Just Because

A Little Laundry Surprise

Do you ever find ay surprises in your laundry? I often do. Today I pulled out this sock.


This is what was inside.

However, do not be fooled. These are not blocks. It is coal for the kid's fire.

A Creed Funny

We were at the pool today and Creed said his hands were grumpy! He said that because they were all wrinkled up from the water. :-)

Skirt Week

One of the blogs I read, Crafterhours, is hosting a skirt week along with a little contest. I am entering the following skirts in their children's category. The skirts had to have been made in the last year. Two winners will be chosen...one by judges and one by readers votes. I think the voting and judging takes place next week if you want to check it out.

The first skirt is the one I made Elizabeth for Easter this year. I adore this fabric. I saw a picture of a similar skirt somewhere online and came up with this one. The only pattern piece I used was the yoke from My Favorite Thing's Little Hip Skirts. The rest is my own creation. The binding on the top layer is from a skirt that someone else had me shorten. It gave me just he fabric I wanted to finish it off!

It is fairly full. Elizabeth humored me with a spin for the picture.



The idea for the next skirt came from these "slash" jumpers a friend of mine and I made many years ago for our girls when they were little. In fact, Emma still wears one of them as a top all the time. I have been playing around with knit fabrics lately since they are so comfortable so I used some pieces I had left from other projects. The waistband is yoga style though it doesn't fold down. It has no elastic in it so it is very comfortable.

I asked Emma whether she wanted the brown or white on top and she couldn't decide so we switched it up and she can wear it frontwards or backwards!
She loves it and says it is super comfy!


The idea for the last skirt originated with a trip to HEB. I saw a little girl shopping with her mom in a similar skirt. I commented on it and her mom let me see how the ruffles down the side were made. Each ruffle has a sort of curve to it. So the top is thin and then widens in the middle and then narrows back out. I cut each ruffle twice as long as I wanted them to end up and used my gathering foot to gather them. I drew lines on the skirt with a washout marker where I wanted the ruffles to go and then topstitched them on the skirt. I tried not to be a perfectionist about it as part of the charm of the skirt is how freeform it looks as the ruffles fall every which way thanks to the gathers and the shape of each one.
This skirt also has a no-elastic waist which I attached to a yoke. I wanted the ruffles to start lower on the skirt so as not to look bulky under a t-shirt. The material is lightweight and soft and like wearing a t-shirt!

Last Minute Wordless Wednesday

Things to Remember

Sweet little baby arms reaching out to me for the first time.

Creed, playing with his trains for two hours straight, oblivious to my watching and listening as he made up conversations between them....oh no! Cranky Cranky....Can you give James a hand...Thomas, he's the cheeky one...

Jack, on his belly, gasping and crawling across the dining room floor as though he is on his last breath. No one else is in sight as he continues to moan and groan as he slowly inches his way across the room. He finally lets me in on the secret: there has been a fire and now everyone is desperately ill and he must make it to the fields to save the animals.

My Favorite Kind of Days

are those where we stay at home and just be. Days where the kids turn on their imaginations and run with them. When they all spend time together doing anything and everything that requires interaction with one another. Days when we put a stop to the joy-stealer and time-robber that busyness and scheduled activities can be. I am hoping to load up on these this summer. I could be wrong, but I think these are the days they are going to remember, not the days where we are all in a rush to get here and there on time and don't actually spend time together even if we are in the same place doing the same kind of things!


Maybe this will be one of the days they will remember:


"Mom, here is your ticket to come to our show!"

Bean bags beat theater seats any day of the week!

Emma's show is first on the program and is a huge success.
"Ho hum! Been to one theater, been to them all." (and wow does that chair not make her look pink!)
"Now it is getting interesting!"




And Creed finishes it off with two shows. They were all a hit!