bits of school stuff and organizing

We went to meet Esme's third grade teacher this morning.  I'm optimistic... she didn't blow Esme's questions off or roll her eyes at her stutter like the last teacher did (and threw up warning signs we didn't follow through on fast enough).  I just hope Esme doesn't give her too much grief.. she will some... there are going to be a LOT of changes she will have to face the next few weeks.

Bedtime routine is one of them.  We've been going earlier and getting up at 6 every morning.  She is crabby.  She doesn't want to read her book with me at night - I can read, but she doesn't want to.  I solicited some advice, and bedtime is going to change.  And there is going to be a clearly written list of things in order.  She won't have to read, but if she acts up during the list, or during the reading I will do to finish out our book. I'm done with it then and there.  It does make sense.  I hope I can stick to it.  She has been even more of a pain than usual on the bedtime routine since I started moving it earlier - and anxiety from worrying about school is there a bit, too.

KNITOWL
I'm working out my own anxiety a bit by organizing my huge supply of craft stuff.  Sorting out, purging some trash out of it etc...  I also started listing some of my vintage patterns on the Etsy shop MarieMeyer.etsy.com again.  These are patterns too small to use for Esme now, and I would like someone else to use them before they are ruined one way or another.  I've been keeping them nice, but well... I'm not using them.  They need a better home.

There's some from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s ... mostly sizes 2 to 6 little girls.

Simplicity 7196 and Simplicity 3316, two of the patterns I've used and am now ready to pass on.

//

Organized a lot in the sewing area - still have a ways to go... sat down and cut apart the skirt on one of her  old dresses and made a pair of night shorts for her.  Got everything ready for school tomorrow, lunch and snack packed, shoes and backpack located etc etc... made a list so we don't forget to get the lunch and take a picture tomorrow.

Blue bandana print dress

big smile, fuzzy focus


going to hunt zombies?


silly face

Esme's dresses were looking a little lackluster lately - it has been so long since I made a new one. I put this together today and planned for it to be 'just long enough' and short sleeved to maybe be a cooler summer day or a warmer fall one. This is also the last pair of pants I made - just a tad too long to grow into them (and she does not have her shoes on, they are beside the bed).

fabric: Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope bandana print in blue, bought from Murray Sewing Center in May, 2012

pattern: modified McCalls 8001 1960s pattern size 5 designed by Helen Lee


intensity... I rarely catch it in her eyes on the camera... but it is always there daily

garden updates: The beans we planted the other day - including the kidney beans Esme put in, are coming up. The Kenearly and Shackamaxons are sprouting, and either the Bosnian or the Florida lima bean has jumped up 6 inches. No more new pods on the limas, there are pods on the cowpeas, not even flowers on the Tennessee Greasy Beans. The experimental hill field corn is coming up. We are thinking of clearing another three feet and putting a few rows of sweet corn out just to see how it will do this late. The pumpkin and the zucchini have not yet come up, but the transplanted squashes and/or watermelon have continued. The bottle gourds are putting on gourds and we have semi-plans for when they are mature that involve Esme and some paint :) The corn in the west field is still alive - I thought it would be dead when I walked over there. The sunflowers are 2 feet tall (instead of four) and starting to put on heads - one head had big fat seeds I collected in amazement. The squashes are still staying compact and trying to flower to put on some seed. It is interesting to watch the difference between that 'new soil' and the established garden plot. Same seed, different survival mechanisms going on.

Cooking Spaghetti and Robot Dress

washing hands to help cook

This is the robot dress I made her out of a half yard of robot fabric and scraps of two other recent items. I think it turned out very well for on the fly! These pictures I took as Mark and Esme scuttled around the kitchen cooking. She had just had a much needed bath, but I did not wash her hair. She had been out in the garden dirt with me after I got home from work 'helping' by staying far out of the way as I used the little tiller on the garden. She also kept Loula pup away and helped me water some of the plants we put in the ground the other day. She did a good job with her responsibility, and then helped Daddy stir the noodles for supper. The spaghetti was very very good! We hope to be able to plant in the garden plot sometime later this week. Mark also took the big tractor over Grandma's garden today while Esme played with Grandma.


mid chew of a popcorn kernel...
silly face!

Loula pup is doing so much better...
she seems like she is out of the woods
and is looking healthy again

helping stir the noodles

Pink dress by request

The other morning before I went to work Esme tried to convince me to stay home and 'play dress.' She picked out a wide pink satin ribbon and said she wanted it with this fabric, which I had been saving for a long time (since Mother's Day, actually).. She wanted a dress just like the one she was wearing (dragon front brown dress) but in that pink fabric. So, I told her I would - but not that day. She was pretty upset with me at first - I told her not to cop an attitude, to which she gave me a great HUH? look... I washed the fabric last night and had it ready to cut out and sew tonight. The sleeves are a tad long, but she will grow into them quickly - if history tells anything over the last few years! Ha. She likes it a lot! Pattern is McCalls 8001 again, with skirt front alterations and the dress sleeve laid over the coat sleeve and cut out.

Blue jumper Sunday

I made this jumper last night, and she has worn it today. It is a little large yet, maybe even more than the brown one - I was slim on the internal seams on this one and that made it bigger. But, she grows and grows! We had to go to town with Grandma to get some groceries, but other than that it is a nice day at home. We found her a mama zebra for her baby zebra at the store today. She has introduced them to everyone in the toybox. At the very moment, she is watching Daddy play a car game, and I am contemplating baking and downloading more chemistry lectures.

She has been hard on her clothes lately, just as I have been telling people how much better they last on her than storebought! Loula puppy tore six holes in the skirt of her brown jumper and Esme herself tore the shoulder out of her green Christmas Lights dress by catching it on a fence. The red gingham dress has shredded ties and looks like a paint explosion happened nearby. That is three out of the most recent four put to the ultimate test! Oh well... girls will be girls and tomboys as well. Mark mentioned the way the puppy grabs hold of the jumper the past few days and got drug around the room he is surprised the seams were holding and the skirt wasn't in rags. I have sewn little patchy patches about 2 inch square all over the jumper skirt to get a few more wash and wears out of it - but it looks like Mama will be in a sewing mode of mind during my next days off. Tomorrow I start five on again until I get two off.

For homeschool we have been slim lately - after all she is four and I work forty hours a week. We have read some books, spelled some words on and off the computer and she is remembering more even when the letters are not in front of her.

more camp shirt

owl shirt
I did this tonight to see how well I could finish all of the seams and facings, as if it was going to go into a shop. I still have to do the buttonholes. It fits Esme well as a standard size 4. Last time I altered the length two to three inches longer for her. She is long in the torso, like her mother. I didn't do that this time, and probably should have for wearing with pants. For wearing under her jumper or over another dress, it is going to work fine.

materials: 1/2 yard of main color fabric for this particular. 3/4 yard of 45 inch wide fabric would be ideal for the lengthened version, and a fat quarter or a 1/3 yard for short sleeves. Four buttonholes have been worked (not shown).

shawl progress, dress and snow

We had a short spurt of snow this morning. Esme got to hold a small chunk of it, but then I whisked her off to the bathtub.


looking at the snow before the bath...


Snowball!


Braids

After the bath I put the same dress back on her - as it is the warmest at the moment, and I haven't gotten good pictures yet. This is the altered McCalls 8001 in size 5 (circa 1961) Alterations: Two front pleats instead of one central one, and the coat sleeve superimposed over the cap sleeve in the pattern to make a long sleeve. It has my own 'make-do' of putting two small pleats in the back upper sleeve instead of setting it in properly... I always do that, because I hate fussing with sleeves and that takes the fuss out. It really does fit her very well, even with a 'short' zipper in the back. There is no fussing with the 'other arm' in this dress style, because the back is open wide and there is not the tight quarters of some of the previous patterns in the waist area. The wide waist is drawn up to her back with ties placed two inches underneath each armpit (this is in the pattern, too).


back of the dress is just plain, but fits well

I made her get her hair washed. This is still no small feat. She is STRONG and it is hard to get her to stay in one place when she does not want to. I did manage, and after her hair was dry she brought me four hair ties and said she wanted 'bossy lamb hair'. I didn't quite get the description... but she did mean she wanted braids.


happy bossy lamb

I've heard some other odd langauge from her as well - the other day we were playing air hockey on the floor and I missed a puck, which went far behind me. She said something on the order of 'you missed it, don't worry home-boy, just try again Come on, don't be scared now.' What in the world? (have been hearing that one a lot, too actually) - for a kid that doesn't watch broadcast TV and doesn't go to daycare or preschool... she comes up with some doozies.


playing the 'light drum' with a pair of expired light sticks

She has taken a recent bout of bringing a chair and a footstool up to the puppies and saying she is 'Grandpa Esme' and sitting there pretending it is a rocking chair while the pups vie to be picked up individually. Daddy says if she ever accomplishes that one - being a Grandpa - he WILL be impressed. She takes her little flashlight and shines it into her piggy bank (Daddy says: future veterinarian?) and also into her tanker truck she picked at Tractor Supply yesterday. She told me she needs to put water in it - because it is a water tanker truck. She has been saying she wants animals, so we took her there to look at the Schleich figures she has been adoring on in the past. I set her free in front of them saying she had ten dollars to spend and could pick out one big one or two little ones etc... She picked up a spotted horse for an instant.. but it was a big one. She then made a beeline to the diecast ERTL trucks and picked out the water tanker and a school bus. She was set, those were what she wanted. It was just over ten, so she did get to take those home. After she was embraced of new toys, and full of fried chicken, she came home in a pluckier and more active mood than either Mom or Dad were ready for. She ran us into the ground for the rest of the night begging for us to play with her, read books, paint pictures etc etc.... We are both almost out of the sickness that had kept us down the past week or two, but not entirely.

I have not been wanting to go to our 'school room' because of the temperature down there - it is very cold. She won't stay out of there. Mark and I were watching a movie lsat night and she was down there and back up for the better part of an hour - doing nothing more than staring at the materials. I brought anything she asked for upstairs and she played with it for a few minutes, and then was back in her chair in the school room pretending. Novelty? Independence? Reminiscing back to crafts and things we did in there when it was warmer? I'm not sure.


triangle shawl progress

Making some more progress on this. My circular needle came in the mail but it was not what I had expected. There was some mixup and I received a much smaller size. So, knitting this long straight needles. It will probably be about 20 inches 'tall' when I am finished and much wider. I also received the Baker's Creek and Seed Saver's catalogs in the mail.... very tempting!

Odd Preschooler thing of the Day: She told me today at 3:00 that her animals were coming in the truck, up there, in the truck in fifteen minutes, have to wait for it, go get them. I'm a little weirded by that - as I think that is what arrived at Grandma's house instead of ours (because it won't fit in our mailbox), and she only saw them by accident on Ebay when I was watching the auction. I told her I would 'consult with Santa' on sending them. I did win the auction later that day, but took an extra day to pay for them... how would she know when they were being delivered? Simple answer: She heard the mailman, and things Mama asks for on the computer come in the mail? So, if she heard a mailman it must be her toy coming...? ok -- it didn't actually come in the mail, but it could have, and I'm still impressed at her memory skills!

time cost benefit game and quality in handmade

with Esme sick (although she seems better again than yesterday and fell asleep in my lap a few minutes ago) I am getting ranty.... don't worry, the pictures and projects will continue at a later date. I've been thinking a lot about what I want to make, and why, and how for the coming winter...

read this article by Somer The true cost of handmade. Loved the article, and the comments that followed. And it is true - handmade costs more simply in the time factor, the knowledge, the doing it over again and again after you have figured it out the first time. It is the love and the cost factor of what else you could be doing - if your goal is to make money at it. Many people can't afford to buy those things - but it doesn't make the product any less worthy. It just makes that particular microeconomy (handmade high end) a little slower until other people can afford to buy more of what they see and want over what they need and are doing without. And many window shoppers will just want to see your item so they can make it themselves... I am often guilty of that myself, but never to the artist's face. Nothing made in 'inspiration' will ever be the same as the item you made originally. If someone does not want to pay the price for that item - it is 'ok'.. they don't have to. There are stores that sell mass-produced items - and those items are far less expensive in cash wise, but far less rich to begin with in many other ways.

Now, I want to say something about that, as well. I do really enjoy making what I can for our household. It is nice to look around (like yesterday's post) and count up the items in use that are handmade. Mark and I count the materials for these things, when bought, as an investment, just as we count Esme's books and my sewing patterns as investments for the future. The one thing I don't count for my own 'goods' is my time, but am often told that I should. I see that I am gaining two (and a half) large benefits by making the item myself...

1.) The Time Cost Benefit Game: I do not have to spend time finding an item that is what I want, at what I will pay for it, that fits and does it's job. I don't 'like' shopping finished goods.... it's not fun for me. For many people it is. When I carefully select materials and a project, a lot of the game is now 'my job' - to make it fit, to make it do what it is supposed to, to keep the materials cost within that window of what I would pay.

When there is something that I really need to purchase - like shoes, that game of 'where can I find what I want, that will last 'x' amount of time, and do I have the time today to look for it? becomes a chore and a hassle. I have to decide when time is running thin do I want to keep looking in this store or go home and play with Esme? Do I have the luxury of waiting to find what I want or do I have to settle for this object in front of me? I hate that game. It gets even worse when there are dressing rooms involved. Add a toddler into that game and I don't want to play at ALL. I'm glad I don't have to for most things. Now all of that sounds like I'm very 'picky' and even finicky... well, when I have to buy something to fill a need like toddler shoes, yes- I am picky. Now when Esme receives a pair of shoes for Christmas and they fit, it is a whole different ideal. It removes the time issue entirely, all of the social choice of 'time at home' or 'time at store' There is the warm fuzzy thought that someone else put their time into the choice, even if the item is secondhand. I do like perusing secondhand stores, book sales and flea markets with Esme by my side, finding little treasures and sometimes even materials to remake into other things. When we are doing this as an activity it is 'fun'.. but it is not something I seek to do by myself. Maybe that is the nomad in me... I will have to return to that part of the paradox later...

2.) Workmanship and Quality: I can pick good quality materials, and not settle for what is already made. I can take extra time to reinforce things. If it comes down to it, I can repair a seam or a button when it comes off and even put the buttons in a place that is more ergodynamic. I can arrange this pattern so that the dress lasts a year, although it might be on my third try. I can and do make several versions of the same item, time and materials willing, to solve problems of fit, design, etc.... When the shirt from the store gets a hole in it at three months old and starts ripping at the seams at four months old... there is no reproach for that except replacing it. And to decide to take it to the bench and make it myself, make it better or... play the game above. I really wonder where the idea of quality is going - but I understand that I am part of the problem as well, because I will not often pay for high quality. Few of the 'high quality' items I have ever paid highly for have delivered on their promise (except for that one sweater in high school... ) For this point I will add that is the reason I usually buy my clothes secondhand or on clearance. If the secondhand item has existed several years of someone else and ended in this condition - it is probably of decent quality. If it is on clearance, the investment has been reduced.

2.5) Enjoyment of Accomplishing the Task: I can only count this as half because it is half joy and half worry. I worry that I spend too much on the materials, or that it will not work as well as I want, or that I really needed to make this two weeks ago and am just now getting to it.... But the joy really makes it worth continuing.

So, yes I do really respect other people's patterns and crafts and art -- but I'm not a good supporter of that art economy. If I could do more barter and trade (like the early days at Etsy, before the CPSIA for lead-testing included handmade toys that never had lead to begin with etc. came out) I would be more interested in buying other art again. Right now I can afford to browse the patterns and buy one when I really need it or feel it is too good to pass up etc... And I will buy fabric and yarn when something really strikes me and I have the spare money to add to my stash... but mostly it is about making what is needed and wanted in our lives, getting ideas and/or playing the Time/Cost game to go find what we cannot make. I am really glad there are places like Etsy and Ebay to go peruse for these supplies and ideas, and that other artists are able to take the time and love and materials to produce complicated things for sale there.

bits. trip, painting and more

The 'Christmas Lights dress'
altered McCalls 8001, circa 1961 size 5
skirt given two inverted pleats to each side instead of one in the middle
Below, it is easier to see why I say the print looks like Christmas Lights
It is the fabric she chose for herself.


Esme really likes her watercolors.
She says she is painting an elephant, after watching Dumbo.
It does kind of look like one!
The weather is extremely windy today - gusts up to 40 mph. It reminds me a little of Fargo. Except, we have trees here - so the wind should not be so high. It is worrying me slightly but the weather forecast says it is nothing more than wind.

Also: The Bambi quilt is nearly done.. just a little inner tacking to do.
Next: The coat. However, the lining and the collar are both 'halt points' for me... I know they will be difficult, much harder than a dress.

Esme started saying she had a tummyache yesterday afternoon and she had a slight fever. I gave her a bath and ice cream and she didn't eat the ice cream - just went to sleep. She woke up and told me her shirt hurt - it was too big, and she cried. I took the shirt off and put a smaller one on... (yes, well...) and then she told me it was actually her tummy that hurt. I told her it was probably because she insisted on sitting and reading stories to the puppies and didn't wash her hands later. She did not like that answer and got mad at me about it, but did not tell me 'No' either. She had been avoiding her water unlike usual - telling me it was empty when it was clearly not, drinking maybe one cup for her usual three. She took several naps and I made her drink a whole cup of water between them... the fever went down some and she slept through the night with just a few complaints. This morning she says she feels better, although she is slightly cranky.

I had planned to take her up to Hazel, KY and look for reader books for her today in their antiques store. Between the weather and not knowing if she is 100%... I'm not sure if we should go or stay home. It is only eight am, so I'll wait a little while and see. Charlie's is open 1 to 5 on Sundays.... so we are in no rush.

//Update// Well, Charlie's had CLOSED! There is some odd new city ordinance on record keeping and although I did not understand all of the letter pinned to their door it was clear that someone in the city council was trying to drive them out of business. That will be sad, as I had suggested a day trip to Grandma specifically to go there, and now am not quite so likely to go again (ie: the likelihood of finding what we want is much slimmer with them gone).

Esme did very well at the small restaurant 'Ann's Country Kitchen' and was good in the little shops which are crowded and full of glass - so that is an accomplishment for a four year old! She encountered a few other children and waved to them happily, telling them we were ladies, and we were going here or there etc.. One 10-13 year old boy was playing on a game and was avoiding her in a shop - she said quite clearly to him 'Don't worry, don't be sad boy... (he turned away again) I'm not going to hurt you. I love you!' He had the most confused expression on his face as he further backed into a corner playing his game.

I had hoped to go to Charlies and look for 'first level readers' as they had many old book sellers there before. Not many of the other places had books - it seems to be a dying thing.. having old but not true 'antique' books around that someone might want to buy for a few dollars each. We did find one book in another shop, Angelique's, that was 'her size' and we bought it with a little of her birthday money. It is 'Ten Apples Up on Top' by Theo LeSieg (a pen name of Dr.Seuss, if you, like me, had forgotten that!) Very beautiful images, 1961 copy with some outer cover damage but very good inside.

Esme is feeling much better than yesterday, she had already started acting like a little Napoleon as soon as we got home, do this - do that, I want this, everyone cooperate with my game! I know I am hard on her, too, especially for her age ie: -- making her clean up after herself putting away toys before she goes on to another game, trying to keep her manners in good shape, telling her not to ask for so many things when we will be going home to get things later... So, she gets some of this 'do this, do that' from Mama always telling her the same sort of things. And yes, she has a right to be frustrated with me at some of it... but she usually does very well overall with it - understands and goes along and eventually knows that Mama just wants us to do the right things.

New dress for Esme, tunic shirt for Mama

Thank you to Daddy for taking pictures of both of us. I hope Novia sees them, as she was asking for them on Facebook.


putting on shoes

Bringing tomatoes to Grandma

the bag is wet
on second thought, she may be counting the tomatoes...

Mama has an upcoming career as a mad scientist, eh?

Esme's dress: Simplicity 5137, size 5, dated 1963. Sewn with no alterations except for the shortening of the skirt by half. It has a 7 inch zipper in it, and will need longer ones to keep her from growing out of them so quickly. With 9 inch zippers, these will make excellent winter dresses. My tunic shirt is the 'smash together' I was talking about a few days ago... needs a lot more work to make it fit me better, but this is usable, definitely good enough for working at home.

Both Esme's dress and my shirt were made with bits I had but did not have large investment in. There are other fabrics I will be happy using for her dresses now that I have a good 'plan of attack', ie: a pattern that is proven to fit.

//Note// The other day when I cleaned Esme's room I threw out almost everything underneath her bed. She saw it - and didn't cry as much as I had expected. Tonight she woke up in the middle of the night and had peed the bed - and I changed her bed. She hugged her Cookie Rabbit and Mr.Frog (her favorite lovey toys) and asked if they were 'ok' and they didn't get peed on, and they didn't have to go in the trash. I know maybe now why she shoves them way up under her pillow in the middle of the night - so nothing happens to them? It also affected me quite deeply that she thought I would throw them out... Mama is a meanie? There wasn't a lot under there that she really played with anymore, maybe a book 'The Magic of Everyday Things' that was not saveable, but I did know she liked. There was also one item that I did feel quite badly about throwing out on her, a cow flashlight she got last Christmas from a friend of mine at work. I dug it out after I put her back to bed and washed it with bleach downstairs - it wasn't really that bad, I just worried about the openings for the speakers hiding things I couldn't see.... It is bleached and waiting for her on her desk this morning. Mama is a softie, actually.

more thoughts on projects

Simplicity 5085
don't have this one, but tracked it down from
a partial picture on a lot at Ebay....I didn't need the entire lot!,
so I'll have to wait for it to come up at another time.

This pattern has really interesting side pleats and back belt, which intrigued me to track it down further. It has several features that would have me choose to do it over this coat I do have the pattern for, Simplicity 5337. It would be an interesting adaptation from a few things I do have. I still have not started the pink coat I intended to make this summer... but then, I made that blue coat in July and it has been very useful. I intend the pink coat to be heavier but want to put more thought into it.

Esme's three blue dresses I made for her early this year (February, February, March) are needing to be replaced sometime in the next few months. I will scrape what I have in the fabric stash up and see if this weekend off can plan/start the first replacement. I don't think she needs a size up from these dresses, just one or two nicer looking ones for when these get too badly stained. Everything else needs to be went through again and sorted by how well it fits - so I know where I'm at. I know there are 2.5 year old raglan shirts in there that can be cleaned out. Everything recent could probably 'ride' for another few months if it was necessary... which it isn't. Mama likes to sew, and that is why I have this stash ;) I have a shirt cut out and waiting to be sewn for myself, as well... might try to knock that out today. It is another tunic shirt with the back ties as the last one has been really useful.

Esme has been playing this game: 'Droppy', and can get all of the levels herself except #5, which has some reading in it of directions she doesn't understand. She really has this 'poke around and see what things do' part of the flash games worked out, but can't get the little codes or pattern matching they sometimes have hidden in there. If it is a matter of finding a key and putting it in a lock, or prying open a door with a stick picked up off the ground etc.. she uses her logic and knows what to do with it.

tiny germination pictures and a daffodil dress

Out in the garden taking pictures of the fall plants as they come up. Why? Because it is so cool to see tiny things 'become.'


lentils, smack dab in the middle, so very tiny


lentils


purple hull peas

I spent about an hour out in the garden and found a red tomato, lots of yellow ones, field peas and black eyed peas and beans and more. A whole new string of zinnias is drying in the garage and there were about a handful of dry Mississippi Silver cowpeas hiding from me under a leaf from a stalk of corn. The pinto beans have reached 'shelly' stage again and I am again so happy to have planted them this year.

The fall planting is : pinto beans reseeded from another plant in the garden, purple hull peas, calendula from the Kirk Estate's seed packet, radicchio and green lentils from Cherry Gal, and a few red lentils from a store packet. There are a few other 'trial' seeds on one side, a single squash seed from the Jarrahadale to see if it will germinate and a single kernel of dent corn and handful of broom corn bits, all from elsewhere in the garden during that morning. *ha* I shouldn't even write down that I did that!

Been thinking of trying a garbanzo bean to see what it is like. someone else has already done it and posted a great article. It sounds like an interesting plant and a great one for a dry season!

And I tried sewing the other night, and it was a failure. I thought I could make something larger because Esme has grown so much. But, as usual, she is not a standard 'across the board' size. I went back again last night and tried a second time.


a 'flower' girl

This is McCalls 7708 size 3, with skirt and bodice alterations. I want to call it her 'daffodil' dress. The printed fabric is from Hong Kong and is very very tiny girls watering daffodils. Also the other colors of the dress were in my stash and seemed to fall into that same vein. I finished the zipper, sleeves and tie backs this morning just before we went to the grocery store. I am glad it fit!

Esme is such an odd size... her chest and waist measurements are still a size '2-3' while her length measurements are a size 4 or 5. I have to extend all of the dress bodices and all of the pants legs. She is a strong, 'solid' three year old, just taller than they consider her age to be. And these are vintage patterns - modern patterns don't seem to fit her at ALL... she seems to fall in a size '1' for chest measurement for the modern pattern I've made for her before.

A lady at the store admired her dress and said 'she can't be three...' I told her she would be four soon. She said, 'Well.. even if she is almost four... she's such a big girl!'


hugging cats

The cuspid tooth that has been bothering me broke off at the stress point today. It is now jagged, but finally doesn't hurt there. It is not a front tooth, only visible if I grin really wide. I will likely have to get a dentist to look at it and see if they can file it down.. if they will even do that. If it didn't have the jagged edge on one side I would not have even noticed that part of it was missing. Mark said if he had lost a piece of tooth he would have definitely noticed... I told him it was just that ready to be gone. I never had braces and I have all of my wisdom teeth - which caused a lot of pressure!

scrap shirt

Amy Butler scrap fabric and two similar green scraps


dog hug
crooked buttonband, but it works


She is officially inches taller than the doorknob


Comparison: Last September 21
several inches below it!

Her added height is showing everywhere - needing lots of new pants, being able to sit on the potty unassisted, reaching the kitchen sink faucet handles when standing on her stool (she couldn't do this last week, but surprised me today by turning it on, washing her hands and turning it off before I crossed the room to help). She will probably be getting her own breakfast before the end of the year, complete with milk in the cereal bowl.

I have hopes that these shirts might teach her in the future how to button her own clothes on... Most of her clothes up until now have been back zippers, which is not easy for a child to 'self-help' on.

Another camp shirt from the wardrobe pattern. It was made with scraps of several fabrics. The actual buttonband was added on afterward because the facings were too narrow to provide reinforcement for the buttonholes. The machine-made and hand-reinforced buttonholes still look awful up-close, until the buttons are actually buttoned, then they look serviceable. This one is a little short ...probably because of the seam on the front pieces. I will need to try to extend the length to make something that doesn't show her belly when she is running around!

Other: We went to the donut shop, hardware store, a shoe outlet and the drug store trying to make up time to get to the health food store when it opened at ten. That was a lot of wandering around... and Esme was very good during most of that... After I picked up my red lentils at the health food store (so glad they had them as no one else did!) we went to the library. Esme copied what another girl did on the computers bit for bit for a while, and it impressed me, too, as she had not been able to do some of those operations in that game before. She got pretty upset after some young boys came in with a grandma that did not want them to play but wanted them to sit and read. Esme got the youngest boy in big trouble when the grandma went to get another book, so we had to leave too, in a ruckus of tears and screaming on Esme's part. *sigh* And it had been going so well up until then! I really wish we had a children's library where the rule wasn't "inside voices." It is so very hard to keep them there when they don't get to see other children very often.

We are home now, and hopefully the rest of the day will be more relaxing!

pattern used:

Simplicity 4969, 1950s era, undated

Esme and my dad, and a camp shirt

My dad made a surprise visit last night, and had been playing with Esme all afternoon when I came home from work. They had a lot of fun.









I had this shirt down to needing sleeves and buttons at that time. I finished it around midnight and she wore it to bed.


camp shirt with buttons


from the back

Overall I'm happy with it as a first try. It needs more handsewn reinforcement on the buttonholes and I had to bend the front facings underneath and sew them down 'blazer' style because the neckline was up around her chin at first. She likes it. Mark says it looks 'professional.'


Simplicity 4969, 1950s era, undated

NOTES: The lima beans are beginning to pod, following several days of HOT weather. The squash looks absolutely miserable today... can't wait for the sun to go down so I can water it extra long. I forgot to put a diaper on Esme the last time she went to the potty last night... and she slept through the night - got up, went potty again and only then did I realize she had went through the night without peeing the bed. She has had several accidents during the day... but at least there is huge progress going on.

We harvested about 8 gallons of corn, blanched and froze it! We put a diaper on Esme after her bath and she came up, took it off, and went potty! She is making it, slowly.

Blue dot dress

Awesome pictures taken by Mark :)
Fabric by Nauvoo Quilt Company, one of the pieces I bought as part of my Mother's Day present ;) And this is why it was for Mother's Day, so I can have a dress to put on her and see again and again :)

New blue dot dress made this morning before we went to town. The collar on this one is tight, almost 'perfect'... so it probably will not fit for as long as the 'too big' one. I'll need to make at least one more before I cut into the Hong Kong fabric. Hopefully I can find a happy medium.

NOTES:
Would you believe it was this old favorite again... without the back darts and the skirt was measured out to be exactly 9 inches long and 'whatever was left' wide out of exactly one half yard. There was about a 4 inch square left and that was it.


Simplicity 8714, copyright 1970

The finished product really does look like the girl in the bottom right hand corner.

OTHER: Esme is really showing how grown up she is lately. She can open the fridge and get something AND close it and come back to us. She can do the matching game and the puzzle games on Starfall but still gets a little stuck on the Alphabet Maze (letter K) once in a while... but she is starting to understand the arrow keys on that one, too. She is so stubborn - she keeps trying the same one over and over because she REALLY wants to get it right. She also just understands more than she did before, thinks things through better and her imagination games are getting even MORE complex and interesting.

Green with Spots

can see the neck is just a tiny bit wide

Made this last night, using a size 4 vintage dress pattern as the base for the bodice. I used almost every last bit of the green fabric that these bird pants had come out of previously. It is just a tad big on her for width... can alter that the next time through. Big is always better than too small, as long as it is proportional.

She told my mom on the phone 'Mama make mine own dress, green with SPOTS.'

She came out to the garden and helped me plant the last of our green bush beans and also pick a few beans and zucchini. She wanted me to put the pinto beans that were harvested right back into the ground - they were seeds. Ha.