Candy Corn dress and Owl in the moon Tee

Happy Halloween everyone!  If you're like me, you've already broken out those Halloween treats and are snacking (a bit) while working today.  This morning I think I had candy on my mind.  I woke up early and made this little candy corn dress for Gwyneth.

She can't wear her costume to school, so I thought it would be fun to send her to school in a festive dress.  To make the dress, I used three cheap ($3) t-shirts and cut them up.  I used another dress as a pattern for this one and it came together quite nicely.

Connor couldn't be left out of the fun.  He also couldn't wear his costume to school, so I painted on this cool moon with a tree branch and owl on it using freezer paper and fabric paint.  (A tutorial on painting with freezer paper can be found here.)

I showed it to him when it was all done and he thought it was SOO COOOL!  (Yay!)  I can't take credit for the image.  It was totally inspired by this one I saw on Pintrest.  (Gotta love Pintrest.)

Oooo..... spooky!

Gwyneth decorated her pumpkin this afternoon too!  It's a friendly vampire.  She even added a cape (from a piece of felt) and just pinned it in with two of my sewing pins.

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Cinderella

Gwyneth wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween this year.  Awesome for me since I made her a Cinderella dress for her birthday last year.

Thankfully I made the dress big.  It fits much better now.

We picked up some blue sparkly "glass slippers" at Target

and I took a broken tiara and gave it some new life.

And we have our beautiful Cinderella waiting for her pumpkin coach!

Smurf Spotting

While walking in the garden the other day, I spotted what I thought was a smurf running by. . .

He slowed down to get a better look at me.

Once he realized I was a friendly human, he stopped to be polite.

After a minute of staring at me, he ran off into the trees.

I followed him, but I think he got scared and pretended to be a tree.

So I left (but left my camera behind). . . .

Maybe it was jokey smurf.  But I'll probably never know for sure.

The Details:  Smurf costume made of anti-pill fleece in white and "smurf" blue.  No pattern.  Just used a shirt and pants as a guide then a couple of fittings later . . . we had a smurf costume.  Velcro closure in the back.  Feet are covered crocs to give it a larger foot (like the smurfs), mittens for blue hands, of course, and a lovely smurfy hat!  Happy Smurf Halloween!

Simple Green Hat

 

I finished up this simple knit hat for Connor.  I used Spud and Chloe organic wool/cotton blend yarn - which was fabulous!  I was following this pattern (too cute, right???), but Connor simply loved the plain green hat.  It sat unfinished for a few days because I wanted to make sure he just wanted it plain - with nothing on top.  Yup, he did.  OK, so I the finished hat.

 

Three days later he asks me if I've already started on his "other" hat with the alien eyes.  Ummm.... No.


Update: Perhaps he knows me too well, because I've started a second hat.

Hobo Sack #2

You saw the hobo sack I made for Gwyneth, well of course I had to make one for Connor.

His was slightly larger than the original version in the tutorial (which you can find here).  I had two fat quarters that Connor had picked out on a trip to my local fabric store (from last January, I believe).  We were saving them for a fun little project.

 

A perfect bag for some of his favorite little toys!

Hobo Sack

Before we left on our vacation this summer, I wanted to make small bags for the kids to bring any little toys they wanted.  I knew exactly what I wanted to make:

The HOBO SACK!

This little sack, designed by the talented Dana of MADE was the perfect size and I just loved the use of knits for the drawstring.

I love how it turned out.  I used a patchwork fabric I had leftover from this dress.  I love using up those scraps!

It's the perfect place for all those little treasures!

Little Kiddo PJs

It's the first day of Elsie Marley's Kids Clothing Week Challenge (or KCWC).  If you're unfamiliar with it, it simply challenges you to work for one hour each day for a week on making kids clothing.  With two little ones, this is a great challenge for me.  While I have not yet had a chance to sit down in front of the sewing machine (yet) today, I did have this little pj set I made a few weeks ago I haven't yet shown you.

I made this set of pj's for a friend's little boy who just turned one!  I made the set an 18 month size so he'd have a little room for growth.  The top was made using Lil Blue Boo's t-shirt hoodie pattern (minus the hood).

For the pants I used another 18 month size pants that I dug out of the kids old clothes as a rough guide and just went from there. The pants are made from interlock knits and has an elastic waist.  I did add a bit of contrast to the bottom cuff to match the top.

. . . And my favorite - I added a little color to the back at the butt.

The details:  The guitar interlock knit is Groovy Guitar from Michael Miller (with the coordinating light blue and black).  The dark blue knit in the pants is from my stash.

Are you joining in the KCWC??  What are you working on?

In Print

Well, Punkin Patterns is now officially in print. The German kids magazine Kleinformat has published the tutorial for making Connor's Messenger Bag. I just got my copy in the mail yesterday!

It was really exciting.  Ok, I've been in print before.  First a short story in a book when I was in high school (which was cool, because you could actually buy the book at Barnes and Noble), then journal articles in college and graduate school, but I doubt you're the sort interested in articles published in the Journal of Chemical Physics . . . . am I right??

Anyhow..... still cool.  It impressed my husband. 

This actually came at the perfect time.  I'll be teaching a class on making this bag at Sewtropolis this Wednesday.  Anyone in the Twin Cities area interested here's where you can find the details.  I'll also be teaching a class for the Sweet Tooth Pouch on the 21st - more details here.

Well, the weather is gorgeous here.  I'm off to fold my laundry (next to some open windows) and work on a quilt later tonight when the kiddos have gone to bed.

One More Summer Hat

It seems that summer is trying desperately to hold on.  It's a warm 82 degrees here.  So I thought it would be fun to whip up one last summer hat.

The pattern was from "Oliver + S Little Things to Sew".   Love this book!

I made a few of these before, (which you can read about here, here and here) but they're so cute and so much fun to sew - I just wanted to make one more.

This is probably the last summer hat you'll see for a while, although definitely not the last thing from that book!  The only question is which project next???

Have a great weekend!

Autumn is Here!

Autumn is here.  We are busy enjoying the last of the beautiful weather before winter inevitably sets in and the ground will be covered with snow for the next eight months.

So you'll have to excuse the lack of posts lately.  We've been busy enjoying the outdoors-

taking little hikes,

enjoying the changing leaves,

and the lovely sunsets.

Of course the kitchen is filled with aromas of baking pies!  Or an apple galette in this case. . . .

and even a green tomato pie!

Yup see the green tomatoes inside (pre-baked) - sorry no picture of a cooked slice.  They were devoured by my family too quickly.

Although I think I see more green tomato dishes in our future.

With the changing weather, I've also been bitten by the knitting bug that seems to be going around.

Connor is anxiously awaiting it's completion.  Hope he'll like the surprise at the top!  (You'll just have to wait to see too!) 

On another note, the winner of the MyMemories software is (as determined from random.org) Kreatita who said "I like the vintage victorian papers a lot!"  I'll be emailing you shortly with the details.  Thanks to all who entered.

Now back to my knitting, baking and the beautiful weather!