Costume in the Works

I don't have a picture of a finished project today but here is a shot of what I have been working on.  Athena's Halloween costume!  She is going to be Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter) this year.  I couldn't find a pattern that was just right so I decided to take the crazy woman route and make up my own.  That's what everyone does right?  Well I did get a good start from a tutorial here.  But it still wasn't exactly right for me, so I made some adjustments.  Athena chose gabardine (the Simon & Garfunkel song has been in my head for weeks!) and while is has the perfect drape, look and feel, it sure is a pain to work with.  There are black strings everywhere!  We are also making her radish earrings and butterbeer cork necklace.  I'm on my 3rd attempt at the earrings.  I think it's just about right but I'm pretty sure I am going to need a bigger piece of wire so will probably have to take it apart and start over.

Not too much else going on around here right now.  Just looking forward to the weather cooling off so we can enjoy being outside again.

Hey it's Monday

Sorry no cute pictures for you today.  I am in the head scratching phase of my next sewing project.  I decided to go more authentic with the Halloween costume so that means I am making up a pattern for her robes from a tutorial I found online.  My brain is really fried! 

In other news, Athena was #100 out of 100 kids at her school that get to go to Cardinal's camp tomorrow.  You should have seen the look on her face when Dr. Crudder told her she was #100!  It was great, but a little stressful as we were getting closer and he was yelling out "okay only 10 more, only 6 more" and not knowing if the people in front of us only had 1 kid or if they were turning them in for more kids.

Weather was nice last week but it looks like the 100's are creeping back in on us this week.  One more month, then it's paradise time!

How Cute

How cute is this fabric?  I made myself a new apron and hot pads this week.  My old hot pads were gifts from when we got married 20 years ago.  They were seriously disgusting!  I'm not kidding.  And how fun is it going to be to pull stuff out of the oven with these cute babies?  I also got around to fixing the zipper on Athena's lunch box, hopefully it will last a bit longer this time.

We are also in the planning stages of Halloween costumes.  Athena has decided to be Luna Lovegood, from Harry Potter, this year.  I'm excited to make her costume, well some of it anyway.  But as I look through photos from the movie I'm wondering how authentic I should make it.  Is Athena really going to care (or even notice) that her robes have a seam around the neckline where the hood is attached?  Will she notice or care that her blue lining isn't the exact shade of those in the movie? 

I also have at least one Christmas sewing plan in my head already.  Yeah I went there.  When you make gifts you have to start early :)

Broken Zipper

I thought that when school started I would be able to sew even more.  Not the case.  I have hardly been in the sewing room the past few weeks, and my to-do list of crafts is growing.  Halloween is next month you know, I have to make my kids decided on a costume by September 1st so I can be on the lookout for pattern and fabric deals.  This year was pretty easy, Athena didn't even have to pause to think about it. 

I've also go that really cool big project I keep talking about, but can't actually work on until the weather cools off a bit.  I have a few new things for myself cut out and ready to go but just sitting in there waiting.  Oh and the sipper broke on Athena's lunchbox that I made.  So now I have to tear it apart to fix it.  Or just start over I haven't decided which would be easier yet. 

But life is good, school is going well for Athena, she is excited to be learning some new dances for Christmas, and Hailey is moving back in!

Need To Plan Better

I really need to work out a system of shopping for birthdays a little earlier than a week before.  Especially if they don't live in the same state as us!  If the Post Office really does start cutting back on delivery days I am going to be in serious trouble.  I finished this little bag for our niece and shipped it off Saturday afternoon, hopefully it makes it to her in time for the big day.  I was really looking forward to making her bag because she loves Tinkerbell, my daughters never seemed to get on the Tink fan club train.  There are so many fun Tink fabrics available, I just love this one.  So hopefully she will enjoy her bag, and the gift inside :)

Now I'm actually working on something for me!  I made one part already just to see if it would work and it did so maybe today I will find some time to head into the craft room.  You would think with school starting I would have more time to be in there but the days last week just sort of got away form me and I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to.

A Very Big Post

So much to talk about today, where do I start?  How about with the first day of school!  My baby girl started 5th grade today.  I am anxiously awaiting 3:00 so I can hear all about it!  She was a little bit nervous about new behavior policy, like she has ever been in trouble before.  But by the time we got there she was just her usual self.  How do you like her lunchbox?  That is my most recent sewing project.  I don't know why but I just got it in my head that I wanted to make a lunchbox this year.  I love how it turned out, other than the zipper, I would do it differently next time because there was just too much bulk. Hopefully she enjoys having a one of kind lunchbox this year.
  We decided to get away to the cooler temperatures of Flagstaff one more time before school started, so we spent last Thursday and Friday in a Yurt at the Flagstaff Nordic Center.  We had the whole place to ourselves, it was a lot of fun.  We had to hike a mile into the Yurt so we decided to take our bikes.  Shawn found a kid trailer on Craigslist and modified it to carry all our stuff.  The ride in was a little more work than we thought it was going to be but the ride back down sure was fun.  Here are some pictures!

Dinner!

Cool little hidey hole

Ready to head out.

We forgot the pot to boil water in :)

Our Yurt

I also have a few more sewing project to share.  I made a few more gift bags for some dance girls.  One for a birthday and two are leaving for college.

And that little baby project I mentioned a while ago but didn't want to post until I gave it to the baby, well we met him last week and now I can share the pictures.  The little guys mommy was Athena's 3rd grade teacher and this was made from a school t-shirt.  I got the idea here, but had to make lots of changes to fit the entire logo on the front :)

A Fun Day

July 30th was National Dance Day so Athena and I spent a few hours at the studio dancing!  It was a lot of fun, I even got my groove on doing the Salsa.  We also had a raffle with some great prizes, some of which were made by yours truly.  I had so much fun making all the bags, notebook cases, and my new pencil case pattern that I just made up about a week ago that it had me thinking about doing the Etsy shop again.  Or something like it.  I'm considering talking to one of the little boutiques in downtown Glendale about selling them there.  Or making some sort of custom website where I wouldn't make the item until after it was ordered.

Anyway back to National Dance Day!  Here are some pictures and video of the fun, fun day we had!