jcaroline

Someone is turning 1!

We had a little birthday party at the office today for my daughter Olivia.  She really turns one on Saturday, but Thursday is pizza day here so today made the most sense.  (I also thought it was too early for the pony-ride, 3-ring circus birthday.  Rationalization?  Perhaps.)

I realized Tuesday I needed to provide, if not make, a cake for the occasion but really didn't think I would get it done.  So I had the genius idea of ordering cupcakes from the grocery store (the best money I've ever spent) and making paper flowers that I taped to straws to stick in the cupcakes.  If I may say so myself, they came out super cute! 

I used some American Crafts "The Goods"  Papers, their plastic  and foam flowers, brads,  colored straws and 5/8" lime juice grosgrain  as the leaves.  I will admit, I have a die cutter (an AccuCut GrandeMark) but you can also use the smaller personal die cutters or cut them by hand.  I will say the die cutter speeded things up a bit.

And I can't resist showing pictures of the little cutie in her birthday hat.  This one is from Target, but it would be easy to make your own from some felt and ball fringe.  Okay, the second picture is just to show her cute face and that she doesn't always look concerned with a face covered with food.  Enough silliness-- momma and baby are tired.

Bend-The-Rules Sewing

Amy Karol, who writes the blog Angry Chicken, has written a beginning sewing book that even has some nuggets for the experienced sewer. 

This book is very approachable for the beginning sewer. Her writing style is very casual and she covers topics from choosing a sewing machine to setting up your sewing workspace to applying bias binding. She talks about the threads tangling in your machine and what to do about it, which happens to every sewer and can really frustrate a beginner.

The projects are good beginning projects- not too complicated, but you can probably find something in the book that you want to make and will actually use. And if your project doesn't turn out perfect, you won't feel like you failed-- the author explains why mistakes are an okay thing.

If you are an experienced sewer, you probably won't see any projects that you haven't seen or tried before. However, reading the first part of the book reinforced some habits I need to follow (changing my sewing machine needle often, pressing often) and gave me some technique ideas that I didn't know. I love her attitude about mistakes-- when to redo, when to take a rest and when to proceed with abandon. (I call it the "burning" stage and she is correct- it usually passes in time.)

A great beginning sewing book. Not as valuable for the experienced sewer, but worth a read for those wanting to build more confidence in their sewing style.

Fun Projects from Others

Anna Maria Horner, mother of five and designer of Chocolate Lollipop fabric, just posted a clever project for summer.  You know when you go to the pool and you drag your towel either around your neck, under your arm, somewhere that never quite works?  (I can only imagine with five children in tow.)  She sewed a handle to a beach towel to create a towel bag. You can even slip your suit and sunscreen inside.  Genius.

Jessica Jones at How about Orange, graphic designer and crafty person, posted a project on tiny pin cushions.  She makes hers from 2-liter bottle tops, but I remember my mother having similar pin cushions made from mason jar lids.  Same concept, different era.  You can never have too many pin cushions- especially if they are decorative!  I've seen a similar concept in a beading book where they added seed beads and created a "sea urchin". 

Amy Karol, crafter and author, at Angry Chicken is making felt covered barrettes for her children.  Clever idea and pretty fast and easy.  (Don't be frightened by the blog's name- she doesn't appear to be at all angry.)  She just published a sewing book, which I'll share with you in another post.

If you've found a clever project on the web you want to share, please post it!  There are so many talented  crafts people out there creating clever ideas.  Even if they have different tastes than I do, I rarely find a project that I can't learn something from or take a concept from to brighten up my ideas a bit!

Happy Father's Day

My father is very creative and clever and is where I got my entrepreneurial bent. He definitely did his own thing, all the while explaining to my sisters and me the value of remaining in the main stream.  Fortunately, I heeded his actions more than his words.

1.  Our vacations were always via the airplane (the "yellow birdie" pictured here being the most memorable of those) and we even occasionally flew to a neighboring state for a Saturday afternoon picnic.  This is my dad, sisters and me (my mother was the photographer-- I'm the cute one in front) at the Spaceland Airport in Houston, TX around 1970.  This vacation was a flying tour of Texas and the gulf coast.  It was a few years before I realized every family didn't take vacations like this.  Ironically, my middle sister and I now live in Houston. 

2.  After my sisters' and my mediocre showing on the vocabulary section of the standardized test in grade school, he instituted the vocabulary-word-at-dinner drill.  We each had to bring a word to dinner and if we forgot, we had to work in the yard for one hour on Saturday.  I usually accumulated three hours of yard work a week, but I would cry after 90 minutes and be excused.  I have to admit, the results were effective:  I have a pretty good vocabulary and I hate yard work.

3.  My dad bought the book The Whole Earth Catalog in the late 1970's, which in retrospect, was a print version of an Internet directory.  If you've never seen it, each page was devoted to unusual resources
(usually a book or a company) that specialized in a skill, be it economics, repairing Volkswagens, camping-- you name it.  I read it cover to cover and even ordered some books from it (in the days ordering meant sending a check in the mail).  I definitely learned there is a book on everything and I need to own it.

4.  He purchased an Osbourne computer in 1981, making me the only person at Hannibal Junior High School to turn in word processed papers.  (I even right-justified them just to show off.)   It doesn't sound nearly as impressive now, but it put me way ahead of the curve in the world of PC's.  And all from a computer with a 4" screen!

So Happy Father's Day to my dad who created a very interesting and educational childhood!

PS.  Happy FIRST Father's Day to my husband.

My Newest Sewing Tool

I've never had glasses (I apologize to all those that wake up in the morning and can't read the clock), but I had to break down when I realized last week that I am threading the sewing machine by feel and that I can't rip out stitches without ripping fabric.  The eye doctor suggested that it is caused by my eyes being 40 years old (which I don't understand because my body and mind have not degraded at all in their 40 years).  So yesterday I picked up my new reading glasses and am now figuring out when to look over or through the lenses, when to move my head or just my eyes and where to keep the glasses when I'm not looking through them.  The maintenance has begun.  However, I have ripped out two seams with them and I am amazed- the thread really does look different than the fabric.

Now Hiring a Project Finisher

So much started- so little being finished.  I need someone who comes along behind me and finishes projects that have run into hurdles or have been abandoned in pursuit of something new.   Qualifications include: no complaining about the project or how I have proceeded up to this point and the ability to finish the project beautifully regardless of the state it is in.  Did I mention that the pay for this position is the sense of fulfillment from a job well done?

I've got three projects in the works at the moment in various states of unfinished.  The oldest and most complete is my Dick & Jane twin-size quilt from Michael Miller's fabrics. Actually, the quilt is complete- I had it quilted for me and I got it back today.  Love it!  I'll get the pattern on the web.  The only thing lacking from this project is the matching dust ruffle so I can photograph it on a bed.

Next unfinished project is a duvet cover for a queen size bed from Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric.  I was inspired by a comforter I saw in Crate & Barrel and thought the green and brown fabrics from Freshcut would make a great earth theme.

I really expanded my horizons on this one- I am normally a very finished edge kind of person, but I was drawn in by the "earthiness" and left raw edges.  I also didn't worry about puckers in the appliques or perfect stitching.  I wanted the duvet cover to be ready to use out of the dryer- no pressing needed.

I went out on a limb for the back too- I knew I would have to piece it, so I decided to go for a huge quilt block kind of look.  The finished seams looked too neat compared to the "earthy" front, so I used bias cut fabric to create borders around the blocks.  This project needs to be assembled and again, I want to make a matching dust ruffle and photograph it on a bed.

Lastly, I started a skirt out of Anna Griffin's Pink Closter fabric from the Grace collection.  I kind of followed the Sew What! Skirts instructions, but I cheated a bit- I traced a ready-made skirt that fit to make my pattern.  The skirt thus far had been easy and I thought successful.   However, today's hiccup was putting in an "invisible" zipper, which unfortunately, was very visible.  I clearly don't know how to use them, so I will probably go back to a plain old zipper tomorrow.

Mona has come in very handy for my first-in-a-long-time apparel project.  Oh, but what happened to that skinny little dress form that appeared three weeks ago?  She has expanded to the edge of her capacity in the waist and rear.  I do hope she'll focus this summer on trimming down a bit.  Perhaps that is something the Project Finisher can help her with.

Post-Wedding Post

My niece's wedding that my family has talked about for 18 months finally occurred last weekend and it was fabulous!  My sister did a fabulous job putting together a great wedding and even a little rain didn't dampen the fun.  All 10,000 of our extended family members were there (I exaggerate a bit, but not much.  I'll spare you all the photos).  I even got a mention in the program for the centerpieces.  A little praise and recognition goes a long way. 

From top left to bottom right: 1.  The bride and groom cakes were decorated with plain icing and wrapped in ribbons.  The bride's cake had a teacup with flowers on top.  2.  I made a wreath from the left-over silk flowers from the centerpieces and accented it with a white satin bow.  I couldn't find a wreath form big enough, so I cut one out of styrofoam that was 18" across.  3. The bride and her two sisters (my nieces) and the groom.  Oh, to be that cute (and young and skinny)!  4.  Of course, my darling baby and one-half of her daddy.  5.  The tent was decorated with white chinese lanterns, which created great ambiance for not much money.  My niece found them on the web.  6.  The famous topiary centerpieces.  The tables were decorated with white tulle, ribbon and votives.  The white centerpieces really showed up well.  7.  My sister had the brilliant idea of reprinting family wedding pictures and placing them around the buffet and cake tables.  It included parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of the bride and groom.

I'm sure my family will continue to talk about the wedding for several more weeks, but for those that weren't there, that's just plain boring.  Back to real life!

Cutie in Pants

 

Two Fridays ago I was able to crank out a pair of capri pants for my darling baby!  Getting a picture of them was another matter, as she cannot stand by herself yet and she is never still.  Of course, it would have been great to photograph her in a field of daisies or something similar, but I didn't have that available at the time, so the cutting table will have to do. 

The fabric is Robert Kaufman's Blossom Ice Cream Cones.   The pants pattern is one I made up from a pair of pants she had that fits.  (I tried a purchased children's pattern for pants and they were 20 inches too long.  I'm not kidding.)  It's a basic one piece pattern (the legs have no outer side seam) with an elastic waist.  I added a little ruffle to the pant, which helped their look immensely.  Just remember that this fabric is one-way and you don't want your ice cream cones upside down.

I then took a ready-made shirt and appliqued an ice cream cone from the fabric to the shirt.  The outfit was a huge hit when she saw her grandparents last week.  (We went to Missouri for my niece's wedding.)  I'll get to that event later- the previously-blogged centerpieces were awesome- if I say so myself.

(FINALLY, the pants pattern and instructions are on the site here .)