I'm Back!!!

Wow, it's been a while!

 My absence for the past few months is partly due to the fact that our camera broke on Easter Sunday (no pictures and there's not much to blog about), but mostly due to the fact that I'm now 26 weeks pregnant :o). 

I generally feel pretty yucky the first half of my pregnancy or so (to put it mildly!), and care very little about anything other than sleeping and NOT eating.

Things are getting better though, and I've even started sewing some again the past few weeks :o).
I just finished two pairs of maternity jeans, and now that we have a camera again maybe I'll get some pictures posted :o).
I'll also be taking pictures of things I've made while camera-less and get some of that posted soon as well.
Here are a Lot of pictures of the boys from the last month that I couldn't resist putting in here :o).

This is pretty much how you will always find Caleb! I think he wants to make it as easy for you to get the most in his mouth at one time as possible :o).

I guess Josiah thought, it worked for Caleb, so he would give it a try.

Samuel has grown up so much the last few months! We started homeschooling this year, and he is Loving it and doing very well so far!

My parents took Samuel and Josiah to their church's harvest festival this year while I went home to go to bed :o).
They went as tough and silly cowboys.
I love Samuel's eyes here!

This was the tough.

Still a little bit tough.

 Samuel can never last as long as Josiah when it comes to staying in character.

And the silly comes out!

They had a great time! (Thanks Mom and Dad :o) )

These are from Thanksgiving day, and as you can see, Josiah had quite an attitude about having his picture taken.

 I told Tim it's bad that even with an attitude he is still so CUTE!
I made their outfits out of the same fabric, but dyed Josiah's navy and love that they're the same without being exactly the same. Caleb's pants and jacket are from a different pattern, but I didn't finish his jacket in time :o(.

This is me saying, "Can you please stop taking pictures so we can go home now!"
It was a fun but very long day for me.
You can see only about half of my big belly here :o)
 I'll get a good belly shot soon.

Caleb can fit more in his mouth than any other child I've ever known! Here he has a whole Ritz cracker in there unbroken.

Ok, so I know it's kind of gross..

 I made these outfits when it first started getting chilly in October, but I don't remember when the pictures were taken.

I know everyone always thinks their kids are cute but Really He is cute!
Samuel and Caleb are just as cute, but they won't hold still for us to get pictures like this one.

More of typical Caleb with his mouth full of food :o).

And very happy about that!

Ok, so that was a lot, but I had some cuteness-sharing to catch up on :o).

Easter

It's not too late for Easter pictures right? :o)

It was a HOT day in SC - 91 degrees. The day before I had to make a last minute wardrobe change for Caleb so he wouldn't be too hot. His was the first of the easter outfits I made, but long pants would not have been fun for my very sweaty little boy that day!

I basically made the same thing as the first, just in a short version.

Samuel was so excited to have a real tie, not just a clip-on one. It's made with really pretty white linen. 

I designed his shirt, and the shorts came from an Ottobre pattern.

How did Caleb get so big so fast? 

I used a 1940's pattern for his and Josiah's shirts and added piping.

  

Josiah gives me these eyes sometimes and I just think about all the things that he will surely get because of them :o)
Don't let him fool you though, he is quite mischievous!!!
I used a 70's pattern for his shorts, and the vest is my pattern.
  

Josiah had a bit of an attitude about getting his picture taken, but if we waited for each boy to be looking at the camera and smiling at the same time we would have 0 pictures of the whole family :o)

I kind of wish you could see who was crying at my feet in this pic :o).

I made my dress last summer, and Tim's tie from a men's dress shirt that was passed our way. (Thanks Matt!)

I love those pink cheeks!!

And just for fun, here's a close-up of Josiah's bad attitude.

I like that tiny tear he managed to squeeze out (hoping for some sympathy I think) :o)

Thank you so much Sarah for the great pictures!

We Were All In Need!

I thought I'd start with the cutest picture :o)

I love the tiny wedgie!!

We were needing to update our undie piles big time. When there are more with holes than without, you know the time has come. So Caleb got some red polka dot undies with a triple layer for that pee I missed while he was standing in the bathroom by himself waiting for me to come help :o).  Maybe he will start talking soon and TELL me when he's on his way to the bathroom :o).

That's pen all over Caleb :o).

I guess I let him hold about anything while I'm trying to take a picture!

These were one of mine with more to come. I was in need more then anyone!! I was too ashamed to show the pair I cut up to use as my pattern for these. They were REALLY bad!! But now I will get about 10 pairs from the supplies I have waiting on me for less than $1 each :o).

I don't think they look too homemade. 

I was so excited a few weeks ago when I got my Ottobre magazine in the mail and I could make these for the boys' tiny hinies :o).

The pattern was really easy to follow. So far I haven't made anything that I didn't like from this magazine.

Don't you want to pinch his little butt!!!

Samuel was modeling the gray pair, but we ended up switching and giving those to Josiah, and Samuel got 2 pairs of these that I made in the next size up.

I also added top-stitching to this pair and like the look of it a bit better.

Front.

And back.

Samuel was telling me that they were so comfy he could move all around in them :o).

I haven't made any for Tim (yet), but he already said if I do they will not be modeled :o).
**Editor's Note-- That's to spare you all kinds of unnecessary suffering! :o)**

Easter Shirt Trial Run

I've been working on the boys' Easter outfits for the past month or so, and made this pattern up myself, so of course I wanted to do a trial run before cutting into what little bit of fabric I have for the actual Easter shirt. 

Samuel's been asking me for a cowboy shirt, so I told him that it has pearl snaps - kind of like a cowboy shirt. He thought that was pretty good, and it must be, because I found him wearing it with sweat pants and cowboy boots when we woke up from nap time the next day :o).

I used flat-felled seams, so it's as pretty inside as out. I never knew what flat-felled seams were, but when I started looking at the insides of Tim's dress shirts I wanted to try to get the same look.  I came up with my own way of doing it on a different shirt, but then saw THIS  tutorial and found out the real way to do it :o). It's nice to make something that you can be proud of and know it will last a long time. This is also the first time I've successfully used snaps. It was really easy when I figured out the RIGHT way to put them in the snap press :o).  As long as they're in the right way they work great! It does take some practice, so always try it on some scraps before messing up your shirt :o).

The pattern could use just a bit of tweaking, but overall it's not bad for coming up with it from scratch.

Thanks Moe!

Moe (my man mannequin) was a big help again the other day while I was making Tim a new shirt!

It's so nice to have something to drape and fit things to while Tim is at work (or sleeping late at night when most of my quantity [not so much quality] sewing is done :o)). Moe was an unexpected gift from my Aunt Sheryl. Thank You!!! She got it from a retired seamstress and passed it my way. You should have seen Tim's face, Aunt Sheryl, when I brought it home :o).  I should have taken a picture for you!

I used a shirt that fits Tim well as my pattern.

Nothing fancy, but I think it turned out just about perfect :o).

 I did one line of stitching on the sleeves, only because my bobbin ran out and I didn't feel like filling it up again.

 I did a double stitch on the hem. I don't have a twin needle, so I just do a second row of stitching VERY slowly close to the first.

Thanks again, Moe and Aunt Sheryl!!

New PJ's all Around

For Caleb's Birthday I made him some much-needed jammies. I used this pattern and liked it a lot.

It was a simple and quick sew - only taking one nap time :o). I like instant gratification!!!! :o) The pants have a cuff, so you can roll them up or let down as baby grows.

Of course adding my label. 

So classic. 

I  appliqued the C as an afterthought just so it's not so plain.

For Samuel and Josiah's I used this pattern from the 70's (Soo Cute!).

I Love these jammies!

I love the wide legs!

They are so cute on Josiah!!

I tucked about 3 extra inches into the sleeve length and pants hem, so they should fit for a few years to come. I figure if you're putting your time into making something you might as well make it last!

Even if I need to add a strip of something to the bottom of the shirt so his belly won't hang out in a year or two the rest will still fit. I also overlapped about 3 inches of the elastic in the waistband of the pants so that can be let out too. See my nice thick hem :o). I made a double line, but with very long stitches so it won't be to hard to get out later.

I think the buttons really make the whole thing though!!

I love the vintage feel!

They're Josiah's favorite too.

Samuel's seem a little more grown-up looking with the plaid I think. I really wanted to use these cute teddy bear buttons, but I had already told Samuel he could pick out whatever he wanted, so we ended up getting ...

giraffe buttons :o(. They're ok (better then the pink flowers he was also looking at :o) ), but the bears would have made it look how I wanted it to. Oh well, not the end of the world.

Here are all my guys :o) So handsome!!!

With lots of kisses to go around.

It was fun to make them each a warm fuzzy pair for winter. Maybe next year I'll make some for myself :o).