Nesting in November

Fall makes me "nesty." I've been cleaning and reorganizing the past few weeks and sewing up a storm. I want to bake butter slathered acorn squash and cook hearty soups, sew duvet covers and wear cashmere. I want to make a wreath for the door and start my Christmas shopping. I love being at home this time of year!

I've been taking a five week "homewares" sewing class at the Lill Street Art Center. We're supposed to be working on napkins, placemats, curtains and pillows but the instructor is very laid back (no patterns!) and really wants us to work on whatever we want. It's kind of like getting together with a bunch of strangers for some dedicated sewing time, and having an instructor around to help if you get stuck. In a way, it's just what I need.

Last night I made fitted sheet for Coco's toddler bed. Nothing to show you because I just used a cream color muslin for the first time to see how it would come together. It was ridiculously easy using instructions from here. Do yourself a favor and watch the video on sewing with elastic if you've never done so. Even my instructor learned something.

I've also completed the napkins above. Well, I've made eight of them. Is that enough? I used Sew4Home's instructions instead of the teacher's. Then I made these coordinating cocktail napkins without any instructions.

Just sew right sides together but leave a hole to turn inside out. Top stitch around the edge (which also closes the hole.)

The fabric is Lotus Garden by Stonehill. I'm thinking about buying some coordinating yardage and making a table cloth like this one:

Does that look hard? It should be as simple as cutting and sewing straight lines, neither of which I'm particularly good at. Something to do with patience?!

The whole project has to be done before Thanksgiving because we're having a pretty good size get together - six adults and three three year olds if no one else gets invited between now and then. As it is, I'll have to borrow chairs. I don't care, though. I love a house full of friends, family and good food. These particular friends are like family and their daughters are some of Coco's best friends. Isn't that lucky? I'm not quite ready to cook but I have my November issues of Martha Stewart and Bon Appetit next to my bed and I've got cranberry sauce on the brain. This time I'm going to quadruple the recipe and MAYBE we'll have some left over. Maybe...

Halloween Costume: The Beautiful Bad Witch

The first costume I ever made!
[caption id="attachment_459" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="A little bit of everything, tulle, chiffon, satin, feathers, tinsel..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_460" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="And more feathers around the skirt"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_461" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="No More Photos, Mama!"][/caption]

Play Kitchen: After and Before

While we're talking kitchens, look at this sad thing:
[caption id="attachment_406" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="A little sad"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sadder still..."][/caption]
It has been stickered and destickered. Our neighbor's baby used it as a crutch when she was learning to walk. The velcro keeping the oven door closed has given up the ghost not once, not twice but three times. You know I have issues with velcro so that last part is probably no surprise.

Here's how it looked when I first made it, using these plans on I bought on Etsy.
[caption id="attachment_412" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Homemade Play Kitchen"][/caption]
Wasn't she cute? Don't you want to crib my idea for burners? They're from Joann's in the unpainted wood section, around the corner from the $2 bird houses.


I love the sweet fabric that hides the sink and provides storage. Don't even ask how long that Italian vase lasted.


This was simple but NOT easy for me to make to make and I've never been more proud of myself for sticking with it. The cardboard was all free (flat screen TV boxes are best.) I bought the green contact paper at a thrift shop - it's SO cute and I have more - what do I do with it???

The whole thing cost less than $20 to make and lasted about a year. I mean, it's still standing and gets plenty of abuse love so I guess you could say it's still going strong but Grandmama has offered the princess a brand spanking new kitchen and I'm thinking that would be pretty cool.

I guess I'll try my hand and some of this stuff:
[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="DIY felt Lovely Cookie set and Kitty cups, kitty place mat"][/caption]

Or maybe this:
[caption id="attachment_416" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="DIY Felt Curry vegetables and casserole"][/caption]

Anything to NEVER have to cut through three layers of cardboard again.

Baby Gifts and Dolly Diapers

One of Coco's best friends became a big sister this week. Never has a three year old girl been more baby crazed than Emma. She's had her own baby doll, Sophie, for ages. She feeds her, diapers her and carries her around in a doll sized sling. This child was ready!

Of course I had to make something for the baby, that's what you do, right? But I had way more fun making a little blanket and dolly diapers for Emma. I guess it has something to do with the new baby being unable to get excited about her gift. Emma will be thrilled and that's what I live for.

For the new baby I made burp cloths. No pattern, just cut a fat quarter in half, cut two pieces of chenille to match, sewed right sides together, pulled right sides out through a two inch hole at one end and then topstitched all around. Easy Peasy.

[caption id="attachment_359" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Burp Cloths"][/caption]

Emma's gift required lace, of course.
[caption id="attachment_360" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Lace trimmed baby blanket"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Dolly Diapers"][/caption]

I made the diapers using this awesome and easy tutorial from the fabulous Cindy at Skip to My Lou. The only thing I changed was to sew the velcro on before putting the pieces together. And while we're talking velcro, can we just agree that one must not use the sticky backed type for sewing? I still don't know how much damage I did to my machine but let's just say I lost two sewing needles in the malay and I'm pretty sure there's some sticky thread up in the works somewhere. I broke two more needles hand sewing the remaining velcro bits and the final, victory needle needs to be tossed.

Now Coco wants diapers for her utterly ignored baby doll and I'm thinking snaps. Anybody know how to do those?

I'm linking up today.

When Sewing Velcro onto Fabric...

Let me give you this advice. Do NOT try to sew sticky back velcro onto fabric.

Trust me on this.

Corduroy Peasant Top and Dancing with the Stars

Well the "star" in this case is the Cat in the Hat. Coco hates getting her photo taken but I bribed her with an episode on PBS. She broke into song and started dancing. "Here we go go go go on and Adventure!"
[gallery]

So viola! The the new peasant top in corduroy. This will go really well over a turtleneck sweater when it gets colder. I love the colors and with the fine wale, it was surprisingly easy to work with. The last time I tried corduroy was when I first got my sewing machine and had NO idea what I was doing. I purchased a thick wide wale corduroy skirt at a thrift shop with the plan to upcycle it into a cute dress for Coco.

Well it was awful to cut and worse to sew. I was getting the fluff out of my hair and off the floor for days. And forget about getting the needle through several layers at the hem. It was easier to get the needle though my thumb (which I did.)

Coco took one look at the finished project and started crying. The little rat critic was only 2.5 years old...

By the way, I only used half a yard of Patty Young for Michael Miller. With a size T3 it was tight - some of the selvage made it into the seams but I have improved my skills to the point that all the seams are enclosed so that you would never know. Next time I'll buy a full yard and make a skirt with the left overs!

Linking up to:

Halloween Skirt... or Pirate Skirt, I guess

So today was our first day of Children's Theater (yet ANOTHER drop off class. Who knew and why didn't anyone tell me this??) Coco proudly sashayed in wearing her new Halloween skirt covered in scary skulls and was promptly told by the one boy in the class, "You're a pirate."
[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Halloween Skirt"][/caption]
"No I'm not, I'm scary!" she replied. "Pirates are scary" the sweet boy explained as he wandered away. "WELL I'M A HOLLAWEENIE!" she yelled after him. Yes you are, my love.

The inspiration was the Lazy Days Skirt, of course, but the hem is my own strategy. Next time I'll take photos while I'm putting it together. And there will be a next time, never fear. I'm basically a two hit wonder at this point. I can do a peasant shirt and an elastic skirt and I plan on doing both until my kid gets a job and starts buying her own clothes. Or until I take another sewing class. Magic Eight Ball says, "Cannot predict now."

I'm linking up to:

The Halloween Peasant Top and Spiced Bulgar, Chickpea and Squash Salad

Today is the first day of fall classes with my three year old, otherwise known (at least for this day) as the demon. We've got art, tap / ballet, gymnastics, children't theater and "Adventures in Storytelling" which I think is another theater class. Coco is a very social child but I didn't want to send her to preschool yet so we're taking lots of classes together. Art is tough because I want to play, too! I have to sit on my hands a lot. Today we played with air drying clay and it was just impossible not to dig in but the demon wasn't having it. She took great joy in destroying everything I touched. Makes a mommy rrreally look forward to quiet time!

So I've decided that mid September is not too early to get our Halloween crafting and decorating on. Am I wrong? Never mind that I made Coco's Halloween peasant top back in August(!!) This is the first time she wore it.


Can you see the little ghosts and gravestones? The sleeves are spiderwebs! I have a ton left of both and I don't know what to do with it. I'm thinking skirts for my "someday" Etsy shop...

This isn't the first peasant top, I've made. I can't help myself, these are so much fun! I just picked up some corduroy I want to try next.

[caption id="attachment_188" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Patty Young for Michael Miller"][/caption]

I've only ever worked with light cotton so it should be interesting. I'll gladly take any tips!

Finally, gotta post about dinner last night. This is from a BBC cooking mag called Good Food.

[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignnone" width="440" caption="Spiced bulghar, chickpea & squash salad"][/caption]

This tasted just like Fall. For the Americans, instead of Harissa paste, you can you Siracha sauce (the red Asian sauce with the rooster on it!) Also, 140 grams of bulgar wheat equals a cup and I used two cups of hot broth. I added lemon zest to the yogurt. Any Greek style yogurt will work. I didn't have any spinach handy so I skipped it. This really was beyond easy!

Lazy Days, Slumber Parties and Fancy Nancy

Coco attended her first slumber party and we couldn't be more thrilled with the results. She had a great time, the hosting mom had a blast and has invited her back "any time" and most importantly, Stephane and I had a date night! We climbed the wall at the gym, used a groupon at a new local sushi place and we were even able to sleep in the next morning. Heaven, I tell you.

Oh yes, I've also been sewing. This has been no easy feat since Coco has given up all naps but I am occasionally able to talk her into some quiet time. Good thing the Lazy Days Skirt is so easy! The Strawberry Shortcake skirt was my first attempt and I really didn't get the hem instructions so I had to make up my own. See?



Coco loves it so I call it a success. I also made her a cute little matching drawstring bag from a fab tutorial at Crafty Gemini. If you're learning to sew, you have to visit Crafty Gemini. She does loads of video tutorials that are fantastic for people who learn visually, like me.

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignnone" width="909" caption="Drawstring bag"][/caption]

Next up was this gorgeous fabric from Philip Jacobs called Daffodils and Dogwood. This was a remnant from a little fabric shop in Healdsburg, Calif. I wish there had been enough to make ME a skirt! By the way, this is how the hem is supposed to look.

[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignnone" width="768" caption="Lazy Days Skirt #2"][/caption]

And, last but soooo not least, the Fancy Nancy skirts I made last night as gifts for a princess themed birthday party we're attending tomorrow. They're for twins, turing five. I also made them matching drawstring bags filled with Fancy Nancy journals and stickers from the dollar bin at Target.

Of course, I had to make a prototype one for Coco. She's nuts for Fancy Nancy and secretly, so am I!

[caption id="attachment_172" align="alignnone" width="643" caption="Fancy Nancy Skirt"][/caption]

Still working on the Halloween costume.

Ohhh and I'm linking up Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Your Stuff Link Party. I learn so much from this blog and their many, many tutorials.

Halloween Costume in Progress

[caption id="attachment_141" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Bits and pieces..."][/caption]

Busy little monkeys

What a week! Have done a bunch of sewing but I won't show you the projects until next month when they are theme appropriate. Started another gorgeous little skirt but don't have the right thread to finish it. Bought fabric and bling for Coco's Halloween costume but only have a vague idea of how it will come together.

We went Raspberry picking in Wisconsin. I once lived in the French Alps and we used to drive to Geneva just to pick up Swiss chocolate. And I lived in Los Angeles where we'd make a quick trip down to Mexico for wrought iron candle holders and cheap tequila. So why do I find it so weird that here in Chicago, my husband goes winter surfing in Indiana and I just hop over to Wisconsin to pick some fruit??



I've been sorting through a stack of cooking magazines (food porn) and we've been trying out some new recipes. Tuesday night we had a Quinoa Salad with chickpeas, cranberries, sultanas, mint and almonds. Delicious but obey the recipe, this is meant to be eaten cold.

Wednesday night we had Fish Tacos that made me long for one of those quick trips to Mexico. I want to put the dressing on everything but I'm still just on juices until dinner so it's languishing in the refrigerator

Last night we had this but I tossed it over pasta.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Mozzarella with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes"][/caption]

SO yummy but I won't lie. This was NOT low fat.

Meanwhile we're waiting for this to dry. Can you tell what it is?