Bernie

the newest addition to my arsenal

"Bernie"?..."Nina"? "Ernie"? "Ina"?

 this baby was sitting on Craigslist, waiting for me to claim it

I am now the proud owner of a Bernina 1100D serger. The previous owner had bought it new some time ago, used it a few times, and then gave up on sewing clothes, so the Bernina has been essentially unused. While I still have no serger thread cones, I still need to spend some time reading the manual since I have no friggin clue how to operate one. This could be a process. Please pray for me and my poor little brain. 

Tim has been beaten several times in my glee over having procured this thing. You know....sometimes you get excited and your hand starts hitting the person next to you...ahhh!

pincushion

for some reason I have been using this....thing as a pincushion since I fired up my first sewing project

it wasn't ever meant to be one, but took on the purpose when I finished making it. this cube was actually the trial run for my companion cube, which as it turns out, is the first sewing project in my facebook photo album of things I've made

I used some of the light gray material to test making a cube shape before I did it with the bigger one. it was all handsewn and took forever, and mistakes were to be hopefully kept to a minimum (ha....hahahaha.....HAHAAHAHA)

fastforward to today, when it finally shamed me enough looking at that thing, and I made a real pincushion. 

I couldn't decide between the Sarah Jane balloons or the Valori Wells wrenly, so I used both

that diaper pin is my "bodkin"...classy, I know.

the old wife gazes sadly at her new replacement, and wonders what life has in store for her...gosh, I never even took the time to sew up the turning opening. the worst part about it was that it was very soft and very small, which meant that anytime I mistakenly squeezed it, I would get a handful of pins. I literally stood yelling in horror at my hand one night when I raised it up and saw several pins sticking out of my palm. Sometimes I would stuff a needle in there and it would float into the center, not to be found until it lodged itself into my finger and was pulled out to daylight.

dandelions and sand monsters

after finishing the second tutu last night, I wrapped some of the tulle scraps together and made a little pompom out of them. Clover found it this morning, along with a knitting needle, and did what any other small child would do: stabbed the pompom ruthlessly several times until she impaled it on the needle. the results were very pleasing to her, causing her to burst into a series of dance moves, culminating in her announcing

"it's a dandelion!!"

I thought it looked more like a Dr. Seuss clover, but it is what it is. the girls have been fighting over this thing all day. 

you know, those tulle balls are pretty cute. I think I will make more. 

of course, it had to become a weapon at some point, so she went on to beat at the cat toy felt leaves I hung from the ceiling

next in our day was THIS:

nothing can convince me that there is a legitimate explanation for why two children would refuse to eat all the edible things I offer them, and then proceed to eat ridiculous amounts of SAND.

I seriously found them shoving it by the handful after I went inside to grab a sewing project to work on while they "played in the sandbox"

Granted, Violet does have a history of mass sand consumption while "playing in the sandbox", which is why I have denied both of them the pleasure of playing in it for some time now. Somehow I thought it would be different...she is older! wiser! But no - she is just as bad, and worse, Clover followed her down the path this time and had a large lunch of sand. 

"mother, you don't look at a lady while she is eating! where are your manners?"

 

interestingly, although Clover refused to participate in the consumption of oatmeal this morning, she began begging for it specifically after her sand meal.

Christmas gifts in the making

I've been forced through time constraints and logistical issues with the children to work on/take pictures of gifts at night with NO natural light. the best thing I could come up with was the romantic glow of our LED Christmas lights, so here we go. just a couple of things  I managed to squeak out for Christmas gifts. 

above is a mini quilt I made for my grandparents. true to my nature, I randomly decided to make it at the last minute, didn't have experience with the technique  needed to do the project, and had to make it at the speed of light. what inspired me to make it was some leftover scraps of batting from making our neighbor a playmat for their baby. I stitched the batting into a rectangle and found some remnants in my horrible tangled beast of a scrap pile. leftovers from the girls' quilt made it in there....the Valori Wells that I have been hoarding, and the kona cotton bone colored solid. both of those fabrics feel exactly the same when you run them between your fingers - good quality. 

the binding is also the kona gray solid from the quilts, and the red is pieces of something (Swedish fabric?) that a friend gave me. 

the colors are all off from having to increase the brightness of my dark nighttime pictures. the red fabric isn't at all pink, and the gray looks more saturated here than in real life.

the idea for the design came from the Purl Bee here: Flying Geese

sorry for the awful pictures. nothing beats daylight. after quilting along the tops of the triangles I ended up with this interesting geometric pattern on the back. this little quilt (16"x21"??)will most likely end up in my grandma's room where she is camped out and bedridden. anyone who wanders into her room will likely be forced to admire my hasty and clueless workmanship.

this is what I came up with in hopes of producing an "Angelina Ballerina" for the girls. she is rather small, but she IS a mouse. her body is also made of kona cotton in bone, and I embroidered her little face on in black thread. honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to making dolls, but it was 40$ for an Angelina doll on Amazon. no freakin way. 

Angelina Ballerina

I was hoping to make one for each of them, but I don't think that will be happening in time for Christmas. Definitely at some point though. And then I would like to make a "Cousin Henry" and "Alice" too. the Angelina stories are pretty sweet, and I love the artwork in the original books. this doll is not anything near perfect but I think the girls will really like her anyway. feeling a little handmade doll in your hands is something special...I just hope she lasts more than one day with all of her limbs intact....she must look at least something like the Angelina in the books because Violet just walked by the computer and exclaimed "NANNA!" which is what she calls Angelina. Lol!

 to go along with their Angelina doll and the 2 books we got them, I also made the girls each a tutu. these tutus will be photographed after they are unwrapped and worn in daylight. tulle and satin ribbon, as it turns out, look hideous at night under artificial lighting....

so all of their Angelina gear is wrapped and then wrapped again together to make sure they open it all at once.

let's just call her crooked whiskers "charming"

fruitcake: the final countdown

tomorrow my fruitcake will sweep the dandelion nation

prepare yourselves  

they have been aging wrapped in rummy cheesecloth and wax paper with rubber bands

this one has been unwrapped and brushed with a spiced brown sugar glaze in preparation for the party tomorrow. I think I will make a little sign to post next to it with a little explanation of what it is....and maybe an alcohol warning. there are three other little fruitcakes, and I unwrapped a second one to taste. y'all, it is YUMMY.

Violet pea coat

Violet looks pretty darn cute in this little pea coat I made for her....

the pattern is from Dear My Kids Patterns on Etsy

the fabrics are both from Jo-Ann. I considered using some of the stuff I'm still hoarding from Bolt, but I wasn't sure I had enough to make the coat....that and I didn't want to do a first run with a pattern (that isn't from Oliver + S) with any fabric that will ruin my week if the coat didn't turn out well. 

what I ended up using was some uncut corduroy for the outside and a pink flannel with cute little sketched animals on the inside. the coat is fully lined. there were supposed to be these cute little tabs with a faux button closure on the cuffs, but I got lazy at the end. seriously...it's that 5% at the end of a project that kills you.

I really like how the pea coat fits her (I did the 12 month size for my puny little 15 month old) - loose enough to be comfortable, no weird proportions or funny bulges,  and the shape of it is precious.

 There is a poofiness about the bottom portion that I think is very cute. 

pardon my abundance of photos. I didn't feel like editing down so here are all the ones I took

I made this hat for her what must be over a year ago. here it is on a (slightly) smaller baby version of Violet

here is the inside. I originally envisioned a white flannel with very small pale pink polka dots, but when I saw this I changed my mind. the buttons look a lot more intensely pink in this photo than they do in real life. there is possibly enough fabric left to make Clover a jacket too. we shall see....

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and just because I haven't gotten these up sooner, here are a few other things that have happened here lately!

I made some yarn and stick dandelion flowers for a lady's tea with the Dandelion group. 

next to them is a bowl of very delicious kale chips. trust me. I couldn't stop eating them! 

we also went to get a tree from a farm. Violet was sleeping in the car so we made it short and sweet. both the visit AND the tree! hehe. It had to fit on our kitchen island because I loathed the idea of filling up the play area with a tree and then having to constantly yell at Violet to stop climbing it or yanking off ornaments. 

we got these ornaments last year at the Christmas Cottage in Lincoln City. Clover got shoes because she was/is obsessed with them, and Violet got the sweet peas because she IS a sweet pea....that and they had no violets. 

Tim got this awesome tv that has an actual clear piece for the screen and real figurines behind it. of course, he got the tv because he is a man and men love their tv's. plus that year we finally got a nice tv as our christmas gift. and I have the "dark and strong" coffee because I use as much coffee grounds in one 8 oz cup of coffee as Tim uses in a whole pot.

this awesome flying cow came from our trip in 2006(?) to Kauai

I think we got this hilarious naked Santa on our honeymoon

and there she is.....super cute! and untampered with (mostly). Clover has scooted a chair up there so she could molest it, but I nipped that in the bud.