Results

I went to State Fair judging today, after my dentist appointment. Judging started at 10:00 this morning, and I got there around 10:30. I missed watching 2 of my entries get judged, but found out results from some of the ladies there.

Class 3 -- fabric baptismal outfit: my nephew's christening gown. First place! I missed watching this one, so I don't know what the judge said about it. (darnit! I really wanted to know what they thought)

Class 31 -- one piece garment of stretch fabric: Vogue 8379, pictured in the post below. First place! They judged this one after lunch, and I came back late, so I missed watching this one too. However, one of the ladies said that the judge loved it and had nothing but praise for it.

Class 33 -- serged item of clothing, using serging as main construction method: Jalie 2449. First place! Finally I got to watch judging, and the judge liked how I used a twin needle for hemming, and that my serging was even on the spandex fabric. Someone else had entered a Jalie 2449 too.

Class 40 -- woman's two piece sport outfit: (this skirt, and this top. First place! The judge (different one) liked the twin needle hemming, my even gathers and band, and the hong kong finish on the skirt waistband.

Class 54 -- purse: I decided to enter the In Town drawstring bag I made in February (second from the left in this post). Third place! The judge thought it was cute, thought it could be reversed, and her only criticism was that it could be a bit fussy to open and close.

I am glad I went to watch. The judges were very strict on finishing, and repeatedly talked about using correct needle size for your fabric. They also always checked to see if collar edges matched exactly, if center fronts were equal, and if pockets were equal. The judges explained really well why they placed each garment as they did, and also gave tips for improving. It was also really long, and after lunch they started judging the classes out of order, which got a bunch of people mad. It was also a bit sad to see so few entries in most of the categories. Four places are awarded in each class, and rarely were there more than even three entries (except for purses -- there were eight entered).

I drop off 2 jars of jam on the 28th, but I won't stay for judging. I'll have to wait until we go to the fair to find out how those do.

Entries Finished!

I finished the wrap dress. Hopefully it'll place. All my entries are done, clean, and pressed, and I'm about to leave to drop them off. Judging is Friday, and I hope to go watch after my dentist appointment.

I think this dress looks a bit bumblebee-ish. We'll see how I like it once I actually wear it a bit. I love the pattern, and will write a review and more details once I get it back. (fabric is from Canvasbacks)

Out of Town Visitors

My mother-in-law and step-FIL came to visit last Tuesday, and we have been busy!

We attended an orchestra concert.

We had two birthdays to celebrate (my MIL's and Beth's).
We played croquet.

We went to the Boerner Botanical Gardens.

We worked on our sun room.

We had a wonderful visit.

Now to get cracking on my sewing -- State Fair entries are due tomorrow, and I'm halfway through Vogue 8379! Hopefully I'll get it done and give everything else a final press tomorrow morning.

Lots of Gardening

This is why there has been no sewing going on -- we've been working on the yard! Last Friday (the 29th) we had 6 yards of shredded hardwood mulch and an Autumn Blaze maple tree delivered. We then spent the weekend planting, weeding, and laying mulch. This is what the backyard along our neighbor's fence used to look like (this was taken 4 years ago):

This is what it looks like now:
Most of the plants have come from friends and my mom thinning out their gardens. I somehow also managed to get it so that it's been pretty much blooming since April/May. :) That was a nice accident.
I took some close ups of the flowers blooming right now:




We also have some milkweed and have been having fun checking on the caterpillars:

Now I'll be focusing on the other side of the yard.

Happy Fourth

We had a nice Fourth of July holiday, only now I'm all mixed up and keep thinking that today is Saturday. :)

Peter and Julie came up on the third, and we had planned to ride bikes downtown to watch the Big Bang fireworks, but it rained. We stayed home and played Trivial Pursuit instead.

Yesterday morning we walked up to Klode Park and watched the Whitefish Bay Fourth of July Parade. It was fun, and quite the parade! I'd never watched it before, and it closed with a bagpipe band (is that what you call a bunch of bagpipers? a band? corps? I have no idea).

Connor slept through the first part, even through all the sirens from the fire trucks and police cars.

We decided that Calvin would be really good at cheerleading. He has the strength and the balance.

Later on in the afternoon we went over to Luther's house to celebrate his daughter's first birthday. David drew a lion on the sidewalk for Connor.

Luther's father-in-law built this AWESOME tricycle for Elijah (Luther's son). It rocks! Connor loved it. Calvin and Elijah also played on it a lot, giving each other rides.

Little Pablo had fun too, and I had fun playing with him.

Last night we walked down to the beach and watched the fireworks. A nice ending to a nice holiday.

My mother-in-law comes to visit on Tuesday. Summer is so busy and goes by too fast!

Fiesta

Yesterday was my 37th birthday! Yay! We had some friends over for a party.

David shows Stu his mad grilling skillz.

We had mexican: fajitas, beans and rice, salsa, margaritas. Connor fell asleep while eating.

Look Beth, you made it on the blog! ;)

I got cocky and was teasing Caleb that he forgot to pie me. Unfortunately, my MOTHER remedied that error and got me!

Summer Camping

We had our annual group camping trip on Monday. It was wonderful. We camp in the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine Forest. Tuesday we spend the day at the beach in Elkhart Lake. Wednesday we go on a group hike before heading home. This year it was really hot and we didn't get rained out. This is the best group of families to go with, and the kids are fantastic. We had 21 kids this year, and all get along really well.






I'm already revising my camping checklist and looking forward to next year.

State Fair Registration

Today is the deadline for me to send in my State Fair entry form. They moved the date up a few weeks, and thankfully I remembered yesterday, or I'd be SOL! I printed off the forms and last night I figured out what I plan to enter.

Division 100:
Class 3 -- fabric baptismal outfit (my nephew's christening gown)
Class 31 -- one piece garment of stretch fabric (this will be Vogue 8379, yet to be made)
Class 33 -- serged item of clothing, using serging as main construction method (my Jalie 2449, why not?)
Class 40 -- woman's two piece sport outfit (this skirt, and this top)
Class 54 -- purse (an Amy Butler purse that is cut out but not sewn yet)

Division 206:
Class 620 -- combined fruit jam (peach-strawberry that I just put up this morning)
Class 624 -- strawberry jam (to be put up this afternoon or tomorrow)

They raised the entry fees (again!). Eight bucks for the first 5 items, four dollars for each additional 5 items. I have most everything made already, all that is needed is to make the knit dress and finish the purse. I toyed with doing a bathrobe too, but normally I don't like deadlines, so having to finish two items is enough. The actual garments are due July 18, with judging on July 20. I hope to actually go to judging this year (I say that every year, but it might actually work out this time).

Off to get this envelope in the mail so it can be postmarked today!

Strawberry Time

I know I've been lax in posting. School is out and we've been busy this week! I hope to get back in the sewing room soon, but right now, the garden has been calling.

Anyway, it's strawberry season, and we went picking at Barthel's today:
My mom shows Connor how to pick strawberries. (as an aside -- I made that sundress for myself over 17 years ago. It's held up really well. Good quality fabric -- rayon in this case -- is worth every penny)

We all had to sample the strawberries as we picked. :) I think I took home about 17 pounds of berries. We also picked sugar snap peas, and I bought some balloon flowers, hollyhocks, and a roma tomato. On the way home we stopped for some custard at Culver's. Yum yum!

Later this afternoon we brought some berries, peas, and food to my brother's friends, Dan and Kelly. They had a little boy on the 5th (who has a most excellent name). I got to sit and hold little Connor, which was such a treat (thanks guys!). I just LOVE newborns.

I hope to get some jam put up on Monday afternoon. Maybe some sewing after that.

First Birthday!

My nephew is ONE! Where has that time gone?!?

One year ago:


Yesterday:


Happy Birthday Cuzzy! We are looking forward to many more fun parties. Lots more pictures can be seen here.

The End of an Era?

I think diapers are a thing of the past in this household.

These are the only diapers I have used and washed in the past 8 days. About 2-3 weeks ago, Connor had a little bit of a rash, so I was letting him go either nakey, or just in a diaper with no cover. First he started telling me right when he was wet, and would take his diaper off. Then he started telling me that he had to go "pee toilet!", and run in the bathroom. He stayed dry through the night. He even stayed dry on our 7 hour drive to Iowa on Memorial Day weekend (both ways!).

This is a bit bittersweet. I'm pleased he's growing up, but I've never really minded diapers. Yeah, they can be stinky, but hey, it's part of parenthood. I've never had to deal with 2 children in diapers at the same time, and I've had fairly long diaper-free time between kidlets. Diaper changes are one of the few times I have the child still and just with me. We have our little silly belly kissing and games of peek-a-boo. We'll still play these silly games, of course, but no diapers also means my littlest baby is growing up, and doing it too fast for his mama. :)

It also means a little less laundry, and I am grateful for that.

Costumes

The production photos for the play that I helped build some costumes for are up. Unfortunately, you can't really see the ones I did. Anyway, if you go to Milwaukee Shakespeare's website and click on 'Production Photos' (it's a sub-menu under 'On Stage'), that will take you to the main photo page. Click on 1 Henry IV, and a separate window will pop up, with photos from the play. I built Hotspur's (Brian Gill) gray shirt (I don't think you can see it), Prince Hal's (Jeff Withers) black shirt (though he wasn't wearing it the day Calvin and I saw the play), and the prostitute's (Courtney Jones) chemise and skirt (which was then overdyed and roughed up a bunch). I also altered the skirt that I believe is worn by Mistress Quickly (Tiersa Ferraro).

It was fun to do, and when we saw the play, I had to remind myself to just enjoy it, instead of picking over my work. :)

Missing

You ever have one of those weeks (months?) that all of a sudden all these things need to be done, and you feel like you time warped ahead a few days and lost a bunch of time?

Yeah, it's been one of those weeks. :)

Socks!

We used the long holiday weekend to drive to Iowa to visit David's side of the family. It's about a 400 mile drive each way, and I worked on some socks for Calvin. I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted knit on 2s :


It was so nice to knit and listen to the iPod. This is the first sock. I used to knit socks quite a bit, and had a generic pattern in my head, but that's gone now. :) I used this sock calculator to come up with the pattern. I changed the heel flap directions to get the honeycomb effect. Turning the heel wasn't like I remember, so I need to look around and find a different one. Otherwise, everything else came back real quick. As you can see, I like to do socks on 5 dpns. I get all mixed up with 2 circs or that magic loop thing.

One Hot Skirt (#2)

My One Hot Skirt review is up at Sew, Mama, Sew! There are lots of detail pictures, including how I bound the bottom of this skirt, and how I prickstitch my facings down. After you go look, read all the other reviews -- it's Skirt Month in May, just in time for summer!

I wore this one on Saturday with a cute white top, but didn't get a picture. Maybe next time. :)

100 Things About Me

In honor of my 200th post (!), here are 100 things about me. I would've done 200, but that's a lotta things to come up with! Just read it twice instead. :)

1. I am left handed. extremely.
2. My husband says the whole kitchen is set up backwards.
3. I can write backwards without having to think about it.
4. I weigh 10 pounds less than what my driver’s license says.
5. I’m 1” shorter than it says too.
6. I don’t really care for chocolate.
7. Potato chips, on the other hand …
8. Popcorn too.
9. I also love popsicles.
10. and ice cream (though I need to take it easy with all that milk).
11. I prefer pie over cake, but with NO ice cream (they need to stay separate).
12. Milk is for baby cows, not people. It's nasty stuff!
13. My favorite beverage is lemonade or orange juice.
14. My favorite cocktail would have to be a fuzzy navel or Framboise beer.
15. I could eat mexican food every day!
16. I could probably eat italian just about every day too.
17. Thai food is awful.
18. I don't drink coffee.
19. I make it almost every day for my sweetie, and love the smell.
20. I like grinding the beans too.
21. But it tastes like shit.
22. Hot chocolate is my coffee (yeah, I know about #6, but this is different).
23. My favorite color is purple, followed closely by red.
24. I don't like blue much, but people say it looks good on me.
25. I LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes.
26. really love shoes.
27. a lot.
28. Impractical ones are the best. :)
29. I love shoe shopping as much as fabric shopping.
30. Otherwise, I don't like to shop.
31. One of my fantasies is to never have to go to the grocery store.
32. I like comic books.
33. I'll go see any movie based off of a comic book.
34. I rarely watch television.
35. However, Caleb has gotten me hooked on American Idol this season.
36. Maybe I should say it's Blake that has gotten me hooked.
37. I like techno, euro-pop, dance, and electronica music.
38. Can't stand country music.
39. or Nascar.
40. I swam on the boys Varsity swim team in high school.
41. There weren't enough girls to make a swim team.
42. So we swam on the boys team.
43. I worked as a lifeguard in highschool.
44. I also worked as a swimming instructor.
45. I prefered teaching to guarding.
46. It's funny, because I hated swimming lessons as a child.
47. I used to hide from my mom so I wouldn't have to go.
48. Then she'd find me and I'd go kicking and screaming.
49. Now I force my own children to go to swimming lessons.
50. They actually like them, however.
51. I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was 8.
52. I flunked my first try at a driver's license.
53. I got it when I was 17.
54. I still don't like to drive much.
55. I don't like to go fast.
56. David says I drive like an old lady.
57. I had purple hair last summer.
58. I loved it.
59. I can't sleep with the bedroom door closed.
60. My closet door has to be closed, however.
61. I like the blinds open too.
62. I'm severely nearsighted.
63. I can't see the shampoo bottle in the shower, or the clock on the nightstand.
64. I'm chicken to get lasik surgery.
65. I like how I look with glasses.
66. I want some glasses with rhinestones.
67. I used to have cheetah cat eye glasses.
68. My father was a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
69. I've watched open-heart surgery for real.
70. More than once.
71. It's simply amazing.
72. I almost fainted the time I watched when I was pregnant.
73. My second child was accidentally born at home.
74. on the front staircase.
75. My husband and my mom 'caught' him.
76. Hey, at least he wasn't born in the car!
77. Can you imagine having to clean that up?
78. We made it to the hospital with #3.
79. Had about an hour to spare. :)
80. The resident didn't believe my husband when he told her she better hurry up.
81. He told her (at 9:15 am) that the baby would be born by 10 am.
82. She looked at him like he had 3 heads.
83. Connor was born at 9:48 am.
84. Our doctor made it on time.
85. The older boys were with us too.
86. They got to meet their brother minutes after he was born.
87. That's pretty cool.
88. I'd say strawberries are my favorite fruit.
89. Mangoes, peaches, and pineapples are very close seconds.
90. I pick about 20# of strawberries each summer.
91. I put up strawberry jam every summer -- at least 40 jars.
92. Peach-strawberry jam is my favorite.
93. I love scalding hot showers.
94. I take a shower everyday.
95. But I only wash my hair once or twice a week.
96. I have one aunt, one uncle, and three cousins.
97. They don't speak english.
98. I'm fluent enough in spanish that I can converse with them.
99. It's hard, though, and after a while I get a headache.
100. I can't crochet.

One Hot Skirt (#1)

I know I've been quiet, but I have been sewing! I made and reviewed a skirt for the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog. Here is the first one, and the review, with oodles of pictures should be up on Monday. (It's the One Hot Skirt from Betsy Ross Patterns) I'll let you know, along with pictures of the second skirt.

Yesterday Calvin and I saw I Henvry IV (the production that I built some costumes for) and it was FANTASTIC! Today I'm dropping in on the Canvasbacks sale. Hopefully I'll get another Jalie 2449 stitched up (it coordinates with the skirt pictured) too.

Jalie 2449 - otra vez

I really like how this one turned out (goes great with my skirt, no? ~G~). This fabric is some type of poly knit that I bought at The Cutting Table a few years ago. It has less stretch than the rayon knit from Canvasbacks, pictured in the previous post. It feels great on my skin, and shouldn't be too hot to wear, especially on overcast cool days like today. This pattern is a definite winner and will be a staple top. I'll probably make some with a straight hem also.

Jalie 2449

Tomorrow is my monthly pattern club meeting, and we'll be discussing Jalie patterns. Yesterday I made up 2449, the crossover top. I started with a size T, and did a small FBA (1"). Instead of stitching the newly created dart, I just eased it in. I constructed the whole thing, except for the hems, on the serger. I've never done that before, and boy was it fast!

Man, it's hard to take a self-portrait. Overall, I like the style. I'm not sure I like this particular fabric on me that much. I think it's a way cool print (a rayon lycra I picked up at Canvasbacks a few years ago), but probably not the best colors for me. It's REALLY stretchy too. I cut it out again out of a navy/brown poly knit, and I'll stitch that up sometime today. I also have Jalie 2445, and 2327, but I doubt I'll get either of those done by tomorrow in time for the meeting.

If you've never looked at Jalie patterns before, go take a look. They have lots of nice casual sportswear, activewear, and underwear, and every pattern contains EVERY size, from 2T to adult.

How Did This Happen?

I'm mother to an ELEVEN year old? :)

Happy Birthday Caleb! I woke him up this morning with a pie in his face. I don't remember how that tradition (the pie in the face sometime on your birthday) got started, but it's pretty fun. After a birthday breakfast of bacon and pancakes, and opening one present (his new t-shirt) he's off to school. We made his birthday cake last night (raspberry), and I'll be bringing it to school for a treat this afternoon.


Tonight we'll have his birthday dinner (pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy -- he always wants the same thing), more cake, and more presents. We'll finish the evening with me telling him his birth story, which inevitably leads to me telling all the boys all their birth stories.

Wow, eleven.