23.12.11

peace


may your new year be full of peace, love,and happiness.

29.11.11

a nursery tour

Between the dark and the daylight,
When night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known and the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet. 

-The Children's Hour
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Won't you come into our sweet nursery? All it needs now is our baby girl and it will be complete...

As you enter, you'll go through french doors we bought at a rebuilding center. My dad got them hung and Shawn carefully made repairs and painted the imperfections that come with buying used goods. 
We may as well turn on the light... oh, what's that?? An adorable light switch plate, thanks to my ebay addiction. Mama rabbit keeping her babies safe from Farmer McGregor.
Our little changing station. The changing pad is on top of an Ikea dresser (also found on the cheap... it had been returned. The best part of buying "used" Ikea goods? Even better than the discount? It's ALREADY ASSEMBLED. Priceless)
Yes, that is a stuffed bunny with a cloth diaper. I was doing some practicing. We are going with bumgenius cloth diapers. All I can say so far .... too cute to poop in. Way too cute. Sweetest little diapers EVER.
On to the closet. Built by husband. This closet had no shelves or bars or ANYTHING. Now, it's perfect. It's full of clothes and shoes and blankets and BOOKS! So many books! Thanks to the sweet shower my sister threw me- it was book themed and this baby will be surrounded with books from day one. Thanks to the shower my coworker threw me, we have clothes and shoes and wash clothes and all sorts of necessary things.
On to the crib. The curtains were made by me from some wonderful fabric from Mill End. Love that place. Also, there is another glance at the most wonderful stroller, a generous gift from my mother in law. It's perfect! And the car seat a dear friend gave us fits it perfectly. And yes, the diapered bunny from the earlier picture has ridden in both.
See that mobile? It's paper cranes, each folded by my sister.
Or course, the tour has to include this wonderful mural painted by husband. Finished and lovely. Rabbits in the garden, geese off to go a-calling, birds flying, mice scurrying. It has it all. 
The rest of the mural. Also, the rocking chair my parents bought when I was born. They have let us use it and it's the crowning touch for such a sweet nursery. Throw over it the quilt made from fabric my mother bought for me 30 years ago (thinking she would make a quilt for me) and it's all pretty darn nice. 
We have two lamps that were also gained through my ebay addiction... one it still waiting for a bookshelf to call home...
 

And that's it! The nursery! It's so full of constant reminders of all the love this baby will have, not just from us, but from family and friends. That perhaps, is the sweetest part of all.

and one final picture... husband working on one of many projects he took on during this nursery adventure:

And always with a smile, I don't know how he did it.

25.11.11

Finished quilt for baby

This quilt is finished and I finally have the camera to take pictures of it. And it's lovely. And much bigger than a baby quilt. This quilt will last baby Chandler for a long time.
The red is a linen I fell in love with at Mill End fabrics. It ended up giving the quilt a very different feel than I had first intended. The squares are all Beatrix Potter stories. They came from a panel my mom bought 30 years ago to make a quilt for me. It never happened, but she handed the fabric to me and ... well... here it is.

The fabric around the panels just came from my scrap bin. I finally have a wonderful collection of scraps and I can usually find bits and pieces to finish a quilt, without another trip to the fabric store. 
Of course, the classic Peter Rabbit:

I went with free motion quilting- the backing is just a dark blue flannel. Soft as can be. 

And here it hangs on the crib, just waiting for the little person to join the world so she can use it!

Of course... we have a nursery to show off as well. Pictures of that to come. 

11.11.11

In love with Oliver and S

I'm without camera right now, which is a shame because crafting and sewing has been going strong here. I finally decided to use my phone to take some pictures of my most recent creation... but I'll have to take more pictures when I have a better camera.
I just finished my second Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress. Both dresses are 6m. I finished the green one last August and the yellow one just tonight. Perfect.
The pattern was wonderful to follow. There were some new things in it, since I'm not really a garment sewer, but it all came together nicely. I love the detail these patterns give to the final product.
The little "v" in the pocket and neck gives it something extra. It's details like this I don't see in the patterns from the larger companies.
I enjoy the yoke on the pattern- how it attaches to the dress to make the sleeve. Plus, the pattern leaves almost no raw edges showing- meaning the inside is almost as pretty as the outside.
The yellow dress was fun- it's covered with bunnies and geese and cats. As I got close to the end and was selecting a button for the back, husband suggested a bright red button. This led to stitching a bright red line along the pocket and bottom panel.
I love how it turned out- and now I can plan ahead for it in future dresses and I can give it a cleaner crisper look. Here's the button on the back:
(Because it came from my phone, I'm having trouble turning it, but the idea is there)

Two pretty dresses for baby. Just a few (five!) more weeks until I get to meet her.

8.10.11

spooky crafting

"Ghosts and goblins all about!
Trick or treat we scream and shout!
Halloween
Halloween
Such a spooky time."
-from some beginning piano book, one of my very first recital songs.

This year I managed some Halloween crafting, to make our entry way a little...spookier. (Or perhaps, just more fesitive)
Teeny, tiny crocheted bats, thanks to a pattern found on ravelry.com. Don't worry, they are very very friendly bats.
I used a charm pack for the first time. The pre-cut squares? Very very nice. It made the table cover a snap.
I'm particularly proud of the free motion quilting. I tried something a little zig-zag-ish. It felt more like Halloween.

And slowly but surely, my collection of holiday goodness comes together. The trick (or treat) seems to be not expecting to have a house full of all hand made goodness in one year. Tackle a project here and a project there, and slowly it will come together.

11.9.11

Brought to you by one Sweet Husband

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were—
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Cotton-tail,
and Peter."
-Beatrix Potter

The nursery walls are coming together. And by coming together, I mean...almost done!!Husband worked the last few weeks to paint and spent most this weekend on the mural. I've been overwhelming him with Beatrix Potter art, and he took the idea and ran with it. So wonderful. We were assisted with some wall decals, but Husband did such an amazing job, it's hard to tell what is a decal and what is his pure talent. 





We'll be putting some molding in right below the mural and then around the room (it's about three feet up from the floor and breaks our tan/cream color from the sky blue). Then we'll get the closet in order (it needs shelves). We have a crib to put together (thank you to some generous friends for donating their crib to us). We have a changing table to get and hopefully a super comfy glider chair. I have some wall art I want to get up. We have french doors to buy and put in. I made some super cute curtains that will go in this week. I have the fabric for the perfect little quilt. And finally, I have plans to make a braided rag rug, to finish off the vintage, country feel of the room. That's not so much... right? We can have that ready in 15 weeks....

28.7.11

for baby

I've finally started some baby sewing. The list of what I want to do keeps growing so fast, I had trouble getting started. I finally found a bib template I liked online. Most tutorials just tell a person to trace a bib they already like... but I don't have a bib I like...so I was happy to find a nice looking template. Plus, it came in two sizes, so I can jump in with two sizes of bibs.
And the result:
 So cute. So freakin' cute I can't stand it. It's made from a fat quarter of a Japanese fabric I couldn't resist ages ago. Pair with some Kona solid scraps and black bias tape... and pure wonderful happened. I just need to add snaps or hook and loop tape.
Oh, a close up on Mr. Mousers:
Plus, you can see the fabric- mice and cheese. I mean, perfection, right?
The mouse is from the book Rainbow of Stitches

10.7.11

Pretty Summer Table

And it is summer, glorious, deep-toned summer,
The very crown of nature's changing year
When all her surging life is at its full.

Summer by Amy Lowell


There a trillions of projects on my wish list, but our new deck needed pretty summer dressings. Bright, light, and summer. I followed the Bolt Neighborhood tutorial, and really this could be a table cloth or a summer picnic blanket. 


I need to take some pictures when the deck comes out of the shade, so it shows off how bright and pretty it is. I used some fat quarter bundle I found at Jo Ann's- it caught my eye and matched the blue solid I had already fallen in love with. The only place I really differed from the tutorial is that I opted to machine quilt instead of tie. 

Of course, my summer table needs more color than that, so a few purl bee citrus coasters and some gorgeous flowers from my mother-in-law (to celebrate husband and my 2nd anniversary) and I think we have the perfect summer table. 


lovely. 

4.7.11

Summer, sweet Summer

Summer started for me- and with it, crafting time.
I've started a quilt (based on the pattern "Fenced In" in Elizabeth Hartman's book).
I'm just about done with a summer time table cloth (based on this tutorial from Bolt Neighborhood... pictures to come).
But true summer crafting has come in the form of felt and coasters. These bright colors bring out the summer in me, which is great, since summer has taken it's time coming here.

Having something to keep my hands busy and to make me feel productive and crafty has been fantastic. Thank you, once again, to purl bee for the inspiration and the tutorial. So many pictures and posts to come of the projects that are all starting. Sweet summer.

22.5.11

it's way over due..

I need to get my sewing space cleaned up so I'm inspired to sew in there... but every time I venture in I just get exhausted. No more excuses though, I've got the crafting bug bad. This week, I clean.

29.3.11

Spring Time

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail.
-Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins

Thanks to Purl Bee for some spring time crafting...spring time bunnies
 Hey little hoppers! Sweet whiskers! Wait... what's that... you have...
TAILS!!
Even crafted bunnies like some time in the grass.
Ahhh, they like each other. I better be careful... or soon I'll have more bunnies.
These are going to be a project for the after school craft club. Plenty of silly bunners coming soon.

21.3.11

Nothing more wonderful than a gift

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  ~Martin Luther

Today I handed off a labor of joy to some good good friends. A quilt as a wedding present- something I always hoped to do, and I finally have done it! And it felt great!
Based entirely off the wedding (invites, ceremony, dresses, flowers) I managed to get it to them only nine months after their wedding. But hey, I'm new at this quilting thing, so I get to take that long to finish something.
Here it is, just the quilt top pieces, partly sewn and pre quilting and such:
Can you see the embroidery hoop in the lower right corner? That's because I embroidered flower traced from the into 8 squares:

Husband designed a square for their names and wedding date:
And the back matched the color of the bridesmaid dresses, with some leftover blocks thrown in:
All pictures were taken post washing- so the crinkly goodness shows extreme. I free motion quilted this sucker, which was a first for such a large project. And it was fun! Really fun! I know there are lots of mistakes, but none that take away from the overall awesome-ness of the project.
Finally- the binding. I found the perfect striped binding online and couldn't get over the cute factor:
Not a great picture to show off the true cuteness of the binding. Just the same, I stand by my statement of cuteness.

Handing this off to our friends was the MOST fun I have ever had giving a gift. There is nothing like a quilt. NOTHING! So fun to make, so fun to give, so fun to use. Nothin' better.

19.3.11

Fabric Love

I've discovered a line of fabric I MUST own all of. This has never happend to me before. But I must own this. I'm so worried I won't get my hands on every last piece of it before it disapears off the shelves.

Prospect Park by Kitty Yoshida. Oh sweet fabric, you will be mine.