Old Socks and American Girls

D brought a pair of worn socks down to the kitchen this morning asking if I wanted to do anything with them or if he should throw them out.  I told him I would stick them in the bag of ripped and stained clothes that I drop in the clothing recycle bin.  But of course my crafty little brain started thinking about what I could make with them.  M is really in to playing with her American Girl dolls and I have been crafting for them.  I decided the socks would make cute skirts for "the girls".   Here's what the first finished skirt looks like on Grace:

I took some pictures as I made the other skirt.  It's not a tutorial, just a few step by step pictures that give an idea of the simple process.

First, find a sock.  We have a lot of orphan socks around here, but these were a worn out pair.

The size of this ribbed men's Smart Wool sock worked well.

 So I cut the ribbed part off and saved the foot in case I come up with a project for that.












I turned the sock inside out and pulled the top part of the sock up over the doll's waist to make a mini skirt that just barely covered her bum.  The bottom part of the sock became the hem of the skirt and I folded it up so I could hem it.  It was really important to hem it on the doll so that I knew it would be able to stretch over her legs.

I'm not the most careful or patient seamstress, so here's what the hem looks like.  It's okay, because I'll turn that skirt right-side-out and pull the part I hemmed up as the waist.

Katherine would be so embarrassed if she knew you could see her panties in these pictures!











Here are the finished skirts on Grace and Katherine.  They are also sporting custom t-shirts with felt designs.   My daughter would probably narrate what they're doing in this way (because she watches a lot of YouTube videos about morning routines, etc.):

"Grace and Katherine are all ready for a day out.  They're wearing adorable brown knit skirts and the most adorable custom t-shirts.  Grace is wearing cute brown shoes and Katherine is wearing purple flats to match her tee.  They've packed their tote bag and are ready to go."

The shirt on Katherine (on the right) was made using an American Girl Crafts kit.  The cupcake tee on Grace is a t-shirt I bought on Amazon embellished with a cupcake made from a pattern in the same AG craft kit.  The dogs are glued onto Katherine's shirt but the cupcake on Grace's shirt is affixed with velcro so my daughter can switch it out for other designs like the heart in the first picture of the post (and below on Grace's hand).

So, if you've got an old sock and a little time you too could make a doll skirt.  The skirt can also be worn as a cute tube top.  This is my first American Girl Doll post, but there will probably be more.  My daughter loves her dolls and both of us enjoy crafting!

Mother's Day Flowers

Our local NPR affiliate has a special fundraiser for Mother's Day where they'll send a flower arrangement from a prestigious local florist to anyone you choose in exchange for a healthy donation. Much as I would love to support the radio station (especially since I won a trip to Cuba from them in 2004), neither I nor D ordered flowers from them.

Instead, on Saturday morning, I went to my favorite local grocery store and picked up 10 peach colored petite roses for a grand total of $4 and turned them into the lovely arrangement above using flowers and greenery from our yard. I filed a teapot (Johnson Bros. Olde Britain Castles pattern) with oasis and added white french lilacs, white dogwood blooms, pink dogwood blooms, and lots of lilac leaves, along with the roses. The lilac leaves were a little droopy, but I decided they would do.

I decided this was a pretty nice Mother's Day arrangement for $4! I added a few more flowers to it on Sunday afternoon when D's grandma brought a few stems of Spanish Bluebells. Their light purple color was the perfect compliment to the peach, white, and green (too bad I don't have a picture with them included).

First Sewing Project

This past weekend my mom came up to help me with a sewing project I've been meaning to tackle for several months (since this post, anyway). She helped me to make a valance for my kitchen window to finally add a burst of color to the room. My mom has made nearly all of the window treatments in her house over the years--from living room drapes, to dining room swags, to puffy valances for my late 80s/early 90s bedroom. For my bedroom she also made the comforter cover, dust ruffle, pillow shams, and a cushion for my wicker chair. I was very lucky to have a mom who sewed because it meant I could change the decor in my room more often than most of the kids I knew. My mom also also made curtains, pillows, and a window seat cushion for my college dorm room and throw pillows for my various apartments.

On Sunday my mom passed the tradition to me. I had sewn some growing up both by hand and by machine, but I haven't touched a sewing machine in at least 6 years. The good thing is, it's like riding a bicycle, it does come back. Armed with her handy dandy sewing book given to her at her bridal shower in 1970, my mom showed me the various ways to line curtains and then, like any good parent, taught me the cheater method to make it easier--after all, valances are high up and no one will be able to see whether my lining is professional quality.

This is my mom and her sewing book:

Next we tackled the size length and width of the valance and what size we would need to cut the fabric. D helped out on this by holding a dish towel up to the window so I could judge what length I would want. I decided on 12" because I didn't want to cover too much of the view. We added a 5/8" bottom hem, a 5/8" top hem, and 2" for the rod heading. Then we cut the main fabric and lining fabric. I was lucky the main fabric was an all over pattern with a short repeat since I had only bought 1 yard of it and needed two 15 1/2" lengths. My mom helped me cut my fabric, pin my seams, and figure out the order in which to stitch the seams, but I did all of the actual sewing myself.

I didn't take many pictures of the process of making the valance, but I did take a few. One thing I did which proved very helpful was to make some seams on a scarp of the lining fabric with the machine set at various tensions and stitch lengths. This was my first time using my sister's sewing machine, so I had no idea what settings to use. By trial and error, I determined the proper stitch length and tension for the majority of my seams. Then, when I went to sew the rod heading, which was 6+ layers of fabric, I used my scrap again to adjust the tension and stitch length.

I almost finished the valance on Sunday night but I was getting frustrated trying to get the right tension for my final seam. I had to rip out almost an entire 102" seam. I called it quits, mom went home, and I finished the valance last night. here it is hanging in my kitchen window this morning (my mom brought me the pansies).

I'll be sewing!

I've decided that I need to relearn how to sew. I don't think I've used a sewing machine in the past 2 decades, but I'm determined to start again! Owning a new home that needs window treatments is certainly an incentive, especially since Calico Corners and the Fabric Place both charge $80 plus fabric costs for the valances I like for my dining room.

My sister received a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago and has used it to make Halloween costumes for her kids, baby gifts, etc. Since she's doesn't see herself using it anytime soon, she's let me borrow it. I'm hoping to spend some quality time with the sewing machine and some scrap fabric this weekend relearning how to sew. Once I've adequately learned how to stitch straight seams, I'm going to tackle a valance for the kitchen window. I've got my fabric all ready...it's this Amy Butler fabric which will look perfect in my light green kitchen and will add a splash of color too:

I also made a super fabric purchase last week at the Crate and Barrel Outlet going out of business sale. I bought approximately 5 yards of a large blue and white floral Marimekko fabric for $6.95 a yard...and if that wasn't enough of a bargain, the saleslady decided to only charge me for 3 yards because she couldn't remember (wink, wink) how much fabric it was when she measured it (I took what was left on the bolt). I can't find a picture of the fabric anywhere online, but the colors are similar to this Marimekko fabric, only with a light blue in the mix too.

It reminded me of the fabrics and colors that were in 2 of the hotels D and I stayed at in Greece. Here's the first one, Kastelli Reort in Santorini (our suite was similar to this one):

And the other was Petasos Beach Resort where our room looked almost exactly like this:

I'm going to make valances and a wall hanging out of the Marimekko for our blue bedroom and make it a Greek Island themed guest room. Here's what color the blue bedroom is (the color it was when we moved in...and we're keeping it at least until we have kids):

So wish me luck with my sewing--I've got Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" checked out from the library which hopefully will help me!

First Felting Project

Once upon a time I owned a striped Gap sweater. My mom gave it to me for Christmas in 2002. It was a good sweater, a fun sweater. It's the sweater I wore to the animal shelter on the day I adopted Mercury. Over time that sweater got a little stretched out and a little pilly, and generally wasn't looking so good. But then, through the magic of the internets, I found out about felting sweaters and this particular sweater was destined for a new life. A new life as a cover for the navigation system that D's parents gave us for Christmas.

My first idea was to make an envelope for the nav system. So I cut the sweater into a rectangle. My plan was to sew up the sides with orange yarn using a blanket stitch. After I stitched up one side, I decided it didn't look so great, so I came up with another plan.

This is a sleeve. Ans what better thing to make a sleeve for the nav system out of than a sweater sleeve! I stitched up the end and voila--a nav system sleeve.

Then I put a button on so that the cuff could fold over and button to fasten the cover. However, you'll notice that it's not exactly square. So I had to turn it inside out and fix it.

So here's what it looks like after I made it more square on the bottom. It's not exactly perfect, but I think it's pretty cute.

For some beautiful items made out of felted sweaters, check out www.betzwhite.com and her blog, http://blog.betzwhite.com, where she even has some felted project tutorials.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 2007 was probably the best year I've ever had. I married the best guy in the whole world, and we moved into our cozy house with a beautiful yard. Hopefully 2008 will be a little less busy than 2007, but equally great.

I took some pictures of a project I did a few weeks ago and hadn't gotten around to posting them (I now have a backlog of things to post). For some relatives for Christmas I put together baskets of amaryllis bulbs. I had meant to do them in November so they would be close to blooming when I gave them for Christmas, but time got away from me.

The bulbs are from Park Seed. I ordered lots of daffodil bulbs from them in the fall and was really impressed with the quality. When I saw they had all kinds of varieties of amaryllis, I had to order some for gifts. I've always liked amaryllis, but the ones you can get in "kits" at the store don't always turn out so well. I ordered 4 types of amaryllis: Mambo, Liberty, Christmas Star, and Baby Star. Then I found some perfect baskets to plant them in at the Crate and Barrel outlet.

To plant the amaryllis, I consulted the instructions that came with them, and also some tips from P. Allen Smith's website. In addition, I used these instructions on the tags I made for each gift. The best trick I used was putting a coffee filter in the bottom of the nursery pots before adding the soil--that way no soil falls out. I also wrapped the pots in aluminum foil before placing them in the baskets.

For the tags, I used pictures I grabbed from the Park Seed website, and wrote a description of the bulb and instructions based on the Park Seed website description and P. Allen Smith's planting tips. Add a little scrpabooking paper and some ribbon, and voila! Gift tags!

A wreath for the front door

I'm just starting my Christmas decorating, and appropriately starting it with the entry to our house--a wreath for the front door. I started by buying a $6.99 plain 12" wreath at my favorite local grocery store. I also purchased a roll of wired ribbon at HomeGoods for $2.99. Add in the floral wire I bought for $1.49 at the craft store, and I was all set for my $11.47 front door decoration!

The ribbon I bought is cream-colored with gold trim and pinecones on it. Thus, I decided to decorate my wreath with pinecones. Anina over at Twiddletails had pinecones on her wreaths and they are beautiful.On Saturday, while I was planting my daffodils on the coldest day of the year, 1 day before our first snow was expected, I picked up some pinecones in the yard and some off of the tree at the end of our driveway.

So, I gathered my materials, plus some tacky glue, wire cutters, and scissors and I was ready to start. The first thing I did was place the large pinecones around the wreath so I could get the spacing right (I had to leave a gap where the bow would go). Then, I wired each pinecone to the wreath by wrapping wire around the bottom-most part of the pinecone and wrapping that wire around the wreath. I then wrapped a piece of wire around the middle-to-top part of the pinecone, securing it to the wreath.Then, I glued 3 small pinecones together by first gluing 2 together, letting it dry enough so they stayed in place, and then gluing the third pinecone on. While I waited for them to dry I made my bow.

My mom is an expert at making bows with wired ribbon, but I wasn't able to get her help this time, so I consulted the web. I figured Martha must have instructions, but the best I could fine through her site was how to make a rossette bow using satin (non wired) ribbon. I started out this way (but didn't cut the notches).Then, I needed to add the little "knot" in the center. I made a small loop of ribbon and secured it with wire. Then I used more wire to attach it to the bow.The last step was to make the "tails". I cut a piece of ribbon, notched the ends, folded it in half, and wired it to the back of the bow. Voila! For better instructions on wired-ribbon bow making, check out this site.Here's the finished wreath with the little pinecones glued on. I stuck some single ones on randomly too, trying to make it look like they actually grew on the wreath.And here it is hung on our house!

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

Most of what I know about hosting a family gathering or party I learned from my mom, who learned from my grandmother. Sure, there are tips and tricks from Martha Stewart, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple, and more recently the blogs I read thrown in, but the way I learn best (as most of us do) is through experience. In addition to cooking, my mother taught me how to arrange flowers. Now, I'm not nearly as good at is as she is, but I've found I'm pretty good at taking $25 of flowers from the supermarket and making it look like much, much more.

So, on Tuesday I went to Stop and Shop and picked up a bunch of bunches of their "3 for $12" flowers. The selection of flowers in fall colors was largely limited to mums which aren't a favorite of mine, but they do say "fall". I bought 1 bunch of big orange mums, i bunch of little yellow button mums, and some medium-sized red mums. In addition, I picked up a bunch of red hypericum berries, some yellow alstromeria (Peruvian lillies), and a bunch of yellow carnations (one of my absolute least favorite flowers). I also bought 2 blocks of oasis floral foam. The grand total of my purchase: $29.00. The flowers don't look very impressive when popped into a vase for storage (I cut the ends off each one and places them in a vase with floral preservative). But they will look good in the finished arrangements.The key to many flower arrangements is having lots of greens. The greens you find at the supermarket are extremely disappointing, and even at a florist they can be pretty disappointing, but I have a secret place to get greens--my backyard! Even in November there are still lots of green leaves--and not just pines! I took my pruners and went for a walk around the yard where I cut leafy branches off of my rhododendron, azalea, forsythia, and euonymous. I also cut some bare branches off of other bushes, some budding branches from the dogwood tree, a bunch of the spiky leaves from my summer container gardens, and a ton of vinca leaves that grows under my dogwood tree. Armed with the greens, I was ready to start my flower arrangements.

The first step is to soak the floral foam in a big pot of water so it's fully saturated. Then, select containers. I selected a white footed salad bowl from Williams Sonoma that my sister-in-law had given to me. It's pretty low, and it's elliptical shape is great for a centerpiece. I wasn't sure what to use for the 2nd container, but I decided on a basket that my friend Wendy had packaged my shower gift in. I found a bowl that fit into the basket just perfectly so it could hold water. Once the floral foam was saturated, I cut it to fit into the bowl and basket. I kept most of it in 2 big blocks, but cut a little off the ends and wedged it into the empty spots in my bowls.

Now comes the trick, cover the entire block of foam with greens before you place any flowers. I started by putting rhododendron leaves all around the edge.Then I added in some azalea, also near the edges, and filled most of the top with vinca. I added some other leaves here and there for interest and color (the azalea was a pretty reddish color while the forsythia was a chartreuse green).Once the whole block of foam was covered with greens, I added my biggest flowers to anchor the arrangement. I put 3 big mums in an arch across the top of the white bowl, and a big mum on either side of the basket. Next I filled in with all of the other flowers, cutting then to length as I went and re-cutting them if they ended up being too tall. I tried to use half of the flowers in each arrangement.
Once all of the flowers were in, I went back and filled any gaps with remaining leaves. As the final touch, I added some spiky branches and grasses.

Here are the 2 final products:
And here they are on the Thanksgiving tables:I was pretty impressed with my centerpieces. They weren't professional, but I think they look pretty good, especially for the grand total of $29.00 that I spent!

Cats in Sweaters!

One of my very favorite bloggers Crazy Aunt Purl just posted a Flickr set from her cat sweater contest. Mercury is featured on the first page (but she's not wearing a sweater). These pictures are so funny!

Pay It Forward (Blog Style)

I've just read on The Knit Girl about a blog challenge (okay, not really a challenge, more like a game) of Paying It Forward. Here's how it works:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

So, leave me a comment if you'd like me to Pay It Forward. I will try my very best to send you something before Christmas.

Fall Swap!

I recently completed my first blog swap! I've recently rediscovered just how much I enjoy crafting and the Fall Swap was a great way to really get back into the swing of things. I was paired with a woman from Maine who sent me this:A quilted scarf, a knitting needle case embroidered with little knots to match the ribbon, and some cat grass for Mercury. The scarf is adorable and it's been the perfect weather for wearing it--cool and dry. I really like how it looks with my old jean jacket. I'll have to take a picture of me wearing it. The knitting needle case is so cute and a great place to stash my needles (especially the long ones that don't fit in the pencil box I currently use to hold my needles). I think I will make some little tags with needle sizes on them that I can pin to the pockets in the needle case. I'm thinking of stamping the numbers onto little pieces of ribbon and attaching them with tiny brass safety pins so I don't ruin the overall look of the needle case (and I can switch them around).

So, what did Jess get in return for this awesome swap package?

I made a knitted bunny for her son--I used the same pattern from Knitting Daily that I used for the knitty kitties, but I used a super soft yarn called Bernat Bamboo. This yarn is incredibly soft, but it had a tendency to fall apart a little as I was knitting because the fibers aren't very long. The other thing is that I didn't do a gauge swatch and so my gauge was a little loose and so you can see the stuffing through the knitting. I should have used smaller needles. Live and learn I guess. Still, I think it came out really cute.

I also made some notecards from my photographs of flowers and other things in nature (many of the photos are on this blog). The photo of the apples was taken last fall in Western Mass when we went apple picking with D's sisters, bro-in-laws, and nephews. I really like this photo. I mounted all of the photos when I was at the newcomers scarpbooking night a few weeks ago.
In addition to these, I sent Jess some honey I bought at Idylwilde Farms and a flour sack dish towel that I stamped using a carved wooden block I bought in Coolidge Corner. When I was doing the dish towel, I also did some onesies that came out really cute (I just gave one to my friend Chelsea's daughter on Monday). These block printing things came out so well that I went back to Brookline and bought 2 more stamps. I've also found an online source for buying onesies, etc. in bulk, so I may just start an Etsy store one of these days!