It's getting close to time

for the Mom's Clothing Sewing Week! I've been pinning & gathering inspiration for my week of sewing things for ME! I like to sew, & having 4 girls, you'd think I'd be all over sewing matchy-matchy (or at least coordinating) for them all the time. However, my sewing time comes in snippets & by the time I could get all four outfits done, the first one would be stained / outgrown, I'm sure. Plus they have SO MUCH already! I'm much more likely to appreciate all the hard work myself & I'll keep better care of the things I make. (Oh who am I kidding? I spill as much as they do!) But truly, I'm in desperate need of clothes! So join me as I sew for myself. Spend a little bit of time in the next few weeks browsing patterns & fabric, so that on June 3rd, you'll be ready to spend an hour a day sewing for yourself. The idea is simple - just like Elise Marley's Kid's Clothing Week Challenge, spend an hour a day for a whole week working on something for you. I think prepping the fabric, cutting, etc. all counts towards your hour a day - I mean, it all has to get done, right? But boy - fabric stores are a time vortex, aren't they? Better get the shopping done before! Or plan to do a lot of refashioning. LOTS of good blogs out there for that! There are so many online resources, I couldn't possibly link them all, but Alida at I Make Stuff had a Refashioning event last spring. The blog, Refashionista has lots of great, quick ideas for your $1 thrift store finds. There are many many others, but these are two I've been inspired by lately. And for online fabric shopping, you can't go wrong with fabric.com, and for that something special, I love drooling over at spoonflower.com. And if you'd like an idea of what I'm thinking about for this week, you can browse my pintrest board here. (There's some things on that board that aren't sewing related, but I'll bet you can figure that out.) Happy Monday!

Murphy's Law

I completely failed at KCWC. I sewed one day, crafted one day & that's it. I didn't even get a picture up of the felt flowers I made. The irony is, I've gotten many more page views with posting only 1 photo in the KCWC flickr group. If only I could have been more on the ball, maybe I would have a reader or two...Sigh. I do hope you visitors will come back. I am definitely going to have a Mommy's Clothing Week Challenge in June. I *need* new clothes & shopping always depresses me. So do come back & show off your creations for yourself!

KCWC - Day 4

Another bust. Not at home all day and then it was "clean for the cleaners." Once that was done I didn't feel like making a mess. So, I didn't. I have blocked off 2 hours on Sunday to "catch up." It worked for me last year, so I'm going to go with it this year too. So, sorry, no pic today. I did make some felt flowers for accessories on day 3, but I haven't taken pictures of them yet, so stay tuned for that. And I'm serious about the Mommy Clothing Week Challenge! I'm tentatively scheduling mine for the first week of summer vacation. I figure the girls won't want to get out of their pajamas all week long, so I should have a pretty good chance at getting some sewing for me done. Please join me!

KCWC - Day 2

A bust. Yeah, no sewing. No cutting, no ironing, no shopping for fabric. I had to take Twin B out for new shoes. Passing through the store, the easter dresses were on sale. She's a shopper. I say, "Mommy's finally finishing your polka dot dress this week!" She doesn't believe me, or the shiny newness on the hangers is too much. Somehow, I walked out of that store w/ a sparkly dress in a bag. Why? I don't know. Mommy guilt. So now, no time tonight for sewing. And no desire. That dress purchase took the wind right out of my sails. Instead I'm planning in my head a Mommy's Clothing Week Challenge. I need clothing more than she does, anyhow. And I'm super inspired by this site: Brand New Vintage . Anyone in with me?

Spring 2012 KCWC

Join Elsie Marley for her fantastic semi-annual Kids' Clothing Week Challenge. Commit to sewing for a little one in your life for 1 hour a day for 1 week. You can do it! Here's my efforts today. My youngest loves to be the baby. Anything she could delay, she has. That includes keeping her bed pee free overnight. (I do know that there is a genetic component at play here too.) I've been buying disposable pull ups, but I hate the money spent & I hate throwing away those yucky things every day. Last week I stopped at a local baby boutique and bought a washable pull up. I studied it's construction & knew I could make more. Today's design is not at all like the one I purchased, but I found this wide elastic in my elastic bin & thought I could put it to use. The cover is an upcycled wool sweater from the thrift store (50% off!). I used the Mile High Monkey pattern. Excellent pattern - preemie to XXL (my skinny 6 year old is only in the L size) & it fits so well.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Fastest, cheapest dog or toddler toy ever!

It took me longer to make the tutorial for this than it took to make the actual toy! So gather some supplies & entertain someone smaller than you!
I originally made this tutorial not too long after Easter, but I was having problems with photos & Blogger, so I put it off. So maybe you don't have any easter basket celophane sitting around. You can buy this stuff, too, if need be. Other things that work: the rinsed out and dried bags from cereal boxes and chips. Go see what you can find.

(I apparently am still having difficulties with Blogger and photos. But since I'm not winning any blogging awards anyway, I guess done is better than perfect, and I present to you my humble work.