What would you make...

... if someone (e.g. Courtney's mommy) gave you a pair of pants (e.g. of Courtney's) that could no longer be worn because the elastic in the waist was worn out, and she said "do whatever you want with them"?

What if you just happened to have already purchased the perfect Liberty Jane pattern...

... and a package of pretty little separating zippers?

What would you make? You'd make an American Girl doll hoodie, of course! At least that's how it worked out for me. And here it is:

I knew as soon as I saw those pants what they'd become! The waistband had ribbing over the worn-out elastic. It became the ribbing for the cuffs and the bottom of the hoodie. There was exactly enough!

Here's my little Kit, modeling it for you:

If you noticed, the pants had an applique on them. So does the hoodie!

It's for Courtney's Marie Grace. If she wants it, of course. Haha. I think Kit would like to keep it for herself. I guess I'll just have to make another one! It was actually very easy to make... much easier than you would think by looking at it. The pants fabric was quite stretchy, so that made sewing it a little more challenging, but it still wasn't bad. I guess I'll have to hunt up some more fabric and ribbing. Anybody have any worn out pants? ;)

Sometimes procrastination pays!

Friday evening after supper, I was still at the table, the dirty dishes still there, too. I was procrastinating on the cleanup by reading a book on my iPad. I happened to glance up and saw this beautiful blue bird in my birdbath! Of course I grabbed the camera, hoping he'd stay long enough for me to get at least one photo, and he did!

It was almost too dark for picture-taking, especially from inside the house at a distance. But the pretty bird stayed around long enough for me to quickly adjust some settings and snap a few shots.

Just look at that gorgeous blue color!

He bathed a bit...

... sat for a few seconds...

... then flew off with his mate. They actually didn't make a very cute couple - the female was just a plain light tan, and I'd never have paid her much attention if she'd come by herself. I'd probably never have been able to identify her, either.

I'd never seen a bird like this before! I did some researching and found him to be a Blue Grosbeak. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, he "is an uncommon bird of shrubby habitats across the southern United States".  The map does show that they're in South Dakota during the summer. Well, guess what, folks... he's now been to Minnesota! I can hardly believe I got to see him, much less get photos. Hurray for procrastination (sometimes)!

Robins update

Here are my final shots of the robin babies. I took these on Monday. The next time I looked in the nest (Wed., I think), they were gone. Two weeks. Kids sure grow up fast nowadays, don't they?

The green growing things were all gone, but it looks like mama robin added some grass clippings to the edge of the nest.

There were still three of them, although you can only see two beaks. The color is also off, but I didn't hang around long enough to do camera adjustments. I didn't want to scare them out of the nest prematurely.

Their mama's been working hard taking care of her young'uns. Here she's looking a bit frazzled and grumpy, certainly in need of a spa treatment, and deserving one, too, no doubt!

Not looking any better here. Maybe a towel would help?

I think she hears her hungry babies calling... again. Guess it's time to get back to work, whether she feels refreshed or not.

Okay... I really have no idea if this is the mama of those babies or not, but it made for a good story. ;)

Kitten update

Courtney was here for the day on Tuesday, so of course we had to check out Rainbow's kittens. In fact, we checked them out four different times. :)  They're at such a cute age now, and are just beginning to play well. They're also great to hold:

We took them out into the grass for the first time. They wanted to explore and weren't very good at posing for the camera. My assistant tried to help:

It worked for a few seconds...

... and then they were quickly on their way...

... in different directions... away from the camera, of course.

Here are my best shots of the day... taken before we went outside with them. Is this adorableness or what?!

Talk about posing!!

Yes, Rainbow feeds them very well. :)

We finally have them officially named! The orange one is Tony the Tiger, and the other one is Pete the Cat (he even has white "shoes"!). Heehee.

Here's a fun video:

I'm not so sure "Tony" was having fun, but Courtney sure was. :)

Quick sewing tip

For those of you who sew, do you download and print a lot of patterns and then wonder how to keep them all together and sorted?

I've had that problem, and I came up with a solution that works well for me, so I thought I'd share it with you. I bought a bunch of clear plastic sleeves, and I put the pattern pieces in them, then insert them into a 3-ring binder. For bigger pieces, I fold them until they fit. I make sure the right sides of the pieces show, because they usually say what the pattern makes, so I don't even have to label them.

I find this works particularly well for doll clothes patterns, because the pieces are so small and easy to lose. I put the pieces into the sleeve as soon as I take them off the fabric, so there's no chance for them to slip away. If I need to, I can see them through the sleeve to note any markings or anything, or I can quickly pull them back out if I need to.

That's how I do it. I hope this was helpful to someone. If anyone has any other tips they'd like to share - about storing patterns or anything sewing-related - please feel free to do so in the comments!