Cheers! I accidentally titled my post Cheers last night even though I didn’t end up writing anything at all that pertained to the word. What I was thinking about was the dinner we had with our neighbors on Friday night. On Friday I had court in Belair in the afternoon. Belair is probably less than an hour from here but it’s still a jurisdiction that I don’t get out to that often. Even though they have a huge big-box shopping district they also have a super cute main street. I took some time to look around on Friday since I didn’t have to be on the clock all day. I stopped into Tiny Toes, an extra-cute baby children’s boutique. The kind where you can get into a lot of trouble. Then I stopped into Cafe Savona for a sandwich and, this is where I get to the point, I picked up some frozen pizza Read the rest of this entry »
neurosesgalore.com
Archive for the ‘Crafting’ Category
Sunday
Spring Jacket
I was so excited about this project. First I found and fell in love with this cute seersucker that I found at A Fabric Place. Then, Dan came up with the idea of making a little jacket with it and I found a “simple” pattern for a jacket in my stash. I put simple in quotation marks because I believe this pattern was marked quick and easy but it very nearly killed me. The blasted sleeves on this thing are so small I don’t know how… I cannot conceive of any way that you could possibly put this thing together entirely by machine.
Related Posts:
My Poople Hat
I can’t believe I finished this project before spring hit. I was pretty sure I’d get about 3/4 of the way done, it would get warm and I would put it away somewhere with the rest of my UFO’s never to be seen again. Not this time! I used this pattern from good knit which was super simple and easy. It would probably be fast too if I wasn’t such a slacker.
I meant to make a size 2-3 but somehow ended up making a 1-2 so I may be stitching up another one this time next year. I used size 6 circular needles even though it’s not knit in the round so you could use straights. I didn’t check my gauge it’s such a small quick project I decided to just knit away. It looked about right size-wise so I figured it would be ok. I used a bulky weight (machine washable!) alpaca yarn from lovely yarns, a local yarn shop. Now I feel like tackling something more ambitious… but what? I have some books out from the library I want to look through. I don’t know, I may be entering that dangerous I have more ideas for projects than I have time for phase. Whenever that happens I just end up watching a lot of tv and not being very productive at all. Another look at the hat: Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
The Chiffon Dancing Skirt (with Cut-On Waist!)
I got the idea for this skirt from the most recent issue of Threads magazine. There’s an article in the issue about making a layered chiffon skirt… for an adult. I’m totally digging the idea of riffing on commercial patterns rather than being totally beholden to them. I made a couple of modifications to the instructions but basically followed the steps outlined to create a tiny version for Chase.
I reduced the number of channels in the waistband down to two. I love the simplicity of the cut-on waistband. You just can’t get any easier than that and the look of this skirt is perfect for the application. I may have skimped a little when putting in the elastic for the waist so I hope it fits her come spring.
I used a really simple girls’ skirt pattern. The whole project took me about a day to complete during nap-time and after bed. It was a fun project except that even though the fabric store has a pretty good selection of colors, I didn’t like any of them. I managed to find some that I thought worked together but it wasn’t easy.
Now, somebody buy me a steamer. AND I need some ideas for what to do with some seersucker that I bought at A Fabric Place with a cute, summery print on it.
Related Posts:
Handmade Gift Ideas :: It’s a Wrap
I sent one package out yesterday and I’ll send another tomorrow which will bring my holiday projects officially to a close. One set of nieces are getting custom headbands on their own ring for hanging and a couple of extra hair ties. Our nephews are getting clipboards and crayon rolls for sketching their surroundings and/or keeping a nature journal.
This is the second time I’ve put these headbands together. I just think that the whole concept of using a hair tie to add the stretch is totally brilliant and simple. I think they’re cute and girls like headbands.. right?
The felt crayon rolls turned out pretty well too. Each roll holds 10 crayons and the ribbon holds the roll closed and to the metal clip on the clipboard.
I have a few more things to do tomorrow and then there’s only a short workweek standing between me and the holiday! I’m really looking forward to it and Chase is totally ready. We made sugar cookies today.
And now some too dark pictures of Chase being all Audrey Hepburn
Related Posts:
Handmade Gift Ideas :: Play Food
I made these grapes last night. They’re the first in what I hope will materialize into a set of different play foods. A while back I made a pretty successful strawberry and carrot so I’m feeling pretty confident about fruits and veg but I’m less certain about meats and grains. I don’t have that fully worked out yet but hopefully between now and Christmas I’ll have some more info to share on the matter.
I made the grapes from 4 small bags of pompoms. I stitched through some with elasticized thread and others with regular cotton thread. Once I had them all strung I twisted them around each other until I had something that resembled a bunch. You can sew right through the center of the pompoms. I hope it holds. We tossed it around a bit but I don’t know if the elasticized thread will be enough to withstand much pulling. It’s just an experiment, if they don’t last I’ll shell out for some commercially made stuff but until then I’ll keep having fun dreaming this stuff up.
Related Posts:
Handmade Gift Ideas :: Refrigerator Felt Board
We went to A.C. Moore today to pick up a few things. Something Kayris said got me thinking about trying my hand at some handmade fabric play food. My sewing machine is out of commission for the moment so I didn’t feel like going to JoAnne’s and opted for a little felt from the craft store instead. I just wanted to try it out and to see what I could do. There was quite an assortment of colors of felt but I’m standing there looking at them trying to figure out which of them were the color of an actual food. When I spied magnetic felt.
I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it when I put it in the cart but I think this is a cute idea that Chase will have fun playing with. Only the felt board itself is made with the magnetic felt. The rest of the face is made from regular felt and sticks as it would on a regular felt board although using magnetic felt for the face pieces might work and make them a little sturdier. I used a compass and cardstock to draw a series of circle templates and then used them as patterns to cut out the felt. Now I just have to remember to take it down and hide it before she wakes up tomorrow.
Related Posts:
Halloween! Almost.
Phase two of the peep costume is complete! I was barely able to convince her to try it on. I was seriously concerned that the whole endeavor was going to end up being a huge waste of time but she eventually let me get her into it though I didn’t get the crotch velcroed shut as you can see. It’s a little tight there I might have to extend it somehow. I don’t know, I’ll figure it out. You can see the original post about it here.
Getting it on her was kind of critical at this point since I neither measured her before starting nor fit her in it at any earlier time. If I hadn’t been able to get it on her I would have had to start all over again. Because I could never remember to actually measure her and I was running out of time I used her monkey pyjamas (with feet!) to estimate the size.
Also, I bought her the black shirt to go under her costume and can I just say that I am so ready for her to take ballet lessons?
Related Posts:
Elated
Really, I am. I just got an email today informing me that the jumper I made for Chase a while back was selected for publication in this book! I can hardly believe it and I’m so totally thrilled. Law school really got me thinking about getting published somewhere. I always thought it would be something accademic but this is much cooler. So now I’m waiting for the fabric that’s been selected for the book sample. I have to finalize the instructions and remake the jumper using that fabric.
Oh, and I can post again because Ben hooked me up with a loaner computer until mine is back from the shop. This thing is a beast! We use it as a print server and… wait, I shouldn’t say anything bad about it lest it konk out on me too. The point is I can check my email again and that makes me happy.
On the work front things are pretty good. I’ve been tasked with a lot of lawyer type things to do lately. I think I crossed that invisible threshhold that moves you from the new kid to co-worker. Not a single thing changed between this week and last but all of a sudden I have lots of work to do, email to write calls to return. A little down time is nice but it’s also good to feel like there’s a purpose behind schlepping your butt to work everyday.
I posted a while back about this quick little headband project I found on someone’s blog. I can’t give credit where credit is due because I have no clue without my bookmarks where I found it. It’s a cute project though and I’m going to make more. It’s not the best picture but it takes about 100 years to upload a single photo so it’s abotu as good as it’s going to get for now.
 |
| From Project |
I was also tagged by Kayris here, so without furtrher ado… Six Random Things
1) I have a bionic nose. I can smell anything… anything from far, far away. I used to have bionic ears too.
2) I don’t like candy and ice cream and I don’t like chocolate. It’s not so much that I don’t like it. I can eat a nice piece of dark chocolate or a scoop of vanilla every now and then but I’m a fruit desserts kind of a girl. I’ll always pick lemon bars, apple pie or strawberry shortcake over any of the above mentioned items.
3) I am so addicted to my morning coffee that if I don’t have it by 9 I’ll either a) kill you b) be too weak to kill you but really say really bitchy things c) be so weak that I can only yell bitchy things at you from a horizontal position.
4) After 8 years of higher education I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up and I secretly love being a student.
5) I have a lot of Indigo Girls CD’s… a lot.
6) I know the lyrics to almost every song on the radio.
I have a few more things to write about but there’s a bottle of Coke upstairs that’s calling me. We can’t buy soda for this very reason. If it’s here no one can rest until it’s gone. Hopefully I’ll get to writing about this past week’s menu plan tomorrow and start thinking about one for next week. MommyK, I’ve got some turkey on deck too… we need to brainstorm.
Related Posts:
Play Tent
Ta-da! Last week at Ikea I was very close to buying a play tent. Very close, dangerously close. I didn’t buy it though and remembered this tutorial and thought I’d give it a try. This is a highly modified version of that one because I had neither sufficient grommets nor plastic rings on hand. Instead of the rings I sewed casings for the poles and didn’t add flaps so the tent is three sided. I wanted it to look something like this 300 dollar job but mine’s not quite as slick. 300 bucks can you believe that?? Anyway, it’s surprisingly sturdy and the kiddies seem to like it.
I wish I could get the pictures into the order of her discovery but WordPress hates me so you’ll have to use your imagination and if you want to see them full size, you have to click on the pictures twice. I know, I know sorry. Oh, and that coat and those red boots? Kid to Kid Consignments. I didn’t get what I was looking for but that coat? The price tag sure does say $5.99 I can only imagine what it cost retail at Baby Gap. The boots are brand new, never worn and cost only $3.99! I bought all that and still came out ahead by not spending three hundred bucks on a play tent.