The Seamstress

Alli LOVES sewing and has been having fun with her new sewing machine.

Today she made the mattress and blankets for her new doll bunkbed.

She is thrilled and pretty talented!

Maybe she'll give Mommy a few lessons one of these days :-)

Look who's sewing now . . .

Yesterday, Alli made a pretty pink bag from some scrap material and is so proud!!!

She wants to take sewing lessons so badly, and we promised she can when she's 7.

I have a feeling she will be as crafty as Miss Kaitlyn some day ;-)



Three 'lil shamrocks ;-)

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I took and this really was the best one!

What is it with my boys refusing to cooperate??? ;-)

Thank goodness for Miss Alli who LOVES having her picture taken.

Luke simply didn't know what to think of this morning's photo shoot. 

Alli LOVED wearing her dress and showing it off at school today.

She insisted on wearing the hat as well.

Seriously, too cute!!!

More sewing fun :-)

Our wonderful Miss Kaitlyn has been teaching me new tricks with my sewing machine

so I decided to try making the kiddos some new items with their "letters" on them.

Eli's class had "letter" day last week so I made him a t-shirt with a sports-themed "E"

I was so happy with how it turned out and Eli LOVED it!!!  Score one for Mommy :-)

Alli thought it was very cool and wanted one too

so I decided to make the kiddos matching outfits for St Patty's Day.

Eli gets another shirt ~ no picture yet but it's done and turned out great if I do say so myself ;-)

I decided to do a bib for Luke . . .

You can see the imperfections but I'm still pretty excited with what I can do now!

For Alli, I decided to try something I've been wanting to do since I got the sewing machine . . .

 a tee shirt dress 

 I was terrified to try it but Kaitlyn showed me how to gather the fabric and I decided to go for it.

I am very happy with how it turned out and Alli keeps telling me how much she loves it!!!

Tomorrow, Eli is having shamrock day at school so they will be wearing their new items.

Hoping to get a pic of all three in their snazzy St Patty's Day wear :-)

My Crafty Side

Much to Garrett's dismay, I decided I wanted to learn how to sew.

A couple years ago, my friend Sarah (who is wildly crafty and makes beautiful items), shared a picture of a pillowcase dress she had made for her daughter Anne.  From that moment on, I told G I wanted to learn how to do that.  I don't think he believed me but I was set on learning some day.

Well, with being stuck on modified bed rest, I decided now was the time so I researched sewing machines, and wound up purchasing the Brother Innov-ís 950D from a local dealer.

I LOVE it!!! 

To get the most out of this new hobby, I decided to take sewing classes from the dealer.

So far, I learned to make a tote bag (I've now made three!)

and a small, zippered make-up bag (zippers are NOT easy but certainly doable ;-)

Most exciting, I finally made that pillowcase dress I've been thinking about for the past two years . . .  

Granted, it's not perfect, and I certainly need more practice, but my little model LOVED it!!! 

I made it after she went to bed one night and showed it to her the next morning.

Her response???

Mommy, it is fabulous!!!  Can I wear it right now???

To which I happily responded . . .

Yes, my sweet girl, you can!!!

I made her a tote bag to match, which she carried around all day and insisted that we visit both sets of grandparents so they could see her new dress and bag.

Yep, I'm definitely feeling quite crafty and Garrett even seems a bit impressed :-)