happy Halloween

Today is the day,

happy Halloween!

The pumpkins were carved in front of the fire place

while the snow was falling this week end!

It did not stop the kids from having a good time,

and it made roasting the seeds totally weather appropriate!

I finished Brick Master's knight costume,

within 30 minutes of our departure

for the school party....

His costume is made of many layers:

a "chain mail" shirt,

a tunic and a cape.

The shirt and cape are made from McCall pattern 2854,

a simple pattern.

The shirt is fairly wide, it works well with the

shiny fabric.

The cape is made of felt,

with a top layer around the neck

of pseudo leather,

I was inspired by the capes from

the " Season of the Witch" movie,

obviously not as fancy, but with some extra details!

For the tunic, I made up the pattern,

just a simple sleeveless top made of

drop cloth, my favorite!

It has just the right texture and roughness for a knight.

Of course it would not be perfect without

an emblem: we chose a griffin.

I printed out the design, recopied it on wonder under,

ironed it on green batik,

and very carefully cut it out.

It was ironed on and I free motioned stitched

it to the tunic,

it is the perfect accent

and adds tone of personality to the outfit.

Tonight will be cold,

but Brick Master will be warm under his armor,

now I need to make a cape for Rapunzel,

or Miss C. will be freezing!

Happy trick or treating!

Linked to Skip to my Lou

purple costume done!

I finished the Rapunzel costume

for Miss C. a few days ago,

just in time for the Halloween party last night

at school.

It turned out more complex than I thought

and with a lot of details,

so it took a lot longer than planned.

I used the Simplicity pattern 2065,

I modified slightly by making short sleeves

and omitting the over shirt.

In my costume experience, the satin hold up very nicely,

even to intense daily play

but not the organza/chiffon.

This costume, I should say this gown,

 is fully lined with tulle on the petticoat.

I used some beautiful velvet for the top,

and satin for the rest of the dress.

The lining is part purple quilting cotton

 (left-over from Miss C.'s quilt backing) 

and part natural muslin, with 4 yards of tulle.

There is also a lot of lace,

eyelets and pink rattail.

As you can see on the pictures,
she loves it!
yeah for me!
She looked perfect with all the other Rapunzels!

Happy sewing!

Linked to Skip to my Lou

the tiny book case

Last year, after I was done building
the doll bear bed,
I made fast and poorly
(in my defense it was really cold in the garage!)
the little book case that hold "my new sewing machine".

I used this tutorial from Pieces for Reese.
I only used scraps of wood,
left-over paint and some beaded board for the back.
It is far from perfect,
but that has never stopped Miss C. from enjoying it.
Our children seem far less picky than we are,
may be functionality over beauty?

Happy day!

a new sewing machine....

I bought a new sewing machine....

at Target

for my doll!

Isn't it cute?

I could not resist,

I know it is not as nice as the AG one

from a while ago,

but it is here now and fairly reasonably priced!

there are also some other cute accessories:
iron, ironing board, fabric bolts,
sewing basket with notions,
over all very good.

I originally purchased it for myself,

but Miss C. thought it was way too cool,

so she is using it!

Oh well I still played with it for a day!

Did I mention that the presser foot goes up and down,

and the needle too!

Happy sewing!

ratatouille lasagna

A few weeks ago, we brought back home,

from "our farm",

a lot of fresh peppers, just harvested from the field,

I knew exactly what to do with them:

roast them!

We lived many years in the South West,

and Fall is roasting season for the chili peppers,

the smell is everywhere (and we miss it!)

Bell peppers have basically the same smell,

so it was a total trip down memory lane!

Of course, once they were roasted I made ratatouille,

adding  a can of garbanzo beans

 after cooking the vegetable in the pressure cooker,

for an added protein source.

After a couple meals of ratatouille,

the novelty and excitement wore off,

so what to do with all the left over?

Freezing it is always a good option....

but how about making lasagna out of it?

The idea came from my Mom,

I must admit I was not too sure about it at first,

it turned out to be really good,

can I say even better than just ratatouille?

I made some Bechamel sauce

with a little butter/ flour and milk,

and started layering lasagna pasta,

bechamel sauce, ratatouille (well drained!)

and mozzarella.

I then baked it in the oven at 400 until golden and bubbly.

I like to use individual pan,

well I like to eat the first half right away

and keep the other half for the next day,

mon cheri eats both side at once,

the children just look....too scared to eat!

It is just so sad that ratatouille season is over,

looking at the picture,

I just want to eat some more....

Happy day!



"our farm" and a first race

For the past month we have been going

 every Saturday morning to "our farm".

We had being interested in finding a CSA location for a while,

but we could not get our act together.....

Enter blogging,

 more specifically the quilting blog of Briana Arlene,

then we knew,

we had found "our farm":

The Sycamore Spring Farm.

The kids just love to go there,

yes it is for the farm animals,

but I think these kitties are a great reason!

The children enjoy helping at the farm,

feeding the geese and the chicken,

petting the horses and the goats,

Brick Master can even call turkeys!

We will not make farmers out of them,

but they seem more willing to eat their vegetable

from "our farm"!

I think it works great!

*to see better pictures of the farm, check Briana's post*

On Sunday, my son entered his first race,

a 1 mile run,

just the right distance for a first time.

And he did great, we are so very proud of him.

A few more years of training and

he will be able to run marathons like his dad...

I think Miss C. will run it next year,

she is pretty fast and she had medal envy!

Happy day!

purple, the new pink!

Lately it feels like the only color

I see is purple,

the only thread I use is a variation

on purple:

lavender, lilac, iris, orchid, sugar plum...

There is the quilting of Miss C.'s quilt,

the Rapunzel costume,

even painting her room,

and now this blouse!

I found this beautiful lawn print at G Street Fabrics

 at the end of the summer,

I originally purchased it for myself,

but after a while it seemed more appropriate for Miss C..

I used a pattern from the Burda magazine (summer 2011),

I combined 2 different versions from the pattern,

I wanted it a little bit simpler, the print is busy enough!

I did a traditional placket instead of the one recommended

in the direction, I think it looks more finished and it is just as fast.

I added a little rickrack instead of lace.

I hand stitched the bias neckline, instead of top stitching it.

I had a really hard time sewing the sleeves as the base

is squarish; after unstitching them a few times,

I won!

But the real success is she likes it!

And after a day at school, it still looks good...

Because one can never wear too much purple,

she added this cute vest that I made last year...

that she was wearing for the first time!

I used 2 different featherwale corduroy from Spechler-Vogel

from Martha's Heirlooms,

quilted it and lined with a cute hedgehog print.

The pattern is the Natty Jacket & Vest

from Pink Fig patterns.

 You might think it does not match,

but she thinks it goes!

The background color of the print is actually

the same sugar plum color of the vest!

Yesterday, Miss C. got her ear pierced,

guess what color earring she chose?

Yep,

purple!

Happy sewing!

W.I.P.

I am working hard on finishing Miss C.'s costume,

she is quite the little tyrant!

I am getting there,

there are just a lot of details...

Here are some pictures of my progress:

the top dress

and the full lining, with tulle,

yards of it!

I also have major distraction:

tree cutting in my front yard,

it is definitively time to get ready for bad weather!

Happy sewing!



I spoke too fast....

Last week, I spoke too fast

of the lack of interesting in Halloween costume!

This week, both kids decided that indeed there was

a need for new outfits.

 

So now I am up to my eye balls in tulle,

purple velvet and pink shiny fabric, lace...

you guessed it, there will be

another Rapunzel for Halloween!

Brick Master is still stuck on knight,

so technically it should be easy,

but since he is a growing machine,

everything is just too small!

So more shiny fabric (silver this time!),

felt and pseudo-leather!

There are still almost 2 weeks,

(party at school on the 29th!)

so I do not know what I am concerned about!

Oh yeah, there is that Holiday boutique just a week after that!

Better get back at it!

And yesterday I tagged along with Caroline from Artfully Caroline
to a discount fabric store,
you can read more about it here,
we had a great time!

Happy sewing!

about that cake

Lat time, I showed you a nice looking cake,

I call it my harvest cake,

it is a deceivingly easy and fast,

perfect to make for last minute dinner guests.

It is my Mom's recipe,

so I do not know where it really originated.

2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar (100g)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour (100g)
1tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp butter (100g)
2 apples (or other fruits)

Mix all the ingredient together except for the apples.
I like to cut the apples into thin slices,
 a bit like for a traditional French apple pie.
When the batter is ready, add the apples
and bake for 30 min at 350-375.

It can be eaten warm or cold,
either way it is delicious....
I wish I had some left....
I guess I should not have eaten all yesterday!

Happy day!

Fall is here!

I finally decorated the house for Fall.

In a new place, it is always hard

to figure out where and how to decorate.

In this house there is no mantel above the fire place,

but there is a side board by the dining room table,

so I decided it would be the perfect place

for a Fall vignette.

I grabbed some large sticks/branches (thanks to the hurricane)

and added some older sunflowers for a touch of color.

The bird cage holds a pumpkin (made here last year)

The table runner is also from last year, it works perfectly here.

The terracotta pumpkin is made for candle, and glow beautifully,

my in-laws brought it back from over sea.

I printed this lovely fall picture from Today's Fabulous Finds,

just the right touch of words!

I also made this cute garland from felt leaves.

I followed a great tutorial but I cannot find from which blog....

I spend a fair amount of time looking for it,

so if anyone knows it, please let me know,

I would like to give credit to the right person!

(I am a RnD scientist, I like when my work is properly referenced!)

*here is the tutorial! from Maureen Cracknell Handmade*

Anyway I used my slice cutter for the leaves shapes (paper),

cut one leaf from felt, use a contrasting felt color (without cutting),

free motion stitched both layers together to make stems,

them cut the background felt a little larger.

It went fast and it was fun.

I used a band of drop cloth to make some binding

to attach all the leaves.

It looks much better in real life,

today is a very rainy day...

you can also notice that whoever (previous owner!) painted did a bad job,

which means I will have some more painting to do!!

Overall, I am happy with the result,

Fall is here!

See that cake on the table, just over the quilt?

I will talk about it next time!

Well I am going to have a slice with a nice cup of tea,

yes it is that rainy!

Happy sewing!

working hard...

I have been working hard on many projects,

but not taking pictures or writing posts,

just a case of more doing, less talking!

Which makes for a less than exciting blog!

On top of that I decided to participate to

 the Holiday shopping Boutique

at my kids'school, (my first one!)

so a lot of sewing and crafting getting done,

but again not so much blogging!

It is only a few weeks away,

I still cannot believe we are just a few weeks from Halloween!

Well nobody has been asking for new costumes,

so I do not feel the season coming!

Here are a sneak peak to a few of my projects,

some that I might post on later on,

other that will just disappear!

Happy sewing/crafting!