What does one do on a rainy day???

Make a sun hat, of course!! Molly has been in need of noggin protection so I used some scraps to try out a bonnet pattern. I added a chin strap (which I need to add some little plastic slidey thingies to) and had to get fudgey with some boo-boos, but I think it came out pretty well. My children have freakishly large heads so I skimped on the seam allowance and made it 1/4" instead of 5/8. Why is the seam allowance 5/8 anyway?? That seams (tee-hee) like a waste of fabric when most of the time you are asked to trim it anyway. I am serger obsessed, so I don't need to do the trimming, but still. Seems like a waste and I rarely abide by that rule. I would rather have something roomy than sit there and trim silly seam allowance.

Because of my blatent disregard for seam allowance, the back of the hat didn't quite line up, so I added an elastic gather to close the gap. Worked out lovely, but here is my favorite recovered blunder... One of these seams is not like the other:

As a highly distracted mother of three who often thinks, "Oh, they are being so peaceful, I'll just pop into the office and do some sewing," and then has WW3 errupt on the couch because someone touched something that someone else was playing with four hours ago and someone needs juice this INSTANT... breathe... I made a woopsie-doodles and sewed two of the six seams backwards. Good thing, though, that they were across from eachother, so I made it into a design feature by topstitching some trim that I've had for seriously about ten years, waiting for the right project. What else are you supposed to do with a yard of random trim?? I ended up using the ends of it for the ties, so it looks like it continues through the brim. I'm wicked smaht.

Yeah, I just like to show off topstitching. I think it's probably one of my favorite garment details. If done well, it makes everything seem so 'finished.' If done poorly, well, then you should just back away from the sewing machine and let the pros handle it. Now that I have a feel for the pattern, I will make her more hats. They are fun and quick and cute and useful. Gotta love that combo. Miss Molly-cakes makes a lovely plus sized baby model and her little back rolls will be charming in the dress that matches the hat. Oh, I have some big plans for the moose-baby and summer smocks!! Completely reversible with coordinating hats and bloomers! That is, unless someone needs juice first...

What are we doing???

Recycling, composting, and being a nonconsumer are a bit of a current obsession of mine, but this site blew my mind! Watch the video- its 20 minutes and change, but it will hopefully shift your view of what we put our planet, people, and pockets through. Stuff like this breaks my heart and makes me want to live off the grid in a commune somewhere with a composting toilet. It's tough to balance wanting things, needing things, and preserving the planet. We can do better, though. It's kinda one of those "important/not an option" sorts of things.

(Click the banner, silly, and may pangs of guilt strike you as you approach the trash can and not the recycling bin!)

Ahr, maytee...

Nothing says, "Rockin' Swingset," like a pirate flag mounted high. Sterling has this AWESOME pirate book from his Great Auntie Janice that we borrowed designs from and created our own family flag.

I used scraps of Wonder Under on one of my husbands old shirts (discovered that I didn't have any white fabric- what???) which came out pretty cool with the black pinstripes, if I do say so myself. I did find after some vigorous trial waves by an enthusiastic three year old that the design would need topstitching, though. I serged around the edge of the $1/yd fabric from Wallyworld (hangs head in shame, but I'm not that strong to resist completely), rolled it around a spare dowel, stapled, pounded flat, and mounted with a $2 flag bracket.

Yes, we have the coolest swingset around. (I'll have to update with an actual picture of it actually up.) It's just one of those things that makes me smile every time I pull into the yard. Not only do we have a pirate flag, but we made the flag with spare/cheap items and it is as one of a kind as we are. Oh, shucks, I'm have one of those rushes of love for my family. Hmmm... which am I more proud of: the flag or the fam?? Yeah, the fam. Without my priceless kiddos I wouldn't have any motivation to make things like this. Nothing is more contageous than the boundless natural creativity of spirited children!

Soapy Goodness

I need to get off my can and post, so here is some good, clean fun: laundry detergent!! There are recipies all over the web- Google "homemade laundry detergent" and you will get a google of results (wink, wink). Well, I thought that was punny...

The recipe I use calls for water, washing soda, Borax, and some form of soap- either Fels Naptha, Zote (fun, pink, Mexican, and can be used as catfish bait!), Lirio, Ivory, or some other low sudsing soap. I've even used some good ol' SafeGaurd in a pinch. It's kinda fun to try it different ways, and your clothes get clean no matter what. Here's what I do:

Heat 6C of water on medium heat in a large pot and melt 1/3 bar of soap-grated/shredded (1/3 bar if using laundry soap, otherwise a whole bar of body soap), heat 4C water in a seperate pot. Once the soap has dissolved, add 1/2C each of washing soda and Borax until completely dissolved. In a 2 gallon bucket add the hot water, then the soap solution and stir. Then add 1 gallong + 6C cool water and stir. The solution will gel over night to an egg soup to solid gel consistancy. Use 1/2C per large load of wash. You can add essential oils, add a little extra soap, soda, or Borax, use more or less solution per load, it really isn't rocket science. You are NOT going to blow up your kitchen, there is not uber toxic stuff going in there (I wouldn't lick the spoon, but you don't need a haz-mat suit, either), my kids help, and we squish the finished gel for fun (that makes it easier to scoop out, too).

There are sites that break the cost down to pennies per load, but all you need to know is that it's CHEAP. It's cheaper than the cheap detergent I used to get. Add to that the fact that you aren't using a new plastic container every time (even though we recycled our old containers, they were still manufactured and packaged and marketed which all adds up to a high cost on our planet and resources). AND... it works. It gets my diapers clean. Shouldn't have to say more than that right there.