Mother's Day Gratitude

Ok, I know I sometimes complain about my kids, or wish that life was a little less noisy and crazy.  But Mother's Day always makes me stop for a moment and thank the Lord for the blessing of these four little ones.  And I know that they won't seem little for much longer!

Yesterday, they made me a beautiful present (thanks to the materials and instructions in the Funshine Express preschool kit):

Do you notice that the one on the bottom left is not actually glued together?  That's my six year old Joseph's project.  He said he did not want to do a craft, but then he felt guilty since it was a Mother's Day present, so he did part of it anyways. 

And then my eight year old Hannah worked hard writing a song and memorizing it, so she could do a singing presentation of her gift.  I found the lyrics she wrote out this morning, so here is her Mother's Day song:

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to you,

Happy Mother's Day to you,

Happy Mother's Day, Dear Mommy,

I love you.

You lead me to Jesus.

You are my love.

I wish I could do more for you.

Um um hum hummmmm.

Oh we need you.

Love for you fills my heart.

Doesn't it make your heart just melt?  I especially like the "Umm um hum hummmm" part.  She also made a special second gift for me:  a pipecleaner bookmark, which works surprisingly well.

Now that is love!  What more could I ask for?

And, then, while my husband did yard work, I relaxed and actually got some sewing done.  Here is what I was working on -- a Boo-Boo Bunny:

I am working on a tutorial and pattern for this, so look out for it in the next month or so.

All in all, what a great day!  I think the moral of the story is that I am surrounded by these little blessings every day, and I should appreciate them this much every day of the year.

Oliver & S Tea Party Dress and (Slightly Modified) Playsuit

It is hard to beat the Oliver & S Tea Party pattern for a cute little sundress for a tiny girl.  The pattern is only available digitally now, as it is out of print.  As always, the directions are absolutely impeccable and are basically like a personal sewing lesson from Liesl.

Here is a close-up of the finished product:

I love how this pattern calls for a contrast facing under the hem, and bias tape finish for the elastic casing on the bloomers.  I also really like the piping to call attention to the flared princess seams.

The pattern also includes a playsuit.  I wanted it to be a little more girly, so I made the hem curved and added a pleated trim.

The straps are supposed to be button closure, but I was worried that my little girl would not be able to undress herself to go potty.  So I made a faux button closure with velcro underneath.

Directions for added curved hem and pleated trim

1.  Cut all fabric pieces as directed in the pattern.  Also cut 2 strips of fabric that are 2.5 inches tall and the width of the fabric.  These pieces are for the pleated trim. 

2.  Fold the trim pieces in half lengthwise wrong sides together and press.

3.  Assemble the bodice as directed in the pattern.

4.  Use a plate as a template to trim the bottom of the playsuit into a curved pattern at the outer edge.

5.  Place the front and back of one leg right sides together.  Sew the inseam together.

Then press and topstitch this seam.

6.  Finish the bottom hem edge, including the curves, by serging or zigzagging over it. Also serge the raw edge of the trim pieces.

7.  With raw edges together, right sides facing, sew the trim piece to the curved hem edge of the shorts.  Use your fingers to create little pleats as you feed the fabric under your presser foot.

8.  Press the hem well.  Then topstitch.

9.  Now it is time to sew the outer leg seam.  With the front leg and back leg pieces right sides together, and the raw outer leg edges lined up, serge the seam (or sew with your sewing machine and then zigzag over the raw edge).

Please be careful with this step that you make sure you don't leave the thread tail hanging, as it would show.  Sew just one stitch so that the needle is in the fabric.  Then pull the fabric tail around from the back of the presser foot, around the left side of the presser foot, and back in front of the presser foot and the knife.  Then continue sewing.  This will completely catch the thread tail in the seam, like so:

10.  Press the seam well and topstitch.  It should look like this now:

11.  Repeat steps 5 - 10 for the other leg.  Really, it is much easier and faster than it sounds when I write it all out like this!

12.  Follow the directions in the pattern to sew the crotch seam (the rise seam) by placing one leg inside the other.  (Personally, I like to serge this seam and then press and topstitch it, rather than sewing two lines of stitching on the sewing machine and then finishing the raw edges.)

13.  Then follow the directions in the pattern to attach the bodice to the shorts and finish by attaching buttons or velcro to the straps.

Then put the outfit on your little one and tell her to smile at the camera. 

Then give up and tell her to run and play while madly trying to snap pictures of her that aren't entirely blurry.

Playsuits are for playing, right?

Good thing she is wearing matching bloomers!

Modeling for pictures is sooo hard!

Thanks for reading!  If you have questions, or need a step explained, please, please make a comment and let me know!

Fun boy clothes!

A couple of years ago (maybe even last year), I remember people saying that they loved to sew boy clothes because it was so much fun.  I could not relate to that at all!  Boy clothes seemed tedious, with so much topstitching, and ironing pockets, and general work!  But girl clothes -- now those just seem to fly together in no time at all!  But I think that maybe it was just a sign that I was not a very experienced sewist.  This year, I am loving sewing for my boys.

I love these shorts! The appliques are from Ottobre magazine 3/11 pattern #25. But I didn't use that shorts pattern. Instead, I used my favorite pants pattern from Ottobre 1/09 and just shortened them.



Are you wondering what the heck is wrong with my son's chin? Yeah. He ran through the flower bed, tripped over the gutter, and fell into the driveway. Two stitches. But they gave him a Spiderman sticker so he thought it was totally worth it.



The shirt is "Riff" from Ottobre 3/10 #18. This is just a nice raglan, even if you didn't want to do the guitar applique.

I made them in size 5 for my son, and size 3 for a swap I am participating in on Sewing Mamas. Here are close-ups of the ones for the swap.
Front:

The pocket is meant to be a parking spot for two cars, so it has a line of stitching down the middle.

Back:

Speed limit of 60.

Front:



I used metallic puffy paint instead of studs to decorate the guitar. It seemed like it would be more comfortable -- totally inspired by I Am Momma Hear Me Roar and her Viking shirt for her son.


Fun tag from Night Owl's Menagerie on Etsy.  She has the best tags ever!  Check out that coverstitched hem.  Impressive, right?  (Well, maybe not, but it makes me happy.)

Back:

It is so satisfying to complete a project and feel like it is stand-out and unique.  And, I feel like my work is finally starting to look professional, too.

Review of Funshine Express Fireflies Kit

I have been researching different types of monthly preschool activity kits. I ordered a month of Funshine Express Fireflies to try it out. It is a complete monthly preschool curriculum kit. You can find more info at www.funshineexpress.com. It is aimed at ages 3 - 5. For two children for one month, it would cost $49.50 plus about $10 shipping. To add 2 more kids (so that all my kids can do the crafts) only cost a few dollars more -- $55.50. The order was shipped the day after I placed it and arrived the next week (by UPS, I think). It is designed for formal preschool settings, but it can easily be adapted to the home.

Here's the box, with my son in the pic so you can get a sense of size:



Starter Pack
Your first order of the school year comes with a starter pack of materials you will use every month. Here they are all organized in a plastic bag:


The starter pack includes a calendar base, which is glossy tagboard:


Then 3 glossy tagboard posters to display the numbers, shapes, and colors of the month:



Then there is a world map -- just glossy paper:


And finally a daily weather chart:


Monthly Teacher Pack
In each monthly kit, you get a teacher pack. This is all the materials of which there are only one for the whole classroom. Here it is, organized in its bag:


It includes the curriculum guide, which is the complete daily plan:

That is one thick book! I was surprised at the level of detail in the lesson plans. There is a two page spread for each day. Here is just one page for one day's plan:


This book also includes a materials list for the month. Here's a close-up of one day's material list:

It is quite a lot of materials you need to draw together if you are going to do every single thing each day. However, a lot of the materials are not completely essential. Also, almost all the materials are things I have around the house.

Also in the teacher's pack is a book that matches one of the themes for the month:

It is a nice quality book.


Then there is a monthly math game (glossy tagboard again):

Here are the pieces for the math game -- they just need to be punched out:


Then there are the monthly calendar pieces (which match the themes, and clearly are meant to use to teach patterns):


There's a monthly puzzle. This is the one part I am not impressed with. It is just glossy paper, which is not what I would consider stiff enough to really use as a puzzle with kids. It is double sided, and matches the theme of course. It needs to be cut with scissors along pre-marked lines:


Then there is a learning game (memory style) that matches the theme:


Another game about baby and mommy animals (one of the themes):

These are punch out style.

Then, some double -sided letter of the month images -- punch out:



Here are the monthly number and shape pieces to display on the posters:


Numbers of the month counting cards:


Images which are used one at a time on various days to start a conversation or lead up to a game or activity:


Here are double-sded to flash cards to learn Spanish (one side English, one side Spanish):


This picture is probably hard to make out because it is all white. It is punch out shape manipulatives that are used in some of the lessons:

The shape of the month is diamond.

That's the end of the teacher pack.

Children's PackThese are materials where you get one per child.



Parent newsletters:

These are designed to send home from your preschool to tell the parents what is going on. Although you don't need these if you are doing school at home, they do have a few extension ideas.

Student journals:

The back cover is in color:


Inside pages are black and white. They include counting and tracing activities to teach letters and numbers. Also there are some prompts for students to fill in the blank in a sentence and then draw a picture -- sort of pre-writing type activities:

Lastly (for the children's pack), there are "activity strips". These are perforated, but I didn't separate them yet. They are double-sided and are tracing activities:




Craft supplies
Each month comes with materials for 12 different crafts. Each craft is in its own bag. (Two of the bags contain two crafts in one bag, so there are only 10 bags this month, even though there are 12 activities.)

Here is what is actually in that bag:

I ordered a kit for 4 kids, so you are seeing enough to make 4 tabby cat crafts.

Here is another example of a craft bag -- this time containing supplies for 2 different crafts:


All the craft supplies look to be decent quality, and they were all very organized and packed nicely so nothing was damaged during shipping. There are basic supplies you need for the crafts that are not included -- scissors, crayons, glue, markers, tape, and paint. Nothing I would not always have on hand.

Final thoughts: This was much more organized, and much, much, much more detailed than I expected. There are lots more activities laid out each day than we personally could actually use. But we are trying to homeschool older kids at the same time. If you only had one or two kids who were preschool age, you might use everything. Each day has a song of the day, various activity prompts for dramatic/imaginative play, active games, crafts, and circle time type activities. It is also very cohesive and hangs together well. It is pricey, but still it would only cost me about $500 for the year if I pre-paid, and that would be enough for 4 kids and would include shipping. Compared to preschool tuition, it is cheap.

If you have questions, please post!