Halloween

My kids today woke up fever free and as the day went on felt well enough to go trick or treat. The weather did not cooperate and it has been raining on and off all night, so we did a quick run and returned home with full baskets (neighbors were afraid of low showing due to weather so they were more generous than usual).

My teenager wore the cloak I made for him last year and the youngest was a knight. For the knight outfit I once again used the pattern I have been using for 3 years now to make the bodice armor, the pants are from a McCall's pajamas set and the helmet I found instructions for here.







This is the sword my husband made, he also made the shield. The sword turned out fantastic, is made of wood and then carved and painted. My son is thrilled with it.




Happy Halloween!!!

Doctor Mom reporting

Both my boys have the flu, we think is the H1N1 because we were vaccinated for the seasonal flu. Regardless it is treated the same. My teenager has gotten it worse with high fever and stomach upset along with a bad cough. The younger one has low grade fever and a bad cough. I'm trying really hard not to get sick, as you can imagine, since who will take care of Doctor Mom?

I hope to take pictures of my youngest in his costume this weekend, he might be fine to go trick-or-treating by then. I'm off to finish his pants, at least last night I slept (only had to get up once) and I feel like I can function in the sewing room.

Hope you all stay healthy!

A beautiful fall weekend

Even though yesterday it rained all day, about the time that I was preparing dinner the sun came out and the light after all the rain was beautiful. The leaves had a wonderful color in my backyard so I ventured out to take some pictures. I'm sure I could not capture it all, I have a point and shoot camera that although has some nice features I really haven't explored them as I should. Anyways I thought I share with you the best shots.

I have finished sewing Burda WOF 09-2007 121 the famous jumper that has been made many times by other sewers. I used a beautiful rayon jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics, but I won't show it to you until I make the top to go with it. I have to put that project on hold because I need to start on the Halloween costume for my youngest son. He is going as a knight so I'm making armor once again.

I also finished knitting the Staghorn Cable Tunic from Webs, it needs to be blocked so I can sew up the side seams. To have a knitting project while watching tv I casted on and I'm almost done with the back of Drops number 97-5 Sleeveless cardigan in Silke-tweed in Burgundy. The pattern is free as well as many other patterns on their website.

Pumpkin hat for my nephew

I made this hat the other day, and I was in such a hurry to send it off to New Jersey that I forgot to take a picture. Now I have a better picture to show it off. Isn't he gorgeous?

Burda 8906 Boatneck top

This pattern is now out of print, I've had it for a long time. I finally decided to try it to use up a remmant from my Madison Avenue dress. I really like boatnecks but I usually don't have much luck fitting them on me. I have very narrow shoulders (there are 3 size differences between my shoulders and hips) and these type of necklines are always too big on me.

In this pattern the opening is too wide even though I made my usual Burda size at the shoulders. Also the shoulder width seems extremely narrow to me, it doesn't look that way in the pictures on the envelope. Because of the width the neckline never stays nice and straight, it deeps in the front; I believe it is also too high. The neckline and armholes are nicely finished with binding.



I had high hopes for this pattern but it needs work to fix the above problems. Nonetheless I wore it today like this. The sweater I knit a while ago from the Spanish knitting magazine Katia.



We've had two days of miserable cold, misty rain, which will continue at least for another day, I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

Burda WOF 3-2008 107

This is a very simple tunic made out of a stretchy mesh that came from the $2.97 table in G-street in Rockville; I know it has been in my stash a while because it has been a couple of years since I ventured out to Rockville.

The neckline is bound and I followed the Burda instructions with no problems; it gives this simple top a nice finish at the neckline. One thing to note is that my version even though I went up a size from my usual in the hip area it fits snug.

As far as layering this top I would prefer, from looking at the pictures, to either wear a turtleneck or a lower neckline than what I'm wearing.

I traced, cut and sewed this top in about a day, that's pretty quick for me. If you like the style give a try!

Saturday

Not much sewing has gone on this past week, well no sewing really I refuse to count washing my fabric, but it is ready for a simple knit top. I still have to show you the shell I made with leftover fabric from the Madison dress, but because I worked in the garden today it was a natural looking day for me and I am not inclined to share with you that look ;-)

The boys are playing baseball as I type and I'm exhausted from the yard work. I know these pictures don't show that I did much, but I worked the soil to spread mulch which had turned to a really nice rich dirt and spread some seeds my neighbor gave me. I'm hoping that next spring I can have an "after" shot of these corners. I also made a border by cutting into the soil to create a trench;the same neighbor that gave me the seeds showed me how to do it and I wanted to try it out.




If you have seen these beetles, they are an accidentally introduced bug that seems to be showing up more and more in the suburbs.



Even though in my household we respect all living things, these bugs are getting out of control and my sons spent quite a bit of time today exercising some control. Here is info on this annoying insect.

I took a look at the new Vogues, and there are a few I like, I'll let you know more when I look at them with more time. Any favorites out there?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!