Halu-Halo

Cheating on my sewing machine.

I miss Freida.

Freida is my sewing BFF.   Freida is my sewing machine, and old discontinued Fresia of the Husqvarna Viking family.  She stitches most everything I ask her to. Her buttons have been fiddled with by curious little fingers.  She's been adorned by my daughter's stickers.  She is my partner in mediation. 

She's been in hibernation for a while now...a long time for sewists like myself.  I haven't sewn on her in almost a month (I KNOW!) , though I have a queue that needs to be tackled as part of Christmas presents.  But I have a now-crawling-quickly-and-cruising Baby J.  She is underfoot in the most rambunctious of ways.  I had no choice, and Freida is covered and in the workroom until I can secure a safe place where I can set her up.

In sewing's place, I have been knitting.  Freida is used to my knitting.  She knows that those knitting needles will never take her place.  After all, knitting is a long term commitment, while Freida can work basic patchwork doll quilt in hours!  Knitting hat takes me a few days.  A cardi - months!  

And, never have I ever put Freida away, even while in the depths of finishing a knitting project.

But I don't think Freida will like knowing that I have been beading while she is away.

It's gives me such great satisfaction, to complete a project in one sitting.  That I can work and watch Baby J, and can get up when she decides that she wants to eat the Christmas tree.  I love having all of my tools within reach, in little tiny drawers I can put away quickly.

I wonder how she will feel knowing that I have checked out almost every beading book in the library?  And instead of stalking new fabrics that have come into market, have been learning about different stones? 

 

I hope she knows that while I am finding a new way to express myself, she is and will always be my first crafting love.

There's room for everyone, right?  

Dirty Little Secret

Fall season is fast approaching and along with it, the hustle and bustle of getting the kids ready for school and activities.  It's a sticky time of year, my budgeting skills are challenged to its max because what comes with preparing 3 children for all of this is having to take out the checkbook.  School supplies, school clothes, afterschool sports, Sunday school.  

Can I get an a-men?

For the most part, however, we write most of our checks at home, and for the rare moments that I take my checkbook out, like I did when I signed up R for Dance a few days ago, I am greeted by this.

Wait for it...

 

This picture doesn't do it justice, I promise you that it is much worse than it looks.  The faux leather has peeled off from the backside.

In the ten (TEN!) years Hubby and I have writing checks housed in this cover, I didn't realize how bad it looked until the lady at the dance studio practically jumped from her chair when she saw it on her counter, thinking it was a dead animal.

Ok, so it didn't exactly happen that way, but the look she gave it was embarrassing enough.

So, after two nights of begging Baby J to "Please give Mama time to cut (sew) (iron), I'll be right there!" as she screamed at the top of her lungs....how do babies know when to appear so impoverished...

I promise you, she is far from emaciated, skinny, or even average sized.  My baby is very well fed!

I digress.

I grabbed a handful of scraps and created a large piece of fabric.

(outside)

Traced the original check cover for size

 (inside)

Quilted a little, pieced a little, tore out and started over at one point...

 

Voila!

Today's conversation with Hubby, who, I think, secretly had a little bit of an attachment to the old cover:

Me, showing him the new super-shnazzy cover, all excited-like: "Look!" 

Him: "Who's it for?"

Me: "Whaddaya mean who's it for, it for us!"

Him: "But it's pink!"

:::sigh:::

Conundrum(s) Solved

Yes!  Take that, supposed easiest pattern on Earth!

 

...and the armholes were easy! ....and it is a perfect match with the flower clip I made!  Most of all, R loves it, and that's what matters the most. 

And after a couple or so weeks of having stark spackled walls, we went from a what-were-we-thinking-horrendous-salmon color (seen here on the left), to sampling several others,

to finding a perfect dark khaki

 

It's actually named differently, but this is the best way for me to describe it.  We love it, and are relieved to make our place feel less like a construction zone.  I have always thought that it takes about 6 months to really get unpacked and to start to personalize, and we're right on time.    

It's been a wonderful, productive day.  :)

One hour dress? Suuure!

I had an hour to kill this morning while waiting for our handyman (this would be another long story), and it just so happened that Baby J was sound asleep.  I had always wanted to make a pillow case dress, and decided that it would be a perfect time to try my hand at making a dress for my sweet little one.  Probably the most simple dress known to man, the pillowcase dress takes approximately less than an hour to make. 

But the pillowcase dress had never met a girl like me...a girl who is quite stubborn at doing things the easy way.  

I looked at these directions, and barely skimmed at what was written.  I looked at the pictures and dove headlong into cutting and pressing, only to find out that I  had totally misjudged the sizing.  Baby J would have looked like a flowered caterpillar had I tried to even fit her in it.  

Frustrated, I purchased a pattern to get the proper fabric dimensions I should be working with.  Surely that was all I needed, right?  

Suuure!

I again dove in, and I cut and sewed, and came out with a dress only large enough to fit my older daughter's baby dolls.  

Cursing, I looked at the chart I was working with...and I found that I made a dress sized for a baby doll.

At that point, our awesome handyman had come and gone...he even had time to chat it up with my children (he is a family friend) about these crazy rubber bands...and two hours had passed.

And Baby J was up and crying.

I yelled at my sewing space.  "Work with me!" I pleaded.  My boys looked up from their books, and  after probably seeing me with thread in my hair and fabric all over the floor, decided that Mommy needed to work this problem out on her own.  These are good children, I tell you.

But finally, after nursing, and after the third hour, I had a proper fitting dress, cute enough for my patient babe.  I know you see those strings on the ties...I had to whip that up super fast because I. wanted. to. be. done. already.  I do promise to redo them when I have finally mustered enough nerve to get onto making my older daughter a semi matching dress.

Yes, I won't let this thing conquer me.  Because I can sew dangit!  Just not clothing.  Yet.

The lesson - read and follow directions. 

On this third day of the week

1.  I welcome Freida back into the mix.  I have neglected her since we moved, and she is finally out from under her cover.  Sweet Freida, she still purrs like a kitten, not a bump or glitch in her stitches.  I perched her on our formal dining room table.  And there she will stay, where I can sew and still keep an eye on the kidlets on the main floor.  

As you can see, thread is everywhere already. :)  Home sweet home.

2.  A project is in its beginnings: Sedum.  Ah, and it will be for me.

  

My arms smell sheep-ly from this Cascade Eco.  Why, you might ask?  Well, I don't have a swift so I wrap the yarn around my arms while I get one of my awesome children to turn the crank on this ballwinder. 

My firstborn son, he is so sweet and patient...it took us 40 minutes to wind 2 hanks of yarn into 6 large balls.  He earned his dessert today!  

I know, so pretty. (and worth it!) I did, however, promise to gift myself with a swift as soon as I finish another large project.  You'd better believe I'm diving into Sedum in hopes I make it out alive, fitting into the cardi, and shopping online for a swift.

3.  I am admiring this

A gift from one of my friends, Mindy, for my sweet Baby J.  

I can't stop looking at it!  Great super soft yarn, and of course just a beautiful delicate pattern perfect for a loved babe.  The buttons on these booties are *tiny*.  This set is definitely going into her forever treasure chest after she wears it this fall.  

I've been really blessed have such wonderful girlfriends.  That in all of my travels, I have been able to bring the memories of these adopted sisters wherever I go.  I am thrilled that this time around, I am able to see some of these sisters again, and Mindy is one of them.  Thank you friend!!!  I love it!

Happy Hump Day everyone!  

Fussy

...in every sense of the word...yes, I am.

I'm into the 9th month of pregnancy...need I say more?

I'm so fussy that Hubby, by sheer instinct, has started to give me more space...to let me make my enormous list of things to do before Babe comes, to talk talk talk (nag?) about each and every thing I need to complete on this list, and then to panic that I won't get it all done. 

Yes, this would be the start of the phenomenon of "nesting". 

I'm so fussy that I have started my cocooning process.  I don't leave my house unless I have to, because by golly, that would mean that I would have to get out of pajamas or my yoga pants.  Another reason is that I no longer even fit into the cute maternity clothing I purchased.  And because all I want to do is clean the house at the moment.  

Again, the whole nesting thing...

I'm even so fussy that I refused to use a ruler/rotary cutter when completing this doll quilt for a swap at Sewingmamas.  I wanted to use as few tools as possible for the entire project, so I don't have to take out my cutting mat or rulers from my sewing storage.  I then fussy cut all of the pieces, to include the binding, and I only used fabrics from my scrap bin because I didn't want to undo the already folded yardage in my drawers.

I decided to approach this process freely, with my goal to match the solids with its middle square, but I improvised on how large each courthouse step would be.

And by golly, it seemed to have all worked out the way it's supposed to.  It was definitely hard to let this one go.

Maybe this nesting thing isn't so bad after all.

It is now the 1st week of Dec, do you know where your list is?

Your holiday list, that is?

I think mine was lost somewhere in between hanging tree ornaments, and planning for a round of holiday visitors.  Probably around the corner from knitting a pair of fingerless gloves and catching up on some reading.  Maybe even down the road from attempting to get together a family picture for our Christmas cards, and packing for a weekend getaway with the family.

If you do find my list, can you place a check mark next to the sentence "Make that advent calendar that Purl Bee was so kind to share".  I actually finished it a day or so before December, but have forgotten to take a picture of it. 

I loved their tutorial because it was so simple, and so clear.  The children have looked forward to the goodies  in the pockets each morning.  (I have learned not to pre-stash because I have found them eating treats well before each day passes).

I didn't have any wool felt accessible locally, so I opted for acrylic felt and it worked just nicely!  This project was a hit!

Now...if I can only find my list, I can get my act together.

Just making myself.

...when crafting for profit sometimes has its repercussions...

Bag making.  A test of my determination and fortitude.  Because it is good for me.



When I make a bag, my fingers go on autopilot.  I cut, press, pin, and sew and think about my plans for the next day, what I am making for dinner, and what next home project I would like to undertake. 

At one time I reveled in this safe zone, making hundreds of bags, smiling at my little creations, but these days, I long to craft because it brings me to think about the craft itself, the person I make it for, and the advancement of my personal being.

And as much as I love how this little bag turned out, and how much I adore the recipient, it didn't fill my soul as it once did.

But.  Making bags today makes me appreciate the craft I have learned.  And especially all of the folks I have met, and the relationships I have made.

And this is why I keep making them.

If this doesn't tell you how well I'm doing on the knitting front...

...then you must not know me very well.

One of my coworkers calls chocolate "antioxidants".  She always carries spare little chocolate bars in her pockets and is so helpful in providing her nurse friends "optimal health" whenever we hit that slump in the middle of the day, when you know there is so much to do, but your mind can't seem to get you there fast enough.

And I am never one to say no to such generosity.

And that is why Girl Scouts never.  ever.  have a problem selling their cookies to me.  I'll even buy them from friends who are out of state.  I can never say no.  It must be my quest for absolute perfect health.  Somoas and Thin Mints are the cure and my fountain of youth.  That Which Will Keep Me Hyper And Awake  When I  Know I Am Supposed To Sleeping As I Should Be At This Moment.

What chocolate doesn't do, however, is erase the truth.  And the truth is that I have to frog this baby.

It's too big.  I've knit much more than what you see, about 3 inches down, a beautiful smock pattern which the yarn shows very very well.  (Though it splits, I warn you!), but it will be much too big for my girl.  So I must frog and start over.  My gauge was right on...but I may have not been keeping good tension...I knit whilst watching TV, and much of those 3 inches were done during Lost, and you can only imagine how much I paid attention.  I will be starting anew tomorrow.

I must face thought that I may hit the mall next week to have a backup Easter dress available.  Phooey.

I was, however, pleased to be able to finish a simple tote that has been sitting in my WIP basket.  I think I still have tote making PTSD, because although this tote would have normally been completed in an hour and 15 minutes from cut to iron to sew...it has taken me months to finish it.

My dear cousin has been so patient.  Thanks L for not asking me about it.  I think you must have known my current general aversion to tote-making.

I did like incorporating some fabrics I have loved in the past....though I am hoping the style is hers and "young enough".  I used the Lita size, so it fits nicely under the arm, with the bottom and inside made of black cord, to keep it looking clean even if she sets it down on the floor.

I'm off to lament and eat this last cookie.

 

(p.s...I swear on my own patch filled green Girl Scout sash that I did NOT eat all of these cookies.  I had help from 3 little cookie monsters that have inherited my sweet tooth.)

Louisa

Before I realized my deep love of craft, my husband had an inkling that it was going to hold such great importance in my life.  What I remembered of myself seven years ago, struggling with a career that was determined to have me choose between it and my family, was that I was a woman reaching for something - anything - that didn't resemble my job.

In between shifts and taking care of baby, I made invitations, attempted soapmaking, papermaking and lotion making, in hopes that I would be able to replace the job I currently had.   I read books on entrepreneurship, and wrote and rewrote a business plan when the day came that I could finally make my family first.

Living in Germany had its great advantages...folks would just leave their "junk" at the curbside, and flea markets boasted antiques that I could now, in America, can only dream of.  If it weren't for our lieutenant salary, I think our home would be filled with these treasures.

Hubby called me one day from one of these markets, "I'm coming home with something".  He was yelling through the cell phone - back then the reception was scratchy at best, that or WAY. TOO. LOUD.

Twenty minutes later and a few thuds up our steps and I met my Louisa. 

She has all of her parts, down to the needles and thread, and even, her screwdriver.

It would make sense for me to get such a generous gift today, or even 5 years ago, but 7 years ago, I was not an avid sewer.  The last machine I had touched was my mother's when I was a little girl. In fact, I clearly remember wondering why hubby even thought to buy her and bring her home.  Sewing was the last thing on my agenda.  I was busy trying to perfect how to make paper from dryer lint - I was a desperate one, you see. 

I didn't see something, I suppose, that he did...that one day, sewing would bring me so much joy.

From my business that I built, grew, and rested to the introduction to a world of sewing I am still getting to know, Louisa has been there as a small glimmer of inspiration, still sitting in the corner of my home.

All from a husband who cared to see inside my heart.