The Show Must Go On

So after I returned from my cruise a few months ago, I promised I wouldn't talk about the Boys from the Back Streets for at least another year.  But this is only about one of those Boys, so it doesn't really count, right?!

Mr. Nick Carter played here in NYC at Irving Plaza last night.  I previously assumed that after the show I was going to be able to post some pictures of Nick doing his usual on-stage antics, pouring bottles of water over his head, flopping that hair around, etc.  All those things happened, but you may have seen that his little sister passed away earlier this week.  Very sad stuff.  But Nick said the show was still on, and that he wanted to dedicated the rest of the tour to his sister, and so on it went:

with patriotic jackets,

a sea of fan-made paper hearts,

band members wearing what look suspiciously like Forever Lazies,

 

general pandemonium,

and a really beautiful, touching, and intimate tribute to his sister.

Not a dry eye in the place.

Dottie Adele: New in the Shop + V-Day Idea

The newest addition to Dottie Adele is a one-of-a-kind - I've only made one of these, so you could be totally unique!  It's a breezy little blouse with a white, slightly sheer front, and a dramatic black lace back.  The black sleeves with scalloped edges top off this little number.

 Click here to see more pics and find out if it's your size!

And here's a cheeky idea:  why not pick up a Heart-Shaped Waistband Skirt for Valentine's Day?!

Order by the end of the day if you want to literally wear your heart on your waistline this Valentine's Day.  I'll be wearing mine on February 14th!  It's fun to be a little humorous with your fashion, don't you agree?

<3  <3  <3  <3  <3

Book I Read in January

Book Club/YA pick
Matched by Ally Condie
I only managed to finish one book this month, but with it I discovered a new guilty pleasure!  I think I enjoyed this book way more than I really should have.  Following the dystopian theme that's all the rage now among YA lit, Matched is the story of Cassia as she comes of age in a future society where everything is decided for you based on analysis of your personality, or predictions of your future behavior, or even the sins of your family members.  We first meet her at her Matching banquet, when she finds out who the Society has decided she will marry.  But soon enough, Cassia begins to notice the cracks and fissures in this supposedly perfect society, which makes her question everything she's always known.  Let the rebelling commence!  My favorite thing about this society:  Poetry is used a black market currency!  Awesome!  Sure, it's the same basic concept as Hunger Games or Uglies, right on down to the love triangle, but it's a good read, well-written, and has some smoking hot tension between a couple of the characters.  Matched is part one of a trilogy (Book 2, Crossed, is out now; Book 3 comes out later this year), so lucky for me, it's also the guilty pleasure that keeps on giving!

P.S.  Books I read:  Over the Holidays, October, August, July, June, May, April, last winter

A Pillow for a Baby Cowboy

One of my pledge sisters from back in our days at Oklahoma State University (Kappa Alpha Theta love!) is having a little one - very soon!  Another of our sweet pledge sisters, Boz, suggested we all send her gifts for Baby Caleb, which she compiled altogether into one big package - a shower in a box!

I've made baby shoes before, but those were all for girl babies, so I wanted to make something a little bit different this time.  Since our alma mater's colors are orange and black, I knew I wanted to start with that.

First, I made a bunch of 2 inch strips from my two fabrics.

I sewed those strips together, and then slice them up in 2-inch strips going in the opposite direction.  I rearranged the strips to get a quilt pattern:

I sewed all those rows up too, and voila!  I'm not even going to pretend all my squares matched up in the end, but hey - that is why I make clothes and not quilts.

Then I printed off a cute but manly font with his name (I used The Only Exception, which I downloaded from dafont.com):

 I cut out all the letters...

 and traced his name onto some chambray.

Then I cut on the inside of my tracing (so I didn't get any marker lines), and pinned it to my quilting.  This was going to be the front of my pillow.

I sewed all the way around all the edges of the name, and then went back and sewed around where the holes would be in the a, e, and b.

 I cut out a piece of chambray in the same size as the quilting, and sewed that to the quilting piece all the way around, leaving a 4-inch piece open for the stuffing.  Then I stuffed it full!

 I sewed up the open edge...

 And, here it is!  A personalized little pillow for Baby Caleb.

I love the contrast of the chambray backing with the orange, black, and white quilting.  I hope this little boy grows up to be a Cowboy (or even a cowboy!), but even if he doesn't, I know very well that he will be loved to the greatest degree by his parents.

Congrats, Skyler and Chris!

Weekend: Discoveries

1.  There is a Blockbuster Express in our grocery store.  It's $1 more than Redbox, but it is definitely better than nothing!

2.  I would vote for George Clooney for president.  Though probably not if that scandal gets out...

3.  You can play Taboo online.  WHAT.  We played with friends on Friday night!  It has a timer and it keeps score for you!  You have to verbally buzz people though.  Not that it's a problem to do so.

4.  I love the view from our roof almost as much as the view from our windows.

5.  When I get obsessed with something, I get really obsessed with it.  (Watched no less than 7 episodes of Downton Abbey between Friday and Sunday, and threw in a few fan-made YouTube vids for good measure)

6.  My camera no longer wants to focus.  It's my own fault, as I once let it fall off the ironing board (what was it doing there?!), and it's never been the same since.  Good thing a birthday is coming up...

7.  I love the way this man wants to build things for our home.

8.  Monday always gets here a little too soon--have you noticed?

My Newest Late Night Obsession

Downton Abbey

Watch it.

Live it.

Love it.

Lose sleep over it.

Thank the person who got you to watch it even though you resisted it (Thanks, sister!).

Watch it again.

Another Refashion: Making It Big(ger)

Last weekend when I was in Philly with Heidi, I was supposed to be helping her clean out her closet for her move.  You know how I love a good closet purge!  Although Heidi is tiny and I am tall, there were a few things she tossed into her donation pile that I had to swipe and bring home for myself.  One of them was this blouse:

It kind of looks like it fits me in this picture, but the reality is that the midriff was way too tight.  When I wore it to the office on Tuesday, there was the dreaded gaping between the buttons and just an all-around feeling of not being able to breathe as much as I would normally like.  Since I like to be able to take a good, deep breath once in awhile without living in fear of a gape, I knew something must be done.

I just adore the crazy little print on this blouse, so I wanted to keep it as much as possible.  But how to make something bigger?  There's only one thing you can do:  Add more fabric.  Which is exactly what I did, right down the middle!  I grabbed some black knit I had in my stash, and in two easy steps, this blouse was transformed:

And became this:

I don't know if you can tell, but I am totally taking deep breaths in that picture!

Also, this:

Thanks, Heidi, for your donation to my refashioned closet!