Halloween Pumpkins

I finally got our Halloween pumpkins yesterday at the local market, Gutenbergmarkt. I only paid 3.50 and 1.80 per pumpkin! Normally they cost me between 12€ and 20€ so I'm a bit pleased. We carved them yesterday after we got home and before our friends came to visit. I always try to fit in too much in too little time. So it meant that I was still cleaning up from dinner prep when our friends arrived. Oh well. At least they're good old friends who could care less. At least they hopefully care less anyway.

The little Nut wanted a 'bad' face so he got one. Neither of them wanted to touch the insides of the pumpkins though Isabella at least made an attempt to do hers. She got as far as touching the guts and then had to wash her hands. She then tried again with a spoon but it was still too gross for her. Maybe next year? At least they were awake for the pumpkin carving this year!

So in the end we ended up with two pumpkins  with 'bad' faces and one with eyebrows and one without. We didn't have any tea lights so we lowered proper candles into the pumpkins with grill tongs. You have to learn how to help yourself in this world! I left one of the candles burning with the top off while I cooked dinner so that I could look at it every now and then and have a feeling of home. At one point I looked and the candle had been blown out and the top was on. Isabella told me she put the top on and she didn't want it to burn so she blew the candle out. Children learn so quickly.

Fabric Market and Aprons- Because why not?

There is a bi-annual fabric market in Karlsruhe that, for the fabric lover, is like being a kid in a candy store. This last weekend was the Holländische Stoffmarkt and I arranged to have a few (4!) hours to myself to peruse since I have an amazing husband who loves spending time with his kids (hi P!). So I perused. And I bought a bunch of lovely fabric and sewing notions (I learned a new word!) like bias tape, decorative ribbon, and waist- and armbands. Sound boring? Only if you don't like beautiful fabric! The weather was great as well. Cool enough that I didn't boil and so that I could wear a coat to hide my wallet. I met a friend of mine for coffee, saw another friend on the way to the coffee shop who told me some really exciting news, and met another friend when I was done shopping and showed her all of my amazing finds. She actually has a blog of her own yosami.co and has a bit of a following because the things she makes are really great.

I actually mainly went to the market to buy bias tape since I needed some for an apron I started a month ago and for which my self-made bias tape didn't go so well. And because the iron lives upstairs and I sew downstairs so my bias tape didn't get pressed. Whoops. And so my project has been laying there mocking me like that dress I made out of amazing fabric in August and whose pattern hangs on me like a sack. I hate being mocked by my projects. It's just wrong. So I finally got some bias tape and got back to work!

And this project is actually only a trial apron before I cut into the amazing waxed cotton that I bought in the US and with which I will eventually (this week?!) make my sister an apron as a congratulatory present/ birthday present because it's almost November and I like to multi-task presents like that.

So the apron went well. I sewed on the bias tape. Went to connect the wings to the bib. Noticed that I had two lonely pieces of fabric remaining. Crap. Where did the pieces of fabric go. I had a sinking suspicion that they went on the ends of those wings that I was about to attach. Back to the directions. Yes, they should be attached to those wings. Whoops. I did some creative attaching of the lonely pieces and finished off my apron. It turned out well and I am very happy that I did a trial apron since my waxed cotton is too beautiful for such a mishap.

And then I was on a roll so I made 3/4 of a pair of Pumphosen. Wide cute baby pants with elastic belly and ankle bands. They're for a friend's baby but I think I'll make more in the future for other babies.

This is a definite Me-in-Progress post because it's something that I wanted to do to see if I could. Can I sew? Yes, I can sew quilts and dresses. Could I sew an apron or a pair of baby pants that I wouldn't be ashamed to gift to someone? Not until yesterday!

When I have time I'll update this post and post some pictures of my projects. Since I can show them with pride and all. :)