Mama’s Got a Brand New Bag

 

I never put away the sewing mess left behind from the great curtain project of 2010*  and I finally decided yesterday that if it was going to take up my entire dining room then then my sewing machine and it’s accomplices ought to be useful.  Did I create a flurry of handmade Christmas gifts?  No.  Did I finish sewing the Roman shades for the kitchen?  No.  I sat down with 1/2 yard of Amy Butler fabric from my stash and whipped up a bag.  For myself.  Oh, selfish selfish Mama!

I didn’t use a pattern for this, just sketched out a shape on paper and cut the pieces the way I knew they would fit, making an open topped messenger bag of the sort that I have been wishing for for months now. 

 

A little flap and magnet closure will hopefully keep things from spilling out too much, while still allowing me to slip my hand inside quickly for wallet, shopping list, cell phone, etc. 

 

It also has a nice wide strap that is reinforced with heavy duty fusible interfacing.  I tend to wear my bags out, so beefing this one up a bit was important.

 

Now, if we could all get well from this wicked pneumonia I would be able to get out shopping and try this new bag out! 

*pictures of the new curtains coming when I finally have four people free from pneumonia and have thoroughly cleaned the house. 

Mobile

When mom and I went to Korea to bring Emma home we had the opportunity to rock the babies at the intake hospital at Eastern.  The baby boy that we rocked the most was a bit older than the other babies because he bad been quite ill when he was first born, and as such had been held and loved by the nannies for months instead of the typical days or weeks.  Most of the other babies in the room were days old, tiny and sweet, but this boy was plump and cute and better able to demand out attention.  We took turns rocking him until we needed to put ourselves to bed, and then he was placed back into his bassinet.  Hanging over his tiny little bed was a mobile, light and delicate and perfect.  It was so simple, just yellow origami paper folded into cranes and strung on thread, but I never forgot it, nor the baby whose early life was spent sleeping beneath it.  I still wonder where he is.

On Saturday I had a Mommy Date with Emma and we wanted to find something to keep us busy during these looooong rainy days.  We were looking for lino block printing supplies, but instead we came home with origami paper.  We made our own crane mobile:



Ours is certainly not as dainty or refined as the one in Korea, but I love its color.  What you cannot tell from the picture is that it is constantly in motion...it softly twirls and sways on the slightest of breezes.  The top of the mobile is a branch from our maple tree.

You can see another crane mobile here (scroll down to see photos).

An Update

Four showings this weekend.  I am so tired.  A new offer coming in tomorrow and these people do not have a house to sell.  Keep your fingers crossed!

What have I been up to, aside from keeping the house clean?

Bread baking.  Crusty white bread from the old, orange Betty Crocker; I know the recipe by heart now.  It is so, so good and the actual working time that it requires to make two loaves is about twenty minutes...it takes me longer than that to go out and buy bread at the store.  Why have I been buying bread all of these years?  Harry and Emma are in fresh baked bread Heaven these days.  As soon as they see me take the flour bag out of the cupboard they start begging for a slice of warm bread and we have had some really interesting conversations about yeast, flour, and chemical reactions.  It's awesome.

Sewing.  I got a new book for myself, Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing, and I have been busy building up my summer wardrobe and making a few overdue baby gifts.  The gifts are overdue, not the babies.  This book is lovely and full of good ideas, and I have actually made clothes for myself that I can wear, in public even!

Making granola.  Flora gave me a great recipe and we've been making our own snack food ever since.  It is the perfect mix of sweet and crunchy and you cannot even imagine how good the house smells when it is baking.   Yum.

Finishing up pre-school.  This Friday is Harry's last day and this week will be full of extra activities and special treats, after which the unscheduled days of summer stretch before me for what seems like miles.  I have seriously got to get something planned for these summer days.

Sick.  The last weeks of pre-school just wouldn't have seemed right without just one more illness, I suppose.  We've all been stuffed up, sneezy, coughing, and wheezing, with the added fun of having pollen season at the same time.  We're feeling better now, but the last two weeks have been endured with a slight edge of grumpy.

I'll let you know about the other offer when we know more...

Shameless Self Promotion

I knit.

You know that from the bazillion pictures of bags/sweaters/dresses I knitted when waiting for Emma to come home, right?  Well, now I am happy and excited to announce that you can knit with me!  Anne's Yarn Shop in G.F. has asked me to teach a felting (fulling) class in March.  For $15 plus the cost of supplies you can learn to make a striped handbag using Cascade 220 yarn and a bag pattern that I developed.  The fee includes 2-2 hour sessions, March 14 and March 21, held from 12-2pm.

The best part of knitting and felting wool yarn is that once you know how a particular yarn shrinks you can go off-pattern and create your own originals.  It is a technique well worth learning, resulting in a bag that is sure to bring many compliments (I know mine do).  I do hope some of you local knitters will join us!  Email me for more information.

Confessions

I haven't made anything in awhile. Oh, I knitted a bit and sewed some, but nothing that came even close to completion. Our household descended into sickness again, this time the women took the toll. Emma had pink eye, which is more of a nuisance than anything but does require one to become a bit of a germ-o-phobe, and I had a raging ear infection that had me up all night crying for my mommy...literally. Poor Brendan lugged me off to the doctor yesterday and I was promptly prescribed a round of antibiotics and given orders to increase my fluid intake by...let's just say a lot. Apparently copious amounts of coffee and tea don't count? The antibiotics began their magic around 3am this morning and the crashing pain in my ears finally subsided so that I could get some much-needed sleep. The worst of the pain could have been avoided if I had listened to my loving husband and my body a few days earlier and lugged myself to the doctor the first day I noticed that my glands were swollen and it hurt to yawn. But no, I am stubborn and silly and not very good at taking care of myself when I really need to. I'll work on that. I also have to confess that a lot of my time lately has been spent playing with new wallets, guitars, HEXBUGs, and more, which have been arriving at our mailbox for the past two weeks so that I can review them for our friend, Tony's, website: http://www.blogger.com/www.qwowi.com Come on over and see what we're up to...we're having a blast! Today I will be spending the afternoon watching puffy little snowflakes fall outside our windows while we make cookies for a swap party tomorrow and when the kids go down for their nap I am going to finish sewing the baby carrier I started for a friend of a friend. It will be late for her baby shower, but I am hoping it will arrive before the baby. All of this to say that I was crazy, or at least delusional, to think that I would be able to make a complete project every day at this time of year when my life already has a large list of "must-do"s. I'll post when I do complete something, but I think I'll hold off on the every day idea until a more sane, less ill time of year.

Today I Made This Smock

(Pattern from Bend The Rules Sewing)

I got up early to let the dogs out and the house was so calm and quiet that I was tempted, for once, to stay up instead of crawling back beneath the warm blankets to eek out a few more moments of sleep.  I made my way to my sewing room, found this pattern, and started sewing.  The daughter awoke and found me working on her surprise; she remained to keep me company, singing songs and clapping whenever I finished a section of bias tape.  Her only request after a day of wearing her new smock?  That I add a pocket or two for her pennies.  I think I can manage that.

You may have noticed that I skipped both the Thanksgiving and Black Friday posts.  I wasn’t camping out in a long line to buy a plasma screen t.v., but I was hanging out with family and friends…I suppose you could say we spent those two days making memories.  Pictorial evidence:

 

I hope you and yours had a lovely holiday, too. 

Today I Made This Problem Solver

I have been meaning to make this Problem Solver for months now.  We have a mudroom that was originally intended to be an "outdoor space"; it was changed to an indoor space but something got lost in translation with our builder and we ended up with a very chilly mudroom with interior finish.  To help keep our house as warm as possible while keeping our heating bills at a minimum we added this not-so-lovely but very functional accordion door at the intersection of mudroom and kitchen.  The door stops the draft, but it has a bad habit of sproinging open when I am trying to bring in groceries, corral kids and dogs out to the car, or hang up the hundred coats that always gather near the front door.  The Problem Solver is a bracelet for my accordion door; a simply hook and loop tape attachment makes it easy to lock the door out of my way when I need to, and stays put in the crack between door and wall when not in use.

Ahhh.  Something to check off my To-Do List! 

Today I Made This Owl

I realize I am coming in a little under the wire with this first post, but today didn’t go exactly as planned.  Let’s just say the first project, a turtle, had to go back to the pond.

Make Something Every Day...I Dare You

Nothing makes me feel more satisfied or accomplished than making something with a few materials and my own two hands. I love sitting at my sewing table for an hour or two and walking away with a finished bag, pillow, or baby dress. Sitting in a comfortable chair with a warm cup of tea and my knitting in the evening helps my mind find peace; the simple act of working stitches into rows, rows into a section, and sections into a sweater feels like a natural progression toward something good and lasting. Making toys for Harrison and Emma, even when those toys are simple and short lived, helps me feel connected to their learning and play at the most basic of levels.

Making things feels good. It boosts my creativity, jump-starts my brain, and gives me a sense of accomplishment in my day that I rarely get in my other tasks. That is why, for the next month, I am going to make something every day, and I invite you to join me. From November 25 through December 24 I will make something every day and post about it here. I'll keep the rules simple:

• The item must be created that day – no posting old items because I’m short of time. 
• Made items can be as simple as a sketch or as complex as I can manage in one day.
• Knitting counts, but if I am working on a big project I will commit to finishing a large section in one day…one row seems a little lame.
• Alterations, both aesthetic and purposeful, on an existing piece can count.  For example, I have a few clothing pieces that need alterations before I can wear them: pants in need of a hem, shirts need darts, etc.
• Gifts for the holidays count…so if you happen to be my mom or sister or friend, don’t be sad if you open something you’ve already seen; obviously I won’t post the name of the person I am giving the item to.  You’ve been forewarned!
• Money does not have to be a limiting factor, for me or for you!  Get really creative and see what you can make without buying anything at all.
• Do it every day, no excuses. 
• Posts will be titled “Today I Made This”

In these worrisome economic times, the ability to take the wisp of an idea from the point of  inspiration and build it into a tangible body of work is priceless.  Challenge yourself and see how capable you really are; I bet you’ll be amazed at what your own two hands can do. 

Wanted

Your old, well-loved, nearly sheer, floral, funky designed, throwback from the sixties....pillowcases.  Where did you think I was going with that?

I am working on a dressmaking adventure of sorts (more on that soon) and I need all the pretty pillowcases I can get.  Vintage prints are great, fun patterns and florals are welcome. 
And now I have proved, once and for all, that I am a bit crazy.  But it's a good crazy, I promise.

Sundress

I managed to squeeze in some sewing time this week, and made a new sundress for Emma.  I copied the shape from an H&M dress that we already had, and cut it from two fat quarters of really fun fabric.  I added some edging embroidery in orange quilting thread along the top, and the buttons on the back of the straps are to shorten them until she grows into it a little more.  She seems to like it!  The photo of the brown dress is to show the original that I copied.

I am hoping to make Harry some linen "Pirate Pants" this week.  He is really into pirates these days, and can be found running around the yard with a bandana on his head yelling "Argh!" in a menacing tone.  It is very cute. 

More Sewing

Another smock:

The recycled dress, from H&M sweatpants:

Front                                      Back

With strings tied at bottom to create shirring.

The Library, And The Smock

We're a month into it and I am tired of winter already.  We've been sick, all four of us, with a cold that leaves us coughing and hacking and lying awake at night to make sure the kids are still breathing.  And fevers, too.  What fun!  We're going on two weeks of illness here, and we've had to cancel all kinds of play dates, trips to museums, and other fun plans.  I have spring fever in a big way, and I find myself setting the kettle on to boil before my current cup of tea has even begun to chill, and moving my preferred seat in the house to whichever spot happens to have a touch of sun.  I am seriously considering the purchase of a light box, or a condo in Florida.  Probably the light box is a better idea. 
I've been taking Harry and Emma to the library about once per week, trying very hard to break up the monotony of winter.  They like the variety of toys, seeing friends, and meeting new kids.  I like the selection of different children's books and the chance to speak with other adults.  Our local library, Crandall, has been undergoing a renovation but for the interim they have relocated to an adjacent building.  We love the new location almost as much as we loved the old one, especially the big windows that allow sunlight to spill across the children's play area.  There I go with the sun worship again.  This cabin fever is all encompassing.
The smock Emma is wearing in the pictures is one that I made from a new book, Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing (click for link).  I love this book!  It is inspiring with quick projects to jump start your enthusiasm, and tougher patterns to take on once you get into your groove.  I ordered three sewing books a few weeks ago and much of my spare time has been spent in another sun-splashed locale, my newly created sewing room.  I have more projects to share, including a dress I made for Emma from a pair of old H&M sweatpants.  Now that's taking recycling to a whole new and interesting level.  I am hoping to cut out more smocks this afternoon from $1.00/yard calico cotton that I happened upon in my travels.  I love the way the smocks take jeans and a onesie from boring to cute, and Emma is enthralled with the pocket.  I also have fabric to make napkins for our dinner table and also some new hand towels for the kitchen.  We're trying to lessen our use of paper towels and paper napkins, and I am hoping that sewing my own will make me more likely to use them. 
Maybe I just need a whole post about my sewing room/projects.  I'll work on that this afternoon.

Falling down the stairs, knitting, and...waiting.

We still have no news on the arrival of the much anticipated Hee Seon, a.k.a. Emma.  Just thought I'd get that out there instead of making you wonder if there is good news at the end of this post.  There isn't. 
Unless you count the fact that I am relatively unscathed after a tumble down the stairs two nights ago.  My socked foot slipped on the third (from the bottom) tread, and I went splat.  Scraped and bruised my thumb on the way down (of all things) because I made a feeble grab at the newel post.  Only my knitting has been affected by the scraping, and even that hasn't suffered much.  I did also manage to pull several muscles, which makes me sore but reminds me to laugh at myself.  I did mention that I am accident prone, did I not? 
To keep busy I have been knitting.  When asked what he thinks of all of my knitting projects, Brendan replied "Who are you?"  I've been making bags, sweaters and a dress for Em.  But mostly bags, and lots of them.  I'm working on number seven now, a bright red Paton yarn that I intend to add some glass beads to before felting.  I hope that glass beads can survive the turbulent atmosphere of my washing machine.  If not my afternoon may very well be spent picking shards from the knitting.  Some of my finished pieces:





I made a bag yesterday that far surpasses my previous efforts in construction, execution of design, and just plain fun.  Behold:

That's not a great picture.  The bag is made with Lopi wool, then felted.  I even made the button! 
************
Waiting for that elusive travel call is getting to me.  Whenever the phone rings I jump and my heart begins to race.  We're ready.  She could come home in an hour and we'd be fine.  We'd be elated!  She'll be six months old on Saturday, and I am beginning to wonder if I should pack away the little baby clothes, and bring out the next round of sizes.  I find myself wishing that we had the option to pick her up (our agency only has babies escorted, no travel for the parents) because then I would have a million details to oversee with packing three people for a trip, trying to figure out travel plans and flights, and wondering if we could survive the airplane with two kids in tow.  Instead I buy yarn, and knit around and around, row after row, keeping my hands busy but allowing my mind to work in endless circles of wondering.