As far as I got....

Summer is officially ending, and I didn't get all my patio projects done. But I did make some progress...



Yes, the motorcycle is still on the patio... more on that later.
I got rid of the mysterious pile of pots and managed to create this arrangement by stuffing pots inside of pots... no actual planting was required.



I redid the fabric on these deck chairs. The fabric was purchased at IKEA last year or the year before... but it ties in all sorts of colors going on with the outdoor furniture.



For what little outdoor time is left... it will work. There is always next year. I will get those darn legs on that blue table yet.

The Patio Plan

I've been totally bummed at the lack of summer, but that hasn't stopped me from tackling a few patio related projects which started with this overall plan.



The extra wicker tables in the lower left of the picture went away via Craigslist... so we made some money there which was promptly reinvested into spray paint!

I have managed (5 cans of spray paint later), to whip the wicker settee into shape:







I'm in a robin's egg phase.... again.

We have legs for the table top....



which have been scrubbed and primed. Just waiting for the install, so I can prime the table top and then give the whole thing a couple of coats of blue. I think I'm going to do oil base for this one, since it will be sitting outside for half the year. We will put it inside for the winter and the really wet parts... which is a lot of the year in Portland..., but it will get rained on during the dry-ish parts of the year too.

A Week of Painting Projects

There are many projects around the house/property that needed painting or repair or cleaning. So that's what I did this week...



The white kids' picnic table was peeling. The reddish wood table was split and needed gluing. (I opted not to paint this one... yet.)

I had lots of enthusiastic help. This table and chair set belonged to my mother-in-law. We painted it gold for Miss Elsie. Now that Mister Ewan has it, it needs a color update.






So now it is a lovely spring green....


The finished picnic table...




All of the paint was on-hand, leftover from other projects. So after three days of prepping, priming, and painting, we have some lovely, clean furniture that looks brand new. I also glued a bunch of other broken items that had been piling up. I really, really, really like clamps and Elmer's Wood Glue.

Finished Dress

I did manage to get the black and white dress done.



I need to tackle the others... but I've been painting, cleaning, and reducing some clutter. Will post more later.

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Today is my birthday. I am armed with a several brand new patterns, a pile of fabric (and then some, but who is really counting), a stack of sci-fi movies, and a gin and tonic. The house is quiet and I'm ready to do some serious sewing.
Several of the local designers in Portland were closing out their leftover fabric on Wednesday up at Modern Domestic. Here is my haul:


The beautiful dusty pink with cameos was from Erica at Garnish.

This is some fabric that I have been trying to sew into dresses for the past year... or more.


I did get one dress done out of the Burda pattern shown. After I constructed it once, I took it completely apart, readjusted the pattern and reassembled the dress. It fits beautifully, and I get many compliments when I wear it. Now I just need to sew up some more. I'm all about the dress. No thought required to dress your entire self. No matching. No trying to find two clean pieces of clothing. Just grab and go.

New patterns from the trip to Fabric Depot today:


Again... the dress... it's all about the dress.

These are a couple of other top patterns that I had. Trying to find something for the pink cameo fabric. I don't think either of these is what I want. I'm going to check Burdastyle later... if I get the dresses done.

AWOL for a bit...

I have been gone for a bit... taking a break... trying to find some new inspiration... I haven't done a lot of sewing, crafting, or other things. But I have been reading Peter's hilarious blog Male Pattern Boldness



This man is fearless and will sewing ANYTHING in the pursuit of learning to sew... and he's not afraid to post pictures of fit challenges. Peter is a true inspiration.

Alabama Chanin

Natalie Chanin from Alabama Chanin was at Powell's in Portland last week. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet Ms. Chanin in person, but I did get to see some of the quilts that Powell's was displaying:






Gorgeous texture and overlapping fabrics and stitching.... I'm contemplating buying her book... because I love books and you can never have too many.

I'm a bit inspired to try some quilting.. but I have so many project in process that I feel like I need to finish some of my others first.

Trip to the Zoo and Outfit Updates

Spring Break was last week. The spouse had surgery on Monday and was home Tuesday to work on recovering which meant that I needed to keep the offspring out of his hair. So I took the pair to the zoo for a few hours one morning. We found a lovely rainbow inside the polar bear exhibit.



These two made me take a picture of them every 15 minutes.



Then it was on to some sewing earlier this week. The blouse that I made for Elsie's Eloise outfit was made in a hurry and therefore did not have a center front opening.. meaning that it was a bit of a tight fit. So we sliced up the front and added some multi-colored buttons... courtesy of Anthropologie's holiday wrapping from 2008.



Working on writing with my stylus... I keep telling myself that the letters will get smoother and more like my writing with a pen if I keep doing it.

I also had to do something about the length of her denim skirt... it was approaching Lolita shortness in the back. Luckily she loves eyelet and I happen to have about 10 yards... so we added a flounce and brought a little modesty back.

Then they both made me take their picture.



Today I am sewing a silver leotard for baton twirling... a request from Miss E.

Tie Dye for Two

I learned how to dye in college and have been a loyal purchaser from the Dharma Trading Company for the past 15 years. I am working on a few dyeing projects for an upcoming dance performance (more on that later) and my offspring were curious and inspired. Since we had a couple of white t-shirts left over from another project, we decided to spend a day or two exploring tie dye.

Here are the two mad scientists at work...

... note the rubber gloves of the littlest participant. The gloves were VERY important... no matter how large.




The finished t-shirts laying out to dry. We only did two dye baths... that seemed to fit the attention span available.

Miss E did these great circles at the bottom of her t-shirt.


Now that the tree pollen season is here, I am hoping to do more sewing since I can't safely be outside without exploding into a sneezing, sinus swelling fit.... I know, I say I'm going to sew and post more every month. I feel like if I keep saying it, eventually it will happen.

Sweater Pictures

It is so grey out today that the lighting is terrible inside the house. So for now these pictures will have to do.




The sweater seems to have grown a bit... although Miss E swears it's the same size as when I finished it. At least she will be able to wear it for awhile.

Double Post Today.... on Alma

I was over at Loobylu and Claire had posted a link to this gorgeous yet creepy short:

Alma

Take a look when you get a chance.

Sick... again.....

I am sick, yet again, this winter. Some cold thing this time, so hopefully it will pass quickly. So I'm going to post pictures of a "stash busting" yarn project that I knitted on the last time I was sick.

After completing several knitting projects, I seem to have an abundance of leftovers, so I let Miss E pick through the box and choose an assortment of yarns to knit up into one grand sweater. We were hugely inspired by Lina Mayfleet's sweaters in the movie City of Ember.



The sleeves came out this way....





... and the body came out this way. She really liked the red fuzzy yarn, and I barely had enough to do the front and back panels.



This was my first time knitting without a pattern. I took some rough numbers off of a children's cardigan, but made up the rest. It is a little wider than I anticipated, but looks really good on body. I'll post pictures when I'm feeling well enough to chase down Elsie and have her put the sweater on.

Absolutely Gorgeous

Check out this fashion spread from Elle Canada using plus-size/real-size model Crystal Renn, author of Hungry.

It is breathtakingly gorgeous....

Project Rungay- Elle Canada- Crystal Renn

Eloise

I have had a long love affair with Eloise from the Plaza. I have also greatly admired her creator, Kay Thompson.... who took the color pink to new heights with the song "Think Pink" from Funny Face.



We have greatly enjoyed the Eloise movies with Julie Andrews as Nanny too. Both actresses are the epitome of their storybook counterparts.



Therefore... Miss Elsie was seized with great inspiration... riding high on the success of Halloween costuming... and flamboyantly requested an Eloise costume to wear for Christmas. It was NOT to be a Christmas present, but rather her official Christmas outfit. I was able to get the skirt and blouse done (on Christmas Eve, no less) before succumbing to the flu. I put on the straps today.



I think it turned out rawther well.....

Remember These?

Miss Elsie had a birthday party to go to and needed a gift. I was going to make a drawstring purse (which is what I usually make, and which meant- yet again- that Elsie herself did not get to choose the gift idea- which I was thoroughly reminded). So I asked Miss E what we should make, and she suggested "these braided ribbon barrettes"... which I TOTALLY knew what she was talking about.
I put on my 80's thinking cap and we whipped out this lovely set of 2 side barrettes and one fabulous barrette of ribbons and beads for the back.




The pink beads were attached to the barrette at the ends. I forgot to take a picture after we finished. It has already been boxed, wrapped, gifted, and unwrapped. I may have to make some for the Little Lady Herself.