tooth fairy fail. AND WIN!!

before we go any further... if you're a tooth fairy non-believer, do yourself a favor and don't read the rest of this post... :) don't say i didn't warn you!

ennyhoo... as i mentioned earlier, i've been perusing martha stewart's encyclopedia of sewing and fabric crafts.

one of the many crafts/gifts that caught my eye is a cute tooth pillow... it's a little square pillow w/ a pocket where you can store the tooth for the tooth fairy...

well, paloma is waist deep in the "loose tooth" age... and so, of course, i started to make the pillow... however while i was sewing it up, she wiggled another tooth loose...

thankfully, i finished up the pillow in time for bed last night (click to enlarge thumbnails):



we went thru our nighttime routines and fell asleep w/ visions of teeth and fairies dancing in our heads...

this morning, i went into paloma's room to wake her for school. she was already awake. AND CRYING MISERABLY... clutching the pillow... and the tooth... (!!)

"Mommy, the tooth fairy never came!!!" she cried. (O_o)

i was SHOCKED!!! (O_o) i mean what the h*ll kind of tooth fairy doesn't pick up a loose tooth!!!??? and after it was placed in such a beautiful holder and all.... what could possibly delay her/him!!?? what does she/he do all day anyway!!?? and why is there no tooth fairy customer service/complaint line??!!

(O_o)

paloma was SO upset... she even wrote the tooth fairy a letter in case she showed up (slacker...):



before she walked out the door to walk to school w/ the thin man, she hugged me tight and whispered, "i really hope the tooth fairy comes. i hope i didn't do something wrong."

(O_o)

hours passed.... i picked up paloma and porkchop from school. porkchop ran to paloma's room and of course, i followed because very rarely does something good come of him playing in her room... i shooed him out of her room and noticed a LOT of glitter scattered on the floor... i called to both of them to clean it up... they bounded down the hallway...

"what glitter?" they said.

"the glitter that you guys scattered all over the room... please stop doing crafts in your bedrooms you guys. paloma, i also want you to make your bed please." i replied.

the paloma looked completely confused but started to make her bed anyway... and she found this under her pillow:



there was some money inside the pillow pocket and a beautiful unicorn toy sitting next to it!!!

the note reads (click to enlarge):



we couldn't believe it!!! there was even a trail of fairy glitter from the windowsill to paloma's bed:



in closing, she went to bed very very happy tonight... as will i... tooth fairy, we'll never doubt you again... hope your wing is healing up quickly! :)

thank you for coming by and reading...

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new kid on the block

at the end of august, my extended (my stepsister's sister in law) family grew by one new bouncing baby boy! so, of course, to celebrate the healthy baby's arrival and the blossoming family, i started sewing (not heavily drinking or gorging myself with sushi per usual...). :)

i wasn't sure what i wanted to make... i took a walk, found myself at the library (a common occurence) and started perusing the craft book section. i picked up martha stewart's encyclopedia of sewing and fabric crafts, sew u and sew what! skirts

clearly, i wasn't going to make him a skirt or any part of a women's wardrobe so, i hoped martha stewart would inspire me... and she didn't disappoint!

first of all, the book is GINORMOUS! supposedly, it contains 150 projects... i didn't count them, but considering the size and heft of this book, it wouldn't surprise me... so, i saw these three projects that served as a launching pad:

(click to enlarge thumbnails)



one of the many cool things about this book is the included CD. it has all the patterns & designs needed to complete the projects.

i made the bunny exactly as specified and instructed in the book, except that i also made a yo-yo, stuffed it with fiberfill and used it to make the tail:






the kimono was easy to make. i even made my own contrast binding... however, i did notice after cutting out the pattern that the front flat pattern was missing seam allowance at the "angled shoulder". i should have trued up the pattern beforehand, but honestly, i just assumed that the pattern was correct. i mean, it's in a martha stewart book for goodness sakes... (!!??)

the pant was made from some random pattern i already had. the baby booties in the book were too feminine looking so, i used the pattern for the sole in the book, but then used porkchop's old pair of robeez as a reference to draft patterns for the top and heel. i didn't want to use elastic (as in robeez) because the shoes are made of felt. so i used ribbon and made a hole in the top to secure. next time, i make these booties, i think i'll use ultrasuede, fleece and an actual buttonhole. :)



ennyway... thank you for stopping by and reading. hope you have a lovely rest of the day... :)

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"oh firenze, dolce firenze"

in october, the thin man and i will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. :)

after our wedding, we travelled to italy for our honeymoon. we started in venice and ended in rome, with stops in florence, pisa, siena, san gimigiano and capri.

i'd always wanted to visit italy. to me, italy was a bigger film celebrity than any international film star since most of my favorite films used italy as a backdrop -
fellini's 8 1/2, roman holiday, stealing beauty, night on earth, life is beautiful, godard's contempt, and a room with a view:



eenyway... a while ago, in a galaxy far far away, i picked up this quirky fabric that had a poem about florence printed on it... i didn't know what it said, so i was afraid to make anything from it until i got it translated and made sure it didn't say something that would make an italian want to point and laugh at me. ;)

recently, i've become friends with a wonderful mom (ciao marcella! *hugs*) at paloma's school who happens to be italian, from a small town near milan. she took a look at it and reassured me it was not offensive. :) i really wanted to make something that was large enough to show off the entire poem so, i decided on yet another dress from matsumoto's "feminine wardrobe":





the text of the poem is as follows (i still don't have an exact translation unfortunately):

"oh firenze dolce firenze
che portastionde magiche nel-mio io
dove nelodie ronantiche e statue autkhi
come la guerra e la pace
si ripetono nel tempo, celand o amori
nato nella tua culla.
dove maratonando nelle tue vie, he
sognate me raviglie nascoste.
alloggi casuali dove il neglie stpuc'
dare con l'aiuto della luna....
e l'alba dalba per ricominciare ad amare
circndata da un lungo fiocco d'argento
si rispecchia il tuo mondo d'arte
donandori un senso completo di liberta'
libenpa' di conquistartl..."

grazie & ciao ragazzi!

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