Halloween is in 19 days.

Do you know how many costumes I have completed?

Zero.

Do you know how many of my kids even know what they want to dress as?

2.

Do you know how many extra costumes I’m making?

2.

Guess I should be doing something other than blogging, ey?

It’s time for a super fun bloggy game…

Name that fabric!

Chelsey emailed me to ask if I knew who made the fabrics I used on this applique. I dug through my scrap basket to try to read selvages, but came up with nothing.

Can anybody help?

Rocket pattern is here, in case any of you missed it the first time.

And if any of you are selling this exact design on Etsy, KNOCK IT OFF! I see you and it annoys me and makes me not want to share. Personal and gift use is encouraged, but if you’re going to make money…draw it yourself, please?

Wow. Not sure where that rant came from. ROFL!

Crazy busy fun weekend here!

Went out for ice cream with grown up girls only.
My parents came down and spent the night.
Made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast yesterday.
Gave Bennett his first hair cut. I meant to just trim up his ear bangs, but I got a little carried away. See?

Went to my cousin’s wedding. How far away was it? Well, we passed this place on the way:

Dyed a slip cover. More on that later.

Made cinnamon rolls for breakfast today.

And the best part of all?

MY KIDS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TOMORROW!

They’ve been out since September 4th. The fighting reached critical intensity last week.

This is from Amy Butler’s book “In Stitches“.

In fact, it’s the stripey one right on the cover. I found a bunch of linen the same color as my piano and have grand throw pillow plans for all of it.

I love, love, LOVE how this pillow turned out…and I only broke one sewing machine needle. In 20 years of sewing, I’ve never actually tried this method of gathering (zig zagging over a piece of upholstery thread). I’m going to use it as often as possible from here on out.

The linen was wider than 45″, so I got away with quite a bit less than the book says you need. I used about 78″. The book says 3.5 yards. I also couldn’t find any 18″ round pillow forms, so I cut up an old IKEA curtain and stuffed my own.

Oh look! I even color coordinated my kid.

Which project from the book should I try next?

Macy had a friend over yesterday. I forced them to help me work on their Halloween costumes for a bit, but we ran out of tulle.

I can’t take those two to Hobby Lobby without them NEEDING to do a project.

They decided to Mod Podge some letters. Here are Macy’s:

Cute, right? And totally do-able with minor supervision for kids in the 8 & up range.

Trace the letters face down on the back of your patterned paper.

Paint the edges of the wood letters black.
While the paint is drying, cut out the letters.
Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the wood and stick down the paper.
When that’s dry, trim any over hang. We sanded in a downward direction to get all the little pieces off.
Borrow some Distress Ink from your neighbor and ink up the edges.
Mod Podge over everything.

I think we’re going to mount them to a board and hang the sign on the front door.

And whilst I was typing up this post, this happened:

Pretty sure he swallowed it.

My friend Kathy made some of these for her baby a few weeks back out of a thrifted purse. I’ve been obsessively checking thrift stores for purses ever since. This weekend it hit me…DUH!

My old leather coat got cut up to make some shoes for my new (still nameless) niece.

I bought the pattern from this Etsy seller. It’s the Basic Booties for Babies and Dolls pattern.

Next on the chopping block? The tan leather skirt I wore the first time Sheri and I met.

(Yes, really.)

This coat turns out way cute, but this is quite possibly the worst pattern I’ve ever used.

If you make it, here’s what you’ll need to be aware of:

Every single part of the coat or jacket is listed separately (jacket/coat, collar, sleeve, sleeve cuff, yoke and front facing). You’ll need to tally up ALL these to figure out how much fabric to buy. I somehow missed the yoke and front facing but after 2 trips to the fabric store, I didn’t care. Luckily, the amount of yardage they tell you to get is way over estimated and it was fine…at least on the size 10.

If you make the jacket, the cutting layout will tell you to cut out pockets. Don’t. You can’t put pockets in the jacket, only the coat.

The front half of the lining comes with it’s own pattern piece. That back does not. You just cut out the same piece that’s used for that back of the jacket. This makes the back lining about 1.5″ longer than the front lining. You’ll have to cut it off and even it up for the finishing instructions to have any chance of working out.

If sewing the sleeve lining confuses you, safety pin it the way it will need to be sewed and then pull the sleeve back through the lining and sew it.

Back view:

And I really should have gotten a shot showing the fabric Macy picked for the lining. VERY orange.

Bath and Body Works’ foaming hand soap in Fresh Lime Basil. Do not, however, get Herb Garden. Campbell came out of the bathroom demanding to know “why it smell like ‘lantro in here”.

Cover Girl’s Lash Blast mascara. The first words out of BC’s mouth when he walked in the door were “Are you wearing mascara?” My lashes were THAT much longer and more defined. Truth be told, I’m more likely to be wearing someone else’s snot on my shirt than mascara, so that could be why he noticed, but we’re going to go with the other angle.