These friends arrived in stockings on Christmas morning, and I have it on good authority that Santa’s elves used the German pattern book mentioned in this post.

Also, the elves had a brainflash—thrifted wool slacks + washer/ dryer = luxe crafting felt! Though they’d done it many a time with sweaters, this was a first with wovens, and it worked like a charm.

The front legs are a little funny, but the kids don’t seem to notice so I won’t tell. Horses were a theme this year, with both kids being addicted to the Secretariat movie, among other horsey things.

More gifted crafts to follow, and also, I’d love to see you at my book signing on Saturday, January 26 at Park Road Books here in Charlotte. There will be snacks! I’ll be signing copies of my early reader titled Slowpoke. More info about the book here.

]]> http://trouveshome.com/2012/12/31/one-handknit-scarf-is-all-you-need/ Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:23:30 +0000 trouves http://trouveshome.com/2012/12/31/one-handknit-scarf-is-all-you-need/ One plain, handknit scarf is all you need to get you through the winter. I like Jon’s plain olive green scarf made in mainly garter stitch. Simple. Manly. Perfectly paired with his bomber jacket. The best part about it is that it was his grandfather’s in the army that Jon got this Christmas as a gift. I knew there had to be a story behind it.

Here is a similar scarf on Etsy for purchase.

scarf in mainly garter stitch

Olive green handknit army scarf

When I decide I want to try something new, I have no problem running out to buy all the shiny new supplies I’ll need. It makes me feel like I’m already whatever it is I want to be. Case in point – sewing. I’d never even turned on a sewing machine when I decided that I loved patterned fabric and, therefore, I must learn how to sew. Did I take a class? Heck no. I went straight to Jo-Ann Fabric and bought a machine. That machine sat on the hall table for 6 months before I finally broke down and took a class on how to use it. But during that 6 months, I told everyone I was starting to sew. I even talked about opening an Etsy store. See that? Just owning the machine was enough for me at first. After another 6 months I realized that I needed to stop making napkins (which is the sewing version of practicing scales) and make something real. So I took another class. I made a tote bag. From scratch! And now, a year after my initial excitement, I can actually say that I sew.

These are super cute and knit up quickly. Directions said to use a bulky knit, but I went with a double strand of a wool blend. Yay! I also made use of some of my super duper vintage buttons. Extra yay.

As it was originally presented:

With flower:

It seems like in this picture the flower just looks like a jumbled ball of yarn. Oh, well, it looks super cute in actual life, so that’s going to have to be good enough for me.

Eeek…tomorrow is already New Year’s Resolution time. Gotta get on that.

(Apart from the not-so-well made bed, ahum) it was a very pale room, with white curtains, white bed, white carpet. And this is how it looks now:

On the floor we laid cork, and two fluffy sheep carpets from IKEA.

I sewed new curtains out of a beautiful red woven fabric (with light-blocking fabric sewed against them at the backside). The same fabric was placed in the two heart-shaped frames on the wall.

When we moved into this house three years ago, we removed a small bush from the garden en used some of its wood to make curtain rods. I think they look better now with this country style fabric.

The wooden book shelves and night tables were treated with a red stain (again from IKEA) and I love how they turned out.

The only thing left to make now is a nice bed quilt!

I’d been wanting to do this for ages and finally tried it. There are lots of ways it’s been done—-most notably, of course, Japanese furoshiki. And there’s lots of ways I’d like to try making wrapping cloths, but this time, I just made a simple rolled hem on rectangles of fabric. Directions for “cheater” rolled hemming here. Thank you, Pinterest for that great tutorial via Meg of elsiemarley.com.

The Santa and angel fabrics are thrifted linens (already hemmed) from my favorite thrift shop in Hannover, Germany where we lived the last couple of years. And the new green and red stripey fabric is from Joann’s.

To wrap, I just folded the fabric and held it in place with the ribbon. Easy peasy. They wouldn’t hold up to a toddler’s inspection, but they’ll work fine for us.

Yule/Winter Solstice is tomorrow! We are opening gifts tomorrow instead of Christmas since we will be out of town. I am excited! I can’t wait for Rhyko to see his new toys.

I worked on a few handmade gifts for Rhyko (these are the only gifts from us to him because the grandparents have been very gracious and I don’t want to fill our living room with too many toys!). I made him a set of playsilks and a small Waldorf inspired wool bunting baby. They both turned out really well! I already gave them to him. When he saw the doll he proclaimed, “Baby!” without any prompting! Cute cute.

These are the projects that I have been working on this weekend.  All but one of them is made from hand dyed or painted fabric that I did myself.  I am rather proud of them.  All of these will be listed in our shop on Etsy soon.  The ring will not though.  I was just practicing with this one.  It is very comfortable on my hand.  That is my hand in the photo.  All of these brooches were made with hand needle and thread and glue.  That is it.  I forgot one important element – time.  Working on all of these at the same time does require quite a bit of time.  I was also making fabric necklaces.

Here are just a few peaks:

Lots of wool and cotton baby pants, and many. many fabric holiday gift bags. Be sure to place your order by December 19th for delivery before Christmas!

I’ve been a busy bee this last month. Lots of making happening in my craft room! Mostly for my Etsy shop. I’ve had quite a few orders in the last few weeks! It’s very exciting. I’ve got a whole lot of new items to post this weekend. I don’t have enough daylight hours after B is home to take pictures, so although I have some items ready to post I don’t have any pictures! I’ll get it all done this weekend, though.

I will have plenty of new wool baby pants and hats to post, as well as more holiday gift bags. I’m also working on some needle felting crafts and may get one posted this weekend, too!

Next weekend we will be leaving for Oregon for a couple days to celebrate Christmas with family. We’re planning to celebrate Yule here at home on Friday and open our gifts then seems how we’ll be gone for Christmas. I like the idea of celebrating Yule, too! It’s very wintery.

If any of my readers are Mothering.com members… could you do me a favor? I’ve entered the Mothering.com holiday craft contest and I’d really appreciate your votes! The winner will get a $100 gift card to Nature’s Fabrics! How perfect is that? I’ve been really wanting to get more organic cotton into my work. You can find the contest here: MDC Annual Handmade Gift Ideas. My posts are numbers 6 and 15 (baby pants and gluten free cleansing grains). Just click the thumb’s up at the bottom of my post and hit ‘add to reputation’. Thank you!!

How about you? Any crafting going on?

I was sitting here in an early morning fog wondering what to write on my blog today.  I felt the need to write, but “the fog” was blocking any ideas.  When this happens I sometimes go do something else for a while or just play a game on the computer and let my mind wander.  Today, I played a game or three of mahjong and my mind wandered to all the people I have “met” on line through blogging.  Then it wandered to “what would they like to read?”. Through that process I realized that it doesn’t matter what I write about as long as I write because there are people who are happy just to see others writing.  There are so many nice people out in the world who are willing to encourage and help others with all things imaginable and I am thankful for all of these people and would like to let you know.   

These thank yous are in no particular order other than the order in which they popped into my foggy brain this morning.  Believe me, you don’t want to try to figure out how my brain works on a good day, much less a foggy day.  You can try.  It might take you on quite an adventurous jaunt.  Which brings to mind one of the very first people I met online, Lori, from The Inbox Jaunt.  I have picked up the hobby of quilting and she does beautiful “doodling” on her quilts.  She also helped when I had questions about how to put it all together for a special quilt that I was am working on.  Thank you, Lori.  I am still not done because I have gotten very discouraged with my fickle sewing machine, but my goal is to finish before the new year so I can have a fresh start.  If you stop by, you will find beautiful quilts and adventurous jaunts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  She has some really good tutorials, too!

Cristian Mihai is another very nice, generous soul.  He is an author and his blog is all about writing and helping other people to write and get published.  He even started a new website to promote artists of all sorts.  It is called irevuo. You should stop by his main blog and maybe buy a book or two, or just see what he has to say today.  Thank you, Cristian, for all you do to help others.

There is also C.T. Westing at.  I bought his recently published book from Amazon.  I am only a few pages into in, but it is at the top of my “to do” list.  He is also a very encouraging and helpful person who writes about life as a writer and how to improve and stay motivated.  Congratulations on the deer, by the way.  None here yet.  Hubby and kids swear that the deer population is way down around here.  Considering their previous success, I suppose it’s possible.

I also have a lot of “friends” with what I call “Mommy blogs”.  These women share troubles and successes and help each other through the joys and tears of parenting.  These sites are where we moms find out that we are not the only ones who feel the way we do.  While we all have different circumstances and live in different parts of the country or even the world, we all experience some of the same feelings and trials and triumphs with our children.  It can be such a relief to know that you are not alone and sometimes it is hard to share the doubts and troubles and worries, but if it helps even one other person, then I think it is worth it, not to mention that it helps themselves also.  Thank you moms!           http://stilettomomma.wordpress.com/, http://marriedwithtwins.org/, http://5kidswdisabilities.com/, http://keepingitrealmom.com/, http://motherhoodisanart.com/, http://sweetchildofminebook.wordpress.com/, http://desireepurvis.wordpress.com/, http://lovelifewithkids.com/

I also visit a lot of crafty blogs.  These people do all kinds of amazing projects and share them and how to make them, with the whole world.  They could keep it to themselves, but I think they realize that creating art is so much more rewarding when it is shared for others to appreciate and be inspired by it.  Some of them have free tutorials or simple explanations in their blogs.  Some are very willing to give instructions if asked, and others are earning a living by selling their wares and knowledge.  All want to help and inspire others (and you do a great job!).   http://skalabara.com/, http://somanycraftssolittletime.wordpress.com/, http://thecraftypioneer.com/, http://pillowsalamode.wordpress.com/, http://athymblefull.wordpress.com/, http://tailorfairy.com/

I also have met a lot of people who garden and are so happy to help you learn more about gardening, whether it’s with flowers or vegetables or anything else that can be planted in the ground.http://nittygrittydirtman.wordpress.com/, http://gardenwalkgardentalk.com/  ukgardenfiend offered to help me find gardens to visit when I go over there in five years, hopefully.   

If I don’t make it to the UK in person, I can travel the world and never leave my living room!  I’ve found some great travel and hiking blogs , or I can just be a fly on the wall of someone else’s life.  There are some really fun and interesting people out there!    http://lifeoutofthebox.com/, http://walksandrambles.wordpress.com/, http://virginiaplantation.wordpress.com/, http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/, http://mymeanderingtrail.com/, http://tootlepedal.wordpress.com/,

The photography blogs are beautiful and inspired me to take better pictures.  After a few tries and not a whole lot of interest, I decided to stick to doing the things that I’m really interested in and enjoying the photography of others.  Thanks for the beautiful pictures!    http://hikingphoto.com/, http://photecstasy.wordpress.com/

I can’t forget to thank WordPress for making it all possible!

I included links to a few blogs.  For more, you can look at the “Blogs I Follow” on my page, but even there, all the wonderful blogs don’t fit.  I want to say Thank You! to everyone who blogs and shares their passions with the world. You have enriched my life and inspired me to achieve my goals.  It is so nice to know that the world is filled with good and nice people and the bad people are really only a small minority of the world’s population.  I have learned so much from blogging and reading other people’s blogs, not just about the subjects presented, but about people themselves.  Sometimes we become so afraid because of the violence we see on television that we forget about all the good things in life.  Don’t be afraid to experience life and share it with the world.  Don’t be afraid to fail.  Thomas Edison was the biggest failure in the world, but he was also the biggest success.

Thanks again everyone ! 

Keep living and keep blogging!

Related articles

• What’s that? Why it’s a Major Award! (exceedingspeed.wordpress.com)
• What is your Blogger Personality Profile? (everydaygurus.com)
• Bloggers Are Writers/Artists – More Awards (thesecretkeeper.net)
• 5 Incredibly Useful Gifts for Your Favorite Blogger (blogher.com)
• Coolchecks.net Founder Sherry Tingley Releases A WordPress Plugin To Help Personal Finance Bloggers And All Types Of Bloggers (prweb.com)

Upcycled Dinosaur Skirt with HUGE pockets!

Back in August, I found a “dinosaur and bug” sheet while thrift shopping at Goodwill, and I immediately thought it might be an interesting contrast to make a skirt out of it. I worked on it for a few days in September, and finished it before October, but never had pictures to post. I’m hoping to get a digital camera for Christmas, but until then, you get ones taken by my old camera with a broken flash.

This skirt was simple and easy to make using Simplicity 2224. I used view B, which ends up looking more like the one pictured on the model on me, since I’m barely 5’3″. This skirt is very comfortable (and equally casual), but also practical with the roomy pockets. One more wearable garment completed, now on to making more exciting projects!

Simplicity 2224

I’ve also made a fluorescent green tutu and various felt goodies and hairbows since my last posting, some of which I might upload in a few days.

I know it’s totally juvenile, but I cannot stop giggling about this hat. For the chart, which I modified slightly, you can find it on Ravelry here.

A great start and I am feeling extremely pleased with my efforts.
I wonder if it my new table inspiring me? Definitely worth the wait then!

I think I’ll rustle up a few of these as small gifts for my friends as well.
If you like them why not give them a try? I made these 41/2 inches square. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel when there are such good tutorials online – why not try this one….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sipzCAflJQ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Two things to remember 1) you can make these with a triangle or rectangular shape by ironing your blocks in half either way. 2) if you are making this for hot items use the insulation and second piece of fabric on the bottom, but if they are just drinks coasters I leave out the batting/wadding and second base square. This way you only need 5 squares per coaster.
Any when you’re done, why not make a nice drink and test them out!

Font is Black Chancery 12.  It is much easier to read than the other Christmasy font that I tried.  Still too fancy for everyday though.

Anyone remember Sally Field in The Flying Nun? It’s a ridiculous show from the late 1960s. Ms. Field plays a nun with an enormous cornette (headpiece for her habit) that, yes, helps her fly. Hard to believe it was ever made into a show.

When I first finished it, this dress looked like it was going to launch me into the friendly skies. I had sized the pattern down a bit, but I guess I didn’t size down the cap sleeves. That, and stiffness of the double layered fabric gave me wings.

So, I hacked them down. I’ve worn it several times (when it was warmer), but I didn’t get the sizing quite right and it kind of pops open when I sit down. So attractive. And I made loads of mistakes on the dress. I may retire it now, but all in all, I’m pretty proud of it. I’d never made anything with so many buttons. Or persevered through so many mistakes and such a horrible pattern. And the sizing, while off, was still a good exercise—it almost worked.

Please, I beg you, don’t ever use this free pattern from Bernina. I was going to link to it, but really, I don’t even want you to know where it exists. It costs you more time than the free-ness is worth.

I found it through Kathleen Frances’s excellent sewing blog, grosgrain. I love her Frock by Friday sewalongs, but this one, as Kathleen herself says, is just a bad pattern.

That said, I love a shirtdress, and they’re hard to find in different colors, so I may try again with this pattern. If I’m feeling brave.

Speaking of failed sewing projects, here’s one from a favorite blogger. It’s great to know other people fail. And to remember you’ll never get good at most anything if you’re not willing to fall on your face a lot.

In other news, I had some amazing baked oatmeal the other weekend at our cousins’ house. Must try. Related to that, I finally got from the library the book Vintage Cakes because of this blog post about the oatmeal cake with coconut. It looks like so my thing.

Have a great weekend!

In case you are wondering, I am trying out different fonts.  I decided to familiarize myself with some that I have never used.  Yesterday’s post used Calibri (size? 12).  Today’s is Centaur (12).  I liked yesterday’s.  It was easy on the eyes.  Centaur seems to be a bit small.  Maybe if I made it bigger.  This is 14, which is better,  but it’s kind of fancy.

Stay tuned for more! 

Do you have a favorite font?  Let me know and I’ll try it out!