I'm Not Dead, and I'm Not Resting...

Needless to say, the moth of July is always a busy one for me. This year was more busy than usual. The month started off with some frantic crafting. One of my nephew's has a birthday on the 4th of July. You would think that this would be easy to remember, and it is, but somehow the day always creeps up on me. I think I have all the time in the world to work on stuff for him, and then bam, it is time to send out the gift. His was a bit late this year, but I think the utter coolness of the present more than made up for it. I made him a set of felt toy trucks. Each has moving parts, and they are just so cool I almost wanted to save them for myself.



The back roller on the steam roller moves around an axle. The dump truck bed on that truck lifts up to dump the large rock out of the bed. Apparently the rock must be very heavy as it looks like the back axle on the dump truck is now "bent" under the weight.



The cement mixer on the cement truck rolls around just like the real truck would. The front of the bulldozer moves up and down. It is also a fun thing to use with the rock in the back of the dump truck. I suppose you could bulldoze the rock into the bed of the truck.



The excavator was my personal favorite in the bunch. The basket rotates on two different points, so it is the most mobile of the toys. While the rock would not fit in the basket, I am sure that Craig will find something to scoop up with this toy. I am will to bet some Lego people will be taking that basket for a ride up in the air high above the construction site they are working on.


For our wedding anniversary the next weekend, Dan and I went camping around Yosemite. It was a pretty spot and very relaxing. Aside from our neighbors running a generator with really bright lights for a large portion of each night, it was a beautiful place to set up camp. The lights luckily did not drown out the stars. We sat around our campfire and made dinner, smores, and fruit pies with our pie iron. It was a great junk food filled first day. We even kept the rain fly off the tent so that we could fall asleep looking at the stars. It was really pretty and just as nice as camping out by the fire minus the mosquitoes.



The next morning, we pulled out our "new" camp stove. I had gotten it off of freecycle, and while we were told it needed a new hose, what it really needed was a lot more. Something had gotten disconnected in the main part of the stove, so only one of the burners was operational. We warmed up the cast iron for a while to get it hot, so Dan could work on the unlit burner and the tea pot could warm on the functional one. Once we had hot tea, we moved the cast iron back onto the stove and began cooking the egg portion of the omelet. Just as the eggs went into the now newly warmed pan, we realized that there was a serious problem with the stove. The flame under the pan kept getting big, then small, then big, then small even though we were not touching the knobs. I looked down at the regulator cap to see it totally frozen over. Then, as if planned, the propane started shooting out of the regulator and out of the canister. Dan quickly cut the flame, and then we disconnected the canister. Thinking all was lost we started to make contingency plans for breakfast. Dan put the lid on the pan, and we hoped for the best. We were in luck as the remaining heat from the cast iron carried the eggs through to fully cooked awesomeness!



After the breakfast excitement, we were off for our day hike. I knew that Yosemite in the summer is full of people, but I had no idea it would be that crowded. It took us a long while to wind our way down to the valley floor in the bumper to bumper traffic. We then went to hike our "less popular" trail to Nevada Falls. It was a beautiful hike, but still had many people on the trail. Moments alone were just not possible. The falls were beautiful though, and it was nice to get some pictures of the two of us hiking where we are both in the frame. (This is not one of them though) The hike lead us along the water most of the way, and just when I was so hot I wanted to stop, we came to the misty part of the hike along the main falls. It was quite refreshing. We picnicked along side of the busy trail and people watched. Once we were off the trail, we went to Camp Curry to swab off a bit before our Anniversary dinner at The Ahwahnee. On the way there, I got to see a bear along the road. My trip was now complete as I was bear paranoid the whole time we camped. This did not stop me from taking any food, wrappers, and water bottles out of the car an into the restaurant with us.

The next weeks were filled with preparing for my trip out to Idaho for Chaos Wars. Last year I determined that I would not make any new costumes. This year, I took it as a challenge to make all sorts of new costumes. I took many old costumes that I made incorrectly the first time apart and resewed them into a corrected garment. I also made many new things from scratch. In the year of the stash bust, I did some major damage getting ready for the event. I made myself four new cholis out of fabric that I had longed to make them out of for some time. I also made myself a new feast outfit. In keeping with my want to make costumes I can use in multiple venues, I made a Ghawazee coat that cut under the bust line. I wore it with my newly remade coin bra and two skirts I had made for the event. I also made a new tassel belt to finish off the outfit. My hard work paid off as I won best feast garb this year. It was a total thrill, and there were lots of great costumes I competed against. Niobe being chief among them, and I was flattered to beat her. She is by far one of the best costumers in Belegarth. The event was fun filled and packed with things to do and friends old and new to hang out with. It all went way too fast.



I returned home on the first of August to a house that looked like it had been neglected for a month.... because it had. It took a week to transition from event life back to real life, but the making of a cake helped ease me back. I attempted sponge cake for the first time with our mini tube pan. A half recipe worked out perfectly. I have since been cleaning and taking stock of costume repairs that need to be made. I am also starting my canning this week, and it has been going smashingly. I will update you on all that tomorrow.

The last update is on the balcony garden. It was the hardest hit item on my neglected list from July. The aphids really got the upper hand on things while I was busy and took out several of the bean plants. They then moved onto my tomatoes and all other plants on the porch. My lettuces that would be ready on my return from Idaho were mush. The beets were being attacked. The tomatoes had yellowed and been attacked over half of their leaves. The green peppers were doing no better. They had moved to every plant they could, including eating the heads off of several of my now blooming violets. The aphids had also called in their friends the spider mites to the Meyer lemon, and scale to the jasmine plant. Needless to say I was unhappy. I finally gave in and got myself a commercial insecticide and went to town yesterday. I sprayed everything in sight. I also did the painful cleanup of the plants. I pulled off dead and yellowing leaves. The plants look much greener, but also much leaner. I hope the extra fertilizer, water, and pruning helps them bounce back. I noticed that the tomatoes have sent up some new flowers, so here is to hoping for something productive from things. Between the bugs and the unusual cold we are having here (sorry to the rest of the States that appear to be sweltering), I am not sure I will get one tomato. Keep your fingers crossed for some sort of yield for all the work.

Well I guess this has been a pretty good catch up of the last month. I will be back tomorrow with a canning update as it is a canning week around here. Jam session is now in progress!

Tiny Little Dresses

Lately the sewing machines have been busy working on my niece Claudia's birthday presents. While I worked hard, I yet again underestimated this project. It was a fun project, and I used a pattern from Butterick for the clothes and dolls. I, however, did not follow the directions for making the dolls from this pattern. They wanted you to use buckram for the dolls and clothes, and I just did not feel like getting involved with buckram again so soon after the bra project. I instead just used heavy duty interfacing as much as I could to make the dolls and clothes stiff like the paper dolls they emulate. I loved putting all the outfits together from past costumes of my own. There are pieces from my Belegarth outfits as well as many of my dance costumes on those cute little dresses. In keeping with the theme of using up things from my stash of left over fabrics, the only thing I purchased for this was the jewels for the crowns and the fabric for the Dorthy style dress. That one was too cute to not do, so I had to go and buy some blue and white checked fabric.

The dolls have stands to make them stand up, and the clothes attach to hook and loop tape that is located on both the outfits and the back sides of the dolls. The only thing I was not too happy about what how the one doll's face turned out. The lighter felt was less dense, so the markers bled a bit more than I liked. That resulted in me needing to "even out" the lines which meant a more heavy eyeliner and larger lips than I had planned. I hope that she enjoys them as much as I enjoyed digging through the stash and finding beloved fabrics to use and pass on in this way. Each one let me reminisce about past sewing projects and just how far my skills have come.

Today I am awaiting the fabric shipment that I have made for Fabulous Pants I am going to have some new items in the shop hopefully in the next few weeks. I am embarking on a new product line, so wish me luck and check back here for details. Now, I am off to do some personal sewing. I am getting tired of the same old cholis that I wear to class. I think it is time that I whipped up some new ones! Personal sewing can be so fun! Also, it helps to keep me occupied enough that I will not be waiting by the door for the post to drop off my hopefully large box of cloth!

Holiday Wrap Up Three

One of the presents I was really looking forward to making was a learning book for Craig. I found the pattern on the internet and bought it up. It was a vintage Vogue pattern for a book called "It's A Zoo." The book was great as it used up lots of fabric from the bins. I only bought some of the fabrics for the pages themselves. I also got to use up some old and wrinkled interfacing that I have been kicking around for some time as it is featherweight fusible, and I do not really need that too often. I was astounded at how well this one came out. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Title Page that was customized for Craig:



Page One: A fishing pelican. I made it out of the same material that his previous and Jozef's pelicans were made out of for some continuity. The fish attach and come off of the hooks.



Page Two: A turtle that is a sensitive fellow. Learning to use snaps.





Page Two: A hungry alligator on what must be a hot day. Learning to use a zipper.





Page Three: A giraffe all ready for a night out with her hair all done. Learning to tie a bow.



Page Four: A kangaroo out for the day with her baby. Learning to use a buckle.





Page Five: A bear ready to coach his baseball team. Learning to lace up eyelets.



Page Six: A rollerskating elephant ready to go! Learning to button and unbutton.



Page Seven: A lion all braided up neatly. Learning to braid three ropes.



Page Eight: A hippo is driving the bus for all the animals to ride. Learning to button and unbutton again.





All in all it was a fun project and used up lots of scraps in this new era of using up things. I also got to use up a bunch of notions that I have had knocking around drawers and things. Any cleared up clutter is good use in my mind.

On that note I am off. I have a special order I need to complete today as well as transferring the pattern for Annie and I to sew up aprons. Lots to do before I need to head out for Long Now tonight!

Holiday Wrap Up Two

In my attempt to get things accomplished today around the house, I am going to keep this entry mostly pictures and kind of short. I ended up buying Brenna's gift for Christmas, so no pictures there. I did make her birthday gift however, but I forgot to take pictures of it. I made her a set of hand dyed play scarves. I am not sure I would ever do that project again as it was a lot of work for not so great a yield. I think I would buy them in the future and avoid all the mess here at home. She has been enjoying them and making things with her imagination to decide what the colorful pieces of silk are going to be.

Claudia got a homemade Christmas gift though. I made her a castle play set. I purchased the patter from Gulf Coast Cottage. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. As a bonus, it used felt, which I have in abundance from buying too much during my felt food making days with Brenna. The set took longer to make than I had anticipated, and much of that was due to me being overly tired and this being the last of the gifts. I worked on this until 5 am to get it finished and off in time. It had to be mailed on its own along with Grandma's missed present from the first box we sent. Her jam was not packed with the rest of the presents. Luckily I found it before it was too late. Here is the set as I made it sitting under the tree before I wrapped it up to send off to my niece.









The set comes with a princess with removable hat, knight with removable shield, unicorn, dragon, tree, and castle with a working drawbridge. The land underneath the set turns into a carrying case for the pieces. It was a great project, and if I had not have been in such a time crunch I think I would have enjoyed making it even more. I really did love this project though and would highly recommend it to anyone that would like to attempt it!

Holiday Wrap Up One

Well I completely got busy at the end of last week and did not get around to starting my holiday wrap up, so I thought today it would be good to start it out. I have three things to show off today, two of which are repeats from last year, one is a new item just for this year. I have to say that I am surprised that I managed to pull it off this year, getting all of my handmade items finished in time to give them or send them for a Christmas day opening. I also managed to meet my goal of getting all the major mailing of Christmas gifts off by the ground shipping deadline. It was still expensive to help Santa out by sending that many presents, but it was worth every penny. The theme this year was to try to minimize buying new materials and use up materials I already had heaped up in fabric bins, boxes, and containers of crafting supplies. Overall, it was a pretty successful endeavor.

For my Dad, I did a rehash of a moss stitch scarf. I had one ball of the Cascade EcoAlpaca left from the attempt at this scarf from the year before, so I got another one and knit it up, this time correctly, for my Dad. It looks entirely different since I knit the knit stitches rather than knitting them to the back. I like this one a bit more, but both still looked great in the end. I was just glad that the yarns were a really exact match since there is no dye lot because it was natural alpaca yarn.



I also made another counting fish pelican for Jozef. It was requested for him last year by Kathy, so I had fun making a second one in what I am sure is a long line of counting pelicans in my career. Overall this did not meet the full criteria of using up and not buying more items to make it, but all I really had to purchase was the zipper and yellow dot fabric for him. The fish were totally made out of scraps of other fabrics. It is nice to see how much faster you are at doing things the second time around.



I did not do so well on the not buying when I made this banner for my Mom. I thought, though, that it was a great exception to the rule. I made it using a pattern from Butterick that Dan picked out. She really liked it, and I have heard that it is hanging up in the kitchen currently. I was amazed while working on this to see how much better at applique I have gotten. I did have to do some shopping for the buttons with my Mom when I was home for Thanksgiving, so it was pretty funny when she opened up the package to find the buttons on her gift.



Today I am working on gaining the motivation to start some house cleaning. Over the holiday crafting extravaganza, things like dusting and vacuuming fall by the wayside. I also have a rosemary bush in need of some transplanting out on the balcony. The lemon tree is chugging right along, and the first lemons are starting to ripen. I do have a bit of sad news in regards to the balcony garden. White flies were hard at work while we were gone traveling during the holidays, so the herb garden is basically no more. I have decided to turn over that box to strawberries this spring and instead use the Aerogarden for the herbs as the likelihood of white flies inside is lower, so I will not have to pour so much time into fighting insect battles for my herbs. They have been missed this week as I wanted to prepare a recipe only to find that I forgot that there is no easily accessible sage any more. It was rather disappointing.

I am also working on prepping for an apron sewing session with Annie this week. I am determined to copy the pattern and sew one apron on my own so that when I am teaching her the lessons will be more successful. The harp is also in need of some time with me as one of my resolutions is to become more proficient on that poor neglected present. Now that I received my knee bones for Christmas, there are no more excuses. Calloused fingers, here I come!

Moving on to Toy Making

I finally did the last stitches on those chocolate pinstripe pants. They got cast aside last week due to the birthday festivities, and now they are hanging on my door waiting for a sunny enough day to take product photos.





I really love this fabric. It is very similar to a business suit I have. In fact, these pants would be wonderful for someone with an office job that, like me, lives for comfy pants. They are a soft bottom weight polyester cotton blend, so they are easy care as well.

I have decided that it is time to cast aside the pants sewing for a little while in order to start work on the many toys and gifts for the holiday season. I have one almost cut out and marked. I hope to get it done today. I am also working on a project for Brenna's birthday. I started this one last year and abandoned it due to poor results. This time, however I am doing much better with it. I hope to have this all finished soon and waiting to be mailed out for her birthday on the 5th of December. It pays to plan ahead, especially since it has to travel across the country to the other coast. I also have quite a few patterns to copy over to interfacing. I am a solid believer in not cutting my patterns now, and I have found that interfacing makes a great transfer medium. Well I am feeling inspired, so I am off to finish cutting out all the pieces and putting this toy together. It will be fun to have so many "friends" hanging out in the sewing room as the holidays approach.

Finished Brenna's Present Part One

Here is the long entry that I have been promising. I made a felt board for my niece, Brenna, this year for her birthday. I hope that she gets a kick out of it. I had so much oddly relaxing fun making it. I did learn a few things along the way, mainly that I tend to go overboard with my projects and that crafting while on cold meds is not a good option for me.

So I got this idea from, well where else, the internet. After looking at several free design pages, I decided to strike out on my own. I got the letter and number templates from a wonderful book by Phyllis and Noel Fiarotta called A B C 1 2 3 Craft Book.



That book in and of itself was a gift for Brenna's younger sister Claudia last Christmas. I went and looked up letter sets for display boards, and cut that many of each letter. I did some as capital letters and others as lower case letters. I also cut out all the numbers and made a signs for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as well as the bar for under the problems.



To make this all easy on me, I copied the letters on paper first and then used that as a template to cut around on the felt. I used the smallest rotary cutter by Olfa. It worked really well for this. I could almost act like the cutter was a pencil and just draw around the templates.



After cutting out all the letters and numbers, I decided she needed shapes to play with as well. So I got out a set of plastic Tangograms, and used those as templates for geometric shapes. I cut them out of every color of the rainbow and also included black and white. Along with the triangles, square, and parallelograms, I also got out the new trusty circle cutter and made some circles.



I then ironed out my fabric. I chose a green frog fabric, so that this board can eventually be handed down from Brenna to Claudia and then the youngest Craig without care about being too girly. I cut the frog fabric into an 20 by 13 inch rectangle. I also cut the same size of blue felt out of the left over felt from last year's over purchase of felt.



I wanted to make pockets on the back for her to put the letters and shapes. I tried to figure out how big to make them. I was working on cold medicine at the time and was not thinking too straight. I was underestimating the pile of letters, numbers, and shapes that were amassed in a gigantic army waiting to be unleashed on the felt board. I ended up cutting four 6 by 8.5 inch rectangles to make into pockets. I also made a flap to snap closed on the pouch. Those were shaped like home base on a baseball field. They measured 5 by 2 by 4 inches. 5 being the flat edge and 4 being the triangle edges. I also wanted to line the insides and decided to keep with the blue and green theme, so I went into the fabric bins and found some great plain blue cotton fabric.



I then edged the sides of the pockets and the top edges of the flaps on the serger.



This is where things got a bit silly. I tried to set the snaps and was not thinking. I placed the snaps into both sides with out measuring. The next day when I got down to work a little more clear headed and less sick, I realized my mistake. The snaps ended up making the flaps a little over an inch too far from the pockets. I ended up getting more of the blue fabric out and adding an edging to the pockets. I really liked how they ended up turning out. I then sewed them to the back fabric.



I then decided that I did not want a flimsy board. This board needed some body to it. I decided to add some left over fun foam to the inside. I glued a blue and a green piece back to back with each other. This way I could make sure that they would not show through any of the fabric; I would place the blue side to the blue felt and the green side to the frog fabric.



I then sewed the blue and green together on three sides, then inserted the foam, then finished off the other side. I got some yellow quilt biding that was left over from the puppet theater project and edged the board in that. If you need to know how to place quilt binding onto something with the mitered corners, Heather Bailey has a great tutorial here. I then realized that the letters, numbers, and shapes had really gotten too large for the pockets I had made. I went on to make some pouches to hold them all. I figured that she can use the pouches for storage, and distribute some to the pockets when she is going to be mobile in the car or on a plane ride to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Here it is all finished.





I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Hopefully it gives you some ideas for your present making. If you love this idea but just don't have the time or inclination to make one, there are some sellers of this type of craft on Etsy.