Domestic Anarchy and the Knit Stitch

What's for Dinner Monday!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:10:00 +0000

Please come and visit me over on my other blog as I make the change over!
http://domesticanarchy.blogspot.com/

Swap-a dili-ishious!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:17:00 +0000

How fun is this going to be??

I have not been in a swap in utter ages so I think that this is going to be to much fun! The swap is being hosted over at Crafty Carnival... I am already looking through my vintage fabrics to see what would be just perfect!

testing

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:40:00 +0000

testing

Falling off the face of the earth

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:48:00 +0000

Well it seems that after last Wed. I fell off the face of the Earth and am just now clawing my way back to the surface. My dad was in town for a few days that went by way to quick for myself and the kids. We had not seems him in a year and have missed him so very much. We have high hopes that his current battle with cancer will be a short one and that he will come out as king of the hill. He is a great man and I don't know what we would do without him.

While he was here the the kids were on *Spring Break* and we spent the time just hanging and enjoying the wonderful Spring weather. I got in some sewing and have almost reached the finish line with the second slipcovered chair. It will be nice to have those off of my plate and under my butt!

I have decided that this will be the Spring and Summer of ~being pretty~. I am totally jazzing on sewing pretty skirts of wear and am working on some cute tops to go with them. It's my goal to spend as much time as I can in clothes that make me feel good and look good. With that in mind I have purged my closet of the stuff that does not fit, does not look good, and does not make me feel good while wearing it. I could get all deep with this topic but am a bit short of time. So what I will say is that I think that as mothers we can have a tendency to put ourselves last when in reality when we take care of ourselves both spiritually and physically we are better equipped to be good mothers and set good examples about being strong, gracious women.

To this end I am spending some time really learning how to fit the particular quirks of my body. Now it's not like a have one arm 3 inches longer than the other or a dowagers hump. In fact by just looking at me I don't think you could guess all the fitting *challenges* I have with clothing. Not to even talk about sewing from typical patterns! I am totally short waisted to the point that it's ridiculous. My boobs all but sit on top of the area where my pants rise to. Then I am also blessed with a back that is so wide that I really should be playing in the NFL. A set of D cups that have nursed 5 babies and broad shoulders round out the list of my challenges above the waist and below the neck. I have spent quite a bit of time reading and learning about pattern alteration and this book IMHO is one of the most accessible on the subject. The book speaks to those of us who are big, those who are little and those who are in the middle.. since we all have fitting issues. I paid FULL PRICE for this book and now see that it's $8 on Amazon. It's been so worth it to be that i would pay full price again, it's that good.

Sewing up Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:01:00 +0000

We have been looking for 2 chairs for the Library for about a year now. Not to big, not to little, floral but not delicate and most of all.. not so expensive that we were going to eat beans and weenies for a month to afford them. Well it seems that those two chairs were not to be found. Wrong color, size and most of all price!.. dang! who pays $2000+ for a chair!! Not me that is for sure. Even if I could afford it there is no way I could feel good about spending that sort of money to sit on. So we have lived chairless for a year+.

Last weeek we decided to take a look at a local furniture haunt that tends to have some good deals but rarely two of anything. We lucked out on this day with a truck load of chairs that were just the right size (yeh!).. but wrong color (oh so wrong) but the right price (yeh!)... so in a fit of desperation I harkened back to my days as a single sewing mother and decided I would slipcover them.

Now I used to do this for a living, I know what sort of craziness I was talking about and yet in a fit of total frustration at not having chairs in the library I set forth on this plan and bought two perfect sized chairs, one plaid, one polka-dot and both in very odd colors. To his credit Les was totally cool with the plan. He is a man of great faith.

7 yards of fabric later I was ready to go and started in on the project. Starting here...

and ending here

Working for about an hour a day since my schedule is quite tight these days I have all of one chair done and about 80% of the other. I am happy with the way the slipcovers came out. I threw in a few dressmaker details like the pleated skirt and this laced up back with inverted plaid pleat.

It's been well worth it but I totally remember why I use to charge $250 a piece + fabric for this sort of job!

It's what's for Dinner!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:23:00 +0000

Ok... total show off moment... My chicken Pot Pie came off looking so nice I snapped a photo of it.

Yummy hu?... it was! Want to make one too?

Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie

The parts in orange are where I cheated.. I used Roll-up pie crust since I was running short on time!

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on 3 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade 2 chicken bouillon cubes 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups) 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
For the pastry: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

For Vax-girl

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:15:00 +0000

There was a question about the tin panels on my prep Island. I did not get them online but I think you might be able to. Mine are actually thermo-plastic but look for all the world like tin. I worried about the moisture/rust near a food area so went with the plastic for safety reasons. I purchased my at my local Lowes Home Improvement store. They were in the section near the model kitchens.

Hide and Seek for Kitchen Coolness

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:46:00 +0000

It never fails, when someone new comes into our kitchen and wants to help out they become flummoxed when it comes time to get their hands on a fork or spoon or lord forbid a knife. That is because they are cleverly hidden here....

seeeee........

The chest started it's life as a mechanics tool box used by my dear husband well over 25 years ago back when he was a VW mechanic. Then it spent many less than spectacular years languishing in the garages of various houses. One day I was down the garage and poking around for a screw to a project when it hit me that the chest was sort of cool and funky and deserved much better than to live out the rest of it's life in the dank of our garage. Of course I was totally inspired by these ladies. So out it came to the light of day and then it was put through a complete steam washing and degreasing. Then primer, then paint. Then I added a full assortment of vintage fruit labels that I had been saving waiting for the right project. Four clear coats later it landed on my counter top and is now the proud holder of all daily eating utensils.

Kitchen Coolness

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:09:00 +0000

Yep, a little peep into the kitchen. This week we are back to work on the house and I could not be more excited. In honor of that I think we shall have an ALL KITCHEN week here at Domestic Anarchy. My new kitchen is not really *new* at all. In fact short of the appliances everything I have used in here has been re-fashioned, re-used, or re-cycled. Not that we did not install a bit of bling here and there but it's totally geek stuff. Like this popup power supply on my Fresh-Prep island.

This little jobbie is produced and UL rated for kitchen and other wet surface use. You just pull up on the little handle on top and then plug in your appliance then when down just touch the little button on the top and it slides back down into the counter and sits flush with the surface waiting for another time to help you out. Cool Hu?

Bhhhaaaaaaaaa

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:54:00 +0000

I am obviously nothing more than a helpless sheep. The blog world folds, so thus must I.

Really it's rather fun and relaxing.. one largish plastic quilting ruler is all you need. Then flip flip flip... you wind the fabric around the ruler

Bing, bang, boom.. you have three perfect stacks of fabric in about 3 minutes

How easy was that?

ugh!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:45:00 +0000

It seems that photobucket is having a hissy... I will have the photos up on the Cupcake tut. ASAP.

sorry!

Maddie

The All American Cupcake

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:55:00 +0000

I have long admired the wonderful felt Cupcakes and tiny pastries that I have seen on many of the craft blogs. They all have the wonderful air of European tea cakes with fancy frosting work. But for as much as I love them all I wanted to create the cupcake of my childhood. You know, the one that mom made even if she was not the best baker in the world. Sort of lopsided but made with lots of love and made even better by some yummy butter cream frosting and if we were very lucky some colored jimmies.

So I toyed around with the pattern and I now bring you....

The All American cupcake!

Please excuse the photo. Although the weather here has been warm it has been hazy and not very good light for pictures.

The following is a short and sweet tutorial on how to make my little cuppy. If you would like a copy of the pattern please leave me a comment with your email addy and I will send you a PDF copy of the pattern. I hope to have a downloadable copy in the next few days but don't hold your breath since I also have 3 other projects due by this weekend.

So with no further ado.... Let's rock the cupcake!

You will need some wool felt. Of course you can use craft felt but it's not near as nice to hold or to hand sew, but use what ya got if it saves you a trip to the fabric store ( I have no idea why I would say that since I never miss an excuse to go)

The first step is going to be to cut out the felt pieces using your pattern as a guide

You will cut one of the arch shape, one plain circle and one circle with the scalloped edge

Next you will handsew the the side of the ~cake~ part of your cupcake. I just slightly overlapped the edges and then did a tight little running stitch in a color to match my felt. This is NOT rocket science and felt is a very forgiving medium so don't freak out about this. Just sew a nice seam and tie off, hiding the knot to the inside of the cupcake.

Next take your sweet bottom circle and right away notice that it's somewhat bigger than the bottom opening of your cuppy. No, it's not wrong. You did not cut wrong. It is drafted large to make for an easy fit and sewing experience since one should never have to curse while sewing a felt cupcake, that would be just plain old wrong!

Place your cake section on your work surface and fit your felt circle into the bottom, like this.

Please note that it's ruffled up towards the inside. This will give you lots of material to catch as you sew a firm bottom seam.

As you start working your way around the bottom taking small but firm stitches you will work out the extra fabric by folding it to the inside of the cupcake.

The goal here is to sew your way to a nice flat bottom on your cupcake.

So at this point you now have a fun little felt cup that is ready to really start looking like a cupcake.

Take your scalloped edge circle and hold it to the inside edge of the felt cup. You want the little scallops to be peaking over the edge like this.

Start sewing around attaching the ~frosting~ to the cake. As you start working your way around the edge you can manipulate the felt a bit to get it all to lay nice and fit well.

This is a good time to once again chant your mantra about felt craft being a forgiving art. But trust me.. it's all good and it will work.

REMEMBER~~~ don't close the whole top up... you are going to need to stuff your little cuppy.

See... how easy was that? You now have your frosting almost all the way on!

Now it's time to add the rice.

I find that rice works better than dry beans, but use what you have. Fill your cupcake 1/2 full with rice. I find that the stupid little response cards that drop out of magazines are the perfect size and thickness to use as a small funnel for this purpose.

After the rice comes the stuffing. I like to use wool roving but pillow fluff will do. Just remember to pack it in there real tight to get a nice dome on the top of your cupcake. And don't worry if it's a little wonky. Mom's cupcakes were never all that straight but were still wonderful.

Now were are in the home stretch.. sew on the rest of your frosting. This might take a bit of tugging but it's well worth it to get a nice rounded tight top.

Now it's time to decorate! I did lazy daises on mine since I wanted all of the surface for pin storage, but I do think that vintage buttons would look great. Have fun with this part and please let me know if you make one of my little All American Cupcakes since I love to see how others put together color and detail to make it their own.

Today crochet, tomorrow the world!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:36:00 +0000

I can knit. In fact I think with a bit of thought and a quiet corner I could knit anything that anyone put in front of me. The same could not be said of crochet. In fact past a basic chain I was totally stumped. This aggravated me to know end since out there in bloggy land many people are producing mass numbers of very sweet granny squares and putting them into wonderful colorful blankets and I was not able to play along.

That is until now!

Why yes Virgina, that is a Granny Square!.. and I made it! Not perfect but not bad either considering that I picked up the book on Saturday morning during our drive to Trader Joe's and had the square off the hook by the time we made it back to town with our ~Trader Haul~

So there you go!.. anything is possible.

On pins and needles

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:39:00 +0000

Spring has finally really sprung around here and it's a most welcome occurrence. I did not get all that much done this weekend craft wise but I did learn something new that I will share with you tomorrow! In the mean time I am thinking about an entry for the Pincushion Challenge. This time the theme is *EATS* fun hu? I have quite a few different ideas, but need to find a wider selection of wool felt to make it happen! My local Hancocks only carries what I shall refer to as the ~woodland collection~ of wool felt colors. Nice enough if you are in a Fall frame of mind. but down right depressing when you are thinking about some Springtime EATs!

oh oh oh!. the mailman just came and brought me a little prezzie! It's my Prairie Girl Pattern from Favorite Things. Very nice packaging, and wonderful graphics. I shall take some time to look over the rest of it and report back very soon. I think I have JUST the fabric for this!

In other news ... I am redrafting the pattern for the vintage dress so that it fits my ample gifts with more ease. .. I sacrificed a bit of my stash of funky sheets to make the muslin for the pattern and give it a little fit-finesse. I think I just about have it but want to lower the neckline a bit. On those of us who are a bit more blessed than others it's a good tip to remember that removing a bit more fabric in the neck opens up things and leads to a less heavy and blocky look.

The Summer of the Skirt

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:47:00 +0000

Ok, I am having a ridiculous amount of fun making Summer skirts. I started this one this morning before our home school outing and then finished it up this evening after we got home from a very long and full day. It's sewing like this that makes it a pleasure to sit at the machine.

This skirt was a simple Butterick pattern B4461. Easy to do but did end up to big even after giving their size guide the eagle eye. It was easy enough to solve by adding two more darts and I have edited the pattern for future use. Since vowing my pledge of no-more-elastic ( with the exception of Yoga pants) I have been converting most of my patterns to simple bias trim waistlines and colorful set in zippers. On this skirt I basted the the zipper opening closed with big old stitches and then set the zipper in place with my sewing Miracle.. Low-tack painters tape!

This stuff is so great to use for lots of sewing's tighter spots and I keep a whole roll right on my sewing table for such occasions. I you are going to do this make sure it's the green or the light purple painter tape. Anything else leaves a residue.

Here is shot with zipper all in... nice match hu?

I use a technique called extended zipper placement and at this stage had not yet trimmed off the top of the zipper tape or secured the top with the bias tape trim.

The fabric is a Robert Kaufman that was a total steal at $1.95 a yard and it's colors are divine and totally rock the Urban Farm Girl look and that inspired this front pocket. This pocket style is called *Apron Style* pocket and I have trimmed it with a bit of left over bias from the waist and hem of the skirt.

Alas all I have is this most night time shot of the skirt, with a bit of sun tomorrow I will get a proper shot of it!

In other news... It's The All American Cupcake!... a shy little thing she is.. and yet soon she will be staring in her own tutorial!.. keep watching.. I am getting there!

Do Some Good!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:32:00 +0000

Just a quick hello from the start of a very busy Friday! I hope to post up some photos this weekend so please forgive yet another post with no visual bling!

In the mean time.. think about this. Around the U.S. there are thousands of women and teens girls in shelters who's personal sanitary needs are not being provided for. The use of modern, clean and sanitary, *sanitary products* is something that most of us just take for granted. Each month we ogle the huge selection of products available to us on our grocery store shelf. Perhaps you pick a new one with hopes of it changing your experience with menstruation or maybe you have an old favorite. In any case you look at the price, sigh and throw it in your cart. It's a simple act but not one that women in shelters have the luxury of.

But wait!.. all is not lost. Seventh Generation paper company is responding to the need of these women and you can help them help! Their campaign is called TAMPONIFICATION and by clicking on the link you will go to their FREE donation site. So each time you go click on that heart you will be asking Seventh Generation to donate a box of sanitary supplies to a shelter in your state. Go do it!... you Will feel good about yourself. Then go tell someone else and let them feel good about this small but important deed.

Sew what?

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 02:59:00 +0000

Well my dears it was not pretty and I was not at all mature about it. I ran out of fabric for my vintage circle dress with the last panel in the skirt to go. It was STUPID, and it was all my fault but it did not mean that I was mature about it. So back to the store today and **** drum roll*** they are OUT of the fabric.. out... all gone, no more and yes.. we really don't give a flying fig thank you very much! ~ick~.. it was awful.

In better news I want to point you in the direction of this company... Favorite Things They have some very cute patterns and Prairie Girl is winging her way to me as we speak. I shall show her off soon as she hits my mail box!

I also want to turn you on to this site... go visit Mary Jane and see if you like her as much as i do!

now.. go play but leave me some blog love first!

Lost days

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:39:00 +0000

Well somehow I lost Monday in the fray and it's Tuesday already! It was a good weekend although we did not get a whole bunch done. I spent a lazy Saturday morning doing this

A simple chain stitch over the most delightful iron-ons from the wild and Wacky Sublime Stitching! This took me about 2 hours of just hanging out in front of the computer surfing craft blogs and taking tiny stitches. Of course I am worried that soon as I hang it up someone will use it to clean up a blob on the floor... you know something really foul like something the cat hacked up? I did do a quick tutorial with the kids about the difference better the *Nice* towels which are to be used for drying off hands and our typical towels that look like the were dragged through the 7 layers of hell.

Oh!.. and I finally took a photo of my skirt.... as you will notice I have taken a hint from the *big-girl* store Lane Bryant and have folded back the skirt waistline so it looks much nicer and does not show just how wide my waist really is!

While I am not as big as I use to be and am quite please to be down to a size 14 jeans as opposed the the 20+ I was wearing before. I am never going to be a willow in the wind no matter how much weight I end up peeling off. This fact was very clear as I set up my new dress-dummy. I did not have to buy the plus size model but did have to ummmmm adjust the chest and belly on the one I bought. Adding padding in all the sad places was a bit of a slap in the face but the honesty of the situation will mean that as I make myself clothes they will really fit me

And yes... it's a sneak peek... It's almost ready and I will posting up an on line tutorial... Free to all those who stop by. ~The All American cupcake pattern~

This will be available as a download in the next week, so hold tight. I am working as fast as I can!

Needles up!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:16:00 +0000

Got to love it when the mail box over flows with goodness such as this!

This is my order from Sublime Stitching. They are not kidding when they say that it's "not your Grannies". The top packet has naked ladies in it!.. these are some hot 1950's pinups that are going to look great on the arm of the husbands t-shirt. Too funny and very sassy!

I am very impressed with the quality and packaging of the the iron on designs. I love to support these small companies when ever I can. The designer and owner of the company also has a charming book that I am dying to get my hands on. Nothing but happy thoughts about all of this!

In other news the Bag with the bird on it now has lining and a super cute zippered pocket to go with it!

The primary fabric is the blue but I did the pocket in pink just to add a bit more to an already cute cute cute bag. I had thought that I was going to sell this one (oh.. did I mention I am opening an Esty shop?) but dang I like it so very much. really I do need to get a grip. how many bags can one girl use!

I have another felted bag in the works.. I hope to get a shot of it up this afternoon. Until then.. stitch a good day!

Mamas got her apron on

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:14:00 +0000

Well it seems that we here at Domestic Anarchy are not as subtle as we thought we were and that the kids have totally got the low down on mom. I headed into the kitchen today and got to hear a little exchange going on in the dining room. It went something like this:

Suspect A : You know it's going to be bad don't you?
Suspect B: Yeh, I had other plans, but she has the apron on so it means I can just forget about them now.

Me: ~shocked expression~ , quick glance, yep.. apron on, bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap in hand. yeh they know. When the apron goes on, some cleaning is going to get done.

I love wearing my vintage aprons. I found this one last weekend at the local Jr. League resale shop. Too cute hu? It was handmade and obviously saw a lot of use in it's day but is still in very good coindition. I really like thinking about who might have worn this sweet thing 40+ years ago. Who was she?.. did she have kids? How did she feel about housework?

Obviously I need to start my cleaning with that mirror!

Make it a clean day !

A littl peek

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:26:00 +0000

It's late but I wanted to share with everyone a small peek at what I found some time to do tonight.

The body of the bag is a recycled felted wool sweater and the bird was created free hand using a needle felting technique. I was going for a sort of primitive but sweet look. I am going to let it sit for tonight and see if it calls for me to do add anything else or do the other side. The tentative name for this piece is *Gather Love*

As always, leave me a comment. I love to hear from everyone.
Love,
Maddie

Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:55:00 +0000

For some people Monday is the dreaded day. For us (me) it's Tuesday. I get nothing, nada, narry, zero, zip done on Tuesday. In fact if it were not for all the bureaucratic red tape it would take i would have Tuesdays erased from the face of the planet! I so want to be in my studio crafting a bit and yet there is not time to be had.

Oh course this begs the question of how I have time to do this blog entry. Well here is my little secret... I am sitting in the truck right now waiting for yet another kid to come out of yet another class. In these few minutes I take care of the mundane of life ( booking a dentist appointment or bickering about being double billed from the Ortho) to the sublime ( a bit of knitting or a bit of blogging) So there you go. No magic really just forcing even more into an already full life.

And since you have been so find as to drop by .. take a peek at this. It's a nifty tutorial on how to make *perfect* circles for applique You might have to scroll down a bit to find it, but it's worth the time.

Sharing circle

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:19:00 +0000

Each night at dinner my youngest insists that we have a sharing circle. Well it's not quite dinner time but these are the things I want to share with you!

Meet Shellby the sleeping sheep, is he not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

I crafted Shelby from an adorable kit that I found quite by accident. Shelby is a WoolPet and his siblings and other wonderful creatures can be found here. You will not be sorry but you might become addicted. I see the purchase of the little pig kit some time in my near future. The kits come packaged in very artsy take-out Chinese containers with marvy little photos of your budding creature on the front. The directions are clear and the quality is excellent. It's obvious that Laurie ( WoolPet mama and creator) has put much time and thought into how to best show off her work. I am totally pleased to pimp these woolly pets on my blog.

In other news I finally finished the bag.

It's not that I am all that slow a sewer( sewist?) really, it was more a conceptual problem of not finding handles that I really liked. I fussed with all sorts of ideas but nothing seemed right. I was looking to create something a bit more funky but sweet is sweet and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. In the end I used strips of the arm fabric to create the straps. To keep them from stretching I serged with to a length of polka dot ribbon. While not exactly an edgy feature they came out quite well and I am happy with the bag. I used the Purlsoho fabric from the lining and it makes me happy each time I see it.

Monkey Pants!

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:48:00 +0000

Gregory became deeply worried that poor Curious George ( his little brother's toy) was not wearing pants and would thus catch a chill. So he decided that it would be prudent to sew George some pants. Now you have to know that no average pants are going to do for this monkey and of course Greg found absolutely nothing suitable in my fabric stash for George. So at Handcocks he picked out $12 a yard wool suiting material! YIKES! lucky for me it was on sale for $6 a yard and then we only needed 1/4 of a yard for a pair of Monkey britches.

Next was the challenge of drafting a pattern for the plucky pair of pantaloons. Let me just say that George has some major * junk in the trunk* and it took all of my drafting skills to make these little pants flatter Sir George.

But with pattern ready Gregory cut out the pants and got to sewing. As you can see George is supervising

* For those who would ask.. It's a Brother pc-8200 and no I am not crazy. Letting him sew on my good machine lets me control his pedal speed so it can't sew over his fingers)

Greg is a great seamster (does that sound wrong or what?) .. ummm tailor?..yeh.. that will do. And in the end George got some hot looking duds and now Greg is all into sewing George a nice jacket to go with his pants!

Lazy crazy Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Maddie) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:36:00 +0000

Well the wonderful weather has flown the coop and it's a bit wet, a bit cool, and very blah outside. But this is not the sort of thing that keeps one from wasting a Saturday! And we all know that the best cure for a dreary day is a bit of thrifting topped off by some bargain clothes shopping!

The thrifting was good today, nothing extreme but some nice finds all the same.

Towards the back you can see the Speedball stamp making kit, still in it's package, $1. I love these for making our yearly Christmas Cookies Exchange cards. I will have to dig up some examples of what I have carved in the past.

Propped up against that is one of those oh so groovy calendar dishtowels. One of two that I got. These totally crack me up and while I might just use them for towels... they seem like they would make some rather kitchy tote bags or sack style purses... who knows!

To the right ( the item with the little grass print) .. it's a skirt. I think it will be fun for Spring and summer with a little t-shirt or tank top. Two sets of sheets in very sweet prints that might end up as skirts or pillows. Oh and two pillow cases that were still in their package.. they are stamped to look like cross stitch. By the packaging I would say that they are well over twenty years old. Who keeps pillowcases for 20 years .. in the package?

Oh.. and the little cupcake it a prototype of the pattern I am working on. It's made from wool felt and I filled 3/4 of it with rice and then wool roving to puff the top of the cupcake. The rice gives it a nice weight so it does not skitter across the table when I try to stab a pin into it. The wool roving helps keep the needles nice and slick since there is a bit of natural oil still in the roving. The little dots on top are flower head pins... don't they look just like sprinkles? I will have the pattern up soon as a little bloggy gift to all that stop by. So if you are interested please drop me a line and I will put you on my list!