Posts tagged ‘books’

Or the Momme and Poppe Shoppe.

Saturday the 30th from 10 to 6 you can find me doing my thing at Crafty Mart. I’ll be selling things from my Templeton Line, again. And adding a couple of new items for the men folk, as the theme is shopping for Mother’s and Father’s days.

And I will be having a special guest at my booth! My twelve-year-old Sister-in-Law, Emily, is an art prodigy. She’s going to be selling her own original art in coloring book form. I am so excited to be involved in the beginning of what is going to be a very bright artistic future for Emily. Her designs for the book have not been released yet, but here is a quick teaser of her talents.

See you there!

It’s Easter Dress sewing season, and I’ve been so busy with being creative on other things I haven’t had time to even think about designing a dress for the girls this year. This turned out to be a blessing, really, because Creative Publishing International had sent us some books for review and now I had the opportunity to try one out!

Sewing Clothes Kids Love by Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn has been on my night side table for a few months as evening reading (yes I read sewing books for fun) but I haven’t sewn anything in it yet. Since I have gotten very familiar with the designs from reading through it so many times I had already picked out the Feliz Dress as my pattern of choice. Feliz is a two layered dress/skirt which has a sort of pinafore look to it. Perfect for spring.

The authors challenge their readers to be creative in their fabric combinations and trims. All of the samples in the book are over-the-top colorful, a real treat for the eyes. It inspired me to dig through my stash and pair things I wouldn’t necessarily put together. My final choice was to use a yellow cut-out cotton for the over dress and a purple gingham for the under dress. I added the bird applique and used the fabric the birds came from as the straps and sash.

Finding the pattern pieces for Feliz was kind of challenging. All of the patterns for the book are on tissue paper, and some pieces for the Brooklyn Shrug were on the same sheet. Really, the only real criticism I have for the book was the choice to use tissue for the patterns. The sizing for the patterns run from 18 months to 11/12 which is great, but I can’t see the tissue holding up for the life of your child. If you want to sew the patterns over and over, it would make sense to transfer all the pattern pieces for your favorite garments to sturdier paper to add to their longevity. I’m not going to do that because I’m lazy, so I might not get as much use out of this book as I’d like.

As for sewing Feliz up, it came together like clock work. The directions don’t hold your hand, so I’d say you have to be an intermediate sewer to not get frustrated. An advanced beginner would be able to make it work, but there might be some unpicking and sweating involved. But the complexity of the patterns lead to clothes more inspired than a simple circle skirt or a-line dress. And this is true for each pattern in the book. These patterns are for unique garments, well worth the time invested in sewing them up. They are also wide open for changes and embellishments.

All in all I was in my studio working on this dress for four hours, from tracing the pattern pieces to the final pressing. The next time I work through it I should get done a little faster because today was my first run through, and I had an argument with my serger. I plan on making each of my older two a dress in the same pattern so I’ll share those as I finish them. I would show you the cute action shots, but Cressida is 18 months now so she won’t hold still for pictures in low light. They’re all blurry, so hopefully there will be a sunny warm day soon and I can get a picture of her outside. The fit is perfect, so I really want to show it off!

Since I’ve never done this before, I’m figuring less information is better, but I can’t help but want to share bits and pieces. Today I did what I’ve been wanting to do since I was in high school. I sent out a book proposal to a publisher. I’m chipping away at my manuscript and I’ve gotten to the point where I am in a good position to share my concept, and hopefully get a contract with someone.

Here’s a nice shot of my samples and resume before I stuffed them into a box and shipped them off for their date with destiny. I could have remade each sample twelve times because they weren’t “perfect” but it wouldn’t matter how perfect I got them if I never sent them away and took that chance.

So now I’m sitting here with my Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day with my husband, quietly celebrating the first step. Does this mean I get to call myself an aspiring author now? I’m going to go with yes. It kind of reminds me of the first time a real artist referred to me as an artist and I decided that I would accept the title and call myself one, too.

In holiday news, we all wore green. Of course. The girls brought soda bread to their teachers as gifts, along with some well colored Jan Brett shamrock coloring pages as gifts. I had green beer and guacamole (I know! Not irish!) with my friend while the girls watched The Secret of Kells. And now we’re drinking Guinness and getting ready to watch something Irish-y, maybe Waking Ned Devine or our Solas reunion DVD.

Did I mention my husband is legitimately Irish? We sort of behave this way year round.

Yesterday was Pi day, 3/14 for 3.14. And though I may be a craft-nerd now, I used to be an everything-nerd and so celebrating Pi day was kind of a fun idea. My kids are only 1, 4 and 6 so it was really confusing for them as I tried to explain the point of Pi, but I did manage to get Olivia to recite the formula for the circumference of a circle.

I made homemade pizzas, which I love to do on quick dinner nights. I make the dough in my bread machine while I run afternoon carpool and we all make our own pies when we get home. It’s like craft night and dinner time all in one.

To incorporate my theme we used the slices lines of the pizza to explain the radius of a circle. And the crust could represent the circumference. All the cheese represented the area. I might not be a bad homeschooling mom after all. Too bad my kids are so social, they would drive me nuts if they were here all day.

In other news, I am sending off my book proposal to a publisher. I have been procrastinating out of fear, but my good friend told me that this was my opportunity to start my wall of rejection letters. Gaining a wall of rejection letters is just as good as getting the deal, so I’m taking the plunge. Maybe I’ll make a collage of my rejections…

In other other news, I picked a pattern for the girls’ Easter dresses. I received a copy to review of Sewing Clothes Kids Love by Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn  from their publisher. I haven’t made anything from it yet, but I am pumped to give it a go for my girls dresses. The projects are quite enticing! So after I get my proposal in the mail I will start cutting fabric. I’ll make Cressida’s as my “muslin” before I make it for the other girls that way if I mess it up it will be on less fabric!

My fabulous friend, Eliza, told me about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. She told me how she’s been using it to make bread for her family for months now. She told me how it has changed her life. I have heard from a lot of people out there in the interwebs the same story. So I said, I’d pick it up at the library to give it a try and promptly forgot about it.

A few days after my birthday I got a package from Amazon, and lo and behold, Eliza sent me a copy as a gift! I read through the introduction and let the concept brew in my head for a few days. The general idea is that you mix up a week or two worth of dough all at once and refrigerate the unused portion until you’re ready for more bread. There’s no kneading, no hard work, just the time required to give the dough a rise after you’ve shaped a loaf. The authors recommend “mastering” the basic recipe before moving on, but from this one basic recipe you can make many different types of bread, all with very little hands-on work.

I’m still mastering the first recipe. I made it for our family and baked a loaf straight away after the initial rise time. It was heavenly. It was amazing. I ate the whole loaf (with a bit of help from the girls) so I had to make a second loaf for Rob the next morning. I also made a batch of dough for my inlaws. They have a big family, so “two week’s worth” was gone in two meals.

I had contemplated writing up a blog post about my amazing bread after that first loaf disappeared, but decided I would wait for the first batch to be baked through. I wanted to see how it would rest in the refrigerator. Well, it’s been in my fridge for 6 days and I’ve baked the second to last loaf in the batch. Every time we’ve eaten the whole honeydew sized loaf in one sitting. We either butter it or slice up some hard gouda cheese and eat it while still slightly warm. The crust is so hard and crispy. The inside is so doughy, with large air pockets inside. It’s so good. I’m kind of doomed.

I’ve been working on what I’ve been calling my “Secret Project” for about 5 months now. And now is the time to come out of the craft-closet with what it is. I’m writing a learn to sew book, of 20 projects, which reuses clothing items as the materials for the projects. I’m not sure of how much info about the book is good to share, so I’m going to take the less-is-more approach.

To even be standing on the threshold of a project of this size is a dream of mine, considering before I was a “professional crafter” I was an English Major who intended to write creatively. And although the scope is huge, I have tackled all the pre-writing tasks and now it’s time to begin the manuscript and illustrations. It’s also time to find a publisher (and that’s the part that is the most daunting!).

So to get myself off on the right foot. I cut out the first project from one of my husband’s favorite shirts that had become too worn to wear. I’m hoping the good vibes from the memories in the shirt will carry over into my work. And thus starts my biggest creative adventure. Wish me luck!

Remember my gift recommendation book list? Well, I was able to get a copy of Emily Martin’s Paper Doll Primer for my girls for Christmas (the last copy at our local Barnes and Noble, though I bet it is reordered by now) and we’ve been playing with it alot.

Let me tell you, this book has really reached my expectations. I love how the dolls are on card stock pages so that you don’t have to reinforce them to keep them nice. I also love the old-fashioned tabs on the clothing to fold over the edges of the dolls. That’s how I remember playing with my paper dolls as a kid.

Each doll has some back story so that you can build off of Emily Martin’s imagination for your playtime. Of course you can just make it all up as you go along as well, which is what my girls are doing. They received another doll book for Christmas, which they like to play with just as much as Emily’s book, but I don’t find any inspiration in the bright overly cartoony drawings in the other book and much prefer playing with my girls when they are using the Paper Doll Primer book. I can honestly say I even enjoy cutting out the dolls (the other book the dolls pop out) and choosing which outfit to put on the dolls. They are all clothing items I wish I could wear myself.

The only downfall to the book is the large section of clothes in the back of the book come on double sided pages. I cut out a skirt for our doll, and when I looked at the reverse page I noticed I had cut into a dress I would have liked to use later. If she releases a second book, or a second edition of this book, I would likely buy it if that problem was remedied. Over all I am blissful over our purchase, and am looking forward to more books from the dear Black Apple.

Ok everyone. We have one shopping weekend left until Christmas. We can do it. I know we’ve all planned a long list of handmade gifts for the people who we know will love them and a sack of coal for those who won’t (just kidding). But now is time to admit that we can’t make 6 more things if we want to eat, sleep or take a shower anytime in this next week. So, what do I recommend you do? Buy your creatively minded friends some inspiration. You can even get these at your local bookstore, so you don’t have to wait for the shipping and worry all week that it won’t get here in time.

For the new or expecting mom who sews:

Handmade Beginnings- Anna Maria Horner

I have this book in my collection and I love leafing through it. I haven’t made anything in it yet because I just got it at the beginning of Christmas Crafting Season, but I am excited to do some of the quilting projects. I’m not a quilter, but these make the task seem really undaunting. Plus the layouts are very modern and sparse, making them attractive even to the non-traditional crafter.

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For the new sewer, or the non-sewer who wishes she was one:

Stitch By Stitch- Deborah Moebes

I don’t have this book yet. But I do know Deborah (remember our very helpful invisible zipper guest post?) and have ordered fabric from her shop multiple times. I can tell that she is very passionate about learning to sew being a process that is enjoyable, and that it should also be accessible. I see this book as a sort of garment-sewing-101 book, full of delish photos and eye candy fabrics.

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For the knitter (or for me hint hint):

Toe-Up Socks for Everybody-  Wendy D. Johnson

I want this book. And I know a million knitters who love to knit toe-up. I have not tried it yet, but I know this is what I want to do so that I can make the socks fit my foot without guessing and tearing out. Plus there are all these wonderful challenging motifs, but they are so do-able on a project the size of a sock. Did I mention that I want this book? I want it.

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For the non-crafter or the artist:

The Black Apple’s Paper Doll Primer- Emily Martin

Well, I’ve been following Emily Martin for about 4 years now. I purchased a print of hers called “Salt and Pepper” for Olivia and Elise for Christmas 4 years ago, and so she fells like part of my family in a way. And now she has this wonderful book out of paper dolls, which both my girls love so I’m planning on picking up a copy this weekend for them to share. This book is great for children, surely, but Emily is a tried and true artist, so it would make a truly inspirational coffee table book for your favorite creative person. It’s definitely got some edge to it, but it’s very delicate as well. I’m looking forward to having it in our collection for a long time. Some people recommend buying two- one for playing and one for flipping through.

baking soda shampoo & vinegar conditioner

I’ve been washing my hair with baking soda shampoo & a vinegar rinse for conditioner.  This is my first natural shampoo & conditioner experiment that makes my hair feel & look really nice.  Supposedly the baking soda is good for cleansing, and the vinegar is a similar pH to regular conditioner.  It is a little quirky though.  I have to be sure to remove all the baking soda otherwise it makes my hair feel like it has too much hair product in it when it’s dry.

I got the instructions from the book No More Dirty Looks.  They say to dissolve 1 tbsp baking soda in water, put this on your head & scrub, then rinse.  Then dissolve 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar in water, pour over hair & rinse.  (I use red wine vinegar instead because that’s what’s in the fridge.)   The vinegar smell goes away, don’t worry!

my hair, just washed & conditioned, without any hair products added

In my quest to learn more about chemicals in our body care products, I really liked the scope of this book.  The authors have done lots of research which is easy to read.  They give suggestions for products you can buy or ones you can make.  It’s not an alarmist book, but they help those who have never considered toxic & unregulated ingredients in body care and walk them through how the FDA & cosmetic industries work.  Plus, they used to be the women who loved their fancy beauty products and told the story of how a nasty hair experience with formaldehyde led to their quest to find safer alternatives that work.

So, while I wouldn’t recommend the baking soda & vinegar hair concoction to everyone, it is amazing how it works so well.  I like how I know exactly what ingredients I’m using.  But it does take a little time to mix before each wash & can easily look bad  (or at least good for ponytails only) if you don’t get all the baking soda out.  Regardless, I think it’s important for us to find body products we feel safe about.  Do you have any name brand shampoos or conditioners with healthy ingredients you’d recommend?  I’ve tried a couple & haven’t found anything amazing yet.

Yes, I know swappiness is not a word, but it makes for a good title and that’s all that matters.

I was showing off some of the knitty goodness from my Stitch and Bitch’s Birthday Swap in my previous post. The owl cowl has made repeat appearances this week as the weather has changed a bit. And I’m also 2/3s done with some fingerless mitts made with Moonlight Fibers 100% Baby Alpaca, also gifted to me  from Stacey. Looking around that site makes me want to road trip!

But this post is really about the books. I stalked Amy’s Amazon wishlist to see if there were any books she’d love to have. I assumed that she would have books on there that I wanted to have myself, and I was right. Sew Retro is right up my alley. It was combination pattern book/inspiration book. Looking through the pages before I wrapped it up I found myself really wanting to wear aprons and sew a tea length skirt.

In my gift bag I found this history of the Ohio Knitting Mills book. The book had patterns and everything. It actually has some very complex patterns in it, things I wish I knew how to knit, which is why it makes such a great gift. The Ohio Knitting Mills site and store also sell vintage knits, so I might also want to road trip up there. I would buy this sweater.