Chore Chart

Soon after the start of the new year, my husband and I put together a chore chart for our girls, to help us be more accountable for having them help routinely.  I looked at lots of free versions and choose one that I thought was really cute and fun and as it turns out the girls think so to.  

It is the Ice Cream Chore Trainer from Fifth and Hazel!

It was so easy to put together.  I just printed out all the sheets (two of the chores, since we have two children) and cut out the pieces.  Then I put a little glue stick on the chores to keep them from sliding while I laminated them, cut them out again  actually I got my husband to, hehe) and put a little bit of adhesive magnet strip on the back.

The girls love it!  When we ask if they want to do chores, they cheer and get so excited and run to the fridge to see what they get to do.  Then after they finish it we return to the fridge so they can get their 'scoop' to put on their cones.  We only started with a few to see how it would go and to not overwhelm them, but it is going great so I may add a couple more soon.

If you are curious, we have Eleanor (age 3) feed and water pets, brush hair, make bed, read, pick up toys, and brush teeth.  Laurel  (age 2) does all of those except feed pets, instead she gets to nap.  The next chores I'll add will be clearing and setting the table at each meal.  We already have them help, but it can be a struggle that I hope their chore chart could help fix.

McCall Pattern 5830 Vintage Pajamas

While making the pajamas I talk about here, I decided I should use the other pajama pattern I have as well, since I wasn't sure I'd like the drop seat idea (as amusing as it is).

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These are really cute two piece pajamas from 1944.  I wasn't sure about the idea of buttons around the waist, but the more I look at it, the cuter it gets.  Plus with my new snap pliers they shouldn't be a problem or too time consuming for us or Eleanor getting dressed.  Once again, decided to go with the footie variation.

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I used my fun fox flannel that I also got for $2.99 from Joann's.

This one took me a lot longer than the last one, but not because it was more difficult of time consuming.  It took so long, because I cleaned to procrastinate on it when usually I use sewing to procrastinate on cleaning.  I must be sick.  

When I finally got around to finishing, it took me two days to sew it up.  Again pretty simple, though there was one spot that was confusing and I did wrong, but turned out better for me in the long run.  The biggest problem I had was that I didn't think the snaps all the way through.  Apparently, in a couple places the buttons are supposed to go through two buttonholes.  It was fine for the two side ones (thanks to my earlier mistake) I just added two more snaps on the shirt.  But the snap on the pants in the center didn't have anywhere to go.  To fix it, I sewed on another kind of snap to the side of the other snap, making sure it can't be seen.  For the most part that helped, but that snap comes undone pretty easy.

Laurel wanted in on the action too, again.

In terms of fit, the top is good, but the pants remind me of clown pants and they could be a little longer.  These are a lot easier for diaper changes than these ones.  I also think they are cuter, but I'm going to try to find yet another pajama pattern to use my flamingo flannel with.

FYI, Laurel is still sitting there.  Eleanor decided that she shouldn't be in the picture.

Happy Birthday, Laurel!

Today is Laurel's second birthday.  She is becoming such a big girl.  

She is the sweetest little thing and way too smart for her own good.   

We've been so blessed to have her these two years and look forward to seeing all the crazy clumsy things she does in the future. 

Maybe she'll get hair this year.

And I hope that poor blanket can make it through another year.

To celebrate we are going to have a pancake brunch and cinnamon roll cupcakes next weekend with a few friends and family, basically anyone who is willing to travel to see us the weekend before Thanksgiving (one of the side effects of a November birthday).

Simplicity Pattern 4130 Vintage Pajamas

I collect vintage patterns and have used some of them.  I love how they expand my sewing knowledge and their techniques create such a nice look and finish.  I found this one from 1952 (as well as another pajama pattern) in a batch of sewing patterns I bought.

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And lucky me, it is in Eleanor's size, who just happens to need pajamas, plus I got a bunch of flannel for $2.99 a yard.  I didn't realize it at first, but they are drop seat pajamas, so I found that to be rather amusing.  I choose to do design #1 since it gets pretty cold here in Northern Idaho (and footie jammies are so cute!).  For the first pair I used a fun key patterned flannel.

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They came too together rather easily and somewhat quickly.  I finished them within two days of not solid sewing.  I love how they have a back facing to conceal all the neck and shoulder seams.  I'm sure that will be a lot more comfortable for Eleanor.

It's a little big, but that just means I get to wait longer before she grows out of them.  I got to use my snap pliers for the first time.  I wanted it to be easier for her to get out for potty going, since I don't think she'll be using the drop seat (which I still find hilarious).

Laurel decided to get in on the action.

Here they decided I needed more action.  Such silly girls!

KCWC: Final Results

This week turned out really productive!  Days One and Two, I was able to get two patterns traced out for the much awaited fabric.  

Day Three, I traced another pattern and cut out the pieces from fabric.  

Later that day, one of my packages of fabric came! Yay!  The only downside was that one of the fabrics I ordered mysteriously decided to become a blue damask home decor fabric instead of a blush pink stretchy cotton.  I've only been having problem after problem with this month's fabric orders, but that is way too much drama to go into.

Day Four, I was able to make a little progress on the top and got my new denim prewashed for Eleanor's new pants.  I also got my other box of fabric I had been waiting for.  I can't wait to make her the vintage footie pajamas, but they have to wait till after I make her pants.  I think she is down to one pair of pants and they might also be too short.

On Day Five, I spent extra time sewing (aka procrastinating on cleaning) today, since I knew I wasn't going to sew on Saturday due to it being our Sabbath and going to Michael's brother's birthday party till late at night.  The shirt is finished, though, except for the elastic shirring around the waist, since I don't have any elastic thread.  I even asked Michael to pick some up this week, but the Walmart employees had no idea what elastic thread was.  

I love how the shirt turned out so far.  If you haven't tried Ottobre Designs, you really should.  Their patterns have such amazing little details that really make the outfit and their directions for finishing really make it look professionally done.  I find it great that most of their items look like more everyday kid comfortable that you could find in most any store, in contrast to lots of sewing patterns that seem to be ultra frilly and ruffles galore.  Don't get me wrong, I like ultra frilly in the right time and place, but I find it hard to incorporate in regular every day wear.  Anyways, back to the shirt.  Eleanor loves it!  Lately, she has been really into princesses and crowns.  She even makes some out of her Duplos.  And I thought that the main fabric was perfect, since it has little crowns on it.  When she tried it on, she pretended to put on the crown.  It was so cute!

Day Six. Sabbath and party.  (I had to include Day Six, even though I didn't sew, because I'm too OCD to not to). 

Day Seven, I got one pair of jeans cut out.  I'm using a light weight denim so that they will be comfortable for her and not too stiff.  I'm not to keen on the pocket the pattern has so I'm going to try the Bow Pocket Tutorial by Simple Simon and Co.  Hopefully, it will turn out super cute.

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Maybe later on today I'll get more done on the jeans, but for now I am just going to read a story to my girlies.

KCWC: Getting Started

I decided to join a ton of other people in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge.  Everyday this week, I will be spending at least one hour doing something sewing related to make clothes for my girls.  At the beginning of the month I ordered a bunch of fabric, since Eleanor needs pants and warm pajamas pretty desperately.  I wasn't planning on participating, but I figure I have all this fabric coming (hopefully soon) that is going towards kids clothes anyways, so I might as well.  While I'm waiting for some boxes to come in the mail I'm going to work on getting ready for some major sewing.  I need to trace a couple patterns from my Ottobre Designs magazines for her pants and a sweater and maybe a shirt pattern or two depending on how much I get done before my fabric comes.  Hopefully this turns out to be a fairly productive week!

luvinthemommyhood Sweetheart Dress

More pattern testing goodness!  This time luvinthemommyhood let me test her Sweetheart Dress.  It has a lined bodice and a heart cutout in the back.  I'm sorry you are going to have to bear with grainy pictures again.  We plan on get a new dslr sometime this winter.  I should just use my husband's iPhone, since takes better pictures than our camera.   

The pattern was really easy to follow and came together rather quickly.  I think that even beginners would be able to sew this up without too much frustration.

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the heart shaped scraps.

Laurel loved spinning in it.  I think she looks like a dancer here.

Elysium Pattern Underwear Style Training Pants

Recently, I bought a pattern in preparation for potty training (again).  We've tried Pull-ups and hated them.  We've tried panties only 3 day methods and had a huge breakdown.  So now that the girls are having tantrums wanting to use the potty, we are going to try again.  I wanted to try training pants so that it is a little less stressful than just panties and less messy, but it had to be reusable and inexpensive. I searched for hours upon hours for a free pattern online that I liked the look of and that I thought would meet my needs.  I gave up on that.  Finally, after more hours of searching on Etsy, I decided to give this pattern a try.

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I liked the look of Elysium's Underwear Style Training Pants and loved that it could be used to make regular panties later.  So I gave it a try.  It was so easy, which was great, since I needed to make twenty pairs.  I never had a chance to time how long it takes from start to finish (thank you my darlings), but they felt very speedy when I had a chance to work on them.  The directions are very easy to follow with lots of pictures.  I would say even a beginner at sewing could make these.  The only problem I had was knowing which size to do was really unclear.  I ended up making a test pair that I was pretty sure would fit at least one of the girls and then try it on them.  After that I had a much better idea of which sizes I needed.

For the most part I used what I had on hand to make them.  I used a bunch of old t-shirts and out grown/ holey/ stained baby sleepers.  For the soaker part, I used three layers of scrap cotton batting.  The only part I paid for  (besides the pattern) was elastic.  I did change one thing in the pattern which was that I changed the soaker part by adding a water proof section that I cut from an old jacket to help keep down messes.  In whole, this was a very inexpensive way to get a bunch of training pants.  

My opinion is that this is a great pattern and the girls love how they look.  The girls have worn them a little in a very casual go at potty training and they do help prevent big puddles on the floor.

Shwin Designs Lucy Top

I was lucky enough to get to do some more pattern testing.  This time for Shwin Designs.  It is the Lucy Top.  A darling shirt that buttons by the shoulders and is reversible (yay, two shirts in one!).  The look reminds me a little of a pinafore dress on backwards.

I really wanted to use some great chambray or linen like she has pictured, but I didn't have any on hand so I used Blossom Savannah and Mamma Birds in Violet both by Valori Wells.

The top comes together very simply and quickly.  There are pictures every step of the way.  All in all, it was a great pattern.

Eleanor really loved it, especially since it has pockets.

If you head on over to her blog, she has some coupon codes up that are good till 9/6/2012.

(Sorry about the pictures.  I let Eleanor use my point and shoot camera and I didn't realize that she played with the settings till after I took all the pictures.)

Peek-a-Boo Patterns La Jolla One Piece Swimsuit

I got to test another pattern for Peek-a-Boo Patterns.  Yay!  This time it was a swimsuit.  I know sewing a swimsuit sounds scary, but she makes it so easy.  As you know from this post, I've used one of her patterns before for a swimsuit and really liked it.  This one is even easier.

I started with some super adorable fabric from Girl Charlee.  I spent hours and hours trying to find the right swim fabric for inexpensive enough.  Then I remembered Girl Charlee and fell in love.  They have so many great fabrics for a great price.  That is where I found this fabric.

Don't you just love that lace detail!

I cut into my maternity swimsuit for the black, since I didn't know what else to do with it.

I'm so glad I did.  I just love the contrast of the black bows.

I made the headband using a tutorial from my favorite blog.

I love how it turned out too.

My bald, baby girl needs something up there.

I pretty much love everything about this outfit.

I hope this helps you want to overcome any fear you might have to sew a swimsuit.  I'm even going to make one for me soon.  Now that's scary.  If you want to make your own, you can purchase the pattern here.  She's even having a sale on swim patterns through June 1st, just use the code "swim20" at checkout.

(Just so you know.  We aren't super rich with a fancy boat.  We are just lucky enough to live at a summer camp.)

Teaching at Home

Today, we've started homeschooling with the girls.  I'm terrified, but I think it will be alright.  I found a fun preschool curriculum of sorts that I think is going to be wonderful.  It is called Before Five in a Row.  It is basically an activity idea book for children ages 2-4 based on a bunch of fantastic children's books.  It is designed to prepare a child for learning while maintaining the wonderment of childhood.  Since Eleanor absolutely LOVES being read to, I thought this was perfect for us.

I bought the book from their suggested retailer before realizing I could get it for much less on other sites.  Oh well, live and learn.  But I did make up for it when I bought several of the children's books.  I bought a couple of lots on ebay, sold the duplicates again on ebay and got back almost what we paid for one of lots (yes!).  Some of the books recommended are out of print so I'm having a harder time finding them for a decent price.

  

There are a lot of other blogs out there using B4FIAR and have some great ideas and printables for all of us.  I go to them and pinterest for inspiration.  Then I plan everything out for the book I'm using each week with this great online lesson planner called PlanbookEdu.  They offer a free basic service.  It is really helping me keep track of everything I'm wanting to get done with each book/week.

We are starting out with Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?,so I'll let you know what we do and how it goes.

Wish us luck!

Peek-a-Boo Patterns Lucy

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to test a pattern for Peek-a-Boo Patterns.

Her Lucy dress pattern is so wonderfully simple!  

I'm sure it can be made really quickly if there are no little helpers around.

Laurel looked so cute it in!

Something else wonderful about it, you can make it in sizes 3 months all the way up to 8 years!  It looks like most of her patterns are the same way.

We had the worst time getting her to stand in one place.

If you are wondering about Laurel's headband, I used this flower tutorial.  I sewed it onto some felt and elastic before adding the button.

Baby gets a new dress

Around our house we have a problem with a baby doll nudist colony.  Luckily, Eleanor is finally starting to want them dressed.  Unfortunately, one of the babies came in only a diaper.  So I was very excited to find this vintage pattern.

At first, I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do.  They are all so cute.  I finally settled on View 3, when I remembered I had a remnant of eyelet fabric I could use.

I thoroughly enjoyed making it.  It was fast, easy and darling.  I kept going 'awww' while I was putting it together.

Eleanor really likes it too.  Now I just have to decided which one to make next.