Hearts Full of Joy

recent sewing

i couldn't resist creating something with these wonderful prints by sarah jane for michael miller.

...and from the fun grinch collection.

i used this book again for both of the above:

see more of my sewing from this book here, here, and here.

and this simple pillowcase dress, make in softest corduroy is from another favorite sewing book:

halloween skirts

another  fun project from my new favorite sewing book, and here's another post about it too.

i was thrilled to see that mary abreu, who wrote the book, commented on the second posting!

i should clarify that most of the patterns in the book don't have aprons, but i love using the cute panels we have in our shop for the aprons - can't resist.

the skirt on the left is for my little one, and the one on the right is for her little friend who is turning 3. i made them both last night during the last few hours of summer - quick and easy and ready for fall!

this little girl is at the most scrumptious, delightful age - wish I could keep her this way.

a cat in the hat dress for my little one

gracie & i had a blast creating this dress for her to wear to preschool! mia & noah even joined in the design process. we used fabrics from the "Dr.Seuss" collections by robert kaufman fabrics, that we carry in our shop here.

we planned on "Thing 1 & Thing 2" fabric for the sleeves, which i would have liked better, but i forgot when i was cutting....and didn't remember until they were sewn and serged in place.

i used "Little Girl's, Big Style" again, tweaking a pattern. i am just loving this book, and want grace to slow down in her growing so i can keep using indefinitely:

amazon.com suggested this book for me (thank you amazon!), and it is such a bargain. with free shipping, it costs about what one or two patterns would cost, but is full of patterns that can be made so many different ways and combined for even more looks - just wish there were some fun boy patterns too.

the dress turned out fuller than i expected. if i use this pattern again (i'm sure it will), i will take out some of the width.

 

 

 

making children's clothes

this book is a pure delight, and i have been having so much fun with it...

a friend recommended it, and sent me home with her copy to enjoy. the more i looked at it, the more i knew i needed to own my own copy.

i made these little shoes for my brand new nephew andrew from the woolies flannels that i love, and made my favorite baby gift, raw edge burp clothes (also from woolies flannels) to go with them.

i also made bloomers and shoes out of the softest coduroys for a baby shower for a friend who loves brown and green polka dots, but forgot to photograph them before i gave them away.

and i made this pillowcase dress - easy, easy and fun, fun - for my little one

 

christmas cozies

always in search of fun projects for our hand made (or written, or second hand) christmas, i am looking for cozy pajama projects to use with this selection of flannels from my shop:

 

i love vintage, and feel blessed because that's just about all that's available in pajama patterns now. i'm considering some of these options i found on etsy for my littlest girls:

 

it would be so fun to live closer to my mom (for many reasons! including:) so that i could raid her vintage pattern stash for the perfect nightgown, like i did for easter dresses in 2008. 

i love this idea for little man,

but i'll use my own jenbei pattern i bought in japan to make summer jammies for my little japanese babes.

potty training in progress

susie grace has been acting ready to potty train for a while. but she is so little (2 and a couple of weeks) and i wasn't sure i was ready. we took the leap two days ago. she is doing well, staying dry for nap time but having little accidents while awake (shouldn't it be the opposite?)

i remember buying size 2 panties for lex & tash. mia was potty trained in japanese sized panties. but i had a difficult time even finding size 4 panties for baby grace. times have changed.

baby's birthday

susanna G is 2 years old.

because noah needed something to do, and i needed to get some things done, i encouraged him to get his giant construction paper pad, his gift from tashi on his birthday (and his favorite birthday present), and make some decorations for gracie's party. i envisioned him drawing some pictures. this is what he came up with:

i love it! he can be so surprising. i had gotten in the habit of having lower expectations for him because of his delayed speech and fine motor skills. he couldn't sit still for even one page of a book to be read to him until he was almost 4. but now he is really taking off, and wants me to do "school work" with him every day. lower expectations no more.

we love birthday presents that they can all enjoy together.

we were able to find one hour that we could all celebrate together, between the last day of school, scouts, achievement days, and young women's.

we were half way through the party when i realized that mia had worn this same dress on her 2nd birthday. brock points out that my subconscious must have realized it. gracie wanted to wear the same dress she wore on her birthday last year. she is wearing it today instead.

mia's quilt was a hit.

 

mia's little fingers....

made this!

i was commissioned to made a valentine's quilt last year, two actually, that were a copy of another quilt. i didn't care for the quilts, they weren't my style. but i had a lot of red & white strips of fabric left over, that became the inspiration for this "churn dash" quilt. which was also inspired by a quilt made from vintage quilt blocks by darlene zimmerman. i love it and use it for christmas & valentines decor, like this. i still had a lot of red & white strips left over after that project, and  asked mia if she wanted to make a "chinese coin" doll quilt with them. that was over a year ago. mia is my most difficult child to teach. it is not an intelligence issue, unless it is over-intelligence, but rather not wanting to be told what to do. so we had some rough patches, and it would sit, ignored, for long stretches. this week she decided she wanted to finish it for gracie's birthday, and because this was HER idea, she was motivated and got it done. she pieced, quilted, and bound it almost completely by herself.

she is happy, and i am impressed, and relieved.

hazards of having an older brother

we're fast discovering that little girls with big brother are much more accident and injury prone.
 
wooden swing (the one tashi is swinging on, two posts ago) in the face. it looks much worse now, 2 days later. her eye is black and swollen and her face puffy. this was right after recovering from playing with brother in the car, falling out and skinning off the right side of her face on the driveway, which was right after recovering from brother's stick sword in the face, etc. calendula ointment to the rescue.

on the topic of baby grace, i was surprised by this coloring job she did the other day, 23 months old.
she carefully colored the paint, the painted star, and the letters.
here are some doodles on my to0do list from a few months ago. she is even more precise now, thinking she is writing. she got hold of an application form the other day and carefully filled every empty line with word-like doodles, just the right size.

mia's baptism

the prep:

i have been so enjoying my 1840s sewing, that i wanted to make mia's dress from that period also.

my inspiriation came from two dresses i found in research, one from "Godey's Lady's Book" 1841, and one from "English Childrens' Costume" 1840. Both were made of white linen, and had ruching on the skirt. so i made mia's dress from white linen too. the bodice and sleeves were also inspired by my favorite sewing book, "The Workwomans Guide" 1838. It was a joy to make to make, and heavy when it got wet in the baptisimal font..

the day:

baptized by daddy

afterwards

we took mia out for lunch afterwards, and gave her her first official scripture set, a blue quad with her name engraved. she was incredibly nervous for today and absolutley beautiful! it's very hard to put into words waht a day like today means. i cried happy tears. mia was born shortly after tashi was baptized, and i remember thinking, 8 more whole years until we have another baptism. 8 years? 8 years that have flown past.

today is also prom (we wouldn't have chosen both to fall on the same day, but the scheduling of both events was out of our hands), and lexi's whole prom group joined us at the baptism. two in the group aren't members of our church, but were good sports and came along. lexi gave a wonderful impromptu talk on the Holy Ghost (bishop had a busy week, and forgot to assign speakers). tashi gave a lovely prayer. gracie was reverant for the first half, and then did her best to be the most disruptive child in history. but it was a beautiful day all around.