Mittens

I finished Calvin's mittens. They were a fast project for me; I finished them in 10 days. Just in time too, since it was -4 with a wind chill of -23 when we got up yesterday (consider that it was 48 when we got up on Monday. Quite a temperature change!). My Ravelry project page for these is here.

He was thrilled when he saw I had finished them, and I tried to get a photo of his happiness, and this is what I got. :( My camera seems to have died! I think I'm going to have to get a new one -- I've tried all sorts of things, and cannot get anything but black photos. The viewfinder doesn't work, I can't get any photos no matter what setting I put it on, and the video won't work either. I can't complain too much, since I've taken 10,000+ pictures with it, so it certainly got used. Anyone have any recommendations for a camera? This was a Kodak EasyShare DX4330 (with a whopping 3.1 megapixels!), so I already have a 256mb card that I'd like to be able to continue to use.

Some Knitting

Some recent, and some not so recent. Remember my purple sweater? Remember when I ran out of yarn?! My friend Esther found some more for me, and I finished it last spring. Finally I got Calvin to take some photos! Here's one:
I also started a pair of mittens for Calvin on the 19th. I'm farther than this picture now, all that is needed is the thumb on the 2nd mitten, and weaving in the ends:
Connor had picked out the color, and once these are done, I'll start a pair for him (red).

Whomi!

I won a Whomi! Earlier this month, The Lazy Organizer had a giveaway for three Whomi calendars, and I won! It came yesterday, and it's so cool. This one is a Hidden Agenda. Isn't it pretty?

The inside is great. My calendar will be on the top, and I'll have each of the boys on the bottom. This is perfect timing, as my PDA had a run-in with a door frame. It still works, but not very well, and it's really really hard to enter information (if I touch the stylus on a Monday, I usually get bumped over to Wednesday or Thursday. Can you say annoying!). I especially like the forward planning section in the back of the calendar, 2 years out, which will come in handy when planning dentist and eye doctor appointments 6 months out.

I'm going to have to switch purses, though. I don't think it's going to fit in my current one....

Costume Details

I took a bunch of detail shots of Caleb's Pharaoh costume yesterday. I've put them in my 2008 Sewing Flickr set, with notes. The costume was a big hit at school, and survived the festival pretty well. I need to repair the headdress, as the seams in the lamé failed pretty easily.

The best part of this whole project was seeing Caleb's face when I showed him the final costume. He was pretty impressed, and kept talking about how good I was to be able to do it without him around (for fitting and babysitting). :)

Walk Like An Egyptian

(thanks to Rowena for the title. ~G~)

Today, as part of the social studies cirriculum, Caleb has an Opet Festival at school. All the students dress up like ancient egyptians, and do ancient egyptian stuff in each of their classes. I had a blast making his costume.

We took our inspiration from this King Tut costume. The tunic is made from rectangles with a shoulder slope. I had about 3" of the sleeve trim leftover when I was finished. The rest of the pieces are quilted lamé. Like most costumes, trim and accessories are everything! I found everything at Joann Fabrics on Tuesday. I started the costume Wednesday afternoon, and finished it yesterday. We copied a $200+ costume for $44.09 and about 8 hours of work. :) We made the hook thing and flail (sorry, I don't know the correct terms) from strips of plaster wrap that we rolled up and spray painted gold.

The eyeliner looks cool, though ultimately Caleb asked to have it washed off. I made the headpiece by making a quilted headband and then stitching alternate strips of the blue and gold lamé (2" finished width) into a 30x22 rectangle. This was then stitched onto the headband. It turned out really cool.

You can click on either picture to see it full size. I can take detail shots of the collar, belt, vambraces, and headpiece after he gets back home.

Resolutions

Ok, now that I've reviewed my past year, it's time to look forward to the next. :) Like Belinda, some of my sewing goals stay the same from year to year until I actually accomplish them. This year my goals are:

- Sew some nice clothes for my boys. Specifically, I want do to nice dress shirts (Caleb has a choir concert on the 29th, so I have a deadline), and I've always liked the look of Cordarounds.
- Increase my output of clothes for me. More dresses.
- Do window treatments for the downstairs (living room, dining room, kitchen).
- Finish the unfinished quilts.


On the non-sewing front:

- Get back down to about 125-130 pounds.
- More consistency with meal planning.

I have one more goal that will get its own post later.

Sewing Year In Review

It's a new year, and I get to reset my stats! First, a look back on 2007:

Yardage In: 67.875
Yardage Out: 45.125
Items Made: 47
Money Spent: $866.33

Not bad! Not bad at all. In comparison to 2006, I cut my yardage input more than in half, as well as cutting my spending in half. I also increased my output quite a bit (helped a lot by the costume sewing I did). My yardage consumption was reduced by a lot (75% or so?), however, I only did one quilt this year, and those really eat up yardage.

One goal I've had floating in my head for the past few years was to be self-supportive with my hobby, and I did that this year. Working for the shakespeare company and getting the suzuki institute job allowed me to 'support' my hobby on my own. :)

OK -- if you click HERE, you can see all the things I created in 2007 (it's a KodakGallery album, and I set it so that you do not have to sign in. The option is there, but not necessary). Apparently, it was the year of superhero capes and cowls (there's an extra one I made that I neglected to photograph).

Polar Bears!

I'll do a sewing year in review later, but first, Calvin and I started 2008 off right, with a dip in Lake Michigan! (Caleb chickened out)

For about 10 years, I jumped in Lake Michigan every New Year's Day, down at Bradford Beach, in a swimsuit and everything. I stopped after I turned 30. Anyway, yesterday was a spur of the moment type thing. Some of Caleb's friends waded in last year, at the beach across the street. This year they knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to come. So we did! It was really easy compared to going downtown. Just put on a coat, grab a towel, walk across the street and down to the beach, and wade in!

Yes it was still cold, and quite windy, but still fun.