2012 retrospective

I've snatched the odd moment here and there thinking about what I did during 2012.  Half the year was devoted to moving everything out (and fulfilling last year's resolution to get organized), so I didn't do much sewing until right before the kids' birthdays.   I did Bit's requested "Tangled dress" for her "Tangled birthday party", a frog for Richard which I've been told has been dubbed "Mr. Jeremy Fisher", a clown for Lizzy, a doll for Nikki which as far as I know is still, "baby", and an Alice doll for Bit that she named "Tangled".

I did swimsuits for all four kids, too, as part of my learning to work with knits, which is still ongoing.  I made two apiece for Grace and Nicole--one each to take home, and one to keep here.  Right after that, I got started on summer wardrobes for them to take with them on vacation.  I've always made an outfit or two (It tends to make Joanna's sister jealous 'cause she can't buy the stuff for her kids that I make for our girls!) for them to take to the beach, but this year, I made count 'em--seven outfits each.  Some matched, some didn't.

Grace's had a few missteps this year.  I hadn' t yet figured out that to find out what will fit, you subtract two inches from the finished measurements. Thus the blue dress and playsuit was a titch tight.  And I forgot to make the neck wider on her last crisscross dress, which led her to tell me it was too tight... even though it wasn't!  For the most part, I stuck to purple and pink because they're "my favorite colors".

The colors on Nikki's were more varied, but I went for blues quite a bit, 'cause she looks great in blues.  After that, I started on dresses--three apeice, including Grace's first day of school dress.

I also made her a blanket, pillow, and pillowcase for school naptime with name patches on them.  (She refuses to leave her blanket at school because some of the other little girls seem to like it a bit too much!)









 In the midst of this, I took a break and made two skirts for Skirting the Issue.  My Uncle Jim was a foster child, so it's fairly close to home for me.  My grandparents couldn't afford to adopt him, so he earned the money himself so he would legally be part of the family.  (Emotionally, it was already the truth!)

I moved on to Halloween sewing, and made Nikki an owlet costume, and fixed the commercial hair so that Grace could use her Tangled dress for school.

Soon after that was finished, I started on the Christmas dresses, because unlike last year, I was determined to actually finish 'em this year.

I managed to finish, though not as early as I would have liked, and we got pictures taken.  Next year, we're going elsewhere, because Sears was horrifically expensive, and thus we only got one portrait with both girls.  Gave it to Jared and Joanna for Christmas, so I don't have a copy!  They looked cute, though, so all the work was worth it!  Then it was Christmas presents.  This year, I made two pairs of mustache pj bottoms, one pair of jungle jammies (I let the kids pick the fabric), one set of football jammies, one set of bear jammies, a pink dino, a railroad engineer's outfit, a giraffe, a pangolin, two fleece blankets, and two nightgowns.

With the family, Nikki learned to talk this year.  We're still on short sentences, but she's only 20 months old!  She's started identifying colors, too. She also learned to run, started getting into trouble and earned a new nickname that she actually answers to--Imp! Grace started preschool and was proposed to and kissed in the first week.  She's decided that boys are disgusting!  (Yay for us!) She's started stating more opinions on what she'll wear, and I've been informed that I'm not allowed to take pictures of her with food on her face anymore.  We're making progress on learning to read, and can count up to 40 without help.

We also got some fantastic news a few weeks ago--

Yep!  We're getting a baby boy!  Boy sewing!  Hooray!  (Richard, unfortunately, doesn't count, 'cause my sister is bad about measuring and I don't see him enough!)

As for last year's resolution, I made progress, but didn't totally conquer it.  I still have boxes to go through on top and I have yet to find an affordable, stackable solution for my pattern collection.  For this year, I want to continue to get organized, and I'm going to make a concerted effort to follow through on planned projects.  I have a load of fabric I bought for fall/winter wardrobes that I have yet to cut into.  It's been a busy year here on Granny Lane.  Goodbye 2012!  Hello 2013!