Surprise!

to the left you see JB and The Musical One - to the right, JB and The Princess. They are at the surprise party that the girls organized and pulled off to celebrate JB's 50th birthday.


As his birthday was 3 weeks ago - he was quite surprised. He thought nothing of it when he walked in and saw a friend from work. I mean we all live in roughly the same area, but then he started looking around and realized he knew a lot of people there - and finally got it.

It was tons of fun and he got quite a lot of gag gifts for old folks.

JB was taking advantage of the Mr. Magoo glasses to read a card that were gifted along with the new fangled hearing aid. Our neighbor decided to see if it helped.

The party almost didn't happen. See JB has to work one Saturday a month and he signed up to work yesterday. I told him I didn't care what he did - the Princess was only in town for 4 days and he was not going to work. Plus we had a busy morning - but the girls pulled it off without a hitch and surprised he was.

Jeans?/Pants?

Okay - I'm asking for help from my sewing blogger friends. Do I have any left? Hello? Anyone out there?

One of my goals for 2010 is to start making pants. Up until now - wearing nothing but skirts and dresses to work wasn't that big of a deal. I have always driven myself - parked in the garage, walked 10 feet in the worst of weather. Now however - I ride the bus to downtown Seattle. Then I have a 10 block walk to the office. I need pants. I need pants that are nice and flattering.

I am a triangle. I used to think I was an hourglass. If you are in doubt - look at yourself from behind. I know! Okay have a friend do it. You will really be able to see from behind if you are a triangle or an hourglass. The other fitting challenges that I have are a full-behind, protruding front thighs, and the dreaded saddle bags. Lots of fitting challenges there.

Now you know why I make skirts - right?

So I'm asking those of you who have made jeans - which pattern? jalie? If so - the regular jean, which are described as being bootcut or the stretch. Or J Sterns?

Debbie? Dawn? Shannon? Angie? Carolyn? Sue?

You've read my fitting issues, my tummy is still fairly flat - for the most part, but I am wide - through the ribs. My goal is to have a muslin made to take to the December ASG meeting to get fitting help - but I'd like to have a good start when the pattern arrives.

Like Nobody's Kid

You all remember Dudley right?

The title comes from a co-worker telling me a story one time. His parents used to say to him when he was quite young and had just started dressing himself. Well you know how little kids just throw anything and everything together and half the time they are mis-buttoned and nothing matches? Well his parents used to say to him - "you look like nobody's kid."

Seriously? You say that to your child? Isn't that a bit rude? Oh well. When I see Dudley running around with tufts of fur sticking out all over the place - it's the first thing I think of. I don't say it - normally I say come here and I grab a brush and we sit down to try and get some of that soft white undercoat off of him.

I have spent at least 30 minutes a day brushing him with a combination of the curry comb and the fake furminator that we have and he still looks like nobody's kid. Any ideas on how to make him looked like he belongs to someone?

Just for the record - he's our kid!

Many Thanks

Today is Veteran's Day. While I don't personally know a great deal of people who have served and lived to tell stories - I know enough. I am forever grateful for the sacrifices made by so few so that many could do what they want, when they want (within reason, right?).

I do however, know many more people who are currently active duty in many branches of the military. And while not all of them have gone off to war - it's becoming more and more common. What many of us don't realize is the sacrifices made at home. It's not easy being a single parent while your partner is thousands of miles away seeing and sometimes doing unspeakable things. It's also not easy reuniting the family into a cohesive unit upon return. Again - for that I'm thankful.

Rambling - will be quiet now. Just make sure you let someone you know - know that you appreciate all that they are doing. Please.

Book Review

Absolutely A-Line
Publisher: Lark Books (October 2009)
Author: Wendi Gratz
Flexibound: 132 pages/ pattern included

This is a delightful book full of patterns for making adorable dresses for the little girls in your life. I'm a bit disappointed that my girls aren't young and cute enough to pull off this style. However, I might know a few girls who need some sunshine and everyone loves a dress.

A-lines are one of the easiest things to sew as they can generally be made without zippers or closures of any type, especially when you are sewing for youngsters. Anyone who has no shape yet. The first chapter gives you the basics that you need to start sewing garments (trust me they aren't scary). The Overview of Sewing Techniques provided is clear and easy to understand. The author explains when and why to use each stitch.

The dresses in this book included color blocking, appliqué, cross-stitch, embroidery, reverse appliqué and patchwork. There is a fabulous dress made out of dad's old denim shirt - perfect for a daddy's girl. Variations on the theme include adding beaded or gathered ruffle trim. Adding a contract band at the waist for accent and fit.

They even cut the dress apart and made a top, skirt and apron all from the same starting point - a simple A-Line dress. The author sent a request out to several sewing friends and my favorite of the bunch is by Beki Lambert, author of the blog Artsy Crafty Babe. I have been reading her blog for years. I emailed Beki and asked if she's be willing to do an email interview.

Me: Where does inspiration strike?
ACB: My inspiration comes from everywhere. I keep a notebook with me to jot ideas down when I get them. I really love transforming something rather than coming up with something from scratch, which is why submitting ideas for the A-line book was appealing. I never see something "as is". I'm always thinking about how I can change it up to put my own spin on it. Right now, I'm challenging myself in this manner with one of my own patterns - the Phoebe bag. Every month I want to try something new with this basic bag design. Last month I did appliqué. I have something in mind for my next one, but I'm not quite there yet.

Me: Where did you learn to sew? Do you just start wacking up a pattern when you have an idea or do you reach for a technique book?
ACB: I learned to sew pretty much on my own by trial and error. I watched my mom and grandma sew while growing up, but they never formally taught me. I'm very much a hands on, jump in there kind of learner. I do use reference books (or Google) if there is something I have a question on, but when I have an idea I usually jump in and try on my own first. As a recovering perfectionist, I've learned that I learn much more from my mistakes, so I'm not afraid to make them.

I know I'll be keeping this book to make some cute things for eventual grandbabies and also keeping an eye on ACB to see what she does with her Phoebe bag (which is a free pattern).

Review courtesy of Nic/Lapdog Creations who has a sweet deal with Lark to review books - only problem is she doesn't sew - so she forwarded the book to me. Thanks Nic - it was fun.

Firsts!

Remember way back in May when I told you about getting all the materials to make this hat? No? Okay - here it is again.

Its been getting cold around here so I decided it was time to figure this two-handed knitting out. Sp last Sunday night I went down to the studio and wound up a ton of yarn - 3 hanks for the hat, 4 more for another 3 pairs of socks. Crazy - I know.

Anyway - after sitting with JB, the pattern and the yarns - we decided which yarn was suppose to be which letter - A, B, or C. I think we blew it because looking at it now, I think C (the brown around the braids) should have been A. The only one I know for sure is B - the noro.

Anyway - I did okay tensioning one color in my right hand (as normal) and one color in my left - hello! Strange. But my floats were nice and even and not too tight. That is until I switch to double pointed needles at the top of the crown. I don't know if it was the double points or changing from metal to wood, but it got tight at the top. A good soak in soak and a blocking over my pot bellied stove cookie jar made it even out. But since I have plenty of the yarns left - I might try it again.

JB - says it fits good, long enough to cover his ears. He's not finding the noro scratchy at all. I really enjoyed knitting this. The braid was a PIA - but very impressive looking when finished. I might get some girly yarn and make one for me.

Argh!

So we have a friend who is a pirate - no really - a Seafair Pirates. The Seafair Pirates are a Seattle icon and have been since 1949. Well - this young man (he's young enough I could be his momma) asked if I'd make him a new sash when he heard that I sewed. He wanted a plain black sash - how boring is that? So I made him a plain black sash. But when I was shopping for it - I found this fabric in the Halloween selection that is black with silver skulls on it! Perfect - I decided I would also make him a new pirate vest. Then I took the left over skulls back it with gold costume satin and made a two sided sash.

Funny, funny story about our pirate. About 5 years ago JB and were at a little local parade. We were sitting on the curb visiting with some friends waiting to see their daughters march by.

All of a sudden a pirate comes up to JB and starts visiting with him. JB says - you are a pirate. To which the response was some along the lines of 'Yup I'm a pirate' said with tons more dirty words and pirate voice.

Then this pirate makes some comment about how I must the beautiful wife and would JB mind if he kissed me. Well JB says "No, go ahead." The pirate bends down - he's a tall dude and we were sitting on the curb - kisses me full on the mouth, pins a button on my chest that says "I've been had by a Seafair Pirate" and saunters off down the road.

I look at JB and ask "who was that?"

He says - "I don't know."

It was a good year and half before we put our neighbor's son together with the pirate.

Beauregard James

You all have seen my boy before - in fact if you've been reading for very long at all you should be intimately acquainted with him. He's had my heart since we first saw him. Any of you who have had the pleasure and privilege of being loved by a dog, know how special that is.

My friend GoldenTracks has been working with Ray at knitivity since early September to create Beauregard James colorway. It showed up on my kitchen counter yesterday with a sweet card from Y via Ray.


When I first saw it - I thought it was a bit too dark to be Beau, but when you put it next to him it's completely his coloring. I'm totally knitting something with paw prints from this one.

I would have loved to have a better photo of Beau and his yarn - but JB was getting ice cream and his attention was not on me.

edited to add link for Knitivity - sorry this went live without it -- g