Everything's Coming Up Ultrasuede

Sorry! I've been bad again! Don't forget I have this adorable excuse.


I've actually been doing a surprising amount of crafting, just not much that's blog-worthy or geeky. But hey, I'm going to post some of them anyway. Here's Charlie's favorite:


I made a new cover for my memory-foam-not-bean bag. I bought this chair from a company that doesn't exist any more, and my cats went to town on the original twill cover, so it needed to be replaced by something more durable.

I made the cover by tearing apart the seams from the old cover and using it as a pattern. I even re-used the original zipper.

It is the most comfortable chair you can imagine, and as you can see here, Charlie loves it.

Look, it matches my futon!


I actually wrote a letter to the company that made this futon cover and asked them if I could buy some fabric off them. They sold it to me, at cost!

Since I had a little extra, I made some straps to help keep the futon cover from slipping down. Because I hate when futons do that.


They attach with buttons, in case you want to try to hold up a futon mattress of your own.

Fluffy Bunny Basket

I think this may be the last of the polar bear fur, finally. I made Charlie an Easter basket that he will surely think is too cute in a couple of years. I mean, seriously, it has a tail.



Don't worry, we won't be giving Charlie any age inappropriate food (e.g., candy). We have a joke about giving Charlie candy; I eat candy, and claim that it's for him. Does this breast milk taste like Cadbury cream eggs Charlie??

This bag is inspired by this bag on Disdressed. She used a pattern from Zakka Sewing; that book had a long wait list at the library, so I just sewed together a few fabric squares and called it a day. I changed the ears a bit also.

Fabulous Star Lemon Cake

Modified from a Bon Apetit recipe. This cake has a satisfying texture and surprising flavor.

Cake:
1 cup plus 1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground star anise (about 1 star)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon (zest of one lemon)
2/3 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
1 package cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1-3 cups powdered sugar (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a round cake pan, placing a round of parchment paper in the bottom and greasing the sides.

Mix together first 9 ingredients in a medium bowl. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar, then beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and lemon zest. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating. Mix until fully combined, scraping down the sides.

Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake on top rung until top starts to brown and toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

While cake is baking, prepare frosting: Whip cream cheese and butter together, then beat in powdered sugar until frosting is the desired consistency and sweetness. When cake is fully cooled, frost as desired.

Q: Where Have I Been?

A: Exiled from my computer, since it was parked in Charlie's room. But now I've moved it to my bedroom so I can use it while he sleeps. His room is now totally his.


And he owns it.


"What's going on??"


I can't hang anything on the closet doors as they are plastic, so I attached a Doctors Without Borders free map to them with bright blue painters tape.

The plates on the wall are printed with Norman Rockwell images; they are antiques from Geoff's grandmother. The night light is Ikea.




Geoff's quilt from when he was a baby, my mobile, and a beautiful Baby Mod crib from Walmart.


There is a whole lot of Totoro in this room.


Even hiding under the telephone.




I need to get a basket or something for his cloth books that don't fit in the sling - does anyone have a good storage solution for these?


The image on the left is from Etsy vendor mere designs, the wood blocks in the middle came from Finland via Geoff's same worldly grandmother. And the numbers on the right are my own design.

Yummy Cashmere Pillows

Pillows from old sweaters made the blog rounds a while ago, and they seemed so cozy they've stayed on my mind. I found the softest cashmere sweater at the Salvation Army for $3; it had some small holes so it was begging to be repurposed. Since I wanted two, I decided to make the back of the pillow from fabric in my stash. Here's how.

Supplies:
1 14" pillow form
1 large sweater
2 square of coordinating fabric, 14" (seam allowance included)*
1 rectangle of coordinating fabric, 14" x 7"
2 1" buttons

*a tip from House on Hill Road: pillow cases look better if they are slightly smaller than their pillow forms.

Placing one 14" square on your sweater as a rough guide, cut a square out of your sweater larger than 14".


To keep the sweater from warping, sew the sweater to one square of fabric, then cut to size. You can keep this step if your sweater is fairly sturdy.

Fold over hem at the top of the other fabric square and sew down. Cut triangles out of the corner of the rectangle, 3" from the corners, and discard. Hem edges.


Evenly from the edges, add two buttonholes to the corners of the formerly rectangular piece. Pin this piece on top of the hemmed square so that it forms a new 14" square.


Sew the buttonhole side to the sweater side, right sides together, turn right side out, add buttons, and presto, you have a ridiculously cheap cashmere pillow. It's hard to capture how delightfully cozy and soft these pillows are... just look at this pile.



Mmmm... cashmere.

What a Mug

I ordered some photo mugs from an online photo site; they didn't come out very well. So I made my own.



Using my light tracer, possible the most useful tool in my craft arsenal, I turned Charlie's portrait into line art. Then I taped the line art inside the glass mug and traced it with Vitrea 160, a dish washer resistant glass paint.

I added a message to the other side in the same way, using a print out of Apple Chancery.



I made one for each of my parents, who are now grandparents. Which is a concept they are surprisingly comfortable with; it still blows my mind (oh my God, I'm a parent).

Color me flattered

Check out what showed up on Sew and So, a blog I happen to follow. It's a Tardis Tissue box cozy! My original post is easily my most popular post ever, and I'm so excited to see someone pick it up and run with it.

I've been thinking about making a new one myself, since the original was sent off to the UK for a craft swap, and it would be nice to put together a better tutorial. Someday when I have time.

Santa's Little Helper

Officially, the first clothing I have made for my baby is a Santa hat.


Aw. I apologize if I just made you vomit. Come on, it's cute, right?

Here's the pattern.



Cut four of these out of a red knit fabric. I used the cotton interlock from Joann Fabrics, that I had leftover from my Electra costume. What, you've never seen my Electra costume? Aw, it was the first thing I made, ever, on a sewing machine... it's a little terrible so I've never posted it. Also I kind of look fat in it. Anyway.

Where was I? Oh right. How to make a Santa hat.

Cut four pattern pieces, above, out of red stretchy fabric. Make sure the stretchy direction is going width wise.

Sew the pattern pieces together, right sides together, so that they form a cone. Use a zigzag stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance.

Cut a 18.5" x 2" rectangle out of the red fabric, and another out of some white faux fur (mine is left over from last years polar bear costume and was purchased at Fabric.com)

Sew the two rectangles together, right sides together.

Finish the edge of the red fabric with a zigzag stitch.

Sew the fur side of the rectangle to the bottom of the red cone, right sides together.

On the inside of the hat, hand stitch the red fabric up inside the hat at the four corners.

To make the pom pom: Cut a circle out of the fur fabric, then hand stitch loosely around the outside of the circle. Stuff with scrap fabric and pull tight.

Hand sew the pom pom to the top of the hat.

Mine came out a little too small, because Charlie has a massive head. You may need to adjust the hat for your own little Santa baby.

Merry Christmas!

Morning Glories, Again

Did a quick painting for a Christmas present -- for a relative that does not read the blog, I think. I have no time to do studies, so I decided to revisit morning glories. This took me an hour. I think it looks better as a watercolor, don't you?

A Better Book Sling

I wanted a book sling for my baby, who no, cannot read yet, but still... they are cool. I liked the size of this one, but all the reviews said the fabric was terrible. I ordered it, and yes, the fabric is indeed terrible. The picture hides it's terribleness well; it feels like it is made out of a disposable raincoat.

However, that is easily fixed.

Before:


After:


I used a home decor fabric called "Square Knots," purchased at Joann on Black Friday. So easy. The sling is just a bunch of squares sewn together. Without a baby it would have taken an hour or two. With a baby... it took several days. So it goes!

Happy Turkey Day

Went down to San Diego to visit Geoff's relatives for Thanksgiving. It was Charlie's first trip outside LA. He took it sleepily (hurray car seats). This is me, Charlie, and Geoff's grandmother. I'm modelling a contoured burp rag I made one day while Charlie was sleeping. It stays on the shoulder so much better than a square one.


A quick project made with scraps. I've uploaded the pattern in case anyone is interested. It has to be printed borderless on 8.5x11 paper. If you can't print borderless, just extrapolate to the border.


Meanwhile, Charlie is modelling a very cute outfit my grandmother bought him for the occasion. They were all out of 3 Month size, so she bought 9 Month and I altered it down. Note the zigzag stitch in the middle were I shortened it. I was so proud I figured out how to do that in time!


Luckily his Christmas outfit fits as is. Okay, baby is fussing, see ya!

He's Here

Charles Errol
Born October 17, 2009 at 11:33 pm
9 pounds, 1 oz; 22 inches long

Back to sleep now...

Taggy Blankets and the Waiting Game

I like this taggy blanket by Reanna Lily Designs, so I made one myself. I'm not a big quilter, so I used some old flannel sheets that I've been keeping for just such a project. C is for Charlie; we joke that his rapper name is C-Love.

I had extra fabric, so I made a second one for Geoff's good friend Steve, who is having a son named Kai. Steve was Geoff's best man at our wedding, and completely randomly, is having a baby due three weeks after ours. Which means, you know, we'll have them at the same time.

Yes, I'm very late. I have an induction scheduled for Sunday, and I'm trying to not be pissed about it. No one told me about this, but apparently no one in my family goes into labor before 43 weeks, and hardly even then. And I mean no one; not a single female on either side of the family goes at the medically recommended time. Good bye laboring at home, natural childbirth plan. I wish I'd known earlier so I would have been more mentally prepared.


It's gone so long I'm running out of things to do. I made these blankets out of the rest of the flannel sheets. You can never have too many blankets!

All complaining aside, by Monday I should have a baby!