fab

(The pic above shows Lucy holding up the costume parade at preschool while she stops to admire herself in the mirror. . .) I used one of her little summer dresses for the pattern but added the pockets just for fun. I thought it needed something. . . I was having a little Project Runway moment. I followed these instructions for making her little cloak, but smaller of course. I found trim at a little shop here in Salt Lake called The Lace Place which specializes ribbons, bows and lace. And for some inexplicable reason, when I went to photograph the dress this morning, there was birdseed in the pocket. Maybe our Little Red Riding Hood has actually been out in the woods. . .

Lucy's little pre-school went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch the other day. She was excited because, well, she's excitable. . . she knew where we were going had something to do with her buddy, Aidan, and pumpkins so she was sold. I was excited because, well, photo-op! So I had her all dudded up and cute and my entire camera bag in tow and we went to the pumpkin patch. There were a million things to look at and do, so the kids were in heaven. The camera toting moms on the other hand, were frustrated and disappointed. We couldn't pin the kids down long enough even to auto focus. . . they kept moving into direct sunlight or chasing the cat or wandering into the motion-sensored cackling animatronics portion of the pumpkin patch instead of the haybale/morning shade/bumpy pumpkin backdrop we'd been dreaming of (I wasn't the only one who came prepared for the ideal photo shoot. I saw at least 4 other Canon Rebels. . .) Here's the only good pic I got. . . It's L

I planted a garden. . . and it grew! I owe it all to one friend who mapped out where to put what, two friends who helped me dig and plant, a toddler who likes mud, dirt, water and shovels, and a very rainy June. (I think I need a punctuation refresher. . . I use ellipses way too much and I just had like a billion awkward commas in that sentence.) Hoping all these tomatoes can eek just a little more heat out of the low October sun. Ok, the big one is a ringer, but all the others are legit.

Thought I'd confess to a couple failed projects. . . First of all, I have this darling Japanese craft book which has been translated into English. There are drool marks on most of the pages. The projects are darling, the instructions are charming. I've been meaning to try a bunch of the patterns, but settled on this one. . . tiny stuffed bears for babies to gum and teethe on. I thought, PERFECT! I have the most fruitful bunch of friends and family imaginable and I always need baby gifts. . . Here is the picture from the book. So cute, right? Here are the two I made: Not so cute. . . it's really hard to work this small! These little guys are only about 4 inches tall. I did the blue one first and then tried the brown one scaled up to see if it was any easier. Nope. Horrible. I won't be giving these to anyone, its too embarrassing. I think I probably should have used stretch terrycloth, but it didn't specify. I may try again in the future after the pain of this failure