Sweet and Sour Bean

Avery's nickname is "Bean." When she was little, she was a sad, gassy, little baby, so I jokingly called her Bean. It grew into a term of endearment--just today, my neighbor called her Bean. I also call her Sweet Bean and Little Bean, but lately, she could be called Sweet and Sour Bean, as these pictures show. Avery is the kid who runs to greet me the moment I wake up with a big hug and exuberant cry of, "Mommy!" She is also the kid that falls down and just wants to stay down for awhile, then get up on her own terms.

After seeing some very cute aprons I've been on a sewing kick lately, and this smock is one of first attempts back at sewing from a long break. I fund the tutorial here, and modified the size to fit Avery. The main apron part is an old skirt of my sister Annie's that I had stashed away for just such a project as this. The red dress was a thrift store find of my other sister Emily, and was crying out for a pinafore or something. I made one for Abigail too, but made it while she was sleeping, so the straps didn't get modified to a good length, and it's a little big, but it still kept her clean while we made chocolate chip cookies last night and while she ate oatmeal and blueberry smoothies for breakfast. And she likes it. My other project was a half apron; I traced an existing apron to make a pattern and it turned out pretty well. Next time I have a non-pregnant tummy at my house to model it, I'll put a picture up.
So, I guess now is the appropriate time to thank my parents for all those sewing lessons they paid for when I was a kid that give me a small amount of confidence to approach my sewing machine, and to Sister Palmer, the dear old lady who faithfully taught me to sew. I'm definitely not a credit to her name, but I still appreciate her efforts.