11 months!

Where has the past 11 months gone???  I can't believe Brilee will be a year old next month.  Here are some shots from first thing this morning.  Yes, there are too many, but I want to remember her at this- oh so fun stage!

Playing with tools outside

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Clothes Line

I'm SO excited that now I'll be able to save even MORE money cloth diapering by drying them ALL outside!  Prior to now, I've been drying the pocket diaper covers outside by hanging them over our patio chairs but I still had to dry the inserts/fitted diapers in the dryer.  Since the bulkiest part of the dipaer is the insert, it takes a long time to dry them.  I've been talking to Jon about a clothes line for over a year, but we didn't think we had any space for one.  However, today we went to Lowe's and looked to see if they at least had a small foldable drying rack (that some people use inside) but we found something even BETTER!

At first glance this might seem like one of those old-fashioned tacky clothes line, but apparently the design of these things has improved tremendously!   We originally dismissed the idea of a permanent clothes line thinking it we didn't have the yard space.  However, we found this clothes line is completely foldable and is designed to be taken down when not in use!  What's even better is that we have an umbrella stand we're not using right now since our umbrella broke in a wind storm last fall, and the pole to the clothes line fits right in there so now we also can move it around wherever we want!  (The design of the umbrella is for the ground insert to permanently be placed into the ground with concrete so it is flush with the ground and the pole drops in that insert when needed.)  The line is some sort of plastic covered cable--similar to some dog leashes--so it is not the thick metal wire that some older lines used to be made of.  This also allows the line to fold away very neatly.  Jon is going to make some sort of bench for outside to store this inside and so the kids can sit on the bench, etc.  Just to keep from having to walk it in and out from the garage or storage building. 

What's better is that now I'm going to be able to dry anything outside that doesn't matter if it gets the "pinch marks" from the clothes pins--basically anything except our shirts and pants that need to be wrinkle free.  I think I'm even going to dry the kids' clothes outside except their nicer clothes.  It's the little things now that make me happy! 

Brilee pushing stroller

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Mud Day 5.11.11

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Towel Dress!

I've been wanting a "wearable" towel for quite a while--mainly for taking showers after I workout at the YMCA.  There's not a great way to get to the showers/locker room area carrying everything you need while trying to clutch a towel around yourself.  So, I came upon this little project and thought I'd give it a try, and I'm SO glad I did!  It was so easy that I finished it in about an hour total time.

I bought a regular beach towel from Target and got some elastic thread from Hancock Fabric.  I found instructions online on how to "shirr" fabric, and got started!  You have to wind the elastic thread on the bobbin by hand so that it isn't pulled tight AT ALL.  This takes quite a while and you have to keep re-loading the bobbin after each 5 rows or so.

You simply sew straight stitches making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of each row.  This helps it gather tightly.  The first few rows aren't very gathered, but the more you sew, the more it starts having that nice shirred look.

I made 24 rows total.  Here is the completed shirred area:

After sewing, you iron with steam and the area REALLY gathers up even nicer.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture or not, but it gathered up about 4 extra inches after ironing it.

Then, you simply sew right sides together and press the seam open:

Completed dress!  I am going to add some straps to this because it is on the large side (I was too lazy to take the time to figure out the best measurements and hem the towel down to begin with--I'm was simply going for something that would basically fit ok, but if I was to do this again, I would sew the towel a few inches smaller first.)

And, yes, I decided to pose with the dress on--as much as this pains me for my skin is so pale and I look like I'm really lacking on sleep today.  But I wanted to show how nicely it works!  I'll especially like it better once I get some straps sewn on so that it will stay up a little better.

This was a nice little afternoon project!

2 year old artwork!

Lilly loves to color (by herself- that's the best part!) for hours on end! This is one of the blessings of little girls....Sean could never sit still that long for anything! Here's one of Lilly's latest masterpieces :)

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