Cat Ballou

Every year for Halloween my daughter dresses up as someone whom everyone recognizes--like Dorothy or Tinkerbell. This year however, she chose to dress up as Cat Ballou. You can see the problem this has posed when people ask her what she is being for Halloween because no one knows who Cat Ballou is. And how do I as her mother quickly explain that my daughter wants to dress up as an old Jane Fonda character from a 1965 western comedy? Because then that explanation would also have to include the why and how a six-year-old girl has come across an old 1965 Jane Fonda western comedy.

It happened like this: My dad tends to bring to his cabin odd and obscure western movies and then makes everyone watch them. The cabin is small, and we are a somewhat captive audience. The problem is that we are never allowed to watch the whole show--my dad just fast forwards to his favorite parts and plays them over . . . and over . . . and over again. Like "The Ballad of Cat Ballou"--everyone in my family has heard this opening song a thousand times, and when we are at the cabin and someone sneaks it into the DVD player, it immediately elicits all sorts of boos and moans and "oh my gosh not agains" from everyone in the room. Everyone that is, except Abby. She happens to absolutely love Cat Ballou. And this year she couldn't wait to plan her Cat Ballou costume.

It was pretty fun (and easy) to sew. I used blue gingham left over from her Dorothy dress and suede-like fabric for her pants. It didn't seem very fancy and I kept trying to jazz it up, but Abby wanted it just like Cat Ballou. All she needed to complete the look was a cowgirl hat, an ammo belt, a holster, and she was set not only for robbing a train, but for trick or treating as well. So in honor of Abby and one of the dorkiest movies ever, please watch "The Ballad of Cat Ballou." And then sympathize with my family for having to watch it so many times.

Family Fright Night

Last night we hosted the annual Family Fright Night. It was the perfect opportunity to wear our costumes and scare each other (I'm looking at you Mom--er, Hilary Clinton). We had a cowboy, a gamekeeper with a crazy little monkey, Cat Ballou, a pumpkin, Danny Zuko, an angel, an angel in the outfield, a car dealer, Madame Secretary Hilary Clinton, and the one arm saloon girl just to name a few (okay, just to name those in costume and yeah, the car dealer wasn't a real costume per se).

Here's an angel

Here's an angel in the outfield taking this photo op a little too seriously. But Halloween is all about fantasy (and no, he did not let me make his costume this year).

And here is the one arm saloon girl looking fabulous.

And look, she won Best Costume! But who is that rude person flipping her off?

That's the problem with Family Fright Night . . . some really scary people can show up.

Really, I have no idea who this woman is.

But I do know who this cute little Jack O'Lantern is.

Happy Halloween!

One Arm Saloon Girl

My sister wanted to be a saloon girl for Halloween. So we went to a local thrift store and found this lovely but outrageously outdated prom dress. We went through my sewing stash and added a ruffle, some sequins, a little tulle, and some roses. She also found some feathers for her hair, some fishnet tights, and really cool lace up boots that look very 1880 (at the store, not in my stash. My stash isn't that cool). These pictures don't do the dress transformation justice--my sister looks great in the costume and she's really excited to wear it.

But you may wonder, why does the costume only have one arm? Because my sister recently broke her wrist in a horseback riding accident and will be wearing a wrist brace for Halloween as well. It happened all the time back in the Wild West. Cowgirls who were thrown by wild mustangs and broke their arms often found themselves in a quandary--they couldn't saddle their own horses or thread lariats. So out of boredom, they got dressed up and can-canned at the local honky-tonks.

Happy Halloween One Arm Saloon Girl! You're going to look great, wrist brace and all.

A Is For Angel

There are two kinds of people in this world when it comes to dressing up for Halloween: those who utterly despise wearing anything resembling a costume and those (like myself) who plan their costume in the summer and hope to wear it to at least several Halloween events including dressing up with the kids on Halloween night.

This year I decided to be an angel because it would be a relatively simple costume to put together. I already had the white blouse from a previous Juliet dress, and some really pretty, and quite celestial, silver trim to sew onto the bodice.

It turned out okay--but I must admit that since the dress is very, um, billowy and the wings and halo none too little, I feel slightly silly wearing it. But oh well. All I need is some glitter on my face and the effect will be perfect--I may even scare some people. But hey, it's Halloween. Boo.

The First Stitch Is the Hardest

Last June, two of my lovely aunts and my grandma flew up from Arizona to attend the 2009 Wasatch Quilt Shop Hop with my mom and me. While none of us are really quilters, we thought it would be fun to visit the shops to buy fabric and patterns. We also took the opportunity to stop by the most magical cross-stitch store ever--Shepherd's Bush in Ogden. When we stepped out of the car and were greeted by the warm smell of baking cinnamon rolls from the next door bakery, I think we started skipping to the shop's front entrance. A chime tinkled when we opened the door and the fairies who live there flitted away and giggled at us as they hid among the hundreds of cross-stitch samplers that line the walls from floor to ceiling. And to top it off, behind the cashier was a handsome photo of Mr. Darcy in a puffy white shirt inviting us to buy all we wanted and causing my grandma to giggle throughout the day about that Mr. Darby.

The point is, one cannot enter such a store and not buy patterns. And come to find out, it's really hard to attend the shop hop and not buy more patterns. And fabric. And more patterns. I think we all accumulated a lot of potential projects and we kept laughing about how we knew, deep down, that we'd never stitch them all up.

So as I recently cleaned out and organized my craft room, I thought how fun it would be to actually stitch through my stash of patterns and fabric. And although I've never been a big fan of blogs, I changed my mind and thought blogging could be a fun way to chronicle said creative journey. So despite my very young baby who cannot tolerate being put down, I pulled out an old cross-stitch project: Celtic Christmas by Lavender and Lace, and have used stuff from my stash to finish our Halloween costumes. It's amazing (and kind of crazy) how quickly a seam can be sewn before a sleeping baby starts to toss his head from side to side as he realizes that Somebody. Is. Not. Holding. Him. It will be slow going at first, but here's to you Mr. Darby, and here's to having some stitching fun.