I made these two "lounge" pants for Luka (he does not lounge a lot, but what else should I call these). The pattern is from a recent Burda for kids. The first pair is Kaufman flannel plaid (pain in the you know what to cut the parts out trying to align the horizontal stripes), and the second is fleece. I believe that the flannel pants are goin to get a lot of wear, but the fleece - I made those basically for our upcoming trip to Canada and the winter vacation in some cold weather place, not determined yet.

I wanted to get some action shots, but Luka would not try the pants for fun. Would any two year old?
And one random thing: Saturday morning, early, a loooked at our bookshelf and the morning sun hit directly on the conch shell we got in the Bahamas.
I wanted to get some action shots, but Luka would not try the pants for fun. Would any two year old?

I mentioned in a previous post I had a really good shopping trip to M&L Fabrics in Anaheim and finally, here are the pictures of most of the fabrics I came home with. I had to leave many more, but they will probably be there when I visit the next time.

First of all, here are two Kaufman prints. The first one is a little thicker cotton, and the second one your regular quilting weight cotton.
I really loved the following two. The first one is actually corduroy. It was from a roll, and I though it was a Kaufman print too, but when I got home, I realized there was no info on selvages so I am not sure any more. The second one is an Alexander Henry print.
These three seem to be a set. They are all by Karen Jarrar for Marcus Brothers. I actually bought the first one on a previous trip and the last two this time. It is a very soft cotton with a little bit of texture (if you look at it from some distance it looks a bit like corduroy).
I thought that all fabric should have some info on the selvages but I found out it is not so (or I bought too little, so the cut did not include the info). The following fabric was a flat fold and I have no idea who is it from. It is a bit thicker and very crisp cotton. The second one is another Kaufman print (large print but I love it). The next two are flannels that will become baby blankets. I just realized that both have a Paris theme. The first one is another no-name, and the poodles are from Marcus Brothers. And finally, this really adorable Kaufman print.

The little one and I have been struck by a stomach virus. He threw up all last night. The poor thing gets so upset and even though he is belching he does not want to let it out. It is so hard to watch him when there is really nothing I can do except try to tell him that it's going to be fine... eventually...

I was on a highway, driving home from a good shopping (fabric!) trip to Anaheim, and as I was browsing through radio stations (all I had in the car were children song CDs) when I happen to find a perfect song. Perfect for the moment, for the mood, for driving in the car: Somebody to Love from Queen. It's one of those songs, together with Bohemian Rapsody, that you have to listen to at high volume. Very high. And sing along. In the car. (The traffic was slow, there were many cars around me, but I don't want to think about this too much). I remember this happening once before. I was driving to work (I can visualize exactly where I was) and there was Yesterday, from Beatles playing on the radio. Perect for that moment. You can never produce the same effect by listening to CDs because you choose the music. It can only happen when browsing radio stations. I love when that happens.

I will take pictures of the fabric finds later today. I had to restrain myself and leave some behind. I don't like when that happens.

I wanted to practice some log cabin squares, and I needed, really desperately needed, pin cushions, so I made two. Here is one.

I found these recently....

Getting Crafty in Southern California from Susan: many links for knitting, crocheting, sewing and crafting in general. I would just add that there is an updated list of fabric stores in downtown LA here. This list also specifies which store is retail and which wholesale only (or both).

I just missed the last mini craft fair of 2006 organized by Felt Club. But they also have a holiday event, and of course, more shows coming next year. (I just realized I will be out of town for the holiday event too, bummer)

Apparently there are good things to be found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, held on second Sunday of each month. I cannot belive I missed this month, AND I will be out of town next month too.

I want to check the Japanese 98c store. I have been in Southern California for a while now, but have not heard about Marukai until a few days ago. I also have yet to visit Little Tokyo too...

This is the newest addition for my shop, but etsy has been down since friday (for an upgrade) so I have not been able to upload it. This is a cotton flannel blanket (30in x 30in) in cream and dark red, with an asian inspired top fabric and a solid cream for the back (interrupted only by a stripe of gingham fabric to make it more ineresting).

Hopefully etsy will be on time, and the shop will be up later today. I am looking forward to all the new and improved features...

I have written before about my love-hate thing for LA. Well, yesterday there was no love at all.

I was taking my son to his swim lesson - he is two years old and the lesson is 15 minutes. The lesson was (supposed to be) at 6:15pm, so we left before 5pm because it usually takes us about 45 minutes. On a good day (happened only twice) we made it in less than 30 minutes. Once we did not make it at all, because we got stuck on I10 for so long that I just gave up and turned around.

We left the Santa Monica main library, which is at 6th and Santa Monica (for those of you who know the area) at 4:50pm. The destination was Fairfax and Olympic, I usually take I10, because even if it is slow, it is faster than taking surface streets. But the I10 ramp on 4th was completely backed up, all the way from the light on 4th, so I decided to take surface streets and get on I10 further up, on Centinela. I got to Pico and Centinela at 5:35. I was up on the highway at 6:00!!!!. Of course we could not make it by 6:15, so my hubby called to see if any instructor was available later. Fortunately, there was someone, at 6:45, so I kept going. Once I was on the highway, it was moving, slowly, but it was moving. I thought I should make it by 6:35, so I have enough time to change him and all, but we got to the pool at 6:45!! I could not believe it! I was so frustrated! No, I was mad!!! I just had my son strapped in his seat for 2 (TWO) hours, so he could swim for 10 minutes. And he was such a good boy. Can you imagine, two years old and did not complain once. I think he could sense that I was out of my mind, so he kept quiet.

When we got there, I rushed to change him, all the while explaining to him that L. (his instructor which he loves) is not there, so he would swim with V. (whome he never met). He is a bit shy and tends to attach to people he likes and than it is hard for him to go to sombody else. He seemed OK, he said he would go, until we were at the edge of the pool when he held me so tight I could not peel him off me. He would not go with V. Not a chance. And I did not want to push, I don't want him to be unhappy with swimming, he as doing so good, already floating and turning over by himself. But most importantly he enjoyed swimming so much, he would not want to leave at the end of the lesson; and he would say to me "swim with L.?" almost every day. I did not want that to change.

But then L. came and offered to take him for a few minutes. But he wouldn't go! Even with her! She even brough the little slide over, which helped a little - he eventually got in the water. She put him on the platform to climb on the slide, and then he started crying again, wantes to get out and go home. That was it. We went home. Another 45 minutes in the car, going back. Ten minutes into our ride he fell asleep. I guess he was too tired to swim. Poor kid. At this point I am rethinking the whole thing. Driving so far, twice a week, for 15 minutes of swimming! It seems crazy! It is crazy! But he loved it so much.

I am actually rethinking the whole driving in LA thing. I was so frustrated yesterday (I still am) that I don;t want to drive anywhere outside 10mile radius from our home. Actually I am rethingking the whlole LA thing...

One last thought - this is LA. LA! City on Pacific Ocean. 13 milion people or so. One of the biggest cities (area wise) in the world. And there is only ONE good swim school for kids (www.lennykswim.com). They started only a year ago, before that people who were serious about their kids learing how to swim early, took their kids down to Orange County. This is LA! One decent swim school (two locations, but still!). But there are plenty of plastic surgery clinics (9 just in Beverly Hills!).

That's LA (I grin).

I have installed FCKeditor plugin and it's fine, better than the original mt editor. However, I would like to set it up so that every new entry comes up with some code already in there. I had that working with the previous version of mt, where I added code to the new entry template (like this), but this plugin uses something else and it does not work any more. I could dig through the code, but I don't have time. So I am probably just going to be creating posts somewhere else, and than copy and past them into mt. Any other suggestions?

So, the upgrade went well, and relatively smooth. I had just one glitch, which turned out to be my mistake setting up the mt-congfig file. I changed the design as well, used one of the templates from The Style Contest; I just need to find some time to customize it.

But first, I need to find a better editor, because this default thing is just a pain in the you know what. I just tried ecto, but it crashed on me twice, so that gone. Next, I will try this FCKeditor plugin. It seems that there are a few steps to get it work, but from the screenshots it looks like it could be all I need.

Just a quick post for now. I am just about to update my movabletype install so keep your fingers crossed.
In other news, I started a new blog, just trying it really, over at vox: zum-zum.vox.com. I realize that I don;t post as often as I would like to because it is not as convenient as I would like it to be. That is also the reason I m updating mt, to see if the interface will be easier, and faster to use.
And, I have also started my very own etsy shop. But more on that later. Now on to update...