pac-man lunch sack

September 16, 2011September 16, 201115 Comments

my dear husband doesn’t have many sewing requests, but in this case i had been on a bit of a sewing hiatus, and he had an immediate one: PLEEEEASE make the kids a new lunch bag for daycare. while the faux bois oilcloth lunch sack i made them was still functional, it was getting smelly from spilled milk and isn’t washable. i once again pulled up calico’s lunch sack tutorial but made it in canvas ikea fabric, a lot bigger since the bag needs to hold food for both kids now, and added a little something extra…

PAC-MAN AND MS. PAC-MAN APPLIQUE! i was about to applique a lower-case E and an O for their initals, but once i started cutting out the circles i suddenly thought of pac-man and thought that would be PERFECT to represent a hungry little girl and little boy. i want a lunch sack that makes me smile.

i topstitched around all edges, including the bottom, to make it stand up a little better. i should have lined it, but i was kind of lazy. it just needs to get their lunches from point A to point B anyway, which takes about 10 minutes.

happy husband, giggling mama, well-fed kids. mission accomplished.

a trip to sunriver (and down memory lane)

September 13, 20119 Comments

i didn’t do any sewing last weekend – we were with my side of the family (mom, dad, sisters, brother-in-law, a boyfriend, a friend, and nieces) at our go-to family summer vacation spot: sunriver. it’s located in central oregon, east of bend, where the mornings are cool but the days are hot and sunny, the air smells like pine, and the days are spent bike riding, swimming, and barbecuing. early morning trips to get doughnuts are the norm, as are end-of-the-day hot tub soaks.

sunriver trips are a family tradition. i looked through my baby book, and i think a good third of the photos in it were taken there. here’s me, my mom, her parents, and her sister in 1983:

and me with my sisters and grandparents in 1985 and 1987 (that’s baby laura about to go through the railing – grandma protected her!):

and my dad, rockin’ a moustache in 1990, keepin’ me safe from the sun while my baby sister lilly chilled out on a beach blanket (dad was a proponent of under-swimsuit t-shirts even before rashguards became the norm – so ahead of his time!). i’m also sporting a swimsuit sewed by my mom:

i learned to ride a bike there (with my dad in 1988):

this year, we played soccer on that same field:

baby hair lightened in the sun, bellies were filled with Goody’s ice cream:

deer paid a visit before breakfast (i’m pretty sure there were four in that photo, but i can only spot three now):

Em’s two-and-a-half year old cousin C took a pony ride, but Em was scared, so she observed:

we played games, and had a birthday party:

on the morning we were set to go home, Em said “i want to live in a house like this,” and though the house itself was great, i think she really meant she wants to live with her grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins, spend her days skipping naps in favor of visits to the pool, get hauled around in a bike trailer while munching on fruit snacks, and stay up late to talk and eat pie. i wish we could’ve stayed a few more days, myself…

twirly tula skirt

September 6, 2011September 7, 20118 Comments

this skirt has been in my head for two months now, and it feels really great to have it come to life.

i recently discovered the glamourai (you know, like samurai?) via pinterest, and kelly has the most amazing style. this skirt is a loose interpretation of a gorgeous vintage number that she posted about here. someday i’d love to be lucky enough to find/make a skirt like hers, but in the meanwhile, i decided to make a more colorful miniature version for em.

the pattern is the free twirly skirt tutorial, by house on hill road. i made a couple of erin’s coffee cozies when i was first learning to sew, she saw them on flickr, and encouraged me (a couple times) to start a blog. i remember checking out the skirt tutorial and being a little intimidated by it back then, as a beginner. pretty funny now – it was a joy to sew, quick and smart. i made the smallest size and cut the full width selvedge to selvedge, which is plenty full for a 3T (a little tip i picked up here).

the print is from parisville by tula pink. em was excited that it has HER favorite colors (pink and purple) and MY favorite colors (blue and green). she’s VERY into favorite colors – a regular buddy the elf! 🙂 the hem and waistband are kona aqua (leftover from my picnic blanket). the tie is grosgrain ribbon.

top it off with some after dinner froyo and shoulder rides from daddy when little legs get too tired to walk, and you’ve got one happy girl.

a variation on the frankie carrier

September 1, 2011September 1, 20112 Comments

em is getting a major kick out of her elephant carrier. she takes it on ALL bike rides, nature walks, grandma and grandpa’s house, walks to the coffee shop, everywhere. i often overhear “awwww look at that!” comments as we go by. it’s an attention-getter.

we quickly noticed something, though. bike riding, running, and playground-climbing are much easier when your special buddy is on your BACK, not your front. i also usually wear her little brother in the backpack, and she really likes to be like mommy. easy fix – flip the carrier around!

she’s freeeeeeee!

you just criss-cross the straps in the front instead of the back, like so:

and your buddy doesn’t get in the way of your normal, everyday, three-year-old activities!

give it a try! 🙂

fruit stripe beach robe

August 29, 2011September 1, 20117 Comments

ever since summer began, i’ve wanted to head to the oregon coast. the weather looked good, so on sunday we drove over for a day trip. em was shovel ready!

of course, after waiting all summer long to go, we ended up there during hood to coast weekend (which is, ohhhh…only the largest relay race in north america). we had friends and family running it, but somehow didn’t make the connection until we were driving over that we were heading right to seaside, the town where the race ends!

thankfully, the race ended on saturday and the crowd was largely dispersed by the time we got there.

em rode the carousel, ate elephant ear and saltwater taffy, rode the tilt-a-whirl twice (she’s so brave!), swung on the beach swings, and played in the sand. the water was FREEZING so there wasn’t much of that. it was cool, but not too windy. perfect weather for a cozy beach robe to cover up the swim suit.

the pattern is dana’s beach robe, made with an ikea towel (thinner and easier to work with than the towel i used for my niece’s robe). the fruit stripe gum-esque bias binding is a seersucker from joann, and the hood lining is basically beautiful by maywood studio. em picked the towel out herself, so she was very happy with it. the robe transitions well from beach wear to tilt-a-whirl wear, too. 🙂

also making its official beach debut, the picnic blanket! it made a good landing pad for mr. i’d-just-love-to-shove-a-handful-of-sand-into-my-mouth. have a snack instead, buddy.