Hitchhiker's Guide to a Birthday

 "All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."

"Yes..!"

"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.

"Yes...!"

"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.

"Yes...!"

"Is..."

"Yes...!!!...?"

"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” 

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

My husband loves birthdays. In general. All birthdays. And so, as his birthday approaches the excitment builds. Always. And, when we can pull it off, we go for a big party with a theme, friends, food and drink. And this year, we pulled it off. 

Sign on the front door

Yes, this year my husband turned 42. Being an amazingly awesome nerd, this meant only one thing. He needed to have Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy birthday party. We weren't sure what that meant, exactly, but it had to happen. So I got to work. There is really not much out there in internet land on Hitchhiker birthdays. (Weird, right? Ha.). So, I got creative and got to work. 

Of course, there had to be dolphins. Dolphins leaving the earth right before it's destroyed by Volgons.

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

 So, we had Dolphins. I found a party supply store that shipped FOR FREE and then I got them filled at Dollar Tree. Speech bubble added by us, of course. 

"So Long, and thanks for all the fish!"

Who doesn't love a dolphin?

Dolphin Kisses to the Birthday boy.

You'll notice the 42 towel. A towel is an essential part of galaxy travel. 

“A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. "

I made "42" towels for decor- and guests were encouraged to take one home (I mean, what would we do with 20 towels decorated with the number 42?)

I used the freezer paper stencil method that's been floating around internet craft land. My sister had already tried it and confirmed it as an awesome technique. To make it easier, I used a Cricut machine (but I'm still pining for a Silhouette, if it must be known). The freezer paper worked in the machine wonderfully. I ironed the stencil down, painted with fabric paint, and let it dry. Then I peeled off the freezer paper and I had a fantastic little towel. 

I hung them around as part of the decor. 

42 towels and dolphins

The weather held for the day and we had a perfect back deck party and BBQ.  We had galactic lights strung and ready for the evening. 

 It seemed almost too convenient that petunias are part of a great scene in the book AND are currently being sold at every garden center right now.

"Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again.' Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now."

 We had pots of flowers all over the deck... nice to have decor that isn't thrown away when we are done with the party.

Petunias falling to the ground

The petunia scene came up in a couple of outfits people wore. Not only did this friend have a pot of petunias he wore the entire party- he had a tiny whale pin that looked like it was falling with the petunias. 

bathrobe, towel, petunias and whale!

“Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet.And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more."

And, one particularly fun (and camera shy) 13 year old wore this shirt:

From "ThinkGeek.com"

And what did we serve for food and drink?... well, along with normal BBQ fare we had goldfish and Swedish fish ("So long, and thanks for all the fish."). A friend brought homemade chips and salsa with custom signs in it.

 And of course, our own take on the Pan Galactic Garble Blaster.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. The effect of which is like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick."

We decided best to make the drink family friendly and allow for adults to add brain smashing ingredients as they saw fit. Basically I mixed containers of limeade, lemonade, grapefruit juice, and 7up. I sliced up lemons and limes and let them float in it. We put this sign next to it:

An amazing graphic from internet land...

For a take on the infinite improbability drive, husband covered the alcohol choices in paper. Adding it to your drink was a hit of the improbability button- anything might happen!

"Side effects of using the Infinite Improbability Drive include temporary (and sometimes permanent,) changes to environment and morphological structure, hallucinations, and the calling into being of large marine mammals. An incredible range of highly improbable things can happen."

Infinite improbability drive

Of course, we had cake. The cake. was. awesome. I bought a cake from the greatest place in town- they wrote on it for me- then I made mice.

"These creatures you call mice, you see, they are not quite as they appear. They are merely the protrusion into our dimension of vastly huperintelligent pandimensional beings."

 I melted white chocolate in the microwave, dipped maraschino cherries in it, attached a Hershey's Hug and used sliced almonds for ears. I put them ALL over the cake. Delightful. 

Ack! There are mice on that cake!

ready to blow out the candles

white mice- the smartest life form on earth. Kind of. 

It was a general, smashing, wonderful time. So great to see friends, so great to be able to include our daughter. Fun to enjoy some unusually nice weather for April. Glad to toast another year with a great guy!

The lemon hat, to get his brain going

Our real answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Relaxing together

At the zoo

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you? You can come too, too too, we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.
-Going to the Zoo by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Today we took the new jacket out for a run at the zoo. A long trip to the zoo. It was a delightful, rainy day-the bright jacket served us perfectly.

I love the bright fabric. Just love. In the past, I don't think I would have picked it- but the bright colors match baby's bright personality. And the jacket turned out beautifully. What a sweet pattern. We couldn't use the flash in with the elephants- the baby elephant was running and playing- so this one turned out a little blurry, but it shows the hood. 

Such a sweet little thing. The hood of the jacket is so sweet, but it will never get worn. Even in the rain, baby pushes that hood back and puts her face up to the sky. She's a little outside girl. 

The 2T size proved to be a little big- meaning I get to roll the sleeves back and show of the lining fabric. I love the blue lining, I think it tempers the bright jacket a bit. 

It worked well for hippo rides:

 And elephant rides:

 And camel rides:

I love seeing her ride the same statues I did as a kid. 

The process for making the jacket went well. The sleeves were the hardest part. Working with the larger pieces proved easier. Using the lighter weight fabric probably made it easier too. 

Lovely lovely. Something sweet for such a happy girl. It doesn't get better. 

For Spring, We Begin Again

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."
Plato The Republic

With my graduate class behind me, and no more classes until the summer... it's time to get my creative on again. I had to dig my machine out of the sewing room- a sign that it's been much too long since it's last use- and get her set up again. Not that I have hours to spare, but I have a few moments I can make some choice about how to spend, and I CHOOSE SEWING!

So, I find myself at the start of a project.

It's time for another School Days Jacket. How I love oliver & s. I still love the jacket I made the first time around with this pattern. So perfect. 

This time I'm going for a spring/summer jacket- so I found a light-weight, bright corduroys and I'm lining it with a quilting cotton. So, I've jumped in to it. I traced pieces (size 2T) onto Swedish Tracing paper, ironed the fabric, and pinned it all down. 

In just a short bit, I had this:

A pile of cut pieces. Now I've got all the pieces ready to go- time to fire up the machine and turn them into a jacket! As great as my graduate class was...(and it really was awesome)...it's nice to be creating again. 

It Started with Apples

“Sweater, n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

About two years ago I discovered a wonderful, wonderful thing. A crochet pattern for an apple sweater. Or apple cozy. Whatever you call it. It protects the apple in my lunch bag, it keeps the apple cold, and it's just plain adorable. 

After making a handful of them and giving them as gifts, I decided it was time for a new adventure. My co-worker packed a banana every day in his lunch. After some trial and error I developed the banana sweater. It's... ridiculous. And awesome. Recently, I got an order for two more! Really! People saw them and wanted them! 
I had to redevelop the pattern, I couldn't quite remember it, and they came out just like the first one:

 If you are thinking right now, "that Helen, innocent middle school teacher, does she even KNOW what these look like?"... you can slow down there. Believe me, the middle school staff room had a field day with these the moment I brought them in two years ago. Every joke has been made. But all that aside, they really are awesome. I mean, I even got the pattern to match the curve of the banana. (Again, all the jokes have already been made.) This time around I decided to add a label:

 It's hard to see- I typed the tag on fabric, I like how it turned out. It was fun to make these knowing that someone else would be buying them and using them. It's all pretty silly, but it felt good to make something. And now that my graduate class is done... I might get a chance to do a few things here and there.

 

sweet, soft, and oh so pretty

Three crib sheets done. Here are two of the flannel ones. Baby enjoyed checking them out. The tutorial on Dana Made It  was really wonderful. I'm sure there are many more tutorials like it, but she makes the step by step so easy.

I also did one from a knit:

I love the little flowers on it. It's such a sweet print and so SOFT.

It's fun to have another mama made touch in the nursery. The curtains, the quilt.... and now the sheet.

Crib Sheet: MADE

I made a crib sheet today following the tutorial at Dana Made It. She was right. It was simple. And so much prettier than any from the store. Today's sheet was made from a very very very soft blue flannel I have had for much too long. I didn't take any pictures... but I will with the next one. I have the prettiest green flannel going through the wash right now, can't wait to make it into something pretty.
My next plan is to keep an eye on the sheets at goodwill and find some very soft ones to use.
My {crafting} New Year's resolution it so only sew with fabric I currently have OR with fabric that is bought used. I'm going to try and do this for the entire year.  It felt so good to use those two yards of flannel that have been taking up shelf space for two year now.

I am still crafting...

“Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."
"Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Crafting with a new baby (well, now a ONE YEAR OLD!) is possible. Yes, it means I fall behind in laundry, dishes, and other such exciting things. But I can do it. And I do. The only thing I'm missing is actually writing about it. Since my last post I have:
finished a quilt
sewed a new dress for baby
designed and put on a killer "Little Golden Book" party.
made napkins
ornaments for the tree

and little things in between. So not bad. And I might even get some pictures of it up.

My latest project was a set of invites for a tea to invite new members into the chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international group for female educators. Of course, I had to make it way more complicated than it needed to be.... but I just LOVE how these turned out.

I used a tutorial I found through (of course) pinterest. The tutorial and template can be found here. I changed it a little because I wanted the look of the two colors of paper (one for the cup and one for the flap) but I didn't want to paint all my own white paper. So instead of cutting out two pieces of paper, I cut three. The front of the cup, the back, and the "top" or the flap.

The two rows of stitching on the top are how I attached the "top" flap to the back of the cup. Then I sewed the cup parts together and I had an envelope!

To make the tea tag I stamped paper and free handed the cut out. I cut the cup template down a bit and used it for the template for the card inside. Then I sewed the tea tag to the card.

I love it.


So the crafting continues.