Christmas Dresses 2011

So if you're my friend on Facebook, you probably saw my post about finishing up the girls' Christmas dresses the day before we left for Utah.  I was SO excited to finally be done with all my Christmas sewing, plus they turned out even better than I expected.  Truth be told, they'd been "finished" before, but didn't quite... um... work.  I mean, yes, the girls could wear them, but they had really wonky waistlines, and were just kind of ugly.  Well, not anymore.  I'm pretty excited about how they came out.

This is the only picture I have of all three dresses together.  I had to steal it from my mom.

Yeah, I know.  Lately, my girls seem to refuse to want to be all together for pictures.  Either that, or we're in too big of a hurry to get to church.  Something like that.

Now for a little more detail--

Cailin's dress:

(Yeah, she fell on our stairs and scraped up her nose. Poor girl.)

White satin-y bodice, green diamond pin tucked fabric skirt.  I fell in love with the green fabric before I'd figured out how exactly I wanted the dress to look, but this is what I came up with.

Cailin's is the only dress without a sash.  I'm not sure exactly why I didn't put one on hers, but I really like the way it came out anyway.  The little row of topstitching above the gathering just pulled it off for me.  Also, it really does fit her better than this picture portrays--the bodice doesn't actually drown her, I swear.

Her dress also ended up with buttons in the back, as I didn't make it with a stretch velvet like the other two.  Yeah, I did buttonholes without a buttonholer.  You may now tell me that I am awesome.  Thank you.  :)

Now for the other two dresses... Yeah, these pictures are even worse.  Why can't my kids stand still?  Crazy girls.  At least they like each other, right?

You can see the sashes here:

All I said was stop touching each other and hold still.  They gave me this.  I can't stop laughing every time I look at this photo.  They're posing exactly the same!  And I love Janey's face.  Hahaha.

And here, we finally have, after a rousing round of "Put your hands on your head.  Put your hands on your hair.  Put your hands on your stomach.  Put your hands to your sides." (*click*)  

Oh silly girls.  

Anyway, like I said before, stretch velvet on the tops, then some specialty apparel fabric on the bottoms.  They have sashes, and I really like how they pulled the dresses together--you'll just have to believe me when I say they didn't work before I put them on.  I also actually really like how the necklines came out--they're sort of a half-turtleneck.  I was afraid that they wouldn't stretch enough to get their heads through, but since I used my serger, which allows for a little more stretch, they worked out just fine.  Yay.  :)

So there they are, the Christmas dresses of 2011.  I love 'em, and I'm glad they're done.  Ha.

The Dollhouse

So this year, Christmas came early at our house. We're headed back to Utah for a few days, and knew we couldn't take everything we were giving the girls with us (especially not as a secret from Santa). We also knew that Cory would be working every day up until we left, so we just decided to celebrate this last Sunday. It was pretty great, though now I feel like I'm in this weird lull between fake Christmas and real Christmas, but with no Santa for real Christmas... it's weird. Anyway. This year, I was super excited about the girls' present. I bought a dollhouse for Breanne a couple years ago on an after Christmas sale for some 90% off. This one, actually (again, note the 90% off. Awesome). I didn't give it to her at the time because Janey was in crazy baby stage (1.5 years old), and I was about to have another baby. This year, though, with Breanne and Janey being in the delightfully responsible-ish enough stages that they are, and Cailin in a somewhat calm (for her) stage, I decided it would work.

 
And boy howdy do they love it. They've been playing with it for the last 4 days almost constantly. It always makes the hours worth it when the kids like what I've worked on like crazy. :) I stayed up many late nights painting and wall-papering and painting and material-ing the floors and painting... did I mention all the painting? It might not have been so bad if I hadn't had to paint the majority of the furniture too... but it ended up great. I love the way it came together, and the girls have really enjoyed playing with it thus far. Because we moved Christmas up a week (it was kind of a last minute decision) I didn't have time to finish the front of the house, so the porch and front wall are yet to be finished, but someday it'll all be done. Besides, this way=no pinched fingers, right?

Want a tour?  Ok.  We'll start at the top, in the attic (it's around on the back side).

Yes, that is a sewing machine.  And a vacuum.  I kind of fell in love with this pack of dollhouse furniture when I saw the sewing machine.  Couldn't resist it.  

Other side of the room, with the laundry, mop and bucket and ironing board.  I love these pieces.  The floor is corduroy (actually the same stuff I used for my diaper bag waaaay back here).  

Then there's the bathroom.  The pieces that came with the dollhouse for the bathroom were really lame.  Super squarish pieces, with drawn on faucets, and no toilet.  So I found this little set to replace it, after searching for nearly a month.  I'm glad the greens match well enough to pull it all together.  The floor is a sheet of 1 inch tiles from Home Depot I found on clearance.  It's my personal favorite part of the room.

This is the bedroom.  Couldn't resist the pinks (the floral on the walls is even sparkly...), and the floor is a furry white fabric.  The bed is not complete, still needs a mattress, pillow, and a finished edges blanket, but it's coming.  And yes, that's a light on the ceiling... you just click it on by pushing it.  It is adhered to the ceiling, but twists off to replace the batteries.  There's also one in the attic, and one in the family room.  The girls love them.  Let's be honest, so do I.  :)

The kitchen.  It came with a fridge, and the table and chairs weren't that scratched before, but... well... children.  And a few days.  You know the rest.  My favorite part of this room is a tie between the flooring, and the faux paneling on the walls.  It's the small things, sometimes.

And the front/family room.  Complete with Christmas tree and lights.  I am a sucker for the details.  I have plans to upholster the couch, but haven't had time yet.  I love the cabinet, though, and the furry carpet. You can tell that I bought this set a few years ago, though, by the tv.  I'm sure the tv's in newer sets are flat screens.  The girls asked me what it was.  :)

So there you have it.  I really love me a good project.  Yes, still plenty to do on this one, but I love it so far. And more importantly... so do the girls.  :)

Advent Calendar Day 7

Today we made snowflakes. I did most of the cutting, though Breanne made a few herself, too. Janey decorated using her favorite medium, markers. Of course. :)

My Christmas masterpiece... Ha. I love cutting out snowflakes.

Advent Calendars

So that fabric?



It was destined to become an Advent Calendar.

(Oh yes, I did just hang that crookedy on my dusty blinds... I haven't figured out how to put it up somewhere more practical yet--that will have to come tomorrow).

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a meeting with a few women where we talked about starting up good traditions with our families. Mirjam, the woman who was leading the group, talked a lot about her family's advent calendars--she has one for each of her children, to be filled with little treats and toys, and then one for the whole family that is full of activities. I loved both of these ideas, and immediately started planning out how I'd like to implement them in some way in our own home. For each girl, I came up with a pocket calendar, in which I'll be putting little treats, toys, books, and other fun things. We already have a calendar I made a few years ago that is just a big Christmas tree with little ornaments you place on it--I plan on putting an activity we'll be doing in with each ornament this year, and letting the girls pick them out every day. Several days I have crafts planned as our activity--on those days, the treat in their pocket will be the supplies to do the craft. Lest you think I'm totally insane, be assured that some days the activities are very, very simple, like building a fire in the fireplace, visiting friends, and attending parties we'd already be going to, regardless of whether we had the calendars or not. It just gives me more motivation to do fun things with the girls, too, like making cookies, cupcakes, garlands and ornaments.


So, I've made 3 of the pocket/bag calendars, one for each girl. Actually, to be honest, it's currently 2.5, because after sewing something like 68 little pocket bags, my sewing machine jammed up, and I have no idea what's wrong with it, so it'll be heading to the shop tomorrow... sigh. But I'm excited to see how the girls like them, and I know that they'll be a wonderful thing for all of us--I am really looking forward to having something positive to do planned for each day. I do so much better at providing good days for the girls when I plan ahead a bit. I am hoping to really make some positive memories this year.

What I'm Working With Today