Not much....

Ahoy ahoy! I've been plugging away all weekend, but I don't have much that's interesting to see. I've got a few knitted dishcloths added to my stock (my family is always looking to buy them and I was down to nothing), and a few unstuffed Christmas trees waiting for fattening up (my last large order for the year). My sister helped me choose yarn for a baby blanket I've got to make (can't WAIT to get started and share some peeks with you!). Z-man told me he got a 'perfect' on his family crest. Ummm....what else....  OH! And I made a leaf garland for the mantle.

Towards the end I thought "Durnit, I should have written a tutorial." But then I thought it was so easy I can just tell you what I did. I bought a few bags of loose leaves at the dollar store, and a length of ribbon. I sewed the leaves together (long stitch, low tension) like a loooong chain. Then I pulled on the ends and gathered it all in for fullness. I made four shorter lengths of leaves to make the gathering easier. I made enough to fit the length of ribbon I had cut to span the front of the mantle. Once all was gathered and the thread ends knotted, I hot glued this to the kitchen counter. I mean...my finger... I mean the RIBBON. I hot glued it to the RIBBON. Yeah, that's it. In a few sections you could still see the gathering stitches, so I just hot glued a leaf on top of those sections to hide it. Up on the mantle it went, and it completely changes the look. I've only got a close-up of it for you, as I didn't finish until it was too dark for a decent pic, but I'll try to remember to snag one for you - it really is quite cheery!

I love cute and quick and easy! I haven't really made anything new for fall, and I loved the look of the leaves all over my sewing table as I ran these through. Now it makes a perfect backdrop for my 'Be Thankful' banner that I made last year:

Find my tutorial here!

Of course it's not in THIS picture (from last year) but you can totally imagine it, I'm sure. Have a good Monday, my dears! I'm not as "Ugh, Monday" as I usually am because I feel like my weekend was quite productive. See how much you can do with an extra hour?


UPDATE:  I took a few photos for you so you can get a better idea of the truly fallish effect these leaves have--compare to the photo just above to see the major difference:

Linking up here:

Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Between U and Me *** Creation Corner *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love

The Best Laid Plans

My sewing this week has not gone according to plan. Not that I had big plans, but I had really super-productive plans. As such, I scratched one itty-bitty thing off my list. It was an odd request, and being me I had to try and puzzle it out myself instead of going with the obvious. You'll see (lucky you :)

I was asked to make a double-sided cell phone case that could clip to a belt. Not one to hold a phone and some cash/cards. But one to hold two phones. Thankfully they were the same exact phone (one was work, one was personal). At this point some of you might be thinking "Ok--just make two pouches and sew them together. What's the big deal?" The big deal is that THAT is the obvious response, and my brain never jumps to obvious but to convoluted and difficult, before surfacing at obvious.

My first attempt was to make a very simple double-sided pouch. Math being the weakest part of my brain my measurements were way off and I could not get anything into the second side (except cards/cash). I didn't even bother to dust it off for the photo shoot. But I will say this for it: I planned it's construction in my head one morning while laying in bed, and it did work out exactly as I wanted it to (aside from the fit) - so I was pleased about that part.

At this point, you may think "What's the big deal? Just make the pocket parts a little bigger to account for depth." Why would I want to do something simple like that? You know I like to complicate things beyond comprehension. Next, I decided I should do an upright boxy zippy pouch. By the time I went to box the top corners, I realized it was entirely too bulky for my sewing machine to get through. Fail #2. Plus it's a little bit....large.... I did learn how to sew something between the zipper and the exterior of a zippy pouch, so I'm thinking cute little snap purses/wallets might be in my future.

My old cell phone is almost the same size as hers so it came in handy when I tested for fit. At this point I was beyond frustrated. The measurements were tripping me up something fierce, and any other ideas I had just weren't working out. One phone was a no-brainer, but the two phone thing was just ugh to deal with. It needed to be padded and sturdy, it needed to have a hook, and preferably fit the phones well enough that they didn't fall out. I also didn't want the phones rubbing against each other and scratching each other's screens. I had already spent two evenings working on this, and I was just fed up with it all (because I have several other things to be working on). My online searches were fruitless. I found plenty of phone sleeve/cozy/pouch tutorials, but they were all flattish like the first one, and I didn't feel like doing more math.

Then, the obvious hit me. Make two phone pouches and sew them together. I found a cute little pattern over at Keyka Lou Patterns (and bought a few others while I was there) so I just used her pattern and instructions (which were easy to follow). It fit the phone perfectly, and I simply sewed the hook in between the two cases. The only thing I didn't account for was the thickness of the seams--so I couldn't sew them together. If they weren't held together in someway they would have a case of the splits. I tried a few things by hand, and then I remembered the heat-activated velcro I had used for the flaps. I put a small piece towards the bottom of the back of each pouch, and it keeps them together just enough. It's not ideal but it'll have to do.

It's not as ridiculously bulky as I thought it might be, but it's not exactly sleek and cute, either.

I've been hoarding that lining scrap so I'm glad I finally got to use it.

So that's that. It's not my usual standard I hold myself to, and it took three precious nights, but it'll have to do. I found myself going "Next time I'll use sew-in velcro instead of heat-activated, and....." before I stopped myself. I'm seriously hoping there won't be a next time but if there is I'm ready for it. Sort of.

Don't forget to enter my Shabby Apple giveaway!! And have a marvelous Friday :)

Squeezing in an extra link here:

Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Between U and Me *** Creation Corner *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love

Shabby Apple Giveaway!!!

Oh baby, are you gonna love this giveaway! I'm already jealous of the winner! Have you heard of Shabby Apple? They sell some of the most beautiful women's dresses. Need a dress for the holiday party circuit? Check out the vintage-inspired dresses at Shabby Apple. I'm kind of really liking this one:

I could rock this burgundy dress, right? I've got a bust, and hips, and a tummy that would be masked beautifully in this. Plus the color! Oh my!

But since I'm super-practical, I'd most likely go for the simple little black dress:

Wouldn't this be great for twirling? One must consider these things...

Here's a delightful factoid for you: Shabby Apple also sells accessories. DIVINE accessories. Check out some of these pieces:

It's almost as though these were made just for me!

And how gorgeous would this look with a golden-brown suntan?

OK, enough of my rambling. Shabby Apple has very generously offered to give one of my lovely readers the chance to win this stunning Lost in Wonderland necklace:

Isn't that one beautiful cameo? I reaaallllly want this. Alas, I cannot enter my own giveaway to win it. But YOU can! All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me what you'd do with this necklace (keep it? gift it?), along with an email address (unless it's linked to your profile). This giveaway is open to US readers only and will end Tuesday November 8th, 2011, at 11:59 PM EST.

I also have a discount code for you lovelies: if you want to get started on those holiday shopping lists, you can enter the code sweetbee10off at checkout and receive 10% off your purchase. Act fast--this code is good for the month of November only! Good luck!

Trick or Treat!

Here's hoping that no maniacal, murdering spiders sneak into your home and try to kill you while you're minding your own business.

Happy Halloween!

Winter Blues in Fall

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of October already. I greatly dislike the speed at which the days zoom by when one is no longer a child (when five minutes seemed like a year!). I was able to scratch a thing or two off the list in the past week - always a good thing!

A bit ago a girl I work with asked me to make her a bag for her mother-in-law. She told me she was thinking blue and green. After going through different combinations and shades, we narrowed it down to pretty much basic blue and basic green (as opposed to varying shades of aquas and limes). The print that we settled upon was Amy Butler's Trailing Orchids from her Soul Blossoms line.

These are not colors that I am typically drawn to, personally speaking, and I thought that finding matching fabrics might be a bit of a problem. A few recent hunks of fabric that were given to me fit the bill so exactly it was almost as if the giver knew I was going to need those exact shades in the near future. I used one of my favorite patterns that I've made a ton of times before, slightly modified from the original. 

I stared and stared at the blues, talking myself into and out of how well they matched. But as I got going I thought that any other shade of blue would have blended in TOO much and that the slight contrast would really make everything on this pop. This fabric looks like regular quilting cotton, but is part of Amy's fashion corduroy collection. OH. MY. HEAVENS. I wanted to touch and pat and fold this fabric forever, it is so beautifully soft and cozy. It doesn't fray out the wazoo when you cut it and it stitches up wonderfully. I did use woven interfacing as it is a pinwale corduroy and not a thick and sturdy one, but it kept its drape and was a joy to work with from start to finish.

I put a zippered pocket on the inside, as well as a slip-in pocket. It may be the finest zip pocket I've ever done, but it was also the worst photograph I've ever taken so there's no photo (I didn't realize this until a little while ago and the bag is out of my hands so you'll just have to humor me and picture it). I also did a recessed zipper. I forgot about buying zippers before I started this, so I'm glad I have a bit of a stash problem when it comes to them and had a few blues and greens to choose from.

Here's a photo of the back--the green didn't photograph well, but it is almost the exact same shade as the lining you see peeking out:

This is one of my favorite patterns - it's comfy to carry, and it's roomy without being obnoxiously large. I really should make one for myself. One day.

In other news, it SNOWED yesterday! It was an icy, freezing snow, and didn't add much beauty in the way a soft blanket of the white stuff does, but the occurrence of a snowstorm before Halloween here in Philadelphia made me silly happy. And I don't need much more than a coating to declare it a snow day. I wore comfy pants all day, sister Rachel came over and we played all manner of old-school board games (Mall Madness, Mystery Mansion, Rummikub), ate breakfast for dinner, and curled up on separate sofas for late night TV (she under 3 different blankets, me with my knitting needles to finish a dishcloth that has been hanging there for weeks). Sister Alicia had plans related to her friend's wedding, but afterwards she was home and it was just like old times, all of us up late together, watching TV and chatting. Fun stuff. A perfect Saturday.

I've got quite a thinker of a project up next, but I'm hoping it'll end up being one of those projects that takes more thinking than doing. I'm planning on a broken needle or two, however....wish me luck!

Linking up here this week:

Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Between U and Me *** Creation Corner *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love

Ramblings and a quilt block

How quickly can you eat a Dannon Light 'n Fit yogurt? I can do it in about twenty seconds. Wanna know how I know? I just did it. We're having our annual health fair at work tomorrow, and I have to fast for twelve hours for the blood work-up they offer. I like to eat something about twelve hours and five minutes before my appointment so I don't feel too hungry before bed, but I almost forgot. I had 30 seconds to get it in, so it was the fastest yogurt eating ever. With ten seconds to spare, thank you very much.

Last year at the health fair I walked in feeling great. In the first five minutes I was told my body mass index was too high (by 1 number). I don't put much faith in that number anyway, so I wasn't too perturbed, especially since my clothes fit exactly the same as they did when my number was just fine. Then I had my blood drawn. She didn't do something right and it didn't stop bleeding and other people freaked out and everyone was looking at me and I had a huge bruise for a week and it wasn't a lot of blood but it was more than it should have been and I just wasn't pleased about it. Then I did the bone density thing where they measure your foot (and I've always had oddly delicate feet, but the rest of my bones are big and sturdy) and the girl doing the test told me it looked like I have osteoporosis (which I didn't - I followed up with my family doctor). I walked out of there and ran into one of the coordinators who was all happy-skippy and she says  "Well??!?!?!? How was it?!?!?!?! Wasn't it great?!?!?!?!?!" I looked at her with my mostest seriousest of faces and told her "When I came in here I felt fabulous. Now I'm fat, bleeding, and I have osteoporosis." But all my blood numbers fell dead center in the normal range, so there. I feel good and happy and healthy, so I'm not going to worry that someone thinks my butt could be smaller or trust a machine that looks like a toy my nephew used to have to decide if I have weak bones.

OK, THAT little bit is over. I didn't even intend to write it but once it was coming out I figured I'd go with it. So onto this week's quilt block (quite a leap in topics, eh?) This week was an official paper-pieced block. I haven't paper-pieced before where the pattern is drawn on the paper and you sew over it. While I'm not exactly a proponent of wasting paper like that, I did really like the accuracy and stability while sewing. And it was kind of fun, too. This is the part that was paper-pieced:

Not a wiggle or a squiggle at all. Everything came together nice and neat. And it went so quickly!! Maybe it was because I didn't pin or because I didn't have to be precise with fabric cutting until I trimmed it to size at the end. But it was much less stressful than other blocks. Here's the whole bit:

This isn't what it's supposed to look like but it's not messed up. When I laid out the rows I liked this arrangement better. Besides, what it's "supposed" to be is similar to a block I've made already. I also reversed my lights and darks, just because and why not and it's my block and I can do what I want with it, right?

I'm looking forward to a cozy weekend of sewing. The temperature is going to drop and they even mentioned snow, which is unlikely but would be oodles of fun. Because me likes snow. I have a few small orders to pump out, and one fairly large order. Plus a quilt to finish, and a few other things listed on a piece of paper rattling around in my handbag. I feel optimistic...but I never know when the lazies will sneak up on me. I best get to it and keep to it if I'm going to finish by Thanksgiving. She had hiiigggghhh hopes...she had hiiigggghhhh hopes... I'm delirious from hunger right now! Not really. It's just an excuse. OK, I'm going to bed. This could go on for a while. I'm in a silly mood right now.

Quoth the Raven

We're super-fortunate to have Z-man come over a few times each week. Normally the time is filled with "What do you wanna do?" "I dunno, what do you feel like doing?" This week was a bit different. I walked in from work on Thursday and was informed that a sparsely-detailed instruction sheet was given for his class to make a family crest or coat of arms (which are apparently different - thanks, Google!). His family situation being what it is (he shuttles between his mom's and my brother's) it worked out best that he make this on his dad's shift. We pootled around online for ideas and information, and then headed to the craft store, where I was soundly informed "This is the only section in this store we're going to, and then we're leaving." The boy knows me well :)

I had a marathon sewing session on Saturday night, entirely forgetting about this crafting adventure. I had a nice sleep-in planned and in progress, when a loud voice woke me up saying "YOU!! Downstairs in 5 minutes! It's family crest day!" You may think I would have sprung right out of bed at the prospect of such an endeavor, but I whined and carried on and finally made it to the kitchen (yes, I know - HE's the kid and I'm the alleged adult. I'm quite shameful sometimes). Space was cleared, supplies gathered, and we set to work. I helped him a bit with this (I drew the crest and cut out the lion), but the ideas were all his.

The last name Rapp is of German heritage, and comes from the word for 'raven.' Hence, the raven at the top. In the German consideration of the word raven, the meaning is quite negative and ominous. So he made sure to throw in that some cultures consider the raven a trickster or a prankster, and he thinks our family is more in line with that meaning. Agreed, little man. He had to select symbols for his crest, so he wrote down the four qualities he thinks our family possesses--bravery/courage, love/caring, honesty/trustworthiness, and loyalty. The lion is fairly obvious, as is the heart. But we had to research the others. Interlocking gold rings are a symbol of loyalty, as are doves and dogs. And the pound sign? It also signifies weight. When someone is honest/trustworthy, they are said to carry weight. So there you go. He insisted (I swear - I had absolutely no input on this part though I would understand if you thought I did) that we buy pom-poms for this. He wanted yellow as well to complete the German flag colors, but you can't buy a whole bag of yellow (only black, white, and red), so we went with the yellow banner at the bottom. When deciding poster board colors he told me that there are only a handful of acceptable colors (which he listed and I forget) for the background, and he wanted green (which also symbolizes prosperity--not that we're prosperous but we're by no means wanting in any aspect of life).

The boy has at least half a dozen nationalities in his heritage, but he had to focus on his last name for this project. He wanted to do the English part so he could include something about soccer and red buses. He told me "I'm really glad we're not Russian." This puzzled me, and I couldn't imagine what bias he could have at such a young age. After a minute of thinking I said "Why? What's so bad about that?" And he said "Because you'd make me put never-ending tatertots on this and I don't want to." Yeah, another thinker. "Never-ending tatertots? WHAT are those?" And this is why I love kid-brain. Because in their unpainted form, Russian nesting dolls resemble tatertots to my nephew:

Good times, bud. Good times.