Dresses!

Why not? My pics for Oscars 2013.

Favorite overall: Halle Berry
Favorite color: Sally Field
Favorite black: Samantha Barks
Favorite sillouette: Salma Hayek


Honorable mentions: Sandra Bullock
 Stacey Keibler
 Kristin Chenoweth

Seriously Halle. Just stop.

Triangles are the devil.

Ok. Since we moved and I have a toddler and I really, really like to sleep I have not crafted much in the last several months. But I have crafted this:

I'm only showing the full view of this baby quilt because the pattern is really cute, but for the love of God please don't look too closely.

This looks super easy, I thought. It's just sewing straight lines, I thought. I've never done triangles or binding but I can totally do this in a week, I thought. Well you know what's great about babies? They smell good and don't care about precision sewing. Here are the cute fabrics, all flannel:

Find the original pattern here!

Paper flower mosaic.

Huzzah! I finished something recently!* Thank you to Crystal Seibert of It's Doable for the idea, which of course I found on Pinterest.

This is an AWESOME way to burn through paper scraps, and I'll be sharing more paper mosaic projects later. Unfortunately, while I love the way this turned out ... I don't like it over the mantel, which is where I was planning on putting it. I have no idea what to do with this now. I think the problem is that my house is full of muted colors and the red is just way too vibrant without anything to balance it. So do I make another one with different colors?

Something has got to replace our mantel "art;" a marker sketch I did of the view from our back steps looking out onto the light rail and mills. It is geographically inaccurate. And very, very plain. Perhaps the red was a bit of an over-compensation.


UPDATE (1/3/13):
We've moved! Now we don't have a space over the fireplace for artwork as it's a really, really, really old-style mantel with a mirror - which works great for quaint xmas decor.

So the flower mosaic ended up in my new closet-sized craft room. I hung it with an empty gold frame I had lying around and I dare say I like it. Brightens up what it otherwise a pretty crowded space.

 

Also, I can now sew while being watched over by a *totally authentically signed* photo of Barbara Walters.

Very inspiring.

*True, but this isn't it. Wrote this months ago. Soon we shall see the real project-of-late.

This scarf hanger is wicked awesome.

I think I'm going to corrupt the New England-accented "wicked awesome" with a Minnesotan accent.

So many Pinterest projects, so little time. Thank you to Be Different, Act Normal for this idea:

Hanger + shower curtain rings = no more balled up scarves. I found that the weight of the scarves made all the rings slide to one end of the hanger, but that was easily solved by grabbing a spool of cheap ribbon from my stash and wrapping the rings into place.

DIY sleep sack in half a day.

August is on the verge of crawling, so I can no longer let him play on the floor of the craft room as I work on stuff that leaves the room a veritable minefield of baby danger. Boo. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

This sleep sack was made for a friend who's due in a few weeks with her first. It is, as usual, not the most *technically* accurate product if one were to look very closely, but one doesn't need to do that.

I followed the instructions on Jan Andrea's At Home on the Web (she apparently got it from Annabear Babyware, but I can't find the original page). Fantastic project that's quick even for beginning sewers who don't like to strictly follow a pattern. Plus these are truly useful items from a retail category that is bogged down by a lot of unnecessary do-dads.

This is why we save every button that ever came off anything.

Plus, since I save lengths of ribbon and scraps of fabric I can probably make like five more of these before I run out of buttons.

For the baby's room, which did not need another piece of decor (shrug), I stretched scrap of grey herringbone over some foamcore and added black ribbon before gluing on the buttons.

It will sit on the highest shelf of his bookcase until the day I disassemble it because it is without a doubt the most dangerous thing in the room - what with the chewable foam, sharp pins, toxic glue, and throat-sized buttons.

For when you lose one mitten.

Aaaand when you don't care what your baby's mittens look like ...

Cut the sleeves off an old baby outfit that has cuffs and sew the top shut. Add a little fleece liner if you want to be fancy about it.

Cat-dog gets a new bed.

So about 15 years ago, my mom had this grand scheme to teach me how to sew by helping me make a tshirt quilt. We got a large piece of fleece for the backing and cut out rectangles from all the tshirts I had acquired in junior and senior high school (summer camps, school spirit events, badminton team - that kind of thing). Then we threw all these pieces into plastic bags to save for when we'd have more time to work on the project.

I *may* still have the tshirt scraps in the bag stashed under the basement stairs. Stupid depression-era rationale all running in the family and ruining any chance any of us has at ever being tidy, normal people. 

But wait! I knew I saved that stuff for a reason (other than my mom never letting me forget it if I had done something drastic and recycled it all).

 I took a cheapo pillow and used some of the fleece to make Penny a bed for the living room. My hope was that she'd take the reasonable opportunities to get in my lap (i.e. when it's empty) and STOP trying to take non-opportunities (i.e. when I'm on the laptop while feeding the baby). I mean, a nice cozy pillow bed is way better than someone constantly shoving you aside so your ears, eyes, and fur don't get scratched, gouged, or yanked.

What will I do with the rest of the fleece? I'll recycle it. There was a problem with that whole "measure twice, cut once" thing.

Drawings 48 and 49.

Trouble is, the sun was an afterthought and I put it in the wrong place according to the shadows I had already drawn.

Nobody looks good in a crystal ball.

Drawings 46 and 47.

Who puts hammers in a bag?

Almost no one. That's why there are like three Google images. Although this is apparently the title of a movie that came out last year.

Aaaand, here's something delicious:

My beans would be of the lemon-lime variety, obviously.

Drawings 44 and 45.

Is anyone else confused about how juice containers can claim that they're "100% juice," but also "from concentrate?"

I don't get it. Also, I don't get all those juice flavors people seem to like. Fruit punch, cranberry, strawberry kiwi, raspberry pineapple ... gross. Berries are SO INCREDIBLY GROSS.

If it's not apple juice, orange juice, lemonade, or Ecto Cooler I am out.

Actually pretty proud of my jar of pennies with all the tiny, blob-like presidents.

Drawing 43.

I guess my strands aren't long enough.

You can bet if my drawing were in color they would be BLUE AND ORANGE!

Drawing 42.

Mmk. I'm still trying to figure out the scanner, but here is the first in a series of catch-up drawings:

There is a wealth of fantastic Google images of synchronized swimmers - some seriously impressive, and others ... well ...

I didn't realize my drawing would need to portray such painful and frightening drama.

New favorite craft: gift card holder.

It's the gift that says, "I didn't know what to get you!" Unless the gift card is what they put on their wishlist, and if that's the case then you're welcome, mom.

I finally found a use for the piece of red and silver double-sided paper I've been saving for who knows how long. Ever since that time I went to the scrapbooking store because I had a coupon and ended up buying nine other things. That one time.

I cut the festive cardstock so that it would fit in a necklace box and I could wrap it like a real present. Then I punched holes in it for the ribbon and button closure. The inside ends of the ribbon and button thread are hidden by the white insert, the edges of which I brushed with a powder-blue ink using a sponge. Then I stamped a line of snowmen in the same blue ink and drew over parts of each one with a clear sparkle pen.

The card itself is held in by pocket made of the same double-sided paper. You can follow this template and just use your own dimensions and omit the top flap. Rounded top corners make it look nicely finished. The only potential trouble was in getting the margins around the white insert to remain even as the envelope is folded shut. Cutting the white paper *just* shorter than the red/silver helped.

File it under "Projects that are pretty quick, pretty cheap, and pretty cute."

I MADE A QUILT! AND IT'S FANTASTIC!

Yes! I finished it! The day after Christmas on my shiny new Brother sewing machine that Hubs gave me. 

If you don't count the new sewing machine, which I don't, I literally spent $0 on this quilt. The only thing I didn't have was batting, but I decided to skip it because I doubt my machine (old or new) would be able to go through it. The myriad clothing patches on the front and sweatshirt knit on the back make a nice weight, and it's super soft.

Somehow - I really don't know how - it turned out beautifully. I ironed a total of two seems, did very little measuring, and was working mostly with stretchy fabrics that I don't know how to handle. Yet the blanket is quite square, the perfect size, and I had just the right amount of fabric lying around for the backing and contrast strips. It was meant to be.

Hung with care. Hanged with care?

I think I've just discovered that "Twas the Night Before Christmas" is grammatically inaccurate.

Well, crafting apocalypse or no, I had to finish A's stocking. It is nearly as large as he. Which, by the way, is huge. I was looking at his growth charts and he's almost seven inches longer than when he was born five months ago. SEVEN. INCHES.

Boom. Once again, I have a project that proves I might benefit from a little planning in my life. There's ... a lot going on. But I like the size and shape and I'd use the pattern again.

The largest of our stockings, A* will probably come to believe that means he should get more stuff in it. Sorry, dude.

I was going to put a red felt "A" on it, because they all have some sort of graphic element, but a baby just doesn't need a scarlet letter on his stocking. I probably should have gone without the big white stripe then, but by the time I decided to forgo the "A" it was already done. So the tree (conveniently shaped much like an "A") was made of felt and ribbon.



*Referring to August as "A" is going to get confusing, isn't it?

Crafting apocolypse?!

Not yet. But I fear the end is nigh.

Ok, that's probably not true. It's just the knitting thing isn't working out right now. I think - I'm not really sure.

See, my hands are in real rough shape right now due to allergies. In fact, my allergies and I just celebrated our one-year anniversary of getting to know each other. It's a roller coaster relationship. Every time they come back - swearing they'll be nicer and won't drink as much - I'm all "here we go again," and I try kicking them to the curb with tubes of hydrocortizone and other such topicals. But they just keep reappearing. I work with them, and they follow me to shopping malls, restaurants, friends' houses ... and they hide out in my own house, too. I need a restraining order.

Anyways: yarn. I know all the ingredients of my Seventh Generation products because it is a good company that isn't all wrapped up in crazy legal hoo-ha like claiming a list of ingredients is "proprietary." Well, Tide, your precious property was keeping me up at night itching the backs of my knees.

ANYWAYS ... yarn. I do not know the exact ingredients of any of the yarns I use. How do you even go about finding such information? Obviously the label says "wool" or "cotton" or "acrylic" and so forth, but what kinds of substances might be added in the processing and shipping of the yarn? I don't know, and the internet (I can't believe I'm saying this) has failed me. If the internet cannot solve this for me, my life and entire college education is meaningless.

Is the yarn of A's stocking irritating my digits? I can't just stop making it, so tonight I did something totally nerdy and very annoying - I knit with rubber gloves on.

It could probably hold an apple and a few candy canes.

The stocking is officially underway.

My sister and I always got an apple or an orange in the bottom of our stockings. A new toothbrush, too. And candy. Little foil-wrapped Santas and gold coins, a candy-cane tube of red and green M&Ms if we were really lucky. And then some kind of small wrapped gift on top - a CD or movie tickets.

In my family we would always open gifts on Christmas Eve, but the stockings were reserved for Christmas morning and it was probably the one day of the year we were allowed to eat candy at/for breakfast. I hope August has the same good memories I do. But not the cavities ...

HandmadeMN Fall Market 2011: the goods.

I have been terribly remiss in keeping my Egret Effects Etsy shop going since the schnooglefritz was born, and there was no way I could have gotten myself together to be a vendor at the latest market - but that's ok. I went, I browsed, and I purchased.

There were many, many things I wanted. But I went with useful items and am very pleased. I only have a picture of one of the items and it borders on too much info, but the cute fabric you see here is what my new nursing pads look like! And they are awesome and that is all I will say.

I also got another wet bag to keep in the diaper bag for dirty clothes and such. It is also awesome. If I may rant about baby products for a moment, not all wet bags are created equal. The ones from certain large retailers are ok, and those are the ones we registered for, but if you *accidentally* put them in the dryer the plastic lining might crack or get a hole in it because it's cheap plastic. The one we got as a gift from a friend's co-op has the same lining as my new one - much nicer and sturdier, yet somehow more pliable.

I really wanted to indulge in something for myself, but I resisted. The Wild Dog Studio booth kept beckoning ... love her silver stuff.

The quilt pieces.

In my last post about the quilt I'm making, I ... was too boozed-up to include a picture. The pieces are all different sizes depending on the article of clothing they came from, so there will be lots of trimming. And then lots of sewing and measuring and possibly swearing. We shall see.