I will gladly admit that I'm not up for elaborate birthday parties with 3D character cakes for all my kids every year. Sadly, this means, the youngest one has never gotten a "cool" birthday cake. But this was his year. I picked the theme. Can you tell? Otherwise, it would be a combination of Mutant Ninja Turtles (something he knows nothing about) and race cars. We've always been a fan of Meomi's Octonauts long before the books became a show on Disney (not my favorite kids channel).  I prefer birthday parties where I can let all the kids lose out in the backyard but unfortunately, this little guy's birthday is in the winter. I thought I would make an effort at decorating this time, armed with way too many Pinterest ideas. So many in fact, I ran out of time to blow up the carefully color selected balloons and a few other details. I made Peso Penguin's medical suitcase with the Silhouette Cameo machine. I got put that thing to use to justify its cost. And...

Pattern: Simplicity 3836 Fabric: Satin from JoAnns Cost: ~ $40.00 (I had enough skirt and lining fabric left over for another skirt) Size: 7 with skinnier waist Age: 10 [Shoes: $4 lucky thrift store find. Shirt: old Land's End altered for toddler pirate shirt last year. Fit perfectly! It used to be a 3/4 sleeve girl's shirt.] -----------------------------------------------  So, um, I made this for Halloween. I came up with the 50s theme for Halloween this year because my MO these days is to figure out how I can get away with the least amount of work. I can't make three new costumes for every Halloween, throw great kid parties, and everything else all the time nor do I want to. (I even convinced my kids not to have parties this year. Yay for me! Really, it's better this way. They'll be able to appreciate them more this way). My son had an Elvis Jail House Rock costume I made for him last year for dance. So I figured he could get another wear out of t...

Pattern: George Book: Jaeger JB29 Materials: Knit Picks City Tweed DK Amount: (4) 50g balls 'Basil' (pattern calls for 3 50g balls but I ran out -again) Needles: US3 and US6 bamboo Cost: $4.99/ball approx. $20.00 Notions: Buttons (Walmart .99 cents) Size: 12-24 months. Start Date: Nov. 12, 2014 Finish Date: Dec. 1, 2014 So, I have a grandnephew -yes, apparently, I am that old- that just turned one. OK, he turned one at the beginning of November And, I'm sure he already has all the cool toys and clothes a one-year old could have so I wanted to make him something hand made. I had made this little cardi for my little boy a few years ago and after perusing the web for some cute boy cardi patterns, which I found plenty, I came back to this one for it's cute cables and relative ease.  I guess I really like green because I picked almost the same yarn!  This one is a bit brighter green, the other one was a bit more teal.  I also didn't realize it, b...

Pattern: Burda 9/2012  #152 Cap Sleeve Dress Fabric: Landscape fabric from Hobby Lobby Cost: ~ $14.00 Size: 122 cm Age: 9 [Shoes: Target] ----------------------------------------------- I've been wanting to make a Belgian style landscape dress for ever and finally got around to it before my daughter is old enough to look at me like wearing a dress with wheel barrows on it is just crazy. I came across this at Hobby Lobby and I thought it might just work. I also thought I would make it for a spring-y Easter dress. I needed a pattern that was pretty straight forward to show off the pattern. I used this pattern once before for a holiday dress and I really loved the retro/classic style. Although, I love the cap sleeves, I thought taking them off would suit the fabric better and give her a slightly different look.  Here is the result.  (I also lined it just like the first time and added a wee bit of tule to the bottom of the lining to help keep the ski...

For St. Patrick's Day, my kids demand green food, just as they demand to wake up to hearts leading the way from their bedrooms to a great Valentine's Day surprise and glorious Easter baskets, etc. The aftermath, I now suffer for doing cute things on holidays when they were younger that I may not necessarily feel like doing anymore. But, anyway. I made the obligatory green pancakes this morning. I got away with the inclusion of lettuce for lunch. And for dinner, I decided to try the Spinach Pasta in the Blendtec Twist Jar recipe book. I had a bunch of spinach from my Bountiful Baskets that I recently started to participate in that I needed to use. The pasta looks really appealing in the Blendtec photo, but I wasn't too sure it would turn out so well. No, I don't think you're supposed to have to put this much flour on the pasta dough, but I had to. It wasn't too hard to mix. The ingredients are pretty simple: spinach, white whole wheat flour, egg, and water...

Pattern:  Ottobre 1/2013 #2 9 English Flowers Blouse & #30 Lindy Hop Pants Fabric: Heather Ross, Crafty Chloe found at Hancock Fabrics; cotton dot fabric JoAnn's brand Notions: zipper, reused button, cheap green buttons from Walmart and a couple cute green flower buttons from JoAnn's Total Cost:  I don't remember, probably about ~$12.00 blouse; ~$7.00 pants Size: 122cm Child's Age: 9 [Shoes: Umi Moraine Mary Jane Silver] ---------------------------------------------------------   So back when I made the Passenger Trenchcoat  about a year ago, I immediately wanted to make an outfit to go along with it just as in the magazine, with the English Flowers Blouse and the Lindy Hop Pants. Loved the whole outfit. I managed to churn out the blouse not much later, but the pants. Oh the pants, I just got around to making today! I always have a hard time picking a size. I don't like to round up and go the safe route because I like things to fit ri...