Scalloped shorts

I love these new scalloped shorts of mine. I made them from an old pair of capri pants. I used this amazing tutorial which uses a skirt, but can be easily adapted for shorts. They are a liiiitle short for me, but it gets pretty hot around here, so I feel like they work!

Lazy days of summer

Well, we had our first blackberry picking of the year. It strikes me how tired I look in this photo (and yet the boys look so well-rested, hmmm.) It was fun picking berries, but kind of tricky with a baby in a front-carry baby carrier. I was so worried his little legs were going to get scratched by thorns that I didn't get the large amount of berries I'm used to getting. But it was good having him so close at the same time, since whenever I picked a blackberry that was too soft to toss in the basket, it went right in his mouth! This is him after I cleaned up his face (mostly.) Jack got good and juicy.

 Here are some art projects that Jack came up with. He's into creating landscapes and pasting things on top of them. The first one is a forest, the second, dinosaurs of course. I love the pterodactyl. And look, it's even got a volcano!

 Finally, these are some shorts I made. I got so sick of trying on shorts in stores that were just too short or too long or too old-lady-looking, I just made my own. I used a pair of pajama pants as a pattern and followed this tutorial for attaching the elastic. I always just tried to wing it with elastic before, which is ridiculous because my projects never really came out the way I wanted them too. It took like 5 minutes to watch the tutorial, and it's so fricking easy, I'm kicking myself for not learning this basic skill earlier. Still, there's something to be said for trying to figure something out on your own, no?

Not the snazziest material I know, but it was all I had a large enough quantity of (that's why I should always buy yards of fabric I love when I see it--duh.) But they are perfect for playing with the boys and going for walks in this heat.

Finally, a super easy, massive amount of time-filling activity for little ones. Get a big bowl of water, fill it halfway and have your 3-4 year-old gather little objects to see which ones will sink and which will float. We are on day three of this and Jack still loves it. As a bonus, he can now use the word 'hypothesis' in a sentence.

Superhero cape!

Someone requested a superhero cape. He wanted a green and black cape, the lightning bolt J was required since I made a similar mini cape for his stuffed monkey (now called 'Supermonkey.')

I started by taping some sheets of newspaper together to create a pattern.

I traced this onto green and black material, then sewed the two fabrics together, right sides facing.  I reinforced the insides of the collar, where I later sewed some velcro. He's a little rough with his toys, as most four-year-olds are, and since this is satiny material, I knew it would need some strengthening. I used Steam-A-Seam to iron some cotton fabric on the inside, where it wouldn't show. It worked great.

Then I turned the cape right side out (through the opening I left!) and stitched around the entire perimeter of the cape. Finally, I zig zagged the Superjack logo onto the back!

Bits and bobs

My wee new son is now six weeks old and the craziness that goes along with bringing a baby into the world is starting to calm down; I am trying to take it all in and treasure/survive these early days. Life at home with a four-year-old and a five-week-old (both boys, no less) is loud. It's loud and active and frankly, totally exhausting. But there's just something so wonderful about it all too...

In other news...

I love this hairstyle, so elegant yet breezy.

This is what I want for Valentine's Day, the most gorgeous color ever.

Since having my last C-Section, I've been looking at comfortable and cute underwear that doesn't rub along my sore tummy. These pairs look cute AND comfortable. Wish I'd have thought to buy them before I went into the hospital. I even sewed a pair of my own granny panties, pattern here. I used synthetic jersey, which wasn't as soft as I'd have liked. I'd love them in something really luxurious, like organic bamboo.

I'd like to have this for dinner tonight and these for dessert, just saying.

I'm working through these TED talks at the moment.

And I love these dishes but really, Anthropologie, three-hundred dollars for a cake stand that won't even stand up?

And this is the funniest thing I've read in a long, long time.

Handmade baby shower gifts

One of my friends is expecting her first child. When considering what to give her, I thought of the item I used everyday with my baby that, before kids, I'd never even known existed and had no idea I would need so much. This, of course, is a nursing cover.

So I made this cover, boning and all, out of a pretty fabric I found at Joann's. It's a bit complicated to put together (it was my first time using boning) but this tutorial is excellent.

To round out the gift, I made this little soft rattle filled with jingle bells for the baby. I remember my little one loving rattles, but he'd inevitably drop them on his head--and crying would ensue. So I thought soft rattles=fun with no tears! I used the directions here to put it together.

I want to make this!

 Isn't this hand-sewn bird just the prettiest thing you've seen all day?
The pattern can be found in this book:

Valentine sandwich cookies and a sweet purse

We made up a quick batch of sugar cookies last night, using Martha's sugar cookie recipe, which follows here. I eyeballed a quick frosting and tinted it pink for Valentine's Day. We, oh who are we kidding, I then wrapped them up and personalized them with some little stamps. Jack will be bringing some to friends at his preschool.

 Valentine Sandwich Cookies

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator, and decorate with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.      Yield Makes about 16 large cookies or 30 2 1/2-inch cookies

In other news, I recently realized that the makeup bag in my purse is waay too big and takes up too much space in my bag. Rather than go out and buy one, I figured I'd make a quick pattern and whip one up. From start to finish, this little purse took all of two hours to sew--and the ribbon is sewn on my hand. I love quick, rewarding little projects.

 

Here's what I did:

First, I cut out long rectangular pieces from two fabrics. I used my quilting ruler to help make sure they were square, especially the point at the one end for the closing flap.

Then I sewed the layers together, right sides together, leaving the short, straight end open. I snipped the corners, then turned it out carefully.

Then I turned the open end in neatly and sewed that closed, sewing all around the perimeter of the piece, with about a quarter inch seam.

Then I folded it in threes, with the lining fabric on the inside. Mine is tan muslin. I also place the ribbon down, wrapping the ends in at one side.

 Then I ran it through my sewing machine and used short, strong stitches up the two sides.

Next, I pinned the ribbon around the base where I wanted it. (The ends were already sewn in when I stitched up the sides.) Then I hand sewed it on with dark blue thread.

And voila! Done.

Sweater quilt

I've been wanting to make this quilt for a long time. I think I saw one here a while back and loved it. As each one of my favorite sweaters begins to show its' age or gets too tight or just not right for me anymore, there's been a crafty voice in my head that whispers "sweater quilt, sweater quilt."

So over this incredibly lengthy and relaxing Winter break, I finally began The Sweater Quilt.

First, I gathered up seven sweaters that were all sizes medium or large and about the same, medium weight. I then grabbed by rotary cutter and self-healing mat and cut them into six by twelve-inch strips.

I arranged the strips on my queen-sized bed in a way that was pleasing to my eye.

Then I stacked each vertical row together, stacking them one on top of the other, so I'd know which way to sew the strips together in the pattern I wanted.

Then I sewed the strips together, stacking them and running them through my machine on a straight stitch with medium length. I ended up with 11 long vertical strips with about seven and a half 6x12-inch strips. I say one half because I didn't want any long horizontal seams. In other words, I didn't want my blocks to line up, so I added a piece that was 3 or 6 x12 at some spot on every vertical strip to give each strip a unique pattern. (See the picture with all the strips laid out--they don't line up horizontally.)

After sewing the strips I squared them up, making sure that they consistently measured six inches all the way down.

And that's as far as I've gotten. Next, I'll stitch all the long strips together. I'm excited to see all my sweaters together, in one big cozy blanket.

Handmade sleep mask

I made this Paris-inspired sleep mask for my sister last week. The cream-colored lining and lace were 'borrowed' from an old nightgown of mine and the blue silky fabric (seen on the front here) used to be inside a wool skirt! I love re-purposing and using things on hand. I searched for about an hour for these materials, through fabric scraps and old clothes waiting to be donated...it was delightful to find such pretty fabrics and fixings in what I already own.

Here's how I made it:
First, I used my (homemade) sleep mask as a template. It would be easy to sketch one if you don't already have a sleep mask, I'd just draw one big enough to comfortably cover the owner's eyes and then some.

Then I traced that onto the wrong side of my two fabrics. I like a soft, silky lining for the inside (the fabric that will be against the eyes.) I cut the two pieces about 1/2 inch larger all around and used my iron to press it along the traced line.

Then I cut out a double piece of cotton flannel about 1/4 inch smaller than the pressed pieces to sandwich between the two fancy fabrics. I pinned this 'sandwich' together, adding the elastic at the sides.

And then I put on some DVR'd 30 Rocks and sat down and hand-sewed all around the perimeter, making tiny stitches, and adding extra stitches around the elastic for strength. I think my sister could choose to wear it with either side facing out.

Handmade Christmas update

I whipped up these potholders last night from some already quilted fabric I bought. I've found that potholders need a good, grippy material on at least one side to really hold the pot safely. I made some out of 100% cotton once and they were just a little too slippery. These ones have canvas on the other side. I used extra wide double-fold bias tape along the edges and stitched in the ditch (along the already quilted seams) to make these potholders look more quilted. Get ready, Dad!

And I still have a few of these precious strawberry pincushions left from the spot I once held in a gift shop. They make great stocking stuffers for sewers. Directions here.

I realize after seeing this photo that I really should have taken the time to iron the bag before photographing it.  I made this out of a canvas bag from Joann's. It's a great big bag made of medium-weight canvas that I got on sale for, like, crazy cheap. I added the fabric design using Steam-a-Seam, my favorite, and added a cute little pocket on the back out of the same material. Slowly but surely, the gifts are coming together!

Homemade Christmas gifts

This year, I and (some of) my family have decided to go all handmade on the gift-giving. I'm excited because it's always something I've wanted to do. And with the Occupy protests going on around here, it's a natural choice to forgo the frenzied dash to buy and rather, make.

I have so many ideas: homemade sugar scrubs, potholders, children's smocks, bags, aprons, blankets....and on. I've decided to organize my projects here on the blog, and gather cool ideas for future works.


For Jack, I'm making a boy version of this smock:


 

And I was thinking a pillowcase:

Source: Mousy Brown

And that's all I've got so far. In other news, Jack and I made an autumn mobile from things we gathered at the park.

And I made another one of my grandma's recipes, these Cranberry Almond cookies

The cookies were delicious when they first came out of the oven, but they softened up quite a bit over the last day; maybe it's the fresh cranberries. I've been storing them in plastic, perhaps waxed paper would keep them more crisp. Very balanced flavor though and the almonds and cranberries are great together. 

I'm cooking my way through my grandmother's recipes, I inherited them when she died a few months ago. It's such a personal experience, holding these cards that she wrote in my hands.

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall...