Spring & Summer Wardrobe

Sewed items were made by me; knitted ones by my mum; socks are the newborn size ones, which were intended for the baby - he may loose few more to the doll before he is even born.

It's like a holiday, but better

My mum arrived on Tuesday the previous week, the renovations finished on Friday and this week felt like a very chilled out holiday. Last few days I felt more relaxed than during most of the holidays I had since I became a mother – it is so nice to know that I have an option of sitting on the couch all day doing nothing. I suspect if I choose that option I would be bored in the space of 10 minutes, so with all the extra free time available to me I’m trying to finish few crochet and knitting projects and make a Waldorf-style doll for my daughter for the birth of the baby. To me having time to make things is even more precious and more energizing than having time to laze about.

I don’t seem to be able to resist the urge of making toys despite knowing that I’ll get frustrated by fiddly sewing bits. At the moment my daughter doesn’t even play with the dolls, but maybe it will change when there is a baby in the house, otherwise I'll have to play with that doll myself.

To practice making heads I finally got around to replacing a head for the doll I made two years ago. The original head had two newbie mistakes: the neck wasn’t thick enough resulting in ugly folds on the face and the head was also too long. This one has a proper neck, but is still slightly too long.

I did few more practice heads before making the big one for the 16 inch doll and now I have to make the decision on which body pattern to use from the ones in the Maricristin Sealey's book "Making Waldorf Dolls".

These are the two of the best heads together with the big one.

P.S. The photos of the new new bathrooms can be found on Flickr, but I think only the people, who saw the original bathrooms in the last few weeks, will appreciate the improvements to their full extent. I regret not taking the pre-renovation photos, though at the time it felt embarrassing to photograph something so ugly and falling apart.

Sewing

I thought I’ll do a sewing post, since I occasionally brave my trepidation of trying something new and actually use my sewing machine.

One Saturday afternoon, way back in November, I managed to sew two little items. I’m still marveling at that achievement, since it usually takes me at least 30 minutes to get the tension on my machine right and mostly the correct tension is achieved by weird magical combination of the frustration and turning the dials at random to the settings, which I’m sure I tried before without any success.

This pillowcase for my daughter was made from the fabric sent to me by barmyowlscoo following very detailed directions of the Sewing 101: zippered throw pillow tutorial. My daughter loves it to the point where the first day she took the pillow everywhere with her.

I also made myself a new wallet to replace the one stolen back in May. I followed the Noodlehead's Gathered Clutch Tutorial, but reduced the size.

In December I finally got around to making a long promised bean bag for my daughter from the fabric she choose (trust me, I wouldn't choose fake fur, specially in pink, bright orange or red colours). Afterwards all my clothes and the craft room were covered in bright fluff, but the excitement on my daughter’s face on opening her Christmas present made it all worth it. The instructions, I found online, were for both child & adult sized bean bag chairs and I was tempted to make an adult size one, but am glad that I didn’t as the bedrooms in our house are so small that even a child-sized one will be taking a big chunk of the floor space (at the moment it is getting in a way being put to a good use downstairs in the living room)

I also made a matching lion pillowcase – the initial plan was to knit both the front & the back, but I didn’t have enough fluffy yarn for the back and therefore the knitted back panel is now used as lining for the birds’ nest. My husband thought that a square lion is hilarious and went into a fit of laughing on seeing the finished item for the first time. My daughter thought it odd and not very likable - I guess one can't always be successful.

Making pillowcases is super easy even for a total sewing beginner like myself. So one evening in the midst of being sick, instead of sleeping, I made another one to give to a friend, who was staying with us at Christmas. This is the worst wobbliest sewing I’ve done in a very long time, but I thought that (a) it is better to give a wobbly present than no presents at all and (b) he loves fish and is sentimental enough about my daughter to appreciate her drawing of our three goldfish (She told me that the fourth orange blob, in the top left corner, is a penguin).

And finally this year I made two knot dolls – one for our baby & one for the friend’s. She is due in four weeks and I was (and am and will be) shamelessly using her to explain/demonstrate to Katya what will be happening to my body and later to our lives.

BTW I didn’t get around to making the Christmas stockings, so we did the same thing as last year – used airplane socks instead. Luckily I have many of these – various traveling friends give them to me thinking I’ll find a good use for them. Anyone knows if they are suitable for making sock monkeys?

Dancing to fun music

Katya and I spent five days mostly in bed or on the couch due to the horrible flu. Today in the morning, when we felt significantly better and had some energy, I couldn’t resist giving Katya one of the items that was supposed to go into her stocking – Dan Zanes and Friends’ CD Family Dance. It turned out to be great for dancing and jumping around and being totally silly. Who can resist being silly to the “All around the kitchen”? Here is the video of it from their YouTube channel:

(BTW did you notice the orange dress in the video? I definitely need to learn to sew so I can make one like that for myself as I totally love it.)

And according to Dan Zanes & Friends website they are coming to London in February – maybe we can go and see them live and be silly in public.

I want to ramble on about music for kids, cloth for boys and sewing, but I better go and see if I can make five stockings in the next 32 hours.

Summer week

This week I was grateful for the shade these trees provide.

After two damp grey summers I'm glad to have a lot of sunny days to enjoy, but at the same time I'm realistic about my ability to deal with heat, which is pretty low. So we mostly stayed at home playing in the new sandpit, splashing in the tiny paddling pool and enjoying picnics on the newly made picnic rug (Tutorial is over here).

All week I was planning to make a skirt for Katya and maybe one for myself, but at the end of each day I didn't want to be anywhere near a hot iron. Eventually over the weekend with the help of the intended recipient and following very clear, detailed and illustrated tutorial from Erin of House on Hill Road I made the Strawberry skirt.
Actually the Picnic Blanket tutorial is also Erin's - she writes great ones, specially good for beginners like me, who have to be told all the steps. Maybe I should make her Sunny Day Dress or Top? Or maybe I should start thinking about autumn and knit Them Apples cardigan? I'm still a horribly slow knitter due to the lack of practice. I was thinking a lot lately about my inability to concentrate on one craft, yet with every new skill learned the more I notice the relationships between various things; the easier it becomes to pick up a new skill; the more appreciation and understanding I have for the work of others and the more I want to learn. Maybe one day something will capture my interest and hold it for the rest of my life, but even exploring the depths of one area I'll always keep in mind words attributed to Socrates:

The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.

Handbag love

I love handbags. The people, who know me in real life, may express disbelieve at this statement as I own few and buy new ones very rarely. But I do. The problem is the ones I love are usually too expensive or too impractical or often both. I like unique bags that are outlandish, full of colour, texture, embroidery, images, stories. One day, when I learn all the skills I'm aiming to, I may be able to create few perfect ones for myself. For now I couldn't resist making this cute buttercup bag, even though it is too small to be really useful for me now - I need a bag that will hold at least a ball, a kids book, sunscreen and lunch for the Little Girl and myself.

After I finished making it I stumbled on to a tutorial, which explains how to modify the original free pattern to include a zip - maybe I'll make another bigger one.

Another green pincushion

I turned unsuccessful crazy patchwork block into a pincushion using Kootoyo's square pincushion tutorial, but omitted the buttons as none looked good. Without the buttons it can also be used as a pillow for a doll.

From pincushion to toy

I needed a pin cushion for a long time and last week I finally made one using the tutorial by UK Lass in US.



Of course a day later it was abducted by my daughter to be used as a plaything, so I'll have to make another one for myself. There are so many to choose from:
- matching pear one from UK Lass in US
- yummy tomato one from Martha Stewart
- simple, yet cute toadstool, square or hexagon one from Kootoyo (she even has videos of how to make them)
- adorable tiny bottelcup one from Very Big Jen (check out the ones she made)

But I should remember do something really boring to avoid the upgrade of its pincushion status to the toy one.