Caboose and His Hangy Thingy

Caboose was given a flannel train blanket as an infant by a friend from church. It's just a large flannel blanket with a special train track stitchs around the edge in red thread. This is his beloved blanket. It is very well used, dingy, but you know how kids and blankies go.

Well, it has seen better days. It had many holes in it. It was in such bad shape, I didn't know how to fix it. He had asked me a number of times to fix it, but I hesitated because I didn't know if he would then reject it because it was smaller. His persistence won. It was taken to the sewing table where I figured the best way to "fix" it was to take off a 9-inch strip down one side. There was still a big hole beyond the 9-inch strip, but I figured it could probably be patched up. That's what I did and it worked well. I don't have a train track stitch on my sewing machine, so I used red thread and the closest matching stitch I could find.

So, I brought it upstairs to give to him. He was thrilled to know that it had been fixed. I carefully showed him what I had done. He then took the blanket from me and looked at the corners. Then, with a very worried look on his face, he said, "where's the hangy thingy"? Well, there were "hangy thingies" all over the place because the blanket was in shreds. As he asked the question, his chin started quivering and he was on the verge of crying. I quickly went downstairs and grabbed the 9-inch strip I had cut off earlier and brought it upstairs to show him. I asked him where the "hangy thingy" was. He pointed to the corner where there were 2 little pieces of fabric hanging - we're talking disgustingly, dingy, torn, ratty-looking "hangy thingies". I couldn't bear to see him cry. He wanted them sewn back on his blanket.

So, I cut the 2 "hangy thingies" off the strip and somehow figured out a way to attach them to the corner of the blanket. Go ahead, click on the picture. It's not pretty.

But it works. This is what he does with his "hangy thingy".

He wraps it around his finger and then he lifts it up by his face, and his nose, and plays with it, rubs his upper lip and his nose. His blanket smells like him. I love the smell of it - it's the smell of my son.

That, my friends, is the look of contentment (I know it's hard to tell behind the stoic facade, but Mama knows.) Caboose is happy. Mama is happy. I wish all of life's problems could be solved with hangy-thingies!

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Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day started like this: Orange Boy (12 yrs old) made homemade cinnamon rolls. This is the 2nd time he's made them. He put them together last night and put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, he put them in the oven on very low to rise and then baked them. This kid is amazing. He was craving cinnamon rolls about a month ago and decided to find a recipe and go for it. Some young lady is going to be very blessed to have him as a husband some day!

Can you say YUM?!!!

After church, we had a picnic lunch at a state park and went for a walk in the woods - right in the middle of Portland. Can you believe all of this in the middle of Portland? I love Oregon!!!

My two oldest sons!

Found a snake along the path.

Oldest three kids

The whole family - yea! We should have taken a family shot BEFORE the hike. Oh well. I love it anyway! What a great Mother's Day. I am so blessed.

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Kwik Sew 2694 Again, but Modified to Dress

Pattern modifications: I had already added quite a few inches to the length of the top when I originally sewed it (pattern runs quite short), but I added an additional 19 inches to the bottom of the top pattern (keep in mind I'm over 6 feet tall) to make it into a dress. Because this was to be a dress, I didn't want it to be quite as fitted around the hips, so I widened the pattern of the bodice about 1/2 inch on both sides around the hips. I then drew a line at a very slight angle from the hips down. I didn't want the skirt part of the dress to be straight up and down, but also didn't want the look of a full A-Line. I made sure the angle was the same on the front and back pieces and then sewed the dress using the same directions as the top.

Before I continue - the necklace in the picture was on loan to me by my 15-yr old daughter Pearly. Unfortunately, when I checked my jewelry box this morning for a necklace to wear, I discovered THREE of my necklaces had been broken. It seems my 4-yr old Caboose has been lasso-ing things using my necklaces. I bribed my daughter by telling her I'd publicly give her credit for the use of her necklace and she obliged.

My additions to the pattern include using Fusible Tape (SewkeysE brand Extremely Fine knit stay tape) around anything that needed to be hemmed and also the neckline. I use this method in all of my knit tops because I find that my coverstitch machine is temperamental and skips stitches. If I apply the fusible tape, I do not have that problem. 3/8-in. clear elastic was used to stabilize the shoulder seam. I use this in all knit shoulder seams. It really works great.

My easy way of applying elastic to shoulder seams: put the end of elastic under the presser foot and start sewing until the elastic is sewn maybe 1/4-in. This helps to secure it. I then put the front/back shoulder underneath the presser foot while holding the elastic on top of the fabric and stitch across the shoulder seam. The elastic is already "anchored" with stitches, so it is fairly easy to guide the elastic as the shoulder seam is sewn. You may have a little slot on your presser foot for applying ribbons/elastic, etc, and if you do, that is easier than my method.

Oh - one more difference with this dress - I made it a sleeveless dress by applying the fusible tape, turning over about 3/8 inch and then using the coverstitch to hem. This dress was so easy to make. The hardest part was ironing the fusible tape to the bottom hemline because I find ITY a challenge to work with - it rolls! You will definitely see more variations of this pattern to come. It will pay for itself in no time by making simple revisions. I was very slow on the bandwagon, but plan on making up for lost time.

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