tumbling blocks

Moving

2007-07-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

OK, I did it! I have officially moved the tumbling blocks blog off blogger and over here: http://tumblingblocks.net/blog/. Please come visit, and if you would, indulge me by updating your bloglines, favorites, etc. Thanks!

See you there.

a flower pocket apron

2007-07-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

The month's Tie One On theme, the pocket, was too irresistible. So here we have a pocket. I love patchwork so much. Of course, it's terribly cute and traditionally the way to use up scraps. But in sewing in modern times, it's also the way to make favorite fabrics stretch out and last. I'm guessing buying fabric for no reason and hoarding it is a fairly modern thing, right?

My mom is visiting this week, and we are busy having fun. It's totally possible that we'll be a little crafty, but who knows. I'll be back before too long.

Dorie

composter

2007-06-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

We hosted my dad out here this weekend. It was his first time out to Illinois, and it was great to see him. While he was here, he helped me set up this compost bin. We are one step closer to throwing out stuff responsibly. Thanks Dad!

The wallpaper in the guest room all came down before Dad got here, and there were only a couple plaster holes in the ceiling for him to sleep under. As a whole, the room was much, much better than it had been. I did forget to clean on the ceiling fan blades though, so when my dad turned it on he got a big puff of ceiling crud. Oops!

Did you see that July is bag month over at Sew Mama Sew? Looks neat... It also reminds me that I've got a project for you all that's been backlogged in the works for quite some time. Remember the Frounchess bag? I've got a pattern worked up for it, and I just need to get it into deliverable form so I can post it for you. It was supposed to be my blogiversary gift to the world, but um, that was back in April.

Pastry Chick or Muesli Girl?

2007-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Such was the question posed to me by Kirsten when I commented on her post about joining the Breakfast Sunday flickr group.

Oh, I am such a pastry chick, and Sunday breakfasts are especially likely to contain a baked good of some kind. On Saturday I get up and get going--too much to conquer in the weekend to bother baking breakfast. But on Sunday, we're a little more relaxed, and I really think that one of the best little things in life is Sunday coffee and a scone. I also LOVE donuts, and I know I've mentioned this before because at least one person has found this blog by searching for a "donut sewing pattern", and I've never made one of those. Maybe I should?

I plan on spending most of today looking at the above. That is our guest room ceiling and some of the 6 layers of wallpaper that are stuck to it. That's right, there are 6 layers on the ceiling. And check out this scrap:

Yes, that means that at some point, this room was red wallpaper from floor through ceiling. Wow. We are expecting some much-anticipated company in the next couple weeks (Dad, Mom) and the goal is to have a welcoming guest room, rather than something that makes them feel like they're really part of the renovation process. Elbow grease!

knitting is slow

2007-06-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

I've been around, I've just been knitting. I am such a slow knitter that it makes craft life a little dull. Plus, nothing I'm knitting right now is for me. It's all surprises for others, so this wadded-up hunk of knitting photo is all you're going to get. whoo-hoo!

I've also been working on getting my new blog site ready, and I think I'll be able to make the move really soon. So exciting--but also a little nerve-racking. If anything goes wrong I can't blame blogger, just myself. Things that will be great about the new blog include: I'll have your email, the layout will accommodate flickr's medium size horizontal photos, easy support for categories, blah. blah, blah.

Oh, here's something fun-- I signed on for Bitter Betty's Hand Printed Fabric Swap, and my mind is churning trying to decide what I'm going to print. Right now, I'm thinking white ink and turquoise background.

more on the LJ sunhat + I tried one of these

2007-06-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, the lotta jansdotter sunhat:
I found the pattern easy to follow, and I think that most people who have done a bit of sewing would find it so as well. But here's the thing--you have to have a bit of distrust of any garment that comes in one size only. Obviously, it won't fit everybody. I have what I think is a pretty much medium-size head, and it was just slightly too small for me. As in, I could wear it, but it felt a little tight. To my big-headed friends, and you know who you are, this hat is not for you, unless you don't mind re-sketching the pattern.

I bought the book for the hat more than anything else because it looked just right. The brim doesn't go out too far or down too long. It is just so.

I finally tried one of Blair's flowers. They are fun and quite easy. This one went to Beebs' teacher as an end of the year present. The year is over, man.

and in their glorious absence we go into the sun

2007-06-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

After a lot of fretting on my part, I am now happy to confirm that the bugs will not be coming to my neck of the woods this year. We are too far south. I still have another 6 years until ours come up, and I will take that as fair warning. For all of you who are dealing with cicadas right now and are hating it, I am with you in spirit if not in actual proximity to a cicada.

On to better things. This is the Lotta Jansdotter sunhat, made for my mother's mother, Lib. My grandmother has worn a hat when out in the sun for as long as I can recall, and I thought she would like this simple style. She likes things that are pretty in a functional way, and not pink. The hat is natural linen with a blue and green flower lining that came from a bedsheet. My grandmother and flowered bedsheets are funny because of this:

When my grandmother was about to marry my grandfather, her mother (Posey) sat her down and explained that she should never buy flowered bedsheets because men don't like flowered bedsheets. My grandmother thought, well OK--she didn't have any real, pressing desire to have flowered bedsheets. She got married, had children and whenever she needed bedsheets, she picked ones without flowers. Until one day when my grandfather was helping make the bed he said, "do you think we could get some flowered sheets sometime? I really like flowered sheets."

Ahem. When I make this hat for myself, it will be a little bit bigger in the crown.

an array of headbands

2007-06-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, the code-ish side is leaking out onto the craft-ish side today.

Before today, I only had one fabric headband. It's pink and green, and awesome, and really a scarf, but it doesn't really cover all my headband needs. I made myself some new ones today because (1) I should have had a haircut 4 weeks ago, (2) it's Sunday (aka the day day I don't wash my hair), and (3) I wanted to be just a little crafty, but wasn't really up for anything more than sewing tubes. Headbands are both cute and useful! I think I'll wear the polka dot one ten times more than the others.

About the code, I think I'll be moving soon. I'm getting tired of blogger, and I think I'll move over to my own domain and have the blog powered by Ray Camden's BlogCFC. If you write ColdFusion at all , you should check it out. If you don't, here's where it's appealing to me: control and new toy. Blog CFC basically has all the hard thinking part done already. I'd only need to consider the adjustments that make it better for me. The biggest thing I don't like about blogger lately is that I don't get your email addresses when you comment, which is lame. I get a link back to a blogger profile, which is not nearly as useful. We'll see.

worrisome creatures

2007-05-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

I'm back from our garden/cable ordeal. Thank you all for the commiseration and laughs! The lovely cable company came out and "fixed" the line, by which I mean they came out and strung an entirely new, bight orange, line across the backyard. Oh, whatever.

The 17 year cicadas are coming to Illinois, and this scares the bejesus out of me. I hate em, and they make me want to curl up in a little ball in my house and not come out. I also hate that I hate them, because I know it's lame. We dealt with them when we lived in the DC area 3 years ago, and they were soooooooo bad there. Like, heaps of decaying bodies bad. Friends here are trying to assure me that it doesn't get that bad here, and that this brood might not even be as far south as I am. I hope so. Uhg.

The shirt is Beebs' from the DC brood. Elie, super dad that he is, screened one of these for each kid in Beebs' preschool class. Awesomeness in the face of adversity.

no so connected

2007-05-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hey there. I hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend. I won't have any internet until Tuesday, so I'll miss you. Why? We cut the cable while expanding the garden. Nice.

Have a good one!

Dorie

schnitzels: the fabric of my life

2007-05-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

We've just finished a round of housely things that required the house to be in very neat condition. I am so happy that that is all over that I am leaving tiny fabric schnitzels, complete with dangling threads, all over the downstairs.

Seriously, I thought that I would be able to get through the doll quit thing without feeling the desire to participate, but I'm afraid the whiplash challenge might do me in. They are too darn cute! But, I have too many other projects seeking my attention, especially the redwork quilt--the one I started 6 years ago and only need to finish quilting before I have it complete. I though I might have it done for Beebs' birthday, but given that that is on Wednesday, I really don't see it happening.

Speaking of which, we had a fun kid party at our house on Saturday! Here is the cake. I went yarnstorm-style and bought jellybeans for decorating. It doesn't quite look like the Chinese parasol we were imagining, but we opted for more jellybeans rather than elegant simplicity. Plus, this way every girl got the flower on the cake. :-)

One more thing. Doll quilts and redwork reminded me of this. I think it's completely awesome.

I knock off Boden (again) and become a duck hero

2007-05-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

The mini-boden catalog is so fabulously cute I just can't stand it. They come to the house and I look through them again and again, but I have yet to buy anything from Boden. It's not all because of the price, because I'll buy the occasional pricey item, and it's not because I think I can make it all, because I have no desire to try some things, such as tailored pants. I think it is this--I can't really narrow down all the things I like in the catalog to just one or two things. Rather, when I do narrow it down, the one or two items don't look all that special by themselves. What I really like is everything all together. It's the same with the J Crew catalog. If I buy one t-shirt, I know it will not be as satisfying as looking at all the colors of t-shirts lying together in rumpled layers inside the catalog.

But, I did think the apple tshirt was very cute, and worth recreating when Target has these t-shirts for $6. I had to buy some more red fabric. Oh, how it pains my to buy more red fabric. Not.

Also, I'd like you all to know that I saved some ducklings today. Beebs got strep throat, so I left work and was driving around to the dr, pharmacy, whatever. I was stopped at a light in front of Meijer on the road that has all the big box stores when I saw on the side of the road a mama duck and five little ducklings walking toward the street. If you are a person who has ever shared the story, Make Way for Ducklings, with someone special to you, there is no way in heck that you are letting a family of ducks face getting run over while trying to cross the street. I think the people in the car in front of me felt this way too, because the woman in the passenger seat started yelling and shooing the mama duck away. Unfortunately, duckling #5 was a little daft and went on the road anyway. Her mama called for her to come away, but she couldn't because the curb was too high. So mama went to try to rescue her, but of course all the other ducklings followed, and then all the ducklings got stuck on the street. And mama duck could not help them. Oh. So much empathy for the duck mother here. By this point the light had turned and people behind me were beeping and the people in front of me had given up and driven away. So it was up to me to save these ducks. I grabbed a manila envelope from my car (good thing I always have some crap in my car) and used it to scoop the little ducks onto to curb.

Now, it's true that they may have found a way up, but it's also true that ducklings are very dumb and would probably have gone into traffic. And sure, they're just ducks, and sure, they'll probably do it again, but I'm happy that my daughter got to see me save the ducks.

P.S. Ducklings are really cute up close.

in boxes and packets

2007-05-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Back a ways, petulant feminine was looking for brave volunteers to help her by taking portions of her stash so that she would have less to transport in a big move. I kindly volunteered. Her packet arrived from very far away and was full of these beautiful fabrics! The plum is so cool and there is some of the softest brown linen in there. How nice is that?

The mail also brought me a big box of yard from my grandmother, Honeydew. (Her real name is Dorie. I am her namesake.) Honeydew does needlepoint, and she had built up quite a stash of extra tapestry yarn. When she asked if I could use it I said, Oh Yes! I'm not sure exactly what it will be, but it will be something. Honeydew still has an origami lily I made her when I was 10. It's sitting next to her chair where she reads mysteries and needlepoints and watches golf.

Love to you all,
Dorie

casting on with old yarn

2007-05-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming, so I though I'd knit myself a sweater. Kidding! Kinda. It's really a tank and it's made out of a linen blend yarn, so I think that makes it perfectly acceptable for summer. I'm using the Lutea Shell pattern from the newest Interweave, and the yarn is from the mother of all yarn garage sales. It wasn't the pattern I had in mind when I started, but it's cute and it worked with the yarn and the gauge. If I actually succeed in completing this top, it will be my first ever knit top. (If you are wondering about what happened to the Grace sweater, I will tell you that it is still in ill-matching pieces on the bookshelf.)

The first row went pretty well.

swap happy

2007-05-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Remember the nesting bowls I made to swap out? Well, I received my swap item from Jeanne this week---pretty awesome, no? It's soft as anything (baby alpaca and and cashmere will do that), fits perfectly, and is made using my best-ever colors (gray and blue). The pattern is adorable (or should I say "hip"?) and suits me very well. This is what it looks like on, though pardon the blurry shot.

Plus I got an extra! I love it so much. Maybe you know why--simple, beautiful redwork. It hangs from a silk cord that Jeanne spun, and has a very appropriate poem on the back. It's hanging in my front room.

I feel like I'm going to make out like such a bandit in this swap. All the other girls are much more accomplished knitters than me. Jeanne was doing cables when I was still learning to cast on. Lucky me! This swap really needs a name though. I'm getting tired of calling it that-swap-that-I'm-doing-with -knit-night-girls-from-way -back-and-the-present. Preexisting Friends Swap? Why'd You Move Away Swap? I don't know.

tissue? I hardly know you!

2007-04-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I have once in my life asked my mother for a tissue without that being her reply. How could that be? Of course I didn't get the joke when I was very young, so I just though it was funny that you could really know a tissue. I had it explained to me a lot before I got it, and even then it was weird. Like, why would you want to kiss someone you don't even know? Unless maybe you were in France...

Anyway, I have for you a tissue box cozy. It is about as simple as it gets, and it took next to no time to make. Now I can buy the kind of tissues with the lotion in them without worrying about doofussy pictures on the box. (And let me tell you, I was really worrying.) It was a quick and dirty project without even a hemmed seam, but it had been so long since I'd done a whiplash, that I really wanted to participate. It is a very whippy whiplash. I did it by taking strips of linen and just zig-zagging the edges together.

So, do you think I'm worried about running out of red thread? I was tidying up my various sewing areas Sunday morning when I found all these. mmm-hmm. I was tidying on Sunday because we had Wordy Diva +1 over for some lunch and a pouch for plants swap. What fun!

linen bag for Sarah

2007-04-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've seen many round-bottomed bags out there in blogland lately, like here, and here. This one is my version. I like them all a lot! I made this bag for my friend, Sarah, who always makes French seams, and not because she thinks they're fancy, but because she likes them. Sarah brought me back a set of Clover pom pom makers from her last fiber excursion, mostly because she and the rest of the knit night girls were teasing me about being fancy enough to want a special gadget just for making pom poms. That, and she's incredibly kind and thoughtful. So, of course I had to put a pom pom on the bag.

Ah, spring is so great. We had our first post-dinner popsicles of the year while walking through the yard. New things are coming up all over, and the yard is looking lush, except for the lilacs which did really poorly with the frost a few weeks ago. I am just feeling the happy newness of spring so much! Even the yoga class I've been taking for the last 2 years seems fresh and exciting. I think I've just been going through the motions for a while, but something in my body clicked last week and I'm feeling something more, some kind of joy, in the poses. The back bends are particularly wonderfully.

And speaking of newness, little Ms. Beebs has gotten her ears pierced. I'm thinking she's looking a little grown up.

feeling greasy

2007-04-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

unbecoming photo of my imploded sewing area

If you haven't oiled your sewing machine recently, go do it right now. I just finished doing mine and, holy moly, what a difference! I can't believe more people out there aren't touting the benefits of a lint-free, lubed-up, well-maintained machine. And you should clean the shuttle too. I think that's key.

Last night, my good 'ol Kenmore, c. 1973, was starting to chug as it stitched along. I thought oiling it might be enough, but no, the shuttle needed to be cleaned too. The last time I tried to clean the shuttle, I somehow ended up lowering the feed dogs, which you supposedly can't do on my machine, and I couldn't get it back together again. So, machine and I took a trip to our friendly neighborhood sewing machine repair man and paid him to do it. But not tonight! Tonight, I stared down that shuttle and cleaned it good.

It's moments like this that make me want change careers and open a little sewing machine repair shop in my back room.

nesting bowls

2007-04-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

The same thing always happens whenever I do a felting project. I put the project in the water with the soap and the hot water, and I let it agitate a cycle, and I pull it out and I panic because it's not working. But it always really is working. It just needs more time. In the end I take it out amazed that I have made something solid out of string.

The nesting bowls (there are 2 of them) are made from natural brown wool using the knitty mancala pattern. The inside of the bigger one is the size of a peanut butter jar. I decided that the bowls needed a bird after seeing the really cute one at Bella Dia. Plus, it was appropriate for the recipent(s) as the bird is for a baby and the bowls are for her mama. It's part of an interesting ongoing swap I'm doing with a group of friends, some of whom don't live close by anymore. Every two months we're sending something knit from 1 skein, plus something handwritten, some words or recipes to share. I know I'm going to love seeing it unfold.

friday, uh-huh, un-huh

2007-04-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

What am I doing? I dunno. Many, many things, but not much to show for it.

There's kuler. Adobe has this fun little color utility in the labs section of their website. It's more than a utility really, because you can share the color combos you create. I'm pretty sure it wants to be the flickr of color.

And there are the canal house closets via junior society. I would really like one. It would be for me and not for Beebs. I know where it would go too–in the front room that will be my office as soon as we finish the new den (ETA 1.5 yrs). This old house has no coat closet, so we could use a place for wraps. Hmmm...maybe it will be a personal woodworking project for next year?

And we introduced Beebs to orisinal this week. Video games just do not get any cuter than this! I like the bunny and the bells.

oh hoppy day

2007-04-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I think this is the point where I admit that I really do have an obsession with mother softies? Please welcome the return of Nursie Bunny who now has a skirt and floppy ears.

She still has snap nipples that she uses to nurse her three children (she used to have two), who have snap mouths, and she still likes to hold them in a good, tight hug. They like to sleep, mostly.

I made the first lactating bunny for the daughter of a friend of mine who had just received a baby brother. Beebs wanted one for herself then, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I got to thinking about making one. Around the same time, she was seriously lamenting the end of Mini Swap , so I offered to do a swap with her. The swap ended yesterday--Interesting how it just happened to correspond to Easter, no?--she got a nursie bunny and I got this rag doll.

With the exception of the stitching on the skinny arms and legs, Beebs did it all herself. It makes me a very proud mama!

Thank you for all the Passover wishes and cooking kudos. If I eat any more eggs this holiday season, I am going to turn into one. We tried Martha's marbleizing technique this year. (I also made Martha's macaroons. They were dairy, but she has many other macaroon recipes to choose from.) We achieved "speckled", but not "marbled". Happy Easter!

Feast

2007-04-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

For most of the day yesterday I was afraid of the roast in my fridge. It was a very large, very good roast, bought for our seder. See, I had never cooked a roast before and it just seemed like the sort of thing that you could really mess up royally and everyone would be sad. But I didn't mess it up. It came out beautifully, and I am again amazed by the wonderful things that meat does if you just put it on the oven with some salt and pepper.

The macaroons came out pretty good too. And, they take a better picture than the meat.

Happy Passover!

hey

2007-04-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Missed you.

We had a very nice trip to Florida and returned to Spring in Illinois, how nice! Everything is green where it used to be brown and the trees are full of flowers, though thankfully, the lilacs still haven't flowered. We would have been sad to miss that!

The trip was great. It gave Beebs ample opportunity to show off her favorite characteristic of late: bravery. She caught a lizard, swam the length of the pool without touching down, rode space mountain with her arms up, and decided she loves fish eggs. I'm not sure whose child I have, but I would not have done any of those things at age 6. I'm rather proud and a little scared. The trip also gave us more time than usual to visit with the grandpas and some aunties and uncles and even a cousin. It is always so nice to see my family.

And crafting. I did a minor amount of knitting while away, and as much as I'd like to share my progress, I'm afraid it will have to wait because it's getting swapped out.

not the whale dress!

2007-03-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, the whale dress. We dug out the summer clothes in preparation for an upcoming getaway to someplace warmer. Beebs tried it all on, and many things no longer fit, including the well-loved whale dress. Sad for me.

I am not a person who lets a cute nautical print go without a fight. Oh, no not me. I took Tami's advice and did a quick little project to cure The Slows. I think it pretty much worked. Beebs has shorts and I'm back in it! It always feels a little weird to cut into a perfectly serviceable garment. I mean, some other little girl could certainly have enjoyed the whale dress, and there was nothing wrong with it--no holes or anything. But, I didn't want to give it up, and Beebs needed shorts anyway. She's going to pair them with this. I munna eat choo!

Blind man's bluff with the scraps.

Hmmm. Looking at the pictures again, there's no way shorts are ever going to be as cute as a sundress. This is a general statement.

Sunday

2007-03-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

1. pitcher plant spring comeback, 2. sunday breakfast, 3. feets & fabrics, 4. yarn

Good day. I'm finishing it up with a cup of fruit and almond tea. It reminds me of my mom having friends over for dinner and finishing with good dessert and tea in a teapot.