Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter :: Enjoyed

I have to say, that was the best Easter I have had in years. Well, it is the first Easter I have had in years. Once my younger brothers grew out of egg hunting, the day became less of a gathering time. It had always been one of my favorite religious holidays. Though I not longer actively practice in the Church I love the idea of a risen Jesus, and the incorporation of the rebirth, such an ancient belief, into our modern day, well, it all made for a good holiday for me.

Eastering


Now, we are back to Easter due to the boys and it is awesome. Our little Kayda also celebrated her birthday yesterday and we had a gathering of two huge families with bunches of kids and candy and confetti eggs.
Confetti Eggs


All over at my sister's in law's house, so we were totally off the hook for any prep. Now that is a good holiday. There was flying and racing and eating and hugging. And cake.
kayda = one

Mmmmmm, lots of cake.

I knew I wanted to have a little something special for the boys to wear so a few weeks ago I pulled out a languishing project, the little vests I started last summer, and did some finishing.
Candy Faces

The great thing about cotton is you can block the dickens out of it to get it to grow a bit to fit your growing boys. I am so glad I remembered them....they came out just as I hoped. Since we are in conservation mode here, I paired it with some khakis and Easter shoes found for a song at the resale shop. We are not a button down and tie family but this had them looking neat and presentable while still feeling comfortable. (And looking pretty darn cute, I must say...pat on own back)

Me and my Boys

The vests were an improvised pattern, just knit in the round with a row or two of garter stitch in blue, divided for a V neck and finished on the shoulders with a single crochet stitch. The collar is always a little tricky on V necks...I hoped for the best. It barely fit over Mason's head (I tend to bind off a little too tightly), but we got it on. Whew. (I might attempt a pattern if anyone is interested. Interested?)

Speaking of finishing, I did finish my Easter dress, hemmed the sleeves that morning, actually. Finishing is really the bane of my crafting, so hard not to lose steam when little knick-knacky stuff needs to be done. I truly love this dress and I can report that I have never been so comfortable dressed up. I went with a shorter skirt after reading Heather Ross' recommendation regarding hem lines. It hit right at knee cap and with a pair of heels, well, I felt pretty damn good.
Easter shoes

Of course, I could not find a picture of me standing up in the dress. Here is me kneeling as I feed the boy more 'nie-nie' (their word for candy).

Dress :: Worn

The pattern is from Weekend Sewing, it was well written and easy to follow and I still cannot believe it turned into something wearable. I guess there is a little bit of leap when it comes to sewing clothes, hoping it will be just right, be as imagined. This has really boosted my confidence in sewing myself clothes and now there are just too many patterns to count, all crowding into my imaginary queue, clamoring to be made.

But first, these went out today.
Invites


Invites to a party for a few special little boys who will be ticking off another year gone by. I am so very happy that I did these, especially after shrugging off a party last year. And I think I will pick up a few extra patients in the next weeks to go to the 'order food from Claro's' fund so I can focus on making instead of feeding...I love to cook but the food we had yesterday was spectacular and I need an excuse to eat it again.

Hope if you Easter, it was good and lovely.

10 comments:

LauraC said...

I love that you can see the joy and love coming from your entire being in the pics of you.

Lovely dress, makes me want to pick up sewing again!

meyer said...

I sure looks like you all had a good time. I love the dress and the vests- I actually thought of making one for my little man. Very cute. Have a good week!

Preeti said...

The dress looks so lovely on you, makes me want to learn to sew! It looks like everyone had a whale of a time:)

jillian said...

What a great day. And you look BEAU-tiful in your new dress!

Bea said...

Oooh, the first picture of the dress, I was like, "Is that the Weekend Sewing dress???!!!" You look so beautiful in it! I can't believe O and M are going to be 2, they are getting so big, things get so much more fun after 2, I love it. The vests are so precious, I'm going to have to whip one up for Robby, it would be so cute over a white T.

Shan said...

Looks like a wonderful day! Your dress is gorgeous (I love what you decided to do with the sash)...as are you!

Patricia said...

Ahh Beautiful dress, loved the vests and loved the invitations! Could you post a picture of the entire invite? I am looking for ideas for Jake & Ava's upcoming birthday :)

Sherry said...

I just LOVE your dress. I saw it on the flicker group for weekend sewing. I'm going to copy you ok? I just love the fabric that you chose! I'm sure I wont find the same exactly but I'm going to try! You look great in it. Heather Ross knows what she is doing. (and so do you!)

kat coyle said...

Your dress is pretty, very pretty. I am very tempted to get this book.
And, the boys look tooooo cute in their matching vests. You make it all look so easy, whipping up vests and a dress for yourself for easter!

Faye said...

Your Weekend Sewing dress turned out beautiful! And I just love your Alabama Skirt, which is truly a labour of love! Thank you for the inspiration. I'm really hoping to get back into the sewing groove soon.