Hey, so yeah, I’m terrible at keeping up with blogs. I WANT to, I’m just REALLY bad at it. Obviously!
Penny turned TWO a few months ago. And Maire Shannon turned FOUR! For each of their birthdays we took them to Round 1 with their friends They had such a great time in the ball pit, balloon rooms, arcade games, etc. And us parents loved the sideline massage chairs. SCORE! 🙂
So, I probably definitely did more sewing in the week and a half before we left for Christmas than I had through most of the year (save week before Halloween, Hmm maybe there is a pattern there). I made the girls a couple dresses each. I tried two different patterns.
I had a lot more winter/Christmas themed fabric than I thought, so I let Maire Shannon pick the pattern she liked best and worked with that one first. She really like the ice skating girls, so we went with that. I purchased the Five and Ten Design pattern back when it first came out last summer. I really like the blogger designers who contributed, so I snatched it up but hadn’t tested it out till now. I used the new sleeve add-on pattern and tried out the simple Look No.1. I made it up in a 3T for Missy. I lengthen it a bit thought because I like dresses to be a bit longer than just knee length. The pattern when together really well and fit Missy quite nicely. It’s one of her favorite things to wear (she got mad at me when I wouldn’t let her wear it to school) and is quite comfy even with the long sleeves (something I’m always hesitant to do with simple woven cottons).
The next pattern I tried was from the Southern Institute seasonal pattern pack from last fall. You should really keep an eye out on the sewing blogs for their collections because they are a great deal. I paid less than $30 for 26 different patterns. One of the ones I was really interested in trying was the Sally Dress by Very Shannon. The dress doesn’t have any closures, no buttons, no zipper, nothing. It relies on the fact that the wide neck has peaked shoulders (which of course I didn’t really get any good pictures of). I LOVE this pattern. It sews up nice and easy and it just slips right over their heads. The 2T was really too big for Penny, so I took advantage of the fact that I didn’t have large enough pieces of the red fabric to cut the bodice pieces on the fold and took front and back seams to take the bodice in. I had intended to only take the bodice in a half inch on both sides, but I wasn’t thinking and ended up doing a half inch seam for a total of two inches off the bodice. It was a tad tight getting her into it (it would be easier if she wasn’t a wiggly toddler), but it fit quite nicely. She seemed to really like it (she decided she looked like a “pincess”), and both girls really like that the dresses matched.
They are so cute together, though Maire Shannon is more into the lovey stuff than Penny most of the time. She is kind of the resident grumpy cat. LOL
I like the Sally pattern so much that I decided to use it for their Christmas dresses as well. I didn’t end up using the big pockets on any of the three dresses I made with it though. I did end up putting in seam pockets in the Christmas dresses because POCKETS!! I used the pocket pattern from the Five in Ten pattern, but I probably could have just winged it (winged it? wong it? they both sound wrong). I made Maire Shannon a 3T and drafted a 18m size by taking about a half inch off the middle of the bodice pattern of the 2T size. Over all I was pleased with how they turned out. Their was a bit of room to grow for both of them, but that also meant that the front neckline gaps quite a bit when the girls move around. It’s not so bad that it’s really a problem, it just kind of bugs me. I also made the skirts longer. I actually made Penny’s too long so I put a growth pleat into her skirt. It’s a nice little detail and because the dress is a bit too big and only has a half sleeve, it should work for some time. Actually Maire Shannon’s dress will probably fit her for a while too.
The pockets were a good call because both girls LOVED them. Penny kept losing the pockets in the gathers and yelling “Where my pokit go?!”, even at Church (which wasn’t as cute). I love the prints as well. Penny’s is an actual snowflake pattern, and Maire Shannon’s just kind of looks like snowflakes. I LOVE snowflakes. They are probably one of my favorite things in the world, certainly one of my favorite things about the winter season. And I really like how the prints are elegant and festive all at the same time. I have another Sally dress cut out for Maire Shannon in the red micro dot and a snowman fabric, but I just ran out of time before we left. Still, four dresses in less than two weeks on top of packing and getting the house cleaned up before we left? I think I did pretty well. 🙂
Missy has been doing ballet for a little while now. She loved the summer ballet program, so we put her in the regular class this year. She LOVES it. Last month she had her first winter performance. She and her classmates got to be little sugar plum fairies. They were adorable. 
Missy really enjoyed the mirrors and ballet bars that are in the larger ballet studio that is in the community center where they had their performance. It was a bit crazy in that room with 30+ 3-12 year olds and only one young adult volunteer. Some of the older girls decided to round the little girls up and do some stretches and little dancer floor work. It was quite a success as many of the little ones were quite keen to join in with all of their friends.
Everyone did such a good job!
Penny had a great time watching all of the dancing and loved seeing her big sister on the stage. She was so proud of her. I love that the too of them are already so close. I hope that continues as they get older.
I just had to get an arial of her hair. I love how it turned out. SO CUTE!
I think Missy’s favorite part of the performance was the fact that she was allowed to wear a little bit of make up. For weeks afterwards she was trying to get me to let her wear it again. She kept saying, “but Mama! I’m a grown up now!”
Nice to know that the ballet hasn’t taken her goofy edge off. Ha Ha
My Little Ballerina
I miss sewing, There is a sewing group here that has a monthly swap. Most of the other ladies are quilters, so I’ve always been hesitant to make anything because I don’t quilt. Last time I decided to crochet the candle mats we were swapping. I thought it turned out pretty cute. 
This time we were swapping table runners. I had every intention of making a runner, but I just couldn’t make my mind up on the style. First I thought I’d just do a simple runner with a pleated or ruffled edge. Then I thought I’d cut out several large leaves out of different colors and sew them all together. Then I thought I’d do some kind of double sided runner with fall colors on one side and Christmas colors on the other. I had all these ideas, but the Halloween sewing was taking more out of me than I expected, so I was really close to simply not bring a runner and just coming to visit and eat the Thanksgiving potluck food (which was AWESOME by the way). At the last minute I decided to just go for it. With a little over an hour to work with I surprised myself and whipped up a simple table runner with some fabric I had on hand.
It’s simple, but I like how it turned out and it felt really good to sew something simple that came out the way I wanted it. Making the dragon costumes weren’t as enjoyable as I had hopped. Maybe it was because I was stressed about getting it all done, maybe it was because I was working with knit for almost the first time and it wasn’t working with me the way I wanted. I’m not sure what it was, but It was simple and relaxing to work on a quick project while Missy was at school and Penny was asleep.
Having a bit of a rough day today. The girls have been quite destructive today (dumping out trash cans, emptying desk drawers, pouring out snack cups, etc.). So I decided to have some coffee, and when they suggested we go outside, I figured fresh air would do me some good too.
Right now I’m working on a thanksgiving hat for each of the girls. I’m going to try to do a turkey. This is what I have so far.
I’m supposed to be working on a table runner for a swap I’m going to tomorrow. I’ve not even started on it. I guess I just can’t settle on a style that I’d be willing to part with. LOL As a result, most of me is leaning towards just not making anything. A few of the other ladies aren’t bringing anything, so I wouldn’t be the only Yankee swap wallflower. I do still need to make up the scalloped potatoes I promised. I’ll probably build it tonight and bake it tomorrow. I’m going to try to use Japanese sweet potatoes. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Maybe it’s a good think that I don’t sew as a business. The Halloween costumes this year are starting to feel like work. Part of me likes being locked away I my tower sewing, but the other part really wants to go downstairs (where Andrew is sitting on his computer) and watch TV on the couch while crocheting, or even JUST watch TV. Of course, I would be able to take more breaks if I hadn’t procrastinated for so long or if I would just do SIMPLE and “good enough”.
Hey,
So I feel terrible because I so wanted to blog and I never do it. I want to write, I often think of things to write about, but then I never do it. “Bad, Meg”. To be fair, we’ve not really be doing that many fun interesting things lately. I have mentioned that we moved to the Tokyo area of Japan right? I am going to the fabric district tomorrow morning (I totally should not AT ALL be awake still). I need to get my but in bed so I can meet the girls to van pool at 7:15 am (“Ouch!”). I’m SO EXCITED though. I’ve never been to anything like this, and blocks of over 100 fabric stores in Tokyo is going to be AWESOME! I need to make sure I get fabric for the requested Halloween costumes (the original plan was a dragon and princess with two dragon-princess babies, but Missy wants to be just a dragon like Daddy, so I’m starting to think Daenerys and her three dragons maybe, I don’t know we’ll see. Now back to you’re regularly scheduled post). Other than costumes, though, I don’t have any set things go get. I do want to look for interesting knits, but mostly just want to find fun stuff and hopefully some interesting notions.
I have rediscovered crochet recently and I’m really glad I did. I’m having fun learning how to make kid’s hats, so since I REALLY need to go to sleep, I’ll just do a bit of a photo dump. Please ignore the messy house in the background. The price of a crafty lifestyle (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself). Enjoy . . . 🙂
So I’m mostly just here to see what this whole WordPress blogging experience is all about. I do have a blog already over on Blogger, and I’m trying to decide if I want to switch over or not. I’m thinking that I may like the user interface a bit better. However, there does seem to be more free customization available to the Blogger user. I’ll have to see. In any event, I suppose a bit of an introduction would be good.
I’m a young stay-at-home mother of two. My beautiful little girls are world.
Maire Shannon is 2 now, and though that means going through our fair share of tantrums and meltdowns, she is still one sweet little girl who is also super smart in my own totally unbiased opinion. 😉 Penelope at nearly four months is the newest addition to our growing little family. She is quite the mama’s girl right now, but she is still pretty sociable and loves being talked to. The girls really enjoy each other which I hope continues throughout their lives.
My husband is really my best friend. His interests in computers and gaming have successively rubbed off on the rest of us and as a result we make quite the proud geeky little family.
As for me, I have a strong geeky side myself. My main interests, though, tend towards the crafty and historical. I enjoy sewing, baking, costuming, and several different historical eras. Some of my favorite are the Regency and Victorian (read Civil War) eras, but I also really do like the late Colonial, Middle Ages, and Renaissance periods. I’m was also quite the Tolkien enthusiast and generally still am. Lately I’ve also gotten into the ‘crunchy’ movement that seems to be getting so popular. I suppose it’s rather fitting since I’ve always greatly valued the more old fashion way of doing things. Anyways, I’m not sure how well I did with this introduction, but I suppose it will suffice for now.
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Meg's Tea Room 