advisory secret santa

i'm an advisor for the 9th grade.  our team leader organized a secret santa, with a spending cap of $10, for all the advisors and i got my colleague ryan, who shares a cubicle with liz!  ryan has very expensive taste, so i had to make my $10 go as far as possible.  

ryan coaches the speech and debate team and travels with them to competitions, so i sewed a travel tote and filled it with lots of travel-sized toiletries: gum (in case he needs to mask the fact that he snuck away for a drink, hehe), floss (to keep the dentist away...), facial moisturizer samples from kiehls!, facial cleanser from kiehls! ($8 of the $10 limit), travel-sized toothpaste ($2 of the $10), antiwrinkle cream sample (never too early to get a head start), H tissues (his last name starts with h... and my 1st name starts with H!), hand-sanitizer (kids are d.i.r.t.y.), tiny nail-clipper, kiehl's amino acid shampoo sample, amino acid conditioner sample, a tiny empty container in case he wants to bring his own goodies, burt's bees chapstick, soap sample from sabon (my fav soap store in nyc)!

for lining, i used leftover fabric from robert's apron from years ago!!

my zipper installation was particularly stellar!!!  check out the straight sewing!  not easy though... as my sewing machine kept acting up because the zipper was thick!  i also scotch-guarded the exterior so that the fabric would repel dirt and stains!

happy holidays, ryan!  i love secret santa!

liz's christmas stocking

at work, we've been hanging stockings by our desks, to receive cute little goodies from each other.  my colleague liz asked me to make her one because i had to make myself one.  i haven't finished mine yet, but gave liz hers today!

the fabrics are mostly leftovers.  The green is from the st. patrick's day shirt, the woof/ruff flannel is from jimmy's pjs, the light blue is from june's graduation dress, the grey is from my sun dress of this summer or the cowlneck kangaroo pocket short sleeve top from a couple years back.  i cross-stitched an L on the faux cuff:

here's the back.  i was initially going to do matching zigzags...  however, time ran out.  so, i just sewed up quick colored strips:

the inside is lined with the owl flannel from the pj pants i made last xmas for myself that just didn't fit... (mom got them eventually).  i tacked down the owl flannel so it wouldn't wiggle around.

here it is, hung up by liz's desk!

can anyone spot the bunny?

hehe!

chocolate chew cookies

one of my fav cookies are chocolate chews from sunset's cookies book that my lovely godmother gave me for my 8th bday (? i forget which actually... i was quite young).  i've preserved the book.  it's got tons of quick recipes!

at work, we hang stockings by our desk and we each bring in goodies to fill them as we get inspired.  i hadn't contributed anything, so it was my turn! jimmy's gf gave me a silpat for xmas a couple years back. it is amazing! my cookies NEVER burn on it!

 i made 49 total.  yeesh!

 here they are, wrapped for work.  "happy holidays from the santabunny"...  bunks of course

blackberry pi squared

since i gave away so much of my last blackberry pie, i made another one this saturday... for ME!  i should have cut another pi on top, but against my better judgment, i opted to cut the outlines of a blackberry... yeah, fail.

this pie was actually tastier than the last one.  the filling was more gelatinous, less runny.

christmas stockings

at work, everyone hangs a stocking by their desk and receives cute little gifts from each other...  i lack a stocking so i'm endeavoring to make one for me and one for a colleague...  of course i blow up the task into something ambitious!

 quilted chevron stripes?  why not!  here is the projected striping scheme:

i'm not actually sure i'll finish before winter break.  sigh.

206 snickerdoodles

i've been asked to run student council at school.  even though the increased workload has been quite significant, i've been enjoying working with the kids a lot, particularly since most of the kids are not my actual students.  this past friday, i organized a pep rally, for which student council offered free baked goods.  each kid diligently went home and baked 2 batches of something, but since so many of the student council kids were going to be absent for various reasons, there was no way we'd be able to feed 400 people!  so i secretly baked 206 snickerdoodles to help out.

here they are in their tub for transporation to school...

unfortunately only 200 made it to the rally... i might have eaten 2 while the rest were baking... colleagues and students might have attacked me for 4 others before the rally!

blackberry pi pie

i found a great deal on blackberries this week (18 oz for $5) so i loaded up on them and made a blackberry pie.  never made or had one before.  it was delicious!

as a math teacher, of course my pie had to be a pi pie.  hehe

 final result:  (not sure how to rotate the pic on blogger...)

i worked really hard on the presentation of this pie...  isn't it neat and pretty??

love this boy!!!!

thanksgiving dress!

i actually started this dress, butterick 5755, this summer with shirley... she used silk jersey and i used cotton jersey.  both of us made view a:

i got the fabric from gaffney's in philly.  it's very soft and only cost 99c/yard!

here's the full view.  construction was not so easy... the pattern was huge.  i had to take in the sides, shorten the bottom, shorten the overlay, shorten the straps.  it initially looked like a muumuu on!

 here i am, giving it a preview at school!  i'll be wearing it to thanksgiving dinner, in pittsburgh!

byebye shirley cupcakes

i have a new sewing buddy, shirley.  i met her this summer.  she's a total sweetheart and is so fun!  anyway, shirley just moved to oregon this past wednesday to be a dentist in this beautiful coastal town. many many visits to oregon will be had, i'm sure.  trust that LOTS of sewing will take place there.  plus she's in the same state (but not all that close) to one of my fav cities ever: portland... hello knit'n kitten (best thrift fabric store EVER)!!!

in honor of her departure, i made red velvet cupcakes... my fav cupcakes... but with green dye.  and 100% recycled cupcake wrappers...  because where she's now living in oregon is VERY woodsy.

 it's no surprise that my frosting job sucked.  cream cheese frosting of course!

see... green.  i wasn't kidding.  so yum!  too bad she's not here to enjoy them.  i'll have to help her out and eat her share for her hehehheheh

the sandy bali skirt!

remember when i said i was going to make view b of butterick 5249?

with this blue handwoven ikat fabric that i purchased in bali?

well here's the final result!  we're dubbing this the "sandy bali" skirt... as in i sewed a lot of it during hurricane sandy, and the fabric is from bali!!  (and bali has sandy beaches... gotta love the puns!)  before i reveal the final pics, i must note that after working with this ikat, my hands were blue, as the balinese did not treat the dye, and thus it bled like CRAZY.  so, prior to wearing it, i soaked it for 2 days in heavily salted water.  check out how much dye bled out:

i used dark mugs filled with water to weigh down the skirt.  per usual, i used my ridiculously teal cheong-sam fabric as lining!  (i still have TONS left.)

i did knock off 2.25 inches off the top, as i didn't want this skirt to be as high-waisted as the last burgundy one that i made (that one went as high as my bottom rib... yes, a bit ridiculous...)  here is the front.  if you can zoom in on the pic, notice the pleated gathers in the upper left and right of the skirt... to add girth to my nonexistant hips.

here's a zoomed-in view.  at the top of the pleats is a little pocket!!

and the back... i do love me some perfectly matched seams! 

oh, you don't believe that this isn't one panel?  here, let me zoom in for you... see, the back is actually 4 panels, but i worked hard to make it match!

 and here i am, donning this skirt at work today!!

with a bit of camera flash so you can see the detail:

yippee!!!  a new fav!

a sandy bunks

bunks loves storms...  i'm stuck at home with him, so he demands my attention.  because the apt was quite chilly, he insisted on snuggling ON me...

 while he napped on the floor, i'd tuck him in my fleece blanket...

 and when i vacuumed up his remnant woodchips, his bunnytail got sucked up too...

just kidding.  hehe.  still intact!

lucky for me, my apt didn't lose power, so i sewed through the storm.  a sandy bali skirt is coming up next!

lining of yesterday's skirt

oops, i forgot to include this pic yesterday.  the vintage cheong-sam silk of course.  i accidentally got a little carried away while serging the hem, so it's a bit short.  no worries though, since it's underneath and you can't see it anyway.  check out my stellar zipper insertion!

super high-waisted pencil skirt

for my october garment, i decided to make a super high-waisted skirt.  i started with the butterick 5249 pattern and used view c (but without the belt loops and belt parts), 

this thicker upholstery fabric and an exposed navy zipper,

to make this piece of wonderfulness.  the skirt is so high, it sits right under my ribs.  i had to let the waist out a bit... no shocker there.  this is my usual adjustment.

i had to shorten the pattern by 5 inches.  FIVE!  i'm of staggering height, as you all know.  my fav detail is certainly the exposed zipper!  i've never installed one before.  wasn't as bad as i'd expected!

i rarely chop my head off in pics, but the head had to go...  after 2 attempts, i couldn't get my face to look right, hehe.  i styled the skirt with a black patent skinny belt, black tights and black suede heels.

my hair was a hot mess today.  it's now back in a ponytail.  round back:

yippee!  i'm now making view b with some bali fabric!