Happy Valentine's Day!

Landon and Etame woke up to little Valentine's gifts. We spent the day running around to Costco and returning our Wii which is broken. Fun, eh?

At one point, when Landon was getting dressed, he said, "You are wearing red, I am wearing red, Etame is wearing red, and you even have a red pimple right there." Nice.

But I did get lots of love from the kids and from Calvin, who sent me a dozen red roses all the way from Los Angeles! They are beautiful and were waiting in front of the garage when we returned home.


We hosted Valentine's Day Playgroup at our house yesterday which was very fun. Etame was able to fit into her new skirt and her matching heart collared shirt worked very well with it - thanks Mom!

Next up - birthdays!

Sewing the Gown

Calvin and I are headed to NYC at the end of the month for an Under Armour event. So excited - staying at the Waldorf Astoria and taking the train up. Very fun treat for us. Calvin was super excited, until he realized that it was black tie! His exact words were, "I didn't even wear a tux to our wedding". It's true. He wore a very classy black suit with tie.

Well, this will be our chance to get dressed up and hit the town. Can't get too dressed up for NYC I suppose.

Naturally, I decided to make my dress. During these blizzards we've been having and are still having, I've been sewing. I even got out the pretty dress pins I saved for a special garment. Longer and sharper than my ball point pins.

I made a few practice muslins and played around with the darts to get them just right to fit my top. Then I finally cut into the good fabric and made the main dress.


Now I'm working on the dark charcoal, super flowing, silk chiffon that goes over the top and is gathered across. It's the nicest fabric I've ever worked with and I hope it turns out! More pictures later - hopefully with me wearing it!

Stay warm. We have 3' of snow now and counting...

Valentine's Cookies

My schedule has been all off this week with school being out. It still feels like the weekend. We aren't getting much done, except the fun stuff like going sledding and making cookies.

With more snow on the way, I'm planning more of the same. I'm just hoping tennis can still happen tomorrow!


More snow on the way tomorrow evening - I can hardly believe their prediction - 18-20' more! That's just a little less then dumped on us the other day and some people still don't have their street plowed in the city. It's really a mess. Pretty, but then I feel for those people who can't get their car out to go to work to make the much-needed money they need to pay for heat, rent, food...

Completed Projects for January and February

Yes, I've been sewing! Here are some of my projects in the past month.

A baby gift for a good friend who just had a little baby girl. The baby quilt out of flannel is a tradition in our family and all the children have them. My sister Shila kept the tradition going and then I jumped on board too. Now it's my go-to baby gift. Thoughtful, familiar, and fairly quick. I included a Haba rattle because I know the mom would appreciate it and it's so darn adorable.


Here are matching scarves for Calvin and Landon out of this beautiful wool that I had tagged for this since last year when I got it on sale. Calvin actually requested this and they turned out to be super easy. I frayed the ends and double-fold hemmed the sides. Landon's is a bit thinner.


This is a skirt I made for Etame for our Valentine's Day playgroup party that we are hosting next week. I hope she doesn't even gain an ounce for it fits her just barely. It was inspired by a skirt I saw in the Olive Juice Kids catalog. Well, their latest spring catalog has a gingham skirt identical to one that I made for Etame last year. Maybe they were inspired by me too? I can only dream. I heart Olive Juice Kids.


Now I am attempting my biggest project of all time - an evening gown! That's right. I am crazy. With the help of my friend Michelle, I picked out a dress that I want to make. It's charcoal gray. The inspiration is $570 at Neiman Marcus so if I can make it for $120 (the price of fabric + thread + zipper) it will be more than a success, and I can spend the remainder on a killer pair of Manolos - AS IF! Anyhow, I'll keep you apprised of my progress as I curse my way through it and call my mom every hour to let her know my achievements and ask her more questions!

Braids!

I went to play tennis today and left Etame in the childcare with the sweet lady there, who happens to be African American, and I'm always asking her for hair advice.

So when I come to pick her up, here's what she looked like!


Only she had only done half her hair. I begged her to do the rest, because I didn't have a clue. I made the poor lady work for another half hour while I watched her french braid and then connect the braids down to the bottom. We did run out of time, so I had to finish up the top part at home - it was all fuzzy on top in a square - too funny!

I really do like the result and may have to try more of this now. It's not easy working with those tiny strands of hair. I used creamy baby oil in it and finally, something actually penetrated her curls. I may have to just use that from now on.

On My Sewing Table

Hot off my sewing machine - heart garland!

I'm making one for decorations for Valentine's Playgroup here at our house and another to take in for Landon's classroom.

Super easy and lots of gratification. It made me smile when I finished it - such happiness!