Perturbed by Patterns

It is 1:30 in the morning but I was so excited about my latest project that I couldn't wait to blog about it. You will have to endure potentially incoherent sentences, but the pictures will tell the story, too.

Last night I sat down after I put the kiddos to bed and pulled out the shirt for Jeff's Halloween costume. I had it all cut out and ready to sew. After reading the directions several times and hoping to find some hidden information anywhere to help me decode the instructions, I gave up. No big deal. Halloween is still a month away, right? I'll just pull out some doll clothes I want to make for Lyndsi for her doll for Christmas. There is already an adorable little Christmas night gown cut out. I thought I'd finish it and lessen the chances of losing pattern pieces. A short search for instructions took place before I could actually start. (Imagine finding the directions in the pattern envelope. Shocking!) Yeah. Couldn't figure that one out either. I gave up and enjoyed a little bit of a movie before I went to bed. This afternoon I decided to attempt another project-a child's apron for a birthday gift for a party McKay's going to this week. I found a cute little apron online complete with pattern and instructions. This should be way easy, right? Nope. Couldn't figure that one out either. I couldn't even get past putting the pattern together. What in the world is going on here??!!!! I have made things way more complicated than a simple man's shirt, doll clothes and apron for heaven's sake! ARGHHH! I have concluded Jeff mistakenly packed my brain and took it with him on his business trip. (Jeff, could you fed-ex that back please? I need it!)

I really did need to get that apron done, though. It was the inspiration for the entire birthday gift. Besides the apron, McKay is giving her a sugar cookie mix, frosting and sprinkles, and a cookie cutter. Do you see the theme? The apron is quite important here. Luckily, Jeff only took the left side of my brain-the problem solving side. (Hopefully he'll do some upgrades on it while he has it.) The right side is still here with me and it can be quite good at improvising. I just learned to make a hostess apron and thought it would be easy to adapt it for a child, add a bib and there you go! The only problem was I didn't know how to do the waist band with the top part of the apron. Thanks to Annette (you were really helpful), I figured it out and spent the rest of the night creating this darling apron that I am almost sad to give away. (NOTE: It is pink and white not red and yellow. The lighting at 1 a.m. is not the best for beautiful photos.)

I also made her a set of bows:

And some for another cute little friend: