Under Construction

Friends

My friend Carrie gave me an ripped an article out of Martha Stewart Magazine. She said the cross stitched family portraits reminded her of me. She doesn't know that cross stitch is perhaps the one craft I have no interest in. But, I LOVED the patterns and decided to adapt them to a sewn project.

Enter my friend, Donna, who convinced me that, yes, I could do this using 3/4 inch squares of calico. And proceeded to help me choose prints and iron all my fabric.

Then I got stuck with design and figuring out how to affix the itty bitty squares. I couldn't decide which way to stitch for my "big" project so I made up some samples.

Biscuit

Oscar

I debated leaving off the mouths (that look like noses) and I wish I had. Just eyes would have been enough. These are backed with fabric to be pillow covers but I decided to continue the test by washing them. They're in the dryer now and based on how they looked after the washer I'm 95% sure I've ruined them. Oh well, it was only a test.

But what do you think? Mouths or no? Stitching diagonal or up and down? I'm still debating if I even like them enough to do the entire family portrait.....

Linen skirt (revisited)

I finally finished the stocking today.

Honestly, the piecing was annoying. As you can tell by the itty bitty patches near the top (where I started) and the giant patches at the toe (which I sewed today).

It's far from perfect but I'm glad it's done. And it'll certainly work for Santa to fill. Santa should really start thinking about stocking stuffers.

In other news, Biscuit and I made a deal at the Farmer's Market on Saturday: she'll cook Thanksgiving dinner and I'll pay her $4. It sort of started as a joke (I thought) but she's very into it. So far pie crust dough is made, pumpkin is baked and mashed and bread slices are drying out for stuffing. Her recipes are selected and she's written menus for our guests. She's off the hook for major chopping and oven use but we'll see how much of this she can do. Should be fun!

Upholstery samples

In this post we're going to practice the "mom scroll."

KRISTY don't keep reading.

Here's a picture of Oscar's TWO teeth!

And here's yesterday's wreath on the door!

And here's today's project. Pencil pouches!

Years and years ago when this blog was young (and probably not even at this url) a reader sent me a box full of upholstery samples. I'm sad to say I've forgotten who mailed it. But, finally, I've used some!

The brownish ones are extremely late birthday gifts for my friend's boys. They'll be mailed along with personalized pencils (!) a concept I was turned on to by Ali's post.

The pink one in the middle is for Biscuit. She'll also be receiving pencils along with the ream of printer paper I've promised her. That kid is a total paper thief with no sense of conservation or recycling. All projects require a fresh sheet. Luckily she also has her beloved white board and our printer is on the fritz so we aren't really using the paper anyway. I just noticed the paper tray is empty. With a broken printer. Hmmm.

Old linen skirt

This is take two on Oscar's Christmas stocking.

I'm liking this better than the first try but there's no way I could get it done in one evening after bedtime. The sashing is a linen skirt I loved to death and finally retired to the fabric pile. Gotta love the reuse.

Christmas fabric scraps

Sometimes it's just not possible to complete an entire project in a day. Especially when you start at 10 pm. Oh well, at least I got out to the craft shack for a few minutes of sewing.

Making an improvisational star is actually pretty hard (as you could probably tell by looking at this). It's especially hard without an iron. Lesson learned. Not sure if I'll toss it or continue...my goal is a stocking for Oscar.

Polyester and a wool blend

A (much needed) coat for Biscuit.

I'm getting smarter about sewing for the kid. I lined this wool (blend) coat in minky (SUPER soft baby blanket fabric). First I had her try on JUST the lining. By the time I pulled out the scratchy, plaid wool she was in love with the lining so it worked.

I wouldn't have chosen white for the lining but I had it on hand (it was a generous gift from Noelle) and the wool was a $2 thrift store find from ages ago so I decided to "make it work." I didn't anticipate how much she would resemble Santa Claus.

She chose the zipper-on-the-outside look which was great since I hate putting in zippers. Try not to notice how totally uneven it is.

My mother-in-law watched the baby so I was able to start and finish this all in one day which was extremely satisfying.

Imperfect BUT she'll wear it, it's warm and it only set me back $2 today (for the zipper) so this is a win in my book!

*Styling by the six-year-old polka dot lover!

Sweaters

My friend gave me the book Warm Fuzzies by Betz White which is all projects to make with felted sweaters.

I think I attached the wings in the wrong spot.

One thing I've already learned about trying to make/post a craft project a day is you don't have time for do overs so even the funky stuff gets posted. I'm hoping to up my game now that I have a few days off.

Can you tell I'm kind of loving my new, white photo backdrop? It's a piece of paper. I found the trick is to set my camera to "indoor" photo, use the super bright work light, turn off the flash and set it to overexpose 1 or two stops. That makes the white backdrop white rather than yellow. Just a little tip for ya.

New curtain

I hung up a new curtain. Biscuit noticed it right away and said it was too plain and asked when I was going to finish it. I said I liked it simple.

It's already way more finished than its predecessor which was pinned (rather than sewn) in place for years. Truly, years and years. So a finished tube at the top for the curtain rod is a nice touch.

The big question is, will Mr. H notice this curtain first on the blog or in our home? It's been up for 2 days and he hasn't mentioned it. Maybe he doesn't like it? But it took him 2+ weeks to notice the old curtain was gone so I'm not really sure. He's been super busy lately.

Ok, back to ironing Oscar's new curtains. It's all about window coverings this week. Only one week of maternity leave left and I have to make the most of it.

Printing and sewing

The other night I made mashed potatoes for dinner. But first, I cut off the ends of the potatoes and put them on a plate in the fridge for future printing.

The next night, despite having little patience or time I started a printing project with Biscuit.

We mixed screen printing ink into new colors and made stamp pads as described in Printing By Hand. A fork in the potato and we were off and printing on some $3.97/yard knit fabric I got at Beverlys.

Hardest part was introducing the kid to the concept of randomness. No, we are not doing lines of one color. Yeesh. But we got through it.

And had a yard of fabric just perfect for a clown suit. Oops. I persevered with the original plan and the result is sufficiently cute that I'll let her wear it out of the house.

The end :)

Playing Project Runway

Old episodes of Project Runway have been my breastfeeding television go-to. So Biscuit has now seen quite a lot of ths show. Fortunately she likes it. Unfortunately (from my perspective) she identifies more with the vapid models than the talented designers.

Anyway, today we somehow hatched the idea to play Project Runway at home.

The Challenge: With a budget of $10 and five hours (while Biscuit is at school) you must: shop for supplies, do some dishes, pick up tar paper at Home Depot, care for an infant (until the mother-in-law came over for a few hours of baby holding) and construct a dress.

Here's what I came up with.

Yes, that's some wild fabric but I kind of love it. It's a lightweight knit so super comfy. And, yes, that is a really long dress but I've known my kid for 5 years and she likes her dresses long. No arguing with her. Yes, that headband is weird. It was her design inspiration.

And true to Project Runway form, the dress and sleeves were unhemmed since my model wasn't available for a final fitting before the runway show.

In true Biscuit fashion (ha, fashion) she had the entire living room set up to her exacting (yet odd) specifications. And we all had parts to play. A painted self portrait she did in school stood in for Heidi Klum. I had to hide behind it and do the lines..."as you know, in fashion, one day you're in, and the next day, you're out." (where are the commas in that phrase?)

ANYWAY it was all done just so and she loved it. And for some reason it ended with a heartfelt note from her to me titled: Good Job and then a family portrait.

Next up: Project Runway the pajama challenge and make your own fabric challenge.

Scroll down a post if you want to see a zillion pictures of fireworks. Or not....