things that make me say, "yay!"

I made this dress, mostly to wear to Stitch Austin, but also because I've been wanting to wear something that screams, "It's Fall!" It might be an oxymoron to have a fall dress with cap sleeves. But again, this is Texas. It's good to be prepared for heat waves at shockingly inappropriate times, like mid-November. I was so happy to have an excuse to sew something with Denise Schmidt's new line of fabrics. The pattern is Simplicity 3964. Some other things that make me smile:



Sophie and her friend Tatum's sparkly shoes

My new milk frother ($2!!) from Ikea

I'm having some girls over tonight for craft night. Sophie's having a girlfriend over too.
On the menu: Tomato basil galettes, spiced pecans, chips and crab dip, and an assortment of cookies. I get such a thrill from making girly party food.

In other news, I have been spending some time on etsy lately. I especially love these and this.There are so many strange and beautiful things out there, sometimes it's so hard to resist.

baby it's cool outside

Here is Sophie's winter coat. I finished it 3 weeks ago, and Val has been harassing me about posting it. Thanks for caring, Val. She definitely could model it this morning; it's 48 degrees outside. (Wheeeeeee!) But I am too cozy here with my hands around my hot mug of coffee to even think of bringing her outside right now. The pattern is from the 60s.I found the cotton fabric with vintage-looking children on it at this great little fabric store I just discovered in town, (it's been there for years, I don't know how I missed it) and I couldn't resist making some buttons and a pocket dolly with it. The plaid fabric was a NIGHTMARE to work with. Fray city. But it turned out pretty cute. And it cost about twenty bucks to make.

I am giddy this morning. It is finally cool outside. Fall lasts about 5 minutes in this part of the country. But oh, it is good while it's here. And this present from my sweet husband has me dancing in the kitchen. And wanting to cook. We have stuff for Reuben sandwiches tonight...I'm thinking, maybe acorn squash soup to go with them?

Last night I was reading Coraline and I got so deliciously creeped out. I don't want this book to end. I am so psyched to see the movie, although movies based on books this good are almost always doomed to be disappointing. Anyone have any suggestions for other good scary books to read this month?

soft as schnickelfritz's butt

I knit this hat for Sophie. I screwed it up the first time and ripped the whole thing out, so this was a do-over. I stopped short of what the pattern called for because I didn't want it to be tall and floppy. So it is too short to cover her ears, but it looks cute. Hey, who gets cold ears in central Texas, anyway? Her expression is due to the fact that she woke up about 5 minutes before this picture was snapped.
I went to the yarn store today and bought some more hat yarn:Rowan Cashsoft dk in this knockout teal color. Pretty, no? Now that I've discovered this brand, I don't think I can ever go back to the scratchy acrylic yarn(Dave would call it "Bo-Bo" yarn). Sophie's hat was knit with the All-Season's cotton and it felt so good to knit with. And this stuff is even softer...my hands are going to be very happy.

some terrific radiant humble pig

My craft books got here from amazon. It was like Christmas over here. Bend the Rules Sewing is amazing. I love everything about this book and have such good intentions to make a whole heap of projects out of it. I should mention that I have a somewhat severe craft book problem. I buy them with the best laid plans and they sit there on my shelf for years doing nothing but looking pretty(not to mention my nasty cookbook habit). I admit that the book on sock knitting may have a similar fate. But I will do my very best. I love the idea of cozy hand-knitted socks adorning my feet. I always think of the Pablo Neruda poem about socks where he calls his feet two colorful fish. I also got a Dean Martin CD and...squeal! Dean Martin is SUCH a dreamboat. Love those dead crooners. Here is one of the pillowcases I embroidered to honor the new quilt. I used the Kurt Halsey pattern from Sublime Stitching. I want to put the spiky yellow flowers on everything I own. Sophie went to her first big screen movie today! She did so good...she sat through the whole thing. It was Charlotte's Web, and I was so excited because I thought it was the old one, the one we love, but I couldn't be too disappointed that it was the newer one, because Sophie's excitement was so infectious. She kept saying, "pig!" (She has an inexplicable fascination with pigs right now.) Then we went to the playground and took a nature walk in the flower gardens downtown. It was one of those picture-perfect mother daughter days, the kind that makes it all worth it, makes you forget the times you feel like toddler shrieks are your life's soundtrack and the never ending mess in the house and mountains of laundry are going to swallow you whole. Tomorrow should be swell, too. We are going pumpkin picking! All three of us, followed by pumpkin carving, apple cider sipping, and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown watching. I will try and get some good pics to post.

finished at last

I put it on the bed at 9 last night. I nearly wept...it is as pretty as I imagined it would be, which is not a common occurence with my projects. All fabrics from Amy Butler's fabulous Belle collection. It started as a lap quilt kit, and I added to it to make it fit my queen sized bed. Hubby loves it...he promptly zonked out on it as soon as I got it on. I resisted the urge to bark, "No drooling on the quilt!" I'm thinking, matching pillow shams maybe? Shams have always been a little frou-frou for my taste, but this quilt deserves something more than our stained pillowcases, I think. I have been slaving over this quilt since February, so if I am a bit too pleased with myself here, forgive me.

In other news, Sophie and I have been reading this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Olivia-Saves-Circus-Ian-Falconer/dp/068982954X/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-1200701-6222525?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191516798&sr=8-2

and we are now obsessed with Olivia. I'm thinking of making her an Olivia pillow for her room. Seriously, I enjoy these books at least as much as she does...and that's saying a lot because she brings this one to me 3 times a day. The stories are so cute and the pictures make me laugh until I cry.