Minky, minky everywhere...

A couple months ago, on the day Stella had an appointment to see the orthopedic surgeon, her favorite twirly skirt was dirty. What's a sewing mom to do? Whip out a new one of course! We went to the stash and I let her pick out any knit fabric she wanted (I didn't want to hem or finish edges). She ignored my urgings of one of my more normal knits and chose this light blue minky. Now, I can't blame her, it's incredibly soft and cuddly and the aqua color is gorgeous.

So anyways, I churned this sucker out in 10 minutes. (Don't look at the sewing too closely, speed was important, not quality.) It's a normal circle skirt with an elastic waistband. Here is a good circle skirt tutorial for woven fabrics. For knit I've used the Figgy's circle skirt tutorial in the past (but can't find it now). Both the minky and elastic are from Joann's.

After her surgery I found out that normal sleeves just wouldn't fit, I saw the opportunity to finally sew the red riding hood cape from the oliver + s Little Things to Sew book. I used the minky again and some thinner pink fleece from 'da stash (bought a couple years ago from the Rain Shed) that Stella also got to pick out. I put buttons on both sides so it's reversible. It's lovely! I'm glad I had a reason to sew this pattern.

Stella didn't want to model it, but Charlotte did!

Hey, that's a cupcake. I need to eat that.

Yep. Tastes good.

Often people look at me in amazement when Stella tells them I made something she's wearing and say, "When do you have time for that?" I usually just give a non-committal stutter and say something like, "Oh, well, you know..". The truth is that I make time for it. It's important to me and makes me happy, so I make time for it. I don't really understand why sewing in the evenings when my hubby's at work, or squeezing in a seam here and there throughout the day helps me feel better. You'd think getting adequate sleep would be a better option. Ha. Before we had kids, gardening filled that creative/constructive role for me, but gardening is much harder to do after the kids go to bed (or with the kids awake). I feel like I'm spinning my wheels when all I get done is cleaning a house that will get dirty again, fixing meals that will need fixing again and washing endless laundry. Truly endless laundry. I don't really enjoy that stuff anyway, and, consequently, I'm not very good at it. But sewing? I have great love for the struggle and triumph of sewing.

Where was I going with that? Ah yes, sewing these items helped me cope with my baby breaking her arm and having surgery for placing pins. Man, that would have been a faster way to write that.

(She's doing great now and all healed up.) Here's a couple extra cute kid photos just for fun.

Blurry, but sister love is so cute!