Puppet Master

I'm still officially on my blogging break, but this was too cute not to commit to the blog.

Recently, as in about four days ago, BuggaBoo has fallen in love. Deeply, irrevocable in love (at least, until he's grown out of this stage).

He loves puppets. Specifically, Duck Puppet and Striped Sock Puppet.

Actually, he thinks of puppets as strange beings that are their own entities but have to be controlled by parents. They are his new best friends. He will tell the puppets anything.

He will do anything the puppets tell him to do.

Is he throwing a tantrum because his parents told he couldn't have candy AND chocolate pudding? Is that tantrum lasting longer than 45 minutes? Have the parents explained over and over again that he had a choice between the two and he chose candy and CANNOT HAVE PUDDING!? Well, Duck Puppet can tell him, and BuggaBoo will accept it. Just like that, all done, no more tantrum.

D0 we, the parents, want BuggaBoo to pee in the toilet even if he is wearing a diaper to catch accidents? Too bad, he won't. But if Duck Puppet asks him to, he's all over it.

BuggaBoo doesn't want to brush his teeth for bed? Sock Puppet can accomplish the feat with minimal protesting.

So we, the parents, are actually enjoying the Reign of the Puppets. At least we get to speak for the puppets.

Mwahahahahaha!

Blogging Break

Just as a heads up I will be taking a short break from blogging, a few weeks at most. I have a lot going on with my life including a final project for my pattern drafting class, designing and drafting AND constructing a matron-of-honor dress for my sister-in-law's wedding, a sick husband, and assorted other time-suckers.

Don't worry, when I come back I'll have a lot of stuff to share, including a tutorial of sorts. So don't write me off, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

A Quick One

Sorry, I haven't given you guys a real post in a long while, but life is, erm, complicated at the moment. Not complicated like, oh, I don't know, space aliens, but complicated like my brain is full and my mind wants to explode out my ears.

So, um, did I tell you guys I want to start a pattern line? I know I've told some of you, since about half the people who read this are family or close friends, but let's pretend we're all internet strangers. Yeah, I want to start my own pattern line of breastfeeding clothes. Which sounds simple enough, especially because I have some great ideas. But then I make things more complicated because "Oh, I should totally do some breastfeeding PLUS maternity wear, because I coulda used some of that during Doozer's pregnancy," and, "I absolutely have to add plus-sized patterns to my line because I have so many gorgeous luscious girls in my circle and they deserve hott clothes, too," and "Hey, I need to make a sloper that will work for the average postpartum body!" and then I have a minor anxiety attack. And that's not including all the business stuff I need to do.

So, simplify, right? As of now I'm attempting to make my trains of thought link up into one express line and travel in the same direction. I'm trying to focus on my pattern drafting class, especially because there isn't much of the semester left and the pattern I need to develop for my final is supposed to be the dress I want to wear for my sister-in-law's wedding that's in four weeks since I'm a matron-of-honor and HOLY CRAP WHAT AM I DOING ON THE INTERNET??!!!??!11??

Signing off.

Sigh

You know it's been one of those weeks when you wake up thinking it's Saturday, but it's really just Thursday...

Bummer

I made bread today. Even went the extra mile and added tons of wheat germ to healthify it.

What I forgot to add was salt.

Have you ever had no-salt bread?

I like I said, bummer.

Fabric Pumpkins for Autumn!

!!!!!

Yes, this post needs exclamation points. Why, I'm not sure, maybe I need more excitement in my life.

A few days ago I mentioned I had made some crafty pumpkins. Over at Small Fry & Co. there is this super adorable and easy tutorial for making pumpkins out of sweaters. My sister Jillyn sent it to me and I immediately fell in love with the simple shabby chicness of it. Which is funny, because my decor style is more Asian zen than country cottage. (Tangent, do you think I could ever get the two styles to live harmoniously? Because I really love them both...)

Once I decided to make them I took inventory of my sweater stash to see if I could recreate this. And I hated the combination of sweaters I was willing to cut. Then I remembered I have tons of knit scraps from my friend who makes some amazing nursing covers. So that's what I used.

I sewed tubes of fabric in varying sizes, then ran gathering stitches around the tops and bottoms. After that I cinched the bottoms closed and sewed them shut on my machine. In my opinion, the less hand sewing the better!

After the bottoms were secure I poured in some gravel for weight and then stuffed with Polyfil. I found to get a good rounded pumpkin you stuff it, then stick your hand in the middle of the stuffing and make a hole. Then wad some more Polyfil to medium density and put it into the hole you made.

Gather the tops of the pumpkins and knot the tails. Hand sew the tops shut, I used a ladder stitch. Then grab some yarn and stitch the top and bottom together as described in the Small Fry tutorial. This is how they looked after all of that:



Oooo, dreamy lighting. Because I wasn't working with sweaters I was missing the prominent ribbing that make the pumpkin stripes. Since BuggaBoo has been on a paint-everything kick I decided to paint these babies with watered down gold acrylic paint. I was a selfish mommy and let him help paint only one because he wasn't painting how I wanted him to. Because the paint was so watery the pumpkins were still moist even after drying all night. So they took a quick trip in the dryer with some towels. I'm surprised they survived the journey.

Then we added the stems and leaves and got this:


Can you tell which one BuggaBoo painted? And can I say that I love living in an area where finding lichen- and moss-covered sticks is as easy as walking into your front yard? Here are some detail shots:




So, I plan on leaving these up until it's time to break out the Christmas decorations. Especially after all that work.

What Shall I Sew?

We are so fortunate to have many friends that have given us hand-me-downs for the kiddos. We have boxes of kid clothes from newborn to ~3T for boys and girls. This is even after donating what we could not use.

However, we've discovered that Doozer's wardrobe, though not lacking in quantity, is lacking in diversity. The size she is now is basically all summer weight, and a very hot summer at that.

So the other night while BuggaBoo was painting I decided to do a little craft project of my own and stamp some deep brown knit:



Innit key-ute? Sorry for the horrible picture, is IS supposed to be pink diamonds with white "stitching". I forgot to take a picture in natural light, so this is with the flash, yuck.

The design was super easy to stamp. I have some lame dollar store sponges that are foam instead of cellulose (ugh). Since I prefer the cellulose sponges for my dishes, so I decided to use the foam ones for craft use. I cut a diamond shape and stamped out the pink diamonds. After they were dry I came back and "stitched" in the white. I mixed my pink acrylic paint with fabric medium, but I didn't want to go to the trouble with my white. I've noticed that, for my needs, fabric medium isn't necessary. It may fade after a few washing but then the design will just have that coveted vintage feeling.

I was sure to stamp this far enough from the bottom of the fabric I can use it for anything. I am going to have the argyle going across her chest. Any article of clothing I make will be winter appropriate with long sleeves. So, what shall I sew with it? Below is a poll, please use liberally. And if you want to comment, do so! I love hearing from my minions, I mean, readers.

What Type of Clothing Does Doozer Need?