I don’t know if you’ve seen what is going on at Grosgrain this month, but it’s pretty amazing. Kathleen has asked bloggers from all over (me included!) to draw up a sewing pattern, so everyday until June you get a fabulous free pattern! All of this is working up to a new blog for Grosgrain and more free patterns–hers! If you haven’t seen the amazing dresses she’s made you are in for a treat and you will be just as excited as I am about making them.

see what I mean? and her kid’s clothes? even better:

You can see all of her creations here. And you can check out my pattern for Knot Shorts while you are at it. Maybe even make some or at least put them on your list for KCWC. Do you have a list yet?

Before easter is gone and we’re on to the next holiday (MayDay! MayDay!) I wanted to show you this little project my kids and I did. A little while back, I saw this picture:

and I thought it was the happiest thing ever. Eggs in the mail! How awesome is that? The photo led me to this post on giverslog about how to send plastic eggs in the mail. So I picked up some big plastic eggs and we stuffed them full of balloons, chocolate eggs, bunny tattoos, and confetti. Then we taped them shut and took them to the post office. My mailman was little wary and very picky about labeling, but in the end he stamped them and send them on their way.

We didn’t send them far, mostly around town, but I’ve heard they made it and were well received. Yay! It’s got me excited to see what else I can mail. At giverslog, AmberLee has a whole category called happy mail, where she mails all kinds of awesome things: a shovel, a frisbee, a bottle. Getting mail is still super exciting for me–probably because growing up in the sticks it was the only thing that happened all day–but it just got so much better.

You say you’ll never dress your kids in matching outfits, but then you have a bunch of kids and realize how freaking cute it is when they wear matching outfits. So you do it even though you know they will hate you for it later.

The bow tie is of the fake variety. I made it with the help of a lemon squeezy tutorial. The tie tie is the real kind. The pattern is the little boy tie from the purl bee. I made one last year for easter as well. It’s a very mediative process, making a tie, lots of hand sewing and ironing. Sounds no fun, which is why I forgot how much I love it.

The whole orange/floral match matchy thing actually came from this dress, which came from a garage sale last summer that my husband and daughter went to. I wouldn’t have ever bought it and he doesn’t remember buying it, but whatever, we had it and it fits perfectly. I decided the tie was the worse bit about it, so I cut it off and made a new one.

Not perfect, but at least better. The orange headband was a last minute addition after my daughter cut herself some super de-duper short bangs. Right in time for grandma to see. Nice.

We had a lovely Easter with lots of  little kid cuteness and a beautiful brunch too. I hope your weekend was full of baskets stuffed with candy and not too many candy induced meltdowns.

I need a little help picking out material for curtains. Sadly this is the story of my life, which is why all the curtains in my house are white. I can not commit to a fabric. Ridiculous. The kids’ room is too white for white curtains. And they go to bed before it’s dark out these days, so they need a little light blockage action if they are ever going to get to sleep. Here are the windows (sorry one is a before picture, the other is a during): window one, window two. The fabrics I’m thinking about are pictured above, they are:

1. nani iro painting muji canvas
2. joel dewberry herringbone
3. nani iro saaaa saaa (it looks like I randomly typed some letters, but that’s really what it’s called)
4. alexander henry pirate grid

I want something dark blue and something hand drawn-ish.  So vote away! Tell me what to do. My kids will never sleep if you don’t tell me which to get. Really. And if you have any other suggestions, I love to hear them.

This is all a part of me redoing my kids room and you helping. The posts about the process so far are Before and During.

The winner of Teach Yourself VISUALLY Crafting with Kids is #7 : Krista who said

April 19, 2011 at 5:35 pm

i really like your version with the stick! we would love to win

Congratulations Krista! I’ll be in touch with you soon.

The photo doesn’t have to do with anything except that I am an out of work baker who uses her bench scraper to pick up legos. Also, I am a genius.