Friday, April 1, 2011

Celebrating Kate


Kate


is now three.

Dave, incidentally, took that picture. The man takes great pictures of our kids (and everything else).  Rarely needs photoediting. I can never get any of our kids to look lovely like that on camera. I can't even get inanimate objects to look good on camera oftentimes, let alone wriggly living things. If I've become any less awful at photography over the years, it's from all the stuff I learned from Dave: use natural light, don't even bother to take photos if the light is substandard, get a decent background or backdrop, post fewer, rather than more, photos. He loves photographing the kids unposed and propless. And, therefore, he captures the most wonderful, natural expressions.


But back to Kate (all photos hereafter by me, unfortunately). 

She turned three today. I no longer have babies. They are all grown up. We didn't have a fancy party for Kate - just a little family thing earlier in the week, with a trip to the Megamall for lunch and rides in the indoor amusement park. We came home for cake and presents. 

Now some of those presents, I gleefully confess, I actually made. Naturally, I gave up sleep to accomplish this shocking feat - I don't want you all to go away believing I'm efficient or anything ludicrous like that. 

Here's one of them, which you've seen before:

Here's another - a reverse pettiskirt. 

I didn't make this because it's fashionable. I made this because Kate already owns one (bought from Old Navy) and will wear it every day if she can get away with it. In the interests of hygiene, I had to make her a second one, to distract her long enough to wash the first. I'll say more about it in a separate post later, but let me just quickly share that I very effectively learned that there is no such thing as soft tulle. Tulle is for tutus, not skirts.


Here's another: a Strawberry Shortcake replacement outfit. Her previous one is now far too short, far too tight and has filthy stains.


And, finally, a Blueberry Muffin outfit. I was on a roll.


As I said earlier, all very costumey. These outfits were both made entirely out of knits, so they're stretchy, soft, can be pulled over the head and are fun even as playclothes. Kate squealed when she unwrapped them, and tried to wear them to bed as pyjamas. 

I'll deconstruct these in upcoming posts, together with a tutorial on knits!


21 comments:

  1. wow i can't believe how much of a difference 3 years makes on a baby. My girl is turning 1 in a couple weeks and i can't get over it. She's my one and only (for now). those outfits are adorable.

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  2. What a beautiful baby! And three year old. Dress-up clothes are so much fun, we always had a big box when my kids were little. Harder, was coming up with boy dress-ups. (his father didn't like him in the silver high heels) I have sewn capes and made cardboard daggers.
    My oldest, went to kindergarten many days with a little purple star next to her eye, like Rainbow Bright. :D

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  3. Beautiful photos, that is one very special baby photo. Happy Birthday Kate!

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  4. Happy Birthday to Kate! And "Bravo" to the proud parents, right?
    Thoses clothes/costumes are great.
    Have a wonderful weekend over there!
    Ahuefa

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  5. Happy birthday to Kate. They grow up way to fast. I love that she loves strawberry shortcake. I still have all of my originals form the 80's... the good old days

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  6. Hey, your little girl is just a couple months older than my big girl, who will be 3 in June (really?! already?!).

    I look forward to your tutorial about knits. I recently made my first knit thing and it was ... urm ... surprisingly waaaaay less scary than I had made it in my head.

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  7. I think the photos you took are lovely. It's hard to go wrong with a beautiful model.
    The presents are lovely. It always make things special when you create the gifts yourself. Enjoy these precious days. They seem to go more quickly with every passing year. My 2 babies are now 22 and 25 and I feel as though it was just the blink of an eye since they were toddlers.

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  8. Happy baby's birthday, Kate's mama! Thank you for sharing the great pics! I know what you mean about no more babies. Mine are just 7 and almost 5! But I still love to sew and craft for/with them!

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  9. Wonderful photos of a beautiful little girl. You have a lot to be thankful for..

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  10. my daughter turns 3 on Sunday and we are having a Strawberry Shortcake party. She would love these outfits. So cute. Thanks for the idea. I love Blueberry!

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  11. Happy birthday to your baby girl! I love the outfits you made, not too costume-y to my eyes, and she looks adorable in them.

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  12. That second picture of her smiling... pure sweetness!!!

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  13. Happy birthday, Kate! I am excited for the knit help. I am deathly afraid!

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  14. happy birthday Kate! I am starting to plan gift sewing for our "baby" Frannie as she turns 3 in June (i-don't-know-you-but-I'm-waving-Em)-- she's already outgrowing the first crop of things I sewed with the slopers. I've got a gorgeous purple/pink paisley knit I'm afraid to cut into, so waiting for the deconstruction/tutes....

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  15. Thanks for the big smile those pics put on MY face today!!!

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  16. great presents! so funny cuz i just made a lemon meringue outfit/costume! these outfits need to get together for a proper playdate, lol. http://frivolousnecessity.blogspot.com/2011/03/lemon-meringue.html

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  17. Happy birthday Kate! What lovely handmade presents. You are a very lucky little lady. :) Coincidentally, my littlest baby turns two tomorrow. With I had your level of energy to make all her pressies, LiEr.

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  18. I love seeing photos of your kids! Dave is great at capturing them and obviously you've been doing some learning on that front. :)

    The costumes are great! Can't wait for the knits tutorial. I've done some sewing with knits but I feel like I may be missing key pieces of information.

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  19. You are brilliant! I am jealous! And the day before yesterday my nine year old daughter announced that she was a girl, and as such, she needed her own copy of the American Girl book, The Care and Keeping of You. Yesterday she required an emergency feminine hygiene kit before she would agree to leave for school.

    WHERE DID MY BABY GO?

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