Look what I found on the way home today at a roadside tent! I stopped at the corner of Stassney and 1st, right by our favorite chicken place, El Regio. It was just too cute to pass up for E, and it was only $12.
I would love to be able to make this kind of simple dress with embroidery for C. and E. I am hoping I can copy some of the embroidery for other projects. I would have gotten a dress or a blouse for myself, but they only had kid sizes available. I’ll have to keep looking. I did find a link to a site that has a pattern for a traditional Mexican dress. The Mexican Dress has a downloadable pattern for $5. Dare I attempt this? I’ll have to add it to the list.
Here is a picture of my unwilling model.

The kids were very interested in exploring the new sewing machine. A simple pillow project seemed like the perfect start. You can’t go too wrong sewing in a straight line. I broke the project into two parts. The first day we measured, cut, and pinned the fabric. The second day we sewed and stuffed. The kids operated the pedal and helped guide the fabric. Their favorite part was playing with the stuffing. The flame pattern fabric really appealed to them. We are taking our flame pillows and sleeping bags to grandma and grandpa’s house. Next, they want to make drawstring bags.

Firsts
We’ve had some great firsts and lasts around here lately.
I took my first sewing class and bought my first sewing machine. I took the Beginning I sewing class at Leslie Bonnell’s
Stitch Lab. It was fantastic. Leslie is a great teacher. I made this skirt. It is a linen, embroidered fabric.

For the first day of summer, the kids hung out in their pjs with some wax lips! (see flickr photo)

And obviously, a first blog post for me and for my son! We are both still working out the kinks.

Lasts
The month started off with my son H’s last day of 2nd grade. We marked the occasion by visiting a new candy store in town called Big Top. H and C chose large, rainbow lollipops, Bubble Tape gum, and wax lips. As a mother you sort of feel like they should be handing out toothbrushes at the door, but I tried not to be “no-fun mommy” on the last day of school, so I kept quiet. After all, it was my idea.

I helped my parents move into their new house. While the old house wasn’t the house I grew up in, it was the house I brought H to when he was only three weeks old. We all had things that we would and would not miss about the house “in the country,” and we were thinking about them on the last day in the old house.

We’ll be missing:
The quiet – At night especially, it is what made living in the city so shocking for me.

The seclusion – Where else can you sit out in a lawn chair half dressed and eat a popsicle? (Both my parents might add to this, where else can you have a corvette with a huge engine that will not disturb the neighbors, but that is a whole other argument.)

The wildlife – Never a dull moment, there were giant pigs loose, wild turkeys, herds of cattle, gophers, wild hogs, deer, turtles, and armadillos.

We sure won’t be missing:
The snakes-a special thanks to the neighbors’ cats for keeping them somewhat at bay. The cats and a good hoe go a long way.

The drive-twenty minutes doesn’t seem like a long time, but if you have three kids in the car, it can be an eternity. No pizza delivery, no quick trip to the store, no let’s go rent a movie.

I have to throw in scorpions falling from the ceiling. Although this only happened a couple of times, it was enough to make me look up at the ceiling all the time.

And finally, my mom announced her last day of work. While she is young to retire, we are all looking forward to what the next stage holds for the grandma, librarian, mom- extraordinaire.