I'm on a roll!

Those twirly skirts put me in the mood to make some more things for the kids for Spring. The weather has been helping, since it's been uncharacteristically warm here lately. Anyway, Casey's Aunt Blenda gave me some cute cotton fabric recently and so I tried out the Ruffled Skirts pattern in one of my Quilts & More magazines (the tutorial can also be found here.) I made both the girls one, but it can be hard to get pictures of them sometimes, so this one of Layla will have to do. Her little love handles look a little squeezed, huh? Maybe I should use a bigger piece of elastic next time :)
I also cut out some shorts for Kelby out of a super-cute construction print I saw last week at JoAnn and just couldn't resist. I'm going to applique one of the little tractors onto a T-shirt to go with them. Awww. I'll post pics when they're done, of course.

Oh, here's a link to a very inspiring video on Virtue Alert that I forgot to include in my last post.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Some Answered Prayers...

I was praying last night, as I have been for a few weeks now, that I would find some ways to make our days here at home more meaningful, that I would never pass up any opportunities to point my kids to Christ and that I would find ways to teach them generosity and selflessness (things I need to improve at myself.) Today the Lord gave me some very specific answers. First, I stumbled onto a blog that is making efforts to give blankets to babies in Appalachian Kentucky, where poverty is especially common and teen pregnancy is rampant. Please take some time to watch at least part of this special with Diane Sawyer and you'll see that these people don't have basic necessities, blankets included. It just so happens I've been wondering what to do with these three ribbon-tag blankets that didn't sell at farmer's market last summer. I was going to save them to give as gifts whenever I needed them, but decided this morning to go ahead and send them to these babies in need. When I laid them out to take the picture, Natalie asked me who these blankies were for and I got to tell her about the special babies we get to mail these to that will really love them because they may not have blankets at all. What a sweet conversation it was!
Second, one of my favorite blogs, Preschoolers and Peace has been answering questions from different moms and I so related to the woman she responded to today, who was having a hard time keeping her one and three-year-old occupied throughout the day without feeling like she was just killing time, waiting for the day to be over. This wonderful mom of eight answered with a great list of things she wishes she had done with her kids when they were little, before her days were consumed with homeschooling and such. This inspired us to get outside today and have a picnic lunch on the grass by our clubhouse and just let the kids be close to nature for awhile. It was wonderful. Later I'm going to get busy with a sticker chart for Scripture memorization. Another answer to prayer!

Twirly

I've been inspired lately to make some springy clothes for my kiddos. Yesterday I popped out these twirly skirts for the girls, using this tutorial. I used a cotton sheet that I got at a thrift store last year and the pink fabrics were from a yard sale so these really cost me hardly anything. They are SO cute, the pictures, as usual, don't really do them justice. They love them and want some more :)


This is Layla sitting on the potty. I love this picture, because she's so darn cute, but I do NOT like potty training. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll remember what an ongoing nightmare it was with Natalie, so I am not in a hurry to start with Layla. She wanted to sit the other day, though, so I let her. *sigh* That book she's reading is called Falling for Rapunzel and it is super cute and funny and has great pictures.
Have you seen these things?? I got these for Kelby at Target yesterday. You can put fresh or frozen fruit in the mesh part and let 'em go to town on it. GREAT for teething...and for keeping him quiet while we're trying to eat dinner :)

It's been awhile since I've done any of this....

Last night I went to the Archiver's crop!! Can ya believe it???? It's been a really long time and I'm a little behind (as you can see on by the second page.) I've been missing it, though and so last night Casey was so sweet to put the kids down so I could get out and do some scrap booking. Angela came too and we had a great time.

And here's what Casey got accomplished while I was gone :) That's Layla wailing in the background.

New Nightie and New Tunes

Layla has been taking her PJ's off every night for a couple of months now. I don't really care, she keeps her covers on pretty well and their room stays pretty warm, but when I put her to bed in Natalie's mermaid nightie the other night, she kept it on all night! and the following day and the following night. I went to JoAnn today and found this flannel-backed Pooh and Piglet fabric on the clearance table. I used the same method as the pillowcase dresses I made last summer, except I made my own "pillow case". Super easy and really, really fast. She loves it. We'll see if she'll wear some actual clothes tomorrow, eh? I started one for Natalie too, but Kelby prevented it from getting finished :)

On another note (pun intended,) I bought this song on iTunes the other day:

The Littlest Birds by the Be Good Tanyas

I love it. Perfect for dancing with my little ones. And here's a few more I've bought recently:

1. "One Voice" by the Wailin' Jennys (I also like "Long Time Traveller")
2. "Make You Feel My Love" by ADELE
3. "We Belong" by Pat Benatar
4. "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver
5. "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by the Police
6. "Electric Love Letter" and "By the Time the Sun's Gone Down Tonight", both by Langhorne Slim

There ya go, enjoy!

Blogging more than usual?

Lookie here, I finished it! This was so much fun, especially because the girls enjoyed digging through the big pile of scraps I had on the floor searching for the right contrasts, etc... It's so fun to look at, I'll think I'll just leave it up until after Natalie's b-day, still 13 days away :)
This is my favorite--a little sunshine between "Happy" and "Birthday".
And this "T" is my other favorite :) As for the reason I might be blogging a bit more: The new Mac Book Casey bought me, yay!!! I can't even say how much I love it so far. People kept making me think it would be hard to use, but I honestly find it soooo much easier! I haven't had to ask Casey for help once, which is amazing. You know what they say--Once you go Mac, you never go back ;)

How Many Days???

At least ten times a day, Natalie asks me how many more days she has to wait until her birthday.  It's still a few weeks away and since I finished the birthday dress with plenty of time to spare, I got to work on a Happy Birthday garland that I've been wanting to make.  I finished all the letters, I just have to make some binding and sew it all together.  What a fun project, I can't wait to show you!  A great way to use up some smaller scraps too.  I tried to make it as gender-neutral as possible so it will work for many, many birthdays to come. 

The Birthday Dress

I finished Natalie's dress yesterday! I love it and the pattern was amazing to use and good cottons are so fun to work with. I can't wait until her birthday so I can give it to her! I think I may order another pattern from Portabello Pixie in the future. Maybe the Ruffle Pants one?

Shhh, Patty's Sleeping

I made a couple of doll quilts for the girls! These were soo much fun and surprisingly fast to put together. This first one is Layla's.
And this is the back. I think it's my favorite.
This is Natalie's.
And the back.
This is Patty. She's been sleeping like this all day :)
These pillows are the cutest. I used the tutorial for the quilt and the pillows on Crazy Mom Quilts. I was going to wait to give these to the girls for Valentines Day, but they came out of the dryer so soft and fun and irresistible that I couldn't help giving them to them this morning ;)

On the floor

I spend a lot of time on the floor with this guy these days. He's learning to sit really well and trying sooo hard to crawl. He especially loves it when his sisters entertain him. He's definitely my most sociable baby. Isn't he a cutie?? (He poked himself in the eye with a wayward finger while sucking his thumb, that's why his eye is red.)

Something else happening on the floor yesterday--I managed to put together a back for my flying geese quilt. I scored this huge piece of super-soft, large welt corduroy at a thrift store sometime last year and it's perfect! It wasn't quite long enough, which ended up being great because I used my leftover half-square triangles to piece a big zig-zag into it. I love it and can't wait to quilt it. I'm going to piece the binding out of leftover strips too, so I will really use almost every tiny scrap of these fabrics!

Can't Wait to Try This!

I ordered this pattern to make Natalie a fancy schmancy dress for her birthday and it just arrived the other day. I was very hesitant to spend so much on a pattern, but I couldn't really find anything in the big-name pattern catalogs that I could easily alter to look like this. Plus, it goes up to a size 8 and includes three different dresses that can mix and match and also a shirt, so I think I'll get my money's worth. That said, I can't wait to get some fabric and get started. I have never seen such a great pattern in my life! The pictures are in color and some are photos. The pattern paper is amazing quality and the instructions are in book form and include tutorials for things like shirring in the back. Incredible! I already have plans to use this for Easter dresses too, so I definitley think this is worth $15.95. You can check out the designer's blog here. I wish I had the money to buy some of her fabric for the dress too, but alas, the budget is limited. Luckily, Hobby Lobby has some great cotton collections. Can't wait to pick some!