Crib Sheet Tutorial

While cruising the limitless internet last night, in search of some new craft blogs to follow, I came across this super-easy, very concise tutorial for crib sheets.

For a few months now I have had a sneaking suspicion that I could be making these myself, but I was just too tired to sit down and do the brain work required (i.e. taking one of my old sheets apart to get the measurements and corner construction down). You can rest easy, brain! The wonderful gals at Made did it for you!

Now I plan on going through my stash to see if I have anything that screams "sheets" at me. I have quite a bit of vintage fabric that has softened and stretched with time, and I think it would work well. It definitely isn't suited for dressmaking, that's for sure.

I sewed some easy envelope back pillows (well, pillow covers, really) last night to ease back into the sewing groove. Apart from some fighting with my machine over bobbin thread tension, all went well. Pictures to follow soon!

Excuses...

Wow. So, it's been almost three (!) years since my last blog post. A lot has happened since then. I've added another boy to the brood, bringing the kid total to five. I've mostly lost my mind...yeah, that about covers it.

I've been busy raising kids and doing gardening type stuff. So busy, in fact, that I haven't had time to blog about any of it.

And I'll even admit to something that makes me a wee bit ashamed. All of the other craft blogs that I followed then were so hep and shiny and the photography was *perfect* that I felt a little weird about putting my obviously amateur work out there: crafting and otherwise.

I know, it's kind of dumb.

But here I am, for some reason, starting up again. No pretenses of perfection this time. No artfully arranged photos done against a dropcloth in the crisp summer sun. Just life.

Still Alive

Hi, all! I am still alive, but I have been so tired. I haven't done anything crafty lately, nor have I thrifted (!), so I don't have much to post about, unfortunately. I am concentrating on getting myself healthy and happy, though, and that takes time. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me soon!

Catching Up

Has it really been a week since I have posted? Yikes! Motherhood has really kept me busier than usual during that time, not to mention we've been hurrying around trying to get wood split before the snow flies. Fall is definitely here, though. My porch is a sea of leaves! If I were the proactive type (or, well, any type but the lazy type), I'd sweep it off. But it makes such a nice crunching, swishing noise when I walk through it. Maybe in a few days.

The shirt is still not finished. I am just going to take my time in this one and not rush. I need to put the sleeves on. They are gathered and ready to go, at least. I've also been going through and washing all of the vintage fabric I got a couple of weeks ago from the nice lady I mentioned in an older post. I haven't gotten around to photographing it, but I promise I will soon!

The sugar war is going well. The past two days in particular I have been feeling very good. It's amazing how much sugar alters my mood. It truly does make me a horrible grouch. At first it has a soothing effect, but then I become like some crack addict in withdrawl if I don't get more. Interestingly, I remember reading that Gloria Swanson (of Sunset Boulevard fame, for those of you going, "Who??") also cut sugar from her diet after finally making the connection between it and her depression/mood swings. Not that sugar is the root of all evil (or of all depression, for that matter), but there's certainly something to that, in my case. Oh sugar, why must you taste so good yet be so bad?

Also, I have been tagged by Fiona! That calls for a post all its own, I think. Thanks, Fii, for thinking of me. The first thought I had was, "Gosh, do I even have seven friends?" Pathetic, right? Ha!

Dining Room Garment District

I haven't had much time for anything for the past few days, as Karsten decided to tenaciously hang on to whatever illness he's got. Poor kid. He's on the pink stuff (amoxil), so he should be better soon.

The blouse is coming along. It's got a collar and facing and is sewn up at all the major seams. I just need to do sleeves and all the major components will be there (aside from buttonholes and buttons).

Do you know what my least favorite part of sewing is? And it's the thing that prevents about five of my projects from being truly complete as I type...hemming. There's a dress hanging in my wardrobe right now that is ready to wear except from the hem. Already I am dreading finishing the edge of the shirt! I really am the world's most impatient sewer. I want things to be done in an hour. And done perfectly, too. Ha! Anyone who sews knows that this is pretty much an impossibility when doing dresses. I'm reading this right now in order to help me relax and enjoy the process of sewing. I suppose I could continue to want to rush it all, or I could just take my time and focus on the detail of the work. The latter pairs well with my perfectionist tendencies, at least.

The funny thing about that last observation is that no one would ever guess that I even have that characteristic if they looked at my work, because it is such an ever loving MESS. Threads hanging out all over, seam allowances going every which way... needless to say, I need to take everything this book talks about to heart and apply it to my sewing philosophy STAT!

By the way, the book is truly fascinating. The author does an excellent job of talking about how couture houses function, emphasising the fine hand work that sets couture apart from pret a porter. The process of garment construction is interesting to me, and so this book is great for that, as well. The author discusses the entire process, starting from the moment a client walks through the door until the very last fitting.

My favorite parts are the pictures of 40s and 50s couture suits and gowns, not only from the outside, but from the inside, too, in order to see how they were designed and contructed. Divine! As a girl whose favorite show as a preteen was CNN's "Style" with Elsa Klench (and who used to read Seventeen and then draw clothing designs based on the latest Isaac Mizrahi collection...I distinctly remember drawing some hideous black and white geometric shirt with black leggings after seeing one of his collections from 89-90! LOLZ), this book is a fun read.

Anyway, here's the shirt, coming along slowly but surely:


I seriously need to get a dress form, for soooo many reasons. It's on my Christmas list. One of the reasons is that I get tired of hanging halfway-completed garments on a plastic hanger in my bay window in the dining room and taking snaps of them. The other is just the more practical reason of "hey, it would be nice to fit this properly to myself."

What kind of dress forms do you guys use? There's some that are made to order to your size, and then there's others that have wee dials so you can change the measurements if need be (very useful for those of us who tend to gain 7 lbs. during winter time, ahem). Thoughts?

Speaking of gaining 7 lbs., the sugar war is back on. I was a good girl yesterday and ate well. I even dug out all of the info that my dietician gave me eons ago when I was seeing him for pre-diabetic issues, read it, and followed the recommendations for portion size and servings. Now I just have to get my butt moving a bit more. Perhaps today it is off to the park with the boys again for squirrel stalking.

We Can Work It Out

Aahhhh. Back to the good stuff: sewing and thrifting. The pieces for the button-down shirt are cut and pressed. The fabric looks even better cut out than I hoped! I am really excited. Seriously, this fabric was meant to be a shirt. Did I mention that this is my first ever foray into buttonholes? I'm a little nervous, but I have full confidence in my lovely new Singer. It has the standard four-step buttonhole (nothing fancy and computerized; no ESP-Psychic-Robo buttonhole process or anything), but even this is new to me.


This morning I awoke to my least favorite noise as a mother. That would be the sound of a barfing child. Thankfully Karsten's little belly wasn't full of much, which minimized the mess. Now comes the part which demonstrates what kind of mother I am. By noon, he was feeling a bit better, so I piled all the kids into the car and we went to the thrift store. Yes, I am horrible. "Stop puking so Mommy can get some cool old stuff!"

It was slim pickins, but I did find these four:

Two fall into the groovy pile...

Two are just "awww" worthy...

Isn't that wrap dress cool? I have way too many patterns for wrap dresses already, but I couldn't resist. It's the most flattering dress on me, as I have discovered. Plus, 39 cents for all their patterns! Thank you, Goodwill. You don't charge insane prices for those, yet...

No kitschy kitchen ware this week. The Goodwill looked wiped out in that area. My wallet was thanking me for that. Sophie and Karsten each picked out a book, and so our grand total came to $2.25.

One of the fabric ladies called me today, and so I am going over later to get my vintage stash. Woo!

Off the Wagon

Well, that didn't take long. Little Debbie was calling, and so two brownies later (and a sugary cup of tea, as well)... Sigh. Someone please invent a pill that takes away sugar cravings. Or maybe I should undergo hypnotic suggestion and turn sugar into an aversion. Grrr.

I'm not very happy with myself, but I don't exactly want to turn this blog into one big arena of Heather and her itemized self-criticisms, either. It's bad enough to have them in one's head without seeing them in print. God bless writers like David Sedaris who can open himself up and put the nasty out there for everyone to read. I still need some kind of veil between myself and the rest of the world.

So instead of watching another YouTube epi of Canada's Next Top Model, I should bundle the boys into the vehicle and do something. This cycle of lethargy must come to an end!

Not A Sewing Day

Today the boys and I went to the park. We looked at squirrels as I pushed them in the double stroller at a high rate of speed (in order to aerobically support my sugar boycott). Thirty minutes of me: "Look! A squirrel!" and then Karsten's reply while looking in the wrong direction: "Where? I no see it! There's no squirrel! Slow down, Mommy!" Henry just sat and sucked on his bottle or, alternately, the tags on the back of the stroller seat. Sometimes both.

No sewing today, or much of anything remotely productive in nature. I think I did two loads of laundry, which is considered a holiday in these parts. Four loads a day is the norm. Heaven forfend if I should skip a day. The dirty stuff piles up faster than pancakes on a plate at the IHOP. Did the usual cleaning of the kitchen and general lived-in areas, but nothing really taxing. I did keep the caffeine IV flowing today with a cup of coffee, a couple of diet Cokes, and way too many cups of hot tea. I allowed myself half a teaspoon of sugar in the tea, which is probably why I had about four cups today. I'm sure there's absolutely no connection there.

I did look at the fabric for my shirt a couple of times; well, glanced at it in passing, really. Kind of longingly, but mostly just in resignation. Today just wasn't a sewing day. The pattern is pinned to it and it's ready to be cut. Meh. Shrug of shoulders. Tomorrow will be better suited for it, perhaps.

Something New

I chose my new project. It's based on Simplicity pattern 4112 in their Built By You line, but I think I am going to give it the sleeves from the latest Burda download (bottom pic).

I'm making the shirt on the right. It's a button front with a sash. Wrap shirts are also lovely, speaking of sashes. I need to make more of those. Isn't this shirt the cutest, though? It looks really swell on the model, anyway.

The fabric is perfection. Just some shirting from Joann's, but the print is all me.

It's not a fall shirt at all, but seasons be damned. I dig it.

Grumpy McGrumpster

Still doing OK on the sugar fast. My mood is absolutely crap, but that's how it goes. A couple more days and I'll feel so much better. I'm trying to stay focused, anyway. It isn't fun, though. It hasn't stopped me from baking at all. I just don't get to eat the cheesecake/scones/whatever when it's done. My hips will thank me in a month, I suppose.

For all of you who are wondering what I look like (because I'm sure you're losing sleep over it), here's my Myspace pic. Sorry for the total lameness of it. Photographing onesself isn't an easy task, which is why I have no pics of myself in my sewn clothing on here. Maybe I'll have to get Dee to do it for me. Anyway, if you look closely, you can see my sewing machine in the background. I think this pic is from June, which is why the new Singer isn't featured yet.

The boys were really awful today, and so that's another reason for my mood being so blah. I need to do some happy happy fun things today. The question is, what in the world does that entail? Right now I feel like lying on my bed and not moving for about two years...maybe do a little Rip Van Winkle thing and just let time slide away while I'm unawares. Actually I need a serious Colin Firth fix and lots of hot tea, all while under my quilt. After the kids are in bed. And no husband to pester me. Sigh.

Wants and Needs

The diet is going pretty well. Somehow I was able to resist my MIL's pie on Sunday, which kind of ticked her off. She's like me: she shows love by feeding the masses. Reject her food, you're rejecting her. Luckily she was pretty understanding that time. I made the appropriate comments: "Ooh, pretty! Smells great!" and that satisfied her somewhat. The rest of the pie is lying in wait in my fridge for me to be in the throes of PMS or some kind of weak and altered emotional state. It knows that I will come for it eventually. Please let the husband eat it when he comes home.

My cart on amazon.com has been changing like the tides. I can't seem to commit and just press the button to actually *purchase* all the stuff in there. Not that there's a lot. Right now there's three items: 2 cds and a comprehensive book on patternmaking. Yesterday there were five things. Not a big deal, you say.

Wrong.

I have a hard time buying stuff online that I don't actually need. When I am out at a shop, I have no problem rationalizing ridiculous purchases with the best of them. Yes, I really would love some groovy new tunes. Yes, I would really like to learn everything about patternmaking so that I can be tailoring myself in awesome style. I just can't commit yet, amazon. I'm sorry.

Smock is done and done, button and all. I chose the big black button, for all two of you people out there who read this. I'll post pics later. Now I need to start something new, and for the first time in a long time, I don't know what that something is. Hmmmmm. If I went by "want," I'd be looking at that cute dress pattern for a wool mini jumper. If I were to go by "need" it would be kids' PJs. Decisions.

Bread and Soup Day

Twice this week I have made huge batches of potato soup and homemade bread because, quite simply, the weather calls for it. And when the weather calls for it, my stomach follows suit. I'm eating some as I type. Gosh, so tasty. The recipe is here, but I tweaked it a bit by adding some carrot and lots of celery.

The smock will be finished up today, just in time for a night on the town. I haven't decided which button to feature on the front yet. The aunt in law passed her buttons along to me. Here's the contenders:

The big black one on the far left is looking most promising right now.

Dieting Is Evil

I am calling it quits. My love affair with sugar and all things sugary and things that even rhyme with sugar (booger? Is that all?) is over. Yesterday I kissed sugar goodbye with a sweet, sweet cookie sundae thingie from Perkins. Today I swear I got the shakes from Phase I of sugar deprivation. The only thing that ever works with me, weight-loss wise, is cutting out sugar. Well, that and running three miles a day. One step at a time, though.

So goodbye, sugar. Let me say this again, just to let it percolate through my brain: goodbye, sugar. So long, fun size Milky Way bars at 2 am. Adios multicolored jordan almonds by the pound from the chocolate shop. Sayanara peanut butter and honey sandwiches (I can't bear this!). Hopefully in a few weeks I'll actually fit into my clothes again.

Dieting is such a bitch. Gah.

I'm sure someone will find me in a fugue state on the floor covered in Sugar in the Raw in a matter of hours. If you don't hear from me soon, send help.

Thank goodness it isn't Peep season, is all I have to say. Peep season just automatically nullifies any in-progress dieting, I think. This is my law.

(Dis)Comfort Food

Took the little boys with me to the Goodwill and totally pillaged the place of all of their frightening cookbooks. I have collected these things since I was a kid, and I still can't quite explain my morbid fascination with them. Maybe it's the garish colors, or the impossible food combinations; anyway, I found quite a few good ones today. Maybe one day I will actually get up the nerve to make some of these dishes, like my fun friends at Swapatorium.

The goods:

All of those up there are hardbacks. Then I got these fun pamphlet-type cookbooks, also from BHG. They have some really cool illustrations in them that didn't quite turn out when I tried to photograph them. Someday I'll get a scanner and do them justice.

Nothing says "delicious" like cantaloupe wrapped in raw bacon.

Also picked up some really cute vintage "Amish" cookbooks. The cover graphics are really bright.

It's a rainy day, and I feel like drinking hot tea and doing nothing. Sounds like a plan. But first...

Sliced tomatoes in a brandy snifter. Classy.

Movin' Right Along

The smock is coming along nicely. I started sewing early today; normally I don't start until the afternoon when the boys are napping.

The garden is done for the year, and the flowerbeds seem to be petering out as well. There's still some lovely purple wildflowers to enjoy, as well as the "autumn joy" and mums.

And of course, this little indoor hibiscus, who puts on a show all year long:

Aside: My sister and I loved the song "Movin' Right Along" from the original Muppet movie. We played that record to death as kids. I often think about how much I miss the organic, scratchy sound of LPs. Compared to the pristine digital sound of today, it doesn't stand a chance, of course, but I prefer it. There are so many memories of begging my dad to put on Simon and Garfunkel so my sister and I could dance to "Slip Slidin' Away," only to have my Dad yell every time that our frantic jumping and ballet leaping was making the record skip. There was a Fisher Price record player at the thrift shop the other day. Maybe I need to introduce the joy of 45s to the kids.

Time Out

Today I am getting a babysitter for an entire HOUR and meeting my friend for coffee. Technically it's not really alone time, since I am still going to have Henry (almost 10 mos.) and she's going to have her little guy, too. But it's better than having babies AND toddlers to chase! We are going to an actual non-Starbuckian coffee shop to have "adult conversation." Most days I don't even know what that means, as my "poo" and "gosh" laden posts belie. I am looking forward to it, though.

I hemmed my babysitter's pants this morning. Man oh man, I love my new Singer. That thing sewed through the denim like buttah. The ol' Merritt wouldn't have done such a stellar job. It tended to snag on heavyweight fabrics, even with the proper needle. Not so, Singer C-550, you wonderful thing, you!

Today post-coffee I plan on attacking the smock again. Yesterday afforded me no sewing time, so I am itching to do something today. Hopefully the smock looks awesome when finished, and not like a plaid sack. Although I am not even sure why I picked the smock pattern in the first place, because I always look like a pregnant lady in them. Not that it's any stretch, as I usually *am* pregnant (I joke that I have spent more of my married years pregnant than not, and I have been married nine years), but it truly is not a flattering design for me. Gosh darnit if I can't resist the siren song of the smock pattern every time I am at the fabric store. When will I learn?
Smock jumble:

Dance Party

Karsten and I took a break from steam cleaning the incredibly gross computer room carpet in order to have a Supergrass dance party. A good time was had by all:

After Supergrass was finished cycling through on RealPlayer, Led Zeppelin I came on. Karsten said, "I wike Zeppwin, Mom." Good boy.

Tired

Yesterday was a busy day... lots of running around and cleaning house. The wood floors had been screaming at me for the past two weeks for a scrubbing, so I finally caved and cleaned them. Sadly, I didn't get to finish, so guess what I'm doing today? That and two bathrooms. I did one bathroom yesterday.

Most of the time I am thankful that we have such a big house. Then there's the days when I look around and think, "I really need to clean this sty; which bathroom should I start with?" Four bedrooms, three baths. Acres of carpet that attracts dog hair like nobody's business. Bits of Lego and Bionicle strewn about and constantly underfoot. Argh. I feel beaten before I begin, most days.

Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. I haven't picked up the rest of the fabric or patterns from the two ladies I mentioned in earlier posts. Neither one of them has had a chance to get everything organized, so I am just going to wait for them to give me a call. It's exciting, though; like when you're a kid, knowing that Christmas is only a few days away.

All of the fabric that I have gotten over the past few days was piling up on my sewing table, so I picked up a new Tote to put the stuff in. As a result, my corner of the computer room looks like Tote Mountain. There's Totes big and small stacked up about four feet off the ground. There's no place for the fabric to go, though, so I don't really have a choice. I don't like to leave it sitting out because it just attracts dust. Or the dog steals it, thinking that a yard of panne velvet would make a divine sleeping area.

A couple of years ago I remember visiting someone's craft blog, and they had the most beautiful crafting space I have ever seen. The entire room had built in wood shelving on all four walls, floor to ceiling. The shelves were narrow in order to accomodate individual pieces of fabric. That's one way to sort it! She also had wooden drawers built in to the walls like filing cabinets for patterns and the like. For some reason I am thinking that it's Turkey Feathers, but I'll have to check.

I finished the Simplicity apron the other day and will post a pic later. Started on the smock pattern that I posted the other day using some of the vintage plaid I got from a garage sale, but haven't had a chance to sew much on it. Today I need to hem my babysitter's jeans... in between scrubbing floor and potties, of course. My life is both glamorous and exciting! Maybe I'll make a pie today, or shirr something. Yes, a little shirring to improve the home and mood, just like the brochure recommends. Ha.

Jackpot 2: Electric Boogaloo

Sophie and I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon to get appropriate dinner foods, and I decided to stop at a garage sale along the way. Today was my lucky day, folks. I asked the lady running the sale if she had any fabric, and she rummaged around in her garage for a minute and returned with a HUGE Rubbermaid container full of vintage fabric. Some of it she brought to the US from Italy when she got married even. I looked through the container and took some, mostly cotton. She told me to come back tomorrow so she could give me the rest, along with other boxes for FREE!

I haven't ever had such a satisfactory garage sale day ever. Between this lady and the lady from this morning, it can't get any better.

Isn't this poodle fabric hilarious? It's a bunch of circles with tongues and bows:

My favorite print from this batch is this one. I am really hoping that there's more of it, since this piece is very small:

Most of the fabric that I saw hadn't even been washed; a lot of it still had the original labels on it from when it was first cut and paid for.

Fred

Fred is my pincushion. I hand-sewed him from cotton scraps about a year and a half ago because it was driving me nuts trying to dig pins out of the tin I had them in. He was just off-handedly spliced together, which explains why he's a little wobbly. But he serves his purpose, and that's cool with me.

Also, the kids love him and often arrange my pins in elaborate featherlike creations for him. Today he's sporting a mohawk, courtesy of some little hands: