late night

tank done! now off to bed!!!

rare opportunity

tonight Wes picked up an extra shift so after I put Leila to bed, I decided to spend my night alone with my sewing machine! I've had One Yard Wonders for a few months now and have bought lots of fabric with the intention of making some cute things, but living my life as I do in two- or three-hour increments between naptimes I rarely sit down to sew, especially in the last couple of months during the remodel. so since there isn't any artificial light in my "craft" room yet, I dragged the machine out to the living room and made this romper for Leila to wear on Sunday! the smallest pattern size given was 2T and Leila is just barely starting to fit in 12-18 month clothes now so I took an inch off the pattern all the way around and am hoping for the best! she's a tall girl and instead of elastic, I put in a halter tie at the top so hope that will make it fit. 

it's hard to see in the poor light (one of my many projects I need to finish before I consider our home "finished" ha ha), but the fabric is lots of different patterned stars scattered across navy fabric. I never sleep well when Wes is working night shift, so rather than go to bed and lie awake for the next two hours, I'm going to tackle one of emma's tank tops from RVA summer camp using the leftover fabric from the romper. whoo!! 

baby sling

after lunch and crawling around on the grass yesterday, Maddie wanted to feed the ducks so we walked the kids over to the pond. I didn't get Leila's stroller out when we first arrived and after carrying her around the pond for a while I was again reminded of how big she is getting! I am also reminded when I am shopping places that don't have carts and are too small for my big stroller. A few weeks ago I came across this tutorial and today I decided was the time to use it! 

I didn't take pictures of the process (the linked tutorial has great photos of each step), but here is the finished sling with Leila riding high in it!

(she looks grumpy because right after her nap I just stuck her in the sling to see how it fit and I haven't fed her yet ... the bunny ears are to show "look ma, no hands!")

It's a little challenging to get her into the sling, but once she's in it's very comfortable and she seems to like it, despite the look on her face here. I guess the real test will be an afternoon of errands!

finally sewing

When my Grandma Leila passed away in January, I asked if I could "inherit" her sewing machine. I have many happy memories of sewing with Grandma throughout my life and now I'm ready to try some projects on my own. Grandma was always gracious about letting me sew some of my own things on her machine and I thought it would be no problem for me to jump in and start sewing! However, I realized once I had the machine in my house that while I was allowed to sew seams on my own, Grandma always had the needle threaded and the bobbin wound before I showed up to "help." I've had the machine in my possession since May, but it took a couple of months for me to find the time and patience to sit down with the instruction manual and figure out how to set things up, but I finally did it!

There are quite a few projects from the RVA Autumn class that require the use of a sewing machine so I've been sadly putting them off. But Leila has been taking longer afternoon naps lately so on Friday I found myself with a couple of breast milk and poop-free hours and I spent them with my (new-to-me) sewing machine.

I found an already-loaded bobbin in Grandma's supply chest, so that saved one big step. Once I followed the instructions to thread the machine and the tiny needle, I found some scraps of material that I'd saved from the embroidery hoop frame project and ran some test rows of stitches. So far so good!

I was feeling pretty confident now so decided to dive right into an actual project! I can't tell you what it is (never know who could be reading this and Christmas is right around the corner ...) but let's just say it's for a "domesticated lady." I was able to get one half of the project done before Leila woke up and finished the rest of it during Saturday nap-time. I am so thrilled with the finished product! I know the recipient will love it ... here's just a sneak peak :)

And something else fun - I found the sales receipt in with the instruction manual and other brochures for the sewing machine and realized that my Grandma bought it just a few weeks after I was born! That means that this is the machine she used to sew dresses for me and my dolls when I was little. And now I'll use it to sew dresses and doll clothes for my little Leila.