We're gonna party like it's 1999

Sorry... that's what I say every time we are headed out to do something fun. I graduated from high school in 1999 and I can't help myself. So sue me. :)

Anyway, we are headed out to Disneyland today, WHOOP!  Hudson hasn't been since he was 2, Abby hasn't been since she was a few months old and Stryder has never been. IT'S GOING TO BE SO AWESOME!

Before we leave I just wanted to check in with y'all and tell you a few things:

• My freelance job ends in less than two weeks, and I have some big sewing plans for when it's over! After I relax by the pool for a week, of course.
• 
  
• I've been doing some pattern testing lately and it's a lot of fun. That's a post for another day...
• 
  
• Abby picked out some fabric for a new dress yesterday, so I'll be starting that soon. It's so fun to look at fabric with her, now. Her favorites actually surprised me. I can't wait to show you!

Okay, that's all for now! I'm headed off to the happiest place on earth, with my favorite people on earth.

Just out of curiosity, have you taken your children to Disneyland? If so, what was their favorite attraction? And do you have any tips for doing Disneyland with young kids? If you comment, I'll see it today, so you might really help us out. :)

Have a great day!

Prize-Winning Shorts! {SOTL 2012}

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you already know this, but I'm going to tell you anyway:

I won the judges choice second place award in Shorts on the Line! *squeeee!!*

This is the first award I've won for sewing and I'm SO excited! Can you tell? You can read the announcement from our fabulous SOTL hostesses here, here or here.

I won the award for these fabulous lace shorts:

They were made out of a scrap of lace from my Grandma Jessie's amazing stash, and you can read the story and see the instructions here.

I'd like to thank my Grandma Jessie for passing on her unique and timeless lace stash to me. And her love of sewing (both of my Grandmas participated there). I wish we lived closer, Grandma!

I'd also like to thank Vanessa, Carla and Rachael for all the hard work they put into this sew-a-long. You ladies are wonderful, supportive, and SO MUCH FUN!

And to the fabulous judges I would just like to say: I'm so glad you liked my shorts! Thank you so much for the vote of confidence, and the prizes, and for another reason to keeping sewing every time I have a free second.

Now that SOTL is over, what am I going to do with myself?? Just kidding; I have about a million projects on my sewing to-do list. Better get started!

Thanks for reading! I picked up quite a few new friends during this sew-a-long and in my opinion, that's the best prize of all. 

BBQ Roasted Plums in Wine {a recipe}

I don't do this very often, but today I have a recipe for you! It's the perfect summer weekend recipe, too, so you're getting it on a Saturday. This is a recipe for BBQ Roasted Plums in Wine. Yeah, it's amazing.

This is the perfect desert to throw on the grill after your steaks or kabobs have finished grilling. You don't have to turn on the oven, and since it's summer, why would anyone want the oven on in the house???

This recipe is adapted from one for grilled pears at Top Class Food. I'm guessing it would be delicious with pears or peaches, but I've only ever tried it with plums. The tartness of the plums it perfectly balanced by the wine and sugar. Seriously, it's so yum.

You will need:

• A few ripe plums (how many is up to you)
• White wine
• White sugar
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• A pan you can put on the BBQ
• A hot grill

First, turn on the grill and let it heat. Wash and halve your plums and set them in your pan with the skin side up.

Poor in the white wine. Be liberal! You don't want the plums swimming, but some of the wine will cook off and you still want some plum-wine-sugar juice in the pan at the end.

Sprinkle liberally with sugar. If your plums aren't 100% ripe, you can add more sugar to balance the tartness. Who knows? Maybe it's even better with tart plums.

Now sprinkle with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I didn't use any exact measurements here, just sprinkled until they "looked good." Don't skip the nutmeg unless you have no other choice--it really makes these plums something special.

Put your plums on the grill. I made three pans of them last time and we have a small grill, so they didn't fit very well as you can see.

But we made it work!

I cook mine with the lid up for about ten minutes, and then close the lid to let the plums get nice and soft. I don't think it matters either way.

Turn your plums frequently to cook evenly. You'll know they are done when the flesh expands so that the skin wrinkles up. The plums might start to lose their shape and ooze into the yummy goo on the bottom of the pan. That's just what you want!

Now serve them with ice-cream, or waffles, or maybe even cream cheese and crackers? The possibilities are endless!

Let me know if you try these. I'd love to hear how they turn out. And don't forget, I LOVE comments. ;)

Thanks for reading friends! 

Little Big Boy Shorts (SOTL 2012)

Here is my last pair of shorts for Shorts on the Line 2012! I entered them into the Flickr group a few days ago, but my weekend just started (WHOOP) so can finally share the pictures with you.

I call these my "Little Big Boy Shorts" because they look like something Hudson would wear, but they fit my littlest guy. I love it when my Styder-boy wears big boy clothes, but still retains his little baby-ness. You know what I mean?

Take a look at that hair! I do not style it, I swear!

Baby belly alert!

Here are some of the unique details on these shorts. (Hudson's up next for a pair of these because the print on the pocket is outer space!)

These shorts feature:

• Rocket pockets! (Haha, I came up with that in the middle of the night and thought it was SO funny).
• Bias-cut back pockets and waist band for contrast

Again, for these I used my Summer Shorts pattern. Thank goodness I perfected it, because I use the pattern ALL THE TIME! In fact, I used the Summer Shorts pattern to create four of my five Shorts on the Line entries. You can see the other three here:

Polka Dot Summer Shorts
Lace Shorts
It's a Banner Day Shorts

I made one other pair for Shorts on the Line, from a pattern in the Happy Homemade Vol. II japanese sewing book. You can see those shorts here.

Thanks for reading friends! You can vote for your favorite Shorts on the Line entries HERE. I encourage you to vote for your favorite shorts, whichever those are. But if you're looking for mine among the 101 entries (!!!), they are numbers:

• 1 (Pink Polka Dots)
• 7 (Wedding Lace Shorts)
• 60 (Gold Fever Shorts)
• 81 (Little Big Boy Shorts)
• 82 (Little Big Boy Shorts in Gray, AKA It's a Banner Day shorts)

Happy Voting!!!

It's a Banner Day! Shorts

Today I'm posting my final two shorts for Shorts on the Line. I'm really getting these in under the wire, because today is the final day to enter shorts in the flickr pool. Introducing my "It's a banner day" shorts!

Believe it or not, these were made using my Summer Shorts pattern. As usual, I added a little room to the pattern for Stryder's diaper bum. I also made the following alterations:

• More length to the shorts so they look like a big boy pair
• Slash pockets on the inside with a contrasting fabric-- my favorite print from the Reunion line
• A waist band (I cut 2 1/2 inches off the top of the original pattern and added this one)
• Contrasting hem at the bottom
• Back pockets
• Two pleats in the front to make him look all fancy-pants

Wait a minute. Maybe I should have called these "fancy pants"? Oh well, too late now!

And one more to brighten your day:

I've really had a lot of fun with Shorts on the Line and my only regret is that I didn't have time to make more pairs. Well, that's not entirely true, because I have another pair to show you later today, ha!

Thanks for reading friends! You can check out my other shorts-on-the-line-shorts, which have been featured as "favorites" by two of the SOTL hostesses, Carla of Small + Friendly and Rachael of Imagine Gnats. Thanks, ladies!

A Wiksten {ish} Tank

Earlier in the season, when Wiksten tanks were popping up all over the blogosphere, I tried one for myself because they are awesome. It was an enormous FAIL.

Why was it an enormous fail? For this simple reason: I didn't make a muslin first.

I like to make my own clothes, and I'm accustomed to just jumping in and making it work. When I use knits to make dresses, shirts and skirts this is no big deal. I just trace a top and GO. But with wovens, oh dear beautiful wovens, that approach simply doesn't work for this bigger-than-b-cup-gal.

So my first Wiksten was a fail. About a month later I attempted it with a knit and the result was better. In the knit I made a smaller size (Medium) and narrowed the shoulders. (Smaller size in a knit = enough stretch for the curvy parts). Here is how it turned out:

It's not bad. This style of loose-fitting tank is very trendy right now. HOWEVER. I feel this cut makes me look wide and let me tell you something from one girl to another: I do not like looking wide.

Allow me a moment to rant: Women with curves have enough trouble fitting into the latest fashions, which is why sewing my own clothes is so liberating. I can finally wear clothes that fit, without making me look like a tent!

So I made some major alterations to the Wiksten tank. The original is a beautiful pattern which looks wonderful on many women out there. I suspect the ones who don't look good in this tank aren't posting any pictures, so this post is for all of you who want to wear a Wiksten tank but don't think it flatters your body shape. Fashion isn't just about the clothes--it's about how it looks on your body.  So here is what I did.

I basically blended two patterns:
1. The Wiksten Tank (great pattern, very easy and quick to sew)
2. A traced pattern from one of my favorite tanks

I laid my Wiksten tank on the cutting table and my traced pattern on top. I cut the shoulders and waistline from to the traced pattern and then sewed it back up. Of course, I preserved iconic bottom hem of the Wiksten because I would have been crazy not to.

Instead of finishing the arm holes and neck opening with bias tape, I finished them off with my serger, then folded them under and stitched 'em down with a small zigzag.

Here is the finished product:

So much more flattering. This picture isn't the greatest, and I apologize, but I took it in my bathroom mirror before nap time and I'm pretty sure I had about one split second to nap it. Here are some more pictures, still in a mirror, but at least my pants go with the shirt. :)

I styled the tank with a lace vest from a consignment store in Oregon and a pair of white pants from T.J. Max. When did white pants come back in style? They sort of snuck up on me. I'm glad, cuz I love them!

These necklaces look perfect with the top. (Forever 21, a total of $4 for both.)

And there you have it: a Wiksten-ish tank! If you end up re-making a Wiksten tank like this, I'd love to see the pictures! You can always comment below (I LOVE comments) or email me at cailamade@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading, friends! 

Gold Fever Shorts

Whoa, where have I been?! I haven't posted all week. Sheesh, who am I?

I took a break from posting this week, mostly because work was busy and I had a lot of information to get through. When I'm not working, I'm lovin' on my kids, spending time with my husband and (hopefully) doing a little sewing. Therefore, no blogging this week. Life will slow down soon, right?  (Clears throat at self because this is complete fiction).

Anyway, how about them shorts??! I am so in love with these! They are made of out an awesome denim I found while shopping at the FIDM Scholarship Store last month in LA. The "right" side is a dark-wash denim, but the "wrong" side has an awesome print in gold all over it. I knew it would make a great pair of shorts for Hudson the first moment I saw it. I think I said something like this when buying it:

Me: "Hi. Can you cut me a yard of this, please?" (she prepares to cut).
Me: "Wait, no. Actually, I'll take two yards." (she measures two yards and, again, prepares to cut).
Me: "Um, hold on. How much is there, actually?" (a pause while the poor lady measures the entire giant piece of fabric).
Me: "Four yards? That's all you have left? Okay, yeah, I'll take the whole four yards." (she folds it into a big, heavy square and adds it to the tower of my fabric on the counter.)

Yeah, that's how it usually goes when I'm at FIDM. When in doubt, BUY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

The pattern I used is the same one I used for these shorts. It's from the Happy Homemade Vol. II Japanese sewing book and I LOVE IT. There are no instructions (well, they are in Japanese) but the pictures are very helpful and more than sufficient.

Come fall, I think Hudson will need a pair of pants like this. Perhaps for kindergarten? (School starts next month, sob!) I think I have a lot of fall sewing ahead of me. But you know what? That doesn't bother me one bit. :)

Here are some pictures of Hudson wearing these shorts outside. The lighting makes such a difference. The pictures above show off the shape of the shorts, but you just can't beat outdoor lighting.

And one more of Hudson, just because he's so handsome:

Thanks so much for reading, friends! I'll try not to be away for so long next time. :)

Space Birthday Party!

Last week Hudson turned 5 years old (sniff and clap). Per his request, we threw him a Space Party filled with planets, rockets, stars and--of course--a Space Shuttle cake! It was everything he dreamed of.

Never mind that I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning the night before his party. He loved every moment, which made it worth the lost night of sleep. Here are some pictures of the party.

The planets were made by my incredibly creative sister-in-law Melissa Murphy. She posted pics of the process on her Instagram feed. You can follower her @escapadesofateacher, and believe me, she is worth following. She also made the incredible name banner on the birthday table.

The cake was a fantastic success. I plan on posting step-by-step pictures sometime next week.

The kids all had a blast, and that's what matters most.

I call this next photo "The Avengers Part II," although I think Abby smiles more than Scarlett Johansson...

There was a piñata

And candy of course.

Overall, this will go down as one of the best parties in family history. Hudson agrees.

Special thanks are in order for Melissa, maker of those unbelievable planets and the name banner. Sister, you rock my socks off and you know it. :) And Teri-Mom, how could we have done it without you?! Thanks for your tireless efforts in the kitchen and the way you make my boy feel so special!

And lastly, I have to throw this one in here. My brother and Hudson with his new telescope (thank you Cody and Cassie for making this gift possible).

I love my boy for loving space so much. And I just love my boy. HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, HUDSON!

Looking for inspiration? You can find links for all my party inspirations in this post. I plan on posting step-by-step pictures of the Space Shuttle cake next week sometime. Boy, was that a project!

All pictures are courtesy of Melissa Murphy, except for one. Thanks, sister!!