Newly purchased fabric in rich colors.
Sashiko stitches.
Holy smokes! Can it be that I haven’t blogged since September and it’s already NOVEMBER??? A lot has happened since then. But the biggie is that I moved from Albuquerque to Hawaii. This involved a drive from Abq to Flagstaff, Ariz., then another drive from Flagstaff to Los Angeles and then a flight to Hawaii. I was so lucky to have family help me with the move.
Chance and I are staying with friends who generously offered us a guest room in their home. These same friends also gave me a sewing machine that a relative of theirs no longer uses. It works really well and I’ve already sewn a pillow cover with it.
I checked out a local fabric store and bought some fabric (for the pillow cover) but although the store sold notions, I couldn’t find a seamripper. I seem to have misplaced mine, which is a bummer because it was a really good one.
More soon, with photos once I’m a little more settled in.
• I’m knitting a baby blanket, log-cabin style! Lots of grays and a dash of red and black. These aren’t the colors I would have normally chosen, but I’m liking how it’s turning out. I initially started this project because I needed to get my mind off of some overwhelming worries. And some writers block.
• I tried my hand at a salt scrub. The recipe is from Jessica of Angel Face Botanicals, one of my favorite purveyors of bath and beauty products on Etsy. It’s published in the Oct/Nov issue of ReadyMade magazine. I didn’t have crystallized honey (seriously, I’ve had this honey in my cupboard for months but no crystallization) so I just kept adding salt. The consistency is nothing like the stuff Jessica sells, but I add a little warm water to it in the shower and–voila!–magnificent salt scrub. I might try again using almond oil or grapeseed oil. The lavender and honey scent combo is divine, I won’t be messing with that!
In my continued effort to never have to lug a purse around again, I scoured the Internet for some stylish alternatives:
Gold bow “fancy pack” from carrotcake.etsy.com. This would look fab with a high-waisted A-line skirt.
Skirt with movable/removable pocket from Harvey Faircloth.
When I was a kid, I loved playing with dolls. It leant itself to storytelling. I remember lying on my stomach in my bedroom with my Barbies, making up stories about their life on the prairie (I had a Barbie-brand toy horse and a shelf full of Laura Ingalls Wilder books). I even got my brother to play house with me and my dolls by pretending we were a family during the Revolutionary War and our house was under attack. As long as he got to pretend shoot at something, he was cool with playing the role of father protecting the house (which was his closet, by the way). One of my favorite dolls to play with was one that my Auntie Nancy *made* for me. I named her Louise and you can see her here.
I hope the little girl who gets these dolls I made has as much fun playing as I did. I hope her imagination is limitless.
I really wanted to make a mei tai for my expecting friends and read good things about the Sew Liberated Mei Tai Baby Carrier. Here are my thoughts:
The good: Full-size pattern pieces, an ingenious “X” harness adds extra security for baby. The pattern shipped quickly and the finished product ended up looking like the photo on the pattern cover.
The bad: This pattern used to be available as a pdf for cheaper and delivery was almost instantaneous. From what I can see that option is no longer available. On the actual pattern piece it says, “Cut 1 on the fold for exterior fabric; Cut 1 on the fold from interior/strap fabric; Cut 2 on the fold from cotton flannel for lining.” But the directions say, “Cut 1 from exterior fabric and 1 from lining.” I had to read through the instructions to make sure that the latter was actually correct. The pattern says to buy 2 1/2 yards of your main fabric, which is what I had on hand. However, after washing the fabric did shrink a little and was no longer long enough to cut out the two 90″x10″-inch straps needed, plus the main pattern piece and pocket. I considered just going with shorter straps (85″x10″) but then ended up going to the fabric store and buying 3 yards of a contrasting fabric for the straps. Also, the stuff sack pocket is too small to fit all three straps.
Conclusion: After the initial confusion about how many pieces to cut out, this pattern came together nicely. You should definitely have at least 3 yards of the main fabric to be on the safe side. I wish it were still available as a pdf…
I finished this fully lined, fully adjustable (via separating zippers) baby sling today. It was 48 hours of baby-sling obsession at my apartment. I got in my head that I had, just HAD to figure out how to make an adjustable baby sling for my friend and her husband who are expecting their first little one in February. (This one is not for them, even though she loves yellow. It’s a prototype that an acquaintance has agreed to test out with her six-month old).
I must extend a warm thanks to Di of Clementine Shoes who kindly answered my baby-sling questions. She made a lovely adjustable version for her little baby.
I think this project came together very well, exactly as I’d hoped. The only thing I want to fix is the zipper top stops. I had to shorten the separating zippers to make them fit the sling. I found some zipper top stops at the fabric store, but they are not thick enough to keep the zipper tab from sliding right off. I might have to consider splurging on some better quality top stops online.
I found this machine for $20 last year while thrifting. It came with the instruction manual and sewed well except that the bobbin thread would pull when back-stitching. I suspect it’s a problem with the tension that I don’t know how to fix. Well, I finally, finally, caved and took the machine to a local sewing repair shop. The owners were so nice and offered to do a free estimate! Why did I wait so long to do this?
In other news, I made these mama and baby kokeshi softies as a gift for a friend’s little girl. I hope she likes them. If you were a 2-year-old girl would you like them? She comes with her own basket bed 
I’m working on a little project that might end up becoming a birthday present for a certain little girl (photos when I’m finished). It’s got me thinking again about gifts and some of the other things I’ve made for friends. Like this pillow star (on the bench, next to the ball) that I gave to my friend Lilli without realizing how well it would match her decor. Lilli’s in a graduate program for photojournalism.
And here’s my friend Dara (she of the aforementioned shave ice blog) showing off her birthday gifts from me. Dara’s a Virgo. I find that so many of the people I like are Virgos….
My friend Dara and her sweetie Craig started a blog to review shave ice places in Hawaii. In case you’ve never heard of it, shave ice is a delicious dessert, sort of like a snow cone, but the ice is finer, which makes the texture better. I think shave ice might be one of those things that is indigenous to Hawaii
Anyway, if you ever find yourself in Hawaii and want to partake in some shave ice, you might want to bookmark her blog.
