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!