Simplicity 2766 Jacket

I've been sewing a lot lately and have more pictures and reviews to upload. Here's a new jacket. I should have picked a heavier weight fabric, but for a "muslin", it went together nicely and now I can pick another more substantial weight fabric to make another one. You can read the sewing review in my sidebar.

Edited to add: I received a comment that this is boxy and pilgrim-like. I appreciate the comment. The pictures show it on the dark gray side, but it is really more black with little white specks. What do you think? Too boxy, pilgrimy? I don't think pilgrims would be using those flashy buttons - lol. I was thinking of making a shorter version - not as short as the pattern, and also a different color.


Pearly's volleyball season is over at the local high school. Her JV team didn't do too well, but she was able to play Varsity and this week she will suit up with the Varsity. That has been a pretty big thrill for her as a freshman.

Silly Boy

This is right after I cut Bunny's hair. He had a squirt bottle with water and was having a little fun looking at himself in the mirror. I could eat him up.

And again Simplicity 4076

This pattern is really incredible with all the variations from summer to fall. This is my "muslin". It's a good start. I'm going to redraft the neckline so hopefully I won't have to wear a camisole. I also want a thicker fabric with more lycra to avoid some of the wrinkling. Check out the length of my sleeves - that is a rare thing for a 6'3" mama! Woohoo!

Sewing and More

Several of you guessed correctly on what was in the pear - an airsoft pellet. There are lots of airsoft pellets in my yard! Boys!!

Since school has begun again, life is crazy busy. Pearly is playing volleyball for the public high school and made JV team as a freshman. Just last week, the Varsity coach asked her to swing up to Varsity. So it looks like she sill do both JV and Varsity (maybe more on the bench at Varsity games). What a thrill for her (and her mama).

I've made a sewn a few things. If you would like details - checkout my sidebar to read the review on patternreview.com

Hope all is well with YOU!

Boy Antics

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So . . . . I’m still in the midst of processing pears for canning and came across a peculiar-looking pear with a “worm hole”. I looked closer and found that it was not a worm. Can you see it? What is it? This is just every day life at the Smith house full of boys.

Pears!

This is occupying part of my time and I probably have twice this amount of pears still on the trees! Gotta get moving!

Back Home Again

Our favorite meal is the grilled salmon dinner: Caesar salad, fruit salad, seasoned oven-baked potatoes, bread, strawberry lemonade, and the most delicious salmon EVER!!!

For the third year in a row, my parents came along. It's great for the kids to have those special memories with grandparents.


I love my Mom's face here!

We've had quite an amazing summer. My dh had his 8-wk sabbatical and so we have been doing lots of traveling and playing. We finished up our travels with our yearly homeschool family camp in Whidbey Island, WA and had a blast. The weather was sunny and in the 70s all week. It doesn't get much better than that for WA!

Cool Pic

I was just going through my daughter's pictures from vacation and found this. Isn't it cool? The sun was setting and it made the very dry CA hillside that vibrant golden color.

More Vacation

I was hoping to keep up with this blog on our vacation, but unfortunately about two weeks of pictures are stuck in a broken computer. The kids were playing with the laptop on a bed and it overheated. Now we don't know the password (the initial password before the Windows screen). I hope some computer sleuth can help us out. There are fantastic pictures of Napa Valley, San Francisco and all of the tourist attractions, Santa Cruz, and sadly, Yosemite.

After we went to all of the above-mentioned places, we rented a cabin for a week about 1-1/2 hrs away from Yosemite, which also happened to be 5 miles from my aunt and uncle's place, so we had a great visit with them.

Here we are at Pinecrest Lake - a gorgeous lake with great swimming/boating. We spent two full days there and enjoyed great barbeques (to you Southerners - we enjoyed "grilling" our meat - lol).

Notice Caboose's war paint - lol.

I'm sure glad dh took Brown Eyes swimming for the months before vacation. It paid off!

Uncle Fred bought a used boat right before we came and so we were able to use it while we were there.

This picture was taken at dusk and it really is darker than it appears in the picture and yes, it's blurry, but the kids had a blast walking on these logs.

Another new family favorite is Mexican Train. My aunt taught us and we spent quite a few hours playing it.


These 2 were inseperable the whole time. It was actually pretty funny. They are both math brains and have quite a few similarities. They were like two peas in a pod.
And here we are right before leaving - dh took the picture.
There's more vacation to come!