Mahka Crafts

My Weekend

2011-06-21T16:47:00.000-04:00

A Couple Sweater and such

2011-06-13T16:05:00.001-04:00

A little bit of this and that.

I finished this lovely sweater by the Brown Stitch (you can find the pattern here) just in time for New York City to hit the high 90’s. I had to wait for it to cool down a bit so that I could bear to put it on for the picture.

I also made this little guy for a friend’s newborn, my gauge was a bit on the small size so it is a good thing it went in the mail on Friday.

And because I couldn’t not share this ridiculousness…

Only in NYC do you get a guy selling drift wood on the sidewalk. $50 to $100 bucks a pop, makes me think I am in the wrong business. Of course I didn’t see anyone actually buy anything.

Mango, Onion and Apple Salad with Lime Dressing, oh my!

2011-06-01T15:02:00.000-04:00

Did you all have a lovely long memorial day weekend…wait let me revise…did everyone in the US have a nice long weekend? We had a bit of a super sized weekend with my guy actually taking Friday off as well, four days off in a row, together- unheard of.

It was also my guys post birthday weekend. And because he loves nothing more than cooking things over open fire we had several BBQs, in fact there were 3 in total, although one was at his mother’s house so we didn’t actually cook.

For one of the many events I made a mango/apple/onion salad with a lovely lime sauce. It was simple and almost like eating summer. I thought you might like to try it so here is what I did:

1 medium sized red onion sliced thin

3 mangos cut into match in long strips (this is a bit tricky and a little easier if the mango isn’t super ripe)

1 grannysmith apple cut in long strips

For the lime dressing whisk together the juice of 2 limes, ¼ cup of olive oil, 2 tbsp white vinegar, a pinch of salt- and because my limes were a bit on the very tart side 1tsp sugar (you could use maple syrup or agave or even apple juice)

Toss everything together and chill in the fridge until you are ready to eat- the lime juice will keep the apples from browning. I think I might try it again adding nuts, just a thought.

a wee sweater for a wee girl

2011-05-19T17:10:00.000-04:00

It has been a heck of a few months. Both my guy and I lost grandmothers, we had a birth in the family (more on this), a whole bunch of family drama unrelated to the passing and coming of folks and because I think I may be crazy I decided to apply to a graduate school program. It has been a few months of complete chaos. The kind of chaos where you can barely manage to get yourself out the door in the morning and you find you need to check that you are wearing shoes if you do.
So in the middle of all of this chaos we had a wee one enter with a big splash. I was prepared for her arrival and made this in advance.

But she had to come early, really early. My guy’s cousin was induced 2 months early because of complications. I am happy to report that baby and mama are doing well. The little one is the smallest little one I have ever met just over 3 lbs when she came into the world. I felt like she needed all the extra love she could get which means a wee so small you can’t believe this isn’t for a teddy bear sweater and hat. Maybe the only good thing I can say about someone being so wee is that you can actually worry knit an entire sweater in a day.

I have to give heaps of complements now to Bev of Bev’s Country Cottage who has a whole bunch of patterns for premies of all sizes. Thank you Bev for providing such an important service!

T.T.T.B. (to tired to blog)

2011-04-13T13:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry to be missing in action, we had a bit sadness in our lives and have been sticking close to family lately which has made me T.T.T.B., otherwise known as to tired to blog syndrome. Plus my wee nephew did his best to give me his not so wee cold. How can someone so small be packed with something so contagious?
I have things to share, but most of them involve downloading photos, which involves me being awake when I get home at night. Rather than have us all collectively hold our breath for that moment I thought I would pass on this greatness that I came across awhile back.

Did you know that Lego has a whole line of architecturally inspired kits? I always knew Lego's were cool but Lego Frank Lloyd Wright- how cool is that!

More Redwork

2011-03-30T15:02:00.000-04:00

Redwork

2011-03-28T15:14:00.000-04:00

The American Folk Art Museum has an amazing exhibit of Redwork quilts right now through Wednesday. This show is up for less than a week, as if that could possibly be enough time to absorb all that loveliness. Molly and I spent our Friday afternoon getting lost amongst the quilts. As I doubt people who live in NYC will have a chance to make it to the show let alone those of you outside the city, I thought I would show you all some of the photos. Enjoy!

The Nick of Time

2011-03-22T16:29:00.000-04:00

In the nick of time I finished the last swirl. Baby Finn was born last week and I am happy to report that the swirl blanket is currently being blocked into submission. I have never been a big fan of blocking, partially because I don’t knit a lot of lace but it also always seems like an extra step that I can skip. Well I am here to report that this project might make me a convert. The blocking has done so much for this blanket: 1) it increased the size thus decreasing my need to knit more swirls; 2) it opened up the pattern so you can really see how lovely the swirls are; 3) it helps hide the heptagon in the middle.

What’s that you say? You have forgotten your geometry, don’t fret clearly so have I. Each swirl is actually a hexagon with 60 stitches- 10 stitches per side. Each swirl except one that is, yup smack in the middle of everything is one seven sided monster that made the count come out all weird. As I was nearing the end of this blanket I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard to make it an even shape, so my guy and I laid it out to have a good look. There in the center mocking me was the heptagon (mind you I only know that a seven sided object is called a heptagon because my guy was a total math geek way back when). A friend’s husband tried to convince me to cut it open and fix it. Amazingly he is still alive, unharmed even. And I am chalking the heptagon up to the beauty of imperfection…rest assured it has plenty of company in the rest of the blanket.

For those not convinced of blocking consider this photo.

I had to block the blanket in two parts (cause it was big and I was planning on using my bed to sleep). The top half of the blanket has been blocked, the bottom hasn’t. Cool huh?

Snowflakes

2011-03-15T15:26:00.000-04:00

Depending on how you look at it I have either missed the boat or am tempting fate with this blog post. I was going to post this a few weeks back but we hit a warm spell in New York that turned into a warming trend and the rest is history. But this is far too cool not to post and I am sure it is snowing somewhere in the world and there is a darn good chance it will snow here again.

Sarah over at Quince and Quire figured out how to photograph snowflakes. (Come on admit it you’re so impressed by the photo that you forgive me for tempting the snow gods.)

photos by Quince and Quire

You can view here tutorial here (check out her great blog while you’re at it). And let’s face it, if it is going to snow more this session don’t we all need a snow project to help get us through?

Letterpress Love

2011-03-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Do you love letterpress? Really how could you not.

There is a great project up on Kickstarter right now which is to help create an app for the iPad (and other products) that will let you print in letterpress type set. You can arrange and change type the way you would with old letterpress printing.

My father, who is a bigger tech geek than your 7 year old nephew and avid lover of old letterpress insisted that I should post something about this project. You can check it out here on Kickstarter. Go ahead give him a few bucks and help keep letterpress alive!

2011-02-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

I decided that the best thing I can do these days is keep my hands busy. In practical terms this meant I bounced between three projects this weekend: I started a delightful dog toy from Hop Skip Jump and made this hat from Jane Richmond Designs and I worked on a project that has been feeling like work.

Yes, I have been holding back on you all with this one, I swear I didn’t mean to it just sorta slipped through the cracks. I started this way back, a year ago or so after going to Maryland sheep and wool. The pattern is for a scarf or shawl but of course mine morphed into something else: a baby blanket. If there were such things as guardian angels surely I should sign up for the one that keeps you from biting off more than you can chew.

The wee one that this is intended for is due in the next two weeks which means I have had to majorly step things up. Trouble is this pattern does not lend itself to speed knitting, it is a bit fiddly with each hexagons knit in the round outside in. Each hexagon takes 35 minutes, with no ifs ands or buts about it. I can’t seem to shave any more time off (although I am comforted to read on raverly that I am not the only one with this problem). The real sticky part is that you can’t put the work down in mid swirl or all the yarnovers will pull loose or worse a dropped stitch will take out the whole swirl, there is no picking up once lost. And so I work 35 minutes at a time on this baby blanket. Keep your fingers, toes and nose crossed that I get it done before the kid goes to college!
Of course I didn't help the progress any by jumping ship for shinny new crafts, but sometimes you need to knit something fun and easy to get you through the hard and complicated.

A Fair Well to Avice

2011-02-23T11:38:00.000-05:00

On Monday my adopted grandmother passed away. Although her death was not a surprise, she was 93 and in failing health, it has still left me with a heavy heart. My sister and I were very lucky to have her as part of our lives, she taught us about what it truly means to be a creative person and has nurtured our creativity. She is in large part the reason I started this blog, as a means of sharing my projects with her even though she lived many states away.

After I got the news on Monday I was somewhat at a loss of what to do with myself. I was filled with relief and sadness. She would have been horrified with sadness and tears and so my guy asked what she would want me to do at that moment, and the answer was simple, make something. And so I got out my sewing machine and finally made a cover for my heating pad. Admittedly there was still sadness and tears but there was also sewing, and I think she would have liked that. In order to be a true memorial to her I should have covered it in Black and Whites (her favorite color combination) but I used what I had on hand.

Sorry for the poor picture, I pulled it out of my bed this morning to take a picture before heading to work so I guess it has the equivalent of bed head in the heating pad world.

Dinosaurs

2011-02-11T10:10:00.001-05:00

My dear friend Rob and his lady recently had a little one join their lives. Rob and I met in high school when we were both interns at the Museum of Natural History. Being a high school student with full access to the Museum was a real treat, we would spend hours roaming the halls and looking at the exhibits.

So the arrival of Hayden (personally I wonder if there isn’t a connection to the planetarium) called for something special: dinosaur stencils.

I am really please with how well these turned out. I think everything needs a dinosaur stencil now. Of course all this is leading up to a stencil tutorial, promise.

Dumplings

2011-02-08T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hello long lost blog world. I am just rejoining the world post stomach flu. Even though it was only last week that I was healthy it feels like an eternity. I am trying to focus on the good things post illness, like how soft your hair is after you wash it for the first time, or the fact that all my pants are looser. Of course I am still pretty uneasy about the food thing but I am sure that will right itself soon enough.

Before succumbing to illness we made dumplings, I promise the two things have nothing to do with each other. We went on a bit of a dumpling kick making meat and two different types of veggie dumplings- steamed and fried. Basically for a week all my guy and I did was think, make, eat dumplings. They are surprisingly easy to make. You buy the wanton wrappers, in the city you can get them at most Asian markets, I am sure you can mail order them too. There are a ton of recipes on-line. My guy (of course) marinated the meat for the meat dumplings for 24 hours first. All recipes seem to call for napa cabbage, but I am pretty sure you could use regular cabbage too. We made a standard veggie option and then a mushroom dumpling, sautéing the mushrooms first and then sticking them into the food processor with some cabbage and carrots.

Legwamers: fashion forward or fashion Flashdance?

2011-02-01T15:57:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I headed down to NC for some time with my adopted grandmother and let’s face it highs in the 50’s was a welcome weather change. The trip gave me a chance for some quality knitting time and I was able to finish up my legwarmers.

These are based on this pair over at pearl bee. There pattern is for a size small (and they aren’t kidding) so I added 2 repeats. I started following the alternating rib pattern but I guess I got distracted because pretty quickly it became a floating rib creating this great diagonal pattern. It is a 3 row repeat of k2p2- which means you knit 2 purl 2 for three rows and then move over one stitch. At the transition some rows may only have 2 rows and some may have 4 but don’t worry it all works itself out.

So now you all have to be honest with me, are they too 80’s? I may be a working girl but I don’t want to relive the movie! I am thinking that between the color and the fact that I plan on having them cover my legs and not slouch down over my ankles I’m okay, but be honest with me people am I bring Flashdance style back?

Legwarmers

2011-01-27T17:14:00.000-05:00

New York has been cold and snowy (as I write this I look out at the new 12” of snow that fell last night). All this cold and snowiness has got me missing my skirts and got me thinking about legwarmers.

I walked by a fancy village shop the other week and saw these

they got me thinking, and my fingers are itching for some needles...question can one wear legwarmers and not be immediately transformed into the 80's?

January is Kicking My Behind

2011-01-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

So it turns out that January is kicking my behind. Work went from slow to high speed in the blink of an eye. That plus it turns out that existing in a city under snow, garbage and freezing chills takes a lot out of me. I feel like I am just coming to the surface for air. But rest assured I have been making, creating, thinking of creating and all that good stuff.

The post holiday snowstorm was really lovely, and don’t get me wrong grown-up snow days are just as good as when you were a kid but the joy of 2 plus feet of snow wears off once you try to exist in it. For all you non cold weather city folk here is the dirty (and I mean dirty) secrete of snow in a big city, the sanitation department runs the plows, this means that when the plows are running there is no garbage or recycling pick up. As you might imagine this gets gross pretty fast. We had our first garbage pickup since before Christmas last Thursday. I am almost ashamed to admit that I did a little dance when I came home from work to see the mound of trash outside my apartment gone. This weekend we tackled recycling which was threatening to take over the living room.

We did other good home things this weekend like seal the windows with plastic and put up curtains. But by far the best weekend project was making no knead bread, which I think should be renamed patience bread cause it takes 16 plus hours. It is however completely worth it. It is crusty on the outside and soft in the center and the best bread I have ever made hands down. It will now be on regular rotation in our house.

I have a ton of projects to share with you all in the next couple weeks. I have been working on legwarmers and an interesting knit swirl baby blanket. I am also gearing myself up for another tutorial on stencils- cause folks I am glad you all love freezer paper stencils so much but it is time to graduate to plastic stencils which can be used hundreds of times and take about the same amount of work as freezer paper, I kid you not!

I promise to share lots more soon.

More Appreciation Photos

2011-01-05T17:01:00.000-05:00

Now that the deed is done I can reveal the mystery quilt recipient, my mother.

My mom spends more time in or around her bed then she would like these days so it seemed only right that she have something yummy on it. I finished the quilt up on the 24th and she unwrapped it on the 25th. Good timing all around. I confess that I still haven’t mastered the finishing join of the diagonal binding. In fact I got myself, and my faithful crafting buddy Molly completely confused, until I gave in and did a straight line. I didn’t really make a New Year’s resolution this year, after all there are still several left from a few years ago…but if I was going to make a resolution it would be to master that darn diagonal join! Anyone that knows a good tutorial or video out there don’t keep it to yourself!!!

Wallaby Love

2010-12-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

After all my whining these past few months about the wallaby that ate all my yarn and the wee wallaby I thought I had better show you all what makes it worth it.

My guy and nephew in their matching wallabies on Christmas Eve. Coincidental, the wallaby is the ideal sweater to wear to a supper stuff meal.

A Wee Bit of Snow

2010-12-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn is under a blanket of snow right now and I feel a bit like a little kid on a snow day. It seems to be all I think about. Of course I am thinking about some adult snow issues like will my street ever be plowed and will the F train manage to get me home tonight but rest assured I am also thinking about fun romping in the snow. And my guy and I had a lovely mandatory snow day on Monday where we snuggled up on the couch and drank hot coco.

I hope everyone had a warm safe week. Here are a few photo's of the wilds of Brooklyn.

Last Minute Handmade Gift: the mini sweater

2010-12-21T09:58:00.001-05:00

This is the first year in a very long time that I will be spending the holidays in the city. It will also be the first year that I will be spending the holidays with my in-laws. To mark this occasion I decided to break my only one handmade gift a year rule (you all knew I was going to do that anyway, didn’t you?)

The mini sweater ornament is one of my all time favorite holiday handmade gifts. I loosely based the pattern off of ornaments we had growing up. Because I hate sewing in ends with a passion I designed it to be made with no thread breaks and the ends can be used to sew up the sides. My families original mini sweater ornaments all have their initials beaded on the front which make them very sophisticated. But you can leave them plan or embroider something too.

As a little holiday gift to you I thought I would give you all the pattern. Once you get the hang of the pattern each sweater takes about 30 minutes. There is no gauge for this project, I use up the bit and pieces left over from other projects. I usually use a worsted weight yarn and about a size 6 needle. But Bulky is fine too or you can double DK weight. WARNING: this is an oddly addictive project!

Row 1: Cast on 14sts
Row 2: knit
Row 3: knit
Row 4: knit
Row 5: purl
Row 6: knit
Row 7: purl
Row 8: knit
Row 9: purl
Row 10: knit
Row 11: add 7 stitches with loop method, purl across 21 sts
Row 12: add 7 stitches with loop method, knit across 28 sts
Row 13: purl
Row 14: knit
Row 15: purl 10 sts cast off eight purl 10 sts
Row 16: (right arm) knit 10
Row 17: turn purl 10
Row 18: knit 10 jump over to other sleeve and knit 10 sts for left arm (leave approximately 1 ½ worth of yarn between the two arms, this will become the hanger for the sweater- see photo below)
Row 19: purl 10
Row 20: turn knit 10
Row 21: purl 10 add 8 sts with the loop method purl 10 sts of other arm
Row 22: knit across 28 sts
Row 23: purl
Row 24: knit
Row 25: purl
Row 26: cast off 7 sts knit to end (21 sts total)
Row 27: cast off 7 sts purl to end (14 sts total)
Row 28: knit
Row 29: purl
Row 30: knit
Row 31: purl
Row 32: knit
Row 33: purl
Row 34: knit
Row 35: knit
Row 36: knit
Row 37: cast off

the one tricky bit to the mini sweater is the jump over in the middle (row 18). Basically you have created two sleeves with a neck whole in the center of the sweater, by jumping over the neck whole from the right sleeve to the left you are creating the hanger for the mini sweater.

In order to assure that you have enough yarn as you hanger I usually wrap the yarn over my right hand an then pick up the sts on the left needle creating a long loop in between the two sleeves.

Happy Holidays!

CraftSanity Magazine Review

2010-12-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

I have found myself on a quest for a new craft magazine. Recently, I have found myself staring longingly into the whole where Craft magazine once was. Don’t get me wrong, I am always excited to see Ready Made in my mailbox but it’s not quite the same. For one thing, although I enjoy reading about the projects in Ready Made I rarely want to actually go buy the table saw or other special piece of equipment required to make them. I have been looking for a craft magazine that has a wide range of projects from knitting to ukulele making with a trend towards the do-it-youselfer practical gal/guy.

Along this quest I stumbled upon CraftSanity out of Grand Rapids, MI. You can find the first edition here. The cover promises to be “a magazine for those who love all things handmade” and includes patterns, recipes interviews and other assorted goodies. It is created by the loving hands of Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood who some of you might know from her CraftSanity podcasts. It is currently sold in both print edition and PDF format.

I love that she is offering a print edition, I see the merits to selling izines but I have to say for me there is nothing quite as good as getting a lovely piece of craftiness sent to me in the mail. Plus the print version comes with an extra special bonus hexagon template and fabric.

I am excited to see how CraftSanity grows. Compared with some other indie craft zines this has a solid professional feel. The patterns have clearly been proof read and the photographs are well done. It has a little something for everyone, knitters, crocheters, paper doll lovers, bakers, quilters and even old school pot holder makers. The interviews are well done and not from the same list of crafter that you have heard from before, although she does have a bit from Debbie Bliss which is quite fun. I think it is solid choice for a beginner crafter, the projects are small and manageable, well laid out and easy to follow.

Slow and Steady Progress

2010-12-10T14:33:00.002-05:00

I had some time this week for a moment of crafting bliss: I sat at the sewing machine for several hours and worked on my holiday quilting project while listening to an audio book. Really is there anything better than being read to while crafting?

By now you have glazed you eyes on the picture of the quilting in action and had a moments pause wondering when all those blue lines got added. Ahh painter’s tape: a crafters best friend. I really can’t begin to tell you how useful the stuff is. It is sticky without being too sticky. It is great for tacking a stencil down to a shirt, creating a clean paint line and as a quilting grid.

This is my first large scale quilting project and I needed a bit more handholding then a fading line of wash-away fabric makers. I set the grid of painters tape using my ruler and have been following the line to the end. So far so good. I know I am not the first person to use this technique and it is so easy that I know I won’t be the last.

Holiday Etsy Giving

2010-12-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

The holiday season is upon us again. What could be better than some handmade goodness? Even though I don't make everything by my hands anymore i do try to buy handmade things from crafters for my loved ones.
Here are some etsy ideas:

recycled licence plate earrings by wearwolf found here:

linen reusable sandwich bags lined with nylon from country life naturals found here

hand printed linen napkins by madder root found here

mustache pints (I own two) by bread and badger found here

darling necklace by foundling found here

upcycled skateboard necklace (i heart these, hint hint) by seven ply found here

rigmarole's lovely star ornament found here

and lastly for that cook in your life fork tshirt by xeno tees found here

Quilt Top for *****

2010-12-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

Several exciting things happened in my world over the long weekend post thanksgiving. 1) I caught up on sleep, not so exciting for you but really needed in my world. 2) My guy managed to straighten out our ongoing home internet problem which had left us with intermittent phone, internet/wifi (hence no blogging) for a week. 3) I finished the Wallaby to end all Wallaby’s. 4) I got started on a quilt.
For many years I spent Fall cursing my loved ones under my breath as I madly tried to make them all handmade goodies. Depending on your point of view, in the last few years, I either wised up or bailed out. I made the general decision that I would only make things for those who would appreciate it or for those who were so supper special to me that I wanted to make things for no matter what. Of course this didn’t really cut down on Mahka’s little sweat shop pre holidays because most of my loved ones fall into one if not both of the categories above.

But truth be told I wasn’t having that much fun making so many super special things in such a short time. So I stopped. Now I only make one thing per holiday season, sometimes I make more but mostly I stick to it. So far so good, I don’t lose my mind pre holidays and I get to put extra attention into the project I do pick to make. As for my other gifts, I try to buy things only from small crafters via shows or etsy so everyone in my life still gets something made with love and my money goes to supporting people that do good stuff.

This year the gift is for: ***** Okay, I am not going to tell you yet. I am going to do what I can, while still blogging about it, to keep it a secret. Thank you in advance for being understanding.

Last weekend in an afternoon of the great crafting stars ailing just right I managed to make the top and with the extremely appreciated help of super crafter Molly I got it sandwiched an pinned too. I followed Oh Fransson’s advice on making a quilt sandwich, which can be found here. Her technique for rolling the top and batting onto the back is fabulous. It went a lot smoother than usual.

Next up: machine quilting!

The Great Wallaby Revealed

2010-11-30T09:26:00.001-05:00

I guess I am officially married. What, you think that happened over a year ago with the shoes and all those people? Well you might be right but I think I sealed the deal late Sunday night when I sewed the last end into my guys Wallaby. It is official I made a sweater for boy! It must be serious!

For those wondering about the yarn shortage crisis, I alternated the new sheep and wool yarn with the last of the original. I alternated every two rows instead of one because I was at the opening for the neck working in stockinet st back and forth rather than in the round. It worked fairly well. I can still see the change but I think that may be my super crafter powers. As you can tell from the above pictures I haven’t seen it in the light yet.

2010-11-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

Sweet and simple.
I finished my postcard for the swap this weekend and it is traveling to the UK as we speak. I spent some time pondering this card, and actually I was going to go a totally different route with old metrocards as buildings. But something about a stitched postcard spoke to me. And after I received my lovely postcard I knew I needed to stitch it. My guy things it is pretty funny that my cards sentiment home sweet sewing machine is all hand stitched except the edge. I kinda like that about it.

Please don’t judge me for my embroidered script! Half way through stitching the back I realized that I have spent far too many years writing in block letters and can’t remember how to make that crazy extra loop for the r. I fear I have let my mother down- she has a drawer full of palmer penmanship awards.

Post Card Swap

2010-11-12T19:37:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I signed up for this postcard swap. It is a great idea where you make a handmade postcard for your swap partner; you also get a handmade postcard! The theme for the cards is "home".

Well B of Sweet Limes is a heck of a lot faster then I am and I already received this yummy bit of craftiness. Aren’t I lucky!

A few weeks ago I signed up for this postcard swap. It is a great idea where you make a handmade postcard for your swap partner; you also get a handmade postcard! The theme for the cards is home.

Well B of Sweet Limes is a heck of a lot faster then I am and I already received this yummy bit of craftiness. Aren’t I lucky!

Well B has inspired me to get cracking and I have been stitching away for my postcard recipient. I hope to have it finished up in the next day or so and in the mail by Monday. I know you all can’t wait to see mine but you will have to wait until I am done, no peaking. In the mean time check out B’s sight here, it is a worth a visit or two, or three…

The Trouble with Paint

2010-11-08T19:34:00.000-05:00

The precise conundrum I seem to be in will not be fully appreciated by the world wide web unless we all calibrate our monitors to register the exact same color. This is the only way I can guarantee that you will truly see my problem.

My problem: I keep picking the same paint color. I blame my modern architect father who taught me that white has many shades and who needs more. But seriously, I keep picking the same color. Three different brands and names: pilgrim haze, silver strand, cold steel. Perhaps the trouble is that paint names have nothing to actually do with the color they represent.

To be fair, they are not the exact same color. Our hallway, the first to be painted is a lovely pale blue. Our bedroom the second room to don a coat of paint is darker, although in the same family. But now there is the paint I bought for our bathroom. I didn’t want to go too far, I was looking for a nice gray with a bit of blue in it. And I found it, except it is pretty darn close to the others just a bit paler. And so it seems I am no longer allowed to buy paint in the blue/gray range. Clearly I have a problem. Do they make support groups for this?

Bedroom

Hallway

Bathroom

Too Intense Revisited

2010-11-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

I came home early today to stare at the bookshelf. Actually, I was a bit under the weather and came home in the interest of keeping my germs to myself. But I ended up staring at the bookshelves.

I got a letter from my biggest blogging fan, my adopted grandma Avice. She said I either needed to stop staring at the bookshelves or mix things up a bit. Not staring at the bookshelves might be a good idea but I can’t seem to stop, so mixing things up sounded good. Actually covering things up sounded even better. For a while now I have been wanting to put up more pictures of friends and things that make me laugh, but committing it to the wall has seemed a bit to permanent. Committing it to the bookshelves is perfect. So here is a start. My plan is to eventually have a whole host of pictures, big and little, all framed rotating on our bookshelves. If I can’t stop myself from staring at them at least I can stare at things I like, right? Right!

Last Day of Blogtoberfest

2010-10-31T13:29:00.001-04:00

Well I almost made it. We had dinner with my inlaws last night and somehow in my mind I thought I would be home early enough to blog something interesting for the second to the last day of blogtoberfest. Instead I came home full and content and promptly fell asleep. So I guess I owe you all two posts today.
I feel a bit like a lousy crafter because I don't have any Halloween type things to show you. Maybe it is because I don't have kids, or because I grew up in the west village, the hub of all Halloween craziness, but I have never been a huge Halloween party, costume oriented kind of girl. I promise for post two to try to think of something spooky.
Until then I thought I would share a post summer picnic napkin making moment of bliss I had the other morning. I meant to do this at the beginning of the summer. I bought some fat quarters of this great material but some how it also made it to the bottom of the heap. So in the midst of preparing our outdoor space to be winter ready I made some summer napkins.

Too Intense?

2010-10-29T21:52:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking that our world is too cluttered. I decided that maybe some of the problem is that our bookshelf is now directly across from our couch in the living room. Why is this a problem you ask? Because I now stare at it all the time.
I keep looking at photos of other people's apartments and their bookshelves and they don't seem cluttered, why do mine?
I think it might be our bookshelf. It is large and has no back which means a lot of negative space. So I decided to do something radical and go vertical.
I am not ready to pare down my books anymore, or get rid of them all together but I don't pull them out all the time anymore either. So vertical isn't too much of an inconvience...but...is it too intense?
My other idea is to build little shelves or boxed in areas. What do you think? Too Intense?

I Heart These

2010-10-28T13:35:00.000-04:00

I have been lusting after these bangles made by Lynda Slade at sew new things. They are made from old knitting needles that she heats and bends. I think they are lovely.

Quilt in Action

2010-10-27T11:54:00.002-04:00

A good night sleep, some band aids and these great pictures was all I needed to get back on the blogging band wagon. Thank you all for putting up with my disgruntledness. Actually I have really been enjoying blogging on a regular basis. I thought I would run out of things to tell you about but it turns out I still have more things on the list.
It takes a bit of work to figure out how to fit blogging into my regular life. This is especially true because since signing up for blogtoberfest my computer and blogger decided they didn’t like each other so I haven’t been able to upload photos directly from my home computer. This has created a somewhat crazy scenario of my e-mailing photos to myself and having to go to another computer to upload them. And if you all want things spelled somewhat to standard English language it means having my hubby (my god when did I start calling him that?) edit my blog before posting. You may notice that sometimes I post with misspellings and repost corrected texts. So if you really are bored and looking for amusement you could swing by my site and read the same post a couple times and see how it has changed, dear god that sounds boring please don’t do that.

Anyway…
I wanted to show you all some pictures of Amelia playing on her quilt. Cause really is there anything better than seeing crafting in use? A very special thank you to Liz for taking these pictures for me. Thanks Liz, you rock.

Blogging Blues?

2010-10-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, I may have hit a blogging wall. Blogging every day is harder than it looks. I know, I know I have made it look so easy up until now. Well today was a long day, followed by a nasty blister and a crazy bus ride, I won't whine too much though. Instead i thought I would show you one more Sheep and wool find. I went bin diving at a rug stall and came up with these great scrapes of felt. I am thinking about making a felt scarf with raw edges out of it, or maybe several cause I kinda got a lot.
I am off to early bed and I promise to be more chipper tomorrow :)

On My Needles

2010-10-25T20:53:00.001-04:00

Sorry there is no picture today, rather a quick note before I turn into a pumpkin.
Tonight on my needles: my guys Wallaby. What's better then picking a project back up after some time away? The look of happiness I got from my guy when he realized I was working on his project.

Paint Chip Magnet Tutorial

2010-10-24T17:39:00.011-04:00

Last week I was making some magnets to put into a belated birthday package. I had all my magnet making supplies out for three little magnets so I started looking around the apartment for other things that might want to be immortalized into magnets. And that is when I stumbled upon upcycled crafty goodness: paint chip magnets.

I think ever crafty person has a bunch of paint chips wandering around their stash. How can you resist the colors and those crazy names like Banana Cream Pie and Red Hot Chili? For those who haven’t made magnets in the past here is a little tutorial.

You’ll need:

Paint chips (with good names)

Diamond Glaze

A brush you don’t care too much about

Magnets

Glass blanks

E6000 adhesive (you can also use diamond glaze)

I ordered the glass blanks, magnets and glue off etsy but I am sure you can pick everything up at a good craft store.

1) I cut the strips into individual colors. This makes it a bit easier to hold and less chance of getting glue all over the place.

2) Coat the back of the glass blank with diamond glaze and align the glass over the portion of the paint chip with the name. Apply some pressure to make sure that the surface of the glass is making contact with the paper.

3) Let dry, approximately 4 hours.

4) Cut around the outside of the glass with a xacto knife.

5) Attach magnet using E6000 adhesive or more diamond glaze. Make sure you space the magnet a fair distance apart or they will actually pull together leaving you a sticky mess.

That’s it. Super simple and perfect for those who can never quite figure out what color to paint their house.

Yarn Bangles

2010-10-23T15:45:00.001-04:00

I came across this great idea the other day at See Me Knit. I have a huge box of little odds and ends of yarn that I can't quite throw out but that really are pretty useless. Most of them are even too small for a row of a Baby Surprise Jacket. I guess if I ever wanted to knit doll clothes I would be set, until then I will just have to make these knitted bangles.

I picked up the plastic bracelets for a dollar at a thrift store. I am pretty sure that if I was anywhere other then NYC they would be a dime but here a dollar seemed as good as I was going to find. Then it is a matter of knitting a long strip and sewing it around the bangle. Pretty neat.

About Me

2010-10-22T15:04:00.002-04:00

There is a little meme going around blogtoberfest. Here are my answers:

4 things that I always carry:

• lip balm

• pens

• phone

• advil

4 things that are in my bedroom:

• back issues of Ready Made

• a “new” white noise machine (and it rocks!)

• a framed piece of handmade washi paper I pulled

• a copy of Alice in Wonderland

4 things that I would like to do but haven't done yet:

• go to Venice, before it sinks

• spend a month hiking in Glacier Park

• live in Portland, OR

• whistle with two finger in my mouth really loud

4 things that you don’t know about me:

• I hate eggplant, love the color had the food

• I get really angry when people only see their own needs

• I love popsicles

• there is a safety pin in my wallet just in case

4 things I often wonder:

• how can people be so selfish

• where my life will go next

• why there are always dirty socks all over my apartment ;)

• will I ever stop feeling like a bad adult for not being able to spell?

Fall Felt

2010-10-21T20:16:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we went to my friend Evelyn's wedding upstate. She made these crazy amazing felted acorns as table settings. She also made each of us a mini pie but as they were eaten right away so I have no proof of her hard work to show you. These are so lovely and well done I just had to share them; the perfect piece of Fall.

New to the Flock

2010-10-20T21:14:00.002-04:00

At every sheep and wool festival, I try to find a wee sheep for my collection. I am not sure how long I am going to keep adding to this collection because these things can go from cute to "lady with crazy sheep collection" fast. I think I am still okay, especially because no one else has identified me as some one that collects wee sheep and therefore no one gives me them...please don't start.
But met the new guy. No name yet, any suggestions?

Yarn

2010-10-19T22:02:00.001-04:00

Everything is going to be fine; I found more wool for the Wallaby that ate all my yarn. I know you have all been sitting there with baited breath worrying your poor selves sick over my Wallaby issues and I sure do apologize for not telling you sooner that things worked out.

Finding more wool was at the top of the list for sheep and wool and the first thing I did, well, after I ate a lamb burger. I was able to find the same vendor who had something very close to the original yarn. It may be a touch lighter but I can blend it by knitting every other row without making things too noticeable. I was so excited to have found it, and so scared to be in the same boat that I bought 2 skeins of 270 yards. I admit I thought about getting 3 but even I knew that was overkill.

Now I just have to start working on it again.

A Weekend of Sheep, Wool and Good Friends

2010-10-18T14:14:00.000-04:00

I am back and mostly recovered from sheep and wool. This year was more about time with good friends then wool, although there was still a lot of wool. I bought mostly patterns to help inspire me to use up some wool from previous years purchases.

It was a lovely weekend to spend out of the city. The trees are turning and the air had that crisp fall smell. There were also 20mph winds on Saturday but we were well bundled. All in all, my super crafters and I had a great time and managed to get everything on our lists. Mary dressed in brightness bought a huge bright bag and more bright wool to continue her felting. Katy bought a great fuzzy hat right of the venders head. And after a sluggish first day Molly managed to get enough yarn for all the projects on her Christmas list, personally I think it was the extra yummy birthday cupcakes that gave her the strength.

And for those that wonder what happens after sheep and wool:

That’s right we get right to it. Katy had most of her balls wound by the time we made it back in Brooklyn.

NY Sheep and Wool 2010

2010-10-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

there were...

and

and we had a smashing good time

Wonderful Wallaby Woes: part II

2010-10-16T10:00:00.019-04:00

Yesterday I told you the very long tale of the wee Wallaby and my inability to count; today I shall tell you the tale of the giant Wallaby that ate all my yarn. In all fairness, we should probably blame me and my inability to count, this time yardage, and not the wallaby pattern.

So my sweetie and I have been together for about 5 ½ years now. When we first met and he learned of my knitting skills he asked for a sweater. And like all good girls I quoted the boyfriend sweater curse to him. What is this? You have never heard of the boyfriend sweater curse before?

It was whispered to me in hushed tones when I first learned to cast on. It goes something like this: never knit a man you are dating a sweater because, inevitably, you will break up before it is finished and you will never meet another man with the same measurements. I kid you not, this was said a lot to me and to a lot of other young knitters.

So I wouldn’t make him a sweater. At some point because of his pleas I wrote to the holy grail of knitters (my old Vermont knitting group, those ladies would steek anything) and asked what they thought of the boyfriend sweater curse. Their ruling seemed fair and unbiased. They decreed that the sweater curse applied to the beginner knitter and not pros. Because I was a fast proficient knitter who could make a sweater in a month or two I would be fine. But I couldn’t make it for a holiday or take on some insane pattern I would come to hate AND my guy had to promise not to break up with me for 6 months after receiving the sweater.

Despite this sound decision I managed to avoid starting a sweater for him. That is until two weeks after we were married when we happened to be upstate for the sheep and wool festival. When he took my hand sweetly in his and said “NOW can I have my sweater?” What could I do but make him one?

I bought yarn on the spot. Lovely yarn from Maine that is hand dyed and set in salt water from the coast. Do you see where this is going? Yup, somewhere around those lovely big shoulders I realized I was going to run out of yarn. Thank goodness this weekend is NY Sheep and Wool and with a little luck there will be more yarn. Of course the dye lot won’t match so I fear it will have to have stripes and of course I may have to rip back so that the stripes don’t all start at the top and scream “someone didn’t buy enough yarn!”

So please cross fingers, toes and nose for me that I find some yarn to ease the pain.

Wonderful Wallaby Woes: Part 1

2010-10-15T14:56:00.003-04:00

A few years back someone in a Vermont knitting group gave me a pattern for the Wonderful Wallaby. It is a sweater with, you guessed it, a hood and a big front pouch. It is super fun, fairly quick to knit, all in the round, and the pattern is for kid’s size 2 to XXXL adult. Really, what could be better?

The pattern was written by Waldorf school teachers and is full of encouragement, helpful hints and super cute drawings of kangaroos knitting. Now really, can you think of anything better then a drawing of a kangaroo knitting? Ok maybe you can but it has to be on the top of the list, right?

Over the years I have made several for myself and as gifts. Recently I had two Wallabies going at once, one for my sweetie and one for my nephew. And of course this simple pattern that had not failed me yet, failed on both counts. Or maybe I had better say that I failed the pattern, again on both counts.

Apparently I can’t count. You would think that this would have come up before in my life but, no, I just noticed or perhaps I developed some odd brain disorder where one loses the ability to count knitting stitches as they age. Whichever the case may be the verdict is the same, I can’t count.

Let’s go back a few weeks ago to me on the couch making the wee Wallaby while watching a marathon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Body and pouch knit, check. Sleeve one and two knit, check. Join pieces together and decrease for neck, check…wait, uncheck. Rip back, rejoin sleeves due to a difference in number of stitches on each side of body, check.

Now let’s stop for a moment and think, wouldn’t this be a good time to recount the stitches on both sleeves to make sure that they are the same. It sure would have been a good idea, but no that is not what I did. Instead I reattached the sleeves, was again almost to the hood when I counted and yup: all wrong. Rip back. This time I counted, redid one sleeve so they were now both the same number of stitches and proceeded with attaching. Knit all the way till most of the hood is completed, apparently without looking down, and realize that the sleeve are now on completely lopsided so that the pouch is mostly around to one side.

You all must appreciate the courage of showing you this very blurry picture that documents my inability to count, not once, not twice but three TIMES. The fact that I stopped and took a picture of this insanity and didn’t hide it from you all says something, I am not sure what. Maybe it says: don’t watch marathons of Buffy and knit. Or perhaps the super obvious: look down at your knitting every once in awhile!

The good news is I ripped back yet again. Counted 6 times to be sure and got it finished up before my nephew outgrew it!

Self Portrait

2010-10-14T19:50:00.000-04:00

I started this blog a few years back as a way to share what I am making, my stumbles and triumphs with people I care about who live too far away to stop by and see for themselves. Along the way I have picked up a few other readers. It has been an interesting dance of how much of my actual life I want to share with those in cyberspace. How personal is too personal? But when it comes down to it the blogs I enjoy reading the most are the ones that share who they are, admit that they are human and not always perfect and share pictures or small glimpse into themselves. I love seeing where people live and what their homes look like, even if they are filled to the brim with dirty laundry, like mine is now.

The more we share the more we see that there is someone out there like me, or not like me but I like her anyway (I hope). All this is to say her is my self portrait and I promise to post a few more pictures inside my world, dirty laundry and all.

This picture was taken of me by my father, a year ago, the day before my wedding.

That New Car Smell

2010-10-13T14:27:00.002-04:00

Today is suppose to be self portrait day on blogtoberfest but the last 48 hours has been a wee bit too insane for me to find the camera or even manage to go through some already taken photo’s so you all are going to have to wait, sorry. I will try to get one up for tomorrows post.

The reason life has been so crazy other than the standard life stuff (work, dentist appointments, colds, more laundry than I thought possible) is my guy got a new car yesterday. And so this post signifies what I hope is the end of a month of solid talking about nothing else but cars! Looking at cars on the road and debating the merits of fold down seats. Does everyone hear that huge sigh of relief I just let out? No? Really? I thought it could be heard around the world.

Last night we went and signed a ton of paperwork and picked up the new car and left the old one. It is a very grown up moment to have a brand new car and payments for the next several years…Everything went well and we happily drove off into the sunset chatting and playing with all the new devices like the his and hers climate control, which has to have been invented by an amazing person that clearly got tired of having one person freeze while the other felt like they were in a sauna. I may actually be warm in the car without 25 extra layers!

We were so busy being amazed by this new feature that we forgot, until we were at the toll that we left the ez-pass in the old car which was now sitting at the dealers. I sincerely apologize to you if you were stuck in the lane behind us last night as we went through the drill of having the cop come over and look at the car and at us. Thankfully he was a very kind man and did not give us a ticket. Thank you Mr. Policeman for taking pity on us.

Blogs for Blogtoberfest

2010-10-12T12:39:00.001-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that the links to other people’s site over on the right hand side toolbar  has recently disappeared. This was one of those accidents I sorta meant to do. By “sorta” I mean I knew it was out of date and something needed to happen but I wasn’t patient enough to spend the time on it. Because it is Blogtoberfest and rather than just put it back I thought I would highlight a few blogs that I really love and check regularly which you can check out in the new box called: Stuff I Frequently Click On.
Now many of these craft sites are places that many crafters know and love. Angry Chicken who wrote Bend the Rules Sewing is one of my favorites. I recently started reading some of these blogs from the very beginning to get a feel for the person and watch how their lives have changed.

All Buttoned Up has become one of my all time favorite blogs. She is a crafter/sewer with several kids and a wiliness to admit to her mistakes and show you her chaos, process and triumphs.

Skinny Lamix is the blog of a wonderful designer in Cape Town. I love her prints and her color palate speaks to my childhood.

How About Orange is a more recent find for me. She is in love with, you guessed it orange. Even if orange is not one of your favorite colors you will still like her site. She has a wonderful ability to pull many things together from all over the web and present you with the lovely bits. She also has really wonderful and generous free downloads.

I believe that Angry Chicken has her hand in Fat Quarterly but I wouldn’t swear to that. It is a site devoted to quilting that has great interviews and tutorials. They also have a news letter that you can purchase with patterns.

Sunday Treats and Smitten Kitchen round things out with great recipes. I have had the great fortune of going to a pot luck with the sister’s from Sunday Treats and all I can say is yes it really tastes as good as the picture.

Another Happy Birthday

2010-10-11T12:51:00.000-04:00

It might seem a wee bit repetitive to have another happy birthday post right after telling you all about my sister but this is a happy birth DAY post. That's right perhaps my oldest friend of all time gave birth this morning to Hannah (no pictures yet).
Madeline, aka mommy, and I became friends in the third grade when she invited me to share her tire swing. Our relationship was solidified when we were given the assignment of reading out loud (to each other) Anne of Green Gables. From that moment on we were each others bosom buddies. I am over the moon for her and her family about this new addition. In honor of Hannah's entrance I made her this sweet little dress. I made it from cotton purchased at last springs Maryland Sheep and Wool helping to clear out the stash for next weekends purchases.

Morning Glories and the Yarn of My Dreams

2010-10-10T13:02:00.000-04:00

Last spring when we moved into our new place my sweet man planted me morning glories on the back porch. All summer long they vine has twisted it's way around our fence but until this weekend, ah the second weekend in October, no flowers. Yesterday we awoke to these.

Aren't they lovely! I am not sure why they took so long to bloom, maybe someone out there in cyber world can explain it. But as the days turn chilly it is nice to still have a bit of new life on the back porch.

As it gets colder here on the east coast I also find myself pulling out more knitting projects. There is something about the air getting crisp that turns my hands to yarn. On Friday I met the yarn of my dreams. I wasn't planning on it, I swear. In fact I am not even sure I believed in such things but maybe that's the thing about love it always happens when you least expect it.
I spent Friday afternoon at Downtown Yarns, my favorite knitting store in New York. I was struggling with a project that I was making from some yarn that was gifted to me last spring. Next weekend is NY sheep and wool festival and I feel like I need to have some projects started from my stash before I am allowed to buy anything else. So using up this yarn was really some sort of justification to buy more yarn. But this yarn and I were not really friends. I am not in love with its many colors, or to be more specific how often it changes color and width. So I was on project attempt number 3 with this yarn having aborted a hat and mittens when the lovely Callie told me to stop. As she pointed out there was no need to make something that I was had no joy in doing. Thank goodness for Callie.I was so relieved to put it down and release myself from obligation knitting.
This left me to wander the store in search of some yarn. My office is ridiculously cold pretty much year round and I am pretty bad at generating my own heat. I pretty much sit directly on top of the space heater from Oct-June. My hands always are the coldest so I have been thinking a pair of fingerless gloves are in order. With that in mind I strolled around the store and pet all the love yarn. And that is when it happened, I met Rowan Lima. It is so lovely, soft and sorta spongy. It is made of alpaca, merino and a wee bit a nylon to keep its shape. It is a braided yarn which gives it an airy quality. Alpaca on its own has no real memory so when you knit it it can get heavy and loose it shape but the combination of merino, nylon and the braiding solves this.
I have enjoyed this yarn so much that I found myself slowing down while knitting with it so the project wouldn't go too quick. I am thinking that in spite of the yarn investment I will make a sweater this winter from it, or maybe even two.

A Big Happy Birthday

2010-10-09T21:00:00.001-04:00

Today is my big sisters big birthday she turns 40 today. Happy birthday my dear I hope you have a lovely day

Blogtoberfest 2010

2010-10-08T10:59:00.000-04:00

I have decided to dip my toe into the world of Blogtoberfest 2010, I am coming a bit late to the game but I am going to make a solid try of it. Basicly the deal is I promise to blog every day until the end of the month. This means 23 days of my life on the web. My appoligies in advance if I start listing what I ate for lunch. I have been in a bit of a rut lately and I think this may be just the kick in the pants I need to climb out.
So thank you to tinniegirl for organizing this I promise to do my best!

Ta Da

2010-10-06T09:08:00.002-04:00

Applause, applause, applause! Please excuse my lack of humility here but this was one hard finish line to cross!

Miss Amelia's quilt is finished. Despite family events, a cold an a evening wedding on Sunday I managed to put the peddle to the metal and get this puppy finished.
Because this quilt and I spent various weeks not speaking I figured I needed to make the binding as simple as possible. This wasn't really the moment to get over my binding fear, instead of doing one continuous strip I bound each edge with a separate strip. It worked fairly well and unless you know better you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with it, and really there isn't.
You will all have to excuse me now as I do a happy little dance to the post office. And let's hear it for finishing before her first birthday! In fact she just turned 10 months so really there was tons of time...

Miss Chloe Turned One

2010-09-27T09:08:00.000-04:00

The lovely miss Chloe turned one, well a few weeks ago but we celebrated yesterday. She was lucky enough to celebrate her first birthday with her Aunt who was celebrating her 50th or the 20th anniversary of her 30th birthday.
I was in charge of cake for the masses and because I am a wee bit insane and because I believe everyone deserves a kick-ass birthday cake of their very own there were two cakes. To be more accurate there was one big cake (vanilla with chocolate icing) and one wee cake and a lot of cupcakes (zucchini with cream cheese frosting).

In a moment of being really on top of craft-gift giving I made this dress for Miss Chloe, don't be too impressed poor Chloe is one of the quiltless ones. Oh the shame of having let a year go by and not made any quilt progress! But let's not dwell on that right now, let's be supper impressed with me for having finished something on time.

This is very loosely based on a Debbie bliss pattern. Why does she like seams so much? I think she must be so high up in the craft world that she has someone whose entire job it is to sew all her seams up. Sadly I don't have such a person so I have to convert everything to the round or I will never complete anything. One day I will let you all see my pile of otherwise finished projects minus the seams sewn, but not today. Today enjoy Miss Chloe and her lovely momma.

The Making of the Napkins

2010-09-24T09:18:00.000-04:00

The making of these lovely napkins was one of those great moments when the process was just as good as the product.
I am very lucky to have a group of ladies in my life that creative, kind, funny and daring. I like to think of them as crafting super hero's (and yes I am thinking about making us all outfits). One of the best parts of this project was that I got to work on it with them and I got to spend a lovely weekend upstate. Here are some photo's of the making of the napkins with super crafters Molly and Katy. Unfortunately super crafter Mary wasn't able to make it to our weekend but I promise she was there in spirit.

Lovely Linen Napkins- for Lovely Folks

2010-09-22T11:50:00.003-04:00

Two of my all time favorite folks got married this past summer: my good friend Callie and her now hubby Randy. Callie is the Reverend of The Church of Craft so a community crafting project only seemed right. Crafting superstars Mary, Molly and Katy joined me to make this delicious napkins.

We made the napkins from a lovely natural color linen and embroidered the flowers. I found an old plant identification guide at the library and copied a ton of pictures, we whittled the options down to four, so there are two napkins of each image. We had some trouble with the photocopy transfer (this is were you iron a photocopy imagine onto fabric) I think the linen still had too much sizing in it despite having been washed. We ended up doing a compilation of several techniques: photocopy transfers, transfer pencils, and hand drawing with an water soluble fabric maker. In the end they turned out lovely but there was some grumbling along the way.
I think if I every manage to put together a craft book of my own it will be on community craft projects. I love getting together with a group of friends to make something for someone special. These things end up with lots more love in them and I love seeing how people can take the same project and do it differently. No two napkins are alike, in fact I bet if I hadn't told you that there were two of each you would not have spotted it.

New Skirt

2010-09-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

I thought I might start to scratch my urge to sew more clothing by making myself a skirt. It is from a pattern that is roughly based on a skirt I got many moons ago at American Apparel. I made it from jersey with some lycra in it which meant i didn't even have to bother with an elastic waist ban. Does anyone see where this is going? Yup, you guessed it jersey with lycra in it stretches- really stretches. Which means by the time I made it to work I was holding up my skirt with one hand. A second pass on the sewing machine made things better and I think it may now be one of my favorite go to items. I promise to post more pictures of the shape and such soon. I am currently recovering from a yukky cold that has prevented any photo's, well frankly it has preventing anything that wasn't moaning on the couch.

One Year

2010-09-13T11:23:00.000-04:00

Today is my one year anniversary. Can you believe it? Clearly I haven't been wearing my boggie shoes enough.
We had a bit of the "do we exchange gifts" debate and I sort of thought that something needed to happen to mark the year but nothing too serious, cause we aren't very serious when it comes to things like this, and nothing to big and elaborate cause that is not really us either. So of course I turned to etsy.
Apparently the first anniversary is paper which was a least a place to start my search. Since we moved last March my guy has become a bit of a farmer. Well as much of a farmer as a city boy can be with a big back porch and plenty of squirrels to shake a fist at. He is already talking about starting his seedlings for next summer which led me to this.

The gardening paper pot maker. It is super cute and makes these great little pots out of recycled newspaper that you start seedlings in and can go straight into the garden once they are ready.

Cake Craft

2010-09-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

Well I wouldn't say it was a piece of cake, although really it wasn't too bad. This is my practice birthday cake, no not my birthday but the birthday cake I will be bringing to a birthday gathering.
The simple vanilla yumminess (aka the cake base) was inspired by a angry chicken post and can be found here. The icing came from smitten kitchen, do you all know her? cause if you don't you need to check her out now. Be warned that you will get very hungry reading her site!

The icing is made with sour cream and chocolate. Given the current state of affairs with egg recalls and my lack of wanting to deal with an egg based icing this seemed like a good choice but I wanted to check it out first. It is lovely. Not too sweet or tart and I used low fat sour cream (because that is what my guy bought when he went to the store) but you couldn't tell and I will use it from now on.
Confession time: the icing called for corn syrup. And for the first time in my life I bought corn syrup. I don't usually cook with stuff like that but as my dear friend Mary would say, well after she said "get over it", sometimes there are recipes that this stuff is meant for. I think icing might be a good example and so there is now a bottle of corn syrup in my house. It was the smallest one I could find but it is still huge and will be there for a very long time but I guess that is okay because the stuff lasts forever right?

You Have To Eat All Your Vegetables Before You Can Have Dessert

2010-09-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

I took Friday off from work to have a super 4 day weekend, because as my boss put it how often do you get a 4 day weekend. I was planning on sewing the whole day away. I wanted to make a skirt, make happy birthday bunting for Ms. Chloe who just turned one and work on this new quilt square I just saw a tutorial for on-line. But then I had a moment of responsible crafter: you have to eat all your vegetables before you can have dessert. In this case dessert equals all the new projects I want to do that look all pretty and shiny because I haven't started them and the vegetables well those are the heap-o-projects that need to be finished. So I was a good girl and pulled out Amelia's quilt. I bought new backing material because you may remember last time I tried to finish up it didn't go so well. I also decided that this quilt wants to be tied and not quilted. After three failed attempts to quilt it (twice by hand and once by machine) and a lot of time picking out quilting gone bad I came to accept that it was a tie quilt.
I got it all tied off and of course realized there was not going to be enough fabric to do a rolled edge...Why are these things never simple? and so I am now making binding so that one day, one day with a little luck before she goes to college I may actually finish this quilt!

Some Goals

2010-09-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to figure out how in the heck to fit in all the things I want/need to do into this crazy world of mine. Between work and home and various projects it can be hard, oh and did I mention I am drinking less caffeine now? Why am I drinking less caffeine now you ask: the simple answer is that I have been drinking way too much caffeine since birth, really I blame my father and his fancy oh so yummy coffee machine for this. There was a brief 6 months when I went cold turkey but that is a distant memory. So my goal right now is to drink one, that's right one cup a day. After that morning "get your butt in gear girl" cup of coffee it is no more caffeine for me. So far so good, although I do find my brain a wee bit fuzzy in the afternoon, at moments like you know now...
Anyway, I was telling you all about my attempt to fit everything into the mere 24 hours there is in a day. And let me stop here and say I really have no clue how in the heck folks with kids do anything. I have a very selfish list of things to cram into my day and I still can't. But in an effort to keep trying to cram it all in I thought I would share it with you and then when you see me clearing not doing my best to accomplish these goals, or more likely trying to sneak an afternoon cup of joe you can yell at me, nicely. And yes if you are going to yell at me do it sweetly after all I am trying to kick a caffeine habit here.
So here are the goals I have going on right now

Do a bit of apartment cleaning every day so you don't have to do it for a whole day later. So I have been trying this out after reading something (sorry for the lack of article reference here I have no idea where) about doing small bits each day. What I have been doing is spending the first 15 minutes that I walk into my apartment doing some piece of housework (full disclosure usually I pee first). I vacuum, or do 15 minutes worth of dishes or sort the laundry or clean the bathtub. So far so good I have a far cleaner apartment and far less angry long cleaning days. The next trick is getting my guy to adopt this.
Project Make My Pants Fit (PMMPF)- somewhere along the way I gained some weight and now my pants don't fit. Actually I know exactly when it happened but I shall not speak of this here, however, PMMPF is well underway which means the gym 4 times a week after work. This may not seem crafty but if the gym thing doesn't work it means a lot of clothing altering later so you know it kinda fits.
Sew more stuff in general
Sew more clothing for me but because grown up clothing scares me a bit ease in with some kids stuff
Blog more- which unlike this post means take more pictures, which usually means during the day, AND download the darn things to the computer so that I BLOG MORE. This should not be that hard and yet...
Start finishing up some of these lingering projects I have around the house- seriously
Do more crafting that scares me- ok so sew more stuff for me and really blog more fit here. There are a ton of creative things that I am excited about but I don't know maybe I am waiting for the moons to align just right but I just can't quite get past my "ohh that looks fun but hard" phase to telling you all about the amazing thing I tried that didn't quite work.
Get my etsy shop back up- or stop beating myself up that it isn't
Make more stuff for good causes. there are a ton of charities out there that I want to make stuff for and get all of you to make stuff for

So that is the list for now- oh and I should add don't drink coffee in the afternoon but I feel we have covered that

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

2010-08-28T13:47:00.004-04:00

I have always thought it somewhat amusing that most craft blogs turn to food at some point but I guess it makes sense. Most crafters like to create and make things and food fits into that.
I have been thinking a lot about childhood comfort food. Probably because I just read angry chicken's blog front to back and she talks a lot about feeding her kids right. And maybe some of it is because my mom has been having a hard time lately and that make me think of those old favorites dishes she use to make us when we were having a hard time.
I have no idea where she got the recipe for cottage cheese pancakes but I do know that I am glad that I know it and can share it with all of you.
Cottage cheese pancakes are light and fluffy and you don't really notice the curd of the cottage cheese once they are cooked. What you get is a pancake that isn't doughy. You can eat them with syrup but I eat them plain.

1 egg
1tbsp of cottage cheese
a smidgen of flour (maybe a tsp if you have to know the exact amount)
a pinch of salt
**One egg makes about 3 pancakes

Separate the egg so you have the white in one bowl and the yoke in another. Beat the egg white till it peaks. We aren't making a meringue here just a soft peak. (As a kid this was always my job. And somehow I managed to inherit the best kids whisk of all time which I still use, and I am now hoping my sister won't be jealous I have)

Combined the yoke, cottage cheese, flour and salt. I use whole wheat flour because it is what I always have on hand but as kids it was white flour and I am sure gluten free stuff would work too. As my mother tells it the flour is just there to help things stick together. Having accidentally left it out once I can say she wasn't lying- it still works but things get a bit messy and less pancake shaped.
Fold the whites into the cottage cheese mixture. This isn't supper fussy folding just make sure you don't mix it to well and undo all that egg white beating.
Cook on a greased skillet until golden brown. They can be a bit hard to flip but rest assured they are still yummy even if they break apart.

Out of Order

2010-08-25T16:36:00.002-04:00

So you can all tell that A: blogspot and I don't always love each other and B: I started this post a wee bit ago only to try to just publish now so go here which is really just one post away to see the kick ass placemat tutorial I just posted (even if it thinks I wrote it in July)

Britex Fabrics: oh my

2010-08-17T21:15:00.008-04:00

On our recent trip to San Fransisco I got to wander around a magical, albeit a bit pricey, fabric store extravaganza: Britex Fabrics. My very cool guy found it in a guide book and was kind enough to drop me off at the front door for what turned out to be an hour and a half of wandering and petting. I was like Alice in the rabbit hole and thought I was there a mere 30 minutes. To be fair there are 4 floors of goodness!
The top floor is all reminents. I pawed through the racks organized by fiber content and fell in love more then once. I feel I had some majopr restaint and only bought what I felt I couldn't get back home easily and some major yardage of a lovely print that was on sale.

Placemat Tutorial

2010-07-29T11:19:00.006-04:00

I got back from 10 days in the bay area visiting good friends which means i can reveal one of my secrete projects: placemats for Sara. I actually thought I would do a quick tutorial on how to make them because they have become one of my favorite go to gift projects.

I use 100% cotton fabric and batting. Make sure to prewash all fabric before hand, this means that once they are finished the placemats are machine washable. And really let's be honest here, placemats should always be machine washable.

You will need:

1 yard of fabric of the for the top of the placemat

1 yard coordinating facric for the back

cotton batting

rotary cutter/cutting surface

pins

sewing machine

needles and thread

Step 1: Cut Top, Back and Battling:

Cut the fabric you wish to be the top side- I cut my 12"x16" but measure a placemat whose size feels right for you and go with that. The size you cut the top will more or less be the end size of the placemat.

Cut the back out of a corresponding color. For these placemats I got a little crazy and cut 2" more for the backing so the back measured 14"x16". I think I did this because I was super tired when I made them and this was easy to calculate but you don't need more than an 1" or a 1/2" all around.

Lay the top piece on top of battling and cut around the edge so your battling is the same size as the top piece. The battling has a sticky quality so you most likely not need pins. Also if you are a tab short of battling in one place you can tug a bit, battling is very forgiving stuff. (note if you lay the top fabric print side up when you are cutting the battling you don't have to separate and realign these later)

Step 2: The Sandwich

The battling and top are already nicely stuck to each other now lay the top and battling on top of the back with the wrong side of the backing facing up: you will then have back fabric (wrong side up), battling, top fabric (right side up). Place the battling and top piece roughly in the center of the back fabric. Now if you need to you can get out a ruler and do this just so but I eye ball it and it seems to work okay.

Step 3: Pin

Place pins through all three layers all over so that it doesn't shift when quilting.

Step 4: Quilt

Take a deep breath this isn't that scary, promise. This is a great way to get the hang of small quilting by machine. You can trace a pattern or make straight lines. I do meandering thing myself not really straight with a bit of curve to it. **Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end. I usually sew to from on edge to the other and instead of breaking the thread stitch down an inch or so and start the next line of stitches in the other direction.

Step 5: Edge

Roll the edge over and pin.

Again, due to late night project time I didn't do mitered corners. I simple rolled the next side over and pinned it down.

Step 6: Sew Edge

If you are on a sewing machine roll by all means sew down the edge with the machine. I like to slip stitch the edge in place. I really can't tell you why I prefer this but I do.

So there you have it: placemats. Simple, fairly easy and machine washable. This is a great weekend project even for a beginner.

You Got to Know when to Hold um and Know When to Fold Um

2010-07-29T11:07:00.003-04:00

We leave for CA today to see some of my all time favorite folks and their wee ones.
I have been burning the midnight oil trying to finish Miss Amelia's quilt until Sunday night when I realized, on my 3 try to back and quilt it that I was having no fun. In fact I was having the opposite of fun and sounding awful lot like a truck driver in the process. And so I took a deep breath and realized this was not meant to be a marathon it is meant to be a gift of love. I was pushing so hard to get things down that I was cutting corners in ways I didn't like. I was using a sheet as the backing rather than quilting fabric because I didn't have time to get out to a fabric store, I was also using cotton batting because that is what I had even though I thought this quilt needed loft.
And so I stopped. I do not need to finish this before we leave. It is a quilt meant to wrap a little one in love not frustration. So I pulled off the back, gave it a good shake out and folded it up. When we get beck from San Fransisco I will finish it and enjoy it. I will have the right tools for the job and a few deep breaths.

Grace and Nyla's goodies

2010-07-21T09:39:00.003-04:00

I have several very cool projects that you all are going to have to wait to see because they are in the top secrete status. All I can say for now is that they are very cool and you will all like them a lot once you see them.
As I try to crawl out of the hole of 33 babies in a year I have turned to one of my favorite crafts stencils. This outfit is for Ms. Grace born this year to two friends from college.

Now Grace has a big sister named Nyla and because i don't believe in leaving out big sister's and brother's I made Nyla a sweatshirt...

...and yes I understand that this makes the hole of 33 grow exponentially.

Amelia's Quilt

2010-07-13T10:41:00.003-04:00

For those I have not complained to about this I know 33 babies born in the last 14 month. Yes that is right 33. There must have been rolling blackouts or something that i didn't know about cause there is a population boom! To be fair I also blame facebook. How does a social networking site make more babies you ask? Well I wouldn't say that facebook is causeing folks to cuddle up more, however, it is causing me to know about more of them. I have friends from college that I had lost touch with only to find them and there soon to be offspring on-line.
This baby boom has cause a wee bit of crafting stress in my life. There are several little ones that I would have done something but the craft debt is getting pretty high. It is almost bad enough that I want to just hide my head under the covers until these kiddo's go to college. But alas some of them are very special much anticapated bundles of joy that I really want to make something for. So slowly but surely i am crawling out of the craft debt. It isn't easy, especially because the longer it takes to make something the bigger the kid gets which means the bigger the item is...do you see the issue here people!
I am traying to stick with the motto of "keep calm and craft on". At the top of the list is a quilt for Miss Amelia. She is now 8 months old and my guy and I are going to visit her for the first time at the begining of August. Her folks are some of my favorite people on the planet and so I put my noise to the sewing machine and got cranking. And after a long weekend of patch work I have a top.

Etsy

2010-07-06T13:59:00.003-04:00

Some of you may know about the wonderful land of Etsy and others may not. For those that don't know it is a place where crafter and makers of all kinds can sell their wear. I have a site, sadly with nothing on it at the moment but that is another story.

One thing you can do on etsy is post what is called a treasury which is a collection of things you like all together. I decided to do one on call The Not so Permanent Love of Tattoo's

which you can check out here

Craftacular Room

2010-06-14T16:43:00.004-04:00

We moved 3 months ago and for the last 4 months I haven't been able to find a single crafting item. Why is it the thing we love is always the last to get our attention?
Well no more, yesterday I removed ever single item, yes you heard me right, every ball of yarn, stay needle, piece of felt and scrap of paper with an idea on it and got organized. The result: my very own Craftacular Room! Yipee! Crafting here I come

Sheep! Wool! Maryland!

2010-06-10T13:49:00.003-04:00

Katy's surprise yarn for me

B
mega sale cherry hill yarn

Cotton with black threads

At the beginning of May Mary loaded Molly, Katy and I into her car and trucked us off to the wonderful land of Sheep, Wool and Maryland: AKA Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. We all desperately needed some good girl time and some and had a blast. Now for those who don't know it the Maryland Sheep and Wool is the Big Bertha of sheep and wool festivals. It is huge! and on that May weekend it was also really hot. I admit that touching yarn in 90 plus weather is just no fun. Somehow we all gravitated to fine wool, go figure.

Above is some of my bootee. I am happy to report that I have several projects going with various sheep and wool yarns.

My favorite is A Katy's surprise yarn for me. At breakfast of the second day Katy and I decided to exchange $20 and see what yarn the other picked out for them. We had a few things in the mix for example I hate knitting mohair so no 100% mohair for me. What I got was the lovely hand dyed, hand spun yarn above. Currently the yarn and I are in conference about what it is suppose to become. It isn't a ton of yardage. At first I thought leg warmers but I would have to add another yarn. Fingerless gloves for a overly AC office? I am not sure but will keep you all posted on the plan. Any ideas are always welcome.

Been Gone for Awhile

2010-06-09T16:06:00.003-04:00

Life has been a little too much of too much lately which has meant it is hard to keep up with my blog. But rest assured I am still making lots of stuff! And i might even managed to tell you all about it now that my camera cable is permanently living in my office drawer.
In the mean time...I got a package in this box and when I went to recycle it this little note is what I found- I love it! and it pretty much sums up how I feel right now

Home Is Where Your Bernina Is

2010-04-20T15:50:00.004-04:00

Last weekend my guy and I went to the Brooklyn Guild's quilt show. My guys mother is the president, thank you very much, so we got the special tour.
What can I say I was inspired. I realized just how much i missed spending time with Tim Gunn (the sewing machine). My sewing/craft room is far from being operational so with special household permission bestowed on me by my guy Tim and I hit the dinning room table. And as you can see we had some fun.
This is a quilt for Ms. Chloe who was born last August so I really need to get a move on! I am in a bit of a quilter's debtors prison so I need to get a move on here so I can start the next two!

The Great Outdoors

2010-04-01T16:32:00.003-04:00

In New York City any outdoor space is good, a fire escape or access to a roof but a porch well that is prime real estate! And our new apartment has not one but TWO yes two porches. Of course they came with the mess that the previous tenant left in the rest of the house. Below is the back porch minus 25 garbage bags of you name it.

And this is the porch before my guy made it his mission in life to clean it up...

After a few more garbage days we should have the back porch entirely cleared out and ready for spring. My guy simply can't choose between the convenience of a gas grill or the quality of a charcoal grill and so he has chosen to have both.

The plan is to try to start planting in two weeks- and the first of many bbq...soon to come

One Room at a Time

2010-03-22T10:43:00.003-04:00

Things are coming together. This weekend we continued our battle against the box. We now have a dinning room and as it is the room you first enter into the apartment having it come together has done a lot for our sanity.

This weekend was beautiful so my guy spent a good portion of it doing his best to clear out the back porch from the previous tenants crazy plantings and such. We also battled a good 60 lbs of laundry to the laundry mat. Thank goodness we have a car!! and I have a strong guy.I don't think I have done that much laundry in one big batch since my college days.

So we are now clean and have a lovely dinning room and bedroom (I have pictures of that too but it is on the other camera so you will all have to wait)

Next up the living room.

New Living Arrangement

2010-03-04T10:32:00.004-05:00

This is my life right now. We moved in last Saturday post blizzard and my guy had to leave for a trip on Monday so i have been roughing it for the last few days. It isn't too bad. A couple nights ago I dug around and found some key items: a plate, a bowl, a small pot and my underwear. We are sleeping in the dinning room right now and the bed is my safe haven and really only surface to sit on.

This weekend we are hoping to get a rug for the bedroom so we can move the bed into there- I think it will give us a much needed sense of normalcy.

We've Moved

2010-03-02T09:35:00.002-05:00

Well we are sleeping in the living room and our headboard is boxes. I have a make shift nightstand of more boxes and I am lucky I can get dressed in the morning to get to work but we have moved. All of our stuff (and how did we get so much?) is all in one place! We now live in a cardboard box paradise.
I would send pictures but I seem to have packed the cord to the camera so for now you must all trust me when I say we have moved and there is now a mountain of boxes. I am thinking of never unpacking- it takes too much energy to pack and if we ever move again, which I assume we will at some point it seems better that we just leave it all this way.

Mr. Ezra Has a New Coat

2010-02-22T10:53:00.002-05:00

Here is the lovely Mr. Ezra sporting his new baby surprise jacket. I clearly finished it just in time. I think he looks quite dapper.

This is my Life on Moving

2010-02-21T09:06:00.002-05:00

Most folks will tell you I hate chaos- and so why is it that my living room looks like this?
Well 4 wisdom teeth, one fixer upper apartment and February being a darn short month later and this is what my life has come to.
The new place is taking shape. Yesterday we had some great help from the lovely Michelle (AKA the tooth fairy). She was a master painter and cheerleader.
Thankfully today more of the cavalry is coming in the form of my good friend Mary, who short of you all seeing this photo is one of the few people I would let see my life like this. She helped us to move in so it seems right that she help us move out. I am at that packing point where I don't know which way is up anymore and I can't figure out what to do next so I find myself going from room to room. I think a pair of fresh eyes and hands is just what we need.

Still Standing

2010-02-16T09:55:00.002-05:00

Four teeth gone and I am still standing, I may be leaning a bit more but still upright. My lovely friend Michelle played tooth fairy to me and came over and took care of me post surgery while my guy worked on the apartment. It is all a bit hazy but I am confident saying Michelle rocks.
Somehow I managed to go to the new place yesterday and help tape the drywall that was put up. Taping while on pain killers is a very interesting experience. Not my best work but hey it is the closet- right? Please agree here because I need the affirmation of non perfection. We are in the home stretch at that place where we can't actually imagine being out of our old place and into the new in two weeks. We are dividing and conquering the work. My guy is making the new place livable while i am in charge of making the old place loose all charm and unlivable by packing everything.
I know somehow in two weeks we will move but it is really hard to imagine.

Problem

2010-02-11T18:19:00.002-05:00

When this here girl is moving and getting all four of her wisdom teeth out tomorrow she needs to worry knit.
Now said girl was smart enough not to pack her project or extra yarn but greatly underestimated the amount of worry knitting that was going to happen. Hence said girl needs to wined more yarn and the ball winder if packed away and the skeins are big, real big. That is a lot of hand winding.

Packing Sucks

2010-02-11T09:14:00.003-05:00

Sorry for no pictures today, I forgot the camera at home so you will all have to love me for my words alone.
We are now two weeks to moving which means our current apartment is pure chaos. In fact if I am honest it is amazing that my guy and I can find our way out of the apartment without those little stripes of light on the floor they have in case of emergency on airplanes. The other day I spent 10 minutes looking for my shoes with one of those horrifying moments where I was convinced I had packed them.
Yesterday i took a snow day and packed my little heart out. My guy came home early due to the ever increasing mass of snow and helped. We managed to put down a layer of primer to our lovely red kitchen cabinets in hopes that we will get our security deposit back.
Because nothing can be simple there is an extra kink in the plans: tomorrow I am getting all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. That's right, in the middle of a move I am getting major dental work done. This may explain the insanity I feel to have the bulk of the packing done before tomorrow. My lovely friend Michelle is coming over this weekend to babysit me, feed me pain killers and smoothies and watch Veronica Mars so that my guy and his friend can keep working on our new place. They are going to try to bang out the closet work so we actually have some place to put our clothing once we move.

Yarn

2010-02-08T08:44:00.002-05:00

So I am a yarn-o-holic. I am not sure when it happened and I know it has gotten better since I decided that I wasn't allowed to buy random yarn that didn't have a project picked out for it, but still I have quite the stash.

My guy and I spent the weekend working on the new place and moving stuff that could easily be moved or that I had already packed up. That is when he discovered my 8 bins of yarn hidden in the closet- all labeled quite nicely mind you. All told we moved about 15 boxes of craft stuff- and there is more:fabric, glue, zippers, scissors and thread and really god knows what else.

The good news is it has a nice home to go to with it's own room.

Baby Surprise Jacket II

2010-02-02T15:48:00.004-05:00

So the surprise here might be that I finish before the kid was in college. This jacket is for Ezra who is about 2 1/2 months old. Of course I finished the knitting in a flash, I even bought the buttons right away but then there was the finishing, goodness I really do hate sewing in ends! But I figured that I had better finish this up and get it in the mail before we moved or I would never find all the pieces again. I am super happy with how it came out, with a little luck we will get a picture of Ezra modeling for us!

Mahka's Got a Brand New Pad

2010-02-01T08:55:00.003-05:00

We did it! We signed a lease this weekend for the second floor of an old Victorian with not one but two porches! We struck a deal with the owners to do some work in exchange for reduced rent.

So this weekend we began, this weekend which will her one out be known as the scrub fest. My guy tackled the kitchen and I threw myself into the bathroom. 6 hours later and I think we won't get hoof and mouth disease. The previous tenant of 20 years apparently never clean his bathroom- I am pretty sure this is not an exaggeration. I had to clean the tiles 4 times and really I don't want to discuss the toilet. But please note the very lovely stained glass window in the bathroom and there is a giant linen closet too, which needs to be sheet rocked but hey it there right?

And for anyone that wonders what you look like after 6 hours of bathroom cleaning the top picture says it all. Muscles I didn't know I had hurt today.

Craft Face Lift

2010-01-24T11:15:00.002-05:00

There is no shame in the fact that a lot of things in our daily lives need a little craft face lift. In fact my husband and I are thinking about moving into a lovely old Victorian apartment that will need a major craft face lift, if we do this blog may change a bit.
These days the word up-cycling is a over the place but really in my mothers day it was giving love to an otherwise ugly or old object.
And so in that spirit I gave a bit of a craft face lift to this lovely little box. Please excuse me for not remembering to take a picture of it's before but here it is after. I used odd paper I had around and plain white glue. My sister sent me some lovely scrapes years ago of paper from Japan. They were the scrapes from squaring handmade paper. I gave the whole thing a coat of clear water based varnish and here is the result!

Starting 2010 Off Right

2010-01-20T09:45:00.003-05:00

Somehow I my new job, which I love, has boxed me in a bit. I was given a cubicle which I am learning to live with, partially by holding onto my old desk and ignoring the small desk attached to it and partially through putting good things up on the walls.
One of those good things is this lovely calendar made by storybymia on etsy. Every time I look at it I smile, so things can't be that bad. :)

Bluebell's New Home

2010-01-18T21:55:00.004-05:00

Ms. Bluebell got a new home. I guess we don't drink that much milk because waiting for us to finish the next milk carton was going to take to long. Instead Bluebell is now snug as a bug in rug in her new juice box ipod case. Instead of sewing I used industrial glue and I solved my hatred of sewing elastic by adding a small piece of Velcro to the back. If you have ever tried to sew elastic, bless you- I hate it. All the properties that make elastic so good are what makes sewing it so bad. Bless the inventors of Velcro!

Baby Got a New I-pod for the Holidays

2010-01-11T18:41:00.004-05:00

My super guy got me a brand new ipod for x-mass. I call her Bluebell, you know cause she is pretty and blue. She also hold 16 GB which means no more massive editing of albums. (For those of you who know my guy, I am pretty sure that I was given bluebell because he was tired of my music selection in the car)
Those clever folks at apple keep us crafters on our toes by always changing dimensions just enough so you have to rethink the whole case thing. I was planning on crocheting a new case but Bluebell is slightly rounded and has a wide screen which makes placing the cross ties hard. So it was time to get creative with a milk carton. This is just my first attempt, I have plans for bigger and better things. But for now it is two ply of milk carton sewn together with elastic to hold it in place. This won't last long because the position of the headphone jack makes it hard to keep it in place and have it the wheel accessible. But fear not more is to come. After all there is a three day weekend.

Baby Surprise II

2010-01-11T18:40:00.003-05:00

I am one of those people who needs to do things twice to feel like I really understand how to do it. So meet baby suprise jacket #2. I admit I wiped it out right after finishing number 1 but I still haven't sewn it together. Why aren't there little sewing elves that come to my apartment in the middle of the night and sew in ends?
The first jacket taught me a lot about the shape and style and it reminded me that I really do hate sewing in ends! So I went more basic on the second one with two colors and I found these great buttons to go with it's woodland theme.
The goal, which I expect you all to hold me to this weekend is that I finish sewing in the end and get this puppy in the mail to baby Ezra. He is now 2 months old and this jacket has a limited time frame.

Holiday Goodness

2010-01-11T18:39:00.004-05:00

I must explain, I took many, many, really just a ton of photo's of things I have been doing over the past month. But with a new job and the holidays things weren't really making it to posts. So Last night in a fit of organization I managed to download all my photo's and you will now be bombarded with posts. So enjoy them- and I promise to try to be better about downloading my camera more often.
This lovely bit of holiday cheer was my handmade gift of choice to friends and co-workers this year. It is lavender scented bath salts with a little lavender added in to make it purdy.

To make your own:
One cup salt (sea salt works well)
add 5-6 drops of essential oil and mix, add a few more drops if it seems like it needs it- but try not to go over board.
Put in some sort of yummy container.

A note about the container. I don't know about all of you but I am alway reading magizines where they claim that you can go out and get these containeers for no money at all at your local junk shop. And the city kitten that I am always wonders where these folks live that they have access to these junk shops. Well over October my guy and I went upstate to visit some friends that took us their favorite junk shop where I got a box load of these old canning jars for $10. It was a true score.

Winter tote

2010-01-11T18:32:00.004-05:00

After finally getting my craft area cleaned up I was able to sit down and sew a bag I had cut out last summer. It has a lovely internal pocket and I feel like I have figured out the internal lining and pockets! I admit there was some grumbling about getting it sewn in the right direction and my trusty seam cutter came out.

New York is awful cold right now and this bag says summer to me. I can't wait to fill it with sun screen and trashy books and head to a warm summer day at the beach.

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuses

2009-12-07T20:48:00.006-05:00

As an extra special holiday treat I found out that two of my projects are in the new book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuses.

One of my NY times fused plastic zippy pouches and my ipod case.

Best of all I am in some great company with anagram, bread and bagder, combustion glass works, and reiter 8.

craft-orginization

2009-11-30T19:23:00.003-05:00

A few months ago our good friends came for a visit with their 10 1/2 month old, Hunter. He had just started crawling and getting into everything. Before their visit I found myself awake at night with fears of the baby death trap that was my craft corner- and so I spent a solid two weeks moving everything up and out and creating a safe but completely unorganized craft space.
I have been living with the consequences for the past two months. The short of it has been that whenever I want to get something that used to be right at my hand I had to climb on a chair, curse like a sailor and rummage around until I came up with something close to what I was looking for- needless to say nothing ever really went back to where it had come from. I was left with a giant tangle of crafting materials and glue and who knows what else falling off the top of our bookshelves. As you may have guessed this put a serious damper on my crafting.
So this weekend I took the plunge. I took everything down- I organize, prioritized and even sterilized my craft zone. My guy is now thinking he should have bought stock in clear plastic bins. But it did the trick and it is lovely. I even managed to sit down and sew a bag last night!

Babies, babies everywhere

2009-11-21T21:26:00.003-05:00

On Thursday two new little ones came into my life. My dear friends in California had the lovely Amelia and my sister-in-law had James.
I am very behind on my welcome to the world baby things. I still haven't finished Miss Chloe's quilt and she is now 2 months old, but i think that you have at least the first 6 months on quilts because babies just spit up a lot in those first few months so it is better to wait (that is what I am telling myself so hold your tongue if you think they need one at birth!)
I did want to make James a little something quick. He has a very excited first time grandma that has filled the house with quilts and clothing so it was a bit of a challenge to think of something but she pointed out that she doesn't know how to make sweaters and so the baby surprise jacket came to the rescue. I sewed up those two seams 3 time; once because I had one selves going on way from the other, once because it looked bad and once because it turns out I am a perfectionist.
I found some buttons in my stash so this is ready to go when I meet James, with a little luck that will be tomorrow.
Here is the finished product:

All Hail Elizabeth Zimmerman

2009-11-20T11:47:00.003-05:00

This is by far one of the strangest things I have ever knit, yes stranger than even the hyperbolic baby pants of the hammock. The baby surprise jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman looks like a bad experiment in knitting and then presto it folds into the cutest jacket. And just in time too because my nephew James was born yesterday!
I am on my way to get buttons this afternoon to finish it up

Home Stretch

2009-11-05T13:17:00.003-05:00

I have 8 hours and 40 minutes left at my very crappy job, I will then take a lovely week off to sew and have dental work done and then go to my new and improved job. In the mean time I have been determined to make a sweater in my last 3 weeks here. I have a lot of down time in between patients and have found knitting to be an ideal past time. This here is the Whisper Cardigan from interweave knits. I have had to make some changes because apparently I have overly long arms- I had to add about 40 rows so that it hit me below the elbow and I am adding a few inches to the back too- but I am two inches away from being done. And At least I can say I got something other then a paycheck out of my crappy job.

Thanks to the Great Molly

2009-11-04T09:02:00.002-05:00

Many years ago my mother gave me this very cool William Sonoma Daisy cake pan. It has these lovely cut outs that are suppose to leave the impressions of a daisy in your cake.

It comes with a yummy recipe for a lemon cake and recommends that you grease the pan well...unfortunately I have never managed to make it work without completely. Although the cake is always yummy it is extremely hard to get it out of the pan no matter how much shortening and flour you use, it is also a real pain to clean afterwords.

I recently decided to give it one more try, I even bought a new tub of shortening and spent a sold 30 minutes getting it into ever crease, only to have the same problem. I was very discouraged and really ready to chuck the whole idea when my friend Molly recommended that I try making bread in it instead of cake. Her reasoning was that the bread would rise and basically just use the pan as a base.
So I pulled out my favorite biscuit recipe with the feeling that they have enough butter that sticking should be a big issue (mind you I still sprayed it with baking spay) and it worked! even though I am never quite sure what I think about the craft/baking blog merge in general I am so excited that this pan has found new life I had to share it. I am going to try a whole loaf next.

My Flock

2009-11-04T08:53:00.002-05:00

It should really be no surprise to anyone that I have a love of sheep somewhere along the way I seemed to start collecting my own flock at various sheep and wools and fairs. Here they are