A Grand Adventure......

So remember when I said we were waiting for orders from the USAF for our move this summer? Well, Paul just  Skyped me from his trip and announced that our orders have officially uploaded to whatever magic military system we have been waiting for, and we now know where we are going.

We have a report no later date of July 27th, and we are heading to........

(drum roll please)

Osan Air Force Base, South Korea.

The kids are over the moon excited, and I am both in shock that it is real (we have had our suspicions for about a month) and ready to get going on this next phase in life. (I am really excited too!) This is going to be such a change for us, and we are totally ready for a great, and grand adventure. (we will be there between 2 and 3 years depending on whether we like it enough to extend a year, which we are hoping to do so that Isaac can start high school in the USA, and not have to move for those 4 years.) There are going to be a lot of changes as the kids will go to a Department of Defense school, we will be in the extreme minority as far as Air Force families are concerned because Korea is limited as far as accompanied slots go - most people have to go without their families for a year long tour, but we have a command sponsorship to go with him for a 2 year minimum, but there are only an extremely limited amount of those, (boy are we grateful!) so there will not be a lot of other American families there.

There will be a lot of changes for us in terms of housing, we are going to move from our own nearly 3,000 square ft single family home on half and acre of land, to a small high rise apartment with a tiny patio. Because I am a planner, I am actually pretty excited about the challenge of making the smaller space work for our family, although I am a little sad to be loosing my awesome studio space that I have here.

(a peek at the housing tower we would live in)

Paul has already gone to the housing office and sent me the floor plans for the 3 possible apartments we could  get, and they are all pretty much the same as each other with only small changes to one of the 2 bathrooms and the entryway. The living room, dining room, kitchen, and master are the same in all plans, and the kid's 2 bedrooms pretty much change by 4 inches of width depending on which plan you have. I have been wandering around the house measuring the furniture so that I can go to Pottery Barn's website and invent room plans in order to figure out what does and doesn't fit, what storage we will need to acquire for optimal efficiency, and what we will need to sell, so that we don't have any dead weight.

Anyway, blog-wise I am pretty excited to share our family's adventure with everyone, and I am excited to see what supplies are available for sewing, decorating, crafting, etc in Korea (did you know that many of the world's zips are made there? I didn't.) Apparently there is a fabric district in Seoul (about an hour away from the Air Force Base) that is AMAZING, which has me pretty excited, and since I won't be in school anymore, I will be able to really dedicate myself to the crafts and sewing that I haven't had as much time for over the last 2 years.

Anyway, come on May and my graduation, I am ready for the next chapter already!

Milestones and a Mom's "Running" List....

*warning, long-ish mommy ramble.

(photo credit here, this is my gym's track, but not my photo)

Paul and I have been training for a 10K we are running in at the end of March, and since we started 3 weeks ago, Isaac has been trying to run with us. Week 1, Isaac looked like a little rhino plowing down the track, and he almost died at the end of a mile. Skip ahead to the next week, and Isaac complained bitterly through 2.5 miles, but kept going with us anyway. This week was week three, and I knew it was going to be harder for me to keep my running motivation since Paul is out of town for military business for the next 3+ weeks. (Isaac has said he will still be my running buddy though.) I ran 2.5 miles without Isaac on Tuesday, 2 with him complaining and partially walking on Friday, and then there arrived today; I needed to run a scary 3.5 miles/30 laps to keep up with my training schedule.

Now I'm not gonna lie; I'm not a runner, not even for pretend. I ran the very first all running mile of my life last summer while we were in Alabama so Paul could attend Squadron Officer School, and 3.5 miles was going to be the longest I have ever run, EVER. I was nervous but confident that I could *survive* it, although I didn't know what condition I was going to be in at the end. Isaac said he didn't think he could do it, and truthfully I didn't think he could do it either, (but he was willing to try to keep up with me for as long as he could,) so we started running.

 Laps 1, 2, and 3-24 felt like no problem. I think I got a "runner's high" for the first time ever, where it wasn't like it didn't hurt a little, but like it was amazing that my body could do what I was asking it to do without slowing or shutting down, and I was excited and felt like I could just keep going. Isaac kept up with me the whole time.

Laps 25-28 still felt pretty good, but I could tell I was reaching my limit, I was wanting to slow down, and I was needing to think more about the running. Isaac was hurting I could tell, but he stayed right there with me.

Lap 29, suddenly Isaac set the pace..........He picked up enough speed I started having to pick up more speed to the point where I pushing myself to not fall back.

Lap 30 we both started running as hard and as fast as we could (Emmie joined us for this one, she's all about skipping the messy bits and jumping straight into a victory lap!) Isaac got 5 feet ahead of me, then 10, I started cheering for him to finish strong, and then he got 20 feet ahead of me, and I started screaming for him to finish and he pushed to 40-50 feet ahead of me - I could not catch him!!!

That's right, my 11 year-old complaining rhino suddenly turned into this speedy athlete right before my eyes! I was so excited, and I know the people at the gym must have thought I was crazy for cheering for him since no one had seen how far we had run. (we cycled through about 6 different sets of shorter distance runners, so no one else was there the whole time).

Anyway, after resting and drinking some water, we left the gym. On the way out to the car it was freezing cold, so as a joke I started sprinting without warning up the sidewalk so I could get in the car first and to tease Isaac that I still had (pretend) energy even after the 3.5 miles. Isaac suddenly came up on my left side, pulled ahead of me, and once again I couldn't catch him.

It has happened.

It only took 11 years, but it is time to begin the list. (If you have kids, then you know the one I am talking about, and you are probably even dreading this milestone - which in my case was literal and figurative!) My son is now officially better than me at something. I can no longer catch him at tag, or trash talk about how I'm gonna kick his booty in a race, etc.

I think all mom's have this running list of milestones in their heads that they are both looking forward to and dreading; it's those moments when their children reach for those *er* words, faster, smarter, taller, etc. The next step is bigger feet than me (we wear the same size now,) then he will get taller then me, then his hands will be bigger, then his homework will get to hard for me to help him (k, not gonna lie, I do google stuff from his homework already, but at-least I FIND the answers.)

BUT, no matter what, it all started today, the beginning of the list will always be him getting faster then me, and I am so proud! (and I want to cry!)

Thanks for reading!

Catherine

{photo of the day} Elementary my dear Watson....

After seeing the new Sherlock Holmes movie earlier in the year, Paul requested a Dr Watson scarf. I am actually much further along than the picture, but haven't taken any pictures of it lately since I only take it out of my purse to knit during art history and anthropologie class.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thanks for reading!
Catherine

Emmie's Phases of the Moon Project

Emmie came home today saying she needed to make a model of the phases of the moon; we came up with a paper mâché box, with a styrofoam ball spinning on a wood peg axis.

There is a little knob on top that you spin to rotate the moon through its phases.


And a hole cut in the front to show the changing moon.











We used the end of a fat paintbrush to dimple the ball for craters, and dry-brushed it grey and white.
















Emmie did the painting and added the stars with a pin head, but I cut the hole in the box and drilled the holes for the feet and stuff since that involved tools and knives. We gave it little feet so it would sit level on its side, with the back feet being longer than the front.

I thought this turned out rather cutely even though I burned my hand like a spaz with the hot glue gun (it dripped straight through the hole in the center of the moon/ball.) I now have a big blister on my right hand - good thing I'm left handed I guess!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thanks for reading!

Catherine

A New Pillow

I've had a migraine today, so I have been pretty wiped out (I went back to bed after getting the kids out the door this morning.) and I haven't felt like doing much.
I made myself get up at get dressed at 11:00 and decided that I couldn't waste the whole day, but wasn't feeling well enough to do anything too exciting, so I made a pillow out of fabric Paul and I picked out for the living room of our next place. (I'm a planner, it gives me a false sense of control; I like knowing I can start gathering things for the move, even if I can't actually move until July, and since we are selling the house with all the drapes etc. I am going to change color/fabric schemes of the new place.)
It's a 24" square pillow that is piped with matching handmade piping, and has a hidden zipper along the bottom (that turned out to be more challenging then I anticipated, sewing the hidden zip next to the piping was a pain.)




The fabric is a linen printed with a leafy tree motif. I was a little worried that the print was sort of grownup for us, but it is a bridge fabric for my color scheme (greens, gray, mustard, teal, beige, cream, and indigo - I know it sounds weird but think almost completely cream with just pops of color) and I am only using it for 3 couch pillows.
Here is a more detailed shot of the linen texture and piping.




I have 2 more to make, but I've reached my limit as far as head pain goes, and the kids just got home and I need to help them with homework, so I'll do those another day.
I always think of simple pillows as being too boring for needing a tutorial, but if anyone thinks they need one let me know in the comments and I'll photograph the process of making the next ones.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thanks for reading!
Catherine

Magic Wands

First off I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for me in Project Run & Play, I felt very loved by the support everyone was giving me!
Anyway, Isaac and Emmie are participating in something at school called "mini economy" in which they devise a store, make goods for that store, and then they have a market day at school in which they get to spend play money they have earned doing odd jobs around their classes, buying things from each other's stores.
Isaac and Emmie are on the same team/store called "The Book Nook." Emmie is making bookmarks, and Isaac is making bookplates (you know, those stickers you write your name on claiming ownership of your book?) and magic wands. (because in our house books apparently = magic wand stories.)

edited to add this picture from my email rather than directly from my cell phone to show the size difference.

Does anyone have an app, or know how to get your iPhone to post decent pictures to your blog? My pictures are tiny on here and blur any time I try to make them bigger, but if you click on the picture it opens a bigger picture, so I know it's not like the pictures are just such a horrible quality they CAN'T be bigger.  I'm currently using the blogger app and am not too happy with it's picture options. 

These are the wands in progress, we bought dowels already cut to length, little finials, and wooden rings/wheels from Hobby Lobby; Paul drilled the holes of the wheels to the right size on his drill press since they didn't have any that would fit ready made in the same size (3/8") as the dowels and finials. I held the orbital sander upside down while Isaac sanded the tips of the dowels into a tapered round shape, (he's 11, I don't think I would let a younger child do this.) Next Isaac and I stained all the pieces before gluing anything together, (in 5 different stains I just had around the house,) and after they dried we wood glued the little wheel/washers on as the top of the handle, and the finial as the bottom of the wands.
Isaac is pretty excited with how these turned out so far. I think he has plans to paint some of the handles different colors, and maybe do some gold accents, but after that he will need to varnish them and make them some tags. I'll post pictures of the finished product later, right now the kids are out playing in our first snow fall of the year, and I think they have zero interest in coming in to work on their crafts!

(Notice I apparently won't even go to an open door to take a picture not through a screen. I am not a big fan of cold in any way at ALL!)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thanks for reading!
Catherine

Estate Sale Frame

I'm sorry about the rubbish photos, but I decided if I didn't document this with my iPhone (at night) it wasn't going to happen. (Seriously the story of most of what I do, if the big camera has to come out, it goes undocumented) I don't know why some of the pictures are centered, and some are not....every time I try to fix it it gets worse, so I am leaving it all alone since it's after midnight and the only reason I am up is because Paul is packing for his trip and I want to stay up with him without committing to pretty blogging apparently.) 
We found a frame I really liked at an estate sale recently, it was only $12.50 for a decently sized frame, and I liked the finish on it (it feels much higher quality then a lot of new frames you can buy.)

There was no glass, and the picture in it was a bad quality cheesy Italian reprint, and it had some water damage, so no loss in getting rid of it!

I knew exactly what I wanted to put in the frame, a couple of months ago I got an 1890s etching of an arch (I collect architectural etchings) for half price at an estate sale, and the "frame" (paper taped together bits of glass) and mat were clearly acidic and yellowing the etching.

I removed all the staples from the back of the frame, and took out the "art" that was originally inside so I could use it to measure glass and mat I needed to cut.

I already had a bit of glass from a larger frame that got broken at some point, (I'm apparently a hoarder) and I only had to make one cut along the width to get it to the right size. (I always hold my breath like crazy when I cut glass, no matter how many stained glass things I make.)

And then the mat was cut with my mat cutter (Seriously a good investment, it cost less then $25 and I saved more than that the first custom mat I cut myself, and have used it frequently since then. Although they are not very left-handed friendly; I'm looking at you, you hand-ist mat cutter manufacturing people.) And the matting was some I had left over from another project. (I prefer white mats on pretty much everything, so it's a pretty safe bet I'll have a scrap of it somewhere.)
Anyway, I just cleaned the glass, masking-taped the picture behind the mat, used the original art as the backing, and used glazing points I had laying around to put the whole thing back together again. I am very happy with how this one turned out, I used up a bunch of scraps, and it only cost me the original $12.50 for the frame (and $22.50 for the etching if you want to count the art.)
There are not many original 122 year-old pieces of framed art out there that you can get for $35!
This picture looks really yellow in the night lighting of my half bathroom (which has pale custard bead-board as it is.) but in real life it is a dark antique gold frame, with an antiqued cream inner frame, bright white mat, and slightly yellowed with black ink, etching. 
I have a grand plan one day for all of my etchings, they are all in different rooms of the house here at this house, but one day I want to hang them all together in a huge collage alla this photo from Country French Magazine Fall/Winter 2009 (Told you, I'm apparently a hoarder, I still have this magazine.) 

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thanks for reading!
Catherine

Project Run and Play, Final 5!

Oh my goodness!!! I am in the final 5 at Project Run and Play!!! I am very excited to have been chosen with all the stiff competition out there (and I know that they couldn't choose everyone, but I was so surprise by some of the awesome looks that didn't make the final 5 so go look at the flickr group and see some of the great looks that couldn't be chosen!)

Anyway you have until Sunday night to choose your favorite look, so please head on over to Project Run and Play and show the designers some love since they (we!) have all worked so hard on our outfits no matter who wins!

 


Voting is on the left hand side of the page, and you can only vote once per router or computer I think (not sure which one, but people are asking about why they can't vote in project run and play's comments, and I am pretty sure that is why.)
And as a reminder, here is my look........

Thanks so much for your kind thoughts and comments on my look, I appreciate it very much!!!

Project Run and Play Week 6 "Signature Style"

Well, it's finally here, I've got pictures of my signature look for Project Run and Play's sew along group. I've blooming talked about it enough, so I think I will start with the pictures, and then explain the look as I go, rather than getting long winded here at the top!

Introducing my signature look, "April Showers"

"April Showers" Raincoat, Skinny Jeans, Top, and Matching Umbrella

I made the raincoat, umbrella, skinny jeans, shirt, and necklace for this outfit, which was inspired by my love of Anthropologie, and for real clothes that little girls can wear and still look like little girls in real, modest, clothes. (without being baby.) I would say that more than anything, my signature look would be things that are not only cute, but practical and  wearable as "real" clothes. I love making unique things that make people ask "Where did you get that?" rather then "did you make that?"

Emmie loved how this coat turned out, I actually bought all the materials for the coat way back in outerwear week for Project Run and Play, but since I decided to use the Letterman's jacket instead, I thought this week would be the perfect opportunity to get it made. I have a red velvet coat from Anthropologie that inspired this look as per Emmie's request, but I obviously had to add my own twist!  

I made this coat out of 3 different laminated cottons, white faux fur, reflective piping and toggles, and a quilted lining. About 4 inches of the bottom of the sleeves have some of the laminated cotton in the lining, so they can be turned back as cuffs while the sleeves are too long, and then turned back down as she grows.

This coat is a little big for her right now, I made it to fit the measurements of an average 12 year-old, so she won't outgrow it soon.

The collar has the most amazing texture, I love how crazy the fur is, and that it warms around her neck, without being too much, and that since it is already rather matted, water isn't going to ruin it either, since it will just dry looking matted.

The hem was rather a challenge, since I decided to add an inset curved piece rather than anything straight - oh and I added a not at all stretchy plastic reflective piping too! Trying to sew laminated cotton into a curve was very exciting as there is NO room for error, and you really can't ease anything. 

The toggles are made from wood toggles that I bought ready made, and then I dry-brushed them turquoise and sealed them with varnish. The reflective bits that hold the toggles on are made from reflective tape ironed onto a stabilizer, shaped, sewn down, and then riveted, etc. The piping is also made from reflective material, that when it catches the light it goes from grey to white.

The zipper is silver, and has a great chevron in the twill tape. I feel like the reflective piping and toggles are not only just plain cool in their effect, but also great for safety on a rainy day as she will be more visible. 

Here is the best picture I have of the lining; the raincoat is fully lined in a natural colored, pre-quilted cotton fabric, and will be lovely and warm for her all through the rainy spring, and then again in the fall and during the milder bits of winter.

I added my label in the back of the lining with my embroidery machine, as well as the size, so that when Emmie outgrows this I can pass it on without anyone having to guess what size it is. (This picture shows the reflective bits really well.)

The umbrella was made from a $3 neon pink one from IKEA that I took apart and remade in clear vinyl, and the laminated cotton. I added a ruffle to the bottom to make it extra *fancy* for her. She really likes the clear bits because she can hug the umbrella down tightly to her body, and still be able to see through the umbrella while she walks. 

The top is made from a quilter's cotton, with a ruffled asymmetrical hem, and sweet little puffed sleeves that also have ruffles on the bottom. I added a shot silk taffeta bow brooch in a lovely teal color that for me adds youth to the top, and a sense of playfulness. 

Alternatively though, you can take the bow off and add a necklace for more of a "big girl" look. (This picture also shows the jeans without the boots.) 

The back of the top has an inset ruffled gore leading to the longer curved bottom, with a cute little bow on the top of the triangle. I added a little keyhole at the neck too, with a little button so she can slip the top over her head. 

Here is a better photo of the bow, with a view of the ruffle at the bottom of the sleeves. I always like to squash my ruffles with a nice hot iron, I don't like them looking too puffy as that is where things stop being "real" looking to me, and become more "homemade" looking.

There is a little pinch pleat at the front neck that the bow covers, which I think is really flattering in a smock style shirt.  

The necklace was inspired by this one at Anthropologie, and it took forever to make! I was counting out 40 green, 40 cream, 40 green, 40 turquoise, 60 green, 40 turquoise, 40 green, 40 cream, 40 green. wash, rinse, repeat, 14 times. 

The jeans are made from a stretch denim that I over-dyed teal, and then pinstriped by top-stitching lines out of 6 different colors of cotton thread, in random stripes. The jeans are made just like real jeans, with zips, rivits, pockets, etc.  

The back pockets are embroidered with rose motifs in the same colors of cotton thread as the pinstripes. 

Gotta love her skinny little pins! 

This picture is her trying to give her dad the stink-eye, she couldn't stop herself from smiling though she loves him so much! The poor little thing was such a trooper! Conveniently for my raincoat themed outfit it rained all day, but she has been battling allergies and her little eyes kept watering and she was sneezing the whole time, with little black asthmatic dark circles under her eyes. She LOVED the coat though, and stayed warm the whole time (unless I was making her stand in the cold so I could photograph the shirt and jeans!!!)   

Hmmmm, I wonder if it's still raining? It seems to have lightened a little..... ugh, water in the eye!!!!!!

Anyway, here is my offering for signature look, I hope you like it and I would love to hear what you think and any questions you may have. I'll let you all know if I get selected for the final 5, and then let you know how to go on over and vote for your favorite look this weekend! (edit: I got selected for the final 5! please go here to vote for your favorite look until Sunday night of February 19th) 

I would also like to add what a trooper Paul was; he stood in the rain for over an hour while holding an umbrella over me and my camera - all the while waiting for a call from the military about his travel arrangements for his trip, which he is supposed to leave for at any moment they get his travel arranged. (He's not going anywhere dangerous or classified or I wouldn't say anything.) So thanks babe for spending your last little bit of time with me in the rain!

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