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Retreat – Emphasis on the Treat

Published November 15, 2011 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 6 Comments

Last weekend I was lucky enough to head to Colorado again to hang out with Tara and Amanda for Amanda’s annual quilting retreat. Even though I hadn’t seen them in two years we just picked up where we left off. I cannot express how much I love sitting with friends and sewing. I swear Amanda can get me to try just about anything — she’s the one who first got me sewing triangles — and this time she finally got me free-motion quilting. Amanda’s sample quilt is so inspiring and mine is really coming together, I hope to show you some of it soon.

There were lots of great women at the retreat and I was lucky enough to sit next to Penny who I have decided I want to be when I grow up even though I think we’re almost the same age. I took no decent photographs, the good camera stayed at home so I could take the sewing machine. That little quilt up there was my contribution to the mini quilt swap, I’m calling it Red Roof since the red triangle in the top left log cabin looks like a little roof on a blue house. It went home to live with Amanda and that makes me very happy. An Amanda made pillow came home to live with me.

Now it’s back to regular programming except that I have a crazy busy week and Tristan’s birthday party on Saturday. Thanksgiving is next week — how did that happen?!? We have company headed into town and lots to do. I just love this time of year, and it’s even better with the possibility of a finished quilt on the horizon.

Trick or Treat

Published November 1, 2011 Crafting With the Urchins , Fiber Crafts , Sewing Leave a Comment

I think we’ve reached a point — and I don’t say this to brag — where no one believes the urchin costumes are homemade anymore. We got tons of comments last night about how great they were but I got the sense that most people thought we spent a lot of money on them. Then again, I spent the weekend chronicling on Facebook my costume progress so my friends knew I made them. Really though, what difference does it make anyway? The whole homemade costume requirement lives in my head, it’s not like it’s a real rule. Rambling aside, I present to you the 2011 Urchin Costume Collection, an Ewok and an Owl:

I hope you and your family had a very Happy Halloween. You can see our previous Halloweens here:

4.5

Published May 9, 2011 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 5 Comments

Wow, talk about a blogging break. I’ve been meaning to get back here but I guess I really needed the break. Blogging isn’t what it used to be, you know? But I do miss this space and chatting with all of you. And the making continues even though I haven’t been talking about it here. You can see some of what’s been finished
on flickr but I have to admit I’ve taken a bit of a break from there as well.

But like I said, I’d like to hang out here a bit more so I’m jumping back in with the Kids Clothing Week Challenge that is going on this week. And for a little inspiration the photo above is of Katrina’s Easter dress. I made it in on the Saturday before Easter — although we had planned it out and gotten the fabrics long before — and it turned out so well. It’s actually separates which worked out much better than a one piece dress would have. It was inspired by a dress we saw on Etsy. Her headband is from Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery who was great to work with. I have no intention of making anything this complicated for the KCWC, we’re starting today with nightgowns.

Hoodie

Published November 5, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Sewing 2 Comments

Back in October Tristan went to a party for his friend Mallory that happens to be the youngest of three girls. Katie is friends with the older girls so we know the family fairly well and I knew that they did not need any more toys. In the past we’ve given them craft and baking sets but I wasn’t inspired with a new idea this time. So, we decided to make her something she could wear.

One morning at school dropoff we asked Mallory what her favorite color was, blue and also green, so that’s what we went with. I used the pattern Scrapbook Jeans and a Sweatshirt from Pink Fig Patterns. Tristan went with me to the fabric store and helped pick all of the fabrics, I had the blue and green Amy Butler to start with in my stash. The dot — a really great one — and the plain turquoise fabrics are from Georgia by Pat Sloan. I used a blue velour for the inside of the hood so it would be nice and soft. The whole thing came together in just a few hours so I’m thinking of more fun combinations including a ballet themed one for Katie to wear backstage at the Nutcracker. Wouldn’t that be so fun?

Halloween

Published November 3, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 2 Comments

We had a lovely halloween, did you? Papa’s parents and sister were here and it was so fun for them to get to enjoy this fun silly holiday and all the traditions with us. Saturday morning everyone carved pumpkins while I went to the farmers market. On Sunday afternoon they experienced the frantic making and last-minute engineering involved in costume development — this year was actually quite calm. Sunday evening they witnessed the annual Halloween group portrait — what started as a group of three tiny trick-or-treaters has expanded to a group of six — and partook of the annual doughnuts and cider before heading out to the neighborhood.

I actually made three costumes this year since Katie devised a plan involving a bat costume for her and my nephew. Those two were easy enough though, we used an umbrella split in two for their wings and I sewed two-sided velcro straps to the wrist and upper arms. Their ears were sewn onto “ninja” hat/mask things I picked up at the party store. The worst part was finding the black sweatpants and sweatshirts.

Tristan decided back in the summer that he would be a Jawa — from Star Wars — this year so the main part of his costume was a hooded cape — Simplicity 5512 — in imitation brown suede. He wore two of Stefan’s belts criss-crossed on his torso, black gloves, and another ninja mask, this time backwards. the finishing touch was yellow lensed sunglasses. We tried all different things to give him glowing eyes — see last-minute engineering above — but the sunglasses were the best thing we came up with that still allowed him to see where he was walking.

Halloween costumes are fun but I must admit, I’m always a little glad when I don’t have to think about them again until next year. If you’d like to take a trip down memory lane here are the costumes from previous years:

Birthday Gifts

Published August 27, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Sewing 5 Comments

Last weekend we celebrated my niece Gabrielle’s eighth birthday — eight! — and as in years before I made her some clothes. My sister is super-sweet and usually Gabrielle wears the outfit I make her for the first day of school. Talk about pressure! So, this year in discussing with my sister what to make we decided on something with blue, since that is Gabby’s favorite color, and something that has a skirt. My sister loves anything Asian — including her husband — and I remembered a kimono top from an old Ottobre and a plan was hatched.

The blue embroidered cotton was from my mother-in-law, I think she picked it up on a trip to Asia, and the brown is a batik from my local fabric store. The kimono top — #12 from Ottobbre 4/2008 — is fully lined and has a hidden ribbon closure — with butterfly beads — and flower buttons. The skirt is just gathered with a contrast yoke and pockets. I didn’t use a pattern just traced around Katie’s hand for the pocket shape/size.

And for the fun gift from the urchins Gabrielle received two new outfits for her American Girl doll. The dress coordinates with the kimono outfit and the other outfit is just a fun summer outfit. Both were based on a simplicity pattern I got sometime when patterns were a dollar. For doll clothes you just really need a basic pattern and you can change it to suit your needs. In this case the top for the shorts is the bodice of the dress and instead of a skirt I used a pre-gathered bit of eyelet lace. The shorts are literally shortened pants.

Un-Camping

Published July 27, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 3 Comments

Last Saturday we headed out with a new tent in the back of the car. We drove to our destination and puttered around the town, visiting the children’s museum, the toy store, and the yarn shop — all must sees on a urchin family trip. My mom called because she was at home worrying about us in the heat. It was hot but we were hanging out in the shade, in and out of AC, and drinking plenty of fluids. But at dinner Stefan and I started talking about whether we really should sleep in a tent when the overnight low was expected to be 87 degrees. He had a race in the morning.

So we started calling all the hotels in the area and got the same answer we’re completely booked. It was 7:00 in the evening and 104 degrees. Then Stefan started calling some B&Bs but we had the urchins with us and most don’t allow children. Luckily though, people at B&Bs are very nice and one such lady started calling everywhere she could think of. We got the last room at the Doubletree and sighed with relief.

So we went un-camping and all this is to tell you that we had the camping quilts ready but ended up not needing them in the end. You’ve seen the rainbow one before. It’s backed with a duvet cover from IKEA and bound in the same. I decided to use wool as a batting on all the camping quilts because not only is it warm, it also warm when it’s wet, which when camping is a real possibility. But one thing about wool is that it shrinks up a lot when laundered so if the quilting doesn’t go all the way to the edge or isn’t dense enough you will lose a lot of area. Think your favorite puckery quilt and get even puckery-er. It was quilted with a fireworks pattern in variegated thread that really looks great on both sides.

The brown and pink quilt was made with pink scrap log cabins sashed in a brown Denyse Schmidt fabric that I had a bunch of — it has a small pink dot in it. It is backed and bound in the brown too. The quilting on this one is a daisy pattern in a pink thread. There’s a name for setting the log cabins like this but I can’t think of it, they look kind of wonky in the photo but they are straight, just the sashing width varies between blocks.

So, two camping quilts down and one more to go — or maybe two? Thanks for all your help with that. Our next scheduled camping trip isn’t until later in the Autumn although Stefan thinks we need to do one more this summer. Hopefully next time we’ll actually end up in the tent and putting these quilts to good use.

Brown, Black, and Grey

Published July 15, 2010 Fiber Crafts , In the Mailbox , Sewing , Swaps 7 Comments

I’ve been making good progress on our camping quilts recently. The rainbow one is quilted and next in line to be bound. Another one — made from pink log cabin blocks and sashed in brown — is at the quilter now and should be back in my hands next week. Theoretically, the rainbow quilt is for Papa and I and the pink/brown one is for Katie. That just leaves Tristan without a camping quilt. I have this great train ticket fabric that we used as a tablecloth for Tristan’s second birthday — look how little he is! — that I want to use as a back. I’m planning on using brown and black/grey log cabins for the front but here’s the problem. My stash is not burgeoning with brown and black/grey fabrics. Is yours? So, I’m looking for scraps. The smallest size I can use is 2″x3″. I have many scraps of other colors I can share, even selvedges for those who collect them. Anybody up for a trade?

A Quilt for a Little Bird

Published June 30, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Sewing 7 Comments

Back in March my friend Molly gave birth to a sweet little girl and she named her Birdy. And being the fourth little girl in her house I knew that she’d be seeing a lot of hand-me-downs in her lifetime — I mean, how could she not? — so I wanted to make her something that would be just for her. I considered knitting her something but her early months are during the summer and as Molly will tell you, they have no central AC. I’ve been to their house in the summertime, woolens are not necessary.

Then I remembered I had a half yard of Joel Dewberry’s aviary print in my fabric stash. Orange and brown. I love it in this colorway but it doesn’t scream baby girl so I hemmed and hawed over it for a little while. Then I decided to just go with it. I made four log cabin blocks with the aviary print fussy-cut for the center squares. I limited the logs to 6 other fabrics and did two rounds of logs. The squares were then sewn together and sashed with an orange and brown homespun that was really perfect and a lucky find. It’s backed with the same homespun and quilted with a pattern of oak leaves and acorns. After a wash it was nice and crinkly and soft, just right for a baby to call her very own.

Kids Clothes Week Begins

Published May 10, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 3 Comments

Hello Kids Clothes Week! I fully intended to be all prepared with patterns organized and fabrics selected and… But no, here we are on day one and I haven’t even decided for sure what to make. I do know that Tristan desperately needs pajama pants for summer. We’ve tried to convince him to just sleep in his little boxer shorts — admittedly he has such cute little legs I am probably pitching the idea for my own mama reasons — but he says he has to have pajama pants. He has one pair right now — made of linen — otherwise he’s sleeping in too warm and too short — made in 2007 — winter flannel pants (pictured above). So, I think summer PJs might need to be first on the list. I’ll check in tomorrow with progress.