Last chance for this skirt...

This skirt sold faster than all the other spinny skirts... and it, of course, is the discontinued pattern from Fall Springs.... so I thought we were out for good, until I went sorting through my scrap bags from the other night - and I found a mini-motherload - enough at least to make 2 or 3 skirts.
So I have made a listing for it on etsy.

okay, enough about that. I just posted it, since so many of you asked.

Pants! For me!

Okay. I'm burning the midnight oil a little, but I am freaking out over how cute these turned out! They are a modification (I can't follow directions well and always want to change things) on Amy
Butler's wide leg pants pattern, from her book, In Stitches. They were so easy to make and I have never made pants before...
And I actually had 2 leftover pieces of her fabrics to piece together to make these wide leg capris. Sooooo fun.
It's a little too cold to wear these now, but this is LA, it won't be that long...
I made another (silky) pair in the full length style that I am putting on right now!
I'm going to bed now, I promise...

Bags of Scraps

I had one of my seamstresses drop of 5 ENORMOUS bags of really fabulous scraps here the other night. I'm just dying to do a million and one fun projects with them, but in all reality, I could be sewing until kingdom come before making it through all of these scraps.

So in the interest of sharing the fun and love, I am going to put up a listing on etsy for scrap bags... i.e. 1/2 lb of gloriously fun Libby Dibby patterned scraps for you to play with, sew, scrapbook, glue, etc...
If anyone is interested - let me know. I can also make it biased toward certain patterns or color palettes, like Blue Sky Girl, Hollywood, red/white...

Scrap skirt... Birthday gifts...

Still in my jammies this morning, but at least I whipped this up for the birthday party we are headed to... (don't peek, Jen!) ... Complete with a crooked pocket purse and all!

Book Bags

So now that it's January, I'll have time to post some of the fun projects that have been going on around here... this one was inspired by some of the projects from the first "craft nite" that I hosted last month. I've since made a few of these book bags and I'm getting faster and more pleased with each one... these two were made for my mom and my sister's mom-in-law for Christmas.
My mom's is the longer one (made long enough to fit a Beth Moore workbook... which are always big).

Let me see if I can get together a tutorial... they're so easy....

Happy Everything

What kind of friend have I been to you?
.. not too great - as I haven't even wished you a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year?
I just got so into my projects, and then the family-ness of it all... that I simply neglected to thank you - who I am so happy to have in my cyber-life - rejoicing with me in triumphs and joys - and encouraging me in the hard times. You've been a blessing to me this year!
Thank you for being my bloggy friend and for reading this humble little scene.

I spent a lot of time this Christmas thinking about another humble scene... about a young mother who was faced with so much insecurity and instability - and it really was a sweet thing to dwell on - to refocus on, as it's so easy to get swept away with all the obligations of the season. To think of God caring enough to give gifts to us and then to wrap it in humble, humble packaging.

...which made me think of "packaging" I have in my life that I want to lighten up on. Maybe to accept more humble means....

I have a list I am working on... J and I yearly sit down with a New Years journal that we started the year before we got engaged... and we read, laugh, and re-read all the lists that we have made over the years - things we've accomplished and things we wish we'd done... books we read - unexpected things that happened... It's a wonderful tradition for us.

This year's lists are jumping around in my head now - and a few lines are in my journal, but for now, they are there. (I'll share later)

As I wish you a Happy New Year tonight, I challenge you to think about the wonderful things you accomplished this year, the ways you grew, the surprises (both good and bad) that shaped 2008 - and not to just lay down goals (LOSE WEIGHT!) that feel rote and sometimes unattainable ... but to rejoice in what happened this year - and to thing of some of the humble, attainable things that lie ahead in 2009.

January is my favorite month. I love the quiet. I love the lack of things on my to-do list. It's a simple month, and often quite a creative time for me. I'm very excited to turn the calendar tonight.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!

Mimi & mama project

So the design director decided the morning of one of our many Christmas parties that we needed to bring a dolphin toy to her friend, Marley. So there we were, in our jammies, sewing away, stuffing and wrapping up a storm... We had to make one to keep, obviously...

Baby Z gets some new threads

I've been sewing all day!
Here is something I've been meaning to do since Ze Artiste decided that MY old Cabbage Patch Kid was his "Baby Z" complete with the original saggy baseball uniform that I opened the box to find him in. (I believe his name was something like OTTO back then) Baby Z is the only baby that Ze Artiste will play with, he is not into girlie dolls.

So today, I made the baby some new clothes... For Christmas, to match Ze Artiste -and the shorts I made him a while ago... It is still a challenge, to make doll clothes or boy clothes that are not woosy... But I love this outfit... I hope my little man does, too.

Flamingo Christmas

What am I doing while not wrappjmg presents like a madwoman? Helping my little wonder be a flamingo... This after whipping up a pillowcase angel costume this morning for the Christmas pageant at church...Nevermind the impossibly messy room... It was spotless 24 hours ago.
Oy vey.

Weather

I am really inspired by today's rare Los Angeles stormy sky ... I loved Chicago's wild weather when we lived there for 5 years...And I miss snow so much at Christmas ...
I'm itching for some weather reports from you all... Will you send me a photo of how it looks outside?