My parents arrived LATE last night and, combined with a rainy, no play outside day today, meant I got to do some sewing while the Oma and the Opa fought over who got to hold the baby.
I made TWO raglan shirts and finished TWO pairs of pants during nap #1! Hooray Mommy!
The shirt is based on the raglan tutorial from Craftiness is not Optional, but with long sleeves.
The front and back panels are from a hand-me-down from his Isaac and the sleeves are scrap Tshirt sleeves I sewed together long ago...
The collar and cuffs are Joann's clearance fuschia cotton ribbing - woot!

I finished these pants too- I will admit, they were mostly done already. I was awaiting the arrival of new waistband elastic- kind of crucial. All the fabric for these pants are repurposed men's button-down shirts.

While I would love my sweet sweet boy in anything or nothing at all, I think I find him EXTRA charming in these new fancy duds... pics of the rest soon!

Here they are! Lovely, no? I finished the second one mere minutes ago and am thrilled to be able to share it! I'll be scanning in my pattern pieces and writing up the tutorial the rest of this week- yay fun!

I used a double layer of heavy cotton/hemp canvas for the sole. The print is one of Jessica Jones' (from How About Orange) that I bought a few months ago and have been itching to use. The boot is fully lined with fleece for a warm cozy (potentially sockless) foot!

My original pattern needed several modifications to accommodate my sweet boy's exceedingly pudgy feet, ankles, and calves. I've never seen a foot with such depth (captured above by Dad's fisheye lens).

He posed in his new boots ever so briefly before climbing away, ditching Mom, Dad, and boots alike.

I'm not quite sure how to describe this recipe except to say that it is amazing and so fattening it actually burns calories. I modified the original (found here), so if you read/try this recipe, but think it would be better with more butter and sugar, you should check it out.
It combines the delicious flavors of chocolate, nut butters, nutella, and graham crackers to create something beautiful and amazing, but I personally might add some kind of salty crunch next time. Perhaps some broken up pretzels, or Chex, or something like that.

Ingredients
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1/2 C Nutella
1 C nut butter (I used part almond part cashew)
2 pinches sea salt

Add sugars to melted butter and stir until smoothish. Add vanilla, graham cracker crumbs, and salt and stir to combine. Mix in Nutella and nut butter.
Press into a pie pan, cover, and put in the freezer to set while you make the chocolate frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
1 1/2 C chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
1/4 C butter
1/4 C milk or cream (I used half and half)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate chips in microwave, taking care not to scorch. Stir in butter, microwave for a few seconds if it starts to get unworkable. Add milk and vanilla, stir until smooth.
Remove pan from freezer, pour chocolate frosting on, and put back in freezer for 1/2 hour to set.
Eat it up and love it!

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!

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.

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.

5 has been generally obsessed with the kleenex box (yes, I know, they're "facial tissues", but I feel pretentious saying that...) for a few weeks and this has intensified exponentially with the onset of the family head cold. I have tried putting it out of his reach (I hate the crying and the knee-grabbing), I have tried letting him play with it but tucking all the tissues inside (he figured that out REALLY quickly), I also tried not letting it bother me when he pulled all of them out of the box, ripped them to shreds, and then chewed on them all day. Last night though, I had an epiphany. I could take an empty box, and put slippery scarves in there for him to pull out!
Genius move, if I do say so myself.
Now he gets to develop his brain, and motor skills, and all that other jazz, and nobody gets irritated! Hooray! I need to dig out the rest of my slippery scarves though, because the three I found last night don't take up much time...

As soon as nighttime temps drop below 40 degrees, I get sweaters on the brain. I've been trying to think up good projects to use up some of my stash of unwearable sweaters (so I can get more?) and in sorting them I discovered that some of my favorites actually "coordinate" (this is not a word I say easily, but Fred physically cannot survive any more insanity in our living room).
I cut these babies up, and sewed them together to make a super sweet lap blanket! I'm going to back it with an old plaid chenille blanket we have laying around that is not warm enough to be of any use in the UP.
It's not quite done yet, I need to add a strip along one side yet, but it's really all I got done this week, so I had to show it off. I think it's going to be PERFECT for Fall!

So it's not done, yet. But it IS photographed! Hooray! It was dark this morning, but it cleared up just in time for me to take some lovely pictures on our slightly ragged clothesline.

A few days ago, I dyed the muslin for the back a nice gold color, and I'm going to screenprint a grid of wonky circle guys on it, well, because I can. I wanted some more BRIGHT COLOR in our bedroom, and this way it's reversible.
I can't believe it was just over a week ago that I was lamenting my desire to quilt RIGHT NOW. I guess that's what happens when you have a fabric-buying compulsion and the ability to act without thinking. Yay!

This sandwiched strip on the left is the "top" or what will be just below our heads, and it will be repeated at the bottom as well, but there was no room on the clothesline for it, so you can imagine it.
The only part I have left to sew is another strip along the bottom, where you can't see. Honestly, I have no idea what's going to go there.

5 has approved of every step along the way. I show him each bit as I sew it, and then lay it out on the floor when I'm done so he can crawl around and drool on it. Very crucial steps.

He is, however, a little disappointed that I will not let him help any more than I do. This causes some problems sometimes. Like, he pulls the cords out of the sewing machine, or he rips the fabric off the table. He is a stubborn little dude.

5 had his first strawberry this morning! Alas, it was not a local strawberry, but at least it WAS organic...
As you can see, he enjoyed it.
In the last few weeks, we've started introducing foods that are more common allergens. We waited until he was 9 months old to start, and we introduce a new one each week, making sure he doesn't have any reactions to it.
This has made meal times a lot more fun, now that he can eat so much more of what we're eating. For instance, today he and I had strawberries and yogurt for breakfast, he had cheese and tomato sandwiches with Dad for lunch, and for dinner we had home made pesto pizza with spinach, broccoli, and mushrooms. Yum!

We've also been trying to squeeze every last bit of enjoyment out of our local produce before the winter sets in. A few days ago we had RAW corn on the cob for lunch! I'd never had it that way, but my husband worked on a farm for a while and convinced me that good corn is DELICIOUS this way. He was right.

And lastly, yesterday I made possibly the cutest hat EVER for my sweet sweet babe. I've been seeing all these darling knitted pixie hats everywhere, and I finally saw one in profile and realized- hey, I could make that out of an upcycled sweater! And so I did. I think it's adorable, but 5 just thinks it's hot. You probably would not be surprised at how hard it is to get some good pictures of a baby wearing a winter hat in August.

We are at last returned from our travels and slipping back into daily life. 5 is happy to be home, but seems to miss having Dad around all the time. I have one more week in which to finish all my home/baby/birthday projects before I have to focus on making product again and here is the item I scratched off the list today:

As you may have read, I've been planning this carrier for a while, but I did all the cutting, sewing, physical creation of this piece today! It is a Scandi-style mei-tai made with man-friendly fabric. I used pieces of my dwindling stash of Ikea fabric that I brought back from Sweden a few years ago for the body and I think it looks just fab!

I followed this tutorial for the most part, but my straps are only 72" long and I used a much simpler construction for the body since I was using two heavier-weight fabrics. I LOVE this style carrier- it's good for front, back. and side carries, plus the length of the body (and therefore the height of the baby) is easily adjustable. Plus, I was able to make it reversible by simply using pretty fabric on both sides! Easy!

We got a bit hooked on picnicking in Duluth, so we just HAD to take our dinner down to the Houghton waterfront this evening. It was an absolutely perfect UP summer day- 75 degrees, not a cloud for MILES, the bluest sky you ever did see, and a nice breeze. And yes, that's a ski hill in the background. Should be a few more weeks at least before the runs are open though...

I remember in high school, the cross country runners would have to run all the stairs in the school as part of their training. I think 5 might have started his training already as he's decided he needs to climb halfway up the stairs every day. I guess that's ok, he makes sure I'm behind him before he starts and 7 stairs per day doesn't seem too strenuous for a 9 month old. I won't worry until he starts measuring his resting heart rate...

i wanted to make another sleeveless outfit for 5 before our trip to Duluth and today turned out to be the day to do it. It was a hot, sticky, crabby day here but for some reason, the sewing went seamlessly (or perhaps seam-fully would be more appropriate).

I repurposed another of Papa Fred's shirts and got to use some of my new cotton ribbing! My parents picked this shirt up at a thrift store in Hilo a few years ago and I think it is perfect some festive baby-sized summer wear. The construction went much more smoothly this time, I'm working on a tutorial so all you lovely folks at home can turn the old Tshirt pile into cool duds for the little ones!

He would prefer to be naked, but I think his new outfit is a close second.

"Hi Dad! Check me out- I'm like you, but better-looking!"

I did it! I finally finished the skirt! It could still use a bit of pressing, but that will probably never happen... I'm wearing it right now and LOVING it.

My masking tape stencil worked quite well. I used 4 pieces of tape and a hole punch, plus my new stencil brushes I got from Dick Blick. It's amazing how much easier things can be when you have the right tool for the job. I'd been using those cheap foam brushes for my stencils just because we had some laying around the house, but man did they make things go slowly! I had to be so careful to make sure I was going in the right direction, etc. Anyway, stencil brushes=good.