New Addition (Part 2 of 3)

Ok, it's not Friday as originally promised but you've probably come to expect such tardiness from me.
After hanging my lovely new kitchen curtains, my eyes fell upon the sad, ragged, always dingy kitchen rug. It simply would not do.

This rug is made from curtain scraps and fabrics chosen to match, all of which I had on hand. The fabric was cut in two inch wide strips and braided together. When I reached the end of a strip I just added a new one, overlapping about an inch.

When I had a lot of braid, I started sewing rows together, using the zig-zag stitch on my machine. My rows are 21" wide. I sewed almost to the end of the braid and needed more so I kept braiding.

Some tips if you want to try making your own rug:

1. This is a super way to use up fabric that you don't really like. As long as the colors work, the pattern is indistinguishable once it's braided.
2. Never have a made something more conducive to watching movie upon movie while working. This takes .2% concentration.
3. You may have to lift your presser foot to get the rug underneath. I didn't even know that was possible until making this rug!
4. Speaking of presser foots (feet? No, foots), after lifting it and cramming your rug underneath it, you may forget to then lower the presser foot lever as the foot itself already appears to be down. Do not be fooled! You must still lower the lever for if you do not you will encounter (seemingly)inexplicable tangled mess after tangled mess. Not that it happened to me. No no. I just heard that it could happen. From my friend. Biz.

Part 3 of 3 tomorrow, I swear! And man is it the best of all parts!

New Addition Part 1 of 3

Intriguing, eh?
As I am the #1 cook in the house, Harv is automatically the #1 dishwasher. We both work fairly late which means dinner is late and Harv is often doing dishes at 10:30 at night. We haven't had curtains in the kitchen since we moved into our house 3 years ago and he gets a little creeped out being in there so late, knowing the neighbors and any creatures of the night could be watching him.

We bought this fabric a long time ago, I believe when the line first came out. It's from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room collection. The colors couldn't be more perfect in our kitchen.
It took me some time to get motivated to actually make the curtains. I wanted cafe style but I didn't want to just make a sleeve at the top of the curtain. Instead I sewed equally spaced tabs to the backs, copying some Ikea curtains I bought recently.

I chose the kitchen wall color before we moved in and have always been a little unsure about it. It just seemed like it was a little too much. The yellow Kitchen-Aid balances things a little but I think adding the curtains really ties everything together. Now, I love the wall color. It works.

So, here's a little sneak peek at part 2, coming Friday. You're all pretty smart, I'm sure you can guess what it is. Part 3 on the other hand, hoo-boy! It's a doozy. You'll just have to wait and see.

Stacked Coins

This quilt was given to two friends who got married a couple of weeks ago. The pattern is certainly nothing new. Not that I know anything about the history of stacked coin quilts of course. They're Amish maybe? This one was inspired by the pattern in Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts though I didn't actually follow the pattern.

The book asks you to cut strips with scissors to get a "wonky" look to your coins. I'm all for irregularity but I'm not totally digging the wonkiness these days. So instead, I cut strips of different widths using a rotary cutter.

This is the first quilt I've made using 100% linen (the closest I've come is this one with a cotton/linen blend). I've got to say I absolutely love the way it turned out! It's so soft and drapes beautifully. It's a little trickier to use than 100% cotton because it shifts so easily. You could do a lot of pinning to combat this. I try to pin as little as possible though so instead I used spray starch when I ironed the prewashed fabric. This technique worked great.

I made my own spray by mixing 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 2 cup of water in a spray bottle. This mixture does leave a white residue on the fabric but it didn't matter to me since I would wash the quilt before giving it away. I've read that if you boil the ingredients together instead of just mixing this won't happen but I can't say whether that's true or not.

The colors of the quilt were inspired by the wedding invitations. I magically had everything I needed to make this quilt on hand. I don't think I have ever done that before! The two solid blue/green fabrics are what's left of my Kaffe Fassett shot cotton. In these colors at least. And I still have scraps. I just love it so much! I want all of this fabric to be mine!

And of course, there has to be a matching card.

Broken Lines

I haven't had much time to sew lately but I really wanted to make some sort of quilt for my friends Sarah and Olivier's baby shower. They are the couple that I made these table runners for last year. Now they are expecting their first baby, a boy.

This quilt was designed to be completed in the limited time I had available this week. It's super simple but my taste usually tends toward simple anyway.

I love the way this turned out. The colors are so pretty. As I'm writing this I kind of want to make a plus sized version for myself.

Two keys to getting this done in time:
1. The size of the quilting (bigger spacing than I would normally do).

2. The size of the quilt. I used the "craft size" batting, 36" x 44" I think. The last baby quilt I made was much bigger. Bigger is nice but in the end it seemed like overkill for a baby. This small size is much more conducive to blankie-fication which I would love to see happen with something I've made.

Sarah and Olivier picked out the backing fabric for the table runners for their wedding but it didn't come in time for me to use it. I'm glad I was able to put it to good use.

And of course, one must make a matching card from the scraps.

PS I've been wanting to attempt actual pattern writing, not just the half-assed variety I am wont to do. I thought I would start with some sort of free pdf and see what kind of interest is out there. Would you like to make this quilt? Drop me a note or a comment if so. I think this one would be a good start. Thanks!

Back to Bubbles

I recently played major catch up (though I'm still not quite caught up) on my Common Threads bee blocks. You can see the whole lot here.
This is the last one I finished.

It's for Jacquie who is making a quilt for her teenage son. The instructions were "minimal, modern and masculine." The inspiration for this design came partly from reading about Dale Fleming's technique for sewing pieced curves which I found here at Dioramarama.com. If you want to learn this technique you can visit either of these sites for thorough instructions but I thought I'd walk you through the basics of this block. It was a little different because of the multiple overlapping circles. If this all seems confusing you should visit one of the above links. Then it'll all make sense, I swear!

To cut out my circles from the freezer paper, I used this handy dandy tool. It works ok. Better on smaller circles than large ones. You could use scissors as well as long as you draw a perfect circle on the paper to cut out.
I started with the circle in the corner since it was on the "bottom" of all of the overlapping circles. I cut out the size of circle I wanted from freezer paper and ironed the shiny side to the wrong side of my background fabric like so, positioning the hole where I want the pieced circle to be.

The piece of colored dot fabric is what I'm going to piece to the background. It's about 1/2 in bigger all around than the fabric you see inside the circle.
Next, I cut away the BG fabric inside of the circle, leaving a roughly 1/2 in seam allowance.
Then I clipped the curve right up to the paper, all the way around.

Next, I took a glue stick and glued the clipped edge to the back of the freezer paper. This should make a nice smooth curve if you look from the other side.
When that glue was dry (which only takes a few seconds) I applied more glue to the back of the clipped fabric which I pressed the colored dot fabric to, thus allowing me to remove the freezer paper all together.

Tada. Unfortunately I have no photo of the actual sewing. You press and sew along the nice little crease you've got there, all the way around your circle, or semi-circle in my case. Flip it over and voila.

To make an overlapping circle I just placed my next freezer paper stencil over the seam, doing everything the same, treating the pieced er, piece as a solid background.
This only got tricky when it came to gluing the seams down. Because there were multiple layers of fabric I had to do some creative trimming. Also, this background fabric was some thick-ass linen! Things got a little bulky which is why some of my circles aren't exactly perfect. I would not do this again with fabric like this. Cotton on cotton though would be much less of a hassle.
I did the last three circles all at once since they weren't overlapping each other at all. The smaller circles were harder to sew than the large ones.
And that's it! Again, this is no where near a comprehensive tutorial so if you really want to try this technique visit the links above.

A Little Giftie

A belated birthday gift for a friend:

A pot holder and matching coasters/cocktail napkins. The pot holder has two layers of Insul-Brite on the inside. Aside from the piecing on the front, it all came together in one step. I layered like so: 1 piece Insul-Brite, backing fabric right side up, rick rack around the edge, top fabric right side down, second piece of Insul-Brite. Pin, sew leaving gap, turn and quilt. Done!

Here she be.

I here by vow to try my very derndest to get these babies out on time from now on. This is June's (oops) Common Threads quilt block for Melissa.

I used this stuff for the first time when pressing this.

It's a starch alternative that I got at JoAnn. I dig it. I think I'll be using it frequently. I don't know what you more experienced quilters think about this sort of thing but my seams need all the help they can get. They're not always what you call "straight."
So July was my month and I've received two awesome blocks so far. I can't wait for the rest to roll in!

You look thirsty.

Let me get you a drink.

Oh, I'm so sorry, you're glass is sweating! It is horribly hot today. Here, have a cocktail napkin.

What's that? Why yes, I did make them, thank you for noticing!

Oh, it was quite easy. I could show you if you wanted.

Really? Okay then, let's!

For each napkin you will need

• two 4.5" squares of fabric, either the same print or two complimentary patterns
• 20" of rick rack
• a good stiff cocktail (I find a vodka tonic works well)

1. Cut the rick rack into four 5" pieces and lay them out on each side of one of your fabric squares, right side up. How close it is to the edge depends on how wide your rick rack is. Mine was the regular size and I lined it up with the raw edge of the fabric. If your's is jumbo it may have to overlap the edge.
2. Lay your other square on top, right side down and pin together, making sure to catch the rick rack with your pin. I only pinned the corners but you can do more if you like.
3. Sew a 1/4" seam around all four sides, leaving a 3" gap on one for turning.
4. Trim the corners and turn right side out. Poke out the corners and press. Sew a seam close to the edge of the fabric all the way around the napkin, closing the gap.
5. Have a drink and admire your work.
6. Optional: Make a drink for a friend and ask him/her to admire your work.
   

Checking Stuff Off

I'm going back to work in a week and a half and there is much yet to be done. I have squandered my hiatus. I will admit it! But for the rest of my time off I'm going to make an effort to be better. I have a to-do list! And there are already things being crossed off of it. I even got my hair cut and went to the dentist this week. Not only that but I also finished my first Common Threads quilt square! Late, I know and for that I am truly sorry. Sorry Rebekah, I'll try to be better in the future!

Yesterday I decided to buckle down and do this thing. I drew up a little plan and here you go.

Kind of boring? Maybe. I was trying to keep it from being too busy because it is just one of twelve blocks in a quilt. I wanted it to blend in. This was kind of hard! Rebekah sent out red, black and white fabric but my bundle only had red and black. She didn't say anything about using additional fabrics so I stuck to the hand I was dealt. Definitely a little out of my element. When I finished I thought it was a little "ugh". But I reminded myself of my original intention. This is not a stand-alone piece, it's part of a much bigger whole and I think that it will blend in quite nicely. I hope Rebekah thinks the same!

Fabric Fortune Cookie Tutorial

When Sew Mama Sew started their tutorial contest I thought "Great! I will write a tut' and enter." So I took some pictures of the process I use to make my fabric fortune cookies. Then...I let them sit there. And now the contest is over. Which is really okay. The real motivation for me to enter things like this is to share with people who don't ordinarily read this blog, not to win. So in the continued spirit of not winning anything I present you with the "Lady Harvatine Style Fabric Fortune Cookie Half-Assed Tutorial".

You will need:

• a 5 inch square of cotton fabric for the outside of your cookie
• a 5 inch square of felt for the inside
• a circle to trace, one with a diameter of about 4.5 inches (I use an old paint can)
  
• pinking shears
• a slip of paper, about .5" by 2.5" for your fortune

Trace a circle onto both your cotton fabric and your felt.

Cut both circles out.

Lay the cotton on top of the felt, right side up, and line up the edges. Sew a half inch seam around the entire circle. I use my walking foot for this but you don't have to.

Use your pinking shears to trim the raw edge all the way around the circle, leaving about a quarter inch of fabric.

Fold the circle in half with the cotton side together, felt on the outside. Sew about an inch seam down the middle, not sewing to the edge of either side of the half circle. Be sure to back stitch a few times.

Flip the cookie open and adjust the folds until it looks right.

Before you give it to someone be sure to write a fortune on a slip of paper and stick it inside. I like to use pretty origami paper that is blank on the back.

You can also string a piece of ribbon through the center of the cookie and tie it to a gift, like so.

Ok, the end, happy cookie making!

The End

Well, the show that I have been working on, "Moral Orel", has been canceled. We found out a while ago but were able to finish the last season, slightly shortened. I've said it before but it's worth repeating here that "Moral Orel" is a wonderful show, unlike any animated show on tv now or in the past. If you haven't seen it (which I'm pretty sure you haven't) please check it out. The first 15 episodes are on DVD, all episodes that have aired are available on iTunes and the third an final season will be airing sometime soon on Cartoon Network.
I wanted to make a thank you gift for our animation director, my friend Ethan who you may remember as the recipient of Pac-y. You may also remember that Ethan returned Pac-y about a month after receiving him. Pac-y was too big and Ethan claims he was growing. So as a way of saying "job well done" I tried again with a smaller machine, this one featuring an as-of-yet undeveloped game called "Ethan!".
The "Ethan!" game play consists of doing all of the things that Ethan does best, some of which you can see here on the title screen. I designed the graphic and printed it out on pre-treated inkjet fabric.
This machine is a much more manageable size than Pac-y, perfect for sitting on a shelf or the corner of a desk. (Seen here with the recipient for scale.)
The joystick is made of pipe cleaner bent at a right angle and sewed to the inside of the machine with a painted wooden ball glued to the end.
"Ethan!" doesn't have the great big coin "tunnel" with a zipper in the back like Pac-y did. Instead he has a petite little pocket on the front with a buttonhole.
Space for a couple of quarters, maybe not your whole stash for your next visit to the arcade but enough to make a phone call! If you're into that sort of thing.

A tiny bit of sewing.

You know what's really sad? The amount of blogging I do is directly proportional to the amount of crafting I do. I think you know where I'm going with this. There's just been so little going on around here! It is truly sad. I think it's work. It just steals so much of my energy that is ordinarily designated for crafting. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) work will be done for me in what looks like less than a month. For a time at least. We'll be back in production of Robot Chicken season 4 before you know it. But in between there will most definitely be a serge in crafting and blogging.

In the mean time, I did muster the energy this weekend to start a simple quilt top. No small task considering any sort of sewing required I first clean out the h-hole that was my craft room. I hope I will be able to share the top with you soon, if not a semi-completed quilt.

I also was able to make some frantic last minute table runners for some friends' wedding. The wedding was in Hawaii. I didn't go. Super bum. I thought about it long, hard and often but in the end I just didn't feel psyched about taking a day or two off of work. I was able to send a little bit of myself off to the reception though.

The wedding colors were inspired by the outside of a pineapple and since it was a little more on the casual, beachy side of things I went with linen in chartruese-y green and coffee brown. The bride just sent me this picture. Apparently there was some sort of miscommunication with the table measurements. They were supposed to be runners, albeit somewhat wide ones. Instead they spill over the sides of the tables. But I think that's okay! So... congratulations Sarah and Olivier! I wish we could have been there! (And I hope you don't mind me sharing your photos!)

Spring is in my sack

Well, I did as I said I would and tried to make a spring-y bag to brighten my mood. This is a big fat version of the Charming Handbag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I just drew a bigger version of the books pattern instead of enlarging it with a copier. I needed a bag that would be big enough to stick my computer in.

I pieced together some Amy Butler fabric with some pinky corduroy for the outside of the bag and added some of the velvet ribbon that I bought last week. This is a perfect example of what you can do with 1.5 yards of ribbon but not with 1 yard. As I said before, I was accidentally sold the latter, thus my bag only has ribbon on one side. I just make sure to always carry it with the ribbon facing out.

The bag is ok but I would probably recommend against making this style in a large size like this. It's a little too droopy when it has a lot of stuff in it. I made the suggested, small version of this pattern for a Christmas gift and that came out really well. I think it would work better to try a larger bag that was slightly wider but much deeper. Next time!

PS I made button holes in the lining to feed the handle through instead of making a casing. This is what I did before. Someone suggested it in the Bend The Rules Sewing Flickr group. I think it's a great idea.

At long last

Necessity has pulled me from the non-sewing doldrums. My new computer fits nicely in the "Pleated Beauty" bag that I made. It's quite convenient for toting my laptop to work and back along with the rest of my crap essentials. Unfortunately, as messy as the insides of my purses tend to get I'm afraid the computer may get a bit dusty.

Instead of an entire bag for the laptop I made a little zip-up sleeve that will just slip right into my purse. Initially I planned to make a larger version of this DS case with a few improvements to the method of construction. It worked but I'm still not in love with the pattern.

I do love the finished sleeve however. It's made from some wool suiting with a foundation pieced patchwork panel and Peltex to give it form and a little bit of padding.

I realize that these aren't the most Spring-y fabrics and I feel like I should have some of that cabin-fever that seems to be going around lately. It's very difficult to feel that way in LA. The changes in the weather are so slight and gradual that it feels like no change at all. Instead you just feel a stagnant blah. At least I do. So, sorry not to inspire you with some happy color. Perhaps a new beauty bag is in the cards. Maybe a little yellow could force some sunny feelings out of me.

Mother and Baby

*Oops, not McCalls, the pattern is Butterick 4944.*

More Christmas gifts...bear with me.
On my last full day of Christmas crafting before returning to work, I was feeling short on time and short on ideas. There are a couple of ladies in my life who needed gifts but I just hadn't come up with the perfect fit for them. The longer I spent brainstorming ideas the shorter my list of possibilities became. There was much pressure to pull the trigger on something, just to get the ball rolling. Yeeps...stressful! But in the midst of gift making panic, I found some calm in an old familiar pattern.

The "mother" is a (I think) McCall's pattern that I first used for a traveling bag last Spring. The "baby" is my own smaller version of the pattern that I had made for a much needed Summer purse.

Didn't someone say that marathon gift-making is not the appropriate time for trying out new patterns? Well I certainly can't say that I adhere to that rule but it sure does feel good to make something familiar. You don't have to keep double checking instructions, you know which steps can be glazed over and you know exactly how it's going to turn out. These two bags just flew through my sewing machine.

A happy Christmas

Alright! We've done it. Christmas is over and it was great. Harv and I are in Minnesota, spending the holidays with his family. So you know what time it is...it's time to share more handmade gifts, now that they have all been given. My sister gave me a hard time because she saw this shopping bag on my blog before receiving it. How about that? She reads my blog! Who knew?
So now that it's safe, here's the full body shot of the sneak peek I gave you earlier.

It's a western shirt for Harv's mom, Dar. Along with being a very crafty lady, Dar is a bit of a cowgirl at heart. The pattern is McCall's (I'm sorry I don't have the number!) and the embroidery patterns are from Sublime Stitching.

AND, guess what Harv got me for Christmas!

A MacBook Pro, and just in the nick of time! My old laptop is crapping out big time. So Merry Christmas to you and Merry Christmas to me too!

Charming Handbag

One of the gifts I completed on Sunday:

It's the Charming Handbag from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. This baby came together super fast. And I do mean baby. It's so much tinier than I though it would be! This could be my fault though. I didn't feel like scanning and resizing the pattern piece so I just figured out how big it would be at 129% and drew it myself. Have I mentioned I was a math major? And have I also mentioned that math and arithmetic are really not the same thing? I'm good at the former, stinky at the latter. So my bag might be a bit smaller than intended, but I think that only increases its charm.
Be warned that the measurements for the handle and casing pieces are not included in the book. They can be found here at the book's Flickr group along with other errors. Reading through the comments about this pattern I saw that someone suggested making buttonholes through the lining in stead of making the casing. I thought that was an ingenious idea.

The casing pieces seemed impossibly small and I think this just looks neater, not to mention they were quicker and easier.

Sunday Up-D's

Christmas is fast approaching and the end of our hiatus is coming even faster. I have much that I hope to accomplish in the next week or so.
As of right now, our tree is up and looking fabulous, even more so than last year with the addition of some sweet little Martha Stewart ornaments bought at Macy's, including this tree topper. (Sorry for the teeny image...I guess you can no longer buy it online.)
I also have for the first time, my own little craft room tree.

Fake trees go against every little bit of Christmas spirit that resides in my soul, but a little baby bonus tree is a clear exception to that rule. I also don't have the heart to leave certain ornaments in a box in favor of stylish themed ornaments. But again, baby trees give a little creative outlet without forcing me to abandon Harv's extensive collection of Donald Ducks and Packer hat wearing mice (although we do prune those down, just a bit). Of course the only craft room tree theme that I have going on this inaugural year is "Box of ornaments I bought at Target four years ago." But they're so tiny and sweet! And if it weren't for them, this baby would probably be naked.

In addition to Christmas gifts, I'm nearing completion on this brand new quilt, made for a certain brand new baby.

And to go with the quilt, a trio of bibs, made from the pattern in Bend-the-Rules Sewing.

I did nothing to jazz these up at all. I was looking for some sort of mindless crafting that I could complete relatively quickly, thus making me feel better about myself one night, and these fit the bill. If you know a baby and you need a crafty pick-me-up, make one.

Kitchen Accessories

Busy busy busy! My goodness, there's a lot to do. It makes me quite glad that we're not working. Robot Chicken Season 3 ended for Harv and I about two weeks ago, we met his parents in Arizona (where this was taken in case you were wondering), then brought them back to our house for the rest of the week and we arrived in Connecticut on Tuesday morning to spend T-giving with my family. In the meantime I really really really wanted to finish this quilt for my sister Lauren. Her birthday was in June. I'm so close to being done but I had to throw in the towel the night before we flew out. That will be my first order of business as soon as we return. I did however have time to make some birthday gifts that were late but just barely.
In this case, just a few days! That's really good for me.
My dear friend Niamh is a doer of many things, one of which is cooking.

I've had the idea for this apron design for a while now and Niamh's birthday seemed like the perfect motivation to get me to actually make it.

Included with the apron was a matching oven mitt, made with a layer of regular batting and a layer of Insul-Bright.

It works pretty well, much better than two layers of regular batting.
The second mitt is for me.

Also for me...

Another off-set square pin cushion, made from the oven mitt scraps! This one is a baby. The squares are only 3 inches wide. I really love it though...it is a perfect sewing accessory! I highly recommend you make one of your own.

Dar in the house

My in-laws are visiting this week. Harv's mom Dar is a quilter and serious knitter. In between knitting away she helped me tackle this beast (that I'm ashamed to say has been hanging around for several weeks now). As a little thank you and a "welcome to my craft room" I made her this sweet little pin cushion.

It's sort of made from this tutorial. I read it a couple of days ago and made this today from what I remembered. So quick and easy! The bottom fabric is some home dec fabric left over from some roman shade that my mom and I made for her game room 5 years ago. The top is an old favorite of mine that I have been clinging to since college. I'm ashamed to say that I bought it at Wal-Mart. I swear I would never do such a thing these days. I hadn't yet realized the horridness of Wal-Mart in those days.

Number 3

Three years and counting.
For our first anniversary (paper) I made Harv an album full of photos from our first year. For our second anniversary I made him this cotton quilt. Third anniversary is leather and as much as I love the idea of making Harv an appropriate gift every year I just couldn't come up with a handmade leather gift that he would actually like and use. So, for the leather, I bought him a new wallet. For the handmade gift, I made him this western shirt.

Harv has been on the look out for what he calls "snap shirts" for the last couple of years. We haven't had much luck recently; I think their popularity is waining. Not in our house though, so I thought it would be great to make him his own custom, Lady Harvatine western shirt.

The fabric is one of my favorite little vintage repro prints at Joanns. I used it for the lining of a laptop bag I made for Harv last Christmas and it is now his favorite as well.
This is certainly the most elaborate article of clothing I have ever made. It was very satisfying what with all of the snaps and edge stitching.

Harv has already requested another. With his permission, I might try a little piping on the next one.

Halloweenies

For Halloween this year I've dressed as a girl who was late to work because she was sewing this headband.

Harv is going as the world's most gigundous mustache.

(This is the first time I've seen Harv's naked chin, ever.)

Puzzled

Made for no particular reason:

Puzzle ball from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.
I just wanted to make something small. Something to keep myself busy. This seemed like a good little challenge. It was. Not too much of a challenge though. Just the right amount.
I apologize for the garden hose in the picture. I didn't want to move it because if I did I would have scared away my background models. Here's a closer look.

These two neighborhood (stray) cats like to spend a lot of time in our yard. I think they're married. They're always snuggling each other and sleeping together. But don't worry, they were both fixed by the neuter-fairy so there will be no backyard kittens for us.

Green a little green

I am pretty far from being as green as a girl can be but I try. I have found many little ways to be greener that are so easy and really don't take any extra effort, just a different kind of effort. One of my longest lasting green habits is the use of cloth napkins. The habit started in college when some friends and I lived in a house we called "The Green House". It was a theme house and the inhabitants were supposed to come up with a theme that would benefit the campus community in some way. It was really just a ploy to get ourselves into a house sophomore year and only one of the five of us was a staunch environmentalist beforehand. (Hi Allison!) She first made us a stack of cute little cotton napkins and I think she would be pleased to know that to this day a paper napkin has yet to be used in my home. I have a lot of them and they even have their own little hamper in the laundry room (which is right off the kitchen) where we toss the napkins when we're done with them. Then I can just throw them into the wash anytime I have room in a load of laundry.
Of course, after three years of marriage and using the same napkins, my stash is getting awfully dingy. They still work fine but it is much more enjoyable to dab your lips with something pretty. And so:

Pretty little napkins, kind of made from the pattern in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. I used 18" squares and jumbo rick rack. I made two of each because I only had enough rick rack for four but that is just fine. There are plenty of dinners for two around here.

Sewing revival

While I did not make it even half way through that pile of ironing from yesterday, I did manage to sew something! I was inspired by this lovely bag made by Kim. Hers looked so nice I dug out my copy of the book and took a whack at it.

The "Pleated Beauty Handbag" from Bend-the-Rules Sewing.
I used some brown wool suiting for the main bag, some Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy for the pleats and some happy orange polka-dots for the lining.
I made some small changes to the pattern, none of which you can see in these pictures. I used canvas instead of flannel for the interfacing to make it thicker and sturdier. I made a 4 inch facing out of the suiting and then lined the rest of the bag with the orange polka dots and I sewed a little key fob made out of the Denyse Schmidt fabric between the facing and the lining.

If I were to make this again I would trim the edges of the lining pieces rather than pleat them as the pattern says. I was going to do that this time around but I wanted to be sure that the bag would remain nice and roomy. I think that it would have, even with the smaller lining. As it is I feel like there's just too much fabric inside of the bag. I think this is made worse by the large pocket. I did make a different sized pocket than the pattern suggests but I don't think it was too different. I just kind of winged it. It seemed a little big but I figured "Big bag, big pocket". It ended up kind of droopy. It will certainly work but I guess I just wish the inside looked a little more tailored, like the outside.

I will certainly get some use out of it though. Big bags are easy to fill with necessities. Plus, it definitely ups the "fall quotient" around here.

Take Two

I'm sad to say that two months ago Harv and I had to welcome Pac-y back into our home. He was just too big for his intended family and they had to return him. This wasn't totally unexpected. In fact, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. At least Pac-y made it home for Harv's birthday.
If you'll remember, Ethan gave me this Pac Man fabric on the condition that I make something out of it for him. Pac-y didn't quite fit the bill so this weekend I took a second crack at it.

Do you know what it is?!? No!!! Of course you don't! You are probably not nerdy enough (though I'm sure there are exceptions). It's a case for a Nintendo DS Lite, the current hand held Nintendo game console (think Game Boy but less old and big).

I don't have a picture of a DS to show you because I don't have one and so I made this case based on dimensions that I found online. So...I'm not sure if it's going to fit. I wanted it to be snug-ish. I just hope it's not too snug.
This was a bit of a challenge to make. I used Peltex on the front, back and bottom for a little structure and padding. It worked well but made it difficult to sew some of the seams. It's so tiny! I sewed all of the layers together so there were raw edges inside of the case. I finished them of with some homemade super tiny not-on-the-bias tape. I don't have a 1/4 inch bias tape maker so I just folded and ironed this. I had to sew it on by hand. I tied doing it on the machine but it was just too hard.
So, it's a little wonky but overall I am very happy with the result. Hopefully this won't be returned to me a la Pac-y!

Update: It fits!

Stuff.

Lots of non-crafty things have been holding my attention lately.
Taking care of this guy.

Visiting the LA county fair.

Just a little bit of sewing.

This is just a little sneaky peek. I'll share more soon!

Make Your Own Fall

As a New Englander stuck in LA, I get most homesick at this time of year. LA knows no fall. There's no such thing here. It's kind of like summer stops and then...nothing. It's not hot anymore but nothing really changes. When four distinct seasons have been ingrained into your soul every year since you were born it can be very hard to do without. It's kind of like living in a time vacuum. There are no signs that time is passing.
The other day I saw that they were selling cute little gourds and pumpkins at Trader Joe's and it reminded me of the first fall we spent out here, two years ago, when I first bought little gourds and pumpkins at that very same store. The memory made me very excited. It actually gave me that feeling I've been missing. It gave me a sense of a new kind of fall, in my new(ish) life in LA. Even though there are no changing leaves, the change in produce works for me and I'll take what I can get.

Since I need to cobble together some semblance of a New England fall here, in addition to my gourds I'll hang this sweet little garland that I made last year. It was as easy as pumpkin pie to make so I thought I would share a little "you-know-what" tutorial with you.

You will need:

• several different patterned cotton fabrics in fall colors (I didn't use fall novelty prints. I don't like to be too literal.) The colors I used were dark brown, goldie yellow and dark orange with a little red in some of the fabrics.
  
• several different colors of wool or wool blend felt, all in fall colors (the number of different fabrics is up to you)
• 11 feet of natural or brown raffia (you can get this at any craft store)
• thread, also in a fall color

1. Click here for the leaf template.
2. Print out the template and cut that baby out.
3. Using the template, cut out ten leaves from the cotton fabric and ten leaves from the felt.
4. Pin cotton/felt pairs of fabric together, right sides facing out, sandwiching the raffia between the two. Space the leaf pairs one foot apart, leaving one foot of raffia on either end of the garland. Don't line the leaves up, all pointing in the same direction. Make them a little more random (like they're falling!).
5. Top stitch through the leaf sandwiches mimicking the veins of a leaf (see the picture below), being sure to catch the raffia.

Ta-da! You're done. Hang it up and take a picture!

(Seriously though, send me a picture.)

Great Big Pants

A birthday gift for the legendary Jenny Towner.

The pattern is from Amy Butler's In Stitches.
I had read elsewhere on the internet that these wide legged pants were reeeeeeally wide. It's true. But Jenny liked them.

I used the same He-Man bed sheet that I used to make this pillow for another friend's birthday. I was a little limited in the placement of the images. I only had just enough fabric widthwise to make the pants the images aren't in the most ideal spots. I taped the front and back pattern pieces together at the side seams so that I only had to cut out two pieces of fabric. It seemed like it would be easier to get what I wanted out of the fabric by doing it this way. Plus, that's two less seams to sew. There really wasn't any reason not to do it this way since the legs are so straight.
I don't think that this is quite what Amy Butler means when she suggests using vintage fabric. But how can you not love these when Skeletor looks so bad ass?

Pinned

Thanks so much for all of the sweet comments about my Zipped Up quilt. I'm sorry that I didn't give any details about my method. If I do share I would like to write up a proper little tutorial. Or at least a half-assed one. So I hope you don't mind being a little patient and wait until I have a chance.

In the meantime I made this little pin cushion.
I just made this up but I know that I have seen many pin cushions very similar to this in many different places. The only ones that I can think of right now are these little babies by Maritza of Soto Softies. Not exactly the same but they clearly influenced this design.
In other news, I have almost one hundred percent decided that I am going to apply for Felt Club XL this November. It makes me a little nervous! I've never participated in a craft fair before. I really don't even know if I could get accepted and if I do there will be a lot of crafting pressure. But I think that could be good for me. It's always nice to have a purpose to my sewing. So wish me luck and I will keep you posted!

Snail's Pace

This little guy is a very fitting mascot for Lady Harvatine crafts of late. Things have been happening verrrrrrrrryyyyyy slowwwwwwwwlyyyyyyyy.The recent heatwave made my craft room unbearable and kept me from using my sewing machine at all since I made this in the bedroom. The doorstop was somewhat forgiving but I didn't think quilting on the bed was such a great idea. Having these little Wee Wonderfuls hand sewing patterns to play with in the air conditioning has saved me from total craft shut down.Thankfully, it has now officially cooled off. In fact, morning and night could even be called chilly! Well, maybe not chilly, maybe just a bit nippy. But still, I can sew again! Last night I did a little quilting and this weekend I think things will be speeding up around here.

Wonderful Wee

Well it's hot as you know what. Maybe you don't know what, but I'm not going to tell you because this is a family friendly blog. But just trust me, it's bad. It's hot as a bad bad word.
Now look at this picture I just took.
It doesn't look so bad, does it? Look at the pretty flowers and the pretty pretty sky! It's beautiful! No, you're wrong. It's hell, in my own backyard.
At least I have this sweet little butterfly already finished, made from Hillary Lang's not-surprisingly great Wee Wonderfuls Hand Sewing for Fun pattern cards. I braved the heat of the yard (which is oddly hotter than the unair-conditioned house at 2 in the afternoon) to take these pictures so I can share them with you and feel like I've accomplished something today aside from sweating and eating the Fresca popsicles I made last night.
Phew. Sorry for ranting.

PS Fresca popsicles aren't very good. I wouldn't recommend you try them.

Door Stopped

It has been hot hot hot here lately and we only have air conditioners in the two bedrooms. The rest of the house is unbearable, especially my craft room, which has an entire wall of windows that face the morning sun. The heat gets trapped in there and stays into the wee hours of the night. So last night I grabbed my sewing machine, my iron and my small ironing board and holed up in the bedroom.
We like to have our cats join us at night in our "family bed" but they need to be able to come and go as they please because, well, they're cats. When it's air conditioner weather we try to keep the door as close to shut as possible to keep the cool in while still letting the pusses out. Up until now our doorstop of choice has been a Minnesota Northstars water bottle filled with change. Not ideal. So last night I made the perfect cool air keeper-inner, this doorstop from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing.
I followed the pattern and even went out to Ralph's at 11 'o clock to buy five pounds of beans. This is how it turned out.
Pretty cute and definitely functional but kind of a droopy sad sack. So this morning I ripped open one of the top seams and stuffed some fiber fill in on top of the beans.
Much better!

Sleepy Time

Before our recent whirlwind trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin I whipped up this travel neck pillow. Right before the trip, actually. Like I was stuffing and sewing the seam closed in the car on the way to the airport.It was totally worth it though. We took a red eye to Minnesota on Friday night, arrived and drove two hours to the reunion (camp) site in Wisconsin, then drove back the next day to get on a plane back to CA that night, then work on Monday. With this baby I slept all the way through both flights and both car rides!

Ladies and Gentlemen

Two months ago, our friend Ethan (seen here playing Pac-Man in 1983) gave me this totally amazing Pac-Man fabric that he had been hording for years on the condition that I make him something with some of it. I like making things for friends and was happy to oblige.
Ethan and I brainstormed, trying to come up with an item that was not only worthy of the fabric but would be well used and loved. Ethan and his wife Cindy are not the type of people to fill their home with video game decor and I had already made Ethan some coasters so it was a real dilemma.
Weeks later, we still hadn't come up with the perfect, awe-inspiring object that we were hoping for. Then Ethan came into work with one of these, a miniature paper model of a Pac-Man machine. It didn't take long for that little machine to inspire this:
I call him Pac-y.
His screen is a perfect gameboardesque piece of the Pac-Man fabric.
His body is made of courderoy and some super soft snuggle fabric.
He has a joystick AND two actual working coin slots with a zipper in the back so you can reach in and get your loot!
Pac-y is the charter game at what will from here on be known as "The Harvacade".

Pac-y is quick to make friends.
He's very popular with the ladies.
And he's even a friend to dogs!
Pac-y is also enormous. I don't know that I will make another machine that quite reaches his grandeur but the Harvacade will soon be populated with more Pac-ettes than you can shake a stick at so stay tuned!

Sweet and Simple

Clutch from Bend-the-Rules Sewing.
The outer fabric is the last of the three Etsuko prints that I have framed and hanging on my wall. The other two were used here and here.
I made the back panel upside down so that when it is folded closed you see nice little right side up birds.
The lining is Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy as is the little fabric covered button. (Thanks Maritza for giving me those!)

A Very B-Dogg B-Day

A He-Man pillow for B-Dogg's birthday.
Made from a thrifted sheet I got at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. The front is quilted. The back is vintage fabric from a thrift shop in Ventura. I guess you can't see that. Well it's there. And I have much more of it so I'm sure it will surface again.
The birthday boy, 31 years young.

Summer Slippers for my Mom

My lovely parents are visiting from Connecticut. I made my mom some slippers to wear around our house. I used four layers of batting on these. Much cushier.
Here she is wearing the slippers, sharing pictures from their recent trip to Europe with Harv.

Crafts of Late

Harv and I have had this week off from work. It has been exceedingly pleasant and super relaxing. I've been reading a lot, making some yummy dinners, had tea with some friends at the Huntington and spent a couple of nights camping at Big Bear. I have not done too much crafting however. I very often feel a lot of pressure to be productive make the most of my spare time. When I have two+ months of hiatus I feel lazy and purposeless if I am not sewing every possible moment. I typically like there is no where near enough time to make all of the things I am inspired to make and that can feel kind of stressful. I made a conscious decision this week to just take it easy, do what I felt like doing and try to relax. It actually worked! I feel refreshed and ready to go back to the studio, not disappointed about all of the projects I didn't quite finish.
I did manage to complete a few crafts this past week, crafts that didn't interfere with my lounging and hammocking. First, a table cloth for our outdoor table that always looks very gross and dusty.
Now we can just cover up the yuck! Note the handy slit for fitting around the umbrella.

Second, I finished the bedside rug that I started a long time ago, inspired by the new bed we bought this week.
Stabone really digs the rug.
Lilly digs the new bed. The quilt was made by Harv's mom as a wedding gift.
Speaking of parents, mine are winging their way west as I type this and will be arriving at Chez Us tomorrow morning. With all of the relaxing I've been doing this week, there hasn't been much time for cleaning. Yeeps. That's my night. Hopefully I will be able to whip up a pair of slippers for my Ma as a welcoming gift. I also wanted to make some napkins to match the outdoor tablecloth so we could have an extra classy meal out back while they're here. We'll see.

Summer accesories abound

What I didn't tell you the other day is that I started to make the summer slippers because I was waiting for some fabric to be washed and dried, fabric that was destined to become this hat from Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing".
I was so anxious to make that hat that I had to make something else while I was waiting.

I had seen several cute versions of this hat on the internet and as I went out to garden the other day, wearing Harv's stinky old baseball hat, I decided that I needed a special summer hat of my own. So the next day I went out, bought the book then made meself a hat.
The fabric is some Etsuko Furuya from Repro Depot and the lining is Amy Butler. I agree with others that the crown is a bit big but I am trying to embrace it. I do after all, have a very large head so it kind of works on me.
As for the book, I love it. I love her style and I love that it comes with full sized pattern pieces.

Summer Slippers

It's hot here. Very hot. And it's only going to get hotter as the summer goes on. So what's a gal to do when she wants to shuffle around the house in her comfies but it's to hot for her trusted slippers? She makes summer slippers! These slippers give you something soft and stylish to lounge around in while trying to stay cool.



You will need: at least one flip flip that fits your foot, some vinyl, cotton fabric for the top of the slippers (call it your main fabric), muslin or something that kind of matches your main fabric (this fabric is not meant to be seen but you might get a little bit peeking out of the edge of your slippers so pick something that will be camouflaged), bias tape 1/2 inch wide or fabric to make your own bias tape, for the straps and batting (I used polyester because it is fluffier and it will hold up better under my feet).

Also handy: disappearing fabric marker, bias tape maker (if you're going to make your own) and a walking foot for your machine. You don't have to use one but I did. Now that i have one I find myself using it more often than not. It's awesome.


1. On the back side of your vinyl, plop down your stinky old flip flop and trace the sole using a disappearing marker. Now fold the vinyl over on itself, right sides together and pin around the sole outline so you have two layers of vinyl. Don't pin inside of the outline because the pins will leave visible holes in the vinyl. It doesn't bounce back like regular fabric. Once you're pinned, cut along the outline. Now you have a sole for each foot!

2. Use one of your vinyl soles as a template and lay it over your main fabric and your muslin, each folded in half, right sides together. Trace around the soul, about 1/2 in away from the edge of the vinyl. This does not have to be perfect. If you're scared, give yourself more than 1/2 of an inch. Now pin it all together and cut on the line.
Repeat this step with the batting. I used two layers of batting for each slipper which means you need to cut out four pieces. Remember to add the roughly 1/2 in seam around the batting as well!

3. Layer your pieces as so: two pieces of batting on the bottom, muslin in the middle and main fabric, right side down, on top. Be sure you've got right and left foot accounted for. Pin it all together (I didn't...I'm sorry, I'm reckless).

4. Now take one of your vinyl soles and center it over one of the little stacks that you just made. Trace around the exact edge or the vinyl, then put the vinyl aside. This is your sewing line. Sew along that line, around the entire perimeter of the stack, leaving a two to three inch opening on one side for turning.

Repeat with the other stack.

5. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4 of an inch on both slippers.
Now turn the insole right side out, so that the main fabric is on top, the muslin is on the bottom and the batting is in the middle. Make sure that the seam allowance on the opening is tucked inside, feel free to press it if you want.

5. For the strap, I made my own not-on-the-bias tape (it doesn't need to be cut on the bias for this). I cut a two inch wide strip of fabric,
then I fed it through my bias tape tool and pressed. If you don't have one of these, for this project you can just fold the two sides of the strip into the center and press.
Then fold the whole thing in half and press, so that you have half inch tape. You can of course use premade bias tape.
Next, sew along the open edge of your tape like so:
You need 12 inches of tape for each slipper.

6. Put your turned out insoles on the floor and center your feet over each one. With your disappearing marker, make a mark in between your first and second toes on each insole. This is where you are going to sew down the center of your strap.
Cut a 12 inch piece of the strap. Pin the strap to the insole where you marked between your toes. The strap should be perpendicular to the insole (like a cross) and there should be five inches of strap pointing towards the inside (where your big toe is) and seven inches of strap on the other side. Sew over the strap at the between your toes mark, back stitching several times.


7. Put the slipper back on the floor and put your foot back on it, this time with the straps coming up from between your big and second toes. You want to mark where the straps will be sewn on the edge of the slipper so pull them over your toes to fit your feet. They should be tight enough to stay on but loose enough that they are easy to slip on. Make a diagonal mark on the straps, where they meet the side seams and mark the side of the slipper, on either side of the straps. Take your foot out and pin the straps in place, lining up the marks and wrapping the excess strap under the insole.
Trim the straps so that there is only 1/2 an inch pinned underneath the insole.

8. Lay the insoles on the vinyl soles, wrong sides together and edge stitch all of the way around the slipper, over the straps and closing the opening you left for turning. If necessary, trim the vinyl to match the insole.

Done! Now get comfy and stay cool!

Star Wars (Really?)

More coasters.
I woke up tres early this morning to make these before work. Today is one of our co-workers' birthdays and the thrill of actually giving someone a gift on their real live actual birthday was so exciting that I just had to get this done. So imagine my disappointment when I arrived at the studio this morning and overheard that he was not coming in today! Luckily, the birthday boy lives less than a block from the studio so I'm going to stick the package in his mail slot at lunch.
The coasters are made out of more pieces of a "vintage" Empire Strikes Back bed sheet that I used to make this quilt for Harv. I threw in a bunch of scrap cotton and scrap batting and voila. This one is my favorite.
So, while we're on the subject of Star Wars...I am getting to know my audience here and there is a dramatic difference in the amount of interest that exists for my most awesome crafts and pretty much everything else (less awesome crafts, reasons for not crafting, work, house, most everything else). This is understandable of course but it is not going to prevent me from updating you all on certain happenings, especially the big work stuff. I spend way too much time animating for it not to seep into this blog every once in a while!
I would therefore like to insist that you watch the "Robot Chicken Star Wars" Special. It is airing on Sunday, June 17 at 10pm (maybe earlier if you're central, I'm not sure) on Cartoon Network. For those of you who don't know, my husband Harv and I are both stop-motion animators working at a studio that produces two shows for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, Robot Chicken and Moral Orel. Last fall we produced an officially Lucasfilm sanctioned half hour special (which is a really big deal as all original official Star Wars content in the past has been created from within Lucasfilm except for one guy who wrote some novels (nerds, I'm sorry if I didn't quite word that information correctly)) and it is honestly very cool. And I'm not a big Star Wars nerd like many of the people around here, yet still, I think it's funny. I know that you all are mostly not Star Wars nerds either but I'm pretty sure that some of you at least have an inkling of Star Wars nerdiness...or you're just married to a Star Wars nerd. So watch! And look out for the Ponda Baba sketch as it was animated almost exclusively by me. (Ponda Baba's the guy who has tusks on his face that, I'm sorry, look like balls. Or an ass if you want to be a little less graphic. Here's a picture of him. Look for this guy.)

A Soon-To-Be Becurtained Craft Room

Having my craft room functioning again has really made any time that I am not at work utterly craft filled, as it should be. But yesterday I just wasn't feeling so hot all afternoon and I made the declaration that "Tonight, I am going to take it easy."
Nuh-uh. That was until I came home and saw this on my doorstep!
Twelve wonderful yards of this fabric ordered from Repro Depot; cafe curtains for 6 of the 7 windows in my room. (Actually there are two windows, one door with a window and a set of French doors that lead into the rest of the house in addition to the 7 windows that actually look outside. Those will not be curtained.)
Of course I got straight to work. Here is one set finished:Here is the rest of the windows, still naked:
And here is the pile of unfinished curtains, cut, sides sewn, awaiting my return tonight:
I just had to finish and install one set last night so that I could see how pretty they would be with the light shining though them this morning. Pretty. I am very satisfied with my choice.

Thanks for the loving!

Thank you all so much for all of your sweet comments on my Whiplash quilt! You guys are so nice! I have been so down for the past month, with my craft room unusable and nothing to blog about. I am so happy that you all are still here to give me feedback, even though I have abandoned you for so long! Blogging about my work is such a great motivator. I love you internet!
I spent all weekend working on stuff. It was great. I made a few purses a la this that I am going to *gasp* put up in my shop later today. I know! Can you believe it? I never put anything in my Etsy shop! Well, I really hope to change that soon. During my crafting drought I had a ton of great ideas for things that I would love to send out into the world. One of which I started some work on this weekend. I am hoping to finish them tonight but I will give you a little sneaky peek right now:I am very excited about this! Can't wait to show you the finished product!

Spring Sack

Well, old mister so-and-so says that I shouldn't share any pictures of the puppets I am working on until the film is done. That is ok, it will be worth the wait. I have been making some super cute little costumes here.
I finished one puppet yesterday and before diving into the second one I took a little break to make something that I can show you.
A sweet little springtime purse, made with the fabric that adorns my living room wall. A couple of years ago I told Harv the importance of changing purses with the changing seasons and he has since been very comically aware of whether I am carrying an appropriate purse or not.
I made this similar bag about a month ago to use when we went to Europe. I made it from Butterick pattern 4944. It is a great big bag, perfect of for carrying all of your sightseeing necessities without looking like a dopey tourist with a big backpack or (gasp!) a fanny pack. When I travel I try to look and act as much like I would in the city where I live as possible. The big purse is a must. The only change I made to the pattern was I lengthened the strap so that I could where it across my chest. The pattern has a really short strap that just goes over one shoulder.
I loved this pattern. It was so easy to make and I really like the look of it. The new bag is much smaller. I wanted an everyday purse and I know that if I have a large bag to carry around with me I will fill it up and I don't need to be lugging around 15 pounds of Advil, paperbacks and tampons. I was going to scan the original pattern into the computer and resize it but I decided that it was simple enough that I could just draw a new one myself. It was very easy and there was only a tiny bit of arithmetic that made my brain hurt. (Have I mentioned that math and arithmetic are different? Not all math majors are good at arithmetic. Please don't judge me!) I used the actual pattern pieces for the closure strap, the handle and the two side tabs, just shortening the closure strap.
I also changed the inside pocket. The one in the pattern is way too shallow and your stuff just falls out but it is easy enough to make your own.
So with a back-to-school purse and back-to-school hair(greatest haircut of my life, by the way, but kind of flat in this picture...haven't washed it yet, don't tell) I am hopefully ready to go back to school (work) on Monday!

PS Buy this! It just came out on Tuesday and is so funny and wonderful. The episode called "Love" has my best animation on this DVD. Watch it!

Hatching new friends

Sweet little birds are hatching all over the place here in Make Out City. First, I took my new treasures from ReproDepot along with some frames from Ikea and put together some easy-as-pie artwork.
I love love love these fabrics and picked them out especially for this purpose. But of course now I have a whole bunch left over, ripe for the sewing. It's always so difficult for me to come up with projects that I deem worthy for truly wonderful fabrics like these. I definitely think that the bees may be destined for a purse though.
The second hatchling is this:
I made the pattern myself. I think he may be a little too fat but he will be added to the Easter tree nonetheless.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter

As promised, I dove right into bunny making the other day. Here are our two new friends:
I heart Hillary Lang and all of her wonderful creations. I can't wait for these sweet babies to come to my house.
In addition to the buns, I bought some pussy willows at the farmer's market today and put together a little Easter "tree".
All of the decorations on it are new purchases I made on our trip.
I bought the little wooden ornaments in Munich.
The eggs (three real and one felted) I bought in Salzburg. The real eggs are from this AMAZING shop that has thousands of handpainted eggs. It was wonderful. I have a real soft spot for painted eggs. I used to make pysanky, Ukranian Easter eggs. I haven't made any in a little while but I think I might try to replenish my dye supplies this week and make some before Easter. If we hadn't been away I think that I might have tried to make some to sell in my Etsy shop. You can see some of the eggs I've made in the past here at the long neglected Harvatine.com.
One last thing:
Don't ever say that I'm not one to hop on the band wagon. It's every blogger's favorite, no-knead bread! I used the recipe found here. So so tasty and so so easy. The biggest baking dish that I had was 2.5 qts but it worked out fine. I've never made bread before and I am very happy with the experience. We're going to some friends' house for dinner soon and it's all I can do to keep from eating the whole loaf!

Home again, home again.

Hello internet!
We have returned from the great white Europe. We had a great time with Harv's parents. We started off in Munich, then went to Slovenia (where John I, Harv's great grandpa came from), met some Hrvatins (the original spelling of Harvatine), then spent a couple of days in Salzburg. A good time was had by all. Of course we have many many pictures to share, including fun things that only a crafter could love, but those will take some doing to sort through and get on Flickr. Don't worry though...soon, very soon.
In the meantime, I had two wonderful treats waiting for me when I returned home the other night! First was this,
the purchase I finally made using the ReproDepot gift certificate my parents gave me for Christmas. I was waiting for the right fabric to come around and boy was it worth it! The second treat was my Wee Wonderfuls Big-Footed Bunny pattern book! Hooray.
I was just now sitting here perusing the BFB photo group on Flickr and decided that enough's enough, I've been home a day and a half, it's about time I made a bunny. After all, my sister Leigh is coming to visit next weekend...we've got to Easter up the joint!
This is the perfect project for this fun fabric:
I don't really like holiday themed fabrics and I am pretty sure that this is not supposed to be an Easter print but the little ovals look so much like eggs that it prevents me from using it for anything non-Easter related. As I was writing that I remembered that I also purchased this little gem:
Definitely Easter themed yet still acceptable to me. Two bunnies it is, then!
Well, we've still got another month before we go back to work and I plan to craft/blog it up until then. Happy spring everyone, I am glad to be back and see you all again!

A Quick Quickie

Feeling slightly pooped on this, a brilliant (I think) quilt design popped into my head.
I loved this brilliant little trickie and am putting it to use.
So I cut out some circles (note never-before-used 8 year-old circle cutter),
picked out some fabric,
got meself some foil
and voila! A quilt in the making!
This is not the decided upon layout, just a hint of what's to come. You know what else is to come? A lot of hand sewing. Yeeps!
Oh, and one last thing:
Has your heart not burst? Oh...you are a cold cold person.

Seriously Striking Back

Ta-da! Harv's Valentine's day gift, an Empire Strikes Back quilt, made from a bed sheet we bought at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.You can see more pictures, including some close-ups here.
And of course I can't let you go without a picture of the lucky recipient:
Is this too nerdy? Absolutely. But let's be honest, if you own a light saber, it doesn't really make sense to have an "Empire Strikes Back" quilt photo shoot without it. That's just silly. I will let the internet know that this was my idea, Harv is an innocent victim of my picture taking.
So now what? Another two months of hiatus = let's start another quilt! This next one is going to be really fast and simple. I bought these fabrics today to make a baby quilt for a friend's new little boy. I really really love this quilt which was inspired by this quilt (also love) and both have inspired what I am planning to do here.
I had a lot of fun picking out these fabrics. I got a lot of flannel and the blue is corduroy so it will all be nice and fun for baby to touch.

Some Good Things

1. Finished listening to my first book at Librivox, "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen. Very funny and sweet. I highly recommend Librivox. It is such a wonderful site!
2. Made vomacka for dinner last night. I believe it is pronounced voh-MACH-ka. Ate this soup at a restaurant in Minnesota that we always go to when we visit Harv's best friend and his wife. I think it is the only restaurant in their very small farm town. A lot of the people there are of Czech descent and this is a Czech recipe. I have been thinking about this soup ever since I first tried it over a year ago and finally made it last night. It is a creamy vegetable soup, flavored with dill. SO GOOD!
3. Rediscovered this Denyse Schmidt quilt along group on flickr that I joined a while ago but forgot about. *sigh* I just love Denyse Schmidt, a lot.
4. Finished the Empire Strikes Back quilt! Happy Valentine's Day Harv! Tomorrow being March, I finished just in time. It's handy not working. Putting the quilt in the washing machine right now. I will put a picture up soon!
   

Progress

We don't have cable. Which means we don't have Tivo and we don't get HBO and we've never seen an episode of "Project Runway". These are all things that I know I would enjoy if I had access to them but I don't. It is my personal belief that, although I love it, tv sucks my life away. I simply cannpt resist things like "30 Minute Meals" and crappy MTV documentaries like "Made" (is that still on?). There is just too much I want to be doing with my time to waste it channel surfing all day. Watching too much tv makes me sick to my stomach and a little depressed.
So we decided a couple of years ago that we weren't going to pay to hae our lives sucked and we went off the cable. We're a rabbit ears family now. Rather than slobbing on the couch flipping through 100 channels for an hour, switching between three different shows that we are only aguely interested in, we have a handful of shows that we make a point to watch each week, things that we really want to see. Other than that there are some throw away shows that are entertaining while I'm crafting but don't take my attention away from the task at hand. The great thing about only having 7 or 8 channels (in English, there are about 12 more in Spanish and I think Japanese) is your done channel surfing in about 30 seconds. Then you're either watching something you like or the tv's off.
Now, all of this being said, I really do like to be entertained while I am crafting. While we're working and I only have the weekends to make stuff I listen to NPR non-stop. But now we're on hiatus and I have a lot of time to be entertained while I'm sewing. So, we've put our pinky toes into the pool of 21st century entertainment and joined Netflix! I spent a wonderful Sunday watching "Anne of Green Gables" (sigh) and working on this:
Harv's very very belated Valentine's gift. It's an Empire Strikes Back quilt, made out of a vintage sheet that we bought at the Rose Bowl flea market a couple of weeks ago.
So along with this discovery I made at this lovely blog, I am going to be up to my eyeballs in craft inducive entertainment. Perhaps this quilt could even be finished before March!

Apron and Mitt

Well, I've accidentally made something for myself.
I intended to make this apron and oven mitt for a friend but decided after they were finished that these colors just don't suit said friend. I was inspired by these orange pom-poms that I had. In hindsight, I don't really think my friend is such an orange person, nor a pom-pom person. So, I'm keeping them for myself and making another set in more fitting colors.
The patterns are from "Denyse Schmidt Quilts", my A-#1 favorite quilt book. I love the way they look. I cook a lot but I have never worn an apron. I must admit that I feel totally cool when I cook in this. It's like a time to cook uniform.
Unfortunately the oven mitt is not quite as functional as it should be. The pattern just calls for one layer of batting and I used two but it is still isn't quite thick enough. And it was really difficult to sew through all of the layers plus the pom-poms. Since the next one I'm making won't have pom-poms I should be able to add another layer of batting. I don't want to burn any hands!

Done and done.

Hooray! It is done:
A quilt for someone. I can't say who just yet. It has actually been done for almost a week but I didn't take pictures of it until today. Now I need to get myself to FedEx and ship this baby off.
As I mentioned before, this quilt was inspired by this design on the Denyse Schmidt website. The design takes full advantage of the two things I love most about DSQ: #1, irregularity and the appearance of randomness in shapes and placement and #2, the use of a neutral color as a background as opposed to an all over design. And now that I'm on the subject I've thought of another: #3, choosing a very high percentage of solid fabrics over patterned ones. I really love the clean, modern look that you can achieve this way. It makes the design really prominent and also makes the few patterns that you do use really stand out. For this quilt I used all solids except for one plaid for some of the stripes and a flowered vintage-looking print for the backing.
The design isn't totally random. I tried to work out how many stripes of each color I would need and in which widths and lengths to keep it somewhat balanced. I used the same number of each on either side and simply laid them out randomly on the floor along with white strips of different widths. I rearranged one or two stripes but was quite happy with my initial "random" layouts.

Yesterday was my last day of work until Robot Chicken Season 3 starts up in 2 months and I plan to be sewing like crazy! I also hope to be more diligent about blogging all of my crafty endeavors. Next up: another Denyse Schmidt something for another secret someone!

Denyse Schmidt Wannabe

I'm making a quilt for a secret someone using this fabric.I was looking at patterns, hoping for inspiration and I found this quilt on the Denyse Schmidt website. So that's what I'm doing. It's working out pretty well so far. I really hurt my brain trying to plan out how many of which color strips at what width and what length. That sort of thing gets really jumbled up in my head but I'm glad I did it. That way I only cut the fabric that I needed and it was much simpler to lay out the final pattern without having to worry about using too much or too little of any one fabric.
Here is my center panel. I have sewn on the two side panels and spray basted everything together so maybe this weekend I will be able to quilt it up!

At Long Last!

I finally had time to make a robot from the Wee Wonderfuls Put-Together Book No. 2! The book arrived in the midst of Christmas gift making madness and I had to work really hard to avoid dropping everything to make something right away. But now gifts have been given and I have time to work on some projects of my choosing. New Year, new robot!