Halloween and Sewing

Halloween was fun!!!  I made the costumes for the kids, which was pretty good.  I didn't sew them or anything....maybe next year :)

Caim was Rainbow Dash, a My Little Pony.  Carl was Minion Carl, of course :)

 

For anyone who is unfamiliar....This is Rainbow Dash.

I have progression photos for the hat and the wings for Rainbow Dash

I am giving credit for the hat, I used the main pattern of the Unicorn Hat by Sarah Zimmerman
And the Eyes I got it off the blog of Calleighs Clips and Crochet Creations.
She does not put up a pattern, only pictures and how she put it together...but I printed off a pic of the eyes, and counted stitches and made it work for myself.  I did write down the directions for myself for the eyes, however....

 

Left Eye ALL SC
MC 6 - black
2 in each (12) black
SC 1, SC 2 in 1 repeat (18)
Color for this row is 4 black, 12 raspberry, 1 light pink, 1 raspberry
SC 1, SC 2 in 1 repeat (27)
Color for this row is 12 stitches of black (4 into the raspberry you switch to white) Finish off the row in White (15 white)
Then Start back with the black again and go till you’re just 3 stitches into the white from the prev. row….and stop and finish off. I’m embroidering with extra yarn the 3 eye lashes.
The Right Eye is just the same as before, but backwards. so for the 2nd row it’s 1 rasp, 1 light pink, 12 raspberry, 4 black….
Goes the same for all the rows except the last partial black row. That one I SS to the prev row to minimize the effect, turned, and went the way i came until I was 3 into the white from the previous row.

Here's the Wings....

I pretty much cut a template out of a cereal box, cut out everything and hot glued it to death layer by layer.  Started with the foam on each side of the wings.  Then I did the paper to the foam.  Then I did the little wings, I used 2 layers of felt to make them fat.  Then glued the paper to the felt.  Then glued them to the bigger wings.
They were a tad heavy on her back, so I took a stapler and stapled the straps high on the upper part of the wings so the center of gravity on them would move and they'd hang against her upper back.  Then I took some felt and hot glued a strip of it to over the stapled portions of the straps for extra stability.

I will admit, they did come apart by the end of the Halloween night.  But they lasted for the parade at school and trick-or-treating....but it was a constant drizzle/mist/rain flipping between the 3, for our almost 2 hours of trick-or-treating.  So I am thinking that is a main reason they fell apart, paper and water?  Yeaaaah.

Carl I just got some blue overalls from Goodwill, really, and bought a straight yellow long-sleeved shirt online for like $5 and made the hat, which I whipped up with no pattern!  I used a pattern that I had as a reference on how it was increased and decreased.....but the rest of it I just did all on my own.  I was pretty proud of that :)

Some other projects I did in September and October....

A DNA bookmark for an Orphan Black swap.  I just kind of went with a grid pattern for the DNA strand and just made it myself.  I used a sock loom to get the tight, closeknit look that I needed, and I used intarsia knitting, so that there's not strands of yarn strung across the back of it.  I was pleased with the look of it.

Another square for the Moogly 2015 CAL afghan that we make a new square every 2 weeks....of which I am behind several.

Soft Kitty from Big Bang Theory as a gift for the Lovely Bonnie!

Another square for the CAL.....and I'll never make this square again as long as I live.  It was pretty miserable.  But it was a pattern I had never done...so I tried it.  Yep, tried it....and I'm done.

Some spider web gloves to wear on Halloween at the Halloween party that I signed up to help at for Caim's Kindergarten class.  It was quite fun :)
They played walk the plank, we did mystery boxes with noodles for brains and candy corn for teeth and all that stuff, we did a bozo buckets thing, they decorated bags for treats.  It was a really fun time :)

And then just last night I learned how to sew on a machine!  I never took Home Ec and I have no clue.  But I figured, hey, maybe I can sew a costume, my mom always did....and I am blank.  Nothing.  Zip.  Deer in headlights.
So I took a class with someone from work :)  And we made a pillowcase.

And it turns out I'm not completely inept!!  I really like it actually.  I can see making Market Bags and things as gifts.  I found on Pinterest, of course, all these free patterns for American Girl Doll clothes and leggings and market bags made out of old T-shirts....I'm so excited to start doing some stuff in this realm!!

That's about all for now.  I've got a lot of stuff lined up, hopefully, if time and energy permit, to make the kids for Christmas.  Money is always tight and we have to do what we have to do.  So hopefully I can make it work and they'll still have a good Christmas, even if half or more of it is homemade.

Have a great day!!

First Day of Autumn!

Well, we're heading into Autumn...officially now.  The weather here in Illinois has been so screwy lately. I much prefer the cool weather, so I'm looking forward to not having to deal with the blazing sun and hot that keeps cropping back up.

I am just working like crazy.  Trying to get everything done.  Keep the house in order.  Organizing, still....always a work in progress, the house is.

I finished spinning that Owl back in July.  I spun it all up....and here's the final products....

I think they turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so, myself :)

I am spinning another Owl this term in HPKCHC.  I'm spinning up a History of Magic Owl....vanishing enough fiber into yarn to create 3 adult pairs of socks for my 3 character interpretations.  I've got Zygmunt Budge (Felix Felicis inventor)  all yellow and golden.  Hermione Granger, pink with some dark purples and other vibrant colors mixed in.  And Draco Malfoy, all green and dark with some pops of sparkle and shine cause there's some good deep down in there.  And here it all is.

In August we celebrated 11 years of marriage, some rocky, most not.  But it's been a good run, so far.  So here's to another 11! 
We actually had our first kid-free weekend!  Thank you, John and Kay (brother and SIL)!!!  Who generously took them and had good times with them while we spent some quality time together and got ourselves some tattoos as well.

Jeff's tattoo for the Taurus representing Carl....
(have to add in a little bit)

My Tattoo of Carl's footprint from birth with his birthday, FINALLY, and Caimbrie's name in her handwriting above her footprint... (also needs to be added later)

And my AWESOME watercolor hummingbird :)  Who we found out later is a take off a DC watercolor hummingbird (I just found a photo of one I liked on the net and we went with that).  But I will eventually fill up that left calf/lower leg with water color tats....very excited for that :)
This was done by Ashley at Gary's Tattoos in Galena, IL....and she is fanfuckingtastic, in my opinion :)

So I've done a little crafting, but mostly spinning.  But here's my latest crafty things...

The Salt Water Taffy spin....it was AMAZING!

Some fiber I purchased from Psalm 23 at the Wisconsin State Fair for an Orphan Black swap.

Some Girl on Fire Fiber and spun up....gradient fire yarn...I love it!

And some coasters and an Owl I made for Nancy's birthday....and then she left us to go to Milwaukee, but she seems happier there, so that's what matters :)

Caimbrie has been loving her kindergarten!  She's had her first month and she's doing all right.  Had some mishaps.  She doesn't like being different, the only one in her class of 18 with glasses...a new development.  But I and everyone else think she looks adorable!! 

We have had some issues lying, though.  And to stop that, it had to be drastic....so I gave to Goodwill a garbage bag full of ponies and barbies and our brand new, bought with her money, Apple Jack Build-a-Bear.  Harsh....but the lying. has. to. stop.  She does seem better since that, which is good. 

So now after the negative, I have a positive reinforcement happening.  We've got a chart, and every day she comes home with a brown bear, no red bear, for listening at school, then she will get a special treat with me on a Friday or a Saturday.  Whether it's coloring with me and tea and cakes or cookies, or going to pick something out at David's Tea, which is amazing, by the way...Thank you, Adrienne!!
So far, so good.  We'll see how it goes.  A negative, because the consequences weren't working.  And now positive to work towards something. 

Look, I'm only winging this parenting thing.  I'm doing the best I can.  But hopefully some things will stick and work out in the end.

I think that's enough for now!  Have a happy week, all!