Happy Halloween

Unicorn Costume

The nerdlet just had to be a purple unicorn for Halloween this year. I looked for a costume and almost all the costumes were for the girl riding the unicorn and were a little out of my price range. So I ended up being conned into making one. It still needs hemming which I will do today, but I thought I'd post the preview.

The costume is from McCall's 4618, which is a pattern for toddler costumes for cats and other animals. I made it from a stretchy polyester knit which I now despise. The mane is yarn that I sewed to grosgrain ribbon and then sewed the ribbon to the back of the costume. The horn is a toilet paper roll that I cut up and paper mached. I was going to paint it but my mother brought me what she said was gesso but turned out to be glue. I ended up covering the horn in gold duct tape and then glitter and shoving it through a hole in a makeshift headband.

BurdaStyle Magazine 11-2011

First the line drawings.

I actually like a number of the line drawings, but I think that they ran out of time making this issue and the photographs are all over the place and don't really show the outfits.

This picture is the reason I think they ran out of time. "What? The model doesn't fit into the dress and we don't have time to fix the dress? We don't have time for this. Just put her naked behind it and shoot it any." I actually do like the dress and here is the same dress sleeveless in black.

I think though that I will wait until someone else makes it before I even consider it as I don't know how well endowed the model is. If it is the dress that makes her look so curvy then I'll definitely be shying away from this.

Not exactly a fashion novelty, but I do like it with the ruffle down the front as in the next to pics.

I think this one could be really flattering, but I'm not sure I have the patience to do all the redrafting necessary to be able to make it fit me.

The drawing shows an interesting jacket, but again I'm wondering if the photography is covering up lack of finishing or something else.

I definitely like this top. I have to wonder why it only goes to size 42. It's an easy fix and an easy draft which really makes the size choice odd.

I really like this top.

I would have passed on this tunic dress based on the line drawing, but if I can find a drape camouflage-style fabric, I will probably add this to my huge pile of wants.

Prior to having any kids, I had a tiny waist for my size and would have loved this skirt.

The fabrics are awful in this shirt and the similar dress below, but I'm intrigued by the pattern. I'm also loving how ruffles are in style right now.

Sani-Sack

I used the embroidery machine to make an in hoop design for this. It is a tote that will clip onto a purse or belt loop to carry your sanitizer. I think it is a super idea and planned to make one for everyone I know as a Christmas present. I now realize that I will not possibly have time to do so but I still will make some for the bear cub's therapists and certain family members that I think will appreciate it.

The reason that there isn't a sanitizer bottle in the tote right now is because all the ones I have are larger and the Target I went to only had the larger ones in stock. I only made this one as a sample anyway and now I know to only make the larger ones unless I have a smaller bottle in hand to give with the tote.

Really Expensive Drying Rack

I've had my longarm quilting setup since January 2007. It is 14 feet long and has multiple horizontal bars. It just occurred to me today that it is an excellent drying rack for long pieces of fabric.

We've been trying to get the nerdlet not to scream no all the time by encouraging her to find other words to get what she wants across to us. A recent funny way was, "I rule that out with a ruler!"

As a birthday present (I will soon enter the last year of my fourth decade), I'm going to get the issues of My Image and Young Image. I'm looking forward to that.

Here's a picture of my girls and my niece, the Drama Princess.

Getting a picture of the four of them together without a shopping cart is about impossible.

BurdaStyle Magazine 06-2011-111 Again

My last post is here about this pattern. I wear these shorts a lot and as we are still hitting temps over 100 here in SA and it will be a while yet left of warm weather, I decided that I need a few more pairs. I actually cut this one a few months ago, but stopped because I sewed the sides and gave them french seams and didn't want to undo them to put the zipper in. I finally decided this weekend to go ahead and give them an elastic waist instead of putting the darts in and making them fitted. I also changed the length of the shorts by adding two or so inches. I will definitely be making more of these, but future ones will likely have the pockets (and the side zipper my first pair has).

I really enjoy the way these fit. Here is the link for purchasing the pattern if you are interested and don't subscribe to the magazine.

Some embroidery projects

Last week, I pretty much spent the week doing some embroidery on pre-made sweatsuits. Q's grandmother has been admitted to an assistive living center and her son that is primarily taking care of her is color blind. My MIL decided that it would be a good idea for me to dress up some sweatsuits with embroidery and then he could use the embroidery to match the colors. I learned a few things in the process of embroidering the sweat suits. One is that sweatshirts are a completely different animal from other types of clothing. Another is that using fleece for applique is a pain in the butt. Here are the finished items.

The fleece for the outer heart didn't press down the same with the embroidery stitches.

I'm surprised at how much I ended up liking these faux cross stitch butterflies.

Squeezing a large embroidery pattern on a small pair of sweat pants became to much for me and I decided to end it when the main colors were done.

I have used this rose pattern before and will definitely use it again. It is one that came with the sewing machine.

I decided to change the colors from the top to the bottom because you couldn't tell there were two reds. I changed it to much though I think. Overall, this embroidery pattern is extremely poorly designed and I likely won't be using it or any of the others that came with it again.

Here is a link to my facebook business page where I have posted pictures of the Linus donation quilts for the Bastrop fire victims, if anyone is interested.

Siblings and Ds

This is a picture of the nerdlet meeting the bear cub for the first time. She has loved her sister from day 1, as much as a sister can love a new baby regardless of the number of chromosomes. I've posted on the benefits to a sibling of a person with Down syndrome, how studies show they are more compassionate and have better self-esteem and fewer instances of depression, but if you would like more info on the most recent studies, feel free to head over to The Chronicles of Ellie Belly Bear to learn more. Everyone should be lucky enough to have a family member with Down syndrome.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness and Down Syndrome Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Down Syndrome Awareness Month. A lot of mom's blog every day in October about facts about Down syndrome. I won't be doing that, but I do want everyone to know how wonderful people and children are that have Down syndrome. People and children with Down syndrome are capable of doing almost everything that a person with a mere 46 chromosomes can do and there are a lot of misconceptions about them that I wish were not so I do plan on sharing at least a few posts. I also plan on sharing a bunch of pictures of my beautiful bear cub and some of her gifts.

In this picture, the bear cub just turned one.