craftastic

What I really owe you is a confessional about why I abandoned my blog this winter. It can be summarized in one word. Knitting. This winter I finally succumbed to the lure of gorgeous wool. It started simply with a little orange hat for Marlowe, and before i knew it, I had hats for the whole family and then some, and a few other small projects. But that's for another post.

The day before St. Patrick's Day, I realized that Ellis did not possess a single item of green clothing. And since these things are sometimes important to kindergartners and I never know what kind of theme-y thing they might hype up at school, I thought we better make a green shirt fast. He's going to need Tshirts for summer anyway.

I know I've already shared on Facebook the magnum opus that is the Halloween costumes that I made, but I need to plunk it down here for blog posterity.

The Sew, Mama, Sew blog is definitely one of the best sewing blogs/forum/fabric shops out there. I love this site!

Well, it's back-to-school month, and they are offer a real motherlode of a giveaway: a brand new Husqvarna Viking serger machine.

And even though the chances of my winning are about as slim as both my kids sleeping all night all by themselves in their own beds, I may as well try. Because isn't hope part of the human experience?

I have a little back blogging to do, since I didn't get a chance to blog out VBS before we went on vacation.

I was in charge of crafts. And I feel need to reinvent the curriculum. I want the kids to take home something that their moms will like to look at and won't feed Clutter Monsters or get thrown in the garbage out of Clutter frustration. And to me, the curriculum does do just that. It certainly doesn't spark any creativity. I just couldn't do essentially busywork with the kids. Okay, soapbox over.

No, no funky seersucker pants this year. But I have been making some fun stuff for our vacation. (We leave tomorrow!! yay!)

For Marlowe:

When Ellis was 2, I got two blank Tshirts at Target, always meaning to freezer paper stencil them. Never got around to it, and he wore those shirts blank all summer. Always felt bad about it.
Well, now Marlowe is 2, and I got him two blank Ts at Target, bc he needed a couple extra shirts. And this time I got around to it!

I was hanging out with a friend yesterday, and remarked that I hadn't sewn anything since February. Crazy! I just haven't.

My mom came today to hang out and to bring their portable dishwasher to me to have, since ours died. I took advantage of her being here to finish this skirt to wear to a wedding of a church friend this afternoon. I didn't pay a cent for this skirt. The turquoise wool was in my stash that came with a lot of other awesome wool from my great-grandma's attic. And the lace that I sewed on top of it was from a curtain. Like mom said, "You don't need money; you just need clever." I felt really clever, too. The perfect midwinter skirt.

Because it's great blog fodder, too.

Sew, Mama, Sew is one of my favorite crafty blogs. I've been reading them forever. They always have great ideas, tutorials, and, my favorite, handmade holidays!! This month is sewing machine month, and there's a SWEET giveaway of a sewing machine this month.

The Art Star Craft Bazaar is big ol' annual craft show here in Philly. I don't really know how or where to find craft shows, but this one is pretty huge, and I love going. The first year I went it was sprawled through some parking lots in east Philly somewhere. Now it's on Penns Landing, with live music and a festive waterfront. Actually, the live music sounds like a great idea, but after awhile, I found it loud and annoying. I couldn't hear myself think or the people around me. It was just constant noise.