It was merry enough

For some reason, I don't feel as satisfied by this Christmas as I have in years past and I can't pinpoint why I feel this way. I think part of it was that I didn't have enough time to properly nest and prepare the house to feel Christmasy. I really wanted to make more decorations, cookies, gifts....just make in general. All and all, I can't complain. Our lives are very full of friends, family, beautiful things and good health. Let's hope that 2009 brings us more of the same (and lots of making!).

Merry Christmas!

Getting there....

I made these girls for the craft fair next weekend (!). Here they are in different stages of finished. They have been such a pleasure to make and I just hope others like them. Now off to sew some more capes and skirts. Time is not on my side since we have Jan's Nutcracker performance Friday and Saturday. Breathe, Laura, breathe....

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Check out this adorable outfit Kathleen is giving away....

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oh, I've never won anything, but I guess it's worth a shot! Pick me, pick me, pick me!

Capes

I've been sewing lots of capes lately for some adorable little girls I know. I'm planning to sew a bunch in different colors for a craft fair just (gulp!) three short weeks away.

What started out as birdwatching....

...quickly turned into a ladybug love session due to one 3 1/2 year old's VERY bad mood. Oh well, birdwatching may happen next weekend. What an amazing variety of birds we have in the Bay Area. Hopefully, I'll get to some sewing done this week and have some things to show and tell. I've been so inspired to make my own doll and haven't been able to stop myself despite looming deadlines and commitments....

Pumpkin patch

Happiness is a new stack of fabric....or is it?!?!

I have so much sewing to do before December 7th. I've signed up to do a craft fair, have a bunch of orders to work on and Halloween costumes to make. So I have a stack of fabric staring at me and ideas swirling constantly. Let's see....fabric houses, Alice in Wonderland, Red Riding Hood capes, beautiful skirts, pants, bags, tutus all to me sewn in the next 8 weeks. Yikes, I'm starting to sweat. It's all good...I think!
We are enjoying the onset of fall (as wimpy as that is in California) and trying to spend lots of time outside for fall walks. It's still a bit too hot in my opinion.

Done!

This little order has been hanging over my head for a while and I'm SO relieved to have it DONE: totebags for two sisters (with adorable Heather Ross mermaids inside) and little red riding hood skirt (sorry for the awful picture). Now I can move on to the diaper bag I have to make in the next two days. Yikes!

Preschool

Katya started her second year of preschool last week. As much as I've come to question the benefits of formal elementary school (which is why we're homeschooling this year), I do still believe strongly in the benefits of a play-based preschool where young children can just learn to be with others in a warm, loving environment. I just cannot understand why that all has to end at the tender age of 5. I have come to trust and respect the awe-inspiring intelligence of children. They are wired to learn and grow and want to be grown up. More than ever, I believe in a quote I read of Piaget that "Everytime we teach a child something, we prevent him from inventing it for himself." How true!

Little bag

I made this little bag for Katya a while back and love it more everytime I look at it. I'm sure I like it more than she does. Maybe I should make one for myself...could I get away with it? I'd like to make my way through this Japanese embroidery book with a new little bag for every new pattern. Or maybe I should do this with my Wee Wonderful stitchettes.

Can a girl ever have too many bubble dresses?

I sure hope not because this is the second bubble dress by Oliver + S and I'm not stopping with this one. I just adore these patterns and ordered two more from the new fall line. They are expensive, but well worth the money. They come together beautifully and make me feel like such a good seamstress.

I saw this fabric on sale at my favorite fabric store and just knew it HAD to be a bubble dress. And got to use fabric covered buttons on the back! I'm already wanting to make a fancy one for the holidays....let the fabric hunt begin!

Happiness is a new stack of fabric

I have never been so excited to get fabric in the mail. Yesterday my rather large (!) stack of Heather Ross Mendocino (ordered from here) arrived. I am such a huge Heather Ross groupie and was overjoyed to find her new blog the other day. She even included a sundress pattern in her latest post.

I just sat and marveled over the adorable prints and amazing quality of it all. I'm imagining a dress for Katya and many promised totebags I have to make (soon to make their way into the shop). It came at the perfect time since I've been in a sewing slump. I think I have too many ideas floating around and can't decide where to start. Now I do...and maybe I'll even order more (shhh....don't tell Andrei).

Broken

Our little Tarzan fractured his arm last week. Poor guy....unfortunately the cast hasn't hampered his monkey-like behavior too much. Let's just all hope he doesn't break the other arm!

Trying to be all artsy

This camera is making me feel all artsy and I cannot stop taking pictures. How much fun we (well, I) had the other day while hanging out at a cafe with the kids.

Reverisble Bird Seed Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

I've been admiring (silently) all the beautiful things that Kathleen makes for her girls on her blog Grosgrain: http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/ And it seems that she's generous as well as talented because she's giving away her amazing creations on a regular basis:
Reverisble Bird Seed Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Is there anything cuter than a little girl in a tutu?

Well, perhaps two little girls in tutus. Katya and her best friend got together today for a little photo shoot of some tutus I've put in my etsy shop. Oh my, I almost can't stand the cuteness that I witnessed...

And here I thought I was a bad photographer....

Little did I know that a good lens changes EVERYTHING! I got this fancy new camera from my technology-loving husband, who then (bless his heart) decided that I needed a fancy new macro lens as well. So, check this out:

I just love the ability to get really close and how the portraits just pop because the background becomes all blurry. What perfect timing as I'm photographing things for my etsy shop today in hopes of having it up and running tonight!

Summer wonders

We were lucky enough to see a newly transformed frog at a friend's house the other day. Growing up we used to have hundreds of frogs (or toads?) in our own backyard, but now they're somewhat hard to come by due to environmental changes. The kids were entertained by this little guy for more than an hour.