We have had Fancy for 2 whole years today! We were marveling over where the time had gone yesterday. We went to the mall to celebrate early, as we both have work today. She had a lovely time sniffing other dogs and was super excited to visit the bakery, where she got two special treats. One she ate yesterday and the other she’l have tonight. She’s also getting a stuffy to destroy. She’ll be so excited. 🙂
So to celebrate, here’s some of my favorite pictures of her taken recently.
She’s adorable while sleeping.
Helps me with sewing!
She’s inquisitive.
And sometimes downright goofy. 🙂
But the most important part is that she’s ours! We wouldn’t trade her for the world! Now, I need to go snuggle her before work. I hope these pictjres brightened your day!
Fancy is shocked that this is not a post about sewing things for her!
I do have a dog costume book, but she is not so fond of things on her head. She is going to come with us to Renaissance Fest next year, so we may rig up a cape or something to attach to her harness. 🙂
I did sew my fabulous costume and am quite proud of it. We went with K and J again and she made their costumes as well. Here’s a picture of K and I all pretty!
We had a lot of fun! We got to see some fun bellydance and a really cool African drum group. And shopped, of course!
I had originally planned to go as a pirate, but got this crazy idea to make a vest and had started the shirt already. The skirt I had from my first bellydance at the Ren Fest. It was cold that day, so I was glad to wear my handmade purple leggings underneath.
Here’s the details of the vest and shirt. Fancy was super interested while I was taking pictures. It probably smelled like turkey legs and all sorts of other things.
I made it from a linen table cloth, given to me by a friend and her mom for experimentation purposes. It’s currently unhemmed, because I couldn’t decide how to finish it off. It’s pretty short, but I didn’t realize it when I made it that it would be that way and didn’t have a huge amount of fabric. The sleeves are made from a lace piece I had in my stash. The elastic twisted, but it isn’t really noticeable when it’s on. Despite the chill in the air when we got there, the linen was quite comfortable.
I wasn’t going to make something, but then my harem pants went wonky and I didn’t have a vest to match. Then, on Thursday, while driving to work, I thought “I should just make a vest with the peacock brocade!” For once my rational brain and emotional brain were in full agreement and when I texted the Husband and K, they both were very enthusiastic. My fate was sealed. I needed a new vest! In a day and a half!
The vest was actually the pattern I was supposed to make last year, so I had cut the pattern pieces already. I had this peacock brocade from a while ago and still have enough for at least a set of panels for a dance costume for my October dance.
It came out so pretty and elegant! I used a cotton batik for a lining. The trim was from a Knitpop sale. I knew it would come in handy for something. I did have to buy the buttons and elastic cord. One side came out notched and one straight and I, of course, didn’t notice until I had sewn it all together. Brocade also frays like there’s no tomorrow, so unpicking it is not an option. Grr…
Here’s a closeup of the details. This was before it was sewn, I was just checking to make sure it would match.
I had pretty flowers in my hair and a very large coin necklace to go with it. It was fun to get all dressed up again and I may use the vest in my October dance. Here’s a detail shot of everything.
I’ve sewn regular things as well. I made this bicycle cardigan and it’s very cozy, but light enough for the weird transition point between summer and fall. I am making weird faces in all my full pics, so will post a shot later.
In other craft news, my friend K made us these fun pictures for the Harry Potter party and I didn’t post them with the wands like I should have. I love the light/dark quote.
I love them and am excited to display them. She did a great job!
Hailing from my childhood, I decided to make use of my scraps from my clothes and quilts to make some American Girl doll clothes for my Etsy store and couldn’t resist buying this set of official doll patterns for my American Girl, Kirsten. I even had pretty close to matching fabric. This should be a fun experiment, I think. Maybe I can talk my Dad into a making a little spoon for her spoon bag. 🙂 I also bought a doll size treadle sewing machine online because it was the cutest thing ever and can you imagine the photo opportunities?
I haven’t been making too many new things for vending in October because I have so much! I’m hoping to make some things out of the vegan leather I bought, but I haven’t figured out what to do with it, or how to sew it. I need to find out what needle to use. It’s very thin, so I don’t know if a leather needle is needed. It’s also slightly stretchy. Hmmm…. I’ll let you know how it goes.
In garden news, the squirrels have declared war and I have accepted their challenge. Fancy has been showing more interest in chasing them, so I’m hoping they will stop stealing all my tomatoes! Terrible squirrels! The young jalepenos have also been targeted, but not eaten. They are super spicy this year, so I hope the peppers burn their furry little butts!
I’m late at work this week, for most days, so that might limit my sewing time, but I have plans! Fall is sweater weather, so I want to replace the ones that don’t quite work with more comfy ones. Secret pajamas make the winter bearable!
Right now though, it’s off to bed for me! Have a lovely, cozy night!
We went to the Star Wars costume exhibit at the DIA today and it was glorious! The details! The stories! Oh my! Here’s some quotes and pictures.
“You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.” – George Lucas
“I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.” – George Lucas
“When I was making ‘Star Wars,’ I wasn’t restrained by any kind of science. I simply said, ‘I’m going to create a world that’s fun and interesting, makes sense, and seems to have a reality to it.’ “- George Lucas
“I don’t comment on the physics errors of ‘Star Wars,’ all right. I just – you let that one go.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson
“People are still asking me if I knew Star Wars was going to be that big of a hit. Yes, we all knew. The only one who didn’t know was George.” -Carrie Fisher
Technically we’ve been together for 11 years, but only married for 6 of them. I figured I should probably say something mushy and fun. Here’s some pictures to go along with all the mush. 🙂
Photo credit goes to my friend Kim!
I did get a good one, as I think I’ve demonstrated in posts. He supports my crafting and sewing, encourages me to do the scary things, and ensures I always have working electronics and cars (which is no small feat, let me tell you!).
He also fell in love with the same accidental pitbull, so I really think I’ll keep him now. 🙂
I’m happy to share my life with him! Here’s to many more adventures!
These were all taken at the Photo Safari we went to a few weekends ago. We used super expensive Nikon cameras with fancy lenses that a local camera store was loaning out for two hour sets. I’m pretty terrible at adjusting the focus for animals who are moving, but flowers I can handle. 🙂 We may have found a new hobby, which of course, the Husband is generally better at. I’m trying not to mind.
I’m so confused. I swear I made more things than I seem to be able to find. I’ve been late all this week and our weekend was pretty busy, so it feels like I’m missing projects!
Fancy may have a part in this. I’ve gotten this sad, neglected look multiple times in the past week when I’ve tried to get up to sew.
Now how am I supposed to resist that face? 🙂 Of course, it’s also been hard to be in the basement when my lungs are having fits.
I have been doing some mending, which might explain why I’ve sewn a bunch, but don’t have many new projects. Both the bird and the dog leggings popped stitches, so I had to repair some curves. I also had to cut off the band for the owl tunic and redo it, so it is now done, but it did take a lot of time.
Ha! i just figured it out. Two of the three projects had major mistakes that I had to redo before I could be done. My seam ripper and I are buddies.
For example:
Adorable, right? So this would be what happens when you put a purple fabric in and it leaks all over.
Separate your colors, kids! I’m going to get a color catcher and re-wash. Luckily, it’s not completely over the whole thing, just patches. The Husband doesn’t need purple Christmas pjs…
I also repeated my new trick of sewing a sleeve to the neck area on my shark shirt.
I was almost late to work because I had to unpick it and lost track of time. It’s now fixed. This is the Perfect T pattern. When I make this again, I’ll grade out the front or do a Full Bust Adjustment. It pulls a little. The pattern is meant for knits, so it is a little strange with woven. It has a blue cotton lycra back. I enjoy it. 🙂 I’m determined to use all this fabric.
I have a dark blue dress planned with a bow on the back made out of this, but need to figure out the skirt as I have not quite enough fabric. 🙂 Everyone needs shark clothing for Shark Week, right? (On a side note, I’m pretty sure the Husband really does love me. He’s actively encouraging me in my quest for all the sharks!)
I also made yet another pair of Linen Loungers. The main mistake on this one was to sew the pockets in backwards, so that the curve went towards quite the wrong direction…
It would have been very inappropriate… 😳 I, of course, didn’t realize it until I had sewn the sides together and put them on to try the fit. I had to unpick everything and redo the pockets and the sides. Then while sewing the waistband, I ran out of bobbin thread and didn’t realize it until halfway around. 🙄
There’s a good chance I shouldn’t try to sew while sick…
Luckily, something worked out at least. I made these workout pegs yesterday and wore them today while at the mall with Fancy.
I plan to wear them tomorrow for a Zumba class too. We’ll see how they hold up. They are quite thick material wise and didn’t shift today at all.
Speaking of Fancy, we got her a sprinkler on Sunday, one of those ring ones. She was all excited at first and then freaked put and huddled away from it. She normally loves flowing water and will chase the hose for hours, but this one she didn’t like.
It’s been super hot, so we thought that she might enjoy a sprinkler. We might get her a little pool instead.
Well, I am going to not attempt to sew tonight. This week might have taught me a lesson about late night sewing. I hope your night is relaxing and refreshing. Feel free to tell me any mistakes you’ve made this week, so I can feel like I’m not alone. 🙂
My week got all thrown off by a concert and being still sick. I did go to the doc yesterday and don’t have bronchitis, just really severe asthma flares. I have a stronger version of my meds, so hopefully that will help me kick this. In the meantime, I have been trying to get through it.
We saw Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling with a full orchestra and they were both amazing! Here are a couple of pictures.
It was really hot, but definitely worth it.
I haven’t been wanting to cook or eat, but we did have a couple new recipes this week.
We had chef’s salad with lettuce from the garden! We have so much lettuce right now. It’s been very hot, so the salad was nice and cool. Today it’s already 75 and I’m going to stay hiding inside. My lungs aren’t handling anything well.
We also had a new brand of all beef hotdogs.
They were the Teton brand from Costco and were pretty good. I have to be careful with hot dogs. One of the all beef brands was still in natural pork casings, which wouldn’t have helped me.
I had a friend’s kids over for Lego time and made tacos with homemade tortillas. We had taco meat leftover, so I made a beef taco soup.
I roasted peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes and threw everything in the crockpot while I was at work. It turned out good. I like using the leftovers.
We had baked chicken with garden herbs on Thursday, but ate separately, so I have no pictures.
Speaking of the garden, it is growing very well. I do need to water the herbs a little more, but I have lots of tomatoes started!
The zucchini plant won’t even fit in a picture. 🙂 I keep seeing new blossoms on it too, so we’ll have to see how many squash we get.
Here’s the lettuce:
A bunch of the pepper plants have flowers and buds too, so I’m Excited about that. Everything is growing much better than it was in pots!
Well, I’m going to see if I can sleep some more. Hopefully I’ll feel up to doing some sewing, baking, or canning today. For now, I’m content with not coughing quite as much.
I’ve been running around for the past half hour making up songs about shark shorts. I don’t know how the Husband puts up with me…
To back up a little, I saw this fabric a while ago and said to myself “I neeeeeeeeed this to make shorts for Shark Week.” Then I texted the Husband and my sewing buddy and said the same thing. Much to my surprise, they both enthusiastically agreed. Then I waited for payday, the fabric sold out on all my websites and I finally found it online at a Michigan store. It cost a little more, but these shorts and I needed to be together. Lesson learned, buy the fabric! So here are the shorts:
They are a lighter quilting cotton with a navy blue cotton trim that I bought a few weeks ago, originally to use for something else. It matched perfectly though. It’s little round shapes with a band on each edge. They have back pockets, a fold over yoga waistband, and are just the right length. Next time I’ll move the pockets closer into the center line, but they fit very nicely.
These are the same pattern as my flamingo and minion shorts from last week: Linen Loungers by Patterns for Pirates.
I had a bit of a revelation about shorts and myself while getting ready for the concert last night. Ready for it? Here it is! No one but me, cares what I wear! I was so hung up on the fact that the store shorts didn’t fit, and squeezed everything, and looked like I should be 80 while wearing them that I forgot I might just be wearing the wrong style. These have a built-in hip curve and make me look cute, rather than emphasizing the things I don’t like about my body. I seriously have not worn shorts in over 5 years because I just was so self-conscious.
The other thing I appreciate about this pattern is that although I can wear them for sleep shorts, with the right details and fabrics, they don’t actually look like sleep shorts. Minions, yes, sharks, no. Details matter.
I posted a picture of myself looking nervous, but wearing the flamingo shorts in one of my sewing groups and the response was affirming. I’m still working on accepting and changing the things I need to change, but I can’t let it stop me from trying new styles or from being comfortable.
It made me really think about how I need to change my thinking. How can I sit with clients, especially teen girls, and make all these statements about acceptance and self-esteem, if I am not willing to work on my own?
So I plan to make more cotton shorts and experiment with wearing them. For now, my sharks will definitely be my favorite!
In other sewing related news, my Mom challenged me a little on my UFO boxes and recommended that I start each month by pulling a project out and committing to finishing that project during the month. I think it’s an excellent plan. I’m cheating a little this month and fixing a couple of wonky new projects, like the shirt with the sleeve where the neck should be…
I’m also going to fix this sweet Cocoon Cardigan that I messed up the band on. It has an owl appliqué on the back and is made from black double brushed poly. It’s very lightweight. 😍
It’s going to be so sweet when it’s done!
Finishing this skirt is on my list. It’s a perfect, flowy cotton. It needs a waistband and a lining.
This star fabric used to be a faux wrap skirt that was too small. I need to see if I can line up the seams to make shorts or a tank top.
I found this skirt at the local thrift store and should probably be trying to find some more of my fabrics or materials from there. Now that I kind of know how to fit things, I can use those cheaper materials to try techniques out. A couple of the thrift stores have full sari sets and some of them carry fabric pieces. It’s all hit or miss, of course, but it never hurts to look.
You may have noticed a sudden influx of stars on my clothing. 🙂 For some reason, stars are making me quite happy right now. I’m alright with that, there are some adorable starry prints out there.
Speaking of stars, I should probably head to bed to dream under the stars. Have a good night!
Fancy had to investigate every single bush on our walk today. She sniffed a squirrel’s butt, startling both herself and the squirrel. It was pretty funny.
Another funny thing that happened today was one of my more sarcastic teens telling me that I was “one of the older people, you know, another generation…” and then making me a cane. Because I’m old, you know. 😆
I love working with teens for things like this. You can really tell when you have good rapport with them.
I’ve had a couple of funny sewing mishaps, one easily fixed and one that got tossed in the projects box until I’m over it. Here’s the second one…
So this is a shirt… There’s one sleeve on the left… Then there’s the neck… With a sleeve attached… 😂
That’s when I thought I should stop for dinner. It will get fixed eventually.
I did make nice things too.
I made a pair of harem pants to test my pattern for my peacock bellydance costume. I was a little nervous at first. Before the gathering on the waistband I could fit into a single leg.
They turned out super fun though! I’ve been wearing them constantly in the evenings.
They are a navy jersey or rayon spandex from many years ago. Originally the fabric was going to be an infinity dress, but it stretched when I tried to cut it and I moved on. They make me want to dance and fly out very well during twirls. I kind of want six more pairs. 🙂
While trying to decide what to make, the Husband suggested that I focus on the things I need, since my projects in the box held no appeal. I made two pairs of bike shorts to wear for pjs and under dresses.
They are both made from scraps, hence the different bands. I cut the left leg on the galaxy one wrong, but fixed it with a higher waistband. They are both comfy and fill a need. This next shirt was also made from scraps. It needs a neckline adjustment, as it tends to slip, but is cute. It’s the sewing machine print with black backing and bands. Both are double brushed polyester, so very soft.
I haven’t used this material for much other than leggings, so was fun to try. I have an Agnes dress with color blocking partially put together with DBP for the skirt.
Aren’t those spools adorable?
I needed to sew before work on Monday. Felt it in my bones, kind of need. So I made these heart leggings in 30 minutes and went to work slightly happier at least.
They are very comfy. My co-worker gave me a look and shook her head when I said I’d made them before work.
We have a family wedding to go to this weekend and I was thinking about making a dress for it, but hadn’t picked a pattern. I made this dress length Agnes.
It’s very soft and comfy. Hard to see, but there are little gold outlines on the flowers.
I think it’s fancy enough to attend a wedding. My arm and neckbands worked perfectly. I enjoy it greatly.
Well, we’re watching TV and keeping Fancy company while the fireworks start. The Husband is putting together the new entertainment center too. I may go sew downstairs, if Fancy gets too upset. She won’t even eat her chew.
