Dress for School Pictures

I made this dress for Cora on Sunday for her school pictures. It was insanely easy to make. Does this mean it was actually insanely easy to make or am I getting better at reading and understanding patterns? I actually bought the fabric (Riley Blake's Bloom and Grow) and pattern (Kyla Reversible Dress from Frog Legs and Ponytails) this time last year to make her a dress for her 1st birthday. I am actually glad I waited because she gets around so much better in dresses now

Love this fabric!

I love this fabric as well, but this side bores me. I am thinking about adding a pocket or some other kind of decal. What do you all think?

Hungry Hippos mascot anyone??

Meet Artamer...

... this handsome young hippo comes from the incredibly talented hands and creative mind of Ms Badskirt in the land down under (you know...the crazy place where the Christmas season brings with it many cute summer dress wearing opportunities rather than ugly sweater parties). I've been admiring Amy's quirky style and fabulous Hippo family for a long time now but only recently started to get to know her better (she's one of those fabulous "swappy-poo" buddies I mentioned in the last post). Well anyways...I'll stop blathering on about Amy because you can go check her out for yourselves. 

What I REALLY want to talk about is this huggable-lovable hippo who sent me a telegram the other day (quite some time ago now really but I only just received it...you know the telegram service just isn't what it used to be) submitting his resume to be the Hungry Hungry Hippo's team mascot. He had pretty well given up hope by the time I got back to him...and now he needs a little reassurance that we're really the right fit for him. Head on over to visit his manager (yes, he's become THAT popular in recent times) and she'll fill you in on what it will take to get him back on-board. (Maybe just don't mention the fact that the Hungry Hungry Hippos have disbanded, k?!)

Happy Monday (and don't forget to wish Ms Kim a big congratulations on Friday)!

I figured it was about time...

I can't believe it took this long to write my first blog post. But never mind that...who writes blog posts about blogging?!

First off I would like to say how much I miss each and every one of you...'cause it is A LOT!! With some of you now settled in new far off lands and the rest of us faced with the crunch (pun intended...hehehe) of fall deadlines, things just haven't been the same around here. I'm missing late evening sewing sessions, Sunday afternoon [watching everyone else] sewing sessions, random afternoon jaunts for coffee, and stuff your face dinner parties with my girls (and truth be told...even Joe's yelling). Maria and Kim have been talking about a Skype date sewing session and I think we should all try to make this happen sometime after Kim is done with the dreaded candidacy exam.

As for me, busy as per usual! I've gone back to working in hell...oops, I mean the good ol' St Louis lab. Surprisingly though, things aren't too bad around here and I'm looking forward to getting my manuscript submitted in the next month or so (the boss man is actually paying me for a week or 2 to finish up my edits)...sometimes it does pay to procrastinate. And speaking of procrastination, I've been avoiding my work quite nicely by playing with fabric and getting ready to start a new quilt. I'm super happy with the way my dodo bird fabric translated into a pillow and have been wanting to make a matching quilt along the same color scheme.

 
                                                That's it poking through in the background!

And then, when the leaves started changing color I just couldn't handle it anymore...I started pulling fabrics out from under my bed. Here's the combo...what do you think?? I can't decide if I want to add anymore yellows or leave it as is. My swap buddies have been super helpful in helping me to acquire some of the fabris that I had in short supply (for example, the mustard wallflower which was kind of a must have). I have 104 squares cut...and only about 100+ to go...good thing I like to procrastinate :)

Love you all dearly and miss you much! L