Semi-Handmade

A Few of My Favorite Things ~ Under the Tree in 2010

If you were here you'd see and hear a lot of effort underway to have the majority of the "Mrs. Claus" duties completed by Sunday Midnight. Yes indeed - that is what I call a self-imposed deadline. One other self-imposed limit that is hindering these efforts toward my self-imposed deadline is my "go to bed when kiddos go to bed" limit. Oh - these limits I give myself - so conflicting right now.

Anyhow, despite trying to "follow the rules" there are a few semi-handmade things ready to go under the tree. One of my favorites are the trio of skirts for Cassidy.

 
This skirt was made from an upcycled denim skirt and 6 cloth shopping bags from freepeople.com. The bags are an interesting light gauzy material and I have been 'squirreling' them in a corner for some time now, never really knowing what I was going to make of them until now. The belt was made from some scraps left over after making the skirt and an acrylic belt buckle.

 
This second skirt was made from some over the top tulle fabric that has a gorgeous scalloped edge and loosely attached leaves and flowers all over. The under skirt was previously a light gauzy curtain that my mother-in-law found at an estate sale. I saved the curtain ruffle for the skirt bottom and the curtain rod opening for an instant (with some 2 inch wide elastic) waist band. The skirt is very full and should have good twirl potential.

This skirt will probably be Cassidy's favorite of the trio. The reason - she personally picked out the heart flannel fabric on the bottom while in the fabric store with me. A few times over the last month she has seen it in the studio and said, "When will you make me a skirt from this mommy?"

There is a little bitter-sweet in these skirts. The fancy tulle fabric, the acrylic belt buckle and the heart flannel fabric came from our local fabric store, The Cotton Shop. I bought them during their going out of business sale. While I am thrilled to get such deals (50% off!), I am bitter that the local treasure of a shop can't compete with big business. 

I have a few other semi-handmade treasures ready to go under the tree (or very near ready)- I will keep you posted...

 
 

 

Peace~ Amongst Poinsettias & New Boots

 
I have been thinking about chaos (thanks to a graceful reminder from Mary Allison) and trying to notice everything aside from and along with the chaos that ensues. Amongst all the chaos during this time of year combined with the chaos that comes along with motherhood I am finding some peace. Success! Sometimes it is a moment, sometimes it is a new awareness in a stage or step of a process, sometimes (rarely) it is an entire day full of peace.

It is a bit of a tradition to visit a local poinsettia farm (local to my parents in San Diego anyhow) and load up as many as we can fit in the car. I am awe struck each year that I step into the door of the green house and see the sweeping view of red and ivory. The light from the green house ceiling illuminates the flowers in such a unique way. This sort of every day awe and beauty is peace for me right now. Watching Cassidy walk around and take her sweet time picking out just the right poinsettia for her room along side my mom - that is peace for me right now.

 
Peace has come in many forms this season, not just in a beautiful green house moments. Peace has also come for me in acceptance. I have come to accept many things, SLOWLY, over the years. I  won't get into all this ...but one thing that has taken a long time to accept of all thing is my calves. I have gigantic, enormous calves. Last week as I walked up the stairs holding a 36 pound 3 year old with a 102 degree fever whose face was nuzzled in my neck, I realized I love my calves. I am at peace with my calves. Amongst the chaos of caring for my family I have realized these calves have propelled me up the stairs , carrying babies, then toddlers - sometimes two at one time. Sometimes a toddler and a bag. The strength in those huge muscles that are attached to the backs of my legs - well I am at peace. The gratitude I have for the strength they offer, that gives me peace.

The fact that after years of searching, followed by years of giving up, I have also found some boots that comfortably fit over my large calves. This may have played a part in new found peace. The dress is an Anna Maria Horner Pattern and made of her Little Folks voile fabric line too. What better way to celebrate new boots and new found peace than with a semi-handmade tunic.

Anyhow, hope you are finding peace amongst your chaos and gratitude in your air! 

Hello December! ~ A Giveaway ~ Free Semi-Handmade Photo Album

I create a lot of stuff, but I am not a scrapbooker. I have debated the advantages of handmade scrapbooks with all sorts of neat details versus the clean lines of digital. I have even tried hybrid digital scrapbooks. In the end I rely on My Publisher to record the memories of our family. The reasons are a both aesthetic and (mainly) logistical.

Yet, I ran into this scrapbooking project on Ali Edward's Blog, the December Daily 2010. I could not help myself. It is a 6 x 8 book with 25 dressed up transparent pages and inserted in between are her (Ali Edward's) daily pages. These daily pages can be all digital, no digital or a hybrid. The daily pages are where you add your special photos. The book is held together by simple rings.

So I dove in. I made myself one, and ONE TO GIVEAWAY TOO!

So leave a comment on this post and on Thursday, December 2nd at 10 PM PST I will pick a winner. The winner and I can discuss some options such as:

- using this as a December Daily (as intended) or as a mere Holiday photo album for 2010 or from over the years

- doing the inserted daily pages all digital, a combo or with real prints

Here is to keeping the precious memories recorded in style! Cheers!

Some photos from Ali Edward's version...

 
 

And some pictures from my studio floor...

 

 

And this reindeer paper is being used for the book covers, which are drying right now. Just in the nick of time..

 
 
 

Corners (Part Size) ~ Our Lil' Gallery of Memories

 
Like all the corners of our home, this one has taken up some of my (at times limited) head space for some time. I was inspired by two sources. The main inspiration came from an article I saw in a Martha Stewart Magazine, but you can see it live here. Play the video but fast forward to 4 1/2 minutes in to get to the segment on memory boxes. I was also inspired by an article in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, but I can't get my fingers on it right now. Go figure. And of course I was inspired by watching on a daily basis how quickly my children change, grow, adapt, learn, realize whom they already are and become whom they are meant to be...

Anyhow, I set off to update and redo the photo gallery we have in our staircase and hallway. The project went a little off track and into the two kiddos bedrooms as well. It was a lot of fun and really hard to be concise. In the end I added memory boxes I found at West Elm (they are in the stores now but I don't see them on the website) some kids art, more recent photographs and a few older (70s) photos of my family. The other main addition was two large canvases and one smaller canvas. The photos on the canvases were taken and created by my friend and talented family photographer, Carol Reach. The larger canvases are life size images of both Cassidy and CJ as of June 2010. The smaller canvas has three images of them interacting during the photo shoot. (Yes, it took me five months to get everything ordered, delivered and eventually hung just so!)

I wanted to include so many great memories but we only have so much wall space, it was hard to narrow it down but like many things I do, I just jumped in and quickly decided. I could have hemmed and hawed more but it would not have gotten me any more wall space so what was the point.

 
The images used for the life size canvases were taken in June, the result is like freezing a moment in time. I love the personality and twinkle in the eye that Carol caught with each image. I especially love the way CJ is trying to get comfortable with his hands in his seersucker slacks. Cj's canvas is a little bit shorter than Cassidy's canvas as he was (and for the time being is still) a few inches shorter than her. A skylight above keeps the canvases well lit. The white background and height of the canvases accentuates the height of the ceiling in this specific space.

 
I added some more recent photographs that I have taken and a few that Katie of Claire Alyse has taken. I also added this great pastel that Cassidy made last Spring.

 
At the top of the stairs are two memory boxes. One holds a photograph of CJ studying a skateboard and two miniature skateboards. These mini skateboards are all over our home, and often he falls asleep with them in his hands at night. The bottom box is Cassidy at 2 months wearing a knitted beanie I made her, and the beanie itself.

 
In the hallway is the third and smallest canvas, a floating image frame and two more memory boxes.

 
In CJ's room I added a memory box that holds the "King of Everything" illustration by Marisa Haedike and some photos I took of him in a crown that I made him. Those photos were also in this post here.

 
In Cassidy's room I added a memory box holding a photo of her feet in Capezio character shoes, as she was heading off to a sleep over with her aunt Judy. Post on that here. Also in the memory box are some of her baby shoes. I am still debating on this one, perhaps just one pair of black shoes will look better (less busy). Or maybe I should add as many of her baby shoes as could possibly fit. There I go again - hemming and hawing. I thought I was not going to do that.

 

 

Advent Calendars ~ Bring it On

 While Thanksgiving is a highly anticipated day around here, much head-space is taken up as the other Holidays approach on the tails of Turkey day.

For some reason, advent calendars are on my mind right now. Perhaps it is the idea of creating rituals and setting plans with little ones. Nonetheless, my mind is filled with ideas on advent calendars. For many, including myself, the idea of an advent calendar can intially bring up vague memories of flimsy cardboard boxes with tiny windows filled with cheap waxy chocolates. (Yes, a chocolate snob I am!)

Here are some of the ideas I found as I searched for inspiration. Some are things I saw and thought "I can make that, easy!" and some are links to projects with complete directions.

 

From Chasing-Fireflies, this idea is that any box with 25 or more drawers could make a great advent.

 
Also from Chasing-Fireflies this garland has tiny knitted pouches which can be filled with treasures.

 
The Longthread, December 5th of 2009 had links to four advent projects. I was especially drawn to this embroidered one. I think it is the use of funky colors that I am drawn to.

 
Also a box, but one you hang on a wall, this idea from blueyecicle.com is very fancy. The tiny boxes surround a cubby display area. This 13 x 13 box (1 7/8 deep) could really be used in any style and even perhaps decorated by the little ones themselves. It is fairly hard to find online. One of the few online retailers that does not have it posted as "out of stock" is Scrapbook-Creations.

 
By Uusi, this calendar won't leave you with sugared up kids or little trinkets all over the house. It certainly is a joy to look at.

 
In 2008 Martha Stewart shared this easy idea. Ali Edwards has a great version of it here.

 
Stumbles and Stitchesposted links to five creative ideas. My favorite a take on the solistice tree is also sugarless and "tinker" less is from the Green Kitchen.

I am not sure which one I will end up doing for my family. I was thinking a garland would work best since wall space is limited but those boxes in various sizes that were used in Martha Stewart's idea are hard to get out of my head today.

Here is to the countdown and the fun...

 

 

Allow me to introduce you... Ms. A & Ms. B

 
Over the last five years, I have done more soul searching and self discovery than any of the 34 years previous. Motherhood does that to you, forces a little self reflection. Over the past five years, I have come to realize that I have two personalities residing within my one body.

Allow me to introduce you to them both...

Ms. A over analyzes, over thinks and over schedules.

Ms. B lets things unfold as they come.

Ms. A is aware of where things are manufactured, how they are made, what plastic was used, side effects are researched.

Ms. B has the same general awareness of Ms. A but can't manage everything at one time and is okay with letting some things slide and hope for the best.

Ms. A lives tomorrow today.

Ms. B lives in the moment.

Ms. A reads a lot about parenting unconditionally, attends support groups and is a change agent in her community for policy surrounding constructive education. She stays up late at night tormenting herself for ruptures made during the day, mostly around setting limits with her children.

Ms. B parents and loves unconditionally but can very easily fall in and out of old habits and 'ways'- but is always eager to repair and start fresh.

Ms. A is gluten free - 100%.

Ms. B tries to substitute in quinoa or millet, but whole wheat is ok and the occasional bagel slips in.

Ms. A joined the local CSA and volunteers there, cooking every darn root vegetable that comes in that unpredictable box.

Ms. B does what she can to eat local, organic and "whole". Yet, she is known to stop by Vons on the way home to pick up a last minute pound of hormone filled ground beef.

Ms. A gives up head space, effort , time and sometimes extra money to support local artisans and businesses. She also makes a lot of things that the family needs by hand or 'semi-handmade'.

Ms. B has an awareness of shopping local but will stop at Target once a week and can not give up paper plates despite attempts.

Ms. A attaches to outcome throughout any process.

Ms. B can unattach.

 

With adequate protein, a cupful (but not more) of caffeine daily, a regular dosage of Vitamin D and 8 hours of sleep each night, the two peronsalities within my one body can co-habitat gracefully.

Once in a while domestic peace within this one body is disturbed though, one personality does a "power over" move. This happened yesterday.

Last Fall I enjoyed making a few new Fall decorations, nothing glittery or over the top - just some fall color for the house. A knitted "thing" to lay over the side table (below) and a fabric garland to go across the family room. (pictured above)

 

This year Cassidy (4 yo) insists we do not have enough Halloween decorations and reminds me on a daily basis that we need to get this done.

A good combination fo the two personalities would have discussed calmly with Cassidy over-consumption, how many decorations are made in foreign countries and in what conditions. A good combination of me would have pulled out the felt, low temp glue gun, glitter, rope and set up a child friendly decoration making station. Maybe a little internet research would have been done to find child friendly craft ideas that could be used as decoartions.

This odd,  wrong combination, of my two personalities rose to the occasion and arrived unwelcome to the situation. This person really did not want to mess up her just cleaned house nor spend energy on such dialogue. She loaded up two kids to go to JoAnn's, with 50% off coupon in the pocket. She came home with way too many lawn stakes, all of which had a gold "Made in China" stickers. So proud to have the task completed quickly and easily, without even messing up the clean floor- she was so pleased and paraded around her house (the one with the clean floor) for about 30 minutes.

Now every time I pass through the front door these lawn stakes glare at me. It is not so much that they were made in China that gets me the most, but that I passed on an opportunity to set an example. I allowed a need that we (Cassidy ) had to not transform into an outlet for learning and creativity. These lawn stakes, they are a constant reminder of how easy it is to go off my balance. A terrific reminder for me as the holiday season approaches - this season may take a little more protein and a little more Vitamin D than prior years. 
 

Procrastination in the form of a Malabrigo "Do" Rag

 
We just finished up close to five straight days of rain, and even had some thunderstorms to boot. Rare for us but I do love weather. I love rain, mostly because we don't get it very often, I don't have to commute to work in it and because I love boots and beanies. Although I have been known to wear beanies in all seasons to hide dirty or messy hair "dos", or ugly roots that need tending to- thus the term "Do"rag is what is used in our house for beanies.

My all time favorite "do" rag is this oh not sooo interesting in color but great in texture and feel, Aura from the Rowan Calmer Collection Booklet made from a Filatura cashmere back in 2002.

 
When I saw SouleMama's favorite (and free) beanie pattern, it seemed really similar to this favorite of mine- so I gave it a try in a much more interesting color and yarn this time. I had never used anything from Malabrigo, but have been drooling over all of the variations from Malabrigo at my LYS. This was my opportunity to try it out. I am sold, it is so gorgeous and the variegation (word?) so elegantly subtle.

 
For my gauge changes on this, take a look here on Ravelry.

Now what else can I knit to avoid those two sweaters that are almost done but merely PAUSED just because I am at the sleeves and I really don't like knitting sleeves. Ahh, the art of procrastination...

 

The Essence of Semi-Handmade:: The T-Shirt Dress with Pants:: A Tutorial

 
 This is it. This is really the best example of what we call semi-handmade. What started as a stained t-shirt and outgrown favorite silky, velvety pants, transformed into something that not only fits (physically) but fits our style requirements too (purple and comfortable, and a little bohemian chic).

This is the sort of sewing I truly enjoy, think of it as a remodel as opposed to new construction.  Ad lib as opposed to working from a script.

This fairly basic CrewCuts (the sale section of crewcuts is stocked right now) t-shirt had a stain and the color was too faded too truly be called purple by anyone under 10 years old. The pants were still worn now and again as capris but are a size 12 months, yet Cassidy is 4. They are THE best soft and silky velvet pants made by Little Giraffe. Unlike other outgrown clothes that were put away in boxes or "redone" in another fashion - these just kept getting worn thanks to the elastic waist. I couldn't bare to part with these and really wanted to make them a bit more useful. This was also a great excuse to work with some Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile and a small piece of lavendar vintage dot fabric for the pocket.

Here is the transformation broken down play by play:

Using the washing machine and 1/4 bottle of purple Rit dye, dyed the t-shirt.

Cut or piece together the following fabric pieces from voile (lawn, ordouble cotton gauze would work). (Quilting cotton is too heavy to hang from the t-shirt):

For Skirt, A rectangle that is approx. 1.5x the circumference of the t-shirt. The length dictated by how long you want the final dress. (The skirt piece in the example was 11 x 52 inches.)

For Skirt Ruffle, A long strip approx 1.5 x the width of the actual skirt piece above and approximately 4 inches. (The piece in the example was 3.5 x 74 inches)

For Pants, 2 pieces at 1.5 x the circumference of the pant leg opening.The length dictated by how long you want the final pants to be and you need to allow approximately 1.5 inch for a hem and the seam to attach the ruffle to the pants. (These two pieces in the example were 8 x 26 inches)

For pocket, any rectangle or square. But if you are going to pleat the skirt, as opposed to gather it, it needs to fit between the front pleat and the back pleat of the side that you are attaching the pocket to. You would only run into this limitation if you were doing a HUGE pocket. (This piece in the example was 9.5 x 7 inches)

Directions:

1. Pick up strip for ruffle and sew short ends together, while right sides together to make one loop. Fold in half lengthwise, wrong sides together and iron with starch. Then you have a loop of fabric, one long side is the 2 raw edges together.

2. Sew ends together of skirt piece, short ends together, while right sides of fabric facing one another.  Iron the seam to one side and top stitch the seam down.

3. Baste stitch raw edges of ruffle piece. Leave long ends. Pull long ends/tails and gather evenly until it is the same size as the skirt. If you are looking for precision, then baste stitch 2 rows on the top of the ruffle piece 1/4 apart and use all four long tails to get a very neat and exact gather.

4. Pin ruffle to skirt. Right sides together and ruffle actually lying upside down. Sew these pieces together. Iron the seams of the ruffle up toward the top of the skirt. Then topstitch right above ruffle, on the right side of the skirt, to tack down the raw edges from the ruffle and keep the ruffle hanging down when worn. (as shown below) With a seam ripper pull out any of the basting stitches that show.

 
5. Baste stitch raw edge of top of skirt and gather like you did the ruffle.

(Alternatively you could create 4 large pleats, one on each side of the front and back. This is what is shown in this example. The easiest way to create even pleats is to pin the skirt piece (upside down) to the t-shirt at the front of the t-shirt, back and on the two sides. Then working between two pins pinch the fabric so that it fits to the t-shirt between the two pins, and pinch the pleat down to the t-shirt and pin. Make sure you are consistent with the direction you pleat - all facing the center or all in one direction or all facing the sides. Repeat for each section between the four initial pins until you have four fairly similiar pleats.In this example I had all the pleats opening toward the sides, which means when I was pinning they were all opening toward the center body.)

6. Pin skirt to t-shirt right sides together and skirt upside down. Sew together. Once you flip the skirt back over, topstitch catching seam underneath. (as shown)

 
 Of course, throughout be sure to begin and end all your sewing with forward/backward stitches to lock them in. I use a stitch on my machine that does both a straight stitch and a zig zag at the same time, this way my seams are finished. One alternative, if you don't have this stitch on your machine is to trim all seams with pinking shears.

Now for the pants.

Hem or Zig Zag neatly one long side of each of the rectangles. Sew the rectagles into a loop, like you did the skirt and skirt ruffle, sewing the shorter sides together, right sides together. Gather or pleat the two pieces for the pants as you did above ultimately getting them to the same size as the pant leg opening. Pin to the pants and sew like you did the skirt.

Now for the pocket. Turn down top of pocket 1/4 inch 2x and iron, pin. Topstitch down top of pocket. Turnover and iron down remaining three sides 1/4 inch and then pin to skirt/dress. Sew/topstitch onto dress.

In the end all the purples are a little bit different in this ensemble. I accidentally did the pleats on the legs the opposite of one another. Yet, with very little expectation or attachment to outcome from the onset I am almost always pleased with semi-handmade creations. I have learned to not attach to outcome, nor how much something will get worn. Such is the case here. The outfit has a few flaws, Cassidy has worn both the Dress and the Pants, but neither together. Yet - I enjoyed putting it together, used some fabrics from the stash, it is getting worn and also made a good exampel to you of what I call "semi-handmade". For more examples take a look here...

On the topic of not being attached to outcome, that idea came into play with this impromptu iphone photo shoot too. Cassidy was not interested in the entire ensemble (pants not shown) and also this photo shoot was taken in a retirement village as we waited for great grandma to return from the doctors office. Not all the photo shoots go as I would like. I show the photos here as case in point.

  
 

 

~ Autumn Over Here ~

 
My version of autumn may be a little different than most across the states. For me the pivotal part of this change of seasons has always been, it is clearly THE best month for sunsets - October that is. Living seaside in So Cal, we don't see many trees change colors and the weather change is slight.

Aside from the change in daylight, one thing that does usually 'mark' autumn for me is canning. I usually can tomatoes and also apples with dried cherries. I'm not up to that activity this year. We did not have enough heat over the summer to support my rooftop square foot garden, which is 95% tomatoes - and which I usually preserve. I also usually preserve apples so I can readily make amazing apple pies for at least 6- 8 gatherings thru the year without much hoopla. We planned 2 trips to the apple farm and both days the plans blew up in flames - no apples for us yet. However, the need to "stash food" hit me as usual, like I am a squirrel or a bear that needs to store food (even though Trader Joe's is a 10 minute drive away either north, south or east - and open 7 days a week and one can wear flip flops everyday of the year, no snow or sleet to fight). So I decided to cook up some soups and freeze them to calm my need to stash food, so I could readily have some last minute dinners ready to go. These are the soups I included in this fall "stashing" project of mine:

• Tortilla Chicken, but they called it Mexican Lime from Epicurious
• Carrot Tomato(with farmers market tomatoes, not my own homegrown- bitter I am!) from SouleMama
• Broccoli Soup from Apples for Jam (not pictured)
• Curried Roasted Squash Soup from Sunset Magazine (not pictured)

 
 
 
I have thoroughly enjoyed these soups, the smell of the kitchen when I made these soups and most of all creating space in the freezer to store them all and seeing each time I open the freezer how much we have for the "winter". You may be conjuring up images of a bear storing food for their cubs - but to keep it real, here is the deal... I loved all the soups, the kids and the man - not so much. The tortilla chicken was a huge hit all around and the man asked to add it as a 'regular' in the line up. So I have a lot of soup in the freezer just for me, guess I will be having great lunches for sometime.

My favorite companions to these soups that I have been enjoying (alone) are:

• The Raw Green Bean Dip from Shivaya Naturals on carrots or snap peas
• These Squash Feta muffins from Martha Goes Green, that I found thanks to 101 Cookbooks (as far the the flour debate, I used 1 c. APF, 1/2 c. spelt flour and 1/2 c. almond meal and they were scrumptious)
• And a salad that a new friend I made at a party told me about - arugula or field greens, pomegrante seeds previously soaked in dill pickle juice, goat cheese - drizzled with truffle oil and a dash of sea salt. Add a slice of fresh pear if yo have them.

There are a few other signs that signify autumn around here, besides storing all kinds of crazy food we could easliy run to the store or farmers market for without having to turn on the 4 wheel drive....

The glass pumpkin patch on our city's main street today...

 

 

 
 
 

And the lights and banner streamer from some favorite autumnal fabrics across our living space... 

 

 

Our King of Everything

 
So I was perusing thru Etsy (you know in my spare time), specifically in a favorite storefront - Creative Thursday. I ran into this adorable, so succinct and so thoughtfully illustrated King of Everything print. I am sure I had seen this print in her shop before, but it spoke to me on this particular day. The Los Angeles based artist has a blog, here.

 
It reminded me of the terrific (opinion) crowns I made the kiddos, an idea inspired from Amanda Blake Soule's book Creative Family.

The project is very simple and easy to modify to fit your own little ones interests.

Then I got to thinking, "You know Cassidy's crown is hanging on her dress up mirror, where is CJ's?  I never made CJ's!" Off to the studio I went, and there (after I decent amount of digging) was a bag of the supplies all ready to go. Why I never finished - well I am sure you know why.

I dove right in, and CJ was thrilled. He never said anything about not having one for himself, one like his sisters. But the look on his sweet little face when the last stitch was made tells me he was ready to be crowned.

This (and a bit of arguing and competing around here) all make me think quite a bit about siblings and what some call "rivalry", which in and of itself denotes friction - thus I try to avoid the terminology.  I don't know how to put into words the feelings and thoughts I have on siblings, I have a lot more questions than answers here. I just know from the look on his face, he was ready to be crowned "Our King of Everything" even if just for one afternoon.