Posts tagged ‘links’

My dear friend, Mary, has joined up with www.BringEliHome.com to raise money for a very worthy cause. Eli is the victim of parental kidnapping and is being held illegally in Turkey since 2010. Sara, Eli’s mother, has been fighting to get him home ever since.

Well, like I said, Mary has joined with Sara to raise money for her travel and legal fees through the sales of her crochet hat pattern, the Bring Eli Home Hat.

Besides being a fantastic cause, it’s also a fantastic hat pattern. Here’s me wearing my fuchsia version (which Mary made). It’s a perfect casual hat, awesome for bad hair days, and very very versatile. I plan on making one to use up some rainbow wool that I have left over from a previous project.

So, check out the links. Say a prayer, and buy the pattern or make a donation. I can’t imagine being away from my sweet girls for a week, let alone a year. Let’s help bring Eli home.

Akron/Cuyahoga Falls locals should put this date on their calendars. June 24th from 9am-4pm there will be a Barn Sale (as in buying things in a barn, not buying barns) at my good friend Mary Beth’s Portage Trail Barn.

Mary Beth is a crafter/repurposer extraordinare! There are items to fit anyone’s fancy, whether you are a cottage crafter or a hipster.

I’ve been eyeing her aprons and flowers. Those are right up my alley, and I’m in need of a new apron to match my new kitchen.

Oh my goodness. I hate it when I say: “I was just thinking the same thing!” because I say it all the time. In fact my Mom told me that I think too loud because everyone always knows what I’m about to say before I say it. Often they say it for me and then I wonder if my Mom was right.

Well, this has happened in a big way over at the Nesting Place, where The Nester is writing a series on the theory of thrifting, and when too much is too much (here’s the final post). I’ll tell you my thoughts must be mighty loud because they’ve traveled over state lines to get into her mind.

The inspirational clutter-free cottage.

Ironically, her low clutter mission began after visiting a beach cottage, just as mine did after our trip to Ocean Isle last May. I wasn’t brilliant enough to post about the taking down of so many of my well sought for finds, but I’m glad she was. It has put into words so many of the feelings I’ve had as I carefully put paintings, artifacts and tchotchkes away. All the time wondering if I had made the mistake when buying them, accepting them as gifts, hanging it on the wall, or putting in the closet. I am still in high clutter mode here, and I want to tone it down father so I’m going to come back and read her series again for inspiration as I take things down. I’m probably going to start offering my finds to friends for free before I donate them, but first I have to have the fortitude to say goodbye to such hard won treasures!

I must say, the dress from Casey’s Sew Along is very wearable. I LOVE the sweep of the skirt, I love the fabric choice, I love the sleeves. I do not LOVE the bodice. I had to make sweeping changes to it, and I just couldn’t get the right mix of blouse-y and fit for my frame.

That’s OK though. I do LIKE the bodice and I wore the dress to church on Sunday. No one asked me if my dress was handmade, so that must mean it looks pretty good to the average person, right?

I want to make this dress again, but I’d like to change the bodice a lot. Maybe I’ll draft something up for an Easter dress for myself. I have to make the girl’s dresses soon too, so we’ll see how that goes. I am also about to cut and make a swing dress for my sister. That’s quite a bit of sewing… It’s good for me to keep busy.

Don’t forget to enter our give away, it closes tonight! 2 yards of vintage fabric in your choice of print!

I’ve had my muslin for the Swing Dress Sew Along finished for about a week now, and I’m just getting around to posting the pictures. Last week I had big productivity plans that involved pattern drafting, tutorial writing and dress sewing, but instead I dealt with a flu knocking my family over one by one. We are now 2 antibiotics into the thing, and looking like this week might prove less of an impediment to my accomplishing anything more than meager meals.

But anyways, back to the dress. I made some mistakes and had to rework the bodice three times. First time through it was WAY too long, so I measured and shortened the bodice and skirt. So the second draft the hem was great, but the bodice was an inch and a half too short, so that meant that the skirt was actually and inch and a half too long! Argh!

But I’ve been following the directions with Casey, and I’m ready to make my final dress out of my fashion fabric. In fact I started cutting out the pieces last night. But I’m taking my time with this step since I already have put so much time into it, and this fabric is a once in a lifetime fabric. It would be a real shame if I never wore the dress after I spent all this time! No mistakes! I am hoping to have it done before the end of our fabric give away so I can wear it for a birthday date of some kind.

By the way, did you enter the give away??? Please do! I really want to be able to pick two winners and we need fifty comments to do that…

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.

I have this truly wonderful vintage fabric, gifted to me from my friend Martha, that has been sitting in the dark corner of my brain waiting to be turned into a shirt dress. Though I haven’t been able to muster up the time and gumption to follow through with my inspiration, and so it has remained un-cut in my fabric closet waiting for me to get my act together.

Well, thanks to the lovely

Craftzine, I was introduced to Casey’s Elegant Musings and her Swing Dress Sew-Along. Hello, Destiny! This is the perfect dress, and the perfect timeline for me. I am PUMPED!  I’ll be getting the rest of the supplies this week so that I can hop right in. I’m downloading the pattern right now!

We’ve given ourselves some time off this week. But how can we ring in the new year properly without paying tribute to 2010? So, here’s a link back to a tutorial or post from each month this year. I hope that 2011 brings you much thrifty creativity, and a warm comfortable nest.

January

Make a lace and bead necklace- Tutorial

February

Multicolored Melted Crayons Tutorial

March

Tile Rubbings Tutorial

April

Bunny Car Tutorial and Download

May

Seed Packets in Tea Bags Tutorial

June

Egg Carton Mancala

July

Raised Garden Bed Tutorial

August

15 Minute Crinoline Fascinator

September

Reusable Sandwich Wrap- Tutorial

October

A Sweet Little Witch

November

Burlap Vases

December

Candy Ornament- Tutorial

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.

This post on the Red Thread (very cool blog I just found) has a different take on the paper wreath. She used cardboard for the wreath form, which I think is a better structure than the twisted paper and floral wire I used.  Mine is starting to sag. I should glue some cardboard to the back. She also used Chinese paper for the poofiness.

Paper Wreath by the Red Thread

I had a big group of moms over for brunch on Friday and my friend Megan suggested using song sheet music. I don’t have a whole lot of sheet music but I do have some old books that I’ve already cut up which have that great old book crumply paper. I am considering making all new Christmas decorations this year because I am tired of all the ones we’ve had. Only the Christmas village that Rob’s Grandmother made is really interesting to me. Perhaps this year will be a paper wreath and garland decorating year.