Thanks again, Abililene

When Lillian is here -- I try to provide some playmates. It is her FAVORITE thing -- having other little kids to play with. And, if you are a regular reader of this blog -- you know I HAVE SOME PEEPS...

Five year old Cash came by one day.  Lilly followed him everywhere, and she wanted to do everything he did... he was very sweet with her...

It doesn't take much to amuse kids this age. And -- HEY -- I've got some Grandma Game!!  Right after they wore me out (with a walk) -- I set them up on the porch with a cardboard box and a few bottles of cheap paint.

Cash was on his side, and Lilly was on her side. They were wearing John's old golf shirts to protect their real clothes (which they loved)...and the two of them WENT TO WORK!

Cash started off with his name and a happy face...

Lilly had a more abstract point of view...

And here's my best moment of the week. But you will only understand it if you read the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.  (I blogged about it here.) After a very thoughtful hour, each of them painting their own side of the box...Lilly reached over and touched Cash's arm. He looked at her, and she said, "Cash, you are kind, you are smart, and you are important..." The power is in the words...

Robes Plus T-Shirts

One day, I thought Memphis needed a robe. So I took a little purple velvet dress (that was too small) -- and I cut it up the center.
I added a pink hood (from a sweatshirt that was too small for her)...and the end of the pink jacket sleeves...to make it longer...

Remember the little yellow robe?  I used the leftover nightgown fabric to face the collar and cuffs...

For Landon's robe -- I added the striped fabric to go with his favorite sports team.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, of course!!

As soon as I take a picture -- I'll be posting my newest little kiddo robe. It's especially for Lillian's new "Moon Room"...and YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT...

New t-shirt scarf

When it comes to recycling t-shirts, I AM THE QUEEN. No kidding. I love it, love it, love it. I make skirts, dresses, porch curtains, bathroom shower curtains, bed covers, etc. YOU NAME IT and I've probably made it out of an old t-shirt. Sometimes, the most simple ideas are the best... Like, for example -- cutting a spiral circle out of a square...

On this day, I had some help from Elizabeth. Carrie's daughter has a crafty streak...
I just cut some squares out of old t-shirts (picking my favoirte colors, of course.)
On Day One of Sew Expo, I put five of them together to make this most perfect t-shirt scarf...(here with one of my favorite Puyallup CTA's -- Cathy Swenson)...
I LOVE this scarf idea. And I meant to give it to somebody before I left town. I swear, Marilyn, if I'd thought of it, I would have left it as a souvenir!! (I always call Marilyn's Mom "Mom" -- I am TERRIBLE with names...)

Tomorrow -- I'm going to show you some of the fun I've had making little kid robes...

Recycled Bath Towels

For TODAY'S frugal sewing lesson -- I'm going to recycle some faded, worn terry bath towels.
CHILDREN'S SWIM COVER-UPS!! Of course!! Did you see that woman on the Shark Tank show? She took one of these to the fat cat investors -- and got a licensing deal at Disney World. Yikes. I was having one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments.

This stunning little boy cover-up came to life with a few John Deere fabric pieces...

This was actually a hand towel -- but I addfed a neck opening and a couple of side facings.  PERFECT for that size 18 month old you may be taking to the wading pool this summer...it just pulls over their head.  More like a PONCHO...

But my favorite is the ruana type of cover up. For this little one -- I sewed one LARGE applique -- but split in two pieces.  Cute, eh?

In this picture -- you can see the ruana nature of the cover up.  Remember when Landon designed his own cover up?  He picked out the zebra trimmings all by himself.  (I swear, Nicole -- I didn't have anything to do with it...)

OF COURSE these kid cover ups are a good excuse to add some t-shirt fringe any which way...

You know how much I like to put words on anything...but to get a little boy to actually wear this cover-up, it's probably a good idea to make sure he can't read...yet...

A Shirt Morphs...

Here's just one example of how much fun I can have with a single 25 cent t-shirt from the local Goodwill store...Mostly, I think of it as recycled fabric.  Take this little dress, for example.  Although it started out as a ladies size medium shirt -- with some fancy beading, no less...
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This kind of sewing takes about 10 minutes. Really. All the hard stuff is already done. The cutting out, facing, hems, etc. I take advantage of most of that --

The length was perfect for a dress for Lilly.  I used the existing v-neck (adding a green piece), then cut away both sides, and made little sleeves out of the big sleeves.



It didn't take much fabric to make a matching mini-skirt dress for her baby doll.

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AND here you can see Lilly's finished psychedelic dress, with the perfect matching pink cowboy accessory.

 This week, I'm going to post a different sewing project every day. Tomorrow you'll learn how a bath towel becomes a ruana...and -- BOOM -- it's a little kid swim cover up.

And the actual sewing is about 5 minutes... Really. It's like a "speed round" when you sew my way...and the thrift store shopping is SO MUCH FUN...

Crazy Little Girl Dresses

If you haven't figured it out by now -- I love t-shirt knits. I always have. Over the years, I've recycled t-shirts into nursing home dresses (for Val) -- memory quilts (for Ross and Elliott) -- shower curtains, room curtains, bedding, pillows, scarves, shawls, maxi-dresses, etc. (all for me...)

Remember the Mommy and Me Christmas nightgowns?? Since then, I've done several summer sets of Mommy and Me nightgowns...the girls look SO CUTE. And Lilly loves dressing like her Mommy...

My newest passion is making little girl dresses out of former t-shirts....and I am a COMPLETE sucker when I find an adorable little t-shirt dress at a thrift shop. I just can't stop myself. The other day, it occurred to me that I had accumulated 30+ size 5 dresses for Lillian. HOLY COW. Can you spell OBSESSED... Last week, I decided to enlist my favorite pint sized super model, Memphis...to model some of the current selection.

Hey -- MY FAVORITE COLORS, eh??

More of a "top" than a dress...but it will look great with leggings!!

Ruffled skirts are one of my favorite things.  And I'm hooked on the askew!!

Turns out -- tie-dye is another one of my favorite things.  Hey -- I know it's not ALL ABOUT ME...BUT you've got to admit, she looks pretty cute in tie-dye!!

Medmphis did not love this -- but I think the one-shoulder look is ready for the Red Carpet.  I'll add a little striped skirt...

Note to self:  EVERY little girl loves pocket.

OF COURSE you knew there would be some black and white...zebra is still my first love...

Memphis loved the pink flamingo applique.

YES, I KNOW....I am totally, completely, 100% crazy. All these dresses put way too much pressure on Lillian. And then, even Memphis cracked. She told me she was done trying on clothes. I NEED A SUPPORT GROUP...

The Lilly Visit

Elliott is getting out of the Army. For the last three years, the E team was living in Sparta, Wisconsin, and Sergeant Farro was training at Ft. McCoy. They rented a lovely ranch house on a dairy farm....

But IT'S OFFICIAL -- they've purchased a home in Iowa -- and it's time to MOVE. AGAIN.  Because they have two vehicles AND a moving van -- we went up there to drive the packed van back to Iowa.

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AND it only made sense to bring Lillian down to Iowa with us. That would give the E team a few days to do ALL THAT PACKING without the distraction of a toddler and her two little dogs...

Grandma and Grandpa went to Wisconsin to drive Lilly and one vehicle back to Iowa...

On the first day of the Lilly visit -- Memphis came over to play.  The girls are picking petals off the Mother's Day bouquet (which was still in a vase of water, two weeks after the fact)

<><>Please note that Lilly is wearing a different dress in every picture. She LOVES to change clothes! She wore nine different outfits on this day. The girls baked cupcakes, and did lots of dress up with the dolls. My planned craft activity was to make little rose petal sachets for their Moms...but they lost interest long before the sewing part happened. They looked for butterflies, and played on the neighbor's swingset...then they helped me put together a picnic for Memphis's family... At the end of Day One -- Lillian went to bed in her Moon Room. And Grandma slipped into a coma...

Then, there was the butterfly catching activity. Which, frankly, didn't go as planned...

But, maybe with a change of accessories, they'll do better...