Just What the Doctor Ordered

Taking care of all the Halloween candy tummy aches.

Lab Coats for Doctor Ben and Nurse Anna!

Made these lab coats from an old sheet (freshly laundered in hot water and bleach). Used Simplicity pattern 5284 but just made the jacket longer and pressed the top of the jacket front down to form a collar. I added two pockets and the red cross applique. The nurse's hat is made of stiff iron on interfacing and the sheet fabric. The fabric reflector band and the hat have velcro closures for an adjustable fit. The reflector is the back of a large covered button hot glued onto the black fabric band. A small silver button is glued in the center.

Halloween Preview

Billy and the kids got a chance to try out the Halloween costumes at our ward's trunk or treat tonight.  Not me.  I was working... and feeling sorry for myself.

Henry wanted to be Kai.  Who is Kai, you ask?  

This guy:

 Lucy wanted to be Hermione (from Harry Potter).  While I was curling her hair, she practiced introducing herself in her best British accent.  A pretty good one, too!

While I really did try to be on top of things this year, I had a hard time finding a gray pleated skirt or even a pattern for a pleated skirt, so I improvised.  Usually anything I try to make without a pattern turns out "rubbish", as Hermione would say, but this skirt kind of worked!  Yeah!

 Watch out!  These are some powerful kids!

Seat of Learning

I was substitute teaching for a fantastic junior high social studies teacher the other day. Before she left for a doctor's appointment, she apologized for the stained seat on her desk chair. She said she usually draped a silky flag (from some obscure country) over the seat. But it always slipped off. So while she was out, I made a paper pattern of the seat and envisioned myself surprising her with a seat cover. If I could only find fabric with a world map on it!And wouldn't you know, but on my next trip to Jo Ann's I found this world map panel fabric.
I cut out the shape of the seat top with an extra 1/2 inch for seam allowances. I stitched red piping 1/2 inch from the cut edge with a zipper foot. I also used the zipper foot when I stitched a 7 inch strip all around the seat shape, right sides together. I had to ease around the rounded corners. On the other side of the strip, I made a 3/8 inch casing and inserted 1/4 inch elastic.

I hope she likes it!

Getting Chilly at Night

Pre-school age grandsons in Kentucky have been complaining that it is getting chilly at night.

So they asked this grandma to make them some pj pants. Of course I couldn't disappoint them.

Some long sleeved tee shirts were begging to be appliqued to go with the flannel pants.

Handmade World

Me: "Henry, do you like your new shirt?"

Henry: "Did you make it?"

Me: "No, I bought it."

Henry: "What does 'bought' mean?"

Pumpkin Patching

It's officially fall.  

Friday, we headed over to a local pumpkin patch to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.  

 Things were going pretty well (aside from me locking the keys in the car) until the kids went to explore the sunflower maze.  They found a sunflower that had two caterpillars on it and and very large fire ant nest beneath it 

(well, beneath Henry to be exact).

20 ant bites, one Coca-Cola, and a hay ride later, Henry was feeling back up for pumpkin hunting.

Which we did.