More Halloween Costumes

What is it with my kids?  I got another last minute request for Halloween costumes from my daughter-in-law Ellen.  She called me on Monday and asked if I could come up with a scary dragon costume for Ellis.  She called again on Tuesday and wondered how the costume was coming (she knows I get right on something as soon as it is asked for).  However, I had not even started it because I was so busy on Monday night.  I knew I would be able to get it finished by Wednesday when Ellis comes to spend the night, so I wasn't worried.

That is when she hit be with another request.  Could I make a mushroom costume for Portia.  She asked for the top of the mushroom to be red with white dots and the body part to be all white.  I knew I could use a pajama pattern for the bottom and I had a barrette style hat pattern that I thought would do the trick for the top.  I didn't have the material on hand, so it was off to JoAnn Fabrics again for the fiftieth time in the past week it seems.  I couldn't find any red with white dots, so I just bought some white fleece for the body and some red to make the top.  I would just have to make the dots myself.  I started to cut out the costume a little after 9:00 and finally finished the whole thing around midnight.  It turned out great and Portia makes an adorable mushroom.

The cutest little mushroom on the planet.

I worked on Ellis's costume on Wednesday and had it ready for a trial fitting when he came over for the night.  I just bought a green hoodie and sweat pants for the body.  I made a spiky spine and tail out of bright green felt.  I stuffed it and sewed it to the back of the hoodie, leaving the tail portion to swing loosely.  Years ago I had made a dragon head and I still had it stored upstairs.  It required a little fixing up, but is still usable.   For the claws, I used penny rolls.  I cut the tips to a point, and hot glue gunned them shut with a claw made out of pipe cleaners sticking out from the end.  I then hot glued them onto the fingers of a glove.  That was tricky, but with the use of a wooden dowel I was able to do it without burning myself.  He didn't put the whole costume on for the trial fitting, but here is a picture of some of the final outcome.

This is his scary dragon look.

This is his not so scary look, but it gives a better idea of the claws.  Sorry, no shot from the back to see the spine and tail. No pants, either.  He didn't need to try them on and this was just a fitting.

I think that is it for costumes.  I know Kim won't be asking for any because she is making their costumes herself.  She said she might need some advice, but she could handle the sewing.  They are going to be so cute because they are going to be The Wizard Of Oz characters.  I can't wait to see the finished costumes for them.

Six Down With Three To Go

I just completed another sweater for my grandchildren's Christmas presents.  I have already completed four new ones and plan to use two that I had knitted previously for no one in particular.  They are the appropriate size for two of my grand kids, namely Zoe and Jackson.  That means I have finished six and still need to do three, since I will knit one for our newest little boy that will be born at the end of February.  Here are the six completed sweaters.

This is Ellis's sweater.  His mom requested the colors and design.  It is made from wool yarn from their own sheep.

Dot's fishermen knit sweater.

Lucy's sweater matches her sister's, but a slightly different color.

Portia's sweater is also designed as her mother requested and with their own wool yarn.

Jackson's sweater is also 100% wool from the Vieira sheep.  This is one that I had previously made.

Zoe's sweater is not wool and was one of my first attempts at knitting in designs.

Another project that I completed this week is a bib that was ordered by Eva for her grand daughter.  She wanted me to make a bib that said I (heart) my uncle in honor of her other son.  She intends to use it for a Christmas gift, so there was no real rush.  I just wanted to get it completed before I get too involved in my other sewing.  I have pajamas and sweat suits planned for the grand kids this year, so I need to get started on them soon.  I am also working on the woodlands play mat that I am making for our new little boy.  It is going to be for Christmas also.

Eva didn't want a real picture of her son, because there is another uncle from Mom's side.  I thought the bears are nice.

A cobbler?

I know that in my profile I said that I will give anything a try if someone wants something they do not see, but I was surprised to be asked to be a shoe cobbler.  I didn't know if my machine would sew through leather even though it is supposed to be a heavy duty machine.  Well, I never want to say I can't do something, so when my daughter-in-law Ellen asked me to take in the calves of her leather boots, I told her that I would do my best.  I purchased a heavy duty needle and proceeded to give it a shot.  I think it is actually going to be okay.  I'm a little worried that it might be a little too bulky along the seam, but I could not get the leather to lie completely snug against the boot.  The original seam was flattened by gluing the leather down.  That was another reason that I could not get my seam to lie smooth.  I had to sew through and cut through glue...now that is hard on needles and scissors.  Anyway, the job is finished and I hope she is pleased with the outcome.

Completed boots.  I took in the back seam.

What now?

Halloween is still a few days away, but Joey and Lexi had to go to a birthday party for their cousin last Saturday, and it was a costume party as well.  Cheryl had requested Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia costumes this year.  I couldn't find patterns for these costumes, so I went online and found pictures.  I just used patterns for things I did have that were similar and used a little imagination to come up with some pretty similar looking costumes.  I had Joey's costume finished, but Lexi's was just cut out and was going to be too short.  She told me Friday night that it would be nice to have the costumes for Saturday afternoon, so I got right on it.  I of course finished Lexi's costume around midnight and Cheryl picked them up on her way to the party.  She said that if it didn't fit, she just wouldn't dress Lexi for the party and I could get it fixed for Halloween.  Luckily, it fit.

Joey's Luke Skywalker costume.  The boots were actually made from a pajama pattern.  I like them a lot even though they are hard to see in the picture.

Lexi's Princess Leia costume.  The dress was made from a shirt pattern, but I didn't have enough material to make it as long as it needed to be, so I used a different material and added the bottom piece.  Turned out to be just the right length.

Ellen gave me the yarn she wanted me to use for Ellis's and Portia's Christmas sweaters Friday night when we were at Ellis's birthday dinner.  I started working on Portia's sweater Saturday night and finished it on Tuesday.  I then started on Ellis's sweater.  I have it nearly half finished.  I was able to do a lot of knitting today because it was so rainy that I was unable to get out with the kids for our walk and outdoor playtime.  There really wasn't much else to do except to knit.  Portia was over tonight, so I was able to try the sweater on her and I am very pleased to know that it fits fine.  I hope she doesn't grow and awfully lot before Christmas, or she will not get much use out of it.  I made it size 1 year, and she is just about 6 mo. now.  She is a big girl and growing fast.

Portia's sweater.  Her mother wanted me to use the special wooden buttons her father brought back from some foreign country.  She also requested the stripes and the tassel.

Baby Portia wearing her own sweater this time.  She has been a model for my last two sweater sets I made for my friend.

 

Now I'm really making hay!

Today has been a day of accomplishments.  I finished the sweater I was making for Anna.  I started working on it a week ago Sunday, so that was just eleven days ago.  I logged my hours and all total I knitted for approximately 50 1/2 hours. It was a nice challenge since she requested a zip up hoodie with pockets.  I have never put a zipper in a sweater before and I didn't have a pattern for a sweater like she requested.  I found a pattern on free patterns online that had a button up with pockets and a collar.  I decided to use that as my base and figured out a way to put the zipper in instead of buttons.  I found a hooded sweater pattern for the hood and made the hood in place of the collar.  I think it turned out quite nicely.  I've already finished the body and most of the hood for Bill's sweater.  That is the other adult sweater that I have to make.  The problem I am having with it, is that he wanted a color of yarn of which we did not have enough.  It is on order and when it comes in I will be able to finish his sweater, too.  Luckily, he wanted a sweater just like what Anna requested, so I am able to use the same pattern.

Anna's zippered hoodie with pockets.

After that, it was on to making my grandson's birthday cake.  I have been making his cakes for the past three years.  The first year it was his father's farm truck pulling the animal trailer and I placed plastic farm animals all around the scene.  He was only two and couldn't request what he wanted, but I knew he liked the animals, so that is what I made.  Last year, he asked for a ball and bat.  That was easy.  This year, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he told me he wanted a cake.  When asked what it was supposed to be this year, he wanted another farm scene.  His mother told him that he already had one like that, but he still wanted something to do with the farm.  He settled on a bale of hay.  Now, how do you make a birthday cake into a bale of hay?  In the olden days when bales of hay were rectangle, that would have been quite easy, but now bales of hay, as he knows them, are round bales covered with white plastic.  His father wanted me to make it like a jelly roll without the jelly and have it green like an uncovered bale.  He thought it would be nice to tie the bales with shoestring licorice.  The other request was to use natural green food coloring.  I set out to fulfill the order.  It wasn't all that easy to make green hay and green frosting with natural food coloring.  I checked online and found out that spinach was the best method for obtaining a green color.  I tried just using the juice, but it wasn't green enough, so I added the spinach itself.  I put some in the jelly roll cake mix for one cake and made another one without coloring.  I wasn't sure if the spinach cake would still roll.  As it turned out, the spinach cake rolled better than the regular one.  I was unable to find shoestring licorice, but my daughter found some peel and eat licorice that was just like it after peeling it, just a little shorter.  I used that to wrap the regular jelly roll cake because it needed something to hold it together.  Then I made some green frosting.  Again I had to add some of the spinach just to get enough green color.  You may be wondering about the taste of these spinach creations...well...the taste isn't all that noticeable...but...the smell is just awful.  Luckily, the green cakes are not all that I made.  I had one other challenge to this whole project.  Mother Ellen has recently discovered that she has a thyroid problem and her doctor told her to cut out sugar and chocolate.  Now, chocolate is Ellis's favorite flavor and I had to have some chocolate in his cake somewhere, so I made some chocolate cakes in veggie cans and covered them in white frosting to look like more bales of hay.  That gave me three white bales as jelly roll cakes and I decorated three chocolate bales to put in his cake scene.  There was another thing that I did with the jelly roll cakes to make them so that Ellen and myself with my type 2 diabetes can eat them.  I used xylotol which is a sweetener derived from other plants that is lower in the triglycerides in the cake.  Then, I made a frosting with another powdered sugar that is recommended for people with diabetes.  I had quite a bit of chocolate cake and plenty of vanilla and chocolate frosting left over after decorating the cakes for the scene, so I just frosted them like cupcakes and put them on a separate plate.  To add to the scene, I bought some Mega Blocks (like Lego's, but half the price) that was a farm scene and is age appropriate for a four year old.  I built the scene and placed them on the board along with the bailed hay cakes.  It took all night, but I am finally finished and almost ready for bed.

Ellis's fourth birthday cake scene.  Check out those green bales of hay in the center.  Imagine what a little spinach can do!