Sewing creations and other noteworthy things!

Wow! Haven’t posted in awhile… first few months of this year I wasn’t feeling all too well thanks to baby number 2 (due Sept 6/13)! And Paige (+ 3 days per week of outside-of-the-home work) keeps me pretty busy.

Last week I was able to spend the week at my parents’ farm with Paige and accomplished much in the sewing and relaxation departments! We were there for 4 days in which I sewed 2 dresses, 1 nightgown, 1 pair of capri pants and 1 pair of shorts, all for Paige. See below for pics :)

On Saturday we attended a wonderful wedding in which Paige had the time of her life. She started dancing from the moment the DJ started warming up, along with the rest of the kids, and didn’t stop until we left at 10 pm. She was not impressed to leave at that point especially as it was “not over yet!”

I’ve also been meaning to post funny things she says, but have been falling behind in even my note book. One recent thing she said to Oma, in reference to the explanation that Oma gave about trucks needing gas to keep running like she does, was that “trucks do not have legs”. At the wedding, she adorably walked up to James, who was keeping an eye on her while she danced as our table was far from the dance floor, and said “Daddy can you go bye-bye? Go sit with mommy”. Hopefully I will recall some more soon and then post those!

Here is the first of the dresses I made. Both are from my T-shirts. For the green one I followed my own pattern, being able to keep the original bottom hem, part of the sleeves and the neck (albeit needed to detach and reattach them all). I also had to add the seem in the upper midsection as I immediately cut the bottom right (picture’s left) side of the original shirt off to keep the pattern; then I reattached it so that section was centered in the top portion. The red one (not shown) is loosely base off a pattern I got a couple of years ago (warhol dress). Once that one is clean I will get Paige to model it as well!

I made this one using fabric my mom gave me from an old comforter cover. I didn’t expect it to look so nightgown-esque (not sure what I was expecting) but it worked out nice. Very light, airy fabric. I really like the neck and arm holes which I had to sew into a channel to then feed the elastic band through. I can’t wait to get better fabric and make a proper dress from this pattern! Here is Paige right after waking this morning :)

Here are the capris I made using my (or a sibling’s) very old Russel athletic shorts. Considering I once again made up my own pattern, and it worked out, I need to start chronicling the process! I basically just folded the original shorts in half, laid a pair of capris that fit Paige over top with crotch seems matching. Then I cut to make the outside leg width (leaving about 3/4 inch seem allowance), and cut down for the inside of the leg from where the shorter crotch of her pants would be. Then I sewed the inside of the legs, then the outside of the legs. I even just found a perfect stitch for doing it!!! The “best” is to use a serger (which I do not own); but I found a great overlocking stitch on my machine that simultaneously does a straight (edge) stitch with a zig-zag outer stitch. In the past I’ve had to do those two stitches separately, but became lazy and just skipped the zig-zag altogether. And although I do not have picture evidence, these capris are incredibly adorable on Paige! Most pants do not fit her well as her legs are so thin. I am definitely making her many pants from now on! The other shorts I made were from my mom’s old shirt. I followed instructions from a book I recently bought “The Creative Family“, but made shorts instead of pants. Those also fit her very well! Kids have such cute little butts!!

Oh the things we have seen!

I realized last night that I have not taken any good pictures since we have been in California. We have done lots of fun things, and gone to a variety of places, but alas I have few pictures to prove any of it. My post-baby life has definitely put my expensive (and in need of a new lens) camera on the very back burner of my mind.

To start, we took a drive to San Francisco where we met our good friends. It turned out that the city was having an air show the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving and was overly populated with tourists. We merely strolled around Fisherman’s Wharf to grab food, coffee and then headed north in our rented car, over the Golden Gate bridge, out to Sausalito. Our destination: The Bay Area Discovery Museum. The price was steep for adults ($15) but a great deal for kids over 1 ($15). We definitely did not maximize our fun with a ratio of 4 adults to 1 child at a kid’s museum, but we all enjoyed her enthusiasm and excitement.

The next day (Sunday) we set out to the Campbell farmers market. The main street (Campbell Ave) is closed to car traffic and becomes a fresh produce shopper’s dream. We bought veggies, and fruit and I bought a lovely white and purple orchid. Paige got her favorite thing of all – a balloon. But this time it was her first animal balloon and she chose to have an elephant made. Its shape didn’t hold up to her manipulations and was only a very long, thin green balloon by the time we got back home.

That afternoon, we went to Santa Cruz and parked ourselves on the giant, beautiful, white sand beach. Paige thought the beach was great, until she saw the amusement park and the gigantic rides. She insisted she wanted to go on the one that takes you up 125 feet only to drop you, over and over again. While our friends soaked up the sun, we headed to the Beach Boardwalk. As we got closer, Paige was still convinced she could go on the rides. Luckily, she was too small for the big ones, and even more luckily she decided she was actually scared of most of them. It turned out there were 2 rides she could go on: the Carousel and the Convoy (semi truck train). Paige and I went on the Convoy twice, but she cried when it was time to get on the Carousel, so we didn’t.

This past week, Paige’s grandpa and grandma Neufeld came to visit. On the second day, we took her on the train to the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose. Here I can actually add some pictures! And again, she was ecstatic and could have stayed forever.

Paige loved the water area! Here you could gather the light, plastic balls and place them into an air filled tube that would blow the balls up, and shoot them over an empty expanse, where they would hopefully land into the water vortex.

Grandpa helped Paige to feel the water fountain. When you touched the water, in turned into steam!

Oh and now for something completely different, today I was searching for Nutella at Trader Joe’s. I was sad to find, they don’t have anything like that. They did carry chocolate almond butter, but I didn’t want to try it. Instead, I opted to try the Cookie Butter. Best. Decision. Ever. Eating by the spoonful now! There might not even be any left for Paige to try when she gets up from her nap :)

Next time, I will provide some pictures of the Monterey Aquarium.