One more little bit of crafty stuff before all of my “free” time is once again consumed by proofing policy print and entering test cases.

“Abbie”, by Children’s Corner. Size 2 top and size 1 pants.

I like certain things about this one. The top is completely lined, even the sleeves. So it will be warm enough, even in the winter. I like the crossover front, and the A-line shape to the top. I also like the split on one side of the top. I do not like the neckline (it looks strangle-ish, although AJ says it feels fine) or the way the pants narrow to the hem. They’re cropped, and it looks weird for them to get so slim at the bottom. I’m also not sure about the fabric. I didn’t buy this fabric specifically for this outfit, but after using it for some lined tissue cozies commissioned by a friend, I thought it might look cute in this outfit. But I’m afraid it’s a little bit too busy. I don’t know. AJ likes it, but because the top is (unexpectedly) a little on the small side, this will be a one-season outfit. And I’m okay with that.

Like I said, not everything I make turns out the way I want it to.

Happy Friday! It’s cold down here this morning. I’m drinking my tea and waiting for a two-hour conference call to begin. It’s been great to have this semi-hiatus, but I think my consulting work is about to pick back up again. I’ve had some proofreading and that sort of thing to do, but the daily hour-long conference calls were on hold, and that was So Nice. I actually got to leave the house in the mornings and do my grocery shopping and stuff like that with just one kid. It makes a huge difference to be able to run errands while DJ is in school. But, the daily calls will resume on Monday, probably. Sigh. I just keep repeating to myself, “Christmas money. Christmas money.”

It’s been a crazy week. On Tuesday night, some guy came into the church when we were leaving our women’s Bible study. I think we need to be locking the doors when we’re in there. He didn’t ask for anything, but he talked too much and made us all very nervous. He kept saying how he needed to talk to someone, because he was full of anger. And he came into a church at 9 PM on a Tuesday night to talk to someone about it? (Can anyone say “pepper spray”? I’m getting some.) Then on Wednesday afternoon, some creepy-looking kids rode up my street on a motorcycle and parked, then started walking back out of the neighborhood. One was wearing a big fluffy fake fur coat, white with black spots (like a dalmation). They looked really shady, and I was already on edge because of the encounter with the guy the night before. Turns out one of them is dating the girl across the street, but I have no trust for unknown teenagers. And then I wonder, when did I cross that line? I mean, half of the time I still feel like I just got out of college. I’m only 35, for goodness’ sake. But then I’ll give the hairy eyeball to some kid who looks weird, but is probably completely harmless. How does that happen?

I’ve stopped working on Ariann so I can get cracking on DJ’s reindeer sweater. Here’s Ariann, so far complete to the armholes.

And here is the reindeer sweater.

I wish I was better at colorwork. This one is done entirely in fair isle, even the reindeer section. I think my tension is a little too tight at the edges of the pattern. But, now I am almost finished with the back, and I think the rest will be easy. Gotta finish this in time for Christmas photos!

I just saw somewhere while surfing that Thanksgiving is 9 DAYS AWAY! Which means, that’s right, Christmas is (ACK!) almost (ACK!) here (ACK! ACK!)! Gee. I don’t even know how this can possibly be, but I guess I feel that way every year. Somehow I just live in denial until the very end. I think I’ll remain there a while longer.

Instead, let’s talk about fall. We had a very hot, dry summer, and it seemed like everyone was fretting that we wouldn’t have any good fall color this year. Now, “good fall color” is relative, of course, because South Carolina never has the good fall color of, say, New England. But still, we can do pretty well with it. Some examples:

All of the dogwoods in our yard look like they’re on fire. Beautiful.

Sweetgum trees, while rather ugly and plagued by horrible sticky

little balls, do have pretty leaves at this time of the year.

This is part of a giant, man-eating mum at the edge of our yard.

The flowers are white, tinged with pink.

I do love the colors of fall. And you might think our yard is just one big paradise of beauty, so in order to knock that notion right out of your head, let me leave you with this. I’m sorry I did this to you, sweet purple impatiens.

And your pot wasn’t even pretty.

My favorite neighbor, Karen, came to watch AJ one afternoon for me, about a week ago. I had made arrangements for DJ to stay at school all day, which thrilled him to no end because he would get to eat lunch and take a nap with his class. (Still scratching my head over why a nap at school is fun, but naps at home were abandoned long ago.) Anyway, I still needed someone to watch AJ, and Karen came to the rescue. When I left, she was finishing up a little sweater that she had started knitting. When I came back, she had sewn on little butterfly buttons and presented it as a gift for AJ.

How sweet is that? Karen said she found the pattern online, and that it is just knitted from the back to the front in one piece. It looks a lot like the MDK kimono, without the wrap front. It’s precious and AJ loves it.

It’s so nice to have a neighbor who is also a friend.

Finally, I have found a few hours to do some sewing. Last week I put AJ in this dress for church. When I made it last fall, I added 2 extra inches to the length, hoping it would last two seasons. Well, it didn’t. She wore it to church on Sunday, but her tush was hanging out of it. She did have tights on, so I wasn’t totally redneck. But really, I realized she needed a new dress. Or, better yet, a reversible dress. Two dresses in one!

This is McCall’s 2213, View D, in XL. It’s the same pattern that I used to make AJ’s cowgirl dress. I sewed the sides together instead of sewing the fronts and backs together separately as the pattern instructs. I really don’t think an open-sided dress is a super idea, especially in the winter time. I machine embroidered her first initial on the front and sewed down a black grosgrain ribbon along the hemline.

The other side of the dress looks like this:

At first, I thought the bird toile might be too grown-up looking for a toddler, but it actually looks quite sweet. I also sewed some ribbon on this side of the dress, a skinny black and white gingham.

This is where I really recommend an edgestitching foot. It has a little guide that rides along the edge of whatever you’re sewing (a ribbon, or the edge of a pocket, or the top of a purse or tote bag) and makes a nice, neat line of stitching. No wavy lines and no sewing off the edge of the ribbon!

To make the strap closures reversible, I decided against a plain button. Instead, I sewed buttonholes into both ends of the straps, then made a little bow-on-a-button thing that works kind of like a cuff link (anyone know what those are anymore?). The bow is sewn onto the button, then the button itself goes through both buttonholes to close the straps. It works well. I also made a couple of little gingham-covered buttons and sewed them to plain buttons, to be used in the same way. It’s a neat way to make the dress a little different each time she wears it (which will hopefully be for a while).

She wore it to church today with this hairbow (first one on the page). I think black and white is so crisp looking…I really just fell in love with the whole outfit. The other day, Beth said that she pictured things I make always turning out perfectly, which I thought was hilarious (and told her so). Blogs have a way of doing that, don’t they? We only show our best side. But I told her that honestly, I’m usually appropriately humbled when something I make is finished, because it rarely comes out to my expectations. That goes for everything I do, and especially in cooking. But this project actually turned out better than I imagined. And thank goodness. It’s those unexpected little successes which make sewing fun for me.