M6594 and moe crocheted toy bags (tiger bags)

I spent much of yesterday going through and washing lengths of cloth out of my remnants box.  This is M6594 by McCalls, peasant dress with pants pattern.  It is the third time I've used the pattern - as it is time-consuming and also takes lots of elastic and fabric in general.

I had a hard time finding something I wanted to make it out of - not enough of a fabric, too bright and loud etc...finally mixed and matched these two light colored prints and came out pretty good.

The one on the right hand side was my project today.
Where a dress with regular facings usually takes me about an hour to make, not counting the zipper - this one takes about three hours for some reason -- mostly because I'm not used to dragging all that elastic through.

 

A crocheted toy bag to help contain some of this giant collection below... at least they aren't tumbling down off of shelves and such.  The white crochet net I made a few years back is providing some backup ... but I probably need to make a third one out of the orange yarn I have to really make sure it is all contained.   Good thing is - they aren't sitting in cardboard boxes where things can lurk at the bottom, and she can see through the bags to dig for one she wants.

  

School clothes

This is the 'handmade' contribution to her school clothes.  It is to be worn over pants.

I think it would be better with a white shirt underneath :)

I went to sewing yesterday and found that my skills needed refreshing.  The first jumper (not shown) had several errors in it and I ended up making it a buttonback for wearing at home.  Esme pointed out something she liked online and I tried to see what was in my box that was near that coloring without having the white top that it did.  This isn't all that close, but it ha the flavor - something slightly formal and timeless.  It has a zipper back and is slightly loose around the middle, which is good - because she is growing.

 

This was the dress she liked online.

We went to the store early today and bought school clothes and filled her supply list.  She chose a long animal print dress with an orange skirt that I wouldn't have thought of originally - but it looked good on her and she was really happy with it.  She even found a headband to match it.  Then we added a few more tshirts, two pairs of leggings and two pairs of dark jeans and all the new underthings she was going to be needing.  I didn't spend a LOT, but it was a good chunk.  She has a blue peasant style shirt coming site to store too, that I caught online.  And she has about six or seven things I bought over the summer that are already hanging up and ready.

So - we're getting ready to go!

New clothes.  Lunchbox tests.  Getting to bed on time and getting up early.  

Now if the bus stop would tell me when her pickup time is!

Next Thursday we're 'in the car and on the road'... as Esme called getting ready for school earlier this year 'getting in the car'.

bits

Trying out the lunchbox packing for Esme - getting my list together of things to have on hand for making such things etc...  Also checking with the bus garage to make sure they are on things - still in testing mode, they said... We haven't received or found a supply list yet for this year, but I hope to stop by the school tomorrow morning as they said the classes would be posted on the door this week. 

We are planning on buying clothing for her this weekend and I start my vacation tomorrow. 

We are about 3/4 of the way through Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone as our bedtime book.
I'm halfway through the third Outlander book on my Kindle.

Textile medium stencilled shirt

Playing with my textile medium and acrylic paints.  The octopus shirts we made a few years ago are still holding up.  I cut out the tree and bird out of cardstock and used them as stencils... had to add the other details to cover up both the mud splatters that were originally on the shirt and a few paint drips I made when starting the stencil.

Not bad... thinking about doing a few more and another tea towel if I can think of a good pattern.
//Some of the gold highlights washed out, even after heat setting... but it still looks pretty cool - as if it is old and not 'new'.  The bird stayed clear but some of the gold 'moon' around it washed out here and there.

the bits of blue and orange fur

We took Grandma into town today, did some shopping, let Esme have a good run around in the indoor park.  Now she has been outside in the sprinkler, fed chickens and is spending a long time in a cool bathtub.  Over 90 out.... not so bad of a 'sport'.  I've asked her to help me sort through her books in her room... and later plan on clearing out shelves and combining toy containers to free some up for other things.  I put her 'sports equipment' like the soccer ball and baseball and tennis stuff all in one big container - so we will be able to grab what she needs quicker than in the past. Making progress.  I'm working on recipe ideas for her lunchbox, as well as mine.  Cleaning up a few more areas, the wire rack for food boxes on our table, the wire rack for shoes in the bath... etc etc.  I bought Esme's shoes for school.  So, little things are making progress.

 A study of 'orange on orange on orange'

Pumpkin and her kitten Caramel

KNITTING

I put this shawl downstairs in Esme's room for using at night when I am reading with her .. sometimes I need one and diving under her blanket seems a bit much and I don't want to climb back upstairs to get one.  It is a blue 'fur' yarn and then when that ran out, I started in with a blue acrylic I had a lot of.  I'm starting another one based on something I saw on Ravelry with drop stitches.. but not sure how I'll go with it yet -- I began with the scraps from the rug and other items I was working on.  I promised myself another crochet bag for Esme's stuffed toys too - the first one is proving more useful than not.

COOKING
The other night I made some creamy Italian garlic salad dressing and it was strong but good.  I wrote down a number of recipes and put it in a notebook down in the kitchen.  We got one ear of corn, more tomatoes and some okra out of the garden.  I might try to bake a little breaded okra tonight in the toaster oven for myself. 

bits and dressing

Esme killed her games tablet this morning - accidentally dropped it (again).. and it didn't come back this time.  She is in mourning, of a sort.  I told her she could get a new game this morning if she could modulate her voice and follow directions really well for about three days.. and she had.  And then she does that just before I wake up in the morning.  Well.  She cried for about a half hour and then moved back to her computer game.  It's not the end of the world but she isn't getting another one for a while.  $$, and we have to get her school things still.

On a side note I've been playing with salad dressing from scratch.
Extra virgin olive oil.
Dijon brown mustard
Cider or red wine vinegar
honey
spices
(maybe some lemon juice in a future one)....

I have this bad habit of buying a dressing, putting it in the back of the fridge after using it three times, and then believing it has gone bad and not touching it until it truly has gone bad and wants to eat me instead.  Trying to break that habit by making it from scratch in small quantities when I need it.  It has worked pretty well this week.