Coo coo for camo

Pin It What is it with boys and their obsession with camoflauge? My 8 year old would wear camo every day, all day, if we let him. Fortunately, he has to wear a uniform for school. But he has camo underwear, pants, shirts, pajamas, bath robe, slippers, blankets, etc.

Shot of his robe, pj's, and slippers.

Case in point. I bribe him to go in fabric stores with me by telling him that I will consider getting fabric for him if he behaves and can find something that he doesn't already have. I guess that means I'm contributing to the problem, but I would rather have peace to do my fabric shopping instead of a whiny kid. Yesterday I finished putting the satin binding on his third camo style polar fleece blanket.

Regular green camo, digital camo, and grey camo with black tanks & helicopters.

What is funny is that if he grows up and joins the military, he will probably hate wearing camo by then.

I haven't done too much sewing today. Just finished another pink coin purse. The first one I did didn't have pockets and I didn't like it enough to give to my friend tomorrow for her birthday. Cut out the fabric for another coin purse. This time for me in two brown animal prints. I might start on it after I finish posting to my blog. Then again, I might not because I am going to go see the movie "The King's Speech" with my two step-daughters (23 DD and 25 Katie) and the younger one's boyfriend is going with us too. Super nice kid, the boyfriend. He asked my husband permission to date DD before they officially started dating. How cute is that?

Additional fun shot from my shop...

This is the chamber pot I keep on my cutting table to put my small fabric scraps and other detris in. Get it? A chamber pot for my crap! LOL. I don't usually keep it in the middle of my cutting board. This was just so I didn't include the rest of the embarrassingly messy area that is my shop / sewing area into the picture. My sister brought this back for me from the UK. Her husband was at an Air Force base there. I actually wanted one with a lid, but I think this one works better because I don't have to store the lid somewhere while I use it. Yes, that is season three DVD of Mad Men in the background of the shot. I use a little portable DVD player sometimes in my shop when I am working.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise, and Sew

Pin It I usually go to bed quite early because I try to be at work every day at 5:30am. So, a normal night for me is to be asleep by 8pm and up at 4am. Because last night was a Friday, I went wild and stayed up all the way until 9pm. Of course, my body is used to getting up at o'dark thirty in the morning so I woke up this morning at 3:30am. Wide awake with no chance of getting back to sleep and sleeping in. So I got up and goofed around on Farmville for a long time (level 99, does that mean I'm addicted?). I also sewed another little zippered pouch. I finished it before 6am. Then, since I'm going to see my Mom and my Mother-in-law tonight I had to make one for my MIL too so she wouldn't feel left out. MIL's is the one with little crosses and churches on it. She is SUPER catholic. Sometimes she seems more Catholic than the Pope.

The outdoorsy moose one is for my Mom. The church and crosses for my MIL.
The pink one and the brown and green one are for friends of mine for their birthdays.

Silly story about my MIL. She has been giving us brochures for Conservative Catholic universities since DS was 3 years old. Once to tease her, I told her that we were planning on sending DS to Seattle University which is a liberal Catholic college. (who knew there was a such thing as liberal and conservative Catholic schools?)  I got the outraged reaction that I expected. Of course, she knew that I was just kidding because I've also told her that DS can go to any university that she wants if she will pay for it.

Just for fun, here are some additional pictures from around my shop / sewing area.

My Singer 401A. The little green garbage can in the background is what I throw all my thread clippings into. As I've said before, I actually have two of the exact same machine. One for home, and one in a wheeled sewing machine case for when I go to classes. My Mom has two more of the same machine at her house. I grew up sewing on her machine and have been lucky enough finding more at secondhand stores that I haven't had to use a different machine than the one I learned on.

My thread. Yes, those are wooden shoes you see in the upper left of the picture. I used to do medieval recreation (SCA) and these were really handy for damp or rainy weather. Not that it is ever damp or rainy in the Pacific Northwest. In other words, these shoes got a lot of use. On the right hand side are two frames my Mom had and I haven't gotten around to using yet. I'm thinking of making a jewelry holder out of one of them. Also you see a hand quilt frame - haven't used it yet. The baskety thing is a basket backpack that I used to use for medieval camping. Very handy and period looking. But it actually came from REI a long time ago. My Mom is very outdoorsy, she hikes and camps and still (at 70 years old) teaches hunter safety classes through her local gun club. She worked at REI for 20-ish years before retiring about 4 years ago.

My favorite tool in my sewing room. I bought this from a vendor at a local quilt show. I love it because I can iron small things without having to get up from my sewing machine. Notice it is yellow, my favorite color.

My inspiration / bulletin board. Yes, that is a leopard print devil ducky from Archie McPhee's in the center of the board. The board is over my cutting table. I use it to tack up pictures of what I'm working on or just things I think are funny or interesting.

I got this postcard from Archie McPhee's too. I like it because it's not too risque (I have an 8 year old to think about) but it is still amusing since it is mildly sexy and I am a woman of forty-ish. The text across the top cracks me up because of all the fabric I've snuck in the house that my husband doesn't know about.

Tonight we are taking most of the in-laws to the Knights of Columbus steak fry. Best steak, potato, and veggie that you can get for $10.

Busy Busy

Pin It Yesterday I went to a Sew Saturday with my work's quilt club. My work has a recreation center that has workout equipment and rooms the different clubs can use. It was nice just getting out of the house and sewing all day and socializing with other women who like to sew. So, here is what I got accomplished.

I finished my Block Of the Month blocks BEFORE the class in a few weeks. That has to be a first. I'm usually scrambling at the last minute to finish so I can get my next set of blocks at class.

Yes. You do see yet another apron made from McCall's 2947. This time a peacock print in blue. I now have a grand total of five work aprons. We still aren't counting the red cobbler monstrosity because it will never see the light of day again.

 Lastly, I made a little coin purse. So sweet. I made it this morning and it only took about 1 1/2 hours. It is made from this pattern....

Please excuse the flash white spot. I picked this pattern up at my local Pacific Fabrics which is where I have my BOM (block of month) class. They also sell a little kit that has all the materials you need to make any of the little coin purses from the pattern.

I went a little crazy when I found out how easy these are to make. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas 2011?

Let's see. I'm starting in January. What is the chance that I will actually get these made before Christmas?

Happy Dance, Happy Dance.

Pin It I have followers! Happy Dance, Happy Dance. Okay. Enough of that silliness.

It snowed overnight, so I took the opportunity to fearfully not drive into work. Yes, I know I have a four-wheel drive. It was a convenient excuse (and I'm sticking to it) and I got a lot done at home instead. I traded ironing some of Mr. K2's shirts for him taking the 8 year old outside to play in the snow before the rain washed it all away. Good trade I think. I hate getting cold. And he only had two shirts to be ironed and I had six of my own to iron anyways. Shhhh. Don't tell him. He thinks he got a good deal.

I finished another apron for work. This time in green and brown with butterflies. This makes four work aprons, if we don't count the frumpy red monstrosity that I refuse to wear again. I'm seeing a blue apron in my future since it is one of the few colors I don't have an apron for yet. As always, it has a large three compartment pocket on the front so I have somewhere to store my phone and inspection stamp at work. Pattern is McCalls 2947 .

I also worked on a WWII apron pattern that I've had sitting around for a little while.

It is a Capper's Weekly mailorder pattern I picked up on Ebay a while ago.

I assume it is WWII because of the text across the top of the instruction sheet.

I need to add the back ties, buttonholes on the shoulder straps, buttons, and sew the strawberry shaped pocket on. I think it's pretty cute though. And in my favorite colors of blue and yellow too. Okay, I admit it. I'm a bit of a pre-schooler in my color preferences. I love all the primary colors.

As soon as I get the back ties, buttons and buttonholes done I will post a modeling picture of this apron. Probably this weekend when I can get Mr. K2 to take the pictures instead of trying to do it myself in a mirror.

Lastly, I finished the second block from last months Block of the Month class. I didn't finish in time for class, but luckily, they don't ask to see both blocks. So, I cheated by only showing the one block I finished on top of another block from a previous month.

Too bad the snow is all gone or I could get this month's blocks done tomorrow. Oh well, that's what weekends are for I guess.

Close the curtain

Pin It Pretty productive day for me. I was able to sew the curtain panels for the back of the home theater room. Otherwise known as the-room-where-hubbies-giant-TV-has-been-banished-to-because-it-is-too-big-for-my-living-room. We have a bonus space in our basement that Mr. K2 recently finished off by studding it out, insulating it, plaster and paint. There are future plans to use about a quarter of the room to put in a second bathroom so we had to leave that part of the room unfinished. Currently the space is being used as the very messy desk and computer area.

See pic of messy desk area.

Mr. K2 is planning a Super Bowl party for a few of his friends and I didn't want everyone seeing the nice finished part of the room and then... SURPRISE... unfinished disaster area. Hence the curtains. Plus, dontcha think it looks very theater-like with the curtains behind the couch?

Don't you love the movie refreshments pictures on the wall? We got them from a party store and threw them into some frames we picked up on sale.

I remember going to the drive-in theater when I was little and seeing the animated cartoon during intermission that had these characters. Let's All Go To the Lobby....

My favorite part of the room?

The movie style popcorn maker. Oh, yah!

Frustration and Fun

Pin It I have been working on McCall's 6120 and slowly getting frustrated with it. I cut the pattern out in a 20 because of my hip measurement, but I'm really a 14-16 in the bust area. So, I'm attempting to figure out how to tailor it to fit my unique measurements. And getting more and more annoyed and panicky about ruining it completely. Sigh. Here are some pics of the *bleep* project.

Front view. Notice the flappy bits on the side which are the parts I need to get the guts to cut off.

Side view. Here is my dilemma, if I just cut the flappy extra bits off, I end up with a teeny tiny arm hole.

So, instead of confronting my fears about ruining the shirt project, I instead went on to something else that I knew would be easy. Okay, that and watched hours of Jerseylicious to avoid working on the shirt. So, I made another apron for work. This time in a red rose pattern. McCall's 2947.

Pocket on front with 3 compartments. Two outer compartments shown by black handle (my expandable magnet tool for finding pins on floor) and the other by the scrap of pink fabric.

The beige straps that show under the apron are bra straps. In order to make Ruby Blue (my dressform) the right size for my under the bust measurement, I had to add "padding" to her bust.

So, to avoid the shirt today, I am going to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Pacific Science Center with my son, Ruben (8 years old), my friend Debbie, and her daughter Christie (18 years old).  It should be fun. Debbie and Christie are HUGE fans of Harry Potter.