Wow I feel like the last eight weeks have been a whirlwind with the Project Run and Play Sew Along Challenge and extended family fun. While participating in the sew along challenge I drove to Utah twice, half way across Idaho, into Montana to meet my sister with her kids, to visit Jo and her family in their new house (which according to my calculations is 2040+ miles, luckily most of that was on the interstate so it went a little faster). I also planned, crafted and hosted Rhett's 3rd birthday party which was a homemade fall carnival.
Even with everything that was going on I felt like Project Run and Play Sew Along challenge taught me that one day I would really like to compete in the real Project Run and Play competition. Though at times it was stressful I think it was good for me to sew on a deadline. Often times I find myself tweaking project until I am satisfied with the results, but that process can take months. With such a tight deadline I had to set aside time, plan my projects and execute them. With that I also had to change my mind if I realized that I wasn't going to have time to finish a project.
My favorite thing about the Sew Along Challenge was watching other people design and create. It was neat to get compliments but even more rewarding to give them in return. Here are a few of my favorites from the six weeks:

Quilted Autumn Play Dress	It's Okay to be Biased Skirt	Getting "Twiggy" With It.
Jess Dress and Cardigan	Purpledicular Dress (this was made from white sheet!)	18 month old Jacket (white sheet again!)

There were so many boy crafts it excited me because it gave me so many ideas for Rhett beyond shorts, tie shirts or ties. Don't believe me check these out:

Mack the Knife	Hidden Pants	Super Boy
Cool Kid	Jeans, Sweatshirt, Slouchy Beany (great ideas for a boy even though her model was a girl)	I love this outfit for an older boy
Thanksgiving Dinner Time	Crocodiles and tortoises	Rebel Without A Cause

There are so many talented designers I tried to share as many as time would permit but I have already spent way too much time on this post and way too little time on sweeping and mopping my floors (when the kids are asleep momma will clean). Here is a link to the pool you should go look for yourself what amazing gals (their might be some guys but I don't think I have come across any yet).
I was talking the whole experience over with Al last week and I felt so renewed in that I had been able to survive and pretty pleased with some of the things that I was able to create. Here they all here for you to look at:

Optical Illusion Skirt with Matching Shorts and Tie for Brother	Dior Inspired Dress
Surely Stylish Scarlet	Leaf Monster Suit {Mini-Ghillie Pancho}
Thank Goodness for Little Girls Pillowcase Dress	Contemporary Mock Wrap

If you enjoyed our sewing projects for Project Run and Play you might enjoy some of our other kids sewing projects. 
We have some exciting things planned for next week with some refinishing furniture projects and maybe by the start of next week we will be able to show off some of our Halloween costumes for your viewing pleasure.

This is the last week of Project Run and Play Sew Along Challenge (well for this year anyway) and I have really enjoyed every project I have made. I am hoping next week to do a round up of my favorite Sew Along Challenge Peers. 
I love being cozy, so much that more than 50% of waking hours I am found in t-shirts and workout clothes. But when I get dressed up I really like to dress up, I like dramatic colors, textures, patterns. So I used scraps from a few refashioning projects to make this little number.
Miss Boston looked so beautiful in this little number but a few minutes after she put it on she came down with stomach flu. So we decided to give her the day off from modeling and throw it on her 3 month younger boy cousin. We were glad that Heber was willing to model this little number. And Al took the pictures so I could take care of my little bird.
The top is made with a Caftan (yep love caftans, like I did here). If you want to make your own Caftan check out Simple Simon and Co. tutorial about it. I then used the ties from the dress that the damask fabric came to make the ties for this little dress. This will give Boston lots of growing room but also allows for great fit.
Then I used the bottom of a dress that I had cut off to make a dress. It is all super stretchy soft knit. And the project cost me NOTHING, since it was made from scraps. The flower on the top of the dress is a removable broach so it could be replaced by any color flower or accents.

Jo & Hubbin have the most energetic family of 7, I have ever been around. Jo stays crazy busy with homeschooling the 3 oldest and loving the 2 youngest. The last time I had a chance to take their family pictures was when her 3rd was a baby, when I was headed to Montana to visit her she requested that I take her family's picture. When I asked her what poses/pictures she would like she said that she had no expectations but that I should just go with the flow and really try to capture the spirit of her family.
Here is my easy going photo shoot (or little to no-posing) of Jo's family. With the older 3 boys I tried to give them themes and then just shot what ever actions they made.
Warning: this post is going to have a lot of pictures

From the Mouth of Jo:
A few years ago I remember sitting in a friends living room and crying.  I was watching my friends husband dance with his daughter, while she was standing on his feet.  As they spun and twirled, I sat silently with tears streaming down my cheeks.  I thought of all of the times I had wished that Hubbin could dance with his very own little girl.  I mourned for women who weren't married or couldn't have children.  I mourned for friends who had lost children.  I knew that if I felt such sorrow when I had been already so blessed, I was sure that those women must really be hurting.  I prayed for them and yearned for their prayers to be answered.  As I was praying and crying I realized that if I loved a little girl that I would have some day soooo much, then Heavenly Father must really love me.  About 2 years later I finally got my little girl.  She means the world to me.  I thank Heavenly Father every day for sharing her with me. 

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays not only because of the AMAZING food but because it was a time to celebrate family and all that we have been given.
The vintage pillow case is beauty without being abundance. The sleeves made out of an old button up shirt remind me of the beautiful accent colors we have in Idaho from the colorful sunsets to crunch leaves. The bias tape at the skirt bottom, bow and headband I found at this cool thrift store Jo showed us in Helena.
This sleeved pillow case dress (aka peasant top dress) was probably one of my favorite projects for one of my favorite little people. I wanted to make sure that it fit and that this little sweetie wasn't going to be covered in fabric but had just enough room to move but not to drown. To do this instead of using the full width and height of the pillow case I used 1.5 times her largest measurement as the width and measured from shoulder to tea length as the height.

I had my ideas what I would do for Boy Week but that all got changed when Rhett said to me, "I want a Leaf Monster Suit for my Birthday".
Now for the back story: last week Power Shoes celebrated his birthday, one of his birthday presents was a Ghillie Pancho for duck hunting. Rhett looks up to all of his uncles and watches to see what they think is cool and tries to imitate.
At that moment I realized that my dreams of sewing a little church suit for Boy's Week were going out the window and what my son really wanted/needed was a Leaf Monster suit. How could I say no to the cute birthday boy.
The pancho was made using tricot (so it would be soft); spray painted with brown, gray and black. The hood was lined with a light brown fabric that has a warm soft texture. The leaves were cut out of quilters cotton and placed with Heat-n-Bond Lite using a Silhouette. After I randomly placed hundreds of leaves I ironed them down and then sewed lines across the poncho every inch which ended up being 64 lines.And then I sewed the leaves on the hood on individually.
It totally made his birthday to get a "Leaf Monster Suit". Each individually place leaf added a depth to the suit.
Here is how to make your own (Pancho): 
1. Use the hood of the sweatshirt that fits your little monster as a pattern, add 5/8" for seam allowance (I just pinned it directly to the material). Cut one from tricot and one from lining fabric.
2. Measure from wrist to wrist (width) and from shoulder to ankle (height). Using these measurements cut two (for my very tall 3 year old this was 30 by 32).
3. With the sweatshirt folded in half measure from the middle of the neck to the edge of the neckline (mine was 5 1/2"). Measure from the top of the shoulder down to the neck line in my case this was 1 1/2").
4. Sew right sides together for outer hood. Then sew right sides together for inner lining. Then sew the right side of the lining to the right side of the outer hood.
5. Sew the right sides of the two panels together.
6. Turn the panels right side out and fold on seam.
7. Fold in half and use the measurements found in 3 to cut the neckline.
8. Sew the right sides of the hood and the neck of the panels.
9. Spray paint the tricot; with brown, gray and black.
10: Iron Light Heat-n-bond on fabric (I used a 1/4 yard of 5 fabrics)
11: Cut out Leaves (we used the Silhouette)
12. Randomly place leafs
12. Iron Leaves on to pancho.
13. On the wrong side of the fabric mark lines every 1"
14. Sew along the lines and individually tack leaves on hood.
15. Throw it in the washer to fluff up leaves.
16. Clip your strings and let your little monster enjoy.

As I was reading the themes for this season's P.R.&P. As soon as I read the details for the white sheet challenge I knew what I would be doing. You all remember Scarlet's white dress from the opening Gone with the Wind.  But then I realized as much as I love the skirt...but HATE the top. There I said it I think it is ugly I hate the abundance of lace on the sleeves and neckline.




I didn't know what would go with all those ruffles, then I found this sweet website: How Do We Run On? I was inspired by all of Scarlet's fashion statements not just this one. Then I was reminded of her Honeymoon Outfit:
Boom, it hit me. Modern twist on classy designs.







The skirt is a circle skirt (based on the instructions from Dana Made it) rows and rows of ruffles. I finished the edges of the strips with a red rolled hem to give a decorative feature without the weight or fuss of lace. I used my ruffling foot to make large strips of ruffles until I had enough to make five rows ruffles, 2.5 inches in height. This took the full length of a king sized sheet 6 times cut at 2.75 inches (I lost some to my rolled hem). The red elastic is in place of her red band on her dress.
The shirt I made from small portions of 3X Large shirts I found for a $1 at Walmart. I used Simple Simon & Company's 3 Seam Caftan tutorial. The white part was made by cutting a 7 by 16 inch rectangle. The black I used the bottom of the shirt so I didn't add any more for bottom hem. That rectangle was 6.5 by 16 inches. I serged the white with the black and then serged down the sides.
The design was cut out on freezer paper using Al's Silhouette Cameo, the black decoration was done with craft paint with fabric paint medium and the white decoration was done with white spray paint.

I love this shirt with pants. And Ty had such a good time playing with the shirt and she loves the red covered buttons on the sleeve.

In High School my family visited MET as  part of New York family vacation. I was so excited when one of the collections was the Haute Couture which featured several of Dior's dresses. I was over whelmed with happiness as I saw the textures and the sure quantity of beautiful fabric.
As I read about Dior and how took fashion from function to beauty. His designs were feminine and accentuated a ladies shape.
I love beautiful fabric, though quilting goes so much quicker for me. I don't feel as alive when I am working on quilt than when I am making a pretty dress. I remember the looks of disgust/awe I got from people when I told them that my senior prom dress had 30 yards of fabric in it. I can only imagine the looks Dior got when he changed fashion from function to glamor in a post WWII world. (Dior and I both studied the field of Political Science).
Instead of copying one of Dior's dresses I decided to look over hundred's of his designs and come up ground rules for my own creation (All pictures from the MET website):
1. Dior designs have dimension from using different fabrics.

"May" Spring 1953

"Junon" dress, Fall/Winter 1949–50

2.He loved showing a woman's shape.

"Mexico" spring/summer 1953

"Nuit D'Aout" Spring/Summer 1954

Now though I love Dior my fabric budget doesn't allow  for fancy fabrics, so the material I used for my Dior Inspired Sewing project was from a curtain that didn't dye right and a red tag fabric from Joann's. Though neither are silk I loved the shimmer on the shell fabric and I love the design that is embroidered on the skirts.
Here is my result:

When I finished it today I wasn't sure I fit Dior style but then I came across these two designs and felt comfortable with calling mine a Dior Inspired Sewing projects.

Donated to the MET by Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Jr., 1953

"Eugénie" Fall/Winter 1948–49

Ty was in "pretty dress" heaven. When she put her new dress one of her friends demanded to go home and put another princess dress. 

Anyone who has seen Napoleon Dynamite can faintly remember the horse shirt that he wears in one of the scenes, the thing that some of you that aren't from rural Idaho might not know is that the horse shirt is a true representation of Idaho citizens in the 90's. I remember horse shirts being the coolest thing in elementary, everyone had them (along with neon shoelaces and double pair of socks). My mom went to a screen printing shop when she visited West Yellowstone and came back with one of the coolest shirts I had ever seen. I always thought my mom looked so elegant in her horse screen printed sweatshirt.
Yesterday, Al and I were going through the refashioning pile and I was so surprised when she pulled out my mom's beautiful horse sweatshirt from the 90s. We talked about how we had both loved the shirt when we were kids. She said the last time she was home Mom sadly put it in the DI pile, Al rescued it. We talked about the possibilities, we finally decided on a horse sweatshirt dress (that we later changed to a sweatskirt).

 

So most days and moments of being a mom are really hard. It seems that toddlers are almost always pushing limits and doing things they probably shouldn't. Even though parenting is frustrating a lot of the time, it seems that there are sweet little moments each day when you kid does the cutest darndest thing. When these happen, I'm going to sit down at the computer and write a blog post about it so that I can remember that moment. I invite all of my dear sisters to capture these beautiful moments and share them with me. Label them: kids say the darndest things.

Yesterday was one of those super sweet moments. Scary and I were in the kitchen making dinner and the kids were sitting across from each other at the table eating raisins.
As they were eating Ryder said to Ty, "You wanna get married?" Chuckle, chuckle.
Pause, "Ya." Chuckle, chuckle (Ty)
"You wanna pick out a movie?" (Ryder)
"Ya. Let's get get married and pick up a movie." (Ty)
"Okay." (Ryder) By now they are both giggling.

 

We had a stinky thing happen last week. Slim Jim had his Jack disappear out of his truck. It made me very upset, I decided that all of our tools would be marked. I am never having that happen again without the thief having to look at our name and face his/her terrible decision every day.