Sunday, December 11, 2011

Finished-Object Friday: Holiday Edition

Couple days late again with this weeks' post, but it's been a wild week.   Forgive me.  Say it ain't so at your house too.  As much as I love Christmas, the calm days of January do hold some appeal right now!

First, I'm just bursting to share this paper star project with you.  My co-worker discovered it and made one for her front window.  Once I saw it, I had to make one of my own.  It's no secret that my heart beats happy over pink glitter, so naturally the scrapbook aisle at JoAnn for glittery paper was high on the priority list.

This thing is TWO FEET WIDE!   And beautifully stunning in it's glittery glory.  I intend it to go in our front window which is exactly 36" square, but I need a ladder to reach the window and my husband has the ladders all gunked up from a home-addition he is building, so we'll have to make do with this less-than-ideal photo and just pretend it's hanging in the window for now.

Total cost: $1.00!   You can make your own by following the tutorial here.
In other news, the fabric I previewed last week turned out wonderfully as a skirt.  Again, I'm really impressed with the Sew Serendipity book.  It takes complicated-looking garments and breaks them down into easy pieces.  Perhaps I'll even try sewing a jacket soon!


When I bought this fabric, I had envisioned wearing the skirt with an off-white sweater.  As luck would have it, the hot pink exactly matched the sweater I crocheted last winter.  Love it when things just fall together like that.  The skirt has faux suede accents.


The sweather is loosely based on one from the book Crochet That Fits, but I added the two-toned cuffs and waistband using a double-ended hook and two colors of yarn worked together.  It makes a nice stretchy ribbing.  They're attached with an exposed slip-stitch.


Lastly, the kids requested that we hang stockings this year.   I never did stockings as a child and if my husband did, it wasn't a big deal I guess, because we've never done it as part of our new family traditions.  Apparently it's important now!  So I crafted up some quick little felt elf stockings.  The pattern for these is a free download from Family Fun.  


The instructions say to hand sew the whole thing (ack!) and they use a decorative stitch too; looks like blanket stitch to me.  I actually stopped reading the directions at the hand-sewing point and went straight for the pattern.  My version is made entirely out of felt.  The beauty of felt is that after sewing the seams, you can trim right up next to it so the lining of the stockings show all around the edge.  It almost looks like decorative piping that way, with a lot less effort.  Both of these took about 30 minutes to make.  Super easy. 

Next up...a facelift for adorable owls and a home-office makeover!


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Babies Like Schedules and So Do I

When my kids were tiny it seemed the only way I kept the fridge full of food and everybody in fresh laundry was to have a schedule.  It went something like this:

Monday - Mom's Group & Playdate
Tuesday - Preschool & Errands
Wednesday - Laundry and Sheets
Thursday - Preschool & Errands
Friday - Laundry, Clean the House

Now that the Little Ones are bigger and off at school all day long, I let the schedule go because it wasn't as necessary. 

Or is it?

These days, laundry gets done when the basket starts to overflow onto the floor.  Or when one of the kids hollers that they have no clean jeans. (Thank goodness we have ample socks and underwear around here!)  The sheets get changed on a regular basis, but it's anywhere from three days to ten, depending on when I remember.  I do a pretty good job keeping food in the fridge, but that's purely my own selfishness of making sure there's always romaine and radishes for my daily afternoon salad.  Might as well pick up food for the other people while I'm buying lettuce and ranch.

However, this blog is suffering from neglect.  I think of it often, really I do.  But sometimes it seems like such a mountainous task to take photos, retake photos (because I am a horrible photographer), upload the photos, write about it all, blah blah blah.  

And so, the blog is going on a schedule.   I'm going to start a thing called Finished Object Fridays, which will be just what the name implies.  Or it may be Almost-Finished Fridays, depending on the week.  :-)

This week: Finished Object Friday (12-2-11)

Sample skirt from the book Sew Serendipity.  I'll give a book recommendation and review later, because this is the best book for skirts and dresses I've found yet.    I wanted to try one of the skirt patterns for size and fit.  This is just stash fabric I had lying around.  It's a flattering A-line with pockets.


Love the stitch detail on this piece.  Here's a pocket close-up:


It's a little snug so I'm going to make the next one a size larger (that's why a sample is so important!), and I'm going to make a winter version using the dark gray tweed with microsuede below.  It will be so pretty!  Picture this stuff with tall black boots and a fitted sweater.


In other Work-In-Progress news, I've made more octagons for the Realta Afghan.  I'm about 20% done with the thing...maybe.  It's been so relaxing to sit at the end of the day and make an octagon or two, so it's ok that this will be a long process.  They just POP with color and bring such cheer to these cold winter days!



Till next week, then.  :-)