Weather

It's been quite the unusual winter here in MN. Last week we walked to the library and around town. It was in the 50's and we ended up taking our coats off at times. Very strange for January!


This was earlier- perhaps early Dec. E would normally not wear her light fall coat past October:


A week prior to that, we'd had a good dusting of snow:



Now it's pretty cold, but I hear it's warming up again. The city where we attend co-op was even debating whether or not to flood some of their rinks this year. Luckily, one of our moms went to the meeting and they decided to go ahead with it in hopes that there's still a good season of ice left. We're all glad since our skating class runs through January and February! Our first one was already cancelled due to no ice.

We're getting quite spoiled though...anything much below freezing and it's reason to stay indoors. Sad! :P

Spring Swimwear

E grew out of her swimsuits I made for her mid-summer last year. Crazy kid! I whipped up two from my fave KS pattern for her spring swimming lessons. Love this pattern- super simple, fits beautifully and the fabric I get from Chez Ami is superb. I pull the leg elastic in a couple more inches than the pattern calls for- all in the bum area. No wedgies!

I pay only $3-$3.50/yard during their clearance sales and can get 3 suits easy out of 1 yard. The lining is a little spendier from Sew Sassy but it’s really nice and I can get 8 suits or so out of 1 yard (runs about $8/yd). I always line the whole front of her suits. It gives the suit a bit more structure and softness in the front and eliminates the odd panty piece that isn't sewn down in front. The swim elastic runs about $0.45/yd and I use a little under 2.5yds per suit. All in all these suits give a heck of a lot of bang for the buck and I’m always quite pleased when I see her out and the beach in the summer up against much of the RTW swimwear out there.

Suit #1:








Suit #2 (This fabric was from fabric.com). This fabric is more like your average swim fabric out there…super stretchy and less stable. She usually is up a size in the KS pattern with the CA fabric but I could have made her usual size with this fabric. It’s a bit loose in areas but the elastic keeps everything in place. I LOVE the print…if I wore any suit but black this fabric would have been for me! I lined the whole suit since the background was white and it wasn’t very thick or stable.

She was clowning around here…loves making her crazy faces :D



See how I matched the horizontal stripes? Yay! Next time I’ll pay more attention to the chevron of the vertical stripes in the back seam. I’d like a smooth V up and down and hadn’t thought much about it until it was sewn up. She was just ending a somersault here.



Lastly a fun pic- she’s quite good at her kick overs now…going from her bridge and kicking back over. She’s even started to pick up going seamlessly from a backbend-bridge-kick over! Still needs a nice cushion underneath though since every few she loses her balance holding her right foot up.



Nice to have a computer again for blogging and sharing pics- thanks again Cassie and Alex! :x

Gymnastics Part 2

E has come a long way in a month- she started by 'log hopping' and is now doing wonderful cartwheels! She's working on her handstands as well as going over right into a backbend. She just started doing a backbend from the standing position- pretty scary! :)

I made this late Nov or early Dec out of a rose patterned velour. Same Jalie ballet pattern modified. I absolutely love the attached shorts although I plan on doing a regular leotard soon. I completed one in Dec. but it ended up tiny due to it having absolutely no vertical stretch and fit a small sz 3, not my sz 7/8 girl :) I'll add in lots of ease and try again soon.



Had to overexpose this so you could see the pattern:





I didn't edit these next few pics, sorry for the red eye and whatnot! We had a great Christmas this year although we've had more than the usual share of sickies going around. Here's just a couple pics:

J's new furry fleece pj pants...he's in love :) They are his new fave- he puts them on right when he walks in. They're ultra soft and warm which is quite important as we like to keep the heat down at home. Mine are of the same fabric...I'd do a few things different next time but they're quite comfortable too! My pair sports a yoga waist in aqua which you cannot see from the photo :P Please forgive the late night pics...heh.



And E's favorite present from us:



I'll follow with another post :)

Gymnastics

E started gymnastics today- she had a ball

She's in a tumbling only class...her first time ever. She is with a group of girls in dance and gymnastics...they were doing all sorts of flips and splits while E was trying desperately to do anything that resembled a cartwheel. It looked like she was hopping over a log sideways So cute! Luckily the girls were a couple years older and thought E was pretty cute too. We'll be moving her in 2 weeks though to a Thurs. class where there's only one other girl...she'll get lots of one on one there which will be great. If all goes well and she still likes it, we'll do a reg. gymnastics class next fall.

I used the Jalie ballet unitard for this...took the neck in slightly and the back up a bit and split the top and bottom, adding seam allowances there. Cotton lycra on the bottom (a good sturdy c/l...higher lycra content- I think 7-10%) and a jersey top...thought it was c/l but I really don't think so. I knew this sewing it up though and it came out well. It's a bit snug under the arms I think so I'll try it with a stretchier c/l and see if it works. I'll probably also end up going up a size so she has more growing room. I love that she isn't there pulling up her little booty shorts or picking wedgies :) Doll pattern was for a leotard...paired it with a legging pattern and made some modifications to make it more like the Jalie...came out well save for the back of the top- it's pretty loose there. I'll have to see what's wrong with it as I didn't change the width there at all!







Wanting to pose like her doll:


I'm pretty happy- esp. after seeing the offerings at a dance shop we visited to get some more of her dance tights. Although I did see a style there I'm going to try next...I love 'shopping'. :D

Tball

E started Tball this past week! Her team is the Grasshoppers...there are 3 girls and 10 boys on the team. E does pretty well at bat and can make it around the bases with a bit of coaxing. Out in the field she becomes a statue...hopefully by the end of the season she'll be knocking the boys out of the way to get to the ball :D


(See her hands as she's waiting on the base? That's how she stands out it the field...probably hoping the ball doesn't come her way :P)