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blerg

I had big plans to post a nice picture filled fun time here tonight, but scratch that. I've been staying up waaay too late these past few nights, did not get enough done this evening due to my trademark tiredness headache, and just came back from tending to the Little Dude officially has a fever. Good times. I should have known he was sick as he was way too compliant at bed time. That kid was pooped and all we did today was stay in and play because of the rain. Anyhow, sick kid + deadline = I don't get to blog tonight. Sorry. I'm off to bed, and hopefully there will be some sleep, and hopefully my poor Little Dude will be on the mend by morning, and hopefully, the Baby doesn't get whatever it is too. That's a lot of hope. But hey, if you don't have hope, what do you have?

Wish me luck. Oh, and thanks for all the good feedback on the lil' quilt. You rock.

quilt redux

I am SO HAPPY with how this turned out. Ain't that the happiest little quilt you ever done seen? Sorry, I'm not sure why I got all southern/mountain about that, but it seemed necessary.

You see, I'm getting ready for the craft show this week (the Speakeasy Holiday Sale, Thursday December 1st, 7-11pm, at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Ontario, in case I haven't already mentioned it several times. ahem) and I've been trying to add some new items to my repertoire, beyond the usual bibs. I love to make quilts to sell, and have done so in the past, but I have a really hard time actually selling them. People love how they look and want to buy them, but are not willing to spend the $125-$150 that I charge for them. Which by the way, is actually cheap when you consider all the labour that went into them. Don't even get me started. People will spend hundreds of dollars on something made by a machine run by an underpaid labourer in the third world, that costs the first world company only a fraction of the cost to make, but will not pay even a hundred dollars to buy something made by hand in Canada, since it is not accompanied by a brand name label, and was, well, made by hand. They consider that a craft and crafts should be cheap as far as they are concerned. 

All right, I intended this to be a quick post and not a sermon, so I'll move on. My point is that I'm trying to figure out ways to make a quilt more cheaply, but not by externalizing the costs or skimping on material quality. Instead, I'm trying to do it by cutting my own labour. If I can make it faster I can charge less and then hopefully people will feel better able to buy it. So my idea is to make a simpler quilt. 

First of all, its a small crib quilt/blanket. So its 42" x 42". And I did fairly big simple patchwork, but chose fabrics with high impact, so that the patterns on the fabric would provide the razzle dazzle instead of the piecing. 

 This is the backing fabric. I love backing with stripes. Its such a nice contrast to the florals on the other side.

But the big timesaver was the way I finished it. Instead of finishing it with a binding, I layered the front, back and batting inside out, and sewed them together at the edges, then turned it right side out and top stitched along the edges.    In other words, it doesn't have a binding. Which is a big time saver. 

Though I love the way a traditionally bound quilt looks, its super time intensive to make the binding and then hand sew it onto the quilt, which is the only way to get that invisible edge look. And I love doing the hand sewing, but have come to the realization that, generally speaking, people who don't sew don't care that much about how it looks, and aren't willing to pay for what that labour costs. 

So this looks nice, and tidy and keeps everything all together and takes only a tiny fraction of the time that the other binding takes. Combining that with the simple, chunky patchwork, and this quilt only took me two days from start to finish. And since I only get to word during nap times and evenings, that really means this only took about 8-10 hours. 

And I think despite the labour cuts, its still a really satisfying object. Picking the colours out for this was SO FUN. (You may recognize a number of recent-ish vintage sheet buys in here) I want to make another one right away. But I'm busy putting the finishing touches on all sorts of other projects, and I don't even know if this will appeal to buyers anyways. I'm just so pleased to be able to offer a quilt for sale for less than a hundred bucks (I think I'll price it at $80. What do you think? Any feedback on that?) I'll see, if it sells on Thursday I'll make a few more for the next craft show. 

Can't wait till Thursday. Actually, what I really can't wait for is Friday, when this will be done and I'll get a chance to sleep again. Kind of burning the candle at both ends these days. Urgh. So tired.

nails

Because really, with such a nice bright orange marker, how could he resist? There has been a big explosion in drawing around here lately, both in quality and quantity. We've made the leap from lines and circles and squiggles to wheels and diggers and trucks. And backhoe loaders, and zoo truck and old fashioned cars. But mostly diggers. And in the last few days, after a few requests from me, people, cats and spiders have been added to the repertoire. Oh, and also, monsters. Its been the funnest thing to watch and listen too, because of course, most pictures come with a story. (about a digger, and a boy who has to go to the hospital, and occasionally some poop as well. He's three, what can I say? I'm going to try and scan some later to show you the awesomeness) The markers are also a new material. Up until now I've been pretty granola about it and he's only had crayons and pencil crayons (nice ones I might add) but he found eight grotty old markers in the back of the closet, probably from when his cousins visited my mom here in the past, and BOY, does he love those markers. We had a nice little talk about them when we first found them, about how they were just for on paper, not anything else. Not the table top, not the wall, not his clothes, not his brother. 
Though in retrospect, I don't think I did specify that they were not for nails. Fair enough. And I'm somewhat impressed by how nicely and carefully he coloured just his nails. Not to mention the fact that I don't know where he got the idea since the last time I wore nail polish was probably for an Oscar party, pre-2009, before he was born. It wouldn't have surprised me if he used them as lipstick because he's seen me put that on (and helped me apply it with hilarious results) but there's really not much nail polish in our house. Hmm. 

(I blame Uncle Lemur boy. That will make those of you who know my brother laugh.)

Anyhow, he was very good about it, and once I'd ooh and aahed over how nice it looked, I did tell him that markers are not for putting on our skin or nails, and that we'd take a picture, but then we'd have to wash it off. 

And then it was right back to drawing diggers driven by pooping spiders. 

another problem...

More thrift shop fixations. This time, its men's shirts. This isn't really anything new. I've been buying the odd men's shirt here and there for years now. I love a really nice graphic plaid, or something with unusual colours. I also like a nice, classic like this one.
Mmmm, so crisp and clean and traditional and graphic all at the same time.

I've really been stocking up on them lately to make drooler style bibs for my holiday craft shows, but also, some nice quilt plans are starting to percolate.

There are a couple of books out about making quilts out of men's shirts I think, and recently I was looking at the Kaffe Fassett shirting stripe fabrics, but as with a lot of designer fabrics, though I love them, they are currently a bit beyond my budget. However, a nice second hand men's shirt from the thrift, especially on half price day, is just about right, price-wise.

I usually focus on the plaids and stripes, but occasionally a more whimsical print will jump out at me.      I picked this one up at a Bibles For Missions thrift shop I visited the other day. (and btw the BFMs are quite the best of the thrift shops out there if you ask me, both for unexpected treasure and for good prices. They don't gouge like the V.V's are starting to) I love the simple 'plus' design. I can imagine so many good uses for it. 

And this one; look closely...

Such nice little dolphins!

Just wanted to show you one of the bags that I made as a result of this fun idea.

A fun blend of vintage fabrics with a bit of vintage needlepoint in there too.

Here's a close up of the patchwork.

And here it is laying flat, and with no stuff in it so you can get an idea of the shape. Its a very large bag. I was worried as I was making it that there was a bit too much goin' on, if you know what I mean, but I think its kind of fun in a maximalist kind of way. Though I think with the next one I make I'm going to highlight the needlepoint more. Also, I did a bit of hand stitching along that curved edge, you can see it on the pink lining in this photo. I'm glad I went with hand stitching instead of machine stitching. It just worked better, and looks cute too. 

And here's the test pattern bag that I finished today. Same concept as the test pattern pillow, but more portable.

Its a simple shape, mostly square, with boxed corners. I didn't want to take away from the test pattern stripey goodness with a whole lot of shaping or gathers. I was going to do some close-ups, but I had a little helper...

...who was not so helpful. But so cute and happy that I tolerated his disruptions, so long as he tolerated my repeated removal of him from the photo set-up. We work well together that way. 

By the way, I'll be selling both of these bags, and hopefully more at the SpeakEasy Holiday Sale at the Gladstone Hotel on Dec. 1st, from 7 pm - 11 pm and the Movies and Makers Art and Craft Show at the Fox Theater in the Beaches, Toronto on Dec 17th from 11 am-5:30 pm. If you are in Toronto, or nearby, I'd love to see you there.

big standing baby

Just look at him! Pulled himself up along the side of the couch all on his own. And then stood there happily, leaning against the couch for support, perusing a story book. So cute. He's pulling himself up on EVERYTHING these days. Which means the shit is going to hit the fan, because I'm sure he's going to pull himself up alongside the coffee table very soon and grab one of the Little Dude's toys and then it will be GAME OVER people. The coffee table is L.D's baby-free play space where he's allowed to use markers and play with his beloved "village price people" (aka Fisher Price Little People). So either we have to permanently put a TON of stuff away, or we have to get L.D. a real table, with a real high up chair that the Baby cannot reach at all. I have a feeling its going to be the latter solution, but I don't know where we are going to put a full sized table in the living room. I'm keeping my eye out at the thrifts for a nice one. 

Lookit 'im there! So pleased with himself. Though on the downside, just moments after I finished taking these pictures he fell straight backwards and landed on his head. It was very sad, though not unexpected, and it sure won't be the last time. But it still sucked. I was just out of arms reach to catch him, and its the worst, when you lunge and just don't make it. Thank goodness for outdated shag carpet. And I'm very, very glad that I nudged the coffee table out of the way as soon as he got up there. 

Also, here's something cute: And yeah, this was posed. Hubs took a couple of rice puffs and stuck them to the Baby's already plenty sticky post dinner forehead. 

Ah, and I've just got to include a few of the Little Dude's best sayings from today. I try to write them all down in a little book, and as soon as he says them, because accuracy is key to the humour, due to his inaccuracy of hearing colloquialisms or metaphors and misusing them.

For example, he was making the Baby laugh really hard this morning, and turned to me and said, "I laughed the butt out of him!" (meaning to say, "I made him laugh his butt off." of course)

Also, when the Baby has a stinky diaper he says. "There's poop in them over hills!" What he means to say is "There's gold in them thar hills!", which is a silly family euphemism/joke that must be said with a Yosemite Same voice, and means that the baby has a dirty diaper. I have absolutely no idea where it comes from, but L.D. knows what it means, and yet manages to mangle it most adorably. 

Aaaaand one more of the cuteness. Also, note his very compotent pincer grip on those little teeney rice puffs. 

All right, that's it, I've more than filled my proud parent quota for the day. 

 

Betty Crocker

Look what I got at our library's used book sale this weekend. WHAT a score. I love old cookbooks, and I love old illustration and I love old kids books so this is like a trifecta for goodness. It was on the 'Premium Books' table, where they put the really new/old/expensive stuff and yet they were only asking $2 for it! So awesome.

The copyright date in 1957, though I know this copy is from 1964, because the inside front cover is inscribed "From Ann Laitin, Birthday - Oct. 3 - 1964" 

I love these 'home tester' portraits. And yes, there actually is a girl named Bette Anne. So very 'Mad Men'. 

The illustrations as so great. They were done by Gloria Kamen. I especially like the eyebrows. Almost all the kids in this book have major eyebrows.

I want to go to this party.

The recipes themselves are, naturally quite dated. And the typically lurid full-colour 50's quality photos do them no favours. Toothpicks are required for many of the recipes, and maraschino cherries abound. And of course, lots of food looks like people or at least has faces. Though really, does that work? I mean, can you get a kid to eat something they normally would not eat if it has a face on it? Anyone had any luck with that? I'm doubtful. (though here's my parenting tip of the day: cookie cutters. The Little Dude will eat any kind of sandwich at all as long as he's allowed to cut shapes out of it with cookie cutters.)

The Little Dude was looking over my shoulder as I perused this book for the first time and was quite captivated by these cookies. "Why are those cookies MAD?" he asked. I can't say I know, though the heavy eyebrows don't help their mood much. Interestingly enough these are called "Good Kid Cookies". Because they are good for kids? Or only for good kids? Somewhat confusing and judgmental if you ask me. L.D. said they should be called Mad Kid Cookies. 

And of course, since it was the 50's, sexism rears its ugly head. Of the 26 kids in the baking and refreshments section, there is only 1 boy actively making something (though 4 boys are shown exclaiming appreciatively as they are presented with cakes, baked by the girls, natch.) Here's the one baking boy.  I'm assuming he's actually going to make this egg nog himself. And by the way, anybody ever made their own eggnog? Is it good, or gross? I'm tempted, as I love eggnog, but feel kind of underwhelmed by the idea of eating raw eggs. Though this reminds me of my dad telling us that he'd come home from school sometimes and as a treat be allowed to beat an egg white with sugar until it was stiff, and eat it as a snack. I get that, meringue is awesome, and a good source of protein I guess. (side note to any of my relatives reading this: If any of you ever sees those old fashioned hand-crank beaters at a second hand store please pick them up for me. The Little Dude would love them beyond measure)

Oh, and of the 12 kids pictured in the campfire cooking section, only two are girls. Sigh.

Though boys do show up taking a more active roll in preparing food in the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner sections. Thank goodness. (though they are still outnumbered by girls) I guess boys gotta eat too, despite the fact that baking is considered a feminine frill. 

These are my favourite pages in the whole book. Such great little definition pictures. And I love the colour choices. I want this to be the colour scheme for my next quilt. 

And should I be embarrassed to admit that I learned something from this children's cookbook?Before reading this I honestly did not know the difference between 'supper' and 'dinner'. As my friend in Quebec used to say "tonight I go to bed less stupid". (that sounds less harsh in French)

And another sheepish admission. I have officially been shamed by the Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls into better dinner presentation. I was in fact reading this while we were at the table, and looked up to see the saddest looking schmozzle of plates and dishes and condiment bottles and facecloths and total disarray. According to Betty Crocker, even a child could be encouraged to take pride in the family meal by decorating with a centerpiece. So today, I looked around the house for what was at hand and whipped this up. 

I'm very pleased with it, and the Little Dude was enchanted by it. So go, throw some random stuff in a bowl (lemons, stones, weeds, whatever) and make yourself a nice lil' centerpiece. Our dinner did indeed feel more festive tonight due to its presence. You won't regret it. 

Oh, and I'm totally going to try that "Make Dinner a Fun Time, Table Topics" tip too. Great for this little talker stage. And I want to enjoy it before they hit the "whatever, screw you" phase. I'm going to savour their willingness to be involved in family conversation while it lasts. 

cherry berries

look what we found today.

ok, that's not a very good picture. I regret now that on our little walk today I only took along my little camera. These pictures would have been so much nicer if I took my big camera. Anyhow, look how nice they are in close-up.

I have no idea what these are. Some sort of beautiful orange cherry-like thing. Mom, any thoughts? Any one else who can identify these give me a shout out. 

I just loved the irregularity of them, and the way they and their branches made such pretty patterns against the sky. There were yellow ones too.

And I don't think that the colour difference is a difference in maturity. The trees are right next to each other so you'd figure they'd ripen at the same rate. 

I took a lot of pictures, though I think I'll have to go back tomorrow and take some when its a bit sunnier.

Also, there were these really nice lantern type things.

Hubs was particularly keen on them.  We picked a bunch to pretty up the house. I want to go back with some clippers and get a few branches of those cherries to use for Christmas decor. 

And it was quite cold by the time we went walking, and it started to drizzle, but I have to give the Little Dude credit, once he's outside, he's up for pretty much anything. We had the baby along too, so I wanted to hustle back to the house and get warmed up (especially once the rain started) but the Little Dude would have been happy to stay outside falling down hills and picking up stones and digging in whatever dirt he could find, so long as he had a pair of mittens. He does love his mittens. I'm going to have to crack out a few more pairs so we have a pair in every coat pocket (both his and mine) in the house. That's my parenting tip for today. Keep the mittens in the coat pockets, not in a seperate storage drawer or bin. That way when you just throw on a coat, not expecting to be out for too long, and then the sun sets and it gets colder while you are on your walk, you just reach into your pocket and voila! there are your mitts. Works for us. 

new moves

As of late, this is regularly the sight that meets my eyes when I re-enter the room where I've left the Baby to play free-range style.

Just the back half of him, sticking out of a box, or under a chair or in this case, the shelving in our dining room.

Yeah, I see you Mister. You are very clever.

Also, there's a lot of this:
He still does his army man swim-crawl on his belly, but he likes to start by getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth a bit before flopping down onto his tummy and going like crazy.

But this is one of my favourites:
We call it "the Jane Fonda". For obvious reasons. Its what he does when he's deciding where to swim to next, or just checking in with me before he heads off in pursuit of a particularly enticing scrap of paper or dust bunny. And he always shoots me that sweet smile too, accompanied by some lovely babble of the 'bah, bah, bub" variety.

And then he heads on down to lick the heating grate. Which drives me nuts. I don't know what it is about those grates, but he loves 'em! sticks his fingers in them, smacks them with his palm (the make a delightful echoey sound) and of course, licks them. Literally. Just a quick up and down, to check if the still taste the same. We call it bobbing for hair balls. 

And here's his another new trick. 

Ta-daaaaah! Right up on the knees. And he's sit here, holding on with just one hand, trying to rummage around in the box with the other until he over balances and falls. Most of the time he even catches himself, so its just a slow slide, but occasionally he's taken a header. Which isn't fun for anybody!

And so; enter his body guard:

The Little Dude (when not busy with something else) has taken it upon himself to be the Baby's spotter. He sits behind/next to him and holds him up so he won't fall. (btw, I love that you can see the Baby's dimple from the side even)

He even provides recommendations on toy selection. 

Its really the sweetest thing you've ever seen. This is why people have more than one kid. 

 

layouts

I had SO MUCH fun tonight. Usually evenings, after the kids are in bed, is my productive/tv watching time. By which I mean I half-watch something I've PVR'd while I do some sewing. I'm currently working on production for the two Christmas craft shows I'm going to be doing in Toronto (more on that later) and while that can be fun it is not always blow-your-socks-off creative, if you know what I mean. Lots of 'production' work, where I've already figured out my concept and pattern and its a lot of cutting/pinning/sewing/turning/ironing/topstitching to be done. It can start to feel like work. Work that I like, but work nonetheless. And since I've already spent all day doing other work (of the laundry/meal prep/meal clean-up/butt wiping/baby wrestling variety) it can be a bit of a drag. 

But tonight I decided to do something different. I'm working on a few new products for the Christmas shows, and had a nice brain-wave the other day while waiting in line at the Goodwill store. All the way across the room I saw a needlepoint picture on a shelf, and had to ask someone to hold my place in line so I could drag the Little Dude over there and pick it up. I have a soft spot for old needlepoint, especially that of the pastoral variety. There is such a nice paint-by-numbers vibe to them, which mixed with the fabric-y/stitchey-ness is right up my alley. Anyhow, I'm going to try doing a little patchwork with them and maybe make them into bags or pillows. But the vintage bedsheets I usually use for patchwork is just too thin to work with them, they need something much heavier, more of a home dec weight fabric. So I went digging around in my boxes of fabric (so many boxes) and found such awesome stuff. Old curtains, velvet remnants from the fabric company I used to work for, weird little odds and ends. And I cleared the living room floor of its layer of toys and just went to work, mixing and matching and taking photos. Having a digital camera is such a great way to work. It really lets you see how they'll look all patched together, without having to actually do any sewing that might have to be ripped out. Anyhow, here are a bunch of things I threw together.

Don't you love that wood grain fabric? Its velvet. So awesome. 

These colours make me so happy together. And I like that thematically they all have daiseys. Or do you think its too much? I'd love some feedback. Karen? Hannah? Any of you other artist/textile/fibres types have input?

This was the needlepoint I had to go across the room to get at the Goodwill. Isn't she delightfully creepy? I'm thinking about chopping her up a bit, so that I can isolate the eyes in one patch and the hands in another. 

This one needs a third element. Maybe something blue or turquoise. I'll have to do some more digging. Either way, I just love the lobster. 

I love this one. I LURVE it. 

But I think this one is my favourite. And see, that needlepoint is of a cabane a sucre! Makes me all nostalgic for Quebec. 

A number of these were in frames, and had to be taken apart (though don't worry, I'm saving the frames for another use, there were some really nice ones) and its always interesting what you find under the needlepoints, and what's on the back of things. This one was so nice that I'm thinking of just hanging it on the wall backwards.  There's just something about the typography and the zig-zaggy thread and those little colour squares. Sorry this is such a bad picture, but I didn't think I'd be posting it, but is seems too fun not to share. 

Anyhow, let me know what you think, if you have any input. Do you think they are too 'much'? Should I try to work some solids in there just to calm them down a bit? Should they be bags or pillows? Or something else? I'd love some other opinions.