tumbling blocks

Moving

2007-07-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

OK, I did it! I have officially moved the tumbling blocks blog off blogger and over here: http://tumblingblocks.net/blog/. Please come visit, and if you would, indulge me by updating your bloglines, favorites, etc. Thanks!

See you there.

a flower pocket apron

2007-07-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

The month's Tie One On theme, the pocket, was too irresistible. So here we have a pocket. I love patchwork so much. Of course, it's terribly cute and traditionally the way to use up scraps. But in sewing in modern times, it's also the way to make favorite fabrics stretch out and last. I'm guessing buying fabric for no reason and hoarding it is a fairly modern thing, right?

My mom is visiting this week, and we are busy having fun. It's totally possible that we'll be a little crafty, but who knows. I'll be back before too long.

Dorie

composter

2007-06-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

We hosted my dad out here this weekend. It was his first time out to Illinois, and it was great to see him. While he was here, he helped me set up this compost bin. We are one step closer to throwing out stuff responsibly. Thanks Dad!

The wallpaper in the guest room all came down before Dad got here, and there were only a couple plaster holes in the ceiling for him to sleep under. As a whole, the room was much, much better than it had been. I did forget to clean on the ceiling fan blades though, so when my dad turned it on he got a big puff of ceiling crud. Oops!

Did you see that July is bag month over at Sew Mama Sew? Looks neat... It also reminds me that I've got a project for you all that's been backlogged in the works for quite some time. Remember the Frounchess bag? I've got a pattern worked up for it, and I just need to get it into deliverable form so I can post it for you. It was supposed to be my blogiversary gift to the world, but um, that was back in April.

Pastry Chick or Muesli Girl?

2007-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Such was the question posed to me by Kirsten when I commented on her post about joining the Breakfast Sunday flickr group.

Oh, I am such a pastry chick, and Sunday breakfasts are especially likely to contain a baked good of some kind. On Saturday I get up and get going--too much to conquer in the weekend to bother baking breakfast. But on Sunday, we're a little more relaxed, and I really think that one of the best little things in life is Sunday coffee and a scone. I also LOVE donuts, and I know I've mentioned this before because at least one person has found this blog by searching for a "donut sewing pattern", and I've never made one of those. Maybe I should?

I plan on spending most of today looking at the above. That is our guest room ceiling and some of the 6 layers of wallpaper that are stuck to it. That's right, there are 6 layers on the ceiling. And check out this scrap:

Yes, that means that at some point, this room was red wallpaper from floor through ceiling. Wow. We are expecting some much-anticipated company in the next couple weeks (Dad, Mom) and the goal is to have a welcoming guest room, rather than something that makes them feel like they're really part of the renovation process. Elbow grease!

knitting is slow

2007-06-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

I've been around, I've just been knitting. I am such a slow knitter that it makes craft life a little dull. Plus, nothing I'm knitting right now is for me. It's all surprises for others, so this wadded-up hunk of knitting photo is all you're going to get. whoo-hoo!

I've also been working on getting my new blog site ready, and I think I'll be able to make the move really soon. So exciting--but also a little nerve-racking. If anything goes wrong I can't blame blogger, just myself. Things that will be great about the new blog include: I'll have your email, the layout will accommodate flickr's medium size horizontal photos, easy support for categories, blah. blah, blah.

Oh, here's something fun-- I signed on for Bitter Betty's Hand Printed Fabric Swap, and my mind is churning trying to decide what I'm going to print. Right now, I'm thinking white ink and turquoise background.

more on the LJ sunhat + I tried one of these

2007-06-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, the lotta jansdotter sunhat:
I found the pattern easy to follow, and I think that most people who have done a bit of sewing would find it so as well. But here's the thing--you have to have a bit of distrust of any garment that comes in one size only. Obviously, it won't fit everybody. I have what I think is a pretty much medium-size head, and it was just slightly too small for me. As in, I could wear it, but it felt a little tight. To my big-headed friends, and you know who you are, this hat is not for you, unless you don't mind re-sketching the pattern.

I bought the book for the hat more than anything else because it looked just right. The brim doesn't go out too far or down too long. It is just so.

I finally tried one of Blair's flowers. They are fun and quite easy. This one went to Beebs' teacher as an end of the year present. The year is over, man.

and in their glorious absence we go into the sun

2007-06-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

After a lot of fretting on my part, I am now happy to confirm that the bugs will not be coming to my neck of the woods this year. We are too far south. I still have another 6 years until ours come up, and I will take that as fair warning. For all of you who are dealing with cicadas right now and are hating it, I am with you in spirit if not in actual proximity to a cicada.

On to better things. This is the Lotta Jansdotter sunhat, made for my mother's mother, Lib. My grandmother has worn a hat when out in the sun for as long as I can recall, and I thought she would like this simple style. She likes things that are pretty in a functional way, and not pink. The hat is natural linen with a blue and green flower lining that came from a bedsheet. My grandmother and flowered bedsheets are funny because of this:

When my grandmother was about to marry my grandfather, her mother (Posey) sat her down and explained that she should never buy flowered bedsheets because men don't like flowered bedsheets. My grandmother thought, well OK--she didn't have any real, pressing desire to have flowered bedsheets. She got married, had children and whenever she needed bedsheets, she picked ones without flowers. Until one day when my grandfather was helping make the bed he said, "do you think we could get some flowered sheets sometime? I really like flowered sheets."

Ahem. When I make this hat for myself, it will be a little bit bigger in the crown.

an array of headbands

2007-06-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, the code-ish side is leaking out onto the craft-ish side today.

Before today, I only had one fabric headband. It's pink and green, and awesome, and really a scarf, but it doesn't really cover all my headband needs. I made myself some new ones today because (1) I should have had a haircut 4 weeks ago, (2) it's Sunday (aka the day day I don't wash my hair), and (3) I wanted to be just a little crafty, but wasn't really up for anything more than sewing tubes. Headbands are both cute and useful! I think I'll wear the polka dot one ten times more than the others.

About the code, I think I'll be moving soon. I'm getting tired of blogger, and I think I'll move over to my own domain and have the blog powered by Ray Camden's BlogCFC. If you write ColdFusion at all , you should check it out. If you don't, here's where it's appealing to me: control and new toy. Blog CFC basically has all the hard thinking part done already. I'd only need to consider the adjustments that make it better for me. The biggest thing I don't like about blogger lately is that I don't get your email addresses when you comment, which is lame. I get a link back to a blogger profile, which is not nearly as useful. We'll see.

worrisome creatures

2007-05-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

I'm back from our garden/cable ordeal. Thank you all for the commiseration and laughs! The lovely cable company came out and "fixed" the line, by which I mean they came out and strung an entirely new, bight orange, line across the backyard. Oh, whatever.

The 17 year cicadas are coming to Illinois, and this scares the bejesus out of me. I hate em, and they make me want to curl up in a little ball in my house and not come out. I also hate that I hate them, because I know it's lame. We dealt with them when we lived in the DC area 3 years ago, and they were soooooooo bad there. Like, heaps of decaying bodies bad. Friends here are trying to assure me that it doesn't get that bad here, and that this brood might not even be as far south as I am. I hope so. Uhg.

The shirt is Beebs' from the DC brood. Elie, super dad that he is, screened one of these for each kid in Beebs' preschool class. Awesomeness in the face of adversity.

no so connected

2007-05-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hey there. I hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend. I won't have any internet until Tuesday, so I'll miss you. Why? We cut the cable while expanding the garden. Nice.

Have a good one!

Dorie

schnitzels: the fabric of my life

2007-05-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

We've just finished a round of housely things that required the house to be in very neat condition. I am so happy that that is all over that I am leaving tiny fabric schnitzels, complete with dangling threads, all over the downstairs.

Seriously, I thought that I would be able to get through the doll quit thing without feeling the desire to participate, but I'm afraid the whiplash challenge might do me in. They are too darn cute! But, I have too many other projects seeking my attention, especially the redwork quilt--the one I started 6 years ago and only need to finish quilting before I have it complete. I though I might have it done for Beebs' birthday, but given that that is on Wednesday, I really don't see it happening.

Speaking of which, we had a fun kid party at our house on Saturday! Here is the cake. I went yarnstorm-style and bought jellybeans for decorating. It doesn't quite look like the Chinese parasol we were imagining, but we opted for more jellybeans rather than elegant simplicity. Plus, this way every girl got the flower on the cake. :-)

One more thing. Doll quilts and redwork reminded me of this. I think it's completely awesome.

I knock off Boden (again) and become a duck hero

2007-05-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

The mini-boden catalog is so fabulously cute I just can't stand it. They come to the house and I look through them again and again, but I have yet to buy anything from Boden. It's not all because of the price, because I'll buy the occasional pricey item, and it's not because I think I can make it all, because I have no desire to try some things, such as tailored pants. I think it is this--I can't really narrow down all the things I like in the catalog to just one or two things. Rather, when I do narrow it down, the one or two items don't look all that special by themselves. What I really like is everything all together. It's the same with the J Crew catalog. If I buy one t-shirt, I know it will not be as satisfying as looking at all the colors of t-shirts lying together in rumpled layers inside the catalog.

But, I did think the apple tshirt was very cute, and worth recreating when Target has these t-shirts for $6. I had to buy some more red fabric. Oh, how it pains my to buy more red fabric. Not.

Also, I'd like you all to know that I saved some ducklings today. Beebs got strep throat, so I left work and was driving around to the dr, pharmacy, whatever. I was stopped at a light in front of Meijer on the road that has all the big box stores when I saw on the side of the road a mama duck and five little ducklings walking toward the street. If you are a person who has ever shared the story, Make Way for Ducklings, with someone special to you, there is no way in heck that you are letting a family of ducks face getting run over while trying to cross the street. I think the people in the car in front of me felt this way too, because the woman in the passenger seat started yelling and shooing the mama duck away. Unfortunately, duckling #5 was a little daft and went on the road anyway. Her mama called for her to come away, but she couldn't because the curb was too high. So mama went to try to rescue her, but of course all the other ducklings followed, and then all the ducklings got stuck on the street. And mama duck could not help them. Oh. So much empathy for the duck mother here. By this point the light had turned and people behind me were beeping and the people in front of me had given up and driven away. So it was up to me to save these ducks. I grabbed a manila envelope from my car (good thing I always have some crap in my car) and used it to scoop the little ducks onto to curb.

Now, it's true that they may have found a way up, but it's also true that ducklings are very dumb and would probably have gone into traffic. And sure, they're just ducks, and sure, they'll probably do it again, but I'm happy that my daughter got to see me save the ducks.

P.S. Ducklings are really cute up close.

in boxes and packets

2007-05-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Back a ways, petulant feminine was looking for brave volunteers to help her by taking portions of her stash so that she would have less to transport in a big move. I kindly volunteered. Her packet arrived from very far away and was full of these beautiful fabrics! The plum is so cool and there is some of the softest brown linen in there. How nice is that?

The mail also brought me a big box of yard from my grandmother, Honeydew. (Her real name is Dorie. I am her namesake.) Honeydew does needlepoint, and she had built up quite a stash of extra tapestry yarn. When she asked if I could use it I said, Oh Yes! I'm not sure exactly what it will be, but it will be something. Honeydew still has an origami lily I made her when I was 10. It's sitting next to her chair where she reads mysteries and needlepoints and watches golf.

Love to you all,
Dorie

casting on with old yarn

2007-05-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming, so I though I'd knit myself a sweater. Kidding! Kinda. It's really a tank and it's made out of a linen blend yarn, so I think that makes it perfectly acceptable for summer. I'm using the Lutea Shell pattern from the newest Interweave, and the yarn is from the mother of all yarn garage sales. It wasn't the pattern I had in mind when I started, but it's cute and it worked with the yarn and the gauge. If I actually succeed in completing this top, it will be my first ever knit top. (If you are wondering about what happened to the Grace sweater, I will tell you that it is still in ill-matching pieces on the bookshelf.)

The first row went pretty well.

swap happy

2007-05-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Remember the nesting bowls I made to swap out? Well, I received my swap item from Jeanne this week---pretty awesome, no? It's soft as anything (baby alpaca and and cashmere will do that), fits perfectly, and is made using my best-ever colors (gray and blue). The pattern is adorable (or should I say "hip"?) and suits me very well. This is what it looks like on, though pardon the blurry shot.

Plus I got an extra! I love it so much. Maybe you know why--simple, beautiful redwork. It hangs from a silk cord that Jeanne spun, and has a very appropriate poem on the back. It's hanging in my front room.

I feel like I'm going to make out like such a bandit in this swap. All the other girls are much more accomplished knitters than me. Jeanne was doing cables when I was still learning to cast on. Lucky me! This swap really needs a name though. I'm getting tired of calling it that-swap-that-I'm-doing-with -knit-night-girls-from-way -back-and-the-present. Preexisting Friends Swap? Why'd You Move Away Swap? I don't know.

tissue? I hardly know you!

2007-04-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I have once in my life asked my mother for a tissue without that being her reply. How could that be? Of course I didn't get the joke when I was very young, so I just though it was funny that you could really know a tissue. I had it explained to me a lot before I got it, and even then it was weird. Like, why would you want to kiss someone you don't even know? Unless maybe you were in France...

Anyway, I have for you a tissue box cozy. It is about as simple as it gets, and it took next to no time to make. Now I can buy the kind of tissues with the lotion in them without worrying about doofussy pictures on the box. (And let me tell you, I was really worrying.) It was a quick and dirty project without even a hemmed seam, but it had been so long since I'd done a whiplash, that I really wanted to participate. It is a very whippy whiplash. I did it by taking strips of linen and just zig-zagging the edges together.

So, do you think I'm worried about running out of red thread? I was tidying up my various sewing areas Sunday morning when I found all these. mmm-hmm. I was tidying on Sunday because we had Wordy Diva +1 over for some lunch and a pouch for plants swap. What fun!

linen bag for Sarah

2007-04-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've seen many round-bottomed bags out there in blogland lately, like here, and here. This one is my version. I like them all a lot! I made this bag for my friend, Sarah, who always makes French seams, and not because she thinks they're fancy, but because she likes them. Sarah brought me back a set of Clover pom pom makers from her last fiber excursion, mostly because she and the rest of the knit night girls were teasing me about being fancy enough to want a special gadget just for making pom poms. That, and she's incredibly kind and thoughtful. So, of course I had to put a pom pom on the bag.

Ah, spring is so great. We had our first post-dinner popsicles of the year while walking through the yard. New things are coming up all over, and the yard is looking lush, except for the lilacs which did really poorly with the frost a few weeks ago. I am just feeling the happy newness of spring so much! Even the yoga class I've been taking for the last 2 years seems fresh and exciting. I think I've just been going through the motions for a while, but something in my body clicked last week and I'm feeling something more, some kind of joy, in the poses. The back bends are particularly wonderfully.

And speaking of newness, little Ms. Beebs has gotten her ears pierced. I'm thinking she's looking a little grown up.

feeling greasy

2007-04-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

unbecoming photo of my imploded sewing area

If you haven't oiled your sewing machine recently, go do it right now. I just finished doing mine and, holy moly, what a difference! I can't believe more people out there aren't touting the benefits of a lint-free, lubed-up, well-maintained machine. And you should clean the shuttle too. I think that's key.

Last night, my good 'ol Kenmore, c. 1973, was starting to chug as it stitched along. I thought oiling it might be enough, but no, the shuttle needed to be cleaned too. The last time I tried to clean the shuttle, I somehow ended up lowering the feed dogs, which you supposedly can't do on my machine, and I couldn't get it back together again. So, machine and I took a trip to our friendly neighborhood sewing machine repair man and paid him to do it. But not tonight! Tonight, I stared down that shuttle and cleaned it good.

It's moments like this that make me want change careers and open a little sewing machine repair shop in my back room.

nesting bowls

2007-04-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

The same thing always happens whenever I do a felting project. I put the project in the water with the soap and the hot water, and I let it agitate a cycle, and I pull it out and I panic because it's not working. But it always really is working. It just needs more time. In the end I take it out amazed that I have made something solid out of string.

The nesting bowls (there are 2 of them) are made from natural brown wool using the knitty mancala pattern. The inside of the bigger one is the size of a peanut butter jar. I decided that the bowls needed a bird after seeing the really cute one at Bella Dia. Plus, it was appropriate for the recipent(s) as the bird is for a baby and the bowls are for her mama. It's part of an interesting ongoing swap I'm doing with a group of friends, some of whom don't live close by anymore. Every two months we're sending something knit from 1 skein, plus something handwritten, some words or recipes to share. I know I'm going to love seeing it unfold.

friday, uh-huh, un-huh

2007-04-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

What am I doing? I dunno. Many, many things, but not much to show for it.

There's kuler. Adobe has this fun little color utility in the labs section of their website. It's more than a utility really, because you can share the color combos you create. I'm pretty sure it wants to be the flickr of color.

And there are the canal house closets via junior society. I would really like one. It would be for me and not for Beebs. I know where it would go too–in the front room that will be my office as soon as we finish the new den (ETA 1.5 yrs). This old house has no coat closet, so we could use a place for wraps. Hmmm...maybe it will be a personal woodworking project for next year?

And we introduced Beebs to orisinal this week. Video games just do not get any cuter than this! I like the bunny and the bells.

oh hoppy day

2007-04-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I think this is the point where I admit that I really do have an obsession with mother softies? Please welcome the return of Nursie Bunny who now has a skirt and floppy ears.

She still has snap nipples that she uses to nurse her three children (she used to have two), who have snap mouths, and she still likes to hold them in a good, tight hug. They like to sleep, mostly.

I made the first lactating bunny for the daughter of a friend of mine who had just received a baby brother. Beebs wanted one for herself then, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I got to thinking about making one. Around the same time, she was seriously lamenting the end of Mini Swap , so I offered to do a swap with her. The swap ended yesterday--Interesting how it just happened to correspond to Easter, no?--she got a nursie bunny and I got this rag doll.

With the exception of the stitching on the skinny arms and legs, Beebs did it all herself. It makes me a very proud mama!

Thank you for all the Passover wishes and cooking kudos. If I eat any more eggs this holiday season, I am going to turn into one. We tried Martha's marbleizing technique this year. (I also made Martha's macaroons. They were dairy, but she has many other macaroon recipes to choose from.) We achieved "speckled", but not "marbled". Happy Easter!

Feast

2007-04-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

For most of the day yesterday I was afraid of the roast in my fridge. It was a very large, very good roast, bought for our seder. See, I had never cooked a roast before and it just seemed like the sort of thing that you could really mess up royally and everyone would be sad. But I didn't mess it up. It came out beautifully, and I am again amazed by the wonderful things that meat does if you just put it on the oven with some salt and pepper.

The macaroons came out pretty good too. And, they take a better picture than the meat.

Happy Passover!

hey

2007-04-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Missed you.

We had a very nice trip to Florida and returned to Spring in Illinois, how nice! Everything is green where it used to be brown and the trees are full of flowers, though thankfully, the lilacs still haven't flowered. We would have been sad to miss that!

The trip was great. It gave Beebs ample opportunity to show off her favorite characteristic of late: bravery. She caught a lizard, swam the length of the pool without touching down, rode space mountain with her arms up, and decided she loves fish eggs. I'm not sure whose child I have, but I would not have done any of those things at age 6. I'm rather proud and a little scared. The trip also gave us more time than usual to visit with the grandpas and some aunties and uncles and even a cousin. It is always so nice to see my family.

And crafting. I did a minor amount of knitting while away, and as much as I'd like to share my progress, I'm afraid it will have to wait because it's getting swapped out.

not the whale dress!

2007-03-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, the whale dress. We dug out the summer clothes in preparation for an upcoming getaway to someplace warmer. Beebs tried it all on, and many things no longer fit, including the well-loved whale dress. Sad for me.

I am not a person who lets a cute nautical print go without a fight. Oh, no not me. I took Tami's advice and did a quick little project to cure The Slows. I think it pretty much worked. Beebs has shorts and I'm back in it! It always feels a little weird to cut into a perfectly serviceable garment. I mean, some other little girl could certainly have enjoyed the whale dress, and there was nothing wrong with it--no holes or anything. But, I didn't want to give it up, and Beebs needed shorts anyway. She's going to pair them with this. I munna eat choo!

Blind man's bluff with the scraps.

Hmmm. Looking at the pictures again, there's no way shorts are ever going to be as cute as a sundress. This is a general statement.

Sunday

2007-03-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

1. pitcher plant spring comeback, 2. sunday breakfast, 3. feets & fabrics, 4. yarn

Good day. I'm finishing it up with a cup of fruit and almond tea. It reminds me of my mom having friends over for dinner and finishing with good dessert and tea in a teapot.

WIP & my new favorite character

2007-03-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of another softie, but I've been in the middle of it for a while. I think I have a case of what my mother calls "The Slows".

So lets talk about Kima and her Kup,Kup. You've probably seen him--Kup,Kup is a gray guy with rosy cheeks. I think he comes across as a wonderful blend of Japanese, German, and Spanish cuteness. I love so much that Kima has created an entire character who has continuing adventures! She has a profile on her website that describes all of Kup,Kup's favorite things and pastimes. He loves tomato sauce and collecting things in carts. How awesome is that! He has a best friend. It's so fun that Kima keeps true to the profile in all her work, so you can look through it all say say, "Oh, look. There's Kup,Kup enjoying a bottle of tomato sauce on a fine day," or, "Kup,Kup and Lolo better be careful pushing those carts around in the snow. If they tip over, they're going to have to organize them all by color again."

Kima makes really great buttons too. These photos were taken by Kima & used with her permission. They are the Kup,Kups I had to have from her Etsy shop. Too terribly clever!

open your mouth a little wider

2007-03-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

He eats your stuff. I think he probably likes knitting notions & money the best.

If you're not using a pattern and haven't done it before, a lined, middle zip pouch is a puzzle to make. You have to know which seams to sew when, and which get sewn inside out or inside one another. Tricky, yes, but fun. It's kind of like those interlinked wrought iron puzzles they sell in Cracker Barrels. I like the mouth pouch idea. Next one might be a guy with a 'stash.

I've been overly occupied with housely things in a not-so-fun way. I won't bore you with the details, mostly because I don't want to think about them. Did I ever mention that we also have a Lustron?

redwork swap results!

2007-03-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

I opened my redwork swap package from Tami at lemon tree tales yesterday morning. It's pretty fabulous, as you can see. I love a good bird motif, as you might guess from my header, and Tami's is so prettily excuted. The redwork bird is done on a handkercheif and the back of the pillow is soft, argyle felted thrift sweater. It's so cool! Even though I took pictures of it on my gray chair, I've decided that it's going to have its home on my ticking chair instead.

One of the neatest details on Tami's pillow is the white on white embroidery she did on her signature. I think that it's called shadow embroidery? Or maybe that's just an alex anderson thing?

Tami also included some snacky goodness, a contribution to my red fabric addiction, and a cute button collage. Thanks, Tami!

And this is what I sent to Tami. Mama Cat #2! Tami is a dollmaker, so I thought she'd have some fun with her. Mama Cat's big white dress was a perfect canvas for redwork. I was really wanting to use some natural linen on this project, and using it for the body let me keep the actual redwork pattern with the traditional red and white.

I've seen quite a few completed redwork swaps out there. They are great! The variety and skill involved is just awesome. Go check them out at the flickr group.

laces from places

2007-02-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

When I was home visiting family in December, my dad presented Beebs and I with a box of old buttons, zippers, trims and bangles he had bought in a lot from ebay. The two of us and my two sisters had fun trying on all the bracelets and deciding which fit who's style and divvying them all up. Then Beebs and I made off with the notions.

These laces are from that box.
This is beautiful handmade lace that someone made, but never used.

The envelope says faintly at the top, "Sheet," so I think that it was meant to edge a bedsheet. But that didn't happen, and person number two wrote a note on the envelope to someone else, hoping that somewhere down the line, the lace would wind up in the hands of someone who appreciated the "handiwork". It finally did. And I'm going to use it. And I'm going to use any other of my favorite fabrics, because what's the point of saving them?

This, I like the pale pink on turquoise and the the "undetermined fiber content".

I'm really hoping that tea and scones with honey cure colds. I stayed home and ate way too many of these today. Do you know buckwheat honey? It's really different from most honeys and the favorite around here. It's more robust, and darker than your average honey. It's almost molasses-like, but without the tang. Elie's mom just sent us this jar from a favorite haunt.

what's my background?

2007-02-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

These were my January blocks for the quilt block swap. I decided to fool around with background color. Surprisingly, I think I like the brown one better, but then again, I might really prefer the white background on a large bed quilt. My swap partner asked for red and yellow, so it was a great opportunity to test out the building blocks fabrics. (They work.)

I'm stepping out of quilt block swap for a while because I'll be starting a new, bi-monthly, ongoing swap soon. It's with a group of friends, half of which live near and the other half of which live far from me. At one point we all lived geographically close to each other, but I didn't know them all then. Does that make sense? I'm really interested to see what it will bring.

remember I said I wanted to be rescued by Mr. Plow?

2007-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Friday night Eva and I went to an all-council Girl Scout lock-in. I didn't entirely think it was a good idea for us, she's only 6 and all. But, we went because she really wanted to go and I was feeling leader obligation. All in all, it wasn't too bad. We went to bed by 2:30 as opposed to staying up all night. (Awesome card catalog card maker here via bemused.)

So, it had snowed 3-4 inches overnight on top of the foot we already had. The roads weren't great, and in my effort to get home I spun out on the interstate and ended up in a drifted ditch. Everyone was completely fine but shaken. State Police said it would be a couple of hours until they could get to us. However, we were rescused from the side of the road by none other than Mr. Plow. How exciting! He took us to the nearest exit, about 15 miles from my exit, where we waited at the gas station convenience store for the police and tow truck to get to us. I had the camera with me so Beebs and I passed the time taking pictures. I love my pocket-size digital camera.

This is my 100th post! Yay! It's not very crafty. I'm kinda bummed about that. I promise I'll get crafty again real soon.

bliz-zard

2007-02-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

I think it technically was. I worked from home yesterday because it was too bad to go out. These are the grain elevators we see from our northern windows.

Beebs and I were out shoveling the driveway this morning at 6:30. She planned it the night before--so excited to "help me get to work on time". It was beautiful, cold, and all pink and sparkly from the early sunlight. Beebs dug out my tires and tried sweeping with a broom, but I wouldn't share our one snowshovel. Soon she gave it up and started building an igloo with the good chunks I was digging up.

As I shoveled, I thought about the last time I saw as much snow a few years ago while we were in DC. I was shoveling-out the driveway we shared with our neighbors. They spoke Spanish, but I think they sometimes forgot that I did too. It was Angela and her two sons. They were gentlemen in the traditional sense and always held the door for me if they saw me coming with the baby, and would carry my groceries up the three flights if they saw I had Beebs in tow. It was always greatly appreciated. So when Angela saw me out shoveling snow she said loudly to her sons in Spanish, "And where is her husband?!" I just had to smile and keep on shoveling. I thought of this this morning while I shoveled and Elie was in bed. (He did the noon shift of sidewalk and walkway. He's no slacker.) It would have been done more quickly had we been able to share the load. It's probably time to buy a second shovel.

By the end of the driveway I was less philisophical and appreciative of nature and more delirious. I had visions of Homer Simpson as Mr. Plow coming along to rescue me.

I got to try out my finished KoolAid yarn hat. I took a picture of me wearing it in the snow that came out so poorly that I will not share it. You can look really hot after you shovel a driveway.

Oh, and happy valentines day! I braved the terrible streets, in campus town of all places, to bring my sweeties the gift of Indian takeout.

fibers

2007-02-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Jeanne sent me this wonderful yarn that she spun. It's superwash merino, and it's so, so soft. I asked for superwash thinking that I would dye it, but now that I have it I really love its natural color. Is that wrong? I'm thinking about making something like the Knitty Calorimetry with it. It would be cozy and warm.

I spent a good part of Sunday working hard on another unfished housely project. I suggested that maybe I finish painting the stairs, and Elie suggested that maybe I finish the nearly-reupholstered chair in my living room. Good idea. My upholstery class ended late in November, and I hadn't been able to get back into it. That initial lifting of the tack hammer seemed too hard. You know, it's heavy. But, as part of my continued attempt to do projects which improve the general state of my house alongside projects of terrible cuteness, I've pushed through.
I love this stuff. The cotton that they use to pad chairs is very raw and unbelieveably soft. I think it would be great to make a puffy, yet weighty quilt. Kinda like this one Blair posted about a while back. It's smooth yet bumpy.

Mama Cat went to the Softie Awards pool. Thanks for having so many nice things to say about her! Beebs has taken to her pretty strongly, and it does my heart well. She gets carried by one arm up to bed. I think that Mama Cat may get some friends some day soon...

mama cat (and her skirt-dwelling kittens)

2007-02-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Oh, Mama Cat.

You wear clothes, an apron because you're both very busy an very tidy. Your children are all very well dressed and you keep them close to you, snug and tight in your skirt. Look at your three wonderful children.

I've been working on her for the past couple weeks in the same way I'd play with a doll. "Oh, what should we do with Mama Cat today?" Slowly, and with a lot of thought and memory, she's become who she is and a little reminder of things I've loved and continue to love. I had a doll kind of like her when I was a small child. It was a mother bunny with tiny round bunny babies kept in her skirt. A friend of my mother made it. Toys like this are fun because the self storage is more like a secret compartment, and I think that sort of magic makes dolls seem more real.

She's Beebs' now. It was a surprise, even though she watched me make her. Beebs fell for the dollies as I was putting them together, and even though I feel like a bit of a tormenter by not letting her know the kitties were for her, I think she liked watching the doll take shape.

Mama Cat's outfit was greatly inspired by this book. Gosh, I was inspired by so much while I was making this--the sometimes creepy big skirt lady in the Nutcracker (you know, all the polichinelles come out from under her skirt and dance?), Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories with their cloth dolls with dresses, childhood memories of that bunny doll, the linen & the way the blue fabric looks against the pink gingham, and all the wonderful things all of you crafters do with a needle and a thread.

family photo style

She may end up over here. I haven't decided yet.

So, two things before I forget. First, thank you for all the bathroom love. I can't wait to actually bathe in the tub instead of just looking at it. Second, if you're wondering what honeyflake got from us in the miniswap, it's over here.

housely things

2007-02-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

First of all, anyone who wanted fabric in the last post gets fabric. Please send me your address at tumblingblocksATgmailDOTcom. Hooray!

I actually did work on our house this weekend. Yup, this blog was supposed to be a place to keep track of our progress on the house as well as my crafty endeavors. You can see what direction that took...

So among other things, I finally covered the cushions of our Morris chair. The chair has had a couple of covers during my lifetime---a red-orange bumpy textured something with fabric- covered buttons when I was a kid (my mom made it), and then later, a subdued rose cover with a well-rouched gusset. I took the latter cover off about 5 months ago, and the cushions have been sitting on the chair all cotton-wrapped since then. This weekend I finally decided to finish what I started.

I used black and white ticking, which I first bought a bit of way back when for Mo's backtack III ticky kitty. I liked it so much and the price was right, so I bought lots more. I think it looks nice and tidy.

Our bathroom is making excellent progress. We got strong and careful movers to lift our salvaged clawfoot tub and marble countertop upstairs, so the bathroom looks like an actual bathroon now. I am so impressed with Elie's craftsman skills. He's cut and routed and polished all the stone himself, and it just looks so great.

So that's it. Progress. Brought to you by a less-harried me. I think that's why I could finally get back into the big projects. All the work that made oct-dec completely nutty have stopped and I've done enough relaxing to feel like being useful again. The fun little self-centered projects (like puncushions!) totally make my tough times bearable.

prettiest miniswap ever & a giveaway

2007-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Casa tumblingblocks received its miniswap from casa honeyflake! Where to start? How about the box it all came in? It's painted by a little girl who really loves to paint in what happens to be my favorite shade of blue. Beebs tore into it quickly and then slowly and methodically lifted everything out. The softie got big snuggles and the tiny woolly people got a tiny special home. Each individual shell and piece of seaglass got fingered and rubbed and categorized. The little buttons got enthusiastically added to a button collection, and all the little letters got read with the gentle enthusiasm of an older child excited to see the learning of another one. ("oh, look, she can write my name!")

1. the softie, 2. the mail, 3. finish the picture!, 4. miniswap by the sea, 5. miniswap!, 6. beautiful tube of pipecleaners, 7. best blue, 8. softie hug action shot, 9. hoods and cloaks

I can't get over the tiny felt work and the clever fill-in-the-face collage kiddo. Kristin also included a sack backpack, appropriate, I think, for a few nature hikes of our own. Thanks so much, Kristin!

Miniswap has been such a great experience and I've been generally feeling the love lately, so I'm going to do a little giveaway. I loved these fabrics so much that I would have been excited to get even a little piece of them. Maybe you feel the same way? If you do, leave a comment below and on Sunday night at 9:00 CST I will pull 5 people to get one 6x6 square of each color.

wintry pincushion & wip

2007-02-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month my sister Lizzie (the one who has recently taken up quilting) asked me if I would make her a pincushion. Would I? Sure!

You all had so many nice things to say about these ones (thank you!!), that I'm sure you won't mind seeing another in the same vein. I really love making them because I get to quilt and stuff and embroider all at once. Plus, a six pointed star is very snowflake-ish, and therefore appropriate for the January Pincushion Challenge, dontcha know.

I had some real problms getting a good picture, though, so I give you many. I think pincushions can be generally hard to photograph because you want to get the details on the top, but also the whole view from the side. The one was especially difficult because the white and gray contrast so much, and the white part is made from quilt batting, whoose fluffy fibers give the camera's auto focus a hard time.

The wip:
I'm finally using this kool aid yarn.

Eeeeeee! The letter carrier just dropped this on my porch. I think it's miniswap from kristin. I'm home with a sick Beebs today, so I think I'll just let it rest there until she finishes watching Narnia...

still...

2007-01-30T18:33:00.000-08:00

January is almost over, and I wanted to post this before it was too late.

I found the most wonderful little letterpress calendar on Etsy last month. There is a different card for each month and they rest and stand in a CD jewel case flipped the wrong way. Each month is completely lovely. The maker is ilee.

I've been having a Friday mentality all day. Not so good and way optimistic for a Tuesday, really. I think it's because we stayed up last night and watch all three of the episodes of six feet under that Bravo was playing.

Kristin and Sarah

2007-01-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

Do your friends ever come in waves of first names? I've been putting together swap stuff and organizing email and the like, and I realized that I am fortunate enough to have a little explosion of Kristin and Sarah in my life.

This Sarah, most famously with an "h", leaves nice and helpful comments and makes the most awesome hats on her blog. Yesterday, I stalked this Sarah's local quilt shop (with her blessing) to get my hands on some of the fabric she shows here. She makes adorable softie's too.

Then there are the Kristins: Kristin who created the quilt block swap, Kristin my miniswap partner, plus another Kristin who is very talented with the felt and stitches, but who may be a little shy with her first name.

To top it all off, I have friends Kristin and Sarah from my non-bloggy life. (Photo above is from a b-day party hosted by said Kristin.) In the beginning, I messed it up a bunch. I always thought that any comments from Kristin or Sarah were from local Kristin and Sarah, and so I'd have conversations with them about stuff I'd made (which may have seemed out-of-the-blue, but they're very obliging), meanwhile, I was never responding to other, blog-type Kristin and Sarahs. Now doesn't that make life interesting?

A side note: Redwork swappers, if you haven't received a partner from me or any follow-up information, please shoot me an email. Everyone should be partnered up and ready to go!

even more bitty booties

2007-01-25T18:31:00.000-08:00

Maybe you thought I was not so serious about these?

The top ones were for my good friend Lisa's baby shower. They are from my favoritest red felt that came from an angora/mohair sweater. It felted up more nicely than any other I have seen. The result is so deep and rich and bright red! It's dense enough too that I could leave the edge clean and not need to blanket stitch it. I could have found some creamy felt and made them to match the beautiful, kimono-style layette that Lisa is crocheting for the very soon-to-be baby... I'm sorry Lisa, I just love the red too much!

The stripey pair is from another sweater, one that came pre-felted from Goodwill. Pre-felted thrift sweaters are always a bit of a bittersweet find because you know that the person who gave it away didn't mean for it to get like that.

red addict

2007-01-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite fabric of the moment. It's "sunny side" by alexander henry, bought here. It came yesterday in the mail along with some of the building blocks fabrics, including the fabled tape measure/ruler prints. I don't know what it is about red fabrics, but I can't seem to get enough of them. As much as I love most of my color world to be a sea of gray and blue, I need those little accents of red. I am particularly impressed with how good the above fabric looks with my gray velvet chair. I think it will be both a cushion and a skirt.

We woke up to snow this morning--our first real snowfall of the year. (I'm not counting that icy mess back a couple of months ago.) So, Beebs and I did winterday things, like having cocoa, reading stories, making tiny things, and playing scrabble. I think we played five hours of scrabble this weekend. We've played together at my mother's house before, but this was our first time playing at home. Scrabble is a favorite family pastime, given to us by my maternal grandmother, the reference librarian. Does she have a scrabble dictionary? You bet. It's so cool that Beebs can play now, and I think that I'm more amazed by her strategy than her spelling skills. She's so big with her "Q" on a triple letter score square. Sigh.

recent swappage

2007-01-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

My open yours too package came at long last!

Way back in November, I made the above pincushions (and my first linen calendar) for this opened-ended swap hosted by Dawbis. (I was part of round 12.) I had a really good time making them, I think largely because each one was small, and they could be different, so I got to get out some previously unused, but very fun, fabric and play around with it. During that time I was also still taking the upholstery class, and I think that influenced the more tailored aspects of the cushions, like the blue piping on the one tree cushion. I have more pictures of these pincushions on flickr.

And I got soooooo much. I took a picture of everthing altogether, and then realized that bekka's hat wasn't in it because I had been wearing it. See? I like it.

Then all these things: Moon pencil drawing from barbara, door knocker from shakty, beautiful handmade collage book from annie, sweet clay owl from amanda, little monster prints from zara, fairy sketch from larina, and wonderful appliance notecards from heather.

I've got a good group for the redwork swap, but it's still open through Monday if you know anyone else who'd like to join in. Beebs and I are also gearing up for miniswap. Beebs has been dying for a swap of her own. We are swapping with kristin of honeyflake and her daughter. Should be good!

redwork swap

2007-01-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

Let's have a redwork swap!

We'll be swapping for a handmade item featuring embroidery done in red. If you'd like to join, email me at tumblingblocks AT gmail DOT com with your name, address, & blog if you have one. I'll leave the signup open until Monday and have partners out shortly thereafter. Your finished item should arrive at your partner's house by March 1.

I posted some ideas for projects below, but that's really just a beginning. If you'd like to get to know traditional redwork better, checkout Redwork in Germany. Her flickr profile has even more stuff. Let's see, more resources... Turkey feathers has some great patterns for vintage embroidery in her shop, Pattern Bee. Not all redwork need be traditional, though. Wee Wonderfuls used redwork for her elves, and someone else did a stitchette in redwork.

Thanks! Let me know if you have questions or ideas.

redwork swap anyone?

2007-01-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about it. Would any of you out there like to do a redwork swap? The item itself could be anything: tea towel, 2-d dolly, potholder, apron, ATC, wall hanging, you name it. It would just need to featue embroidery done in red.

If you're interested, drop a quick note below, and if I get a good response, I'll start an official signup!

Yes, Henrietta. You are a linen-ish sort of cat.

I'm enjoying a rare Monday at home witht the Beebs. We are making stuff. It has just begun to snow a little, and we're listening to Arcade Fire, which is very snowy, wintry music. The dryer is making good clean laundry sounds. I think this will be a good day.

the outpouring of babies into the world

2007-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

When I was home over the holidays there were sooooo many babies. It was so nice to meet them and hang out and pinch them. Oh, I am such a baby pincher.

It's possible that all new babies I know will get a pair of the Bitty Booties because I just don't see myself ever getting tired of their incredible cuteness. They are so simple and so dear and make a nice little handmade gift. The ones above I did for my new nephew, who I met on my trip East. (I was a little late on the fall acorn-themed making spree.) I also got to see these ones that I made months ago in action on the actual baby's feet! Then I pinched them.

Elie read my last post and says that I put my clauses in all the wrong places. Edgar also puts his clauses in all the wrong places, namely my wingback chair. Poo poo to us.

Sweeties

2007-01-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

We love marzipan, and sometimes a bit of it finds its way into our Christmas stockings. This is the first year I have ever seen pig-shaped marzipan, though. It came in a package labeled "lucky". There was also a marzipan die in the container, but it got eaten. I can see how a die is related to luck, as well as the four leaf clover, but I'm a little puzzled about the pig and the mushroom. These are surely the lucky items of a culture I am not too familiar with. Do you know?

And speaking of such things, the mini Boden catalog has a pajama set with "jam sarnies" on it. I don't know what these are either, but at least in Boden's world, there are on par with milk and cookies.

The candies in the photo which are not marzipan are homemade licorice taffy. My colleague's mother makes them every year at Christmas. If you love strong licorice, which I do, they are wonderful. Homemade candy pretty much goes down on the list of "why I love the midwest". Or maybe I just don't come from candy-making people back east. Either way, it's delicious.

next stop, the ice capades

2007-01-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

These are my November swap blocks, sent to me by Sandi. The are beautifully, painstakingly pieced in icy winter blues and grays. I like 'em a lot.

And speaking of ice, today we actually got out and had a fun family activity--ice skating! We went to the University's ice arena--the unseasonably warm weather we're having makes pond skating out of the question. It was Beebs first time skating and the first time for Elie and I in years. I dusted off the same old pair of skates that I used to wear when I was tweleve. (My younger sister was Kristi Yamaguchi obsessed, and I got to go along for the ride.) I found out that my husband not only enjoys skating, but also has "moves". At one point he pulled to a stop in a down-on-one-knee, prince charming kneel right next to me. Cracked me up. Beebs loved it, and I'm pretty sure that we will become ice arena regulars. Sometimes we get so busy doing our projects, we forget to go out and have fun like that.

Things made for others

2007-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

I made a handful of handmade gifts for loved ones at Christmas, but I only took a picture of the above. It's not a terribly descriptive picture of the scarf, but holiday snapshots are bound to illustrate something different. (That's my dad and Lucy.) The scarf is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I also made my mom the pouch on the cover, but no picture. I'm liking the book a lot, although "last minute" is relative. I'm still fairly novice at the knitting, so it took me a bit longer than the book estimated. No problem---I started early.

I think my next knitting project will be a hat for myself (pattern also from the above book) from the kool aid yarn I dyed months ago. I'll start it when I finish the birthday present I am sneakily making for Elie. Heh,heh,heh.

Low Light

2007-01-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am embarking on a quest to understand my relatively new digital camera. I got it a few months back, but have never read the actual instructions. It doesn't do so well in low light situations and the steady cam seems to work selectively.

Pink chalk studio had a hint on adjusting the ISO speed. My camera can do that! I tried it above and it works pretty well. I've got to get a handle on the low light. That's all there really is here this time of year.

Scrappy New Year!

2007-01-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

Ahem.

Hello! It's so nice to be back blogging and visiting everyone else in blogland. I had a wonderful visit with my family back in Jersey. I think I saw everybody I am related to. Almost.

So, I think I'm going to try and post every day, or at least nearly every day, in January to make up for my fairly lackluster December. I've really enjoyed reading the blogs of some who did NaBloPoMO (???) or have otherwise been doing daily posting.

Incidentally, looking around the blogs, I've noticed that many people are taking breaks, or at least taking it easy for December. This makes me happy. I think that the crafty blog world could have easily gone totally nuts with adorable/fantastic blog postings during the holiday season, but we didn't. We took some time for other important things too, including the very basic realxing and doing nothing. Good for us. Either that or we just couldn't post the things we were making because they were presents :-).

Have a good one

2006-12-18T04:46:00.000-08:00

We're out the door for the magical land of New Jersey. Maybe I'll blog a bit from there, we'll see. I'll leave you with a few farewell, sorry-I've-been-a-lame-blogger-lately pics.

The above is a nicer picture of the most pretty candy from Vimi in Scotland

And these are cuffs I did for a little local made clothing show called Birthday Suit at Open Source, a community art space.

And this is a little dried bouquet that my sweet surprised me with one morning.

Very Happy Holidays from me to you!

Dorie

Merry merry little shop

2006-12-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

I got an Etsy shop up--Yay! It took a bit of configuring and preparing, but I'm good to go now. tumblingblocks.etsy.com, if you'd like to take a look. I have the calendars up there, including the ones printed on linen. I've been having fun shopping Etsy for Christmas, and I'd love to share me finds, but you know, it's not really a good idea to tell the world what you're getting everyone for Christmas if you don't want the recipient to know.

Things are slightly more busy than I'd like them to be here, more in a work-ish way than a fun-ish way. Only about one week left of nose to the grindstone and then I'll be enjoying a vacation!

Happy merry-making to you all.

Pincushion Challange Pincushion Swap

2006-12-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

The long-awaited results of the pincushion swap from pincushion challenge are here! (At least, as far as I am concerned.)

McCushion
Above is the lovely pincushion sent to me by Vimi, all the way from Scotland. She wove my tastes (note the gray-blue in the tartan) into a Scottish theme. The thistle is done in soft felt with three dimensional poky parts at the top--very clever and very well done. The back has the Scottish flag worked in felt, and the loop tag is embellish with a "made in Scotland" ribbon. Vimi also made a little bouquet of shrinky dink flower pins. That may be a project I try someday--I don't think Beebs has ever seen shrinky dinks in action.

Vimi also sent the prettiest candies I've ever seen, my favorite being a chocolate truffle log with a little marzipan robin sitting on it. I'll get a better photograph of it before it gets eaten.

Owly Cushion
This is the pincushion I sent out to aiar a couple weeks back. More redwork! And more linen. And more wool. It's really pretty simple, but such nice fabrics, and I love a little bird embroidery.

Printed Calendars

2006-11-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this project that just keeps taking me a little longer than I'd thought. It's really fun though--it has screen printing and sewing. The print is of a North American pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant whose tubular, trumpet-shaped leaves grow tall and end in a curved ruffle to catch insects

Elie loves and is rather obsessed with carnivorous plants, so we have many different varieties at our house. They live outside all spring and summer, but they come in to hibernate in the basement in the fall. I find them to be kind of creepy the way that I find most thing in the natural world that pretend to be something that are not kind of creepy (exhibit A: the mantis). I don't like insects that try to pretend they are plants, and there's something I don't like about plants that try to pretend they are bugs. But regardless, I find the pitcher plant quite beautiful.

The calendar at the top is screen printed on muslin, then quilted with cotton batting. The one just above is printed in natural linen. If all goes well, I hope to have a few of both in my very own Etsy shop in a few days!

So much to smile about

2006-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

You All
Thank so much for all the nice comments on my last post! It's a little special to me and I'm glad you like it as much as I do.

A Super Artist
Beebs, whom I've always thought to be an excellent artist in a completely unbaised way, was one of four winners in our local paper's holiday art contest. It knocked my socks off-- I didn't even know she had entered as they did it at school. I'm just so pround on so many levels--proud of Beebs' wonderful artwork (she "mixed the yellow and orange so it would look like gold"), and proud that she chose to draw a menorah. We keep both Jewish and Christian traditions in our house, and I know that Beebs has felt a little funny lately about wanting to share her Jewish holidays with friends at school because "they might think they're a little weird". So by seeing this drawing, I know she's OK with it, and that makes me feel good.

A new baby
I have a new nephew! His name is Owen. I haven't seen any pictures yet, but I'm sure he's cute!

It's grapefruit season
Grapefruit is my favorite fruit (ok, a tie with blueberries) and my dad just sent me a big box of them from Florida. When I told one of my co-workers this, he said something snarky like, "oh, grapefruit. yeah, I wish you could buy those here." He just doesn't get it. These are much better. They are so delicious and they come in a big orange box right to my door, just because someone was thinking about me and knows I love grapefruit.

My sister Lizzie bought a sewing machine
And she's already stared quilting in an obsessed kind of way. Do you see how much fun this could be? We could be quilting sisters. I've been sending her all my favorite links, and she's already made some things.

Thanksgiving
It's delicious. Turkey-head.

Longview Quilt Top

2006-11-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

A little quilt top. The colors are just so perfect for this project, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together until this whiplash comp.

A few years ago I made a large quilt that had both white and dark blue in it. I was afraid that the blue was going to run into the white, so I bought some special laundry sheets designed to catch dye. They worked, and the laundry sheets came out blue-ish. Cool, I thought, a blue sheet, and I saved it. I've been using those sheets on all my suspect loads for a while now, always saving the resulting colored sheet. They have a fiber make up that feels somewhere in between paper and cotton. Sometimes I am totally surprised by the color that comes out of my clothes. Sometimes (as with the new hot pink beach towels), I wait excitedly to see how bright the sheet will turn. Now, I have many different colored sheets in three basic color groups: yellow, blue, and red. I used these for the quilt.

I've wanted to make this quilt for months--since the little corn and soy seedling starting sprouting up on the farms the line the highway. The flat, farm landscape that surrounds me is more incredibly beautiful than I ever thought it could be. The lack of topographical features brings smaller details to the landscape's foreground, and as I drive by I am in love with the colors the different plant stalks turn when the sun hits them. The gray and blue and purple of the sky against the golds are greens of the fields always amazes me. More than that, it amazes me that it is so amazing because I thought that in the midwest I'd find nothing but flat and brown. It's totally beautiful, and it changes with each season the same way that a forest would.

Anyway, I thought I would make this design a much bigger quilt, say maybe 3 feet by 4 feet, but I was never able to find just the right colors. When I sat down with my laundry sheets to begin the whiplash project, I was thinking that I would make a traditional quilt block, but use this material instead of cotton cloth. A quick errand in the next town over via a country road reminded me of the quilt I wanted to make, and I quickly realized that my laundry sheets were the perfect colors. They are a beautiful assortment of subtly varied golds, blues, and grays. Sometimes stuff just works.

I'm very happy with it, and I'm very happy here.

Redwork quilt WIP: Owl

2006-11-16T20:11:00.001-08:00

Is it WIP day already? Where does the time go? I've been WIP-ing a lot this week--Tuesday was my second-to-last upholstery class, and the chair is looking pretty darn good. In fact, from the front it looks done. It has no back.

I've also been gearing up to build a Christmas float with the Scouts. The Christmas parade is this weekend which just seems way to early, and it's theme is Carribean Christmas. Our float is more like Hawaiian Christmas, and I'm somewhat curious to see if anyone challenges us on it. The fun parts: making paper flowers for our hair and grass skirts out of garbage bags. The not so fun part: sitting is the cold, keeping 10 wound-up girls from hurting themselves in the towing garage where we build it. You will note that the fun part does not actually involve building a float.

One final WIP--I'm sending out a pincushion swap package to aiar tomorrow. I want to post it, but I guess I'll be patient!

Owl is from the same pattern book as bunny a few weeks back. Thanks so much to all of you who had nice things to say about the Frances block and my log cabin blocks. Much appreciated!

Log cabin swap blocks

2006-11-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Log cabin blocks are a good way to get many of your favorite fabrics into one block. I did these with Mom when she was out visiting, and we had so much fun arranging and rearranging the colors to make them just so. The were sent out to my blogless October swap partner at the end of last month. I hope she's enjoying them--they were hard to send away!

Sunday is starting nice and sunny and happy in the household. We made some scones to have with the morning coffee. Yum! I love scones almost as much as doughnuts, but not quite. I'm trying to think out what all we'll do today, but I just don't know. A new knit shop opened up in Urbana, and I'd love to check it out, but I fear that they may be closed on Sunday. I'm sure we'll find something.

Redwork quilt WIP: Frances

2006-11-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

As promised, another literary character in the redwork quilt. Russell Hoban's Frances stories were probably my favorite books as a little girl. They were the ones I'd take out from the library every week (along with the Blackboard Bear stories). I loved Frances. I got her, and she got me.

One of Frances' signatures is making up little songs to sing to herself. They are sometimes very telling. I do this. I make up lots of little songs, and looking at it now, I can't help but think that it's a little bit of Frances' fault. The little songs were something Elie noticed about me when we first met. He (rightly) thought it made me a humongous dork. He told me later that I was almost written off because of it. Thing is, now I have him singing little songs, and we are humongous dorks together.

Interesting Frances fact: Garth Williams illustrated the first Frances book, but then he was replaced by Russell Hoban's wife, Lillian.

I'm posting the Frances block this week because I got the chance to visit with a real little person named Frances. Her mother is a knitting genius.

Sneaky peeky

2006-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

I have been hard core crafting these last few days. I'm doing round 12 of Open Yours Too, and wow is it exhilirating. To participate, I made eight things. They could be different, but they had to be representative of my work. Eight can be a lot of things when you're trying to make each one extra special. I love everything I made and can't wait to share, but I just mailed the package today, so I'll have to wait a bit to do that. There's a sneak peek up above though.

Since I can't talk obsessive craftiness, how about we talk bags? I want a new fall/winter bag. The Frounchess bag carried me though summer, but it's just not right for cold weather. What I like:

Pretty but pricey: Orla Kiely (the red wool one)
Affordable from catalogs 13-year-old girls like: Alloy satchel, UO bag
One of many cute Lesportsac bags: kitty, apples, not a winter bag, penmanship
Wise craft bags I love: inky wool bag, patchwork bags

So maybe I'll make something like one of these, or maybe really I'll just buy one of these. My craft agenda is way packed.

Some of you might want to see the witch. Here:Edgar steals candy:

Some projects don't turn out so well

2006-11-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

I have many ambitious craft plans for today. Like all projects, I'm diving into them with the perfect result floating in my head. Sometimes I get that result in the end, and you all hear about it, and I have pride in making something fabulous. Sometimes it just doesn't turn out. I thought I'd share a couple of the latter with you.

Exhibit A: The Too Small Shower Cap
I love my shower cap. There is one day a week that I allow myself, if so inclined, to not wash my hair. The shower cap is a symbol of lazy, homebody Sundays, and mine is really cute too. It's from Benefit and has little anthopomorfic cat ladies taking bubble baths on it. It was a gift from my sister a few years back. Anyway, I thought that it would be so cool to have vintage fabric shower caps. How hard could that be, right? Well, sizing is tricky, and my old machine just doesn't have a good stretch stitch.

Exhibit B: The Too Big Shower Cap
I did give it a good try though. Twice

Exhibit C: Who Spat on My Boots?
I liked these, no matter how weird, over at anthropologie. Holy crow, they were 78 bucks. I can make them, right? They're basically just a glorified legwarmer. Right? Hmmm... This was my first time knitting without a pattern, and in retrospect, I can see where I went wrong (too large a gauge and I tried to get fancy with some shaping where it was not needed). As with other knitting blunders of mine, Edgar got to try it on. That cat is a meatloaf.

Hope you got a chuckle out of these. I did. Go craft.

Redwork quilt WIP: bunny

2006-11-03T17:49:00.000-08:00

oh, bunnies' bottoms! This pattern was from this book. I used quite a few patterns from here as well as the general pattern for the whole quilt. I think that was the first quilt book I bought. I can't remember why I wanted to make a redwork quilt in the first place. Glad I did though.

The new camera seems to take a lot of blurry pictures. I think it has something to do with the way I hold the shutter button down.

Happy Friday

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T05:01:00.000-08:00

Edgar is so spooky, isn't he? I think he needs a cauldron.

Truly, there is much Halloween disappointment going on at our house today. Poor Beebs is sick with a fever and can't wear her witch costume to school and participate in the Halloween parade and party. I wish she didn't have to learn the "life is not always fair" lesson today...

We had a really great weekend visiting with my mother and sister. We so seldom get visitors out here that it makes it extra special when we do. It was kind of a last minute trip too, so we didn't have any grand ideas about what we should be doing. It allowed me to introduce them to the wonderful midwest tradition of grilling brats and having a beer. (My sister is the one with the curls.)

We got them up in the attic too. Mom is an architect and Lizzie is an engineer, so it would have been foolish to have them over our house without asking them to inspect the this-and-thats of our house renovation. Everything looks OK, but I don't really ever want to try to convert the attic into a liveable space, no matter how nice it would be. It's just too much.

Sometimes when your grandma is an architect, you make doll house jack o lanterns instead of scary face jack o lanterns. It was a really big hit with Beebs, who especially liked making witch Barbie scoop out the muck herself and then eat it.

Complete recap

2006-10-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

I got some good mail this week and the sun finally shone on Farmer City today so I could take some photos and share. As you can see above, the bird ATC swap was a big success. I love my cards and I want to figure out some good way to store/display them. A big thanks to Jaci, Veronica, Barbara, Selena, Lori, and Stephanie!

My September blocks from Su finally reaching me after a long journey through the bowels of the US Postal system. They are just so smooth and crisp and even (yup like the snow), and I'm sure Su must be one expert quilter. I sent the ones below to her in return.This week was nuts, just nuts. Work was crazy busy and unpleasant, I felt sick, and this blog, which is usually my place for peaceful creativity, was anything but calm. Debate is stressful, at least for me.

Amy Butler blogged back on the Belle Chrysanthemum post, and that has been quieter since. I'm glad about that. I'm glad she did. Thank you, Amy.

My mom and sister are here from afar (New Jersey and California respectfully) so I'm off to go visit with them while I still can.

Much love,
Dorie

Redwork quilt WIP: camel

2006-10-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Camel comes to you from the pages of Dear Zoo. We've always laughed at him being "too grumpy". Camel is not the only literary character to make his way into this quilt. There are more...

I have so much to post about, but with the fall and the rainy weather, I can't get a decent photo of any of it! Maybe it will happen this weekend.

Busy Hands, Busy Minds

2006-10-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Elie and I were both recently impressed when kits we bought (enamel repair and photo emulsion) came with high tech stirring devices. Behold the popsicle sticks. Intentional junk in the background.
In other happy hand news, Beebs and I got a surprise--my dad randomly sent us a box full of vintage plastic bracelets. What fun! I like the really wide red one the best.

There's been a lot of activity over at this old post. Boing Boing did an article about fabric copyright, specifically Heather Ross and copyright and fabric use, and it's stirred up discussion on the subject again. Kim of Dioramarama wrote a really good article on Whipup, which got linked in the comments by jixichick back over here. Whew! If that doesn't sound like a he-said, she-said, I don't know what does.

I didn't know about Amy Butler's limited use policy at the time I posted the vintage look-alike, so it feels a little bit odd to be a part of this conversation. At the same time, I'm glad we're talking about it, glad that the designers have made it clear that it's fine if we crafters use their fabric. Hopefully no other designers will think that's a good idea. I've learned something new about the fabric industry--vintage fabrics are bought by designers for reuse all the time--although I do think it's extra odd to be finicky about use in this case. (If you didn't create it, how can you say who can use it?) I think I get part of where the fabric designers are coming from--they don't like their names associated with things they haven't approved of--fabric thongs or otherwise. It seems like, generally, one of the downsides of success is losing control of your name.

I'll just add my name to the list of people going hmmmm.....

Redwork quilt block-by-block: Unicorn

2006-10-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

It's week two and so far I'm sticking with it. This is the unicorn block, made when unicorns were the biggest thing ever in the world of the Beebs. They are still pretty cool, but are no longer an obsession.

When you were small, did you like unicorns? I didn't really, at least not the fancy ones. I might have been the opposite of a horse girl.

Pantaloons

2006-10-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Around here we love dresses but hate tights, and I personally hate the thought of cold legs. Back in ye olde days you could have some pantaloons to keep you legs warm (and covered). I've been wanting these for the Beebs since she started walking--they're comfy and soft and sweet-- and I finally did them. I kinda wanted to make the kind that don't gather up at the bottom, but she wanted these traditional ones. Of course I see the obvious flaw. The next pair will be brown-- with red edging maybe. These white ones are sure to be a mess after they get played in a bit.

I don't wear skirts regularly in the winter because I really don't like the way the wind blows up them. Seriously, you might as well not be wearing a bottom. And I don't think I've ever found a pair of tights that were actually comfortable, and I'm OK with that. It makes the spring skirts even better. Sometimes I would really like to embrace the old time underwear thing and have a few warm layers of skirts and pantaloons. I think in modern times you would call adult pantaloons "pajamas". Not a great look. Too much of the campus, wearing-my-pyjamas-to-class thing. I bet I could rig up some cuter. Maybe like this? Hers are thermals rolled up, but you get the idea.

Daisy the cat has bloomers.And she doesn't appreciate it when you post pictures of them on the internet.This post at soulemama got me today. How cute are they nursing? And the cat? And you can't tell either. Oh, I miss that. It makes me so happy and so sad.

Suitable Patchwork Pillow

2006-10-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Whipash again, and oh my, the accessory. It's so hard. There are just too many things that could be accessories. But as my mother says, Which really needs more accessories, your self or your house? The house, by far.

So here you have a little pillow. It will sit on 1960s wing chairs from my mother-in-law, that is, after I reupholster them. Right now those chairs are half torn up in the Rantoul Community Center.

Yesterday at the Bloomington Third Sunday Market I picked up a whole bunch of tailor's fabric samples for 10 cents a piece. They are so pretty and of such good quality that I only wish I had more yardage. I guess it's a good thing I like patchwork. In this pillow, the gold and gray colors are woven silk, and the blue is a wool tweed. I backed it in some extra gray velvet from the chairs.

It's sitting in my car. It was way to dark and rainy to get pictures anywhere else.

The redwork quilt block by block: Sheep

2006-10-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Remember the redwork quilt I though I'd finish in June? It is nowhere near done, but I'm working on it. Some. I've decided to post a new block from that quilt each W.I.P. Friday so that maybe it will give me a little motivation. You know, just to remind me that the project still exists.

Here you have a sheep.

Redwork bird cards

2006-10-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

I really just love these. Kleas is hosting a bird-themed ATC swap and these are my contribution. I drew the birdies, then did them in redwork on white cotton and stitched them to cards.

Audubon would not be impressed with my accuracy but they're real cute. (Wish I had better pics. It was a stormy October morning and I had to get these out. No light) Here are crow, finch, and mourning dove:

And here are dodo, barn owl, and kestrel:

I knew squat about ATCs (artist trading cards) before this and was a bit hesitant to join. After all, it has "artist" in the name, and that's not an identity I give myself exactly. What if the recipient didn't find them arty enough? Too much craft in the art? But gosh I do love making stuff and little birds and a challenge. Plus the host is a wonderful art crafter so I figured I'd be OK.

Now on to thinking about whiplash...

Kool Aid dyed yarn: red & aqua

2006-10-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

We finally gave Kool Aid dyeing a try. Wow, is it fun. I think it's a project that both Beebs and I would be happy to do every weekend. It's a containable amount of fun mess with usable results. It doesn't get better than that! I used berry lemonade and tropical punch to get red and aqua. My friend Karen showed me her results in the same flavors, and they were perfect. BTW, did you know that there was a red and aqua swap? A color combination so fun, it gets its own swap. I plan on making a hat for me with the red and aqua and a hat for Beebs with the one she tye-dyed using the two colors.
We're off to the area orchard to get some apples, pumpkins, and my favorite--cider doughnuts!

One hand warmer

2006-10-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

The other hand is still colder. I am pleased to share my first hand warmer! I liked this project a lot because it was quick and soft and useful. I'm guessing that it will only take me a week to get the other one done--yea.

I also took the picture with my new smaller, more lightweight digital camera. I really like it a lot and it's pretty amazing what you can get for not too much. Plus, it's cute. It's one of these from Kodak, but boy am I a little peeved at Kodak. When you have a mac, you shoud be able to simply plug your camera into your computer via usb and it should work. The lovely folks at Kodak feel that I need to install their Easy Share software before I can get any pics from my camera to my computer, never mind that I don't need their software because I use iPhoto. Tech support claims that there's a camera connection only option, but then it wasn't really there. I really don't like to be forced to install uneeded software. There.In case you forgot all about him, remember the kitty who broke down my screen? Yeah, well we've been "fostering" him for 2 months. We're hoping that I can convince my stepfather to drive him back to Jersey to go live with my mother in law when he comes out here for my stepbrother's naval graduation at the end of the month. Anyone else think it's weird that the navy trains recruits in a totally inland state? The cat (Charlie) is making himself totally comfortable. Please don't do the math on the number of cats in my house. It's totaly embarassing. But Mo, I still supportive of your cat-wanting thoughts!

A small, yet tasteful arrangement

2006-09-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

I ran errands this morning and came home to this.

Going, going, almost gone...

WIP Friday

2006-09-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

A new knitting project for me. I finally finished knitting the Grace sweater, but I'm not too inspired to sew it all together. My friend Sarah has been knitting the Grace sweater too, and we both came out with the same problem--the back is 2-3 inches longer than the front. Someday I'll address it and fix it. I imagine it will be in March.

The new project is armwarmers from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book. Decided to do it after friend Kristin pointed out exactly how really useful these are if you're wearing a three quarter length sleeve and trying to sit and your desk and type while and it's just a little bit chilly. I'm maing the man's pattern in a smaller yarn--the cashmere yarn I got from the garage sale a while back.And just because kleas posted her seedum, here's ours. About 2 weeks ago it was loaded with monarch butterflies.

Peep hole

2006-09-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hen loves remodeling. Our soon-to-be bathroom is making swift progress. We are highly motivated to get the floor tiled because we can't install the radiator until the floor is done, and we can't turn on the heat until the radiator is installed, and it's getting pretty chilly... The picture is taken from my kitchen looking up. Note: I have no actual kitchen ceiling--those are the floorboards to the room above. Hen is looking down at you from the place where the toilet will eventually go, what is affectionately called the "poop hole". So funny to see her little face peering down at you. While on the subject of the new b-room, Holy Smokes! Can I tell you how awesome architectural salvage places are? At this point in our house redo we have become very good friends with PACA. We've bought everything from radiators to wood there, but most recently we hit the bathroom jackpot---a double sink white marble countertop in just the right size and a clawfoot tub with its enamel in really good condition. And we got these things at the tiniest fraction of what it would have cost to buy new. Oh I love it.

What I don't love: picking the fabric for reupholstering my wing chairs. It's too hard! I love fabrics and looking at them, but decisions are too much. I want it not to be too trendy, but to be fun, to be comfortable, yet durable. And I'm afraid I have very expensive taste in decorator fabrics. The chairs are currently in bright yellow (see part of one in my last post) and there's something I kinda like about that, but I'm thinking that the chairs should be something more neutral and versatile. I can always change the way they look with pillows. I'm probably going to go with a gray velvet, but I keep thinking about this. hm. Needing 12 yards, the latter just isn't going to happen.
My day off, aside from the mantis visit, went very well. Beebs and I made the most delicious challah ever. I generally relaxed and did all the fun home stuff. Hope you had a good one too.
Walken shirt!

Renegade rescue

2006-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is what a big kitten looks like after she has rescued you. I am off work today. Beebs gets of school early, then we're doing fun cooking for Rosh Hashana. So, I was taking my rare morning to myself to sit at my desk and craft and blog, when SMACK! A humongus mantis lands on the window facing my desk right where my face is. Yeahcgghghg. I really feel that it was personally trying to ruin my morning. They get me more than anything else. And I know I should think they're cool and good bio indicators and even cute, but i don't. So I got Hen up to the window and I think she scared it off. I kinda expected it. We see one every Rosh Hashana. Happy new year! Here's your giant mantis! Dang fall.

Back to goodness. Here are my crafty arty purchases from Renegade:

I love these resin beads from fernworks. The makers had all sorts of other cool stuff inside too like lichen and beans in grass that looked like a nest
This is for Beebs' room, which is red-pink-white and still lacking things for the walls. The maker, Katie Muth is going to be print a 2007 calendar with more pretty lino prints. It's highly recommended.
Rar rar press does have a site of their own yet, but has some really fun postcards, like these. You stamp your location and the location of the person you're sending to on the US map one. Funny. Convincing.
Girly sweet patches from Carla Sonheim. The big one I'll put in Ikea clips. The little ones will go on something for Beebs. Carla also does bags and little wearable art pins and larger wall art. She's on etsy too.
I called these the weasel note cards, even though makers la familia green insist that it's a ferret. They have a lot of really cute cutout cards too.

Blue and brown bunny boys (for brothers!)

2006-09-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Renegade was too wonderful, and the gals and I had a very fabulous (if busy) time in Chicago. I want to take pictures of all the nifty things I brought home, but that darn dusk keeps coming earlier and earlier. Maybe tomorrow.

For now, I give you the bunnies. The are from the very adorable wee wonderfuls wee bunny pattern. These two are for baby Ty and his not-too-much-older brother, Klaus. I hope they have fun with them.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the scout 50/50 went very well--fun even. I can see racing's appeal, especially if it's local and you know the people who are driving. And no one called me a poseur or refused to buy tickets from me because they had never seen me before or anything.

Bad hat

2006-09-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I passed a combine going down Main St. I've been rural small town for 2 years now, and it still surprises me. It's that time of year though--the corn is brown and the soy is turning a really pretty golden color. It's especially lovely on my drive home from work when the sun is lower in the sky, and the sky is kind of purple and gray and blue, and the ground is all green and gold and cushiony.

I don't think I'm going to make whiplash this go-round. I finished my hat and it looks pretty crappy. I'm going to try again, but not before tomorrow. That would be just too much. Tomorrow evening I'll be at the car races in my town. I've never been there before, but I'm helping the girl scouts with the 50/50. I am a little intimidated. It will be very loud, and I know zilch about car races.

On a brighter, more familiar note, I'm going up to the Renegade Craft Fair on Saturday! Yup, 2 pals and I are going up to Chicago to scope the crafts and hit the rare shopping (Ikea, Anthropologie, Nordstrom Rack, Trader Joes). I'm putting on my fancy pants with much anticipation.

The above pincushion is my contribution to the August-September Pincushion Challenge. The theme was "recycled", so my little cushion is made from wool sweater, old pillowcase, and vintage buttons. The floss is new :-). I used the tutorial on whipup.

Moth friend

2006-09-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa took this photo. Isn't it great? She takes wonderful pictures. I love it even though I ~~hate~~ have an unexplainable, real, and terrible anxiety around insects. Beebs and the rest of us went to Lisa's daughter's pirate party. The moth was a very cooperative guest. Maybe stunned to be out in the day?

Ah, I just finished up hosting knit night (incidentally, not the same knit group as the one who received t-shirts, but a different, second, newer (to me) knit group), and it was quite nice. It always is. I didn't do too much knitting though. Mostly I prepped for tomorrow night's girl scout meeting. That's right, I'm a leader. I will finish the grace sweater soon though.

Some blocks I made then sent away

2006-09-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

These were my quilt block creations sent to Suzanne in August's quilt block swap. She's received them, so I can show them all to you now. I got the patterns from the humongous collection at Quilter's Cache. The second one is Oh, Susanna--maybe a little bit corny, but perfect for someone name Suzanne, no?

The first is Carrie Nation, which is named after the woman who got famous by taking a hatchet to saloons in order to destroy Demon Rum. Ah, prohibition. I would really like to do a whole quilt made of these blocks. The diagonal lines that appear when you start to put the blocks together are really cool. Oh, I think it could look sooooo good. But there's only so much time in the day.

That's it for now. More soon.

More bitty booties

2006-09-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

Awwww.... another pair of adorable baby booties from Heather's pattern. The possibilities of cute are endless with these things. This particular pair will be going to my my cousin's new baby, Ty.

Tonight was the first night of an upholstery class I'm taking at the local community college. I think I'm really going to like it. We decided I should take it because Elie's Mom brought 4 of her really great chairs with her when she came out to see us a few weeks ago. They are beautiful pieces, but the upholstery is very well worn, and when you're a crafty (and thrifty) person like me... right, upholstery class.

So the class is run by a husband and wife team who will be celebrating their golden anniversary this year. He's been upholstering for 50 years and does crazy tricks like spitting tacks onto his hammer and whacking them into a chair in one quick swoop. After one night I already know way more about furniture than I used to, and I have no doubt that I am going to learn much more. Then in the end, I get a really nice wing chair. (And it is really nice, too. The arms have flat tops as opposed to the curvy puffy ones, which I think really makes the chair.)

Now I just have to pick a fabric.

Mail day

2006-09-02T20:31:00.000-07:00

Oh man, we got so many packages today.

My mom and Elie's dad (or more accurately, Elie's thoughtful stepmom, Betsy) both sent Beebs boxes of school clothes, which I don't need to say, is just so nice. And they're really cute things too! My mom sent a bunch of footless tights (which is great because I think Beebs officially hates the thick variety of the regular ones). On seeing them come out of the box I said, "Oh, I can make you a corduroy skirt to go with those." And then out came a corduroy skirt!

This month's quilt block swap blocks came from Suzanne. Suzanne doesn't have a blog, but she sent me the really great blocks above. The colors and fabrics are very pretty and lots of fun, plus most of them came from recycled, altered clothing. She also sent along a little pair of button earrings wrapped up in a subversive cross stitch notecard. It is the "Irony is not dead" one, which I think is just the funniest.
And, I finally got a chance to spend some birthday money. This was birthday cash intended specifically for buying craft materials. (Thanks, Dad.) I got all of the above, with the exception the Kokeshi kitty print (which is from stash), from superbuzzy, the new japanese fabric shop. The red unbrella fabric is going to go with the kitty fabric to make a cute top for Beebs.
And, the Japanese craft book my mom got me for my birthday finally came too. I got it through yesAsia, because patache seemed to have a good time with them. The book is great. I just need to make these things before Beebs grows. A large part of me thinks she's still 4. And no, the adorable child on the cover did not come with the book, even though I kind of hoped she would.

So, I think that's all the mail I'll get for awhile. Oh wait, I'm still expecting this Walken shirt for Elie. Red on gray? You bet.

Vintage body parts

2006-08-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

I had a super Saturday by

Getting up early-ish

Looking at the internet

Getting iced coffee and doughnuts at Dunkin Donuts

Taking Beebs to garage sales in Champaign in the rain

Finally buying the moisturizer I had been out of for a week

Working my extra hours so I could have a guilt-free Sunday

watching movies until too late and knitting

Sunday was guilt-free as intended. I enjoyed the day at home. I usually enjoy Sundays at home because I really like having one day where I don't drive 20 miles to do something. So I hang around the house and my small town and purposely go nowhere.

The above is a fun garage sale treat--felt board children and labels for their various appendages and articles of clothing. Two boys, two girls. Two white, two black. Exploring not only parts of the body, but race and gender. Beebs has had a wonderful time doing things like putting the white boy in a dress and giving him brown arms. It's funny. As are the exclusive Flanofoam backing grips. I have seen these grips and they are nothing special. In the photo is other garage sale junk.

This fabric is a gift from my friend Sarah, who brought it back all the way from Alaska. I am most fond of the ones with forget me nots, Alaska's state flower. I especially like the one that folded up in the picture because it has rolling hills full of blue flowers and I think that I maybe secretly live there.

Traditional Pinafore

2006-08-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

This was the first week of school for Beebs, and I think we're off to a good school year. Wonderful!

I had been wanting to make Beebs a pinafore for quite some time (along with everyday pantaloons, which I have yet to make), so I was so excited to see the pinafore come up as this month's tie one on. I think angry chicken was hoping to see some nifty adult version of the pinafore to wear out, and I would still like to try to make myself one of these hipster pinafores, but I had really been waiting on making one of these traditional ones for the Beebs. I love how the pinafore acknowledges the messy children of the past, and I like the idea of throwing on another layer to keep what's underneath tidy.
This pinafore I made was totally for me, just something I wanted to dress my living dolly in. So, when she asked if she could wear it on the first day of school, I said, you bet! When Elie saw her all ready he pulled me aside, insisting that I couldn't do this to her, that it was as bad as the linebacker shoulder pads my mother sent me to school in way back when. But here's the thing: I liked the shoulder pads and Beebs likes the pinafore.

The material is a ripped dot like swiss dot, and I made the binding from a little pale blue and white floral pattern. I really do like making binding with those clover tools. I used a pattern, Simplicity 8916.

Whiplash prize! Copyright questions?

2006-08-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

I received my whiplash prize package today. Isn't it pretty? Don't be surprised if my quilt block partner for this month ends up with some of these fabrics--she has a green/brown/pink theme. Thanks whipup!

Ooops! Almost forgot to thank the prize donators. Thanks to Tall Poppy for the leather handles (for a felted bag, maybe?). Thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for the fabric. Probably bad form to thank a company in the same breath that you question its design process, but thank you Amy Butler for the pattern. All of these companies are supporting whipup, which is great. It's probably about time I clicked on that "donate now" button, especially given that they've sent me two packages from Australia.

My prize also includes the Amy Butler chelsea bag pattern, and It reminded me that I wanted to post again about this tablecloth. I hadn't realized, when I posted it, that the Amy Butler fabrics, at least the newer ones, have use restrictions on them. It makes it extra odd then, that a company that is very protective of its own patents and rights would make something so similar to another's work. Oodles of crafters and artists are inspired by vintage pattern, but how close is too close? True, choosing colors to match current sensebilities is a skill and takes a trained eye, and Amy Butler's colors are wonderful, but does that make it yours? What does make it yours?

I tried to find some answers about copyright and fabric and use, but my findings are fairly inconclusive. There was a recent thread on Etsy where I think they conclude that it's OK for small crafters to use AB fabric and sell on Etsy. (The company has different rules for different volumes.) There was also this in dioramarama almost a year ago.

For me, it's a reminder that I can use real vintage fabric when I want that kind of look. When I lived it DC it was way overpriced, but I live in central Illinois now, for goodness sakes! Good old stuff is not hard to find. I'd also like to try making my own fabric print a la Kristen Doran via this link at whipup. That would be really fun.

Why people who poo-poo wildflowers are just wrong

2006-08-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here is my cute family in the garden. This is the wildflower border that my neighbor got all bent out of shape about back in May because he thought it looked unsightly coming up next to his putting green lawn. I love it, and the birds do too! We have seen so many new and beautiful birds in our yard this year because of the flowers. I should add that the flowers are all Elie's work. He is the house gardener and he loves it very much, kind of the way some people love making little things out of fabric.

August Whiplash: Jumpah

2006-08-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

The Mini Boden catalog arrived at our door filled with all sorts of cute, easily craftable kids clothing. I got the idea for this reverse applique jumper (Aussie word--that way I don't have to say "sweatshirt" or "fleece". I think.) from this Mini Boden top. I know I'm not the only one out there admiring the Boden either. See wise and ask the sky for other inspired applique.

I'd feel a little presumptious calling this a tutorial, given that the technique is so simple, but in case you're wondering exactly how I did it, here is a "Discussion of Methods Used".

Get 2 shirts that look good together. They should be made of a stretchy material like cotton knits or fleece. The "primary" shirt will be the one that remains mostly uncut, and the secondary shirt will be the one used for embellishment.
Find a motif. I chose a star because it's a cool, simple graphic and it's easy to maneuver through the sewing machine. I have another kids' sweatshirt I want to do this with, and I'm planning on using a deer motif. Challenging. You can choose anything you want. Print the motif on paper to the desired size.
Turn the primary shirt inside out. Cut off the front of the secondary shirt and lay it on top of the primary shirt's front with the right side of the secondary shirt touching the wrong side of the primary shirt.
Place your paper motif just where you'd like it on top of the secondary shirt and securely pin through all three layers (primary, secondary, and paper motif). Be careful not to catch the back of the primary shirt!
Set your sewing machine to a small stitch. Stitch all around the border of your motif.
After sewing, you will find that the paper has been nicely perforated, and it will tear away easily from the stitching. If it sticks in a few places, you can gently loosen it but running a seam ripper along the stitch line. Snip off extra secondary fabric around motif on wrong side of shirt leaving about a half inch.
Now for the fun part. Turn the shirt right side out. In the center of your motif, pull the primary afbric away from the secondary fabric. Carefully cut into the center of just the top fabric. Cut a quarter-inch away from the stitch line all the way around your motif. You will be cutting away the primary fabric to reveal the secondary fabric underneath. Amazing!
Embellish with decorative stitching or whatever.

Screen door

2006-08-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps not as poetic as "cellar door", but wonderful none the less.

Weekend before last, we hung the much-anticipated screen door. Oh, how wonderful it was to have the fresh morning breeze slip through the door while I sipped my morning coffee. The screen door was very long in coming because we have a slightly unusually sized door and we really wanted an old-fashioned wooden door and not an aluminum one. That meant, of course, that it was another do-it-yourself project. Elie assesmbled and painted the frame very quickly, but it sat as a UFO for a few weeks because the screens were a pain in the but to get in and then after the first one was in, there was some reminaing moulding needed that was always failing to come home from Lowes. So I finally just stapled the screening to the door. Pretty? No. Highly functional? Yes.

Now, Saturday night some spry young kitty boy, probably the neighborhood's new cat in town, decided that he wanted to visit my porch. And after seeing Edgar at the screen, he decided that our house looked like a good place for cats, and he pushed through the screen. Oh, the horror! (As the little beast weaseled his way in, I scooped him up and said, "Sorry, Charlie," so Beebs has taken to calling him Charlie.) So I had to close the door, and it's still closed. Bummer.

Belle Chrysanthemum

2006-08-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

As you have very possibly seen, Amy Butler has a new fabric line out. It is just as lovely as her previous lines, and maybe slightly more funky. Anyway, I was checking them out and noticed that the "Chrysanthemum" print looks almost just exactly like this tablecloth I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents. Here's the Amy Butler print at repro depot in the mustard colorway. Neat, huh? I think I have found Amy's inspiration.What will happen to this tablecloth? Not sure. It has a couple of grease stains I couldn't get out. Maybe I will be ambitious and make a grown up pinafore apron for tie one on. Maybe.

What Up, Comments Setting?

2006-08-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Oh extreme aggravation! I was wondering why no one was dropping me any comments, and it turns out I had somehow clumsily, and without knowing it, turned off commenting abilities for folks not registered with blogger. Yuck! I really do want to hear from everyone and not just folks going the Blogger route. Sorry to send that bad message.

Major thanks to Kristin at Kleas for emailing me and bringing the whole comments thing to my attention! Kristin also is the maker of my favorite pincusion in the "flower" round of the pincushion challenge. See hers here. It is blue on blue, which I love, and reminds me very much of the large hydrangeas in my father's yard.

And yes, the photo of the cute girl doing her embroidery has nothing to do with this post. But I do love that her feet are tense, so you can see how much she's concentrating.

How cute?

2006-08-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

These booties came out so cute I almost cried. Really. I had one of those "oh my goodness this is so cute and Beebs never got to wear it and now she's way too big and has ratty toenails" moments. Then I got over it because I realized that I could figure out how to adjust the pattern to big girl sizes (heck, grownup sizes if I wanted to) and they would still be cute. Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute.

The booties are from the wonderful free pattern over at Hello my name is Heather. There's also a Bitty Booties flickr group going, to which I added this photo. The pattern was actually easier than I thought it would be. (I was worried about the toe ease.) I made them from a thrifted wool/angora sweater that I felted, excuse me, fulled (thank you craftsanity) and then cut to fit the pattern. And I added yo-yos to the toes. I think I really love yo-yos.

These are going off to Elie's cousin's new baby right after I show them off to Elie's mom, who arrives tomorrow! There will be much tour-giving of our house.

Look who escaped the lawnmower

2006-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

While Elie was doing his least favorite chore, he found this little toad on a freshly mowed strip of lawn. Beebs is bravely holding it.

My Birfday

2006-08-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

I had a birthday yesterday. Whoo! I really wanted to do a birthday giveaway like Mo and some others, but I just couldn't figure out what I could give away. I hadn't made anything cute, and my scraps just seemed like scraps. I guess in some ways I feel good about this---I buy what I need and make good use of it---but I think I'll make a point of having something to share next year.

Ah, so, the birthday had many good wishes from people I love who don't live so close to here. So nice to talk to everyone. Beebs made me a matching set of jewelery: necklace, earrings, and bracelet and Elie made me a cake--a really good chocolate from scratch with whipped cream icing cake. They love me.

My blocks came!

2006-07-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

Lucky me. My quilt blocks came from Tammy and they are wonderful. So crisp and evenly stitched and tidily pressed. The stipey one is my favorite because it's the kind of block that you can spend lots of time rearranging, deciding how the block should be turned. It looks a little different each way.

And Tammy sent extras too--a fluffy (pink!) scarf for Beebs and stitch markers for me. These are totally fun and above and beyond. Thanks Tammy!

Least-documented feline member of the household

2006-07-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Meet Daisy. She's my mom's kitty and is staying with us for about a year while my mother builds a house. Daisy is considerably older than Hen and Edgar (15 v. 3 and kitten), and it shows. She doesn't like them, but they keep trying to be her friends anyway. Daisy often talks about "kids today" and "impertinence". We've started calling her the Dowager. She is a good kitty, though. Her best trick is giving backrubs if you lie down on the bed, and she really really likes to be brushed. In this picture she is saying, "Why is your guest room wallpaper so ugly?" She is quite frank.

In other kitty news, how could this creature possibly be the same one that pulls out all your embroidery floss and turns it into a mangled ball?Oh, it kills me when the cats do things that cats are supposed to do or things that storybook cats do, like fall asleep in baskets with toy cats, and play with balls of yarn while you knit, and lovingly groom one another. Someone ought to write a book about the cat that ties knots in embroidery floss.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

2006-07-29T04:56:00.000-07:00

Really big thank yous to all who left me a note with something nice to say about the Frounchess Bag. I'm trying to figure out if Blogger lets you get at commenters' emails, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. Too bad! I think I'm going to spend some time familiarizing myself with Blogger's inner workings. It could be helpful and who knows, I might come up with some usefuls tools. Anyway, it is so exciting to be a whiplash winner! Thank you.

I've got a lot I want to do this weekend, but no pressure to do any one thing, which is really nice. I think I'll spend some time on the Grace sweater. I had been not working on it because I got to the point where you begin to make the shoulders and the shoulders were two different sizes. I was trying to work with it, but was finally set right by Knitters Who Know Better Than I, and I took that part out. Will try again.

The images up top are my finished blocks for Tammy, which she received. Yea!

The banana bread recipe is based on a recipe from the La Leche League cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole Family, which has some really great bread recipes (even if the cover image is a little dated and makes you think that the book only has recipes for noodles and sauce).

1 3/4 C. whole wheat flour (or 1 1/4 C. flour and 1/2 C. wheat germ)
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/3 C. oil
1/2 C. honey
2 eggs
3 overripe bananas
1/4 C. hot water
3/4 C. walnuts

Mix first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl.
Mix next 4 ingredients in a large bowl
Add dry ingredients to wet alternating with the hot water.
Stir in nuts.
Pour into a bread pan and bake for 55 minutes at 325, or what I like best, pour into 4 mini bread pans and bake for 40-ish minutes at 325.

Porch Life

2006-07-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

The oppressive heat and humidity that had been sitting on us (and apparently most of the nation) lifted this weekend leaving us with the kind of summer weather one dreams of. I spent lots of time on the porch today having coffee, blowing bubbles, and stitching stitching stitching. My blocks for Tammy for the quilt block swap go out tomorrow, and thanks to an industrious morning, they are looking pretty good. The above is a sneak peek.

The quilt block swap works pretty neat in that you get to choose what kind of block you would like. This could mean a specific pattern, color combination or both. Tammy requested sunbonnet sue blocks, and I requested ones that were gray, blue and green. The other cool thing is that there is a new round each month, so new people can join or you can take a break or whatever. Pretty neat.

The cooler weather also meant that I wasn't afraid to turn my oven on. Beebs and I made banana bread. Yum. There is something about making banana bread that makes me feel like the best mom ever. Probably because my mom used to make it, and it uses whole wheat flour, and it saves those three poor overripe bananas from the rubbish bin, and it's good quality together time. Now, that's something you don't get with every baked good.

Mr. Tortilla strikes again

2006-07-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

For the Ladies

2006-07-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I finally finished printing the skull shirts for the knitting-bookgroup ladies. Now we just need to get ourselves together so I can distribute.

Confession: I ate two doughnuts and a medium coffee with cream a sugar for breakfast every day last week. Why? Because Beebs started a new camp, and to get from the camp to my job I drive by Dunkin Donuts, and they have a drive though which just makes it so easy. I noticed though, that DD has a new marketing look--they are fully embracing their 70s airport color scheme and adding international symbol lookin' graphics. I think it works. And speaking of food, Elie made the most wonderful dinner tonight: cold fruit soup, warm brie, and garlic string beans. mmmmmm.... That's so not what one expects from a Monday night dinner. What a wonderful man. What a nice surprise to come home to. I love summer.

*Did you see a bird in the hand's sneakers? Tumbling blocks pattern! I kinda want some.