LOST - meet my new friend, "Season Five"

We are avid LOST fans. J used to work on the show and still works with the same team of people on his current projects, so we REALLY love the show. Besides the fact that it's great. (and other than "CHUCK", the only thing I watch faithfully, though I am about 10 episodes behind on CHUCK...)
If you are a LOST fan, you know it can get tense. And if you are a friend of mine, you know I don't sit still very well. So I knit through each episode, taking my fears out on the yarn. (it's quieter than a sewing machine)
Last night's 2 hour season finale did me in... It also gave me time to finish up this season's project. J - who was sitting in stunned silence at the end of the show looked over at my little friend (he thought I was working on a scarf), burst out laughing, and immediately gave the little guy a name... "well, hello, Season Five!"

Jersey dress

J is out of town on business... Which meant a night of irresponsible sewing... My friend, Kellie, and I went out for fabric yesterday and I saw this sparkly brown jersey... (which I've never worked with... And don't want to again!) I was attempting to make a dress that was in "weekend sewing" by Heather Ross... But , despite all my excitement about following patterns lately... The dress was not working and my machine did not appreciate working with elastic thread.. So instead I got this. Jury is still out...but I'm wearing it out today and getting decent feelings about it... the big question comes from Mr. Libby Dibby's opinion when he gets back in town.
Is it good enough for my trip to Italy in 2 weeks?

Momma/Daughter Matching

Did you and your little gal wear matching Libby Dibby on Mother's Day (or recently)?
If you did, send me a pic in an email - or post it on a blog and send me a link... and I'll send you a present!

Here are two sweet samples. (thanks Cat and Jen!)

Mother's Day -Libby Dibby style

We have a big family - which means lots of mothers around to celebrate on Mother's Day. All of the family (on all sides - that's 3 sets of in-laws) get together for every holiday. It's very tidy, and very loud.... with 7 cousins in 5 years, there is never a dull moment.

That also means there are lots of gifts given and lots of chances for fun pics throughout the day.
Here are some highlights from our day...
The Design Director begged me to make her a dress to match my new green shirt... Though I am not super matchy matchy, I know she won't want to dress like me forever... I will treasure this photo now and know that the night it took to make her dress was time well spent.

My sister, Victory, opens up her "Auntie Vic" present, with Violet watching.

Mimi explains to Nanny how the fairies come live in your tree if you put up these magic windows and doors for them to enter.
These are vases from the Dollar Store that I gave the kids Sharpies to decorate for their grandmas.

The three very happy grandmothers. (left to right... my mom, my sis' mother in law, J's mom)
We are a blessed family, indeed.

More barrettes

The Design Director and I made that whole string of hair clips right before Easter - in time to give them to all the cousins. We lined them with velcro (the scratchy side) to stay in the hair and had a great time with ribbons, vintage yoyos and scrap buttons from Great-Grammy's collection.

They were well  received and we got a request for more from my sister who wants to give a bunch away as a gift for a family that just welcomed home a baby girl. So here are some of the second batch. Which I believe contains 36 all total... these are just some of my faves. After Victory gets the first pic, some of these may end up on etsy. We'll see.

Collage (Dollar store) candles

The kids and I made these this morning, while Daddy was catching up on some hard-earned sleep... We took Dollar Store candles, the kind with saints on them... And used ModPodge to secure tiny fabric scraps to them... They look even better than I expected them.

Mother's Day Sneak Preview

Okay, Mom and Nancy... sorry you're getting a sneak preview - I'll show our gifts later - since our moms both read the blog... but here is what our Mother's Day is starting to look like.

Once again, fun from the Tori stash of fabric.

re-usable gift wrap.... a la Tori Higa. (an idea she gave me, also)

I made open top bags, and used ribbon and brass tags....

Spring and green

Spring is here... Though it's been feeling like summer in L.A. this week. I have found myself wearing this color all week... Wondering if perhaps I love it more than RED??? (don't think so, but it's debatable this time of year)

I made this top last night with some fabric I'd been stashing for a while and some of my "Tori Higa Motherload" (fabric she offloaded on me as she moved cross country)... Like it, Tori?... I'll post where I got the tutorial in a little bit.... When I get some computer time...right now I'm in the kitchen with coffee... (okay... link is in. I got it at Sew, Mama, Sew...)

I like the square neckline and ruffled sleeves. But I especially love the color.

Sunset Shadows

Tonight's sunset had an orange glow (from the fires in Santa Barbara, presumably) that filtered into the house. I was mesmerized by it and the shadows that began playing on the walls.  It offered me the chance to take these magical photos.

(these photos have no filter, no photoshop, and hardly any cropping done.  They literally just happened...) They are already precious to me.

I feel like I am always trying to capture something like a shadow or impression that captures a self portrait kind of nature without being an obvious image of me (I believe I have mentioned I am a little camera shy)... and this fits the bill. The kids were having a lot of fun posing for them as well.  All we were missing was Jay, and yet, somehow there is a simplicity that I like in it. Perhaps with it just being momma and the kids at home... with our homemade curtains in the background, messy hair from the beach... it feels more intimate and peaceful. When Jay's around, the kids are simply so excited that we get few quiet moments like this.

New Posts on Designing Moms

here are the links to some new posts I've done for Designing Moms...

home tour

favorite kids book

decorating with ribbon scraps