Blessing Dress

I make each family a dress for the baby girls to get blessed in out of the mom’s wedding dress material.  (I made the wedding dresses…) Anyway, when it was time for Lydia’s dress, I got out her mom’s material only to find scraps of the lace…

YIKES!  I look online, and to buy more lace would be over $150 a yard, so right then, I decided to look closer at the scraps.  There was one larger piece and a bunch of smaller.

It turns out I have about 5 or 6 little Christening dress patterns, and the oldest one has a skirt that fits on the largest lace piece.  The newer patterns all use more fabric…interesting… Margie, Lydia’s mom, had one of the prettiest wedding dresses that I hamade—all lace, with a lace up detail on the back. The dress went together fairly easy, once I had it all cut out, except I hadn’t decided how to do the back.  In my head, I could figure out the pictures to show off the back, but do you really want to lace up the back of a dress for a baby?  I thought about making a mock lace up back, but didn’t like the way it looked, so on to a real lace up back.     
When I made the loops for the lace up part, I sewed satin cording to a water soluble stabilizer then cut them apart to use on each side of the back.  This is a much better way than how I did the wedding dress...

 

                                                                

 Then on to sewing back the scallops to the bottom of the dress and adding the lace to the neckline and sleeves. The sash on the wedding dress was a bias cut sash, but I went with a double sided satin ribbon for the baby.  We found this flower button at JoAnn’s and liked how it looked on the dress.  Isn't she beautiful??

                   

PS-- I am still having trouble with getting the pics the right size...

Cinnamon Roll Time!!

I started to tag my pictures-- don't do it!! it takes forever... and saw that we made cinnamon rolls last summer, so it’s time for the girls to to bake… 

Here are some pics from this year… they weren’t allowed to start licking hands until the rolls were safe in the pans.  YUM!!!

Don't you want some???

Girls Maxi Dress & American Girl Doll Dress!

 Jocie can sew!! This summer I decided that it is time for the grand girls to really learn to sew.  First they all sewed jammie pants and doll jammie pants.  Using a pattern and marking the notches and all.  The doll pants are harder—the hems and all are smaller.  Then, the 11 year old decided that she wanted sew a maxi dress.  She sketched out what she wanted,   

 

 and we went to buy fabric.  At the third store, we found her fabric.  She wanted fun stripes (Chevron) and a braid for the tie.  She was so funny- I kept telling her to keep her options open, maybe she would change her mind, etc., but she would look at the fabric- “no, my mom would wear that”… “no, that looks like someone else”… Just as she was about to settle on little chevron stripes, she found it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to half way make up the pattern.  I had an old pattern that went to a size 6 and Jocie is a size 10.  So we fixed up the pattern, and pinned it on, then she cut it out.  She sewed it, serged it and learned to press  it.  She could do the casing because she learned to make one with the jammie pants. 

 

 

 

The doll dress came next, and went together much faster—we didn’t have to think how to make it.  Doll dresses take almost as much time as big clothes, just the seams are shorter. 

 

 

 

Look how cute they turned out!

 

She likes them so well, she wears it daily!

 

 And once again I can't make the pics the size I want, and there is a little phantom one behind one of them!

American Girl Doll Dresses!

Once again I find myself sewing with no pattern.  I cut out the dresses, and decided that the dolls didn’t need pockets, they can’t reach them anyway, but just put the trim on like the girls dresses.  There are ¾ sleeves for the 3 dresses and the short sleeves for the other 2.   

As I finished the dresses, I decided that I needed to try them on a doll.  I received a doll, tried on the dress, and then decided that the dolls needed an exposed zipper, also. 

 When I added them, then the dresses were big on the doll.  So I had to take in the dress.  As I was sewing, I had to wonder, who are these people who sew doll clothes for money?  And why am I sewing 5 of the dresses for free?  And why must I fit them to the doll? But, they turned out really cute.  I now know that it will take at least 2 extra days to do doll dresses for Easter.  And a lot of crazy…

 

 

Easter Dresses

This is the Easter of black and white with a pop of color.  We started out with letting the girls pick out the print—except the 2 that don’t live here, but everyone got to decide on the pop of color.

 

 

The pattern was to be this Project Runway Simplicity Pattern.  Looks good enough, right?  Not so much…the pattern comes in a size that fits the oldest 2—size 10.  Then there are the middle 2—size 5s, and a toddler—size 2.  The smallest the pattern comes in is a size 8.  Anyway, on to measure all the girls, because part of making them clothes, is making sure they fit.  Side note:  the kids really don’t grow around too much, they just grow taller.  At least this group does. 

Doesn't everyone throw the scraps on the floor as the pattern gets cut out?  You should see the floor as I sew...

 The oldest 2 dresses go together pretty easy.   I made a change to put an exposed zipper in the back, and ¾ sleeves.  Easter is early and it’s still cold.  Now what to do with the middles???  And I’m not going to think of making the little yet.  I get a pattern that is a straighter dress in the right size, but have to figure out how to do the pocket, and even where to place the pocket.  Then, to do the same with a baby size.  YIKES!!  Then one middle and the toddler are in Alabama, and need short sleeves.  It’s already hot there.  We went to visit them for spring break.  I took my machine and could actually try the dresses on them, instead of hoping that it fits.  Well, it took at least 2 adults to get the toddler to try on the dress, and a lot of running and squawking.  The dresses even got finished before Easter and they turned out real cute.  I decided to put the doll dresses off to do later due to my serger croaking…

Here are the dresses- each family has their own pop of color, and the girls LOVE the pockets.. 

Looking at a frog-- see the zippers?

 

MeeMaa Day Camp Day 3!

Day three was zoo day.  Flag ceremony, then  zoo.  We met up with all kinds of cousins, saw animals, rode the carousel, rode the train and ate Cheetos near where the cheetahs were supposed to be.  We always bring Cheetos just for that.  But the cheetahs were no where to be seen.

The pictures include cousins and in one my brother who happened to call and we held up the phone.  We always get one of the kids at the lion cub drinking fountain and one of Kallie and Jocie at the orangutans home-- the zoo has one orang named Jocie and one named Kallie, although they spell theirs differently.  Jocie was born right around the grandkid Jocie's birthday.  Yes, that is two animals named after Jocie.  Kind of...  We also got the crowd getting ready to ride the tram back from Africa, and talking of the Royals.  Shannon can be seen giving the Royals the thumbs up, because she loves them so.   

 

We got home and made the marshmallow catapults.  I think they ate as many as they used for the catapults.  They aren't the strongest of catapults, but they worked.  The only thing they could hit was a pregnant Shannon and then we put all the kids outside with all the marshmallows to use on each other.  Pampa ended up using the leaf blower to blow all the marshmallows out into the street so we wouldn’t get ants.  Then the first part of camp ended—two more days to come later.

                                   

     #grandmadaycamp

 

MeeMaa Day Camp Day 2

Day two was farm day.  First with the flag, and songs.  Then on to Kim’s house to play with the goats—one of them is named after my granddaughter, Jocie, and the chickens.  Joc theGoat has the purple collar.  And yes, they walk the goats.

Only one egg was cracked in all the fun.  An improvement from last year...

We went to the park for the picnic lunch and walked a nature trail.  Sometime between the park and the trail, someone turned up the heat and we about died on the ½ hour we walked the trail.  Amazing how fast the heat can come on!

 We got home and painted picture frames and the boys made chocolate chip cookies for the snack.

It's tough when you are so tired that you have to lay down to eat your cookie!  And yes, my hubby makes the cookies that big all the time.

We ran out of time to do the obstacle course and marshmallow catapults.

#grandmadaycamp

MeeMaa Day Camp!!

Last week, I held MeeMaa Day Camp.  We- my sister and I hold this each year, but this year we are separate due to scheduling...Here is a link to last years'.  All of the 7—at the time—grandkids got to come.  The theme this year is Naturally Good.  I don’t know why, but it sounded good in Feb, when my sister and I started planning.  And we have already started next year’s planning. 

 

 

Anyway, the first day started with the flag ceremony and singing camp songs.  The songs seem to be a crowd pleaser!

 

  

Then we made the waterbottle holders, and cut out and put the faces on the Owie Kats. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Owie Kats are cat shaped and rice filled.  Then you put them in the freezer or heat them when you get hurt.  Mental note, don't tell the kids about the freezing until they take them home, unless you want to try to freeze the whole house.  They need to check on them a lot.  And get hurt a lot... They have to dry before we can sew them. 

 

Then it becomes a blur—we made God’s Eyes and the lunch crew took orders and made English Muffin pizzas for lunch.  Each day there is a lunch crew and a snack crew.  The other crew does the flag ceremony. 

 

The lunch crew seems excited to get to work!!

 

We then sewed the kats.  everyone gets to sew... *Hint* hold the two year olds hands when sewing, they like to poke all the buttons...

Next, ran the obstacle course and the snack crew got to make the camp favorite of Poop on Ice—No-Bake Cookies on ice cream.  It was pretty good, but those that stirred theirs together didn’t like it as well.  But the name was fun to repeat over and over again.  Soon, with more singing and taking the flag down, camp was over…



P. S. Does anyone know how to get rid of that tiny pic?

 

#grandmadaycamp

Cupcakes a la Pioneer Woman!

When I watch the Food Network, I always find something yummy to try.  On Saturday, I watched The Pioneer Woman—she has tons of great recipes, and this one looked fab!  Why do I always pick the ones without pics?  After a trip to the store to get the buttermilk, cream and bittersweet chocolate, I was all ready. 

 

I actually followed the directions and got all the ingredients measured up and got the batter made and in the oven.   Oh, yeah, I need another cupcake pan—I have a 12 and a 6, both over 30 years old, and I think it’s time for a new 12. I rejected the ones that I saw, so I just borrowed my daughters pan.  Look at that really bad pan!!

 

 
Against my better judgment, I sprayed the heck out of the pans, and didn’t use paper liners.  Everything went together as planned until it was time to get the cakes out of the pan.  Out of 24, 6 came out great.  The rest tried to stick or lost part of the cupcake.  Time to take a break with my diet coke and contemplate what to do with ugly broken cupcakes that need fluff squirted in them. 

 

I just went ahead and squirted the fluff as if they were all good.  I was a good girl and didn’t even lick off the icing tip between cupcakes.   MMMmmmmm!

 

Time to spoon the ganache over! 

 

The finished product.  Someday, I will learn how to stage the food, but don’t hold your breath. 

 

If I were to make these again, I would just use a dark chocolate cake mix, and make only half of the fluff.  I have at least half left over, so I called my daughter over to take it home with her and she is going to use it on some cupcakes she is making with the kids tonight.  There will probably be some left still…any takers??