woven placemat

I've bookmarked a lot of the projects in Lena Corwin's new book Made by Hand. There are so many good ones.

The first one I have finished was my friend Jaime's project: a woven placemat.
You need to make your own loom for this project which was fairly simple - I ordered the screen printing frame from Dick Blick and the nails are hammered in on the two vertical sides leaving the horizontal sides free to weave.

The fabric is cut into 1" strips of two different fabrics for the warp and weft (I used Liberty of London and a linen/cotton blend) and weave away. I thought I cut the weft fabric correctly but it frayed a lot as I was weaving perhaps because of the friction but I am not sure so I will try a different fabric next time for that.

Here are few of many of the projects I would like to make.

beaded necklaces

baskets

I am likely to knit Jenny Gordy's sock pattern first but, we will see.

book club

For the past few years I've been involved in a book club. We meet about every six weeks which is just right for me as I usually spend most of time on projects and less on reading. I love to get together with this great group of women. We have such an interesting group. Our discussions usually start off with the book and end on personal levels which is really great and always fun as we learn more about each other and our own journeys in life past and present.

Here is the list of books we tackled this year. If I forgot one and any of you girls are reading feel free to add them in the comments.

Here is the list of titles:

In the Garden of Beasts- Erik Larson - I didn't finish this one. It's about a US Ambassador stationed in Germany during the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Blood, Bones and Butter- Gabrielle Hamilton - An enjoyable read. A personal account all about food and the food business and much more.
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter- I like this one a lot. It takes place in Italy in the 60's. I would definitely recommend this one.
Wild (From Lost to Found)Cheryl Strayed- an enjoyable read about a 26 year old female hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and self discovery.
The Cove- Ron Rash - This one was okay. It's about outcasts in the South at the end of World War 1.
Myra Breckinridge- Gore Vidal (some read Lincoln since this was not available on Kindle). Myra was okay and maybe shocking for it's time but a bit silly for me.
The Paris Wife- Paula McLain - I enjoyed reading this one about Hemingway during the early part of his career, his first wife and the cast of characters they meet and party with.
John Saturnall's Feast- Lawrence Norfolk - I didn't finish this one. It's not holding my interest. Maybe I will go back at some point.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecaa Skloot - I am reading this now and it's really interesting.

Also, on the table is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Hope to get to this soon.

Are you in a book club? What were some of your favorites this year?

a cranberry girl dress

A cranberry girl dress from the much loved book Peter in Blueberry Land.
I have been wanting to make this for a long time and she has been asking for one for a few years so I am happy I finally can cross this off the list.

I didn't use a pattern or follow any sort of directions which worked out fine. I purposely made it a bit longer for growing room. I decided to put a zipper in the back from the halfway point of the bodice up and I used white muslin and lightweight cotton in red for the dress. The bonnet I made a few years back. I know she will enjoy playing dress up with it. She was quite excited to put it on.

S has quite the imagination and really likes to create stories, talk to her dolls and animals and draw pictures all day. I can totally see her making up her own little books soon enough. Her favorite craft is her letters which she makes daily. She draws a picture (this morning it was clown hats) and then folds it up and then makes an envelope for it all out of construction paper and delivers it to the lucky person. I love waking up to something handmade by her. It is a really nice way to start the day.

The Liberty Book of Home Sewing

I purchased The Liberty Book of Home Sewing recently and am pretty in love with many designs in the book.



I chose the Rose Corsage first because I had all the materials on hand and thought it was pretty. Though I have made quite a few fabric flowers over the years what I liked about this one was that it involved fusing two Liberty prints together so that although it is not reversible there is another print on the backside. This provided it with a sculptural quality which allows for moving the petals a bit and giving them more shape and structure.

Hand sewing this was fun though a bit difficult because although I did use a strong needle getting it to push through all of the fabrics required some leverage a few times. Still, I want to make more. I think I might try the book covers next.

Here a few of my favorites in the book:






Another review here.

first drawing

I've never felt very confident about drawing but, always wanted to become more skilled at it. So, as with anything else it takes practice and I've decided to spend some time drawing this spring and summer and see where it takes me.

I really love botanicals so when this new book: Drawing Nature A Journal by Jill Bliss was released (which I read about through Design Sponge) it didn't take me long to click and buy it.

This is exactly what I was looking for. A drawing class I can do on my own. Or, in the case of my first drawing with the children.

Yesterday afternoon you would have found the three of us sitting on the front steps drawing nature.
The children enjoyed it and Matthew's rendition of the neighbor's tree was really interesting. I hope to do quite a bit more of drawing with him. The way children see and draws are unlike the way an adult would and I think five is a great time to start this.

The instructions for the first drawing were to draw a simple leaf or flower but, after drawing the daffodil I couldn't help drawing the dwarf peach tree and strawberry leaves below it that were next to me.



I'm really looking forward to the next exercise. I need an hour alone to draw a flower without looking at the paper. I'm planning to buy some flowers soon and get started on it. I could already tell after the first drawing that I didn't spend nearly enough time observing.

the lonely doll dress

Playing Edith and The Bears is ever so fun especially wearing your Mama's lipstick and writing on the mirror.

This morning S and I played The Lonely Doll based on the wonderful story by Dare Wright. She wore a new dress I made for 'being Edith.'
Do you know this book?

Edith is the lonely doll who wishes ever so much for friends to play with and keep her company. And one day her wish comes true- two bears arrive. They are Mr. Bear and Little Bear. They go on all kinds of adventures together and have a lot of fun. They go to the park and to the beach. Little Bear and Edith sometimes go too far away alone even crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. One day while Mr. Bear is out Edith and Little Bear decide to play dress up. Edith puts on a hat and lipstick and Little Bear scrawls on the mirror, Mr. Bear is just a silly old thing. Mr. Bear catches them and is not at all amused. But, in the end Little Bear and Edith apologize to Mr. Bear, clean up and all is well again.









Whenever we read this at bedtime S and I put on our straw hats.

I loved making this dress which is an Oliver + S pattern called the Jump Rope Dress. It's an adorable style and a bit old fashioned looking I think. I made it in size 3 and it looks like it has some growing room.

-There was a little sewing problem at the end with the buttonholes which made me awfully sad for about an hour. I wiped away my frown and figured out a solution.
When I made the buttonholes it was a bit late in the night and silly me thought it was a good time to do them (not) after all I've done them quite well dozens of times. What I didn't realize was that the needle was a bit loose and that I placed the placket under it too close to the edge so they came out untidy. To try to ammend the situation I decided to do this:
I made a band aid piece ( cut a small square) to sew over and disguise the bad buttonhole on top and am leaving the top button open. The middle one is the only one that is in use (still too close to the edge but hopefully holds up) and the third one is sewn shut. Instead of worrying endlessly about the dress not being perfect I've decided to just let it go and make the best of it. These imperfections sometimes happen. You learn from your mistakes just like Edith and Little Bear though I don't think it was all that bad what Edith and Little Bear did. I can think of a lot worse. So now I am taking lessons from a doll and a little bear.

a fresh coat of white

An ice storm last night. We woke up to the world looking a bit like the book I read Ms. S last night, The Story of the Snow Children.

A newly painted kitchen table and chairs. It was long overdue as I never really loved it before in red when we painted it a few years ago..
A polka dot oilcloth covers it almost always as it's used for crafts and meals all day long.




-I started reading The Little Prince to Matty today. There has been much discussion about The Baobabs.

-Getting ready for a kitty cat birthday party this Sunday. Ms. S is turning 3!

doxies and a satchel

I made two of the Doxie necklaces from Wee Wonderful's new book which is full of treasures. I think I'll give one to S and one to another little dog lover for Christmas this year.




A red Cambridge Satchel for me. I actually forgot I ordered this and was really excited and surprised when the Fed Ex man came today and I saw the return address.



A devils food cake was baked today amongst lots of cooking for the first of many birthday parties that will be held for my boy this month. Yes, the lucky devil gets multiple parties. Tomorrow is a space theme and I'm hoping to turn the cake into something that resembles the moon with the icing, pearl dust and an astronaut figure. I think that will do the trick

Happy weekend to you!

Children's Teatime

As promised I am posting some pictures from the book Children's Teatime.

What I like about tea I have stated before and it not simply the drink itself but also the time spent with it alone or in the company of others whether they be human, animal or toys. I like the order of it, the preparation and practice though I am not so good at always including it in my day.

I hope for this to become someday part of the daily routine with my children. Why not change snack time to tea time?
If only I could get Matty to drink tea. He is under the impression that tea tastes bad which I wholly blame on his Father and am not ashamed to say so as my husband does not like tea (the horror) and I have only persuaded him to drink it once or twice when sick with much complaint on his behalf.
Well, I say no tea, no cake..

And, with that I share the rest of the beautiful old images reprinted in this book.

far far away dress

I wish I had takes some photos of my booth yesterday. It looked really sweet and I picked just the right amount of inventory for the space I had which was nice and it had a good cohesiveness to it.
Sales were a bit slow with only a few which was the case with most vendors. I felt bad for my tent mates who didn't sell at all.
However, I did meet some really nice people and only worked it for a few hours which was pretty sweet.

In the midst of prepping my items the past few days which was mostly tagging, pricing and staging I managed to make a new sundress for S.
I know, I know I'm addicted to making clothes for my daughter.

Today I snapped these photos of her running around in my parents yard where we celebrated my Dad's birthday.
This style of dress is so carefree and fun. The pattern instructions are from Weekend Sewing and the fabric is from her Far Far Away line.