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366 Bow Ties: Day 159

That's my boy. When he last swung on this swing on the church playground at Draper's Valley Presbyterian Church, he was but 2 years old. It was a delight to give him a push and watch him fly above the Virginia cattle country landscape.

It was a travel day. Shorts: red chambray. Blue oxford.

And a red gingham // blue & white reversible cotton classic-cut bow tie. A pretty stellar creation by our Churchbelles, if you ask me.

I'm going to leave it at that, and let you peruse the slide show. Baby deer; swings, swings, and more swings; the manse we lived in for a summer; it's view down the valley to the church and graveyard; our children; etc.

Enjoy.

Cordially,

Andy

[slideshow]

Springy Sweater Vests & Bow Ties

Sometimes the inspiration hits and I go all out dressing the boys for church. Gorgeous spring days like today usually help.

Andy was particularly joyous to see his eldest son rocking the sockless penny loafers.  All the more so because he never begged to change into his running shoes.  Loafers at the community garden?  Why not?

I think this sweater vest with the kites is so cool.  He was definitely the only one at the church basketball game with kites & bow tie.

Owen is sporting a new haircut--the shortest it's been in a long time.  I think I did a pretty good job.

Here's to the springing of spring, if not to the springing forward of our clocks.

Deacon's First Email

This is Deacon's first ever email.  We were making arrangements to head to dinner at the home of our friends Stephen and Erica.  Deacon dictated this message to them.  Ellie served as amanuensis. 

Dear Stephen and Erica,

Come stay to your house the longest.  Stephen and Erica come to my house next.  Play games with me at my house and I want to play games at your house too.  Stephen and Erica go run with me outside of my house and yours.  Stephen and Erica Go!  I don't want Erica to run.  Going is a race sport.  I want to run with Stephen.  Stephen's great at running.  Stephen go fast!  Stephen and Erica I want you to run and jump.  I want Stephen to do those things.  Erica can't do those things.  It's too hard for her.  I think stephen is the best.  Erica is pretty.  I love her.  I don't like to eat Stephen and Erica.  Grown-ups are yucky.  Toys are yucky too.  That's all.

Love, 

Deacon

A Quilt for Baby M

Here's a little baby quilt I sewed for a friend's baby girl due next month.  It was actually really fun to make.  I could see making more baby quilts for gifts in my future.  I didn't really follow a pattern for this one, I just used the fabrics to tell me  what to do.  The squares around the end are machine quilted with random swirly lines.  I quilted around the pattern of the fabric for large middle square.  I think it turned out alright for my first quilting attempt.  There are imperfections but that just proves it's hand-made.

The Back

I always love sewing my label into all the things I make.

Welcome to January

December went by in quite a whirl. Christmas was a very lovely time and we greatly enjoyed the magic of the holidays. I worked very hard to get caught up and there was actually a few hours on Dec 30th when I was completely caught up with my bow ties orders and my house was clean! It really was a miracle.

We spent almost all of Christmas week playing with our new set of wooden blocks and train track expansion packs from IKEA.  I'm finally learning that if I make up a train track wide enough for both of my boys to lay inside, they tend to get along great and play trains for a long time.  I just love these classic wooden toys.

One of the handmade christmas gifts this year was this funny robot towel robe that I made for Deacon.  He's always very particular about his towel not falling off after his baths and this solves all of his problems.  But I agree that it's pretty funny looking!  When I showed it to Andy, he just laughed and said it was cool, but one of the most ridiculous things he's ever seen!  I felt vindicated when Deacon wanted to wear it for about 24 hours straight the first time he go to use it.

I just used an old towel and some robot fabric I had for the appliques.  You can find the extremely simple tutorial HERE.  I think we'll get some good use out of it this summer at the pool too.  

I've been thinking about this poor little blog and my lack of attention to it over the past few months. I have plans for so many blog posts to write over the next few weeks. I have lots of new bow ties to share too. I'm planning to have my online Store ready for spring by the beginning of February. You're going to really love all of the beautiful madras and seersuckers I have for summer.  Join the MAILING LIST for an e-mail reminder when the store is updated, and if you have any ideas for what you would like to see in my online store for the spring, please e-mail me at ellielaveer@gmail.com.

Sunday's best.

I thought I'd share these cute pictures we snapped on Sunday evening after church. My boys are so adorable - all three of them.

D has on a candy cane bow tie and O has one that I made out of a men's neck tie.  Andy never wears a bow tie to Sunday church because it looks really weird with his preaching robe.  You wouldn't believe what a feat it is to get these boys dressed for church on Sundays.  Especially since O (almost 2) runs as fast as he can in the other direction when you try and put clothes on him.  You'd never know how wild he is looking at that sweet smile.

Fabric Basketballs

We also had a great time on Tuesday making our favorite new food - Pizza Pockets.  Maybe I'll post about that next week.  It's a fun little recipe.

Bow Ties for the Little Guys

Here are some of the bow ties for little guys that I've made lately.  These things are just too cute.

Of course, I had to convince him that pink seersucker actually is cool for boys to wear.  He was a little hesitant at first but he came around to like it.

And here's a christmas plaid one.

And a little Reindeer bow tie and neck tie set.

And finally, a patch madras neck tie.

I think I may add a children's tie section to my little "store".

The Cordial Churchman Update

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  This is the first time I've been on a computer for any length of time in a while.  A few days ago, my computer stopped working so it is now going to the apple hospital to hopefully be repaired.

I wanted to give you a bullet point-ish post though to remind you that I'm still around and tell you what's going on over here.

• I'm thinking of starting a mailing list to let you know when I update my online store.  Is this something you would be interested in?  Do you know of a mailing list service I could use - preferably something I can put in my sidebar?  Your help is greatly appreciated.
• My model/husband has been writing a masters thesis nonstop lately and I haven't really had a chance to get him to model the ties for me, but I promise, more converted ties are coming SOON - like within the next few days.  Some good ones for you Trad gentlemen.
• I'm planning a bow tie giveaway for the end of the month.  So be looking forward for your chance to get a handmade Cordial Churchman bow tie for free (!) and in the process help spread the word about my ties.  More info on that one in a few weeks.
• I've made more ascots, they actually are really fun to make and are so soft.  Some people have expressed interest so know that they are $23 and I'll be making them less often than the bow ties so put your bid in if you're interested. (ellielaveer@gmail.com)
• Apparently, tomorrow is Bow Tie Tuesday, so if you're a gentleman, get your bow tie on tomorrow.  E-mail me pictures if it is one of my ties.

I'll leave you with this cute picture of my little boy wearing a romper I made for him a couple of weeks ago using my serger.  It turned out pretty cute.  This was my third time using this pattern.  Do you remember the last time I made a romper?  It was only 4 months ago and I used the leftover seersucker fabric to make my husband a bow tie (my first tie).  It seems like forever ago - I've made hundreds of ties since then!

Cheers,

Ellie

Bow Tie Onesie

As I was making this last night for Owen, my husband agreed that this shirt screams "My mom is a big dork".  Somehow, I don't really mind announcing that I'm a dork with children's clothing.  I asked my 3 year old if he wanted a bow tie shirt and he said no.  Maybe a neck tie shirt for the big guy?

The best part is that even when he's really mad, I just look at him and laugh because he's so darn cute.