More Cousins and a T-shirt Re-do

For the second half of Spring Break, we enjoyed cousins locally.

Candice and I made a plans for our kids. We met at a fun park and played for a while, then swapped kids... boys to her house, girls to mine. They played and spent the night together. (Forgot to take pictures... totally unlike me.)

The next day, Amber Munt and her kids came over to play too. We decided to do a t-shirt re-do together. I had been wanting to do this for months and had seen a ton of tutorials out there.

Take 2 t-shirts of the same color. Re-size and cut the neckline, of the one to wear.

Cut the second one into strips. Then baste and gather the strips into ruffles.

Decide on how you want your ruffles to look. Like this..

..or this..

..or this..

..or this..

..or this.

Honestly, I still haven't decided.

Next up, I took a t-shirt that was too big (now). I took in the sides about 3 inches and "pleated" the neckline. I'm hoping the adjustments I've made will make it fit better, but I haven't finished this one either.

Sometimes I hate being so visual... can't tell if I'll like it, until I actually see the end result.

I really should finsh these up, so I'll have some new shirts to wear. :)

Sewing with Grandma Smullin

According to Abree and Treyson we have 2 different grandmas.... "The Purple Grandma" (Grandma McKinley) and "The Sewing Grandma" (Grandma Smullin). While "The Sewing Grandma" was staying with us, the kids did some sewing..... of course! :)

First project was pajama pants for Rylee. She had missed the sewing session during the Summer, due to girl's camp, and wanted to learn how to sew. We found some vintage flannel (from Grandma Ison) and an old pj pattern, in my stash, and got to work.

Grandma taught her the basics of cutting out a pattern, the parts and functions of the machine and basic sewing techniques.

(She's wearing the new pajama bottoms. They are a light blue flannel with fluorescent pink and blue elephants. Perfect for bed time attire.)

Next up were book bags... or "side back packs" according to Rylee and Taylee (I tried to convince them that they were actually called book bags, but they wouldn't have it. To them, they were "side backpacks".)

Taylee's sewing skills were still sharp. She remembered the things Grandma had taught her in the summer and has great potential as a seamstress.

The sewing machine they used was new. The kids had received it for Christmas. I thought that they would LOVE it... and they did!

I was glad that now they could practice sewing on a basic machine and I wouldn't have to worry about them "practicing" on mine.

Treyson didn't join the sewing this time. He mostly did this.......

....and this.

Abree also made a bag with Grandma's help. She helped pick out the fabric, so no surprise it's PINK.

Thank you "Sewing Grandma" for your patience and skills!

A Sewing Swap

Do you wanna swap???

Today I visited mymamamadeit.blogspot.com for the first time. I noticed that she was doing a swap. Many of you showed interest in the last swap I did, so I thought I'd let you know about this one. Here are some of the details...

Sign up by Monday, August 24th. To sign up, leave your email address in the comment section. Your swap buddy will be the person who commented after you. You are in charge of contacting that person and getting their mailing address, by that next Friday (if I understand correctly). Then you gather some sewing items (that you would love to receive) and send it to your swap buddy. It's as simple as that.

Wanna play?

I'm in!

PS- I notice it works better if you click on the link, rather than the button. The button takes you to the post..but with comments. The link takes you to the blog and you have to scroll down to find the post. You want to be able to post under the Only U.S. or International, which ever you want to be a part of.

A Week at Grandma & Grandpa's House

After cutting our Bear Lake camping short, we headed to Ogden. We spent the night warm and dry at Grandma and Grandpa Smullin's house.

The next day, Jason and Rylee left for home. Jason for work and Rylee for girl's camp. As for the rest of us, we stayed in Ogden. We had a week to hang out, play and sew with Grandma.

Day 1: Sewing 101 & Pillowcases

Grandma laid out the basics of sewing on the sewing machine. One of the first things she said was, "Don't get your fingers too close to the needle or you might hurt yourself by sewing your finger!" This made Treyson a little nervous. He was very stiff and reluctant at first. Grandma realized that maybe the scare tactic was little too much for him.

They each had a little basket full of sewing needs: a pair of scissors, pins, hem gauge and seam ripper. She called the seam ripper their "friend". Treyson was eager to use it. He kept asking, "Can I use my buddy yet?" We tried to explain that using his "buddy" wasn't necessarily a good thing. When his seam wasn't quite straight or if he made a mistake he would say, "It got off task..it got off task!...Can I use my buddy now?"

Before they started sewing, Grandma had them practice on a scrap of fabric. She asked, "What do you think might happen if you didn't test the machine on a practice scrap first?" Treyson said, "It might blow up???"

The finished product.

I made one for Abree and Rylee too.

This was grandma, after the first day of sewing. Do you think there will be a second day?

(Just kidding. It actually went really well. The kids totally enjoyed it and grandma said it wasn't too bad either.)

Day 2: Drawstring Bags

One of the first tasks of this day was to wind the bobbin. Taylee and Treyson loved stepping on the "gas pedal" full throttle.

By day 2, Treyson was less stiff and really having a lot of fun. Taylee was also getting the hang of it and was consistently sewing straight lines and was feeling more confident.

Look what we made!

Grandma even machine embroidered their names on the pockets. Abree filled hers immediately. She put her special blanket inside and some papers and notebook in the outside pocket.

Finished product.

Day 3: Standard Examiner tour

We took a break from sewing and went to visit the Standard Examiner newspaper. My sister-in-law works there and arranged a tour of the plant.

We saw where they had some bundles ready to insert for the next day. Being a couponer, I was curious to know if Melissa got the left over ads. No. Bummer!

Here are the rolls of paper they put on the press. Each roll contained about 10 miles worth of paper! They use around 18-20 rolls a day.

Here's the paper shredder room. They shred and recycle the left over papers.

Cousins; Taylee, Bob, Ethel, Abree, Catie, Jessica, Jeremiah, David and Treyson.

Day 4: Pajama Pants

Abree sat on my lap a few times during sewing time. She was too short to reach the pedal, so I let her help me guide the fabric through the machine. She loved sewing!

When she wasn't helping me, she was doing this. She took all the scraps of fabric and cut them up into little tiny pieces. She did this each day for hours and loved it almost as much as sewing. On the last day, I noticed a few scattered hairs close to the scrap pile. This ended her fun and the scissors were put away. (I couldn't tell by looking at her where she had cut...phew.)

Why was this so much fun? I couldn't tell you.

Taylee's cute bug pjs.

Treyson's puppy pjs.

Abree's princess pjs.

Grandma even found t-shirts to match, in her stockpile of treasures.

We had so much fun this week. Thanks for all the good times and good memories Grandma and Grandpa Smullin! Hope we didn't wear you out too much.