Happy Birthday Michael

Thursday, May 15 was Michael's birthday. We both took the day off and had a wonderful relaxing time.

 

The night before he brought home his favorite pizza, Killer Pizza From Mars. I totally love the name, and have to admit it's pretty damn good pizza. Then the next morning we had his favorite cereal Count Chocula for breakfast. He got to open his presents in bed, and then we planned to go to the beach because he loves to play in the waves. But that meant we had to get out of bed and get dressed. We decided against that. So, basically we just had a nice relaxing day hanging around the house.

Michael's favorite place for dinner is a steak house on Harbor Island called Island Prime. So, eventually we got ourselves dressed and went to dinner. We had a great dinner as usual, but were way too stuffed to even think about his birthday cake sitting at home in the microwave. (It's the only cat-proof place) His cake was slowly eaten over this last weekend.

 

We didn't have any kind of over-the-top celebration for his birthday, but it was a nice quiet day for just the two of us. Michael is the greatest guy in the whole world and I'm so lucky to get to be his girlfriend. I hope he enjoyed his birthday this year, and I'm looking forward to many, many more.

 

Happy Birthday Michael Bacon!!

Where Have I Been?

Yes, I know, long time no post. After I found my camera things just got busy and I lost track of time.

 

Tracee came to visit from Sitka, Alaska. It was a quick whirlwind trip for only 4 days. She had lots of family and friends to see in a short amount of time, but she still managed to spend two nights with us. We saw Ironman which was an awesome movie! And she got to eat at Mr. Sulu's with us. Plus she and I got to have our quick little chick time in the makeup section at Longs.

After dinner and the movie we met the Green Fairy. Yeah, in case you hadn't heard, Absinthe is legal now! You can just pick it up at BevMo! Crazy, I know! I chose a bottle of French stuff called Le Torment Vert. I really wanted to start off with the traditional "La Louche" ritual. It involves slowly dripping ice water over a sugar cube into the green stuff. But because of attention span issues I just mixed in the sugar and ice water and Tracee mixed her Absinthe with champagne ala Ernest Hemingway. It's an anis flavored spirit with just little hint of mint. It's actually pretty refreshing, especially if you take a big whiff of the freshly opened bottle. It's cool stuff, I'll totally continue to drink it. But, no hallucinations, just a good quick buzz. It might show up at a Halloween party sometime...

 

She and I also spent way too much money on our hair at Robert Cromean's and ate way too much Mexican Food. We had a great time.

 

That same weekend Mimi turned 90! And Gail threw her a fabulous party. I made the cake, but unfortunately, I was so drained from all my time with Tracee I didn't snap a picture. Lala did, so I'll try to get one from her. It was a two tier chocolate cake with chocolate filling and whipped cream icing. Mimi's favorite is bluebirds so it was covered in little plastic bluebirds.

The following weekend was Mother's Day. Aunt Deb had a big get-together at her house on Sunday. All I had to bring was the Pink Fluff (as usual) and scalloped potatoes. But, I ended up cooking most of Saturday. I started by peeling and boiling the potatoes. While they were boiling I noticed that I had quite a few cake mixes and tubs of pre-made frosting, so I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Then I was telling Michael how funny is was that we had so much leftover rice, so I made him some rice pudding. We still had lots of rice, so I made two chicken and rice casseroles. I took advantage of the cooking the chicken for the casseroles to make some homemade chicken broth that I used to make millet later in the week. Somewhere in there I also made the Pink Fluff for Mother's Day.

We all found out on Mother's Day that Alex and Kim got engaged! He proposed to her the best way I've ever heard. It involved a shovel and a gopher hole! You'll have to ask Kim to tell the story, it's adorable! Anyway...

Congratulations Alex & Kim!!

It's Back!

Michael found my camera yesterday!!! He was being his usual sweet self and cleaning our bedroom. He picked up our clothes, made the bed, and he pulled all the teddy bears out from under the bed. Judo likes to steal the bears and drag them under the bed to violate them in who knows how many ways. She also likes to steal under garments, and used tissues, and hair rubber bands. While he was rescuing all our "lost" belongings from Judo's lair, he found my camera! It had been drug all the way into the center of the bed!

Now, the last time I saw my camera it was on the kitchen counter. I inspected it this morning and found lots of new scratch marks- I think I know how they got there. There is a very definite snag in the wrist strap, and a few new scratches on the edges. I think Judo found a new heavy silver treasure (my camera) on the kitchen counter a couple weeks ago and started batting at it. Things probably got a little out of hand and the silver treasure ended up on the floor. It probably made some noise, which caught Annie's attention. When Annie came running over to check things out, Judo probably grabbed the wrist strap to make off with the silver treasure before Annie could get her paws on it. I can only guess that Judo started dragging the silver treasure away from Annie and put it in the only safe place a sink-dwelling monkey cat can stash things; under the bed with the violated bears. Once she got it there, I'm sure she was distracted by a stuffed shark toy or maybe an especially tantalizing bra (Judo loves to steal bras), and completely forgot about the heavy silver treasure.

But Michael found it! And my camera and I are reunited!

Pictures to come soon.

Baby Clothes

...And a quilt for Elliot.

Jess and Elliot were in town visiting a couple weeks ago and I decided I should give Elliot something made out his "Bravest Dragon" fabric. I actually bought the fabric last Spring to make his crib set. But, I'm lame and never made his crib set. I figured the least I could do was make him a beach-time jumper set and a little baby quilt. I bought New Look 6687 last year and never got a chance to use it. It's for little girls, but I added a pocket and omitted the ruffles to make it for Elliot. I use some navy blue and light green left over from a box of remnants Jessie's Grandma Mimi gave me. It turned out really cute! This is great pattern. It's one of those "spinning rack" patterns that you don't even have to look up in the book. I love to just grab a couple of those patterns on a whim. They always turn out to be some of my favorites. I'm sure I'll be getting lots of use out of this one.

 

I used mostly Elliot's dragon fabric for his quilt. I used more of the navy and the green from Mimi, and a little yellow check that I had leftover. I always use Warm and Natural for my quilt batting. It's thinner that anything else, and much, much warmer. For baby blankets I just buy the crib and craft size that comes pre-cut in a package. I happened to have some white cotton quilt binding in my stash, so I finished off all the edges of Elliot's quilt with it. The backing is more of his dragon fabric.

It was so nice to spend a little time with Jess and Elliot. Jessie is the best mom ever! And Elliot couldn't be cuter! He is such a happy baby. It's really cool to see Jerry and Gail with their adorable little grand-baby. I love you guys!

I also used New Look 6687 to make a dress for my friend Anar's baby, Ava. I made the dress in pink and white dots with the ruffles. You really can't get more girly.

Ava was just born in December, so I made size small. Hopefully it will fit her for the summer.

 

...and my camera is still missing

Have You Seen My Camera?

Somehow I've lost my camera. It's been missing for about 2 weeks. That's why I haven't posted anything. What fun is a blog with no pictures?

 

I took all last week off for Spring Break and I sewed up a storm. I took pictures of most of my stuff with my cell phone. But I'm still very sad about my camera.

For Easter, I made Michael a skull shirt in his usual pattern. He chose the fabric at Joann, and we found the cool sterling silver skull buttons on eBay. I wish I could get him to actually model his shirts for pictures, because they look really great on him! After making this one, we realized that this isn't really the best collar and front facing style. For his next shirt, (red/black Ninja fabric) I'm going to draft him a new pattern. I have a Lutterloh pattern for men with a collar stand and top-stitched front facings. I think he'll like it much better. But, he wore his skull shirt at Easter with my family. It looked really great on him, and he got lots of compliments.

My Mom's birthday was on Good Friday this year. We got her an avocado tree and Michael took us out to a fabulous dinner at The Crab Catcher in La Jolla. In addition to the great dinner, he had a dozen roses waiting for each of us when we met him at his office Friday afternoon! I'm such a lucky girl! I also made my mom a shirt with her signature Simplicity 4077. This time I used view D. It has 3/4 length sleeves with a really cute cuff. I used some Tracy Porter quilting fabric that I got for a steal after Christmas 2006. I've been saving it in my stash for something special, and I think a shirt for mom was just the thing. It's a really soft brushed cotton in light yellows and greens. I found some buttons that look like they are some type of shell in a light alabaster/green tone.

I really liked how the sleeves turned out. They were easy because you don't have to turn any hems! Hooray for no hems! I'm pretty sure the method for turning hems was invented by Satan himself. The cuffs are just doubled and sewn onto the bottom of the sleeve. Then I serged the edge to finish it, and pressed it up toward the sleeve. She loved her shirt and actually wore it for Easter. I made her an Easter dress (I forgot to take pictures), but I think pants and a blouse were more comfortable for running around helping the grandkids find Easter eggs at Aunt Deb's ranch. The shirt fit her great, and she really looks beautiful in pastel yellows and greens.

I actually did wear a dress for Easter. But I'm always more comfortable in dresses and skirts. Plus, I pretty much dress like a boy for work everyday. So, I wear dresses and skirts every chance I get. I haven't watched Project Runway in a couple seasons, but I think it's so cool that Simplicity has patterns inspired by the show. I used Simplicity 2951. Basically it's a empire dress that can be strapless, sleeveless, or has a couple different sleeve variations. I used the puffed 3/4 length sleeves and I used the pockets.

I used some$1/yd (my favorite price) green polyester. I actually like polyester. I don't know why I like it; I just do. Anyway, it's pretty thin, so I had the line the skirt. I used a bed skirt I bought to use as lining fabric for 95 cents at a thrift store. This is the second dress I've lined with it! I absolutely love this dress. It is so comfortable and easy to wear! Plus, it's super easy to make. It was so nice to just mindlessly follow the pattern instructions. I didn't do any crazy design changes and the sizing was perfect for me; no alterations! I think I'll make it in black eyelet next.

Hopefully I'll find my camera soon...

 

 

 

 

Tree Hacker

 

Yes, the Halloween Party plans are already beginning. I've always wanted to take the Halloween Party decor "to the next level". Luckily, Michael feels the same way. We already have lots of creepy ideas brewing, but I'm most excited about our tree hacking venture.

 

There are plans all over the web for hacking a little talking fake Christmas tree (Douglas Fir), and putting his moving parts into a life size skull. The problem is that the Douglas Fir trees were discontinued years ago, and there are so many Halloween freaks out there that when they do show up on eBay, they go for a pretty penny. But, Michael and I found something that I think will work even better.

 

It's the Wacky Animated Tree Face.

 

This guy gets twist-tied onto your Christmas tree for the holiday season, and makes for a truly "Wacky" Christmas with his songs and jokes. If that isn't weird enough for you, he also comes with a microphone. That's right you can talk through your Christmas tree and make your children never want to get close to an evergreen again.

 

Or, you can buy one super cheap on eBay, hack into it, and fuse its moving parts into a life-size skull!

 

The tree face arrived a couple days ago. It came with working batteries, so it started talking before I even got it out of the box and scared the crap out of me! Now we're just waiting for the skull so our creation can be completed!!!

MWAH, HA, HA !

 

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing

I've been really in a sewing mood. It must be because February is fashion month, and the fashion node in my brain is responding to environmental signals. Or I'm just a big dork that likes to sew a lot!

I've been wanting to make my own jackets to wear to work for a while now. I work in a very cold, poorly constructed cement building. It doesn't matter how warm it might appear outside, it's guaranteed to be freezing in my lab. I have to dress in layers at work because, when I leave my lab to go just about anywhere else on campus, not only I get hot, but the people I work with all think I'm wacko for being bundled up all the time.

I need cute jackets that are warm but still fairly thin so I can move around and do my job. If hooded sweatshirts, and warm cozy sweat pants weren't so completely unflattering and slovenly looking, I would wear them to work everyday. The hooded sweatshirt with the Kangaroo-pouch really is the ideal upper body warming garment. I love them, I could write a whole blog about them... maybe someday.

I bought two vintage jacket patterns from Michelle over at Patterns from the Past. Patterns from the Past is really great. I've been buying vintage patterns from them for close to 10 years. I highly recommend checking them out. Anyway, I bought one car coat pattern with raglan sleeves, and one kinda fitted jacket pattern that is fully lined. The car coat is Kwik Sew 419. It has raglan sleeves and can be made single or double-breasted. I'm not a big fan of double breasted things on women, so I made the single breasted version.

As long as I can remember my mom had this plaid stuff in her fabric stash. I would rummage through things looking for something cute to make Barbie a new dress or some sort of garment to torture my cat, Muffin, with. And I would always get down to the big piece of plaid and realize I was at the bottom of the stash. Eventually I realized that it's probably some good fabric and I should save it for... something. So when I kinda took over her stash for her, I always had it at the bottom just like mom. Well, I finally washed it and cut into it. I think it's wool. Its really thin, but really warm. Perfect for my chilly lab.

For some reason I always put crazy deadlines on my sewing projects. I told my self I was going to make this last Monday night and wear it to work on Tuesday. I did, but Tuesday was miserable. I stayed up until 3 am, because I didn't actually start sewing until about 8:45 pm. Needless to say I was really tired by the time I got to the buttons. I didn't have any real buttons that would work, but I happened to have just the right size forms to make my own. I didn't even try to make the plaid match on them.

The other jacket pattern is a Simplicity pattern from the 70's, I'll post pictures of it when I start sewing.

My cousin Alex's girlfriend, Kim, gave me the cutest birthday card with a pink and green paper flower on it last month. I liked the colors so much I wanted to wear them. Kim is so crafty and talented. I thought I should make a Kimflower shirt, since she took the time to make me such a cute card. I made the paper flower into a broach, and bought some $1/yard pink and white polka-dot fabric. I had the green quilting cotton in my stash, so I just made some bias strips. I downloaded the Tara top pattern from Burda Style. I changed it a little to have kimono sleeves. The bottom is too wide, so I need to take a few inches off each side before I wear it. Burda Style is a really great source for free patterns. Anyone who sews should check it out.

My mom is the sweetest lady in the whole world. If she thought you might need it, she would give you the shirt off her back. So I wanted to make her a special shirt for her fun little get-away to Arizona this weekend. I always use Simplicity 4077 for her shirts. They just look really great on her.

I used a corduroy print that has just a little bit of stretch. And I found these great blue shank buttons.

(I really need to learn to take better pictures!)