Remember the life-size re-ment panda frying pan? Well, guess who is in my house, and on my stove this very minute? A surprise package arrived (courtesy of my dad) and were we ever surprised to pull this box out of it:

And then amazed to pull this out of the box.

Seriously, so cute you could pretty much just die. And, we have used it already and the Fry-Panda III is in fact an excellent pan. There is only one thing wrong with this pan, in fact. It's the biggest of a set. Ack!

Finished up two new projects over the last couple weeks while all the deadline craziness was going on. First up was this dress:

The pattern is from the Spring 2008 Ottobre Design magazine, and it was my first Ottobre project. Really very simple and I was really happy with the results. The dress came out a bit short, but we found leggings that went with it perfectly and the outfit has already been worn to a friend's wedding and looked great. Emily actually spotted this cherry print online and asked for it! She was happy to finally get her "cherry dress".

And want to know why don't I get more done? Look at this photo and check out that print lined up on that back seam. Why did I do that? That's called being totally anal overly meticulous. I mean, it's a kid's dress. She'll have grown out of it by Fall. Note to self: relax.

Then I finished up this little top:

it's another farbenmix pattern, "Hannah". I shortened the sleeves, accidentally cut off part of the seam allowance and Emily made me cut off almost 4" from the bottom. And it's still a bit blousy on her, so I'm going to say this one runs kinda big. Still cute on, though! It was originally just going to be a plain basic for wearing under jumpers, but she insisted on a heart applique so she would have a top "like her Nele doll".

Next up: if Emily has her way, it will be Robot Pajamas. She asks for them every day. The fabric is here, now I'd best get looking through my patterns!

My shoes arrived! I love them. For those of you who asked - they are Converse Project Red shoes, designed by an artist I was not familiar with at all, Camilla Engman. Her art is great, isn't it? (There is a high top version as well, but the background is white.) I thought they ran about a half-size big, but the ones I have worked out great.

And yes, I got some sleep. thanks!

I had a hellish deadline to hit (as in, NO SLEEP 'TIL UPLOADING) and I don't know how I lived. Here's some of what got me through:

Ladytron

a little (okay, a BIG) pick-me-up on the gawker blog Jezebel (which I would never have seen if Emily hadn't noticed a link to it in the sidebar on lifehacker when I was looking for something)

Lykke Li

Divine Chocolate fruit and nut bar (a favor from a friend's wedding this past weekend - Emily got dark chocolate and Evan got Milk Hazelnut, we love them!)

knowing that these shoes were on their way to me:

and now, I sleep.

We are totally overwhelmed with work and obligations (so overwhelmed we are not going to be able to get to the NYCC at all this weekend -- sad!) but while I have almost no time to post or go online, I have been wrapping up a number of projects lately. (Especially since Emily's interest in sewing means she will sit near me pushing a needle through some felt while I sew.) Here's a favorite -- my first made-from-scratch t-shirt! (For Emily!) Surprisingly, it was not hard and came out really cute. It's made from a pattern (farbenmix Quiara) and I used two t-shirts I wasn't wearing (they were too big) to make it, so it's also recycled. Crazy!!

Normally, the first time I make a pattern I like to make it without changes, but I did widen the neck a little to get more of the screenprint onto the shirt. I also would have liked a stretchier knit for the neckband, it came out fine but it was a pain to sew. But, we're all happy with the final result. I will definitely be making more tees in the future, now that I know that it's actually possible.

uploaded to flickr by this little bento

Cherry blossom season is moving across the country right now (it's here right now, although the official festival isn't for a few more weeks) and we've been seeing the evidence. At Mitsuwa we found cherry blossom tea and KitKats (as well as potato chips and several other things I didn't feel like trying!)

And at our local Stop and Shop -- cherry blossom beer? With...Pucca on the label? Definitely not licensed, I'm thinking someone found a Pucca doll and didn't know or care that she is actually Korean and thought "cute asian thingie, put that in the photo!" This probably is foul and I don't actually drink anyway but I was overcome with the urge to buy it. So we did.

Hopefully, we'll get to go to the festival -- if not, we'll at least try and go picnic under the trees before they stop blossoming. I couldn't find any national guides to tracking the cherry blossoms, but check around and see if you've got any cherry blossom viewing spots near you!

So the very day I post about human-size rement I find more! The ladybug measuring cup set above is by Shinzi Katoh, whose "Ringo" line includes a few more things I'm positive I have in my re-ment storage box.

I suppose I should have realized that plenty of re-ment actually existed, after all I knew that the pumpkin casserole was the Le Crueset one. But for some reason I never thought about the more cartoony stuff being real! Wanted! A more cartoony kitchen!

How much do I covet that frying pan? SO MUCH. Part of a Japanese line being sold at Fred Flare, and so totally 100% re-ment in my size! All I can think of is how many other re-ment pieces I'd like in real life. Starting with this one!

Thanks to Natalie of the awesome cupcake blog Bake and Destroy, for posting about the Black Oven, a black-metal inspired baking blog. So. Cool. I. Can't. Stand. It. Go read now!! And even do some baking!!

Also thanks to Natalie for hosting the Great Candy Swap, which I have had loads of fun in already -- and I haven't even gotten my package yet! But filling the package for my partner was way fun. But more about that later...

And I also have Natalie to thank for posting about Cake Mania, which I bought for my DS and became completely addicted too!

Hmmm....maybe Bake and Destroy is the best baking blog in the world....

uploaded to flickr by dictioncanary

A few bits of news -- as those of you who read Evan's blog already know, we are working on season 2 of Yo Gabba Gabba! Yay!!! Not sure what our contributions will amount to yet, but we are at least doing some writing. So that is fun.

Speaking of which, the Aquabats/DJ Lance show back in February was awesome, and Emily had a fantastic time! See loads of photos (not mine) right here.

We finally had an actual snow day (at last! a real pile of snow!), it was lots of fun. I think it was the first snow man ever for all three of us, Emily being just 3, I having grown up in Florida, and Evan...well, I don't know what his excuse is! Here are our snow creatures - a snow man, snow puppy, and two snow bunnies. The snow puppy and small snow bunny are Emily's (with help).

The day after we made those, we headed into Manhattan for a meeting (rescheduled because of the snow), amazingly got free parking on Park Ave and on the way back to the car stumbled into fun! Evan said to me, "Hey, look, Scandinavia House" and I said "they have a kid's playroom! It's supposed to be cool!" We went and it turned out we were they on the one day they allow non-members into the kid's playrooms. $5 per kid, parents free. And totally worth it! Emily was in heaven going crazy for the Pippi and Moomin stuff, as well as the Icelandic fairytale landscape in the main room. (The kid's center got written up just a few weeks later in the New Yorker.) Emily wanted to eat at the cafe so we'll probably be heading back soon!