Unexpectedly.

Life.  It's crazy.  We have completed a move.  We have started up a new school year.  My husband started a new job.  I have two sons in middle school!  I cook and do laundry for six kids.  I am trying to run five days a week.  My sleep is interrupted every night.

And yet, I always wish I could sew something.

One month after moving into the new house, I had a functioning sewing room unpacked and waiting for something to be produced.  This has been a move where I have wanted every aspect of my life to be simplified.  This meant reducing my fabric and scrap collection by about half.  During our three years in North Carolina, I stored a huge stack of fabric that were curtains in our house in Korea!  When I unpacked that stack of fabric again here, I decided it was time to get rid of it, or turn it into something.  I walked through every room of my house looking at the windows wondering if I could use them as curtains again.  But finally, I decided it was time to live out a long held Sound Of Music dream, and turn those curtains into dresses!

I have three girls now!  So, three dresses were on the agenda this week. Thank goodness for The Geranium (madebyrae) pattern that I have in sizes ranging from 0-3 months all the way up to a girls size 12!  Not to mention I have made it a few times, so I knew it was feasible.  

Add in a cute baby sister, and you see I had irresistible inspiration to work for!

These three.  Perfection!

But that wasn't all.  Who could leave out her twin brother, or the long suffering mother?!  

It's not often when the stars perfectly align on a Sunday.  When they do, smile and take pictures.  

Also, I'm addicted.  

Matching babies.  It kills me.  Thank goodness for a great and easy pattern, this just might have to happen more often. 

 It feels good to be back.  (Am I allowed to still post here on MOM, Liz?!)  

One more project found...

My sewing space currently looks like this...

Yikes.  I'm in the middle of trying to make, or at least cut out, a Patchwork Prism Quilt.  I'm slowly but surely going to get it made, but I'm finding myself getting slightly bored, or maybe it's antsy, and wanting to move onto another project.  I only have one more color to cut out, sew I'm hoping I can get it cut out before I clean up this fabric disaster.  

BUT...

Remember how I told you I sewed like mad right before my kids went back to school.  I saved all my sewing projects that could have been done over the whole summer and crammed them into a week and a half before school got started??

Here's the official list of things to sew over the summer (I'm cringing at my handwriting.  I'm a school teacher and that is terrible penmanship!)...

At the very top of the Summer Sewing List is "2 CA Pillows."  I worked with the Young Women at my church and I mentored and befriended 2 girls who graduated in the spring and headed off to BYU a couple weeks ago.  I was hoping to give them as graduation presents, but instead they became farewell gifts.

I thought a CA pillow would look cute in their dorm rooms and also remind them of all the loved ones that are cheering for them as big freshman at college.

I found a CA silhouette via Google images, blew it up, cut it out in felt, added a heart, pinned it like crazy to a linen like fabric, and sewed all around it.

I then used an invisible zipper on the bottom, and added a cute Anna Maria Horner Field Study print to the back.

These pillows are super cute.  I even got a sneak peak of what it looks like in the dorm!  Can you spy it resting on the bed??

Anyway, this is officially the 3 post in like 2 weeks for me.  Maybe I'm back for real.  For real I'm probably not, but I keep surprising myself, so who knows what this week will bring!  Maybe I have another project I forgot about.

Til' I sew again!

Parisian Pants

I'm back!  Crazy to have two post so close together, but alas, I forgot that I made something else and didn't include it in my August monthly post.

A year ago or so (I kind of wish that was an exaggeration but it's not) a friend of mine went to Paris on vacation.  I dream of Paris.  I want to go to Paris.  My daughter wants to go to Paris.  One day I tell her I'm going to take her.  I hope it happens sooner rather than later.  Okay, but my love and desire to see Paris really have nothing to do with this post, but I felt I needed to let it be known that one day I will see Paris in real life!

Anyway, my friend went to Paris, and while she was there she went to a/the fabric district and found lots of fabric.  She said I would be in heaven.  I'm sure I would be.  While on vacation, this friend thought of me, and brought me back a 1/4 yd of Parisian fabric.  It was seriously the sweetest random act of kindness.

I've stared at the fabric in my stash for a long time wondering what in the world I was going to make with the beautiful 1/4 yd.  So many possibilities, but yet not so many because I didn't have so much fabric.

So I went with a classic pattern, the Quick Change Trousers.  You can never go wrong with this pattern.  I paired the Parisian fabric with some Sarah Jane fabric, and Hank was sporting his new pants several Sundays ago. 

Sorry for the blurry iPhone pictures, but honestly, how do you get a 2 year old to sit still after church?!  I forgot to snap the pictures before church.

I love the fabric, I love the Quick Change Trousers, I love kind friends, and I know if I ever get to Paris, I will love it too.

I'm currently working on a Patchwork Prism Quilt and am having the hardest time deciphering between green, turquoise and aqua. It's kind of driving me a little crazy.  Here's to hoping I get it figured out!

Tootles for now!