Girly Bibs

I love how this picture turned out... more custom bibs available in the shop!

Easter Ties

Every Easter (and I do mean Easter morning, as we are rushing around getting ready for church) I take stock of my boys' closets, looking for something a little more fancy than usual to dress them in. Of course, there is never anything. If either of them happens to have a white dress shirt, it is stained beyond repair, and "nice" pants (pants that haven't been repaired with iron-on patches) are usually too short. This year I am determined to not let that happen. I have a few days left, right? Why not whip up some cute Easter ties? Well, I had a very hard time finding patterns for children's ties on-line, so I decided to wing it. This post certainly can't qualify as a tutorial, as I don't know if I can even duplicate the process I went through for Titus' tie to make one for Moses. But I took a few pictures along the way - maybe these can help you wing it yourself. :)

First I used a piece of string to estimate how long the tie would need to be - hung it around Moses' neck, added a few inches for tying purposes, and hoped for the best. Then I used a tie we already have (it isn't a full tie - just a pre-tied one on an elastic necklace) for the shape. I taped the string on a huge piece of paper, and then things started getting weird. There was some tracing, the use of a belt as a straight-edge, lots of erasing, and I finally came up with a template for the tie.



I placed the template on my fabric so that the tie would be cut on the bias (the one tip I was able to find on-line) and used my rotary cutter to cut out two tie pieces - one for the front and one for the back. I also cut out one piece from some white cotton muslin I had (again on the bias), which acted as interfacing. I sandwiched my pieces with the first printed piece right-side-up, the muslin in the middle, then the second print wrong-side-up. I pinned the heck out of it and sewed around the outside with a 1/4" seam, leaving a small opening for turning.




The scariest part was turning it because I didn't know if I had just spent hours creating a mess, but it worked! I carefully ironed the edges, sewed up the opening, and we had our first tie! Titus is very excited to wear his car tie on Easter. I'll be making another one for Moses and will show you how cute they look all dressed up for Easter. For now, you'll have to settle with seeing it on Titus in his jammies (and not tied properly because Daddy isn't home).

Following the rules

"Place one layer meringue-side-DOWN on cake plate."

It breaks my heart every time to flip that pretty crackly stuff upside down where it will be crushed to death by another layer of yumminess.



It's a rough life.

Polka Dots

Here's another bib - this one is for the girlies. I was so excited to use this polka dot print. It is from Japan (which always makes fabric more special for some reason) and is SO silky and gorgeous, but I couldn't find anything to go with it. Then I paired it with this Amy Butler print and it worked just right. I always find myself drawn to color and pattern combinations that almost match - I don't like combinations that are too predictable. It is newly listed in my shop - go check her out!

Let that be a lesson to you:

Mess with my kids, and I'll eat you for dinner.

We are now a 100% rooster-free zone. It's actually really nice. No more waking up at 5 am to the sound of crowing, no more being charged by a huge feathered beast as I walk to the car in the morning, no more kids walking around the yard with sticks in case the big bird gets too close, no more telling the boys "they're just wrestling" as the rooster has his way with the hens, no more claw marks on our shins... It's just one part of farm life I'd rather do without.

And this guy is going to make a big ol' happy family dinner. RIP Roostofferson, we won't miss you much.

BYOB

Bib, that is. :) I've started listing some bibs in the shop - go check them out!

More to come soon...

Tags are here!

Hooray - today my new tags arrived in the mail! I had to order special tags for my bibs since they are not 100% cotton - the velcro attachments add nylon to the mix. I have a growing stack of patchwork bibs waiting for tags and then binding. I'm hoping to get some of them finished up and photographed in the next few days and then into the shop. I'm making a lot of "boy bibs" since I always have trouble finding cute things for my own boys - hopefully you like them!

Psst:

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway on Facebook!

The winner is Stacey! (And I happen to know she is expecting a baby boy ... how perfect!) Congratulations Stacey!

Germination

After weeks and weeks of torrential rain, fog, and cold weather, things have finally dried out and spring is here! This is hands-down my favorite time of year up here on the farm. I will have to post some pictures for you in the next few days of how dang beautiful everything is up here. For now, I will just show you this tiny bit of green that is making my day. My tomatoes and peppers have germinated! Hooray for planning ahead and having a brother who is a scientist and gardening genius! This year I used plastic cups instead of the seed starting trays because they are bigger and I don't have to worry about my plants getting root-bound before I am ready to plant them. In addition to these friendly little sprouts, I've planted my lettuce, peas, beans, chard, and carrots outside (all by seed - I've decided that transplanting anything other than tomatoes and peppers is a waste of time). Fingers crossed on how those turn out - if you've followed my blog for a while you know that I don't have much luck when it comes to actual outside gardening. This year my pest-deterrent efforts have reached an all-time high; after a rabbit made off with two of the brussels sprout plants that I nursed through the whole winter I decided to go all out. Some day I'll show you some pictures of my garden beds - they look like plant jails. It is such an exciting time of year - planning, working in the dirt, choosing what things to grow, plotting the death of all snails and gophers within a 3 mile radius... How about you? Are you planting a garden this year?