one shabby chick

Been a long time

Well, I've took the plunge and signed up for a craft fair...well, two in fact...but one doesn't really count since it's our church's annual Christmas dinner and I would go to that anyway. So I've been busy sewing away...I haven't taken any pictures but I will and put them up. I've made some aprons for moms and little girlies, some totes, some little snowmen with ice skates that I dusted with mica flakes (I love them - they are too cute). I'm trying to get a couple small-ish quilts made but we'll see. I still have to spend the day with the kids and oh yeah, we have school too.

This rotten girl has been getting into everything...it's not her fault either since there isn't a lot of parental supervision going on lately. I'm busy sewing and Daddy has been playing Super Mario Galaxy with our #1. They already have 145 stars and only need 5 more before they can play the game all over as Luigi (so I've been told). Our #1 blows us all away too...I haven't even attempted to play Galaxy yet...think I'll just stick to tennis. Although the first day we got it (last Father's Day), I hit two of our kids in the head while playing tennis. Yes, mommy hits people with the Wii remote - stand back!!

Yep...as I'm typing hubby is getting ready to play....he's like a little child with that thing. It's so funny. It's a good relaxer as he does work so hard all day. Goody...now I can go sew :-)

Oh I just got the best things in the mail...my order from prettylittlethings - fun! The tote I got is so cute! And I bought the cutest robot ever from these guys...I may have to order another one.

Big sis is getting a sewing machine for Christmas...she is so into crafting of any kind and really wants to sew. So her presents are all bought and now I have to figure out what cool gift to get the boys. We already got this game...our 5-year old says it's all he wants for Christmas.

I hear our baby yelling from the crib :sigh: that's how she wakes me up every morning...yelling mom, mom until I come get her. Although lately she yells dad, dad and then when she sees it's me, she starts crying and plops herself back down into the crib...nice welcome! She is so a daddy's girl!

Have a great rest of the week!

Guess I should change the post to Ha, Ha, Ha

Has anyone seen this story about Santa and nixing the ho, ho, ho? I just laughed when I read it. Hopefully I didn't offend anyone with my post below. I mean, seriously? Really?

We attempted to make some scones today out of this cookbook I picked up at Costco. It is so thorough and has so many recipes. I haven't gotten to look through it as much as I want too....whenever I start looking at cookbooks I get so hungry (but usually for gourmet food, as in the "I don't want to make the effort right now" food) that I end up just putting it down without getting very far. I have never made scones before and they came out ok. I think I made them too small and the dough could have been thicker too. I whipped up some cream and we indulged for a snack break. I felt like we should have been drinking tea too.

I have been on a sewing rampage. I just want to be sewing all the time. Yesterday I finished up this quilt for a baby shower tonight. I have to admit this....I have never hand-sewn binding on to a quilt. I have always wondered why my binding is so crappy (I always sewed it to the front and then turned it to the back and instead of hand-sewing, I machine-sewed it! (Cringe... yes I know!) No wonder my quilts never turned out how I wanted them to!!). So for this quilt I decided I'd try it the right way and lo and behold, wonderful binding! I am addicted to hand-sewing now too. I want to make another quilt just so I can hand-sew the binding!

I also made up some little burp clothes for the shower tonight and added an applique to a little outfit for the little (yet-to-be-born) guy.

I made up some little reversible purses (super easy) - one for my little one and one for the two-year old who's birthday party on Sunday is here. Ughhh...not my favorite place and they live as far as you can live from us (as we are on an island!) and it's the one by their house. I know, I know....it's not like it's 3 hours away..it's not even 1 hour actually :-) I'm sacrificing and leaving my last soccer game early so I can go with my family to the party. My hubby is so sweet and said he'd take them all by himself so I could play the whole game but I don't want to be the "horrible mother that didn't go with her family because she had other things to do".

I also sewed up a bag for me. I mostly used the pattern from this book but wasn't really strict on the measurements (mine came out a little longer - which I like) and I added a little loop at the top so I can sew on a button and sorta close it. I love these Amy Butler prints - the blues are just amazing! I can't wait to see the new fabric lines from Heather and Anna Maria!!

Speaking of Anna Maria - she did great on Martha Stewart the other day! I loved when she asked Martha who makes her bed...especially since you know she's gotta have a maid that does it! I laughed! I loved the craft project she brought too! So cool!

UGHHHHH! (Previously titled....... I can't even remember now!)

Man, OK now I know what people talk about when they say they had a post and then it was gone - poof! Except I did it to myself- my computer was not at fault!
Anyway, yesterday was a fun and surprisingly productive day - ok, I remember the title...it was Productive Monday (how appropriate and not clever at all). Hubby had the day off but went to my brother's to help him work on his house. We've traded labor with my brother since he's an electrician and hubby is a carpenter. Saves quite a bit of money having those two trades in-house. Our older daughter went with him so I took the remaining three down to the beach for a while. I wanted to stay home and sew but forced myself to put on a suit for my children's sake. They had lots of fun and three of my friends were there with their kids too. We had 14 kids between us all! It wasn't as nice as usual (water was dirty from the rain) but the kids didn't mind and a huge tribe of them paddled out to surf and boogie board.

My poor Baby Girl somehow is allergic to every type of sunscreen I put on her. She is fine at the beach but after we come home and she wakes up from nap, her face is bright red. It doesn't seem to bother her but it looks horrible. She is fine the next morning but I'll have to ask the doctor at her two year check-up about it.

After the beach I got into a sewing frenzy. I made a couple smocks for two birthday girls and also a little dress for my girl. I can't remember where I found the smock pattern but know it was online somewhere. Really easy - I used buttons on one and the other just tied it shut. For the dress, I used a onesie that Baby Girl had sorta outgrown and just cut off the bottom. I sewed it with an (sorta) a-line skirt and a ruffle and ...viola! I think I'll whip up a few more with some tank tops. I also added a belt - this fabric is just so cute for girl clothes! I made a pillowcase dress/shirt too but I don't really like the pattern(or the way it looks). It fits my 20 month old as a dress and my 7 year old as a shirt - it looks better as a shirt!

This package of yumminess arrived in the mail today and inside was a fun surprise! I had won a birthday giveaway. They are doing all sorts of giveaways at Z&S this month and are having a sale too.

I just finished printing out this fun pattern. Can't wait to make myself a little gnome couple. Hillary just has the cutest patterns and ideas.

Well, guess I'd better hit the sewing machine. My to-do list is getting longer and longer.

*** I have found the smock tutorial! It's from this lovely blog.

Why yes, I am crazy...

I realize that it is only the first week of November and I should be thinking about Thanksgiving and then Christmas but I like my Christmas season to last as long as possible...especially when the only thing Christmasy about Hawaii is when it rains. Our leaves do not change colors and no snow falls here (at least not on this island). We do have gorgeous red sunsets and clear blue water (with enormous crashing waves in the winter) as our trade-off. And the warmest we have to dress is in jeans and a sweatshirt (and this is rare). So...I have to make my own Christmas magic and this means decorating my home so it feels like Christmas. Which I have already done. Which makes me slightly crazy. At least this is what my mother and husband tell me.
The reason behind this Christmas in November is because I decided to rearrange my sewing area. So I can see the tv while sewing. Since this is really important and I am planning on making lots of gifts this year (and apparently watching lots of tv while doing it). So...there is a small closet in our bedroom that is actually a staircase that leads upstairs. But it is boarded up at the top and we don't use it. So I store all my Christmas boxes there (I had ten boxes, not to mention about 5 bags and various other small boxes). It's nice to have the extra storage area but if I use it I need to keep the door area free and that takes up too much room so I moved everything out and arranged my sewing area as such so there is no access to the door (unless you move a bunch of stuff around which I don't want to do in 2 months time).

I realize this story is boring and long - sorry!

Since all the Christmas stuff is out now and the new storage area requires going up and down a ladder with boxes (something else I did not want to do twice in just a few weeks), I decorated the house...whew! OK the story is over now!

I did scale down a bit and have boxes to take to the Goodwill (of mostly crap that I don't know why I bought - probably beacuse it was cheap). I'm sticking to handmade Christmas things as much as possible.
I buy things from a local artist every year. She does wonderful work and I have quite a few of her things. She sells them at local craft fairs. These are a few of her items below:

I have done some tole-painting in the past and have a few things I made as well. I'm not sure if I'll make some things this year. I have only signed up for one craft fair and it is at a women's dinner our church has every year. It's small but I usually sell some things. I may sign-up for another one that is close to home. I need to start making things instead of just making lists of what I plan on making.

In school news, we are reading about bats in science and found a couple of fun links (via our science book). This is a cool puzzle link that they loved and it has different puzzles and levels of difficulties. Also this article is pretty interesting.

In blogland, I'm loving the Sew, Mama, Sew blog this month...have you seen it? Lots of great ideas, tips and tutorials!! Great for a handmade Christmas!

And I can't wait for these patterns to come out next year - the whole concept is so adorable!!

I want to scale back this year for Christmas since the kids always get a bunch of plastic crap that finds it's way into the garbage or Goodwill bag too soon. I want to get one or two quality items for each one and that's it. Which is hard since I am definitely a consumer. I've warned them they are only getting a couple of presents since let's face it, they don't NEED anything. We have a home, food, beds and they all have toys. They are living the good life compared to most of the rest of the world. I realize that they are children and it is so fun to get presents (I,for one, love presents, both giving and receiving) but junk is junk and I'm over it. Someone had posted a great list of links to various handmade/unique toys on their blog but I can't remember where I spotted it. I'll search and post it if I find it. Enough on my rant....

Baby Girl is totally into our little nativity scene. I saw this about 3 years ago and thought it was perfect. The kids can't break it and the little people are so cute. She loves carrying around Baby Jesus.

** I found the blog..it was on Angry Chicken's blog back in August - great piece on toys and lots of great links!

Ho, Ho...hey where's the other Ho?

So, I thought I'd tackle some holiday decorating early and make some new slipcovers for the living room pillows.

Especially after the mishap with this one. I decided to applique some words and decided on a Christmas saying...but I only have two sets of pillows so poor Santa will only be saying "Ho Ho" at our house.

I ordered this today too. I have been searching for an advent calendar for years and when I saw this I knew it was the one for me. Hopefully it won't freak the kids out as I think it's pretty tall.

I also got an Etsy treat in the mail today from the Black Apple...

I ordered a print for me and one for my sister for her birthday next week. I'm also going to send her this...think I might pick it up for me too. Those guys are hilarious!!

Just some shots of the baby girl...she's getting pretty hilarious and is now repeating stuff we say all the time...Now we just say things to hear her say them (nothing bad of course!).

I know I'm late but.....

I am late putting up Halloween pics but oh well. I'm really not that into Halloween...my holiday is Christmas. I'm actually restraining myself from putting up decorations now (yes, I know it's only Nov. 3rd but it's so much effort, why not enjoy it for 2 months instead of one?!).
So here's our Power Ranger (he'd been wearing the costume since we bought it):

And our Pirate:

We went to a Fall Festival and then to a friend's house after to eat and trick-or-treat. She had a wardrobe change in between since she dubbed the pirate costume "too itchy".

Our Mini Pirate (she was totally into dressing up and even wore her sister's hat a bunch too):

Our Jedi ( I didn't make a cape like Heather - I cheated and ordered one. I did make a shirt - super fast, whip-one-out-kind-of-shirt).

And here he is fighting with his best friend, Darth Vader:

I dressed up as a pirate too but somehow didn't get a pic snapped of myself...oh well! I did however forget I had drawn some fake tatoos on myself (including a dark heart on my neck). I had a bunch of errands to run the next day and then went to a meeting that night and someone asked me if I had a hickey on my neck - Ahh! I had totally forgotten to make sure I washed it off good.

And my hero, Zorro (he's never ever worn a mustache but was a champ and grew one for the costume...it totally made it) - not to mention the fact that he already has the accent......

Oh and this guy...it's my 19 year old brother- HA!HA! He was wearing an Iron Man costume he had borrowed from a friend (and had to keep adjusting it as it was a tad too short!). Baby Girl couldn't decide if she liked him or was scared of him...