You can now find me at my new sparkly, shiny blog at Our Two Butterflies

Cottage Life

I have to say, minus the plane ride here (as suspected Kate is not a happy flyer), spending the last 5 days at the cottage has been so nice! I've gorged myself on lobster, deep fried clams, fried scallops, and relaxed with the family on the beach. We've built sand castles, skipped stones, built damns, relaxed in the sun and roasted marshmallows over the

I don't think I have ever laughed so hard or played so many board games in a very long time. Everyone but us left today, and while I miss all the kids, having a couple peaceful days alone before we head to my parent's house is nice.

We packed light, so I won't be posting any non-iPad photos until we return home.

The Summer of Dresses

Today marks the monumental moment of Tasha's 10th dress! As mentioned before she requested 10 dresses some time ago and since I had a ton of patterns and lots of fabric, I decided, why not? I thought after it was done I'd get a huge hug, there'd be excitement and such, but she was pretty non phased by it. She told me it was beautiful and asked if she could put it in her closet with her other dresses. I have a feeling I've created a collector. :P

Anywho, without further ado, the final dress;







Next to go under the presser foot will be a couple of outfits for K. I'm hoping to get a couple done before we head of for vacation.

Sneak Peek - Family Photos

For another year, we used Shelley and Jeff Weber of As I See It Photography to take some photos. :0) Like last year, weather caused a couple of cancellations, but we finally made it out. This year we headed off to Big Hill Springs Park. The weather was beautiful, the flies were out in full force and my kids as per usual were a bit crazy. hah

She put a couple on her facebook page, and we'll see our gallery at the end of August. She's super busy with weddings and we are leaving soon for vacation, and I'm in no rush for them, so I told her she could wait and not edit ours until the end of the month. Plus, I plan to buy some canvas wraps from her this time around and finally do our family photo wall. :0)



I kid you not, as they were snapping this photo, Kate almost took a tumble in the water. Now those that know here are probably not surprised, but I was soo ready for her to fall in head first. heh



It was soo hard to get Tasha to actually look at the camera. I think perhaps that I may have taken just one too many photos of her. hah

Dress #9

About a month ago or so when I started making dresses for the girls, Tash declared that she needed 10 dresses. I've asked her several times since she tossed this arbitrary number out there, why 10, but she has no concrete reason for wanting 10. Lucky for her, I have a lot of dress patterns and fabric.

This is another dress that as soon as I saw it, I wanted to make it, but for some reason I waited forever to buy the pattern and make the dress. And like Analise, it proved to be an easy pattern to follow and I sewed it up fairly quickly. :0)

Since summers seem to be so short here, I decided to make it 1 size bigger than what she is currently wearing and long sleeve. So hopefully it will last her through the fall/winter. :0)

I have plans to make a 2nd one using Patty Young's Playdate Collection for Kate in a size 2.







Pattern: Kyoko by Patty Young/ModKid
Fabric: Lotus Collection (Morning Glory in Linen, Full Moon Polka Dot in Cherry) - Amy Butler

Vacation Sewing Part 2

Earlier in the week I went to Value Village and bought several Men's XL button down shirts to make dresses for the girls. Dana of MADE had posted a tutorial (almost 2 yrs ago now!) on how to turn an old Men's shirt into a dress. Owen did not have any old shirts that could be re-purposed (we actually cleaned out his closet in the spring and I completely forgot about this tutorial!) so that left VV.

I managed to find 4 or 5 shirts I liked the pattern/colour of for 4.99 a piece. So far I've sewn up 3 for the girls for our vacation;




I made Kate's a bit bigger so that it would still fit in the fall. I think it will look really cute as a tunic with leggings or skinny jeans. :0)

Vacation Sewing Part 1

In August we are all heading to the cottage in NB. We'll be there for a week and I want some nice breathable, cute clothes for the girls. I don't want to pack a lot of separates. The perfect solution to this is Dana of MADE's awesome Summer Vacation Dress + 1 Shortie Pattern.

I'll admit I was pretty intimidated by the whole "make your own pattern' concept, but really, what's easier then raiding your husband's closet for a cotton tee (or in my case getting it on sale for $10 - I checked the thirft store and all the ones I liked had some gaudy logo or what not on the front), measuring the length you want it to be on your kid and then making a crotch? Easy Peasy right? :D

I will say that it definitely was. The one thing though that I'll do different next time though is probably only use a size L shirt, not an XL. I did about 11 rows of shirring and I steamed/ironed it to make it shrink up, but it still wish it was a bit less loose. I'm going to through it in the washer/dryer and see if that shrinks the elastic up a bit more.

Dontcha just love the pink crocs? She picked them out. Kate is quite the fashionita for a 1.5yr old

No more photos!! hah

Next up, using another one of Dana's tutorials to make a dress for Tasha out of an XL Men's button down shirt. This one I did cheat on, just a teeny bit.