Everyone up on the peace train

Google told me I needed to export some old files, or download them, or something. I don't know. Anyway I found this header image that I put together about 15 years ago using some sort of open-source pseudo-Photoshop. I used to keep this blog private and I also had a public blog. Abandoned that second one, but looking at this was a blast from the past. Fun creative outlet.

Thanks for sewing

First of all I am very thankful for my mom’s sewing. I don’t even know how many of my mom’s handmade aprons I own, but it’s a lot. In the double digits. I use them every day, and I treasure them.

I am thankful for my sister Hannah’s sewing. She is basically a pro who sews all her own clothes, and it’s really fun for me to see what she’s working on. She invited Ida and our niece Agnes out a couple of years ago for “sewing camp,” which Ida had a great time with; she still uses her tote bag and pajama pants! Hannah also sewed a beautiful dress for Ida for my niece Annie’s wedding two years ago, that Ida still wears. (Or did, until church was indefinitely canceled...)

My sister-in-law Deb has made my kids some gorgeous handmade quilts, which are on all of their beds. My mom also made them each a beautiful blanket, also on their beds. I feel happy and thankful every time I look at those lovely and useful gifts. My babies were also the recipients of multiple handmade baby quilts from friends and family, and I have saved all of them. (Which says a lot, because I don’t keep much!)

I am also lucky enough to own a few dolls handmade by my Grandma Mary. She made one for Ida and another for Polly. (Ida and Polly also own beautiful dolls handmade by their aunt Hannah!) And I still have the two-headed Cinderella doll that Grandma made for me in the 80s.

Now I will close with the most humble sewing of the bunch. 😆 I took sewing lessons when I was 10 or so. Since then I’ve made pillowcases, curtains, a few blankets, pretty much anything with a straight line. I don’t have a great head for following patterns or for drafting my own, and I have a sort of “measure once, cut twice” personality... BUT... I can sew well enough to make face masks. With some help from Google, I’ve drafted and constructed 100ish masks since the beginning of the pandemic: for myself, my kids, my friends, my coworkers, and early on, as donations to healthcare workers. 

Are they a bit sloppy at times, maybe. But they are functional, and back in April I was really glad that I own a sewing machine, have a decent fabric stash, and could get out that excess creative energy when I needed to. I still make masks from time to time, generally when an acquaintance has a birthday because it’s a quick but personal gift. Let me know if you ever need a mask, by the way. I can’t promise a time or date it will be done, but I still have lots of fabric, a machine, and random extra creative energy that pops up when I least expect it.

Birthday girl

Ida's birthday weekend was a weird one. She woke up Friday night throwing up, so we had to reschedule her Saturday birthday party. She actually felt great on Saturday and had no fever or anything, so her birthday request was to go bowling with only me--no one else allowed. Felt pretty good to be her companion of choice at the ol' alley. Not really sure what compelled her to choose bowling, since we have gone exactly one time and that was over a year ago at Grandma's. She had fun though!

On Sunday Hannah and Robbie came over for dinner. We remembered on Saturday afternoon that we had the missionaries coming over for dinner too. Ida's cake that day was apple crisp (candle stuck in an apple).

Also, she wanted to wait until Sunday to open her presents "so that Hannah and Robbie could watch." Favorite present was this beautiful little doll that Hannah made (which actually she had already opened on Friday).

 

We had her friends party the following Saturday instead; fortunately most of the kids who were originally going to attend could still go that day. We kicked the boys out of the house and it was girls only. The girls came wearing fairy costumes, played Pin the Fairy on the Flower (thanks Dawn!), put together fairy gardens, assembled magic wands to eat (strawberries and grapes on BBQ skewers with a star-shaped piece of cheese at the top) and finally had the chocolate "fairy cake," which I thought was terrible (thanks for nothing, Duncan Hines) but the kids sure enjoyed it.

I've never done a real friends party for my kids and I liked it that way (previous friends parties have been more along the lines of "invite everyone we know to the park and serve huge amounts of cookies" and "free tour of the fire department") but Ida was dying to have one this year, so I relented. This one was more involved because of the fairy garden prep, but I really enjoyed that part, which consisted of browsing through the local nursery for plants, and the dollar store and craft store for random little tchotchkes. So in other words, stuff I like to do anyway, and this time I got to do it in the name of Ida's birthday.

Love that girl.

A project, a project!

I am the Primary music leader in my ward, which means that every week I teach songs to a bunch of rowdy kids. I get a lot of teaching ideas from a multitude of blogs kept up by very talented people, some of whom pour lots of love into whipping up fancy visual aids for their Primary kids. I usually use the ideas and ditch the fancy aids. Except recently I was charmed by the thought of making an apron with several pockets to hold a variety of little objects for a game. So for once, I actually sat down and made a fancy visual aid. (fancy for me.)

I have to consult the owner's manual every time I use my machine. Yes, sometimes I even have to look up how to thread the upper thread and that's embarrassing. Remember the Disco Dot quilt I made Theo...that was a somewhat bleak attempt but ultimately, he has something that his mom made for him. I have been working on a quilt for Ida for the past 16 months, with much help from my mom, and it's still not finished, but I'm aiming for her 2nd birthday.

I went out on a limb and gusseted the apron pockets, something I have not done before. It didn't occur to me to gusset the bottoms of the pockets too until after I had cut and pinned everything. I can't actually conceptualize how I would have done that anyway, so I settled for side gussets. Also, the scraps I used weren't very big so the gussets aren't big either, but big enough to be helpful.

This seriously took me about 4 hours to make from start to finish, which is probably about 3 hours too long. But I sewed something! And, the game was really fun too.

On to my next point. Last year I participated in that homemade-gifts blog exchange thing, and I still owe homemade gifts to my mom, Heather, Keli, and Katie. Just wanted you to know, I haven't forgotten...I just haven't made them yet. Don't expect gusseted pockets or anything but I will get to you. And I will also get to blog reader Betsy to whom I promised a prize for finishing a poem about riding the Metro. You are all on my list!

Made with love

I can practically feel the craftiness coming on.

Thanks Camillicent (as I like to call her)...I expect something top-notch in 2009!

Homemade Fun:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! But you probably will...I'm just saying.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. That gives me a good 10 1/2 months to get it done!
4. It will be a surprise.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so, and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Stop it

How do you feel about these flower cake toppers made out of dried pineapple? Because I love them. Perfect for spring and probably tasty too.



I'm going to make these...after I try out the owl cupcakes...so maybe when Ida is in high school?

(via The Kitchn)

Pom-poms

I am confident Theo would totally go for this (found it at OhDeeDoh).

Problem is, it won't be long before Ida is putting stuff in her mouth. Maybe the pom-poms will have to wait.

Embarrassing.

You know it's been too long since you've sewn last...



...when you have to consult the instruction manual to thread the upper thread on your machine.

(How embarrassing.)

Made with love.

(a print by Black Apple that I think I need to buy for myself)

I have been
loving
Etsy lately.

Me and the rest of the blogging-lady-world, right? Well now that I finally have an excuse to shop (for other people) I have been seriously using it. I think I will post my favorite sellers sometime...I just don't want anyone to guess what they're getting for Christmas if you know what I'm SAYIN'. (although actually only a small percentage of people who are getting gifts from us this year even read this blog. Noah, no, Eve, no, my in-laws, no.)

Really though...as if I need more ways to waste time on the interweb.

The legend of the quilt.

I am not what you would call a serious seamstress, but I decided to make a baby blanket for my baby. Family and friends have made him beautiful blankets, so I decided that I would not really be a serious mother unless I made him a blanket too. None of this exquisite, painstaking quilting, mind you--just something simple that involved yarn and machine-sewn binding.

Plus I have had this yard of Disco Dot cotton sitting in my small, non-serious pile of fabric just begging to be used for something. Disco Dot is a bit overplayed and Matt calls it "intense" but I still think it is soooo cute. You might say that I am serious about Disco Dot.

Back in '92 or so I made my first and only quilt (until now), a story which I chattily shared with the lady at JoAnn's who cut out the plush green velour I chose for backing. For that quilt I used Kleenex for the batting and actually hand-tied it and hand-bound it. It was...oh maybe 12 inches by 4 inches, perfect for keeping my Barbies warm.

If you are wondering, plush green velour is great for a blanket but not necessarily when the other side is black cotton. Linty!

And if you are wondering, I would advise you to take the directions that real sewers will tell you: "Don't Pull the Fabric Through--Guide It." I did not take this advice until the fourth and last edge I sewed.

Although the top is really quite linty and three of the four edges are puckered, I am happy with the quilt as a whole. It was a learning experience, and it is so very soft.

As I told Matt, at least I won't have anyone wondering whether I bought the quilt. I envision myself saying in a patronizing tone, "Isn't this quilt cute? Theo's little cousin made it for him." Or perhaps, proudly, "I actually sewed the entire thing myself using only my feet."

Theo doesn't care anyway; he just likes to hide under it and pretend that he is one of the goblins from Outside Over There.

IKEA hacker hacker

I like this idea of decoupaging a simple graphic onto cheap furniture; saw it on Ikea Hacker.

I'm not sure if I will ever try it myself but I thought it was cute. It might also be interesting with a different piece of furniture or maybe a different area, like a table top or the smooth wall of a nook.






Statistically improbable phrases in this post: "smooth wall of a nook"

Toys

I am partial to the giraffe although it doesn't seem to be for sale currently.

Note to self: Stop cruising Etsy. You will spend too much money because remember you're not crafty.

Or, note to self: Just sit down and learn to use your sewing machine for more than hemming and making pillows. This is a big goal of mine.

Although it is very good for hemming and making pillows.

Matte-Mat

Where have you been all my life?


I know I sound like a crafty novice (I'm just not all that into "crafts") but I am really enjoying Mod Podge. Try it today!



(Ummmmm by the way I don't eat it. I've been using it as glue. I just think it's fun. I'll let you know when my current attempt at a "Craft" is finished.)