Adventures in Living!

Playing in the Kitchen

So, my kids really like to play 'kitchen' and use their (and my!) pots and pans and plastic food to make dinner and serve snacks and all that. We used to have a big, upright Little Tykes kitchen for Wren that we got from Craigslist, but over the year or so we had it, it got kind of trashed to the point that it wasn't fun to play with. Plus, it was a fairly good size, and took up a lot of room.

Once we started the remodeling of our living room/library area, it had to go. I kept all the nicer pots and pans and utensils and play food in a large fabric bin for the kids, and just ignored the fact that there was no kitchen. I noticed recently that both Noah and Wren were getting into kitchen play, and this time, they were using all kind of flat surfaces for their stove. I thought how nice it would be if they had a kitchen again, but there really isn't room for one, even in our larger living space.

Hooray for the internet! I found a blog, Balancing Everything, that featured a tutorial for making a fabric roll-up kitchen play mat!  It was really cute and looked like something the kids would love, so I read through the tutorial and adapted it for my own purposes.

Took me about two days and I am especially proud to say that I bought nothing to make it. All the fabrics and embellishments were already in my stash! Yay !

Anyway, here it is:

 

It has a grill in full flame, a sink, and four stove burners. I used bleached muslin for the top, with cotton fabric for the appliances and various ribbon and felt scraps. The electric burners are detailed using a big fat Sharpie marker, and there is dimensional fabric paint for the stove knob tops. I drew the sink drain with the Sharpie, added a few water droplets with a glitter paint pen, and used packaged tubular bias for the grill grate.

The whole thing is backed with a layer of cotton canvas and a cotton print. I sewed a strip of bias binding to one end to use as a tie when it is rolled up. The three layers of fabric have a nice weight, and it rolls up and stores in the fabric basket with the kitchen toys.

Best of all, the kids love it!

Here is a detail of the stove:

 

and a shot of the sink:

 

and the grill:

 

Noah really liked it; when I took this picture, Wren was busy gathering her 'gredients' for the lunch she cooked.

 

I have to say that normally I HATE machine applique, so in making this project, my skills were definitely tested. However, it really came out nicely, so I am not complaining. And it kind of encourages me to do a few more projects with machine applique.

Hmmm....maybe Noah needs a toolbench....or a soft busy book to practice dressing skills...

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To all of my friends who are traveling to Charlotte this weekend, safe travels, and give our love to Valharic. Please let him know we are thinking of him.

Progress on The Skirt Project

Here are some pictures of the progress on The Skirt. I haven't decided what to name this project yet. If you've got any ideas, definitely let me know!

Here is the bleach treatment on the front of the skirt....
I actually love the way the letters came out....it's my handwriting, but it just looks so, I don't know...iconic, and crisp...I am really pleased with it. The bleach wasn't too difficult to handle, either, since I am using the Clorox Bleach Gel Pen, and there is a wide tip and a fine point tip on it. There was a bit of a learning curve to getting the right amount of consistent pressure on the body of the pen to make a clean line without bubbles or blobs. Here is a picture of the back, with the remaining text:
One of my discoveries about working with the bleach pen is that the thicker the line (i.e., the more bleach on the fabric), the whiter the "stain" will be.  You can see that "hope" is whiter than "play", and I know it's because the lines were thinner with less volume of bleach gel when I wrote "play". It's ok, I can always go back over it if I want it whiter, but I don't think I will.

I also got some of the imagery drawn in for the panels, too. Here is the front:

My favorite has to be the tree on the "create" panel. That image and text is what inspired the whole project, actually. The spirally tree and branches just speak to me.
I worked on the back as well, but I am not totally sold on the images I have there. It's hard to come up with solid images for concepts like "hope" and "play" and "laugh" that are not related to Barack Obama, board games, and clowns. I'll think of something, though. Just have to let it percolate in my brain a bit longer.

I'm searching for good quotations for each panel related to the theme, and so far I think I have most of them. Paint and embellishment will go down first, then finish with the quotes written in my handwriting in black fine-point pen. I used to write a small message in all of the baby clothes I made for Kira using a black .05 point pen. Wish I had those clothes now. I think they are boxed up in my ex-husband's barn, hopefully not ruined.

I think I am going to thrift-shop for a classic-style denim jacket. That will be my next project. I've got two hours before the kids get home from preschool...I can make a run to Goodwill in that time.

creative overdrive

I love to sew.

My name is Christine, and I am a fabric addict.

I own three machines, all Bernina brand, and tons of notions, equipment, and fabric. I love taking a flat piece of fabric and shaping it into something three-dimensional that I can wear, or use, or display. I don't quilt (not really), but sometimes I incorporate quilting techniques into apparel or other items.

My sewing space, when we moved into this house, was the largest bedroom upstairs. I had a HUGE cutting table on sawhorses, space to set up all three machines, and a walk-in closet for fabric and supply storage, and our SCA garb and equipment. Gradually, we added children to the family, and dogs, and cats, and my sewing room moved to the smallest bedroom, then back to the largest bedroom to share with the baby Noah, and then finally in January, it came to it's permanent home in a corner of the office. Hooray! It's been a bit of an adjustment, but the space is working well so far, even though I haven't had much opportunity to spend much time working there yet.

Except for Sunday. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that last week was so hard or that I finally felt relaxed because I got a few hours out of the house on Saturday, but all of a sudden, my sewing muse hauled off and kicked me in the head.

I had gone thrift store shopping Saturday and picked up a couple of skirts with the intention of altering them. At two bucks a pop, it was worth the effort to remake them, and if I screwed it up, well, it was a total of six dollars. No biggie.

Well, I got started on the first skirt, a black, long, skinny, knit thing with an elastic waistband. I cut that sucker right off at the top, made a casing, and put in some 5/8" elastic. It was done, but plain. I wanted to try my hand at embellishing my clothes, but I had always been too chicken, in case I screwed up. But, how can you really get upset about screwing up a $2 thrift store purchase?

So I got out some bleach.

I found a Celtic knot stencil, and my bleach pen, and this is the result:

Pay no attention to the cat hair and assorted other crud that may be on it, I was so excited that I wore it all day! It's comfortable, and different. I was so inspired, that I went after the $2 denim skirt I got also. That one is inspiring a larger, more elaborate design, though. Here is a sketch I made of the concept:
I adore words, and I love inspirational words used in a creative way. The skirt has eight panels that go all the way around, patch pockets on the sides, and a button and zip fly waistband. I didn't sketch the back, but the words going around the back are: hope, play, breathe, laugh. Each panel will have a design motif that will reflect the word at the bottom. I am using bleach to write the words in, and maybe also to lay down the framework of the design, but then plan to incorporate permanent marker, fabric paint, and maybe some embroidery to round out the design and add a little color.

I'm tired of my clothes being boring, and I don't always have the cash to buy a boatload of new fabric to make new clothes. Restyling is hot right now (OMG, I am actually on-trend for a change!), but it also makes good economic sense AND is a fantastic outlet for creativity.

I have reached the stage in my life where I want to wear what fits, looks nice on me, and is something I enjoy wearing. I don't care about style. I can't even wear most of the current styles (skinny jeans!?, empire-waist tops!?).

Emboldened by my success this far, I also started on a small wall-hanging. I had taken a piece of denim and written "create" on it to try out the bleach pen and see the effect on the denim before I dove into the skirt project. After I saw how cool the denim sample looked, well, I went a bit nuts after that...
It's not even done. I want to add more embroidery and more beads to it. I love mixing quotations in with things, too, so I chose the Picasso quote for this one. See my eye bead at the top left? Do you get the message?

This was the project that nearly had me up all night on Sunday. I didn't want to put it down, and I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it on Monday at all. It's going to have one or more of my tassels on the bottom, too, and some wirework in there as well. I want it to be as over-the-top full of my art as I can make it.

I also have an idea for other words and other designs. So cool. I love it when my creative mojo comes back. Thank God the kids are all back in school today, I'm practically hyperventilating to get into the office and get to work!

The bleaching has started on the denim skirt....I'll post the progress of the project as I go.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

This week has been full of Valentine fun in our house. All three kids had parties in their classes, which necessitated Valentine-making on Wednesday AND Thursday evenings. Wren helped me bake cookies that I bagged for her class and Noah's, and Kira and I made white chocolate-dipped cake balls for her teacher, plus goody bags for the kids in her class.

I did my own Valentine magic, and one of the projects from my day of sewing was this:
Little lovebirds for my little ones.

Everyone is still sleeping, except Noah and I, because sleeping is what one should be doing on a Saturday morning at 5:00. Right, Noah??

I'll make pink, heart-shaped pancakes later this morning, once the rest of the family gets up.

It's been a pretty good week. The weather has been fairly spectacular for February -- temps in the sixties and even the low seventies, with gloriously sunny skies and a beautiful breeze (that gusted to 30mph the other day!). We played outside yesterday, enjoying the last of it, because today is supposed to be cold and rainy and crummy. More like February.

Is there anything happier than a big pink playground ball and a three year old girl in the sun? I think not.
 Nice belly!
Noah also enjoyed his time in the sun....

And there was much hopscotch-playing....

Oh, and just to prove that sometimes big sisters are really nice to little sisters.....
Kira let Wren sit in her lap and watch her play a game the other morning. I had to take a picture, just to be able to prove it to people. Heh.

(Kira is an awesome big sister, and I totally understand it's difficult sometimes to put up with a rambunctious and curious three year old. This was terrific, though!)

Anyway, I think I have reached the end of what Noah is going to allow me to do on this computer this morning. I hope everyone has a great day!

I finally finished putting together my sewing area in the office! Ta-Daaa! Here is the working corner...two machines at the ready, and the third in it's protective cover in reserve:

I absolutely love my shelving...the boxes hold all my notions, and the glass canning jars are perfect for a rainbow assortment of my thread. Of course I arranged it in rainbow order!

The inside of my supply closet.....messy, yes, but I was surprised how much stuff I could get in there....ironing and cutting boards, yardsticks and rulers, the iron, all manner of scrap and remnant fabric...wow!
 
Of course, since this has all been done, I haven't had any time to get in there and make stuff. Such is the way of life. But it's there and ready for me, so hopefully this weekend will bring me some creative time.

I was supposed to do some sewing today, but.....now one of the cats is sick and needed a vet appointment. Sigh.

And my recent foray into online shopping brought these two gems to my house....I have been dying to delve into them, but haven't had time yet!

Homemade mozzerella...mmmmm! Cupcakes!

Must go be domestic now. Today's project is this, from Bakerella.  Not red velvet, though, plain yellow. I might keep them a secret from my family and save them for a Valentine's Day treat. We'll see.
 

Grey and rainy

Richmond winters have just been terrifically sucky the last few years. We get plenty of rain and ice and slush, but very little snow. Like none. The kids haven't had a snow day in at least three years that I can think of, and frankly, I'm up for one. I'm sure Kira is, too. High on the winter-annoyance list is the fact that just about every surrounding county school system is closed -- in pretty much all four directions, from as close as 20 miles from downtown Richmond. All we get is this:
There's a small pile of slush on the deck chair, and everything else is just wet and cold and muddy. Bleh.

In other news, I am still working on the sewing space in the newly-refinished office. So far, this is what I have set up:
I own a LOT of sewing equipment and supplies. This probably represents about half of it. There are three Bernina sewing machines on those two tables, and behind me is the closet which I am fitting with shelves to hold my fabric and other stuff. On the wall to the right will be 2 four-foot-long shelves which will hold the big stack of labeled boxes (they contain notions), and the collection of quart glass canning jars. Those hold my thread.

It's all almost put together.

I'm going to work some more on it, while Wren "naps". Before I go, here is a photo of Noah, being all cute and stuff, just because I have to post something sunny on a day like this.
Yeah, he is covered in food, but he's cute nonetheless.

Ah, Saturday morning...

 Noah actually let me sleep until 7:15 this morning, so it's some kind of miracle. Of course, he wasn't going to let me do that without waking me up at 2:00am for 15 minutes of snuggling and rocking before he'd go back to sleep. I can't really blame him for waking up, though. He's got a crummy stuffy nose and he's teething. Poor little guy.

Wren woke me up at midnight, crying, for reasons still unknown. Her language skills were not engaged at that hour, so all I could do was tuck her back in and give her a kiss. She quieted down, and did go back to sleep without further incident, so that was good.

I feel like I actually got some sleep last night! A miracle, for sure!

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Today I have a long list of things I want to accomplish, but I don't know how much will get done. The Great Bedroom Migration is on, but I need to have help with furniture moving and other logistical things. I had thought I would paint Kira's new room today, but that is unlikely. I should spackle some holes in the wall, first. And move Noah's stuff out of it. Sigh. It's really hard to not get overwhelmed with this kind of project.

I feel like my house is a dusty, dirty, cluttered wreck. There's crap everywhere that neds to be somewhere else, but the 'somewhere else' is a temporary holding space for other things that are waiting to get into their new home. Ack. I have a metric boatload of craft supplies that need to really go away. I also need to decide if we are going to box our SCA garb up and put it in the attic, or if we are really under the delusion that we will need it for an event sometime soon.

Since the last event we attended was Sapphire Joust in May last year, I seriously doubt we will need our garb and other medieval supplies soon.

Maybe today I should focus on getting groceries in the house, and buying the shelves I need for my sewing space so I can put more things away. I'm almost ready to sew in there...I just need to clear off my worktables so I can use the machines. A new pattern arrived in the mail yesterday and I am itching to make it. It's this one, a backpack / tote bag, which I think will be perfect for using on outings with the kids. I hope I have a perfect fabric already in my stash, though. I really want to use up some of my fabric stash first before buying more (HA! Riiight!).

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I just got some really sad news. A friend and lovely lady who I knew through the SCA passed away last night. She had a really terrible year of battling cancer, and while I am very sad she is gone, at least she doesn't have to fight anymore. She passed at home in her sleep last night.

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I guess I'd better get some breakfast and get moving. It's going to take a while to tackle the to-do list today.

contracting and freezing

So, it's about fifteen degrees here in lovely, snow-less Richmond, Virginia, and we are collectively freezing our asses off. I am home with the two littlest kids, who are currently glued to the Noggin channel on the TV. Yeah, sue me, I am grabbing a few minutes to blog while they stare at the tube.
The heat is cranked in here and yet it is still cold. That's likely because the office (which used to be the garage) has no ceiling at the moment, and frigid air is just pouring through the flimsy bifold doors into the living room (where the kids are watching TV). The contractors are hard at work putting up drywall, but they can only go so fast. And with twelve-foot sheets of drywall, there is a fair amount of opening and closing of the door to the outside. Brr.

I had planned to take the kids to the Children's Museum for the morning, but I am not so sure I want to leave two young guys alone with access to my entire house and all its contents and electronics. They are nice enough, but still...

Anyway, this is what my living room currently looks like:

The big shapeless mass in the corner is most of the stuff from the office, minus two desks and two file cabinets. We covered the piles of paper, files, computer parts, cables and other assorted office detritus with blankets to camouflage their existence from the little kids. As you can see in this photo, it appears to be working.

This shot is of the ceiling as you come down the stairs to the office. Note the crappy, unprofessional job that was done when the garage was converted 20 years ago or so. Yes, the strips of one by four are nailed directly to the ceiling joists, and about eleventy bajillion shims were shoved in between to make the ceiling level up. Oh, and then cheap acoustic tile was stapled to the wood, and wa-la! a ceiling. It's always been ridiculously cold in there in the winter. The are replacing it all with drywall, and I am hoping against hope that it will be at least a bit warmer in there this year.

Once this is all done, we begin The Great Room Migration. My sewing machines and stuff will take up residence in one corner, moving down from their current home in Noah's room. Noah's room will get painted (blue), and Kira will move in there. Noah will take over Wren's room (after some paitning of the lavender stripe on the wall), and Wren will move into Kira's pink and purple princess room. Whew.

I am totally thrilled to very soon have the ability to use my sewing machines at night and even during the day when the kids are playing. It's been a long time since I sewed anything at all.

Oh, and we will be acquiring an exercise bike and it will have a home in the office/sewing room/exercise area too.

Sigh. Wren is now crying uncontrollably for some unknown reason. I guess my blogging time has come to an end. More later.

Brrr!!

WARNING! This entry is random, probably boring, and deals with various musings and things that popped into my head as I was writing. I'm just saying.

Wow, the weather is positively Upstate New York-like! I love it, although I wish we had their three feet of snow.

I loved living in NY state, going to college there. The only negative moment was the spring of my freshman year.  I had almost finished my first year of college, first year back living in NY after ten eyars of living in Miami, and my friends and I planned a cookout party for the first weekend of May. The winter had been exceptionally long and harsh (to me, anyway), and I was so looking forward to wearing shorts (possibly) and being outside without the encumbrance of my winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves, earmuffs, boots....

I woke up the morning of the party on May 3rd and looked outside, only to see that it was...snowing.

I cried.

Thankfully, the snow didn't last, the beer and food and friends were good, and I developed my sense of Zen about the winters after that.
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So, I've decided I can't deal with my flabby physical self any longer and am going to do something about it. I have started walking after work every day for 30 minutes, and made a goal to drink a minimum of 60 oz of water daily.

This week, I've walked over three miles in two days. I even packed up the kids for a trip to the gym while Travis went to fight practice.

Ten pounds. All I'm asking my metabolism for right now is the loss of ten pounds. And I would love to either gain some self control, or find a way to be less stressed at work so I will stop eating everything that isn't nailed down.

I try not to think about the forty (gasp!) pounds I have gained over the years since I stopped dancing professionally.
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We enrolled Kira in a drama and theater class through the local parks and recreation department. It makes for a busy Monday night, but she is loving it, and I think it might give her the creative, silly, energy, attention-seeking outlet she needs. After one class, she has already proclaimed "Drama is definitely my sport, Mom!"

Hey, there are much worse things than being a 'theater geek'. :)

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Not much art being made here, right now. I am trying to be more disciplined about my approach to each day, because if I don't make some semblance of order out of what goes on around here, I will never get to sew/exercise/knit/make glass/write/whatever.

When I was in grad school, several years ago, I found it hard to maintain my sewing obsession and study for my classes (and this was before kids!).  I found a book that basically discussed how to divide your sewing projects into manageable chunks so that you could work on things a little at a time in spare bits of time, rather than obsessing over not being able to spend an entire day on something. I think I need to go back to this way of thinking. Right now, I have my Venetian bodice partially cut and basted and sitting on the cutting table. I have fabric purchased for a cape and hood for Kira, fabric purchased for fleece jackets for all three girls in this house, and pattern pieces cut for a jean jacket that I don't see myself getting to soon.

And there's more I want to make, or fiddle with, but not enough time.  I think I am going to acquire some decent-sized plastic bins and use them to organize projects in various stages of completion. Then I can cut stuff out when I have an hour to do that, press some pattern pieces in a ten minute block of time, rethread my serger when I can run in and spend five minutes, etc.

I might end up making more things if I try not to hold everything off until I can spend hours in my sewing room.
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Oh, and why for the love of all that is good and holy, can't a guitar just be a guitar for once??

Prince totally rocked it in the halftime show. It was awesome. We danced.

"....Baby, Im a star....Might not know it now....Baby but I r, Im a star..."


See? I warned you. This entry is boring and random. I applaud thoseof you who have read to this point. I will reward you now by ending this entry. Keep warm!

drinkin' a beer and....

It's Friday, the Tour de Central Virginia is done for another week, and I am drinking a Blue Moon. Could life get any better? I'm sure it could, but hey, I aim low these days.

We're not going to University, nor to Ymir. I'm not feeling the SCA love right now, not for any particular reason, but I'm just not. I guess I am overfull with general life stuff lately, plus work is royally kicking my ass, AND I am awaiting the letter from VCU about my acceptance (or lack of acceptance) to their doctoral program.

Genevieve and Guiliana and I had a successful Venetian bodice fitting/drafting last Sunday, so I am hoping to wear a gown that resembles this in time for Kingdom Arts and Sciences next month:

It will be green, though and not red, as there was just not the budget for the silk I wanted right this minute, AND I have a perfectly serviceable old Elizabethan gown that really needs rescuing from it's lack of authenticity.

I'm trying to work on that, some tops for Kira (of the belled-sleeve hippie-like tunic variety), and my glass items in this next month. Too. Much. Stuff. (never enough time)

It'll get done, though. The Venetian bodice is really not a difficult one, and the glass projects are actually of the very small variety. I just have to fire the kiln, and allow myself enough leeway to remake as necessary, in case of kiln failures. I can write the documentation for the pieces in a couple of hours of quiet time, so it should be fine.

So, I've been thinking lately....it seems to me that my interpersonal skills are maybe not that great. Not that I have done or said anything truly asinine of late (that I know of), but I'm beginning to think I'm just not that good of a friend. Travis is so good at maintaining friendships. I am not, I fear. I like people, wish I could spend more time, do more things with friends, but somehow, I just...don't. Truth to tell, I hate the telephone. I despise calling 'just to chat' with someone, because I always feel awkward and stupid. And I always feel like I am disrupting someone else's routine, or calling at an inconvenient time or something. Maybe that's just in my own head.

I guess I'm somewhat of a loner, actually. Maybe. I've been told that I am difficult to know, that I don't really let people get to know me, but I'm not sure how that could be. I feel like most of the time I wear everything right on my face, that it's impossible to not know, and that all I freaking do is talk about myself. And here I am, writing to the world about my life and my issues and my general boring bullshit. Man, do I even want to go out on a limb and post this??

I think I should maybe drink more beer. And eat something, too, to soak up the beer. It should be a great weekend, though, even if the weather is teh suck with all the rain and lack of snowfall and all. Have a good one.