will my mom ever get a gift I make for her on time?

Back in March I was at the local quilt shop in Midway and I saw this family tree panel and some coordinating fabrics.

I loved it and bought it, not sure what I would do with it.

I got it home and tried to make it work for me, but since my progeny is only 4 children, it didn't really work.

So I decided my mom needed it for Mother's Day.

I had oodles of time to complete it.

 

I put it away for a month or so, then got it all out and got busy.

I made little birds depicting me, my siblings, and our families.

I added a few simple borders, appliqued the birds on and put it away again.

For another month.

Then I sewed Emmitt civil war clothing during the month of April and figured that I could quilt my mom's little quilt the week before Mother's Day and get it completed.

Well, I got out the machine the other day and started machine quilting it.

I got about 2/3 through it and broke a needle and the darning foot.

I thought I had a spare darning foot, but it was broken as well.

I was stuck.

So I put it away and called my mom and told her what a procrastinating daughter she gave birth to, and apologized.  She was too kind and understanding.  Way too nice.

I did the same thing to her for Christmas!

But today, I had the chance to stop into the sewing machine shop and get a new darning foot.

Tomorrow, a week beyond Mother's Day, I will finish quilting my mom's quilt, get it bound, and send it off in the mail on Monday.
Its going to be really great.

I will learn one day.

And one day, my mom will get a gift in time for the occasion it was meant for!
Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks.  I think I will purchase something for her, not make it!



Emmitt's 19th century proper clothing

Emmitt and I went to a civil war event near Boise, Idaho last week.

Last year I took Kenna since we were still attached for her nourishment needs, but this year I wanted to take the lad.  The girls are not fond of missing school, so it was the perfect idea.

But I had to get busy sewing for Emmitt.

I haven't really sewn any period clothing for him since he outgrew the dresses he used to wear.

So I found a shirt pattern Emily posted on her blog, Buns and Baskets.

I made Emmitt two shirts with this pattern that worked up really quickly. 

I used Emily's 5T math for the first one, and tweeked it a bit for my scrawny boy for the second one I made.

When Emmitt saw the shirts, he said

"Why do my shirts have flowers on them?"

I assured him all was well with his little flowers.



 

I have a friend who enjoys buying great things at thrift stores to rework into period clothing.

So, I got a few pairs of adult men's pants in linen, wool, and a heavy cotton from him and got busy.

I made linen trousers with suspenders and vest, cotton short trousers with suspenders and a vest, and then also a pair of wool trousers.

I couldn't find a suitable pattern, so I just made it up.

Which is pretty apparent, but its okay for the sweet boy.

Emmitt wore his linen trousers and vest the first day in Idaho. It was a warm day, gorgeous day actually, in the low 80s and so by the afternooon, Emmitt found the creek and I changed him into the short pants.

Emmitt has a super simple pair of elastic waisted church pants, and I just sort of laid them on the table and traced them, then did some more tweeking to make a pattern.

The linen trousers have three shell buttons in the front for a button fly opening. 

The braces, or suspenders, are very necessary for these trousers to stay up.

 

The vest is just a simple one, and on the linen one I made four fabric covered buttons.



There were around 1000 5th graders there on Friday, and of course they did some drilling.

Emmitt did as well, but was a bit shy about it because he couldn't remember what was his left and what was his right! Check out that cute cute hat too! 

 

The next day Emmitt wore the looser shirt with the cotton vest and short trousers.

These short ones are also button fly and also require suspenders to stay on.

They have just one wooden button in the fly, and wooden buttons for the braces, but the vest has self fabric buttons.

 

I made Emmitt wait until after lunch before he played in the creek on the second day.

He was of course joined by the sweet girls cooling off too.

 

I also just loved that President Lincoln watched my lad playing in the water.

For some reason, that just made me smile.

 

Emmitt and I had a great time with our sweet Idaho friends.

He of course said he will be going back next year.

He loved camping in our canvas tent with me and thought it was a great adventure.

The last morning, as I was cleaning up and packing up, the little lazy britches didn't want to wake up.

So, after everything in the tent was packed and loaded but him and his bed,

I drug his cot outside the tent so I could drop the tent.

He finally woke up, but said in a sleepy voice,

"Lets not go home mom, lets just stay here."

I am glad he had such a great time.

He made so many fun friends, and they were really great to be so good to him.

 



 

There was one pair of wool trousers I made that he didn't get the chance to wear in Idaho.

So, he wore them to church yesterday.

Matt gave me a "REALLY?" look, but it was Mother's Day and so I just got him dressed the way I wanted to!

 

I totally just made these up as well, but I was going for the drop front, or fall-front style.

So there are two buttons on each side to allow access.

These trousers actually stay up and in place without suspenders.

 



I had him wear the cotton vest to church just because it looked sharp, not to hide the suspenders like they would have done in the mid 1800s.  The weave, color, and pattern of the cotton vest and wool trousers are very different, but it still was a nice overall look.

 



 

Two of his sisters could not handle Emmitt getting his picture taken, without them in it as well.

So friends, that is Emmitt's new mid 1800s wardrobe I made him.

I really should have made him a coat too, just to be completely proper, but I usually work with a strict time limit!

He looks so handsome!

Easter at the Ranch

Once again we spent Easter at the ranch, well, Saturday anyway.  We had a fantastic time playing a killer game of townball in the sagebrush and rabbit brush flat, but we were too busy playing to take any photos.  So, its the usual 4 wheeling and egg rolling pictures.

 The weather was perfect with a gorgeous sun shining on us, and a little breeze when we needed it.  The wind blew a bit of course, but we didn't notice too much.  We enjoyed a delicious dutch oven chicken lunch cooked by Mark and Emiko with some salads to round us all out.  MMMMMMM.

Matt and I took a little ride to go check on some cows that were in another mountain pasture, and I made him stop so I could get a new homesteading photo.  I love love love old places.  All old things actually. There was actually still wallpaper up on the walls inside!

The kids had a blast playing with cousins, rolling eggs, enjoying an egg fight, and of course riding and driving in all the toys.

We had the usual Easter Egg hunt and this year I put money in the eggs I filled.  Not sure if it was a hit or not, but we were candied out!  Kenna was so excited, she loved finding the eggs and filling her basket.

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Its the first big outing of the year, great times with cousins, treats, good food, and good times with family.  I hope my kids have great Easter memories like I do.