chitown2beantown

Organized for summer crafting

One of my summer goals is to plow through several patterns and projects I have laying around. Am I the only one who picks up sewing patterns and fabric, or knitting patterns and yarn, and then let's them sit around for a couple years?

I know I'm not. It's a time honored family tradition that runs deep down my maternal line.

As I was thinking about why I don't get as many projects I want done, I realized that one of my biggest hurdles is that when I had the urge to work on a project, I couldn't easily find the pattern. The digging through piles and web pages to find the patterns cut into my crafting drive.

Decorated binders with clear sleeves inside have helped.

I grabbed a run-of-the-mill one inch binder, little scrapbooking paper, some letter stickers, buttons, embroidery floss, two strips of ribbon, and some clear vinyl sleeves.

If you're more organizationally minded than me, you could put in dividers for different types of patterns - knitting versus sewing, or pants vs. skirts, etc. I didn't bother.

It's progress enough that my patterns are in one place now. A box would work too but I like flipping through and it works well since so many of my patterns are printed from the internet now.

Will that Barcelona skirt make it's way to the top of the list now? We will see. It's in line behind the Hourglass Sweater I started a couple years ago (sleeves attached, yoke to finish), the Juliet sweater that's almost done, the Debbie Bliss baby shrug for my niece Ella that I started this week, and a Heather Ross Medocino sundress for Ella and hopefully me too.

Time to get back to work!

Handmade Holiday Wrap-Up

Now that all the presents are unwrapped, I can reveal a few of the handmade gifts I gave this year.

Awhile ago, I posted that I was trying to figure out reverse applique. I gave it another try for a few Christmas presents and developed my own methods. I was happy with the results.

I started with thermal shirts for my nieces. I was planning to use the thermal shirts underneath short-sleeved t-shirts, but finding girls' short-sleeve shirts in the middle of winter proved too difficult. So, I went to plan B. I bought half a yard of white knit fabric and cut it into squares a few inches larger than I wanted the letters to be. I pinned the knit fabric to the inside of the t-shirts, making sure that the fabric stretched in the same direction as the thermal fabric.

I also bought some inkjet sticker paper, and printed out outlines of the letters K, A, and E for their initials. I cut out the letters and stuck them to the shirts. If I did it again, I'd chose a simpler font to make it easier to sew, but I like the way the letters turned out. I stitched around the letter sticker with embroidery thread. It is important to tie off the thread after each letter, to preserve the stretch of the shirt.

Once I finished the stitching and removed the sticker, this is what the t-shirt looked like:
 

Next I carefully separated the thermal fabric from the knit fabric and made a small incision in the thermal fabric making sure not to cut the knit fabric underneath. Then I cut out the inside of the letter, leaving 1/4 inch of fabric around the inside edge.

We video chatted with our nieces last night and they proudly showed off their letter shirts!

I also made a reverse appliqued t-shirt for my sister-in-law who is a new mother. For this shirt, I used a long-sleeved t-shirt under a short-sleeved t-shirt and followed the same procedures.

I hand-drew the letters for this shirt and was really happy with the result. Yet, in retrospect I'm not sure every new mom would want 'momma' plastered over their bosom. ;)

It was difficult to find a long-sleeve shirt and a short-sleeve shirt that were similar sizes. If I do this again, I will try to buy the same shirt offered in short and long sleeves. I found that a thinner t-shirt worked well for this project.

Another fairly quick gift I made for the women in the family was a recipe binder. Earlier this year I made one for all the internet recipe print-outs and magazine page rip-outs I always have scattered around the kitchen. I kept covering the recipes in grease and food, then had to throw them away. Now I put the recipe in a clear plastic page protector before I cook.

The binders were from Target, the labels from Paper Source, and the folder dividers from an office supply store. I filled the albums with clear page protectors, also from an office supply store. I found a box of 200 dividers for about $10.

We was also on the receiving end of some handmade gifts. My other sister-in-law was wicked crafty this year, and made a skirt for me, a t-shirt with an impressive hand-cut stencil of the Detroit Red Wings logo for Matt, as well as a handmade ornament. She even wrapped the gifts in hand-sewn gift bags. That project is already on my list for next year. Also, our nieces made us magnets. And my mom gave us some amazing peach jam made in Michigan, as well as some crocheted hand towels for the kitchen she picked up at a craft fair.

While there is no way I could pull off handmade gifts for everyone on my list, it made gift giving more meaningful to bring some ideas I had floating around in my head to life this holiday season.

Seeking onesie perfection

It's baby season in my life. Lots of babies making their ways into the world. I like making homemade baby gifts, but after knitting a couple gifts for friends, I realized I am just too slow of a knitter for these to become the standard baby gift route for me.

Instead, I decided to try appliqueing onesies. This past week I gave it my first attempt.

This crooked hearted onesie went to a co-worker on her last day before maternity leave. I ended up buying her a board book too because I felt bad only giving her such a homemade looking gift. I attempted to center the heart and I pinned it down, but the finished product was a little off. My other co-worker said it was better crooked, because no baby is perfect. Ahem. I appreciated the reassurance.

I think you are generally supposed to fold under the edges when appliqueing, but I decided to go for the raw edge look. I washed it once, and it didn't fall apart, so hopefully baby will make it through a couple wearings.

The second onesie was an even more ambitious attempt at reverse applique. I was attempting a technique perfected by the designer, Amy Tangerine. I did not follow the directions she provided, because I didn't have all the materials suggested on hand. Probably not the best course of action, since I ran into some problems with this version as well. See the left hand corner of the star where I had to do some emergency surgery to keep it together. This may fall apart in the wash, so I plan to hold on to this one for now.

It's still pretty dang cute, imperfections and all. Sewing can be a bit frustrating for me, but when it works out, it can be very satisfying. I have a few more onesies to practice with, so if I stumble across a failsafe method for onesie perfection, I will be sure to share it.

quilts, quilts, and it's my lucky day, more quilts

Last Saturday was a good day. My mom and I spent the day crafting together. Rummaging through the fabric closet, sewing on machine, sewing by hand. Coming up with ideas for many many more projects.

And it was even better because she finished the ultimate project -- a queen size quilt of her own design. It is based on a star pattern, and includes hand-embroidered leafs, which if I remember correctly, I helped sketch back when this project was in its infancy. Maple, oak, elm, sycamore, poplar, and ash. 

Here she is in all her glory.

Now, our bed is appropriately adorned. And just in time to brighten our room for spring and summer. This means that the much more basic, and by now, threadbare quilt I made for Matt when we were both still in high school, all those years ago, is going to need to be stored away and only brought out for cold winter nights and cold weather guests.

Instead, we can cozy up with a real quilt.

There are few things better than sleeping under a handmade quilt, especially one made by your mother. Amen.

And if that wasn't enough to send me home with, I also got to take home a wall hanging she made. The pattern was one of my Christmas gifts, the purchase of which was inspired by my night with the kamikaze bears of Yosemite last summer.

While the bed-sized quilt above took awhile to finish, as such projects do, this applique wall hanging she made in like one day. Maybe two. When we first got to Michigan for our visit, she showed it to me in pieces and when I came back a couple days later, it was done. Thanks to my mom I dabble in sewing, and have since at least the fourth grade, but it would have taken me months to pull something like this off. All I can say is the woman has skills. And an impressive fabric stash.

Clearly, I'm reaping the benefits.

And if that wasn't enough quilt love to come back to Boston with, I walked away with my very own handmade beach blanket. Something I've been yearning to own. This lovely pile of color came from my grandma's stash -- we think -- but we're also pretty sure she didn't make it. It's made of scraps, and very random scraps at that, including a bright yellow and black leopard print. I would bet money that my grandma, my quilting grandma at least, would never sew leopard print into a quilt. I can imagine my other grandma loving a leopard print quilt.

So, whoever cut up these scraps, pieced them together, and sewed them up with lovely machine embroidery -- Bless you! This summer, I will lay on your handiwork, soak up the sun, and wonder who you are. 

Resting and Working in March

I spent 14 1/2 hours at school today. Brutal. It's the mid-term crunch, where we're in a hole so deep, that at some points, we just have to stop and laugh rather than trying to claw our way out.

My "to complete by Wednesday evening" list includes: finish up and turn in a paper, read a book and an article (by tomorrow at 2), turn in a take-home midterm, write another paper (only in the outlining phase and already beyond an extension), do two homework assignments, work (for pay!) for 3 hours, attend 2 meetings, go to three classes, and possibly follow up with prospective students. There's probably more, but really, isn't that enough?

But, in more encouraging news, I had a lovely conversation last Tuesday with a fellow student from Israel who reminded me that he can't work 7 days a week because he partakes in a lovely tradition called the Sabbath. And som my good friend Susan (who is in a likewise position with midterms) and I declared sundown Friday until sundown Saturday a Sabbath. Despite the ridiculousness that is our to-do-lists. And, I report, it was totally totally worth it.

And so, before I collapse on my bed for the night, I'm sharing with you the pictures from March that remind me that my life is about more than to-do-lists. Even though sometimes those lists help me to accomplish a lot.

It is dreaming up recipes in the grocery store and bringing them to life.

It is writing about things that interest me, even though sometimes I don't get to writing until the pressure is really on. And even then I have three blogs open for those moments when I need to pause.

It is stopping to take a deep breath when the pressure is on.

It is reveling in sunlight at 6pm after daylight savings time.

It is discovering I can make customized gifts for baby showers in under 45 minutes. Hello Target clearance rack. Meet my extensive collection of scrapbooking stickers.

And hello strips of fabric and cloth diapers. Meet my sewing machine an hour before the baby shower begins. Who knew the recipients would consider you to be "designer diapers", when I meant them to be burp clothes?

It is finding a delightful solution to my problem of getting to class without a pen. My new pen and pencil pouch was in the mailbox when I got home tonight. Thank you JPATPURSES of Etsy.

It is not being able to buy any old notebook for my dissertation ideas, but having to spruce up clearance rack notebooks with Scenic Route note tags and letter stamps.

It is spending a half an hour Friday night making slightly more progress on my Pay It Forward craft exchange albums. Some day I really will get these in the mail. But in the meantime, I'm enjoying painting them one page at a time. Even though a 45 minute craft project, as shown above, would have been more wise.

And finally, my life is singing Jack Johnson in the car with my husband in morning traffic. It is talking to my brother and my mom who are in Texas hanging out. It is filling out Easter cards for my nieces. It is emailing my long time friend about the road trip we've been planning since 8th grade. It is laughing with new friends while commiserating on the sad sad state of our student life. It is noticing amidst the constant stream of activities that make up my days. And finding a little time for Sabbath amidst the work.

House of Sick

The good news is that Matt and I are together for Valentine's Day. He was supposed to be in Texas for a work trip. Although I'm not a huge one for Valentine's Day, it's not that enjoyable away from each other.

Instead, we're very sick together. It's Matt's sixth day with a fever and my third. Yesterday we were running out of food, medicine, and orange juice, so Matt decided to be a hero and head to the store, driving through flooded streets and all. Very romantic, especially because yesterday I only moved off the couch once. We will survive, but the amount of trashy TV I've consumed during the last few days is starting to get to me.

Before I really went downhill, I summoned the energy to finish up this goofy little stuffed frog I've been working on over the past three weeks. It really shouldn't have taken more than a day or two, but I've been only finding about 20 minutes here and there to work on projects. The free pattern, along with several others, is available on purlbee.com. The pattern didn't call for big red lips, but I thought they were appropriate.

Because this is intended for a baby gift, I didn't think beads were a good idea for the eyes, so I tried embroidery instead. Not perfect, but I like the effect nonetheless.

Hope you're enjoying your Valentine's Day, whatever it entails. It's likely a step up from eating Pedialyte freezer pops, taking your temperature, and watching Brett Michaels try to find love. :) 

Feeling surprisingly upbeat, considering

All in all this was a pretty good week. This was officially the last week of class, even though I have one more class on Monday. Sadly, I'm not out of the woods because I still have many papers outstanding and a presentation to give. But, as this point I have hope.  Luckily, I work most efficiently under tight deadlines, so I'm feeling fairly confident I can pull it all off. Ask me again in four days and I might have a less optimistic point of view, but right now, I'm poised to spend the next three days in full fledged paper writing mode. I should be productive.

Other good things this week...

The week started with pulling off the *monster* presentation of the semester Monday morning. That's behind me. Right after that, it was time to head down to the convo center to listen to Bill Clinton speak. Yeah, you read that right. Mr. Ex-President. It was surreal. I forgot my glasses so all I really saw was a poof of white hair and a blurry face. His speech was pretty subdued. Some food for thought for sure, but nothing show-stopping. During the steel drum band pre-show, we were hoping he'd burst through the curtain playing his saxophone, but no such luck.

Other good things this week included an email from The Weepies announcing that they are coming out with a new album next year and will be on tour in '08. Yay! Also, there is a Top Chef holiday special on tonight. Why I am so obsessed with this show, of all the shows, I don't know. But it's definitely TV bliss, and I'm excited to catch a new episode between seasons.

Also good this week, I officially caught the holiday spirit. A few weeks ago I impulsively signed up for an ornament swap at Red Velvet Art. While I should have been writing papers, I stole a couple hours this week to sew up my ornaments. I got them done and out in the mail.

Today, two ornaments arrived in the mail for me. Good stuff. It's been a fun treat to share a little craftiness with strangers. There are a lot of cute handmade ornaments on Flickr if you're looking for ideas. Check here and here and here.

This week I also decided we didn't need a Christmas tree this year, even a tiny one, but we did need something festive. It occured to be that a wreath could be decorated like a Christmas tree. Why not, you know? So, earlier this week I stopped by the market and picked up a wreath and some greenery. Matt's mom passed down a bunch of his childhood Christmas decorations, so we have some adorable vintage softies and candles cheering up our mantle. And this took 30 minutes to set up. Perfect. 

So, all in all a good week. Now, it's time for Top Chef. Then to bed, so I can block out everything in my life but writing papers for the next three days straight. Home stretch.