Mother's Well with Motherwell

I'm sorry!  I couldn't resist that title.  I tried, I was like, "It's dorky, Lisa.  And not in a cute way.  Don't post it." and then my other personality was all, "Shut up, it's true.  It is true that a Mother's well with Motherwell, in this particular case."  And so that's what I wrote,  thus ending a small schizophrenic battle in my head.

Onto the threads.  This fine quality sweatshirt, of a brand I won't name, set me back a whopping 30 cents.  It put thirteen Boll weevils  out of work since I was re-using an already existing garment,  and it made me dig deep and re-consider my aversion to yellow of this shade.   Not least, it gave me a canvas on which to lay down a quick and simple design based on today's inspiration- 1970's Robert Motherwell collages.

And there you have it.

As Promised, the Shrinking Shorts

What better way to show off some long rolly legs than in a pair of shorts even shorter than the last.  These are made looser, and as is my custom of late, feature double sewn seams for durability and fashions.  The cuffs are a bit looser especially, but still prevent a view of London and France during multi-directional playground athletics.

These will be part of the Baby Hobo line sometime soon.  If you want a pair now, e-mail me and I'll make you some for dollars numbering 28 + shipping.  I will.  You can be an Early Adopter.  Of baby shorts by Baby Hobo.  Heck, I will go so far as to handcraft these in larger kids sizes should you have the wherewithal to measure the waist of the kids in question.

Oh, and speaking of Baby Hobo, I'm going all out and including a little half-inch side tag on all my garments (disclosure: it's not like there are rolling racks of the Baby Hobo collection lining the walls, but there might be in the coming months if I can figure out, from scratch, how to begin a small children's clothing label). 

Designed by the fabulous Libby Vanderploeg.  Check it out:

Giveitaway, giveitaway, giveitaway now!

Oh, you remember those bibs I posted yesterday- well on one of them I put the snaps on in a slightly silly way, so now it's what's called a "second".  And that means you can have it.  If you promise to send me a photo of the baby who ultimately wears it once they're wearing it.

The first person to pinkie promise that they will take a picture and send it back to me gets this for free:

Showing Love Through Material Goods

It's best if you just buy someone something in order to show them that you care.  If you do anything weird like give them an unsolicited back rub, or offer to take the dog out when its really their turn because they are suffering from an upper respiratory infection, it will all just lead to a monstrous pattern of quid pro quo behaviors and more than likely destroy your relationship.

Plus, when you give someone a gift, they feel obligated to give one back (yay!)  at an unspecified future celebration focused on you, or your offspring.  For the sake of the future, make it easy, make it clear, buy them something first.

Har, just kidding.  But, if you should find yourself in a position that requires you to gift someone, well then make it something nice.   For example, you could buy these bibs I made, for sale at Green Genes.  By doing this, you also serve a greater good.  You support an uber-sustainable enterprise and funnel money to an educated white lady who already has enough of it  a struggling female entrepeneur such as myself. 

Better yet, you provide a stylish alternative to those whack terry bibs that say painfully obvious things like, "Mommy Loves You".  Maybe my next series of bibs will say, "Question yourself, baby.  Does Mommy love you enough to keep feeding you minutely diced health foods in a panoply of colors and textures, just to have you throw them at the dog so you can watch her snort and yipe in the air in an effort to consume all of our six hundred dollars of this week's organic produce?  Does she?"

Anyway, what do you think of my bibs?

She Wears Short Shorts

Well, they're not really very short. They're more like knickers.  But I also made shorter ones that I will post soon.  And after that, the shortest ones of all- Baby Hobo Hotpants.  I mean, twice now, women (both of them from Latin America) have called my baby 'sexy', so I thought she should dress the part.

I made these from, you guessed it, sweatshirts.  I attached the cuffs and trim of one to the body of another.  Frankenshorts.

In related news, Baby Hobo (TM) is alive and well, if not abundantly stocked.  I am back on the horse with regard to branding and am ordering a new set of labels today.  This time with a little centerfold loop tag for the outside of garments.  Design thanks to Libby Vanderploeg, who is a lovely, helpful friend (and also the Art Director for Saveur Magazine).

Lately I have been working on patterns and prototyping.  After that, I start to seriously look into having professional patterns made and getting this party started in time for fall.  I have been accepted to Supermarket on-line and now that I have help once a week (Rachael, you rock all things that are for rocking!), I should be able to blast off.  Stay tuned.

And PS:  Happy Second Birthday to Green Genes, the awesome store in Chicago on Clark Street that is far and away the best eco-conscious retail store for children's wares that I know of.  (And I don't just say that because she sells my stuff.  Okay, I PARTLY say that because she sells my stuff, but there are so many crazy good things for the taking over there.)  Visit!  www.green-genes.com.

The Post Wherein I Celebrate Josephine's 1st Year!

She's one year old.  365 days.  Only like 5 of them being very very difficult, about 25 being "challenging" about 335 being everything that is a good about life.

We were lounging poolside in Miami during the the birthday week, see here (we'll talk about the shorts soon!):

...and traveling on the actual birthday, so our party is in a couple of weeks, but we did some minor celebrating and major fawning of this little bug bug.  Just when you think it isn't possible to love someone more.  This first year has basically been a radical shift in my understanding about the capacity to love.  (--->end sappy part here<---) 

The birthday banner was done in time, as was the birthday shirt.  Little pudger is not going to fit in this shirt during her party though, sadly.  It was adorable for a day though!

The banner:

And, so you can get a sense of the scale of my large ass, a pic of the family:

PS:  You should know that that there banner cost all of about 2 dollars to make, from the scraps of sweatshirts, t-shirts and little kids patterned shirts, which I gleaned from the thrift store at 3 for a buck.  A lifetime heirloom, for 2 dollars.  Sweet, right?