For Her, For Me

It had been months since I sat in front of my sewing machine. July, actually. The machine collected dust in the corner and any and all projects in the queue sat, neglected or forgotten or undone. I had ideas about this and that; a quilt, a knit hat, a new t-shirt handstitched. But these hands, they remained idle. Well, not idle but tapping out work or turning book pages or wrestling the young boys that fill so much of the hours, those precious ones that are open.

A huge factor in availability of precious hours is work. I think that is the norm for a working mother. A shift to a 5 day work week has rippling effects, it intensifies demands, crushes them into those precious hours and I find I choose making dinner over making 'something'. I find myself on the floor with Lincoln Logs rather than seated at the machine, watching them rather than myself.


There was a shift last week though, both boys sick after a return to the germ haven that is a small children's school. Tim caught the awful bug, my Mama came up against her own health issues, work lightened up. I found myself home more than not for the week. It was an odd feeling, so many hours open and not devoted to work. It felt good.

I found myself pulling out new fabrics, letting the quilt I have been imagining take root in color and shape and design. Math and measure and cutting table. My mind had space for it, even with the demands of small people and one big not feeling well. It felt luxurious.


Over the weekend I was able to pull together the quilt for my newest niece, born 3 weeks ago. I had started a simple red and white 9 patch for her, saw it joined in almost windowpane fashion. The blocks were pieced, sitting in the pile marked 'neglect'. But then she came and pictures of her (and a surprise name switch when she was born) and suddenly she was not Rose but Avery.

I spread the blocks out on the table and saw something else, saw Avery in it and started slicing away. Which is kinda' scary when you have already spent some time piecing together all those 9 patches. The result looked nothing like the initial concept. But then, little Avery is here now, a person who could not be imagined until she appeared and started to share that self.


(Some of it is wonky as all get out but the slicing and piecing improved with each block. Quilting, such a learning curve).

We meet her this week; travel North for job interviews, relocation logistics and then Friday, baby smooshing and kissing. I am so happy to go bearing gifts for her, something that carries all the love this whole household has for her already.

And so, onward to this week. Change is afoot, I felt unsettled and excited and hopeful and so damn scared when I glance around and imagine moving. But the time at the machine? It centers me. It is not the sewing, really. It is the making. The way making something makes me feel. I feel more real. And now the real Me has to move onto hand sewing the yellow binding that Tim suggested.

And when I get back from the Northern sojourn I have this nifty 'newly re-purposed' cabinet to organize and stack full of fabric. The man can do more than pick a wicked binding.

Baby {Making}

A few years ago I had no idea what babies needed. I did not have any babies. I had ideas about what they needed but these were far from concrete. Now, 4 years out I feel that I have a better grasp. Babies need diapers (lots), something to eat (breast/other as long as they are fed) and lots and lots of your time. Not much else really. Well, they usually get lots of other things but don't you think it really comes down to the essentials most of the time?

That does not mean we do not like to give them lots of other things and I am no exception. This month is the month of baby for me; my boys were born in April and now I have a new niece who has recently just come into her own and two small people forming up in two lovely sisters. Lots and lots of baby.

Couple all the baby with my new love of quilting and there have been many projects making their way to the sewing table (which is really just our huge long wooden dining table).

(Sewing space has been dismantled in favor of painting the wall a deep juicy red). (Man, painting just keeps going and going around here).

I think my confidence has grown with the quilting after successfully feeding two queen size quilts through my little machine and finding such happiness with the result. The first was for the boys, the second for our bed. The summer scrappy quilt is done!

400 plus 3.5 inch squares joined, sandwiched, quilted and only waiting for binding. Full pictures of that one to come.

Right now there are two quilts in progress. The first was inspired by JulieFrick who is a quilting machine lately. She is cranking out beautiful projects and I was inspired by her plus sign quilt. I had a stack of boy fabric that I purchased at Purl in Soho.
It sat without
a plan until the plus. But now it has found a place to be, sewn into this quilt top for baby S due this summer. The design is simple enough, I approached it with some chain piecing and it came together quickly.

I have the backing cut and ready to be sewn and then it is the simple matter of quilting which seems like a breeze after the giant-ness that was queen quilting. Yippee.

The second is for Rose, my niece to be. I found a link from Liesl at Disdressed about the quilt art show in NYC that featured Red & White Quilts. I drooled a bit over pictures, wishing with all of my heart that I could be there. Impossible but it did inspire me to try my own red and white combination.

I have all the fabrics chosen and washed and ironed and today I cut up strips with plans for 9 patch prettiness.
Another yippee.

Both little ones are due in summer but the baby showers are in a few weeks. I thought I might make the deadline but I know now that will not happen. Instead of applying that pressure that makes the making of things less fun, I thought I would just enjoy the process and aim to get the quilts done by the babies' arrival(s). So onward from here because babies may not need quilts, but I know that they need LOVE and to me this is a great way to send it to my far North family.

The only problem with quilting is that it addictively pulls you in and there are only so many hours in the day.

Want to see a Tim project? Yippee for wine cabinets that hold lots of wine and cute little boys.

He made it from scrap wood and all from hand. That man. He sure can make.

Giving Time

The weekend may have held 80 degree temperatures and short sleeve shirts but the spirit of the season was well and truly celebrated by me and mine.

Saturday was the meet up of my lovely L.A. knitting friends, we had exchanged Secret Santas with the guidelines being something simple and hand made. These exchanges always make me giddy because 1) they all have amazing taste and 2) making for others just makes me giddy. I was super excited to get Shan because I just love her and she has a little one that I knew I had to make for too.


For Shan I chose to make the quick coasters from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts. I love all the Joelle Hoverson books because they hold simple projects that you can really make.

Her aesthetic is flawless and the coasters were a snap. It is always nice to use lots of pretty fabrics and play with the color palette. I also had to make Shan the little Inchworm from Wee Wonderfuls Doll book. This little betty was too sweet and kinda' hard to give up. And the book with 24 projects? I am thinking of doing them all ... just sew them one by one until I am done. That is how good her book is.

Miss Bean got Ellie the Elephant, another project in LMPG.

I have wanted to make this toy forever and it seemed perfect for a sweet toddler girl to squeeze and love. My boys thought she was pretty lovable too so she went to Bean with some good happy love imbued in her stuffed body. The pattern was simple enough and I finally have confidence in sewing curves. The only thing was the stuffing. Man, that round little elephant took a load of stuffing, it seemed like I just had to keep adding and adding and still her legs were not firm enough to support her weight. Pudgy thing, isn't she?

I am so glad I made it because Shan told me that Bean's favorite thing ever is elephants. Which I did not know when I chose the project. Talk about being spot on, right?

We had a great time talking and eating and exchanging and squealing at each others gifts and looking at patterns and doing what we do. We also decided that we are bringing the L.A. Group to Rhinebeck 2011, right ladies? And the knitalong, right?

My SS was MJ and she made me a freaking fantastic pillow cover. Beyond fantastic, actually. Of her own design, of course. She is such an amazing designer so I want to be sure all knitters who still read here know about her latest hat design over at Twist. Look at this hat. Look at it!


Photo by Twist Collective :

Here is the pattern link. We are going to do a knitalong on Ravelry, so come and join us if you will. I have a feeling I am going to be knitting more than one version of this. There is just too much cabled goodness. Now buy the pattern, get some yarn and let's get on it. And thanks, MJ, for the beautiful gift and lighting my knitting fire again.

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon with wonderful women that I do not see nearly enough. Until next time, friends.

Thankful

Today I am thankful for ::

++ The south moving Sun that brings bright morning light into our South facing bedrooms.


++ Remembering to light scented candles to warm the rooms and dispel some of the little boy pee smells that seem to permeate our hall bathroom.

++ Snapping away to capture those first few days when their skin is still fragile and glowing and they do nothing more than root, flail, grunt and make you fall in love.


++ Sewing. And sewing. Patches and quilt tops and dolls and pants.
There is nothing like sewing.






Doll pattern via Bolt.

You Can Be a Hero Too!

So, I spoke of a tutorial on Cape Making and Marnie really wants one so I shall oblige.

A note :: These are simple enough but take a rudimentary knowledge of sewing, a sewing machine and an iron and, er, that's about it. I tend towards the picture heavy, so follow along if you please and make your little peeps or yourself something fun for All Hallow's Eve or any day of the week when you need to feel like a Hero.

(Ooooh, I feel so clever for linking back to my last post. Dork.)

You will need two fabrics, solid or print, and felt from the bolt, not those small paper size squares sold at JoAnn's (unless you want to sew more than you have to).
Be safe and get about a yard of both fabrics.

I made a few with a cute print from Ikea. If you have an Ikea near, check out their children's fabric section. They sell it by the yard, it is super wide and the prices are great.

Okay, so on the measurements. I was making these production style so I tried to optimize fabric. The reason for my measurements is that a yard folded in half yields about a 22-23" bottom width of the cape .. feel free to adjustment measurements as you see fit.



The cape length is about 24-26" long as I am sewing for very little people. Fold your fabrics in half, matching the clean selvage edges and stack them on the cutting board.


I marked them for you so you can see the cutting dimensions but you should avoid marking them (especially with Sharpies because it bleeds like a mofo).

Cut along your preferred dimensions and then cut a nice little scoop for the neck area and a shallow scoop for the cape bottom.


Pin both fabrics together RIGHT SIDES together, very important if you are using a print fabric. Not so much if you are using solids (eh, they are 4 and do not notice things like fabric grain and side).


(And by the way, I realize that my cheap cutting mat is horrifically dirty because it is stored on the floor and other places that it should not touch, but I did not clean it and you will just have to ignore my inattention to that detail. Okay?)

Start at the bottom of the cape and sew all the way around the cape to join the two sides (remember, RIGHT sides together) and leave a nice sized opening for your hand to fit through so that you can turn it.


IRON your seams (trust me, ironing forgives many seaming sins) and turn the piece RIGHT side out and poke the corners with a knitting needles to get them fully poked out (technical term, of course). Then IRON it again until it is all nice and flat and crisp.


Now, for the neck line. I used felt from the bolt. It is long and you can get a lot of mileage from it. Also it does not require seaming and bends nicely to fit the neck curve. Cut a piece about 3 inches wide and 24-26" long and fold it long ways and IRON it well.


(God that cutting board is disgusting. Not a word, you. Not a word.)

Then fit it to your curved neckline and pin in place, then seam it from end to end making sure to catch all edges in the seam.




And guess what? YOU have made a simple sturdy cape for your child's pleasure. Or yours if you are going with the adult HERO theme for Halloween.


Cut an initial from felt and hot glue gun in place. Or use sticky Velcro. And for the neck you can tie it on or put some more Velcro at the neck closure area (so your kid does not keep asking you to tie it on .... no take it off! ... no put it back on! ... no) (you get the idea, I sure did).

JoAnn's carries a nice iron-on Velcro that I am using. And then you really are done.

And then you can make a pirate eye patch from some felt left overs and t-shirt material.

And have the cutest Pirate Buzz Light Year who will not wear a cape because he has wings to fawn over.

Fini.

A Month of Me with a Segue

Day 11 → Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 → Something you never get compliments on.

I am hitting these up combination style because somehow the days just keep flying by and I laugh a little at the idea that I could even try to blog daily.

So, 11 :: People seem to like my smile. And my kids.

I get multiple compliments on both. Which is really nice. The kids more than the smile.

Which lets me segue into talking about my kids. Actually not about them but other people liking them.




This has turned into a very tough year financially and the things we took for granted have slowly fallen off as we tightened the proverbial belt. There is enough for mortgage and food, etc. There is just very little else. This hurts a lot less since we have been practicing at buying less and using less for some time but it still can hurt.

Some things are just not in the budget this year. This includes things like school tuition. Tim and I were very disappointed in this but 'school' for three year olds falls more into 'want' vs 'need' at this time.

The really disappointing part was that their teacher broke away from the small preschool the boys attended last year to form her own even smaller school with a focus on learning her style (which is an awesome style, believe me). She and her teaching partner are a wonderful and dynamic duo and it was exciting to hear them form the idea for their own school but we realized that we would likely not be able to be a part of their inaugural class.

Well, in September when classes started they approached us and asked us if we would please please put the boys in, that they could waive tuition for us but they did not want to lose the boys. They were so eager to have them participate in the program and I was totally humbled and thankful for their generosity. We formed our own agreement as to how to approach the next few months and in they went.

The one hard thing to do was not give somehow so I asked them to let us know if there was anything we could do trade wise. This month they approached me with the request for sewn capes that the kids can incorporate into their letter play.


And so that is what I have been working on instead of daily blogging. And I have to say, it is both rewarding and fun to know these will be a part of their school for a long time to come. I've always wished to live a little outside our monetary system but it feels cool and surreal to actually be doing it.



So, yeah, people may like my smile but I am really really happy they compliment me on my kids in this way. It makes me feel like I am doing something right.



12 :: As for something people never compliment me on ... I think that would have to be my ability to swallow what some may call pride (but I tend to think of as ego) to allow these things to happen, to allow our lives to not be dictated by what we lack, but shaped by that which we have, and those who are willing to participate in it.

I know they say it takes a village to raise a child, but I also like to think it takes a village to help us as adults find ways to function when things get tough.

And if I get the chance, I will post up a quick tutorial on the making of the capes. It was fun and easy and involved a lot less sewing/seaming than one would expect.

We Interrupt the Broadcast ...

Gawd, eight days in and I am thoroughly sick of speaking about myself. It is making me feel all itchy and stuff. I am taking a break to talk about something that I like more than this Month of me. And that would be Heather Ross.

I have a pretty solid crush on the woman, her fabric and her fabulous-ness. She has long been my favorite fabric designer, her patterns hold so much whimsy and life. I have a really bad habit of buying her stuff and then hoarding it in small devoted piles, occasionally taking them down to fold and re-fold. On the rare occasion that I actually use the fabric, I can be found to wince as I slice through a character or two. I've got it bad.

Well, right now, Tim is in the midst of making the boys a bed frame for their queen size mattress. It is walnut and oak and mortis and tenoned and I realized they now need a big boy quilt. Sewing had fallen of the radar for a bit, but we had a solo weekend in Tahoe planned and I saw this quilt which shot me full of inspiration.

I also realized that the boys will only be in the 'rabbits and race car' phase for a few more years and I might miss my chance to drape their days (and bed) with the lovely Heather Ross hoard.

So, all the special and precious boy prints came out and I half-formed a basic idea and identified a few great solid colors.

I spent the better part of Friday and Saturday slicing, pinning, piecing and playing and I am beyond happy with the results.



The quilt top is far from done, but it is well underway. I also found a use for the bits that were trimmed from the light colored blocks I sewed up...

These little patchwork scraps took on a new life when sewed up together. I can see using this as the center for a pillow.

I am so glad that this is what comes from carefully piecing favorite fabrics together.

And I can say that I cut the HR stuff down with such precision that this is about all that I was left with as discards...


Funny how careful we can be when we truly cherish something.

I bet this post makes me sound even crazier than the previous 8, right?

And if you do not, you should really read Heather's personal blog. She is such a great story teller, she is a twin and (this, oddly enough, does not freak me out at all) she and her sister used to sew up little outfits for dead mice that their cat would kill and bring to them in their old Vermont home where she lived as a child (just read the damn post before you freak out, okay?). I ask, who would not want to crush on this lady?

As for the 30 days, it has definitely lost its shine, but I think I will pick and choose the days for the duration of the month. In between, I plan on posting about the knitting, sewing and life that is happening behind the scenes.

Whew, I feel better already.

One last thing... if you are a HR fan(atic) like me, you will note one print that is not of her design. Anyone spot it?