Yeah, Shir

I haven't had much time to write any blog posts in the past few days, but I can happily say that the little bag I made for the birthday party on Wednesday went over well. Lambchop #2 embarrassed his mommy a tiny bit, though. My intention was not to make it known that the gift was homemade. I'm proud of making things for my family, but sometimes, people don't appreciate handmade gifts the way they should. He was proud, though, and the second the little girl opened it, he blurted out, "And, and, and, my mommy made it, too!" Nobody heard him the first time, so he was forced to say it louder for everyone to really know how happy he was about it. Very sweet, and I do hope they all continue to be proud when mommy makes them things (though, I have a sneaking suspicion the pride will turn to shame some day at least while they're going through their teen years - we'll see). And, the ladies in the room actually seemed pleased and impressed by a handmade gift, so the world is not lost after all.

Oh, and I learned something about my son while at the party. He appears to have some success with the little ladies. There were mostly girls at the party (Lili-Rose, Lola, Lili and Lila - if you can believe that) with a couple of boys. When we arrived, the boys were in one room playing with boy stuff and the girls were in another playing a game we have here at home that Lambchop #2 loves. He went right in and sat down to play with the girls. They seemed quite happy with his presence. I had already noticed that he gets the Beatles treatment when he arrives at school, with the girls smiling and screaming his name (no fainting, though). The birthday party pretty much confirmed it for me. He's a lady's man. I guess it pays to have two sisters at home.

Though the blog has been silent the past few days, I have been keeping myself busy. I did a little remake of a piece of clothing I've had for over 10 years. It was one of those crinkle skirts that were so popular in the 90's. I've always loved the fabric, but the elastic on the skirt was never very forgiving, and though it fit without me sucking my stomach in, it always gave me a stomach ache some how. Needless to say, it never got much wear. This week, I decided to give it a new life.

I have been fascinated by the idea of shirring for quite some time, but I hadn't found the appropriate project to try it out for myself. Then, a post over at Wardrobe Refashion got me thinking it'd be the perfect way to change this skirt into a shirt to wear this summer. I like the end result, but the best thing about shirring is that as my body shrinks a little here and there (I tend to lose weight gradually while breastfeeding till it mostly all melts away), the shirt will continue to fit. It even fits Lambchop #1's tiny chest size because of the elastic used in shirring.

The skirt looked like this in the beginning:

Nothing very special, but I always loved the roses on the fabric. I have never been a very frilly girl. I always tended toward t-shirts and jeans or simple skirts. As it turns out, though, I really do love flowers. I'm realizing this now, because the things I seem to have trouble parting with all have flowers (I've got another flowered skirt like this to mess with later).

I spent about a half and hour detaching the waistband with my seam ripper and got to shirring on the top section. Later, I added the black band around the top and the straps. I needed thick ones, because I'm not one who can go braless even with the elasticity provided by the shirring.

The shirt has gotten mixed reviews around here. Lambchop #1 loves it, mostly likely because it's the kind of thing that is in style these days. The hubbie isn't quite so fond of it, most likely for the same reasons Lambchop #1 loves it. I'm not 100% certain for several reasons. First, it's not my usual style, so it'll take some getting used to. Second, I'm a little afraid the high waist makes me look a little preggers. That's not the look I'm going for after having given birth 9 months ago, but if I suck my gut in to the point that I can no longer breathe, I admit, I look pretty hot. It's just a shame it's not convenient for that whole will to survive thing I've got going these days. I'll shrink into it, and for now, it's very comfy. The last reason I'm not too sure about this shirt is the slip factor. It might have a tendency to slip down a bit in the front, possibly exposing my girlimajigs (Or, should I say "girlimajugs"?). I think it'll be alright. I just need to watch when I bend forward. It's light and airy, though, so it'll be good for summer. and with all the shirring, it doesn't seem nearly as see-through as it did as a skirt.

Here's one last shot of it, taken by Lambchop #1. She's home sick from school and did a little photography for Mommy. Not bad, actually. A little blurry, but at least she didn't make me look fat like Daddy usually does.

Birthday Bag

Yesterday was Mother's Day here in France, and I had a wonderful one. I was awakened at 7:30 am by a very excited Lambchop #1 bearing gifts. She had been hiding them all week long and couldn't hold her secret in any longer. Lambchop #2 followed soon after with an offering of his own. Very sweet. I loved the gifts, too. When do kids stop making things for Mommy and Daddy at school? That will be a sad day, I think. Anybody who enjoys crafting as much as I do can certainly appreciate a hand-made gift from their own kids.

Speaking of hand-made gifts, Lambchop #2 was invited to the birthday party of a little girl in his class. I'm not a big fan of buying junky plastic toys for kids that age. They get broken with amazing speed and efficiency, and since the kid in question is female, I figure a little hand-made bag would be better. I let Lambchop #2 raid my fabric stash, and he picked out some blue fabric with stars. My great-aunt gave me this fabric, which she most likely picked up at someone's yard sale. It's cute, and just masculine enough that my boy could get on board with it. That became the inner lining, the straps (which, as my husband pointed out, at their length, only one would have been necessary) and the front pocket. The outside of the bag is a portion of a jean leg. It already had the side seams, which I was happy about. Less work for both me and my machine, who likes to jam up on me when the fabric is very thick like that. All I had to do to the jean part was add an oval bottom to give the bag some roominess and a fun shape.

Since all the fabric was either given to me or taken from something old I no longer use, this was an amazingly cheap project. I'd say it cost me mere cents to make (because of the cost of the thread used to sew it). It's not perfect, since I didn't feel like measuring anything to make it. Lambchop #2 is very proud of it, though, and wanted to take it to school with him this morning to give it to the birthday girl right way (though her party is on Wednesday afternoon). I think we can fill it with candy before then just in case she doesn't find a bag very exciting.

And, this morning I couldn't help but snap a few shots of Lambchop #3 sleeping. I took way more than necessary, but that's the beauty of digital cameras - one is bound to turn out right. Here's the one I liked best (oh, and for you thrift shoppers, this is a thrift shop shirt she's wearing - it was in perfect condition).

Now I'm off to do some actual chores. Our dryer's heating element seems to have given out, so I'm forced to be both more frugal and more environmentally friendly. With a baby, it can be hard to make it out to hang clothes. I need to take advantage of Lambchop #3's nap really fast before she wakes up. Maybe I should consider installing some kind of baby swing in a nearby tree, because I really do enjoy hanging clothes (except when we've got high winds and I have to fight the line to hang them).

A Teeny Bit of News

We've been busy working on moving things, throwing junk away, etc. lately, so I've found little time to knit or blog. We decided to move our bed over to the loft over the livingroom to allow the kids to use our old bedroom as a playroom. I was really tired of tripping over their toys in the livingroom. They outnumber me, and I just can't keep up. I figure if the toys are contained to the room upstairs, it'll be less dangerous for those walking around downstairs, as well as less embarrassing when people stop by. What they don't see won't hurt them (or make me ashamed). So, we've been working on that a lot. Plus, a friend of mine who is quite the flea market shopper had a school desk she had found for 5 euros. It's too big for her apartment, and her daughter never uses it like she had hoped. We, however, have had the kids begging for their own desk for at least a month, so I jumped on the chance to take it home with us.

It's huge. I'll give it that much, but it's also in great condition. It has two seats attached to a large table. So, both the two bigger Lambchops can draw pictures till the sheep come home. It's big enough that even my husband, at a bit over 6'1" can sit comfortably in it, so it'll be useful for homework for years to come. Then, there's the added bonus of them being able to play school with it.

I brought it home last night, and I spent the morning preparing the room for it and putting it back together (it was too large to fit in the car in one piece). I love it. It's just the kind of thing kids dream of having when they're little and want to play school. Or, at least it's the kind of thing I dreamed of having. Very cool. I'll get a nice shot of it once the playroom is fully set up.

In other fun news...

I joined Wardrobe Refashion. I'm sure you've noticed me playing around with old clothes lately. That's what they do over at Wardrobe Refashion. It's actually where I got much of my inspiration in the first place. The idea would probably not really have occurred to me without this wonderfully diverse place we call the internet. There may be lots of places you can spend way too much money, but there are also many where you can learn to save a buck or two. Wardrobe Refashion is one of them. They make wearing second-hand clothes fashionable. And, I want to be like the cool crowd, you know? So, I've signed up to post whatever projects I get done over there. I find it nice to have a forum like that to express those kinds of projects and ideas to other like-minded people. So, if you're into that, pop on over there. It's a really cool blog with lots of great ideas for making everything from underwear out of t-shirts to modifications of an old pair of pants. That way, you can "repurpose" that old shirt/skirt/dress/whatever that you always loved and just can't part with. Or, you can modify that great thrift shop find with the fabulous fabric but hideous cut. Check it out. It can really open your fashion horizons up a bit.

The Silver Lining

It would appear that I have a lot to say these days. I seem to be blogging much more than usual. Maybe not having my computer in the house for so long made me grow fonder of the whole blog world. Or maybe it's just because I have so many projects going at the moment. Sure, the house is a tiny bit messy, but haven't we come to expect that from me? I have to enjoy my life, too, right? So, I craft. Given the last several posts' content, though, you'd think I have given up knitting altogether. Not true. In fact, I have a couple of projects actively on the needles these days. I'll admit they're mindless ones, but a project's a project's a project.

I still pull out my little alpaca vest I've been working on when the mood strikes me. I may get it ready before it gets too hot to wear it. Then again, I may not. Then, there's the knitted rug. Remember that one? Every knitter and their cat are resurrecting old projects to either finish or rip out and get rid of. I haven't joined along, officially, but maybe I've been inspired. Or, perhaps inspiration came in the form of tiny slits in all my shirts (caused by the kitchen cabinet, remember?). There's nothing like new "yarn" to get a knitter going. I've got plenty of new colors now, so I've set to work chopping the shirts up, knitting the resulting "yarn".

The long strip of dark gray as well as the long blue one just before it are the new additions. The rest of it has been there for months, waiting to be added to. The previous parts came from button-down shirts, which are a real pain to cut up. That was all I had to work with, though, so I went with it. The last two sections I recently added come from two long-sleeved t-shirts I had. I'm planning to massacre a red one pretty soon, so that should add some life to the thing. I have no idea if I'm actually going to like this rug when it's done, but I'm going with the flow of it for now. No plan of action for the arrangement of colors, either. Just letting the next available shirt decide. I'm pretty excited that I have a green one coming up. That should really spice things up (see what passes for excitement around here?).

On the sewing front, I still haven't found the time to put my kimono shirt together. I've already got a quick new project planned, though. As I was leaving the thrift shop the last time I went, I fondled a black and white striped tank top. Doing so caused it to fall off its hanger. This, in turn, made the shopkeepers think I wanted it, but I had already paid. They, literally, receive tons of clothes. They don't know what to do with them all. So, they gave the fallen shirt to me. It's not even my size, and I'm even sure that after significant weight loss its intentionally tight design would ever look good on me. The upside is that with a slight modification to the straps (which will be easy, given the way they are attached), it'll fit Lambchop #1 nicely (like a slightly loose-fitting long shirt for now). I've ransacked my smallish fabric stash to find something to make ruffles to attach to the bottom of the tank to get a nice summer dress. There wasn't really anything that would work, though. I'm planning a trip to the fabric store this week to find some (among other things). My preference would be some bright pink and some lime green. I think that using those two colors for skirt ruffles would make an adorable, very modern-looking dress for her.

Well, Lambchop #3 would like to do some typing for you. I'll let her say a few words, then we've got lunch to prepare...
b b0- b i ok,nbbbbbbbbbbb

I think we all know what she means. But in case, you weren't sure, let's let her reiterate:
uyv kvb7 vb c m 4 8k0k0

Yep, that's what I understood the first time.