Sewing Away

It was a high of five degrees here today. That is five as in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I want to make sure you all appreciate that. The sun came out and it warmed up from -10 to 5. Yeah. Winter. Needless to say we didn't go out much today. Well we did take Alexa over to a friend's house this afternoon to play for a bit. They live six blocks away. We drove. It gave me a good reason to make sure the car would start. Good car.

That left Chloe all on her own for a few hours. She decided to work on a sewing project kit I got her for her birthday.

She worked really hard on it and wanted to make sure you know she learned how to do four new kinds of stitches.

It was an owl kit. She started with the small one. There is a big one to match it.

She is giving the small one to her doll Lily.

We are off again tomorrow. It might get wild and crazy and warm up to ten or something.

Forever Sewing

I had my sewing machine out this week to make Chloe's poodle skirt. Whenever that happen the girls get the idea to ask me to create other things for them. We have a couple of bags of fabric scraps in the closet and they dig through picking out colors and fabrics that can be used in their creations. We were home together yesterday as Chloe was on the mend from a virus. This combination led to the latest mommy sewed creations.

Alexa wanted a penguin. Here is my attempt.

I thought it turned out OK given that I was requested to make a penguin free hand using fabric scraps and buttons. The Chloe asked for a cat. A CAT? I tried to point out that this was way harder than a penguin, who really looks like a fat bowling pin. She agreed to let me make non stuffed floppy legs to ease my suffering. In the end it turned out kind of cute.

Now, I shall go hind my sewing machine again for a couple of months.

Sewing Projects

My kids love to create things. Chloe has been sewing (by hand) for a while now. Alexa started a few weeks ago.

It isn't that I mind that they like to create these things, but it can be a bit of a project to say the least. They both like to plow through the bag of fabric scraps. Each little scrap gives them an idea of what they want to create. It is usually something that they need me to assist with and to tell you the truth I am not so good at making a stuffed: bird, dog, cat, snake... etc at the drop of a hat. But I have, at one time or another, been asked to make each of them. And that isn't even counting the number of things that I just shook my head and said I couldn't do it. At any rate this time it was dogs. Dogs sitting down to be specific. Alexa choose a brown fabric. Chloe went through about three or four different colors before settling on the white, black, and silver. They both wanted to use the sewing machine.

Now my poor sewing machine has been around for about 20 years. It still works, most of the time. But I wasn't too sure how it was going to work after this little adventure. Alexa was happy to sit with me and remove the pins as we sewed along. She liked poking them into the pin cushion. I let Chloe operate the foot pedal and I helped her move the fabric around. Both kids are addicted to the bag of puff. They love to create things just so they can stuff them with puff.

In the end both dogs came out cute enough to satisfy them. Although I think it is safe to say the stuffed animal industry is safe from any threat from my handy work.

And look they played together afterwards. Peace... at least for a few minutes.

Building Elmo

Chloe has this fascination with left over bits of fabric. I toss anything left over from a sewing project in a bag. She was digging through the bag yesterday and came to a pretty good size piece of red fleece. She was determined to find something to make with it. Alexa asked her to make an Elmo. Chloe agreed.

She worked really hard sewing and stuffing him.

The results are pretty cute!

Alexa slept with him last night. Sometimes their kindness to one another really impresses me.

Sewing Buddy

When you are the younger sister you often find yourself watching with envy at all the things your big sister can do. This past summer I taught Chloe to sew. She loves it and often spends her free time rifling through my bag of fabric scraps finding things to create. Alexa is fairly envious of this skill. She hasn't asked me yet, but she just seems to know she isn't old enough to be entrusted with a needle and thread.

So imagine her glee this evening when we came home and Chloe told her she would make something for her. Just like that... out of the blue. Alexa was thrilled and the next thing I knew they were planning on making a pink giraffe. Chloe spent about 45 minutes just cutting out the pieces for her planned creation. She has everything from polka dots, mouth, and tail pieces. She is planning to sew them together for Alexa tomorrow while she is home with Grammie Sharon because her school is closed for parent conferences.

It is so nice after a 30 minute drive home today riddled with, "Don't touch my foot" and, "Stop looking out my window." That she so willingly want to create something for her sister.

Of course, my living room looked like this after all that creating, but I was willing to overlook that after all that harmony.