Emergency crafting

A few days ago Heleen asked me if I could come and do some "emergency crafting" at an impromptu Lucky Penny session so a photographer could take photos of a craft group doing their thing. I duly showed up at Alphabet City at noon yesterday with my hastily assembled emergency craft in hand and had such a lovely time. I'm always intending to get along to the regular evening get-together and am dreadfully slack (I made it once last year) so I'm obviously going to have to make more of an effort in future. It was very interesting talking about crafting with the journalist and seeing the photographer go about her work. Lots of action was called for, which isn't really a crafting thing, so we did what we could - moved arms about, duly admired quilts and crochet, pointed, touched, reached for yummy baking and tried to be animated. I'm really looking forward to seeing the results!

I took along some embroidery - the beginnings of a small cross-stitch of plantain.

 

I grabbed a scrap of linen out of the stash thinking it would be ok, but in reality it's too fine and is nearly sending me blind, even in good lighting! But I'll persevere because I do love cross stitch and it's a Gerda Bengtsson design and they always make me happy. Unfortunately I'm having to mix Danish flower thread and regular DMC floss, but I think that's what is referred to as a 'first world problem'.

Little Pink House

I've been wanting to do the little pink house from the Sew Mama Sew tutorial since they first posted it, but it took Polka Dot Daze's Craft Day to get me going on it.  I only got the house done that day and slowly added the spots over the next couple weeks.  This was my first experience at gluing something into an embroidery frame to hang on the wall and I did my Hazelnuts header as one too (how long has this trend been big?) and I'm a bit of a fan now - only tempered by the problem that now I have no embroidery hoops left!

My hoop was a bit bigger so I ended up with more circles to fill it up - plus I just couldn't seem to stop adding them in! I obviously have a bit of a 'thing' for felt circles - if only there were an easier way of cutting them than by hand. Any suggestions? I wondered about the circle templates and cutters you can get for papercrafts but not sure they'd go through felt.  Anyways, great fun choosing the combinations, even if I did fret and change and curse trying to decide on colours at night! Which you can't really, so most of the choosing happened during the day and most of the sewing at night.

Love the whole thing, it's just gorgeous!  Originally I intended it for Hazel's room. Then I decided I wanted it, and then she decided she wanted it. So now it's in her room.  Typical really.

Crayon and wax paper hearts

I came across this idea on the Wee Wonderfuls blog and boy it took me back! I remember doing things like this when I was a kid. It seemed like a good project for Hazel and I to do, she loves anything with lots of colours as long as those colours are pink. The instructions are over at Martha Stewart and they're dead easy to do, if a little messy!

We did a whole bunch a couple weeks ago and then they sat around and sat around until I put them up yesterday. I really wanted to do a stylish display like the MSL one but our hearts weren't quite as...perfect as hers and I think they look better like this (plus it was quicker than tying them all up separately!). They're just strung together with the sewing machine.

They look faaahbulous in the kitchen window in the morning, with the sun pouring though them

I also tried sewing them in vertical strings and it's quite effective although completely impossible to photograph effectively as a group because they're so long!

By the end I was getting quite involved in the colour placement and amounts of shavings, the best way to iron and press and how to fold the edges so you minimise the bubbles. Of course, by that time Hazel had wandered off, she wasn't that interested in doing the green and blue ones - pink and orange were her favourites (and mine!).

Hazel's paper "dolls"

The other day I cut out the little girl and her clothes on the front of a couple of my Oliver + S patterns and Hazel was really taken with the idea of making some paper "dolls" for herself. I gave her a stack of 250gsm paper and let her loose. When she was done she came back and I did the cutting out for her - at just 4 she's very keen on the scissors but not quite accurate enough to satisfy herself when it comes to delicate operations like this! I eyeballed where the centre of balance would be and from that where the 'ground' was for each of them. I cut that straight with an extra flange off to each side with a vertical cut from the bottom to half way through it to slot the stand into. It was all pretty much by the seat of my pants but with a bit of thought about where the base would go I got them all balanced quite nicely, even the big guy in the back.



The stand was simply a length of paper trimmed off one side of the sheet so there was at least one straight edge on it (my cutting skills are sometimes lacking in this direction!). I folded them in half and made corresponding vertical cuts, starting from the top this time.



She was delighted with the whole exercise and I must admit they're pretty charming as a group! There's something about seeing your art in '3-D' that is very appealing. I have visions of a chess set made this way, or a really big one made out of cardboard - say a tracing around a child stood upright with a big triangular wedge like they do for those ones of film stars in video shops.



The one in the foreground here is a self-portrait of her as a mermaid - I'm loving those lips! The rest are dinosaurs I think, I know the one on the far right in the top photo is a Parasaurolophus, and the other two in the back look pretty dinosaurish, though the chap centre front up there looks vaguely octopusish so who knows. I need to get her to tell me again!

Party Favour bags

A couple people expressed surprise that there could be debate over such innocuous little things, and I guess it's because it's not a long-standing tradition here in NZ from what I can gather, but has been imported wholesale from the States (like Hallowe'en) and therefore garners a certain amount of resistance in some circles. You know, the whole consumerism/cost issue. I can see both sides but since I bought up with them on a moderate scale that's where I'm choosing to be as a mum. It's hard to not go OTT though, I can totally see that being a big issue for me!

I'd been tossing a few ideas around in my head even from several months ago, but they really crystallised when I saw the Birthday Goodies and papercraft download post over at Chez Beeper Bebe - she'd used lots of things I already had sitting on my computer, like the stickers, and had put them together in a really fun way. So I shamelessly stole several ideas :)

I started with stickers from Lotta Bruhn - the animal ones for the girls and the space ones for the boys. I don't think I actually needed to do that, the animal ones would have been good for everyone but I wanted an excuse to do the space ones too!


I printed them off onto repositionable sticker paper and then cut and peeled them off and put them onto plain paper and stapled them in one corner. This was the bit that took all the time but I couldn't bring myself to leave them on the original backing as it was so ugly! I think they'll work well on windows and walls but haven't had any feedback yet on how good they are.

We also did up little colouring books following the tutorial at Chez Beeper although I didn't end up using her very detailed instructions on setting up pages etc. because we use A4 paper with different dimensions and I also have a husband who uses Adobe In Design :P Had to keep him involved in some way or other!



I popped in a few little coloured pencils for use in the car on the way home, and a bag of jellybeans to get them even higher on sugar. Because really, that's what it's all about right? Get them wired on sugar and hyped by running around screaming like banshees and then send them home when they start to crash? The favour bags are the best way to lure them out of the house and into their parent's cars I've found...

The pièce de résistence though were the little brooches made for me by Lyn at Belle and Rose - dinosaurs for the boys, icecreams for the girls. And yes, Hazel's desperate for a dinosaur! They really are to die for - thanks Lyn!



They all went into spotty cotton bags with a ribbon tie. I really should have taken a photo of them together in the basket, they looked really cute!

A little seamstress joins the ranks

I feel like I should be holding some sort of arcane initiation ceremony to celebrate this event - the crafting community just grew by one today!



I've started teaching Hazel how to sew using hessian and old tapestry wool. She's really excited about it and her first project is to sew a tree for her daddy.



There are so many skills involved in this, and so many things she needs to remember as she pulls the wool through that I'm in awe that any of us manage to get good at it! Even threading the needle is a big and daunting prospect but she really works at it and does get it eventually. She doesn't always show such persistence so I'm hoping this is a good sign for her career as a seamstress!

Another bunny

Finally finished the felt bunny I've been documenting for the planned tutorial. It's also the first one Hazel gets to keep! I'm content with the pattern now, it looks enough like the originals to satisfy me without the law of diminishing returns kicking in!



I'm taking my sewing machine in to be serviced tomorrow so hopefully this will force me to sit down and do the tutorial and get it up and out of my brain. And the mask one too, which is sitting half finished because I need to make some changes to the pattern.

I recently started subscribing to the Pioneer Woman full feed instead of just her cooking section (my god when does that woman have time to do anything?!) and was reminded of her Photoshop action sets (and here) which I've never bothered to download. I did this time just for interest's sake and had a quick play on the bunny photo. Probably not the best subject but I thought this 'vintage' one was kind of fun in a "now hold that pose for 5 minutes sir, and don't blink" kind of way.



It renders his slightly bug-eyed desperate look more historically accurate! I think I need to redo the eyes actually - Mat keeps picking him up, looking at him, and then staring wildly around the room with his eyes open as wide as they'll go. Oh yeah, I live in a supportive atmostphere ;)

Hazel hasn't named him yet, although he's passingly referred to as 'Bunnywunny' which is a tribute to one of her favourite books at the moment That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell

Chibi rabbit and kitty

Part of the reason I was so quiet the last few days was a flurry of birthday activity - 'tis the season for us with all of Hazel's cohort approaching their fourth birthdays and their siblings having first birthdays. The first cab off the rank was Alexander with his crown. Next was Boo who was having her third birthday yesterday. Unfortunately Hazel ended up with a rather high fever Saturday night and couldn't go - but the Chibi Bunny and Kitty I made for her did. I also made a pair for Hazel - I bunny in bulk! I've been wanting to make the My Little Mochi Chibi Kitty and Rabbit pattern for ages, so this was the perfect excuse. Hazel picked all the fabrics and decided which went with which. I honestly think I couldn't have done better. Personally I wouldn't have chosen the cherries fabric to go with the white but it works really well, and goes perfectly with the brown fabrics of the kitty.




They end up looking quite different as the bunnies have their ears pulled in a lot more than the kitties




The light was so bright behind them yesterday morning you can see the clipping around the bunny ears! I hate clipping curves So. Much. but really, how else can you get a good curve? I'm always surprised by how many patterns don't do this step and to my mind it makes all the difference in the final appearance of the toy. Although I obviously didn't need to clip as much as I did for these ears, I tend to be a bit OCD with that kind of thing!

Where to from here?

I've started this blog as a way to record my progress with various projects - as well as bits 'n bobs about my life and how crafting fits in with it (or doesn't). I realised that aside from being a mum and a wife, I'm an archaeologist and a crafter and those last two really don't have any connection at all to each other. They compete for my time and my attention and it's a real battle to sort out time allocation and mental energy! In terms of an outlet to talk about them, for the archaeology I can publish papers in journals and go to conferences but for crafting? Well I can go to craft shows I guess, although it's not quite the same thing because there's a seller/customer dynamic going on. I can theoretically craft with other people and while I'd love to do this I don't really know many people to do this with. So a craft blog seems like the equivalent thing to a scholarly journal! Hopefully I can manage to write it in the first person instead of reverting to dry scholarly language :P

It seems particularly apt to start this off before Christmas when I've got a long list of things to make for people and therefore many projects and hopefully photos to post! The header picture is from a quilt I'm currently making for my new niece Rebecca (or Rebeccah, embarrassingly we've never seen her name written and Mat and I are arguing about the spelling. I want it with the 'h'.) using Heather Ross' Rabbits and Racecars fabric. I'm using a very simple design from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts which is ideal because I've never actually quilted before! I still need to square it up and put the binding on. I hate squaring up - is it just me? I think I've got it and then I realise it's not square on one edge, or by the time I get up to the top it's not square... It stresses me out. I need some sort of giant square about half a metre wide! I know I know, good enough and all that but I'm too anal to let it go. Was it in Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing book that she urges us to enjoy the process and the gifting and not worry about handing over something perfect? I'm trying very hard to become one with this idea, and I think that sometimes I might be getting the hang of it. I'll always be a perfectionist, but I don't freak out now if it's not perfect. I think that's a happy medium.