!

Click on image and print out at full size. It should take up an entire sheet of computer paper.

and

AND, for those days when the spit-up just keeps on comin', I give you:

The Apron Bib: a full coverage invention.

Aren't baby necks just the cutest?

If you are wowed by my invention, email me and I'll send you the pattern. It's easy peasy, as only my sewing can be.

It turns out that Miss Birdie likes to model.

She graced me with more smiles. I feel so honored. She's a stingy one, that girl.

a gaggle for the girlie

Little Miss Barfs-a-Lot has kept me doing load after load of laundry the past seven weeks and we all know how much I adore laundry.

Yesterday I snapped. I hauled out my sewing machine, which I inherited from Ben's grandma when she died. I think it was made in 1968. True story. It still works. Kind of.

I made Birdie a gaggle of bibs to sop up all the spit-up. I bet you didn't know that a group of bibs was called a gaggle.

That would be because I just made that up.

Anywho, I sewed for a good four hours and made enough bibs to last at least a week without doing wash.

I also sewed a couple for little Sam who has been sick these last few days and the doctors keep poking him with needles and the like. Poor Sam.

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AHEM.

The winner of the Summer Photo Contest, by three votes, including Tommy B.'s, is Elizabeth who took the photo of the boy in the sand. The judges said that this photo most epitomizes Summer. Congrats Elizabeth. Please contact me about customizing your rings!

i really can't sew but...

Yesterday while the boy was at school I made this little pilots cap for Amelie. I had a cap from Hanna Anderson that I used as a rough pattern. I cut up an old t-shirt of mine and sewed it all together in about an hour.

I must say, for a girl who stinks at sewing, I think it turned out pretty dang cute.

Please excuse the weird little potpourri ball I used to model the cap. It was the only thing in my house, except for a rotting grapefruit I found in the bottom of the fridge, that was about the size of a baby's head.

Now for a baby to put it on. . .

in the event of my death

When I die, if my life flashes before my eyes, I hope it includes today. It was just a Tuesday, mundane in so many ways. I ran with the running club and then Thom and I headed over to the beach to meet some friends. We must have had some sort of miscommunication because we never found them. So we were alone, on the beach, just Thom and I.

We talked a little about his upcoming birthday and our trip to Hawaii. We sat on our towels with outstretched legs and ate our sandwiches and watched the Junior Lifeguards practice. He said, "Mom, we're lucky to live at the beach huh?"

We went out into the rolling surf and jumped the waves for over an hour. My face hurt from all the laughing.

At home we had reading time and he fell asleep in my arms. I can count on my fingers the number of times he has allowed me to do this. He's not much of a cuddler, never has been.

I was flying high as a kite. And then I started cutting the fabric for my Amy Butler tunic. Well- that brought me down to earth pretty fast. After cutting out the front and back panel in a size 6-8, I realized that in Amy's world I am really a size 12. Damn, the Gap for tricking me into thinking I'm on the small side with their size 4 (a.k.a. 8) jeans!

If you are an itty bitty little thing, watch my blog. I may be selling an adorable tunic pretty soon.

Oh and as long as I'm putting in requests for my life movie, please Lord, leave out the sewing part and splice in a moment of me eating a coconut cupcake at 25th and Main.