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:

USITT and a yarn party

The USITT SWAG!!!!




I worked very hard to get my free stuff! The bags are the leftover scraps from a company that does custom theatrical drapes. The tshirt (which i kept) was from a Rigging company based out of Las Vegas. I got some samples and swatches of fabrics for some very interesting products - which i plan to be using on the next mainstage show. You will be hearing more about those items and how we will be making headpieces and costume pieces for THE NEVERENDING STORY this summer. One company that i need to place an order from for work or play is these guys. The whole iron-on trim and beads thing was pretty nifty! I am not sure how much i would use it but the fact that you can iron on to ANYTHING was just gosh darn cool - and they were very nice.

photos of the adventures from USITT found here: Max at the airport, Muslin undergarments by PeriodCorsets.Com, Some random ballet costume (???) Swan Lake Costumes (by ????)


More Restaurants:

The next restaurant was an Italian joint - not too far from the Convention Center called JOSEPHINE's. The food was good, not amazing, just plain good and satisfying and worth the price. ANd i cannot say enough how amazing the service was at each and every restaurant (except for one). It has ben a week and i cannot remember what i ate, but Max loved the tiramisu and the wine was gooooooood - but the coffee was nasty. (their espresso machine was down and all they had was basic bad coffee)


The nest round of great service was at an IHOP - yes you read that right. International House of Pancakes. Okay the food is the smae everywhere , but our waiter, prison tat's and all, was one of the nicest, most on the ball waiters i have ever had! And he was so nice to Max. And did not complain about the clean up job that my kid left him (there was egg and crackers EVERYWHERE!!!

And then there was the Yarn Party!

Via a Ravelry group - some local to DC/Baltimore, spinners and dyers held a Yarn Party in Takoma Park. As you can see:




It was a bit overwhelming. I don't think anyone realized that sooooo many people would show up - I was definitley feeling incredibly claustrophobic. I only purchased one skein of yarn from StormMoonKnits - it was a sock yarn (go fig!) and the colorway is "I kissed a girl" all dark purples and black and some fuschia (or is it violet? - or magenta?) - will take more pics of yarn from today and things from my trip when i get better lighting. More pics of the local yarn dealers here.

CAMERA POLL:
Don't know if you noticed - but my pictures are starting to look like ass if i am not in the most perfect of lighting (and our apartment is not!) - so we are looking into a new camera. So....What do YOU have?

Gratuitous baby pic:

this one by me:




this one by Jill:





also check out these fab pictures by Jill - now she has an amazing camera and she knows how to use it.

My week in review - Houston Part 1

Well last week in review…

Did you know that there isn’t any zoning in Houston? Really none – well not as far as I could see. The yarn stores were in the middle of neighborhoods (that is a different entry) – the PetSmart was at the end of the street in a very nice neighborhood. And yes, there is a Starbuck’s on almost every corner! Insane I tell you!!! Absolutely insane! And so unorganized. The true definition of suburban squall (what’s the phrase?)

So here is Max waiting for the planes:




No pics of the babe on the plane – I was too busy trying to keep him from running down the aisles.
He loved it! And on the way back he slept the whole way – as he should have since it was a 6am flight.

So my restaurant reviews:
First off, every single restaurant we went to, say for one, was fantastic. The food was great and the service was amazing! Almost too nice. Maybe a bit cult-ish. In New Jersey, you get rude service with a smile – and they mean that smile. In the DC area, you just get rude service – unless you have a true Northerner or a true Southerner. Then they know who they are and how to deal with the situation.

The first restaurant we went to was a TEX MEX place called CAFÉ ADOBE – oh-my-goodness! It was fantastic!!! I was boring and had my usual – Chicken Enchiladas with the “delicious” tomatillo sauce. It was not boring at all. I almost licked my plate clean. Seriously. Almost. Oh and the frozen Margarita!!!!! Tasty! I needed it too – and the service was great. They kept the chips basket full – we actually needed the two different kinds of salsa refilled several times….and yes the four of us were total and utter piggies eating all that fab food. Checked the drinks and made sure that we were very happy all night long. No room for dessert – though we thought about it since everything looked so good.

#2:

Yatra Brasserie – Indian food to die for. And again, the service was amazing! For an appetizer, I had Keema Empanadas (had to get it - a little lamb empanada) and then I had this amazing Lamb dish, Saag Gosht. Fritz had a shrimp and scallop dish. Our friends had the Chicken Tikka Masala and something else - with lentils. And that was all goooooood. Our one friend has a limited diet – gluten free – so Indian was perfect for her. Instead of Nan, they served these chips/bread made from sundried lentils – again delicious. Everything had the right amount of spice and heat. The kind that burns but still lets you taste everything you are eating. Oh it was good.


I am getting hungry just thinking about all these restaurants. Should have eaten a better dinner. Fritz should not have left me to fend for myself.

Okay say that is part one.
I wish I had thought to take pictures of all the yummy food and everywhere we went.
But there was work involved and there was a baby involved. He made it a bit difficult J
I say that with love.
Really I do.

one year ago today.....

this little guy was born:





in order to celebrate this occasion, i made bought, cupcakes from the grocery store on our way home from the airport - made a little crown and we started here:



and ended here:




there were a few stops in between :)


it ended in a bubble bath - no pics but i think you get the idea

as for USITT - we had a great time and we are exhausted! I will post yarn store reviews along with a few restaurant reviews - there are places that you defintley want to go when you are in Houston, and there is one or two that you should never eat at, no matter how cool the name!

never enough time

No, I haven;t vanished - I just have been way busy! And getting ready for USITT - hoping to learn many things to make me a better costume shop manager and/or designer.

Max will be on his first plane ride early in the morning with just ME!!!
Fritz left this evening - later than expected due to hailstorms and the like in Texas.

WE'll be staying with friends all week - i hope they still like us after spending 5 days with us and the baby! We'll see......

And we will be flying back on the Sunday the 23rd....Max's first bday!!!!

He has already had a head-start at the yarn store!