STOP FOR SAFETY REASONS

greets me in my wonderful backlit LCD on my sewing machine while trying to sew/stabalize the thickest part of this darn bumper! UGH!! I don't know what I was thinking when I bought batting to stuff the bumper. I didn't buy enough so I had to buy more, and in order to achieve a seamless look, I ever so slightly overlapped the battings (maybe 2 inches) and now that machine won't go though that thick part and I have to hand sew it. Pooh on you bumper, for being so difficult!!

New with me: started a book club with 5 other friends. I've been meaning to get back into reading more. This past summer I did a marathon of the Harry Potter series (I know, I was probably the last person on Earth to not have read them, so I read them all back to back). The plus side to that is that I didn't have to buy a single one of the books, I just borrowed them from my friends (Thanks Kathy and Pam!). I then read Dean Koontz's The Husband , courtesy of my local library. The beginning and concept were good, but the ending had me thinking he just wanted to finish the book and wrote something to be done with it. It wasn't as well thought out.

So for the book club we're going to go with Oprah's latest selection and read A New Earth. I hope it lives up to all the hype. I'm generally not one to experience "Awakenings", but I'm open for anything! I'll let ya know!

A work in progress

Well, I'm working on the bumper now. It's coming along. Sewing through the stuffed bumper is no picnic but no major snags yet (knock on wood!). Here's some pictures. I encased the cording all on my own. I just cut bias tape and sewed rope cording inside it and then sewed it to the bumper material. This will be pretty when it's done I think. Well, back to work!

This project is really coming along!

My best friend and I are deciding if we want to start a business of doing custom designed kids rooms. She's the artist and I'm the seamstress. Well, yesterday and today I got to do some art stuff too! So far I've made the crib sheet and dust ruffle for the room and I'm currently working on the bumper. The client painted the room last weekend and this week we went in to paint the swirly clouds. They were outlined yesterday and the client was so excited she and her husband (man she knows how to crack the whip and get him to do stuff!) finished the filling in last night so today my partner and I just had to do the shading. What a difference it made though. It looks awesome! Here are some pictures to share. So far so good!
The sheet/ruffle (note this is on my daughter's crib, the client's crib is dark wood so it looks much better on it than on our white crib!):





The clouds before shading:




















The clouds after shading:

I found the fabric!

Well, It's not Japanese retro, but it is retro! This fabric (once I get it in the mail) will become my son's art smock! I can't wait! I also found this fabric for my daughter (this one is Japanese) in a Sleeping Beauty pattern. I haven't bought it yet, but I really want to! It's perfect!

Modern day pet rock

My son has decided that the wine cork from dinner last night (to clarify, it was my husband who drank the wine, not my son!) is his new best friend. He named it "Knuckle" and has invented an entire imaginary family for "him". My little 4-year-old has quite the imagination! He took Knuckle to the park and taught him how to go down the big slide. So, my kid's imaginary friend isn't invisible, he can fit in his pocket and go down a slide! Well, at least "he" doesn't eat much or make a mess!

The new do

Friday of last week I got my hair chopped. So far so good. I like it. I thought I could let it airdry, but that didnt' go so well, so I'll be blow drying it. At least it doesn't take as long as it used to! It's shorter in the back. Anyhow, for those who haven't seen me in a while, here I am!

Misadventures of a domestic dunce

Don't try this one at home kiddies! Did you know that if you boil eggs and forget about them that when the water evaporates the eggs pop up and burst and it sounds like gunshots? Now I know(and knowing is half the battle- G.I. Joe!). From now on I'm setting a timer! That was not fun to clean!

Then when unloading the dishwasher I saw something moving inside it so I quickly shut it and got the kids out of there (in case it was a roach or lizard). I was so grossed out! So I opened it again and it was still there in the same spot. I was thinking "it must be trapped in with the silverware". I shut it again and got something to try to get it with. Opened the door again and it was in the same spot. Well.... "IT" was only my reflection on the back of a spoon! DUH! All that work up over little 'ol me in a spoon!

I'm telling ya, cooking is just not my thing!

Another day another dress...

I'm seriously becoming addicted to these! But I think baby likes them too (ya think?).I made two like this. One for baby and one to auction off at my son's school's silent auction during their Winter Gala. This is more of a winter dress and can be worn with a turtleneck underneath if desired. The brown flowered side is an oh so soft corduroy, the reverse is a red cotton. I'm going to make hair bows to match later. You may notice it's the same material as Guilty Kitty. I guess once I like a material I use it to death!

Next I'm looking into making my son an art smock (stole the idea from Wee Wonderfuls). I want to use a Japanese vintage reproduction fairytale material, but I haven't picked one out just yet. They are so cute, but not cheap (yet cheaper than if I bought it in a store, that's for sure!)! I'm going to iron on some vinyl to make it easy to clean though. I love the idea of trimming with large ric-rac. Hmm....someone I know said it was going to make a comeback this year and I think she was right (Alyson)!

Check out Alyson's cool baby clothes (and even cooler adult clothes!) at http://www.alysonclair.blogspot.com/

Guilty Kitty

I had leftover material from another dress I made the baby (I tend to over buy I guess) so I made this Kitty to match. It's a free pattern from Wee Wonderfuls (http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/downloads/Pointy-Kitty-Pattern.pdf). I changed the eyes because I thought round eyes were cuter. Once done I gave him a guilty expression so now the baby has a scapegoat!

Vera Bradley ain't got nothin' on me!

I'm not crazy, but maybe I was a few years back. I bought a wristlet for $25 (now she's changed her design and the price went up to $34). Well, I made one out of scraps I had from a dress I made my daughter. Basically all I paid for was the zipper and the clip. Granted, it's not 100% perfect (maybe 99.8%) but for the price it can't be beat! AND... best of all I got to pick the material. I quilted it before putting it together. Anyhow, here it is:




















And here's the dress I made last weekend. It's reversible and can be worn as a top as baby gets older, how cool is that? A friend in NH gave me the idea and told me to try a buttonhole rather than doing inner and outer ties. So now it ties in the back, which I think is much cuter anyhow! Thanks for the tip and tutorial Amy!