Cookie Day

Veda and Ari are coming over to make cookies and candy tomorrow.  I found this cool Santa beard pattern and whipped one up for the the sweet potato to wear as we make treats.  I think she'll look so cool!

Uptown coat

I am so excited that I finished this coat in one month.  I chose the materials, washed, dried, ironed, and cut them to fit the pattern.  I embroidered this cute owl pattern that I found on badbird's blog.  The pattern is the Uptown Coat by Favorite Things.  I completed 90% of this coat at Crafty Planet in a class that met for four hours over two Saturdays. There were two other girls in the class and we had a blast working together.  May have made some new friends.  As I prepared to sew this I read some other blogs by folks who had finished it.  I really liked this one by Additional Jesus, man that gal can sew!

On to the coat:  It is a fine-wale brown corduroy with a blue satin lining.  I love the big, square, blue buttons.  I top-stitched the corduroy with a turquoise cotton thread and top-stitched the lining with a coffee cotton thread. The coat is lined with a thick cotton batting that makes it even warmer if not a little bulky. 

I purchased all of the materials and the pattern at Crafty Planet except for the lining.  Any materials purchased for a class receive a 15% discount, that was approximate to the cost of the class.  I knew how to perform all of the tasks to make the coat, but it sure did help to have Lisa there interpreting the pattern for me.  Also, she had a model available so I could see how the steps would all come together. 
I had to cut and piece together  11 pieces for  each part of the coat: shell, batting, and lining.  It was overwhelming to look at.

Mike was super helpful along the way, he reads manuals so well. He was a great editor, revising my button hole placements until they were uniform.  I couldn't have done it without him.  Remi, as usual, was a constant companion when I worked on it at home.  He sits at my feet under the machine/ironing board and sighs to remind me that he is there.   I am such a lucky gal, and now I have a pretty warm coat to remind me 6 months of the year!

Anniversary Present

Mike and I went to San Francisco for spring break and stayed in Japantown.  We liked this cool Japanese bookstore with lots of cool stuff.  Mike trolled the window several times looking at this cool monster face computer bag.  I made a mental note and started sketching patterns on scraps of paper.  I finally got the nerve to try putting it together in time for our anniversary.

I made it out of a fine wale, brown corduroy, added a reinforced laptop pocket, and gave it a padded lining.  I sketched several different monster faces, anxious, angry, surprised, but in the end I liked how ambiguous this guy looked.

Smart Girl

That little Veda is such a smart girl.  She loves books, loves to count, and loves tell us everything she knows.  With that said, I was inspired to make her a felt counting book.  I began in April, finished in October, and am posting it now.  It was a labor of love.  Mike and I revised the page layout several times until we found a way to bind so many felt pages.  I reinforced the pages with plastic mesh sheets and bound the sets together with a blanket stitch.

Catching up

I haven't updated this in a while as my hands have been so busy lately.  Here is a bit of the curtain story.

Mike and I had placed an order to replace our old windows.  We decided not to replace the blinds, but to sew curtains.  I was excited to start sewing as soon as school was over, the windows were custom made and  supposed to arrive in mid- June.  We measured windows and picked out fabrics, washed and ironed them so that they would be ready when the time came.  Then Champion called a month early and asked if they could install the next morning!  We stalled until Monday which gave me 2 days to iron, pin, hem and trim 5 curtains, purchase rods and hangers.  Saturday and Sunday I measured, sewed and examined curtains from 8 am to 8 pm.  Mike and Remi were  excellent assistants.  As you may know, Remi sits at my feet as I iron, pin, and sew.  He is as a loyal companion as a girl could ask for. 

My office has cowboys and broncos.   The living room is tre modern as is the bedroom.  I like the Jetson's style print.  It looks great with my dumpstered ikea lamp.  Mike's office is very butch with the dark bar, navy and grey print, and hard wood floors.  Also, it is next to the bbq, it often smells very smokey in there. 

All fabrics were purchased at craftyplanet.  We found that comparable rods and hangers could be found at target for 75% less than at Joanne Fabrics. 

I love the hangers that we purchased.  They are modern and complement the patterns we chose, also they are super quick to install and make it easy to wash when you put the lillies next tot he window and get orange pollen all over your new curtain. 

Preparing the garden

This month Mike and I are getting ready to garden.  We live in an industrial zone and don't trust the soil, so we have built a raised bed to plant in.  I will be sending a soil sample to the U MN extension services for testing soon.

I'm on fire

So I had scraps leftover from making the skirt and I made a matching purse.  It is a prototype.  I'll make a better one when I get back, but it is not bad for making the pattern in my head, it even has a pocket.  

First set of curtains

The vertical blinds were too frustrating for me to use, old and sticky.  So, Mike and I picked out this fabric and got to work.  After a bit of fussing and folding and calling Stacey we have our new curtains.  Just right for our living room.

My first skirt!

I bought these great fabrics at Crafty Planet and embroidered the panels after I pinned them.  Between prepping the fabric, cutting, embroidering and understanding the pattern language it took me one week.  Not too bad.









I just love the spider and the bird and I had so much fun embroidering accents on them.  I got this pattern and my limited sewing nohow from this great book, S.E.W. Sew Everything Workshop, it has 10 patterns, 25 designs, and is written like a dummy guide, telling me everything I needed to know in order to read patterns, pick the right fabric, and and cut patterns, things I am supposed to remember from 1 term of family & consumer science class in 7th grade.  

I couldn't have done it without Stacy explaining fabric 101 to me and Mike for his ability to read a pattern and see it in his mind.  You guyz rock!

Next up on my list is a matching purse made with the fabric I made the waistband with and some rocking curtains for our front windows.  After that it is time to paint the house and hit the garden for a bit.  51 academic days till I break!

Yippee

Mike and I worked diligently for a few weeks to finally finish the big girl blanket that I've been imagining for Veda for a bit know.  Here's how it turned out.

I embroidered it with the colloquial equivalent of "Sleep tight, I love you." in langueges spoken by her family.