I’m back. I just realized it has been forever since I last posted. I knew it had been a while, but where the heck have the last two months gone!? I keep feeling as though it’s still January — perhaps because Connecticut still feels like it’s stuck in January! Grrr…. enough of the cold and lingering snow!

In January I was going strong, feeling energized by the optimism that a new year tends to inspire in me. I was recommitted to exercising regularly. Intent on blogging more. I was inspired by new sewing projects. I was even prepared and on schedule with my Kids Clothes Week (Winter) sewing projects.  And then — boom! — the rose-tinted glasses of 2014 bliss and renewal were yanked off and exchanged for an unwelcome visitor in the form of the stomach bug. I suppose I was being uncharacteristically optimistic we’d avoid it, since the bug had been winding its way through my son’s preschool. It visited and stuck around for a while. Thankfully my husband and I were spared the worst of it, but my daughter experienced more than enough for all of us — yuck. And although we’ve long been recovered from the nastiness of GI bugs, it really knocked me off kilter for a while. I was rationalizing a newly adopted attitude of underachievement, “Listen, after that whole house o’ vomit thing, can’t I just coast for a bit here. Housework and fitness and general productivity are so overrated.”

And, well, what do you know? It’s just about time for Kids Clothes Week again. It’s as though I hardly missed a beat; February and March serving as mere filler between sewing challenges. Now that KCW occurs 4 times/year and is scheduled along with the seasons, I kind of feel like I just finished sewing for one KCW and need to get organized for the next. I’ll admit to a preference for the old days, when KCW happened just twice a year. And I realize that’s a silly lament, because it’s not exactly as if someone has the metaphorical gun to my head, making me sew myself silly for all four KCWs. It’s just so hard to not get wrapped up in the KCW excitement and want to create for my kiddos. Especially when folks in the sewing blogosphere start previewing their KCW sewing plans weeks in advance and recommending patterns and fabrics and loads of other goodies (you can check out the kids clothes week blog for a taste of the KCW Spring fervor).  Alas, KCW Spring is right around the corner.

Now putting aside my complaints of late winter doldrums and stomach bugs and irresistible sewing forums, there was a very bright and warm part to our late winter. Vacation!! It came together kind of quickly, although we’d been talking of getting away for some time. And it was really nice. Like perfect-weather-fun-at-the-beach kind of nice. And I had the chance to sew up a couple simple items for the kids to wear on vacation; although I only got the chance to photograph one top (on location, of course).

This top is a simple self-drafted peasant shirt using raccoon-themed fabric from the Acacia collection designed by Tula Pink for Free Spirit. The sleeve fabric is from the same collection. I sewed up the top the night before we left for vacation. This fabric just makes me smile, with the big raccoon eyes looking out at you. And the colors go with a bunch of other items in my daughter’s wardrobe, so it has a high wearability factor. Since we returned home she’s been wearing it layered over long-sleeved shirts, so this top has already seen a ton of wear.

Lookin’ good, girlfriend!

Daisy and I snuck out early one morning to snap these photos, while the boys made the breakfast and coffee run. She insisted on wearing her brother’s sunglasses. Always hiding from the paparazzi, this one.

This year’s vacation was better than last year.  I was grateful for the improvement a year made in terms of my children’s adaptability. There was less fussing, more napping and they were just generally more portable.  I think it was due to all of us being a year older and wiser — the kids starting to shed that knee-jerk reaction of being instantly irritable when faced with a series of new experiences and a disrupted sleep schedule, and the parents (reluctantly, at least in my case) accepting the difference between a “vacation” and a “family vacation.” As much as I sometimes wish they could just stay little, I guess growing up has its benefits, too.

I hope to be back next week to share some of my KCW plans. Have a great weekend!

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