Week 8

Baby gift 2. Another coworker had a baby at the beginning of January. I finally got my act together and finished up her baby gift. I was under a deadline, as this week was the first time I saw her since her maternity leave. Here is the final product. These canvases are about 5x7 and they spell her daughter's name. I don't like how the ribbon came out when they are flat; kind of arched. But, once they are hung (I figured on a peg or even a white, round drawer pull) they come to a point and look better. I printed a font that I liked, then transferred it onto the canvas (which was already primed). In acrylic paint, the background is pastel colors of the nursery, the letters brown and the stuff on the letters is in cream. I was pleased with how they eventually turned out.

Fasching 2010

O's Kindergarten celebrated Fasching (Mardi Gras) on Thursday. Each classroom had a theme. O's was Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. (I am not going to attempt to translate that into German. I do know that dwarf is zwerge, since I have been hearing O say it. Alot!) My first question was how do I made my 3 foot child look like a dwarf? Seems redundant to me. I went to the Thrift Shop and bought a pair of pants, shirt and belt figuring I could do something with that. I cut the pants, he wore strumpfhosen underneath them (sweater type tights that every German child wears, I believe), belted the shirt, crafted a hat out of the material I bought for H's Yoda Halloween costume and finally, made a beard and mustache. I just hot glued cotton balls onto pipe cleaners for the facial hair. O loved it, but was camera shy when it came to showing off the outfit. He even kept it on at home. Not bad for my $3.50 'custoon' as O calls it.

Owen not happy about showing his zwerge self....


And the only men in the house with facial hair at this time (at least for a few hours)...

Week 7

I am heading out to Berlin for a Girls Weekend, so thought I would add Week 7's project.

I am diligently working on a project for a teacher friend. She wanted seat back pockets. They are tricky to figure out. So, the next week will be spend perfecting them. (They may count for a few weeks. My brain is quivering with all the math I've been doing!)

Anyway, the fabulous Cristina told me about these little beauties that she is creating from her stash of yarn. They are so easy! I whipped a few up to give to H's teacher for Valentines Day. We had off today (yahoo!), and the kids don't head back until Wednesday because of a Teacher Workday. So she won't get them for a bit. I made them into pins and thought it would be sweet to pin them to a card with the saying, "Thank you for helping me blossom." The yarn that I used came from England. When I worked there, I set up a visiting artist that came and showed the students all about fiber art. She got the wool from a farmer in Scotland, I believe. Then she washed, carded, dyed it. All by hand. I find that amazing! She had extra that she passed along. The yarn is variegated and just beautiful to touch. The only down side is that Cristina came over today and saw the blossoms. (She was proud of her student, I hope!) She tried on the blue on and it is simply too heavy to wear. I think that I will have to take the pin back off and keep the flower for a bag or something else that I can actually sew it to. It just droops as a pin. But the pink ones are darling on! I just finished a greenish one too. They are quick, easy and fun. Though the weather is snowy, I may be coming back from my very long train ride with alot of flowers!

Week 6

I needed to add to the baby shower gift for a colleague. I decided to make some burp cloths. I had to improvise and buy regular flannel receiving blankets as backing. I cut them and doubled them up, then added some lovely Kaffe Fassett fabric on the opposite side. Sewed all 3 (2 layers flannel and fabric) together, turned right side out, then zig-zag stitched around the outside. I think they turned out great. They are long and thin, so in a pinch, could even be used as a changing pad. The colors didn't turn out as great as in person. The flannel is lilac and pink. They look pretty washed out in the pictures. But you get the idea, right?

Week 5

These fingerless gloves have been around our house for a while. When my dear friend Cristina moved to town, being the pro knitter she is, she got all the girls to hop on to the knitting wagon. I learned in England from my awesome friend and neighbor, Susan. Unfortunately, once we moved, I seemed to forget everything she taught me. Cristina picked up as my fabulous, patient tutor. This was the first project that I started. These are for my niece, Megan. I love the colors. They aren't perfect, but they are made with love.

Week 4

I seem to be a week behind by my calculations. At least posting the stuff. I have enough projects to get me through a few weeks, but it's the downloading that's killing me. (We have over 500+ pictures on our camera. They need to be backed up before deleted. I really need to get Mark on that.)

So, on Sunday, I whipped up a few placemats. It seems as though most things in the house are brown or red. Or a little green. It's time to punch it up a bit. I ordered some fabric through Etsy. It's so much easier than ordering from a big box store! Fast and quick and it seems easier to me, too. The plan was to make reversible place mats with rick rack based on this tutorial for napkins. Imagine this: I couldn't find matching rick rack. (gasp) I found green and royal blue, but they didn't do the trick, so I just went ahead with regular ol' mats. I really love how they turned out and think that they will inspire some color in the house. (I am already thinking of painting a piece of furniture my Dad made us turquoise!) My pal Cristina took this picture. I will update the reverse once that camera is sorted out. With out any further ado....