A star is what you are jammies

I am having a lot of fun making clothes for the little guy. He really needs jammies for the winter and I love the patterns for the top and long johns in Ottobre design Winter 6/2010. I have had the pattern book for a while and excited to finally make good use of all the fun designs. The top is the Villi Viikinki pattern and the bottom is the Pitka Jussi pattern. I used an extra large recycled thermal shirt to make both top and bottom. The applique is a simple star pattern which he thinks is really fun since at the end of the gallop book has a star. I made the size 110 with no seam allowance and it fits great. The next pair I am going to make fold over cuffs for the top also so it will last him a bit longer.

Construction applique tees for the little guy

Little guy started back to preschool and I am busy sewing fun clothes for him. He really seems to enjoy all the things I am making for him now which is a lot of fun. I asked him last night what he would like to have appliqued on his t-shirt. At first he said a wall. How about a dog I said? Or a stove he said. How about a spider I said? Or an iron he said? Talking to him is a lot of fun now. He really comes up with the funniest things. This morning he wanted construction vehicles and I told him I can do that. I bought the t-shirts and used scraps of left over t-shirts for the appliques. I used heat and bond to attach the appliques. I also stitched around the designs. Pretty simple project and he really likes the tees.

Baby girl on the way!

So the exciting news in our family is that baby number two is on the way and doing well. I am due January 31, 2013. I am currently 19 weeks and we just found out last week that we are having a little girl. I finally started taking belly shots like I did for him. It is really fun to see the belly blossom. It is also super fun this time since he likes to be in the photos and we are using the his chalk board to record the weeks. I am sewing a lot these days and planning to make more cloth diapers. I have a few newborn diapers but they have been through two other babies in addition to him so probably time for new ones. I am also making really cute maternity tops and skirts for myself. The orange top is my latest creations. I made both the top and skirt out of thrift store t-shirts and came up with the patterns from other clothing. I am having fun adding the flowers and trying new designs. I made this top a bit snug though but it will work great next year. I have made a lot of other fun skirts and tops that I will post soon.

Canning this summer

Our csa at Bellair Farm has pick your own fields which is really awesome for canning. They have several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, green beans and herbs. We picked a lot of tomatoes a few weeks ago and I decided try out a recipe for tomato jam. It is pretty simple and basically sugar along with tomatoes. You cook it for many hours until it thickens. It took quite a bit of tomatoes and only made one pint so not sure if I would do it again but it was a fun experiment and tastes really good. I also found some lovely organic cherries and made sweet cherry jam. I just opened a jar last week and it is pretty yummy.