WHY must inspiration hit at the MOST inopportune time?

I just got back from a launch meeting for my job, which means everything kicks into overdrive right now and I will be eating, sleeping and breathing work for the next few months. Maybe less, it just depends on how it goes right now in the beginning.

I also have a very nice lady from our Marketing department riding with me this week, as well as some very important meetings scheduled.

So why is that right now is when I suddenly have the most fabulous idea for a dress or skirt for a little girl (and my Etsy shop)??!! ARGH!

I've been hemming and hawing as to how I could incorporate a reverse applique into a design for a girl, kind of like the necktie shirts I sent to Angela, when I came across Sonja's blog and read her flower pocket tutorial. And suddenly it hit me! Now I know exactly what I want to do. And I have no free time to do it. I spent the last hour printing forms and paperwork for tomorrow instead of sewing.

Crap.

I need to win the Lotto.

I guess I better start playing Lotto.

- H

And the winner is.....

The winner of the Sew, Mama, Sew May Giveaway Day tunic is:

#166!


It's Sonja, here's her comment:

I went through all the comments and deleted the duplicates to come up with 245. {Can you believe 245 people entered this contest??!! I can't!}

Sonja has an awesome blog that I didn't even find until tonight! Check it out when you get a chance.

Thanks to everyone who entered and for your patience while we had to wait to announce the winner!

Now back to my regularly scheduled nonsense.

- H

Leaving on another jet plane

Once again, I'm sitting on the plane that will take me home, waiting for it to push back and take off. Do you ever measure time by milestones you have to pass? Like this meeting, I knew it was coming up and it seemed to mark some point in time for me somehow.

Yay, I get to see my babies tonight! The littler one is sick with fever, the bigger one has sassmouth sickness. I still can't wait to see them, can't wait to hold the feverly one and help him get cool again.

Here's the return flight prayer - "Dear God, thank you so much for no drama while I was gone this week. Thank you for a happy meeting and good news. Please please please keep this flight safe on the way home. Thanks."

And I'm glad to have the Sew, Mama, Sew contest post move on down the road, you know? It always bothers me to have the same post up forEVER.

I can't wait to get home and get to cutting and stitching again. One milestone down, many more to come.

- H

The Great May Giveaway!

Sew, Mama, Sew has been a godsend for me as a sewer. Seamstress seems like too strong of a word for what I do.

They have a great shop with almost all of the fabrics I love, as well as patterns, tutorials and free advice on their blog. They do pattern reviews fairly often, and all of the patterns they've reviewed I was considering buying at one time or another. So that's totally helpful!

They're sponsoring the Great May Giveaway Day on May 27, wherein each shop and blogger that participates gives away something neat-o and either handmade or handy!

In honor of this giveaway-stravaganza, I have decided to give something away, too.

"What is it?" you ask.

It is a custom Heatherty Featherty splashy summer tunic, in your choice of size and fabric combinations!

Here are some examples of tunics I've made for my Etsy shop in toddler sizes. I can make it in 6-12 months all the way up to a ladies' size 14. You can tell me what colors/prints you tend to like best, and I'll find something in my fabric stash to make your tunic (I have a bit of a fabric addiction). Sleeveless, short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves or long sleeves.

Rae, at Made By Rae, made herself an adorable tunic in Heather Ross' octopus prints. I just posted the link as a reference for what an adult tunic could look like (isn't it cute??!!).

To enter, post a comment on this thread by Sunday, May 31 at midnight (CST) and tell me what creative endeavor you like to do in your free time, and the winner will be chosen by random number generator and announced on Tuesday morning! International winners are eligible as well. Thanks for playing along, and go check out all of the other awesome giveaways today, your odds of winning something will go way up!

P.S. Don't forget, if you comment anonymously you'll have to at least include your initials so I can announce you as the winner.

- H

Way way up high

Between the stars was written on the plane.

*****
I’m on the plane, way up high in the air, flying towards Far Far Away where I’ll be sequestered in a hotel for the week, subjected to many perverse exercises in how to motivate and train an adult salesperson with a brain. Should be fun.

The flight was going along swimmingly until just now. I was carefully moving up the levels ladder of Brickbreaker on my Blackberry. That game is addictive, so if you’ve never played it, don’t start. I’ve reached level 10, although on this flight I was only on seven, I think. The fun thing about playing Brickbreaker on a plane is the little bullet that flies around skips a beat occasionally and sometimes it moves at angles that it really shouldn’t. It makes it interesting.

So I was happily playing along when WHAM! Turbulence. The bad kind, the kind that makes me think of stories of children hitting the overhead compartments if they aren’t buckled in, and serving carts flying through the air, instantly turned from Pepsi-and-peanuts cart to FLYING DEATH BOMB.

I put down my Blackberry.

The pilot came on and told us there is “weather” over Atlanta so we’re in a holding pattern for a while.

I pulled out the trusty laptop. I figure, maybe this is a good time to write some things down.

Every time I get on a plane I pray. I know, it may be self-serving but it’s what I do. I say this prayer during take-off – “Please, God, please let this flight be safe and let me get to [my destination] in one piece and let me get home to see my kids again. Thank you.” Just so’s you don’t think I’m too selfish, I also say – “Thank you, God, thank you for letting us have a safe and uneventful flight” as we land safely.

I feel oddly superstitious writing it down like that, kind of like praying for patience. You don’t want to do that, you’ll just have more things to be patient about.

But pray I do.

Today’s went something like this – “Please, God, please let this flight be safe. Let the meeting go well and please, God, please don’t let anything happen that would hurt my kids while I am gone. Please keep them safe and keep them childlike, unaware of what adults may do to let them down. Thank you.”

And then I was thankful for all the text messages I sent out while waiting for the plane to board. A message to daycare with my parents’ phone numbers in case they needed to pick up the boys. A message to a friend reminding them that I’m out of town this week and to please keep me posted if anything happens.

I’ve not written about this, but a few months ago Cooper had a setback. I was taking him and his brother up to school and we used to go in to the baby center first, then walk through the playground to Cooper’s preschool.

That morning, the teacher in Griffin’s building had burnt some toast in the kitchen and smoke was creeping towards the smoke detector. In a minute, the alarm went off. They have those red commercial fire alarms that have a blinking light on them and are hard-wired to the fire department that’s a few blocks away.

I didn’t think anything of it really.

After I left, the firemen tromped through both schools with their complete riot gear on. Helmets, air tanks, face masks, the whole works. For burnt toast, it was total overkill.

Cooper was severely traumatized and it has taken months for him to get over it. For the first few months I couldn't do something as simple as stand up from sitting on the couch without him freaking out that I was leaving him. Leaving the room he was in was out of the question. Leaving him at school was extremely difficult, and there was a lot of crying involved. Now, we've gotten to a better place where I can actually walk downstairs and back up before he freaks.

He's finally stopped talking about the "firemens" every day, too, and he even agreed to go into Griffin's school last week. Prior to that day, he adamantly refused to step foot in the baby center, no way no how.

So I just really really hope that no policemen or firemen leave their lasting imprint on my impressionable son's psyche this week while I'm gone.

I had a chance to read Elizabeth Edwards’ interview with Oprah before the turbulence hit. I haven’t decided if she’s foolish for staying with her husband or incredibly strong. Either way, she is a good example of how to look at the bright side of things, and how to remain graceful when faced with the worst life can hand you. Plus, she had a baby when she was fifty years old, which totally rocks and is way insane at the same time. I’m 36 and I feel like my window of opportunity to have many more kids is closing, although you all know I would love to. But it isn’t gonna happen.
********

That's when turbulence hit us again and I put away the laptop. I'm now safe in my musty hotel room waiting for my room service quesadilla because I haven't eaten anything all day and it's 4:00. I might eat the couch in here if they don't get here soon.

So I lost my train of thought on the whole Elizabeth Edwards interview, but I do remember this from it. She said her favorite quote is from a song - There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

I like that.

- H

Far Far Away

Well, tomorrow I'll be leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be blogging again.

Who am I kidding?! I'll be blogging more, I'm sure.

It's so much easier to have time to write when I'm out of town. Plus I may start to get the shakes without my sewing machine and scissors, so the keyboard will have to be a good substitute.

Wednesday's a big day in blogoland for sewers like me. It's the May Giveaway Day sponsored by Sew, Mama, Sew. So whatever you do, check back Wednesday for your chance to enter the BIG GIGANTIC BIGGER THAN LIFE CONTEST here and at a bunch of other places. Are you excited? I am!

I can't wait to go to their website and see all the participating vendors giving things away! The last I heard it was over 200 so you better believe I'll be holed up in my hotel room tomorrow night, opening 200 windows and leaving comments on 200 blogs.

Today's belly gasometer was high. I think I need to keep taking the Zantac and maybe keeping a belly journal?

Monday: Belly - bloated. Gas - high. Zantac - no.
Tuesday: ?

My friend MJ is currently in the countdown-to-baby mode, waiting for baby Joey to make his grand appearance. Let's all give her a little prayer for a FUN, swift, healthy delivery for her and Joey. I'm thinking about you, MJ! Second deliveries are what first deliveries should be. It's like grandchildren, I think. Enjoy it.
- H

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right

I know, it's probably wrong somehow.

But if this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Hey, I don't have a little girl anywhere nearby to test run things for me. I have to make do with what I have, and I have an exact 18-24 month size living right here in my own home.

This is the top/tunic I was mulling over last night. It's based on a dress pattern from the sixties, before I was even born. I had to make modifications because apparently back then they liked neckholes really super tight so that less air could get to a child's lungs and maybe that was why the mortality rate was higher? And they must have had way skinnier armpits or something because MAN were those holes small!

These were the same people who let toddlers play with lawn djarts.

And we rode bikes without helmets.

And we ate Pop Rocks with Pepsi.

And our cribs had bars that were wide enough for us to fit our heads in between them. I digress.

Anyway, I named it the ViVi, for the V's. Plus I like the name Vivi.

I'll be pulling out all my retro prints for this one. The florals and beachy stuff will go into the tunics, and the retro stuff will go into the ViVi's.

How cute would this be with elbow length sleeves and jeans in the fall? Or sleeveless with a turtleneck and jeans in the winter? Totally versatile.

- H

Is anyone having technical difficulty?

I've had quite a few problems accessing my own blog these last few days. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had an error message pop up that says "website unavailable" or something like that?

Sometimes when I'm on the blog, or I have the page open, it'll suddenly abort and die.

Please let me know if you too have suffered from this abrupt severance of our internet relationship as I will mightily complain to people who probably could care less.

On a different note, I bought a totally awesome dress at Target this week and I simply have to share the good news with you. It's by Converse One Star, black stretchy lycra knit, strapless with an empire waist and a-line skirt. I can't find a link on the Target site, I'm so bummed!

It's the most flattering strapless dress I've ever tried on! There's something about the fabric that makes it drapey and not cling to my belly or butt. LOVE IT. So if you see it out there, snatch it up.

I bought this tunic a few weeks ago on clearance (like fourteen bucks or something!) and it too is superb. Highly recommend it, except I don't wear it with the belt.

- H

Eye candy...and the winner is.....

First, the good news from today! I got some very very very good boxes in the mail today from Fabric.com and Fabritopia. When I opened them, I actually oohed and ahhed a little, rubbed my hands softly on the piles, and declared that they looked like candy all piled up like that.

Here's the candy.


I can't wait to play!

I put a new tunic on Etsy that I am going to make a bajillion of because I love doing color combinations like this. And I have a retro top/dress pattern from when I was a little girl that will go towards some of this.

Oh, and then there'll be the tunic for me that's made out of Heather Ross's Mendocino seahorses and fishies prints (on the right hand pile, they're fifth and sixth down from the top) because I am currently in love with aqua and orange combinations.

I'm so happy. So very very happy.


Secondly, I must say that I have the most superior tattoo adhesion skills in this household. The key? LOTS OF WATER. So much water it's dripping on the floor.

My husband did the one on this arm. We'll never really know what it was supposed to be.


I did this one. I think you can see the difference.

And now, the bad news. Wow, how is this for a total letdown?! My brother has won the tagline contest. Nepotism at work.

Why? you ask. Well, because he single-handedly managed to whip up many of my readers into such a frenzy of excitement that they too suggested taglines! And they were all so good, so I did what any passive-aggressive agoraphobic antisocial seamstress would do. I've decided not to use a tagline.

For the record, I liked Sew Happy and Mad Sewing for obvious reasons.

I also loved So-So Sewing for the mediocre products of my little sweatshop.

Heatherty Featherty from the Sew-Me State makes me laugh every time I read it.

Fabric takes flight is awesome and probably captures the whole shebang the best.

Thanks to everyone for playing along, and check back on May 27th because I will be participating in Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day, and giving away a superty duperty cool prize to a winner chosen by random number, which is way better than someone chosen by moi.

- H

Hey, it's a new contest!

I have decided to have another contest. This time, it's because I need help.

I've ordered new business cards for my bidness, from Peony Paperie on Etsy. Michelle makes the cutest things and I've had her make me personal notecards before, so this was a no-brainer.

HOWEVER, the proof she sent me includes a spot that says "short tagline here."

And I got nothin. For a split second I thought about something including the phrase "tickle your fancy," but considering the recent Craigslist drama I thought better of it.

So here's the contest...

Comment on this post with your idea for the Heatherty Featherty tagline, and you'll be entered to win!

"What do I win, Pat?"

The winner, chosen by moi, will receive one custom sewing project of their choice. For instance, if I were to win and I really wanted a dress for my daughter, I could ask for that. Or a skirt, or a bag, or whatever, so long as it's something I can make and the fabric isn't so costly as to need a second mortgage to pay for it. I'll be the judge, basically.

Alrighty, friends, hit me! Let's hear your tagline ideas! The winner will be chosen and announced on Friday night at 10:00 p.m. CST.

**EDIT: You have to leave your initials with your idea if you're posting anonymously or I don't know who to announce as the lucky winner! Thanky!**

- H

Ingrate

I spent the weekend purposely trying NOT to sew too much. It's like an addiction and if I don't watch out, it'll consume my every waking thought. So I spent a lot of time outside with the boys and running errands.

Anyhoo, I did manage to sneak in a few fun projects including a few superhero capes for a friend's kids. Cooper loved the first one and refused to take it off for much of Saturday morning. He kept asking for his superhero cape, so after he went to bed last night I went downstairs and made him one.

His response this morning?

Hey, Coop, look what I made you! Your own superhero cape!

Wow. {no exclamation in inflection}

Do you like it?

Yeah.

Do you want to wear it?

No.

Why not?

It's not special enough.

Special enough? What would make it more special?

If it was a superhero cape.

Apparently my friend's kids will be sporting very special superhero capes, while my own kid sadly dons a simple piece of cloth with decoration that affords him no superhero powers whatsoever. Life isn't fair.

- H

Oh look! A baby wolf!

Don't you sometimes wish you could employ the conversational skills of a three-year-old? For instance, as I was putting Cooper to bed tonight, we had this conversation:

{After singing You Are My Sunshine}

That was some good singing, Coop. You know who used to teach singing?

Who?

Grandma Gwen. She was a music teacher.

And she likes POODLES!

Really?

And CATS! No, she likes kittens. What kind of kittens do you like?

I like fluffy ones.

WHOA YEAH!!! Those are great.

So this week, when I'm riding with my boss, I'm going to try it out.

Hey, what kind of kittens do you like?...WHOA! Yeah, those are great. Oh, look, a baby wolf!

- H

The garden party

This week in the garden...

My Abraham Darby rose (name finally remembered whilst typing yesterday's post).

This is the rose that started out as a cabbage English rose, and after I uprooted it this is what sprung forth from the land. I don't like it. It's in my Mediterranean HOT HOT HOT garden of all blues and yellows, so it clearly doesn't "go."

Rhodies. Temperamental pains in the butt. Good thing they're pretty and evergreen.

Wild orchids. Not wild, not orchids.

I'm doing a pot of nasturtiums this summer. They ought to die off sometime in June from the atrocious heat.

Irises are so pretty. So so so pretty and fluffy and lovely. Can you believe my next door neighbor doesn't like irises? What's wrong with her? Eh. What does she know, she doesn't shave her legs.

He's still on duty.

This year I've done a blue and yellow theme in my containers. Loving it.

Clematis. Always bothers me when people pronounce it CLEM-uh-tiss, although that's correct. I prefer the incorrect clem-AH-tiss.

Remember my baby astilboides? They're coming along quite nicely, thank you very much.

Thanks for going on my tour with me.

- H

16 days

I read a comment on one of my posts from my sweet friend, MJ, today. In it she wrote "sixteen more days" until the arrival of her second and final baby boy.

I have been thinking about those words all day. Sixteen days!

Sixteen days until her life, her husband's life, her sons' lives, will never be the same again.
Sixteen days until her heart grows the size of a watermelon in a split second.
Sixteen days until her boobs also grow the size of watermelons over a period of two days.
Sixteen days until she gets to lie in a hospital bed and let nurses fawn all over her.
Sixteen days until she listens for that beep beep beep on the monitor they've turned down to a hush.
Sixteen days until she says "oh my goodness, that was so much easier than the first time!"
Sixteen days while her first baby Jack is still an Only Child.
Sixteen days until Jack's life will forever be changed when he meets his baby brother.
Sixteen days until all of the planning and thinking and waiting and waiting and waiting is over.
Sixteen days to go.
Sixteen days to sleep.

And sixteen days for Heather to finish MJ's care package and get it sent off. So much fun! So sweet. Enjoy these last sixteen days, MJ, your heart is about to grow bigger than a watermelon. You'll need your rest for it.

- H

A failed master gardener am I

My favorite roses of all time ever hands down are English roses. David Austen roses. Cabbage roses. Whatever you'd like to call them, I love them.

I used to have quite a few, before I moved to this house. In fact, back when I was moving every year I managed to dig them up and bring them with me wherever I went. Somehow, in the chaos of having children I managed to lose most of them and remove a few others.

For instance, I had a Zamora in my HOT HOT HOT sun garden that had so many thorns you literally couldn't handle it without thorn-proof gloves. Once I had kids, that one went bye-bye.

Well, not really. I dug it up and threw it out. Only, I must not have gotten the entire root ball because lo and behold the next year a new rose bush sprouted in its place. The original graft of the hybrid. Totally different rose, not cabbage-y, not thorny. Original root stock. Weird, huh?

And people say roses are hard to grow. For me, roses are hard to get rid of.

This baby has not only survived my neglect and the constant annual onslaught of the disgusting Japanese beetles, but she's managed to thrive a little. I have managed to lose and simultaneously forget her name. Sometimes I remember things when I don't need to, so I'm hoping her name comes to me while I'm strolling down the aisles at Target, shopping for toothpaste or the ever-elusive perfect Mossimo casual t-shirt.

{I REMEMBER! It's Abraham Darby. I won't forget it again.}

This year I was totally on top of things and sprayed the bushes for infestations and infections before they happened, so I'm hoping this is a good rose year for us.

So many good things happening in the garden right now. I'll do a photo pictorial this weekend and share it tomorrow.

- H

The longing in my heart

You know what it feels like to long for a baby? To yearn with a yearning that makes your throat catch a little bit when you think about it?

I actually haven't been longing for another baby lately, not for a long time. But I ran across this blog post this morning, and the two pictures at the end of it perfectly capture that feeling for me.

These pics, these are what it's like to yearn for a baby. Yearn is a very strange word.

What do you think? Is it just me? Am I the only one who looks at these pictures and gets a little catch in her throat for babies and their sweety sweetness?

Why all the baby talk and sweet nothings about little people? Cause I finished this project this morning whilst everyone in my household was sleeping and I have fallen in love.

I used a retro pattern from when I was a wee babe, some adorable Heather Ross banana bicycle fabric, orange and white whip stitch piping, and it is simply the most adorable thing ever.

I'll be listing it on Etsy soon, I just need to have my model come home and try it on later today for size. Patterns back before 'Nam were labeled 1/2, 2, 3, 4, which means absolutely nothing in today's sizing nomenclature. That word was for Angela, I thought she'd appreciate it.

- H

I made Amy Butler's Anna Tunic and all I got was this lousy blog post

Tonight as I was putting Cooper to bed, he forgot I was still in the room. This happens fairly often. He'll start whispering, as though that act alone would keep me from hearing what he's saying.

"Mommy, can you cover me up with blue blankie?"

"Sure, honey. Here you go." [I covered him up with blue blankie.]

The whispering begins:

"Oh, that's nice.

It's fresh.

I can feel my fingers.

On my boobs."

At this point, he dissolved into a fit of giggles and I had to remind him I was still there.

I finished my Anna Tunic (Amy Butler pattern) tonight. By finished, I mean I did everything but the hem. That's a Heather version of finished. 98%.

I really like it. It's very fitted {ok, its really super tight} in the armholes, that's the only criticism I have for it, but I could stand to lose a few pounds, so....

Amy's patterns are so spot on it's amazing. All of the pieces go together so nicely it's easy to forget that most patterns aren't that well engineered. Here's the one thing that really irks me. There are no freaking pictures of all of the versions of the shirt. No drawings, nothing. By the photos on the pattern sleeve the tunic/top/dress/tent looks like it's all hidden stitching when LO! there are actually topstitches involved. Can't see 'em in the pattern pictures.

[Side note: I went looking for people who have made other Amy Butler patterns and happened upon one of the funniest blogs of crafty people that has ever made me laugh outloud, loud enough for my husband to remember I'm in the house and ask me what's so funny. It's here, if you care to open a new tab and read some of her posts. The one on crazy spring weather made me LOL so much I teared up a little.}









This will be fun to wear this summer. White bermudas. Margaritas. It's fresh.

-H

I haven't disappeared

It just may seem that way. My brain has gone blank. Seriously.

I have nothing to write about.

Well, there's always the random wiener stories around here, like how yesterday while I was standing in the driveway holding Griffin and talking to my next door neighbor, Cooper pulled his pants down and peed on my lavender plants. He was standing behind me, so I didn't see it but I'm my neighbor did. What I did see, when I turned around to check on him, was a half-naked boy struggling to pull his pants up over his bum.

And there's always the stories about how Cooper is obsessed with his butt. Purposely putting his hands back there now that he knows it freaks me out. What is he hoping to find? A winning lottery ticket?

I could write about our missing red glofish. Who was here yesterday morning and now is not here and is nowhere to be found in the tank. Did I mention the gigantic freaky snail? He's not glowing red, but I do suspect his involvement in the disappearance. The unfortunate thing is I will have to dismantle the tank this evening and clean it out, something I am not fond of doing. And this time, I know a carcass of a poor red glofish will be my booby prize.

I could write about how I burned the hell out of my arm on a super hot iron yesterday. How I was walking past the ironing board and instead of staying safe I managed to somehow rest my forearm on the tip of the iron at the hottest setting it can go on. I have immense sympathy for burn victims. It hurts like a bitch and will leave a nasty scar. Layers of flesh peeled away.

Or, I could write about how my work-life-balance has suddenly shifted in favor of work again, due to some good news from the FDA. There goes my lazy days without pressure. Welcome back to working for a living.

So, in lieu of writing about any of that, I have decided to write about nothing today. Sorry, friends. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll have something good.
- H

I do make things for boys, you know

I just hadn't finished any of my boy projects yet. I finally whipped up two pairs of jams for Griffin tonight so I thought I'd share the pics.

Remember jams? From the eighties, when everyone's hair was super big and we all loved Michael Jackson?

Yeah, good times.

"WHAT? You people actually liked Michael Jackson?!" You can hear him saying that, can't you?

Yes, we liked him. I even had a poster on my wall, back when he had the curl in his hair and his [semi]original nose. He was wearing a yellow sweater vest. *sigh*

{sings to herself} PYT... pretty young thing....

Here's the other cool thing - I tried out the freezer paper project I'd been wanting to do and it rocks!

It's totally easy and it really spiced up these camo shorts. Shorts on a taller child, pants on my shortstop. I painted a griffin onto the side of one of his legs in black. I think it adds a certain je ne se quais? Je ne se something in Fronch?

The best part about freezer paper projects is you don't have to be able to sew to do them. You just have to be able to cut and paint. And iron. Not too hard, eh? I'll post up a tute soon with the start-to-finish excitement. Can't wait.

Then I got my first edition of Ottobre for summer and there are some way cool shorts for boys so I'm going to totally get into sewing for them. Finally. I can't wait to be able to post pics of the ideas floating in my head.

Alrighty-oh, friends and neighbors, back to the machines....

- H

The skirt that launched a thousand curse words

A couple of years (weeks) ago, I asked one of my blog readers if I could make her two girls some twirly skirts? She had mentioned they were their favorite style and I was in love with the pattern I had at the time.

So she obliged, and sent me their measurements and likes/dislikes, and I began on the quest that just about killed me.

First of all, I have to add that in our conversation over email about their measurements, she made me laugh so hard by including the word whoo-ha. I still giggle when I think about it to this day, decades later.

Her younger daughter was easy. She's more of a tomboy and likes blues and greens. Perfect. Her oldest daughter likes girly things, pinks, purples, etc. And guess what? Heather don't have no girly fabrics. I just don't. I searched high and low and most of my fabrics aren't really girly. So I put together what I thought was a good compromise and started in.

Once again, the green skirt went together fairly well. No major complications, minor adjustments here and there and voila! Green twirly skirt done. Two weeks ago.

The blue skirt? Not so much.

That skirt has given me fits since I failed to make it out of pink and purple. Seriously! I think that's the problem. The skirt wanted to be pink and purple and I failed it.

The underskirt, or lining skirt, is really where it all went wrong. I made it much too small, omitting a super important piece of fabric. When I realized it and went back to fix it? I couldn't find the fabric! So it sat for me, waiting. Finally yesterday I found enough of the pink lining to fix the problem.

And last night, I finally tackled it. The blue twirly skirt.

I hope it's cute and I hope her daughter likes it! And I believe I'll be refraining from making any twirly skirts for a while. While my brain recovers the lost cells needed to actually make this skirt.

- H

Snails are kind of weird, no?

You may recall that for my son's third birthday he got two fish and a fishtank. Franklin and Bootie. Well, RIP Franklin and Bootie, I hope your time in the big fishtank in the sky is more pleasant than your time here with us.

After their unpleasant demise, I cleaned the tank out completely and started fresh. We got a pirate ship, sure to make any fish happy and thus keep them from dying.

I got four glofish, which is like a made-up fish species that's been injected with dye, I think? Cruel, weird, but oddly brightly colored and cheerful. Two yellows and two reds. Happy little fishy family.

Until....duh duh duhhhhhhhh.

My husband brought home this guy.

The first two days the fish wouldn't go anywhere near him. Would you? If you were the glofish, this snail is at least as long as you and three times as round. And he climbs into the freaking pirate ship to try to eat the sails, for crying out loud!

They've all settled into a happier routine since his homecoming, I'm happy to say. I just have this strange feeling I'm going to get up one morning and the tank will have one very large sole inhabitant, riding the sails of the pirate ship, glowing red and yellow

On a completely different note, my bucket bag prototype came along quite nicely.

I wanted to make a bag out of snazzy fabric that is as close to the styling of my favorite Coach bag as I could get. Without the Coach leather and striped satin lining, of course.

This isn't quite it yet, but it's close. I am saving my nice fabric for when I feel like the design is right.

I made this one of out my retro cowboy canvas with a red and white toile interior. I love the cowboy print, but I'm an idiot and I placed it just so. Just so the trim could cut the heads off the cowboys.

Zippered interior pocket for things like tampons, my checkbook that never gets used, and portable Preparation H wipes. Come on, don't pretend you've never used them. They're the best invention ever and one of my happy memories from Labor & Delivery. That and the two little wrinkly pink babies.

And a pocket on the other side for Blackberry, gum and keys. In that order.

I think it still needs to be bigger, and I have a magnetic clasp and some snazzy ribbon but it's a pretty good start.

- H

I love Lila Tueller

Lila Tueller is a fabric and pattern designer. One of my most favoritest fabrics is from her new Soiree line, this pink prink that I made Monica's skirt?

Anyhoodle, she's got a funky groovy blog thing going on, and she recently posted that she has new patterns coming out. I was instantly smitten with the Calista/Athena skirt pattern and started scheming in my feeble mind as to which of my fabrics would be best in which tier?

After a week of waiting and constant monitoring of her blog, I could wait no longer!

I emailed her.

"Hey, Lila, I am a big fan. Do you know when those super groovy skirt patterns are going to be ready because I probably won't live another day without knowing when I can make it and my children really need a mother? Thanks,

Heather"

And you know what?! She emailed me back. I'm going to be one of the first people to get a pattern and make an Athena skirt! {sewing geek overload?}

I am so excited I can barely stand it. It isn't here yet, but if it shows up you better believe all other work will come to a halt whilst I make my new masterpiece.

- H

I'm living my dream

I used to have a recurring dream. I'd have it during the day, so I guess you could call it a recurring daydream. Here's my dream:

I am standing at a counter somewhere. [Of course I would be shopping in a dream, right?] As I am standing at this counter, I bend down and pick up a small child. A baby, maybe a year and a half old? I put the baby on my hip, and turn to the counter again.

That's it, that's the whole dream. It's a snippet, it just lasted a few seconds and I used to see it over and over and over again. Back when I was single, before I was a mom. After I had cervical cancer and was told I might need to have a hysterectomy if they couldn't get it under control, and that happened when I was 26. Now I'm 36. Never had that hysterectomy, thank God.

The other day I was at Bread Company with my kids, a special treat wherein I take them out for breakfast before school and they proceed to fight and throw food and ingest twenty calories total which will get them through their entire morning. As we were ordering, I had that moment, that deja vu moment, where I turned to pick up Griffin and then turned back to pay my bill. And I realized, I am living my dream.

My daydream, my night dream, that I used to have all the time, is now my life. And I am so happy with that.

I know Mother's Day is a Hallmark created holiday. No wait, it was created by a woman who just wanted a day in the year where moms could sit down and take a freaking break already. But Hallmark really jumped on it and now it's this huge thing and accounts for the second busiest phone call day and greeting card mailing day in the year. But you know what?

I like it.

I like Mother's Day.

Cause I'm a mother, and I'm happy there's one day where we can eat too much at a brunch buffet and spend the day diddling around, not doing laundry.

My one regret? That my life isn't such that I could just keep on having babies. Cause my new dream is a house full of kids. Six, seven, four, five. Whatever. Just more babies, more kids, more fun, more chaos. It isn't going to happen, but a girl can dream!

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. I finally caved and put some cute things on Etsy for sale. I have a feeling it'll help me justify my ginormous fabric stash? The link is in my sidebar to the right. Did I do it OK? Any changes?

- H

Beauty

I love this little outfit. I might have to sell these on Etsy, they're so fun to make. For the record, I am working on some boy projects too. Freezer paper and camo ripstop. Should be fun!

-H

I don't know. Toad? What do you think?

I made the pillowcase dress into a summer top for moi this morning. I had to make it considerably larger than the 18-24 months dress I made last night, but I think I went a little overboard in the fabric department. I'll need to take it in a little and modify my modifications to make it work for a woman. Without making her look like she's pregnant.

But I do like it. I think it would look really cute over white bermuda shorts. And with a tan.

This guy thinks so, too. He is sitting outside my front door right now, waiting to jump the mailman when he shows up.

The garden gnome's got nothin on him.

It's that kind of a day here.

- H

P.S. Wow, a real camera would come in handy right about now, eh?