Crafty

Hey all.  Well my kids are under the weather....unfortunately.  Ruthie may or may not have RSV (her test results have not come in yet), which is a pretty serious respiratory condition for newborns.  She is congested and stuffy, and is on twice daily breathing treatments right now.  It is absolutely horrible to watch your 5 week old be uncomfortable and struggling to catch a deep breath.  Last night I think was the worst of it, and so far today, things have been getting steadily better.  Thank God!  She has a nice, clear-eyed look about her, and she is resting peacefully, without the constant stuffy sounds.  Piercey J appears to have the same respiratory issues (or perhaps allergies), except his has also manifested as a deep, hacking cough.  The treatment for him is also breathing treatments, and luckily his coughing has WAY subsided today and he's in great spirits.  For being quite sick, both of them have been tremendously sweet and good natured.  So far Hayden has remained healthy, and we are praying it stays that way!

One consequence of very sick children is that we have been completely homebound for the past two days.  Clearly this goes against my nature, but I've been trying to make the most of it!  Although the majority of my time has been spent doing laundry, wiping noses (and bottoms), and administering breathing treatments, I did find some time to try my hand at a halter dress that I plan to make for a friend's little girl for her birthday.  My friend Tanya is the queen of all things hand-made, and she was awesome enough to share some patterns she had for various little girl dresses.  I found some scrap fabric, and made the halter dress in Ruthie's side as a dry-run.  My sewing skills are not stellar, and basic things like elastic and ruffles still give me some trouble, but today I think I overcame some of those obstacles.  I'm LOVING sewing, and creating these adorable dresses for about $5 each.  Despite making some pretty annoying mistakes today that required me putting my seam ripper to good use, I still managed to finish in only about 2 1/2 hours I think (naptime and no job = productive sewing time!).  I think once I iron out the kinks, I should be able to make these in less than 2 hours!  And doesn't my little girl look darling, even being sick?!  It's a little big because I made it 6-12 months size to fit for summer.  But you get the picture.

I also wanted to quick share some photos of other little projects I've done recently.  I made this pillowcase dress before Ruthie was born, as my first non-blanket sewing project, and Ruthie wore it on St. Patrick's Day, and looked darn cute in it.  Here she is with her best bud Nolan :)

And finally, I attempted a nightgown for a friend's little girl for her birthday, and I had Pierce try it on for sizing.  He was not a fan of wearing it, but it looked cute haha.  Many problem areas here, but I definitely learned from my first attempt (which is why I did a dry-run with the halter dress - so the mistakes can be on OUR version, instead of the gifted version).  I can't wait to make more!

I'm kind of feeling guilty that I am making all these things for Ruthie, and nothing for my sweet boys, but it's just much harder to come up with "manly" boy things to sew!  I recently found a great blog where they "upcycle" old men's soft t-shirts into great little drawstring lounge pants for little boys, so I am probably going to try that soon.  Lord knows Nate's t-shirt drawer could use some thinning out!