No sew infinity scarf for FREE (I promise)!

Maybe someone has already come up with this but I've never seen it anywhere. I'm claiming it as my very own simple but kick A idea.

I do not did not own an infinity scarf. I did however, (being the scarf lover that I am) own several billion un-infinity scarves. Not cool Bree, you need to get with the times. Jeez self, quit being so hyper-critical. This week, Jack and I had a play date scheduled with a delicious little girl and her awesome mama, whom I had not seen in many years. Of course I wanted to look fantastic (I did BTW).

Side note: Isn't it funny how much more we dress up for other women than we do for our husbands/boyfriends sometimes? Maybe that's just me...
Anyhoo, it's chilly in Seattle and I felt like the regular old scarf wasn't hip enough so you know what I did? I lined up the fringey bits on each end of my favorite scarf AND TIED THEM TOGETHER!

That's it. Now I have an awesome infinity scarf! I think I'm gonna do this with all my fringy scarves. The best part is that when infinity scarves aren't cool again, you can just untie it. Sigh... so proud. Can you see my head from your house, because it is huge. Have fun tying up all your scarves tonight and when your husband asks what you are doing, tell him you are being hot for other ladies.

A little variety...

I made some more pants for Jack. It gets easier every time. Seriously, if you have never made pants for your kids you have got to try it. Its so great to be able to get a perfect fit.
Jack has got a different body shape than most kids I guess, because store bought pants that fit are hard to find. He has one pair that fits wonderfully and I wanted to add a little more variety to his wardrobe (he kind of lives in them). I drafted a new pattern and made a muslin last week, all in one nap I might add. With just a couple of tweaks they became these brown cords.

Sorry for the blur, this kid is in perpetual motion. The fabric is thrifted. Man I love thrift stores. I got about 5 yards for 3 or 4 bucks. I wanted these to look a bit more polished so I top stitched all the seams and added a faux fly. Not much more work for great results. I left a huge hem so I could take them down as needed.

And there you go. A great pair of pants that fit like a glove. I may never buy pants for this kid again.

Thrifty goodness

When Jack and I dropped off the dry cleaning this afternoon I realized we were 2 doors down from this tiny thrift shop that used to be kind of skeevy but had seemingly cleaned up its act. Bruce was working from home, so I decided to give him a few more minutes of peace and we wandered over to check it out.

I think I'm in love with this shop. Seriously, if you live anywhere near Bothell, I kind of don't want to tell you where it is because you might steal my secret spot. Ok ok, jeez... it's the shop that used to be called "Aslan's Too" in the strip mall with the QFC & Starbucks on Bothell-Everett Hwy and it is awesome. Here's what we got for 15 bucks and just a little bit of sanitizer.

A very cute board book about opposites, a BRAND NEW copy of "In a People House", a Scholastic animal book (its awesome, its sort of like a mini animal encyclopedia with fantastic, huge pictures), a small toy car which is the perfect size for Jack's road play mat, a pair of fleece jammies, one of those shape sorters we all had when we were kids, a hilarious tie for Bruce (its got horses and carts on it) and the piece de resistance, a little stroller. Jack found that thing and pushed it all over the store making lots of friends with cute little old ladies along the way. He was in love and since, a) we know several little girls who might like something like this, and b) it was clean, in great shape and 2 freeking dollars, I had to buy it.

Jack is obsessed. I let him push it out the door and to the car and he screamed his head off when I put it in the trunk to go home. Little man happily pushed Murray and his monkey around the house pretty much non-stop from when we got home to bed time. Sorry little girls in our lives, you may not be getting an awesome thrifted present any time soon.

A Valen-tiny

First off ack! We had a redonkulous round of illness after illness at the McCoyalicious homestead and I'd not been in a bloggy mood of late. I didn't completely stop making stuff though so Ive got a couple of things to share. Bit number one is the shirt I made for Jack for Valentines Day. We aren't super big on Valentines Day around here. Bruce and I don't even buy each other cards anymore but I'm starting to see the value in celebration with little ones and so I'm making an effort. Who says I cant change the meaning in our house from that of sappy romanticisms to a celebration of my favorite emotion (aside from YAY, that's an emotion right?).
I wanted to make something cute and boyish and the first thing that popped into my head was an old school "Mom" tattoo. Tell me I'm not being self indulgent because Bruce teased me.

I compiled a few ideas from the interwebs and made my own embroidery appropriate sketch. Then I pinned it on the inside of the shirt and used my light box to trace the drawing in fabric marking pen. I almost did this in white, so thank you's are in order to Bruce who convinced me to do it in red. I love the way it turned out.

If anyone out there is interested in making their own, I'll scan in my sketch and post it here for you to use. Happy lovey dovey stitching!

Update: Here is the sketch I made (its already sized to 8.5x11 so you should just be able to right click, and print), feel free to use it for your own Valen-tiny.

Happy 2012!

Yay! Its 2012! Pardon me while I attempt to wade through this food/drink coma. Hubbs is starting a new job this week but we worked it so that he had the last couple weeks of December at home with us. We have been merrymaking aplenty. Eating too much, drinking too much, going to the park and the children's museum, strolling through Candy Cane Lane (a Seattle staple) and visiting friends. Its been so wonderful to have all this time together as a family. That being said, we are all looking forward to getting back to some sort of schedule and I have been looking forward to non-holiday crafting and sewing. I have a list of course, some of which is not super glamorous (mending that has been put off for waaay too long) but I wanted to start with something fun. I asked for Little Things to Sew for Christmas and I am so glad my Mom obliged. I LOVE this book. There are so many cute and fun projects I had a little trouble deciding what to make first. I finally settled on the Cozy Winter Hood.

It was so easy and fun to sew! I used a felted sweater as the outer and an old t-shirt as the inner. Its warm and soft and in my opinion, ridiculously cute.

And now that this little man never wants to come indoors, he can't have too many warm hats can he?