FullOfStitches.com blog.A good laugh leaves me in stitches!

BB’s teething and was up in the night. Nursing at odd hours has become quite uncomfortable, so when I was sure she’d had a good amount, I declared myself done for the night and stayed with her. She promptly climbed over me and took over my bed.
A while later (who knows, no lit clocks in the girls’ room), AJ was coughing like mad. I had her roll over off her back to keep it out of her lungs and went to find the Triaminic. I dosed her and found it hard to get back to sleep. So, around 4:30AM this morning, I went through donation items and boxed them, rotated laundry and started knitting.

(sorry so blurry, it’s overcast this morning)

With Sock Wars looming in the not-so-distant future, I’ve decided to try to clear out my needles. This morning I was able to finish the gusset increases on the Toe-Up Jays. I’ll be ready to turn the heels after a nap! Sue’s Tabi socks take these needles; my goal is to finish the Jays and her socks before her birthday (which is the start date of Sock Wars).

I was asked about TJ’s progress. Well, yesterday he sewed the lower back seam Wrong-Sides-Together (WST) at 1/4 inch, pinked and ironed it. Then we were quite distracted by the girls. Next up is to sew that seam Right-Sides-Together (RST) at 3/8 inch. That is a french seam in which the edges of the fabric are contained. Then we’ll get to the zipper.

I came across this again and showed Ben. He’s all over it and wants me to join. I think especially if I give his foot size, but that sounds like bending rules to me (I did give my size).

I have officially signed up. Basically, I’m given a name/size and pattern and start knitting. If I get mine done first, I send them to so-and-so and s/he/it is killed off. I receive what s/he/it hasn’t finished and finish it to send to kill off the next combatant, or get killed and send what I’m working on to my killer.

The fast knitters need some ‘easy’ targets like me. Either way, I’ll eventually end up with socks.

The Rules

1. The first rule of Sock Wars is, you must talk about Sock Wars
2. The second rule of Sock Wars is, you MUST talk about Sock Wars.
(no really, for this to be a success we need as many combatants as possible)
3. Two socks to a fight
4. One fight at a time
5. No shirts, no shoes, just socks
6. Fights will go on as long as they have to
7. If this is your first time in Sock Wars, you have to fight.

I’m thinking RED.

Natalija asked how I make my nursing opening in the ELD 204 dress. I describe it as an upside down U. If I turn the dress inide out, and stuff an envelope in, it looks like this:

I put the original instructions next to the opening so you can see the difference. They have you cut it open from the top and maybe add elastic straps across to keep it from falling open. I just invert that and round out the top. My opening is a touch wider (I try to keep it an inch or so in from my bust points), but it stays closed when I want it to.

This is the first dress I tried this opening on. The trial was too wide across and would stay open too easily, but the general idea worked really well.

I may make this 2 posts because I’m not sure at this point how long this will become! And, I’ve got pics!

I had left my 2 dresses here for the weekend (sigh). So, today I finished the side seam, put in the sleeves and put on the daisy print ELD204 dress. All it needs is hemming and buttons! (That’s generally ‘wearable for a day’ around here)

(See the bump?)

I altered the pattern to suit my taste: by flipping the nursing opening to an upside down U (the regular one seems to fall open), using the ELD210 square neckline option, lengthening (or shortening) the sleeves to elbow length, and altering the ties so I can apply buttons/holes when I decide where exactly they need to be:

I had called Mom on Tuesday and told her I was thinking of making a quilt from the tiny scraps of fabric that Fashion Fabrics Club sends out monthly. She was delighted to send them. In the mail today, I received a shoebox full of fabric squares:

Also, were some of Gramma’s old scraps and these squares that she received at a quilt meeting:

They’re replicas of 12 inch squares. I may have to make another to match or just make it into a 9 patch doll quilt with a matching pillow.

After a couple of hours, I had this:

I didn’t match as I went. First I piled some next to me, then just went to the next square I pulled from the box.

Name that movie, as described by my 3yo:
Talking Calf, walking Turtles, and a big animal that’s round with spiral teeth and horns..? They’re walking in the snow and they talk.. The kid animals are playing in the mud and the Mommy animal says, “Come on.”

This weekend was my 10-year High School Reunion. Ben and i packed up the children and drove Wednesday night. It only took about 7 hours to get down to OC. We infiltrated our dear friends home at 5:30AM, and thankfully went back to sleep. That day, Ben and the oldest boy from each of our families went to visit at Ben’s old company (they’re doing great, supporting 6 people currently!), and Susan and I took the other 6 children shopping. I managed to find a nice dress for Saturday night and kept myself from buying any other frivolous things. I checked into the hotel and she headed back home for her midwife appointment – they’re due in October with #6!

Friday, we hunted down Cyndi at her place of work. Afterward, our family had a nice quiet lunch at El Torito (one of my favorite lunch places in the area), and headed back to the hotel. I stayed with BB to give her a nap while Ben took TJ & AJ to the mall to find him some shoes.

That night we met Cyndi and her girls for a movie in the park. I thought it was pretty cool! How long has Placentia been putting these on? I think there are 2 or 3 more this summer. BB was a bit wild from excitement and fatigue, so we headed out early, but it was a nice time.

Saturday, I met my sister, Sue, and Susan and Cyndi at the nails place and got purtied up. Afterwards, Ben and I took our children to Jeff’s for a BBQ. Jeff’s looking better than he did last time I saw him (stress and illness passing).

That night was the Reunion. We left the children with Ben’s parents’ old (as in before they moved) neighbor. They did fine till bedtime.. BB still doesn’t like to go to bed without me about.

The Reunion turned out to be lots of fun. I was pleasantly surprised and will have to order some photos because I forgot the camera – all weekend. Not 1 photo!! I greeted lots of people who I haven’t seen in ages, several that I wouldn’t mind picking up chatting with upon occasion (too bad they/we don’t live closer), and some that it was just intriguing to see.

The Holmes twins got me on the dance floor, and we dragged Susan out there. Muhahaha.

And David asked me to admit that I stole his stapler in 5th grade.

(I probably did, I was a horrible klepto back then [thanks, sibs]. I’m glad I’ve gotten over that stage of my life!)
So, yes David, I stole your stapler.

Sunday was pleasant. We invaded our friends’ house again and had a BBQ. Both my neices came. I hadn’t seen RF since Jan and hadn’t met BS (yes, those are her initials). My big brother and his wife (RF’s parents) are doing well. SIL came, but her hubby had to work (BS’ parents). And, Sue had some friends over and Ben invited Wigger and wife, too.

Funny how conversation turns to birthing when there are 2 pregnant women and a nurse around! The poor men…

Monday, we slept in nicely and headed home. I think we headed out of OC about 11:30AM and got home at 7:15PM. The girls were in bed by 9PM and we weren’t far to follow.

This morning I’m considering menu planning and scheduling again. It’ll be nice to go into September with a goal.

She got it, so I can post. She didn’t have an unblurry pic of the box, so here it is. I hope you had a great birthday, and enjoy all your goodies, Jes! I can hardly wait to see what kt sends my way!

This MSNBC story is about a free magazine promoting human lactation (warning: giant breast pic). Pretty much everyone interviewed was from the negative to the cover or negative to babies eating in public view. Can you imagine how many more screaming children there’d be if ‘lactivists’ didn’t feed on demand?

Personally, I don’t keep bottles for feeding (they’re a waste of money). I think there may be one that goes with the breast pump, but I’m unsure where that it. I keep covered as best I can, and really that’s pretty well done without boiling under some obnoxious blanket. If someone wants to see a show, they really have to try for it.

(sigh) Is it really time that I start posting each nursing mother related Bible verse that I find?

Today I cleared off the sewing desk.. mostly.

I introduced TJ to the sewing machine. For the first 2 or 3 tucks, I worked a machine knot and let him sew straight. Then, I let him work the machine knot and tuck under supervision. Now, he’s finishing up the rest of the tucks. I don’t want to overdo it, so this is it for today. Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll get to the next step -the zipper!

He’s very excited at this point and keeps saying, “This is my first sewing lesson.” AJ’s excited, too, and was pulling pins out.. Now, she’s settled with me and he’s almost done!

Step 1, done.