Paper Straw Airplane

Look what we made!

Oh - not clear?  It's an airplane!  And it is a crazy good flier.  Want to see how we did it?

First we gathered the supplies.  Each plane will need a paper straw, a strip of paper approximately 1 inch by 10 inches, a strip of paper approximately 1 inch by 5 inches, and a few pieces of tape.  We used some pretty new washi tape I picked up at Target (yes, TARGET!) but any tape should do.

I don't really have any process shot because, apparently, the paper/tape/four little hand combo doesn't mix well with process shots.  Basically, you loop each paper into a circle and secure with tape.  Then tape one end of each straw to a small circle, and the other end to a large circle.  

If you carefully line up the circles so they're taped to the same side of the straw your plane will fly nice and straight.  If you're off a little the plane tends to fly in a corkscrew pattern, which is also cool.  That was just an observation, no specific studies done.

So now that you've assembled your planes - pick your favorite...

...wind up and...toss!  We found that it's best to give them more of a gentle push into the air than a throw - they seemed to glide farther.  Again, no official study done - just our observation.

We make.  We fly.  And then we rest.

I was inspired by this post which was inspired by this post.  And this kid, of course.  He's pretty inspirational, too.

Evening Boat Ride

One evening last week we went for little boat ride.  It was lovely.  Perfect temperature, calm water, little traffic.  I suffered a little jealousy over my kids' great boat hair, but it was only temporary.  Made up for it with some river swimming; some bucket swimming; some "Wheeeeeeee!"-ing when Poppy opened her up.  I even made it into a couple pictures with my babies.

One more sunset "whee!" for the road.

A wonderfully memorable end to an otherwise unremarkable day.

Black Bird in Blue

Because of the baby quilt, I've been away from my sewing machine for a week - and away from my preferred type of sewing for even longer.  I started having dreams about fabric and patterns and sewing.

Yesterday I knew I had to do something about it.  I decided to try out this Black Bird Tunic tutorial from Shwin & Shwin that I stashed in my favorites pre-pinterest.   It was exactly what I needed!!  The tutorial was super clear, required just enough thought to clear the cobwebs from my brain, and produced a totally adorable garment.

The swirly blue fabric is actually a tablecloth.  The collar is lined with the same pink fabric used for the pocket and the four covered buttons.  The tutorial calls for one huge button, but I didn't have any big enough that worked for me.  

Brother was unavailable for modeling assistance this morning, so I didn't get any good full on front shots - but these secret sharing pictures give you an idea of the cuteness, for sure.

I used the free 2T pattern in the post.  My husband thinks it's a bit short to wear as a dress, but if you've read many of my previous posts you should be aware of my feelings on baby legs and toddler tushies.  I don't mind a peek at the diaper bum when her arms are raised.  And you can see it's a more modest length when she stands normally.  

Also, because of the length, and the roominess of the armholes she'll definitely get a lot of wear out of it.  I can see it with a t-shirt and skinny jeans when the weather gets cooler, and shorts as a true tunic next summer.  There are so many options for mixing this up, too - different pocket shapes/locations - different trim around the collar like ric-rac or maybe even some tiny pom-pom trim?  Can you see it?  I can.  I may have to make that come to life, too.

The only hiccup was at around 75% completion when I realized that I hadn't pre-washed the fabric.  Oops!  I thought about taking a chance and sending it through the wash with my fingers crossed - but I just love it too much to risk it.  Looks like it's hand washing for this one.  Totally worth it.

***Update***
I just noticed that all the fall patterns at Shwin & Shwin are 40% through Sunday!  (see the bottom of this post)  I see some Lovely Ritas in my future.

Why I'm Happy There are Two of Them

One recent sunshiney morning after a night of rain, I was trudging around, doing my chores, a bit of a grump.  Then I turned around and my grumps were cured...

I, for all intents and purposes, grew up an only child.  It is a bright spot in almost every day when I take a moment to observe their relationship.  Warms my grumpy little heart every time.

Baby Brown's Quilt

It's finally finished!  A quilt for Baby Boy Brown, due in September.

I guess it didn't really take THAT long - it just felt like a long time because I wouldn't let myself work on anything else until it was done.  I was doing some cleaning/organizing this weekend and found three (!!) quilts I started between 2 & 3 years (!!!) ago in various states of completion.  I couldn't let that happen with this one.

The mama-to-be registered for the two cute sheets below at Target.  I grabbed them along with a coordinating set of flannel receiving blankets.  It's a pretty simple quilt, and I know chevron's a bit over-done at this point - but since the sheet she picked out is chevron, I figured it was a safe choice.

I'm pretty happy with my piecing, too!  Not all the points line up perfectly, but a lot more do than I was expecting to - so it's a win in my book!  The quilting was just going to be 1/4 inch from each seam, but the back was so boring I went back with an orange bobbin and did an extra row "in the ditch" - nice little surprise on the back.

Oh - and the little green "flag" in the top right corner, shown in the top picture?  Covers up an oops.  My mom said every handmade quilt needs an oops, though.  Thanks, Mom.

Evening Bath

Since KCW I've been getting a few more visitors.  Which is AWESOME!  And I figure they (you?) come to see sewing.  Which is also awesome.  But here's the thing: I'm still figuring out what I want this little place of mine to be.  My favorite of favorite bloggers give me a variety of content - and most importantly, a peek into their worlds.  That's what I like most about blogs - seeing people's own worlds the way they see them.  Sewing blogs inspire me in a specific way, but these "lifestyle" posts are what inspire my soul.  So I'm probably going to put some of these posts out there, too, hoping others might enjoy or appreciate it the way I do.  Anyway...that's that.   And why I'm publishing a post with zero clothes in it on my "sewing" blog.  ha!

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I don't usually give my kids baths together anymore.  A shower for the big kid is so much faster, and we've been working on him being able to do it all my himself by the end of the summer - last hurdle is thorough shampooing!

That being said - sometimes dinner is done early, and there's peanut butter and jelly (yes, for dinner) everywhere, and it's been a long sweaty day, and we have more time until bed than I can wrap my head around.  And I throw them both in the bath for a little "swim".

I've said it before and I'll say it again - but I really do love photography.  I love the challenge and the capture.  I love the memory keeping.  Jelly smeared, gap toothed smiles.  Knobby bruised knees and little legs all tangled up.  Drippy curls.  My natural tendency would be to dwell on what went wrong, what could have been better - even though I know I should be focusing on what was fabulous.  These pictures make me remember the day by its glorious end, and not by the struggles of the day.  They become the faded, foggy, mostly forgotten memory instead of the other way around.  My pictures aren't amazing photography, but they do a job, and they do me good.  And that's why I love photography.

Pleated Tank - aka "I Have Gingham Issues"

As a preface: I've been using the last week to post about some older projects that haven't made it here because I'm working on a baby quilt.  I'm not a quilter.  I wish I could be, but I get really frustrated by the time it takes.  All I think about while I'm cutting and piecing and pressing and piecing and pressing and quilting and binding is how many garments I could be making in the time it takes me to complete one little baby quilt.  But it's a gift, and all I  have left to finish is the hand stitching on the binding.  Tedious.  Anyway - that's what's up.  I'll post about it once it's finished (hopefully in the next day or two!) and until then, I'm playing blog catch-up.

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This top is loosely based on this Pretty in Pleats tutorial from craftiness is not optional.  I made another top last summer strictly following the tutorial - this summer I just went from memory, experience, with a little bit of "winging it" thrown in.

(It was worn and washed a few times before I took these pictures - and pleats are really hard to press again.  My apologies.)

I used a navy gingham (theme?) I picked up at an estate sale at some point, and some pale yellow buttons of unknown origin from my collection.

The problem with using older fabric, is that there are sometimes mystery spots - usually not too large, and usually not too obvious - that seem to show up when I'm about 85% finished with a project.  It doesn't matter how carefully I go over the fabric before hand - POOF - they magically appear at the 85% point.

And so it happened here.  Above the hemline, a couple small-ish brown spots.  Arghhhh!  Instead of scrapping it, or shortening the hem too much - I went ahead and winged it for the win.  It may be hard to see here, but I cut out a couple heart shapes and top-stitched them on.  I didn't use any fusible or put anything on the edges to stop the fraying but I'm okay with that.  They don't stand out very much, and I think a little fray goes well with the navy ginham.

And here she is...or was.  She already looks different to me since this picture was taken a couple months ago!

Didn't I tell her to stop growing?