Road Trip: Black Hills, South Dakota Part 1

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. This also began the tenting portion of our adventure. After we drove for a few hours we camped for the night in Lusk, Wyoming. This was our best tenting night even though we were at a "campground" sandwiched in between the highway and railroad tracks. We stopped early enough to set up the tend in the light and when we woke up the sun had warmed up the tent. Little did we know what was to come or we would have enjoyed that nights sleep much more.


Now on to South Dakota. I really knew nothing about this area before planning this trip. Sure I had heard about it but that was about it. I just knew that I really wanted to see Mt. Rushmore since we were going to be in the area. This area was so beautiful and fascinating!

Our first stop was Jewel Caves outside of Custer. All I can say is WOW!! We were able to take a 1 hour and 20 minute Scenic Tour of the cave. It was amazing! My children loved it. They have constructed a path for the entire tour. You walked on either raised metal pathways with railings or on what looked like cement walkways. There were lots of stairs but I didn't mind since the surroundings were so fascinating. After the tour the kids got a junior ranger book to fill out. They learned a lot about the caves doing these books and really took ownership of their adventure. After they finished they were "sworn in" to become junior rangers and were given a badge. This was an awesome experience that none of us will ever forget.

The picture was taken from here since I didn't take any pictures while touring the cave.

When we went in to the caves it was nice and sunny. When we came out it was pouring buckets of rain. The day was full of surprises. After Jewel Caves we stopped for a bit in Custer, SD. It was a small, cute little town. We ate lunch at a brand new bistro that had awesome pie.

Then we were off to Mt. Rushmore hoping it wasn't raining there. I was so excited and I was surely not disappointed! I was in awe from the first spotting of the face of the mountain driving by.


I wasn't expecting the huge parking garage when we drove in. It was shocking. We went up the stairs out of the garage to see this...I don't know what it was about this memorial but I was in awe from the very moment we stepped in. I loved every minute. I thought it just got more and more impressive as we went along the path through the Avenue of the flags and got up close to the mountain at the Grand View Terrace. Thankfully it had stopped raining. You can see the rain on the faces. It almost looked as if they were crying.



My kids picked up a junior ranger book here also. It had a lot of fun activities to do while at the memorial. One of the activities was a bingo board with lots of different facts they were to find out. We went on a ranger talk to learn about the mountain. My kids were fascinated by all that the ranger had to say. They learned a ton about the artist and the 4 presidents. They could still tell you who Gutzon Borglum was and possibly which president had the Panama Canal constructed. What an educational experience!


Down the elevator, under the Grand View Terrace, was the LincolnBorglum Visitors Center. There was so much to see and learn. My children loved the exhibit where they could push buttons and watch the mountain blow up on the tv. Oh, so easily entertained. They were "sworn in" again here to become junior rangers at this park and picked up another badge. They were lovin' it!


We spent about 3 hours the first day and then went back again the next day to see the Dakota, Lakota, Nakota village and spent a couple more hours looking around. I was sad to have to go. I thoroughly enjoyed this visit and would like to go back someday.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Stay tuned for more travel in South Dakota and some crafting coming up soon.

Until next time...

My Favorite Girl is 9 Today!

I can hardly believe that my firstborn child is 9 years old. Time has gone so fast. It has been quite an exciting ride. She is such a blessing from God and I am so thankful to have her!


She decided on a ballerina princess party for our extended family gathering. On Monday she asked me to make her a tutu to go with the theme. Of course I said I would. Armed with Joann's coupons we went to purchase pink and purple tulle. My original idea was to make the no sew version. But time became and issue and I decided that I could sew them up faster than I could cut 100's of strips (the plan was to make 3 tutus-one for her and her 2 and 5 year old girl cousins) and tie them on to the elastic. I was right. I was able to make each tutu in about an hour.


The skirts for my daughter and my 5 year old niece (not pictured) were made of about 4 yards of both pink and purple. The skirt for the 2 year old was about 2 1/2 yards each of pink and purple. I cut the tulle different for the 2 year old's skirt and I didn't like it as much so I will give directions for how I made the skirts for the older two. Construction methods were the same for all three skirts.

Tutu Tutorial

1. I cut the tulle in half lengthwise and then in half lengthwise again so I had 4 long strips of pink tulle and 4 long strips of purple tulle.

2. I stacked all the tulle on top of each other. I put all the pink on top of the purple for one skirt and then all the purple on top of the pink for the other. I found that the best thing was to pin the edge that I was going to sew together. It was easier to get the edges together before going to my machine.

3. I put my binder that clean finishes both edges and makes a 3/8" binding on my coverstitch machine. I used 1 1/2" strips of satin to bind one long edge. I decided on binding the edge to keep the tulle from scratching the girls.


The edge looked like this when finished.


4. I sewed a line of stitching about 3/4" under the binding. This became my casing for elastic.

5. Half inch elastic was threaded through the casing.

6. Lastly, I serged the sides to close up the skirt.

My daughter and her cousins loved the tutus. They were quite the hit.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

August 2009 Burda

I received my new Burda mag in the mail at the end of last week. I was thrilled to see it. I wasn't expecting it so it was quite a fun surprise. I flipped through it immediately and saw some things that I just loved. A few I will definitely make.

Jacket 119--I loved the unique styling of the collar. I am not sure what I have to make this out of but I would really like to make this one.




















Blouse 104-- I will definitely make this one! I have been wanting to make a shirt like this one and was thinking I would have to change up a pattern I already have to add the ruffle. I think I may make this out of a stripe fabric that I have had for a while but waiting for just the right pattern. I liked it in the denim also but I currently do not have any lightweight denim appropriate for a shirt.
Skirt 107--I love the pleats and the buttons and the belt. I guess I just love everything about this skirt. I am not sure what I will make it out of or what I will wear it with but this a must sew!





















Up until this magazine I have never been impressed with Burda's childrens clothes. The are never sized big enough for my daughter and I usually didn't like the styling. That all changed with this issue.

Jacket 139--When I turned the page and first saw this jacket I about dropped my teeth. I LOVED it so much. I couldn't wait to show it to my daughter who would look absolutely adorable in this jacket. Much to my dismay she wasn't as impressed as I was. I am going to make it anyway and make her wear it!


Skirt 145--This one I was a bit unsure of. I think it would look really cute with the jacket. Maybe in matching material. This one is a possibility but not certain.


Dress 141--I wasn't lovin' this dress when I first saw it. My daughter on the other hand loved it. So I will probably make this one to match some of the fun tights she already has. But it will be without the buttons since my daughter didn't like them.


I already have so much to sew and so little time. I have just now added quite a few more things. Such is the life of a grand planning seamstress. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Burda 8-2008-103

I purchased the Aug 208 Burda mag last year mainly because of this pattern. I loved it immediately. Since I bought it in the fall it was too cold for such short sleeves so I put it off until this summer. Well, this summer has been so busy that I am only now getting around to making it. I know that summer is almost over for us but I wanted to do this anyway. Maybe I will get to wear it once or twice before it gets too cold. I got this fun polyester silky polka dot fabric back in March from Fabric Depot in Portland specifically for this project. I love using fabric that I got while on a trip. The actual fabric is a little more burgandy than red.


I have the pieces cut and I am hoping to get some time to start sewing this up soon.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Road Trip: Denver, Colorado

Next on our route was Ft. Collins, Colorado to see my husbands family. As usual we took some day trips down to Denver to do stuff with the kids. Naturally one of my favorite stops was Denver Fabrics. I got quite a few nice fabrics. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures. I was too busy fondling fabric to remember pictures.

We took the kids to a few fun places. Most of which we had been to before but had so much fun we made sure we did them again.

Overlooking Denver from the foothills

1. Denver Children's Museum

We visit this museum every time we are in Denver. When our kids were younger they LOVED the downstairs young child exhibit. This area was so much fun. There was a tree with all the things need to play house. There was costumes, a boat that rocked, and many other things I cannot remember. My kids were very disappointed that they were all over the age limit of 4 (I think) for this area. There was still plenty for them to do. There is a nice fire truck exhibit where my boys dressed up like firemen and pretended to fight fires.

We spent most of our time upstairs. I tried to get my kids into the art area but they weren't interested. They wanted to go to the invention area. This area has a bunch of cubbies with an assortment of tools. The children take recycled materials and can fashion them into anything they want. They do have some idea sheets to give ideas but the children are free to do whatever they want. My children started to make some things but were really just interested in sawing wood.
The next area my children loved (and remembered from the last time they were there 3 years ago) was the grocery store/diner. They loved shopping for groceries with their little carts, buying them from each other at the cash register and putting them back. They also really enjoyed taking orders and making food for mom and dad.


They spent some time at the small basketball court shooting baskets. Their other favorite area was an animal habitat playscape. They put on different animal costumes and then ran around up hills, through burrows, under trees, in and out of nests. This area was all about learning about different woodland animals' habitats, food and predators. They had a blast!


2. The Butterfly Pavillion

My husband and I had been to the Butterfly Pavillion years ago before we had children. We remembered that it was quite fun so we decided to take the kids. It was judged great by 2 out of 3 children. We didn't know that our oldest son would be terrified of the butterflies.

The first stop is a really neat room that has all kinds of different bugs. There was so many to explore that we do not get a chance to see. Seeing all the different ways that bugs camoflage themselves was fascinating.

The next room had some ocean creatures. The kids loved touching some starfish.

After the ocean room you can go into the butterfly pavillion. I LOVED this part. It is so fantastic! It is a beautiful pavillion full of trees, plants, flowers and of course butterflies. Butterflies from all over the world, in so many different beautiful colors fly everywhere. My daughter tried very hard to get one to land on her. This was so much fun!


The last room at the butterfly pavillion is a fun area for kids to climb, and play and learn more about different bugs. They also have hundreds of real (but dead) bugs and butterflies behind glass so you can get a close up look.


3. Hammond's Candies (featured on HGTV "How's It Made")

We toured this candy company a couple of years ago and wanted to go back again with my husbands family and when my children were a little older and could enjoy it a bit more. This is a fun step back in time. They make old fashioned candy with old fashioned methods on old fasioned machines. They make ribbon candy on a little contraption that is over 100 years old. This picture shows how they aerate the candy before it is shaped into candy canes and lollipops. This is a fast tour but it is fun to watch (and it's something free).

Of course the trip isn't complete without a stop in the candy store. :)


4. Red Rocks Park and Ampitheater


We decided to go to see Red Rocks as we were driving by on the highway. We were headed to Denver Fabrics so we decided to go after (couldn't take away any precious shopping time since they were going to close soon). I didn't really know what to expect. It was fascinating. The rock formations were beautiful. There are some hiking trails through the area but we unfortunately didn't have time to hike them. We drove up to the ampitheater but couldn't actually go in and see it because they were getting ready for a punk rock concert. We walked down a path from the top around the side to the bottom of the ampitheater where we could see in a bit. It was quite an amazing sight! In the picture you can kind of see the rows of stairs. These are the seats that look down onto the stage. The stage is backed by a huge rock as well as the sides. The rock formations make a natural ampitheater. It was really fun to see. I think going to a concert there would be awesome. Oh, here is a cool picture of part of the road up to the ampitheater.


I didn't really intend for these posts to become a long travel guide. Well, I hope this helps someone out there with a little trip planning. There are so many other fun things to do in Denver. These were just the ones we hit on this trip. Next time we are going to plan ahead to go on a tour of the Denver Mint. I think that would be really fun.

Hopefully my next post will involve some crafting.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Road Trip: Omaha, Nebraska

I have been sewing but don't really have any pictures to show. So I thought I would show you some pictures from our road trip earlier this summer.

We flew to Minneapolis where we began our adventure. We stayed the night near the airport and managed to make it back to the airport to get our rental car before noon. We didn't reserve a minivan ahead of time because they were soooo expensive. We were praying that we would be able to upgrade when we got there. Every other trip they always asked if we wanted to upgrade so we were hoping they would do it again. God provided and were were able to get a minvan. This was a very good thing because I don't think my husband would have made it through this trip in one piece if we had to be in a car with three kids in the back seat together.

So we left Minneapolis and headed to see my brother and his family in Omaha, NE. We made it in one piece in about 6 hours. We got to visit that night and go to Famous Dave's BBQ. We had been told over and over how great this restaurant was but now we finally got to see for ourselves. It was good. :) The next day we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. OH MY GOODNESS!!! This zoo was AWESOME! I have been to a few zoos and this is by far my favorite. I liked it even better than the San Diego Zoo. They have some of the most fantastic exhibits. As you walk in you see this great big dome. It was the desert dome and it was AMAZING!

Inside the dome you walked around the large mountain looking at different birds and animals. You surroundings were just like in a desert with sand, and desert plants and flowers. After you fininshed in the top (which was hot like the desert too) you went downstairs. All I can say is WOW! First you go inside the mountain into the bat caves. There were so many different kinds of bats. Then you walk into a bayou. Literally a bayou. You walk on raised wooden walkways over the water in which alligators and other animals live. They have sunken boats, a run down shack, and plants to make it look so real.

This zoo is half inside and half outside. They had so many neat exhibits I can't remember them all. The other one I really remember is the rainforest. It was EXACTLY what you would think a rainforest would look and feel like. The even had a fun rope bridge to walk over and hidden paths to higher lookouts.


Somewhere in one of the building was a bunch of monkey exhibits. The gorilla one was really fun. They had these bubbles so you could see better. There was even a tunnel you could go through that came up under the exhibit so that you were kind of in the middle with a bubble over your head. It was really fun.



This was such a fun trip to the zoo. I would love to go again. Someday we will get back there to visit my brother and a trip to the zoo will definitely be in the plans.

Hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time...

What have I been up to this summer?

This...


And this...



And this...


And this...



While watching this...

This...


This...


And waiting for this...


And this doesn't even include pictures from our little over two week driving trip to Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, and South Dakota. What a busy summer!!!

Hope you are having a great summer too!

Until next time...

An Easter Dress for my Favorite Girl

Obviously this was finished a while ago. I am finally getting around to posting. This ended up being a pretty quick project especially since it was smocked (I started pleating the fabric--the first step in this project--6 days before Easter. Needless to say I was under a bit of stress to get this one done). After I was finished I was quickly on to other things and didn't get around to sharing it with you until now.

My inspiration for my daughter's Easter dress came from the latest issue of Australian Smocking. I love to make smocked dresses for my daughter. She is getting older and I wanted a style that was smocked but more sophisticated than the usual smocked dress. The Australian Smocking issue had a black floral sheath style dress that was beautiful. I didn't want to spend $15 on the issue since I only wanted the one pattern. I didn't think that a pattern for a simple a-line sheath style dress would be hard to find. I did have a little trouble but finally found Butterick 4220.

This dress had the right shape. I was a little leery because it didn't have a real person in the dress so was hard to tell the exact fit. I was also a little concerned because this was supposed to go over the head. I wanted it to be a bit fitted and there might too much ease if it was designed to go over the head. The fit ended up being perfect. I was very happy with the results and so was my daughter.

Here is a picture of my favorite girl and my boys ready for church on Easter morning. My review follows the pictures.

A close up of the smocking.

Pattern Description: Pullover, a-line dress, above ankle or mid-knee length, has stitched hems. A, B: lined.

Pattern Sizing: 7-10 and 12-16 I made a size 7 for my daughter who wears a RTW 9 slim (she could wear a 7or 8 RTW but she need the length).

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, except the skirt on the picture is more full than the finished garment.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I didn't pay too much attention to the directions. This is a very easy garment to put together. I do think that the directions for attaching the lining is not correct.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like how quickly it went together. The pieces fit together quite well. I didn't like that the pictures shows a smooth set in sleeve but it is really quite gathered.

Fabric Used: Stretch cotton. I wanted the dress to have a bit of body, not as much drape. This worked well.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I cut out a section in the middle of the bodice and inserted the smocking panel. The smocking panel did not go all the way under the arm to the side seam so I added dress fabric to the sides of the panel. After adding the side panels I had one large rectangle. I laid the original dress pattern over my rectangle and cut the armhole.

I also added an invisible zipper in the back seam. I am not sure how my daughter would get this dress on without the zipper (maybe if I used the suggested drapey fabric it would have been able to be a pullover). Her measurements matched the size 7 almost perfectly and it fits her perfectly .

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes it is a nicely fitting dress and looks cute. I think next time I would cut the bodice and make a two color block dress. I would look very different.

Conclusion: This is a nice pattern. It is a good basic dress that has a lot of potential to make different many times.


As soon as I finish my daughter's Jalie shirt I will share those. Hopefully soon!

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Burda 8-2008-121 Finished!

Yeah! I finished my skirt. ( Click here to see my process on this skirt) It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I think it was because I topstitched all the seams on both sides. I really like how it turned out (even though it is a little big). I finished it late last night and it fit perfectly. This morning when I put it on (now with nylons) it was a bit big. I could still wear it. I might take it in but I would have to rip out understitching, topstitching, the waist seam and side seams. I might do this later. Right now I want to move on to something else (really I should finish up some of my other UFO's) and since it is wearable I probably won't tackle it now. Here are some pictures and my review.

front
back

Pattern Description: This slim skirt is sure proof of just how elegant lurex flannel can be! Godets (cut-in-one with the skirt panels) furnish walking space and swirl nicely on this very figure flattering garment.

Pattern Sizing: 36-44 I made size 44 which fit well late at night when I finished but not in the morning with nylons. :)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Exactly

Were the instructions easy to follow? They were pretty easy to understand.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like how feminine the bottom flippy part looks. Seriously, the pattern was so well drafted. All of the pieces fit so nicely together even after I fiddled with them a bit. I really liked how the seams were numbered. This was my first BWOF pattern. I haven't seen numbered seams like that in a very long time. It was very helpful for know which sides went together. All the pieces looked very similar so that bit of info was very helpful.

Fabric Used: I am not exactly sure what it is or where it came from. I am pretty sure that it is mainly polyester but it must have some lycra because it has some stretch to it. It might have some rayon also. It drapes very nicely.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: After reading other reviews I learned that this is a very curve hugging skirt. I really wanted to make this pattern but didn't want it to hug my rear very much. As I looked at the pieces I noticed that they all tapered in just a bit below the hip. I straightened this out on all the pieces. It wasn't very much but when I added this to all 8 pieces it gave just enough room. Now it gives a bit of shape to my rear without hugging in too much. I also topstitched on either side of my front three and back three seams. I really like the finished look of this.

I also omitted the lining since the wrong side of my fabric is silky.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Definitely! I am not sure what fabric I would make but I certainly will make it again someday.

Conclusion: Fantastic skirt. It is so fun to wear. I love the flirty bottom.

I really enjoyed sewing my first Burda WOF pattern. I sure can see why so many of you are hooked. right after I finished I went looking on their website to see what other mags I might be interested in. I only have Aug 2008 and picked up Feb 2009 in Portland. The preview for May was up on the website. I looked through it and loved quite a few things. I immediately preordered this one from Sew Baby. It should come mid-May. I may have to seriously consider asking for a subscription for Mother's day. I should sew up something else soon to help me decide.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Burda 8-2008-121 Muslin

Well, I have not blogged in a bit but I have been sewing instead. I finished my Jalie top, have partially completed my daughters, partially finished some burp cloths for a friend, and smocked and sewed up my daughters Easter dress. Not bad for less than two weeks.

I had an evening to sew and did I head for my partially finished projects? Of course not! I decided I wanted to make a skirt. I read a blog entry by the Slapdash Sewist recently about how she was evaluating different skirt styles on her pear shaped body. I also have a pear shaped body and found it very interesting. I usually make slightly a-line skirts. I don't think I own a straight skirt (although I do have a couple of wrap skirt that are straight). I am not quite ready to try a pencil skirt I did want something a little straighter. I decided to go for something with a flared hem.

I perused through my pattern stash and landed on pattern #121 in my Aug. 2008 issue of Burda magazine (my one of only two mags). It was exactly what I wanted. I was pretty excited. This would be my first Burda pattern. I decided to look for pattern reviews on this one. I was a bit concerned about the fit. Straighter skirts can often fit tight and I want to get some insight from anyone who had already made the pattern.

I found two reviews on PatternReview. One was from Karen (here she mentions the skirt in her blog). She said that it really accentuated ones rear. This is not what I am interested in but really wanted to make this skirt.

As I was looking at the pattern pieces I noticed that each piece had a nice hip curve out and then cut in a bit just below the hip. Hmmm. I thought to my self. I wonder if I can just straighten out the line from the hip to the godets at the bottom in order to make it less form fitting.

So I gave it a try. Here are pictures of my first attempt with cheap fabric. Please excuse the bad picture and messy background. My husband wasn't home to be my photographer.


Back: I am pretty happy that it doesn't hug my rear at all and just slims my hips. It fits my lower back well without any gapping.

Front: The goopy side is just pinned. There will be a zipper in this skirt. So far I like the look.


This is a very easy skirt to put together. I am not doing the lining because the fabric that I am using has suede like right side and a slippery wrong side. It will go faster without the lining. I wanted it to be finished by tomorrow but since it is now 1 AM I must restrain myself and go to bed.

Possibly I will finish tomorrow and by some miracle, get a picture and post the finished skirt.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...