wiener dog tricks.

Apron for Baby Pumpkinhead

This is what I made today--just what every almost-two-year-old needs:

 

P.S. Love your responses to my call for Regulars. And you can throw your name up into those comments any time and I'll put you on the Regulars list. Because that's how we ROLL [embarassing grown-up lady airquotes] around here.
 

Norm!

 

I'm looking for my regulars. I love hanging out here with all you WDTBPF's and I'd love to post a list of regulars on my nav. I know some of you are living over there--but if you hang out here, just post a comment with your blog address. 

When I see my blog listed on somebody's nav, it just gives me a happy, glowy feeling--and I'd love to share that.

So even if you never comment because you are the shy, retiring type, go ahead and speak up. I'd love to know that you're around. And if you're a regular without a blog, then I imagine you could put up your name and I could just list you. And that would be fun too--because who doesn't like to see their name in print?

Sure, I like to sew. But man, do I ever love to be in a community of people who do too. 

This Happened To Me

I went upstairs to Ro last night when it was dark--after work, after dinner, after dishes, after kids, and decided to sew. I have about 31-gazillion projects sitting in various piles within a leg's reach of my desk but didn't want to make them. Not in the mood--so I picked up a handful of plaid polyester and just started cutting and sewing and attaching a zipper and then GUSSETING. And then this happened:

 

It was wanting to be--in my CREATIVE ENVISIONING OF IT--some sort of ditty bag. Right. Instead, it is a plaid morphy squid-ish thing. I think I might name it . . .

• DELIRIOUS POSSIBILITY (I'm sure somebody has that sewn on a couch pillow somewhere)
• WOMAN COOKS & EATS CRACK THEN SITS DOWN TO SEWING MACHINE WITH DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
• SLEEP-DEPRIVATION STUDY IN OLD PLAID
• DON'T DRINK AND GUSSET (I swear I only had like two sips of sauvignon blanc)

And I will name it because it will, in fact, never be more than Art since it turns out to have no function whatsoever--what with the zipper opening into nothing and all. Right.

 

In the spirit of telling the truth even when what I make is fabulously ugly and unsuccessful, I'm sharing here. 

There's nothing I love more than diving in without a pattern  (yes, irony since I like to write them; but you know what--I like to write poetry too and I never read poems. Hmmm. Talk to therapist about this behavior pattern.), but sometimes I lose my way. This happened to me last night. Apparently I should have just watch THE OFFICE.

Lucky for everybody, I never do this in the kitchen. Thanks to her and her, nobody starves or chokes around here. So that's positive.

 

True Love, Pajamas & Special Sharing

Today kicks off Sew Mama Sew's TRUE LOVE Month. (A decidedly more others-focussed upgrade from my own Sew Sew Selfish Month.) 

And I've put together a tutorial for a SUPER SIMPLE NIGHTIE over there--so if you're a local Wienerdog Tricks BPF, then go check it out. 

 

Soooo cuuuuute. Guy. Thanks. 

In related Special Sharing:

1. I put up a store. What? I know. I've been scheming about putting out some tutorials to sell digitally, so they're up. Woo Hoo! Or at least my first one's up. It's the tutorial for the cash wallet envelope system that I've been talking about. (And it's begging to be made out of beautiful old polyester.) 

  

 
 2. Those happy little tutorials that have been living on my nav are staying put in the happy little For Free spot. And more will come to live over there (see #3) and more will come to live in the shop (Hmmm: messenger bag, retro toddler apron, old school kleenex box ditty bag). 

3. The Army Bag Knock Off Tutorial is next up.

Good times, friends. 

 

Thing For Me #7: Messenger (Finished!) & Thing For You #2: Cash Envelope System Wallet Tutorial

Hello, People. Yesterday marked the very superduper last day of Sew Sew Selfish Month. So it looks like I've got to start thinking about OTHERS now. Yeesh. But first, this:

I made it, unmade it, and then remade it. 

So now I'm dragging it around full of heavy books and tablets and list-making notepads. And it gives happiness to my insides.

I also made another one of these (the much-loved Cash Envelope System Wallets):

  
And I like it even better because that bottom pocket is functional now and not attacked by the buttonhole and the zipper is also on the outside. Two nifty upgrades.

And here's the part about you: I'm putting the final touches on the tutorial for this project, and I'm going to offering it up as my very first FOR SALE tutorial. (Oooooooohhhhhhhh. That's faaaaaaancy.) It'll be 3 bucks--not bad, not bad.

But before I start selling them, I want to offer them FOR FREE to a big handful of you who are regular friends over here at Wienerdog Tricks. So if you're interested, just send me an email today or tomorrow (gingerhendrix AT charter DOT net), and I will very happily email you one. (I like to share.) Then in a couple of days, the tutorials will be for sale--good plan, good plan. UPDATE: Hey there--I sent a big handful to some of you good WDTBPF's, so if you'd still like one, just click right over here.

I think you guys are great, my Wienerdog Tricks Bloggish People Friends. (WTBPF's).

Thing for Me #7: Messenger (Mid-Way)

This is a Sew Sew Selfish Month update.

I made this:

 

(Think of this next shot as on the setting that Barbara Streisand used to have photos taken of herself during her Star Is Born years):

 
Something's not right. And I think it's the edges that are bothering me. And the straps, maybe. So I took it apart:

This isn't my first messenger bag. I made this one for the Man Spouse for Christmas:

 

(The innards):

And this one at Christmastime for a dear friend:

 

(The innards):

I think I want the edges on the one I'm making right now to look more finished. So I'm going to try some sort of piping or something when I put it back together. And I'm going to make it skinnier so that it's DAINTIER.  Might even cut the whole bag down so it's just a little smaller. Hmmm. Haven't solved the straps problem yet, but might go back to what I did here with an old seatbelt (a trip to the junk yard's not such a bad idea, really.)

Sometimes Making involves Un-Making. And if you're not sure what I mean (or, really, even if you are), go over here and see this. You'll nod. You'll gasp. You'll shake your head. And then you'll think deep thoughts about Making including Un-Making that you never thought before. 

And of course you'll be the first to hear when I stop all this Un-Making and put the messenger bag back together.

Dear Tara (About Your Ottoman Questions),

Tara the Faithful Reader asked a good question about my last post:

Do you have a pattern you went off of ? . . . I have an ottoman DESPERATELY crying for a face lift (or should I say a cover-up)!

Here are my quick thoughts about making straight-line projects like ottoman covers.

I think the trick for these kinds of projects is to try to think of them like they'd be if they were flat--not 3D anymore, but 2D. Or this: I try to think about how a thing would look if it were filleted, like a fish. If I see it flat, then I can think about how to put it back together. 

 (This lovely image from www.sandysteelheaders.org)

The ottoman is really just two long strips sewn together (one's the bottom gathery one; one's the long flat one) that are then attached to a square (the top of the ottoman). I literally threw fabric over my ottoman and cut the piece out just a little bigger.

1. One big square: check. 
2. One long flat one for the sides--then cut into 4 that match the widths of each side and sewn back together so it makes the corners nicely.
3. One (even longer) flat one that you then pleat for that looks. (I just fold it under as I go on the machine.)
4. Attach the to long ones together.
5. Then sew those two joined strips to the square--which is really just four straight lines with some turns in the middle.

No pictures for this, but maybe that helps. Sew on, Friends! And remember: everything can be filleted and then re-constructed. Hazzah!

Thing for Me #6: Ottoman Cover

This is a Sew Sew Selfish Month update.

I found this low-pile fuzz-covered ottoman (think: your godmother's sofa that she protected with a crinkly clear vinyl cover) at a thrift store and covered it once to match a rocker I also re-covered. But I made the slip cover too short on this puppy. And it looked like it had highwaters. Un-pretty. Here it is naked in a dramatic Black&White BEFORE version of itself:

And today I added happiness to it from my fat stash of thrifted, garage-saled, handed-over fabric. I found some nifty fake silk that gives it a happy Old Lady's Boudoir sort of feel. 

(Close up with stains that apparently it picked up somehow while I was sewing it downstairs with the rain pouring outside and the Baby Pumpkinhead climbing up onto the table and trying to rip it away with her spaghetti-covered hands--thank the fabric gods that this thing is acrylic. Can't imagine how it got smoodged. Right.)

Here it is in its happy AFTER state:

 

I'm working on this dimly-lit corner of my bedroom (back to B&W for increased drama):

 

And yes I got that chair at a garage sale and yes I haven't covered it yet because I love the fabric even though it is 987% worn-looking. And yes, I am considering making slipcovers for it (and its sister) out of red and white polyester. Because I can. It's Sew Sew Selfish month, remember? I am almost sick of sewing for myself. But only Almost.

Thing for YOU #1: The ACTUAL PMS Cure Playlist

Kristen loves us all. She put up the PMS Cure Playlist over at itunes. Just click here for it. Guy. She's nice.

Maybe Boys Eat Socks

   

Maybe they get to the lunch table with their Clone Wars lunch boxes, remove their shoes, open their unsustainable baggies full of ham & cheese & bread, remove a single sock, place it between the mustardy bread and the ham, and then take bites. Maybe socks are some sort of ingredient in Boy Lunch that they are just too self-conscious to admit that they really like. 

Maybe at the lunch table, all the boys sit around and when they take the sock off, they sometimes trade. Maybe they sometimes trade and don't actually eat that sock, but instead pack that sock back in their lunch boxes and then throw it toward the washing machine in the garage when they get home. 

Because I don't know where their socks go. And I don't know where all these other kids' socks are coming from. So this is a theory. It's my theory.

   

Thing for Me #5: PMS Cure Playlist

A Sew Sew Selfish Month Update

I didn't make this one: it came as a GIFT!

I opened my mail and found a CD from my Bloggish Friend Kristen. She made me a mix. For no reason. Just because. And it started off with Mary J. Blige's PMS. And yes, you probably want to go ahead and just spend 99 cents on this for yourself.  

And it was like God Hisself sent the Angel Gabriel's older sister Irene with a message to her to send it to me, because it arrived on the EXACT day of my Kickoff to General Hormonal Hysteria. 

How do I know this--I mean that my current emotional weather is related to my Lady Cycle? Oh, that's easy, now isn't it? Oh--and also because I had this conversation with my husband last night:

Him: [something about him and not about me.]

Me: What?!!? [Tiny, Ancient Hawaiian-sized Volcano.]

Him: [something about my reaction not matching the situation.]

Me: [lightbulb] Oh. I think maybe I am hormonal.

Him: [something that made me run get the computer and and plug it in and open it on my lap in bed next to him and search PMS SYMPTOMS on WebMD 

Me: [reading all the symptoms of PMS listed on WebMD, sort of loudly.]

Him: [pillow over his head.]

Me: Look, I even CALENDAR IT . . . . . [making him see the email I send myself.]

Poor man. (And no I don't make my life up for your benefit, People.)

So I do not hyperbolize when I say that the instant I opened it this morning and put it in the player, I knew immediately that either Oprah or the Angel Irene must have sent Kristen the message.

The best part about this playlist is that it has total curative properties. Because I would have made a PMS Cure Playlist that included Get Over It, Sister hits like "Brick House" and "I Will Survive" and maybe some Pat Benatar--something that when I put it in the CD player sort of slapped me in the hormonal bootie and told me to buck up.

But THIS, this playlist is so much kinder, so much truer, so much more curative--so much more just what I needed. 

And I'm just going to put it out there that we should ALL be paying forward these PMS CURE mixes to each other. Yeesh, a girl needs a little extra care about every 26 days, ya know? Guy.

Thanks, Kristen. You're really great.

P.S. Editor's Note--Guy! I didn't post the list! I didn't post the list! Here it is:

1. PMS Mary J. Blige
2. Ghosts in the Attic Leona Naess
3. Werewolf Cat Power
4. Chasing Pavements Adele [THIS IS MY FAVE SO FAR]
5. Save Me Aimee Mann
6. Down to the River to Pray Alison Krauss
7. Keep on Runnin' Cat Power
8. Outside the Inside Dirty Martini
9. Beautiful Me'Shell Ndegeocello [WATCH OUT. YOU MIGHT CRY]
10. Breathe Me Sia
11. Beautiful G. Love featuring Tristan Prettyman
12. Cowboy Take Me Away Dixie Chicks
13. Mercy Duffy
14. L.A. County Lyle Lovett
15. What a Life Juliana Hatfield
16. Hold On KT Tunstall
17. Electric Feel MGMT
18. I Wish I was the Moon Neko Case [DANGIT. SO PRETTY]
19. Her Morning ElegAnce Oren Lavie

I'd love to share this as an iMix, but iTunes is being iCranky with me. Go hunting, though--all of these songs are just nifty.

Thing for Me #4: Little Cash Wallet

A Sew Sew Selfish Month Update

Okay, it's not really for me--it's for my 9 Yr Old Man Boy, but it's for me because he keeps asking me for it. And I, um, want him to stop. Plus, it was really fun to take this and scale it down to this:

 

He saw mine and wanted one. He picked his own categories: LEGOS & DECKS (as in the top of a skateboard). And yes, that's old polyester that's made to look like skinned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, I think.

Here's the front:

 

His brother picked these categories:

 

Gotta go finish one for the 7 Yr Old Man Boy. Super fantastic.

Thing for Me #3: I See London. I See France. I See Someone's Underpants Drawers.

A Sew Sew Selfish Month Update

I pulled off the drawer liners. For my underpants drawers, and all my other drawers too. Now I have a prettier Drawers Drawer. And other ones.

Totally Classic Underwear Drawer BEFORE Photo:

 

Oooooooooh So Pretty:

 

Dramatically B&W Underwear Drawer AFTER Photo
 

 

For the Chest O' Drawers:

 

For the Bathroom Drawers:

The details: Are they perfect? No. I made them a little smaller than the drawers so they wouldn't do some weird skootch-up-the-side sort of thing since I'm not a big measure-for-accuracy sort of girl. Are they stuck down with something? Nope. I was going to velcro, and didn't. They're just in there. Howdya do it? Measured, cut one pretty, cut one muslin, sewed the squares together facing in and then flipped them out and topstitched them. 

Happy. Happy. There is order in the world. I hereby vow to always fold all my clothes including my underpants before I show them in my drawers because order makes you feel so good doesn't it and why wouldn't I stop and just do that one litte step so I will I will fold all my clothes before I put them in my drawers. Oh, and I'll shut the drawers too.

Thing for Me #2: Scrambled T-Shirt Scarf

A Sew Sew Selfish Month Update

K. This isn't a tutorial because if you're a monkey with a pair of scissors and a piece of bone and some thread, you can make this. (Um, rotary cutter with ruler and sewing machine are handy, though, I won't lie.)

Step #1: Find old t-shirt that you keep in your drawer because you love but you never wear because it has some weird stain on it or it rides high or it's just very 80's and looked cute in the 80's but you really shouldn't wear anymore but you can't make yourself throw it away. Get that t-shirt. In fact, get a couple of those if you want it long-ish, or just one if you want it short-ish like mine.)

 

Step #2: Cut it up into 6 inch squares. (Hold on to the squares that include the finished bottom edge of the shirt(s).)

 

Step #3: Scramble the squares like you'd like them.

 

Step #4: Sew the squares together all funky--with the seams showing on one side, then the other, like that. Sew them in pairs, then sew the pairs together longways.

 

(Note to the perfectionist: you'll have the best luck if you line up the middles, then sew out to the edges)

 

 Step #5: Sew the finished bottom edge pieces to the ends.

 

 

Step #6: Show off.

 

See? I told you you could do it. And if you get stuck, just email me--or find a monkey, give him a pair of scissors, a piece of bone, some thread and an old shirt and see what he does.

 

Cheese Intervention

My friend opened the cheese drawer in my fridge the other day, and silently started piling all of it on my counter. I was aghast. Don't look at my cheese. 

 

I just went to the store and it's the first of the month.

It's for the kids' lunches.

I don't usually have this much.

But I knew as I said them that my excuses were useless. It's just a fact: I'm way to Lactose Tolerant. I have a cheese problem. I might need a support group.

Thing for Me #1: Envelope System Wallet

A Sew Sew Selfish Month Update

 

We do the cash envelope system over here. Why you ask? Why not just keep accurate track of your spending utilizing the multiple technologies currently available as a result of the industrywide availability of banking's willingess to interface with personal budgeting softwares?

Yeah, it's because if I have .37 in my checking account, I just have a hankering to spend it. Or maybe spend it twice sometimes. Good one.

So, in an effort to remain solidly planted in Marital Mostly-Bliss, we do the cash envelope system.

But I need a cuter way to pull it off. So, I am thrilled to move from this:

 

 

Which has been an upgrade of sorts from this (which made me feel like a 7th grader for some reason):

 

 To this!:

 

It has a lot going for it, and a couple of kinks I'm going to work out before I write up a tutorial for how to do it (because it is SHOCKINGLY easy, people.)

GOING FOR IT: 

1. It's made out out of old polyester. As I've mentioned and mentioned and mentioned, I love old polyester. It is agreeable, funky, and available everywhere. This particular fabric came as a surprise gift from my friend Banana. 

2. It's marked with the names of categories that make me much happier than I would be if they said office-y sounding things like FOOD, GAS, ENTERTAINMENT, PERSONAL.

 

3. It has a handy coin purse thingy designed right into it. Haaaaaandy. This was a workaround for a wallet just like this one that I made for a friend for Christmas. I cut the fabric too short and needed a way to piece it together. "A zipper!" I said to myself. Handy. Handy. Handy mistake-turned-good-idea.

 

KINK

1. It's wonkier than some other polyesterprojects I've done.  I have a pretty high Wonk Threshold, but I think I'll need to come up with some How to Handle Stretch answer to this reality. 

2. The bottom category spot turns out to be too short because of the topstitching. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board. Right. 

This is my report. I was up early this morning finishing it up because I just am absolutely ready to carry it everywhere with me.

And I'm trying not to take it too personally that the just-under-2 yr old picked it up and blew her nose with it. Right.

Best/Easiest/Longest-Promised Birthday Gift Ever.

(I know I'm sewing for myself right now, but I made this when it was still December and have been holding on to show you until I actually GAVE it to my friend. Which wasn't easy.)

I have been threatening/promising this gift for years. My dear friend Bonnie has a deep, deep family truth posted on her fridge, and I have said forever that I would sew it on a pillow. (Because the wrong words are ALWAYS sewed on pillows--things like DELICIOUS HARMONY and PAIN-FREE OBEDIENCE and PERFECTION UNLIMITED and stuff like that.) So here's hers:

"Don't sweat the petty things.

Don't pet the sweaty things."

Words to live by from George Carlin. Excellent. (And particularly helpful as life guidance when you have 3 boys like she does). So here's the final product. 

 

The back (and yes--I couldn't help myself. I sewed yello ric-rac into the seam. If you haven't done this, try it. It will make you ric-rac happy.)

 

I won't lie. I'm going to make one for myself that says, "Touch your own and not your brother's." 

You All Are the Crossing Guards of My Days

Thanks for your guidance, Bloggish Friends--because of your showing up and commenting your hearts out, I now would like to illustriously declare that I will be leaning in to put together and offer up a tutorial for the ARMY BAG KNOCKOFF! Seventeen of the nifty 24 of you who voted asked for it, so consider it done. 

 

(And to the handful of you who wanted to see the Toddler Apron--it'll be next up. I'd hate to leave your toddlers all apron-less and everything.)

In related news, I'll be popping a Rescued Fabric Apron Kit in the mail to ELLE (lucky commenter #20--who was chosen by the tiny little hamsters over at TRNG.)

Your guys are the best. I am the goofy 3rd grader at the busy intersection: you guys are the Crossing Guards. Think about it. (I know what I'm talking about because I was a Junior Volunteer Crossing Guard in 6th Grade. True Story.)

Neighborhood Watch.

Call the police. This woman is trying to make me fat. Super fat.

Sew Sew Selfish.

This is my theme for January: Sewing For My Own Self. 

 (Highlighted with a photo of the Selfishest person I could think of. Aaaaaahhhh to be young again in the 70's, and in front of the TV for hours and hours soaking in female stereotypes. Sigh.)

I am starting the new year by embracing complete and total Me-ness and sewing only for myself. How sweet, you say. I know. My desire to do what I want is, after all, quite heart warming. I say nothing says After-Christmas-Kickoff like I want that.

So I'm going to sew things that I've been wanting to.

(But before we talk about ME, let's talk about YOU.

I'm ALSO going to write a tutorial for YOU. And you have just one more day to vote for what it will be. Just saying.)

Now, back to ME.

Here's what I'm making for ME:

1. Cash wallet. We do the envelope system over here, and I'm tired of carrying the red 7th-grader accordion school-supplyish wallet my husband bought for me to do this. I need something polyester to make me happy and keep me from cheating. CHECK

2. Drawer Liners. More on this later. It's a good idea, trust me. CHECK

3. More--lots. lots. more.--refashioned tshirts. 

4. Dinner napkins, maybe. I need more. Cute ones. That don't match. (Hmmm. This seems like a strage choice. Whatever, I can if I want. I can if I want.)

5. Lined charging basket for my phone, etc.

6. Something. Anything. To solve the problem of 87,000 small things covering the floor of my car. Yes, this might be a plastic bucket. But maybe it can be something cuter. Maybe.

7. Anything Else I Feel Like. 

I think that about covers it. And how will I accomplish all of this in one single month? Well, this is not a question I bother with. I do, after all, dwell in Possibilities--which is clearly a county in the state of Denial in the country of Yeah Right. But it's sunny here, and the birds are chirping.

You Pick, K? (And a GIVEAWAY, eh?)

I am throwing around about 87 ideas for the next tutorial I want to put up, and would love your Bloggish Friend (BF) input. 

Here are the current choices:

A) The Old School Kleenex Ditty Bag

 

 
 B) The Army Bag Knock Off

 

C) The Baby Purse

 

D) The Toddler Apron

 

 

D) None of the Above. Something else that you've always wanted to figure out how to do but no one will tell you and you're too embarassed to ask but you think I could figure it out and explain it in a way that made you want to make it without making you feel like an idiot.

In order to motivate you to do this sort of online special sharing, I'm happy to offer up another one of these happy little apron kits . . .

 

. . . to a randomly chosen winner from the comments section. It's this one for the giveaway (happy scrappy 70s-ish patchwork & yellow stripes):

 

And with your deft trickiness at the sewing machine (and my cunning help via step-by-step instructions), you'll pull off one of these (but in seasonally-appropriate, non-snowman materials):

 

So start picking, k? Just tell me which tutorial you'd like to see, and I'll enter your name for the drawing. (I'll leave this open for comments until Monday, Jan 4th.)

And if I don't see you before then, happy new year, BF.

One Good Christmas.

One dear friend sharing the days with us:

 

One Christmas Eve family beach walk:

 

One 5 am start to Christmas Day:

 

One baby doll (well, 3):

One treasure hunt:

 

And one more way to be goofy with our goofballs (if I never post this next year, it will be because I'm singing. Or on drums.):

 

One good guy:

One. Good. Christmas.

Hope yours was good too, friends.

Christmas Tacos. I'm here for you.

No--I'm no her, her or her. And I'm certinaly not her (though I do cook every last thing she tells me to). But I do know really good taco filling when I make it.

Backstory: I have been toiling for eleven long years to make taco meat that surpasses everybody's favorite:

 

Because my (complex) husband has a (complex) onion allergy, I am hog-tied for moments like the "Hey let's have tacos oh all we need to do is throw in that mix that I keep 84 of in the pantry and we'll have a great taco night and it won't even be a big deal great let's have taco night tonight." Instead, I stand sweating at the skillet shaking cumin and chili powder and praying to the Taco Gods that this batch will taste better than the last.

It's been a long eleven years.

And then LAST NIGHT they arrived (the Taco Gods, I mean) and sent this batch of meat from heaven. It's in this little cookbook (which I highly recommend because it's organized by season, which is so. smart.)

 

 

And I know it's Christmas. And tacos don't seem Christmasy. But hello--how many nights can you eat ham? And is it just me or do you have an extra 32 people in your house who are hungry and who are looking at you? And haven't you already called pizza once for them? Like I said: I'm here for you.

Merry Christmas Tacos.

1 lb ground turkey, 1 cup beans (kidney, black, whatever . . .maybe not garbanzo), 1 onion, 1 pepper: fry this stuff up together. And yes I know it sounds weird to put beans right in there, but trust me that it gives the whole thing a whole other goodness.

3 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, 2 teaspoons chili power, 2 teaspoons lime juice, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, dash of something spicy if you like it that way: stir all this in there until the garlic seems cooked.

Eat it straight out of the skillet with a chip until your family catches you. Serve.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I feel known. Understood. Embraced for Who I Am.

This blog is my bar, and here is my proof. I walked out to the front stoop the other day (after I heard the Fed Ex Tuck peel out in front of my house) and found this:

  

 
It's from Breanna, a nice person who reads this blog. She is sorting through her great grandmother's fabric stash and she knows in her heart that I will give all these super-oldish odds and ends a good home. 

 

She's right.

Thanks, Breanna. Super Duper Thanks.

Also, here's my opportunity for a true-to-form mush post where I say--without the benefit of 6 Coors Lights--I Love You, Man.

Because I do--I love the little community of makers that gather around here at this blog with me. I love knowing that when I make things, I've got a fat group of friends ready for show and tell. I love having a place to remind myself that perfection is not the goal--just making stuff. 

So thanks to you all. May the sewing room rise up to meet you. May you have the energy to set an alarm and sneak away and sew in the darkness and skip sleep entirely and not even be crabby the next day. May you find all your favorite fabric on sale. May you sew and sew and sew and never have to rip. May all your good ideas come true.

Elf Work Update

Here's what I've pulled off so far:

Clockwise from top left: journally binder cover for 9 yr old Man Boy (that's fake woodgrain fabric. Totally excellent); little notepad thingy for girl party I'm going to tonight; cooking apron for 7 1/2 yr old Man Boy (um--yes it says HAWAIIN BEER. He went nuts over this old, strange shirt when he found it in my pile. What's a mother to do but make her son's dreams come true? And no--he didn't even notice that it said beer.); stack of christmas garlands for the Relatives; Christmas apron for the Mother; And a tiny little doll quilt for the 20 Month Lady Baby (used this tutorial and a cloth diaper for the batting.) 

Also, made this for a gift and am totally keeping it for myself:

 

The other side:

 
If you're looking for a quick-to-make gift for a sew-lover, I highly recommend it. And if you're really pressed for time, make 3000 of these like I have. Strangely soothing to glue, plus they're darling.

Good luck out there. 

Right When I Shouda Been Sewing Christmas Gifts

I had a wedding to go to. And when I go to a wedding, I haul along HIS & HERS APRONS. I've made them before, but they keep getting cuter. Not lying. Wish I could quit all my jobs and open up a HIS & HERS APRONS shop. (Hey--the SOCK STORE is still in business, so why wouldn't I have a shot?)

Anyway, anybody marrying gets pyrex with lids and HIS & HERS APRONS. That's how I roll. No, I don't care what you registered for. Because I don't feel like buying you one fork. Or half a shower curtain. You get pyrex with lids (because EVERYBODY needs pyrex with lids). And you get these:

 

Normally I would have hidden a little of that fruit print inside of the HIS apron, but I didn't think this particular groom could swing any amount of, um, fruit--so I used the dark plaid to make the HERS ties two-sided. Here's the best part of these:

 

Oh, and I finished the christmas garland for myself. And it's making me incredibly Christmas Happy.

 

Just spent two hours alone in a coffee shop and--when I could have been writing the country's next great contemporary american poem by a western woman with children and a convoluted protestant family background--instead, I studied my christmas list. I wrote it. I rewrote it. I made arrows. I crossed things out. I added them back. I crossed them out again. I made a timeline. And an ordered projects list. And a--very short--To Buy list. And then I cross referenced it with my calendar.

I didn't do this because I am a stellar gift giver. I did this because I have no Making Self-Control naturally, and without extreme measures of concentration, self-fortification, goal-setting and values reassertion, I will tackle too many things for too many people. 

And, like I already said, I don't want to. Because for Christmas this year, I'm working hard to give the gift of Mom With Her Personality Intact.  And I'm finding it quite tricky. 

Best of luck to you as you work to hold on to yours.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The Rescued Fabric Apron Kits go to . . .

#47 Cayce said:

oh my, what cuteness!!!

#138  Sue Cahill said:

I love the idea of an apron kit. I love using kits the first time I make something, that way I have just what I need. Very helpful.

Congrats, bloggish friends. Hope you enjoy these kits. I can't wait to dig through the list now of all your comments and check out your blogs. This giveaway is such a hoot for find like-minded nutbags. (And I mean that with all the respect due a fellow sewing nutbag.)

For those of you who didn't win, do watch for updates. I'm doing my best to get a handful up on my etsy site before Christmas arrives like a guest at 5:30 for a 6:30 dinner.

Rescued-Fabric Apron Kits (and a Nifty Giveaway)

 

I'm giving away a couple of apron kits. Yep. Even better: Apron Kits from Rescued* Fabric. Even even better: Apron Kits from Rescued Fabric to make vintage-style aprons for little people. 

Apron kits as in all-the-pieces-are-cut-and-ready-to-sew. Guy. How fun. I know.

They'll turn into something just like this one:

 

 

 

Every kit comes with fabric all cut and ready to go and super easy directions for pulling off a nifty little vintage-style apron. You just sew 'em. They're even complete with cut-to-size pieces from my vintage ric-rac stash (ric-rac=gold). [I know: I'm. So. Nice. Dangit.]

Just for the hoot of it all, I'm giving away TWO for the annual Sew Mama Sew GIVEAWAY DAY. All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment below any time before December 6th.  I'll pick a winner by random. If you want to say something more than, "Um, Hi." then I'd love to know what you think of the whole Apron Kit thing and to hear who you'd be giving it or making it for.

Here's the fab fabric for the two I'm giving away. . .

Green Vintage Bells with Red Vintage Bells:

 

Red Vintage Bells with 70s Patchworky Accents:

 

I'm in love with the apron kit. Hope you win and get to make one. 

[*Ginger, What's "Rescued Fabric"? This is the only fabric I sew with, but I thought it would be fun to share a little, so I've put these kits together. How fun! I know. It's fabric that was going to be FORGOTTEN about if I didn't save it: but I did. I found it at a thrift store or a garage sale or on some high shelf of my husband's aunt's barn . . . somewhere like that. And then I rescued it from its sad little hiding anonymity and brought it back out in the world to be purposable. Fabric is always sad when it's hiding. It likes to be out where the people are.]

P.S. I'll ship these anywheres, so if you're an international sort of friend, feel free to jump in this giveaway pool. 

What I Have to Add to the Ditty Bag Conversation.

Okay, it's not much, but I would still classify it as MIGHTY HANDY INSIGHT about the ditty bag.

First off, I was all juiced to write a tutorial about making these, until I found out that I am like 39 years late to the party and everybody has already told everybody else how to make these.

But.

For some reason--a reason which, as you know, I am wont to figure out--nobody has yet talked about making ditty bags out of old polyester AND nobody has discovered my excellent Topstitching Breakthrough.

 

 So, first on the merits of making these out of polyester. All of the things I've been saying are still true:

1. It comes in the super excellent funky patterns.

2. It's dirt cheap at the thrift store. 

3. The stuff can't be destroyed. (Okay, it can be melted, but otherwise not worn out.)

Even better, though, you can make these bags and--with just a little topstitching of a few major seams, they hold their shape without a bunch of interfacing and such. 

 

This old school kleenex box is my favorite shape so far, and i'm loving it as a makeup bag.

You can get a sense of my Topstitching Breakthrough on this purse I just made myself too (same idea: bigger bag):

 

I say Go Ditty or Go Home. 

* One final Sewing Editor's Note: these are just lovely to make LINED, but I suggest lining them by double-siding the main pieces, attaching the zipper and then gussetting, rather than trying to do some sort of fancy two-bag-reversible trick. Here's why: they get too poofy. And yes I know this because I tried it and they turned out, well, poofy. In a bad way. So learn from my mistake, Grasshoppers. I'm just saying.

 

A Joyful, Tepid Thanksgiving

I am embracing room temperature.

Think of me as calling Room T. Empature on the phone and going, "Hi. It's been so long. Too long. Come over. Your friend Hot TotheTable has overstayed. He's become tiresome and has led me toward unnecessary crankiness and general gloom/despair."

I've just decided to make friends with foods that don't have to scald the tongues of all 12 dinner guests. And I've decided to embrace my actual personality and not the persona of the Cooking Witch who tends to show up here about 73 minutes before all dinner-eating friends arrive.

So I woke up this morning to cook for our (2nd-ever) annual Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner and finished cooking all I had to cook about 2 hours before anybody even showed up on time.

This was a super excellent idea, so I'm sharing. Now, this year our friends made the turkey--but I'm telling you that I've already decided to serve Ham That Is Cold On Purpose for Christmas. 

So I was vegetable & potato & dessert girl this year. Here's what I made:

Mashed Potatoes (a la my grandma and, apparently, The Pioneer Woman)

 

The 9 yr old potato peeler in action: I highly recommend getting one of these.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes (These taste like--get ready for it: sweet potatoes. They are marshmallow-free and just lovely and sweet.)

Green Beans with Carmelized Shallots (I just Blanched them like our good friend Julia showed me in her "Vegetable Show" and then mixed them up with some shallots cooked on low until your youngest child turns 5 or they become light brown, whichever comes first.)

Broccoli Salad (you know--the one with the bacon and raisins and the sunflowers. My husband loves this stuff. And it can wait almost-mixed-up in the fridge, so it's a keeper.)

Pear Custard Pie (from this cookbook, which if you don't already have I recommend because it's easy and organized by season.)

Pumpkin Bars (a la Paula Dean. Love her. Just love her. I know everybody loves Tyler, but I think in my heart, I really AM Paula Dean, so I lean on her at the holidays.)

All I'm saying is check your inner Cooking Witch and tell her to leave. Just say this to her, "Halloween's over, Babe. It's Thanksgivingtime."