National Teacher Day on May 4th

so, on my calendar (and the linked website), national teacher day is celebrated tomorrow...

which does not explain the phonecall i received from my husband shortly after he walked the paloma to school:

the thin man: "um... did you know that today is national teacher day?"

me: "um... according to my calendar that's tomorrow."

the thin man: "well, according to all the other children and parents with flowers and gifts that were gleefully standing in line... it's today."

me: *shakes fist at sky*

anyhoo.... lately, i've been REALLY good at making gifts instead of buying them... and i wasn't going to let someone else's errant reading of the calendar stop me.

the only thing i could think of making without the use of notions (i.e. zippers, snaps, buttons, etc...) was a bag of some kind... i did some googling and found this lovely tutorial for a reversible bag from the verypurpleperson blog.

i have a lot of fabric (no!? really!?) and i picked a bunch of different combinations, but i went with a neutral palette anyway... it's kinda "listening to van morrison, drinking wine coolers at the lake" summery... :)

the paloma's teacher is really nice and has been one of the many highlights to the paloma first grade year... i'm glad that i can make something for her that will brighten up an already beautiful day... i really hope the paloma didn't feel too bad about not having something for her this morning... eek. :(

last but not least - to the teachers who made the realm of H*LL, otherwise known as high school, bearable (and oftentimes magical) for me, thank you, thank you, thank you... especially Mr. Harper, Mr. Thetard, Mr. Wood and Mr. Poehler. :)

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zamboni!

i love that name.... sometimes i think it's underused as the generic name for an ice resurfacer... why don't we use " zamboni!" to express our joy in recognizing the little things that make our lives easier... like self adhesive stamps or pocket packs of kleenex... :)

speaking of ice resurfacing... one of the family nieces is hosting her birthday party at an ice rink. my stepsister asked me to make our niece's Springfield Doll something new to wear - of course, i responded, "how about an iceskating dress?". she replied, "that's perfect!" so, i made two from Butterick pattern 3329:



little known fact about mamazilla: i used to make dancewear and iceskating costumes for a local company - Designs By Valerry. it was a really extraordinary experience. my bosses and co-workers were lovely, knowledgable and totally laid back... i learned a LOT about garment construction, pattern making/drafting and sewing - especially for knits (a whole world outside of wovens) and decorative stuff/sequins/beading, etc...

i didn't have a lot of time to go fabric shopping so, i had to go with what i had at the local Joann's. my intuition told me to look for the stretch braid first since that's what's really hard to find... at least something that looks nice... especially in a small size for a doll...

of course, they didn't have any stretch trim (that wasn't hideous) in such a small size... and for stretch fabrics you should always have a stretch trim (please don't ask me why a doll would need a stretch fabric or stretch trim... it's not like she knows her movement is restricted...)

so, here is my tip o' the day: don't be afraid to buy stretch sequin trim that is too big:



you can always cut it down:



when you turn the stretch trim over you'll see that all three rows of sequin are chainstitched separately (see navy thread) and then looped together (see lt. blue thread)... just use a set of embroidery scissors or sewing nippers to clip the looping thread - NOT THE CHAINSTITCH. you'll have three single chains of sequin in no time... also, make sure when you machine stitch it down, you a) use transparent thread as your top thread b) you stitch the sequins so they are lying down properly... just feel them thru your fingers - one way they fly up, another way, they lay down flat, like fish scales... ZAMBONI! :)

and i'm off... back to the lamb drawing board i go...

happy holidays!

just wanted to send out my best heartfelt wishes for a peaceful, relaxing, bright healthy and happy holiday season, and the same for the coming year! thank you so much for coming here to read my ramblings and for leaving comments. you help me to keep writing and continually challenge/inspire my creative process! :)

re: the basket of toys above:

almost every year, my (very large) family says that we won't exchange christmas presents... that we'll be "allowed" to buy a $15 secret santa present... and then, every year, everyone (exept me - i play by the rules. sometimes...) still goes and buys everyone else a present.

this year, i didn't buy a secret santa present. partly, because our funds were very low. but in the event that my family still ends up overbuying... i made a buch of bears for the kids in the family. (the pattern can be found in the book Toys to Sew by designer Claire Garland). For the adults, i made a banana/walnut/cherry bread and a compilation cd of swing/jazz/big band christmas music.

anyhoo... i have a few more bears and breads to make... and presents to wrap... and even the last handful of holiday cards to address and post... children to mind, feed, care for, clean and dress for the aforementioned family party... and i haven't even showered myself yet...

ah, the holidays - they don't kill you, they make you stronger... :)

thinkin' o' yous....

happy valentines day!

:)

oafeelya

needless to say, all of my sewing has piqued the interest of the paloma who asked me, a few days ago, if i could sew up a monster.

this monster (that she drew):



whose name is "oafeelya" :)

i really didn't think i could do it and yet:



i think i did....

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!

say hello, loopita!

"hello loopita." she says.



yesserday... while i was finishing sewing up loopita's tail... the paloma looks at me (see HUGE blinking lightbulb over her head) and says, "MOM! when you grown up YOU could be a TOYMAKER! JUST. LIKE. *insert pregnant pause* SANTA!"

to which i should have responded, "child, who do you think taught santa how to shimmy down the chimney?"

can't sleep...

i went to bed around 10:30 and around 12:30 i gave up trying to sleep and figured i could try to get a post out...

i've noticed that my mind wanders most (and creatively so) around this time at night but after a full indoor day with the kids i have little energy or spirit to act upon any stimulus. so, i can't promise this will be interesting or thought provoking - apologies in advance...

some backstory - the thin man and i were treated to a mostly kid free weekend (tan-Q, mom!) saturday night, we got to double date with some friends of ours (whose daughter attends the same preschool as the paloma). i spend a lot of spare (ha!) day time with my fellow mom so it was fun to get dolled up and strut out on the town with our respective huzs' at our favorite restaurant, frontera grill

. it was SO good that i think my tastebuds and stomach are processing the fives stages of grief.

then, my gal pal and i were ready to go dancing - she's a former salsa dancer and i'm a former lindyhopper.... however, our boyfriends just wanted to go home and watch football. which they did. we, in turn, found ourselves in a suburb, catching the last evening screening of juno. which was FAN-TAS-TIQUE! i don't remember another time when i wholeheartedly enjoyed 92 whole minutes of something. some random thoughts about the film:

1) i am SO old... that in the first few minutes of the film... i secretly wished that there were subtitles. i don't know twentysomething slang for sh*t.

2) there were actually cool (albeit quirky) asian high schoolers in the movie! su-chin, the pro-lifer buttinsky (played by valerie tian) and vijay, the gossip mongerer who vows to stop wearing underpants (played by aman johal) . thankfully, there was no foreign accent affected english spoken.

3) i was curious about the writer, diablo cody, and found that she hails from our fair metropolis, chi-town!

4) i could listen to the juno soundtrack over and over and over again... it's a shame that i've just learned about the moldy peaches - now disbanded. thankfully, the bandmembers are still making great music though...

5) i absolutely love how the dad explains how unconditional love can happen between two people without explaining how unconditional love can happen between two people. :')

anyhoo, on sunday... i also got to do a teeny tiny bit of thrifting... i miss it so much... and i scored a great vintage crafting book about making dolls and toys. i made the easiest toy - a snake (see above) - and it turned out kinda cute. so, i started to cut out a monkey and a mouse. i was thinking that i should name the snake and give it to the paloma. and i was also thinking, what should i name the monkey and the mouse? and then, i remembered that as a child i kept a mouse in a shoebox for a few days.

i often say that our tenants/roomates in our brick three flat were the roaches and the mice. i didn't mind the mice nearly as much as i minded the roaches. my mom would bait the little mousetraps with archway oatmeal raisin cookies. (i know - i can't tell you how nightmarish that was...)

mind you, we NEVER bought cookies to EAT. the cookies were specifically bought to TRAP MICE. yeah, my kids have it REAL good... ;)

by some strange happenstance, a trap caught a mouse by the tail. and by some even stranger happenstance, my mom said it was ok for me to put it in a shoebox as a pet, in the pantry. i dunno - maybe there was some guilt... over the mouse holocaust... or denying me cookies...

and for a few days, it was ok. i fed it oatmeal raisin cookies. i sang it lullabies. it let me pet it gently. it never bit me . and then, a morning or so later, i found that it was dead. :(

i hope you're well, mouse friend, wherever you are. you were very dear to me. i hope you forgive my childhood selfishness. when i make this new little mouse friend, i'll name him "shoebox" to remind me always of you.

ok, it's 2 a.m. now... i should try to get some sleep. if you read this far, thanks. :)