Family BBall

Our 2 youngest children were home for their respective spring breaks this past week. We enjoyed them a lot and ate, watched bball games, watched it rain cats and dogs, and tried to stay dry.
Finally on Saturday it stopped raining for a little while and so the little girls wanted Uncle Michael to teach them how to play a little ball. LK wanted to learn dribbling skills and LG was just going to make a few baskets.

Yea!!! You go girl!
Then the little guy had to get in on all the action (or his dad thought so).

What a cutie.
Thanks MM!

In My Arrogant Opinion

NCAA Mens Basketball has always been a part of my life. When I was 9 years old my brother, who is 9 years my senior, started playing college ball for BYU and so we traveled to many games in Provo as well as a few other places the next 4 years. Good memories.
My other brother coached at a small college for about 15 years until a few years ago, and most of the 15 nephews are into the game both physically and mentally, including my own Michael who has played on the U of U team this past year.
So, you would think that this family of mine would do well when it comes to predicting the winners of the big tournament at the end of the season which is dubbed March Madness.
Well, you would be wrong.
Out of 34 of us Kelly's participating in this years ESPN challenge, not one of us has a pick left in the final 4 that has a win predicted. So no more possible points to be added to anyones total.          
 Nada, Zero, Zip!
I have UConn in the mix but they aren't supposed to win, so I can't get any points for them.
However ..... I am the WINNER!!!!!!! Yes IMAO (in my arrogant opinion) is in 1st place.
Yes you heard correctly. I WON!   With the tournament not over for nearly a week I am the winner from all the other rounds.

So, I get the coveted prize. A basketball cut out to look like a helmet or something. I'll show you when I receive it from Kara my DIL, who was the winner last year. (We are keeping it in Nor Cal if we possibly can.)
Looks like I won the immediate family bracket as well. I actually get $ for this one from the Hubby.  Think I'll buy an ice cream machine.

Smilebox

I made this smilebox to send to MM and Katz.
Thought I'd share it here as well.

This greeting customized with Smilebox

Deserted (Again)

My middle child has just up and left Nor Cal and taken her little family away from our midst.
They are moving all the way across the country to Virginia, near our nations capital.
They have lived here since the two of them graduated from college nearly 3 years ago. We have been able to enjoy the 2 new babies as they started their sojourn on this earth, and be apart of their daily lives.

(Cossette, in a hand me down talked about here.)

I am going to miss these little cute, chubby cheeks.

And this puddle jumping girlie.
"I sad."
Immensely!!!! Don't you feel bad for me?

Million Mile Flyer

Not me, but The Hubby has just received this high honor from United Airlines. He has been on flights around the USA as well as the world for our entire married life. Some jobs that he has had were particularly useful for adding miles to the United account, yet others were just somewhat useful.
You ask what this important honor gives him in the end? Well apparently he will always move to the front of the line, get upgrades easily, and just generally be waited on hand and foot by all United employees.
He gets this service now, but it's nice to know it will be a lifetime benefit.

I get a little something out of this too, as I travel with him often and they have to be nice to me, give me good seat assignments, and wait on me as well.  I guess when I'm not with him I'm just a regular old passenger, but as we age I think I'll be with him more and more. Pretty cool, huh?

One million is a lot of miles.

215

Yep, that's my new bowling high score.

I'm the middle line score and you can see that I didn't start out my first frame with even a spare, but in the middle of the game I had 4 strikes in a row. You have to have them in a row to be able to get the score up high. My previous high score was 199 about 3 years ago.
My neck is still killing me constantly, but I do think I'm getting straighter in my posture and normal body mechanics. Perhaps this bowling game is reflective of that.
The Hubby came home with ...

He's proud of my stellar accomplishment. What a cutie. I actually thought the cake was a reminder of something else, and we had a very good laugh with Kathryn about it. This banana cake from "Icing on the Cake," is one of my fave's. Too bad I'm giving up sugar for lent.
(No I didn't convert to Catholicism)

K's New (Copied) Dress

My DD found this dress that she wanted online. The shop is called Shabby Apple and she wondered if she could get out of buying it and have me make it up for her.

So I looked for some grey pinstriped wool while I was in NYC in December and found this great wool with a little added spandex. I also found a fairly heavy, green, satin looking fabric which also included about 3 percent spandex so I thought I'd try that too because DD wanted to use the same colors that she had seen in the picture. 

I used an old pattern that I had in my stash. McCall's 2392.

This pattern is a basic princess cut sheath dress and I just changed the neckline to a v type in the front center and added extra seam allowance in the back for pleating.

Honestly, I don't sew much fashion fabric, because most of the things I make for the little girls are out of cotton quilting or heirloom type fabrics.  Since I used to sew more of my own adult type clothing in the 70's and 80's the fabrics have changed considerably, so needless to say, I was a bit hesitant to cut into this beautiful wool.

The grey color is not too dark and not too light, and I pleated it in box pleats every inch for the bottom back of the dress.

I also put one pleat in the sleeves from top to bottom, and 3 pleats across the back of the bodice. The tie goes seamlessly into the collar at the neckline and can be tied in a simple knot or a small bow.

From the top of the back.

From the bottom of the back.

It fits well. (Check out the babies ruffle buns)

And looks good from all angles. I like the heavier green fabric than the original dress from "Shabby Apple," but because it doesn't hang as limp, I shortened the tie so it wouldn't be too bulky.

This little C looks cute in E's hand me down that I made about 18 months ago.

FOS? Really?

The Hubby asked me last night why I don't like scouting. I say I really don't not like scouting, I just don't like how we have to write them a check for doing nothing.
I never write the YW program at church a check and they don't "do nothing."
I never write the Primary organization a separate check, and they seem to keep themselves occupied quite nicely.
So here's my basic beef and I still wrote them a check 2 minutes ago. The scouting program, in my humble opinion, has nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so why do they/we continue to support them. I think without the church member contributions BSA may just blow away in the wind.
I do think it is a good organization, but I'm really not their "friend."
Rant over.

Fleece Jacket

Winters in Nor Cal call for a light coat/heavy jacket quite often. The little dress I made the other day for Lexy Lou is a bit chilly to wear on its own so I thought I'd make a cheap yet cuddly coat to go with it.

When she saw this fabric she was so disappointed that I hadn't chosen pink, but I told her it would make the pink  of the dress stand out. Do you think that tactic worked to make her feel better about the boring blue color? I found the McCalls pattern 5743 on a dollar rack at the fabric store and the polyester fleece was on sale for 5$ per yard. This is when sewing can be cheaper than buying off the rack.

In the 70's I sewed for two reasons.
1.  To save money
2.  To get long enough clothes for my legs and arms

Sewing in this century is for different reasons. It no longer is cheaper because costs for ready made have decreased so much over the past 30 years. I actually think my kids spend about the same $ for their childrens' clothing as I did for them when they were little 30 years ago. And I made 1980's $.

I could go off on a couple of tangents about this. Namely:
1. They can buy way more stuff for the money and more stuff = too much STUFF
or
2.  Taking care of stuff vs throwing it away blows my mind
or
3. Kid's appreciation factor goes way down when they can just have everything
or
4. They are really lucky to be able to buy cute cheap thing for their darling children

I usually don't sew for this particular reason anymore (to save money) because I'm often disappointed that you can find cheaper clothes already made. In this instance though, I think all you can find elsewhere is pink (insert another tangent here), so I opted to sew it for the reason of originality.

 No edges to finish on this thick fleece. Just sew and go.

I love the sleeves. A fun pattern for a fun girlie. Yes, she has been in our dress up box again.

Pom Pom Hat

The jumper dress I made big Lexy had to have a coat and hat to match,  for one reason I had yarn that went with it (remember my problem with matchy-matchy stuff), and another because I had made a hat like this for Stephanie last year, so I already had this cute little pattern.

 She helped me make the pom poms. (or she wanted to for about 15 seconds) and she thinks it's okay that the hat is a little big for her.  Easy to please.

 I guess she can wear it for a long time that way. Like the rest of her life.
She is definitely my most engaged model, don't you agree.
Matching coat up next.

Apron Dress

My eldest granddaughter really liked the apron dress I made for her cousin at Christmas time, so I thought I'd make her one too. 
I started with a black background cotton fabric because I don't do that often enough for as much as I like dark backgrounds in little girls dresses. (I either like dark or light ones ... tee hee)

I thought the butterflies were a cute little girl loving addition as well.  Then I picked a couple of contrasting fabrics that would make a cute matching feel to the dress. 


I am trying to not do things so matchy-matchy but I think my mother engrained it into me when I was too impressionable to just forget it all together. 


For instance, I see some young designers putting maybe an orange and yellow fabric with a pink and green that have nothing to do with each other AND IT LOOKS AWESOME. I just have a hard time doing it myself. I'll let you know when I achieve this look sometime.

I fussy cut out the shapes of butterflies and flowers and ironed them onto the white apron that goes on top of the main dress.

I used a heat setting jewelry tool to put on these cute little gems. CaMillie and I bought it together in GJ last month. It is kind of a cute effect. (that's the right way to use that word isn't it?)

I sewed on ribbon trims and button centers of flowers. 

 She loves it. Thinks it's very whimsical. We watched Alice in Wonderland together and she thought the dress went with the story quite nicely.

She obviously has been into my dress up box to make the whole tiara look complete.
Always having fun.