JoonToons

not sure exactly how long it had been since i had sewn before sunday. well over three months, i believe.
when i say "not sewn" i mean just that. haven't touched a needle. at ALL.

so when i finally got my new sewing room all (well, mostly) organized last weekend i did so mentally preparing myself for a couple of frustrating first "back to sewing" sessions.

much to my surprise, the past three days of sewing have gone incredibly smoothly! the sewing gods must be forgiving gods.
i expected for my machine to meet me with a good bit of anger in her face and thought she'd let her hurt feelings after having been left abandoned for so long out on me. instead, i feel a little like the lost son who's welcomed home with a fancy party and lots of good food.
so i'm thanking whatever powers are in charge of lending me such wonderful creative karma! praise to the sewing gods!

first on the (now longer than ever) sewing to do list was trying my best to catch up with the bee europa quilting bee. i had missed three full months there and getting all those wonderful sewers their fabric back, preferably pieced together perfectly, has been my number one priority.

so i dove right back in working on the perfect "getting back into the swing of things" project, some totally free form blocks made from gorgeous (but slightly challenging to work with) linen and what i assume must be a linen/hemp blend?
here's the result. oh, yes, the pictures in the post are going to suck. germany has been acting like november the past few days. no sunshine whatsoever.

next on the bee list were these two blocks for a gorgeous spider web quilt by kaffe fassett .
this is where i for sure thought i was setting myself up for failure. the contrary! i absolutely loved working on these blocks and it's further strengthened my plan to make a spider web quilt for our bedroom some time soon. i have to admit i'm at least a wee bit proud of how nicely these turned out. the centers aren't a perfect match but i got those little corners to look a lot neater than i ever thought i'd be capable of. so that's pretty good. given how i haven't been practicing at all.

last night before going to bed i got out the next quilting bee envelope and read through the instructions. the plan was to work on these blocks today. but after a very rough night and out of the ordinary morning i realized i was just feeling way too puffy eyed and cloudy headed to work on somebody else's project today.

when i came back from dropping joon off at kindergarten, i found a yucky old pile of fabric on our front stoop. it was the seat of mika's little doll stroller. it had been half torn off for a while and eventually fell off altogether a couple of weeks ago. that thing was always ugly, navy blue with little brown bear claws, and when i bought it for joon the plan was to immediately pimp it with some nice fabric. as life goes that never happened. but then this morning these stroller remnants basically jumped my leg on the way into the house and i thought "well, maybe this is what i should be doing today!"
there's no before picture, but here's the after...

ironically, when i grabbed the stroller frame to bring inside and try the new seat on i realized that the frame, too, is broken. so i suppose i could've just bought a new stroller altogether. yup.

mika is in love with her old new stroller though and i feel pretty good knowing i'm still able to whip up my own creations, too.

joon was sad though that she didn't get anything and i had to promise her i'd make her something special tomorrow morning. ideas?

hopefully very detailled tutorial for fully lined centered zipper

2010-03-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

zipper mania in full effect! after years of avoiding zippers at all cost, i finally braved it and sewed my very first zipper a few days ago. the first one was a test run. a simple centered zipper. i looked at instructions online and in a book and went for it only to find, that it's ridiculously easy, just takes some care, preparation and i guess, guts.

the next day i felt ill prepared but motivated for the big performance. birthday present for my cousin who had asked for a pencil case. i followed this wonderful tutorial and was extremely pleased with the result. but i did make a few mistakes that i could've prevented if i were more the type who reads directions well and maybe if the tutorial had focused a little more on the zipper part.

so here's my addition. the pictures are unfortunately not the most beautiful because late night lighting in this room is difficult. hope they'll do the job though.

you'll need
~two cuts of fabric of equal width each of the outer fabric and the lining, so four cuts total
~zipper at least a few inches longer than your fabric cuts are wide
~masking tape (not a must have, but i find it to be helpful)
~seam ripper (also not a must)
~pins
~sewing machine with a zipper foot

1. take your lining fabric and baste (using the longest straight stitch) the seam where your zipper will be installed. i sew at 3/4". you'll rip this seam open again in the end, that's why you're using the long stitch.

2. press seam allowance in lining open.
3. fold over and press seam allowance on both pieces of outer fabric on the side which will hold the zipper.

4. place closed zipper on lining fabric. the middle of the zipper should line up on your seam.
you should be looking at the wrong side of the fabric but the right side of the zipper. make sure you have a good couple inches between the zipper's pull and your fabric.
if you're using a recycled zipper, secure the top with a safety pin to keep the zipper pull from falling off while you're working on it.

5. masking tape! woo hoo! use it instead of pins to keep the zipper in place on your lining.
try not to get the tape too close to the zipper as it's preferable not to sew through the tape. easier cleanup. ;)

6. you're still looking at wrong side of lining and right side of zipper. now place the folded edges of your outer fabric along both sides of the zipper and pin in place.
i'm a sloppy pinner and you'll see further down, that my fabric moved too much on this project. what can i say, i was in a hurry and i really hate pinning. if you need this to be neat, use LOTS of pins. and pin them perpendicular to the seam. that helps, too.

7. with your machines zipper foot, sew along the zipper starting at the side with the zipper pull. (switch stitch length back to regular if you haven't done so already.)
now, i made the stupid mistake of sewing too close to the zipper on my second zipper project. not a good idea, especially if you're using a bulky zipper. i couldn't get the dang thing to open in the end, had to rip it all apart and do it over which took at least half an hour. learned my lesson though.
so make sure you give the zipper pull lots of space to easily move, but stay close enough to keep it looking clean and sturdy. how far away you should be really depends on how bulky both the zipper and pull are.

8. when you come to the end, just turn the fabric 90 degrees , stitch across the zipper, turn again and stitch down the other side until you reach the end. do NOT stitch across the zipper at the pull's end.

here's what it should look like. no really, it shouldn't look like this. your fabric ends are probably neatly matched because you're not a lazy slop like me.

9. open the zipper a few inches. feeling accomplished yet? i know it's exciting! but you're not done yet...

10. now that the pull is within the area you'd like zipped, stitch across the zippers end to secure it all.

11. turn it over and carefully rip open the seam in the lining without damaging the stitches at both ends of the zipper.

12. remove the masking tape from between your layers, stick it on your ripped seam to quickly pull up all those yucky little thread bits which could get your zipper stuck later on.

taaaah-daaaaaaaaaaah!! you did it! right?

out of hiding

2009-10-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

oups! it appears i had disappeared from blogland for what? three months? yeah... let's forget about that and move on to happier subjects.

a lot of my friends have recently dug out sewing machines from deep down in their closets or borrowed them from friends or family and are starting to sew. i'm so excited to know that they are finding ways to learn new techniques and ways of expressing themselves while also expressing love for their family and the planet by heading more into a "handmade life" direction.

so in order to celebrate beginning seamstresses and creating for the ones we love i thought i'd create a tutorial.

i've decided on a simple vest as it seems the most versatile piece of clothing i can think of.
anyone can wear a vest at any age. boys, girls, babies, toddlers, mamas, papas...
making clothing for kids may not seem worthwhile sometimes because they outgrow everything so quickly. a vest fits much longer than pants or shirts. it transitions well through the seasons doesn't stain or wear out easily and this one is even reversible giving you basically two pieces in one!

got the point? it's time to make a vest.

the other reason i thought this would be perfect for a tutorial is that i think it's a good example for one of the biggest obstacles we encounter with sewing... the planning and thinking ahead.
all the sewing required for this is very basic and suitable for true beginners. but putting these few pieces of cloth together in the right order seems very counter intuitive at first. and because most patterns seems to assume that the reader just knows how to do this kind of work, i haven't found the process explained in a detailed way. for me personally purely written instructions are basically worthless. i need images. so this is going to be extremely picture heavy (excuse the yucky water stains on my ironing board) and i hope it works for you.

here we go...

for this vest i'm using a pattern i found in ottobre magazine but you can easily create your own by tracing the shape of a shirt which fits the to-be-vested-person well.

trace the pattern onto left side of one of your fabrics. place fabrics on top of each other, make a decision about seam allowance (i add 1cm all around), cut.

see? two layers. cotton print and purple stuff. i have three pieces of each. back and two front pieces.

begin sewing by taking your outside fabric (cotton print in my case) right sides facing each other. now sew only the two shoulder seams with a simple straight stitch. repeat with your inner layer of fabric (purple in this case).

now spread out both layers (it'll kinda look like a big U or V), open up the shoulder seams and press with an iron if you're using cotton and are a very tidy seamstress (i didn's press. i'm not tidy.). have the right sides of the two different fabrics face each other.

do as much pinning as you feel you need in order to keep both sides in place during sewing. i use very few needles if any, but if this really is your first project, use a lot of pinning to spare yourself some frustration later on. pin along all the outsides of your fabric U or V.

now start sewing your two layers together. start at the bottom of the side seam, stitch along the whole front, up and around the neck, down the front again until you reach the bottom of the other side seam.

now do the same for both arm openings. remember, your two layers are still spread out U or V shape right sides facing each other. this might feel crazy and like it couldn't possibly work to you, but it will! ;)

here's the big U or V. depending on how much seam allowance you used and what kind of materials you're working with you should trim the sewn edges now. you can do lots of little snips where you've sewn rounds, really trim corners if you use a pattern with sharp corners or ,as i did, give it a good trim all around.
in this case i'm not terribly concerned with fraying because i've chosen fabric i know won't hold up very well with lots of washes anyway and we will also topstitch these vests all around in the end, so fraying shouldn't be an issue really.

now we turn the vest right sides out by pulling the fabric through the shoulders. crazy. i know. but it works.

see? right sides out. arm holes are sewn, neck and front opening is sewn. still open are the side seams and the bottom seam on the back.

this is where you might get really confused and it's also where the sewing could get a little fumbly. deep breaths. this WILL work.
you now close the side seams. which means starting with your outside layer fabric you put the fabric right sides facing and stitch along the side seam top to bottom. be careful not to accidentally sew onto the inside fabrics.
then you fumble around a bit more until you have the inside layer fabric's outside seam ready to be sewn the same way.

this picture shows the side seams of inner and outer layer.

repeat for the other side seam.

turn it all right sides out and find that it really looks like it actually might work out in the end! woohoo!

at this point the only part left to sew together is the back's bottom. so you turn the vest wrong side out again, neatly line up the two layers in the back (use pins!) and then stitch them together leaving a hole in the middle big enough for you to use for turning the vest right side out again.

here's the bottom seam in the back. i sewed one side, left a hole big enough for my hand, sewed the other side.

turn right side out. neatly fold in the seam allowance where you left the hole. (again, use pins.)

use your hands or an iron to press the vest into shape now and get it to look clean and even.

then topstitch all along all the sides and armholes. i start right where i left the hole. because of the topstitching i don't need to handstitch to close the hole. it also helps the vest stay in shape through washes and keeps the fabric from fraying over time.

voi-la! here are my first two vest. one for joon and one for mika. making these took far less than an hour each INCLUDING tracing and cutting out the patterns and picking out fabrics.

there are endless possibilities for different designs.
i will be adding button loops and buttons to these but needed quick gratification today so they had to be plain at first.

you could use different shapes, add pockets, do patchwork, use fleece, fake fur, leather, trims, feathers, rig rag, pom poms.... endless variations.

so? are you making a vest today?

back to sewing

2009-07-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

whoa. after almost a month away from my machine i finally made a couple things. nothing spectacular, but it feels oh. so. good.

it's all about refashioning during at least july and august, so i'm trying to reset my creative thinking and really enjoying the extra challenges that come with it.

here's what i've done so far...

an old skirt of mine which now enjoys a new life as a cute airy summer dress for joon.

this one doesn't even really count because all i did was shorten a dress into a skirt. but i'm so excited about every minute of sewing i get done and thrilled to have a cute new summer top. AND most importantly this piece of cloth is no longer sitting at the bottom of a closet but actually getting used! what a concept.

super comfy shirt i bought on sale. loved the shirt but hated the print. now the print is hidden under ikea cotton and rig rag and i love how it turned out.

woohoo! now i really hope i can get some more done tomorrow before dave disappears for a weekend of band fun.

the pledge

2009-07-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

it's july 1st, a day i've been mentally preparing for the past couple of weeks. the reason today is special? it marks the first day of a 2-month long experiment for me.
i've decided to take the wardrobe refashion pledge.

the official rules as stated on the website are as follows...

1. No buying new! (handmade is excepted; So this allows for Etsy purchases etc!!) All clothing must be Recycled, Renovated, Preloved or Thrifted, or Handmade only for the term. Employment related and special needs clothing (ie sports, school), shoes and undies are excepted from the rules, although you are encouraged to have a go at making these.

2. In extreme circumstances, maybe a special event, or the worlds greatest and most amazing never to be repeated sale that you simply can not pass up, you may use the Get out of Refashionista Jail Free card. You are able to use this card once during the 2 month part of your contract; ie 1 for 2 months, 2 for 4 months etc. Of course you need to fess up on the blog and display the button!

3. You must post on the blog at least once a week to let the community know what you've been up to. This will not only give you brag points, but inspire and encorouge others! Of course you need to display the button on your blog and have copied the pledge in at least one post, and provide a link to your pledge under the button.

4. You need to be honest and admit when you've fallen off the Refashionista Wagon! Go directly to Refashionista Jail, do not pass GO and do not collect $200! Apply for parole once there.

refashioning has long been something of interest to me and i've collected several big moving boxes full of pre-loved (or not so loved) clothing in the past few years hoping that i'd one day put new life into these items and make them wearable again. once i really got into sewing though i unfortunately also really got into buying fancy new fabrics and so i created new items from scratch using new materials and those boxes have remained more or less untouched.

doing lots of thinking about consumer culture lately and having lots of interesting conversations with my awesomely driven creative and independent thinking husband i realize that i must try as best as i can to make use of the resources we have and that unfortunately the only way to change consumer culture is to avoid being a consumer of mass production whenever possible. even if that means being inconvenienced at times. so there are lots of "thinking outside the box" challenges ahead of me and i'm very much looking forward to facing them.

in addition of taking the pledge for clothing i've also promised myself that we as a family will take the spirit of no buying new! re-use! and less is more! to all aspects of life. over the next two months we will only purchase things we actually truly need or which will help enable us need less (i.e. we just spent 100 bucks on a bicycle cart to pull around the children in and will need to purchase new tires and small bits to get our bikes in running order so that we will have fewer reasons to use a car) and when we will try to purchase used items whenever possible.

i will post on the wardrobe refashion blog at least once a week about the wardrobe part of our experiment. if we make other cool discoveries or come up with cool anti-mass-consumption stuff i'll most likely post about it on our family blog.

so now here's the official part...

The Pledge

I, Karoline Stephens, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed xxx.

not getting jack done

2009-06-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

again.

it's been twelve days since i've touched any sewing tools and i'm very close to losing my mind. we've had a toddler birthday, two sick kids and a whole lot of commotion due to our crazy decision to move to my mom's house for a few weeks. my sister is moving into a new room there which needed a lot of renovation and then we're "swapping" living situations with my youngest brother for a few weeks. which means we'll have a yard and garden to enjoy and we'll get away from the crazy noise level of our downtown living for a while. should make the kids happy and us too.

anyways, i haven't done ANY sewing since the quilt. i'm physically hurting. going through withdrawal. bad withdrawal. BUT we've decided to take some sewing stuff (i'm thinking two machines, the serger, materials and notions?) and set up shop in my sister's old room for the time being. i just got a fancy big sewing book in the mail, bought some more fabrics at ikea and am mentally preparing for taking the "wardrobe refashion pledge" for two months starting july first. so i'm really hoping that this dry spell will be followed by a huge wave of creative outlet and productivity. and i'll let y'all know as soon as i have anything exciting to report.

may the creative spirits be with you and me and let's all hope summer will return to germany within the next few days. the weather has been awfully depressing.

annalie's quilt

2009-06-12T03:41:00.001-07:00

fi. na. ly.

i get to share pictures of what i've been working on all week. the suspense has been killing you, right?

more here.

current work in progress

2009-06-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

here's some of what we're working on. yes, we! dave said he'd stop after the bag. but he got so incredibly high when it was finished, that he started his next project the same night. now he's working on two different things. first off...

and then there's this secret project of mine... will be a couple of days still til i hopefully get it finished.

some of today's work

2009-06-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

made a somewhat quick and somewhat little "thank you!" gift for our very sweet neighbors today. AND i managed to take pictures of it. all in one day. whoa!

featured creativity - dave OR my husband rocks!

2009-06-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

sigh. i don't know where to begin this post as the news i have to share are both incredibly awesome and sorta, well, troublesome. maybe these pictures will help explain...

my musician husband made himself a bag. not just any ol' bag. not a silly little shopping tote or a furoshiki or anything simple. no, a really cool bag. using three different materials and lots of detail.
previous sewing experience? he made a funky improvised what we'd call "ghetto" cushion for our rocking chair once and last week he made himself some pants from scratch (pictures to follow soon). and then he made THIS! i'm still in shock. and as i said, i think it's incredibly awesome! i love him for it. the bag is beautiful and it makes me so happy to see him proud and interested and inspired and eager to learn new things... plus, he understands my passion a little better now, too.
BUT and it's a pretty big but, we now have to constantly arrange who gets to sew what when on which machine. i am learning to share my time, tools and materials. not easy but it can and must be done. i suppose most married couples deal with bigger issues.

anyways, dave rocks! i love you, husband.

on the line

2009-06-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

serged, washed and now drying... about half of my recent fabric purchases.

yes, yes. i've sucked at blogging. been too busy enjoying summer with the kids and making stuff. i WILL take pictures of recent projects and i WILL upload them soon though. promised.
now back to cuddling the baby...

if only everything was this wonderfully colorful...

2009-05-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

been working hard at making the world a more colorful place and i've had a few successes. now i just have to take some nice pictures to share with you. tomorrow maybe.

new favorite thing

2009-04-28T12:36:00.001-07:00

and it's no longer mine.

my first little attempt at "quilting" resulted in a pillow for my sister.
it's her birthday today and she's about to move into her new room which will sorta have a pippi longstocking theme. perfect combination of reasons for me to go wild with scissors and the sewing machine.

i'm absolutely in love with the way the pillow turned out. in fact, i could stare at it for hours... so many of my favorite fabrics collected in one random chaotic design. it's perfect and just the tease i needed in order to really get started on our big family quilt. it's like a mouth watering appetizer.

anyways. long story short... here are some pics.

oh, in other really great news... my gran'ma is letting me have my great-grandaunt's very vintage singer machine. it's moving into my sewing space later this week hopefully. yay!

call me crazy

2009-04-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

so i've started quilting.

that's somewhat weird because quilting is one of the last things i ever thought i'd do.

it just doesn't seem to make a whole lotta sense to cut perfectly good fabric into lots of teeny tiny pieces only to sew them all back together again and in the end have a big piece of fabric. plus, i'm terribly impatient and it appears quilting requires ridiculous amounts of time and patience.

well, logic smogic and the time and patience i'll just have to find somehow.

i made some space in my out of control chaotic sewing corner, pulled out the scissors and cut half of my cotton stack into lots and lots and lots more little pieces. yes, i used scissors. because i'm too rock'n'roll (read: too poor) for a cutting mat and rotary cutter.

now my ironing board and pfaff machine sewing table are covered in scraps and i'm picking up more fabrics (good folks. finally!!) at the post office tomorrow which will also end up getting cut.

i've done about an hour and a half of reading up on quilting online and of course decided to ditch all the instructions and advice and figure out my own approach instead. yes.

oh, did i mention that i intend for the finished project to be king size? that's where i decided to forget about all the seasoned quilter's advice... everything i read said to start with a baby quilt and i'm dead set on making a massive one right away for our big cozy family bed.

which leads to the cause of this madness. i feel the need to make a big bright colorful fun warm cover for my husband, myself and mostly the kids. so i'm making a huge blanket which will fit all of us now and when the girls are much much older and move on to college or art school or to travel the world, i can split in two pieces and each can take half.

mk. pics? pics.

the past few weeks in fabric

2009-04-06T07:01:00.001-07:00

sigh. i feel like bathing in fabric. since that's not really a convenient option, i finally took the time to iron, fold and photograph most of my recent purchases. my husband thinks i'm a freak and he's probably right, but whatever. makes me happy and that's what matters.

14 half yards i received from fabricworm a week ago. love them for the most part. some colors are quite different from what i had expected but that's just what happens when you buy fabrics online without ordering swatches first. my favorite is the wonderland by momo print. i got a couple of other moda prints and i'm in love with the super fine feel of those fabrics... perfect for light summer shirts and dresses.

two pairs of quick summer pants i made for joon. her wardrobe needed some urgent help with the sudden change in weather. ten days ago it was winter here and now it's almost summer. crazy but oh so wonderful.

all those fabricworm pretties with their new friends in my stack of designer cottons. it appears i need to get a second bookshelf for materials some time soon.

this is the stack i got at a flea market last weekend.

and my bargains from stoffmarkt holland: a meter each of flower jersey (3euros), striped corduroy (5euros), boring but unbelievably soft grey jersey (5euros), light olive green flower print linen (2euros) and green and grey striped jersey (3euros). trin still has 2 meters of brown canvas for me which i plan on turning into thai fishermen pants next week.

still waiting for a stack of fat quarters... good folks complete collection should arrive here any day now. and i kinda feel like a five-year-old waiting for santa.

off to go work in the garden. time to start planting veggies in a couple of days.

spring awakening

2009-03-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

the hoarding of materials and sleepless nights due to inspiration overflow have begun again.
three weeks after mika's birth i wiped a thick layer of dust off of my sewing machine (yes, it should be covered, but i just love at least looking at it from across the room every day).

first i pimped a little hoodie sweater jacket for my cousin's birthday and forgot to take a picture of it. oh well.
then i moved on to actual sewing and made myself a quick and easy top and a very retro very artsy dress for joon. then a quick two minute hat for her and today i shortened one of the many pairs of cheap jeans i recently bought.
i sold a mei tai and put everything i made off of that right back into two big fabric orders from the states which should arrive here some time next week.
i got a little bit of fabric at ikea and bought a couple of vintage materials at a fleamarket yesterday.
the list of things i want to sew is growing by the minute.

on top of all of that trin and i went to hollaendischer stoffmarkt today... fabricgasm! seriously.
140 or so market booths selling fabrics, threads, ribbons, zippers, velcro, bias, patterns, absolutely everything related to sewing and all of it for much less than at the overpriced german fabric stores. our town's market square was filled with gorgeous materials and i got to walk through it all with my best friend and without our crazy toddlers or impatient husbands for two hours. it was absolutely amazing! i didn't buy a whole lot because i just spent a lot of money on fabrics, but i did finally get that little biastape making tool and bought some jerseys, the perfect material for the thai fisher pants i've been wanting to make and some funky corduroy for kid's pants. all of that for less than 30euros.
my head is still spinning, my heart rate is probably still elevated and my creative spirits are completely overflowing. time to get a sketchbook and stop sleeping altogether.

so. tomorrow i plan of finishing a kick ass guitar hero mei tai for the store and then it's off to working on my family's spring wardrobe... for now though here are some pictures from today and a promise that i'll take and share pictures of my most recent projects asap.

yay! for springtime and the earth's fertility! can't wait to see everything in full bloom soon!

Eleanor Mika

2009-02-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

Hurra! Hurra! Mika ist da!

Eleanor Mika was born at home on Sunday morning at 5:32am. She's 19.7" (50cm) long when stretched out from her regular ball shape and weighed in 7lbs 6oz (3350 gram).

She was welcomed by Mama, Papa, Oma, Gramma, Maria, Midwife Alexa and soon after showered with love and affection by proud big sister Joon who slept through the three short hours of labor and birth.

Everyone is doing beautifully, we're fully enjoying our "Babymoon" at home surrounded by family. Mika is very healthy, a great nurser and very content, Joon is over the moon with joy over Baby "Me-Nah" and adjusting to her new role as big sister incredibly well.

We'll be back with more pictures and details soon. Much love to everyone!

whoops! there goes december

2008-12-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

so it's december 18th and i've been very unhappily procrastinating getting christmas gifts done.

i say very unhappily because for once it wasn't my own lazyness keeping me from sticking to my plan. i have all these gorgeous materials sitting here, a looooong list of things i had planned to get done this month (prior to christmas and the whole baby having thing), a gorgeous old new sewing machine which is yet to be properly set up and aaaaaaaaall this creative energy but zero time for any of it.

of course december has been our busiest month since moving to germany with dave being gone much more than i had anticipated (yes, i was very naive not to factor in 3 hours of travel time and showing up an hour before each performance for every day of his december job).
of course i had overestimated my own energy level. of course i had underestimated the strain that sleepless because belly tends to be enormous in the last trimester nights would take on me.
and i certainly did not anticipate my kid coming down with the worst cold i've seen a toddler have.

she's better now but the past couple of days have been rather challenging. it should've been days filled with productivity, it ended up being days spent trying to do the math on how to best spread out the maximum milligrams of acetaminophen she's allowed to have withing 24hours, cutting several yards of flannel into hankerchief sized snotwipes (no time for laundry), filling at least a dozen sippycups a day with fluids, being annoyed with our bad pediatrician, reading "hand, hand, fingers, thumb" over and over and over again, watching hours of zoo tv while cuddling a burning child...

blaaaaaaah! this weekend she should be over the worst, but dave is gonna be gone nonstop playing four theater performances and a gig. so i guess i may have monday and tuesday to sew up a storm. or to get sick myself and over the worst of it in time for christmas celebrations.

next year will be different. it's gotta be. i'll either skip the whole handmade holidays thing alltogether or i'll start making gifts in august. let's hope it's option number two. i really don't want to go back to buying gifts from chainstores.

so. note to self, kids always get sick when it's least convenient. be prepared.

exciting friday morning

2008-12-12T01:52:00.000-08:00

today i had to do something i don't normally do... take pictures of a fabric delivery right out of the box!

usually all my new fabrics get the prewash, line dry, iron with lots of love treatment first and then i lay them out nicely and take pics.

in this case i'm too excited to wait! i ordered from an ebay seller for the first time (i normally get most fabrics from etsy supply sellers) and i'm amazed by how quickly this order made it here from the states! the price per yard was a little higher than what my favorite etsians offer, but it was worth it for me in this case because i managed to get all the different fabrics i had planned on buying for a while from ONE seller rather than having to order from two or three different stores. AND i found a nice michael miller print i had never noticed anywhere before. yay!

so, here's my online fabric store recommendation, especially for everyone in europe... la-chakra offers a truely amazing selection of designer cottons, managed to fit 8 yards into a flat rate envelope, shipped so quickly i received my order a week after placing it AND marked the envelope as a gift (which i'd never expect anyone to do but after all my recent spendings on custom fees i'm glad to not have to hike out to the customs office for pick up, explaining and paying them a fortune). incredible!

now, here are my new beauties...

top to bottom: garden party "dancefloor", garden party "tablecloth" (2yards), garden party "mingling", michael miller "groovy guitars", michael miller "damask rock", michael miller bertha, alexander henry "sew now! sew wow!"

did i mention i love anna maria horner??

i'm so stoked about this micheal miller print! i wasn't even aware of it's existence until a few weeks ago (coincidentally i found this fabric the same night dave got his awesome vintage bass guitar) and all the photos of it i looked at online made it look totally black, white and grey. now that i see it "in person", it's actually slightly off-white which is soooo much prettier than i expected it to be. makes it looks somewhat vintage. yay!

bertha is another new favorite of mine. i had never noticed this print anywhere until i browsed la-chakra's store and thought it looked like it could be either totally gorgeous or completely hideous. i was very intrigued and ordered a yard thinking i could always resell it if i didn't like it. well, turns out it's gorgeous and i wish i had like five yards of it because it's perfect for so many projects i had in mind. i'll get the patchwork and applique look without having to do all the extra work, which is perfect for me right now since i'm getting a little sewing lazy these days. so yeah, it'll be some tough calls to make when it comes to deciding on what to do with just one yard of this treasure.

and finally the alexander henry print. i had seen this on etsy a few times but from the pictures it always looked a little too white and bare to me so i really didn't want to buy it. then i ordered that huge stack of garden party fat quarters and got seven little fabric charms with it (ruth from sewlovefabrics really is wonderful to work with!) and thought, wow! this looks great in person! so i decided to order some next chance i got and now i have a nice full yard of it and it's just sooooo pretty! it'll become two sewing machine covers in the hopes of me actually covering my machines when i have something truely pretty to do so with.

yeah, enough fabric ramble. thanks for letting me share my excitement with you. i know, i owe ya pics of my very few recent projects and i promise i'll get to it as soon as my kid returns home and lets me take pictures of her outfit.

maternity leave and sale

2008-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

so this is it. i'm officially putting myself on maternity leave.

it really has been a tough decision to make. i had just gotten into such a great flow of work and it felt so good to focus on something other than being a mother and wife and i've just recently discovered all these great sources for gorgeous materials which i'm now dieing to work with...
but i've spent the past two weeks in misery wanting to do so much and feeling more and more physically and mentally unable to keep up with myself and my desire to create and now i'm giving in and just taking an official break.

no more sewing for the joontoons store for a while. well, i might finish the two mei tais i've started, but i'm not putting any pressure on myself.

there's still lots i want to get done for joon, the new baby and i have a couple of things i'd love to get done for christmas, but i need to mainly just let go of the idea of "working" every day and instead focus on taking it easy, enjoying these last few weeks of being pregnant and of being a single child's mommy. it feels so important right now to soak up every minute with joon!

the pregnancy is still going super well, but the baby is already sitting very low just like joon was and i can tell there's constant pressure on my pelvis, so my midwife told me to put those legs up and not do anything that's not a neccessity. i plan on not having to go through the whole hospital stay and bedrest due to premature labor thing this time around.
our midwife will be on call for us starting january 18th. that's only slightly over a month from now!! whoa.

so, in celebration of maternity leave, i've decided to have a small weeklong sale on etsy. yay, yay, yay!

while i will no longer be creating new pieces and don't know when i'll return to sewing for the etsy store, i'll keep the store running until i go into labor at which point the store will actually go on a few weeks of vacation as well.

oh, i've been meaning to take pics of the few things i've managed to create these past two weeks, but somehow i haven't even been able to update my facebook status on a regular basis... it looks like i may get around to taking pics tomorrow though and i'm excited to share with you the goodies i've sewn from my favorite michael miller fabric. :)

much love and crafty holidays spirit to everyone!

check out my etsy

2008-11-29T03:56:00.001-08:00

seriously. go take a look. i'm in love with my two new mei tais! they're so pretty... so instead of boring you with more "anna maria horner is a genius" speeches, i'll show off my work instead.

and then we're off to go see the opening show of the children's musical which dave did the musical direction and arrangements for and stars and drums in. my husband is pretty amazing. and hot. and all sortsa good things.

delay

2008-11-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

no mei tais today. so sorry. i was so close to having them finished, but then joon decided half an hour was long enough of a nap and required my attention. so i won't manage to get the mei tais done before the sun disappears (which is like now and it's 2:45pm) which means no pictures which then means no listings. bleh. i'm not happy.

anyways, by the time most of you get up tomorrow there'll be two new beauties on etsy. promised.

pinks and blues...

2008-11-27T05:51:00.000-08:00

are what's keeping me somewhat sane on this otherwise very far from festive thanksgiving day.
and that's pretty weird, because if you know me, you know that i'm so not a pink and blue kinda girl.

anyways, wishing you all a happy turkey day if you're celebrating thanksgiving or just a happy thursday if today is simply a thursday to you.

the pinks and blues are well on their way to becoming two toddler mei tais and should be ready to make their appearance on etsy tomorrow (yes, on crazy black friday).

preview? there ya go.

i blame church

2008-11-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

yay! i found yet another thing to blame church for! ;)

growing up as a baptist church pastor's granddaughter did have a few advantages... everyone knew and loved us. or they had to love us, which is probably closer to the truth. anyways, one of our church members was in the textiles industry. i believe he had a fabric business. he always gave us big stacks of little fabric samples to play with. so as a young child i had this kid sized plastic suitcase filled with lots and lots and lots of silky fabric samples in all shades and colors and for years that suitcase full of scraps was my favorite thing to play with. i'd dig my hands in there and swooosh! throw them up in the air and let them rain down on my head. i'd sort them, stack them, tie them, swooosh! them again.... sigh!

why am i telling you this? because i just spent half an hour shaking my booty to old school no doubt and rearranged my neatly folded garden party fat quaters in every way possible, by print, by color, by color in a different way.... it made me think of that suitcase and helped me understand why it is that i'm so obsessed with fabrics.

i took close to one hundred pictures of it all. does that make me a fabric nerd? i need something to hold on to when all these beauties have been cut, turned into pretty things and have lovely new owners. speaking of cutting, that's what i should be doing. cutting those fabrics. seems i'm avoiding having to do that by posting endless rambles on my blog. yes.

so anyways, here are all my pretty new fabrics lined up and there's a shot of the totally non-traditional christmas wreath i made for our front door the other day. i needed to make something random and random it is. oh, and i thought i'd include the view from our bathroom window at sunrise a few days ago. i loooooove snow! at least this year.

and now i'm off to working on mei tais again. finally!!

bleh

2008-11-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

it's been a very unproductive weekend.

i'm still waiting for my fabric orders to come in and until then mei tai production is on hold which is very frustrating to me right now. i had just reached such a good flow of productivity and now i'm left to sit here waiting.
i've managed to prepare four sets of straps though, two are even attached to the inner canvas layer already. so i should be getting the next couple of carriers finished unusually quickly.

this has also given me time to think about where i'd like to take my carrier designs next which led to serious consideration of making joontoons slipcovers, podeagis and the possibility of changing one small feature (the hood loops) on the mei tais. i'll most likely do some testing on all those ideas in the next few weeks.

there's been more time for sewing for my family which was nice. joon now has two super soft new pillow covers for the big girl bed she's about to get, dave has a fancy new pillow, joon's neck is finally warm enough because of the ridiculously pretty scarf i made from my last garden party scraps and some comfy fleece and i started working on an upcycled sweater kimono jacket for our new baby. yay, yay, yay!

now here's hoping that i get my fabrics tomorrow because i'm afraid if i don't i'll have too much time to think of more things i want to create.

oh, pics? yes. tomorrow. hopefully.

hokkaido dolls mei tai now on etsy

2008-11-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

just a quick lil' note to inform you that i just listed another mei tai on etsy.

more toddler mei tais coming very soon. i promise! ;)

oh, and because she's cute...

joon right after her nap today sporting her fancy new hat that grandma got at the pow wow.

ouch

2008-11-18T00:22:00.000-08:00

motrin has issued an apology and is pulling the add from all media as soon as they're able.

but, i think this is a good (or bad) example for how companies with financial gain in mind shape public opinion.

my truth about back pain and babywearing is that i no longer have backaches because i've carried joon every day for more than a year taking advantage of the great baby carriers that are out there. now at seven months pregnant i hardly carry her anymore, but i'm still backpain free! when i was pregnant with her my back was killing me most days.

so maybe that's why motrin ran this add, they've noticed a drop in sales along with an increase of sales in quality baby carriers. ;)

babynames

2008-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

so i'm somewhere around the 30-weeks mark now, i guess and we've yet to find a name for our new baby.

she's gonna be an eleanor, that's decided, but we're not sure if that'll be the first or middle name and we need another name to go with it.

suggestions? we're glad to take them. seriously! please post your suggestions!
how often to parents-to-be (-again) actually ask for babyname suggestions? this is a rare opportunity for you, take advantage of it and give us lots and lots of name ideas, please. and don't fear going really far out there, i'd kinda like something exotic.

oh, and just in case our girl turns out to be a boy we'd also like to have a boy name prepared... the initials need to be M.D. thoughts?

preview

2008-11-17T03:45:00.000-08:00

here's what i've been working on the past two days. it's a baby size mei tai and i've been so eager to get it done, but a nasty headache is forcing me to call it quits for now.
hopefully i'll get to finish it tonight, it's so frustrating to be like an hour from having a project finished and then having to take a break. anyways, this should go on etsy tomorrow!

sharing the fabric love

2008-11-16T00:59:00.000-08:00

this month has so far been a really fantastic one for many reasons (Yes, We Did!).

one of my favorite things about this november though has got to be the fact that i managed to kick the greyness in the butt by purchasing ridiculous amounts of gorgeous fabrics which are sure to brighten my days for the rest of the grey season and will hopefully make the recipients of the final products feel happy, bright and colorful as well.

so here's what i got most recently...

mainly intended for mei tai bodies, but these fabrics are kinda whispering "make me into a bag" into my ear.

this pint one is ridiculously bright, but i just had to get it. i'm not quite sure if it would work as a mei tai, but i just may have to try. one of my favorite aspects of making clothing and carriers is that bit of suspense not knowing what a pattern will look like until it's made into a garment or carrier.

straps, straps, straps. the orange is so yummy it made me crave sweet potatoes all day yesterday. german stores are closed on sundays, but i'm set on getting some tomorrow and then i'll probably eat sweet potatoes all day!

i loooooove these quilter's weight cottons! so soft, i'm seriously considering making bedding from the one on the left.

yes, this is a stack of fat quarters. yes, it's garden party. it's twenty-eight of the fourty-four anna maria horner prints and they're on their way to me. needless to say thinking of the day that these beauties will arrive in their new home, i feel like a kid that's just been told she could spend a week in disney land and have all the free candy she wants.
check out sewlovefabrics on etsy for a great selection of ridiculously pretty fabrics!

i've been drooling over "groovy guitars" for months now and finally managed to order some. it's on its way over here from luckykaerufabrics along with some of my favorite alexander henry prints and my first ever echino (gotta find out if it's worth the hype).

all that should really be enough, i know. but there's more! my sweet wonderful mother-in-law went shopping at joann's yesterday. i got to join her in spirit and i'm sure she picked out some treasures for me. i just have no idea what's in store for me... yay! fabric surprises!

whoa

2008-11-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

i am so tired it's hard to put in words. but i'm at least as happy as i am tired and being happy is far more important and way more fun to think and write about.

so yesterday was my 20-something-th birthday (seven? i think so. no. six? whatever.).
it was absolutely fantastic! if fact, it just simply could not have been a more beautiful day! which i must admit caught me by surprise, since the last birthday i remember i really enjoyed was more than fifteen years ago.

yesterday everything was perfect.

i got to sleep in as long as i wanted to. when i forced myself out of bed to get started on some sewing work i walked into a tidy living room (you know that we have a seventeen-month-old chaos machine living with us, right?) and found really cool handmade by my superhero husband birthday decorations. joon and i snuggled on the couch while dave made me a huge mug of coffee and quite possibly the tastiest banana pancakes of all times which he topped with lots of nutella and a candle. yum!
i got to do all my online catching up and then dave took joon out to the playground and i had a few hours to sew in peace. i soaked up every minute of it and had a great time.
eventually i managed to put my project down, got ready for company and then most of my family came over for coffee and cake. i got some really great gifts (handknit socks for joon and new baby, big ole basket of organic fruits and veggies, yummy beer shampoo from lush, cash for sewing notions, an ikea gift card so i can get some storage boxes and lamps and such for my workspace, a really cool teapot and a candle thingy to keep the tea warm, a crazy looking felted flower vase which i have to take a picture of and show you tomorrow, a storage thing for my threads which dave made for me last minute and i should also show you a picture of and oh yes, my sweet old pfaff machine), lots of pretty flowers and most importantly everything was just totally relaxed and full of love and appreciation. i looooooooooooove my family!

in the evening we ordered pizza and hung out some more until eventually everyone left and we got joon to bed way past her bedtime.

dave and i hung out on the couch a little longer, i ordered some fancy designer fabrics on etsy and we went to bed very happily and blissfully unaware of how crappy the rest of the night would be. and that's why i'm tired and getting ready to go to bed early tonight.

yes, the perfect birthday. thanks so much to dave who really is the best husband and father anyone could ever wish for, joon who's most certainly the cutest kid on the face of this planet and keeps getting cuter by the minute, my family whom i could not be more blessed with and my sweet friends who sent "happy birthday" messages and let me know they were thinking of me.

love, love, love!

more craft stuff tomorrow. promised.

listing on etsy in just a little while...

2008-11-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

the first joontoons baby mei tai is ready to be listed in a few moments! i'm stoked about how it turned out... loooooove it.

more blogging later tonight, gotta get the etsy stuff done and then spend a fun afternoon with the kiddo and her sweet lil' friend. :)

long overdue

2008-11-11T03:41:00.000-08:00

i made something for myself. yes, myself. i've been trying to remember when i last sewed something just for me and i honestly just don't know... it must've been a while.

so i finally put the bag i've been dreaming of for weeks on top of my "things to sew" list and finished this morning.

yes, it's more "garden party". i'm still completely obsessed with that collection and i'm checking my etsy every five minutes or so hoping to finally make a sale so i can buy more a.m.h. fabrics. turns out she's coming out with a new line in january and i just saw the first pics of it on her blog... must have all of them. now!

anyways, i had originally planned to make the actual bag from the darker "table cloth" fabric but after two mei tais i didn't have enough fabric left for this enormous tote so i went with the green instead. the bag has four inside pockets which will hopefully keep me from having to search for keys or cellphone for ten minutes while trying to keep a newborn and a toddler happy. i went for the totally oversized look knowing that i'll soon be carrying around necessities for two kids in cloth diapers. we'll need looooooooooots of room! i also made sure the strap was long enough to fit around our stroller's handlebar so that i won't have to carry it when i'm wearing our new baby.
the blue inside fabric is a really heavy ikea home dec cotton and i'm hoping this big beauty will be my faithful companion for a long time.

so much for the bag. the black backround btw is the new enormous chalkboard dave made the other day. it serves as canvas to joon's recently discovered creative outpours and the top half will hopefully help us improve on scheduling our day to day activities which we've been shockingly bad at lately. too much to do too little time and as always way too many ideas.

one last thing, i've been wanting to write about one of my favorite german traditions, "st. martin's fest". st. martin's day is on november 11th and it celebrates the memory of some dude on a horse who cut his cloak in half with his sword and gave half to a poor man in the street about to freeze. the poor man's life was saved and martin became a saint. or something.
anyways, there's more to it of course but what matters to me is the fest that comes with that story...

each year around november 11th all german children make paper lanterns and then they gather one evening and go on a little parade usually led by "st. martin" on a horse with a cloak and a sword and some sort of knight helmet thing which is usually made from plastic and looks really cheap. there's usually a small brass ensemble and then there's lots and lots of children and lots and lots of parents and they walk through the streets with their selfmade lanterns and sing songs. in the end they gather around a fire, drink hot chocolate or "gluehwein", eat a particular st. martin's bread and just look happy and peaceful and... i love "st. martin's parade"!

this year we missed the festivities in my old part of town which i always went to growing up. it's by far the best one out there, i'm sure! (no, i'm not biased.) but for some reason it was held super early this year so we didn't get to go. instead we went to the one in our new neighborhood which was also fun but nowhere near as romantic. joon had a great time though! that's what matters most.

and it reminded me of why it is that i didn't really mind the long dark and cold season in germany as a child... it was because i constantly had really fantastic reasons to craft! starting with german thanksgiving ("erntedank"), then st. martin, my birthday, my two brother's birthdays, st. nicholaus on december 6th, the whole time leading up to christmas, my mother's birthday, christmas, new year's and by the time that rolled around we already got to get excited for spring again!

so this fall and winter and all falls and winters from now on, i'll make a point to create! to take the time to sit down and really focus on small crafts, drink yummy tea, use lots of glue, surround myself with colorful materials, bake cookies, all the good stuff.
i love love love summer and being outside constantly! but the cozy cooped up in the house aspect of winter i love just as much. i just haven't been aware of it.

babywearing in the early 1960's

2008-11-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

this is just about the coolest thing i've seen in a long time! so much for "oh, i wish we had had those things when my kids were little!"...

more craft stuff and such tomorrow. it's way past my bedtime and dave is finally home so it's time for me to go to sleep.

woohoo!

2008-11-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

one of the lovely crafters in my awesome etsy street team crafting in color put together a really pretty treasury full of fun colorful goodies and i get to be a part of it.

come take a look at orange cic by sweet zoewoods and check out my fellow team members!

this really brightened up an otherwise incredibly grey sunday morning for me... go soak up some orange! i promise it'll make you feel good.

what a week

2008-11-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

we have a new president! well, you do. if you're american. does the rest of the world get to call him "our" president? in this case i kinda would like to call him that. at least for now. anyways, he's not really president yet. so i guess that statement was just all wrong. america has a new president-elect! there ya go. what i meant to say is, i don't remember the last time anything "politics" made me this happy!

unfortunately the elections took two complete days out of my crafting week. tuesday our midwife came over, we went on a great outing with dear friends and prepped the house for a little election party. then i stayed up til almost 4a.m. which left me useless the next day and i thought i'd better not set foot near scissors or a sewing machine til after a good night's sleep.

i got caught up though, mainly thanks to my butt-kickin' husband who btw is for sure the greatest dad to have ever walked this earth! i love you, dave. :)

so here are the results of a semi productive week...

green toddler mei tai going on etsy tonight

"very berry" baby mei tai unfortunately not going on etsy because it's flawed. i love this thing and i hope maybe it'll find a home somehow. if you're interested, drop me a line and i'll give you all the details and make you a great price! ;)

one more thing about this past week... it's just shocking to me how grown up my "baby" has suddenly become! baffles me every day. seriously. here she is "getting dressed".

celebration

2008-11-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

yay, yay, yayyayyay! for obama and the american voters!

i'm so excited it's impossible to put in words. and it'll take a while for all these good news to really sink in.

in the meantime i just feel like celebrating and decided to put everything in my etsy on sale til sunday.

wooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

joontoons' first made for etsy mei tai

2008-11-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

fabrics for body are all part of the gorgeous "garden party" collection by anna maria horner. the straps are double boxstitched to an inner layer of thick home dec weight canvas and reinforced with far from perfect but very pretty stitching on the outer layers. straps are super sturdy yet soft to the touch brushed canvas in eggplant. please check out my etsy for detailed measurements and such.

of course this carrier is completely one-of-a-kind like all joontoons items! but i'm already thinking up the next carrier in my head and i'm hoping to list a mei tai every week or so until my pregnant belly gets too big to fit between myself and my sewing machine(s).

enough talking, more showing off!

almost done

2008-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

so here's a first not so great pic of my first anna maria horner fabric project. i'm head over heels in love with this mei tai! honestly, i think it's the most gorgeous thing i've ever made and i basically could not be happier with the result.

took two days to make and i feel like i hardly got any sleep because i was so obsessed with getting it done, but now all it needs are the little loops for the hood straps and a joontoons tag and it's ready to go on etsy. yes, i made it for the store... it'll be hard to part with this beauty but i need to have to must feed my fabric addiction and am in bad need for some paypal funds.

and here's a close up of all the pretty pieces laid out together before i got to sew the whole thing this morning...

dancing heart

2008-10-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

look what came in the mail this morning! my first order of garden party fabrics! i'm beyond excited now. first the pfaff now the fabric, my crafty heart is about to explode there's so much joy!

of course i started a load of laundry five minutes before the postwoman rang and now my new fabric washing, line drying, ironing and folding ritual is going to have to wait an hour. oh well, enough time for me to get started on the straps for the gorgeous mei tai which is going to be my first garden party project...

heaven

2008-10-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

i got my machine. it sounds like music. seriously. that little razz... almost as beautiful of a sound as joon laughing. almost.

the lady i got it from was so sweet, she almost cried when dave and my brother carried it out the door. she asked me to call her and let her know how things are going and i promised i'd send her an email with a picture of work done on her machine. it used to be her mother's and she said it was time to let go but it felt like a family member leaving. sigh.

anyways, i tidied up and sorta half cleaned my sewing area yesterday so that my new friend would feel welcomed into her new home. for now she lives right by the window which is where i usually have my ironing board set up. once i get a proper extension cord and a really good lamp i'll probably move her into the corner and rearrange things a bit. for now, i need to give my new old pfaff a really good cleaning and work with the settings a bit and study the manual really well.
this will take up all of my crafting time for the next couple of days which kills me because i have a million and one projects already started or at least listed to start on. why oh why don't creative people not an extra ten hours in every day??

well, here are the pics...

original receipt from '56. how cool is that? i also have the bill and exact description of a cleaning and adjusting job done in the late 90's. the machine has hardly been used after that last check-up.

lots of bobbins, foot thingies and other little original parts.

my new best friend

2008-10-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

or so i hope

dave got me this awesome new old sewing machine on ebay today. it's a combined early birthday and christmas gift and i'm super stoked about it.
it looks to be in great condition and well taken care of. the lady even has the original purchase receipt from 1956.

now if only the seller would reply to my email... please keep your fingers crossed for me that we can pick this treasure up soon and that it'll be happy in it's new home.

finally

2008-10-24T05:22:00.001-07:00

other than battling a cold, ridiculously crazy preggo hormones, my husband's ever changing schedule of rehearsals and meetings and more rehearsals and a wonderful 16-month-old (who thankfully didn't seem to feel much like battles this whole week) i havent' been up to a whole lot the past few days.

well, i made my first attempts at upcycleing wool sweaters... the results are two pairs of wool longies which much to my surprise turned out really well and fit joon perfectly (of course i didn't take a single measurement and just eyeballed the whole thing) and a double layered pure wool wrap diaper cover which of course didn't turn out perfectly but taught me a few lessons on working with bulky stretchy material, handstichting and working with elastic.

so i now feel like a full on hippie mama! where do i get my official membership card for the club??

we'll see how the wool does diapering wise. i've got lots of washing and lanolizing to do this afternoon. if i like how my fist batch holds up to wet diapers, i'll make lots more. now fingers crossed that dave finds some nice shrunken wool sweaters at the oxfam store today.

i got nothing but crappy pictures but have to share them anyway cuz i'm actually kinda proud of my work.

these colors are totally messed up. the cover is more like a burgundy red and the longies are dirty pink and grape.

everybody else is doing it...

2008-10-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

i guess i'll do it too.

here's my "crafty" blog. i've been very busy sewing, thinking up designs, reading blogs, drooling over fabrics in online and real life stores, chatting on forums and all that crafty jazz and i feel an intense need to share with the world (or the one or two of you who'll actually come back here to read this every once in a while) what my crafty brain is up to.

there'll be lots of picture sharing, i'll get on your nerves endlessly by posting about tutorials (one of my most recent addictions), fabrics, music, my ridiculously entertaining kid, my way too busy husband, how awfully grey germany is in the winter and expect to read lots of comments on how wonderfully yummy german winter chocolates and cookies are.

oh, and i feel myself getting way too interested in etsy treasuries, so those will probably be a recurring theme as well. i plan on posting lots and lots and lots of gorgeous, fun, useful, yummy, inspiring or plain old weird handmade finds.

check back often, be in touch, get crafty and share, share, share.

the world seems a better place to me now that i've found the sheer endless stream of craft blogs. thank you crafty bloggers! :)

random collage created with the crappy picasa collage tool i just found. gonna go browse for something better looking now.