Decided on a costume for myself...

After digging through my stash, I've decided to make myself a costume using Simplicity 8855. It's a discontinued pattern, but it seems to have been re-released as Simplicity 3623 (I think the colors used on the first envelope are a lot prettier). I'm going to make the one with the plaid skirt with matching shawl and hat, and the solid-colored vest. For the blouse, I have some white-on-white paisley-print fabric. Paisleys are not Irish, but I think it'll look okay.

I have a lot of plaid fabric, but most of it lightweight (voile, etc)... not quite right for this. So I found some medium-weight 100% wool suiting on Fabric.com for $5.19/yd!! Plus my 5% cash-back rebate from FatWallet.com.

I have the male version of this pattern, Simplicity 8193, but my husband is not interested in wearing it, or having me make anything for him.

Now, off I go to work on perfectin' me brogue... I'm not even Irish, but at least I have the red hair!

Halloween patterns have been decided...

... for my daughters, anyway. My 8yo will wear a dress made from out-of-print Simplicity 9836, view B (the one of the tan dress with the green bodice/vest and pink apron). I bought this pattern years ago thinking it would make a good hobbit costume for her. I don't have any idea how to curl her hair, though (I am totally lousy at hairstyling!) It's a full one-piece underdress with the bodice/vest over the top- she can always use the underdress as a nightgown after Halloween.




And so far I plan to dress my 3yo in Butterick 3592/P233, view B... that's the gold/pink one in the photo. It'll be a white-ish dress with a brown vest, and she'll be Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. (This is only my plan so far, I might change it).



I haven't got the faintest idea what to dress myself as, or what to dress my sons (10yo and 1yo) as. 10yo wants to be a soldier or a fireman, but I don't have fabric for either of those things, and I'd have to size up a pattern.

Are these lemons ever going to ripen? And teensy updates.

I have some good-sized lemons on my lemon tree, but they aren't ripening! One of them has been there since March!

I have a lone orange on my orange tree, LOL. Nothing on the rest of my trees.

Fall is coming, I need to go and "clean out" my garden boxes. I got a good harvest of beans (they were delish) and more jalapenos and peppers than I could use, but not much else. The lettuce and carrots didn't grow, even though I planted several varieties of each. I wanted to plant a fall garden but I didn't get the chance to. My 3-year-old is extremely rambunctious right now, she does not nap during the day so I can't go out to the garden then, and if I take her with me she keeps getting into so much stuff out there (or trying to climb our chain-link fence) that I don't have time to get anything done. *Sigh* My 1-year-old is generally good when I sit him in his stroller to watch me...

We're expecting rain all this next week, including heavy thunderstorms tonight. It'd be a good time to plant ryegrass for a winter lawn, if I had any seed. I planted bermudagrass last month and it has sprouted, but I think it's going to go dormant soon, and it might be too young to handle winter dormancy...

Gotta start thinking about Halloween...

Our church Halloween part is in 3 weeks, and Halloween itself is 4 weeks away. I need to start planning some costumes for the kids, and maybe myself. (I don't yet know whether I'll dress up or not).

I need to use patterns & fabric out of my stash- no buying anything. That will be a challenge for my 10-year-old (he'll be 11 by then) son. There aren't very many patterns in his size (largest that most kids' patterns go is an 8), and the ones that are available are things he doesn't want to dress as!

With my 8-year-old and 3-year-old daughters, I suppose I'll have to do something historical-themed... or princess-y, if I can manage it.

Just my luck

Last week I ordered some patterns (4, I think) from SewingPatterns.com, when they were having a $2.99 McCall's pattern sale. With shipping they ended up being around $20 for 5 patterns... they normally go on sale at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby for $1-$2 each, but the nearest JoAnn's is 80 miles away and the nearest Hobby Lobby is 45 miles... and I rarely have need to go to either of those towns, and it never happens during a pattern sale, so I didn't think I'd get a chance to go.

Well, yesterday my husband had a test to take in a completely different town, and he wanted me to drive there with him (it was a 1 hr 40 min drive). The test took about an hour, so what was I supposed to do with the kids while waiting? Turns out there was a Hobby Lobby just 1/2 mile away! I went there and wandered around for a while (and bought a discounted remnant of Dora the Explorer fabric for my Dora-crazy 3-year-old, and some bandanas to make some bandana pants... and saw that McCall's patterns were on sale for 99¢ each! It figures, huh? I could've saved $15-$16 if I'd just waited a week or two (I had no idea the pattern sale was coming up though, or that my husband would need to be in that town that day). My 3-year-old was acting very obnoxious though and was constantly trying to climb out of the basket, so I didn't take time to look at any more patterns (I later thought that I should've bought some back-up patterns for the ones I ordered last week and that I'm still waiting to receive in the mail... they're plus-size girls' patterns, and there are very few modest ones out there, so I'll have to be making the same patterns but trying to modify or decorate them for more variety).

Anyway, in the mail on Tuesday I got the Butterick B4972 pattern I ordered off eBay for my daughter. Too cute! I don't really like the bubble-skirt look so I think I'll make the skirt w/o that elastic casing at the bottom andf lengthen it to below-the-knee (it'll just be a normal pleated flare skirt), and I'll make the jacket... but without the lace cut-out on the back. The pattern says "Pants D are above mid-knee length"... not quite sure what that is (just above the knee?) and I wish I knew how to lengthen them into pants, as winter is coming and my daughter will need some pants. I can't find any plus-size pants patterns in a style I like...

My sister is married!!

She got married in Las Vegas on Friday! Hooray, I am so excited for her! Now I need to get used to calling her by a different last name, LOL!

Her reception is in November, so I need to get started on her dress soon!

What to do first, what to do first.... hmm. Bodice or skirt? Hmmm...

Patterns for my daughter

I've been looking around at patterns. I haven't been able to find much, but here's what I have so far:

Butterick 4972 (ordered off eBay for less $$, it's out-of-print so it can't be bought in stores)
McCall'a 5745 (bought online at SewingPatterns.com during a $2.99 sale... not as cheap as a sale at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, but cheaper than gas to either of those places, and cheaper than Walmart)
McCall's 5135 (also ordered at SewingPatterns.com).

I'm also keeping these in mind (some are OOP, some are not):

McCall's 4765 or McCall's 4246 (for special occassions)
Simplicity 2878
Simplicity 4106