It's amazing what you can make out of garbage!

My daughter will be participating in something at her school this week called Market Day.  They have been earning "money" for the past month or so at school, and if they earned at least $1000 they would be able to participate.  However, in order to participate they also have to have something to sell.  My daughter decided that she wanted to sell Capri Sun items.  I think they are supposed to be learning math skills, economics (red blooded capitalism), business sense, but I'm not sure they have achieved that purpose when it's the mothers that end up making or buying the stuff that the kids sell.  Well, I guess I have to take some responsibility for that too. 

It's been interesting to learn all the things you can make out of Capri Sun packets!  We have made purses, bags, lunch bags, pencil cases, wallets, and cell phone cases (not pictured).  My daughter already has girls making orders!  It's too bad that she won't be making real money from selling these because my sewing machine is a little worse for the wear from making these.  That's a good lesson for her to learn, isn't it?  She needs to learn how to compensate her seamstress!

Easter

Having 2 beautiful girls in 2 years provides lots of opportunities for a mom who likes to craft.  I used to sew for my girls quite a bit - often matching dresses or outfits.  And then little brother comes along and it all abruptly stops...

Lately my girls have been saying, "You need to start sewing again!"  I finally took the hint, did the unthinkable and bought fabric so I could sew them dresses for Easter.  I had planned on getting them done secretly so they could be a surprise on Easter morning, but no such luck.  They found out, and it's probably for the best because I don't think I would have gotten them done if I was only sewing when they were at school or in bed.  From the pictures it will look like I have twins, but they're not.  My younger daughter is just gaining on the older one!  I keep telling my oldest that she needs to be nice to her sister because she's going to be bigger than her some day soon!  Anyway, here they are.

The dresses were made using the Simplicity pattern #2715.  It is just so adorable!  Part of me thinks it may be another 3 years before I sew anything again, and another part of me can't wait to make the long sleeve version in white eyelet.  One of the things that I really love doing with fabric and paper is finding ways to make different pattern and colors work together.  With as much sewing as I have done, this was my first experience with covered buttons.  I think they turned out really well!

Although the dresses were ready for them on Sunday they weren't able to wear them because it was General Conference this weekend, and it was really cold.  As you will see from the pictures taken at the town Easter Egg hunt.  Yes, that is snow on the ground, and much more snow came the following night.

Now that the Easter projects are done I can play with my new Cricut cartridge - Preserves!  I am so excited!

The Lost Art of Mending

The other day I had the most gratifying experience. I mended. I had a pile of clothes that needed various repairs/alterations that had been sitting around for maybe...years? The stuff that was Maddie's now would fit Elle, and somethings were too small for any kid to wear. It's one way of dealing with mending. But while while my husband was working on our basement, I thought I'd patter around in my sewing shop too. I decided to tackle the pile. And you know what? It wasn't that bad! It only took a few minutes to fix this hem here, and sew that strap on there and replace the elastic on that.

But the fun part was darning. Yes, I said darning. Have you ever darned? I highly recommend it. And as soon as my machine comes back from its tune-up I will do a darning tutorial. Because describing it just won't do it justice. And it's so darn fun. Sorry. Couldn't resist that.

So don't wait til your mending pile is out of date, grab your stash and someone to talk to (this always helps) and get your mending done! You will feel thrifty and prudent and gratified! I promise.