Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines day: This year we made fast, easy Valentines cards. I gave the kids red paper and white paint, white, pink,red and purple crayons and we started crafting.
The aim was to make heart shapes with circle foam brushes, but that lasted only as long as my demo!
They then had fun using their hands, bubble wrap, and anything else they could find that would make a pattern on the paper.

After the cards dried I cut them into heart shapes and we wrote all the fiends names on them.

The other craft I made with Ady is a heart garland. This was great fun. We first drew the hearts onto watercolor paper with crayon and then used watercolor paint to paint over the crayon and now she is old enough to keep the paint inside the heart shape.

After they dried I cut them out and we strung them onto bakery twine.

They look so much like spring that I will leave them up for a while.

Crochet cowl

 
I am starting to fall in love with crochet again! It has been so long since I have done this that I am taking my time and teaching myself again. Lion brand has a great section on learning to crochet.

 Here is a cowl scarf I made last week. I used the very bulky Wool- Ease Thick and Quick yarn form Lion brand and it really was great to see just how fast I could see progress.

I found a great free pattern here.

I love it, but know that I have a LOT to learn. Not only do I now have an excuse to get stuck on the couch watching really , really bad TV, I also get something in exchange!

I already purchased new yarn. The next one I will make will have less stitches as to make the scarf more snug around the neck and will be 100% cotton . I find myself getting very itchy by the end of a day.

Monkey pajamas

Ady is really outgrowing her clothes too fast. I turned around this last week and she was out of PJ's that are warm, cozy but not fleece. This girl can really overheat so flannel it best for her to sleep in!

A few years ago I bought two pieces of Sock Monkey flannel by Moda, in a great quilt shop in New Hampshire.
I was immediately pulled in by the monkeys and thought that she would love them.  I now realize that they could be scary to a little girl. She took two days to agree to try them on and the good news is that she now loves them! Phew!
I did not have enough of the fabric to make a matching top but I found a soft long sleeve t-shirt on sale and i think the color matches very nicely. To make sure she will be able to wear them for a while, I added a three inch seam allowance to be let out as needed.

As for a pattern, I just traced around a pair of pants that fits her and added here and there to make them roomy for sleep time. I also added the elastic band in a separate piece in stead of folding the top over. I think this helps with the fit in the waist.

Making goo!

We have had a lot of indoor days lately. I have to say it is kind of fun to just play and not go anywhere.

On our last trip to the library I found this great book. I know there are a lot of books out there on science for kids , but this one is simple and I have almost all the ingredients in the the house. 

Of all the experiments we have done so far this one is my favorite!

Making goo out of corn starch. It is truly amazing!

The book : I'm a scientist, Kitchen by Lisa Burke
She also has a backyard book that looks interesting for summer.

You start off by measuring two cups of corn starch in a bowl and slowly adding one cup of water.
It is pretty hard to mix as you can see !

Then add food coloring of your choice and keep mixing!

It is really interesting how my kids played so differently with the same goo.
My son got his hands in at once , but my daughter wanted more spoons and things to prod it with and would not put her hands in!

It was amazing to see how long they kept going. Making balls and watching the goo go from solid to liquid and back to solid. If you push your hand down on it the goo is a solid , but if you scoop with a spoon it becomes a liquid.

FUN!

Placemats and napkins

January only has one thing going for it. My son's school has a silent auction fundraiser.
This is a big event for the school and everyone is very excited!

For the event I am donating six placemats and matching napkins with a carry bag.

These look so very summery to me with the red and white oil cloth . The placemats have cotton fabric as a backing. I finished them with a double fold wide bias binding.

This is how I sew the napkins:

I  fold the napkin seams over twice in stead of using the Serger and then sewing the seam. When I get to the end of a seam I stop the machine in the needle down position, lift the foot and roll the seam under the machine foot. Now lower the foot onto the seam.

Then I sew forward one stitch , stop again with the needle in the down position , lift the foot of the machine, turn the fabric, lower the foot and sew backwards to secure the corner. Now you are ready to sew another side.

A little decorating for the new year.

Every new year bring new looks and a lot of re-decorating in my house. 

Nothing, nothing gets me through this time of the year like moving furniture and a little decorating, oh and washing the curtains and scrubbing those spots I never get around  to!

I started with the kids room.  Having a boy and girl share a room keeps it pretty neutral.  I did want to room to look more unified  and found these great duvet covers from Ikea. They have similar prints but different colors. It really pulls the room together.

I have lately been hanging a lot of fabric on the walls and the kids got this great wall piece I have had for maybe the last 10 years and I have never found the right spot for it. It works really well with the covers because of the similar, bright colors.

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I changed the curtains to plain white ones I found in my box of curtains to use later  and they make things light and bright. I also made a garland from vintage handkerchiefs. I used a double fold bias binding easy and quick and I like the way it came out!

We have needed a book space for a while in there and I found this great piece also from Ikea. I have two wicker baskets that has been around for a while .The one we use for library books and the other for the Tin Tin and Asterix books.

I finally took out the rocking chair from the room. It was such a nice chair and I spent so much time in that chair, but it is very big and bulky. This green chair works really well in the corner and I bought this one from Savers for $35 years ago.

 I will show you  more later in the week!

Happy New Year

Wow , what a busy season and so nice to be just home with the kids. Hanging out, playing in the snow, doing lots of drawing, painting and building Lego .
Now this week I have to clean up the studio, put away, dare I say everything from the last show and get to work.
My one BIG new years resolution is going to be to sew more , for myself and others. Here is hoping it will be a really great year to be creative and wishing you the same!

Here are a few photos of our holiday season.

The kids still love watercolor painting. We combine the crayons and paints for a better picture with more detail.

Then one morning we woke up to this. It was such good timing, school was closed and we could just enjoy it.

This photo tells our Christmas story, before you could turn around it was over!

Blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

I did manage to sew two stockings for them on the 24th. So it was a FAST project. I traced their hands in felted wool and used a great red polka dot wool for the stocking. I really wanted to add some embroidery on the hands and around the top, add a pom pom, but I already packed these away....maybe I will get around to this next year.

Holly Jolly Decorating!

I really have a deep love for all my deer. I can't wait every Christmas to take them out and this year I have been lucky enough to receive three red velvet ones as a gift. Oh happy days!

Since I have been collecting vintage christmas ornaments they have really thinned out in the Thrift Stores. I did find a trio of these sweet pine cone and pipe cleaner elves on ski's. I love them!

I did not hang my very old real glass ornaments as the kids did the hanging this year. And believe me it is a work in progress. For me liking things a certain way, it is a bit of a challenge but so far we have only broken two ornaments!

And here is my little girl in front of our tree. I took this photo just after she received these dress up pieces from her teacher as a gift!

Sowa Holiday market

So, tired achy but very happy is how I feel this morning.
The Sowa holiday market was great! I was lucky to be next to great crafters and that always make it so much fun.

The market was really well run and very well attended.
Thanks to everyone that came to visit.
The space was really tight and it did take me a while before I could figure out how to use the 7x7 space, but in the end it all worked out really well.
Here are some photos of the space.

SOWA holiday market

It has been so crazy around here. I hope I am ready for this two day event this weekend.
If you are in the Boston area , please come and say hi.
SOWA is always a great show to visit. There will be a lot of vendors with lovely handmade goodies to sell.

I have made a lot of new pieces and have not even had time to photograph any of them! You will have to come visit me at the show!

Wish me luck!

I am so happy with this new screen I managed to convert into display space.
Check back later for before and after!

Hope to see all of you local to Boston readers in Jamaica Plain today for a Craft Fair at the First Church from 11-5. Music, good food and lots of talented vendors.

Buy local, buy handmade!

Chaos in the studio

This time of year I am surrounded by quite a big of chaos!

 I m getting ready for a show this saturday and I find myself stepping over piles, or rather groups of work that is half done, almost ready to pack and boxes already packed and ready to go. How is it that towards the end my table is so full that I have to work on the floor?

Look at all those scraps on the floor....a BIG cleanup is in order!( for house and studio)