SEW cool!

First I have to explain that two weeks ago we bought our kids the BEST summer outdoor toy ever. It's the Little Tykes Sand & Sea Play Table. It's two sections of table, one filled with sand, one filled with water in a moat. There are little shovels and strainers, and a water wheel that makes little boats move around the moat. Good stuff. There's even an umbrella overhead.

We bought this because my kids always wanted to be outside but there was really nothing for them to do. Well, this was the best money we ever spent. They play with it four HOURS. I don't mean 5 minutes or even 20. I mean, literally, hours on end. I have to practically tear them away to go potty, eat, sleep, and breathe. And because I put it on my deck, right outside my kitchen door, I can watch them while I get on the internet get really constructive things done around the kitchen. There is a downside to this fabulous toy, though. It's messy. It only takes about 2 minutes before the kids get sandy, and another 2 before they're wet. So I've been changing their clothes as many as 4 times a day. (And sweeping the floor numerous times a day as well. Because as much as I like the feeling that I'm in Cancun every time I walk across the kitchen, I don't like the feeling that I'm sleeping in a sandbox at night when all that sand magically ends up in my bed.) I knew it was time to think of a new plan when I was on my second load of kids' laundry in two days, every outfit they own having been doused in gritty water.

Enter my mom. One of my mom's most impressive skills is her ability to sew. As far as I know, she can sew anything. She sewed a lot of our clothes growing up. She sews curtains, bedspreads, furniture upholstery. She sewed my sister's wedding dress, my baby's Christening gown, my dad's 3-piece suits in the 70's. And I'm pretty sure she sewed her own diapers as a child. So when I told her I wanted to make some waterproof aprons for my kids to play at their sand table in, she waved her hand and looked skyward as if to say "Oh, that would be a cake walk."

Next stop, the fabric store. Our only fabric store in town is pretty small, dark, and cramped, kind of like a seedy bar but with bolts of cloth where the mugs of beer should be. Stil, they managed to have about 8 different patterns of plastic coated (i.e. table cloth) material. The John Deer tractor fabric was tempting, as was the Relief Society luncheon plastic-coated lace. But in the end I chose the blue checkered Winnie the Pooh pattern. Not my favorite. I'm generally opposed to my children wearing cartoon characters. But my husband would not have appreciated my kids wearing plastic lace.

So here's how they turned out. Oh, and I should add that I actually did 90% of the sewing MYSELF. I figured it was time I learned. Yeah, I did sew my own jams in 1987. But I'd forgotten all that sewing brilliance since I began stooping to store-bought clothes.




Now if I can just figure out how to keep all the sand from ending up in the water side of the table, and arrange for a daily delivery of sand to replace all the sand that gets dumped on my deck, my happiness will be complete.