Confessions of a Craft Addict

I decided to take part in the Boutique Felony launch on Ebay this week. While the name is a little tongue-in-cheek, the topic is really anything but lighthearted. I’m sure everyone has been reading about CPSIA and the requirements placed on makers of children’s goods.

As the Feb. 10 deadline approaches, it’s looking more and more likely that the custom children’s items I’ve bought (and sold) will start disappearing from sites like Ebay, Etsy and Hyenacart. I know that I won’t be able to meet the requirements for lead testing and expect to no longer be sewing and selling children’s clothing if things don’t change.

My biggest regret involves my web site. I shipped this week what likely will be my last tutu orders. Four years of playing with tulle and making little girls’ dreams come to life is ending and that makes me a bit sad.

But I can’t stay sad for long when I look at my daughter wearing the outfit I’ve listed on Ebay. It’s made with Paula Prass’ Flights of Fancy fabrics (Michael Miller) and it really does make me smile. This is the outfit Paula asked me to sew for her booth in Houston, at the International Quilt Market. A photograph of it was included in her brochure promoting the fabric line, and there was a beautiful modeled picture of it up in her booth. I’m optimistic that it will find a fabulous new home where it will be worn and loved.

One of the coolest things to me about experiencing Quilt Market was seeing sewn and modeled samples of so many patterns. Which is probably why I came home with so many patterns in hand or on my wishlist! LOL!

This Indygo Junction pattern was one of them. It’s the Day Shift Dress and I thought it would be a great one to make for wearing instead of my usual tee-and-jeans or tee-and-skirt.

I picked out some brighter fabrics than the examples I saw (some of Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern) and got to work. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the pattern is sized pretty generously. I traced and sewed the Medium but I might have been able to go down to a Small — and I wear a size 12.

It’s a pull-over dress so there are no zippers or button plackets to deal with. The downside? It’s not a close-fitting style and I’m not sure how flattering it is on me. No, seriously; I’m not fishing for compliments here. Even Josh (who took my picture) said, “It makes you look wide but you’re not wide.” I’m afraid he may have a point.

The dress also runs short. Like, above-my-knees short. Can’t-lean-over short. I’ll probably add a faux layered hem panel to give myself a few more inches to work with because I think wearing it over jeans adds to the wide-and-bulky look I’d like to avoid.

Overall, the pattern was pretty easy to sew and I still like the look of it, even if it’s not super flattering on me.

There are times when I pick up a fabric and just know what it wants to be. This gorgeous cotton sateen from Lecien (Atelier Akiko) was just begging to be made into something from one of my Japanese sewing books. Something feminine, with clean lines that would really showcase the fabric.

Now that it’s done, I look at the dress and know my instincts were right on.

The pattern was from this book, which I’ve sewn from before but it’s been a while. I forgot to add a seam allowance to the straps of the bodice, which made turning it right-side out a little challenging. At one point, I seriously feared that I’d ripped the fabric. Fortunately, I was mistaken but I was holding my breath for a few minutes there.

I could not find the skirt bottom or the pocket on the pattern sheet, but based on the instructions I was pretty certain both pieces were supposed to be sort of self drafted. I fussy-cut some of the border print near the selvage for the top of the pocket (which is hard to see in the picture — my model was not being super cooperative that day). You’ll just have to take my word for it that there’s a sweet little hand-drawn bow near the top edge of the pocket.

Now to wait for spring so this sweet little dress can get some use!

I’ve sewn the Mother Load and lived to tell the tale.

No, that’s not a typo; it’s a reference to a bag pattern by Seams & Dreams. I first learned about it at Quilt Market last fall, when I accosted some poor unsuspecting soul to compliment her fabulous, roomy bag. She was happy to share the name and I, in turn, passed it on to Sarah, who ordered it for the shop.

This is most definitely the bag for the gal who needs to carry everything wherever she goes. Now that I think about it, it’s likely the perfect bag for my BFF, who appears to live out of her purse. The photo just doesn’t give you an adequate sense of scale, so let me try to explain. The bag on the left, the Extra Large, is standing up thanks to to the two throw pillows from my couch that I shoved in there — and there’s room to spare. The other day I went to the shop with the Large bag (on the right) and fit two quilt tops, the Sleep-Away quilt, some fabric and a Funked-Out Peasant Blouse. Room to spare in that one, too.

The pattern construction seemed a little odd when I first read through the directions, yet it came together quite smoothly and easily. There’s a good amount of topstitching near the top of the bag and I wish I’d thought to trim the fusible fleece about an inch down from the top to reduce some of the bulk up there.

I’ve gotta tell ya, the positive comments on these bags have just blown me away. I think some of it is the bold fabric choices. The Large bag was made with a fat quarter stack from Robert Kaufman that I picked at Market. Total impulse buy that made zero sense for me because a fat quarter is really not much fabric for a girl who sews mostly children’s clothing. The Extra Large was a wrap skirt in a previous life. No, really! One of the moms at Miss L’s preschool sent it home in our school bag one day. She’d done a closet purge and thought I might be able to repurpose it. I toyed with the idea of turning it into pants for the Bunny but I think I’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of it’s new form.

A letter to my son, on the occasion of his 18th birthday:

It’s quite unfathomable that you are 18 years old today. When you were first born, well-meaning people would tell me to enjoy it because it would pass so quickly. I did not believe them — and I was wrong. The past 18 years have moved at the speed of life and show no signs of slowing down. You’re a senior in high school and heading off to college in the fall, which is really the beginning of your launch into adulthood.

While this letter could easily veer off into the maudlin and sappy, I think you know me better than that. Plus? I save the maudlin and sappy for your grandmothers, who seem to need it more. It makes them happy and they obviously take comfort in it since you can’t remember to call them unless I tell you to.

I was not that much older than you are now when I became a mom. I think your childhood would have been far different had I been older, more prepared for the role. I’m not sure if you noticed, but I really didn’t know that I was doing probably 75 percent of the time. I think you’ve turned out pretty OK anyway, but I can’t take credit for it. (Don’t worry, Poppa does.) You were an easy baby, a sweet toddler, a pleasant child and a pretty cool teenager, except for those times I want to shake some sense into you. (Three words: text message overage.) And if it turns out that your childhood has somehow scarred you, you’ll some day have insurance that covers therapy — but don’t expect me to fork out the co-pay.

Eighteen is a huge milestone, sort of this quasi-adult age where you’re old enough to vote, drive and die for your country, but you can’t legally drink an alcoholic beverage before making the decision to do any of those things.

You may be a newly minted “adult” but you have a lifetime of learning still ahead of you. I hope you don’t mind me sharing a few — OK, 10 — things I think you should learn, things I think will be important to you throughout your life. (Son, I know you and know the likelihood of any of these things sinking in is pretty minimal, given that you can’t remember to turn on the dishwasher after I ask you three times in a row. Humor me and pretend they changed your life. I’ve got a major case of mommy brain and won’t remember writing this three days from now, so you’ve only got to fake it that long.)

1. Personal hygiene is underrated. Do us all a favor and bathe regularly (with soap). Change your socks and underwear daily. And for goodness’ sake, don’t recycle them because you were too caught up in WOW to do your own laundry.
2. You impress people more with what you don’t say than what you do say. Remember “who needs a brain when you have a mouth”? Sarcasm, sweetie. Sarcasm.
3. Some things are better done in the privacy of your bathroom or bedroom. You know those belching contests we sometimes have at the dinner table? Yeah, well, most people find that to not only be rude but disgusting. (I know! They totally have no sense of humor!) Learn how to discreetly excuse yourself to take care of business.
4. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Regardless of how they dress, look, act, what they drive, where they live or how they treat you. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
5. No matter how bad you think you have it, someone’s got it worse. So quit whining.
6. You can’t change other people; you can only change how you respond to them. It’s not easy but sometimes it’s the only way to cope with an unpleasant relationship, whether it’s personal or professional.
7. Ignoring your problems doesn’t make them go away. Often, it just makes them bigger. You can’t solve something if you don’t deal with it.
8. If you want friends, you have to be a friend. Don’t just call your buddies to hang out when you’re single or your girlfriend is out of town. Maintain those friendships (with pals of both genders) because they fulfill you in ways a romantic partner doesn’t, and you need that no matter how old you are.
9. People are more important than possessions. Real people, not online folks in your Guild. That means you call home for reasons other than asking for money, food or something you left in your closet.
10. Do what you can to make the world a better place. Pick up trash on the sidewalk, support a charity that has meaning to you, keep volunteering, perform a random act of kindness as often as you can. If there is one thing I hope you have learned from me, it is this.

There’s lots more I could share with you, but I know your attention span is about as long as mine, which means you stopped reading somewhere around the third sentence. But I still love you, and I’m quite proud of you, even if you do keep leaving your stinky socks underneath the desk in the kitchen. Happy birthday, kiddo.

Love,
Mom

P.S. If I find any more socks under the desk in the kitchen, they’re going straight in the trash. You have a job; you can buy your own socks if you run out.

Six weeks of the winter blahs — compounded by some kinda stressful personal stuff — has meant that I’ve had a hard time getting motivated to do much of anything. Including sewing. That seems to be changing and I’ve spent more time sewing in the past few days than I probably have since right before Christmas.

Among my favorite new projects is this sweet Andalucia blanket. It’s from a pattern by Seams & Dreams, the Sleep-Away Quilt. I’ve been itching to sew with Patty’s new line of fabric for Michael Miller (Sarah just got in the whole line!), so when Miss L latched onto it, I knew it’d be a great choice for the pattern.

The pattern isn’t particularly complicated and I finished the whole thing in about a day (spread out over two). I really haven’t done any actual quilting, so I opted to hand-tie this one instead of experimenting. I like the effect and definitely the speed of hand tying. The binding was easier than I expected, although it made my hand cramp up to stitch it down on the back side. I’m planning to make more of these for gifts and I think future ones will just be done blanket style instead of bound for expediency.

It’s a pretty gender-neutral style, so it’s going to be easy to change it up with fabric and make one more suited for the boys in my life. I think it’d look super cute with the new Robots fabric by David Walker. (Hmmmmm. One more to add to my project list! LOL!)

The pockets are stitched on after the blanket is done, so the stitching shows through on the right side. I thought it would bother me more than it does, but you may not feel the same way. I think the finished product is super cute and it’s definitely a hit with the little miss, who insists on using it constantly.

It did bug me a little that the binding instructions weren’t included with the pattern. Instead, it refers to the Seams & Dreams website for directions on how to attach the binding. A minor annoyance but when I’ve dropped $10 on a pattern I kind of expect everything I need to be included and accessible at my sewing table. It’s a very minor complaint, though, and I’m overall quite happy with the purchase and the final product.

When my niece was here before Christmas, I had the chance to hang out with her and play with her. One of the things I noticed was that she repeatedly donned one of Miss L’s aprons.

Before she left, I asked her favorite color (purple) and told her I would make her something special for her birthday.

Her birthday is next week and this sweet little apron will soon be heading her way. The fabric is some cute stuff I picked up at Joann’s that I just couldn’t resist (pink! birds! purple!). I embroidered her name on it, because I thought it would be even cuter and more personal that way. Plus I have the embroidery machine, so why not?

The pattern is the Lolita Apron from Sew Liberated (formerly Montessori By Had) and really very cute. Sewing it, however, is another story. For your own reference, if you dislike sewing on binding, this is not the apron pattern for you. And I really don’t enjoy that task. In fact, I bought this pattern even though I despise sewing on binding, which might make you wonder what the heck I was thinking. Hello! Three gazillion yards of binding on this apron! I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish with it.

Obviously I did and the results are seriously cute. But I can’t imagine sewing another one like this. I may try the pattern again and modify it to sew without all the binding. Or I may just sell the pattern and chalk it up to another learning experience. Regardless, my foray into sewing miles of binding is O-V-E-R.

Hey! What’s that thing hanging from the tree in my front yard? Could it be … a quilt top? Why, yes. Yes, it is. And I made it.

I made it! I made it! I literally wrapped it around me and danced around the living room when I finished it. Because I’m kinda nutty like that sometimes. (Like you couldn’t figure that out!)

It was such a big deal to me, that I told pretty much no one that I was making a quilt. Seriously, if it hadn’t turned out, no one would ever know I had even tried. It did, though, so now I’m going to be a total show off. Tee hee!

We’re all friends here, right? So you’re going to be nice and sweet and completely ignore my goof ups (which I’m not going to detail myself). I think it’s not half bad for my first attempt at making a quilt. I used my favorite beautiful Sugar Snap fabrics (with the exception of one print, which we could not find anywhere in the shop that day).

The pattern I chose because I thought it would be well suited for my temperament (i.e., lack of patience). It’s called Piece of Cake and it’s by Thimble Blossoms. Really met my expectations, in a good way. I think I did all the cutting one day and the sewing the next evening while watching TV. It probably came together in maybe three hours. That’s my kind of project! LOL!

I now totally get what everyone was telling me about quilting being addictive. I seriously can’t wait to start my next one and have a stack of patterns picked out for probably my next six quilts. No idea when I’m going to sew them because I can’t even come close to keeping up with my current sewing to-do list as it is.

I’m not sure about doing the actual quilting part of it. It’s part equipment, part skill and part time. Fortunately, there are plenty of folks who are willing to do that part for me, although I think I may do the binding myself, just because I love sticking myself in the finger repeatedly with a needle. OK, not really. But I do want to have that closure of finishing it. At least my first quilt.

I like my new microwave. It’s shiny and clean and pretty and not on fire.

Yes, I said “not on fire.” Because my last microwave? Died rather spectacularly yesterday, with flames and everything.

I’d noticed a few months ago that our microwave sometimes added time to whatever we’d set. Annoying, for sure, but nothing untoward happened and it stopped almost as soon as it had started, so we figured it was just an aberration. Or maybe my imagination, suggested my husband. Yeah, right.

Yesterday morning, Honey put his breakfast sandwich in the microwave as usual. And, as usual, he walked off to do something else while it cooked; in this case, he went to our bedroom at the back of the house to do some work on the computer. I was in the living room, trying to catch up on email before Miss L and I took off for the gym.

About the time I smelled something, I realized that I’d never heard the microwave stop running. “Hey, Honey! What are you cooking out here? The microwave hasn’t shut off yet.”

I should probably point out that I was on the other side of the wall from the kitchen yet did not pry my expansive behind off the couch to check myself. Instead, I waited for my husband to check on it, which involved a somewhat slow mosey from the bedroom to the kitchen where he found his breakfast in FLAMES. Real, honest-to-goodness flames. And smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. I could hear all this huffing and blowing and coughing on the other side of the wall, not that I interrupted my precious Internet time to go and see what was actually going on. Instead, I started quizzing my husband, asking for a play by play while he could barely catch his breath from all the smoke. Oh, and he was trying to put out a fire with his own breath because we don’t own a fire extinguisher.*

We are incredibly lucky because the extent of the damage was one microwave (a hand-me-down from my parents) and a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich. Poor Honey has endured lots of jokes at his expense, even though it really wasn’t his fault. As for me, I lucked out and found a bigger, fancier microwave on clearance (50 percent off!) at Target.

If only the burnt microwave smell would go away …

*Yes, I’m rectifying that.

As soon as she was ready, Miss L has worn white leather Keds. Just the basic, lace-up style, replaced with an identical pair as she’s outgrown them.

Until this year.

I noticed the Keds were a bit snug (which is to be expected after wearing them about six months), so we headed to the shoe store after the first of the year in search of a replacement pair. I picked up the same shoes in the next size up, only to be told by my daughter, “No, thank you.” Instead, she insisted on trying on a pair of sneakers. White with Velcro straps and little pink butterflies on the side.

Big girl shoes.

She loved them so much, she wanted to wear them out of the store. (I said no.) They look so big (which I’m sure has nothing to do with the fact that they are a size 10) and the fact that she had an opinion — an opinion! — about which shoes to buy makes me even more aware of the fact that she’s growing up so darned fast.