Halloween Movie Marathon #8 and a Moth Costume

mothcostumeFor years I’ve wanted to be a moth for Halloween but then Martha Stewart put a moth costume on the cover of her Halloween edition so I had to wait the appropriate mourning time to make a moth costume for myself. I wanted to make something that looked somewhat authentic but didn’t involve having massive wings that would bang into things all night. I opted to make a cozy cape that when held up would look like moth wings. I consulted my dear friend Erin for advice on some stunning moths (there are so many to choose from!) and settled on the Cecropia moth. After sewing the wing cape, I painted the design onto the fabric, added some antennae and mothy dark eyes and I was ready to go.

mothfaceWe of course had our traditional Halloween movie marathon. A few friends even drove all the way out from Texas just to be there as the rest of the TX contingent of marathoners were all here in Los Angeles. Our place was packed to the brim and it was a great time. We had many of the treats from previous years (my favorite spinach artichoke dip, caramel corn, cashew mac & cheese and pumpkin spice cake) and also added a taco bar this year. The jackfruit carnitas was of course a hit and to top things off, we had amazing cheese sauce made specially by James and Amy of Spiral Diner.

We ended this year by taking a field trip to a real theater for our last set of movies. I think more people made it through the whole event this year than any other.

1. Earnest Scared Stupid
2. Demons
3. Ginger Snaps
4. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
5. The Descent
6. The Ring
7. 30 Days of Night
8. Sheitan
9. Dead Alive
10. Possession
11. Crimson Peak
12. Goosebumps

Outdoor Adventure Quilt

camping quilt 2camping quilt 1camping quilt 3camping quilt 4For some reason it seems strange to write about quilting during summertime but here goes. I was supposed to finish this quilt last year. Then I was supposed to finish it in January. Then I got super busy and we went on lots of adventures and the quilt was nearly done but I just couldn’t make myself sit down and hand sew the binding. Last week, I found myself with an evening where I wasn’t exhausted and our plans had been cancelled and finally it was time to finish the darn quilt. I was determined. So much so that I finished sewing it with a headlamp on after Shawn had gone to sleep. It is done!

The quilt is a gift for Shawn, as I thought he’d like the outdoor adventure fabrics. It is not really meant for the outdoors, as the backing is a snuggly fleece, but it isn’t necessarily restricted from them. It’s a bit larger than a standard throw blanket, by request of my tall husband. I did all the quilting on his vintage Singer sewing machine, also by request. The binding is hand stitched as I still haven’t figured out how to make a pretty machined binding (passable sure, but not pretty). I’m pretty happy now that it’s complete. I thought I was sort of done with quilting but I imagine it’s just a summer thing. As I write this I am imagining a cute quilt that could go on our spare bed. If only I knew how to make a quilt that repelled cat fur.

crocheted totoro

totoro01Here’s another little guy I made back in December for a secret gift exchange. I wanted to make something fun for my giftee, Elissa, and thought she might like a little Totoro. While I’d only done a little bit of crocheting before (actually, this bow headband was my only completed crochet project), I’ve always wanted to make some amigurumi creatures. I was pretty amped to try out this Totoro pattern.

totoro02It was a really satisfying project and didn’t take too terribly long to crochet. The hardest part was the tiny ears since I would constantly lose count of my stitches and they would come out uneven and I would have to start over completely. Once all the limbs were stuffed, my cat, Meeme, kept trying to steal the pieces so I had to crochet a tiny ball for her so she would leave me alone. In the end he came out pretty cute and I sort of want to make the whole Totoro family.

catnap dress

cat nap dress 4A few months ago I started seeing glimpses of this catnap fabric on the web and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. One night in January, I saw it was for sale and rushed the store first thing in the morning to snatch up some yards of it. I knew I wanted to make a cat dress. Coincidentally, Lizzy House, the designer of the catnap fabric, announced she was having a cat nap dress contest. It was the perfect motivation to get my dress made.

cat nap dress 2cat nap dress 3I used the Washi pattern again, like with my spiderweb dress but made some alterations this time around. I added some darts at the waist so the whole front wasn’t as flat, added a collar and sleeves. I’m still not 100% sure I love the sleeves so there is a possibility I’ll remove them later.

cat nap dress 1I’m officially starting a cat dress collection. It seems necessary. I also am going to to have to get more comfortable with having my photo taken if I’m going to keep making dresses since at the moment it’s a fairly excruciating process (unless I have a cat buddy to help).

spiderweb washi dress

wash dress 1I realized recently that though I make clothes for myself fairly often, I don’t usually take the time to photograph them. I made this dress back in November but it’s taken this long to make it to the blog. I used the Washi Dress patten which works really well with stiffer fabrics. It’s really good for making stuff from your favorite patterned quilting fabric rather than traditional apparel fabric. I also love empire waists, and was thrilled to find a pattern that was neither for a child or maternity wear.

wash dress 2 I made the whole thing in about two evenings, it was very fast. If I had more time, I would have made some alterations to the cut, but it fit well overall, particularly because the back is cinched with elastic thread. I accidentally cut the skirt fabric upside down, so the spiderwebs are hanging up rather than down but it’s not devastatingly noticeable.

In other news, I’ve added a PROJECTS page to the blog so I can keep track of finished things. There’s a new button over on right sidebar if you’re ever interested. Eventually I’ll add a section of future projects since I always have a list running in the back of my head. I could also add recipes there if that’s something that you all might be interested in. Let me know!