First Communion! and more!

First... a baby picture to draw you all in.... Here's Hazel Jane in some sweet pajamas I made her. She's *gasp* already two months old! Where does the time go!? (for those curious, the top is from the New Conceptions Baby Essentials patterns and the pants are Little Comet Tails Cresent Moon Yoga Pants)
Next, I have a baby shower to attend tonight for a dear friend I've known since the fifth grade. She has a little boy and just had a little girl, so of course, pink was well in order....
First, an outfit made of a shirt from the Zwergenverpackung pattern complete with pants from the Little Comet Tails Cresent Moon Yoga Pants pattern. I love these two patterns DEARLY!

Next, I took the Zwergenverpackung shirt pattern and lengthened it (as I have done many times thus far!) to make a sweet sleep sack. I love NO SNAPS, especially for the bazillions of diaper changes newborns require!

And now... First Communion! My oldest made her First Holy Communion on May 2nd and I had promised long, long ago to make her dress, though I'm certain I didn't think of the logistics of a tiny baby and sewing... and that made things a little tricky, but I got it done!

I chose to use the Manhattan pattern from the "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" book (I don't have it right by me but I think it's by Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn). I had never sewn this pattern before and.. oh my... the sheer number of pieces (44 in total) was enough to nearly make me faint! But I knew it would be beautiful and perfect, so I did it! The dress really is amazing and it's fully lined too, which is why there are so many darn pieces. Some pictures pick up the detail of the white-on-white fabric I used and I think the butterflies are just perfect.

One of my favorite parts was the back detail...

Full back shot...

My model, fanning out the fullness of the dress (note, it wasn't quite finished here.. I hadn't added the lace around the bottom hem, but she was so eager to try it on that I had to let her!)

All decked out with veil and all... the lace trim on the hem IS here now!

And for all the fanciness, this is a much more accurate portrayal of my sweet, oldest daughter!

Gosh.. this barely touches what I've done...

So.. I was feeling in a girly mood a few nights ago while sewing... or maybe it was sheer laziness. I didn't want to change out the pink serger thread. So, I just went with it.
First up, another lovely shirt from the Zwergenverpackung pattern. And even better? Something about the two of these fabrics together makes me giddy inside. The main body of the shirt is from Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic rib knit. It's lovely and drapey and perfect. And the neckline fabric is some lovely Campan jersey (Euro import) and it's lovely. Dreamy. I love this shirt!

I'm pretty sure every gender-specific outfit I make leaves me saying, "Oh gosh, I hope I get to use this!" .. because I go and make a sweet outfit like this and it makee me lust for a girl. Sweet purple fairies and a gorgeous velour that even has a bit of a fine sheen to it. Shirt from the New Conceptions Baby Essentials pattern.. so is the hat (just modified.. quite a bit).. and the pants are Little Comet Tails Crescent Moon Yoga Pants.. minus the crescent.

More gorgeous Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic fabric. *swoon* Same pattern as the above.

And.. for fun...

ME!

My due date calculations put me at 40 weeks today. My midwife came up with a due date of February 27th. I'll go with that (which means 39 weeks, 4 days today). Either way. Full.freakin.term. And I'm so ready. Although I guess I could just keep on sewing..... What else am I going to do to fill my time?!?

I can't wait to meet this little one! Hopefully soon!

Just ducky

Bad slacker blogger I've been lately. Shame! Because I have been sewing.. especially since we have laundry drainage issues and I have to be down there whenever I'm washing a load to empty out some water... lucky for me, the laundry room is right beside my sewing room, so I might as well pop on over and sew while I'm doing laundry!

I've recently acquired the Zwergenverpackung pattern from my beloved Farbenmix. Because I certainly didn't have enough patterns already.

There are more options for clothing than I've explored yet because I can't get over how cute and fun the little shirt pattern is to sew!!

So first, a ducky sort of outfit made with a tiny, remnant scrap I got in a scrap box long ago with the PRR "Duck, duck, goose" on it. A.dor.a.ble, I think. The remnant piece is so narrow though, that I was worried I wouldn't even be able to get a sleeve from it! But I *narrowly* managed to do so!

So, the whole outfit in its sweetness....
And then a close-up of the sweet little applique!

And then.. oh my! I love that I thought outside of my normal hurry-up-and-sew-to-get-it-done mentality and really upped the cuteness quotient here!

Another shirt from the same Zwergenverpackung pattern and sleeves and applique piece are again from fabric from the PRR line!

I hope it's clear, especially in the close-up, that this says "BEBE" ...

The pants are more from the Little Comet Tails Crescent Moon Yoga Pants pattern. Easy peasy.

And dangit, sooooo darn cute!

My "guestimated due date" is three weeks away... and from here on out, I have the 'green light' by my midwife to birth at any time! Wow!

(but really, I'm okay if this babe bakes a bit longer.. I'm still torn on names... and really, I'd love to get a bit more sewing done first!)

I'm soooo back in the saddle again!!!

I really have been sewing! I just kind of.. um.. *forgot* (yes! gasp!) about updating here.. but I'm so excited that the sewing bug has found me once again!!!!

Mostly I've been sewing for babe #4 that's busy baking away (though not much time left! I'm 28 weeks today which means just 12 weeks left! eek!)... No clue on whether this is a girl or boy .. I swear, my intuition must be broken.. Sooo... I've made outfits for either!

First up, one part of a two-piece ensemble that is one of my favorites EVER! I've made a TON of these outfits because they're SOOOO cute and they do fit well! (I've tried them on my nephew.. well, when he was small enough!).

The tops and hats are all from the New Conceptions Baby Essentials pattern and the pants are from the Little Comet Tails Crescent Moon Yoga Pants pattern (but for now I've omitted the crescent moon).

These first two outfits feature polka dot and gorgeous Euro floral-paisley fabric from http://www.banberryplace.com and the two pairs of pants are a gorgeous red french terry from http://www.sewzannes.com

Next up is a super sweet outfit of some of my favorite giraffes! The trim on the top is a brown cotton lycra and the jersey giraffes are also from SewZanne's ... the pants are a brown french terry I got in a trade years ago ;)

And finally (for this post!) some fun dotty owls! The print is off a bit (the white part is messed up), but I still love it .. and this soft brown cotton lycra is just PERFECT!

Yes, there's been plenty more sewing going on, but errands still need to be run, so I'm off!