~fabric therapy~

I see that I am right on target with my January Fabric Therapy trip to Alewives. This year, it is only just now looking snowy enough to pass as winter which I am loving. I also loved my bright sparkly ski through the forest this afternoon through the fluffiest sparkliest snow ever.

But still, the pull of fabric is strong in January. The need to see all that color and lusciousness. I went with the idea of making a birthday project for a February gal.

Once there, I started thinking about how I don't have a single winter skirt made by me. I went over to the corner of the shop where there is yummy colorful wool fabric. I admit to being a little bit afraid of working with wool fabric, a new sort of animal and all.

At first I was being boring and practical, looking at neutrals. But my eye kept going back to this nice vintage-y aqua and imagining a lovely toadstool and hedgehog appliqué. I recalled the Kate M. theory of ordering at restaurants which is that you can dispense with the notion that you "Should" get a particular something, and just get what you want. Goodbye boring and practical neutrals. Hello, aqua wool delight.

And then there was the impulse buy.

I spied this little layer cake while I was nearing checkout. Little foxies. Little toadstools. Little Red Riding Hood. I knew that if I left the store without it that I would have non-buyer's remorse AND that it would get scooped up by other sewists in less than a millisecond. Carrie B. and I once discovered the perfect vintage Astrakhan wool coat in a Goodwill in Chicago, left the store, quickly realized we made an abysmal choice, returned to the store and BAM. Gone. Poof.

It will make a throw-sized quilt, is decidedly girly, and you know what? I say great. I will even share it with the gents around this place if they care to be swathed in pink Red Riding Hood and little toadstools. To heck with neutrals.

If you have not become acquainted with Vi Hart, let me invite you to discover her inspirational math/art doodles. We all have a little crush on her.

inspiration returns

OK, enough whining. Let's get on with it, despite a new head cold, strep throat, and snow this week. There is so much talent around me, it's staggering.

The mom who, having finally discerned that the reason her daughter hated wearing hats was because of the preferred hairdo of said daughter (2 long ponytails, perched high, then braided), decided to knit a two-ponytail hat. (And it's not underpants, GooneyBird.) Adorable and innovative.

~another friend loves me by mail~

And frankly, there's some real fashion-forward/fashion-freedom happening in the 6th grade, my son's class at school. I love that it seems to stem not from boy-craziness or "I'm so cool," but in a true spirit of Makership and Art.

We have the delightful innovator who has been wearing her family's wool, appliqued Christmas Tree Skirt (you know that skirt that fits round the base of the tree?), every year since first grade as a festive winter assembly skirt. You can imagine that it was ballroom length when this started, and it has slowly gotten shorter as she has lengthened!

I spotted a very sweet Leprechaun hat perched atop her head, just recently in honor of St. Patrick's day. Fashioned out of felt and about the size of a cupcake, it appeared to be fastened to a headband.

In the same 6th grade, there is also E. You must remember her from previous posts. We like to swap things we Make. E. is a sewist, crafter, and Maker of things. She makes bags out of repurposed plastic shopping bags, fused together, then sewn. She might get a whim to make pants one day...and just make them, and wear them the next day to school. Or she creates shorts, using an old tee shirt. A Christmas skirt from some crazy South American woven fabric she found. She totally pulled it off: the sewing and the wearing.

The point is, E. has no fear. She has an idea. She cuts up the fabric and then sews it up. Simple. And OK, so the hems are not usually finished. And sure, the pants ended up with a split seam. Disasters are part of it, part of learning, part of creation. Is this a person who asks herself if she has a knitwear needle? Or who stops in her tracks because the thread isn't an exact match? No fear of failure.

People try their whole lives to unlearn the fear of failure in Making. They spend $100,000 at art school to learn to innovate. Or thousands of dollars in therapy to unlearn that "can't" is a total mind construct. I do hope this gal ends up at art school someday. And someday, she'll finish a hem, I just know it. She recently used a pattern!

remember this sweet new friend?

made for me by E., from a pattern!

You already know Denyse Schmidt, fabric designer, quilt designer, and inspired Maker. She gives workshops ("Improvisational Patchwork"), too---she was even at Alewives. Her quilts and designs have this quality of asymmetry and freedom. Some of the blocks I have seen, like this one, have been tickling the back of my mind. When I got her book though, it was all so measured out and instructions and.... It stopped me. It didn't match the idea I had of what the process and spirit of those quilt blocks were.

This weekend I had the itch of Making. I dumped out all of my scraps and started piles of scrap friends. Pretty soon, I was thinking of Denyse Schmidt and E. My inner rule-follower wanted to call those gals at Alewives right up and ask them for tips. Instead, I pretended I was E. I chose the Scrap Friends pile that excited me most in that moment, cut up a rectangle and found a strip to sew along side it.

The rule-follower said: "Wait! Don't you want to save your longest pieces for the outside of the square??? Be sensible!" No thanks, I want this fabric, and I want it right now.

I measured nothing. I set aside the cutters and the rulers and used scissors. I just had fun playing with fabric and sewing. Following the fabrics and who they wanted to rub shoulders with. At the end of it, I trimmed it down to about a 15" square. Next time, I'll try being even more radical with my cuts and slants.

"Is it a pillow? What's it going to be?" They asked me.

"Don't know. Don't really care. I think it looks pretty good tacked up on my inspiration board for the moment."

::Look at this:: More inspiration from someone who's under 18.

::Reading this:: Because my very liberal liberal arts education denied me the pleasure of reading classics.

::Watching this:: When I was so sick that I couldn't do anything, this was the perfect escape. The costumes! The BBC! Swoonful.

::Listening to:: Manu Chao station on Pandora.

It's my inner grandma

Oh, finally, some sewing again! Bad lighting be damned, I said, and just got to it. You could wait around your whole life for perfection, but that would be so much waiting and not enough fun. In the meantime, I whipped up this little number, in fabric selected for me by Susan and Matthew on their recent visit to Alewives Fabrics.

who doesn't need an apron with personality?!

There was something so freeing about tasking them with picking out fabric for this project. I love surprises! Also, I knew I would love the fabric no matter what because: 1) they don't stock bad fabric at Alewives and, 2) I love Matthew and Susan. So now this apron has a nice connection with some dear friends.

The Church Ladies' Apron Pattern by Mary Mulari was pretty quick to work up and took just one yard of each fabric for front and back. I lowered the location of the pockets because otherwise they were located around my midsection, which I am not keen to draw attention to. Also, I found that the piece that fits around the neck needed about 1" less fabric to fit right on my 5'6" frame. The only tedious part was ironing and hemming the pockets, and there was a small discrepancy between what the pattern said and what I thought was right; I went with 1/4" folded under once and then again to finish the pocket hems.

Such a fun way to showcase fabrics with great prints. My apron's reverse side is this lovely textured green. And, though I love my pretty half-aprons (just waist down), they are not so practical for actual cooking, where I tend to splatter and spill on my upper parts. So now, this lovely addition to my collection.

You can't have too many aprons, shoes, or handbags in my opinion.

Some sewing, some cooking Redux

new bag:

The Multitasker Tote by Anna Maria Horner

Well, it seems that I am up to my old tricks, naming this post almost the same as this one, cooking and sewing in between working and studying and all that. The cooking and sewing looks better on film though.

Sometimes I like to cook with sugar, you know white, refined, and much like cocaine (in terms of how bad it is for your body).

Other times, I like to cook without. And lately, we are also doing wheat-free baking for one family member who is less itchy without it. Here are some sweet potato muffins, Jonas's favorite.

JONAS'S Favorite and Mostly Healthy Muffins

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease your muffin cups or use liners.
• Into the bowl of a standing mixer, put in:

1 c. cooked sweet potato

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1 egg (if you are going for vegan, just substitute a couple of tablespoons of flax meal)

1/2 c. maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener like honey or agave nectar or whatever you have)

1/8-1/4 c. molasses

• Mix this up.
• In another small bowl, or if you are a cheater who doesn't like a bunch of dishes, just use your measuring cup:

2 c. flour (wheat or gluten-free or spelt, whatever)

1 t. baking powder

3/4 t. salt

1-2 t. cinnamon (we like it spicy!)

grated nutmeg (as much as you can stand to grate. I usually tire
of it after about 1/4 t., but I am a fan, so do more if you can)

allspice or cloves (a tiny pinch)

• Add your dry ingredients to your wet in 3 additions or so until
  

there are no obvious lumps of flour.

• Throw in a handful of chocolate chips, or raisins if you are
  

feeling virtuous. Mix.

• Plop in muffin cups and put in the oven for 20 minutes or so.

Here's my new spring/summer tote! Laminate fabric on the exterior for easy cleaning, nice roomy interior for all the stuff that goes along with me to the beach.

looking inward, from above

These four little exterior pockets, which I am loving, are perfect for your sunglasses and keys, ie. those things that are frequently hard to find in your voluminous pouch.

The little owls on the interior pockets, leftover from the Letter Pouch. I have to say that I really love the Anna Maria Horner pattern because it's written well and easy to understand. I will definitely look for more AMH patterns out there. There were some quirky steps in this bag, but I felt confident because the pattern was so well done. And I am really happy with how it turned out. In fact, last week I was able to go to work with just TWO bags in hand (a record), instead of the usual three.

As you probably already guessed, I had a really nice visit to Alewives Fabrics lately to redeem my Christmas gift certificate! (Can you believe it lasted so long?) So nice to see the lovely ladies there, as always. Rhea, the owner, is wonderful, and she seems to have a knack for hiring helpers who are equally so. This linen with the birds on it is a Japanese fabric and will be a new summer Barcelona skirt; A-line, not tiered this time. Can you tell I am looking ahead to summer sewing projects when I am not in school?

And some more of that owl fabric, to be a new pair of PJs for my very long-legged boy, Jonas. Notice those sweet Matryoshkas? Also a Japanese fabric, it's so so so soft that it is screaming (ever-sweetly) to be a new hankie. I am pondering a giveaway of hankies soon (a Matryoshka one will definitely be in the mix!), just as a thank you for reading gift, so keep checking in.

When she perches up here,

she usually thinks about flying down for some time,

and clucks very loudly while she contemplates

Finally, how is our friend Puffkin doing? The ongoing saga of our sweet hen continues. In the warmer weather, I removed the Chicken Cozy Neckwarmer and upcycled a tee-shirt sleeve (men's) to be a little protective covering that fits under her wings and over her healing parts. She lives in this little box in our woodshed and in the nicer weather we let her free range in the yard. The other chickens are securely in their chicken yard now, since my husby fixed their fence! So no danger of Puffkins being bullied or treated poorly by her feathered colleagues. For now, she seems content to go it alone, and when she's ready, we'll reintroduce her to the flock.

When Multitasking Makes You A Jerk

Guess WHOOOOOOO's turning 5?

The theme of the party is owls, her favorite bird!

Sometimes I am just so darn efficient. Yesterday, upon returning home with just one boy (the other two were having dinner elsewhere), I was juggling several things: the mail, my multiple bags, etc. The Little Magpie spotted something I would have put in the recycling right away: a Sesame Street activity pack promotional thing, lots of bright glossy pictures, Elmo, etc. He hopped right into a chair to examine "his" mail, while I got started on dinner.

she and Syvan correspond, so this seemed perfect

Are you able to spell with accuracy while sauteeing vegetables for soup, make a wholesome and attractive meal, set a beautiful table, manage an unbelievably splitting headache, and balance a cold pack on your head while doing the former? I was not only spelling out the words and numbers of our address, somewhat distractedly, but also providing visual reminders of what certain letters look like. ("D is like a straight line with a half moon attached to it...W is like an upside down mountain...") This is the type of spelling bee that would get really interesting and I am sure that many mothers would excel at! (I am sorry dads, but we do know that you are not that great at multitasking but really rock at hunting wooly mammoths and playing basketball.)

she is also a button-collector,

so here is a nice vintage one that looks like an owl's eye

Later, it came to our attention that Sylvan was writing his address, name, and phone number down so he could stuff it into an envelope to reply: "YES! Please send me the Sesame Street Activity pack for $3.50 and sell my name to lots of other companies so we will receive a lot more junk mail!!!!" (Oh, junk is in the eye of the beholder, I know.)

a pattern from my birthday gift from Poppie,

Amanda Blake Soule's A Handmade Home

It was so adorable to see his enthusiasm and diligence at all that writing, and his absolute certainty that the $3.50 would be worth it. And I had totally missed all this while it was happening only a few feet away from me, because I was so intent on my pain and my plan for the meal and the evening.

interior fabric so fun, like buttons,

from (where else?) Alewives Fabrics!

I am not beating myself up about it because there are so many many many moments like these, that I am sure I will catch the next one, and maybe miss the two after that, and hopefully catch some more in the future. (Michael Chabon, oh, another geeky librarian crush, writes of this phenomenon in his latest book, Manhood for Amateurs). Was dinner that important that I couldn't stop for 5 minutes? Was my headache so awful that I couldn't show some interest in Sylvan's agenda? Actually, it really was, but still.

looks as though he's in a stiff wind

And because I do have a FEW male readers, though I suspect they are all related to me, I will mix this post up with some pics of our own Chia Obama! Picture me singing this song (just the first part of the video) to the words of "chiOBAAAAAMA" when I greet our president each morning.

I was not the one responsible for the above,

I will have you know

a little male-pattern baldness

and look at how that ear hair is coming in!

35, day 1

(Well actually, I have only been 35 for about 6 minutes...But hold on! If I was in New Zealand with Mary Nanna and Miss Smith, I would already be well into my 1st day of 35!)

party favor Valentines

repurposed Nikki McClure calendar,

you know those little mini pictures of the months that live on the backside

of your calendar

Rolled-hem hankie crafternoon! (Reminder tutorial is here.) Lots of laughing, pretty fabrics, fun books to share. And sewing friends.

A Gratitude Wrap made by Marcia, so I can take my notecard-writing on the road.

Inside, three pockets for a notebook, notecards, and stamps. So pretty and functional, and let me point out to you that there is a LOT of bias tape on this project. Which is a pretty big pain to sew. I do appreciate that detail!

We had snacks. This wasn't one of them. (But may I say: Y U M)

These folks know me well. Somebody even organized these friends into bringing lots of fat quarters to share with me! Look, this is the chicken themed pack (Note the white fabric with what appears to be hexagons: it's chicken wire!):

This is the yummy greensy goldsy bluesy selection (including some fabrics at right that originate from Ghana) and a little gifty from Rhea of Alewives (awww.):

And Oh. My. Cuteness. Donut and coffee mugs. Little tiny Japanese girls with parasols?! I ask you.

And we now have our very own Chia Obama, the "Determined" version (he also comes in "Happy"). We will post progress photos of our first African-American president with his organic green afro. Yes! We can!