A tomten in our home

One of Lucy's very favorite books this winter is The Tomten and the Fox. Tidying up a cabinet recently, I came across this gorgeous fox I'd gotten once at a tag sale, and was inspired to make her a tomten to go with it.

I'm just figuring out the wonderful world of craft supplies, and am working out kinks like paint pens bleeding on the wood, and tan paint coming out greyish. (I need to figure these things out soon, as I have big peg-people plans for Lucy's birthday next month.) But overall, I'm pretty thrilled with how he came out.

Lucy is too. (Here she is playing with him before the glue on his beard has even dried.)

One gift down...? to go

Andi's grandmother is wishing for an autumnal wreath for her front door. We bought her one at the Farmer's Market, but ultimately decided it was too fragile for mailing and for her habit of storing it and hanging it each year. Which brought us back to making one, which is what I'd wanted to do all along (those market ones were just too pretty to pass up, but no problem--we just hung it on our own door!)

We spent an enjoyable few afternoons, collecting leaves with our friend and her daughters in Boston, and then collecting pine cones and acorns by the roadside and in a local park. Then came a fun evening of dipping the leaves in melted beeswax to preserve them. Finally, over the long Thanksgiving weekend, we assembled the wreath. I'm thrilled with how it came out. I hope "GG" (great grandma) will be, too.

Christmas-gift planning

I've been starting to think a lot about Christmas. I have lofty goals this year; I really want to make almost all of my gifts, and I haven't left myself much time to accomplish it (we have a lot of people on our list!). But I've always loved making gifts, and now with all this bloggy inspiration in front of me, it makes it even more compelling.

We went on a road trip recently, and it gave us plenty of car time to brainstorm gift ideas. Now I'm filling in the gaps, looking through craft books and blogs for inspiration.

A few things we'll be making this year:

a wreath of leaves, pinecones, and acorns
several recycled-material wallets
potholders from Soulemama's latest book
goldenrod salve
and....shhhh...can't tell the rest!

Planning

Ok, so I've got the old, smashed, camera held together with rubber bands to tide me over until we figure out what to get next.

There's lots of planning going on around here lately.


Planning the menu for Thanksgiving. (We'll be hosting 10 for dinner.)

I'm a bit obsessive about my Thanksgiving planning. I like to do a big long prep list of everything that needs to be chopped for every recipe, and we spend the night before chopping and stowing away all the ingredients to make the next day's cooking easier. I'm behind on that this year. I just went shopping, and hadn't even finalized my recipes yet! I just know I'm going to have to run back out to the store. I hate being disorganized like that. But you do what you have to do, and in this first baby year, things just aren't going to be all Martha. (But my family will accuse me of it, anyway.)


Planning Christmas crafting.

These are the materials we've gathered to make a wreath for Andi's grandmother, who wants a new autumn wreath that she can store away and take out each year. So we're going for sturdy materials. We gathered the leaves while visiting our friend in Boston, where they still had some color, and then dipped them in beeswax to preserve them. Just hoping for a few free minutes to finish the project.


And I'm not even sure what I'm planning to do with these; I just love them!

We went to the Winter Fair at a local Waldorf school this weekend, and I couldn't resist these gorgeous things. The beeswax pinecone candles will be used on Thanksgiving. The wool felt and roving? I don't know, but I couldn't resist. Any ideas?

Dis-cards

While we were away, we missed my sister's birthday. Good...it bought me some time to make a gift, which I'd somehow failed to do earlier. Not much time, though. Think, think...what's quick, but still special? What would she like? She's in massive de-cluttering mode, so most things I think of to give her just seem like more "stuff" she won't want. I perused some of my craft books, and I found a great idea in here:


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(Quilts by Denyse Schmidt). Quilted note cards. Perfect! She's great at writing letters and often uses note cards. And I've been wanting to experiment more with quilting, and I love how this technique uses the smallest scraps.



My sister wears a lot of turquoise, so I began with what I had along turquoise/greenish lines. (Including a lovely new bit I got in the mail...more on that later...)



As my little scrap pile by the sewing machine dwindled, I happened to glance down into the trash basket and spotted some scraps discarded as being "too small" after making the birdie scarf the other day. Not too small for this! Back out they came...(don't worry, it's just sewing stuff in there; not too nasty). That led me to my bag of orange scraps for some coordinating fabrics, and soon I ended up with these:



(I hold them vertically, but I can't get the pictures to post that way. Something else to figure out...)

I love them! I can see myself making lots more of these. I was particularly intrigued to notice how the fabric changed as I quilted it. In several cases, I didn't think I liked how the card had come out until I did the quilting stitches. So interesting.

Handmade Home

It finally came!


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I bought this book for myself with birthday money--in May--and I've been waiting ever since for its publication. It arrived in the mail yesterday, just when I was desperately needing a little rejuvenation. I spent 45 minutes sitting in a coffee shop last night, reading and sipping from my latest addiction: ginger-lemon iced tea. (Ahhh.) Today, I've already finished reading every word. (In fact, that's my only quibble with the book; I want more!)

I love Soulemama's blog. I've read every one of her posts and eagerly anticipate reading a new one each day. So of course I was thrilled that she's published another book. And I love it for the same reason I love her blog: it describes lovely projects, but behind them lies an ideal--not just a project idea. The life that is revealed through her writing is mindful, beautiful, joyful, and, yes, soulful, and so inspiring to me.

There is much to love in this book. I love that her projects are not just about making a thing, but are about making a life, a home, a refuge, a tradition. I love that it's about re-using materials--and she clearly really means it, as all the photos show repurposed materials (unlike in some books I've seen). Even the matte pages suggest her environmental sensitivity. I love that things don't look too perfect--they look do-able and real and heartfelt.

Many of these ideas I already do--thrift shopping almost exclusively, cloth diapering, making my own pads, using children's art in creative ways. But she has given me more ideas, and inspired me to try some new things. I will definitely be making a rag rug, and a potholder, and a kids-art-decoupaged tray, and an "art and hooks rack," a healing basket... And I hope, in the process, to help make a home and a family life as beautiful as the vision Amanda shares with us here and on her blog.

Circus crafting

For the past several months, the kids in my early childhood program have been into the circus. My teaching is inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and in part, that means that curriculum emerges from the children, supported by teachers and parents. What started with one girl pretending to be a "circus girl" has blossomed into a long, whole-group project. As one way to support them, we recently went on a field trip to see Circus Smirkus, and as I sat there in the stands, completely enthralled, I took notes on aspects that I thought the children could incorporate into their play.

From the children, I'd already realized that being "circus girls" required costumes. From the circus we saw, I wanted to add hula hoops and juggling with "devil sticks." From Reggio, I got the idea to host a parent night during which we'd make gifts for the children to support their curriculum. So last night, several of the parents came over for a crafting night. The results of our labor:

7 child-sized and 2 adult-sized hula hoops (tutorial here):


5 pairs of "devil sticks" (tutorial here):


2 vests, 3 capes, 5 tutus, and 2 sets of open-ended sleeve/leggings/hat thingies:


(The red fabric doesn't photograph well, but is a great glittery star pattern--perfect for the circus. I thought it would be great for quick projects, too, as it doesn't unravel. But it was a nightmare to sew. It's bathing-suit fabric. How does anyone ever sew a bathing suit!?!)

They'll be gift-wrapped, for the children to discover and open over the coming week. Let the show begin!

Hope in the mail

Two hats and a quilt, on their way to Texas, and then on to India. Doesn't look like much, but a lot of love and time and yes, hope, is in that package.

Can I make a quilt in time?

When I decided to join Craft Hope for their third challenge, I pledged to make at least a hat and a pair of booties. I made two hats right away, and got started on a pair of booties. Somewhere along the line, I decided to make a blanket to go with each set. I was thinking about hemming up a simple flannel blanket, and trying to figure out when I'd get out to buy the flannel, when somehow, I got a notion to make a quilt. Unlike some bloggers out there who seem to whip out a quilt every week, I've only ever made one quilt (a sad, lumpen, polyester thing made with love for my honey right after college). I've started on one for Lucy's room, and am doing an occasional block here and there towards finishing that for her first birthday. But this seemed more manageable--small, and on a deadline (I have until July 25th). Where do I get these notions? I have a million other projects I want to get to. And yet...

I googled around for a suitable pattern, and chose this one. I'm making mine smaller, more swaddler size than crib size. Once I had the idea in my mind, I was possessed, and went digging through my fabric for a large variety that went well together (this is when I wish I had a larger stash, though what I've got barely fits as it is!). I started cutting, and couldn't stop until all the pieces were cut out (I stayed up WAY too late working after my family was asleep). And never mind that the sewing machine is in our bedroom; I simply had to sew together the first block just to see how it would look (they slept through it). Here it is:

(Ignore the washed-out picture. It's been raining here forever, I think. It's way cuter in person.)

Now, if it weren't for that pesky thing called work, I could just sew and sew like a maniac until I'd done them all! Couldn't we just have a quilting holiday?
....
I wrote the above yesterday, planning to post it today. Then last night, I got on a completely obsessed sewing spree. From one block completed, to this:

(completed blocks, clearly in need of pressing, laid out on Lucy's floor, where they're in grave danger of being scattered by galloping cats)

I love it! I really don't want to do anything else until I've got it all sewn together. Now I'm thinking I might actually be able to finish it in time!

New field bags

Here is one of the field bags that nearly destroyed my sewing machine. Each is slightly different, but they all contain the same supplies. They're embroidered with the children's names, in the color which helps them identify all their belongings at my house.

The children in my program are between 1 and 5 years old. We're starting small and simple with these bags, and will work up to more later. For now, they contain:
a beautiful little sketch pad
a pencil
a small magnifying lens
a tulle collection bag for rocks, bark, flowers, etc, etc, etc.

As the children get older and more used to using their field bags, I expect to add:
watercolor paints (thus the really nice sketch books which work beautifully with watercolors)
field guides appropriate to wherever we're headed and whatever we're into at the moment
critter collection containers
and...? We'll see what comes from the children's pursuits.

Lori Pickert, another Reggio-inspired educator, has a great tutorial on her blog for how to make a field bag from recycled clothing. I'd wanted to have field bags for the kids, and her blog gave me just the kick in the ratty-old-mom-jeans I needed to get going on making them.

Waiting for the sun

It hasn't been feeling much like summer around here (not that I'm complaining; I like spring!), but if it ever does get hot, I've got just the thing for Lucy to wear. I made another pair of "Ruby's Bloomers" from Weekend Sewing (boy, do I love that pattern!) to go with the Little Brown Bird Smock, and what a cute outfit it made! I'd made the smock from a pink polka-dot skirt. There wasn't enough fabric left for the bloomers, so I used the plain-pink lining fabric from the same skirt, and to tie it all together as an outfit, I edged the legs with the brown bias tape I'd used on the top. I love how it looks, and imagine I'll be using bias tape on many more pairs of these bloomers. In fact, I imagine I'll be making more of this very same outfit--the two patterns work beautifully together, and each is simple enough to finish in an evening.

Crafting Hope for Orphans in India

I've decided to join Craft Hope in making infant hats, booties, and blankets for babies in India. I thought I was going to make a dress (their first project) and a doll (their second), but never did either. This time, I commented right away so I'd be committed to producing something!

That very night, I dug through my shirt pile to find one that was ready to be chopped up to make hats. I made two sweet little blue hats, and set to work making booties to match. I clearly worked well past my too-exhausted-to-sew point on those, so they're going to require stitch-ripping and re-doing. Oh, well...I've gotten a good start and I'm glad to have something to contribute this time. I had made some of these caps before, for Mama to Mama's Caps to Cap Haitian project, and it was so wonderful to watch that cap counter go up and up, my little contribution of 3 hats adding to the heaps until there were a total of 5523 hats and 169 blankets contributed!

I don't suppose my little contribution is going to change the world. But one little baby will be a bit warmer and a bit more secure in the knowledge that there is a world out there that cares about them.

Check out Craft Hope's latest project. Maybe you'll want to whip up a bit of warmth, too. (It's open to knitters and crocheters, as well!)

Orange Polka-Dot Bitty Booties

orange polka-dot bitty booties
Originally uploaded by mcghol

I finally finished the second of three pairs of "Bitty Booties" we'll be giving as baby gifts this spring. These had the potential to be my favorite pair so far, but they gave me fits making them, so now all I see are the flaws. Here's a hint if you want to make some: don't use cashmere! (The purple dots are from a cashmere sweater.) It doesn't felt well, and gets all misshapen as you try to applique it in place. Argh. And why did my sewing machine suddenly decide it can't sew on the elastic hair bands for the button loop? The last pair worked fine, but this time, it only pretended to sew, leaving no stitches attached. So, these are entirely handstitched. Probably better that way anyway, but still annoying. Oh, well. They're still pretty darn cute, I guess.

Another quilt block

Please excuse the terrible photo...when I work all day and then squeeze in some sewing, by the time I'm ready to take a picture, the light is nearly gone. This block is much prettier in person. (Unfortunately, I don't have a good excuse for the way-too-skinny outer "logs.") Despite the weird proportions, I'm very happy with this block because I incorporated three new fabrics I love:
--the yellow gardening girl fabric in the upper left, which is one of the ones I bought on vacation, and which I just love for its vintage-y charm.
--the green alphabet fabric, also bought on vacation. I didn't have enough green in this quilt yet, and I imagine Lucy will love finding Ls and other favorite letters at some point in the not-too-distant future.
--a teeny scrap of the vintage sheet that's been seen in so many of my projects this spring (Lucy's kimono, my skirt, my headband, my purse...). There will be so many fond memories attached to that fabric. Some day, after I've done much more sewing, I look forward to making a whole quilt of meaningful scraps like that one, with stories attached.

Bitty Booties, take three

We know three babies who need gifts this week. I decided to make them all Bitty Booties from Heather Bailey's free pattern. The first pair had to be made quickly--tonight--to get into the mail tomorrow. So I went for a mostly-machine-sewn design, decorating them with some cute berry trim I got recently from a thrift store and some big white vintage buttons. I'm thrilled with how they came out!

Finished in the car on the way to Bar Harbor...

pleated beauty handbag-back
Originally uploaded by mcghol

...my "Pleated Beauty Handbag" from "Bend the Rules Sewing." I'm so pleased with this bag! Looking at everyone's photos on Flickr, I was worried that it would come out much too large. But I felt too amateur to be messing around with the measurements, so I just trusted the pattern and dove in, using that favorite vintage sheet (seen here and here and here before) and a vintage curtain. On the front is the free-motion embroidered flower I made. The back is unadorned. In the car on the way up to Maine, I stitch-ripped the other flower I'd added and then didn't like. I also finished hand-sewing the lining in the car.

This bag turned out to be perfect for vacation. Big enough for my usual purse stuff, plus diaper stuff, hat, sweater, burp cloth, sling, and sometimes more for Lucy, plus camera and whatever touristy brochures we picked up, plus books I bought along the way. But not too huge, as I'd feared. Just right!


(I'm not usually quite so matchy-matchy in my outfits. But, hey--I was on vacation. My options were limited. And who knows me there?)

Free-motion flower for Pleated Beauty Handbag

free-motion flower for pleated beauty handbag
Originally uploaded by mcghol

Ok, this is the most fun I've ever had sewing on my machine so far! What? You haven't tried free-motion embroidery yet? Go try it!

This is all I've managed to accomplish yet on my "Pleated Beauty Handbag," which I'm planning to bring on vacation this weekend. Will I be able to finish in time?

Sew therapy

It's been a rough week around here. After a particularly hard day, I was due for some "sew therapy." I began cutting out the pieces for the "Pleated Beauty Handbag" from "Bend the Rules Sewing," but got distracted when I started thinking about whether or not I wanted to include the free-motion machine embroidery (and whether or not I could even do that...). So I pulled out the sewing-machine manual and the box of parts, and lo and behold, I have a darning plate! Who knew? So I messed around with curvy lines and a flower. I definitely have a way to go to do this right, but it sure was fun and satisfying for a first try! (The flower looks better with a button center. Maybe I'll do that on my bag?)

Shades of blue

Finally getting around to writing about some older projects...

First, I made myself a third skirt using "Sew What! Skirts." I'm getting a little better each time. This one fits me more closely, and I like the way it looks, though it's a bit snug when I sit. I love this fabric (vintage sheet--used in Lucy's kimono, too) and didn't want to waste it on a badly-made skirt, so I was waiting until I got a bit better! I'm pretty happy with it overall, although after wearing it once, I realize I'm going to have to undo the waist to tighten up the elastic. I love the vintage curvy trim I used, which you can see on the photo of the pocket detail (please ignore the marking-pen lines--hadn't washed it yet).

Next up is my second try at transforming a onesie into a dress (I've complained before about how onesies get damp with our wool diaper covers, although that problem seems to be lessening over time--are we getting better at cloth diapering? are the covers getting more absorbent?) I sliced off the bottom of the onesie with a rotary cutter and sewed on a gathered skirt made from a vintage pillowcase. I added vintage rick-rack and buttons, and then made a matching pair of bloomers, again from "Weekend Sewing."



And, coming soon...violet jelly (from a recipe here). Here's the first step, which I did today with the kids...gathering the violets.

Springtime Sewing

It's hot; I have tons of plants to put in the garden; my house is a disaster; my clothesline is full of things waiting to be folded...so, naturally, I spent the afternoon sewing (some might call it procrastinating).

First, an Itty Bitty Baby Dress for an itty bitty baby. A friend of a friend has had a very difficult pregnancy--10 weeks on bed rest--and just gave birth to a 4-pound girl 8 weeks early. Mom will be out of the hospital on Tuesday. I remember how touched we were by all the lovely handmade gifts we recieved for Lucy, and how excited we were when we actually found teeny-enough clothes to put on her when she first came home. So I thought another Itty Bitty Baby Dress was in order. This one is made from several different thrift-store treasures--a tablecloth, a sheet, and some rickrack. I hope she likes it.

Edited to add: she wore it home from the hospital! Yay!





Next, I decided it was time to finally finish Lucy's Kimono I started from "Weekend Sewing." I'd started it a while ago and was really unhappy with how it was coming out--unfinished seams inside and puckery armpits showed just what an amateur sewer I am. I'd gotten some advice on Flickr (duh! clip the seam allowances! Why didn't I think of that? Thank goodness for helpful Flickr viewers!) Finished up, I think it looks pretty cute. I haven't tried it on her yet. We'll see. I'm worried it'll look like scrubs (it's a bit stiff, like them, I think).



Last, I tried an experiment. I wondered if I could use the Ruby's Bloomers pattern from "Weekend Sewing" to make a wool diaper cover. I used more of the felted cashmere sweater I'd used for the Easter bunnies. I had to piece it together to get a large enough piece for the pattern (because I'd already tried to refashion it into a cardigan, but gave up). I wasn't sure if I'd be able to steam-iron the elastic to shrink it up in that cool way it does, but it worked fine. The bloomers are thin and lightweight, which I thought would be perfect for summer--she can wear them over a diaper with a sundress on top. We'll see if they'll be absorbent enough to work.