Under Construction

Moving on

So Handmade Parade (the show I did yesterday) was lots of fun in the "seeing nice people, good weather, fun stuff to buy and free coffee" sense but not so good in the "actual selling of stuff I made" sense. In fact, it was a total bust (except that I got to trade a scarf for some really awesome placemats and a luggage tag by Sarah.  I also bought several goodies from Lauren because she's got the cutest stuff and the best fabric around (and totally reasonable prices!)

I got home last night sort of frustrated but my mom was babysitting (Mr. H was backpacking all weekend) and mom did not allow time for wallowing. We started cleaning the house top to bottom and putting everything back in the kitchen.

At some point I need to think through what I should do differently next time. But, for now, moving on...

The house is getting sparkly (slowly....). It's hard to put things back together after a major remodel and we had a freaky bug infestation in the pantry (gross!) and heaps of laundry etc.  But I need to get the place clean in time for next Saturday and a very special second birthday party.

I'm back in the sewing saddle making party favors.  Still perfecting the pattern.

If anyone is interested in a doll bed or doll quilt or scarf or wood buttons, they'll be in my etsy shop next week after the party.

Feeling sleepy?

I made three more doll beds and their little mattresses and pillows. Sorry for the awful photos but I am very excited about these and couldn't wait.

The brown one is cherry and the others are pine painted with milk paint. One white (the double wide) and one pink.  The double wide was sort of a measuring error so I had to make a wider quilt for it.

It was a good chance to get the turquoise and red thing out of my head and use up the scraps of a linen blazer I bought at the thrift store. It should be done by Saturday.

Handmade Parade is only a few days away. If you live in the Sacramento area definitely come by.  There will be several amazing crafters there.

Finally, my applique tutorial was featured on Whip Up in the recent tutorial list so if you came by from that, welcome :)

Off to sew binding!

An unexpected day at home

So yesterday I apparently left my car keys in my coat pocket and my coat in Mr. H's car and I didn't realize it until he was already at work and I was standing at the door with Biscuit dressed for work, lunch made and no way to get anywhere.  Really, really fortunately I didn't have any meetings today so I took an impromptu vacation day.

(she takes after her father with the legos)

A day "stuck" at home with Biscuit. Not bad!

(I received this bag of very special items several times, each time expressing surprise and pleasure. Wow, some sunscreen!? And a plastic hammer?! She is a generous gift giver)

It was sunny and lovely and I got just enough urgent work done during her nap that I could enjoy the time she was awake.

(lots of dish washing bubble play leading to several outfit changes)

Tonight I finished up three more doll beds plus their mattresses and pillows. I am still really loving these!

(this is a sugar pumpkin destined to be pie. In the meantime, it looked cool in the light on the NEW COUNTER.  I love you functional kitchen with counters and cabinets and a DISHWASHER!)

Working

I've got a show next week and a birthday party in two weeks and no inventory and no birthday party plans. I think posting is going to be a bit sparse although I'll try to check in periodically with updates. In the meantime, I just found this site of lovely wooden toys.  And here's a photo of one of the scarves I just finished.

I really like how the back and front match and contrast making it interestingly reversible. It's kind of wide and large so I'm not sure how functional it'll be but it looks good anyway.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Quilts, kitchens and kid

It's been a crazy/fun 48 hours.

Just over 48 hours ago I finished up this mini quilt. My inspiration was a sunset the other evening after a storm.

It's machine pieced and mostly machine quilted with some hand quilting of cloud shapes.  All the fabrics are from my mom's great garage sale score. Ok, one more photo.I like this quilt

36 hours ago I was home watching our kitchen counters be installed. Wahoo, one step closer to done:

Also note that Biscuit is wearing the most adorable outfit EVER (even though you can't really tell in this picture). AND...that dishwasher you see...is, right this very moment, scrubbing a huge backlog of dishes.  Back to the timeline

30 hours ago I was off to San Francisco on a whim to go to this book launch party. I was too shy to take photos or introduce myself to anyone but I got to hang out with my sister and buy the book (signed). The author, Meg, seemed very nice and it was a fun little party.

27 hours ago Mr. H was putting Biscuit to bed and tooted. He asked Biscuit if she was going to copy him and toot. She scrunched up her face in concentration and effort and then shook her head and said, "No toot. Toot broken."  Oh my gosh how funny is that?

17 hours ago Biscuit fell out of her big girl bed (it doesn't happen often) so I got in bed with her and promptly overslept so 14.5 hours ago I finally made it to work.

15 hours ago the Sacramento Craft Mafia was on tv.

7.5 hours ago I got out of meetings that had lasted 5 hours.

2 hours ago I fixed the dishwasher to garbage disposal connector and 1 hour ago I loaded the dishwasher.

Not bad for 48 (ish) hours.

Mommy's car and Daddy's truck--in wood!

I found this old wood toy at a garage sale several weeks ago. Paid a whole dollar (because it was handmade).

And then I created versions of my own.  The car is basically a copy of the original (and not very much like my Accord). The truck is a Tundra (can't you tell)?  Biscuit is obsessed with pointing out mommy's car and daddy's truck whenever she sees similar vehicles on the road and alerting me to such breaking news as, "mommy's car wet!" or "daddy's car geen! (green)"  Everything is green by the way, she doesn't know her colors.

My second favorite part of the project was that I finally got to use the 2x4's I made Mr. H save from the kitchen demolition. They were a gorgeous, old fir that was too pretty to throw away but they've been sitting outside for months awaiting a project. You can see some of the blemishes on the wood (from the demolition) but I think it adds to the character of the toys.

My most favorite part of this project was when Biscuit spotted the toys on the coffee table this morning and insisted on trying them out and then bringing them to daycare with her. Well, along with dinosaur and a plastic ear of corn. But still :)

I had been planning to sell these toys but Biscuit's interest ensured they'd be part of her birthday gift. Luckily I have some more 2x4s to make a few for Etsy or upcoming shows.

A few random notes:
1. Fellow Sacramento Craft Mafia member Melody has organized a team for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk this weekend. Type 1 diabetes is a cause close to our heart so our family will be walking. If you'd like to donate, you can buy from the Sugar Cube Society on Etsy (all money goes to the cause) or you can link here to donate to the team directly.

2. Sacramento Craft Mafia will be on local tv this Wednesday morning.  GoodDay Sacramento on KOVR 13 at 7:45 and 8:15. Watch for it (but not me, I can't go :(

Simple pleasures

You wouldn't know it from the number of words I manage to get down on this blog but I am frequently frustrated by my inability to express myself well in writing. I was pleased to stop by Luckybeans yesterday and see that Katurah wrote my post for me.  So you can read over there what's been on my mind. I can't relate so much to the stick sharing incident but can relate to the overall sentiment of how I would like to be raising Biscuit (although not in Zambia--Mr. H wouldn't go for that). 

I was thinking about this again after running into an acquaintance who I've met a few times at the park. She has an almost 5 year old girl. The subject of birthdays came up (I am sort of planning Biscuit's party....any day now I'll get it together). Anyway, she was going to let her daughter choose a pinata for her party but when the girl picked the "three Disney princesses" pinata mom put her foot down. They ended up with a butterfly. We lamented how hard it is to find products that aren't completely and annoyingly branded. I find myself purposely avoiding the tv show-branded products just to make a (very miniscule) point. 

So this weekend I tried to focus on simple pleasures.

Playing outside. The seedpod collection we amassed on the walk to and from the farmer's market.

A free carnival at the church down the street (

And making things.

Biscuit secured her inheritance ;) by asking to sit in my lap while I was sewing.  She very patiently watched and waited while I put the binding on another doll quilt.  That was exciting for me!

My attempts at appreciating simple pleasures and avoiding (somewhat) the big, wide world of cheap, plastic toys has led me to thinking about simple toys to make for kids. The doll beds are one. I spent the evening working on another but I think that'll wait for later.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.