A star for The Boy.

A heart for The Girl.

One day, The Boy saw me drawing in my sketchbook.  When he found out I was drawing ideas for toys I had, he said, “You can make TOYS?!” When I told him that indeed I could, he asked for a cat for Christmas.

The “fabric” is a thriftshop wool sweater that I felted (washed and dried on hot).  The pattern is unmarked.  The pattern and the ribbon on the kitty’s collar are both very old and were given to me by The Daddy Monkey’s Grandmother years ago.  The vintage button is from The Visionary.

When I took this outside to photograph it, The Girl kept grabbing it.  I told her it was a Christmas surprise for The Boy.  She said, “No, my Christmas surprise.”  Looks like I may be making another one.

I am so thrilled with how both costumes look, and I am really happy that I got them done in time for us to to go to our local garden’s Halloween celebration for children.  They both had a great time, and I’m glad to get as much use out of these costumes as we can.  I know they’ll end up in the dress-up trunk after Halloween, so I can feel good about all the time and money I spent on these.

Here is the The Boy, dressed as a ranger.  This costume was my inspiration.  Look at that serious expression.  He is so fierce.

And here is The Girl, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.  I also had the idea to dress her as Carmen Miranda, but I thought the odds on her keeping all that fruit on her head were pretty small.  She wouldn’t even keep the hood up.

Yes, I could have bought costumes for much cheaper, and saved myself a lot of time,  but every time I look at these kids in the costumes I made, it seems all worthwhile.  I remember so well the costumes my mom sewed for me, and it’s a tradition I’m glad to continue with my own children.

When The Boy came home from school one day to find the house decorated for Halloween, he was so excited, he said, “this place is magic!”

Hopefully he feels the same way about the costume.

This was my toy box when I was a little girl.  My mother made it in a woodworking class when we lived in Kansas.  I was not known as a neat child by any means, and I found the toy box to be a great place to hide, rather than a great place to put toys.  Inevitably what I wanted was always at the bottom, which meant that everything was always on the floor, rather than in the toy box.

I held on to this toy box for probably about 30 years.  My mom always said it could be my hope chest someday.  Does anyone do that anymore?  I didn’t.  But I lugged it from place to place, always finding it handy for stashing something away.  It got painted a couple of times.  Once it was black.  (I know, what was I thinking?) But I stripped it down a few years back, and it sat, 95% done, for years.

I was on one of my get-rid-of-stuff kicks when I decided that this sad thing just had to go.  The front panel was loose, The Boy had scribbled on it with crayon, and it was dirty and dingy from not having any varnish or paint.  I sheepishly asked my mom if she wanted it before I sent it away.  She declined, not having anywhere to put it.

But I still couldn’t get rid of it.  It sat for another year.

I’m on a major fall-cleaning kick around here: cleaning up, clearing out, and organizing.  I decided to fix up this sad old thing and give it to my own children.  I scrubbed and sanded it, and removed the last of the black paint.  I made a homemade non-toxic furniture polish out of mineral oil and beeswax, and polished it up.  I repaired the loose front.  Then, to make it a comfy place to sit and curl up with a book, I made two cushions for the seat.  I can proudly say that the cushions didn’t cost me a cent.  It was all materials from my stash.  The foam, the batting, the fabric and thread were all from previous projects.

So now it sits in my own childrens’ room, holding all their dress-up gear.  There is alot of it.  And now my own boy likes to climb inside to hide.

I bought this fabric while The Boy was still in my belly because I just knew he was going to be a boy.  I always wanted to make a shirt out of it for him, but never got around to it.  Since he is now rather particular about what he will wear, (how did that happen?) I decided to make some much needed pajamas for him.  When I showed him the pants and t-shirt together, he said, “they don’t match,” so I cut out a little patch, bonded it to the shirt, and zig-zagged around the edge. The time-to-result-ratio was off the charts on this, so I think more of these t-shirts are in my future.

Since I shared The Girl’s Waldorf doll last week, I thought I’d share The Boy’s today.  I really love how he turned out.  I made him to match The Boy’s eye and hair color, and I even made the little hawaiian shirt and jeans just like The Boy used to wear.

I made him from a kit I bought from Joy’s.  I don’t think a kit is really necessary, but I simply could not get my head around getting all the supplies together and I couldn’t find a pattern for free.  Making the head is a little tricky and Joy’s instructions walk you through it step by step.  It was only after I made The Boy’s doll that I felt confident enough to make The Girl’s without a pattern.  So at least it was a learning experience.

I was so disappointed that The Boy utterly rejected this doll after I spent so much time and swore so much while making him.  But I think The Girl will get some use out of him.  I was planning on giving him a makeover, but when I dressed him up in his original outfit again, I couldn’t bear to change him one bit.

Here’s the quilt I made for The Boy’s big boy bed.  It took me a year to make.  I finished it just in time for his third birthday, a year after he moved into the bed.  It is a rail fence pattern done in light, medium, and dark shades of green, blue, and purple.  I was able to use many scraps leftover from his baby quilt, since it was done in the same colors.  It is one of my favorite color combinations.  So much that I’m trying to get a bit un-stuck from that combo because I think I might use it a little too often.

I was a bit disappointed that the light and dark shade variations weren’t more apparent in the finished product, but The Boy likes it, so that’s what matters.

Here are the new playsilks I made for the kids for Christmas.  This is our second set.  I dyed the first set of silks with that cheap drugstore dye, and they turned out okay.  These I dyed with an old easter egg dye kit I had, and I love the colors!  I also prewashed the silks before dying them this time, and the dye took so much better.

The Boy actually wore out the old set of silks.  They were stained, torn, and well loved.  I think of all our toys, the playsilks get used the most.  It makes me feel good to see The Boy playing with something that’s not plastic.  They appeal to my Waldorf tendencies, and The Boy loves them even though he rejects every Waldorf toy I give him.  The Girl already loves them too.  They are great for peekaboo, and a pleasure just to touch, hold, and wear.

Dress up is big in our house.  The Boy always has some sort of outfit on, and it usually changes several times daily.  I’ve been known to take him to the store dressed as a knight, robot, astronaut, or whomever he happens to be that day.

I don’t remember where The Boy’s love of Romans came from, but he likes to pretend he is a Roman Centurion.  I did some research on Greek and Roman leather armor, and tried to somewhat base my design on that.  This was a really fun project and I managed to get it done relatively quickly.  I love the six-pack muscles.

This was also from my own pattern, and I was happy that it came together without a hitch.  It was a huge hit on Christmas day.  It is made of brown vinyl that I got on crazy sale for $3 a yard.  The top is all done with free-motion quilting.  There’s a layer of cotton batting underneath it and a brown cotton lining under that.  The tunic underneath is a separate piece.  It’s just a cotton muslin square with neck and arm holes.

There is also a special Roman sword that goes with it, but again, it’s not pictured.  What makes a sword Roman?  The pommel is shaped differently.  What’s a pommel and why do I know?  Because I have a four year old boy.

Here’s the Peter Pan costume I made for The Boy for Christmas.  (From my own pattern.)  He loved it.  For some reason I forgot to slip the little sword into the belt when I took the picture, but there’s a little wooden sword that goes with it.  This was a very big deal as The Boy had all of his swords taken away a while back due to, ahem, malfeasance on his part.  Did I mention that The Daddy Monkey made the sword?  He did because he is awesome and is much better with power tools than I am.  The only power tool I use these days is a sewing machine.