Halloween 2009

Max the king

Costume parade today at school- I've been sewing non-stop to meet the early deadline.
We've got a smore, a Frida looking princess, and a 1958 housewife lady too.
Got to get some good pictures on Halloween day.

Can I finish a project please? Now I've got some Halloween costumes to work on first, ahead of all these stacks. We got C talked into Max from Where the Wild Things Are after he saw the movie- yea! I can't wait to make that costume.

weekend wrap-up

We spent the fall break weekend in Escalante with my family. My brother Adam's project is a wood fired pizza kitchen, soon-to-be restaurant as part of the Slot Canyons Inn. Adam was out of town at a wedding, but we gave the oven a test run- and fell in love. Steve O was in heaven and getting the hang of the peel after just a pizza or two.
Two nights in a row we fired up the oven and made pizza until our tummies ached. On night #2 we branched out and made little chocolate cakes in ramekins. The cake was best when pulled out of the oven early (about 5 minutes) left undercooked in the middle, with a scoop of ice cream on the top.
We are heading back down for Thanksgiving and doing some research on cooking a turkey (let's face it- everything for Thanksgiving dinner) in some wood fired oven bliss (and then building one in our own backyard).
This pizza was one of our favorites. The simplest dough recipe made the best crust. I ain't lying when I say pizza cooked in a wood fired oven is heavenly.
The pizza pictured here has a whole wheat crust, honey mustard sauce thinly spread on the bottom, caramelized onions, bacon, toasted pecans, parmesan reggiano cheese and apple slices on the top. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.

We took an afternoon and went to Devil's Rock Garden- out on the Hole-in-the-Rock road. Gorgeous fall day, I took lots of lovely pictures. Kids and cousins ran amuck. The desert was perfect- about 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. More pictures here.

some art

I am always willing to sew up whatever the kids desire in the way of costumes for Halloween. As you can see, I have my work cut out for me this year. Except when it comes to C, who want's to be Bob from Monsters vs. Aliens. If you've seen the movie, you would know that this is pretty much a blue ghost costume- not very exciting to make or look at. I've always wanted to build a Max (from Where The Wild Things Are) costume- but C won't have it. Maybe I should make a big Max costume for Steve O (the Daddy)- he's so excited about the movie- he'd wear it. ...And then make all the kids into the monsters, now that would be funny.
They are buttons, the button that holds your pants up... yes, I was a little worried, and I had to ask. I've been trying to encourage leaving the 'pant button' out of his work, but they keep turning up in all his art. (Perhaps now is the time to do some explaining to Mrs. Tanner, his kindergarten teacher.)

18 wonderful years

It just occurred to me that today is our 18th anniversary. So, I sent my spouse a text acknowledging the date- I know, super romantic huh?
It sort of reminds me of year 5 or 6 when both of us completely forgot until about a week later. At least it was both of us that forgot that year. It may be a year without much fanfare on the actual date (Steve O is in Chicago) and that's just fine with me, because I wouldn't trade the last 13 years for anything (really, this is Steve O's joke not mine). I love you Tiger.
In the photo collage above: one of the pictures from the roll taken when we got engaged. I can't find the actual photo that made it into the wedding announcement- but you get the idea= toddlers.
And... a few of our accomplishments, or works in progress.

Halloween garland

One of the upsides of collecting fabric- you don't need to go to the fabric store when a project like this pops into your head. I could have gone on forever- adding different fabrics, and ended up with about 10 feet of garland, but I stopped... probably to take someone to gymnastics or soccer.

These triangles were cut with regular scissors (this method makes you feel like you're back in elementary school) or a roller cutter (the easier and faster way). But, I think I like the look of pinking shears better, and the triangles fray better (after washing) with pinking shear edges.

The finished project- barely fits the mantle- good thing I stopped when I did...
I'm going to turn the piles of fabric in my sweat shop into piles of garlands for the Beehive Bazaar in December. I'll get a few Halloween garlands made up- look in my etsy shop.

all pieced

As I was finishing piecing this quilt top, the silly saying that you see posted in quilters sewing rooms or quilting shops all over the place kept coming back to me. It goes something like this, "My husband asked me one day why I buy big pieces of fabric only to cut them up and sew it back together again." I think some version of this line rolls through every quilters head when piecing a quilt top. In the thick of it you can feel like you're going a little crazy. But I do love the finished product.

working on a quilt

I know it seems like all I do is ride my bike and stuff, but, I promise- I've been doing lots of sewing too. I'm making this quilt for one of the rooms at the Slot Canyons Inn, my folks Bed and Breakfast. My Mom picked out the pattern from the Kaffe Fassett book- Passionate Patchwork. The design is called shirt-stripe boxes. I must say I'm always very impressed with the design decisions she makes. No doilies and frilly knick knacks cluttering the rooms at her Inn, it's all very simple and tasteful- hats off Grandma Jo (and thanks for letting me help you).
I love the abstract quilts, I've had fun putting this one together. With any luck, I'll have this all pieced and off to be quilted tomorrow. I might need luck and magic.