Sewing 099...Forward Rolls...School...Oh, my!

Basic classes are all "101", right? Well then, I must be in Sewing 099 - the remedial one! Here's how it always goes. It all starts when I get a great design idea in my head or so I think, followed by the hunt for the perfect fabric, trim, buttons, etc. (I love fabric :), I then sketch out a little drawing of what it is I'd like to create - nothing formal, just a little visual since I'm definitely a visual person. THEN, comes the fun part - since I'm not good at sewing, I must find someone to make my vision come to reality. Usually goes like this, "Mom, I have a project for us (notice the clever "us"). It's going to be so much fun and best of all it's EASY and I already have all the fabrics, all the measurements, it probably won't even take more than a couple of hours." Yeah, right! My mom is such a good sport too! She indulges my inner creative self by actually letting me think it's my project, when in reality, she's the seamstress and I'm just the pain-in-the-rear "assistant" that keeps dreaming up "just one more little detail" to further complicate the project. Thanks for letting me dream, mom!

My latest project is this little apron dress that I've been wanting to make for Grace with some of Heather Bailey's gorgeous Pop Garden fabrics and some other fun ones I found at a local boutique. And although this isn't the dress we're making for this project, I also picked up a copy of one of Chelsea's Pink Fig patterns just 'cause the dress and packaging was too cute to pass up. I'd searched high and low for an apron dress pattern to no avail. An S.O.S. to Angel of TaDa Creations!, my favorite boutique designer, led me to a pattern that with some adaptations could possibly work - thanks Angel! So after ordering, downloading, printing, and binding the 50+ page pattern (yes, I'm a little OCD and need the pattern to look pretty while I'm working with it :), I felt we were ready to go.

Sketch and measurements - check! Fabrics all layed out - check! So what should have been an easy project, turned into quite a big project as we decided to draw and cut out our own pattern, from an apron knot dress Grace likes to wear. So after putting Grace to bed and since Lance was out of town for work, my mom and I painstakingly drew pattern pieces and cut out all the fabric, so here's what we have so far: Boy am I glad you live only 5 minutes away, mom! Sorry I kept you up late! The plan is to sew the dress next Monday night, so we'll see how it goes. I'll def. post pics when we finish the dress - can't wait!

GYMNASTICS UPDATE: Grace has been loving gymnastics. She goes around the house saying, "jump, ta da!" and then claps for herself and says "yeaaah!" Guess we've been doing a good job cheering her on! She also loves trying to do forward rolls by herself. She can't quite make it through by herself, but that doesn't bother her a bit - gotta love that spirit! Here she is letting me take a picture before "school" this week. I was getting her stuff ready and next thing I know, she's on the floor doing her version of a forward roll :) And off she was with a big smile on her face! For all that have asked how Mother's Day Out is going and for all that have offered suggestions - THANK YOU! The first two weeks were tough - she cried and had a hard time being away from us. Not knowing what else to do and not wanting to throw in the towel just yet I bought some books about school - first with the intention of reading them with her since she loves books, but then I thought maybe a new book was just what she needed to get her through that initial separation when I drop her off in the morning. Well, it worked like a charm. She still cried a little bit when I told her I was leaving and would see her after snacks (I don't believe in sneaking out without telling her bye), but "Dora goes to School" combined with the attention of one of her very sweet teachers = NO MORE TEARS! I hung around outside her classroom where she couldn't see me and the tears subsided immediately. When I picked her up they told me how great she did and said, "please send a book every time :)". So far, we've had two very good days this week! I'm so proud of my little pumpkin!!