day off

*sigh* Facebook is down and nonresponsive *at least for me* just as Esme goes down for a nap. I tried to make a rag doll but one of the legs was messed up some. We were up at Grandma's earlier and she ran all over. Right after lunch here she fell asleep and I put her in her bed. Time to go make some coffee and sit down at the workbench see what comes to mind.

I got a lesson in french seams from a lady at work the other day, over our lunch hour. I'll try to put it to use but it will take me time to get it straight - 'think backwards' she said - everything is the same, but inside-out and backwards, then one more seam everywhere and right-side out... I think I'll start with a pair of pants - as they have fewer seams to 'turn back the clock' on.

running at the lake

A shot Mark took of Esme running at the lake yesterday when I was at work
Her smile is so great!

And when I'm not home she won't leave her hair ties in for ANYTHING... always hair in her eyes. About the first thing I do besides pick her up when I get home is find a hair tie and put it up so I can see those pretty blue eyes. She hates that. *sigh*

I am calling Bullshit on the CPSIA lead testing law - this isn't about safety it's about dollars

This is BS! This new law is putting thousands of small businesses out of work, including mine - for toys, clothes, bedding - anything - all items sold for children that the crafters can't get tested by an independent certified lab. These tests cost hundreds of dollars per item and destroy the item. All items have to be made from EXACTLY the same materials tested in order to sell to children 12 and under. If you change materials - even a different color - you have to get the new item tested. Again - this is BS for small handcrafters like me. Everything we make is unique! However, the nogs in Congress won't give _us_ a free pass even though we make very few toys out of widely availalble (and usually pre-tested) craft materials and usually for people who know us by name. NOW - Mattel gets to test their own toys in their own labs? Their lead painted toys 'made in China' made Congress pass a law in the first place! They're just putting the competition to rest now - this isn't even about safety anymore.

What did I get when I mailed my Congressman about this? A nice form letter that said 'I support the CPSIA law because it protects our nation's children. Protecting children is one of my highest priorities.' Nice way to sidestep the issue at hand and go back to playing golf.

link to a story at the Wall Street Journal
Actual law at THOMAS

back to work for a day and sweetness

I'm back at work for today with tomorrow off again.. weird scheduling after vacation. I have two pinnie dresses cut out ready to sew on Sunday if Esme lets me. She's going to spend a lot of time (Mark's words) looking for me today after having me all to herself for four days straight. I am also taking materials to work in my purse to start on a black-face sheep doll for her. She loves Shaun the Sheep - and I have some cloth that might make a mockup for her. White-faced sheep stuffies just don't do the trick, we have three of those and she doesn't believe they are sheep!

We got Esme some star stickers at the supermarket the other day because she was so interested in them. She kept saying 'stars' at them, and carried them for a good part of the day. She even tried to draw some on her magnadoodle - but it looked more like spirals -- everything she draws looks like spirals *grin*. Last night she was pointing at the ceiling and saying 'stars' - she wanted to go outside and look at the stars. I gave her the stickers (we never even took them out of the package) and she laid there saying 'stars' in her bed. I went downstairs to wash my hair and Mark strung Christmas lights up across the side of the wall so Esme could see them from her bed. So sweet :) He gave her the stars :)

of shoes, mail and kitties at the co-op

First off - thank you Elizabeth for the pretty package! We'll see what I can make of it for both of our girls :)

We went to the post office and the co-op today. Esme saw the co-op lady (we know her name now!) and then insisted on going to see the kitties in the back. They have gotten quite a bit bigger than last time, but seemed to remember her enough. Either they recognized her or they are just extremely nice kitties (cats now, instead of kittens) Esme talked to them quite a bit and said 'bye kitties' even when we were out of the parking lot on the way to the post office and fried chicken place. The co-op man in the loading dock was very surprised Esme remembered there were kitties in there. In fact - when I asked her what that place was as we were pulling in she said 'kitty!' and pointed!

Esme is in love with her magnadoodle drawing pad the last few days - she had to take it with us to town and is drawing spirals on it constantly and an occasional attempt at a star. Another cute thing she has been doing is pushing our cat tent all over the house and stopping every few minutes to wipe her brow and say 'whew!' So funny. It's such hard work!

At home I was looking for Esme's blue shoes all over the house. She has two pairs of shoes - and both have their pros and cons. tie-tie shoes are good for going out and about, but need to be tied often. blue strappy shoes Esme can get on and off by herself - but they sometimes get lost in stores because of this, and that can be a pain. The last few days we were out in town often so they were tie-tie shoe days. Somewhere in there the blue shoes got misplaced.

So - I looked for them, upstairs, downstairs, in Esme's toys - in my fabric I was going through (just in case), in the yarn box Esme was going through, in the laundry, under the bed etc etc... in every nook and cranny I could think they would be. Halfway through this I took the tie-tie shoes off of Esme because they were untied again. I put them up on a shelf and kept looking for the blue shoes. Then I stopped about ten minutes later (after complaining on facebook) and lo and behold -- the blue shoes are ON Esme's FEET! *sigh* I don't even know where she found them, or if she purposefully had them hidden. How much more classic can you get?

I cleaned up a large area of my workshop while looking for stray shoes - so there is fabric in the washing machine and my work clothes are in there as well. I have Saturday 'on' at work and Sunday 'off'

//what did I get done during the vacation?
2 pairs of shorts for Esme and the rag dolly
cut out two pinafore dresses
lots of laundry, organized some craft supplies
played lots of starfall with Esme
visited Grandma's several times with Esme :), library and thrift store and co-op
ordered some olive oil soap and blue ric-rac from Etsy

Rag dollies

Rag dollies - new larger size, 9 inches sitting, 12 inches standing.
in the shop