penny carnival

Nice booty(ies)

I keep forgetting to take a photo of the slippers I sewed for Bo for preschool. The kids are required to have slippers to wear in the classroom. We searched for something we liked at the stores, but everything was either covered in Dora or the wrong size so I followed this awesome tutorial from Stardust Shoes.

You can see a gallery of others' slipper creations using the Stardust tutorial here.

Bo's buddy M.A.M. needed a pair, so her mama Jovanka (that almost rhymes!) found some adorable owl/tree fabric (this was the needle in the haystack find from JoAnn's I mentioned the other day) and put me to work.

Here's the result:

Aw, how cute, you might be saying (or maybe not?). But so many things are wrong with this picture, not the least of which is that I think they're way too small for M.A.M.'s feet. I enlarged the pattern, just like I did when I made Bo's, but I was going on memory of the size of M.A.M.'s feet--not a sewing tactic I would recommend.

Also, the owls should be facing the other way, right? And I think the shoe needs a button or something to up the cuteness quotient.

 

Anyhow, we'll see how they fit tomorrow at school.

In other crafty family news, check out Bo riding the spaceship she made today from an oatmeal canister and a party hat:

Notice how Peace Bear is sitting in the grandstands there in the background? That's because he was too scared to ride the rocket himself, according to Bo. She offered to go first, as you can see above. But don't worry. She coaxed him into a flight of his own:

Sorry for the blur. Spaceships go very fast.

Giveaway queen

In the back of my mind, I've meant to put together some giveaways for my blog. Not as a gimmick to get more people to visit--it's not like I'm trying to sell anything here--but just because I think it'd be fun to send along the projects I do here to other people. Kind of like sending a letter to a pen pal.

The ultimate giveaway blogger in my mind is Kathleen Dougherty over at Grosgrain (or is it Grosgrain Fabulous? I'm not totally sure which she goes by. Just follow the link). Every other week she sews the most charming little children's outfits and then gives them away. That's it. Sew 'em up. Give 'em away.

Here's her latest prize.

And here are some of her past creations:

The handmade tights were included on this one:

Are you melting yet? Check out this one:

And this sweet little frock, which she made as an auction item for this family.

Um, yeah. I think I'll go slipcover some cans and call it a night. 

Clown town

During nap time today, I tried out one of the vintage sewing patterns I bought last weekend at Value Village. This shirt is Butterick 5254:

I love the drawings of kids on old patterns. These girls seem to be doing normal kid things, not posing for the paparazzi like a lot of the children on pattern packages seem to be doing today. (I always picture the nut-job moms on the sidelines of those photo shoots making ridiculous stressed-out smiling faces at their kids.) The shirt I sewed is supposed to be the one the girl making monkey faces is wearing:

The fabric is a sweet little blue flannel with multi-colored polka dots from JoAnn's. Paired with the design, though, do the polka dots make it look like a clown shirt? A bit, huh?

Speaking of JoAnn's, the selection there has been horrible lately. Anyone else notice? I usually can find a few things I like, but I walked out of there empty handed last night, which doesn't happen very often. Alas, it's my closest fabric store so it's not like I'm going to boycott it or anything.

Next time I make this shirt I'm going to add some length to the body and make it a dress. It's fine as a shirt, but can't you picture it in a baby corduroy or plaid flannel with tights underneath?

In memory of summer (we turned the corner today. it was an absolute downpour), here are some shots taken yesterday of the garden. Our gorgeous September weather meant the tomatoes finally ripened, some cucumbers grew, and the pumpkins are getting bigger.

As you can see here, my biggest weakness as a gardener is not thinning well enough. I just can't bear to kill healthy little plants, but this is what I get for it:

Sorry. Nothing profound or hilarious tonight. Just a bit of sewing and produce.

Upcycling with Amy

I'm a sucker for a contest, and I'm also a sucker for Amy Butler's fabrics. So when Ohdeedoh announced a new contest last week--with the prize being Amy Butler books and fabric and other goodies--the wheels started turning.

I've been meaning to do something along these lines for a while, so whether I even have a shot at the prizes or not, at least I can check something off my to-do list.

I've made things from scratch with Amy's gorgeous fabric before, including these curtains, this dress and this romper.

For this project, I used Amy's fabric to applique fun shapes onto some of the girls' old clothes. Here's a bit from my contest entry:

Among our friends, my husband and I are one of the last couples to have kids, so we often are the grateful beneficiaries of everyone's hand-me-down clothes. The clothes are super as they are, but I'm always thinking of ways I can tweak and personalize them to either bring them up to date or hide little stains (most of which my own children are responsible for creating). What I did here was to applique fun shapes onto the secondhand clothes, covering up mass-produced floral embroidery or the leftovers from last week's spaghetti dinner. I traced images onto interfacing, ironed the interfacing to the fabric, then cut along the lines. Then I ironed the shape onto the old clothes and zigzag stitched around the edges. I also added new cuffs to the purple "'S' is for Snake" dress and had planned to sew a ruffle underneath, but I didn't get that far. The figure on the back of the pink hoodie is of the Space Needle--perfect for our trip to Seattle next weekend.

I should have taken better "before" photos, but these pictures will give you an idea of the original look of the clothes:

And here are some "after" shots:

And here are the girls either a) basking in the glee of Amy Butler applique fashion or b) plotting to drive their mother crazy:

Update:

Here are the images I traced for some of the shapes ...

Giraffe from www.letmecolor.com

Pear from www.epaek.com 

Space Needle from puyallupgemclub.org

The hidden dangers of Craigslist

Just when I thought J was beginning to cope with my craftiness, I come home with 70 back issues of "Martha Stewart Living."

It started innocently enough: a little ad on Craigslist from someone who had some old editions she wanted to get rid of. I e-mailed her wondering if any were the special "Baby" issues. She did have a few. I drove out to her house. She handed me four "babies" and two "kids"--no charge.

And then she said, "I have more Martha Stewarts in the barn ..." Anything sounds good if it's in a barn. She rode her bicycle to her barn, I drove my car, and we proceeded to load up my back seat with this:

There are about 70 issues there, dating back to the mid-90s and stretching until 2006 or so. So many projects to be made or to serve as inspiration.

When J saw the kitchen table he about croaked. "I thought you were just getting a  few?!" I was, but then I saw this:

And this:

Being a newspaperwoman, I hate to promote Craigslist. But c'mon. No one is going to advertise a bunch of free magazines in the regular classifieds. Talk about a "good thing"!

Meet the flockers

A year ago, when I started writing my HomeMaker column for the Spokesman, I declared myself to be a nonquilter in print. I admit. I was afraid. I'd attempted it a couple of times, and I think because I chose somewhat complicated designs, I totally, wholly failed.

I had already gotten over the notion that quilting was an old-fashioned craft. I'd stumbled upon Denyse Schmidt several years ago, so I knew there was great potential for modern quilts--i.e., quilts that didn't involve logos from the Green Bay Packers or images of cornucopia or something equally vomit inducing.

These days, I find myself day dreaming about making quilts. I cut a gajillion squares tonight out of my daughters' old baby clothes for a very simple baby mommy quilt I plan to make.

The next project, I hope, will be the Flock of Triangles quilt from Denyse's book. My plan is to use mainly turquoise fabrics for the triangles with brown accents and to make it big enough to use on J and my king-size bed. Daunting, huh? Damn that co-sleeping. We should have bought a queen.

Anyhow, from around the blogosphere, here are some other crafters' inspiring interpretations of Flock of Triangles:

From Hop Skip Jump:

From For the Joy of It:

From Gloriana07 on Flickr:

And a gorgeous multi-colored one that I can't seem to copy and paste from knottygnome. You can see it here.

Wish me luck.

'Muckin' and junkin''

I'm ripping that headline off my story in the newspaper the other day about the growing popularity of secondhand furniture (you know, because everyone is broke now). "Muckin' and junkin'" is what one source (Roxanne Grimm of Calamity Jane's Vintage Furniture) calls her adventures seeking out secondhand treasures at thrift shops, garage sales and on the sides of roads.

And that's just the sort of adventure my mom and I had this weekend. She and my dad visited for a few days and she was nice enough to let me drag her to various craft and vintage fairs being held around town. I even squeezed in a quick trip to Value Village, where I bought eight or so of the cutest vintage sewing patterns--each costing between 69 cents and $1. You'll be seeing those come to life in the coming weeks, I'm sure.

Anyhow, here are some shots from our treasure hunting. Sorry--not the best photographic quality today. I had Magpie in the backpack and she ain't no 5 pound 4 ouncer anymore.

These first pictures are from the Two Women Barn Bazaar, held just south of Spokane yesterday. What a lovely setting! Barns. Hay. Some fiddle players. And lots of great finds.

From Enchanted Farms, a vendor out of Freeman, Wash. (Geri Pearson, 509-291-5702):

Enchanted Farms again:

Bauer bowls:

Yet another charming take on birthday bunting. This is Enchanted Farms again. My tutorial for a triangle banner is here.

My mom bought Bo the sweet little piano below. It plays the softest, most un-irritating toy piano sound you can imagine.

Does anyone remember the issue of "Martha Stewart Baby" where she used these little planters to hold q-tips and cotton balls? I think she even turned one into a lamp. 

Enchanted Farms:

Another charming toy piano:

This photo is pretty washed out, but trust me. These mid-century plates were way cool:

From the Two Women Barn Bazaar, we head to the new Second Saturday local sustainability fair hosted by Fresh Abundance in Spokane. It was the first of what will be a monthly event. The vendors there on Saturday were top notch, and I'm sure the fair will only grow bigger every month. I'm kicking myself for not buying a beautiful gray and red knitted hat from one gal.

Klay was there selling her charming creations. Here she is talking to my mom.

Then we headed up to a new baby/kid store in the Garland District called Mockingbird. Mama mia. So stinkin' cute. Everything. Including the sign out front.

wooden bird mobile:

Clothing from a company called Hopscotch:

And what with it being a small world and all, bunny softies by Klay.

Posh envy

OK, I don't have her face, her body or her wardrobe, but I really want her haircut.

I don't have her tattoo either ...

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery? Should I call around tomorrow hoping a stylist somewhere has a cancellation or should I sleep on this a few more nights? (The latter option is so not me, by the way.)

And what would your tattoo say should you choose to get one that runs down your neck?