It's good to be FOUR (well, almost!)

So my 'baby' (for now) is going to turn four soon. And yes, I realize I've sewn and shown lots of items for her with her upcoming birthday! But tomorrow is her birthday party!! See, we're Catholic and tomorrow just HAPPENS to be the feast day of St. Lucy (which is my youngest's name), so it works out just perfectly!
And, what good is a birthday party without a number shirt to show the world just how old you are?!
And of course every birthday princess needs a super twirly skirt...

To complete the look of the outfit!!

Outfit specs: both patterns by Farbenmix, the shirt is the Zoe, the skirt is the Redondo. The dotty jersey on the top is from the Fabric Fairy and the skirt fabrics are from Fabrichound. The lace trim around the bottom of the skirt is some that a lovely lady at church gave to me from her (now passed on) mother's collection. The stars making up the '4' are velour iron-ons from Bunte Fabrics. The orange trim stuff over the stars (because I didn't think the stars stood out enough) is some sample stuff I got from the Farbenmix website :)

And I've done some other sewing as well... because I just can't seem to get enough of the Zoe pattern (gosh, it's so fast and easy!!!).. a shirt for my middle daughter...

and a shirt for the oldest....

Plenty more Christmas sewing to be done... but... tomorrow is party day!

My Christmas Eve babe....

My youngest (well, currently the youngest earthside) was born on Christmas Eve. But I think I said that before... anyway, I haven't normally been terribly themey about it all, but this year with some fabric I got in the mail (especially yesterday's haul), I couldn't resist.
So... I took an Amelie.... (which isn't NEARLY this bright of a red.. ugh.. taking pictures at night is loathesome, but I couldn't wait!)And a Nala top.... And some Nala pants.....

Put the Nala together....
And then put the Amelie over it all for a complete (and sweet?!) Christmas outfit!

Now for the specs: red velour, white interlock and red/white stripes purchased from http://www.sewzannes.com and the Amelie and Nala patterns were purchased directly from the Farbenmix website: http://www.farbenmix.de/shop/ . I'm *so* completely in love with this for some reason!

oh, and I made this all this evening -- even with my three little "helpers" in my oh-so-tiny (and messy) sewing room! They did manage to entertain me (while I was listening in to their games) as they played dentist... #3: "What are you doing to me?" #2: "I don't know, dentist stuff! But you have to be good or you don't get a prize!"

It was quite enjoyable... until they got too tired... and luckily, I was just wrapping up my sewing on this outfit!

Birthday sewing!

It's tricky to have a birthday on Christmas Eve. I don't speak from my own experience, but the youngest has her birthday then and sometimes it's tricky to get around.
So... this year I wanted to sew something really nice for her. She's gotten some pretty stellar clothes over the years (this will be her fourth birthday this year!), but I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone...
So I went with a jacket. I've never sewn one before in 4.5 years of sewing!
I chose the Jade pattern by Farbenmix because it seemed pretty approachable. Like maybe I could knock that thing out....
And it probably would have been SUPER amazing had I actually checked on how much fabric it would take BEFORE cutting out pieces. Instead, I ended up with not enough to make a hood at all..... so, I improvised with a collar. It's not perfect, but I'll know better what to do next time!
And I don't have snaps on it yet.. but those will come. I still have three weeks until her birthday!
The first picture is a more accurate portrayal of the fabric I used:

And next is the jacket layed out on top of another pattern I'm tracing out (the Laguna skirt if you're curious.. I've made one before, but only in the smallest size and that was the only one I traced out... so I was tracing out a larger size!).
The sleeves really aren't wonky. I just have a knack for not laying things out straight I guess!

And for a few more specs.... The outer fabric is a GORGEOUS stretch Baby Nay corduroy.. really, I would kill for some more of this.. it is such a fine baby wale cord that it feels almost like velvet! I can't recall where I got it (woe is me!), but I know it was a few years ago. The lining of the jacket is some of the softest velour ever (http://www.sewzannes.com).

And the pattern I purchased from http://www.banberryplace.com .. I can't remember if it was in German or English... I didn't actually read the instructions!

Three....

My baby is three today.
It's still Christmas Eve for about 45 more minutes in my timezone, so it's still her birthday. My little unicorn (see... oh, about four posts back) is three today.

Sitting here, alone in the living room with the Christmas tree lit and stockings to be stuffed I feel so eternally grateful that sweet Lucy Margaret is here to celebrate Christmas with us this year. It's still quite raw when I allow myself to go back to when she was sick and it's like a fire hydrant of fear, sorrow and tears is opened if I really allow myself to feel the emotions that I went through during that time. One week that still brings me to my knees.

I don't look back on it so that I can constantly live in the past. I keep it all in my heart so that my view of life is altered. If chocolate milk is spilled down the front of a dress -- even a dress I made and put *hours* into making -- those hours mean nothing if the little girl wearing that dress isn't around ever. A stain is a stain and it's simply a mark of living.

Happy birthday, Lucy. I love you more than you'll ever know.