I got this special German edition of Burda magazine a few weeks ago, and look who's in it. This is the Godet Skirt I made last December in a fuscia stretch velvet. I left the magazine out to see if anyone would notice. Yes, people (regular, normal people that don't sew) actually do pick it up to peruse it at my house. Yeah, no one noticed. My kids were pretty excited about it though.

Sew Mama Sew is sponsoring an online sewing contest. I just got wind of it so I was too late to try for it, but there is a Community Bee for those interested in sewing along with the weekly contest challenges.  

Blendtec is having a Smothie Stash Contest on their facebook page.  Vote for our photo or enter your own for a chance to win a Blendtec blender. I've been making smoothies for the kids for about a year and recently ventured into hummus. I even made my own tahini yesterday (for the hummus). Ironically, I didn't even know what tahini was before yesterday. I also made sun butter for my nut-allergy guy. It's a great way to ease your way into a healthier eating lifestyle.

Baby Lock is giving away a serger this month!

Saw this on Loobylu today. Wait, this story sounds kind of familiar.

Mimi G is having a free beginner sewing class for the next four weeks.  It's a video class.  This is amazing for anyone that wants to learn to sew! Free Sewing Class

My sewing studio is now Santa's workshop.  Look, I'm even wearing a green sweater. Which is totally coincidental. I'm really not trying to look like an elf.   I was forced to put the door back on my sewing room, which I had previously taken out as it just got in the way, and so that I could keep a better eye on the kids.  Unfortunately, it has no handle, so I've covered up the hole with a bag.  I know.  Really efficient.  It's more stressful this way, every time I think the kids are coming and they might discover everything I'm making.  If I had a knob with a lock, it would just be too easy. This is a trunk my dad made for me when I was in high school. It was covered with some old Victorian-looking upholstery fabric which was totally OK at the time.  We stripped it all off and I'm re-inventing it as a treasure chest for the kids for Christmas.  There's been decoupaging (for the first time), power-stapling (for the first time)...

[from marthastewart.com] I saw this organizing idea from Martha Stewart many years ago. Our small linen closet in the upstairs hallway finally got to me and I decided to plunge into this little project to add shelf dividers. Now, if you're a neat person, you don't really need to have these. If you have people in your family that still don't know where their shoes, underwear, and toys belong then this might help. Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture showing the closet vomiting out all it's contents because, like most projects now a days, I start them with absolutely no planning and out of pure desperation and necessity. I was having a little nervous breakdown while trying to put stuff back in there that simply wasn't going to fit, and also over the prospect of having to pull out all of the sheets and figure out what size they were because someone in my family, that is not very short, decided to jumble them all up! I explained the system to this per...

I think this has been in Target stores for a while but I just discovered them right in time for Thanksgiving, the Giada De Laurentiis line for Target.  And I wanted to share my find.  I got the set which was on sale a few weeks ago and then had to go back for the oval 2-qt. baker .  I love this off white color and the handles.  Anything you cook/bake looks yummy in them.  And they are ceramic so they bake very evenly and look great on the table. I've used them so much already.  I've made cornbread with honey butter pictured in the little ramikin, pumpkin pie, an insane 3-hour pumpkin bread pudding recipe I saw on TV, the Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoe recipe , left over turkey pot pie in the oval baker and in the large mug for an individual portion, etc.  I love them!

Actually, the real reason I haven't made anything is because I was going to make the Kyoko dress by Modkid and I cut the pattern out on my fabric, I have the pattern pieces, but I can't find the instruction booklet!  What the hell did I do with it.  I swear, when things get lost within the perimeter of my own house and I can't find them it makes me want to drive myself to the loony house. So, I've narrowed down the possibilities of where it can be: 1) It got lost in the shuffle of one of my purses as I am constantly switching the contents of one purse to another in a futile effort to be fashionable; 2) one of the house midgets took it and used it for a craft project, coloring on it, glue-ing it, and cutting it into a million pieces, 3) it is exactly where it should be; I just can't see it as my eyes are stupefied and blinded at the site of organization. What to do!?  I need it.  It's for my niece's fourth birthday next week.  I have no Plan B.  ...

OK, the reason I haven't made anything lately is because I've been wasting all my time entering Internet give-aways.  Just kidding.  No actually it's true.  Tea collection recently had a whole weeks worth of giveaways on Facebook for their 8th anniversary, yesterday another for See Kai Run shoes.  Cedarworks playsets had some a while back including a fund raising raffle for a school.  I even suffered through a terrible live web meet for a homeschooling core curriculum (I've been considering home schooling) last Tuesday.  So, I haven't won anything yet.  Nevertheless, I will persevere in this time-wasting endeavor.  A nd , if you would like to do the same with your time, here's a giveaway from GummyLump toys for three mini Automoblox cars.  You can kind of see a regular size car in my " Old Nursery " post on the wall shelf if you use a really strong magnifying glass.

Being this is the third time around with the baby making and everything, enthusiasm hasn't been quite as high as the first two times. And I have to admit, I was wanting the third, and most likely last addition to the family to be a girl, maybe even a real girl (monkey pants is quite the tom boy). So, being told this was another boy after just having a boy in a relative short time wasn't as exciting as I would have liked. I've gotten over it though and I'm moving on, picturing sweet scenes of two little boys causing havoc, playing and conducting experiments by flushing things down the toilet together. Anyway, when I was still delusionally hoping to have another girl, I was already starting to make a collage of colors, fabrics and decorating nick nacks in my mind for the new baby's room. After the ultrasound, I had to abruptly purge those images from my head and wipe the slate clean. But I haven't really come up with anything new for a baby boy. I just did a bab...