Swimsuit swap

I participated in a  one-to-one swimsuit swap on my favorite sewing board.  We each sewed 2 suits...I sewed 2 sizes for her 2 girls and she did 2 for E.  E had decided she'd rather have 2 suits than 1 suit and 1 coverup- so I let her choose that and which fabrics she liked best.

I altered my tried-and-true KS pattern (I did buy the newer version for the smaller sizes) to make it 1-shouldered.  I sewed them up here on my serger and used another sewingmama's coverstitch machine for all of the elastic topstitching.  E's suit I used my triple-stitch zigzag.  These were fun to do, and I learned a new technique of binding with elastic inserted in the seam.  When you fold it over, it keeps a nice, even binding- which was my biggest worry in binding knitwear, especially swimsuit material.  I also lowered the rise on the bum of the suit...way too much fabric back there.  This was also my first time doing a tankini- I was nervous about hemming without the elastic, but it wasn't a problem at all.  I didn't have enough fabric to do a 1pc...barely eeked out this suit!  The fabric I bought in DC a couple years ago shopping with my older sis.  We'll love having a 2pc in rotation for longer beach days!

Dd's suit by me:





The suits I made for the swap- the younger one is a size 4/5 with ruffle, the older is a size 7/8 sans ruffle and with a bit of fun colorblocking and an extra strap for fun.

4/5suit:




7/8 suit (looks wrinky on my size 5 body double):



These were the suits we got back- we were so pleased with this swap!  We both love the little skirt with the bottoms attached- so cute!  I'll sew the straps to the back later...we both left those to adjust when we received the suits. 

Ugh.  The fish lips start already!  :P

I'll attach the straps in the back to the suit- not halter-style as you see in the pic:
 

The blue suit (I pinned that strap too far over here...I'll adjust it when I sew it on):



This was a great way to use up some of the fabric that I've already used for dd in other suits, as well as to have another style or suits without buying a new pattern.  We're set for summer- probably next summer too!

Nana and Papa's Center Garden

I meant to upload these pics early fall but time got away.

Enjoy the slideshow...none of the pics were doctored. It's really that gorgeous! :) I will have to get pictures next summer when more of the flowers are blooming- these were taken late summer.

This is becoming THE favorite place to be from early spring to mid-fall. The kids love splashing in the stream and dipping their toes in for the fish to nibble at. The biggest of the koi is named Joseph and he will even let you pet him as he swims by. Especially if you have food! The raspberry bushes have taken off and Nana, Papa and the daycare kiddos love to pick a bowl for breakfast...and whenever they're out enjoying the day. :)

Our DC Trip

This August E and I visited my sister and her family in Washington, DC. We spent three weeks there and I'm sure she was never so glad to see her living room floor again as the day after we packed up and left! :) I was able to help with some filing at her work and make back our airfare and more, which was nice. I think the amount of time we spent helped us to settle in and enjoy being there more. I get worked up about traveling- it takes me a day or two to settle down afterward, and I start thinking about it days prior to leaving again! Ok, maybe more. Aaaannyway! :)

E's first flight! She was uber excited and could barely sit still for the first leg to Kansas City. After that, the novelty wore off a bit. By the time we headed back she was over it!


She got a lot of quality time with Romi on this trip! It brought back memories, telling two girls to shush the nighttime chatter!


Great Falls:


E hanging out with me while I work on boxes. She was making our own version of our cartoon drawing game...we'd play that on breaks.


We went to Ocean City during our trip as well- we'd never been to the ocean before. Landlocked Minnesotans! I finally understood what Lyzzy was talking about when she'd say she much preferred our MN lakes to swimming in the ocean. All you do is stand up, get knocked over, rinse, repeat. The kids had fun though!

This ominous cloud greeted us on our way...we continued on though! We had an itinerary to follow and goals to accomplish!


We made it!




I'd include a video of them 'swimming' but Lyzzy would kill me. She's in all of them, trying to hold the kids up. :D

We saw an awesome van on our way home. E was quite excited...her Aunt Cassie had just gotten her hooked on this show:


I'm thinking they're used to people staring...any excitement has worn off:


At Union Station getting our postcards and dessert:


Goofing around chatting with Daddy on the phone:


This was on our last night at a pizza place. We were out with Aunt Vicki. We were laughing right after this- the waiter had complimented E on her drawing and asked how old she was. As he went back inside, Romi hollered after him- "And I'm three!". She didn't appreciate being left out of the dialogue!


On our way home- layover in Kansas City again. Don't count on lunch there if you're flying through...we made do with an $8 sandwich such as you'd find at a gas station. I figured they'd have a couple food places to choose from...no such luck!


Waiting for Daddy to pick us up. And waiting. Waiting. Haha- that's for you, J! :D


This is what I found driving our car to pick us up. Who is that??


He figured while we were away he'd try growing a goatee/mustache.


I wasn't a fan. Good thing he wasn't either- especially of the sparse mustache. That was done away with when we got home...he left the beginnings of the goatee for another week or two and then shaved that off too. Ahh- back to normal! :)

We enjoyed our trip. It was nice to be able to spend that amount of time there- I started to figure out where we were in the city when we'd drive around. I knew the way to her work, etc. Romi's pretty good with directions though- I'd just have to make sure she was in the backseat and she could point me the right way. Although I don't know if I'd trust her to get me to where I was needing to go...we'd probably mysteriously end up at Turtle Park or the beach! Lol.

I'll post again soon some pictures of Nana's garden from late this summer.

Summer Review

Update time!

I figured I'd share some pictures- a little of what we were up to this summer:

Mama-made suit:



Sundress with matchy doll dress:


New summer bed set with pillow I made to match (I can't remember the tutorial I used for the butterflies):


Short haircut!


Earrings for a birthday girl!


A brief vacation to Fort Sisseton in South Dakota:







While we're posting about Sammy...she had minor surgery this summer to remove some growths from around her eyes. She had to put up with the cone for a whole 10 days, but we spoiled her rotten at the apartment to make up for it!



Fall is in full swing here. We've started a new co-op every other Wednesday and are on week 3 of our own homeschool semester. Our favorite subject at the moment is Botany for science. We have plants and leaves and microscopes scattered about the house which suits E just fine. She's always collecting bits and pieces out on walks anyway, so we're just adding to them! J started a PT postal route along with the managing job and has been busy training in the past few weeks. We're settling into routines again and enjoying the cooler weather.

I'll post again soon with some pics from our 3 week trip to DC!

Romi's belated summer sewing and other randomness

J and E have been working on a popsicle treehouse this summer- they're having fun with it :) If Mr. Tree survives, it'll be going there.




Pics of the clothes I made for Romi...should have done them the beginning of summer, not the end! Some will fit next year, some can be worn into the fall and a few things went into the 'wore once or twice and there it is' pile :) All were traced from rtw...I cut them out on a Friday and had them sewn and boxed up/sent out by that Tues. Love sewing little clothes! The white tops as you can see are store bought...ran out of time and wanted them to arrive before their El Salvador trip!







The legs on these french terry shorts curl in on themselves after the first wash or two:



E's 2pc suit didn't work out as planned...I cut the ruffles off of the bottoms and it's now wearable but still 'eh'. I'll try again next year, maybe spring. I did find a rashguard swim top on clearance for a few bucks at Gap and made some matching swim shorts...they're not a perfect color/fabric match but good enough for us :)