tifi

 
This brooch is one of my most favorite things that I’ve ever made.

• October is a busier month than expected this year. To put it plainly, I’ve been off actually living life. Good and bad. And it feels great.
• It’s National Chocolate Cupcake Day.
• I heard that on the new Everyday Food show on Sirius. Ask Reesie, I only ever listen to Martha Stewart or Cosmo radio in the car, heh.
• I wish the weather would make up it’s mind!
• ZB is reading Freckle Juice for homework this week! And coincidentally, I’m reading this book.
• Girlie is better.
• Hub is so-so.
• I was finishing up that doll quilt…but ran out of thread…and apparently I bought it somewhere I don’t go often b/c calling/visiting three local quilt shops hasn’t enabled me to find it. (Mettler quilting cotton)
• My monitor died and so I’m sharing one with DH for the time being, part of the reason I am not blogging much.
• I got my anniversary gift early. Her name is Isabelle (and she needs a haircut..). She’s a year old Lhasa Apso (supposedly) mix. We call her Izzie (It’s the most adorable thing to hear Bebe say “Ishie”). But she isn’t named after that one. We’ve had her two days and she’s a perfect fit for our family. Love her. She’s making me a dog person. We have a 5 y/o golden, but he and I have never been…friends, lol. He’s loving enough, a spaz, but Izzie is different. I picked her out, I am responsible for her care, etc.
• I accomplished or will accomplish everything on my “to do” list this week including having lunch at school with both older kiddos.
• Except laundry. That is never ending.
• The reason I’ve been able to get so much done is b/c I cut down on two bad habits: tv and internet. Now, neither of these are really bad, but I do tend to get distracted or not sleep enough because of one or the other, so buhbye.
• I’ve been buying up books that the school library is discarding here and there for 50 cents each. My favorites so far are first (school) edition This is London, and The Red Fairy Book. Funny, I have wanted this Fairy collection for a long time and this is the second one to fall into my lap super cheap. I’m going to a book sale Saturday, so who knows what else I might find!
• On that note, I have thought of maybe starting a little children’s bookselling business on ebay, but I dunno.
• There’s an antique store not far from me that is going out of business. Boy, oh boy the gems I have picked up. Lots of handmade, hand embroidered linens. And pyrex and glassbake, to aid me in my deplasticization (real word? used correctly? who knows?!) of my kitchen!
• I’m bored with my hair.
• I need an external hard drive. My computer is soooo slow b/c I have about 3 years worth of photos on it. I know, I know. Anyway, any suggestions for an “inexpensive” one?
• The title of this post has nothing to do with anything. It just cracks me up.

I’ve been doing tiny amounts of sewing here and there. Like this skirt I thrifted and turned into an apron. Refashiontastic!

Our school sock hop is coming up and so I made these for me and DD. In case you couldn’t tell, the one with the gigantic sequined “D” is mine.

Superbuzzy had a sale not long ago and so I used that opportunity to snap up some adorable fabric for the boys. I have a specific project in mind and hope to get started on it next week!

My grandmother is in New York again and before she left St. Lucia, I asked her to get me some traditional madras. I might cut a panel of the printed one and frame it.

In other St. Lucia news, Sir John Compton died last week. A sad day for St. Lucia. I was a bit bummed about it myself as he was a friend of my family. Here I am with him in my grandmother’s living room (some of you have seen this photo already).

I don’t think I’ve ever bought any clothing for any of my kids at the thrift store. In fact, I rarely clothes shop for them. When you have shopaholic grandmas, it kind eliminates the need. Plus, the clothing in thrift stores here is meh, nothing fantastic or really old or cool, or whatever. Anyway, I just happened to walk by and see this adorable corduroy dress from H&M on the rack. I was thrilled as I’d been coveting one from here. Happiness cost $5 that day.

I saw these Hello Kitty Bento Boxes from Dollar Tree on Nicole’s blog and just had to have them. Adorable, no? Some will be used for lunch, others will find new purposes. The green one to the left is now a first aid kit in my nightstand.

Girlie on her new bike. Helmet disclaimer is here somewhere.

Ah, toddlers. Bebe refused to drive his car and insisted on wearing his helmet while he walked.

Girlie helped me sew up this little pillow for her doll bed. That’s the mattress you see underneath it. This thing definitely needs some color. I’m slowly working on the quilt and am thinking of making up a couple of different mattresses a la the Princess and the Pea.

OK, I have no idea what I’m doing. I flipped through a quilting “how to” book but got confused and closed it. I learn better by doing anyway, heh. I did a little math, crossed my fingers and voila: a quilt top the actual size I wanted it to be. Of course I now realize there is no way I could ever make a full sized quilt for an actual bed, so scratch that idea I had about making one for Girlie! So yea, this will soon (I hope) become the quilt for the doll bed that’s part of Girlie’s birthday gift. She kept asking what it was, so I guess she likes what she sees so far. I thought she might.

for the birthday wishes. ZB says thanks as well while he looks up from his Nintendo DS (a gift from his grandparents). Other cool gifts…

A new felt birthday crown a la soulemama made by yours truly. I love the little embroidered jewel. I really enjoy simple handwork like that. In his hand, one of the (four!) new remote control cars also from his grandparents. Those of you who’ve been reading for a long time will not be surprised to learn that they overdid it with the presents. As of last year, I’m ok with it. We had a blast driving the cars around this afternoon after an awesome birthday dinner.

I actually bought two skateboards, one was for Girlie. Don’t you love her getup? A wonky mama made dress, a batik print tee and glittery ballet flats.

Did I mention the dress was on backwards? And b/c I just know someone will look at the pic and tsk, tsk, her helmet was on properly while she was riding, I promise.

There were supposed to be 13 flags…but I can’t count. Whoops!

On the left are a few cards he’s gotten so far. I especially love the yellow one in the middle, especially designed and handmade for him by Tristan!

Is there such a thing? I painted Girlie’s room yesterday in a color I’m calling “OMG, that’s mylittleponyprincessbarbie pink” a.k.a day glo pink. I kid you not, in the daytime, the color shines into the hallway. I think it’s hideous, but of course, she loves it. She’s so tired of all my decorating questions that now she’s just decided to say “I don’t know, whatever you like mommy.” I’m trying to stick to her one requirement which include things being pink and blue. I want to tone the paint way down but it’ll have to wait until this cramp in my hand from holding rollers, paintbrushes, and spray paint cans for the past two weeks disappear. I’m thinking of making a quilt for her. It would be my first ever. DH thinks I can do it, my salsa thinks I’m crazy for wanting to. Nothing complicated, maybe something like this? Of course, I will probably be crippled by the fabric choices and it will take me 4 years to decide like it has with painting the children’s rooms!

ZB’s birthday is this coming Friday and so I am crafting for that. I’m making a sock monkey to replace Hanes who had an accident*. Too bad my sewing machine decided to hate knits and now I am hand sewing some parts of the new monkey. Ow, my fingers. I’m also making a new flag banner because the old one had an accident*.

That’s about it from my corner except I am loving all the rain because as long as it’s raining, it’s not a million degrees. And in Texas during the summertime, that’s important!

*A child happened to it.

OK, not really, but isn’t this dress cute? Pretend my shirring isn’t crooked and it’s not safety pinned in the back, lol. I couldn’t wait for DD to wear it, so she did today. We got a few compliments on it too, which was surprising b/c that’s never happened before. I used Erin’s tutorial which was super easy to follow. I plan on making one or two more of these since I got some apparel fabric to make clothing for her really cheap a few months back. I might make one for her best friend too, if I ever figure out how to shirr in a straight line. D’oh.

And in order to take pictures of her, I had to promise to take pictures of Lamby who she’s had since she was born.