little birds handmade

made in the shade

So excited about my new Simple Sewing book by Lotta Jansdotter. I buy very few craft books because I am very cheap frugal and there are not many that speak to my own aesthetic other than the Japanese ones (of which I can not read the instructions), but I just had to order this one, sight unseen, and I'm very glad I did. Beautiful styling and photography, lots of inspiration for my own designs, and many projects that I'd like to give a go. I tried the sun hat first (you can see the book image here at the photographer's web site) because I was up for something new. Mine is linen with a golden apple lining fabric from Superbuzzy. I made a mistake somewhere along the way (seam allowances, maybe?) and everything wasn't fitting together correctly, but, with a little seam ripping and altering, alls well that ends well.

Now that I'm dressed for it, I'm going off on a little blog spring break. I'll be back in April with finished hedgehogs and maybe some other critters. Take care.

like sunshine

Still really loving yellow. Seeing it everywhere (my table this morning). Maybe the yellow-love is what is keeping me from painting  this room white as planned (and prepped for) weeks ago?

Spring's pillows. I found the Moda paint by numbers birds in the remnants at the fabric store for next to nothing. I paired it with my absolute favorite mustard yellow wool, linen on the back. Now to find the perfect everyday shoes for spring in that mustard yellow and I'll be all set.

I'm really busy and am trying to spend time away from the computer (except for looking for yellow shoes), but I'll try to set the goal of posting new work every day the rest of the week. Go find your sunshine.

ps: I realized how much I enjoy going to read the comments over at 3191 all at once at the end of the day with the post in front of me and have decided to not have my little birds comments sent to me by email either.  Questions will be answered in the comments. Thanks!

eggcellent

I snipped a slash into my favorite black a-line knit skirt while trimming threads a while back, and I finally rescued it from the fix-it pile with a little applique. The tumbling eggs are in vintage, new and Japanese fabrics.

I originally played around with the fabric eggs motif last fall in a journal I completed for a Fiskars scissors ad campaign (maybe you saw the ads in Readymade magazine last year?).  They gave me a list of rather goofy questions about sewing and creativity to answer in the journal. I don't even remember what the question was that prompted this response.

I see that Kristina did this project too (what cute and colorful responses!). Anyway, they received quite a few journals this time around (hundreds, maybe?...I can't remember what they told me), but ended up deciding to not run the sewing ads (concentrating on that scrapbooking market instead). They did, however, decide to pick just one sewing page to use for promotional purposes, and I found out last month that it was from my journal! It's not this one...I'll share it once it's in print. I was super-duper excited as I received a handsome reward, but I didn't have to have my photo in a national magazine! Big thanks to Alicia who asked me to participate!

***For everyone wanting more information about the bowl/mug/plate set in my last post, it has no markings. I gather from comments that it's probably from the early 80s. My plate probably belongs to the boy set although I think she looks pretty cute in her blue sneakers.***

handiwork

I love to sew things by hand. I feel so much more connected to my work than when I am using a machine. I am a little bit afraid of my sewing machine just as I am a little bit afraid of my car and my Cuisanart.

Another craft blogger was telling me that she felt as if her hands were 5 times bigger when she works with small things (which made me think of Gael Garcia Bernal's character doing the cut and paste work in The Science of Sleep). I, in turn, feel like I'm drowning in fabric every time I try to tackle something larger than a tote bag. I'm a big and clumsy person, but I feel capable and in control when I'm stitching up tiny things.

Plus, it fits right in with my slow life movement.

whoops.

avoir faim

I  was able to overcome my usual online-fabric-purchasing-paralysis last week and place an order on superbuzzy's super update (although Mariko is right in my neighborhood, so it hardly felt like an online purchase). Had to have the matroyshka fabric which went right into some patchwork coasters. I also brought home the Shinzi Katoh place mats in a couple styles. My kids are really thrilled with them and are learning to whine in French to boot!

I picked a busy week to return to blogging, but I'll be back with more soon...

getting there

I'm crossing a few things off my list, but I have a ways to go...I'm rushing a bit so I can enjoy a few days of 100% relaxation once my sister gets here. Really looking forward to it!

I have begun to add a preview of the auction items over at the Kim Family Benefit site, so take a look. I will continue to add items throughout the next week. Amazing stuff! Thank you again to all the contributing artists.

rescheduled

 Another gift. These oven mitts are really easy and fun to make. I just make mine up as I go along, but I know that Denyse Schmidt's book has an oven mitt pattern if you'd like to give it a go.

I have a guest post over at Kiddley in honor of Santa Lucia Day. Mia was up really early today with her crown on, ready to serve everybody breakfast. Unfortunately, I was up really late with Miles whose fever was so high that he was hallucinating (frightening!...he's much better today, thank goodness), and I didn't have it in me to get up and make saffron buns.  We decided to reschedule Santa Lucia for the solstice. Someone's ready...

getting a few things done

Thanks for your continued interest in the auction for the Kims. I believe we have all the donations that we can handle, but you can contact my sister at lisacongdondesign{at}yahoo{dot}com if you have questions about donations. Thank you!

I, like so many of you, am falling a bit behind in my holiday plans and reevaluating what I might be able to accomplish. Mia's seventh birthday is this weekend and thank goodness she graciously agreed to postpone her party until January; it was a bit more than I could handle at this time (and don't we all need a little fun in January?) We will, however, be celebrating by attending a performance of the Nutcracker as we have every year since she was four (this year we'll be joined by Miles and Grandma).

We've had a plague of fevers/general misery among the small people around here which isn't helping my productivity, but we've managed to get a few things done.

 

Mia designed and embroidered this ornament from her sick bed and has plans to make a few more. I concentrated on finishing Christmas gifts for my little nieces.

Simple little stuffeds. The bunny is for a baby and has jingle bells inside. The cat is for a toddler and lives in a wool tote with matching floral lining.

All the pretty 30's reproduction florals in these projects came to me from the generous Eliza Gran who makes charming and classic clothing for women and children. Thanks Eliza! You really had me inspired this week.

tree love

I am very happy that so many of you are having fun with the soft tree pattern . Thank you for all the links and emails and for generally spreading the tree love. Just a few of my favorites:

Shanna's forest
MONDO soft tree
Courtney's simplified, easy ship/store trees
Knottie Knitter's felted sweater trees
Holiday window at Purl Patchwork

********
I am full of hope today that James Kim will be found soon. My heart goes out to Kati and everyone close to him.

keeping out the draft

I had big crafting plans for today, but a few draft snakes* had to take precedence at the sewing machine. When I rearranged our living room earlier this fall, I failed to take into account just how chilly it would be to sit on the sofa under the trio of (charming, but not weather-proofed) casement windows. I'm going to make some for Jack's office too (another historic drafty building) and those need to be four feet, eight inches long. Quite a snake.

It was snowy this morning, and this afternoon, it's clear and cold - my favorite weather. While having coffee with the kind and funny Melissa this morning, I kept looking out the window and seeing these fat snowflakes floating about, and it made me really happy. It's a relatively unusual sight around here. Melissa sent me home with one of her fabric boxes; it's really lovely and simple and just my style (and a good place to store M&M's paper-chain-in-progress). Thanks Melissa! 

* I made my draft snakes by sewing a tube that is as long as the window is wide (I used some wool, but any fabric would work). I turned it right side out and filled it with rice (I think people usually use sand, but I didn't have any) and sewed the opening closed.