Simplicity 4076

Another top finished: Simplicity 4076 . . again. I love the colors. This is the same pattern I made earlier, but this time one inch longer in bodice and no flouncy sleeves. The camisole I'm wearing is really more orange than appears in the photo - weird. I can't believe how nice it feels to have feminine-looking clothing that fits. This is why I sew.

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Mystery Pictures

Interesting things happen when the camera is left around the house. I came upon some very dark images the last time I uploaded my pictures. I lightened the pictures up and here's what I found!

Pictures drawn by Bunny - age 6

Toothless Bunny

This is Pearly holding a picture of Bunny from a couple years ago and taking a picture of him at the same time. Kind of cool.

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McCalls 5039

I finished this dress this weekend. I love it. I love the print, the ribbon - everything about it. I just realized that I don't have many dresses at all. I've been living the last 20 years of my life with primarily skirts and blouses because of all of my nursing babies. I don't think I even had many maternity dresses. This will is perfect for a hot summer day! I made a lot of revisions to the bodice because I'm broad in the back.

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Steps for Life

Some of our family participated in the 2-mile Steps for Life in downtown Portland on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and we were glad to join the effort to raise support for women who need help during and after their unplanned pregnancies.

Caboose complained that his legs hurt when walking, so he was held quite a bit. I'm wondering if he is going through growing pains. A few of our boys have gone through this at his age.

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My Wonderful Mother's Day

I was going to post a whole bunch of pictures of my Mother's Day, but thought this slide show summed it up better. It was such a gorgeous day and having my whole family together was the best gift of all.

From Movies

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Go Cart

Orange Boy is making a lot of progress on his go cart. It's great to see his excitement! Much of the go cart was salvaged from an old riding lawn mower. I love this kind of schooling!

They kind of temporarily put things on so you can get the idea of what it will look like.

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Still Going - I mean Sewing - New Look 6810

Pearly had her eyes set on this pattern long before me. She made the first one and then I had to find something to use to make it, too. From cutting to completion = about 2 hours! I love instant gratification sewing! I think I want to make the sleeveless with ties next.

The fabric was a red dot clearance item from JoAnn's - poly/rayon/lycra. I buy the cheapo stuff from JoAnn's to "practice" on. Obviously with my height, there are a lot of pattern revisions to make, so by using practice fabric, I avoid losing a lot of $$ in case the piece doesn't fit. So far, because of very careful measuring, I haven't had to discard anything. Woohoo!

My next goal is to try pants, I think. Yikes, the thought of that scares me.

I'm thinking of these pants:
I like the lower left top, too, but that can wait for another day.

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Cool Spring in Oregon and Sewing

There are still some very chilly days in May Oregon and I find myself grabbing this hoody I made a few months ago. I thought I'd post a finished picture of it. Pearly and I have been pouring over pattern catalogs online trying to pick out just the right patterns.

Here is KWIK SEW 3094 - an older pattern, but Kwik Sew tends to stick with more classical styles instead of following the very trendy looks. Kwik Sew's patterns are on regular paper, not tissue, which makes it ideal for copying on to tracing material (which is great for me since I end up redrafting patterns by adding 7 inches to pants length and 3+ inches to arm length). Another great thing about Kwik Sew patterns is that it has all sizes on the pattern from XS to XL.



I picked up this funky embroidered polar fleece at JoAnn's on the clearance section (half off clearance and it was about $2 p/yard, so this is one inexpensive "muslin"). My husband says it suits me. It's a bit funky and very casual, but sometimes it's the first thing I grab if it's chilly out. It's very comfortable and check out those long sleeves!


With the hoody on - pardon me, the camera caught me pulling a piece of stray piece of hair off - lol.

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