So we are moving again. Hopefully for the last time in a while. 'Cause this moving thing STINKS!

So where are we going now? Well, same town, just the other side. We have found a house (HOUSE!) for rent in another neighborhood that is more space and less rent. And it's nice. Needs painting inside and a rake or two outside, but it will be so very wonderful to have an extra bedroom and a living room bigger than a postage stamp.

And the best part? We will get to have the dog again! Hurrah! After nearly two years, our good old girl Sugar will get to come home!

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks around here. With packing and moving, I don't know that I'll have much to say that is smarter than "oog. paint fumes."

And my sewing machines go in for cleaning and servicing tomorrow morning! They will be gone for two weeks, so there won't be any distractions to my doing as I ought and packing. And packing with Lizzie around will be challenging, so she'll go spend the night at her Granna's house a couple of times! Yay!

And to add crazy to crazier, I think I'm hostessing a baby shower at our new digs 7 days after we move in.

Hi, I'm Laura. I have never hosted a baby shower before and seldom ever had anyone but my closest and most dear friends in my house before. But you gotta start somewhere, right?

Oh, look! Here's the baby! She'll distract you all from my insanity!

 Okay, so maybe that's not the best advertisement for my sanity. But sometimes, we don't go anywhere in the afternoon! And do your jammie pants math everything in your wardrobe?

Every time we sit down to pizza in this house, Elizabeth says the title of this post. It is a possibility that we will eat pizza on my birthday this year, but I hope the Boy Scout doesn't flake out on me that much.

I have the best birthday ever. I was born on Halloween night! Ha! And I love the kid-side of Halloween. The scary movies, haunted houses, and chainsaws can take a hike! That stuff SUCKS. But a fun costume, some candy corn, and a crisp evening makes me happy.

And. You know. Maybe a ghost tour. Cause I have done those before and love them! They involve intellectual scares - just words and stories. There's no stuff-jumping-out, actual maniacs wielding chainsaws, or twisted psychological mess. It's a once-removed scare - eerie! That's the word! Eerie!

But anyway. So birthday time is upon me. I love my birthday. I don't care how old I am (turning 34.) I adore all my gray hair. My crows-feet could be bigger but more years of happiness will help that. The only thing I'm not wild about about getting another year older is this: cooler weather aggravates the beginnings of arthritis in my hands. I escape it in the heat, but the chilly nights make my hands hurt.

But if that can stay my only complaint for another 20 years, then my crow's feet will be so great that I won't have any room to complain and I'll stop groaning when I flex my right hand every morning.

But, I have a favor to ask of my readers. I want a present! It is of the copy-and-paste sort. See, my hatred of cooking is legendary. I get angry and throw things when I cook. So we have decided to do freezer meals as much as possible. You know. To spare my heart and our child from thinking the kitchen is the 'Angry' room.

So from each of you, I'd like a recipe. Preferably easy to double, easy to subtract cheese from (the Boy Scout is a weirdo cheese hater) and freezable. I'd love to see what everyone has! So, comment me a recipe for my birthday!

And no. Pizza is not a requirement. :D

An hour, right? Weeeeeell.

How about 4? 'Cause see, my little person decided to hoot in her bed for two hours before finally falling asleep. (We have a 'you-will-stay-there' rule here. Mommy and Daddy need a little down-time, too.) Then she napped for two hours. So, in the four 'down' hours today, I think I got caught up.

Then these two from the same pattern! The print is a thermal knit that I got from Joann's off the Red Tag rack. I think it is some of the last that I bought before we left Knoxville. I've been saving it up for just now. The purple refused to be photographed properly in the drizzling rain, but it is an old tee of mine and shh. I didn't have to hem a thing!

Then there is this. I really think this is the GTSD at it's finest. I'd not done a waistband of any type yet and I *really* waffled about it. I waffled until both sleeves were in and I just had one side-seam left. Then I decide to just do it and if I hated it, I could rip it out. I'm so glad I did it! I'm also glad that I just did the internal casing - this fabric was so STUPIDLY expensive (to me, $9 a yard is a small fortune) that I want every inch of it to be as visible as possible. And it is so cute! And I'm so proud of it.

There is one more top that I didn't get finished - another turtleneck that is a turtleneck for the same reasons as the other one - a lack of matching or coordinating rib. But that can be done tomorrow. I'm making a serious dent in this pile! The serger being back in the game is helping so very much!

Wow, did things get crazy around here in a hurry!

But, when you decide to move furniture, there always seem to be some unexpected consequences. Like now, Elizabeth can get back to our bathroom. I totally didn't see that coming so there was a considerable amount of time spend re-hiding things that we'd hidden in there.

I've come to the conclusion that this child has far too many balls. Far. Too. Many.

So other than a couple of more pairs of leggings (one red, one black velvet) which I'm not taking pictures of (due to booooring) here's what I've been working on!

PJ pants - two pairs and both flannel. See, naps here are pantsless things, but it has been quite cool in the afternoons. Enter the pj pants! The pink ones were a Hobby Lobby (maybe?) remnant and the blue was an old flannel pj top. The pattern for both is Rae's B3Ps and the blue had to be pieced.

 I really love this pattern. But piecing it (like piecing anything, really) is a lesson in head-scratching. It is awesome otherwise. I've been making the 2t size for about a year now and just adding in extra leg length. It is going to be great! Next year, she'll likely have the potty thing down and they will still fit! I have a pair of black cords that I'm shooting for three winter's worth of wear out of.

And the blue ones are so crazy long, Elizabeth will be taking them to college with her. Okay, not really, but they may get three years of wear from now.

The other item is another Go To Signature Dress. See?

 Please excuse the horrible picture. I say that a lot, and I'm still learning the camera but this was really about the best I could do! I'm thinking that the morning sun on the balcony isn't agreeable at all. So you get a pic of this dress slouching and looking pretty awful on a hanger in a prison. Well, sort of.

The fabric was on the Red Tag table at Joann's and when I saw it, I sorts had to have it. And add in that the Red Tag stuff was on sale for 50% off, that just cemented it. 2 yards and $7 later, tada! The neck posed a HUGE problem, tho. No matching rib and I didn't want a contrast neckband. I'd already cut the front, so a cowl was out. The fabric itself has a silver glitter to it, so I didn't want a lining out of it and a contrast lining wasn't making me happy either. So, I decided to try a turtleneck!


The first one wouldn't go over Elizabeth's head. Much screaming ensued and I re-made the collar. I have no idea if this one will work, but it will come closer. It's a full inch bigger. I left out the outer pleats on the front and actually did some math (GASPSHOCK!) and altered the back to not need to be pleated. Then I cut a piece of the fabric four inches tall by 13.5 inches long. I seamed it together on the short side, then folded it in half and stitched it to the neck. It actually looks pretty good!

This fabric is the Devil. Pure and simple. Demonic. From Hades. This is the Devil's answer to strawberries straight from the patch. It will not hold a press and is capable of breaking needles on it's printed on dots. No joke! I broke both a sewing machine needle and a serger needle on this thing beause lines of dots lined up and the needle couldn't go through both.

But it is done and I'm not doing anything else to this dress! I do love it, tho. And Elizabeth calls it her 'eggy dwess' and says 'oooo, spawkee!' about it. Of course, wearing it will be a different story. I hope the itchy factor won't doom it.

Ahh. It is a lovely day in Tennessee. A bit chilly, but at least it isn't wet! I don't do wet and chilly together very well.

Right! KCWC! Fall! 2012!

This was my  'cut out and ready to sew' stack this morning.

Can you tell that I've moved things around? 'Cause I did. With the Boy Scout's help (he arrived back from the gym too early and caught me moving a dresser alone. Ten more minutes and I would have had it!) we moved the dresser into the closet and YAY! I get to sew in something other than a closet! However, all the fabric is still in the closet. The best part?

My machines are back together at long last! Hurrah! Even better is that they are against the wall that our loud, snoring, screaming neighbors are on the opposite side of. Hence why I have no qualms about serging at 2am. Hey, you scream as I'm falling asleep every night for a week, I serge without remorse.

But today, I've gotten six items started and three finished! Yay! The done three are skirts that I made from fat quarters. I admit that I didn't think I could manage skirts from a fat quarter for Miss Legs and Diaper Booty, but this from Rae made me rethink that idea. And made me run to Joann's again.


 This one is all my doing. Which means Elizabeth will probably hate it. But I don't really care because I'm an Evil Mommy and will make her wear it anyway. It is a little spring-like but it is colorful. That means most of her wardrobe will do with it.

And I did finish up a pair of pink leggings too, but leggings are boring to look at. Besides, they aren't all that amazing - they are pink and made from an old turtleneck with the neck as the new waist and the sleeves as the legs. Whoo-boy. That may be too much excitement!

Ooo. It is early!

Elizabeth spent the night at her Granna's last night (much to both's delight) which leaves me awake at 7:30am but without my little to cry for some milk or a graham cracker.

I miss her!

Anyway, I've gotten a pretty good jump on stuff for KCWC Fall already. I have a LOT cut out and ready to sew up. Three jumpers, 4 or 5 total dresses, 3 or 4 tees, 4 pairs of B3P's, 3 fat-quarter skirts, and strips for piping. I also have planned but not cut 1 maybe-dress-maybe-tee, 3 more tees, and 4 pairs of leggings (one black stretch velvet.) There's also the patterns I've not done anything with yet that have definate plans (or that I just a burning desire to use) like the Sunday Brunch Coat and Skirt (baby blue with the sheet strip inside and multi-colored buttons), the 2+2 blouse that will be a long sleeved dress (white with read dots, accented with solid red trim. It will get a little jacket-thing, too), and this cute pattern for pjs that I'm going to use the top for an everyday top.

Don't panic on my behalf. I doubt that I'll get it all done. I'm going to be content to get everything to it's next stage - patterns to cut out patterns, cut patterns to cut fabric, cut fabric to actual clothing. And clothing to the wash, then on to the kiddo!

Hmm. Guess a picture would be good in here wouldn't it?

She picked the boots.

That is the little dress from this post. It came out really cute, even if the neck is a little big! And Elizabeth likes it. She found her boots in the closet and decided to wear them. but then she decided that walking in them was 'weerd!' As they are a size too big, I have to agree with her assessment.