Little Bo Peep Skirt

A couple weeks ago, I found this mini-skirt at my favorite thrift store (Designer Bargain Outlet in Corinth, Mississippi. Hey, Amy!) and intended to make a peasant skirt for Suzy out of it.

It was so easy in my mind. Simply rip out the zipper, and sew up that seam:

Then cut off the existing waistband, which had some funky elastic on the hips:

I folded down 1/4 inch and pressed it, then folded another 1/2 inch and pressed. I stitched it up, leaving 1 inch open to thread elastic through. I sewed the elastic ends together, and there was my skirt. Easy, simple, no hemming, no messing with pins...except it looked like this:

Not very practical for a four year old. So I went back into my sewing closet. I divided the hem into sixths. Every six part, I stitched two parallel lines, set on the longest stitch setting and low tension:

I tied off the threads at the top of the seams, then gathered from the bottom and tied those off as well.

Then I added a little blue bow by hand.

This is how it turned out:

Much better! I love how whimsical it is, and it makes everything Suzy does look dainty. Here she's showing you how to look like a lady while preparing to chunk a rock.










The end result was one happy little girl!

Growing Up

Today was momentous. Well, for me, anyway!
This morning I was in the living room, and Nate was in the guest room/office/family room. I was reading, and everything was pretty quiet but I heard a girl's voice. I couldn't quite make out any words. I thought Nate might be watching an ESPN video, but as far as I know, they have no preschool-age sportscasters. I thought maybe the neighbor's children were getting an early start on their outdoor playtime. Because surely, it couldn't be...I went down the hall and listened at Suzy's door. She was singing softly to herself and obviously playing with her doll house.
I opened the door, and there she sat, in her little long john pajamas (because she's so skinny she gets cold even in summer) merrily playing with her doll family. She smiled at me and said hello.
You're probably waiting for the momentous part. That was it. It was the first time in her entire LIFE that immediately upon waking, she did not run and search for me. We always start our day together with a snuggle. This was the first day she woke up, and didn't think, "MOMMA!"
I was more than a little sad. I lose more of my baby everyday. I'm gaining a delightful little girl, but how I miss that baby!
The up side to the whole thing was when I held my arms out, she ran into them, and we had our usual snuggle. Yesterday, I read this post at Femina, about our children's love metabolism, and (to keep with the theme) it gave me food for thought this morning. Here is my favorite quote from it:
"...just like food nourishes the body, love and attention nourishes their little souls. And fat souls are what we want."

Suzy's Birthday Campout

I took picutres, I promise. And I will upload them as soon as I find the camera! There was a scary moment when I thought I washed it with our camp bedding, but fortunately that wasn't the case.
Suzy wanted to go camping for her birthday. I thought it was a great idea. I assumed it would be much cheaper than a party. I was a fool! I'm pretty sure we could have gotten her a pony off of Craig's List cheaper than the camping supplies.
Anyway, Suzy was thrilled with the whole thing, so it was a huge success. She cried when we left to return home. So did I, but they were tears of joy.
I couldn't sleep that night for the noise! It's quieter in suburbia. Apparently what I thought was a secluded campsite was not far from a train track - a busy one- and an airport? I don't know, but something was droning on. And it wasn't me!
And no amount of bug spray kept off the ticks. So now I will have several days of itching to remind me of this glorious time.
But it was so worth it. Suzy roasted a marshmallow (strawberry pink, of course) for the first time and made a s'more. When Nate asked her how she liked it, she said, "I shook with joy!" That pretty much somes up her attitude the entire camp out. So totally worth it!

Playing with Suzy's Hair

Making It Cute

I like to improve common items, to make them a bit more me. Nate teases me about my desire to make things cute, but he likes it. I think.
Today, between laundry and dishes, I convinced myself that I really should take pictures and make a post out of it. Because I'm sure you're dying to see, right?
First up, Suzy's breakfast. Oatmeal is the homliest of all breakfast foods, so I cute it up with a heart-shaped cookie cutter and rainbow sprinkles.


Isn't this pretty fabric? You'll never guess what it's on.


That's right, I sewed a coat for my spray bottle.
Next, my kitchen gloves. Just the Mr. Clean gloves from Walmart. Sooo plain. So I added a little lace trim. It may seem silly, but I have to wear those things three times a day, so I needed to enjoy looking at them. And they coordinate with my spray bottle and apron...though I admit I am the only one who cares!



And this is my lesson plan book. It came with a sterile green plastic cover that gave me chilly memories of grade school. I warmed it up with some fabric scraps.


Here's my daily planner. It was already cute on the inside (like so many of us) but very plain on the outside.


I just added a little ribbon to the cover to make it's outside more feminine.


Here is my Bible. It has a burgundy leather cover, half chewed up the spine by a puppy fond of over-stepping her bounds. Since it was the Bible Nate gave to me on the occasion of his second proposal to me, I made it this little cover to keep it protected from any future marauders.


I wanted a little journal in which I could write Scriptures that are significant to me. I looked many places for a cute one that was inexpensive. Finally I bought one with a plain cardboard cover for $4 at Borders. Or Barnes and Noble's. Or Books-a-Million. One of those bookstores that starts with a B. I knew it would be perfect, because I had enough fabric leftover from my Bible cover to make them match. How cute!

Look how cute they look with my coordinating sermon notebook, bought at the same B. bookstore:

For practicality, a 3 ring binder was ideal for my prayer journal. The plain white one I bought was so impersonal. I fixed it up with fabric from a vintage pillowcase and a scrap of ribbon.

Put all of them together, and it becomes clear the next thing I have to work on is developing a central color scheme:
Go here more people making it cute:

Dorkiness

I am a dork. No, no, don't make polite denials. I know it. I ENJOY being a dork. It's fun.
I love to read. I love to read history, and occassionally...grammar. Yes, that's how bad it is. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves was a great book! It's a book making fun of people's grammar mistakes, for you non-dorks.
The podcasts I listen to? Several BBC programs: Global News, From Our Own Correspondent, The History of the World in 100 of Objects, and Documentaries, a French Word-of-the-Day, and Grammar Girl. Yes, Grammar Girl. I listen to podcasts about adverbs.
Last month, on my weekly trip to the library, I was really pleased with the three books I brought home: Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin, The Dog That Drove Home, the Snake Eating Mouse and Other Exotic Tales of the Animal Kingdom by Vida Adamoli, and The Story of English: Revised Edition by Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil.
I start reading all my library books at once; I don't go through them one at a time. I'll tote them around to various rooms in the house as I'm working, and just pick up which ever one happens to be handy. Eventually one will pull ahead and I'll focus on it for a while.
I really liked Animals in Translation. There was a lot I doubted, but I thought the facts and insights into animal behavior were fascinating. That means, if you know me, you will avoid me for at least two weeks, in order to prevent yourself from being bored to death by "interesting" anecdotes from the book that I simply must inflict upon you. If you know me REALLY well, you will merely brace yourself. It's futile to resist.
The Exotiv Animal Tales wasn't as good, but I did like some of the stories. Try not to mention nursing, puppies, or snow to me for a while, or I'll tell you about the Welsh woman who was snowed in without formula, and nursed her newborn on her loyal German Shepherd, thus saving his life.
The Story of English was very interesting - about the history and development of various forms of English. I didn't finish it before I returned it. It was overdue, so I wasn't allowed to recheck it. I have to wait until Friday to find out how it ends. Ha!
I like being a dork. I have to go now, there's a tornado documentary on PBS.

Remodeling...

My blog that is. Excuse the mess and clashing colors. Nate's working on improving a header for me. As soon as he gets that finished, I'll put it up. If he does a good job, I may force...um...persuade him to do a whole layout.