Bad Things, Good Things

Well, first cute things...

I'll admit, this hat from Target seems like a copout compared to Hendrix's costume. But really, Elsie was in the stroller under blankets all night, and this is one cute Panda.

 Getting ready to go out with friends and neighbors. (I also made Robin Hood's hat using this tutorial, which was really quick and adorable.) Hendrix kept saying "Frick-r-Freeters!"and now he calls the candy itself trick or treaters as well. By the end of the night he was rifling through people's bowls of candy looking for his favorites. Rotten.




Bad thing: I broke my sewing machine on Friday. Luckily, I still have my old one which works fine, but I probably should have been using that to begin with when I sewed up 200 of these-

My husband Nick has a band called FirstPost and they had a CD release party Sunday night at our favorite local pub. (Well, it's just a bar, but I always call it a pub because that sounds classier... especially when talking to my mom. Hi mom! I'm sure she is loving the cd cover as well.) Any way, it was a very exciting night and the band sounded awesome, and my machine could probably use a good servicing anyway. Have a listen to the album here.

The event was also a costume party so I dressed up as Nick. Yes, this picture is weird. But I kind of nailed it right?

So the CD release was a very good thing, but the bad thing was that I missed the first half of the show because of my children, one of whom might be traumatized for life because of that night. Our best friends came over and put their two kids to bed at our house so that we could all go and share a sitter. We do this often and the kids all sleep fine. When the sitter hadn't showed up 20 minutes after she was supposed to, we called her parents and found out that she was in bed sick. Her dad volunteered to come since they were all asleep anyways, so we thought that was great and we left. It's within walking distance from our house, and about 7 minutes after we arrived, the dad called. Hendrix had come downstairs for some reason to find this strange middle-aged man whom he had never met before and he flipped out. Looking back, it might not have been the best plan of action for the sitter's dad to stand in... anyway, I ran home right away to calm him down, and he did pretty quickly. But Elsie had been awoken in the commotion as well and she did not want to go back to sleep. Not one bit. After I had been there an hour screaming this in my mind, our friend Nathan came home to relieve me so I could go catch the rest of the show. And we love him for it. Hendrix has only mentioned the episode once, so maybe he won't be talking to therapists about it down the road... here's hoping. 

I'll leave you with one pretty thing. My managers at Sewn Studio got to go to Quilt Market last weekend and they were kind enough to bring me some gorgeous not-yet-released fabric samples! On the left is Aneela Hoey's upcoming Walk in the Woods line, and on the right is some Quilt Blocks by Ellen Barker. I feel like such an industry insider getting to play with these! And did you notice what book that is up there? I finally got my copy of Sewing For Boys. I love every single thing in it and can't decide what to make first. But whatever it is will have to wait because I have got to get in some serious quilting time this week. It's been too long!


Oh, one more bad thing: I dropped my iPhone in Dr. Pepper over the weekend. It's ruined, of course. Don't ask how.

KCWC Day 6

Yikes, I'm a little late wrapping last week up. I don't know where this week has gone. Mostly into pots of chili, pumpkin farms, hanging out with good friends, enjoying the Walking Dead premiere, keeping up with a scooting babe and delving once again into sewing hell. (I know, I said never again. They pay pretty well, what are you gonna do?)

I made this little Amelia top on Saturday, which ended up being my final KCWC garment. Sunday was just too perfect not to go to the farm... So I made something 5 out of the 7 days, which I'm really happy with. I usually sew at least a little every day, but trying to finish something every night really is a marathon. A fun one, nevertheless.

I really adore how this pattern turned out. I just need to find the right color onesie for Elsie to wear underneath. I added the piping detail around the neck and under the bodice, and used it instead of the fabric trim suggested around the bottom. I'm mostly just a huge fan of piping. It makes most everything better. But putting it one the corners of the neckline was pretty tricky. I'm pretty sure knowing how to bind a quilt helped me with that one.

The button is from my mom's vintage collection. I just love the pop of brick red, very fallish don't you think?

I'm entering into Celebrate Color this month. I hope to scrape together a couple more entries, but October is disappearing way too fast. How did that happen?? I still have to start Halloween costumes and make my LTTSA aprons- I still haven't got past the cutting!

Speaking of the sew-along, if you are waiting on your leader to get her crap together, just check out Jenny's post. She links to a great bias tape tutorial, and gives awesome tips for sewing with laminates. Love it. And don't forget, if you link up this month you might win a couple Mama Stellato patterns- including this Amelia top if you want. Yay for sew-along sponsors.

WARNING! Totally unnecessary and gratuitous kid/pumpkin pictures ahead...

Boston

I think we went to Boston... like two months ago. Seems like forever, but I suddenly had the urge to post these pictures.

It's been a quiet week around here because we had some family in town, and while I did finish that hellacious project, there hasn't been nearly enough sewing around here. And sorry if you were looking for last week's PR post. I've found that once a day or two has passed after the episode, I have nothing to say about it. Or maybe I just have a very short memory.

On to pretty pictures of pretty cities...

 Someone really loves their Papa.

Closest to a family picture we got.

 

I guess it was an exhausting vacation...

Seafood!

And I don't know what this place is, I just liked this picture Nick took in the North End. We did get to go out one night for some good Boston beer with cousins while my parents kept the kids in their hotel room. That is a rare and appreciated happening these days. 

I realize I didn't really take a wide variety of pictures, but honestly, we didn't do much but eat some good food, tour Fenway, and visit the aquarium. It was great fun, but probably not the ideal destination for toting two under three. The kids were great, but I really want to go back just the two of us and experience the city in a different way. 

I should say, the kids were great, besides the traveling home day. After two planes, a layover, and an hour car ride at the end of it, Nick and I thought we might take to sticking pencils deep into our ears. It was stressful to say the least. I wish I could remember enough details now to tell you a really funny story, but just know that many types of bodily fluids were involved. It's amazing how quickly you get used to lots of bodily fluid contact as a parent.

Domestic Goddesses Need a Cute Apron.

My parents came up to visit this weekend so my mom could come to my baby shower. Of course, mom wanted to visit Sewn Studio, and while we were there she decided she wanted to make an apron and we picked out fabric for it.

That night, I searched my crafty online resources for apron patterns, and we decided on this pattern from Sew4Home. 

These are the adorable results. We basically used the pattern shape and changed everything else about the way the apron is made. Instead of using bias tape all the way around, we lined it with another fabric and topstitched around to finish. And we sewed regular straps in between the layers instead of those weird knotted ones.

And I actually taught my mom, the very seasoned seamstress, how to add piping! We used some I had leftover just at the top of the pockets and by the top strap, and it added so much.

She was amazed at the quick gratification of completing a free project found online that wasn't a huge quilt, and I just got to have fun sewing with my mom. I've never really wanted an apron for myself before, but now I might need to make one. Well, after my body is in a semi-normal, non-bloated state. They really are so easy and endlessly customizable. Isn't my mom the cutest?

Pumpkin Decorating for short attention spans

This past weekend we got into the fall spirit with a little pumpkin painting. We got the gourds at Shaw Farms in Milford the week before. (Which is definitely the place to go for fall fun if you are local.)

We just kept it simple with washable kid paint and some Halloween foam stickers. This is actually my friend Edie's idea, she's been doing it with her kids the past couple of years. And HG's friend Elie from downstairs joined in as well.

It's also fun to paint your legs and feet when you are bored with your pumpkin.

A couple other neighborhood kids came and helped out too, which was a good thing, because Hendrix was on to playing ball after about a minute and half. Impromptu Halloween block party.

And yes, my parents were in town and that is my dad giving my mom a little shoulder rub. That pretty much sums up their Nana-and-Grandpa-adorableness.

Bird Watching with Kids

I watch kids of various ages 2-3 days out of the week. I've found a new boredom buster that is pretty much full-proof. It's this bird-watching activity on Prudent Baby. Hours of kid-glee.

Of course, I didn't make a fancy trail mix for the "expedition" and I just made the binoculars from cardstock instead of tp tubes. It doesn't matter. All you need is a printer and some tape and little explorers everywhere will love you forever. But then you will probably have to distract them with something delicious when you finally get sick of hiding the little bird pictures over and over and over...

My Brother the Yetti

This morning my family picked up my younger brother Luke in the Nashville airport after 75 days in the wilderness of the Canadian Yukon.

He is weathered, furry, muscular, and all around BA after a summer of glacier hiking, bushwacking, ice climbing, mountain dangling, bear encountering, canoeing, and I can't even imagine what else. 

It was kind of like Into the Wild, only he was with a few other people, and in the end he came home instead of eating poison plants.

I'm so proud of him, and so glad he's home.

He took hundreds of breathtaking pictures. Here are just a very few.