Cotton Commandoes update

I arrived home late last night from a trip to find the Dish Rag Tag box on my kitchen island. Cathy was the sender and she made me the coolest dishrag!! I love the design and the colors are awesome. The pattern is similar to one I made recently but a bit smaller - much better suited for a dish cloth. Cathy also included some nice treats - a wonderful smelling chamomile soap, some chocolates, and a cute knitting-themed bookmark and magnet. I already used the dishcloth to wipe down my counters this morning!

But enough about MY goodies; this IS a race after all! At 11:50 p.m. last night, I picked the speckled yarn from Cathy and cast on for the dishrag I'll be sending to Michele (who alas, is blogless). I'm not a night person but I was wound up after a six hour flight, so I thought I would make some good progress. Nope! Got sleepy within 10 minutes so I didn't get very far. Not to worry.... I was up at 6 this morning, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to the patio. An hour and a half later, VOILA! The dishcloth was done.

I packed up the dishrag, two balls of cotton and some goodies and will head to the post office in a bit to send the package on to Michele.

COTTON COMMANDOES RULE!

Did Cookie Monster's mom have to deal with this?

My son wanted a bathrobe. I found some "furry fleece" on clearance at JoAnn's in a nice blue color (exactly the shade of Cookie Monster, in fact.) I purchased Simplicity 5329 which had a basic wrap-style robe, just what I was looking for. What I didn't notice was the pattern is sized for Men or Little Boys. I guess it's a 'Dad and me' sort of thing. Anyhoo, my son doesn't fit in either of those size ranges so I had to wing it. I figured it was just a robe, no real fitting issues. I started with the largest boy's size and added to it. It worked out just fine. The pattern was quite simple and went together quickly. Here it is being modeled by my annoyed son.

Cookie Monster look-alike: "I do NOT want to end up on your blog, Mom."

Me: "Yeah, whatever. I'm the mom." (Quoting from the Mom Manual.)

There was just one drawback:

What a MESS! You can just imagine the sewing room floor right now. I did pre-wash the fleece but the raw edges continued to shed. I serged every raw edge and I'm washing the finished robe now - hopefully, those two things will get rid of the fly-away fur.

Saturday Goodies

No craftiness to post today. It was a busy week and I've spent most of today cleaning and doing yard work. I was out of town for most of the week but when I got home, look what I was greeted with! The kids all have plans tonight (Go Bengals!!) so my dinner is going to be a Caprese Salad and a baguette dipped in oil flavored with basil, oregano, thyme and parsley from my garden.


My family's favorite cookie is the snickerdoodle. My SIL makes the best ones but mine will do in a pinch. I baked a double batch today. Some will go to welcome a new neighbor that moved in this week, some will go to two of my daughter's friends who have provided car-pooling in my absence this week and the rest will be devoured by my kids and me!









And speaking of goodies, I receive two nice surprises from cyber-friends. Allison took a fabulous vacation to Alaska recently and she sent me these goodies that she purchased along her many stops. Then, Gaylen sent me the most thoughtful card. I'm so glad to have you as friends!!

Another "Freebie" - M3341

I had a little fabric leftover from the Groovy Kiwi Dress so I decided to make a simple skirt this morning to wear to a dinner meeting in Florida tonight. Took less than an hour including cutting. I used McCalls 3341, V D. Just a simple A-line skirt with darts and back zipper. Facing but no waistband.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm still learning how my new camera works.

As I was driving to the airport, Delta called to tell me there was a mechanical on my 1:30 and I was re-booked on a 4:30. My dinner plans with the client went out the door but I took advantage of the additional time to stop at JoAnn's and then headed home to embellish my skirt! More GROOVINESS! LOL.

Pay It Forward - Can you handle it????

Remember that movie a few years ago with Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey in it called ‘Pay It Forward’? I guess essentially the point is don't just aim for trying to pay people BACK for favors they've given you. Instead, just do a good thing for someone and ask that the person for whom you do the good thing, do something for someone else. I've thought about that theme many times and like the infinite goodness that could come from it.

Well, I found a variation of this on Gaylen's blog today (she got it from someone who got it from someone, etc. ) Here's how it works:

Pay It Forward meme

I will send a handmade gift* to the first three people who leave a comment requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your journal.

My gift might be something I've sewn or knit or maybe even baked! I also love to read so maybe it will be one of my fave books.

Per the rules on the email I found: The "gift" you send doesn't have to be handmade--choose your specs when you post it on your blog.If you want to join, leave a comment with your email addy (so I can reply -- spell out the email if you don't want it harvested). I'll contact you with more details.

Wee bit of fabric

I had a little bit of fabric left from the tunic so I squeaked out a tank top from S4076. A 30-minute project - from cutting to wearing!

The Kiwi Dress

I finally got around to sewing the hook and eye on and trimming the threads so here's a shot of me modeling the Kiwi dress.


And a teaser for the next project. Can you guess what it will be?

I needed some instant gratification!

After the PITA sundress, I needed something quick. I made the following tunic in less than two hours. Ignore the silly little grey skirt I am wearing. Ultimately, I will wear this with some skinny black jeans or maybe close fitting black capris.



The details:

Butterick 4986 view D, omitted the collar band
Fabric from Gorgeous Things: Poly/cotton Jersey available here
Inspiration from Lori's (Girls in the Garden) version (Yes, I completely ripped off her idea but she looked so adorable in her version that I couldn't help myself! I had to have one.)
Complete review at PatternReview

Remember the "Big Girl" dress?

And by "big girl", I DO mean size. Here's a reminder of what I looked like wearing B5029:



Now that picture was taken 6-8 weeks ago and I have actually lost 5 lbs (and had my hair cut) since then but I assure you, that picture made me look WAY bigger than I think I am. I wore it once and felt so self-conscious that it got stuck back in the closet. I kept thinking about it and decide I would re-do it with a flat lower bodice to see if it looked better.

So this is what the dress looked like yesterday morning:


And voila! Today, it looks like this:


Still not my favorite dress (probably because I'm sick of looking at it!!) but at least I will wear it now. It took me at least twice as long to disassemble and re-assemble than it took to make it the first time.

Teenagers - The Good & The Bad , never The Dull

Teenagers can be a challenge. But they can also be fun.

It's mid-August and as the parents of kids everywhere know, nerves are starting to fray, boredom is setting in, otherwise pleasant children start to become .... well... unpleasant. That would be true for my three children. Well, and me too, if I must admit.

So it was nice to see them just hanging out the other night and enjoying each other without bitc...... I mean annoying each other. One of them found a funny dance on youtube and they spent 20 minutes "learning" it. They look awfully serious in this picture but believe me, they were laughing hysterically.



That's the Good. Here's the Bad.

Phone call from 13-year old son while I'm at work:

T: Ummm, Mom. There seems to be a problem with your camera. There's a message that says "lens error."

Me: You know you're not supposed to use my work camera!!!!!

T: I know. I'm REALLY sorry.

Me: I'll look at it when I get home. Sometimes the little button gets shifted . I'm sure it's nothing.

See below.



Moral of the story: Do not tape Mom's work camera to a remote control car to see what it films as it careens down the sloped driveway.

Advice?

I've never been on the cutting edge of fashion. I'm usually at least one season, if not two seasons behind. Took me three years to actually buy anything in Chocolate - the "new black". I have been wanting a mid-length wool trench coat in pink for two winters now but have only ever see them ON PEOPLE, not in the stores.

Well, that temptress Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics got in some beautiful coat fabric and was nice enough to point out Vogue 8346 , which is the exact coat style I've been coveting - fitted bodice, flared skirt. I like View B (the red one in the picture) which is just about knee length although View A is adorable, too. But then, Gorgeous Ann had to complicate things by having TOO many cool shades of pink. I think I've just about decided on this one but I haven't ordered yet.

Before I invest in the lovely flannel coating, it occurs to me that this would be a great project on which to make a muslin first. So I don't muck up sixty-something dollars worth of wool. I want something inexpensive as I don't expect to end up with a wearable muslin out of this one, but heavy enough that I will get a good idea of how the fabric will drape and a true representation of the style. Any suggestions on fabric choices?

Words to live by

I bought these napkins while on vacation a few weeks ago. They were definitely made for me!

A Groovy Pick-Me-Up

Well, it's been a long week and I should have spent my day cleaning but I blew it off and decided to sew instead. It's been a few weeks since I've done any sewing at all. I picked a dress that I've had in mind for a while now.

I purchased some fun fabric from Fabricmart.com and when it arrived, it screamed 60's at me. I was inspired by Eve's version (click on her picture for a close-up) of S3744, a pattern I already had my eye on.

I still have to do a few minor finishing touches but it's virtually finished. And it turned out how I had hoped. Very Brady Bunch! Or as my 20 yr old said, "Uhhhh, that's looks sort of old fashioned." EXACTLY!!

Now, I need somewhere to go!!!!