My 1st Halloween - er, Calina's first Halloween.

So, Colin's grandma (Nanny) has a crazy Raggedy Ann collection at her house in Oregon. I wish I had a picture to show you because when I say "collection", you don't usually picture what I am talking about. She has an entire bedroom in their house covered - top to bottom - in Raggedy Ann & Andy stuff. Bedding, lamps, dolls, figurines, books, toys, stuffed dolls, hard ones... Really, in a nutshell, it's a masterful, crazy, incredible room to set foot in - let alone try to get some sleep with all those EYES looking at you.

Anyway, I was inspired by seeing her room, and I thought it would be a fun tribute to Nanny if I dressed Calina up like Raggedy Ann for Halloween. Naturally this meant that I would have to MAKE a costume, since nobody dresses up like Raggedy Ann for Halloween anymore. These days, with about 85% of our sample so far falling into line this year, little girls are all fairies/princesses and little boys are all dinosaurs/dragons.

It also seemed like a good excuse to flesh out my sewing skills, since, on a costume, you can be a little more "fudgy" than on real clothes. And I was sure I'd need some fudging. And I did, but not nearly as much as I figured.

I managed to pull out some sewing skills I didn't know I had, and Calina looks totally amazing.

So today, we went out to the Sanford Zoo here for their annual Halloween "Zoo Boo". Best part was, we not only had a trial run for the actual holiday, but it also made me finish it early so I could get a bunch of photos to send to Nanny before Halloween. Too fun. The whole album is here, but I'll give you a little taste:

Everyone was probably most impressed by the fact that she didn't rip her hat off. We seem to have found another added perk of her helmet! She didn't even notice that she had anything different on her head!

We entered into the Costume Contest, along with about a dozen other "under 3's".

3rd place: The Alligator Dragon kid!
2nd place: The Little Purple Octopus girl!
1st place: Our little Raggedy Ann!

And our prize? A monkey as big as she is. :)

Colin's worried I've set myself up for failure... Now every costume she wears has to be as awesome as this one. And has to win prizes. :)

Made a Thing: a Ring Sling

I've been meaning to sew one of these up for quite a while now. This one is super luxurious: it has two padded rails and a nice squishy shoulder pad. Gramma's little antique sewing machine almost didn't make it through, but... you'd never really know unless you looked really closely at the stitching on top of the batting. Here's Jess modeling mine:

She made one, too, only royal blue & white. They're super cheerful, and an awesome alternative to the more complex Moby Wrap (which will definitely be sticking around) and the more rugged Ergo Baby Carrier (also not going anywhere). They all serve their purpose. This thing is just perfect for throwing on around the house during those times when we just can't put 'em down. And great for running errands when we don't want to deal with a real intricate setup.

This is the pattern I used, though it is really quite cryptic, and I had to spend a really long time figuring out what she was trying to say. I'm not certain I actually did what she intended, but... it all worked out all right.