Author: melhcat

It’s been long year! Around this time last year, we committed to moving to a new state about two hours away. With 15 years in the same house, this turned out to be a gigantic project. But we are settled into our new home, our boy is settled into his new school, and — after suffering tiny apartment living for two months — the kitties have happily settled in, too.

My studio space is still knee-deep in stuff, but I’m slowing getting going.

I’ve started on a skirt. I’m still working on getting the fit right, but I love the design. It’s the A-Frame skirt by Blueprints for Sewing. Can you see how important it is to make the pockets match?!

And I love sashiko. Love it! So I jumped at the sew-along from Blair Stocker at Wise Craft. That’s been a fun and quick project.

I elected to back my coasters with linen, and I added two layers of cotton flannel in the middle. To keep it all neat, I did a little free-hand stitching to join the flannel and linen before sewing the front and back together.

Here they are upside down.

One pic of the darling boy. He’s growing up!

We have finished the arduous task of selling and moving out of our much-loved historic home. Though we are in a new state, we are temporarily situated in corporate housing while we search for a new home to make our own. For now, at least, that means we have a lot of free time! 

Instead of buying Thank You cards (I have a few to send) I went ahead and made them. That’s more fun! 

This required: rubber stamps, ink, colored pencils, and markers. I mass produced (ha!) 5 of them. 

While I worked on that, the boy made himself some rubber band shooters. 

Nice attitude!

When the snow falls and school is cancelled for the day, it’s a tradition in our house to make a sweet treat. This time we tried our hand at cake pops!

I’ve been a long time follower of Bakerella. She has beautiful cake pops (and beautiful photographs)! 

Ours aren’t as amazing as hers, but they are a solid first try. And more importantly, they were fun to make with my darling 10 year old. 

Good news! They taste delightful!!

Our boy chose Star Trek as his “theme” for his 10th birthday party. And in a twist, he decided to do a Kids Only party this year. No family, no adult friends of Mom and Dad, just kids.

The beautiful invite is from the Etsy shop Creative Little Stars. 

(Family is being addressed separately, resulting in multiple and on-going birthday celebrations. I’d say that decision is working out for him!)

The party was great! The internet has a lot of ideas for adult Star Trek parties, but not so much for kids, so I thought I’d help the planners out there and share what we did.

We started with pizza and snacks, to break the ice (we had Star Trek ice!)and get everyone comfortable. I laid out the plan for the party, and then we talked a bit about what/who/when/why of Star Trek. We have model builds and action figures to help with the explanation.

Next up, the kids looked at their placemats (laminated illustrations of the Enterprise), and then built their own Enterprise! 

We started with an Instructables guide on how to make one with nuts and bolts, then modified it so that no superglue was involved.

Once that was done, we moved to the TV room and had a modified viewing of The Doomsday Machine, a classic episode. The sad/bad parts were skipped over, and we stopped and talked through at times to see if they could figure out how to defeat the machine.

Next up, a game of Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock! Each had a copy of the instructions and they paired up to compete and try to win it all. The winner was allowed to be first to… Pilot the Enterprise!

This was the most exciting event! The kids lined up facing each other to make a “course” and someone held a hula-hoop at the end. The pilot’s goal was to fly our Enterprise drone down the course and through the hula-hoop. Much laughter and screaming and general happiness!

We followed that up with a cupcake bar (decorate you own cupcake with candies and marshmallows and sprinkles and such), which included a very loud, faux-operatic version of Happy Birthday.

Next we returned to the TV for a little taste of the iconic Trouble with Tribbles episode. I made a bunch of tribbles using an online tutorial and some faux fur fabric scraps. I told the kids they could each take one home if they wanted — they all wanted!

One last event – 10 sparklers were set up in the yard and the kids watched them do their thing. Sparklers are fun.

All in all, I think the boy was very happy with his birthday party. I’m super glad — I think turning 10 is a pretty big deal. 

I made my boy a placemat for his birthday. That might seem unusual, but it makes sense if you know that the kids at school use their own placemats for lunch every day. I’ve been making special ones for him since the beginning, so this is another in a long line of homemade placemats. 

This one is special because it brings together two things he loves: cats and Star Trek!

For the front, I modified a 12×12 quilt block I found online. The back is simple fabric. 

The edges are a little crumpled from being wrapped 🎁. 

He seemed to really appreciate it, which is exactly what I hoped would happen. 

We are enjoying Star Trek these days. Always a fave, our interest comes and goes. Now is definitely a Star Trek time. 

Christmas had a lot of Star Trek, including an Enterprise drone! We made Star Trek ornaments to give as gifts to similarly-minded  family and friends. Oh, and did you know Mega Blok has Star Trek builds?! 

The last of the ornaments are in transit — a preview for our family far away. Sure, they are late, but it’s Star Trek, so definitely worth waiting for. 😺

The game didn’t end as he wished (sad 👀), but the wind up car did! 

See the kitties in the background? They are attempting to turn on the fireplace by staring at it. 

My boy has new flannel pj pants, three pair, made by me. 

I found the organic cotton flannel at Joann’s (unexpectedly), with adorable repeating patterns of penguins, lions, and sheep. 

I started with the Parsley Pants pattern from Made By Rae and made a small modification: I used super soft knit on the inside of the waistband for extra comfort. 
This is his second set, replacing the flannel robot pj pants from a few years ago. Fleece is available everywhere these days, but it can make a person sweat a lot while they sleep. Cotton flannel is so much more comfortable! (Most importantly, it’s what he prefers.)

I used Sprout Patterns to make this Inari Tee Dress by Named Clothing. 

It’s fun and holiday friendly! It’s my first try with the pattern and I really like it. 🌲 

The first of the holiday decorations are out! 

There is more to do: the reindeer need a pond, we need a crescent moon and some stars, snowflakes, perhaps a road. 

We ❤️ the holidays!