Black Market Beagle

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Due date: today. Still waiting. Uncomfortably. I am happy though that I got to take the big one trick-or-treating tonight. And I got to rock my fabric marker + old t-shirt + round belly getup.

Before and After

2011-10-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I scoured Craigslist for a year, looking for a vintage bedroom set. Not something that's easy to come by around here, I guess. Luckily, my dad is a carpenter. A pretty amazing one. He built the boy a bedroom set: bed, dresser, and bookshelf.

A reminder of what the room looked like before:

All the white Ikea pieces have moved to the baby's room. Gulliver, you may not be fancy, but you are a sturdy little crib.

At first I thought I'd design modern plywood-y bedroom set. Low slung bed with drawers, exposed plywood edges. But my mind kept coming back to the midcentury bedroom set I never found. I looked through my favorite catalogs for inspiration and then I shamelessly ripped a design off.

Dad did an amazing job. He usually works in a style I like to call midwestern country traditional. Think honey stained oak with antiqued brass hardware. I like to shake him out of his comfort zone. He always rises to the occasion.

Everything is solid wood, finished with Danish oil and wax by my parents and husband. I love that this furniture will last until my son is grown. And then some.

I bought the side rail at a garage sale this summer for $3 and slipcovered it with quilt scraps and a piece of muslin. The school chair was another steal from a preschool closing sale last summer.

Since there's one less piece of furniture in the room, there's more play space. Something I imagine will be appreciated when the boy has a mobile sibling menacing his toys.

The transition to the big boy bed went remarkably smoothly. I'm so, so happy about this as I'm getting little enough sleep as it is and with the new baby due in two weeks, there's no rest in sight.

Soon: the office/guestroom and baby's room.

Slowing Down

2011-09-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am really pregnant. It just hit me about two weeks ago. I'm grumpy, I'm lumbering, I'm exhausted. And I'm only 33 weeks.

I am very glad I got the boy's quilt done, though. Had it taken longer at the quilters (she quilted it over a weekend!), it may have gotten pushed to the back burner. The quick turnaround meant that I had no excuse not to bind it.

I like it. Zig zags quilted in smaller zig zags. Lots of Joel Dewberry's Aviary woodgrain on the back. It looks lovely on the big boy bed.

And best of all, it's done.

Yellow!

2011-08-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

The office/guestroom is mostly done. The baby's room is started. Big boy furniture arrives on Friday. A quilt has been completed. Stuff is happening here.

Of course I'm also 30+ weeks pregnant, have a cold and all my new photos are imprisoned on my camera.

So, in lieu of photos, here's a bit of the plan for the new nursery. All the furniture from the boy's room is making its way next door. The walls have been painted Benjamin Moore Sweet Innocence (which is a little lighter than the above paint swatch). I made the curtains from the chevron patterned fabric that has been popping up all over the place (and lined them in charcoal blackout fabric). The hardwood will be mostly covered in Feelin' Groovy Flor tiles in Yellow and Fog. The crib set will be-- oh, who am I kidding-- I'm just going to throw a pink sheet on the crib mattress and call it a day.

I've got a bit of art to frame. A bit more still being devised and some throw pillows to sew. Grandma is working on a small quilt for the room. I managed to spackle the many, many holes in the closet (seriously, for each successful hole that held up the old shelf brackets, there were at least two other holes drilled. The plaster is like swiss cheese in there). Next up is painting the closet and installing the closet organizer that my husband has already built.

And getting my photos off the camera.

Third Trimester Already? How?

2011-08-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

It's crunch time around here. Three rooms are being overhauled to make room for baby and we are in the thick of it. When the dust settles, we will have a new nursery, a new office tucked into the guestroom (or a bed in the middle of our new office), and the boy's room will be fit for the young man he is much too rapidly turning in to.

Yes and Yes

2011-08-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Summer

2011-08-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation and this is all the recreational sewing I managed to eek out. To be fair, it was much, much too hot to do anything more than try to remain in or on the lake as much as humanly possible. Doubly so if you you were a pregnant lady or a two year old (boats and swimming being some of said two year old's favorite things).

Now we're back and the sewing is much less recreational and much more practical: curtains, napkins, quilt binding.

There's painting and building and room shuffling going on.

Hot or no, I kinda wish we were still on vacation.

These + Air Conditioner = May Survive Summer

2011-07-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

(Work trousers from last pregnancy) + (rotary cutter)

+ (hem) = surprisingly flattering (and not too short) shorts

Most productive 30 minutes of my day.

Snack Time

2011-07-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is not the brownie of my dreams. This is the brownie of my childhood. Ever try a brownie and think "this could be less chocolatey and more sugary"? Well then, this is the brownie for you. I happen to love these things. Probably because they taste like frosting covered nostalgia.

Hershey Brownies (omit the chocolate chips)

Chocolate Frosting

Boil 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 6 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons milk for one minute in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Cool (in an ice bath if you're impatient like me) to a spreadable consistency and spread over brownies.

I May Be Back

2011-07-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

So, it's summer. Um. How'd that happen? I seem to have lost track of late winter and spring. Must have been the two months I spent lying very still on the couch. Nauseated. Gestating. There's a baby due on Halloween. A girl baby this time.

These dresses are not for her. They're for her cousin. And her cousin's doll. It is, of course, the Oliver + S Tea Party Sundress and the corresponding doll dress from Liesl Gibson's book. Oh, do I love Ms. Gibson's patterns. They are not frustrating. And they turn out darling but aren't frilly. What more could you want?

The Week in Photos

2011-02-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

The Week in Photos: Snow Edition

2011-02-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

31 Late night sewing.

32 Original-ish light fixture. Do not like.

33 Not going anywhere anytime soon.

34 Finally left the house to take a photo.

35 Aaaand back inside again.

36 Photos don't do the snow justice. The street feels like a canyon.

37 Nachos for dinner. A tasty Superbowl tradition. Go Pack.

The Week in Photos

2011-01-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

24 Someday I will rescue the Tote-All from the basement because it is awesome.

25 Brownies from Monday night, casserole circa 1975.

26 So purple.

27 The succulents got a repotting in the fall and have really perked up.

28 An early valentine.

29 Greetings from Charger City.

30 Malabrigo, the closest I'll ever come to knitting with marshmallows.

The Week in Photos

2011-01-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Or, Stuff Around My House*

17 Snowblower hard at work (not to mention the man pushing it).

18 Guess which part of the mail got my attention first.

19 Bought the boy a feather duster so he can help clean. Maybe my favorite picture yet.

20 Scrubbed the grout in preparation for it's annual sealing. Every day is super duper exciting around here.

21 The kid calls them "penines".

22 Binding a quilted something. Results coming soon.

23 Our house rocks the paneling. For real.

*I do leave the house almost every day, but in the winter, I can barely wrangle both the kid and my purse, much less the camera.

The Week In Photos

2011-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

10. Napkins to be. This time in different prints so we can tell them apart.

11. Tiny bird footprints.

12. Washing and packing away the baby toys to make room for all the new toys.

13. I think we've put more up on our walls in the past two months than in the first two years in this house.

14. Squirrel? Raccoon? Possum? Turkey? Not a turkey.

15. Kitchen lights. Original to the house, I think.

16. It would not be my kitchen without a pot rack.

The Rest of the Gifts

2011-01-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Very fun to knit scarf for my sister. Done exactly as per the pattern except I slipped the first stitch of each row. Much neater that way.

An "art" binder for my toddler niece. I have one for my son: it's full of page protectors. I slip in the occasional scribbled on sheet of paper for safekeeping. I imagine it will be fun to look at years from now.

I stamped on to a plain kraft binder. Hardest part was finding the binder (had to order from Amazon), but I think it turned out sweet.

I also made some homemade playdough and packaged it in spice tins.

This was for my artistically-inclined kindergartner nephew. Kid loves to make things. We have that in common.

I sewed up a plain robot and cut a zillion little pieces of felt for him to glue on to finish the robot.

And that almost concludes the 2010 holiday gifts. I've got one more to go pending photos.

The Week (and then some) In Photos

2011-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

1. That's me.

2. Amazing Fisher-Price ~~poaching~~ safari playset from the 70's. There are more animals, cages, a trailer with a pop up tent. My husband remembers himself and his siblings playing with it a lot, but it's still in really good shape. Toys are not made like this any more.

3. The tree. Naked.

4. Cedar pig. Because everyone needs a cedar pig.

5. Cleaned off my workspace.

6. Goodbye favorite, discontinued bath gel. You will be missed.

7. Why were there mousetraps in the kitchen junk drawer?

8. Spent a little bit of my Christmas gift money on a new vase. I think it looks lonely in the fireplace nook. Must remedy that.

9. New playkitchen for Christmas. There have been lots of ~~tea~~ coffee parties. With strawberries.

Aaaaand We're Back

2011-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Obligatory bokeh tree shot.

I was ready for Christmas. It was the travel and little boy's New Year's eve birthday that I was a little less ready for. Still everything got done and I must not be too shell shocked since I'm already starting my first handmade birthday gift for the year.

Speaking of handmade, last year I wrote:

Next year I will take the Buy Handmade Pledge.
Next year I will begin making gifts early. Like tomorrow.
Next year I will craft some Christmas decorations. Starting right after Halloween.

I didn't take the pledge. I did make about half of my gifts, though. A few others were purchased handmade items. Most of the rest were books. A few were Hot Wheels.
I started making gifts right after Halloween.
I did make some decorations! I didn't start until Thanksgiving, but I managed to make Alicia's Snow Day ornaments and a pom-pom garland.

Not too shabby.

Last year I also issued myself some ~~resolutions~~ challenges:

1. Eat less sugar.
2. Try one new recipe a week.
3. Make at least three vegetarian suppers per week.

How'd I do?
1. I eat less sugar now. I kicked my root beer habit. I also revamped my diet to be more balanced. I still eat sugar, but I'm very aware of portion size. I must be doing okay since I've lost 15 pounds over the last six months.
2. This one fizzled out as things got busier in the fall.
3. This really helped me build a better repertoire of vegetarian meals. I've relaxed the three-a-week goal a little as the growing season ended here and produce choices thinned out, but I've discovered a lot of very nice meat-free dishes over the past year. Nowadays our meat consumption is down to the point where we can afford to buy mostly local, sustainably farmed meat when we do eat it.

And my ~~resolution~~ challenge for this year? Nothing to do with food or gifts. This year, I want to work on photography. I want to end 2011 a better photographer than I began it. Shouldn't be too hard. Heh. I plan to:
1. Take a photo a day.
2. Learn on my own about takin' pitchers.
3. If I can swing it, take an actual class or photography workshop. (Any suggestions of online or Madison, WI-based classes would be awesome.)

I hope everyone's holiday season was as warm and bright as mine. Happy 2011!

Late Christmas Eve, after Santa's visit.

Day 23

2010-12-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

And then there are these lovely ladies:

The mermaidens. Again from Hilary Lang's amazing book. (I wan't to make everything from this book. And then I want to buy all of Hillary's other patterns. Love, love, love.)

The mermaidens are for my niece and I'm so happy to be able to give her something that's cute and girly without being plastic or (too) pink or sparkly or officially licensed.

Day 22

2010-12-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

Introducing...

The Koji brothers.

On the right we have C.

And on the left, B. Who may be the evil twin. As indicated by the mustache.

Gifts for my two youngest nephews.

Day 17

2010-12-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

Stockings: hung.
Gifts: (mostly) made.
Shopping: done.
Sweets: baked.
Home: decorated.

Bring on Christmas.

Day 13... Already?

2010-12-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

So, since the kid is getting a play kitchen for Christmas this year, I stitched up a pile of play food*. I used good wool felt and free patterns where I could find them. Over the course of a couple of months, I learned that I enjoy hand sewing nearly as much as knitting.

Fruits: apples strawberry pattern by the (brilliant) LiEr of ikat bag, citrus pattern my own.

Carrots also by LiEr of ikat bag.

Sandwich inspiration here.

That lettuce is just genius.

Cheese wedge and eggs, no pattern.

And a little something sweet. (Pattern)

*These will actually be birthday gifts for my New Year's Eve baby.

Day 9

2010-12-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize how much I missed knitting until I started knitting again.

Day 6

2010-12-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

Peppermint bark and a couple of inches of snow. Now it really feels like December.

Day 2

2010-12-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, I lied. I've actually been thinking about Christmas since last Christmas. That's when I decided that Santa would bring my son a play kitchen this year. And where there is a play kitchen, there are many opportunities to sew kitchen accessories.

Featuring "Hat" (as he's called in our house, not to be confused with "Hat" more commonly known as The Man with the Yellow Hat).

This is Meg of Sew Liberated's Child's Montessori Apron. The pattern is a freebie available in her sidebar and was a breeze to stitch up. I think it turned up darn cute too.

Officially licensed characters are not generally encouraged in our house, but classic storybook characters get a pass.

Countdown to Christmas

2010-12-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

There are few people who could compel me to cross stitch. Alicia is one of them.

I have to admit that I've been preoccupied with Christmas since before Halloween. I love Christmas. The food, the family, the music, the decorations. The smell of a real Christmas tree just about makes me swoon. Even now as an adult, just like when I was a kid, I have trouble falling asleep on Christmas Eve because I'm just too excited.

This year, I'm having a blast sewing up a storm. There are holiday projects in all states of completion floating around. My sewing table is covered in fabric and patterns and the floor is littered with thread snippings. It's like Santa's freaking workshop in here right now.

We traveled for Thanksgiving and I packed up my Snow Day ornament kit and stitched the long weekend away. And what a nice Thanksgiving it was. My little man looked oh-so-dapper in his holiday vest (details on ravelry). There was a lot of food, a lot of relaxation, and a fire truck outing for the menfolk. Very nice indeed.

Really accentuates the pot belly.

Hillary Lang is Awesome/Darn You, Hillary Lang

2010-11-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

Back when it was still sunny and warm...

I have a lot of craft books. A lot. Wee Wonderfuls is the first one I've gotten that has made me want to sew pretty much everything contained within it. Immediately. So, I started with the inchworm.

Evelyn, meet Evelyn.

I've been very keen on hand sewing lately and this pattern was a joy to stitch together in wool felt. (Ironically, she's now keeping watch over my sewing machine.)

So, thanks to Hillary Lang (whom I've long admired, and whose blog I've long lurked about), I've had softies and dolls on the brain. Add Christmas to the mix, and I find myself planning on sewing a gadzillion gifts, several of them softies from Hillary's book. Gulp. It's very likely that I've bitten off more than I can comfortably chew. Five weeks to go...

Koji, waiting for a tail.

Halloween, Meh

2010-10-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Snakes! The only creepy crawlies that don't terrify me.

We've got a sick toddler, a lame purchased costume, and uncarved pumpkins. I do have a bowlful of candy and a snake wreath (ala October's issue of Martha Stewart Living). It'll have to do.

"All Right, All Right"

2010-10-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

...says my son constantly. For the longest time I couldn't figure out where he picked it up. Turns out, I say it all the time. Who knew?

All right. Look what I remember how to do:

It must really be fall now.

After a long absence, there is once again yarn on needles around here. Some orphaned skeins are finding a home in a holiday vest for the little gentleman.

There's a third misshapen mitt that we don't talk about chained in the attic.

My lovely, and long since finished Endpaper Mitts have been seeing a lot of action lately. Fingerless mitts are just the thing to keep your hands warm and fingers free to dig for change and apples at the farmer's market. Unfortunately, green and brown doesn't match any of my coats. I may just have to knit myself another pair of fingerless mitts in a neutral. Perhaps these*?

*I've been on a Doctor Who kick of late, watching the (recent) series through from the beginning. I knew that my inner knitter was still alive and kicking when I was momentarily distracted from my end-of-Doomsday weeping by a pair of knit wristwarmers.

Jumping In

2010-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Baking one's own bread always seemed impossibly romantic to me. Also, impossible.

I am so not a baker. I really don't like measuring and timing and the mess that flour makes. And kneading. If I really focus, with the help of my kitchen scale and King Arthur book (bless them and their recipes with mass conversions), I can pull off some very good chocolate chip cookies. But that's about it.

But I got this book for my birthday. It recently popped back on to my radar after reading good things about it way back when. I decided to try it. I mean really try it: I didn't buy any bread this week.

And look at that- bread success. I baked bread! I'm really impressed by the book. The only way the basic recipe could be easier is if it was mixed, stored, and baked in the same vessel to cut down on dishes. I still have some tweaking to do (the crust is fabulous, but the crumb is a little dense in this batch), but I'm looking forward to (gulp) more baking.

At Least She Gets Saved By the Rugged Woodsman, Not Some Lame Prince

2010-09-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Yup, George has a diaper on.

Another little girl gif t. I'm not so down with the Disney princess costumes that seem to dominate dress-up wardrobes these days, so, when dress-up get-up was requested, I went with Little Red Riding Hood. I loosely worked from some MSL directions, and freestyled the closure (there's easy to fasten velcro beneath the buttons). I packed it up with a story book in a basket for the birthday girl, who donned it immediately upon opening it and looked rediculously darling in it. What better thanks than that?

Summer Sewing

2010-09-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

My model accessorized with sweat socks and cars.

I've been making a lot of gifts this year, mostly for all the kids in my life. (I've got big plans for Mama-made Christmas gifts this year for my #1 kid.) I have to admit, I really enjoy making things for the girl-kids. It's not that one can't make cool things for boys (case in point), it's just that there's so much more inspiration out there for the girls.

Just crooked in the picture, not in real life.

This is the Ruffled Halter from this spring's Stitch magazine. Very fun to sew. The worst part was assembling the pattern from the pdf download. (Seriously, Stitch costs like $15 per issue now- for that price I expect full sized patterns for ALL the projects.) Rant aside, nice pattern, cute top, great gift.

More Sewing Backlog!

2010-09-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Lever doorknobs are easier for toddlers to open: lesson learned

Sometimes it's the smallest, silliest sewing projects that work out really nicely. For instance sewing a dish towel into a tube leads to no more plastic bag chaos in the closet. And that makes my life a teensy bit better.

Not as Scary as the Creepipede, Though

2010-09-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to convince myself that sewing knits is not all that scary. I live in knit tops, and I think I'd have better luck sewing for myself if I could sew a fancy t-shirt. I'm starting slow, though. I bought a copy of SewU Home Stretch. I also made some no-sew scarves. A yard and a half of pink jersey, one cut down the middle and I had a scarf for my sister's birthday gift and another to keep the Ugly Doll's (lack of) neck warm. Next step: putting needle to knit.

Maybe:
this (via)
this
or, y'know, something purty for me

Can We Just Be Friends?

2010-09-01T14:42:00.001-07:00

Swimming in a beautiful lake... and getting swimmer's itch.

Dear Summer,

You kind of sucked this year. Don't get me wrong, there were some high points. Our vacation was really, really nice. We camped, we swam, we went to the splash park and zoo. All that fun stuff was, you know, fun. It was the normal day-to-day stuff that ground me down. The unrelenting heat and humidity. Oh, the humidity. So humid that clothes hung out to dry were still damp after three days. So humid that mold attacked whatever it could in our closets. So humid that we've admitted defeat and began to collect quotes and save up to install central air conditioning.

Then there were the bugs. The mosquitoes have barely let us out the door of late. Our after dinner walks around the neighborhood ended in mid-August when we'd each come home with a half-dozen bites. In the house we've had the normal spiders, tons of flies, ants, so many earwigs, and *shudder* creepipedes (that link makes me shudder- why did I do that?). Not pleasant for someone with a bug phobia. Ahem.

This summer, my sweet little boy discovered the art of the tantrum.

There's been tension on both sides of the family as major unpleasant dramas have been unfolding.

BUT, today is September 1st. The school down the street started today. It's my birthday month. The temperature and humidity should start dropping. I know you don't officially end for another couple of weeks, Summer, but I'm declaring that I'm done with you. For me now it's Autumn. Season of freshly sharpened pencils and new beginnings. New projects, new activities, new attitude.

So Summer, see you next year. Try to mellow out before then.
Rebecca

Okay, okay. This evening was pretty sweet.

I Finished Something.

2010-07-29T13:03:00.001-07:00

And I photographed it. And I'm writing about it here. Amazing!

Sewing Scissors meet Hammer, Hammer, Sewing Scissors.

I've been looking for a new dining set for quite some time now. Since my budget is essentially the contents of the change jar, there's no way I can buy new (if there was, I'd go for this and maybe eight of these and then die of money hemorrhage). And, really, I'd love something authentically mid-century.

I've been cruising Craigslist for months, but 1. I'm looking for a looong, skinny table to fit our long, skinny dining area and 2. I live in the midwest where everyone was too busy ice fishing to buy awesome furniture during the 50's and 60's. So... I haven't found my dream table and chairs.

Then I saw Meg's lovely dining room and realized that mismatched chairs don't have to be all shabby chic- they can be modern and spare and awesome. So, a visit to the local university surplus store netted us three of these to start with:

Yes, our garage is that organized. And periwinkle.

Some wood glue, new screws, foam, batting, really cool reclaimed Knoll fabric, and one zillion staples and:

Chair now lives in a magical hydrangea forest.

Now I just have to finish the other two chairs, reupholster the chairs I bought a couple years ago to match and find the perfect long skinny mid-century table.

But, hey, I finished this one thing. Hooray!

Now the Relaxing Part of Summer?

2010-07-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

The last iris from way back at the beginning of June.

Back from camping and vacation and a family reunion. Done with swimming lessons and travel for the summer. Done futzing with the vacation photos. The heat? Still not done. No heat waves, just unrelenting hot with a side of humidity.

Now I'm on to fun projects: house stuff, cooking, sewing. Actually have some finished sewing to show off as soon as I catch up with the photos. Soon. For now, just six-week old photos of flowers.

The crazy-with-flowers Weigela with bonus toddler.

Cooler=Better

2010-06-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

It's been so hot here I melted. The end.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Not really. But the end of May was unseasonably hot. We don't have air conditioning- probably will never have air conditioning, which is a little torturous when the nighttime temperature doesn't drop below the mid 70's. The temperature is finally dropping, which is good, since it's time to prepare for summerfunbusiness. Daytripscampingfamilyvacation. And that's just the next month.

Menu for the Week of May 30th

Sunday-Friday: Meat
Sunday we celebrated my husband's birthday with a barbecued brisket and a barbecued pork shoulder. An entire brisket and an entire pork shoulder. Delicious, but oh, the leftovers.

Unofficial Comfor Food Week

2010-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Tasty little lemon cookies (via)

Weird food week this week. The nearby farmer's market was unispiring. I came home with four bags of greens and some gnarly potatoes (which did make a tasty potato salad on Saturday). Where has the asparagus been this spring? Hopefully going to the big market this weekend will pep me back up.

Menu for the Week of May 16th

Sunday: Sausage, Lentil, and Kale Soup
I doubled the lentils, subbed in chard for the kale, and added a couple of potatoes that needed to be used up. Certainly upped the heartiness factor.

Monday: Indian Takeout (Paneer Masala, Aloo Ghobi, and Naan)
I introduced Bear to my time-honored tradition of not cooking while Papi is out of town, surviving instead on takeout and convenience foods. Lazy? Yes, but it's nice to have a break once in a while, especially while parenting solo for a couple of days.

Tuesday: Frozen Cheese Pizza, Sauteed Spinach
See above.

Wednesday: (Homemade) Pad Thai *New Recipe*
Meh.

Thursday: Tuna Casserole
Comfy, comfy, comfort food. Albeit with olive oil-packed tuna and a bechemel sauce instead of canned mushroom soup, not quite how Mom used to make.

Friday: Leftovers

Pants!

2010-05-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

I sewed. And sewed, and sewed. But for only five days. I knew I wouldn't be able to sew each day for a full week since I had houseguests over the weekend. I did do more than an hour most of the five days I did sew, so I'm going to call it hooray! success!

Of course, I just ended up sewing the same thing three times over. Heh. This is maybe the fifth pair of pants I've tried for the boy and the first one that really fits. The pattern is the Huck Finn Pants from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing and it's fabulous. Plenty of room in the seat for a baby with a big (diapered) booty. I lurve the topstitched seams. Makes the pants feel so much more finished. (I did try the adjustable button fastening of the elastic as outlined in the pattern, but it didn't work out for me- it was just too bulky in the casing.) The fabric is, yes, a little trippy, and these may end up being primarily pj pants.

This pair of pants is for a little (second) cousin-to-be and were just patterned by tracing a favorite pair of 6 month pants and sewn up in the same manner as the Huck Finn pants. The ironed on applique still needs some stitching around it to finish it up.

Last, but not least, I lengthened the Huck Finn pants (the pattern is for a clamdigger length) and did them in a ripstop cotton to make the boy a wee pair of hiking pants. I added some simple little square pockets (which look much more crooked in the picture than they actually are).

And I faced the bottoms in more of the trippy mushroom fabric for stylish rolling. (And, hoo, I'm still impressed that I managed to get the lining in such that the mushrooms would be right side up when cuffed.)

So yeah, sewing! Thanks, meg, for the challenge! And there's lots and lots of great inspiration from the other sewers in the flickr pool.

Mama Sews

2010-05-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday with my guys. There were homemade cinnamon rolls, there was jewelry, there was a hike, there was shoveling mulch. What more could a mama ask for?

This week I'm participating in Meg's kid's clothes week challenge. I'm going to tackle pants and shorts for the boy, an outfit for a soon-to-be born second cousin, and maybe, if a miracle happens and I finish all that, a dress for another cousin. Should be fun.