What I've been doing instead of blogging

Please excuse the interruption to postings this week. I really did get my motivation back, but I've also been trying to clear a long-standing project from my plate (and from my wee brain). A couple of months ago (eek), I agreed to make child-sized chef's hats for each child in Ellie's class. You read that correctly: I agreed (offered, even!) to make 24 child-sized chef's hats. Yes, I am insane. Yes, it took me ages. It was so much work that I lost motivation. I have so little project time (unless I opted for less sleep, which makes everyone around here miserable) and it was all being consumed by the hats. I began referring to them as "the damned chef's hats" and then shortened my whining to "the DCH" so I could gripe in front of Ellie without her knowledge. At no point did I begrudge them the hats. They are actually really cute and soooo adorable on the heads of eager 3-5 year olds. But the process and the obligation...that got to me.





Anyway, with Markus's help, I finally knocked out the rest last night. 24 child-sized chef's hats, complete and completely adorable. And adored! Last week, the teacher assigned the first dozen hats, and the kids were so excited and proud that motivation came flying back to me ten-fold. Finishing the last hats was actually fun! Still, it did take up all my available project time that could be used for sewing, knitting or blogging. I'm back now. Really.

In case the more crafty among you are interested, I found the pattern here. The pattern calls for quilting-weight cotton and a 24-inch circle for the poof in the hat.


After a prototype (modeled by Stephanie above), I changed to using white cotton drill, the fabric of professional chefs' uniforms. I found the result far more satisfying. I also found the 24-inch circle was too much poof for my liking, and I eventually narrowed it down to 18-inches. That used a lot less fabric (remember, I had to make 24...and two trips to the fabric store) and made it more like a muffin top than a big floppy top. If you are only making one or two, choose any diameter between 18 and 24 inches and I'm sure you'll be happy.

Assembled quilt top

Last Monday, there was a break in the quilt class due to Australian Labour Day. Thank goodness is all I say! I have been a headless chicken ever since I started that class. Mucking up our evening routine on Monday nights (always the most challenging night of the week anyway) has done me in completely. The timing takes me past my window of tired, so I end up staying up way too late and the whole week is thrown off.
BUT.
I am happy to be learning what we are learning. It is what I wanted from the class, and I'm happy to have Markus's support in doing it, despite the crazy. And last night, I finished my homework from two weeks ago: I finally assembled my quilt top (pre-border, which I still need to choose and buy).


This quilt will be slightly smaller than a twin-size bed, so it's more of a lap quilt. This will not be the quilt for Ellie's birthday, which allows me to learn with impunity. I don't fret about imperfections. I don't fret about fabric choice. It's very freeing, actually, and ya know what? It's quite pretty. When I finished my work on it last night, I held it up for Markus to see. His reaction? "Wow!" He really likes it.
Bless him, I think he was surprised.

New skill in progress

Last night, I attended my first quilting class. A local shop regularly offers classes, but they are almost always during the weekday mornings when I cannot attend. This term, they offered one nighttime class, and most conveniently, it was their beginner class for making a basic squares quilt. I intended to pass it by this term and try next term, but then they told me this would be the last time a night course would be offered so I bit the bullet and signed up. For a while now, I have had the idea that I'd like to make a quilt for Ellie's birthday. This year, she'll be 5 (unless you ask her, because she'll tell you most vehemently that she already is 5), and I think that's a pretty big birthday. A quilt just feels like the right gift, and with several months to go, I think it's do-able. Thus, the class.

Last night was about proper cutting technique. We all started with 8 fat quarters and had to cut them down to 48 6.5-inch blocks. I bought this fat quarter pack a few months ago when I first had the quilt idea. I thought Ellie would like all the pink, but I have had second thoughts on the actual fabrics just about ever since. I decided to stick with them anyway. I think not having the perfect fabrics will make me a more relaxed learner. I won't fret about it being perfect, and I'm sure it will turn out nice, even if it's not quite me. My homework was to lay out the squares in a 6x8 grid (the look of the finished quilt) and get my patterns in the places I wanted them. She suggested we lay them out how we liked them and then walk away for a while, come back with fresh eyes, and see what we think. I took a photo instead and cleared them up again. Here's the potential lay-out:


What do you think?

Sewing

This week, I have been enjoying a bit of sewing. For a while now, I've been trying to work up the courage to make my first garment. I have a book of cute and simple patterns for girls', and over the weekend, I found the perfect fabric to make tops for Ellie and Stephanie. I worked up Ellie's first, hoping to have it ready for the first day of school (second day instead, alas).



She really likes it! She tried it on and (magically!) it fit! She modeled it and insisted I take multiple pictures, all before changing out of her pajamas. Then, she stuffed it in her drawer and it hasn't seen the light of day since. Alas. The funny thing is she really does like it; she just also really likes to wear particular clothing items and this isn't (yet) on the list. As she removed it, she did place an order for one "just like it but a dress." I can do that. Of course, I still have to make Stephanie's. The double gauze fabric is so dreamy that I want to make something for myself out of it too. I have no particular pattern in my possession, and I have a whim to copy something I already have. Ambitious, yes. Crazy at my beginner level, just maybe. We'll see if I dare.

Two days ago, it was Ellie's friend Zoe's birthday. We'll head to her party tomorrow morning, but she needed something special on the day. Ellie helped me do the sewing for this necklace:


I had the idea for this back on Ellie's birthday, but that was pre-sewing-machine, and I was daunted by the work. The sewing machine made it a very quick project, and Zoe loves it! She has worn it for two days, and her mom now plans to snip the ribbon/necklace and sew it onto a t-shirt for repeat wear. For Zoe's birthday party, I've made yet another library bag:


I love these! I can whip them up pretty quickly now, and they make such nice presents. Our favorite gifts are books, so this is fantastic wrapping and a second useful gift all in one!

**Blogger tells me this was my 700th post! Wowsers!

***Update: All of the wool creatures I made for Crafthope have sold! At $20 each, they raised an additional $80 for Doctors Without Borders! Hooray!***

Special projects

Last week, Ellie was really into doing "special projects" with Mama during Stephanie's naps. One day, we did modeling clay. Another day, we did painting. Then, we tried sewing. Ellie likes to sit on my lap and place her hands on mine while I sew. I recently bought a new softies book, so I thought we'd give that a whirl. She sat with me and looked through the book before selecting a pattern. Then, she learned to trace it and cut it out. The critter in the book was pink, so Ellie was most distressed when I cut mine out of yellow felt. It took some serious doing on my part to convince her that ours do not have to look exactly like the one in the book (she had to have pink anyway). She lost steam after a while, and the project became a two day job. I finished mine first so she could see how different they could be, which renewed her enthusiasm and gave her confidence to adapt hers a bit before the final stuffing. The "creatures" (as Ellie decided we must call them) came out really cute. Stephanie adopted the yellow one straight away, and that little raised arm is the perfect size for a small hand to grip.


All specific design features on the pink creature were Ellie's requests (purple mouth, one purple eye, one pink eye...), and she has loved it. She has also loved the softies book. She has picked it up and "read" it every day since.



Over the weekend, we decided to make new bedding for Lolo. Her crib came with blue and green striped bedding, but we had some lovely fabric scraps that we thought we'd use up. Making two stuffed rectangles is very simple and easy with a child, and Ellie loved doing it.


Unfortunately, Mama misjudged how much the pillows would shrink with copious stuffing, and they are slightly smaller than the crib. This means, of course, that they are not usable. Two lovely doll-sized pillows, tossed to the wayside...but at least they were fun to make.

Teacher's pet

When I bought my sewing machine, one of my secret goals was to be one of those moms who sews. I can happily announce that goal has already been achieved. Ellie's teacher greeted me at the classroom door last Thursday with a hungry glint in her eye. "So," she tries to be casual, "...you sew?" She has been seeing the library bags come in, and she wanted some aprons for the classroom. I told her honestly that library bags were the extent of my expertise at the moment, but I'd be happy to try. On Friday, she had a bag of fabric for me. Given my upcoming trip, I spent the weekend in an apron-creating frenzy to have four beautiful child-size aprons ready for Monday morning. I am so happy with the result! Alas, Ellie refused to model for me.


I used this pattern (found by googling "child apron"). I traced one of Ellie's aprons instead of using the outline provided. The only other modification I made was to sew straight across the elasticized neck strap at the center to prevent the elastic from rolling inside its fabric tube. The pattern is fantastic. The elastic neck and the velcro at the waist make it super-simple for a child to put on without assistance, which makes it far more appealing than the standard tie-back style. Although it was very time-consuming (I'm new at this and quite slow), it was very easy, even for a beginner. I'll definitely be making more. Maybe Ellie's friends are getting aprons for birthdays next year...

When I was in school, I was often the teacher's pet (a status that didn't exactly endear me to my fellow students). Now that I'm a parent, I'm teacher's pet again.

"Making"

Anytime baby Stephanie is busy (which is almost all the time), she will inform you that she is "making." Drawing or coloring is "making circles." Any other activity, from stacking blocks to rearranging the cabinets (see her favorite reorganization candidates in the image below), is "making."


This weekend was a good one for "making" handmade goodness. Saturday was the first time I was able to meet my knitting peeps since before our Bali trip. The knitting group meets the first and third Saturday of every month, but October had 5 Saturdays, and I missed #3. I won't make the next two either, which means I won't see them again until mid-January. Alas. I really adore those ladies! Truth be told, I hardly knit at all when I'm there. We all order coffees and treats from the nearby cafe, and I watch and learn as they knit like the wind. I learn something new every time, mostly about knitting but also about life. I am, after all, the youngest person there by at least a decade (though in more than one case, the gap is more like 4 decades). They were all heartily enthusiastic about my crazy orange and purple sweater and insist I model it next time. A reasonable goal!

On Sunday, Ellie had another birthday party to attend, which meant I had another library bag to make. Everyone is getting library bags this year! Books are my favorite gifts, and library bags make great reusable wrapping! Markus and I agree that this one is our favorite thus far:


While the sewing machine was set up, I made my first stab at the generous fabric stash Mary gifted us recently (thank you, Mary!). First up were placemats for the cubby house. I started with this:


pinned bias tape in place like so (photo courtesy of Ellie):


and ended up with these reminders of place settings from my childhood:


After all that, it was time to reclaim the dining table for dinner. At some point, I will have a permanent set-up for my sewing space. For now, working here and there suits just fine.

Look what I made!

Yesterday afternoon, I made a dress for Ellie. My first-ever dress! Sewn without a pattern! And it's CUTE! I know that's a lot of little sentence fragments and a lot of exclamation points, but I am more the slightly proud of my accomplishment (my only other sewing to date has been one pair of pajama pants and two library bags). Ellie sat beside me for almost the entire process (which tells you right there how quickly it goes), asking "Is it done now?" with every pause of the sewing machine. Ellie was very anxious to try it on, though she was less than eager to model it for the camera. After two dozen attempts, I finally got her to smile for this shot:


Ellie practically lived in her two jersey smocked sundresses from Petit Bateau last year. She wore them until the elastic smocking came loose in a few dozen places. How excited was I when I found simple instructions on Martha Stewart and a video tutorial! Heather Ross is the presenter. The patterns for the child and adult versions are available in her latest book Weekend Sewing (which I really want to own!), and they are also available online here and here. My first attempt was made with cheap fabric from Spotlight, the Wal-Mart of Aussie crafts and homewares. I wanted to make sure I could figure it out before moving on to good stuff. I used ribbon from my stash for the straps, and I love how it looks. The dress is super-easy and really cute! Now that I know how it works, I plan to buy some nicer fabrics and make two each for the girls and one or two adult versions for myself for our upcoming trip to Bali. Hooray!

First sewing project

Every Tuesday is library day in Ellie's class. Despite our girl's love of books, she has never come home with library books, and I couldn't understand why. Recently, her teacher held a class meeting for the parents, where she talked about upcoming events and reminders on certain school protocol issues. One of those reminders was to please be sure to send the child to school with a library bag on Tuesdays. Library bag? What's a library bag? I had never heard of this before. I asked around, and everyone looked at me like I was joking...until they remembered that I'm not from 'round here. In Australia, every child has a library bag. It is so culturally ingrained that no one thought to mention it. It's not in the school list of requirements, even though something equally obvious like "lunchbox" is. Library bags are relatively cheap. They look like slightly undersized pillow cases with drawstring tops. I suppose the idea is to give library books a protective sleeve and a special place. The day after the class meeting, one of the moms brought her son's library bag to me, saying she was sure I wouldn't want to buy one so I could take hers home to measure it and make my own. Darn tootin'! She knows me! First sewing project: library bag!



I already had a collection of small cuts of cute fabrics that I started two years ago, when the sewing bug first struck. I just hadn't had the sewing machine until now. For Ellie, I chose the fabric with pink flowers and ladybugs (of course!). Then, I carried on and made a second library bag for her friend who is having a birthday party this weekend. Ellie wanted to give her a book, so this made the perfect homemade wrapping and a unique, personal gift. I know they are just simple drawstring bags, but I am sooooo happy with how they came out. No pattern, no practice, but no mistakes! Hooray!