Little moments

It's the little moments I want to hold on to.

Seeing Luke in a distance -- so earnest it makes me burst into laughter -- flailing at imaginary butterflies with a blue butterfly net, running so fast in the grass in bare feet, his fine hair blowing in the wind. Catching nothing but the wind. 

Seeing the other one dissolve into giggles the second his feet find their balance in the bounce house. Taking three wobbly steps before a face-plant, which he finds hysterical, cracking up into the red plastic, smearing it with wet baby slobber.

The way J.J. holds his mouth wide open for five seconds before bobbing his head down around a tiny plastic straw, wanting to be sure it makes it in there.

The way Luke grumbles at J.J. when he's frustrated with him, crowding him and grabbing him loosely around the head or body. But never, ever hurting him. 

The way J.J. calls everything Mama. The fridge. A banana. Other people. But mostly, the way he says it to me.

The way Luke falls asleep in the car, one leg tossed over the side of the car seat, his head tucked down onto his shoulder, quiet snores sneaking out from his mouth.  And then the way he denies it so vehemently, "No, Mama, I did NOT sleep in the car. No, no, no." Luke never sleeps in the car. (Except when he does.)

The march upstairs to go wake up Dada around 9 a.m., one following after another, both wearing dinosaur pajamas, me singing a marching song with glee: "Let's go wake up DADA! Let's go wake up DADA!" The way they fall all over him in the bed, and the way he grabs onto them to make sure they don't fall off the bed as they roll over him. Sunlight coming in the windows.

Hold onto the little moments. Aren't they so beautiful?

If you're game, share one in the comments. And Happy Mother's Day to all you moms.

Nursing cover and patchwork burp cloth

Did some present sewing last week. A black and white nursing cover for a friend of mine down in Florida. She's having a baby any day now! I waited until the last minute on this one. Sorry girl! But the package should be arriving there today at the latest, so I figured I could share with you all. Nursing covers are so easy to make, and they are incredible useful. I made one for myself that I use every single day. Or at least every single day I leave my house or have company over. It's just so nice to be able to nurse wherever, whenever. I'm a big proponent of that, never one to want to go to some other room unless the baby just really needs quiet. So my nursing cover gets tons of use.

This one is a black and white fabric I found at Jo-Anns. Nishba requested black and white. I followed the Prudent Baby tutorial. I did make one change. Instead of using the thinner boning, I bought 1-inch belting for the top, where the nursing cover poofs out so you can peer in at baby. I think it had a bit more structure this way.

I also did a patchwork burp cloth that matches, sorta.

This was just fun for me. I wanted to do something patchy ever since I saw these patchy bibs on A Little Gray. Her patchwork is so perfect, it's impressive. Mine, a little less so. But it's OK. Tried to keep the colors very boyish, since I hear that's what she is having! Can't wait to see the little guy! 


Enjoy, Nishba!

Up, up and away

See this? Little guy is pulling up his own a bit. Oh yes.



Oh. And he's crawling some, too.

And he's not even seven months until tomorrow. He's an over-achiever if you ask. I wouldn't mind if he just slowed down a bit and stayed my little baby a while longer.

We first saw him do those thing on Saturday night, when we drove about an hour away to go to a balloon festival. I need these sorts of diversions in my life -- little adventures like that, where you hop in the car and go somewhere and see something you normally wouldn't. 

It was a beautiful Michigan summer evening. There aren't too many left. I am trying to soak up as much of them as I can.

We ate dinner on a blanket in the grass. Luke played on a playground and ran to catch marshmellows thrown from a fire truck.

It was serene.

And soon, the balloons started to fill the sky.

A lot of photos, I know. Aren't they pretty, though?

It was a really lovely night in what has been a really lovely summer and an even lovelier year. I know this is filled to the brim with cheese, this post. But I want to be thankful and notice these days. They're amazing.

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Wherein I try to catch things up

I swore I'd keep my posting schedule going even with work. And I swore I'd never be the blogger who whined about how she was too busy to post, and WHOA no post in a week, what the hell happened?

So. Moving on.

Work is going well! My schedule is really perfect for me, as is the working-at-home-almost-all-the-time-bit. So I'm really happy, like pinch-myself-can-this-really-last happy. We'll see. I've also been occupied keeping up with both our Dads in the hospital (they're fine) and my new workout regime (four classes a week). Busy girl, this one.

Oh! And I have done some sewing. But oh no! No photos yet. So I can only tease you. I hope to take some photos soonish and start some sharing. One project is complete, and one is melting my heart but only about half done. I've also been continuing to get my sewing space spruced up and organized, and I've also been pondering the price of all this. Like the literal cold hard cash price of it all. And there is another installment of The Sewing Circle interviews coming this month, soon, like as soon as I send her the questions already.

Oh oh! And I am thisclose to 100 followers. When I get there, I'm going to do a giveaway. Because that's the way things work right? And also because I really want to make something for you, because I can't believe 100 people follow me. How did that happen?! (And really, thank you.)

So that's what is coming.

And to not leave you totally without something pretty to look at, I offer this.

OK, not that pretty.

Kinda scary though, huh?

And now, onto whatever's next

Work begins tomorrow. My six-month leave officially ends tonight. I'm hopeful that all goes well. I am also a bit sad... because these six months were the best of my life. So dear to me. I can't believe they are over.

Beyond the fantastic time I got to spend with my two little boys, these months allowed me the mental space and energy to enjoy my life in new ways. I strengthened friendships. I nurtured my creativity. Not to get all philosophical on you, but I realized in these months just how much both of those things need devoted attention to really grow. I always knew that, but it's different when you live something out. I gained so much in these short months, felt so much joy, and enjoyed all the blessings in my life so very much. It is hard to see it end.

This blog is not at all ending though. I've loved having this outlet, and it will continue for me even if my expectations for myself in terms of how often I can post might change. I'll do my best though! Not ready to give Thar She Sews up just yet. :) I have fun things planned, projects to sew, stuff to say. I'll be here. I hope you'll stick with me, too!

Superhero third birthday party!

For Luke's birthday, I'd long imagined a "Superhero" theme. I don't know why, he doesn't even like superheros. Or know a single superhero by name. To be honest, I think it started when I sewed him a "Super Luke" cape a few months ago. I've been meaning to blog about it ever since, but I never had a photo of it I liked.

 Ug, I still don't like it! This one was taken a couple of months ago, and I suppose I should just snap a new one already. Oh well. So, I made him this cape with a big "L" in it, and he loved it. He had been having a lot of fun "flying" around the house. I thought it would be a cute idea for a party. Then I envisioned all his friends wearing their own special little capes. And my brain almost exploded with the thought of all that cuteness, and I had to make it so.

So. This is how I spent last week, leading up to the party on Sunday. 

Making eight capes!

I know that seems ambitious, but these were really so easy. I'd call them 10-minute capes.

The key was finding this fabric. It's a knit, and it doesn't curl up after it's been cut. It's a thin, cheap, polyester that was like $8 a yard a Jo-Ann. Enter a 50% off coupon and I had enough fabric to make all the capes for about $10.

Since it didn't fray, all I did was cut each cape out, and sew the top down to create a encasement for the ribbon ties. At one point, I wanted to make cotton ties, but duh, ribbon is easier! So ribbon it was. It was my first time sewing with polyester, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. It's slippery and all that, but I just took it slow. I used a ballpoint needle and a stretch stitch -- first times for both.

Then I slipped the ribbons through and sewed them into place along the sides. For the letters, I printed them off my computer, and traced them backwards onto Wonder Under, which had been already fused onto the wrong side of my fabrics. After that it was as simple as cutting them out and ironing them on.

Times eight. I worked on these little by little all week and finished the last about an hour before the party started. I am such a deadline oriented task-finisher.

Speaking of last minute.... this wreath was totally that. I had started this wreath for something else, so it was already wrapped in the red fabric with the blue ribbon embellishment. About 10 minutes before guests were to arrive, I realized I had a few extra cupcake toppers and hot-glued them into place.

Yay for last minute inspiration!

The cupcake toppers I made by hand using scrapbook paper, glue, scissors and print outs of the words "L:uke!" 3!" Pow!" and Boom!" from my computer. Oh, and toothpicks. They took a while, but they made for a cute superhero cupcake display.

The cupcakes were store bought about four hours before the party when I realized there was no way in hell I'd ever get everything done, and I needed to give up the desire for homemade. $47 well spent.

The kids did a superhero craft -- they made little superhero masks. I cut the masks out of white felt, hot glued elastic on and bought an array of decorations. Fabric markers, foam stickers and little sticky gems.

I think the kids really liked this.

I liked how it occupied them for a whole 10 minutes!

Here's Luke's buddy Henry in his superhero getup. It was so cute to see the kids all dressed up. Have I said cute enough times yet in this post? Cute.

Cute? Cute!

After they were superherofied in their capes and masks, we played a superhero game -- Superhero Teddy Bear Search and Rescue! This was a ridiculous idea I had to tie a bunch of stuffed animals in our trees and tell the kids that THEY ARE IN TROUBLE! They need a superhero to rescue them!

 Here they all are, waiting to be rescued!

This was a very cute 60 seconds to watch. Cute, cute, cute. 

Last on my crafty to-do list was this shirt. Just some simple applique! I did the hand-embroidery in yellow around the outside of the blue shape. Hard to see. Cute? Yes! But not that look on his face. I don't remember why he was sad at this point, because really, the day was a blast.

Or more like.... BLAST!

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