I {heart} Mail

This post is for my sweet friend Allison,
who makes some of the most beautiful handmade cards.
{hugs to you!}

I must confess that I don't love Valentine's Day crafts all that much. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Valentine's Day itself. Anything that inspires warm fuzzy feelings and maybe even some dark chocolate is a good holiday in my book. But the crafts...eh.

The one exception to the rule is actual Valentine's cards. I just love getting and sending mail, so this is right up my alley. Having some blank cards & envelopes laying around, I set to work to make some snail mail love for friends and family.

I used a Sharpie to draw a whole bunch of hearts on paper and the boys and I colored them in with the appropriate pinks and reds. Then I used a glue stick to put a piece of fabric on each card and then glued various hearts to the fabric. When the glue was dry I sewed the cards. Of all the materials I've sewn, I've never done paper. And, let me tell you, it is a great thing to sew.

Here are a couple of the individual cards...

And, fun surprise when you open them,
they're even cute on the inside!

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Domesticated

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home
are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."
-Thomas Moore

Sometimes it is the most bland of all domestic chores that bring satisfaction. Today was a day full of such small domestic efforts. I made 3 loaves of bread (2 pumpkin and 1 banana bread for the curious sort), cooked up a weird looking but delicious dinner (recipe here), replaced buttons on my favorite pajamas, and vacuumed the whole house in and among chatting with the sweet husband and hanging out with the little ones. Funny enough, I don't enjoy cooking all that much and I really don't enjoy vacuuming. But doing these things makes me feel like a good wife and mother. The important part is that I found real peace and satisfaction in feeding my guys a good dinner and letting my 1 1/2 year old stir the bread ingredients. And I was shocked to realize that I had waited over two years to fix those pajamas which took all of 10 minutes.

For a few little bits of time today I felt like I wasn't pulled in a million directions; I could just enjoy those moments for what they were. Not terribly significant for anyone but me. I hope you find a little bit of zen in your everyday. We only get today and that by the grace of God. It is more than we deserve and I am very very glad for it. Pin It

Oh. My. Gosh.

I have been featured on Mod Podge Rocks!

There. I said it. This is so exciting for me...oh, I feel so geeky. Just so I'm not alone in my excitement, head on over to see my beer coasters on the "famous" blog by the very sweet Amy: http://modpodgerocks.blogspot.com/2010/01/coasters-yay.html

Well, when my coasters make me famous and I'm chatting with Martha on TV you can say you knew me back when. Kidding. Totally kidding. You can say you knew me, but it won't get you anything (sorry about that) and I won't be on Martha (too bad).

Thanks for hanging out with me in the blogosphere. I sure do like having you all around. Happy Thursday! Pin It

Today is brought to you by the number...

I've started a new little game around our house called "The Number of the Day" to help my 3 year old learn his numbers. He has all his letters down and almost all the sounds associated with them. And he can just about count to 30, but he has a really hard time differentiating between the numbers themselves. It's like that particular code is a lot more difficult for his little brain than the letters. To help him with this I started the Number of the Day.

Each morning he comes out to the living room to see a new number from 1 to 10 drawn on his art easel. Next to the digit is a group of dots he can count to figure out what the number is. And all day we look for the special number wherever we go: at the store, on toys, in books, in recipes, etc. I thought it might be helpful to have a little something in the car since we are on the go a lot. So I came up with this little on-the-go Number of the Day craft. The idea is that it hooks onto a handle on the seat in front of your little learner (if such a handle exists in your car).

Figuring my little one may not be the only one needing help with his numbers, I took photos as I went for a tutorial (finished dimensions are 8" square + hanging loops). There are a lot more steps than I realized but it's a simple project and requires very little sewing. Enjoy!

Materials:
1/4 yard of felt (for 6" squares)
1 piece of felt measuring 8" x 24" in contrasting color
1 fat quarter of pattered fabric for numbers
scraps of fabric or ribbon for straps
2 1/2 yards of hook velcro (1" wide works well)
2 pieces of loop velcro, 1" each

Cut 10 pieces of felt measuring 6" square

Cut 1 piece of felt measuring 8" x 24"

Cut 55 small squares of felt - I made 1/2" squares.
This sounds like a lot of work, but it's really easy and quick with felt and a rotary cutter.

Circles would be even cuter, but more time consuming.
You could also use buttons if you want to spend a little cash and pick out super cute ones.

Cut out your numbers 1 through 10 in felt or fabric.

I made each about 4" x 2 1/2".

Make 2 straps measuring 8" long, or cut 2 lengths of ribbon.
(check this length in your own car to make sure it will wrap
around the handle in front of your little one).

Cut 20 pieces of hook velcro measuring 4" long
(2 pieces for each 6" square)

Glue your numbers to the 6" squares, offset to the left, using Tacky Glue.

Using Tacky Glue, affix your small squares to your 6" squares
on the ride side according to number.
I found it much easier to put the glue on the 6" square,
rather than putting glue on the tiny squares.

Now put your velcro strips on the backs of your 6" squares.

If you are smart enough to get self-adhesive velcro, you are smarter than me.
But, if you have plain ol' velcro, a hot glue gun works wonders to stick these on.
Now your squares are done! Time to move onto the number "board."

Fold your long piece of felt in thirds like so...

Fold one end of each strap over about 1" and
attach them to the front of your "board" at one short end,
about 1" in from either side.
(I did this after sewing the sides,
but it would be a lot easier to do it before as written here)

Pin & sew up the open sides to form a double-layer front and a pocket in the back.

If I had lots more free time, I would put a button hole at the end of each strap
and secure it with a cute button to the back of the "board" (this was my original plan).
I do not have that much time and I had velcro
so I sewed two small pieces of hook velcro to the ends of my straps
and two small pieces of loop to the back of the board.
You'll notice I even used the selvage edge for the ends so I didn't have to hem them!

Now stuff your 6" squares into the pocket and you're ready to go!

I found that stacking them velcro sides together kept them from snagging on the "board."
I put 4 pairs stacked this way in the pocket, our number of the day on the front, and 1 more square stuck to the back.

Now step back and admire how cute (and educational!) your on-the-go Number of the Day craft is!

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Skyline Scarf

Here is a linen scarf I made for a girlfriend of mine. I wanted something sophisticated that she could accessorize with for work. Knowing her style, I knew it should be something J.Crew or Banana Republic inspired. Here is what I came up, and it even has a name: the Skyline Scarf. I never name my projects but the stitching reminds me of a city skyline full of bustling energy...and it just makes me happy.

Another close-up of the stitching I like so much...

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Itchy Itchy Ichabod

Dr. Seuss' ABC book, anyone?

I happen to have an Itchy Itchy Ichabod right here in my own house and he's 3 1/2 years old. Some kids are super sensitive to tactile anything and that would be my sweet boy. Sock seams are a particularly heinous evil in our universe...really, can't someone make seamless socks like tagless undershirts?? It would save me a world of grief.

Running a short second to the sock seams is itchy stitching in store bought clothing. If I don't get the offending item off fast enough he will rapidly dissolve into a crying mess tugging at his clothes, waling "It's itchy! It's itchy!". It breaks my heart because I know it's legit; I grew up with my equally sensitive younger sister who also could not bear sock seams or itchy clothes. On the bright side, she has grown into a fully functional adult so I don't need to worry about my little one being crippled by the itchies.

The other night I realized all of my little man's jammies were in the wash except for the ITCHY pair. Oh great. Desperate to avoid an itchy + tired meltdown I ironed some fusible interfacing (the super lightweight stuff) to the inside of the jammy top. Very easy and very quick. This is essentially what some manufacturers do to kids clothes/jammies and I only improvised the homemade solution.

I hope this might help someone else to salvage an otherwise intolerably itchy shirt for their little one. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the newly non-itchy top passed inspection and he wore it! Point for Mommy.

The guilty party

Laying out the interfacing (fusible side down)
and tracing around the itchy parts

Fused and ready to wear!

FUN FACT: a girlfriend of mine just emailed me to say that someone out there does make seamless socks: http://www.storesonline.com/site/547049/page/118294! Pin It

Little Acorns

"Tall oaks from little acorns grow."

-David Everett

My mom teaches sixth grade (and is an exceptional teacher, if you ask me, her completely unbiased daughter) and it takes a lot of time, work, and love to create a warm learning space for all those little minds in a classroom. While she was on her Christmas break, I spent a couple days helping in her classroom doing little jobs and one big job. The big job was to recover two rolling chairs. I didn't even attempt a tutorial because I would just embarrass myself if I spelled out the steps...there are many talented bloggers who are much better at this kind of thing. Suffice to say that it took some pvc pipe (to hold the crease down), a lot of staples from a staple gun, and little bit of hot glue.

We found this adorable upholstery fabric at Joann's and could not believe our luck. When my mom saw that it had acorns on it, she was in love because she always says that her students are little acorns that will one day become mighty oaks. The best part? It was on clearance for $6...then it was 50% off...then she got her 15% teacher discount! It was meant to be.

My sister and I did the chairs together, and it was fun to have a project to work on as team. She had to do most of the real work and I was more of an artistic director (the tendonitis in my hands is not happy with me when I tug too much and do things like play with staple guns - drats).

Here are some shots from our work day...

here's the before...
not so pretty, not even a little

Hemming the edges...

Centering the fabric and lining up the print....

Just a blur of motion! Look at her go!

And the finished product!

My mom loves it (and we do, too).

And, look! It's not only cute. It's a FUN chair!
(just love my goofy sister)

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I did it!

I finally made a real header for the little blog! Not sure if I'm madly in love with it, but I like it a whole lot better than what I had up there before. That is my crafty contribution for the day. As my 20-month-old would say, "Ta-Da!"

Oh, and if you want to make up a header, I used this GREAT tutorial over at a foothill home companion.

Happy Tuesday! Pin It

I'd like to thank...

The sweet and talented Anna over at Noodlehead gave me the Lemonade Stand award the other day. I must say it was very thoughtful of her to pass it on to me! Things have been a little crazy around here and I'm just getting around to sitting down to blog it.

From what I hear, the Lemonade Stand Award is awarded for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. The rules for accepting this award are:

• Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
• Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

And after all those great rules, I'm going to break them. [winces] The big reason is that picking ten blogs was hard to do. Not because I have way more than that on my favorite list...but rather because I only have a small handful that I love and mostly check those (Noodlehead being one of them). With my two little munchkins there are precious few moments I can steal at the computer for blogging and checking out other blogs, although I wish I had a lot more time to find inspiration out there and am always happy to find a new blog.

As a consolation for the real list however, I bring you a random sampling of my current favorites...
If you have a favorite crafty blog or two that you love, I would love to know what it is!

http://www.dressaday.com/dressaday.html

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ (who sadly just announced the end of her blogging)

http://arieleldridge.blogspot.com/

http://lulalouise.blogspot.com/


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The Christmas of Quilts...part five

Last but not least is my sister's quilt (you might recognize it from this post). I used more fabric from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain Aquatic collection, though they're not the same ones as the previous quilt. I like the layout on this one and especially the crisscrossing quilting. If I hadn't believed that my sister would love it so much, I might just have kept this one...

Even more than the quilt in this picture, I love my little three year old's feet poking out of the bottom next to my sister's. Sweet sweet boy...

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The Christmas of Quilts...part four

The fourth quilt I made for a dear girlfriend of mine. I started it and then realized it was perfect for her as I was working on it. Silly me didn't take any pictures of it before I sent it off and she was sweet enough to take a couple for me so I could post it.

The quilt top is made from just 4 fat quarters of Amy Butler Daisy Chain Aquatic and some coordinating solid for the sashing. I did free motion quilting/stippling/whatever you want to call it over the whole thing (the above picture is a close-up of the quilting from an earlier post). The quilting is the more impressive part of this one and I was really pleased with the outcome.

But more importantly, she was thrilled with it. :)

the front

the back

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I actually won a giveaway!

This is way overdue, but I just have to show you the personalized Christmas ornament I won in a giveaway through Sew Mama Sew. Becka over at http://www.beckarahn.com/ sent me this sweet handmade ornament with a monogram of my choice (in my favorite color, pink!). I love it.


Just had to share her blog. Enjoy!


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The Christmas of Quilts...part three

This is the "Daughter" half of the Mother-Daughter quilt set I made for my husband's mom and sister. My sister-in-law's quilt was my more "modern" take on a patchwork with off-set columns. I like all the white (Kona cotton squares with Kona muslin for the sashing), and I really like the Amy Butler Midwest Modern print that I used for the binding.

Again, not great pictures.

Quilts are hard to photograph...I'll have to work on that.

I really like the back, too.

Big surprise...

I used the same olive polka dot as her mom's,

but in strips rather than one solid piece.

Thanks to my sweet husband for "posing" with the quilt before I wrapped it up. :]

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Technical Difficulties...

Update: Yeah! Everyone seems to be able to see the images! Thanks to everyone for your help!


I'm shamelessly posting to ask for your help. Beg for your help really. I can't see all the images for my posts and it seems they're disappearing randomly and frequently...I call it bleeding images. It's driving me mad. I think it's a browser issue...I see them all in IE but not in Firefox. A girlfriend and I emailed/chatted like mad this evening to troubleshoot (thanks, Janis!) and I think we figured it out but I want to know if you all can see the pictures.

If you have a second, could you check this past post and let me know if you see two images or not: http://handmademommy.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-sunday.html ?

If you're able, please leave a comment so I can conduct a little poll. Hopefully, it's just my browser and everyone else can still see what's been posted.

You're the best for helping out! Pin It

The Christmas of Quilts...part two

For my husband's mom & sister I made Mother-Daughter quilts. They didn't match but I based them around the same fabrics. Each was built around a Moda Fig & Plum charm pack.

I finished my mother-in-law's quilt a couple months back and then had to sit on it silently (keeping surprises is not my long suit...it nearly killed me...here is the quilt folded in a past post). Her quilt looks a little more traditional to me, more of a patchwork design with cascading strips of Kona solids between the columns. The back is just one solid piece of the olive green polka dot print in the charm pack.

Admittedly, I did not get a great picture, but hopefully you get the idea.

My sister-in-law's quilt will be up next... :)


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The Christmas of Quilts...part one

Before I get all wrapped up in my ramblings, Happy New Year! I hope you have a lot to look forward to in 2010!

Now to my ramblings...this Christmas I went a little crazy. I made 5 quilts as gifts. That sums up the gist of my insanity. My husband was pretty sure he might have to pry me off the sewing machine and confiscate the rotary cutter on more than one occasion, but we all made it through. And my reward was that I got to give 5 completely personal gifts absolutely infused with love. Giving those gifts brought me a lot of joy.

I bring you the first quilt, the one I made for my mom. (I couldn't keep a secret entirely and gave a sneak peek here) This was the first time that I set out on a mission to buy every single fabric with one person in mind. Usually I will have something on hand that already fits a loved one, but I had nothing that spoke to me for my mom. She loves reds and greens but I didn't want to make a Christmas quilt. The alternative was that I built the quilt around two Robert Kaufman prints (the bolder florals on the quilt top). The inspiration for the layout was Amy Karol's quilt in her Bend the Rules book (love that book); it's not the same dimensions, but a similar idea.

This was also the first time that I used unbleached muslin (yes, how very daring of me...), mixed fabrics for the binding, and did not prewash the fabrics. Overall, I was happy with how it turned out.

Here is my mom hiding behind her Christmas quilt...

and the back...I just love a pieced quilt back.
I sound so geeky.

In the next couple days, I'll post another quilt for your viewing pleasure.
Here's to a brand new year!

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