My New Hobby and the Family Band

At the first of the year I decided I needed a new hobby. I had always wanted to learn to smock so I figured there was no better time than when I had a child of my own that I could smock for. I picked it up pretty quick and I don't think I'm terrible at it. I love, love, love smocked clothing. Mary Selwyn rarely leaves the house in an outfit that isn't smocked. I love that it is cute and sometimes fancy. If I could afford it, everything she owned would be smocked, but that just isn't possible with prices these days. Maybe by the time I have my next child I will be really good and super fast.....doubt it, but we will hold out hope.


Shay's cousin Eve is who taught me how to smock. She is so good, everything she does is beautiful and could sell in the stores for $80. We have the best deal going right now. She makes the dress or outfit and then I smock it and then she will finish it or put it all together for me. I pay her to do this but it is so much cheaper than buying them in the store. These first two pictures are of the dress that I did for Mary Selwyn that I am the most proud of. I love the fabric and the smocking and the colors. It is by far my favorite thing that I've done so far.


These are some pictures of some other things I've smocked. I did an Auburn and an Alabama Jon Jon as gifts. The Auburn one was so much fun for me to do, the Alabama one I had a little harder time smocking....maybe I'm a little partial...okay a lot!!! However, I'm pretty proud of both of them. It was a lot more stressful to smock something that is going to someone else. I wanted them to be perfect. Perfect they are not but I worked hard on them. The Alabama one we gave to our friend Gavin for his first birthday and the Auburn one is a baby gift for sweet Mac Ellis. I can't wait to see the pictures of those precious boys wearing them.


The last picture is of a purple dress I smocked for Sydney Soriano. The dress did not photograph as well as I would have liked, I guess because it is a light color fabric and white thread. I'm working on dresses just like this for Mary Selwyn and my niece Kate to add to their collection of matching clothes. They are really sweet. I wish you could tell better in this picture.

So I have sewing machine that does all kinds of great stuff. My mom bought it a couple of years ago for Mother's day and never used it. I was lucky to have it passed down to me brand new. My goal is to be able to sew and start putting all my smocked outfits together myself. I realize it will probably be a while before I'm good at it but I'm determined to do it. I mean if I could end up half as good as Eve then I could sell my stuff for way less than you can buy at these children's clothing stores. I'm also going to learn to monogram on my matching this next week. I'm so excited! I love monograms just as much as I do smocking. I can't wait to be able to do it myself. I also already have plans to learn to smock pictures and letters. The smocking doesn't take me long so it is the sewing and putting together I have got to catch up on. I'm no dummy. I know this probably won't be easy for me. I will probably give up a hundred times but I have always wanted to learn to sew. I may never get to the point where people will pay for my stuff but a girl can dream right?

The Family Band: For her birthday, my brother Bradley gave Mary Selwyn a harmonica and set of bongos. The gifts that every mother dreams of. Noise, noise and more noise. Mary Selwyn loves to beat on these bongos, what kid wouldn't? It took her a while to pick up on the harmonica but now that she has got the sucking in and blowing out down she is a harmonica playing fool. We had to buy a second harmonica when we misplaced ours for a couple of weeks but now that we have found it Daddy and Mary Selwyn play some nice duets every night.

We went home last weekend for a birthday party and a biscuits game and while we were staying with my mom Uncle Brad pulled out all of his musical instruments. He has a very large collection. From guitars to drums, harmonicas and other things that I don't know the names for. He even has a didgeridoo. I don't know how many people know what that is but is this long wooden thing that I think Australian tribes use to make music (I think). Brad is determined to make Mary Selwyn a musician. He brought out his harmonicas and tambourine and had Mary Selwyn play them while he accompanied her on his banjo. These are the short videos from their jam session. This is my first attempt at taking and posting these videos so forgive me for them not being more professional. I just wanted to share the early videos of our new family band so we can all say we knew them before they were famous!