pajama pictures

Here are the pictures of Drew's pjs from Ottobre 1/2009 #5 & #10. 

Little boys don't hold still for pictures.

Daddy had to get in there to help him pose correctly!

I love how these turned out.  I haven't sewn with knits as much as woven fabrics, so I am still learning.  They were really easier than I thought they would be (which is usually the case when it comes to how I perceive sewing!) so I am not sure why I put them off for so long.  

Ottobre's instructions are very short.  No detailed pictures for each little step like you'd find in the Big 4 (Vogue, McCall, Butterick & Simplicity).  They give basic instructions for certain details, but the main instructions for each pattern tend to be about a paragraph (short, too) or two.  If you have no experience sewing, you will want to start with something else or have a more experienced person available for help if necessary.  Even with the not-so-detailed instructions, these are not complicated patterns.

These turned out exactly like the pictures in the magazine.

I plan to make several more pairs of pajamas for him using these patterns, but I will probably make the pants just a bit longer.

I give this pattern two thumbs up!

12 Jackets in 2011?

I have decided to participate in Jacket A Month challenge!  I am not guaranteeing one a month- I am busy with these kids and other projects as well.  This challenge should help me get at least a few jackets for my wardrobe, which I desperately need.  It actually allows for cardigans, jackets, coats, or any other outerware/top layer item.  I have five patterns selected so far.

Butterick 4610

Simplicity 4698

Some of these jackets are lined, some are not.  I made a jacket from Simplicity 4954 for my sister years back.  I think I made two jackets when I was in high school, neither were lined.  Other than that, I have not really done much with outerwear.  I hope to improve my fitting skills over the next year with this challenge.  Stay tuned throughout 2011 for my progress.  I plan to post about fitting and construction as I go along!

Finished- pajamas for the boy

I have finally completed the projects I started back in September for KCWC.  I finished Alona's shirt about a month ago.  I finished the pants for Drew long ago.  The top for him just sat there on my sewing desk.  I didn't have enough ribbing to finish it.  I ended up just using a plain red knit for the cuffs on the pants and had enough to use for the top, but wasn't sure how it would work around the neck.  The other night I decided I should just go for it.  It didn't take me long at all.  The knit worked just fine. It was a bit tricky to get the stitching really straight on the neck binding, but it is just pajamas so I let it slide.  The top turned out so well!  I even did the pocket on the front (which I was thinking of skipping because it looked a bit daunting-it wasn't).  I will post a picture of the pj's just as soon as they are washed.  Drew seems to have soiled the pants every time he wore them, so they are pretty faded.  He wore both to bed last night, so they are dirty now and of course I didn't get a picture last night.  Hopefully later today or tomorrow I will get a picture posted along with a complete pattern review.

White Balance- It makes a difference!

In my last post, I mentioned that I needed to figure out the white balance on my camera.  I did just that.  There are settings for AUTO (where the camera figures it out for you daylight, florescent light, tungsten (regular indoor lightbulbs), cloudy, and shade.  There is also a custom setting.  Just to show you how this affects your pictures, I have two shots below. I can compare the color of the blue ornament on my tree to the picture.

Shot on AUTO setting:

See how yellow the lights are and how the color of the blue bulb is a little green?

Shot on Tungsten setting:

The lights are white and the bulb reflects the true color.


Just a little backround on my photography history-
I have always been obsessed with photographs.  They capture time.  The are permanent (or not so permanent) memories that can be handed down for generations.  I took Black & White photography in high school.  I used my dad's old 35mm Minolta film camera.  We developed our own film in the light room at the school.  We learned all about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.  Everything was fully manual back then.  Unfortunately, I forgot all of what I learned when I moved away from home and started using a cheap point and shoot film camera (later upgrading to a cheap point and shoot digital camera).  I was a photographer at a portrait studio (cookie cutter but higher end?).  That really didn't require much knowledge because the had studio lights and you didn't have to ever adjust anything except for the subjects.  I did learn a little about composition from that, but it was basic portrait composition and nothing all that creative.  So now I find myself trying to relearn all that I once learned about SLRs.  It is hard when the camera comes with a brain so you don't have to think.  I am the type of person who wants to shoot it right with the camera so it doesn't have to be tweaked on the computer.  I want my Photoshop abilities to be used for customizing, not fixing.  So you might think I am a bit OCD at some point, but it's really that I firmly believe if it's not done right, it shouldn't be done at all!

Bokeh

What is bokeh?  Until last night I had never heard of this.  I was reading some blogs and discovered what it is.  Bokeh is basically blurred light in a picture because it is out of the depth of focus.  When trying to achieve this, you just focus on something closer than the lights.  I found a few great tutorials on it here and here as well a how to really make it your own here.  The last one is pretty cool.  You can make heart shapes or any other shape you want- instead of circles.  I want to try that eventually.

If you are using a point and shoot camera, it is a little different (the tutorials above are all for DSLRs).  There is a tutorial for it here.

So these were my first attempts at it.  They are all photos of my Christmas tree which has all white lights.  They were quite yellow when I took them (like the second picture here) but I changed the white balance on two of them.  I should really adjust the white balance on my camera, but I haven't learned how to do that just yet- I will soon, though.  I think I could get better effects if I had some different lenses for my camera.  They would also probably be much nicer if I used my tripod.  The shutter speed was slower and I don't have a very steady hand.  For a first attempt (spur of the moment as well), I think they are great.

Try it out and see if you like it!

P.S. I am shooting with a Pentax K10D with the lens it came with- an SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 AL.

A better picture? Better sewing technique? The library saves the day!

With my newly acquired public library card, I am checking out books.  Many books.  They let you check out 50 at a time here.  AND, there are a ton of libraries here from which you can request books.  I just go online, search for what I want, request it (if it is in their library catalog), and wait 1-3 days if it isn't on hold or already checked out.  Then I pick it up at the nearest library.  This. is. awesome.  Having lived in a smaller town and not really frequenting libraries, I have never done this before (I could probably count the number of visits to a public library on one hand until this week).  I know, you all probably already knew about this great thing called a public library.  I am just not into reading (it sucks me in and I accomplish nothing).  I am changing that.  My girls were thrilled when I told them we were going to the library (I think I took them twice when we lived in Oregon).  So I've been requesting books left and right.  Sewing books.  Photography books.  I've also been reading online.  I've found blogs.  I keep deleting blogs I'm following because I find new ones that are awesome but there is a limit to how many you can follow.  300.  Can you believe that????  What is blogger thinking? Alas, this is my life lately.  Obsession with becoming a "professional" at photography and sewing.  I want to knock your socks off with my work.  Might be awhile though.  I'm still learning.

So follow along.  It might be a slow, tedious journey, but I plan to post pictures as I discover more about my camera and photography.  I plan to sew more clothes (hopefully for myself and not just the kids).  I might not post much between now and the end of the year due to all the projects I've got going on all while reading stacks and stacks of books, but I'll be back in full swing in January. 

P.S.  I did get my stockings done and will post pictures in the next few days!

what I'm working on

I'm still working on my Christmas decor.  I have the tree up and decorated.  I have the nativity set on display.  I am working on new stockings.  They are mostly finished.  After I finish the stockings, I am going to make coordination pillow covers for the couch and chairs in the living room.  Then I plan to sew some leggings to go with Alona's shirt/dress and some pajamas for all of the kids.  The four pajamas I sewed for Ashley when she was 4 (that 5 years ago) just aren't cutting it for all three girls.  They fit, but they are wearing out and we need more than 4 nightgowns for 3 girls.  I am hoping to make some cute ones!  Of course, I am planning to make several pair for Drew since he doesn't have a whole pair of pajamas yet.  Poor kid.  He really is lacking in the pajama department.
Hopefully I will get the stockings finished tomorrow and maybe even get a little done on the pillow covers.  I will post pictures just as soon as I get them done!

It's in the past, but I'm still hanging on!

So I finally decided that I really should have a way to access all of my past sewing posts from my personal blog on this one.  That way (if anyone really wants to) you can see more of my sewing endeavors over the past few years.  Just click here and it will take you to the sewing projects posts on my blog.  There are handbags and slipcovers and a few other things in these posts.  If I could figure out how to just import the posts, I would.  Unfortunately, I'm not THAT good. 

A Christmas Wish List

Ok, so maybe I should call this my "in your dreams" list.  I'm pretty sure I won't be getting any of these this year!  Here goes:

Threads Magazine Archives DVD
Oh, the things I could do with this!  So much information, tips, how-tos.  Fitting.  Sewing.  Sigh.

A bigger SDHC memory card for my camera (so I can take more than 177 pictures at a time).  Ok, so I'd take a 16gb or even a few 4gb or 8gb cards to switch out when I fill one up.

Wood and Supplies for this craft table (it would be my cutting table).  I'd even take it already built, but am willing to do the work myself.

A Playstation 3.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I know this has nothing to do with anything craft or hobby related, but I want one all the same.  You see, I love Rock Band.  I miss Rock Band.  It was a sad day when our PS3 died.  The kids miss it.  The husband misses it.  I miss it.

An Award!

We received an award! We received the One Lovely Blog Award from Sewing Is Hard.  Thank you very, very much!

The conditions that come along with this reward are:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog along with the name of the person who awarded it along with a link to their blog.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have recently discovered.

3. Contact those bloggers and let them know they've been chosen.

So, here are the fifteen blogs!

1. Dear Mom & Dad

2. eighteen25

3. Erica B's DIY Style

4. Flavorful Fiction

5. Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

6. Great Scotts!

7.  Just the 8 of Us

8. Raven's Nest

9. The Andrews

10. The Bartron Family

11. Warren Family

12.  House of Smith's

13. Centsational Girl

14. Already Pretty

15. The Gilmore Girls (and Guys)

Finally completed: KCWC

Remember that Kids Clothing Week Challenge back in September?  Yeah.  That one. 
Well.  I finally finished Alona's dress/shirt.  Can you believe it?  I can only believe it because I have the pictures to prove it.  I also finished the pajama pants for Drew but not the top.  I'm hoping to get that done in the next week.  I am trying very hard to finish all of my started-but-not-completed projects.  We'll see if I can do it.  I am the queen of starting new things without finishing the ones I've already started.  I've set a goal to improve on this.
Anyway, here are the pictures:

I am pleased with the final result.  Working with seersucker is a bit trying at times (ironing flattens out the puckering in it).  It also can be very forgiving when lining up stripes (because you can stretch a bit or kinda bunch it just slightly to make it fit properly).  Most importantly, she LOVES it!


I used McCall 6156 view D without the ruffles.

 I think it turned out looking pretty much like the pattern picture.  She is so skinny that the size 7 I made it in is just a tad big.  Mostly noticeable in the shoulders to me.  I plan to make coordinating leggings to go with it.  The pattern was fairly easy.  It was well written and easy to follow.  The collar would probably be the most difficult part of it for a beginner, but it isn't impossible to do.  I have a great machine for buttonholes, so those were no problem for me.  I would however put the buttonholes in the front before putting the whole thing together (the pattern has you do buttonholes at the VERY end), but it wasn't difficult at the end either.
I would recommend this pattern and I plan to make another one for Ashley (same fabric in pinks).


P.S.  When I finish the pajama top for Drew I will post pictures and a pattern review.

Free Amy Butler Pattern

Get a free pdf pattern of Blossom Handbag/Shoulderbag from Amy Butler’s Style Stitches: 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags from Sew Mama Sew. 

Even if you aren't sure you will make it, it is worth getting!

Still sewing: kcwc

I had a crazy busy day yesterday (did I mention I do sewing lessons with two of my girls and two of my friend's girls on Tuesdays?), but I got a bit of sewing in today.  I got the collar stand on the dress for Alona.  I am not adding the top of the collar (the part that folds down over the stand), just the stand.  Kinda like a mandarin collar, but not really.  I also finished off the raw edges at the shoulder and side seams with a zigzag stitch.  I know, I have a serger but I didn't use it.  Why? Because I only have white and black thread for it and I just didn't think it would look that great.  Not that anyone else is going to see the inside, but still.  I am just being picky.  The collar stand turned out to be easier than anticipated.  I am excited to try a full collar when I make some shirts for Drew (hopefully soon, since he has almost no clothing).
Happy sewing!

Oh, and I forgot to tell you!  I signed up for a sewing class at PatternReview.com - it's online, but it is awesome.  It is a couture hand stitch class.  I never really learned how to hand sew, just made it up a I went along, so I am pretty excited about it.

Sewing: kcwc

I know the challenge is over.  I started out so well.  I got my 1+ (emphasis on the +) hour of sewing in on the first few days.  Then life got ridiculously busy crazy.  I didn't get any sewing in for days!  I am not giving up, though.  Better late than never.  Right?

Tonight I have been working on Alona's dress.   I have most of the top put together, just need to finish the collar stand.  I am hoping to get in a little more tomorrow night.  If life keeps going at this pace I will be lucky to get any sewing in!  For now I'll just take it one hour (per day) at a time.

Cream Of Wheat

When I was a kid, we didn't eat Cream Of Wheat around my house.  I had it a few times at friends' houses, and to be completely honest, I thought it was completely disgusting.

Then I went to college.  I was student teaching in a Pre-K program, and was asked to sit at one of the meal tables for breakfast with about six 4-5 year olds.  When you sit at the table with them, you eat with them, modeling appropriate table manners, conversation, and how to try new things.  That day, I had to eat "Hot Cereal" or Cream Of Wheat, and I knew already that I didn't like it, but my job was to model that we can taste something each time it's put in front of us, and after tasting, if we don't like it we don't have to eat it.  So, I had to try it.  Bummer.

To my surprise, it was the most delicious breakfast cereal I'd ever had.  So, while going about my clean-up duties, and returning the dishes to the kitchen to be washed after breakfast, I had the opportunity to ask the school's cook what she put in the Cream Of Wheat to make it so delicious.

While she wouldn't give me the actual recipe she used, she did say that she put vanilla and almond extract in the cereal to give it more flavor.  So, I went home and started experimenting.  After much trial and error, I've been making this recipe for about 5 years now.  I just had some for breakfast  this morning, and after some curiosity about what exactly wheat farina is, I found that my ingredients in cooking Cream Of Wheat may not be known to the entire world, so I wanted to share them with you.

*This recipe is for 1 serving

Start by following the recipe on the box, but instead of using water, use milk, and don't add the salt.  While the milk is heating, add about 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract and about 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. (I just "eyeball" it) Also add about a palmful of brown sugar.  Whisk all this "stuff" together, then follow the directions on the side of the box to complete the recipe.

Not too difficult, right?  It's actually really easy and it'll make your breakfast taste a million times better.  Also, I add fresh, canned, or frozen (thawed) fruit to the cereal after serving it up into each individual bowl, and my girls love it.  I hope you love it too.

Cutting: kcwc day 2

Tonight I started cutting the pattern pieces for the clothing I am sewing for the Kids Clothing Week Challenge.  I cut out all but the ribbing pieces of Drew's outfit.  I cut out the pieces for Alona's dress.  Ashley's dress- I didn't even get to that.

How long does it take to cut out your patterns? 

Well, there are about 9 or 10 pieces (two each) you have to cut for this stinking dress!  Ugh.  I'm thinking there is no way I can finish two of these in one hour a day this week.  I've already put in several hours just cutting tonight!  Oh well.  It is a busy week, so fitting in more than an hour a day is difficult- unless I stay up all night.  That just doesn't work for a mom of 4 in her 30's.  I think its matching the stripes in the fabric that is taking the longest.  What was I thinking?

The blue stripe is for Alona, the pink stripe for Ashley.  The white with little red fire engines is for Drew. 

Oh, and cutting on the floor makes me the messiest when it comes to sewing!

Tracing: kcwc day 1

For the challenge,  I traced a pattern for the very first time yesterday.  Ottobre patterns come on large sheets, pattern pieces printed in various colors on top of each other.  You have to trace them.  So I did.  On the floor.  I wish I had my house in Oregon.  The one with the bar I specifically had made for cutting fabric and patterns.  It certainly causes a lot less back pain.
So I traced and cut the pattern for Drew's pajamas.  I am excited to finally be sewing an Ottobre pattern.  I've only had them for almost 2 years now!  Of course, I thought I had enough ribbing for the cuffs and edges, but not so!  Guess we know where I'm headed tomorrow.  Unfortunately, the tracing took more than an hour.  It was the end of the night so that is all I got done yesterday.

Home Food Preservation, Part 2

So, I love applesauce.  Not the kind you get out of the TreeTop container (that's baby food), but the kind you'd want with pork chops or ribs.  You know, chunky, with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Um, yum! 

I hinted in my last post about sharing a recipe with you for my homemade applesauce.  This recipe can be hot water bath canned, or you can eat it fresh off the stove top.  My favorite way to do this is to make a double recipe (I'll give you the single recipe) and can it, and just save some for dinner that night, because once you've smelled it, you can't possibly not have some.  Here's the recipe:
4 medium Red Delicious apples
4 medium Granny Smith apples
1 cup (8oz.) apple juice or cider
A few good shakes ground cinnamon
2-3 palmfuls Brown Sugar
2 shakes Ground Ginger
1-2 shakes ground Nutmeg

Peel and core apples and cut into bite sized chunks.  Combine everything in a large pot.  Cook over medium high heat until apples are soft enough to mash with a fork or potato masher. 

If you're going to can them, you may want to add a little extra juice, then fill jars and follow canning instructions for applesauce.  I use the instructions in my Ball Blue Book (which came with my water bath canner.)

If you're going to eat them fresh, allow the applesauce to simmer until the sauce thickens a bit, then serve hot.

*This recipe will make about 2-3 pints of applesauce.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.  It's easy and always a family pleaser in my house.  So, here's the deal.  I need to preserve enough applesauce for my family to last through the year.  For us, that's a minimum of 52 pints, but if I do 52 quarts, we can have applesauce with more than one meal each week.  Which means I need a ton of apples.

And, as a few of my friends know, I love to share.  I have a tendency to give away bottles of homemade applesauce on occasion, which means, I will need to hoard my applesauce or make more than enough for my family.  So, as soon as I can start canning in my kitchen in my new home, I'll be heading out to the farm stand to purchase boxes of apples, hopefully at a discounted price, because frankly, I like to know where my food comes from and I like to support local people and farms (okay, and mostly, because I'm cheap and it's cheaper to do this than go to the grocery store.)

If you're interested in canning, this is one of the easiest things to start with.  I started canning my own applesauce 2 years ago, while we were still living in Wyoming.  My mom bought me a complete canning kit thing from walmart.com and had it shipped to me so I could start preserving my own food.  Thanks mom, I love it!

If you live near me, I know that over at Bi-Mart they're having a big sale on all the supplies you'll need for preserving your own food and they're also having a sale at Wilco.  If you don't live around the Eugene/Springfield area, check your local farm and ranch supplier, or if you have to, check walmart.com or another large internet retailer.

Good Luck!

Final decision.

I finally made a decision for KCWC.  I am making pajamas for Drew using the Ottobre 1/2009 pattern for 5 and 10.  You can see what I am talking about here.   I am also making a dress from McCall's 6156 for Alona and Ashley.  I will be doing veiw C with the collar of E and F.  I am sewing with fabric from my stash.  I don't think I will need thread, as I already have so much in a large variety of colors and I have plenty of elastic on hand.  Buttons may be the only thing I need to purchase, but I might just have some stashed away that will work.  Wouldn't that be great? 
Ok, so now that I have that all figured out, I just need to get off this chair (and the computer) and get to work.  After dinner.  After the fabric is done drying.  Yes, I prewash my fabric.

PS  I will post a picture of the fabrics tomorrow.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge begins...

Today the challenge begins.  I have looked through my patterns, but guess what?  I still have no idea what to sew!!!!   I do have a few thoughts.  Alona really wants a dress she can wear to school.  Ashley could use some skirts to wear to school- maybe some shorts built in.  Drew needs clothes.  Anything. Everything.  Desperately.
So that is where I am today. 
Now I am off to figure it all out and get started!

Home Food Preservation

Recently, I got some crazy hairbrained idea to purchase 88 pounds of pears directly from the grower.  Sounds really crazy right.  Well, it was, but it was also one of the greatest things I've done for my family, and here's why.

It sounds like purchasing all those pears wouldn't really matter to my family, but it has more to do with the way I feed my family.  I purchased 88 pounds of pears strictly for the purpose of canning them at home, so we could have them to eat all winter, instead of purchasing the canned ones from the store.  It turns out that with the help of my mom and my oldest daughter, we managed to bottle 47 jars of pears.  That's a lot.

You see, for those of you out there that are like me, I don't like to give my kids a whole bunch of extra sugar, but when you run out of fresh fruit and your next shopping day isn't for another 3 or 4 days and the budget is tight, it's nice to be able to pull a can of fruit out of the pantry to balance out your meal.  But, along with a can of fruit from the store comes things that are not so great, like high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and extra sodium (sodium, can you believe it?) and since I didn't make it myself, I don't even know what else.

So this year, I decided pears would be a good jumping off point.  I didn't want to load myself up too much my first year, but I'm thinking about preserving apples (homemade spiced chunky applesauce anyone?) and pears, and maybe doing some vegetables next year and possibly also some jam, now that I know how to do this kind of stuff and all.

I don't have some secret special recipe (except to say that I will share my applesauce recipe at a later date), but I did use the instructions in my Ball Blue Book (which came with my water bath canner btw).  It has all sorts of recipes for canning and freezing all sorts of different kinds of produce.  Oh, but be careful with the syrup for fruit.  You can cut the sugar in the light syrup down by at least half, if not more, and be just fine.  If you don't, you might find your syrup way too sugary.

I'm telling you, everyone should try this if they've got the time.  I am left with a sense of pride in myself for putting up my own fruit, the way all our ancestors used to do, and I'm feeling more self-sufficient as well.  Thirdly, I know my family will eat some seriously yummy canned fruit this winter (way better than the stuff from the store). 

My pears...yum-O!

I also know that bottling my own fruit is helping to protect the environment.  I can reuse my glass jars and my metal rings each year, and the only thing I need to purchase again are the seals (which are recyclable) and the fruit, of course.  But, think of all the packaging material I've saved, and the cost of trucking the fruit, cans and lables to the factory, and then trucking the fruit in the cans with the labels on them from the factory to my local store.  In the long run, self-suffiency is Eco-Friendly, health smart, and economically more sustainable for my family.

Oh, and one more thing.  The best store I've found around here for all the supplies I needed this first year was Wilco.  They have a huge display this time of year for all your canning and freezing needs.  I would imagine that most larger farm and ranch suppliers would carry similar products this time of year, due to the fact that many farmers and ranchers do this kind of stuff too, so if you don't have a Wilco near you, check out your nearest Farm and Ranch supply store, or head to the internet for your supplies.

Good luck!

Why???

Why must I find these things?  Now I want them!  Ugh.

These fabric organizers are ridiculous! (in the most awesome way)  Now that I have found them I feel that I cannot live without them.  Problem is, they really aren't cheap.  I mean, if I only needed 6 of them I would be all over it.  Needing 75 (more like 100+ but who is counting fabric) I just don't think I can convince Jeff that they are necessary.  Man, if you check out their gallery, you can see how beautiful a fabric stash can really be!  There is a before and after and I just wish mine looked that nice.  One day, one day...

A Challenge

I am doing this challenge.  It is my very first one, but I think it is just what I need to get back to sewing regularly (and get stuff done).

forgotten?

You might think I have forgotten about you (the readers, that is).  I have not.  Life has been busy.  Summer, heat, stuck inside, no husband around for 20 days straight, a wedding, a funeral, another wedding, a week with friends, holidays, school starting...  

Life is now returning to some semblance of normalcy.  I have a tutorial in the works.  I promise- I have not forgotten.

I actually did it!

I finished the shorts I mentioned in my previous post. They turned out quite well considering they are my first attempt at pants/shorts (other than the one pair of pants I made in junior high school a billion years ago). I got them all together and then decided I needed to take them in a little in the center back. I think next time I will add more ease (width) in the legs for sitting as well as making them come up higher on the waist in the back. It seems that all the pants I buy (and now make) are always really low in the back. They tend to fall down when you stand up after sitting down. I am very pleased, despite that. I actually have a pair of shorts that fit! I am not sure I can ever go back to buying pants (that don't fit anyway) in a store.

Pardon the picture, my 9 year old took it on my phone.

I actually surprised myself on this one. I usually get frustrated and give up. This time, I stuck with it and, as Tim Gunn would say I decided to "make it work!" Because, of course, I made these last night while watching Project Runway.

teach your children

While shopping for muslin at JoAnn's yesterday, I decided it would be a great time to teach my children the fine art of embroidery.  This can be as simple as you want it to be.  We headed over to the needlepoint section of the store and picked up a few embroidery hoops, needles and some embroidery floss.  I let the girls pick four colors each.  For less than $10 we were ready to go!  I have a stash of muslin (bleached and unbleached) at home so we didn't need to buy fabric.   For our first design, I put the fabric in the hoop and then drew a heart in the middle.  I started each of them with a heart. 

They picked the which floss color to use.  I threaded their needles, tied one end, and showed them in a few stitches how it goes.  Ashley took off and finished with no problems.  Alona had a hard time keeping the thread in the needle but finished quite well.  Natalie had trouble but got the idea.  She almost finished half her heart before she wanted me to take over.  I tied the floss when they finished.  They were all so very proud of their accomplishments.

We are just doing a running stitch to begin.  If you aren't familiar with embroidery stitches, you can find them easily by googling it.  I liked how Needle 'N Thread has so many free resources.  This is the page with the basic stitches.  They also have how tos for more stitches than just the basics.  They also have some free patterns.  They thoroughly enjoyed learning to "stitch" and asked to do more today.  I asked each of the girls what they would like to "stitch."  Ashley wanted a flower (she wanted a tulip but didn't tell me until after I started drawing on her fabric and I don't know how to draw a tulip).  Alona wanted a giant star.  Natalie chose a triangle.  I threaded their needles again and tied the end of the floss.  None of them needed any help with the stitching this time.  Ashley didn't get to finish hers as she is using 3 different colors and I didn't get a chance to thread the last one for her.  I think she is probably about ready to add another stitch to her repertoire.  I am thinking the back stitch.

I used about a size 4 needle with 3 of the six strands of floss that are in DMC embroidery floss.  This size needle had no problem going through the fabric (too bid a needle and it can be hard for children to pull the eye through).  The kids haven't mastered threading a needle yet, so I do that for them.  Tying the knot in the floss can be difficult as well, so I am doing that for now as well.  Keeping the designs simple is essential for young children.  Ashley is ready for more detailed designs.  I am not sure about Alona yet- I will let her set her own pace.  Natalie is content with basic shapes.  The key (with my kids, at least) is to do it when they are ready, let them choose the colors and designs, and make it as fun as possible!  This is a great way to keep them entertained during the HOT summer, since we are stuck inside all the time and they love TV and computers a little too much.