Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We don’t have much (if anything) planned, since I don’t like beer of any color, and it appears that all the St. Patrick’s day parades happened last weekend. Oh well.

I did make the girls some skirts, out of fabric that Bryan picked out at the store. I think he mostly chose it because it has glitter. He’s such a good dad.

Easy peasy circle skirts, with 2” elastic waistbands. The elastic was white, and I didn’t have any matching dye, so I just settled on a yellowish-green. Hey, it’s better than white.

I like the way the waistband went on the skirts this time — no messy stitching to show on the front. I’ll be using this method in the future for sure. That was the only thing I hated about these skirts (the messy waistband stitching) so I’m thrilled that these turned out so well.

Twirl power + shamrocks = magic.

Kony 2012

I’ve been hearing the name Joseph Kony a lot lately, and then I saw this video on Pinterest. Please watch it.

If you’re so inclined, you can learn more here.

 Of course, as with anything, there are people in opposition of this film and the Invisible Children organization — you can read about it here and read the rebuttal here.

Make up your own mind.

Sleep sacks

When the godmother was out visiting she mentioned that baby Lincoln likes to kick all his covers off and imitate a popsicle at night. We discussed getting him some sleep sacks to keep his extremities warm without having to duck tape blankets around his person.

I found a cute and easy-looking sleep sack pattern on Etsy, and decided that my godson would have the finest sleep sacks in the land. JoAnn Fabrics was having a 50% off sale on Minky (or whatever you call the generic stuff), and so I bought a yard or two, and some boyish cotton prints.

The pattern didn’t specify, but from looking at the pictures I was pretty sure I needed a separating zipper, so I ordered a few on eBay and waited for them (and the pattern) to get here.

Once I had all my supplies, I made two sacks (*snicker*) and I really like how they turned out. The pattern instructions could’ve been clearer, but I won’t bitch about it. The first one turned out fine, although a little wonky, and I learned enough making it that the second one turned out like a boss.

Now I just have to mail the suckers to Lincoln Logs (cute nickname, right?!) so his mama can wash the adhesive off his legs. :)

Dumpster diving FTW!

The other day while I was at work, a co-worker ran up to me and asked if I wanted to go dig through a dumpster. I said no. Then he shrugged and said, “Ok, well they’re throwing away fabric.”

Two seconds later I was out on the street with another co-worker, digging through a dumpster.* Across the street from my work is a textile/fabric shop, and I guess they were getting rid of old inventory, but whatevs. FREE SHIT!

A few of the people in my office made fun of me and told me I’d get bed bugs from the material, and that I shouldn’t bring it into the office.**  I’m pretty sure they were just jealous of my haul. Suckers.

I scored some cool stuff, including several yards of some type of polyester sweater knit. It’s fuzzy on the inside, but it looks really retro and I thought it would make some cool shirts for the girls.

When I told my mom about my treasures, she told me I should make them a dress out of the sweater knit. I (almost) always listen to my mother since she birthed me and is clearly made of magic, so I did what she said, and made the cutest dumpster dress you ever did see.

I used the cowl-neck dress pattern from Heidi and Finn, and modified the collar to be a split neck. I even stabilized the shoulders and twin-needled the hem, y’all. I was serious about this dress.

It turned out even cuter than I pictured. And now, I’m going to start digging through trash on a regular basis. Who’s with me?

*I clearly work with some amazing people.

**Some of them, however, are lame-o Judgy McJudgersons.

What I love (by Phoebe)

Phoebe brought this paper home from school the other day, and it was too cute not to share.

What I Love

My Parents, TV, scooters
My 3 sisters, music
My 2 dogs, pop tarts, pizza
My School, Ice cream
My teacher, my friends
horses, bookmarks
ducks, french toast
fairs, ham, summer
books, cake
fish, brownies
hamsters, fish
frogs, cupcakes
jump roping, bunnies
turtles, birds
cats, hopscotch
kittens
rainbows
New Jersey
West Virginia

xxoo