I messed up the proportions a bit in the back and made it a tad too long, but frankly it’s a bit of a miracle that it has any resemblance to a fish at all, so I shouldn’t pick at it. You know those test questions where you had to look at a 2D image and pick which 3D shape it would make? Those weren’t exactly my strong suit. So pattern making is a bit of a stretch for me. I’ve been attempting to sew for years now, and every time I take pattern pieces and stitch them together correctly, I get a thrill. (WOW! Look what that made!! I can’t believe it!) The fish was cozy and comfortable and Hot Wheels was happy with it, so it’s all good. Here’s our wood fairy:

Fortunately this was a very basic setup – we bought two fallish sprays of fake plants from the fabric store and hot glued them to a pair of old brown pants and a tunic stitched up from a curtain remnant. My kind of sewing! She wanted an acorn bag and elfy shoes, so I used scraps from the American Indian princess outfit from the second grade. Hands down, my favorite part of any fairy/princess outfit is the headgear. This one was made from a ring of brown fuzzy pussy-willow-like stuff, twirled with this super thin bronze colored wire. The wire had the quality of a line drawing in her hair – I love that. If I were a jewelry designer, I think I’d just make crowns and tiaras all day.

On Halloween night we had an amazing chili dinner with our lovely neighbors. The girls were a cupcake and a queen.

I don’t do kids’ faces here, so you’ll have to imagine how insanely lovely they were. Didn’t Joan do an incredible job with these costumes? That cupcake just turned out magnificently, from the felt flower decoration to the perfectly pleated wrapper. Fantastic. Too bad they had to walk around with these clowns…

Tom made himself into a cool jelly fish, using an old shower curtain, some balloons and a string of lights – he was a big hit. I decided to go with gothick this year – basically a goth outfit with a lot of bugs thrown in. Hard to see here, but I hot glued spiders and other plastic bugs onto hairpins and put them through my hair, and just used false eyelash glue for the ants. It was so much fun – I think my favorite part was cutting up the t shirt and stockings with patterns. Even Hot Wheels thought that was cool.

The whole goth look was a blast, but man! what a lot of work. I practically needed a brillo pad to get that lipstick off. Yoikes. And it had the unintended consequence of completely freaking one of my young neighbors out – when we went over for dinner she just had to leave me for a while because it was all so horribly wrong. Fortunately, she came around and we had a great night.

In other good news, after a loooonnnnngggg week, Honey is finally looking and feeling more like herself again. Turns out that when you take Motrin for a long time it does a serious number on your stomach. But it looks like we’re out of the (knock on) woods – her mouth is back to mild discomfort and she’s much, much happier. It’s fantastic!!! Here’s to a great weekend, everybody!

Halloween is technically four days away, but in reality it’s only three, since the school costume parade is on Friday. Honey wants to be a wood sprite, which I’m not particularly worried about since I have bags of green and brown fabrics and sprites are not known for their tailoring. We could throw that one together the day before. In fact, I’m sure we will. Now Hot Wheels is a different story. He wants to be “a fissy.” Not just any fissy, mind you. THIS fissy:

Say hello to Bubbles. I’m actually very fond of this guy.

Yeah, I’m talkin about you.

Anyway… I’ve never made a fish costume before and I have to say I didn’t exactly excel at that portion of the SAT where you had to picture what 3 dimensional shape would be made from what 2 dimensional drawing, which regrettably goes for the reverse as well. I’ve been in deep denial on this costume – look how much I’d done up till this morning:

Pretty smart looking, eh?? So today I faced the music and started cutting and sewing. Please think positive thoughts towards this fish, and if you have detailed diagrams that’d be great too.

First up: stacks of old t shirts not good enough to give away but too good to turn into rags. Something had to be done. Turns out there is a great skirt pattern over at craftstylish that’s easy and fun to make. I am 100% for clothing I can whip up in about a half an hour, and this skirt has the added benefit being super soft and comfortable.

Result: A small dent in the fabric collection, and Honey and I each ended up with new skirts before teatime!

 

Someone in my house is now eight.

Eight.

It might be a good moment to note that the day after this certain person was born, she received a letter from my dear brother, in which he promised that when she was eight, she could indeed have a pony. Thanks for that, Joe! 

Her birthday morning was wonderful and filled with amazing treats from all around the globe. Such a lucky girl. Josephina was a lucky girl today too – look what she got!

 

Oh yeah. Hampton in the house. Mum found this while we were all on vacation this summer, and I’d completely forgotten about it. It was a HUGE hit.

I made Josephina a little dress out of some scraps from the fabric bin. (Fabric going out instead of in! It’s a miracle!)

 

 

Here’s a look at the hem, which took me too long because I didn’t gather the ribbon at all and the hem flipped up so I had to tack it down all the way around on the inside. 

 

Today is also International Walk To School Day, which is a little more like walkbikescooterandskateboard day when you get right down to it. Whatever you call it, it’s great. We loved seeing all the riders on the bike path this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a morning!

This year I was smart and skipped the speed quarters (so out of my league) but I was on a winning boat race team. I thought we didn’t stand a chance, seeing as there were three teams – East Coast, Midwest and West Coast. Midwest?! These are Michigan people and I was sure it would be a rout. But noooooo, East Coast all the way, baby. In retrospect, I realize we won because we were started and anchored by BC alums.

The best part of the night is the dancing, though. It was great – and now we’re all suffering from disco neck, as our friends Amy and Andy put it. Fortunately Sunday was freezing and foggy here, so it was a great excuse to stay in and be cozy and recuperate.

I’m making a child/doll pajama set for a friend of ours who is in the hospital, and I’m hoping to finish them up this week.

How can it possibly be the last week before school starts again?! It’s wrong on so many levels. We’re going to make the most of it, though and play like mad. My kids already have the Monopoly board set up on the dining room table, so I’d better get a move on. My daughter is turning into quite the real estate magnate – I’ve got keep my eye on that girl.

 

Been whipping up felt bags for all our little gifties. They’re just so fast to make, and I love that they’re reusable. Lately I’ve been sewing an extra strip of felt along the top and cutting a small handle out of the base layer below – the top layer gives a little extra support and structure. 

Another method that’s worked really well in the past is to cut a couple of branches, about a half inch in diameter, and use them for handles. Just sew a couple of felt loops at the top of the bag to hold them in (I found that it really helps to stitch around the ends of the branches so they can’t slip out.) It’s an incredibly easy solution that always looks nice – particularly with a bird or branchy silhouette stitched onto the bag.

These days, though, I seem to be leaving them till the very last minute and as you can see, the decorations are pretty minimal. Maybe next time I’ll try to get fancy… ha! That sounds like it would involve some advance thought. Better not.

 

 

I’m crazy about this material (leftover from pajamas), and the bag was a snap to make. It’s lined with some pale pink raw silk (leftover from a dress) and uses a bit of green yarn (leftover from a baby hat) that wraps around a button.

 

This couldn’t be any simpler, and yet I still managed to make 2 mistakes while I was doing it. Doh. The beauty of making small things, though, is that they don’t take long to fix!!