Laundry (in)sanity

Ah laundry. The bane of my existence. I get so jealous when I run across a blog post where someone says “We came home from our trip and I had an entire load to wash”. HA! Yes, I ha’d you 1 load people. I’m not bragging or trying to play the martyr here but with 7 1/2 people and a smelly dog in our family I have at least 12 loads a week of just clothes and towels. Add sheets and blankets and dog stuff and our house is basically a 24 hour laundromat.

Since I’m elbow deep in clothes all the time I thought I’d give my $.02 on laundry and how I make it a little more bearable.

I can almost hear the gasps coming- I only buy white towels, kitchen and bath. I know you probably think I’m crazy but I swear by it. My kids are hard on towels and don’t always get them into the laundry when they should so they end up smelling gross or stained. I used to have dark green towels and I would have to wash them several times to get them to smell okay and sometimes they would still have a stain or two on them that no amount of stain treating or soaking would get out.

Not with white towels. I throw my towels in the wash with bleach and let it soak for a while. Being able to bleach them is key. My towels are several years old and look great. It works for restaurants, hospitals, and hotels and by golly it works for big families to. I do buy colored beach towels just so the kids know which towels they can take to the pool or outside. No white towels leave the house.

Here’s my other dirty (clean?) secret. I don’t fold or match socks. We have a sock basket and everyone is on their own for finding socks. As I’m folding I put all the socks I find in the load in a separate pile and if there happens to be a match screaming at me I’ll fold it, the rest go in the basket. Moral of this story, make sure both your socks are together in the dirty laundry or you get to play find and seek. This isn’t so much for convenience as it is that I just hate socks.

Each child over 6 also folds his/her own laundry. I’ll happily wash and throw their clothes in their baskets but it’s their responsibility to see that they get folded. Let me tell you, it sure cuts down on the amount of clean clothes they “accidently” put in the dirty clothes bins because eventually they do have to fold them again.

Long post but it’s been on my mind, and covering my coffee table at the moment. Any tips that save your laundry day?

Nice Try.

Reason #1298 why children are worth keeping around.

Alrighty, let’s see what’s so urgent.

It reads (as written): CONTRACT. I here by make it offical That my son JeremyA.Baxter is allowed to play the Wii six hours a day on any game he wants. If this contract is harmed in any way the legal laws of the house clearly state that this contract is permanet . An further more this legal paper was actually currently signed by Brigdet K.Baxter.

I must have a huge case of pregnancy brain because I don’t remember this contract and I’m positive that as dumb as I look right now I still remember how to spell my own name. I think.

In our house you have to earn video game time. For every chapter you read in an actual book (no comic books) you get 10 minutes of Wii time. He hasn’t touched a book in over a month. Nice try buddy. I love kids!

Today is brought to you by the letter P

Today is my Creative Team Spotlight on The Button Shop blog! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love these projects. I chose the Spring Poppies buttons to make Kennedy a Poppy dress for her birthday in August.

I couldn’t resist. Once I laid my eyes on those buttons I knew immediately what I was going to do! If I’m having another girl I’m going to have to stock up on more buttons, they just make the outfits. Visit Tessa’s blog for close-ups of the dress and more details. I made the dress with my own pattern and plan on doing a tutorial for it after I tweak a few things so stay tuned!

Next up I thought I’d tell you about my friend Bethany’s adorable daughter Storey. Isn’t that the cutest name? Bethany entered a photo of Storey in a contest and would love some help with the votes. I think it’s the cutest one so I gladly helped her out. Today is the last day to vote and if you have a facebook or Twitter account she would love the help. In fact she would love it so much she’s offering everyone who votes a free pattern from her shop! Just leave her a comment here and let her know which one you’d like after you vote. You can vote *here*.

It’s so rude of me to show you my pillows in progress and then not give you the skinny on how I made them. Sorry Des! For my pillows I used this little video from Martha’s site. The site drives me absolutely insane but I love being able to watch a video and pause it if I need to. It’s called freehand machine embroidery (basically scribbling with your machine). So fun, and easy after some practice.

So there you have it. Poppies, pictures, patterns, and pillows. I love Monday!

Involuntary breaks stink!

Sorry I was gone for a week and a half! Cody posted the last post at his parents house so I just got on last night for the first time since last Monday and had a million emails and other important things I missed. We had another nasty gross virus, nothing like waking up to female bits in your face while you’re trying to eat your cereal. Yuck! Why can’t they infect computers with pop ups of pictures of those annoying Yo Gabba Gabba characters or that “Head On” comercial or something instead? We haven’t had a virus in 4 or 5 years and then twice in a few months. Ugh.

Anyway, I’m back and hopefully for good! Here’s what I finished while I was twiddling my thumbs and missing my blogging buddies-

I finally finished my chair and couch pillows! I really wish I would have used an invisible zipper for the yellowish colored pillow but you can’t see it from the front. The red silk bled on the front of it and the design turned out kind of blah so it’s not my favorite pillow anyway. A little craft fail but I still like it. The iron was not my friend this week. Should have been though ;).

I’ll be back with a few things here and there and another button project so until then have a fantastic Thursday!

Infectious

Our computer is down for the second time in two months with the same kind of virus, so we had to take it in yet again, and posts will be few until we get it back. Fake virus alerts are apparently a big hit with virus makers right now, so whatever you do, don't click on any alerts that "pop up" unless you know it is from the anti-viral software you installed (even then, be careful). Be back very soon... I hope.

All in white, almost, and a discussion about patterns.

So I finally took pictures of Ashlyn’s baptism dress. I’ve been waiting for good weather but I couldn’t hack it anymore. The rain is still here so I just went for it so they’re a little dark but you get the idea. Ashlyn requested a split down the middle with green accents and I wanted unicorn hair fabric and scallops so mash those together and you get this-

I used Simplicity 4647 for the bodice but I cut a new neckline and used my own pattern for the sleeves so really I just need the armscye and zipper placement. Zippers are one of Satan’s creations so I usually cheat and use a pattern as a base when I want to do a zipper. I can’t recommend this pattern, I didn’t follow it or look at anything but the zipper insertion and the armscyes but it was helpful for that ;). I did my own thing from the waist down and used a mixing bowl for the scallops. The sash is completely removable (in the pattern it’s not in case you’re wondering) so we can mix it up and make different colored ones if we want to.

*Here’s where I add a bit of a side note about commercial patterns.*

I can’t tell you enough how important it is for ones sanity to keep sewing until you feel comfortable not following a pattern anymore. I thought I would take the easy route and just follow a pattern this time to save time. I haven’t opened my pattern tote for at least a year or two and had to find it, but after reading the instructions and looking at the pieces it was going to be so much harder than just measuring her and cutting rectangles. This dress took me 2 days to finish and if I had to be chained to that stinking pattern for the entire dress it would have taken me a week.

It’s so freeing to one day realize you don’t need the instructions and further more they go about it the hard way. It took me 7 years to be pattern free and will probably take another 7 to get the arm’s and zippers straight by myself but I’ll get there.

If you want to know my go to pattern when I need a sleeve or something it’s Butterick 3707. It’s out of print (as are all my patterns!) but I use the bodice over and over again to make shirts, dress bodices, and I love the sleeves. It makes a nice surplice top and is crossed just right so it’s not bagging out or too low cut. It is short so I usually lengthen the bottom hem if I’m making the top as is. I used the sleeve pattern to make this dress a few years ago and made the entire outfit as is for Christmas dresses to.

Any patterns you can’t live without or are you completely on your own?

Comfy Cowboy

Just a little something I whipped up last night for my little buddy, a new dog bed. He looks depressed here but I promise he loves it, his eyes just scream thrilled. Really though it’s hard to pry him off it.

It only took me about an hour to make. I recycled an old bed pillow and used fabric and stuff I already had on hand so it didn’t cost me anything extra to make it. Gotta love that. The vintage cowboys crack me up in a lame sort of way. He’s a bull dog so I thought it would be funny to use cowboy fabric. I warned you it was lame!

I promise I’m almost done posting puppy pictures. I have to do something to pass the time until I find out what my little bun in the oven is. I really think boy but I’ve been wrong 3 out of 5 times so I’m not making anything yet. I have the ultrasound date set and then it’s baby project after baby project so prepare yourselves ;).

Have a great weekend!

An Ashy sort of post

My kids are getting huge. They’re getting older which reminds me that so am I. This week it was Ashlyn’s turn to make her mother feel ancient. I love her so much I want to make a commune for all my kids to stay with me forever. Think their wife and husbands will go for that?

All of my kids have completely different personalities and here are a few that make Ashy Ashy-

1. She’s a people pleaser in a good way. She stays out of trouble 99% of the time. I’m counting on her to stay that way until she’s 60. If I ask her to do something it gets done, eventually.

2. She wants to be a dancer and a teacher when she grows up.

3. She loves Italian food. Lasagna is her favorite.

4. She’s a girly girl but not girly, makes sense huh. She loves jewelry, paper dolls, flowers and butterflies, and the color pink but she never plays with them or wears them. She always asks for that kind of stuff but she just wants to have it, not use it.

5. She agrees with her dad about everything. Traitor.

6. She’s my name sake sort of. One of her many middle names is my middle name to. She’s the only child we have with 2 middle names, and the last if I have any say ;).

7. She can’t sleep in the car. When I’m driving home from a trip late at night and I think all the kids are asleep I’ll sing my heart out and hear her giggling in the back. She stays perfectly quiet for hours in the dark until I sing making me think she’s out. She never sings with me either. I have a great voice by the way, giggle worthy.

8. She’s completely timid and a little shy as pictured below.

I have no idea where this came from but I can bet Cody had something to do with it. There’s about 3 more like it so your guess is as good as mine. She’d be so embarrassed if she knew it was on here. Good thing she doesn’t read my blog… he he.

I’ll be taking real pictures of her and her dress today or tomorrow if this stinking weather will cooperate. I can’t have a scrapbook filled with that up there. Yikes.

And by the way, my mom’s Olde English Bulldogge Sandy (renamed Bella now that she doesn’t live with the breeders anymore) had puppies and that’s where we got our little guy. His name is Perry and I love him. LOVE him. I’m not a dog person at all but he’s snatched my heart in the “I finally found a dog I can stand and really actually like” kind of way. I’m a little sad I bonded with the male and not the female and I’m going to have to make manly stuff now, but he’s a dog so I can make him sleep on floral if I want to. She still has one left so if you live near Boise ID and are interested drop me an email. I would have snatched them both up if I didn’t already feel like I have 6 puppies at home ;).

Have a fantastic Thursday!