two of my favorite colors

Last year I bought some Heather Ross Munki Munki carnival fabric and I used some on the pocket of a pair of pants. The fabric was not purchased as yardage, I actually bought the back panel of a large pair of Munki Munki pajamas. The only thing I don't really like about the top is that the two white fabrics are too close in color that it looks weird. I would have preferred more contrast. I do love orange and blue as seen here, here, here and here.

I even have a board for orange and blue on Pinterest.

Growing Up

My baby is growing up

Last weekend when we were in Target I decided to show Vinny a potty. 

He sat on it in the aisle and said "pee pee" "poo poo". 

Of course I bought the potty (and some Pull-ups).

I have no fantasies about this being easy. 

It never is and I do not want to hear about how your 19 month old potty trained in 5 days because I totally already heard that one in the checkout line at Target.

Summer Sewing

I have been sewing a bit here and there. Lot's of boring things that involve repairing fallen hems, fixing snaps and attaching buttons. I did manage to make two more Maliboo Rompers. This time I matched the stripes, almost. 

This particular photoshoot little miss thang was workin' it. She gave me all the angles I needed and then some. I dread the teens with this one.

 I did make a minor alteration to the pattern

 

 The underarm goes a little too low for my taste so I added an inch to the pattern. Since I added an inch to the front panel underarm area I should have remembered to add an inch also to the back panel below where the back white band is. I don't remember if I did this and when it came together I did some strange sewing because when it was almost finished the front leg hemline did not match the back leg hemline so I ended up making these much shorter than the pattern calls for which turned out to be great because this length is totally much cuter on Luca. 

Phew! I need to take a breath after that sentence (study grammar much Sascha?)

The deets:

Pattern - Maliboo Romper by Lil Blue Boo

Fabric - Cotton knit with lycra I'm thinking from fabric.com but I can't remember. 

Summer School

Sorry for the radio silence. I have been sewing. A few duds which is annoying and wastes fabric. Some keepers which I'll get around to showing you soon. 

Rocco has Summer school and it's pretty exciting this year because the county school program was able to get four visually impaired kids to go to the same class. There are a variety of other children with special needs also. Two children with cerebral palsy, and autistic boy, and another girl that has a feeding tube. The class is being held at the middle school in my neighborhood which is awesome for me. Close to home. 

{Rocco using his Braillenote}

 This past school year Rocco started working with a braillenote. What an amazing piece of technology. His is an older version right now but the newer technology is pretty amazing. They have GPS, WiFi so you can email, four USB slots... it's kind of an everything-you-can-imagine-item. He loves it.

{Janie using her fancy-schmancy Braillenote}

 We are so very lucky to have a blind 16 year old high school student that is volunteering in class this Summer as a part of her school credits. Here she is in the photo above. I visited class this past week to see what to expect for my future with Rocco. Well, she is a superstar. When she types there is almost smoke coming from her fingers they are moving so fast.

I had met Janie and her dad at the regional Braille Challenge back in February and I spoke with her dad a bit during the breaks. I had no idea that last year at the age of 15 she placed second for her age group in North America! That's totally big time. To say I am impressed puts it lightly.  She made it to the top 12 this year and yesterday she went to L.A. to compete for the title.

Fathers Day Picnic (a day early)

So we went on a short hike and had a picnic. Just thought I'd check in. Some sewing has occurred, but frustratingly sloooooow. Like stitch one seam and be done for the day. Who knew three kids would be so much work?

We went on this same hike last year as seen here. It's just weird to have the baby grow so fast. I mean he's just not a baby, he's totally a toddler. Wahhhhhhh.

It's strange how things work out. Chef and I have been together for 16 years and if I had known then what I know now... HA! If just. Too bad. I would have said let's get married sooner. Let's start a family sooner. I just had no idea that I wanted so many children. Really had NO IDEA. I always wanted two children. Since I was a little girl. That's what my mom had so it seemed logical. Of all my friends I am the only one with more than two (remember we are Californians, two is plenty to most Californians!).

This is it. My number. Three. I need to be happy and satisfied. I'm not, but that's ok too. There are days when it seems almost impossible to handle the three I have. There are more days where I long for another baby to nuzzle. It's no secret that I got lucky enough to convince Chef for number three. I won't be betting on a major mind change in the next year. After that, well, my eggs are old. I've already given birth to a child in "advanced maternal age". Boy that stung when my OB said that. Wha? Me? I'm like 25 aren't I? Oh wait, you're right. Not so much. But I'm not ooooooooold. I'm just getting started. Whaaaaaaa. Booo hoo.

Hmmm. Sounds like a post for a sad mothers day. Onward. Hope you all remember to say a special thank you to your dad on this day. Also, maybe don't forget your baby daddy.

Weekend Sewing: Pass, Fail, Fail, and epic fail to you Senor Blogger. Oh, and a cute pair of pants.

I actually got a lot of sewing accomplished this weekend, unfortunately I made a ton of those little mistakes that when added up are irritating.

Here is an example of a pair of jammies that went surprisingly well.

Oh yes, Blogger has decided to randomly choose a photo to flip. Thank you Blogger. I choose not to fight with you tonight.

On to my personal favorite exhibit 3 (C?)

Note to self. Not all knit fabric will make an appropriate neckband. Chef is fondly naming this one the mini mock turtleneck.

Here are the deets...

Knit school bus fabric and VW bugs fabric from Etsy sellers. I think I saw some of the VW fabric from another seller recently. I used this same fabric here quite a while back. Boy has Vinny grown.

The guitar fabric and orange and white stripe is from Fabric Fairy

Orange jersey from FFC

Brown French Terry from Fabric.com

Raglan tee is from the still mysterious issue of Ottobre (by mysterious I mean I'm too lazy to go look it up but not too lazy to look up the link that refers to the last raglan tee I made).
Pajama bottoms are Monkey Spats (still need to tweak this pattern a bit).
Brown pants are self drafted from a pair of existing pants which no longer fit so I enlarged them, a bit too much. Better too big than too small though.

Addictions... the "good" kinds

I, like many of you, have quite the love affair going with Pinterest. If you haven't yet visited... maybe that's a good thing. I'm actually not a seriously prolific Pinterester, but I really, really love that damn thing. My bookmarks folder was getting out of control and honestly not very inspiring.

Another thing I seriously love is the iPhone photo app Instagram. I find myself taking lot's more photos out and about than I used to just because you can change the look dramatically with the filters.

{I use this filter a lot. I think it's called Nashville}

Anyhoo, this post actually contains some sewing if that's why you come here. Yesterday during nap time I made this raglan tee (from Ottobre, issue #?) I used an old girls t-shirt for the sleeves, a white baby rib for the body, cuff and neckband... and... do you see it? A Heather Ross VW Van applique. Oh how it pains me to even cut the smallest amount from this fabric. I really only have less than 1/4 yard of this great fabric. If you want to see a better picture of the fabric and an amazing set of garments made with it, visit this post by Rae.

My goal this week is to make a bunch of long and short sleeve raglan tees for this Summer. They are quick to make and oh so cute. Of course I'll need to throw in a few 90 minute shirts. My favorite.

Oliver + S Sailboat Pants

I haven't made the Oliver + S Sailboat pants in a while and I had to trace the next size up. What I totally forgot was to add length in the rise and length in the pant leg. With that said, I like these pants a lot. Chef said "OMG! When are you going to dress him like a BOY?!?"

In the photos they really don't look all that girlie, but when I put them on... well, I am the first to admit, he was awfully pretty. 

Fabric is a pale blue cotton twill from Fashion Fabrics Club

Front yoke lining is a rocket fabric (anyone know the designer?) which I once made an adorable pair of pants for Vinny for his older brothers space themed birthday party. I clearly forgot to document the awesome outfit I made.

Maliboo Romper

I bought this pattern the second it came available. I can't believe I waited until now to make it. I totally love it! This is really a great Summer item that any girl needs to have. It will be perfect as a quick pool cover up for Luca. 

Just ignore the fact that I completely did not match the stripes. Bugger. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I made this. It's about one of the simplest garments to sew you would think I would have concentrated a bit more on matching wide stripes. 

This is something I wish Luca could wear to school on hot days. Unfortunately our school has a no halter top rule. Fortunately there are only three days left of school. Next I want to make the longer version with elastic bottoms.

I made this in a French Terry from Fashion Fabrics Club

Lined in cotton baby rib knit maybe also from FFC

Urban Unisex Hoodie (again)

Last weekend I decided to make some more Urban Unisex Hoodies. I've made a few now (here, here and here) and I really love them. We tend to have foggy Summers along the coast and the kids are always in need of layers. This sweatshirt does the trick. I thought I'd be fancy schmancy by making three assembly line style. Um, FYI, that only works if you are making things that all require the same color thread. So I made two and the third is still on the cutting table ready to go.

I wasn't even going to post about these, but I was doing laundry and I pulled the black one with the penguin button out of the laundry basket and I thought, awwww isn't that cute? This should be shared. 

O.k. so that's totally not what went down. I mean I did get it from the laundry basket a few minutes ago, but really, I just wanted to post about something and I didn't think you really needed to hear about the weird poopy diaper fiasco that went down this morning.