October sewing

• Fall apron, blogged here.
• Fall tablecloth–We now use 2 leaves in the table even without company, so I only had one fall cloth that kind of fit. So I bought some extra wide fabric (meant for backing quilts) in a dark brown tone on tone and finished it off with a rolled hem on the serger.
• Wool gabardine vest & pants for Drama Boy. The pants are Ottobre 4/2004 #25, size 158 with no alterations. They turned out really well except I got the waistband flipped somehow so that the nicely finished end is under the not-so-nice end. I might have fixed it but was running out of time by the time I realized my mistake. I like the cuffs; as he grows they can be untacked for added length. I originally planned to make a jacket as well, but discovered the Ottobre boys blazer stopped several sizes too small. So I pulled out my trusty old Simplicity 7030 to make him a vest but he is right between the boys’ large and mens’ small. I ended up taking in the mens’ pattern to fit him, again allowing length for growing.

• Totebag for a gift.
• Cotton interlock nightgown for me, using the girls gown #18 from Ottobre 4/2005 sized up to a 170.
• Half a dozen flannel panty liners.

Next up: a couple new skirts for me and a wool jersey cardigan. It seems like these were also on my October to sew list, but I am pleased with what I did get sewn.

Belated

Boy Genius turned eleven yesterday, and tonight we celebrated. I guess it shows he’s growing up that most of his gifts came from the hardware store.

His face really lit up at the box of “stuff” from Papaw and Mimi. . .good thing Larry and I got him a couple tools to use on his contraptions.

He asked for stromboli for dinner; he and Twirly Girl were studying the signatures on his tablecloth while they waited for everyone else to sit down.

He doesn’t like frosting very much so he chose apple pie for dessert. My favorite, but did you ever try to balance candles in a pie?

Mmmmm. . .

Happy birthday, Boy Genius! You are getting bigger and smarter every day, but to me you will always be the toddler who sorted the Playmobil people and lined them up on my end table, and the little boy who took apart all his toys to see how they worked. . .

IWADD

Say what? That would be International Wear a Dress Day, and although I read about it last week at A Dress A Day I forgot to put it on my calendar.

Fast forward to today. After two (2!) days without internet, the tech guy came over this morning and all is well again. Phew! This afternoon I was finally catching up at Bloglines, and there it was again. Today, October 29, 2009, is International Wear a Dress Day. I immediately started laughing and here is why:

In case you’re wondering, while I do wear skirts every day, this is the only everyday dress I have for fall weather. And Twirly Girl alternates between pants and dress or skirt. So it was a bit of a coincidence for us both to wear dresses on the same day. . .and quite a coincidence that we picked today!

Wordless Wednesday

Stubborn pays off

Long ago (at least 8 years ago, ie pre-serger) and far away (in Iowa), I cobbled a couple patterns together to make a nursing dress from plum floral rayon challis. I only wore it once or twice and I can’t remember why; I think the nursing openings either didn’t open (or worse, didn’t close). So the dress spent several years stashed in a bin, until last winter I turned it into a skirt. I removed the bodice, and cut out a waistband from the back. And then it got stashed again, until this week when I finally hemmed it so I would have something new to wear on Sunday morning.

And look! It goes with the same green sash I’m wearing in his baptism picture (okay, you can’t really see it in this picture, but trust me, it is there).

Cooperation

There they went again, Bouncy Boy and Silly Boy. Voices raised, tattle reports flung in my direction, Duplos flying, and then there was a smack.

I thought about sending them to their respective rooms, but then they would just sit and stew about having the world’s worst brother. I thought about sending them outside to walk laps while holding hands, an idea I borrowed from Charity, but there is construction on our block right now and I was too busy sewing Drama Boy’s confirmation suit to go outside and supervise.

I called them to me, and while they pushed and grunted at each other and I reminded them they were brothers, an idea started to develop. I looked in my ribbon drawer, but decided to use pony tail holders instead. Bouncy Boy’s right arm was banded to Silly Boy’s left arm, and they would stay that way until lunchtime (less than an hour). Someone tried to pull the bands off; I told them if they did that I would have Daddy buy handcuffs on his way home for lunch. Bouncy Boy’s eyes lit up at the word “handcuffs” and then quickly darkened again as it dawned on him what I had in mind.

Once they were resigned to their fate, and had been given a few suggestions on working together, I returned to my sewing. They wandered off and returned together: can we watch a movie? Now, the next time I might expect them to spend the whole time figuring out how to play banded together, but this time I decided it was enough for them to pick up the Legos together and then watch a movie. And so they did. . .without fighting!

When Larry came home, they were summoned upstairs to explain to him why they had been banded together, and he gave them one more joint assignment: put away Bouncy Boy’s laundry before lunch. They did, perhaps not very well, but they were unbanded. How long do you suppose they will cooperate before I need to get out the bands again?

Confirmed in Christ

Today, Reformation Sunday, marked the confirmation of faith for Drama Boy and his three classmates at our church. His confirmation verse is Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Somehow it seems as if it were only yesterday that we brought our wee firstborn to the waters of baptism.

Faster than delivery

And tastier, too! As I’ve said before, Friday night is pizza night here in Neverland. I have several pizza crust recipes. . .the one below is the one I use when time (or energy) is short and I don’t want to call Pizza Hut. In the interest of full disclosure, baking more than one pizza may take a little longer than delivery, but not much.

No Rise Cornmeal Pizza Crust

Yield: 2 15″ pizza crusts

Stir together:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm water
Then add:
2 cups flour
2 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Dash black pepper

Mix well and turn out onto a floured countertop. Knead until elastic; roll out or flatten to desired shape, about 1/8-1/4″ thick. Top as desired, then bake at 475° for 10-12 minutes or until crust edges turn golden. I usually bake the crust 5 minutes, add the toppings, and then bake 5-7 minutes or until done. Also, I vary the grains based on what I have; tonight I used 3 cups whole wheat and 3 cups all purpose flour as I was out of cornmeal.

Add a movie and. . .enjoy!

Thank you

I appreciate all the calendar suggestions given yesterday! I forgot to mention that I had tried using a wall calendar (from FlyLady) a couple of years ago and just don’t like having to write everything by hand (and when life changed, the stickers were stuck and pen doesn’t erase). So I think I’m going to try using Google calendar; even though it won’t sync with any devices I own, it does sync with something which is more than I can say for Windows calendar. Perhaps next year, when our vehicles are all our own, I can look into upgrading. . .maybe by then the iPhone will play nicely with Verizon.

Dates

I’ve always been the organized type, but lately I’ve struggled to find a system that works for me. I used a  wall calendar through high school; now I have outgrown the squares. In college I used the ubiquitous student planner (are those obsolete now?) year round to keep track of homework, work schedules, and the occasional social event. As a new wife and then mother, I first tried the wall calendar and then switched to a small version of the dayplanner. It was still too big for my purse (I travel light) so I usually left it laying on my desk at home: not very convenient.

So it was that I jumped when Larry bought me my very own pda for my 29th birthday. I happily used it for a few years until he upgraded his pda and mine would no longer sync with the updated version of Palm desktop. Soon after that he upgraded mine as well and life was good again. Until last year, when my Palm slowly stopped holding a charge and had to be reset regularly. . .it now belongs to Boy Genius who doesn’t have as much data to lose.

That leaves me high and dry! I’m not inclined to spend my money on another Palm just from the standpoint of not wanting that many gadgets in my purse. I have heard that Outlook would sync with my iPod, but I’m too cheap to buy Outlook just for the calendar. Instead I have been using Windows Calendar, which syncs with nothing and doesn’t work as well as the Palm calendar. I’ve looked at Google calendar and it confuses me, as well as makes me wonder how secure my information would be online.

How do you juggle all those bits of information about who needs to be where and when, so that unlike me you don’t forget to take Bouncy Boy to Cloverbuds the week that it starts early because of the public school schedule? Cheap and easy to use suggestions would be much appreciated!