Boy's room design board.

Um, I'm having a little bit of trouble 'seeing' how this room will turn out. I'm starting to get cold feet. Do I paint? Blue? What if it's too cold? It's on the North Side. What if it's too dark? What if... I need to push back the doubts and go for it! It's paint! If it's dreadful, I can paint it something else. I am a good painter. I've had lots of practice by now, so long as I don't have to hold a baby in one arm, because that messes up my wrists.

I love Posie Gets Cozy softie animal kits. I want to make all of them. I'm getting one (maybe two) for my birthday. I'm so excited! I'm going to be sooo old. And wise. Although I still don't know how to shave my legs without getting nicks.

I love the picture from Venus A. Dodge's book, 'Dolls' House Needlecrafts'. It's a fantastic book. She's one of my favorite doll book writers. I want to make a rag rug for the boy's room after I rip up their carpet and hope that the floor underneath isn't a very big mess. If it is, I'm going to paint it. My husband isn't certain this is a good step, but I think it'll be wonderful. I think. Anyway, it's a small room for three boys. My darling is making a triple bunk bed. Now that will be fun! Any ideas for how to store legos and other boy stuff in a small space?

Fox Kit
Dolls' House Needlecrafts
Valspar Paint Sea Tickle (depending on how it looks in real life)

Clean Indie Review: Sweet: Pride and Butterflies, by Franky M. Brown

I met Franky online at Clean Indie Reads when I was asking about whether my books looked particularly clean or not. I love Pride and Prejudice type stories, so I got the sample to see how it would go. And you know what? I had to finish reading it, so there you go. It's a sweet like one of Emily Loring's old ones. I can recommend it with a completely clear conscience.

You can find it Here



The review:

This book, first off, does not have a lot of description and frankly, I always have a hard time with first person present tense, so when I downloaded the sample, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it, but before I knew it, I was laughing out loud at this hilarious story! Caralyn is just lovely and ridiculous and human. We're in her head the whole time, a rambling, stream of consciousness that is so over-the-top, I just loved it and her. She's a mess and has to figure out what to do about it as her precariously built world topples over on her. The dream guy was a bit dull, honestly, but very nice. The kissing was sweet and fun! It's exactly like a sweet should be. Throughout the story I found myself laughing out loud, and sometimes gasping in shock as some new atrocity happened. Some favorite scenes: The ghost scene, the butterfly garden, the airport scene, and the shoe scene. Well done Franky A Brown. I know a new author I can go to for an uplifting lighthearted romance.

Planning Stage 1: Gold and Pink Girl's Room

I had the most fun putting this together. The fabric bundle is my 10 year olds coveted assortment. She really wants a whole outfit and wardrobe out of it, and the room, gold and gorgeous, is the room the girls share in the house we're moving into. I had an eureka moment as I realized how great the gold would look with the pink. The beautiful doe doll is an inspiration of how gold goes with pink as well. I am probably buying the pattern, although the kit is simply marvelous.

Fat Quarter Bundle

Doe Doll

Curtain Fabric

I am so excited to get started!

Catching up.

We're moving.
From This:

Green Acres is the Place for me!

To this:



High living in Society!


I'm a little bit trepidatious (is that a misspell?)

Although I'm sure everything will be wonderfully exciting and convenient, no 30 minute drive to buy bananas, it will be weird to have a million neighbors. How will I wave to them all without getting arthritic wrists? It will be an adventure for sure.

All my sewing, crafting supplies are packed up. It's nice not to have so much stuff, but also not nice to not have any stuff. Ah well. This is an excellent opportunity to focus on writing, wrapping up my House of Slide series!

Shells, and first draft of House of Slide; Hollow, FINISHED!!!

I am so excited to have my first, epic series completed! I feel kind of dizzy and sick. I'm not sure what to do with myself. I reread Hotblood and LOVED it, like it was written just for me or something. The first sixty pages were too mysterious and incomprehensible, so I'm finishing up some light edits, nothing structural, just a little more polishing. I LOVE polishing. And all caps. And shells. What a wonderful day to be alive. In the rain. Our bathroom roof leaks. I have no idea what to do about it. It drips into the clawfoot tub, so that's rather convenient. 

We're moving. 

We're selling out house. Ha! We do have an outhouse, but I meant our house. I love typos. They enliven everything. 

I finished my series.

I feel very... like a bubble has popped and I'm looking around and wondering what world this will be. 

Random Rant about Ugliness in General

I went shopping for outfits for Girls 10 and 3. At the mall. Lots of stores, lots of 'clothes', and nothing to wear. The entire place had that phenomenon, 'full closets and nothing to wear', and I thought, 'what on earth is going on here?'

Bling, bling, bling, blang, can you see past those neon colors and reflective surfaces attached to your body? Is it safety? Does the need to see children as bright lollipops and reflective text Girls Super Stars Princess Orange You Great Always Be Yourself Princess Love 2 Smile Rockin Out Loud And a bizarre cat bunny unicorn that should disturb pretty much everybody who's ever thought about the island of Dr. Moreau? (Seriously creepy stuff there)

Was that a sentence? Must be poetry. Without poetics. I literally had to adjust my eyes to the florescent brightness and finally, I found four t-shirts without the garishness, I barely noticed the bright colors. Oooh, cobalt blue! I found a real shirt that is supposed to be worn and not wear someone like an obnoxious monkey screaming inanities and hurling glitter into the eyes of everyone it encounters. I purchased the shirt in spite of the gapping neckline. Deep breath. Bottoms. Where could I get some pants? Real pants? Never mind. Pink leggings will do, with a skort, also cobalt blue, and there we go. One outfit down, one to go.

This is why people shouldn't go to town in their pajamas. This is the deepest failure of homeschool, that you leave the house in your pj's and become trapped in a over-commercialized culture where there are no basics, not a neutral, and anything that doesn't reach out and pull your culture and taste out of your nose. I want to wear black for the rest of my life. This is why kids dress like candy when they're little and vampires when they've had enough but don't know what else to do.

Breathe.

Space.

Texture, subtle, delicate texture.

Practicality.

Suitability.

Clothing that allows people to see past the clothing to the real amazing, wonderful person underneath the expiring trend.

Anyway, the other outfit was great fun for my fashionista. No neon bicycles on neon yellow with non matching neon magenta and more sparkles and... No. Texture. Whites and yellow, no bling, no messages telling other people what/who you are. You aren't a whatwho, you're a you.

End of rant. And last time I'm going shopping for a looong while.

Apricot truffle, holiday dress

shepherdess or ballerina?

 I had a wonderful time making this dress, all but the zipper. I drafted the bodice out of apricot challis and put peaches and cream chantilly stretch lace over, finished with bias on the neckline.

My inspiration came in part from the fabric (the apricot faux lamb shearling) and part from when I was very small and my parents danced in the Nutcracker as ballroom dancers. I would wait in the green room and watch the dancers come and go. The elegant ballerinas made quite an impression on me. I still remember the way Clara's nightgown spun and curled around her legs.

I used two layers, circles of rayon challis for the beautiful skirt. I thought about adding lace on the bottom, but I think that it would spoil the drape. I used quite a lot of fabric, but look how it moves.

She loves wearing it although I think brighter colors contrast with her complexion and give her more color. Next time I'll use the apricot challis on me.  

For accessories, I designed and drafted a beret and  detachable collar. It makes the dress almost wintery. 

Girl not on fire.

I really liked making accessories. They're like frosting and make outfits much more delicious!

The Blue Holiday Dress That Made Me Blue Too.

The Blue Dress

My ball of sunshine saw this dress online and liked it. Gasp! Girl who protests all dresses actually LIKES one. On sale for $50 from Boden, I thought, "That's far too expensive for a dress which she might not actually like once it arrives. Far better," I continued to think, "For me to try and recreate the dress since my time is absolutely infinite and I LOVE to make little girl party dresses. La-la-la-la-la". 

For anyone who is wondering, it isn't exactly easy to find sequined polka dots. For some reason, it's not a natural combination, which is the most adorable part of the dress. After two trips to the local fabric store and time trolling online, "No problem!" I thought to myself. "I'll just sew on a few polka dots and cover it with a few layers of this sparkly mesh!"

A note on fabric: I bought poly organza and lining from fabric mart for 1.99/yard and used metallic fabric left over from armor costumes two halloween's ago. The tulle mesh costed the most bought from Joann's with my little sunshine at $8/yard. I used a generic dress bodice, size 5 for the shoulder width, then altered for fit. I self-drafted the skirt and lining. 

So, I sewed on these wonderful sparkly circles I traced from the center of my iron trivet. It worked great because of the weight, the slippy fabric stayed put. Then, the fiddly part, sewing on the circles. I worried that my machine would eat the metallic fabric, but it actually went fairly smoothly.

My version of sequined polka-dots

I put on two layers of sparkly tulle, basted to the backing which I sewed to lining, difficult because the tulle stretched and distorted with multiple layers to keep together. After that tricky bit, I sewed on the sleeves, flatfelling the armpit seams because tulle is scratchy.

Here the sleeves are finished with the ribbon I used for the waist.

I attached a circle skirt to the bodice made of two layers of organza and one backing fabric. It drapes beautifully. For all the fiddling of the bodice, I did enjoy making this very elegant princess dress. The zipper went in beautifully, and honestly, with her proportions, chances are something bought wouldn't fit very well. 

All the same, next time, If I want a dress already made, I'm just buying the dress.

For my other daughter, I sewed a dress that I got to make up out of my own head. So much more fun! Have you ever tried to make something for less and ended up spending more money and time than you expected? 

Hooliday Outfit for Goblins

I am too cute to have anything in my mouth.

I love the way that this outfit turned out. I wanted the stripe to look like a pinstripe button-up, I think it's more like pajamas. Ah well. I should have added more length to the body since my kids have such long torsos. Next time. The pants are/were pants of mine that didn't fit right. Now they're perfect. Of course he doesn't need the pockets, but they're so cute. I love them.



I used Ottobre Winter 6/2012 # 4 for the knit button-up and #5 for the pants in the same issue.

I seem to use the same issues over and over and then not use others at all. I'm not sure why. One thing I've noticed about Ottobre is that necks sometimes gap open. Anyone else notice this?

I finished Christmas dresses for the girls. I'll post those soon. Happy New Year!

I made the coat coordinate. Simple things make me happy.

What else to do with 8 yards of yellow sweatshirt fleece.

After I received such a big order of fabric, I decided that I had to use it up, so my lucky 7 year old would get a yellow hoodie too. Now, how to make it cool? After some time brainstorming it was obvious! (after the nude troll episode) What is cool and yellow?

LEGO!!!!!

and

BATMAN!!!!!

thus, a LEGO BATMAN hoodie was born.

Behold.

Batman does not eat nachos.

Once I finally had the lego theme, it became kind of fun. Although I wanted to do something rather quick, and appliques are never quick, and neither are zippers what with my inability to put one in right. Unpicked that sucker 3 times. Sigh. He likes it, and does not resemble a banana. Hurrah.

I only work in black and sometimes very, very, very dark gray.

What to do with 8 yards of Yellow Sweatshirt Fabric

I ordered yellow sweatshirt knit from my favorite online fabric vendor, fabricmart, and they sent a bit extra. Actually, four yards more than I requested. So... this banana colored fabric trailed around our house for a bit, a swathe of deadly poison river and the yellow brick road while I pondered what to do with the garish, I mean, glorious addition to my already overflowing stash.

I made up the obvious, yellow monkey hoodie for the blindingly bright-loving 3 year old. We call it, Monkey in the Hood.

I used Ottobre pattern something size 110, because shoulderwise, she's a few sizes larger than her body. This size discrepancy gives me panic attacks every time I sew for her. I still haven't figured out how to adjust patterns to be big enough and not too big...




Can you see the pockets and lining? MONKEYS!!! Oh yes. My 9 year old designed the applique. She astonishes me with her ambition and follow through.

Hardly necessary to say how much she likes it. Yellow is now her favorite color. She is my sunshine!