May 16, 2012

Yesterday's little jug of happy from my garden:

Yesterday I tried my hand at over-dyeing cotton embroidery floss.  I have dyed floss before, but it never occurred to me you could use any colour other than white or ecru.  I also did not know how to get the subtle colour variations you find in over-dyed floss.
Inspired by Becky's success with over-dyeing, and a little help from here and here; I thought I would give it a go.

I have a box of DMC floss I thrifted a few years ago for four dollars, so I didn't have to dip into my normal stash of threads. 

(The victims)

The results:

I am quite pleased at how they turned out.  I dyed fifty yesterday and forty more today.  Today's venture was much less haphazard and messy, now that I had some experience under my belt!  They are still on the drying rack so I will show you next time.

One thing I learned is that you can't expect anything!  Each colour is truly unique, and it was almost impossible to predict what you would get.  Some of them don't seem to have any colour variation - it was impossible to get any of the dark greys or reds to take more colour.  Some of them are ho-hum, but some are lovely.  I am happy with the results though, and not only because it saves me mucho $$ in hand dyed floss:)  I do wish I had done this before I started Quaker Bluebirds:  it would look much nicer than what I am using on it.  It almost makes me want to start it over; almost!

The biggest pain about the whole process was winding the bobbins.  Oh my goodness it took me all afternoon!  Thankfully it was a gorgeous, sunny day so I could dry the floss and wind it outdoors.  Next time I'll hang them in loose hanks!

(Yellow mini-carnations with lemon balm)

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Mothers Day!!

(Mothers Day roses and lilacs pilfered from the neighbours tree)

A gift from My Favourite Girl:  two length of finger knitting that I turned into coasters.  One for downstairs crafting, the other for upstairs sewing.

My Favourite Boy made me a card at school, en francais.  Roughly translated it says:

  "I love you when you make my lunch.  My favourite moment with you is when you make my snack.  You are my favourite because you are my mother." 

 Male sentiment for sure!

Today is also special because Mr. Craftyworld and I got married 17 years ago today.  I could not find any cards I liked at the store so I decided to make him one.  I wanted to capture all the facets of a marriage; the ups and the downs, so I ended up with 7 drawings and made the card into a small booklet.  I think everything is pretty explanatory:

And there it is: Marriage in Seven Frames.  Mr. Craftyworld liked it:)

Today promises to be warm and possibly sunny, so I'm looking forward to a day of fun and family and a great dinner cooked by Mr. Craftyworld.  Oh, and the champagne too!

May 8, 2012

I don't know if you will be able to see this or not:  I took it through the window.  I bought this bird feeder in the hopes that the squirrels could not get to it.  Indeed I have spotted them eyeing it up and trying to get close, but so far only the birds have been able to get at the seeds.  Until this morning that is, when I spied this bugger in a feat of squirrel gymnastics munching away on my bird seed:

I spent the rest of the morning tackling another project from the Liberty Book of Home Sewing.  Bear with me on this; I am determined to make more of the projects so I can do a proper book review on Amazon for it.  When I say a proper review, I mean one in which the projects were actually made and then reviewed in terms of difficulty/ease.  I find a lot of reviews by people on crafting books are done just as they get the book from the shop.  They say things like, "Everything looks nice - I can't wait to try it!"  I don't find this very helpful myself.

Today I made the Jewelry Roll:

I used some blue cottons from my stash.  I wish I had used something bright and cheerful, because today is very foggy and moody.

The pattern is reasonably straightforward.  I had a bit of trouble keeping the pieces straight in the beginning; it would have been better for me to have labelled them piece A, B, etc, instead of large lining panel, small lining panel, pocket panel.  I also wish there were more photos of the finished piece.

I did not have an 8 inch zipper, but found a 7 inch works perfectly.  I tried to keep all the stripes lined up, but could not do it with the ring holder.  I think it still looks OK though.

There are three pockets at one end; a stuffed tube ring holder that snaps closed on one side; and a zippered pocket. (That rose ring was one of my birthday gifts!)
 I think the three pockets are too deep for smaller pieces, but that could be adjusted at construction.  It won't hold a ton of jewelry; it would be best on a weekend outing.  With some forethought you could make it longer and add more pockets.  The only change I made was to use ribbon for the ties instead of fabric.  Other than that, it was fine to make, and I give it a thumbs up.  I will probably make another one, and that is the indication for me whether a pattern is a good one or not.  It took me four hours altogether (a good 45 minutes of that was picking the fabric), but it always goes faster the second time around.

The next thing I want to make from the book is the Peacock Pincushion.  I was hoping to get started on it today, but I see it's time to get some baking done before school ends.  I am always thinking things will get finished quicker than they actually do.  If I had 26 hours in a day I would want 28!  I did just realize that today is only Tuesday, not Wednesday, so I will have another free day to work on it.  Lucky me!

May 7, 2012

Hello, Handsome.  

We have lots of cardinals this year, and they never fail to make me excited to see them.  This one was looking for moths to eat.  This is my happy photo of the day.

It occurred to me the other day that I have been sewing for 30 years.  Thirty years!  After that 'wow' moment, it also occurred to me that I really should be better at it.  I have never been one to be careful about sewing; for me the object is just to get finished.  I take short-cuts; I make things up as I go along; I spend a lot of time trying to correct a mistake I made previously without having to take everything apart.    I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of seamstress, and that applies to most of my other hobbies as well.  That is probably why my quilt squares never really line up, and the clothes I used to make for myself never really fit that well.  However, I do still really enjoy myself when I'm at the machine, so I imagine I will continue to make things just as I have for the last three decades.

I did resolve to do a REALLY GOOD JOB when I sewed the Tote Bag from the Liberty Book of Home Sewing (mentioned in my last post).  Buoyed by the success of the shopping bags, I attempted the much larger Tote Bag.  I can't really say if it's quick to go together or not, because I could not sit down for any length of time and just work on it.  I also made some changes which added some time as well. 

 For the most part the instructions are good and it is a fairly easy thing to sew.  My biggest complaint is that the bottom is so wide across (7.5 inches) that it really isn't practical for an everyday kind of tote bag, unless you are planning on doing some mega shopping.  I didn't make it any narrower (although you could if you took fabric off the bottom and sides) so a large bag is what I got.  

I used a heavy sage green linen for the bottom, and a rosy, stone coloured drapery fabric for the rest.  I just love this fabric; in fact I have six more meters of it in my closet for the day I can finally have a rosy-girly room and use it for drapes!

I used a very disagreeable fabric for the lining: it's a pink and brown striped nubbly fabric that reminds me of ponchos.  It stretches a lot and was such a pain, but it coordinated with the outer fabric and I was able to use it all up and get it out of my stash.

What caused me to stretch my brain cells was the putting in of a zipper.  I figured a bag this size needed something to keep it closed, but I wasn't sure how I would put one in as the pattern does not call for it.  I finally came up with this solution:

I only attached it at one end, so when it's open I can pull the sides farther apart.

All in all I am happy with it.  When I look at it, I think I succeeded in doing a REALLY GOOD JOB, and think that perhaps I should try to do that with my next project too:)

This is also one of the only bags I have made that had a purpose to it:  such a big bag will work perfectly as a crochet work-in-progress holder, eliminating all those loose balls of yarn from the ottoman and floor of the family room:

Mr. Crafty World will be most impressed with the lack of yarn-mess I think.

May 2, 2012

I just made Banbury Cakes for the first time.  I can say it's in response to the power marathon watching of all four seasons of Lark Rise to Candleford.

 We could not get enough of the series, which I think should be voted Best Series Ever.  I am even going to say it's better than Downton Abbey.  If you haven't seen it and love this kind of historical fiction on screen, you need to watch it.  The stories are good and the characters are just wonderful.  There is not one that I did not like.

Anyway, all the mention of Banbury Cakes, Victoria Sponge and various tea cakes got me in the mood for a little British baking.  I googled a few recipes to see just what they are:  butter, honey, spices, currants and candied orange peel stuffed inside little rounds of puff pastry. Very easy if you have pre-rolled frozen puff pastry.  They are seriously good; just right with a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea.  I am not going to say how many a batch made, because then I would have to admit just how many I ate when they came out of the oven.  (It was a lot)

I tested out one of my new shopping bags today and was very happy with it.  It holds a lot and is so bright and colourful.  I felt very eco/artsy!

May 1, 2012

Zip!  There went April!  I'm a little shocked about that, but people warned me time would go faster the older I get.  And older I did get:  I celebrated a birthday near the beginning of the month and it was lovely. One of these days I might get around to showing you my presents:)
I had a great month doing all the domestic-y things I love to do; well balanced with all the creative things I love to do.  Perhaps another time I will show you all those too.

For today, I have been sewing.   I got the Liberty Book of Home Sewing from the library last week.  I didn't expect much out of it besides some eye-candy:  I often find books like these lacking in clear directions or practical ideas.  This one, however, surprised me.

After seeing another blogger try it out, I made the eco shopping tote.  It was quick to put together, and the pattern (which you have to draw yourself based on the grid pattern in the book) is just the right size for pinning to a pillowcase.  I used one of my vintage pillowcases for the bag, and the facing is made from yellow gingham.

If you grew up in the '70's you probably recognize the print: I had a bedspread made with the same pattern and oh-so-happy colours!
I wanted to use this as a grocery bag, but I didn't like the way the bag opened and it is a little small for that purpose.  The pillowcase fabric is also quite thin, being a cotton/poly blend, so I'm not so confident it would last that long carting bags of milk home in it.
I found some heavier cotton fabric in my stash: yards of a purple and lime daisy print thrifted a few years ago.  I added an inch to each side of the bag pattern and sewed the handles front to back instead of front to front, etc.  This made for a roomier bag that opens wider at the top and will be much better for groceries.

It doesn't sit on your shoulder as well as the other version, but for what I will be using it for it will be just fine.  Since I had so much of the fabric and the bag worked up so quickly, I made three more:

I am looking forward to using these for my groceries instead of the plastic reusable bags we have.  For starters they are prettier, but they will also take up less room in the trunk and are truly washable.

So all in all I am impressed and am going to try something else from the book.  I'm not crazy about having to draw up the patterns based on their grid illustrations, but that is much better than having to enlarge a pattern on a photocopier.

I have exciting news on the cross stitch front:  I just won six patterns from Brooke's Books Publishing!  It was a door prize from the Online Needlework Show two weeks ago.  Of all the draws that is the one I wanted to win the most.  It was hard to pick six - they are all so beautiful - but it was a task I would willingly do again! I will be eagerly checking the mailbox over the next few weeks and will show you my goodies when they arrive.

Now it's time to pick up the kids from the bus and get back into house-keeping/Mummy mode: at least until they go to bed anyway:)

Thanks for visiting,
Jenn

Spring Baking

One thing I wish I could manage in my life is a little balance.  I love it when a creative urge strikes, but it usually means it consumes me for days or weeks at a time and then it disappears just as suddenly, sometimes not coming back for weeks or months.
  My latest urge has been baking, and daily I have been in the kitchen making a little something.  The counter is now piled with tupperware full of buns, bread and cookies, and only the four of us to consume it before it goes stale.  I suppose there are worse things to have happen, but really, couldn't the creative Muse just dole out it out in an even allotment every time?

I found an extraordinary amount of coconut in the pantry and made cocoa-coconut nests.  They happen to go nicely with the coconut pudding I made immediately after.

For years I have wanted to make Paska doves for Easter.  This was the year it got done!  I didn't use a specific Paska recipe (Ukrainian egg bread), but another egg bread recipe I found in my bread maker manual.  We all thought they were quite cute, lined up like little broody birds:

Plump little things aren't they?

The other half of the dough became one of those braid-y breads.

Saturday night was family movie night, which means supper in front of the TV and something special for dessert if I get motivated.  I made Peep s'mores, which I thought would be gross, but since I ate three I have to give them a thumbs up!

Sunday found My Favourite Boy with no one to play with so we made mini cupcakes.  I made a batch of  icing and gave him some Easter decorations and free reign to decorate.  I think he did a great job:

I'm not sure if I will still be baking mode in order to make my own birthday cake for Wednesday.  If not, perhaps the Baking Muse will have drifted over to Mr. Craftyworld....

Have a sweet week!