Cherry/Apple Dress

Lately every time I tell Jemima that I am making her a dress, she says, "Oh, for my wedding?" Not this time Jemima Rose.

Jem has a lot of skirts which she wore with leggings at preschool, but they would always end up wet on the bathroom floor (ew).

So I had the idea if I made her some dresses or tunics, this problem would be avoided.

This is another raglan dress from Wholegrain Baby and the fabric is an embroidered denim from Spotlight. I was concerned that it would be too heavy a fabric for this dress, but the more I worked with the fabric, the softer it became. It's not super drapey or anything, but the dress still turned out quite nicely.

I haven't touched my overlocker since I was crushed by morning sickness earlier this year, but happily it was already set to a roll hem and threaded with white cotton, so that's how I did my hems. (Which is great as I hate hemming... especially little sleeves.)

Best of all, she put it on with no fuss this morning. AND even posed for pictures. Phew!!

Fixer Upper

Jemmie got black paint on one of her t-shirts. I can't remember if it happened at preschool or home, but I do remember thinking, "Oh that'll come out." I don't know why I am always so optimistic about getting stains out, as I am not very good at doing it (not been a mum for long enough I guess!)

I have seen applique in the face of failed stain removal before and have always planned to give it a go.

I realised when I was finished I had decided to do a house or houses, but this is what I did without paying much attention obviously. A gratifying little project all in all.

I hope she will wear it. It won't fit much longer.

Getting back into things (a bit)

Yesterday I did some sewing. Hooray! A friend got married at the beginning of March and I haven't given her a gift yet. She is a friendly eco-warrier so I really wanted to make her something out of recycled/scrap materials.

Jemima was at preschool at the time of this revival of the sewing machine and Caleb sat with me and quietly did some crafting of his own. It was one of those nice moments, when all is well with the world.

I feel like I have to hold onto those moments on days like today where the fatigue was so overwhelming the TV went on again and again. I don't have huge objections to my kids watching TV, but I feel there is a limit. I surpassed that limit many times over today.

The solution? Early to bed, and a little begging session with Jemima to please not wake up mummy while it is still very dark. Also Chris is away on a 10 day stint in Las Vegas. So if he could come back, that would help muchly. Bring on Saturday.

Preschool Girl and Movie Boy and their tearful Mother

Jemima started preschool the other day. She was so ready to go that she barely said goodbye when we got there and didn't want to leave when I picked her up. It felt very strange to leave her there *cue misty eyes here* and hang out with Caleb, who is enjoying his first set of holidays ++.

I had planned to take Caleb to see the new Nanny McPhee movie- his first trip to the movies ever! He was so excited he was practically skipping along to the theatre, but alas, tickets all sold out! His big eyes widened and misted with tears, with the corners of his mouth down turned. But he pulled himself together and tried not to look too disappointed. I, on the other hand, let a tear or two escape on his behalf. I was so sad for him. And so very proud of him for behaving in such a grown up way.

We managed to go today, with Jemima happily hanging at Grandmas. And it was so worth the wait! The movie was lovely, but even better was enjoying this moment together with my son who was so sweet ensconced in the too big seat and getting chocolate choc top all over his face at 9:30 in the morning. I half watched the movie, half watched him watching the movie. And more than a few of those pesky tears escaped again. I could blame pregnancy hormones, but I am a sook descended from a long line of sooks, so I won't.

I'm busting to sew something, but just can't find the energy yet. I tried to make some baby booties for someone who had a little girl, but it was a fail as I did not read the instructions properly. I sewed from A to B instead of seam C. Which I didn't realise until pretty much the end. Nuts. Oh well. At least not much fabric went to waste! (And I didn't cry about it either in case you were wondering).