Baptism

Asha's baptism was very special.  I loved watching her beam with excitement to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  I looked around the room and felt so blessed when I saw faces of Asha's favorite people, including grand parents, ants, uncles, cousins, teachers, and friends.  I know that with the help of those wonderful people, and many more who couldn't be there, Asha will continue to have a joyful life.  

Alison sketched the dress and gave me trouble shooting sessions on the phone.  Scott's mom found the fabric.  Thank you.  

Here is a picture of the pleated skirt and leggings on her.  

Pleated denim skirt and leggings

With the dress out of the way (I was planning on making some flowers for it, but that may or may not happen.), I am back going down the list of fall/winter clothes I had planned to sew.  It is so much fun to work on items I can complete during one nap time of Quinn's.   

I am hoping the leggings will keep those legs warm and extend the wearable time into the early winter.  I used cotton interlock for them, and they are a bit snug.  I have a few more pairs cut out using cotton lycra, and that should work better with the extra stretch.     

 
Patterns: 

skirt - Everyday Girl Clothes, (Click here for all the clothes Alison made for her girls out of this book.) view 29, size 130 (The book only goes up to 120, so I scaled it up.)

leggings - Everyday Bottoms 

Fabric:

skirt - denim from NPS Store in Salt Lake City (Thanks, Alison!)

leggings - cotton interlock from Fabric Fairy

Nightgown

My mom made two beautiful nightgowns for me right around the time I was Asha's age.  I finished this nightgown for Asha today, and enjoyed watching her excitement as I reflected on my own. 

It is interesting how my prospective has changed over the years.  When I was in college and was taking all the childhood education classes, my judgmental eyes and immature prospective led me to make a list of what my mom was doing wrong.  I often got in trouble for giving parenting tips off that list.  I felt excited to raise my own children so I could try the new and better way of raising.  Once I had Jerome, I quickly gained respect for my mom's selfless act of going through the pain of bringing me into this world and caring for me.  I was humbled and determined to work as hard as she did.  Now that I have four, I am constantly in awe of what my mom has accomplished.  Raising five children in suburbia Tokyo while working as a nurse was no easy task, especially how she did it.  She never cut corners and always strived for excellence.  I would be happy if I could pass along to my children even half of what she has given me.  

Perhaps that is one of the reasons I sew.  I am trying to carry on the heritage.    

       

fabric: double gauze

pattern: vintage Simplicity pattern from etsy

size: 8 

Baptismal Dress

I am almost finished.  Covered buttons, snaps, and some flowers left to do.  10 days left until the special day.     

Muslin

The canning is mostly underway.  I did peaches, pears, and LOTS of tomatoes.   My sister suggested I make tomato sauce.  With the strainer we borrowed from Scott's mom, we have been having a lot of fun doing that.  I love it that we can reduce the amount to half before we bottle it.  

Kai started pre-school this week.  It is a co-op one, where we moms take turns and host.  Twice a week for a couple hours each is just perfect for us.  Kai said it was the "bestest" day as he came out of the first day of school.  Our goal is to not drop out this time.  With Jerome, the three moms decided to quit after a few months.  Alison started teaching early morning seminary, Nary was my counselor, and I was the RS pres. in an inner city branch in Philly.  We just didn't have the time or energy to stay on the Joy School curriculum.  It still turned into a lasting friendship, so something great came out of it.  Asha dropped out when Scott got a new job in San Diego and we moved.  

Asha is getting baptized on October 10th.  I started sewing the baptism dress, now that I have a deadline.  The last few days were spent making the muslin to test the fit.  It took a few tries.            

I based the bodice pattern on her Easter dress but changed the sleeves and added the cross-over.  The shoulders needed a little widening, too. 

Now I am ready to cut out the fabric and start sewing.     

Fall/Winter sewing camp: the planner

After looking through all the fabric, patterns, and the few clothes Asha can still wear from last winter, Alison helped me come up with a good plan for fall/winter sewing.  I made a chart to organize it in my binder.  Here is one of the pages.  If you are interested in the books I am getting the patterns from, you can check our Japanese sewing blog.  

We are deep into the canning season.  My kids are loving all the fruit and tomatoes.    

Quinn likes to talk to the birds.  "Birbie, birbie" he calls, and then gets sad when they fly away.  

Here is Kai grinding the wheat for me.  He takes this job very seriously, and does a great job.  

Fall/Winter sewing camp

Alison and her family came, and we had another fun visit.  Here is a post about our last sewing camp.  We talked fabric all evening and then looked through patterns the following morning.  I now have solid plans for Asha's fall/winter clothes.  I can't wait to get started.  

Alison is expecting a boy in February, which will be their seventh child.  I am so excited for her. 

     

Here is Asha in the skirt Alison made for her.  Asha already wore it to church today, and received many compliments.  

James and Jerome, the Joy School buddies, are up to their old tricks again.  Here they are making a Icosidodecahedron from the math book they both own.    

We already miss them and can't wait to have another visit.  A special thank you goes to Paul and Scott who took the kids on a hike so Alison and I could enjoy a quiet morning.