Givin' Ottobre a Workout!

Hot of the machine is my latest Ottobre creation! It is from the 4/2007 issue (Fall) and it's just cute as can be. What cracks me up is how much my son loves putting his hands in those cool circle pockets. The sweatshirt fleece was from Mill End Fabrics in Portland, OR (bought during my recent PDX shopping trip with PR ladies), the lining fabric was a Gymboree knit blanket I bought to cut up and use as fabric, and the ribbing was from my local indy store (which may be going out of business - ugg!). I posted a review and more pictures on Pattern Review.

Next up is a pair of slim fitting jeans for my middle son. This is actually my second pair, the first pair I used brown twill and he loves those equally as well. The pattern is also from the fall issue of Ottobre #27. I even embroidered a parrot on his back pocket (he thought that was too cool) and used red Jeans Stitch thread for the top stitching. Review is posted on Pattern Review too!

Embroidery is from Designs By JuJu. I highly recommend her designs. They always stitch out beautifully, tho this one I had a little trouble with, but that was my fault not hooping the fabric well enough. Then lastly, I've been doing a little "McSewing" as the ladies on the Ottobre Yahoo group have been calling batch sewingt. DD needed some long sleeve t-shirts, so I tried to whip one up in colors that went with other things in her wardrobe. Some plain, some with embroidery (all from JuJu) - she loves them all (or so she says). The pattern is #16 from 1/2003 (for both the regular & the crossover style). I posted a review for this pattern before on PR so I didn't rereview it, didn't seem necessary. I also made her a plain white shirt and used my "Gemagic" (like the Bedazzler) to make a heart on the chest - I think that was the favorite top!

That is all for now, back to the sewing room I go. I have two more projects cut out, but I might deviate a little because my SIL's birthday is Sunday and we're going out to dinner at the Olive Garden so I thought it would be nice for Moi to have a new outfit to wear. :-)

I'm Not Tired

Here the rest of my house is sleeping peacefully and mommy is WIDE awake at nearly 1am! Why you might ask? Well could it be the caffeine I had in my diet Coke tonight??? Probably and it's all to blame on the fun Portland fabric shopping trip I took today with 3 gals from PatternReview today! I got to visit 7 shops (6 which were new to me) on our fabric tour and even bought a few goodies along the way. Then after our tour was over, one of the gals and I went to Fabric Depot and spent a few more hours there (thanks Tina!). Afterwards I figured I might as well stop by the Super Joann's on my way home, but found nothing I couldn't live without so grabbed a bite to eat (hence the caffeine) and now I'm paying for it.

So while up in the middle of the night, I decided to cruise around the net and peek at my favorite blogs and what should I find on Belinda's Blog but a "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award. Intrigued as I haven't spotted this before I read on - here is what she wrote (this is direct copy from Belinda's blog):

A few days ago Sigrid nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger. Thanks Sigrid!

I've watched with interest as this award has been hopping from blog to blog. It started here on Roberta Ferguson's blog back on June 18, 2007. I first noticed it on a German sewing blog I read and I've watched as it's hopped all over blogland in recent weeks.

Now I get to choose 5 women bloggers worthy of the "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award. If you get nominated, place your pretty pink badge on your site and then list 5 of your favorite Rockin' Girl Bloggers. The hard part is coming up with five bloggers who haven't already been nominated. There are a lot of excellent sewing blogs out there so I did mangae to find five. :)

1. Debbie - Stitches and Seams. Debbie has already been nominated but as she is on a computer hiatus she may have missed it. Debbie, maybe this will encourage you to write a blog entry. I miss reading your blog. Come out, come out, where ever you are

.2. Lori - Girls in the Garden.

3. Melissa - Susie Homemaker.

4. Beth - Rusty Bobbin.

5. Trena- Slapdash Sewist. I'm not sure if Trena is back from her Big Fat Greek Holiday or if she even reads my blog but I read hers and enjoy it.

All I can say is WOW Belinda, what a treat you find my blog worth reading ~ it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! :-)

So here I post my "badge" of honor and nominate the following (in no particular order):

1. Miss Celie's Pants

2. Stacy Sews

3. The Twisted One

4. Erica's DIY Style

5. Fehr Trade

Now I did a little research and don't see that these blogs have been nominated, but if they were I'll just blame it on the fact that it's very late and I should be in bed! ;-)

So my big plan (I'm posting this to hold myself accountable), is to sew a pair of pants (or two if things go well) tomorrow for my middle son as he still only has one pair of pants to wear to school. Thankfully last week was warm on the days he went to Kindergarten so he was able to wear shorts. I have been doing some sewing - shirts for DD, but I really need to make a list and get myself organized and kick it into high gear since it looks like cooler weather is on the horizon, plus I'm itching to sew myself some stuff for fall too so I need to get these school clothes finished up.

Nitey- Nite!

Don't grocery shop when you're hungry!

That is pretty much common sense right? Apparently I *forgot* yesterday and the result was more money spent than I had planned and my kitchen overflowing with yummy treats!

So while grocery shopping yesterday everything was looking absolutely divine. I saw beautiful green Granny Smith apples and immediately thought "oh an Apple Pie sounds yummy" so I bought those, then I walked down the cookie & cracker aisle to get some crackers and saw the fudge striped cookies and thought "oh Mandarin Cookie Salad would be great with dinner tonight" so all those ingredients went into the cart too. Then on the baking aisle I saw dried Craisins and remembered the Oatmeal Bar recipe my friend had given me (thanks Leslie) and had to get those too. So upon returning home from the store I unpacked my groceries and made an Apple Pie, Mandarin Cookie Salad, and Oatmeal Bars - what a nerd, huh?

I thought I'd share a few more recipes with you - after all I want to be Susie Homemaker and she surely cooks and bakes, right?

Mandarin Cookie Salad

2 cups buttermilk
1 - 5.1 oz pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
1 - 12 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed
2 - 11 oz cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 - 11.5 oz pkg fudge striped shortbread cookies, coarsely chopped

Whisk buttermilk and pudding mix for 2 minutes, then let stand 2 minutes or until soft set. Fold in Cool Whip and oranges. Cover and chill until serving. Fold in cookies when ready to serve ~ enjoy!

Oatmeal Bars

1/2 cup brown sugar
8 oz vanilla yogurt
2 egg whites
2 Tbs canola oil
2 Tbs milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour (can use 1/2 whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 cup dried fruit and nuts

Mix together all ingredients and spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Cool and cut into bars - enjoy!

I'd share my Apple Pie recipe, but I'm sure everyone has their own favorite and they are all pretty similar anyway. Now go and make yourself some goodies!

My "baby" went to school....

Well technically he's not my "baby", but he's one of my babies and now he's in school too! He begged me to ride the bus to school today - he's being dying to ride the bus for as long as I can remember so I shouldn't be surprised. And it was probably easier for me to put him on the bus than to walk him to his Kindergarten room. As it was, I got a huge lump in my throat a shed a few tears. Thankfully I still have one left to love on during the day (or should I say one "messmaker" still around!). I know his first day of school will be great ~ he's in good hands as his teacher is a gem (actually all the kids have wonderful teachers this year so I can't complain at all).

Today really need to get another pair of pants done for Mr. Kindergarten. He has one lonely pair of brown pants he's already worn twice this week so I must get cracking today and get something else made. Thankfully he doesn't have school again until Monday so surely I can get a few pairs whipped out between now and then. The ones he's wearing in the picture are from the most recent kids Ottobre - I forget the number, but they are the ones for slim kids and they were actually still a little too big around for him so I put buttonhole elastic in the waist (what a nify invention!).

Here is a picture of the other two on the first day of school ~

Life in the Fast Lane (and other ramblings)

That seems what my life has been like for the past week - moving at full speed. I finally got my camera and was able to get two reviews done today for pants I made Hattie. Last week my hubby & I celebrated our 11th anniversary so we took the day and went to the ocean alone (Grammie & Papa had the kids). It was a fun time and the weather was pretty nice for the Oregon Coast - overcast and high 60's. Then over the weekend we had miscellaneous stuff going on around the house plus it was Miss Hattie's 10th birthday. So to celebrate the big double digits, we had a fun family feast at Chuck E Cheese one night and then had a girls day the actual day of her birthday where the girls (two Grammies, Auntie, & Mommy) went to Build A Bear Workshop and then had a divine ladies lunch at the Olive Garden. I can't believe my little girl is already 10!!! :-( And in other *sad* news, I am sending another one off to Kindergarten tomorrow! :-( I will only have one at home and it's making me sad. I know after a few days it will be no big deal, but I know I will still miss them. So many parents are so eager to get their kids off on their own, but not me. I sometimes think about homeschooling them so I can enjoy them longer, however that task scares me a bit. At least now I'm not totally responsible for what the do and don't ingest and retain, but if I were to homeschool them it would be my fault if they didn't learn something. I just feel like they grow up fast anyway, why do I need to send them off to school and let someone else enjoy them too???? Okay, someone chime in now and say I'm insane to want to homeschool four children, pretty please??? LOL I can't tell you how much it is killing me my "baby" is 3 already too - I just hate it!!!!!

Well I guess I should talk about something that doesn't make me feel blue so how about the pants I made String Bean Girl. I used Ottobre 1/2004 #30 & #33 (both are basically the same, just #30 has some leg ruffles added - too cute too and Hattie loves them!). But, the best part of all is they fit her better than the $40+ jeans we were trying on at the mall. Even the slim pants didn't fit her because if they fit around, they were still too short. I took a leap of faith making such detailed pants without doing a trial run and was so happy it paid off. I made her the ruffle ones first and put my heart and soul into the embroidery and getting the ruffles just perfect. And because she is digging animal prints for some reason lately, I lined the pockets and did the inner waistband facing in a cute animal print cotton - she got a kick out of that. Since the first pair fit her so well, I went ahead and made her a denim pair too. Both reviews are on PR with pictures ~ jeans & ruffle pants. I have more to review, but those will have to wait for a bit as I need to get Mr. Kindergarten Boy a few more pairs of pants sewn so he has something to wear too.

Enough rambling for today, thanks for reading!