Creativa

bread, a bag, and buh bye

2009-08-11T22:50:00.010-06:00

This may very well be the last post at Creativa. I'm over this space and am ready for an end or maybe even ready for a fresh start. Who knows!? Before I "leave", though, I have a couple of things to share. . .

BREAD:
I've heard about this bread book for over a year and have owned the book for over 6 months but I just decided to use it last week. Oh, wow, is it easy! The first dough I made was the all-purpose boule. From that, the first recipe I baked was the sticky buns and, let me tell you, oh, are they yummy! I've made them twice now and will very likely make sticky buns once a week! (Twice a week is probably not a good idea.) I have also baked the artisan bread from the boule recipe and have incorporated wheat flour into the dough recipe. It is so tasty, especially when it sits enough days to develop a sourdough taste. YUM, again! We don't usually eat bread with our meals so this may become a problem for our daily carb intake, but I'm sure we'll figure out a good solution or just do a little more exercising! Next recipe in the baking queue, sunny-side up apricot pastry!

BAG:
I have had one handbag on my mind for a couple of months, the "Everything Tote" found in Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. It's a huge bag designed to carry goods from your shopping fun but I chose to make the bag to use as my daily handbag. I'm not a fan of big bags and prefer using a small purse or wristlet but would like to be able to carry my water bottle, my new day planner and my camera all together. This bag will work just fine, even if it is bigger than what I like to carry.

I worked on this bag over the weekend after purchasing Laura Gunn's Hanging Cages fabric (purchased at Fancy Tiger, of course!). The design on this fabric is so pretty and I figured I would enjoy it more if I used it for a handbag instead of a garment. I used a Kona cotton for the lining (I don't know the color but I would call it "ice blue") and Amy Butler "Happy Dots" in ice for the inside pocket and the lining of the straps.

The bag is pretty simple to sew and I like how the bias trim gives the appearance of piping sticking out from underneath the seam if you just happen to press it so. I reduced the size by 2" on all sides and added a couple of loops for keys and glasses and a zippered pocket on the exterior. I have decided it needs a water bottle holder of some sort. I was planning on sewing on a loop made from elastic to the inside side seam but, with possible condensation issues, I think I'll sew a tube that has elastic on the top and bottom ends. It will have to be sewn through the lining and exterior at this point.

I like my new handbag and I think it will help to keep me better organized.

BUH BYE:
I started this blog over 4 years ago. Over this time I have had highs and lows with blogging and in life. I've never really been a committed blogger and really only started this blog to keep a record of the things I make (mainly things I sew), recipes I cook and flowers/plants I grow in my garden. In 4 years I've certainly been inspired by many craft blogs and have spent much more time reading those than writing for this one. I appreciate the few who have visited and have left comments and am glad to also have made some new friends along the way. While I'm happy I started and kept this creative journal, I think it has reached its end. Right now, my life is going through a few transitions and I feel ready for a fresh start--2 of my children will be in school full-time, there are big changes with my husband's job, and the biggest transition is new life, I'm pregnant! A new blog, with a new name, and a new focus seems to be calling my name. I don't know when (or if) this will happen, but I hope it will be sooner rather than later. For now, I'll keep reading those amazing craft blogs and I'll be thinking about where I'm headed with blogging. Hope to see ya soon!

What does your garden grow?

2009-05-26T17:40:00.012-06:00

This year my garden includes much more than flowers and my usual salsa garden. It includes a nice variety of vegetables too!

Last year we sowed seeds for radishes, carrots, peas, snap beans, and onions but our lack of planning and veggie-growing knowledge was evident in our harvest. I don't have any photos to document the end result but it wasn't pretty. Those veggies were grown in my "cut flower" garden but space was limited and we ended up with many weeds and volunteer tomato and tomatillo plants all throughout the garden--thanks to our compost. It was "zero fun" weeding so I gave up on that garden after a few attempts. That garden turned into a jungle of weeds and over grown plants and it was time for a new beginning. (BTW, I now avoid putting any tomatoes/tomatillos in the compost bin and I am also selective about which weeds make it in there. We also watered and turned it often during the winter months.)

I am a big fan of "Lasagna Gardening" so in early fall 2008, after I cleaned up the jungle mess and transplanted the perennial flower plants, I covered the garden area with cardboard to smother the weeds, grass, seeds and prepare the ground for a blank slate for 2009.

This is what we have now and I couldn't be happier!

My husband worked very hard to build these two beds and he did a beautiful job! I have never worked with raised garden beds before and so I had a few questions about gardening this way. I was told time after time to look into "Square Foot Gardening". Wow, it's an amazing concept! I'm looking forward to sweet success this year with an abundant harvest.

Here's our list of plants:
Black from Tula Tomatoes
Cherokee Purple Tomato
German Pink Tomato
Gold Medal Tomato
Dragon's Tongue Bean
Golden Zucchini
Verte et Blanc Squash
Golden Zucchini
Double Yield Cucumber
Chioggia Beet
Dragon Carrot
Lettuce Mixture
Pumpkin
Jalapeño, Serrano, and Anaheim Chile Peppers
Red Bell Pepper
Radish
Watermelon Radish
Green Onion
Green Bell Pepper
Purple Queen Bush Bean
Bush Snap Bean
Snow Peas
Sugar Bon Peas
Sweet Treat Carrot
Basil
Chives
Cilantro
Italian Parsley
Oregano
Lemon Balm

I also included a few flower plants for color and protection too! I hope to transplant some of these to my main flower garden soon.
Marigold
Nastartium
Portulaca
4 varieties of Zinnia
Candytuft

two months

2009-05-25T14:55:00.011-06:00

Last time I posted here I was working on sewing more clothes for myself. That hasn't gone so well but I have done a little sewing. . .

-a hoodie, I altered the Summer Blouse pattern from "Weekend Sewing"

-I started a quilt using the great Mod Sampler Quilt-Along tutorial
(My progress can be found here.)

-Easter dresses for my girls

-a skirt for Maria's Kindergarten Continuation

-a headband for the Bolder Boulder

With many commitments behind me now, I hope to get more sewing time in the next few months!

garments

2009-03-26T21:47:00.006-06:00

In January I challenged myself to change my wardrobe by sewing my own clothes! I thought it would be simple to work on one garment a week but soon realized I was being a little too ambitious. I also started a blog to journal all about the completed pieces and the random stuff that I learn as each piece is being constructed.

This is the 13th week of 2009 and so far, I've only made three pieces: a tunic, a "trial" summer blouse, and a different summer blouse. The blog is pretty sad at this moment so I won't even give you a link until I can actually get more posted.

#1-This is the tunic

#2-The summer blouse is a pattern from the book "downtownDIY sewing". It's a very cute design but I won't post a photo because mine didn't turn out so cute. . . As this was my first attempt at sewing this blouse, I made a trial blouse from a cheap cotton instead of muslin just so that I could wear it when I completed it. (Yes, I'm a bit confident in my skills. HA!) Well, sadly, I didn't have enough fabric for the whole blouse but I didn't figure that out until I had already cut out the main pieces. Needless to say, it's ugly but, hey, now I know how to construct it in the right size for me! Maybe next time I'll go with muslin. Um, nah--see my next garmet description!

#3-The third piece I've made is another summer blouse except this one is from the latest book to hit the sewing world, "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. I first read about the book on this post at this great blog! It's a quick sew and it's very comfortable! I can see myself making a few more with some variations--sleeveless, 3/4 length sleeves, a dress, a different neckline and a hoodie!!! The variations will certainly help me catch up to my goal of one garment per week! (If I can finish the year with 52 pieces, I'll be happy even if they weren't all made "one per week".)

This blouse was made using a thrifted sheet. Probably cheaper than muslin and wearable too!

Taxi Tote

2009-03-24T22:56:00.004-06:00

I made the Taxi Tote bag from the book "Seams To Me" by Anna Maria Horner.

It's a simple bag to construct but because I was making it late at night it took me longer than I had anticipated due to some really dumb mistakes! Nobody should sew late at night or when they are tired! I didn't have trouble with the bias tape but spent a lot of time taking out stitches after I stitched the whole exterior shut!!! I'm so used to making lined totes and, even with nice illustrations on the pattern instructions, I couldn't clearly understand the way the lining was going to fit inside the exterior fabric because there is no turning involved--it was midnight!

I used fabric I had on hand--the flower fabric is from a fabric store in Puebla, Mexico; the lining is a bright pink cotton solid; the bias tape is a pink cotton with a red flower print--left over fabric from the "In Stitches" loung pants.

Now, I just have to get used to carrying a purse over my shoulder since I've been staying away from carrying a diaper bag and use a wristlet to carry the basics.

5!

2009-03-24T21:38:00.005-06:00

Juju turned five earlier this month so I made her another birthday tee. For this one, I appliquéd 5 circles onto a strip of fabric and added some crazy stitching to the strip to give it some texture. Then, I zigzag stitched the strip onto the front of a t-shirt (I backed it with some flannel). It was simple and cute and I liked it but it was all over too quickly so I decided to add 5 more circles to the back. She loved it!

(I know you can only see 4 circles, but the fifth circle is off to the right.)

quilt-along

2009-03-07T21:55:00.004-07:00

I'm very excited to participate in the Mod Sampler Quilt-Along. Elizabeth, the host, will certainly be teaching us lots of great skills for quilting. Check out her amazing work on her blog.

I purchased fabric today at Fancy Tiger and spent a long time trying to figure out my color choices. I started off thinking I would work with a green and orange palette but then the Anna Maria Horner fabric just had to be included!!! I ended up with blue, yellow and orange as my color palette and I am very pleased with this combo. I'm ready to get cutting AND sewing!

ATC Kids Swap

2009-02-28T10:41:00.005-07:00

Both of my girls participated in the ATC Kids Swap. I decided to come up with a theme to make the process a bit more focused and a whole lot easier, on me. Our theme was "New Life - SPRING". Our art media consisted of watercolors and black marker. From the looks of it, watercolors were very popular for these ATC's.

Maria (age 6) had lots of ideas and finished her cards in no time.

Julia (4) had a hard time getting started but with some extra guidance from Mom ("Paint the card. What do those colors remind you of? Okay, draw that!") she made some wonderful cards too.

Along with their ATC, each swap partner received a few heirloom pumpkin seeds (Rouge Vif d' Etampes) w/instructions for how to grow these beautiful "Cinderella" pumpkins. (FYI, the seeds are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.)

Happy Spring, friends!

We're happy we could share our art with you and would love to hear about your pumpkin adventures!

Friday's Yellow

2009-02-20T22:48:00.002-07:00

Fabric, vintage:

Some vintage fabric just waiting for the right project!

I'm not certain this fabric is vintage, but it sure seems like it to me. This is a wristlet I made.

Another wristlet I made using more vintage fabric.

Thursday's Yellow

2009-02-19T17:27:00.003-07:00

Toys:

The dune buggy, dump truck and airplane are my husband's childhood toys. So cool! So yellow!

Wednesday's Yellow

2009-02-18T13:59:00.002-07:00

Outside:

Our garden sprinkler, just waiting to be used!

The cool pot on our front porch.

Some pansies in our cool pot.

A yellow truck on the way to preschool.

Tuesday's Yellow

2009-02-17T14:51:00.004-07:00

In my craft room:

Illustration on the cover of a dressmaker's book by Singer.

Straight pins in my favorite pincushion.

Cutting tools.

yellow week

2009-02-16T17:48:00.005-07:00

Some yellow for today, Monday. . .

Bridge on the playground at the park.

Yellow parking line in an empty school bus station.
(Imagine all of the yellow I could have found here!)

A fire hydrant named "Joe".

Yellow cab that probably doesn't run but is certainly a stand out ad at the "Taxi" building.

A hoodie for my man

2009-01-29T23:02:00.004-07:00

I made the men's hoodie project for the 2009 CRAFT:along with one day to spare! I gave it to my husband and he likes it! I like it too and I'm much happier with this project than with the cookie project.

In this hoodie you can:

be serious

clean your glasses

act like a monkey

smile

or look afraid.

All those photos just for fun (outtakes that didn't make it to the Flickr pool) and to show you that I added a couple of extra touches:
-two stripes on the front pocket
-a zipper pocket on the sleeve for my husband's phone

THE END

Lemon Drop Cookies

2009-01-28T22:12:00.005-07:00

Lemon Drop Cookies made for the 2009 Craft: along January projects.

Good but not great, in my opinion. I was hoping for a soft and very lemony cookie. Instead, I got a very crispy sugar cookie with a hint of lemon. They will sit in a covered container overnight with a slice of bread. Maybe by morning I will change my mind?

Now, lets hope the hoodie turns out to my liking!

número tres

2009-01-17T15:14:00.005-07:00

I have now made 3 tunics from the pattern in the downtownDIY sewing book.
The first one I love!
The second one was a HUGE disaster!!!
The third one (below) is a keeper!

I added a coordinating fabric to the cowl neck out of necessity* and it makes a subtle contrast. Nothing crazy, just sweet.

*ALWAYS keep the "nap" in mind when purchasing fabric. While this fabric doesn't have a nap, it does have a one way direction--the birds all stand up in the same direction. I didn't take this into account when I bought the fabric and so the cowl neck has a bird on its side.

I used fabric designed by Tina Givens which is so lovely. I can't wait to see some of the block panel fabric from the same line. Fancy Tiger are you getting any soon!?

Seeds

2009-01-16T15:49:00.006-07:00

This year's garden will include:
•Black from Tula Tomato
•Cherokee Purple Tomato
•Gold Medal Tomato
•Verte Et Blanc Squash
•Yellow Zucchini Squash

Heritage Farm Favorites Collection:
•Double Yield Cucumber
•German Pink Tomato
•Chioggia Beet
•Dragon's Tongue Bean
•Dragon Carrot
•Lettuce Mixture

All from Seeds Savers Exchange.

We will be starting the tomato seeds soon in the very successul origami seed starter pots. This was very successful for us a few years ago and it is such a smart way to start your garden!

We're hoping for some good black gold too!

compost bin

Art Tool

2009-01-15T20:46:00.003-07:00

I have a new art tool and I can't wait to use it!

I came across this brush while looking for some tips on calligraphy; it was suggested as a helpful and fun tool. It holds water in the barrel of the pen and allows you to control the flow of water for different effects. I will use it for calligraphy, paper/rubber stamp crafts and watercolor painting.

Sew and Share

2009-01-11T19:53:00.002-07:00

I'm really liking the sewing book I found this past fall; the one I used to make the tunic. I like it so much I started a Flickr group for it. If you have the book and have completed a project or two from it, please share it with us!

Here's some fabric all ready for making another tunic. I purchased it this weekend at my favorite local craft shop, Fancy Tiger!

It was time!

2009-01-03T19:17:00.005-07:00

Time to sit with my 6 year old and begin teaching her how to sew using a sewing machine.

Last year we worked on embroidery and she really liked it. She's embroidered a few animals and some flowers but we've never done anything with her finished pieces. Maybe we can use them to sew a sachet, a pillow or a little purse once her skills on the sewing machine develop past learning to sew straight lines.

I let her use my vintage Singer. It is such a simple machine that sews beautifully and with such ease. It's a fantastic starter machine.

Plus, if you look closely at her right knee you can see that you power it with your leg, not your foot. A bonus for a young learner because you don't have to worry about raising the foot control to reach her short legs.

Handmade Gifts

2008-12-27T23:26:00.013-07:00

I made a few Christmas gifts for the kids:

A skirt for the Mexican dress that was on her gift list,

A couple of reversible aprons,

And a Wee Wonderfuls cowboy doll. JP named him "David" and brought him with us on vacation,

Light & Dark

2008-12-14T08:47:00.006-07:00

Last night a friend invited me to join her for Art Night--a gathering at a friend's house for sharing and creating art together! The theme of the night was "watercolor painting". This invitation had great timing since I recently purchased a mini-watercolor set just to give watercolor painting a try. I was so excited!

(sketching the still life with a pencil)

It was a fun night and I learned that painting with watercolors is much more difficult than I had imagined! We began by painting a still life which was not what I had anticipated. I was mentally ready to do some abstract color creations--you know, like the kids make with their Crayola watercolor paints! Yeah, I set my expectations kind of low, huh? It was suggested, by our watercolor expert, that we begin with a still life to work on developing an understanding for light and dark. Man, was that hard!!! She gave us great tips but my brain just couldn't wrap itself around the concept of painting light reflection and shadows; it's hard for me to see things that way. This art form will be something I look forward to developing. A challenge, for sure! I love a good challenge!

(my painting after too much thought and too much water.)

Defective

2008-12-10T21:24:00.007-07:00

I worked on some fun zipper pouches over the weekend and was very excited to finally use my metal zippers with cute zipper pulls. I bought them in NYC a couple of years ago at M&J Trimming specifically for using them on zipper pouches and finally decided to use them.

I made this pouch

and this one.

I went with the frayed look, again, on one side; it's a little wild and funky. The other side is a little more classic and clean. The lining fabric matches one of the outside fabrics pieces.

I like the way they turned out. My intention was to post them on Etsy but I can't! They're defective. Yeah, really! You can't tell by just looking at them but they are. The zipper gets stuck and you have to mess with it a bit in order to make it close. It opens just fine. I made a few changes with the second pouch in hopes that it would be better but I've come to the conclusion that the industrial zipper is just too much for the petite pouch. So sad.

Momnesia?

2008-12-04T11:22:00.003-07:00

Maybe it would go away if I had this gadget. . . a Palm Centro.

After reading Molly's post about this amazing "smart phone" on Momformation, I'm wondering if a Palm Centro can really be the answer to bringing order to the so-called chaos in my life. Hmmm, should I even ask!? Check out her post on Momformation for a list with descriptions about all it does. I think the planner and the list maker would make this momma run like a well-oiled machine. How do you think you could get it to always know where your keys are?

If you'd like to have one you can enter to win one at Molly's giveaway. Oh, wouldn't it be nice to win!?

#129

2008-12-04T07:28:00.008-07:00

Alisa, comment number 129, you're the winner of a set of scarves! I will be sending you an email shortly to find out which 2 are your favorite. (Number 129 was selected by the Random Number Generator at Random.org. If I knew how to copy the page I'd past it right here but that's something I'll learn for next time!)

I'd like to thank you all for your very kind comments about the neck warmer scarves! You've really made a girl smile and feel great about handmade creations! I'm happy to have been able to participate in this great giveaway and hope to give away more of my creations in the future. Sew Mama Sew deserves a great big thank you too!

If you'd like a neck warmer scarf of your own, please visit my Etsy shop and receive a 15% discount if you enter "giveaway" in the note to seller section. I am planning on adding more neck warmer scarves, including some male scarves, by Friday and am happy to take special orders too. A zipper pouch or two may show up there as well.

Thanks again!