And another 2 months has passed.....

Of me not posting on my blog
But you can always find me on Facebook – I just spend way to much time there – it is true.

Since last posting, there was Halloween…well, so I heard. I have been told of a fabulous holiday where children WANT to dress in fun costumes and got Trick-or-Treating for yummy candies….not my son.

After a lovely morning of “Thanks Mommy! It is so cute!” - all I got was his back and cries of “Take it off! I don’t like it!” A morning of Mommy–love turned into an afternoon of cranky, crying, not going out baby. I was C-R-U-S-H-E-D! I cried too…I had fantasies of a fab motherhood/childhood moment of going to the parade and Maxim in cute Halloween costume….dashed away by the whims of a 2.5 year old…oh wait he is 2.5!!! Of course! So reality checked back in and then there was alcohol after he went to bed
(There were chaps by the way. And a hat.)





So then November flew on by…
In the first week – actually the first 2 or 3 days of the month, I got a last minute text message and was asked to make this dress. For SHOWBOAT at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA (Did I mention they won a Tony last year?)


As quick as possible – as in cut and sewed on Wednesday, fit on Thursday, altered and fit again on Friday, and then the finishing was passed on to someone else to have ready for photo call on Saturday evening. . I hope nobody looks to close to the inside……For a quick faking of a Victorian day outfit complete with fake bustle, it was not bad. I do wish I had changed a few lines, such as knocking the shoulder seam down the back or the doing the front princess seams a bit differently, but you do what you can….

Then there were the doll clothes!!!! OMG! Tiny seams! Tiny pockets (for their tiny handkerchiefs of course)! And I had the easy lot – there were also tiny jean jackets with all that top stitching! This was another Simplicity project that I was a part of and the moment it was done there was *another* Simplicity project and there is even another one to be finished before the end of the year. So yeah – I have been a bit busy...

And I have not even gotten to Thanksgiving! Another story, another time...


Before I go I will show you a cute little sweater that I actually did make for Maxim- This time it is crocheted:















Pattern: Milo the Owl Sweater from CROCHET DESIGN FOR KIDS by Lucinda Guy
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool DK in Navy 011 (5.5 balls), Glacier 005, and Earth 018
Hook: E
Extras: none
Changes: no Owl or cross-stitch detail - may make the sleeves a bit longer by adding 3 rounds of single crochet in brown.

Coming back....

Knitting and crocheting have not been up on the top of my crafting list these last few months. But there has been a bit of crafting along with the xmas sewing.



I made this little Bottle Cap Pin Cushion over the summer after seeing this or maybe this tutorial. Ones i really want to make are these tea pot pin cushions. I will definitley make more once i can find emory for the filling.

I also made a very cute Gnome t-shirt bag this summer:



- which should be a gift for someone but i am having a hard time parting with it. It has been sitting unused for months because of the guilt that overcomes me if i try to use it....ah the joys of being raised catholic and jewish....all that guilt!

And the last little cute item was an apron (of course) for our summer intern -


Project Runway themed fabric! Gotta' love it!

And then gratuitous Max picture:


or my other favourite from Thanksgiving is here.

MOre holiday pics of craftiness and baby coming soon!

Why can't i sleep at night?

The last few months have been crazy and ridiculous and not filled with much sleep.
After much deliberation and stress, I decided that it was time to leave my full time gig.

You are thinking:
Marietta! In this economy? Are you daft girl?

Well, my answer is:
duh! of course i am stupid!

But (because there is always a but) I have been ...unhappy in my job for awhile. And not really unhappy, just needing to do the next thing. Needing to move on and grow as a costumier (pretentious SAT word) and develop other mad skills (like how to type and spell) Or verbesser the Deutsch
Financially, I'm screwed - and really who isn't right now? But (because there is another but) mentally I will be happy as a clam (...do clams smile?)

As i mentioned in an earlier post, part of my reasoning was for this guy:


(Max as Luke Skywalker Halloween 2008 - and, no, he does not have a light saber. A light saber is a prop, not a costume. Props fall under Daddy's domain and Daddy did not get his prop)

The other reason is because of Fritz - who we shall now refer to as MR. Fritz :)
Here is Mr. Fritz's First Day of School picture:


Now here is his 2nd day of school picture:


Getting up at 5:30 am does not make Mr Fritz pleasant - nor does a nagging wife who wants a picture.

Fritz of the tshirt and jeans is now Mr Fritz of the shirt, tie, jacket and Dockers. He is now a High School Teacher of Technical Theatre.

My plan is a little vague at the moment - but I will be freelancing in the theatre world and in the knitting world a bit more.
Since September, I have built costumes for 3 shows at work, 1 dance company, 1 small opera, 1 high school show, another dance company assisting a broadway designer and building costume for another theatre on the other side of town. There might be something that I am forgetting.....

oh and raising a baby.

side note: yes i voted!!!! and i the lines were crazy long and i am thrilled i helped make history! i am really looking forward to the next four years and no, i idid not like what Michelle Obama was wearing on election night. So far that was the the only one total miss out of all her campaigning outfits.

Halloweens past cont'd

So fast-forward approximatley 10 years and here I am in HighSchool as Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ. My mom made the dress from a table cloth found at a community theatre's garage sale. The shoes were something in my closet that i painted red and then glittered the hell out of them. And it was DAMN-COLD! so i had to wear a turtle neck.
Now what the heck am i holding in my right hand?....oh! i think it was supposed to be a picture of Auntie Em and Uncle Henry.....i think.....

I'm not Dead....yet!

Okay - It has been almost 8 weeks and i have been a bad bad blogger. I even suck at posting pics on flickr! Really!

And there is so much to tell you! Crafting! Life! Crafting! Work! Crafting!!!

Okay to start:
The Cubs have failed me. After 100 years I really thought we could beat it...but this is getting ridiculous. We saw them lose to the Mets the week before it was all over and i couldn't take it. I should have known that it was going to be bad when Max puked into his popcorn bucket.....really..... he did....good training for his college career

That is just the beginning of the good and the bad drama in the KNIT-OR -GET -OFF household.....hint: I will no longer be working here full time (this is GOOD drama)

Partly (is that proper english?) due to this adorable guy:








new outfit for Max- burda pattern #9617 ,size 18mths, pants and shirt
basic black knit and stripey knit both from GStreet sale table.
started 9/30 finished 10/2


oh but there is so much to tell you!!!!!!!!! i will try to write more often - i promise and there are lots of pictures to show you all.....

and then, just for fun: (i am sure you know it but i had to do it...i was in the mood for consumate v's)

Swaps, gifts and other things that come in the mail

I have been meaning to blog about all of the above. But there is always that sad excuse of mine – LACK OF TIME!!!
And I think the baby excuse is getting old...no matter how cute!

So let us start with gifts:
As a birthday surprise (3 MONTHS AGO!!!!!) SewMad sent me the most wonderful birthday package:



The most fabulous seam ripper (fliegenpilz!), stitch markers made by herself, jack skelington buttons, beautiful fat quarters, a nifty piece of fabric from IKEA (that I am seriously considering turning into a shopping bag, or two), hot pink mohair, and the piece de-resistance (how do you spell that?):


My very own SewMad original, a Fliegenpilz wallet. I love it! And I use it all the time now. My cigarette case –turned- wallet is now living in the diaper bag with important Maxim info (insurance card etc).
I had to wait until she posted her fabulous pattern (which I also have a pattern for now – thank you Katrin) before I could post a pic of the wallet – of course i waited way past the time she posted it .

If you haven’t figured it by now I am not very punctual with much of anything.

As for the swaps – I joined 2 apron swaps this summer. The first one was over at Apronista.ning.com (because I need to join another on-line community). The apron I made went to Sue Ann of Giabella Designs and the apron I received was from Deb, the Crochetholic. I loved my apron from Deb! So cute! And it is already blessed by Rit Dye and Clorox Bleach from work.

The next swap was on Ravelry.com. The Sew Obsessed group decided to have its first swap this summer thanks to Carlitadee. We all took a vote and aprons won! SO I got the chance to make another apron – this time I copied an apron given to me by my MIL. I actually cut out 2 before I cut out a 3rd and finished it. Swaps are hard if you do not really know what the person likes. I realize that I had a fabric that I thought my swap partner had used in the past – so I changed my mind entirely – I also realized that one of the aprons was really for me (haven't finished it tho...of course)

Here it is modeled by my old boss: (little trinkets thrown in found here.)

Isn’t she cute? And she makes my new sewing room look good.

Here is a view of the room from where she was standing.


There is another swap – the Theatrical Crafters on Ravelry are also running a swap…i really need to get working on that one...but I have until the end of the month….

There is so much more to fill you all in on - all good news (and no, not pregnant). I will be taking some time off this and next week – so hopefully I will get some more knitting and crocheting along with a bit of blogging in :)

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:

A doll's life

I am not one to get into the Blythe craze (tho they are cute and i love the fact that you can change their eye colour on a whim) or any other doll obsession. But one of my yarn customers asked me to make a dress for a Madame Alexander doll as a gift to her niece, and i couldn't resist.

Ms R has given her niece a Madame Alexander doll every year for her birthday and now it is the big one - her Bat Mitzvah. Apparently, they do not make a Bat Mitzvah doll - so Ms R asked me to make one for her. She asked me to copy her niece's dress for the Madame Alexander doll - as well as crochet a little pink kippa (made from Patricia Roberts 2 ply cotton - hey it is a yarn type blog after all).

Here is the original dress:


And here is the doll:

It was so much fun to make something that you would know would be appreciated and loved. And it was a great distraction from tech week along with a very sick Fritz.

Our latest show, LOST AND FOUNDLING, opens this weekend. It is a sweet little story (as told in a video here) about a little girl Found in the Mega Price Mart and raised there by its employees...and then it is a bit of a fairy tale ala Red Riding Hood or Alice in Wonderland. I hope to have pics by the end of the week - my batteries died just before the final dress and i wasn't able to take pictures.

and gratuitious baby shot - or i should say baby butt shot:

the life of a leather jacket

This once lovely leather jacket was purchased by me for Fritz on our "sort of honeymoon."

I say "sort-of" because our honeymoon happened about 6 months after our wedding (as we were busy opening a show the weekend after our wedding. We went to Williamsburg, VA for the historic aspect and Busch Gardens. (We also spent 6 weeks or so working for this theatre in Germany about 2 months after the wedding, so that was our other "sort-of honeymoon") It seems we also went for the shopping. So I bought this jacket for Fritz and he wore it - alot. But the cats liked to claw at it when he forgot to hang up. It had been repaired, and then shredded buy pointy sharp claws again and again.

Well now Fritz does not fit in this lambskin leather jacket and I couldn't just donate it to my costume stock at work - or give it away to GoodWill. So i repurposed it!




I mean, really! Aren't those the cutest little shoes you have ever seen? (okay you might have seen cuter, but just nod your head in my general direction and PRETEND they are the cutest little baby shoes you have ever seen)

I made 2 pair using the pattern found here.
The first pair was a plain black pair, no decoration - and since i blew up the pattern 1.25% they are HUGE!!!! Toddler size, at least.


So I went back to the original pattern and compared it to the shoes he wears now (a la target). So I amde the original pattern, added some decoration (he is only 10 month old now and he can't say NO yet - heehee) and they fit Max FABULOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is plenty of leather left over. I am thinking baby biker pants!


And now for gratuitous baby picture - with Daddy:



edited 1/24/2008 to add shoe pattern link.

Almost HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

It has been a heck of a year, hasn't it?
I am not one to write out deep thoughts (unless they are by Jack Handy)...but there has been ALOT happening at Casa de Knit-or-get-off!

Some moments sad, but so many happy! Holidays were the worst - but made fabulous by this guy:



How could you not love that face!?!?!?!?!? Okay I am very biased but i am so happy to have this little guy.
Fritz would like you to believe that he doesn't think that Max is all that cute. I have to remind him, that Max looks like him, sooooooo....Fritz must be cute too :)

I am getting back into knitting and hope to have the rest of my presents finished soon. Though sewing is still happening. Like these lovely slippers:



They were modeled after my favourite IKEA slippers. There was a bit of embroidery and embellishment added too. I am annoyed that I lost the second name label for Cathy (these were gifts for my daycare ladies) - but I was running out of time and i had to pick up the baby and get these gifts to them.
The gray fabric is a wool that bought years ago in Illinois. It is very soft and drapey, that is until you wash it and felt it (on purpose). The ladybug is an embroidered micro-suede left over from a show and the purple butterfly is woolfelt purchased at JoAnn's last summer. Other than the cost of foam ($2.50) and time, I was able to make these guys for free. :) Free meaning I spent the money more than 6 months ago...i think that means free... :)


My brother also received a version, more manly, and way too big. His feet just seem sooooo much bigger than mine - but i guess not 3" bigger than mine :) oh well. But they matched the jammies i made him for xmas - and of course there is no photo! Why would i do that? As you saw in the previous post, I was way to busy taking pictures of the cuteness of Max!

Happy New Year!
Prost Neu Jahr!
Prospero Ano Nuevo! (okay i know that there is supposed to be a tilde' over the N but i don't know how to do it - or the Umlauts...)

handmade xmas going strong

i am not going to say who i have been making these items for, so those of you who are expecting a gift in the near future will just have to guess! :)

i have been frequenting the Sew Mama Sew blog like a crafting fiend!
Originally i was not going to make these - but once they started to post ones made by other viewers, i was hooked!


so here are my little tissue holders - ridiculous and cute!



I am also thinking of making them to use for feminine products. I am making them to match all those bags I have cut out and still need to make.

I also am hooked on these bags:



I found the tutorial via Sew Mama Sew! ( i think) or it was Whip up! Well written and so quick to make! Check out the cute lining.

I have blown the pattern up 1.25 times, using the photo copier to make a slightly bigger size. There will be more of those later.

And last but not least , my little notebook:


I have no idea where i got the idea for this - either it came in a dream or a blog-hopping fog. Inside view here.

I am still not quite ready for the holidays! I mean hannukah has come and gone without the pomp and circumstance, why not Xmas? I am feeling the xmas stress.......

more cool gifties to post next week!

the last 10 days

Happy Hannukah!



Oh! Wait that ended yesterday...
So I'm a little behind. What else is new? :) We lit the candles and ate the latkes. No dreidel spinning here but we sang the South Park Version of the song...we are soooooo not PC in this house, I tell ya!

Other than the eight days of chanukah...there has been the 10 days of QUILTERS. This is the latest musical for our Musical Conservatory program. I admit, I haven't watched a single rehearsal this weel. Poor Yvette has had to watch it every night this week...Max is such a great excuse. That and I have been sick too - i have caught the plague :)

So what does a musical about Quilters involve? Quilts! Lots of friggin' quilts! I have never quilted. I mean that I have NEVER done the type of quilts that require tiny triangles and squares and circles and all sorts of piecing.
Kristin sent me a link to this amazing webpage! Crazy helpful it was. That and the Singer sewing book on quilts and some other book the set designer brought in were the best thing in the world!

Our quilt blocks are (approx.) 22" square. Some patterns were enlarged and some were shrunk. The final product is 16 seperate squares mounted onto an 8'x8' canvas backdrop:

In order of left to right, top to bottom, we have -
1. Butterfly (a crazy quilt with applique) 2. Logcabin 3. Spools or Secret Drawer 4. "rebel patch" (a crazy quilt used for a fictitious block for the show)

5. School Houses 6. Rocky Road to Kansas (have also seen it called Rock Star) 7. Country Crossroads 8. Baby Blocks (aka Tumbling Blocks)

9. Lonestar 10. Four Doves in a Window 11. tree of Life 12. Kansas Dugout

13. Double Wedding Rings 14. Double Windmill 15. Crosses and Losses 16. Robbing Peter to Pay Paul


By the way, we cheated. Alot!!! - there was heat-n-bond and non piecing....but could you tell? Okay maybe you professional quilters could...irk!

Here are a few close-ups:


We ended up appliqueing this one with heat-n-bond after we had made it WAY to big. There wasn't enough time to piece it properly.



Made by one of our apprentices.


Katherine throwing down the scraps in order to make the Crazy quilt block. She ironed them all down and then zig-zaged by machine.


Our final block - The background blocks were pieced and then the rest was laid on top, then appliqued.

Each block gets snapped on as the play goes on and the song is sung to explain the story behind each pioneer woman's quilt. So we need to readjust the snaps a bit and maybe adjust a block or two....then it is all done!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once that is done, we can get on with the more important things at hand. The making of the holiday gifts and secret santa-ing in the work place. I am sure my person knows who I am...but that is okay...she is loving it!

Purses, Schmurses!

So a few days ago i gave you a little peek into my Holiday Madness.

Well here is more!





The Fliegenpilz bag is made of fabric I purchased last summer in NYC at Purl Soho. The buttons are from a new store near me that has just opened. (they come in green, blue, red, white and burgundy).

Their online page is lousy - does not do the store justice one tiny bit! And so much of their stock is not online. Here is a hint of what I bought on my first purchase. (yes, I said first. There has been a 2nd)

The green cordoroy bag is for a co-worker who has been one of my "new-mommy gurus."
I added appliques and a pocket on the outside and buttons from my new dealer.

The trial run began with the wool tweed fabric from my stash. The lining is also from Purl Soho. It is a Heather Ross fabric.


Really - check out the Handmade Holiday month at Sew Mama Sew! And while you are at it, don't forget to check out Whip Up for their latest roundup of crafting (featuring the lovely Alice).

And in the middle of the madness I have been crafting a few other things - and have been creating a mini-tutorial of my own. We shall see if I can get it all done and posted it by the end of the weekend.

oh goodness it is well after midnight - so need to get to bed!

ps: the purse pattern is here (the schematic should be a trapezoid, not a rectangle)

holiday creating has begun!

Have you all accepted that this is not a pure knitting blog?
Good.
I only remind you all of this since the holiday crafting will be heavy on the sewing and light on the knitting or crochet. I blame Sew Mama, Sew.
The month of November is Handmade Holidays Month. And I am going crazy with the craftiness of them all...not enough time in the world (and there needs to be more manly ideas)

I have printed out so many tutorials it is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!!!

And I am having a fabulous time.

Here is a little hint of the beginning of my holiday crafting madness:



the details:




(did you see the buttons!?!?!?!)

And there have been cookies. I saw Madhatter's yummy cookies and i figured it was time to dig through the magazine recipes i have been saving over the years and make these Iced Gingerbread cookies.



(next week, I will attempt a chocolate shortbread recipe)

Run, don't walk....

...to your local fabric store (or where ever else you buy your patterns)

Last year, I got the chance to do some sewing for a Simplicity pattern designer to make some extra cash (for my trip to Vienna of course). Well, if you you have been perusing the costume section of the Simplicity pattern books, you will have seen my fine work!!!!

Being the dork that I am, I took pictures of the pattern books with my cell phone to document my handy work (which of course i never photographed last year because i forgot):

You can also view the professional pictures here and here