Still plugging away....

....at those darn scrub shirts! I need to have four finished by tomorrow morning (gifts for coworkers). The rest (which I have not started to sew) can wait until later. Some are Christmas gifts, but I've already resigned myself to the fact that out-of-town gifts are not going to be mailed until after Christmas - so there! Anyway, the four which are needed tomorrow are partly done. I have prepped and attached the pockets, and I have prepped the necklines to attach the neckbands. So tonight I need to attach the neckbands, sew up the sides, add the back neck facings, and do the hems. I think it can be done.

So the next post will contain pictures of finished scrub shirts! And then I'll finally have another entry for the Holiday/Gift Sewing contest over at PatternReview.

Silly me!

Who was I to think that I could get all that much done yesterday, even with a day off? I should know better! I did get a lot done - just no sewing. :( I ran some errands in the morning, including a visit to Hobby Lobby for more glass ornaments (they were 50% off this week!). And I finally made it to the crisis pregnancy center to drop off a bag of maternity clothes that have been in my trunk for at least a month. Yay!

However, what it really boiled down to is this: I needed to have a prep day before a giant sewing day. So I did get a lot accomplished in terms of pressing and cutting fabric. I have two pairs of PJ pants (and I'm still debating on washing another piece and cutting another pair), five pairs of boxers, and nine scrub shirts cut. One of the PJ pants, two or three of the boxers, and all but one of the scrub shirts will be made using black serger thread. Once I'm through all that, I'll switch to white. Hopefully I can get a good start sewing today!

Nothing has been happening....

at least not on the sewing front. Bummer! But all is not lost! Thing 1 helped me to create some very interesting glass ornaments last week - pictures will be forthcoming soon. (These are definitely not traditional colors!) And I am taking Friday off to sew. Yep, that's right. Taking a day off work to work on stuff at home! I'll probably take breaks through the day to clean the bathrooms, but I'm planning to get lots of stuff done. For starters, I plan to cut out ten scrub shirts. All but two can be made with black thread in the serger. (The last two can wait until a bit later.) I also have 7 pairs of boxers, 4 pairs of PJ pants, and maybe 3 pairs of sweatpants to cut - all of these can also be made with the black thread. And I have another pillowcase to cut out - I'll have to doublecheck, but I think I can use the black there, too.

No, I don't expect to get anywhere near all of this done on Friday, but I'd like to get it all cut and get a good chunk of the scrub shirts sewn. In fact, I'd really be happy to just cut all the scrub shirts and maybe even get the 8 completely sewn. But I'm not sure that's possible. However, I do have the weekend, too, since I'm not on call. Things 1&2 will be at daycare Friday, so that I can get more done, but of course they'll be home all weekend, so that will slow down the sewing. But we'll see! Realistically, the scrubs need to be finished first (and before Christmas) so that they can be given out on Friday the 21st - our last regular work day before Christmas. After that, deadlines are more relaxed. I'm not expecting to get much out in the mail before Christmas, so I can finish things up during Christmas and let people prolong the joy of the season. :)

New bedding for the Things!

The weather turned cold here a few weeks ago, and we've been trying to keep from turning the thermostat up too much and so keep the utility bills down. But at the same time, we don't want Things1&2 shivering at night. I still need to work on their new blankets - I'm hoping to have a lot of downtime around Christmas. In the meantime, I did get new flannel sheets and pillowcases made!
The fitted sheets don't look like much when folded up, so I figured I'd just show the matching pillowcases. The construction flannel on the left is from JAF's 2006 Black Friday sale - I'm still a little embarrassed that I didn't get the set made before now. Oops! The other two flannels are both from this year's Black Friday sale. I really like how the green mottled flannel looks as a trim. (I tried to find a contrast for the other flannel but had no luck.)

I do have fabric for two more sets, but they're on the back burner for now. I'll probably work on them after Christmas, now that the need is no longer so pressing. Instead, it's onto Christmas sewing now!

Long time with little to show....

Things have been pretty busy at work lately, so I haven't had a lot of time to sew. I did finish those two pair of knit pants for Thing 2 that I mentioned in the previous post - you can see Thing 2 wearing the orange pair in the above picture. (Those are also one of the pairs of shoes I sewed!)

I'm hoping to get some sewing done with the 4-day weekend. We'll see how that goes....I need to get started on a bunch of Christmas presents - like half a dozen scrub shirts for coworkers - yikes! But I also want to sew for Things 1&2, as well! They both need more warm blankets. Thing 2's blanket will be out of the fabrics seen below:Both flannels are from my stash - the space flannel was purchased on clearance at JAF for $1/yd this summer, and the green flannel was purchased during a sale ($2/yd, I think) for a PJ shirt, but I eventually decided that Thing 1 didn't need another too-big PJ shirt yet. I'll probably eventually make that last PJ shirt, but I'll wait until Thing 1 grows into the pattern more. In the meantime, the green flannel will make an excellent backing for this blanket. I have Warm & Natural batting to use for it, and I'll use a cheater's wrapped edge binding from the blue fleece in the corner (also stash! yippee!). It'll look like Thing 1's school blanket.

Thing 1 also needs new blankets - he's growing like a little weed, and it's getting cold out. I have two yards of fleece with a car road print on it (I'll have to take a picture eventually) and a hunter green fleece to pair with it. I think I can use the same blue fleece for the binding - hopefully I have enough. But I think that the first priority for him will be his Thomas the Tank Engine fleece hoodie. He doesn't like to take off his jacket at school, so maybe this will be a good alternative.

Next up in the queue

I decided that for my next project, I'd do something quick and easy - and preferably something I could do without changing the thread in the serger. :) So I cut out a few pairs of knit pants for Things 1&2. Thing 1 definitely needed some extras to have on hand for daycare, in case of accidents of various natures (last week, he slid down the slide to discover too late that it was wet), and it just made sense to cut matching ones out for Thing 2 at the same time. And I'm using up stash as well! Yippee!

I used my TNT patterns of knit pants from Kwik Sew Sewing for Toddlers and Sewing for Babies. The appropriate sizes fit fine with no alterations, which is great for me! I may have to start adding length for Thing 1 soon, but for right now, we're good. I still have stash of each of the fabrics I've used lately for knit pants, so it's not the end of the world if I have to make longer ones this winter. I could just add some length now, but I hate to make them too long, when he is likely to wear them shoeless in the house so much.

I made three pairs for Thing 1 and two pairs for Thing 2. Now I'm deciding what to work on next! I still have some woven pants and shorts in the queue for Thing 1 - they're only about half done, but they need white thread in the serger. And I cut out two pairs of knit pants in fall colors for Thing 2 - they will each need different serger thread. Maybe I'll do the knit pants for Thing 2 next, since they're quick to serge. And then I'll get back to the woven ones for Thing 1 and get them out of my sewing room! One of these days, I want to sew something for me again!

Penguin, anyone?

Last year was Thing 1's first exposure to Halloween. He was a dinosaur then (I made that costume, too - Simplicity 4002), and he quickly learned just why it is beneficial for a child to be willing to say "trick or treat!" This year, he was very excited about Halloween coming, and he told me all throughout October that Halloween would come at the end of October. I showed him a pattern that I'd seen of a penguin costume (Simplicity 3639 - it has all sizes from 4-5 child to XL adult), and he really liked it, so I bought the pattern and supplies. Then he started asking every day if his "penguin suit" was done yet! I stayed up late two nights in a row to finish it, but the costume was ready Wednesday morning. Here it is:

I reviewed the pattern over at PR, but the basics are that I liked it. It went together well, and my only real gripe was that there was no guidance on choosing a size for the hood. You may be able to tell from the picture that Thing one needed the hood to be either lengthened or else a size bigger. But I made it work! He loved it, and that's the important thing. :) I'm sure that this one will be a good addition to the costume box, just like last year's dinosaur suit.