[Sarvi]

Best wishes for speedy healing, what great news that it was a relatively easy fix.

[Tamara]

That’s not too bad to have a fast repair. But I can’t help singing a particular insurance company’s jingle now you’ve mentioned you feel better. Hope you fell right as rain in no time.

[jay_1965vw]

Thanks again everyone.

Hehehe, now I’m singing that insurance company jingle too!

[Tamara]

I had to cart a pram and “baby” home today and they took up so much room I didn’t have alot left for the planned and much anticipated food shopping!

My dad took Noah to this hobby shop on Monday and they both came home with train sets – dad’s first in 50 years and Noah’s umpteen millionth but first electric one. So the baby, which was my first porcelain doll I made from greenware was evicted along with the most gorgeous dollies pram I had bought especially for displaying my other doll in at the porcelain doll’s show years ago.

The crazy weird and rather sad thing is, my baby Katie (the name of the doll) had blue eyes inserted and now they are a horrible shad of pinky violet! Enough to scare the pants off of anyone. I have to wash her dress, something I made and designed myself to replicate an antique gown, as it is so dirty with dust it is grey and not white!

I am hoping to find her a spot in the sewing room well out of reach of baby fingers but she might have to be packed away for safety. The other babies were in a box somewhere but I didn’t have time to go rummaging. I will save them for next time.

I have to say, I am very glad to be home. Six days away was a bit much!

[Sarvi]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/minimalist-kids-fashion-is-on-the-rise-1406307975

Interesting — while I don’t think I would call the clothes pictured ‘minimalist’ just because they don’t have Pepto pink licensed characters on them, I do agree with the idea of buying nice things and keeping them forever. We’ve talked about this here before, I think, or perhaps it was on a blog post of Liesl’s.

“While it is easy to protest the idea of spending $66 for a 2-year-old’s smock, an argument can be made for buying your kids clothes that are both ethically produced and of sufficient quality to avoid becoming as disposable (and polluting) as diapers. Ms. Sugden made the case for handing pieces down. “The one thing about the market I service is that [my clientele] will have three children wear them through,” she said. “It’s how clothes used to be. You’d be careful about what you bought and take care of it. That mentality is a big driver of this market.”

[Nicole]

Gorgeous clothes.

I am often surprised by what my youngest chooses to wear and its not Pepper Pig prints. She actually has great taste.

As for sustainable clothing, Tildy is now wearing Hugo’s woollen grubbers ( like a rugby top), I find that very satisfying.

[Mama_Knowles]

Great article Sarvi. That does say to so well what quality of materials used to make clothes as well. I do like that comment “sufficient quality to avoid becoming as disposable (and polluting) as diapers”. That is so very true! To top it off, I get these “hand me downs” from relatives for the children all worn out. I really do not think twice before throwing these out.

[Sarvi]

That must feel so good, Nicole. So lucky to have a big family so you can see the love and enjoyment right before your eyes. It’s hard for me as if I am going to try to hand something down outside of my own family, I may never see it again. Also, you know how it is — if you give to somebody who doesn’t sew, you imagine they will not really value it, and if it’s to somebody who does sew, you feel so self conscious about even a single errant stitch, although you know that if you received the same garment from a friend you’d never think twice about that.

And agreed, Sharon, if something is poorly made or in bad shape, I am happy to see it go.

[Nicole]

We adore getting Baby A’s hand-me-downs!

[Tamara]

Ok I have a very good reason to sew baby gear now! I received an out of the blue phone call from my cousin in SA (a little way up the road from Nicole) to tell me she is expecting number two! We are only about three weeks apart, so January is going to be a busy month it seems!

They are hoping for a boy because there are no boys out of all the grandies on her hubby’s side of the family – so here’s to a first grandson (but a grand daughter would be accepted with bells on also they tell me!)

[vothgirl]

The Lullaby Layette pattern has made me fall in love with sewing baby clothes! After finishing Olivia’s ‘welcome home, Daddy’ outfit my brain started itching for another excuse to sew from that pattern. Then a couple of days ago, I found out a friend here who with her husband is in the process of adopting two little boys from Africa (after years of trying for children of their own) is expecting a baby girl! So those sweet boys will have a baby sister. I started crying for joy for her, especially with having had some struggles myself before our older girl came along.

So now I have another sweet Layette outfit to plan! Baby is due in January so I am thinking some lovely soft flannel or something “wintery”. I’d love to so something not necessarily “cutesy baby-ish”, any fabric suggestions? My friend’s home decorating style is sort of rustic bohemian chic. Think chalk paint, backyard chicken coop, and some global/African art type things.

[with love Heidi]

How exciting for your friend!

[Tamara]

Oh that is completely awesome! I know a couple who had two adopted children (one Sri Lankan and one Indian) and had after many years of marriage resigned themselves to just the two when their last came along by complete surprise. The surprise was so great they stopped having any more! But we were all ecstatic for them.

It is stories like these that make me feel extremely grateful that I have huge fortune in being able to easily conceive and carry my kids. I know not everyone has an easy time and adoption is a stressful, lengthy and very expensive process and then there are those that just don’t get to become parents at all.

It is something I still have difficulty grasping over the decisions that some couples make to NOT have children. I just feel that kids complete the family….. So I am jumping for joy at this news! It is just so exciting to hear!

[Tamara]

Maybe some cute african inspired print for and outfit? I love the idea of an animal print pants and jacket – you could do black white and hot pink! Not cutesy baby but cute just the same. And you could do the baby hood from the LTTS book in the same print and add a tail to the pants. How fun would that be?

[vothgirl]

Hm Tamara now you’ve got the wheels starting to turn, I’ve got all sorts of vague ideas and images flashing thru my mind ;-). I remember a couple fairly recent guest blog posts for adding tails to sunny day shorts and animal faces on the bum of layette pants that I could work with. And I love the idea of the hood, I’ll get practice making it with the three I’ll be sewing as part of my family Halloween costume theme ;-).

Now to start poring thru fabric sites looking for animal fabric (who am I kidding, I never stop looking at fabric! :P).

I even saw this fabric line just released, I love the colors and could add some feminine accent colors or something 😉

http://www.hawthornethreads.com/fabric/designer/bethany_shackelford/amboseli

I love sewing!!