Because you can run faster in a cape
November 30, 2009 at 1:25 am | In Crafty, Family, Sewing, Uncategorized | 2 CommentsSomehow Clark got into his head last night that he needed a cape. He was racing about the house with a blanket and asked if I would make him one. I said yes. We had a rough night of sickness-coughing and crying and so on, so you can imagine my surprise when he woke me up in the morning by saying, “Hey mom, did you make my cape yet?” Um, no. We got up and what else did I have to do at 7am but make him a cape? He chose this train fabric and I added red panels to make it wide enough. The C and its background are both felt and sewed on with a zigzag stitch. I’m quite thrilled with how it came out, but need to add velcro so he can secure the ties himself (snaps are verboten for him). Not bad for made before breakfast!
Racing by at the speed of light…
Patchwork Christmas Apron
November 17, 2009 at 2:48 am | In Christmas, Sewing | 5 CommentsTags: apron
(First, don’t mind the mess all about me in this picture. It’s only when I look at it with another viewer’s eyes that I realize there is a cookie rack, alphabet magnet, plate, train crossing, and a bunch of other toys visible! Pretend I’m modeling against some pristine background. Oh, and that I’m a model.)
I’m on an apron roll. I didn’t know if I was making this for myself or someone else, but now that I’m done I will probably keep it because I’m so pleased. I’m pleased with this apron because I mostly made it up myself! I intended to make a patchwork border of a plain rectangular half apron (see Psychedelic Squares). First I made the patchwork out of 3 1/2 inch squares I cut out of a variety of very traditionally color schemed Christmas fabrics I had leftover from when I made us all stockings. I intentionally made the two rows not line up (which is something I saw on another A is for Apron pattern and was quite taken with.) Then I went to the store to look for a plain fabric for the top. I couldn’t quite think what would look right, but when I saw this dark red ticking fabric I knew it was perfect. I bought one yard of it. Basically I folded it in half to get a nice size rectangle to put on top of the patchwork. I stitched those together and had a nice plain rectangle. But, since the bottom patchwork had lots of seams I then cut a piece of red fabric and attached that to the bottom, folded and pressed it behind and stitched to conceal all seams. I left about a 1/4 inch of red peeking out at the bottom of the patchwork as a nice trim.
On to the waistband and ties. I used the pattern pieces from Psychedelic Squares and then folded and pressed and topstitched and came out with a very nice plain waistband and long ties to wrap around the front. I was exceptionally pleased that the stripes of the waistband lined up with the skirt piece so well that it actually looks like it’s one piece instead of two!
At this point I tried it on and it was a nice long half skirt. (I hadn’t actually stitched on my ties yet.) I took the extra piece of fabric I had, held it up to my top, and thought a-ha! This needs to be a full body apron! So I set about making a top. The piece I had (folded) was the right width, so I stitched up the sides so that again, all seams were hidden, the back of the apron is nice and smooth, and topstitching will prevent sliding of any inside bits during washing. Again, thestripes lined up perfectly!!
This morning I decided that it might look good with a small embellishment on the top and I cut out a Christmas tree bit of some of the fabric. Well, it looked great, so I appliqued it on by using a zigzag stitch. I think it came out great. What kind of straps to do on the top? I cut strips of the little bit of fabric remaining on the bias and made two tubes. I pinned them in various places and ultimately sewed them in just straight into the corners. I liked having a wide top, so I didn’t want to change the neckline of it. After all, I’ll be whipping up bowls full of flour and sugar and eggs into dozens of Christmas cookies in this, and will need lots of coverage!
Overall, I’m very pleased and it was a lot of fun to be able to make things up as I went along.
Fruit Tart Apron (Again!)
November 13, 2009 at 6:30 pm | In Sewing | 2 CommentsTags: apron, gift
This pattern was the first one I made from A is for Apron. I wear it quite a bit and really like it. Back when I bought the fabric for mine I also bought fabric to make another one of it. I decided to make it for my sister-in-law’s birthday…which is in July. Yes, I’ve been meaning to do this since early summer. At this point I will be presenting it to her on Thanksgiving. I think she’ll like it–the fabric really made me think of her and I like the sparky bright green bias tape I made for it.
There is an imperfection (the pleats are not the same direction!!), but overall I really like this. (Hey, I just put in the link to the post from when I first made the fruit tart apron. My hair has grown so much since June!)
Market Skirt in Denim
November 13, 2009 at 6:22 pm | In Sewing | Leave a Comment
For some time now I’ve wanted to make a basic tiered skirt for Tabby. It seemed like the sort of thing you’d hardly need a pattern for, but I just wasn’t quite sure how to begin (shape of pieces, size, etc.) Then, I came across this free tutorial and it was exactly what I was looking for: The Market Skirt by Dana Made It. She shows this as a nice lightweight spring and summer skirt, perfect in gingham or seersucker. Since it’s fall I thought I would make it out of denim. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out! One thing I will do differently when I make it again is make it longer. I shortened one of the pieces by 2 inches because she suggested her pattern would yield a 2T-3T size, but I think I would have been more pleased with it being as long as the one she made. I might also choose to make it slightly narrower. I put a little ribbon tag on the side, and felt I showed considerable restraint with regard to embellishment. I can’t wait to make this again and embellish away with embroidery, applique, buttons, corduroy flowers, etc. Also looking forward to using other fabrics and combos. This can definitely be an easy go-to skirt for a few years for her.
Look how swishy!
Sunday Sewing
November 2, 2009 at 8:22 pm | In Sewing | 2 Comments
Yesterday I had a wonderful sewing day. Everyone very kindly let me just keep working on my projects. It helped that I had cut out pieces the previous day for some of them. And with all my working at my own stuff, Paul was still able to paint the front of our garage! Between that, the new driveway, and some new fencing around the garbage can, our outside is looking as nice as we imagined it for the past few years. So what did I sew? Aprons, aprons, aprons!
“The Waverly.” This is a pattern I have made before for my friend Melissa’s birthday. I’ve had fabric set aside for this for some time and I’m pleased with the way it turned out. Sort of frilly and flouncy with the scalloped bottom and plenty of gathers, but also crisp and elegant, with the white binding.
This cherry fabric I purchased at least four years ago and have only just now gotten around to turning into an apron. I loved the cherry border that is printed on this fabric. This border went along both side of yardage. I cut it right in half and then used more of the leftover side to make the waistband and ties. I was very pleased to make the waistband and ties based on the other aprons I had made. I really feel like you can learn some good sewing skills with these projects! Once you get down the construction of main piece + any pockets + waistband + ties, you can really play with embellishments, bindings, and so on.
I am going to use the leftover fabric to make a Tabitha sized apron for her for Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas…I’ll be making at least two Christmas aprons this year. Here’s the first. I used the “Psychedelic Squares” pattern (from A is for Apron) I bought this fabric specifically for aprons for baking Christmas cookies, so I was definitely going for a red/green and fun pattern scheme. I like the ric-rac on the pocket, too.
I have pieces cut out for another one and ideas for a couple more to make as well. When I bought that cherry fabric I also bought some gorgeous bluebird fabric with the intent of making a full apron (covers top as well as bottom), so maybe I’ll try my hand at that as well. But first up, a belated birthday present, another Christmas apron, and another gift apron (or two..). I think one of the reasons I felt motivated to get started on this yesterday is that Halloween is done, it’s officially November, and while not Christmas season yet, it’s almost here and it’s certainly time to think of Thanksgiving and decorations and time to get going on handmade gifts.
Now, I’ve got to start whipping up cocktails and party nuts to go along with my little aprons 
Happy Halloween!
November 1, 2009 at 1:34 am | In Crafty, Family, Sewing, holiday | 3 Comments
This was the most fun Halloween we’ve had in years! At 4 this was the year that Clark not only embraced his costume, but also was thrilled by the trick or treating (last year we did about 5 houses and that was it, though he did love his costume) At 2, having an older sibling, Tabby was also excited by it. She also has a monstrous sweet tooth and was nutty about the candy. And of course, since it’s a Saturday and Paul was actually off of work, the whole day was a fun holiday.
We all painted masks:
Ate loads of cookies that we baked and decorated yesterday:
At nursery school Clark has been gearing up for Halloween big time. Crafts and songs and stories, all culminating in the Halloween parade and party on Thursday.
Bat made with hands:
Mummy:
We don’t decorate too much around the house, except for a string of spider lights.
And of course we’ve had some pumpkins and gourds about for a while now:
And now, the main event: trick or treating.
In our little village Halloween is a huge event. We’ve only lived here 6 years, but my friend who’s grown up here assures me it’s always been a big deal and in recent years has really exploded. It’s somewhat inexplicable, but it’s absolutely delightful and we’re happy to be a part of it. In the village center of 3 streets hundreds of people wander the streets trick or treating. Grown-up dress up just as much as kids (I’m thinking that next year we might; my favorite grown up costumes this year were Paul Stanley and Luke Skywalker with Yoda attached to his back ) and many of the houses have lavish decorations. One of my favorites is this tree with a headless horseman. What’s so awesome about it is that this house was sold 2 years ago and the new owners continued to create this decoration:
This picture is a bit blurry, but I include it so you can see that the tree itself looks like a horse:
Spoooooky:
Here we are ready to walk down to town (note: it was a bit rainy now and then, a very damp walking around.) Clark requested a pink and purple Tyrannosaurus Rex costume and Tabby was a cow (Clark’s costume from 2 years ago, but I made a new hat with more authentic ears) I sewed the main part based on last year’s giraffe costume and Paul masterfully made the headpiece. He really loved wearing it and roaring.
On the way we stopped in at Walter’s (the feed and seed) and he had a wonderful “treat” for us: his pig, Cheyenne, had her babies! They are 3 weeks old and were possibly some of the cutest baby animals I’ve ever seen. They were like puppies. None of my pictures came out very well, so a word picture instead: they are all black, have floppy triangular ears, little round behinds, and little tails with just a slight curl at the end. Their mother is humongous. Seriously large.
On to the houses and the candies. Clark was not at all hesitant about marching right up to the doors all by himself and nicely saying “trick or treat”, “thank you”, “Happy Halloween!”. Tabby couldn’t bring herself to say anything, but was quite happy to help herself to the candy.
Lots of fun, lots of nice town spirit, lots of really good candy.
Happy Halloween!
Getting Organized and Puppy Pants
October 19, 2009 at 12:45 am | In Sewing | 6 Comments
A little while ago I bought myself a spool organizer and I absolutely love it. I find it very inspiring and soothing to see all my spools and bobbins in almost rainbow order. Not to mention it keeps them better organized. Today we were all very mellow-the weather was cold and dreary and we were tired out after Tabby’s birthday party yesterday. So I undertook a little sewing area reorganization. I sorted through all my trims and bias tapes (apparently I have a zillion packages) and I found a good way to organize/store/take better care of the ribbons and trim. I took part of a cardboard box and wrapped them around it and pinned or taped the end. I also did this with the loose bias tape. Voila! So much better. I’d love to have it out somewhere where I can gaze at it all the time, but I put it neatly in one of the sewing tins. I also sorted out all the elastic, pins, snaps, and needles.
Before I embarked on this organization I had sewn up some flannel pants for Tabby. I had cut the pieces out over a week ago and this was my first chance to sew it together. In the meantime I had already made her a pillowcase and her doll some pants out of the same fabric. Well, now they can all be matchy-matchy because the pants are complete.
And, once I saw all my organized trims and notions I knew the perfect way to finish them off: pink piping along the bottom!
And I have to say, I bought this fabric at Wal-Mart (I know) for $4/yard and it is some of the nicest, softest flannel I have ever felt. Plus the puppies are adorable. So, for $4 pants, doll pants, and pillowcase. Not too bad!
What Should Dolly Wear?
October 6, 2009 at 5:25 pm | In Family, Funky Photos, Sewing | 4 CommentsTabitha loves her baby dolls and kisses them loudly, pushes them around in strollers, puts them to bed, wraps them up, feeds them, and is a very good little mother to them (well, she’s kind of rough with them, but she kills them with kindness.) The dolls are usually naked, except for one that she insisted wear a shirt of hers. As you can imagine it was ridiculously large and she was always needing to be adjusted:
So the other day I did some alterations to the 12-18 month sized bodysuit and voila! Baby has a dress and also a fetching little hat. See how happy she is?
Inspired, I decided to make her a dress out of some other fabric. Here she is in her sailor dress and crazy cap:
Check out this vibrantly orange mushroom I found in the woods (there is no color enhancement on this photo):
Yesterday we went apple picking again. This time we got a good variety of Winesap, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and Ida Red. They were all…delicious.
I Will Never be a Daily Blogger
October 4, 2009 at 1:29 am | In Cookery, Family, Sewing, Wildlife | 1 CommentI’d like to think that I’d cook something or create something and immediately have a photo and a little write up, but that’s never going to happen. I like watching tv after the kids are in bed far too much to write every night (though I do actually think about it every night). This also explains why I am not finishing (or starting) sewing and other projects as much as I might like to. Which brings me to a a few cooking highlights from the past week:
Last week we went apple picking, which was a true autumn delight. (Oh, first we visited Denise and her new baby and she loved the quilt.) We picked many huge apples of the Macintosh and Macoun variety, as well as a whole bunch of delicious peaches (I was suspicious of such late peaches, but they were juicy and sweet.)
What to do with all these apples? Well, the next day I made an apple pie, of course. And if I amy compliment my own baking I will just say that it was fantastic and I made a delicious crust.
For dinner I tried a new butternut squash soup recipe. This was a squash and white bean soup and the seasonings were unusual (not in and of themselves, just for this soup) and spicy: cumin, cloves, cinnamon. Of course I used one of our squashes. Look what a nice color-they were definitely the success of our 2009 garden.
Tomorrow I have plans to can apple slices in a red hot cinnamon syrup. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Here’s a neat spider web pic I forgot to put up last week:
Two nights ago it was 5 o’clock and I didn’t know what I wanted to make for dinner. I feel like 5 is the “time to decide” time because I aim for dinner to be ready at 6/6:15 and if we’re having brown rice or something that needs to bake I figure it needs to go in by 5:20. Anyway, I decided I wanted fish and am pleased to report a pretty fabulous dinner was on the table quite on time. But what was best about it was that I made a dinner that was a childhood favorite. I didn’t have a recipe, but it turned out delicious. In fact, it was better than I remembered. Which either means it was just better than I remembered, or the way I made it was actually better than my mom! Clark called this “Fish Muffins” because the dish gets made in a muffin tin. When I was a kid that was also the appeal to me. So novel! Dinner in a muffin tin! Here’s how I made it:
Sauteed mushrooms and the 2 small shallots I had, as well as a green pepper from the garden. Took two pieces white bread out of the freezer and toasted them and the chopped them up. Took all the frozen shrimp I had (about 5 or 6) out of the freezer, ran them under warm water, chopped them up and added them to the pan. When they were cooked I put the sauteed stuff, the bread crumbs, a drained can of crabmeat, some lemon juice, and Old Bay Seasoning all in a bowl and tossed it around well. Meanwhile, I had been defrosting some frozen tilapia fillets. So, you take a piece of fillet and wrap it in a circle in a muffin tin. I used my giant muffin tin so it didn’t make a solid cup, as it would if you used the smaller muffin tin. Then fill the center with your mixture. Drizzle a little bit of melted butter over the top of each and then bake until done. I think I did 400 degrees for 15 minutes. It came out great!
As for sewing, well the fifth expected baby arrived over a month early this week, so now I have that gift lined up as well as another gift for my cousin’s baby (born the preceding week.) I did not work on those thing today, though, instead I finally got around to making Clark his flannel pants. The fabric is a lovely soft flannel, not of a pattern I would have chosen, but he is in love with it–army green airplanes against a cloudy beige background. It’s a very military looking pattern and he just has not clue at all about camouflage or soldiers or anything like that, he just loves the planes. After the last disastrous pants I made him (I think I sewed them upside down so that the inseam ended up being like 8 inches long) I was kind of worried about these. But they came out great! He put them on immediately and wore them for the rest of the afternoon and to bed. I didn’t get to take a good picture of them close up, but here is playing in them:
So there’s the big catchup. Tomorrow is canning and I know I’ll have great pictures because Eleanor will be our photographer for the event!
Circus Baby Quilt for Michael
September 26, 2009 at 12:10 am | In Sewing | 2 Comments
Today I visited my friend and her new baby, Michael, which meant that last night I finally finished off this quilt. I had made proper bias binding out of one of the fabrics on Sunday, but didn’t get around to putting on until last night. I’m very pleased with how it looks overall. There are definitely some flaws, but it is soft, I think the fabrics are really appealing, I love the backing, and I just think it’s quite cute for a baby blanket. This is pretty much the same style quilt as I made for Tabitha, except hers was made with a charm pack of precut squares. These squares I cut myself and I am frankly surprised and thrilled they came out even!
Congratulations, Denise and Bill!
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