Thursday, 25 November 2010
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Vintage sewing box all gussied up!
A few weeks ago, I got a call at work from my aunt. She was calling in an emergency...a thrifting emergency! Yes, there is such a thing. She found herself staring at multiple vintage sewing boxes and wanted to know if I wanted one. At a whopping $6.50, how could I say no?
The design is a simple one, but it's perfect for me! I oiled the wood and cut out some cute papers to line the bottom of each section. The result makes me smile each and every time I open it.
There's no photo to prove it, but trust me, the box is now crammed full of lots of little sewing bits and bobs. I love how I can cart it from room to room as I make my way through the stages of a project. At each point, the box holds all the tools I need to cut out, mark, clip, pin, and measure whatever I happen to be working on.
The only items I have left floating around on my shelves are dozens of spools of thread which are driving me CRAZY...perhaps Santa will bring me a wooden thread rack for Christmas?
The design is a simple one, but it's perfect for me! I oiled the wood and cut out some cute papers to line the bottom of each section. The result makes me smile each and every time I open it.
There's no photo to prove it, but trust me, the box is now crammed full of lots of little sewing bits and bobs. I love how I can cart it from room to room as I make my way through the stages of a project. At each point, the box holds all the tools I need to cut out, mark, clip, pin, and measure whatever I happen to be working on.
The only items I have left floating around on my shelves are dozens of spools of thread which are driving me CRAZY...perhaps Santa will bring me a wooden thread rack for Christmas?
Saturday, 20 November 2010
New baby = good reason to party
Last week, these two ladies made an appearance at our office, so we decided to throw a party!
We played games....
There were decorations...a little pink camouflage number I whipped up just for the party.
There were gifts...
...including this one of a kind change pad honouring one of our old recruitment campaigns. The campaign was called What Would You Change, so that makes this a What Would You Change mat! I'm sorry, but it still makes me laugh every time I say it. It's made out of one of the leftover campaign t-shirts, so it counts as an upcycled project to boot!
I also got our entire department to contribute their old work t-shirts to another one of a kind project, a BCIT quilt...'cause what new mom doesn't want a constant reminder of work while they're on maternity leave? It may not be a shining example of my quilting skills, but it gave everyone a good laugh and will be put to good use, I'm sure!
It was so awesome to see Erika and have a chance to hang out with her adorable little girl, Sydney. People need to bring babies to the office more often. Wouldn't that be nice?
We played games....
There were decorations...a little pink camouflage number I whipped up just for the party.
There were gifts...
...including this one of a kind change pad honouring one of our old recruitment campaigns. The campaign was called What Would You Change, so that makes this a What Would You Change mat! I'm sorry, but it still makes me laugh every time I say it. It's made out of one of the leftover campaign t-shirts, so it counts as an upcycled project to boot!
I also got our entire department to contribute their old work t-shirts to another one of a kind project, a BCIT quilt...'cause what new mom doesn't want a constant reminder of work while they're on maternity leave? It may not be a shining example of my quilting skills, but it gave everyone a good laugh and will be put to good use, I'm sure!
It was so awesome to see Erika and have a chance to hang out with her adorable little girl, Sydney. People need to bring babies to the office more often. Wouldn't that be nice?
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
A bib, sleep sack and quilt, oh my!
Can you believe it? It only took me a week to whip up this patchwork bib, sleep sack and quilt! It's amazing what a motivator getting paid is. That's right...I got paid! Am I giving up my day job? Heck no, but it is pretty exciting.
A colleague at work asked me to make something handmade so she could give her best friend a lovely little baby shower gift later this month. We had one quick pow wow looking through some fabric websites and Etsy before she basically gave me carte blanche to buy some fabrics and get sewing. I presented her with the finished projects this morning and she really seemed to like them...fingers crossed that her friend will too!
The bib is a pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby book which I modified to add the binding and opted not to include the pocket.
The sleep sack is from Anna Maria Horner's latest book, Handmade Beginnings. I am in love with this pattern! I wish it were around when Abner was smaller...when I think of the money we spent on sleep sacks...well, let's just say, I could whip up at least two for the price we paid for each of ours.
The quilt is my own creation...not that there's anything tricky about the design. I went for straight up patchwork with continuous binding. The top is just a mix of standard quilting cottons and a cotton flannel on the back.
To quilt it, I used three different embroidery hoops and hand stitched circles in three different colours all over the quilt. The effect is absolutely amazing and it was so easy to do. I really enjoyed the rhythm of all that hand sewing, and I honestly don't think I'll do any more machine quilting. It's way less frustrating doing it by hand.
I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and am looking forward to many more paid projects to come!
A colleague at work asked me to make something handmade so she could give her best friend a lovely little baby shower gift later this month. We had one quick pow wow looking through some fabric websites and Etsy before she basically gave me carte blanche to buy some fabrics and get sewing. I presented her with the finished projects this morning and she really seemed to like them...fingers crossed that her friend will too!
The bib is a pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby book which I modified to add the binding and opted not to include the pocket.
The sleep sack is from Anna Maria Horner's latest book, Handmade Beginnings. I am in love with this pattern! I wish it were around when Abner was smaller...when I think of the money we spent on sleep sacks...well, let's just say, I could whip up at least two for the price we paid for each of ours.
The quilt is my own creation...not that there's anything tricky about the design. I went for straight up patchwork with continuous binding. The top is just a mix of standard quilting cottons and a cotton flannel on the back.
To quilt it, I used three different embroidery hoops and hand stitched circles in three different colours all over the quilt. The effect is absolutely amazing and it was so easy to do. I really enjoyed the rhythm of all that hand sewing, and I honestly don't think I'll do any more machine quilting. It's way less frustrating doing it by hand.
I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and am looking forward to many more paid projects to come!
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Give me strength. I repeat. Give me strength.
Dear Lord, give me strength to repeat myself the six million more times it will apparently take to get my child to learn these lessons I am trying to teach her... 'cause I gotta say, the first eight million times haven't worked so well.
- No, I cannot pick you up; my hands are full.
- Please, use your fork, not your hands.
- I can't understand you; please take your hand out of your mouth when you're talking.
- Tell mommy before you have to pee, not after.
- It's time for bed, now close your eyes and go to sleep.
- No honey, you can't sleep in the big bed with mommy and daddy.
- You don't have to like it, you just need to try it.
- Hold my hand, we're in a busy parking lot.
- Please don't grab things off the counter.
- Honey, sometimes when people are in the bathroom, they want a little privacy.
- The tag goes in the back, not the front.
- Try again honey, your arm goes through the arm hole, not the neck hole.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Two words: Chickpea burgers
Whenever I come across a recipe I like, I take the time to type it all out and add it to my recipe blog. I've got almost 100 recipes in there at the moment. The latest edition is a recipe for chickpea burgers.
We're always on the lookout for ways to integrate substantial vegetarian alternatives into our meals and this one fits the bill perfectly. TDSH eats his on a bun with all the regular hamburger condiments, while I prefer to eat mine plain - more like you would a fishcake or something. As for Abner...wellll...she seems to go for the broken down burger approach and disassembles whatever we put in front of her. Not surprisingly, she eats the bun part first (what is with kids and bread!?!!?!)
I wish I had a photo to show you how amazing these tasty little numbers are, but we've wolfed down the entire recipe both times we've made them, so you'll have to just imagine how good these are. Do yourself a favor though...go get yourself a tin of chickpeas and whip these up tonight!
P.S. This blog post is dedicated to my colleague, "the other Kim", who once ate an entire can of chickpeas for dinner all by himself. That, my friends, is a chickpea fanatic.
We're always on the lookout for ways to integrate substantial vegetarian alternatives into our meals and this one fits the bill perfectly. TDSH eats his on a bun with all the regular hamburger condiments, while I prefer to eat mine plain - more like you would a fishcake or something. As for Abner...wellll...she seems to go for the broken down burger approach and disassembles whatever we put in front of her. Not surprisingly, she eats the bun part first (what is with kids and bread!?!!?!)
I wish I had a photo to show you how amazing these tasty little numbers are, but we've wolfed down the entire recipe both times we've made them, so you'll have to just imagine how good these are. Do yourself a favor though...go get yourself a tin of chickpeas and whip these up tonight!
P.S. This blog post is dedicated to my colleague, "the other Kim", who once ate an entire can of chickpeas for dinner all by himself. That, my friends, is a chickpea fanatic.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
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