How would you spend your time if you had all the time in the world?

I keep wondering what I would do if I was a stay at home mom.
Would I want Maxim home everyday so I can spend every glorious moment with him? Or….
Would I put Maxim in Daycare everyday so I could do my own thing? Or maybe put him in Daycare part time so I can still afford daycare and afford to work from home as well as pay the bills?

He is starting that cling-on phase and wanting "Mama" or "Dad-dee" (who is also Mama) and he is walking and running and wants to sit in my lap and be read too....i am getting sentimental, i know. Shoot me.

I sometimes wish I didn’t have to work for the stress of working – for the need of the money to pay the bills.
I DO have an awesome job! I get to sew costumes everyday. I get to research cool things as how to make animal heads or animal feet . I am really looking forward to making horse hooves and other altered footwear for the next show – and once we learn how to do that, I hope to do it more for future shows.

And what about the things I want to learn for myself? Especially more advanced pattern making. This has led me to finally join the Japanese Sewing bandwagon.

A few months ago, Kathleen Fasanella hosted a Japanese book group buy. I had only started reading her blog via Tini via Gorgeous Things via the Sewing Divas this past fall. I had seen a lot of these Japanese pattern books at Sew Mad and Moonstitches (i really want to find the right yarn to make this scarf) Let's not forget the fab crochet books recently purchased by Alice. All of these have made me want to do more.
Though I am not in the fashion industry, I am pattern maker in the theatre world.
Well I used to be. Well I am.
These books are like dirty magazines for the cutter/draper. I mean the technical drawings and how-to’s are HOT!!!! I now get it! I get the excitement over these books! And the next question is….have I done anything yet? NOOOOOO!!!! Why? Well, time.

I really want to create a proper studio space at home so when I am not at work, I can work on things for MEEEE or the baby or whoever – just not for work.
I went to IKEA awhile back and saw this set up:

(That’s my mom)

I want this set up – it is a perfect layout – lower table for the machines and the higher table, set higher (about 42” from the ground for me). Of course this means that I have to lose the guest room in order to turn it into a proper studio space and put the bedroom set into storage – the nightstand and the dresser too.
This sort of organization at work has been part of the inspiration and desire to re-organize at home.
Also these blog entries found at the Domestic Diva – very inspirational when it comes to how to organize. The other inspiration? Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine’s latest issue on Studio Spaces – now many of these must have cost a fortune but good ideas that can be used on a much cheaper scale at a later date.

what we did in the costume shop:

Date night!

And Passover.

Fritz and I went on a date – a grown up date – no Max – just us.
Pretty impressive, I know. We even went to see a grown-up play. We saw THE GOOD WOMAN OF SZETCHUAN over at CONSTELLATION THEATRE. My friend, Yvette, designed the costumes for it (and they were fabulous), and I made one of the costumes for her – this equals free tickets. I love the complimentary ticket system. You work on the show and you get a few free tix. So nice and considerate.
The scary thing is that this is the first time in 5 years that I have taken advantage of my free tix earned elsewhere other than ISI. We really need to get out more. Really!

My mom came down and babysat and both she and the babe both survived! Max has new teeth (again!) coming in and has not been into too much food or sleeping.

It is also the Passover week – no Seders here. Not in the mood this year. We listened to PRARIE HOME COMPANION on the way into DC the other night and there were these Swedish guys singing “Putting on the Ritz” and the ShoeBand siniging a few Passover songs. It was both funny and sad at the same time for me. The Passover songs were in the 3rd segment for the night.


There has been some crafting in the world of KNIT OR GET OFF – well crocheting really. The wonderful world of Ravelry has led me to make these:



The pattern (in Japanese, of course) can be found here.

It is charted, so rather easy to follow but a bit awkward, due to weaving the circles around one another to create the centre. Once you’ve got that, you are good to go. These were just for practice. But I am thinking of making four of them (reversing the colours on 2 of them) and using that as the front of a bag (and maybe back?), and line it with some fab Asian print fabric – something on a geometric scale?

As for fabric, the latest banner is this fabric, in case you were wondering. I bought it at Capital Quilts, my local quilting shop (well, local to Woolwinders). Along with these guys here:








All of them are Alexander Henry prints and are from the Vienna or Gustav Klimt collections. The moment I saw them in the store i knew two things 1) they had to be alexander henry prints and 2) they had to be named after something from the Art Nouveau/Jugendstil period.


Skirt or aprons? Or bags? Or stash for now?

always another opening - again!

Sorry for the delay! Not much knitting or crocheting at Knit-or-get-off! There has been crochet and knitting teaching and lots of baseball uniform making here.

Our latest show (and world premiere), LOOKING FOR ROBERTO CLEMENTE just opened last night and it is great! Again, we are blessed with an amazing cast. Not a single bitchy comment made during tech week and that says alot!!! Well, not to me anyway :). Here is a link to the video/trailer created by our marketing department.
It is a shame that the music playing behind them is not our cast – it was the recording made by the playwright and composer for marketing and rehearsal purposes. It’s good – but I just happen to love our cast more. The video also has pics of the costumes (designed by Yvette M. Ryan)
Oh and if you want to see what I was running around working on before i went to USITT, check out Yvette's entry here, her design, but I made that! Well, not the headpiece, but the jacket, skirt and breeches (which you cannot see) Sweet review here.

In other news:
I wanted to review some of the shopping, yarn and other, that I did in Houston last month.
The first yarn store I went to was the Mary Charles Yarn store
It is a lovely little shop – upstairs from a very cute little knick-knack shop, Pattywhacks


Yarn first:
Mary Charles was definitely upscale. And so so were some of the prices. Most yarns were reasonable and she had a great selection of Blue Sky Alpaca yarns – never seen the worsted weight wool before and thought that it was really nice. She also had Art Yarns, Colinette, Rowan’s dk weight yarns and Debbie Bliss. She had some other beautiful things, but that was 3 weeks and a show ago, so I admit, I have forgotten.
I did pick up 5 skeins Queensland Kathmandu (i know KFI, bad Marietta) just enough to make Max a sweater. If i ever get to it - or a yummy scarf/shawl.



Mary Charles herself is really nice and gives great customer service, and she loved on my son (‘cause he is so damn cute!)

Before the yarn store was open, I hit Pattywhacks downstairs, and did some damage:


Salt and Pepper shakers! Had to get them. Then I saw these:


Gnome shaped playing cards.

And this one on the way out:

The box was made by the store owner's daughter.

I could not resist. There were more items of the Fliegenpilz and Gnome variety, but I had to STOP THE MADNESS. There was yarn to be had, and possibly fabric, so I had to curb the desire for more cuteness. These may be gifts, I may keep them. I have yet to unwrap anything. We shall see.


Gratuitous Baby pic: