This to That

It was right around this time last year that I told myself I was going to take a sewing class. While I don't aspire to stitch together haute couture, I do think that it's helpful to know your way around a sewing machine for certain things. On top of that list would be Halloween costumes. There's always the stuff at the store, but there seems to be two categories for those, cheap and ugly or decent and expensive.

When I decided M was going to be Jesse this year I looked to see what I could find. There was plenty that fell into both of the slots above but nothing in her size. So I went to JoAnns and bought the fabric. After some cutting and trimming, stitches were added to this,

along with a hat,

and she ended up with that:

You'll notice the after buying the fabric, the word "I" was never used in the above step by step. That's because "I" didn't do anything but buy the fabric. I haven't even taken the sewing class yet. My mom gets all the credit for her costume. She did it all by hand. She's amazing at doing stuff like that. When I was young I would show her a dress I liked and she'd go home and make it without a pattern. She made the mattress for the kids' bassinet and more recently she stitched a place mat into a pillow.
Intimidating? Yeah, a little. I should have learned from the best when I had the chance to do so. (Sigh).

Anyway, once M's costume was all done, I started to look for something J could wear. There was NO way I was going to put my mom through making a Buzz Lightyear costume without a sewing machine. Although she probably could have if given some time.
Instead I resorted to the store variety. The cheap-and-ugly store variety to be exact.
I couldn't bring myself to spend $50 bucks for the Disney Store version.
Did I mention it was the Wal-Mart-cheap-and-ugly store variety?

But when I added these

to the polyester, one piece, painted on, no muscle
Buzz Lightyear, he had this:

A much more respectable Space Ranger if I do say so myself.


Our trip to the pumpkin patch was late this year
and it was slim pickins once there:

But we did manage to get a decent one.

With a little bit of this

and a little bit of that

we had a scary Jack 'o Lantern in no time.

And so the day finally came.

The sun was out and the rain stayed away.

The candy, the kiddos, and the house were ready.

And just like that, it went.

The candy bowl is empty; the costumes, piled on the floor;

and the sun has been replaced by wind and rain causing the

pretty looking porch to go from that to this

in less than 24 hours.

Happy November Everyone!