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A Little Non-KCWC Sewing

10/15/2012

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For those of you who don't follow Elsie Marley, last week was KCWC. That stands for Kid's Clothing Week Challenge- in order to participate, you agree to spend one hour a day working on making kid's clothes for one whole week. I did not officially participate, but I did sew some clothes for 5 last week!
If you've never heard of it, you should definitely check out Elsie Marley and her KCWC flickr group.
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5 is still a huge fan of spending as much time outside as possible, regardless of the weather. With the increasingly colder weather, we've been trying out some new warmth-inducing outfits. The boys reached a consensus on overalls with a long pants, long sleeves one piece underneath. We only have one of each of these, so Fred requested some more for dirty outside playtime...
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I'll have more (and better) pictures of these soon, but for now, here are the details:
The Pattern: I drafted a pattern from his existing ones, simplifying a few of the extra fussy details.

The Fabric: The outside is from Jessica Jones' Outside Oslo line, and the inside is brown cotton flannel from Joann's

The Sewing: I decided a flannel-lined overall would be the best for cozy-ness. I only ended up using 1/2 yard of each fabric, which was super exciting.
They came together surprisingly easily, probably 2-3 hours total sewing time. My pattern for the legs turned out a bit wonky, so I had to re-cut and then bind the hem. I really liked the result though.
I used snap tape on the inseam and replaced the buckles and standard overall buttons with regular buttons. That was a bit of an adventure as I sewed the button holes completely random sizes and then just tried buttons from my stash until I found ones that fit. Almost all of them are different sizes.

Overall, I'm calling them an unmitigated success. 5's reaction- "wooooooooow"!
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The long pants, long sleeve one piece was way easier and faster- I will definitely crank out a bunch more of these! Again, proper model-y shots coming...

The Pattern: drafted from his existing one, minus the hood and button placket on front, converted to raglan sleeve.

The Fabric: recycled T-shirts and red cotton ribbing from Joann's (plus snap tape bought online from an Etsy shop a few years ago)

The Sewing: This is like a fancy version of his raglan shirts that I can whip out in about 15 minutes! This one probably took me 30ish though, because of the snap tape. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how easy this was- sew sleeves to body, minus last seam, add ribbing and top-stitching around the neck, sew up last seam, sew side seams, sew crotch panel, add snap tape, sew on ribbing around the bottom of legs, done!

Overall, super fun with bonus sense of accomplishment!

Coming up in the next week or two- a new recipe and a perfect holiday/ baby gift tutorial!

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These Days

10/9/2012

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::These days are filled with raking, raking and more raking.
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::These days are filled with overalls, flannel-lined goodness
    (and plans for making more!)
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::These days are all about leaf stomping- on the sidewalks, in the yard, in the parking     lot, anywhere and everywhere.
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::These days are full of requests for appole sidow (apple cider of course!)
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::These days are full of more demands than requests, with a "please" tacked on     occasionally...
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::These days are full of appreciating every last second of fall.

What are your days filled with?

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Beginnings of Fall

9/10/2012

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You know how once in a while, ever so seldomly, you have a day that is so perfect in every way, it's like from a storybook? We had one of those this weekend. It was sooo great. I seriously felt like I was in some kind of movie, or instructional book on what childhood is supposed to be like. Okay, enough with the reflections.
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We took 5 to an apple orchard for the first time on Saturday. I know, right? So picture-book-y! The weather was warmish, but with a wind that had just enough bite to let you know that Fall is coming.
The strange weather we've had this year meant that the crop was really small, but luckily for us, we were there on the perfect weekend when everything was good and ready and not gone yet.
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As a pretty serious apple-lover, 5 really got into picking apples. The hard part was getting him to not take a bite out of every single one he picked.
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Dad taught him how to look for bad spots and not to pick the rotten ones up off the ground. Important stuff.
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There were wagons. There was uneven terrain. For a boy who loves "bumps", this was his idea of heaven.
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We packed a little picnic lunch and 5 regaled us with tales of apple-picking heroics while we ate.
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This was such a special orchard- not only were there many varieties of apples to choose from, there were also sheep! 5 did not want to put his hand ANYWHERE NEAR that sheep's mouth, but he encouraged Dad to feed the sheep a grape. This is something we are still talking about. Yesterday, upon waking in the morning, 5 says to me "sheep. grape, dad. bite. chomp!" and so on...
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There were also grapes to be picked! We weren't going to get any, but 5 wandered over after lunch and sampled one and freaked out at how good they were. So naturally, we picked some grapes.
I feel like I'm ready for Fall now. School's in, apples harvested, bring on the cardigans.
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Autumnal Urges

10/29/2011

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A Hat-tastic Week!

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You may remember Monday's post, in which I showed off a new hat I made for 5. No, you're not in the Matrix. In the same week, I am writing ANOTHER post about a new hat I made for 5. You can see from the picture though, that this hat is completely different...
I saw this Gnome Hat Tutorial and HAD to make one for 5. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. I love it I love it I love it.
It was also an excellent crochet-warmup. Now that it's getting colder, I will be doing more knitting and crocheting and it's always good to start with a quick and easy project to get my confidence up. Success! I made this in one evening plus 15 minutes over lunch the next day. I was also able to use the scrap yarn from my most favorite scarf (I LOVE this yarn so I was thrilled to be able to make another project with it!)

MMmmmm New Recipe!

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I have been meaning to post this recipe all week. It is not a cheese sandwich recipe. That orange stuff there above the lettuce? That is my cashew/carrot sandwich spread and dip! Super healthy and delicious, this spread is grereat for lunch eaters of all ages. Click on the picture to go to the recipe.

Deep Thoughts With Dad

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These boys have been doing their very best to absorb every single minute of sunshine before we are plunged into the Long Dark Winter. This involves a lot of standing at the window, discussing the merits of various varmints, as well as the discovery of a very auspicious and newly-revered albino squirrel.
In other words, good times for Daddies and babies.
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The Outdoorsmen

10/3/2011

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We're Going on a Bike Ride!

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This was the weekend for the Freds to be hardy outdoorsmen.
The sun was shining.
The sky was blue.
The leaves were changing.
Many father son walks were enjoyed as well as THE FIRST BIKE RIDE FOR THE BABY!

Preparing for Take Off

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As this was our first time using our crazy space age stroller as a bike trailer, there were LOTS of preparations to be made:
Assembling the bike/trailer machine
Finding the stinkin orange flag that 5 dragged all over the house
Checking and rechecking the connection between bike and trailer
Putting on bike helmets!
Making sure the pink cat is available to accompany the young master on his ride

The Handsome, but Tired Men of Adventure

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While my gentlemen were on such splendid adventures, I was supposed to be accomplishing mass quantities of work. This did not happen so much. It was one of those days when almost nothing goes right.
It's okay though, because I got to enjoy my dapper lumberjacks when they returned all tired and snuggly.
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Flying Lessons

9/26/2011

1 Comment

 
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Yeah, not really.
Yesterday, we had THE MOST BEAUTIFUL day! Perfect clear blue sky (as you can see), the leaves are turning gorgeous yellows, oranges, and reds, AND it was warmish!
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The three of us took a nice walk (and ever so efficiently managed to come home with toothpaste and ibuprofen...) and on the way home, Fred had an idea for some wonderful pictures that would take advantage of the built in blue backdrop we were given.
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5, who got quite vocal about his desire to NEVER RIDE IN THE DAMN STROLLER AGAIN, seemed to cheer up a bit after Dad tossed him in the air a few hundred times. Perhaps you can see that as well.

I finished an excellent baby boot pattern today- I'm making them for 5's birthday, I'm so excited. I'm hoping to have a new tutorial for it within the next week, so look for it soon! They're adorable and lined (I used fleece so we won't have to put socks on him if we don't have time for him to take them off a million times before we go) and pretty simple too.
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Longing to be Quilting

8/22/2011

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My family likes to sleep with the bedroom window open whenever possible. The main reason for closing the window is wind- we have a ridiculously big casement window which should really be illegal to sell in such a windy place.
The last few nights have gotten down into the 50s, leaving me cold and dreaming of quilts. They were already in the back of my mind since I returned home from Duluth to find the Marimekko scrap pack I'd ordered waiting impatiently for me to open it and do something fabulous. Like a quilt.
I have approximately 1 million other projects to do, nearly all of them decidedly MORE pressing than this quilt, but here I am daydreaming...
None of the following pictures were taken by me, click on the picture to go to the source site. Please enjoy my current obsession/inspiration.

That Cool Kid that I will NEVER be

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from Denyse Schmidt Quilts
I LOVE these two quilts, but I will never be able to make either of these because I find it IMPOSSIBLE to buy solid colored fabric. Denyse Schmidt is a rockstar of the quilt world and her book Denyse Schmidt Quilts is my favorite and her techniques make me look much more awesome than I really am.
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Closer

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These fabric choices are much closer to something I would do, but I'm not really great with all squares all the same size. Too many straight lines = not a quilt I will make.

Almost There

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I like these fabrics and the design is almost random enough for me- just a little bit weirder...

Something in Between These Two

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I think that I will try to challenge myself and create a design that is a tiny bit calmer than the one above, and a squidge messier than the gorgeous one below. Yes. That is a good idea. (I ADORE the quilt below, but white fabric is even harder for me to buy that plain colored fabric).
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    Author

    My name is Ansley Knoch. I am the creator of Rispok, a line of accessories for big and little people made from repurposed materials. I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my husband, Fred, and our son, also Fred, better known as 5.

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