All the World's a Craft

I like to think of most things I do as a craft, then I don't mind them so much. For example, in my holiday job at Macy's, I fold a lot of things, such as sweaters. I also straighten racks of clothing and fold jeans. I do this in the junior's department, or as one customer referred to it tonight, "The High School Section." This is my craft for the holiday season, and I get paid for it!

The "craft" I'm currently doing is transferring books on tape to my new MP3 player. I figured if my 21-month-old nephew has an MP3, then 34-year-old auntie should have one as well! It's my Christmas present to myself.

Crafting with a C(a-k-e)

Some crafts are edible. My edible craft was a very pink, very girly birthday cake for my sweet little 3-year-old.

I used Denise's chocolate cake recipe (really from Hershey's) and a new frosting recipe from King Arthur Flour. (Except I only used 2 sticks of butter, not 4!) Yum! I was pleased with the frosting. It tasted lighter and less sickeningly sweet than a typical sugar-and-butter recipe, yet didn't involve beating eggwhites over a double boiler.

Here's the birthday girl and her cousin, waiting patiently for their cake. Caroline had so much fun playing with her cousins. I love to watch them play.

I just have to add another photo of the three of them. I got lots of good pictures today! I guess that's what happens when I hand the camera over to my brother, who loves photography. Thanks Andres!

Back to the Blog

I've been sewing (some), but I've been severely unmotivated to blog. Sometimes I have all these ideas in my head but I don't know what to talk about. Plus I just don't feel like getting out the camera and taking pictures of my progress. So I think I'll talk about other people's blogs.

Like the posting for easy fabric wreaths I saw in an e-mail newsletter from CraftStylish. They look incredibly fast, and the variations are endless! I might just have to make one.

OK, this one's not a blog, but...see what Martha Stewart can do with pipe cleaners!

I saw another fun blog the other day, but now I can't find it. Oh well.

My turn finally came up to take Amy Butler's book In Stitches out of the library. There are a few projects that look interesting, although a lot of it doesn't appeal to me. I might try making the CD holder for a Christmas gift (or two or three). I thought it would be good for those hard-to-buy-for guys who like computers. I could make them in masculine fabric and fill them with blank CDs. I recently bought a copy of Valori Wells' book Oh Sew Easy Lifestyle because there are quite a few projects that interest me.

Oh, I did finally finish Caroline's big-girl bed quilt--yay! And I even finished it before the bed came in. We ordered a bed a few weeks ago, only to find out this week that the manufacturer went belly-up. So we had to start over and pick something from another manufacturer, but I really liked the first one a lot. It was from the same company that made her bureau, and it was such an elegant design. Bummer. The alternative will be nice, though. It won't be in for about 8 weeks, which gives me plenty of time to make a coordinating pillow. I already cut it out during a quilting session with Jill last weekend.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving! When am I going to find time to make all the holiday gifts I have in my head?? (This is when Miss Perfection needs a good talking-to from Miss Reality, but that doesn't usually happen until I'm good and stressed out, first.)

zzzz ....

Getting very very sleepy, but hadn't posted in a while, so I thought I'd at least say a little something here. I haven't had any time for crafting since Saturday, and I expect to have even less time for it as we get closer to Christmas, but I still have all of my Christmas-gift-making ambitions to contend with. Actually, I'm not giving many gifts at all this year. My nephew Colin and in-utero nephew Andrew will receive gifts, some handmade, some store bought. The parents and grammys will also be gifted, but that's pretty much it.

I just like the idea of Christmas crafting. I used to love to make gingerbread houses when I was in high school and college, but I don't think I'll manage it this year. Maybe Christmas 2009 ...

Aprons, Aprons Everywhere!

Well, there aren't any aprons, actually. But there will be! I've been interested in vintage aprons lately, so I thought I'd try making one of my own. (Obviously, it won't actually be vintage, it will be vintage-inspired, but whatever.) I'm using a McCall's pattern (#3979) but haven't decided on the fabric yet.

I think I'm going to make the view in the upper right corner of the photo. I'll have a better idea once I go through my fabric and read the instructions.

By the way, I finished another quilt last night. It's a circus theme, and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll post a photo soon.

Waiting for Coq au Vin

That's what I'm doing right now. Just waiting for my coq au vin to finish cooking. It's the "Quick Coq au Vin" recipe from Cooking Light, which you can find here. I mean, look at this stuff - yummy! I've made it so many times, you'd think I know the recipe by heart (I mostly do, but if I don't take a quick look at the recipe I might forget something).

This is where coq au vin was born: Bourgogne France (Burgundy for us English-speakers). What a beautiful landscape! So that's what I want for Christmas: a trip to the birthplace of coq au vin.

M.Y.O.B.

I had a moment of extreme self-awareness during my yoga class tonight, and here it is: I am tooooo nosy. I already knew I was nosy (Marc will tell you that when dining out, I'm often inordinately interested in the tables around me), but I can't help it. The world is such a fascinating place!

But the time for fascination is not while you're in reverse triangle pose. That is not the time to be gawking at your neighbors. It is the time for focusing on not falling down. Oh, and stillness, always stillness.

Crafting Doldrums

For reasons that are not immediately apparent to me, I haven't been in the mood for crafting for several days now. I think it's my lack of dedicated sewing space. I have to drag all of my equipment up from the basement every time I want to sew, and it's kind of a pain.

Speaking of pain, I also hurt my back on Saturday, while chasing my nephew around. It was my own fault. I was bent over and running after him at Marshall's, and the awkward angle combined with the duration of running made something go awry at the base of my spine.

Bravely, however, I managed to meet Leslie afterwards at Trader Joe's for the grand opening of the first store in Rhode Island. As my friend Julie said when she called me from TJ's later that day, "You have no idea what's happening here unless you've already been here." She was right, but I had been, and knew what she meant. It's hard to explain the madness unless you had seen it for yourself. The shelves were looking empty, even after just 36 hours in business. It was like a feeding frenzy. Bags of Mandarin Orange Chicken were flying through the air, along with small children and packages of Trader Jose's enchiladas. Not for the faint of heart.

As for my crafting doldrums, I did receive my monkey-pirate fabric in the mail today, so perhaps I will be inspired after all. Ahoy mateys!

Happy Hallowe'en!

I like how they used to write it as "Hallowe'en" in "the olden days." Have a spoooooooky day, and eat lots of candy! That's an order. I'm not kidding.

Pirate Monkeys

I love this fabric! I ordered some today for a baby quilt I'm making for my future nephew. Nothing says "baby" like monkeys dressed as pirates, that's for sure. Arrrr ...


I also ordered some red and white calico prints from fabric.com. I don't normally go for calicos, but I thought they might come in handy if anyone has a baby girl, or I feel compelled to inject a little "shabby chic" into my bedroom. Well, that probably won't happen, but I just liked the fabric and it was only $4.98 a yard (rationalizing alert!). And wouldn't it be cute as a dress for a little girl?

Speaking of little girls, Marc's friends just had twins a month or so ago. I'm in the process of making baby quilts for them, as well. They're both circus-themed, because when I bought the fabric I didn't know the sex of the babies, and mint green "gender neutral" fabric just doesn't do it for me. So, the quilts are bright, primary colors, with an emphasis on red.

Why I Should Own a Quilt Shop

I've been a really bad blogger. I know I have.

OK, I got that off my chest. Now, I really wish I was a quilt shop owner so I could go to "Market" and see all these designers' gorgeous booths!

Ode to a Lonely Bullet

Have you ever found a bullet in your washing machine? I have. Okay, my husband is a police officer, so I guess it's not that hard to believe, but the first time it happens, it's a little unsettling.

I was minding my own business, transferring my wet clothes to the dryer, when I heard a clanging sound in the washing machine. I thought it might be coins, but no, it was a bullet. Now, I've been fairly sheltered in my suburban world, and have never seen a bullet in person, never mind found one in my laundry, so as you can imagine, I was a bit unnerved. Would it explode? Was there some particular way of disposing it? I had no idea.

So I placed it on top of the washing machine, where it remained for several weeks, undisturbed, save for the spin cycle. I finally brought it upstairs and gave it to Marc and asked him to put it back in its home. Was it lonely during its basement exile? Was it glad to rejoin its mates? Perhaps we'll never know.

Nesting Dolls and Paper Cuts

I've always had a fascination with Russian nesting dolls (matryoshka). I think it started with a segment on Sesame Street, during which a set of nesting dolls kind of scooted around and opened to reveal smaller and smaller versions of themselves. By the way, I just tried to find that video online, and ended up clicking on what I believed to be it, only to find myself on an adult video site - decidedly NOT it!

Ok, I just found it (for real), but it's the Dutch version. So if you want to learn to count to ten in another language, please check it out.

I also came across "The Ladybug Picnic" - you will remember this well if you grew up in the 70s. It's actually a pretty funny song when you listen to the words. Much better than Elmo! I highly recommend spending some time on YouTube and checking out the classic Sesame Street videos. I remember them so vividly now that I've watched them again.

Sesame Street is not what I originally intended to write about, but it's kind of fun, no? I actually brought up nesting dolls because I'm hoping to use them as inspiration for a pattern (I'm not sure for what yet). I just love European folk art, especially Polish paper art (wycinanki - pronounced vee-chee-non-kee is the Polish word for "paper-cut design"). The colors and patterns are stunning - I would love to make a quilt with some design elements like this. Applique, perhaps?

Rites of Passage

So I finally did it - I sewed my finger with my Bernina. Although I was not seriously injured, it did bleed a lot and hurt like heck the next day. I was free-motion quilting and hit the side of my left pointer finger right next to the nail. The needle even broke! I feel like I've earned some sort of crafting badge. Is there a club for this sort of thing?




Here's the quilt I was working on when it happened. It was all worth it, though, when I gave it to my Grammy on Monday, and she was so thrilled! Here's a closer-up view of the quilt's chicken motif.

Another milestone represented by this quilt is that I've conquered my fear of binding! Yes, that's right. I don't need Leslie to walk me through it anymore, and I'm finished with doing it the wrong way just to have a binding. I'm so proud of myself! I found this tutorial to be most helpful.
And finally, I had another first this week when I put out my Halloween place mats. These are no ordinary place mats, my friends, because THESE place mats were actually completed more than a month before Halloween! This is the first time I have ever finished a seasonal project in time for use during the season for which it is intended!

Pointy Kitty!

While I was sick last week, I decided to do a hand-sewing project, since I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my bed. The result? Pointy Kitty! The pattern is by Hillary Lang, and is free on her blog, Wee Wonderfuls. You can even check out the Pointy Kitty Gallery, where more than 500 Pointy Kitty photos can be viewed for your enjoyment. I encourage everyone to make a Pointy Kitty of their very own. Here is my Pointy Kitty, which Marc has already claimed for himself. As you can see, Max is also enjoying having a new kitty in the family.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is fun, but Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year. There's nothing like the first crisp fall day to make me want to quit my job and do nothing but craft, particularly costume-related objects (this is my costume from last year, and it's entirely hand-sewn except for the wig - apparently I wasn't all that busy last October).

Unfortunately, it hasn't been terribly crisp these last few days (soggy and muggy would be more accurate). To top it off, I had to stay home today with a cold (presenteeism in the workplace is NOT a good thing - don't be a hero people, just stay home if you're sick!). My wedding is in just a few days, and I'd prefer to not be hacking my way through the ceremony, but que sera, sera. I'm also afraid of getting Marc sick, so I've pretty much disinfected everything I've touched, and take it from me, you don't realize how many things you touch in the space of even five minutes until you have to disinfect them.

The Underground Studio

Jill came over to sew today. After enjoying some homemade eggs and birthday cake courtesy of Caroline (and after Caroline was safe in her bed for a nap), we adjourned to the "underground studio" (aka, my basement) to work on our latest projects. The underground is quite cozy! Here's me:

And here's Jill:

Jill put the final touches on her wedding favors--a set of four coasters for each person/couple--and also put the outer border on a birthday quilt for her Grammie. I worked on my Bella bag and tested a pattern that I might use for the Moda Jelly Roll that I picked up recently. It's the Heritage collection by Howard Marcus (reproduction fabric--love them!).

For Jill's bachelorette party last weekend, the theme was "Isle of Belisle," so I made a set of tropical-theme coasters in honor of her coaster-making frenzy. I used a pattern given on the blog Allsorts. (Jill, there's the link for you!)

Blogs I like

It's comforting to know that there are other non-"krafty" crafters out there. Heather Ross is a graphic designer with her own line of really cool, fun fabrics. She's also got her own pajama company and a really interesting blog too. Check out Weekend by Heather Ross. Many of her posts include her amusing sketches.


Liesl Gibson's blog is called Disdressed. This one's kind of funky too. And wasn't Liesl the name of one of the children in The Sound of Music ("I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen")?



Finally, I've been enjoing Yarnstorm by Jane Brocket. She's oh-so-wonderfully British, and her blog reflects that (think china cups and saucers and cottage gardens, with a certain chicness). She recently published "The Gentle Art of Domesticity," which is what I like to think happens at my house. Her photography is beautiful and really adds a lot to her posts.

Portsmouth Fun

Yesterday, Jon was racing in Portsmouth, NH, a town I love and have fond memories of, so we all went. Part of my motivation to go was so I could visit the most wonderful fabric store, Portsmouth Fabric Company. Oh, I love that place! I loved it before, when Mom and I used to meet in Portsmouth for the day when they lived in Maine. Now it's even better! They have tons of the gorgeous, large-scale, modern prints I’m so attracted to, like Amy Butler, etc.

I could spend hours there, but unfortunately Caroline was with me and she showed zero interest in the box of kids’ books they had. All she wanted to do was hop around on her hands and knees, loudly proclaiming that she was a frog. And begging, “Mommy, pick me up!” And get into things. I did manage to pick up a gorgeous pack of fat quarters and a book of free-motion quilting ideas. But I must go back when I have more time!

I also took a quick run around a store (can’t remember the name) that sold what appeared to be hand-made bags in all kinds of interesting fabric combinations. They had a few basic designs, and you could even buy a custom-made bag by choosing from one of the bag designs and then choosing fabric from a wall of swatches. What a cool idea!

What have I done to deserve this?

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken, I mean. I was fortunate enough to learn of its deliciousness from my dear friends Leslie and Julie, my fellow Trader Joe's adventurers. After a busy night of "wedding registry management" at Target (yes I just registered today, and yes the wedding's in two weeks) and then a home yoga session, I was craving Chinese food, but didn't want to go out at 10 p.m. for it.

The solution? Trader Joe's chicken goes in the skillet for 8-10 minutes, sauce defrosts in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and TJ's frozen brown rice is a mere 3 microwaveable minutes away. Toss and serve. Yum! It's actually way better than the orange chicken I get at my local Chinese restaurant. Try it - you won't be sorry!

Wedding Crafts-a-go-go

If you think about it, weddings are a crafter's dream! There's so much stuff that you can make yourself, with very little time and money. For example, my wedding is two weeks from tomorrow and I've made quite a few of the accessories myself. Check out this ring-bearer pillow. I made this for less than $3 (the rings are sterling silver hoop earrings just for show - the ring bearer is 18 months old and likes to throw things when he gets bored with them). You can't buy one for less than $15, and that's if you don't care if it falls apart on its way down the aisle. And speaking of things to carry down the aisle, I also decided that "wedding floral packages starting at $499" weren't going to cut it for me. How insane is that? My dress, shoes and wedding ring didn't even cost that much together!

So, I headed on down to Michael's and picked out some silk flowers in colors I liked and voila - for $53 I made bouquets for me and my maid of honor, as well as corsages for the moms, and boutonnieres for the guys. I am just absolutely astounded at what people pay for wedding stuff. Because you know that the same items for non-wedding events are usually half the cost. That's just wrong, especially when you can DIY! We're also taking advantage of all the talent we have in our collective families. My future father-in-law is an amateur photographer and takes lovely photos, so he's doing our pictures. My brother is a musician, so he was the natural choice for the wedding music. Total cost for these services? $0 We are going to hire a flute player to accompany Jay, but I believe that's the only thing we have to pay for aside from the church fee. Cool, eh?

And what would any good crafting session be without a trusty feline to hang out with? This is my cat Max, who loves to watch me sew and craft. His other interests include eating silk flowers, tormenting his sister Sealy and watching the stock market.

Yoga Gear

I have always liked activities that require some sort of "gear." For example, I tried golf, not so much for the sport itself, but because I really liked that there were special clothes and shoes. Ditto tennis (cute skirts!).

This is not, I admit, what attracted me to yoga, but I now realize that it too, offers opportunities for collecting gear. First, yoga pants are much more flattering than most workout clothes (especially in black). Second, yoga mats come in such lovely colors! Third, a fashion statement is just waiting to be made with a yoga mat carrier! There's a woman in my class that has a really cool one that was probably really expensive. The bags shown here are examples of some nice ones I found online. So, being the crafty person that I am, I have decided to make my own. A quick online search revealed a couple of patterns that might work.

1. Craftbits yoga carrier pattern

2. Pink of Perfection yoga mat carrier - this video blog is fun and covers lots of topics, from crafts, to entertaining, to cooking.

I will upload a photo when my bag is complete.

Big-girl Quilt

OK, I put that first entry up as a test to see what the blog looks like, and then I didn’t have time to go back an put in a real entry. So here goes…

I said I’ve done a lot more on what I said was my current project. It’s Caroline’s “big-girl bed” quilt. She doesn’t have her big-girl bed yet; we’re thinking we’ll get it for her around when she turns 3 in November. So the fact that it’s all done except for hemming the binding is truly amazing! I’m usually trying to finish things up after the fact. I never get projects done ahead of time.

Here’s a photo of the quilt (almost) done. Some history: the appliqué blocks were originally part of the bumpers I made for her crib, but we ended up barely using them because they didn’t stay up very well and she just got tangled in them. I couldn’t bear to just throw them away, so I cut them up and worked this quilt around them. Almost all of the fabrics in the quilt are from baby quilts I’ve made for friends and family over the years, and the wall quilt I made for Caroline (which has yet to be hung up!). The border and appliqué background fabrics are also on the window valance in her room.

Last weekend I got tons of sewing done! (I don’t have a lot of time with a 2-yr-old running around.) My goal was to get all the machine work done on Caroline’s quilt so I could have the hand hemming to do at Craft Night on the 18th. I did it!! I also got everything cut out for my next project—my first handbag. It’s black and red and the pattern (“Bella Bag” from Indygo Junction) looks very cute.

And a couple of weeks ago I finished these cute snowman door hangers to have as Christmas gifts. (One has already been claimed by Caroline, who loves snowmen.)

Update: Cornhuskers Quilt

I did it! I've finished the Nebraska quilt. I think it looks pretty nice, actually. I'll post a photo soon. The next quilt to tackle is for my grandmother's birthday, as well as a set of circus-themed quilts for a set of recently born twins.

Pain-lates and Cornhuskers

I decided tonight would be a good night to jump back into Pilates. I am now crawling back out of it. I think the last class I took was probably last winter, but hey, I work out regularly, I should've been able to get through it, which I did, but let's just say it wasn't pleasant. So on to the fun stuff - sewing! I've got a number of projects going at the moment, but the one that I most want to finish is Marc's Nebraska quilt. What is this, you ask? It's a rail fence quilt made with college football fabrics. University of Nebraska athletes are called the "Cornhuskers," or "Huskers" for short. I started this project probably 10 months ago, which isn't so bad as quilts go, but I have just had the worst time finding the motivation to finish it, I think because I'm just not a college football fan. Or maybe I'm not crazy about my design.

I'm also working on some coasters that I was inspired to make after reading "Bend the Rules Sewing," by Amy Karol. She had the (new to me) idea to use cotton flannel instead of interfacing in a number of her projects. So I've been making coasters like crazy (to give out as favors at my wedding), in addition to a couple of bags, which you can see here.

First Entry

This is Jill & Leslie's blog about sewing, quilting, and all things crafty (but not "kraft" with a K).

Here's an old photo of my current quilting project. I've done a lot more since this photo was taken. --Leslie