52 Project Challege, 2012 - Page 23

[lifeguard]

My condolences potatoecraft. Lovely name (ds shares it).

[JPiper]

Originally Posted by JPiper 

Got busy this weekend and completed:

2 appliqued mouse pads (fun with new sewing machine capabilities!)

1 awesome upcycled yoga skirt from old knit top

Baby gift done

11 items from mending pile back in action (I'll count as 1 project)

5 completed projects this weekend, plus substantial work on knitted sweater...  Should be done just in time for summer weather (hee hee!).

In Progress

• Continue wool rag rug project
• Continue yo-yo wall hanging

Goals

Use materials from stash as much as possible

Plan ahead carefully for big projects (like chair upholstery project) requiring purchase of supplies--spent less than $70 to redo recliner chair with enough fabric left over for another project!!

Turn upstairs spare room (currently unfinished and used for storage) and turn it into a dedicated & ORGANIZED studio/work space 

Have a mix of projects going so there is always something to grab and work on during spare moments of kids practices/classes/activities

Running total: 21/52 (including some big ones!)

Edited by JPiper - 5/2/12 at 11:22am

[gardenbelle]

Hi ladies!

I'm finally crawling out from under the rock I've been throwing up under the past month.  This first trimester has been my roughest yet but at 9 weeks, I'm starting to feel a little bit of energy coming back and I'm not running to the bathroom as much anymore.

I just read through the thread and caught up -

potatocraft - I am so sorry for your loss. :(

iowaorganic and JPiper - congrats on your new machines, how exciting!

JPiper, iowaorganic and msshell - pics please on your newest completions!

greenmamato2 - I am right there with you; it's so hard to do anything more than what is required from me as a mother right now.  I can't wait for the first trimester to pass and I can start enjoying the pregnancy and get back into crafting. :)

Smokering - congrats on becoming a chicken mama!  Aren't they so much fun to watch?  The green eggs are such a hit with the kids.  My daughter will only have hard boiled eggs that are green now. :p  Also, I don't know if you are still working on those floor cushions, but I stumbled upon a great stuffing material when I was making those recycled wool balls - old fabric scraps.  It's the perfect weight and uses up the odds and ends pieces that usually end up in the garbage.  I made my daughter an oversized indoor ball stuffed with this and it flattened out into a perfect floor cushion like it was made for that purpose.

AFM!  I'm jumping back into crafting with an apron project for my friend who loves to bake.  Her daughter just turned one and she loves to bake with her kids.  Super girly and ruffly and hopefully I'll get it done this weekend.  I also want to start a picnic tote to match my picnic blanket I made in March.  Also on the list is adding some upcycled siding to the bottom of my quail cage to hold a compost pile (the bottom is wire mesh so their poop would fall right onto the compost pile, how great would that be?).  The quail are just starting to lay and once I get over my food aversions, I can't wait to make some delicious dishes with the quail eggs.

The quail hutch was a lot of fun to design and build because it was such a manageable size. I used up some old, spider ridden scraps of wood in the garage to make the siding, used an old can of bathroom paint an old wood stain for the paint (had DH paint) and some extra hardware cloth left over from the chicken coop for the cage areas so it ended up being a relatively economical and eco-friendly project. The total was around $40, not bad! I think it looks nice with the chicken coop, don't you?

I'm 16/52 now and it looks like in order to get back on target for the year, I need to make that 18/52 (we are in the 18th week of the year, right?).  Looking forward to jumping back in and sorry I went MIA!

Edited by gardenbelle - 5/2/12 at 11:19am

[OkiMom]

To bad I don't count baking as part of this challenge I just managed to finish stocking the kitchen so the kids and I are currently making: 4 loaves of bread, 3 loaves of French bread, peanut butter choc chip muffins, monkey bread (its a type of breakfast bread) and they want to add in some cookies as well.. They are pretty excited we get to bake again!

Im still trying to get myself to make curtains. Im being a bit of a slow poke. Oh and Im still not unpacked

[ms.shell]

gardenbelle, your quail hutch (and backyard) is lovely.  WTG on making that beautiful house for $40!

I just made myself super happy by finishing a (huge) round wrap skirt I cut out last night.  It's a loud green and white geometric print 'value' fabric I bought a LONG time ago.  I saw it and thought, skirts can be loud.  I used green grosgrain ribbon for the waistband/ tie, so it was almost too quick of a project to count as a point...but i'm counting it. ;)  Oh, I love it, it's cute.  AND I found a light green sleeveless cowl top I made last year but was big in the back of my closet and YAY it covers my belly and matches great with this skirt and my fave green jewelry.  I was thinking the skirt will go nicely with a plain white tee, and it will, but this light green top and the skirt feel like a super cute outfit.  So like I said, I just made myself super happy!  +1 for me.  Now I gotta clean house, but I sure hope to sew more later.  I hope all you ladies are having a nice weekend.
 

[iowaorganic]

Originally Posted by ms.shell 

gardenbelle, your quail hutch (and backyard) is lovely.  WTG on making that beautiful house for $40!

I just made myself super happy by finishing a (huge) round wrap skirt I cut out last night.  It's a loud green and white geometric print 'value' fabric I bought a LONG time ago.  I saw it and thought, skirts can be loud.  I used green grosgrain ribbon for the waistband/ tie, so it was almost too quick of a project to count as a point...but i'm counting it.   Oh, I love it, it's cute.  AND I found a light green sleeveless cowl top I made last year but was big in the back of my closet and YAY it covers my belly and matches great with this skirt and my fave green jewelry.  I was thinking the skirt will go nicely with a plain white tee, and it will, but this light green top and the skirt feel like a super cute outfit.  So like I said, I just made myself super happy!  +1 for me.  Now I gotta clean house, but I sure hope to sew more later.  I hope all you ladies are having a nice weekend.

 

post a picture! I want to see! I finally cut out a new handbag for my sil- I am still trying to decide what I want to do for handles- but at least I have it cut out- I should have started sewing today- but haven't felt motivated.... maybe tomorrow I can get after it...

[ms.shell]

Quote:

post a picture! I want to see!

We went out for mexican for Cinco de Mayo and I got salsa on my green shirt!  So here's a terrible picture of that skirt with a white tee.  Dh is playing XBox, so he won't want to take any more pix...I'll leave this here a little while so you can see it, then I am deleting this picture!

Edited by ms.shell - 5/6/12 at 7:24am

[iowaorganic]

Ohh cute! I love it!  Did you serge the hem?  and does it have any seams?  I made myself a wrap skirt last summer and hate it- it was a mccalls pattern.  I have one from a mdc mama that has no seams or anything and it is actually awesome- I just don't really get how she made it......

oh- and for being due just after me- you look so tiny!  My belly is huge!  I wouldn't be able to keep a wrap skirt up now- but am thinking for after the baby.....

[ms.shell]

Yes, I just serged the hem, cuz I'm lazy like that.  And no, no seams, it's cut out in one piece on the fold.  I got the pattern from that book "Chic and Simple Sewing" by Christine Haynes (but I cut this one out well past the lines for the largest size, lol).  There are like 25 patterns in that book for super easy garments that don't use any buttons or zippers.

[Smokering]

14/52 - Finished DD's winter PJs. I started them last year and stopped when a) Gran bought her another pair of perfectly good winter PJs, and b) I realised that the so-called size 3 ran HUGE and wouldn't fit her for another year anyway.

Unfortunately they're not exactly a work of art. I used an old Butterick pattern for a fleece jacket and trousers, and it was really badly designed, even apart from the sizing issue. The collar is just one piece of fleece - no hem, no facing, no underside. So it has this weird raw edge that's visible when the collar flops upwards, which it does constantly because the single weight isn't sturdy enough to keep it in shape. And the sleeves are designed to roll up at the cuffs, but without any kind of nice seam-finishing to make it look decent. And it only has three buttons, where it could have used four or five. Lots of weird little issues like that. DD likes them just fine, but to me - now I've been spoiled on Ottobre patterns - they look kinda junky and homemade. Detailing is important, folks! But at least she has something to wear at night.

I also made DD a wheatie bag, but as that was a spur-of-the-moment decision I can't in good conscience count it towards my total. I will count the several garments I'm about to make DD and DS for winter, though. Suddenly realised they're low on warm clothes, so headed out to our fabric store today (having a huge sale, fortunately!) and bought stuff to make:

-A pink faux-fur winter coat for DD (classier than it sounds; Ottobre, and it's a nice delicate pink, not hot pink)

-A brown teddy-bear faux-fur jacket for DS

-Microsuede brown vintagey-looking trousers for DS

-A flannelette shirt for DS

-A lined flannelette pinafore for DD (I'm a bit unsure of my fabric choice here - it might be too floppy - but Spotlight's selection of washable wool blends is basically non-existant)

-A long-sleeved knit top for DD... if I can conquer my fear of sewing knits and find some decent ribbing. The only colours there were too hideous to contemplate.

And I have a denim pinafore handed down from my sister, which I'll cut up to make some more winter trousers for DS.

Whew!

Better start pre-washing the fabric, I guess!

[ms.shell]

I have only made one Butterick pattern, and I too was not impressed with the design and details, and so have steered clear of their patterns ever since.  What is a wheatie bag, smokering?

[Smokering]

A wheatie bag is what DH calls a Happy Hugger... it's just a pillow filled with wheat. You microwave it and use it instead of a hot water bottle (or you can freeze it and use it instead of an ice pack, but I've never done that). They're safer than hot water bottles because they can't leak, and they're nice to squeeze. My trusty craft-fair rectangular one got me through two labours. :) I highly recommend them!

[iowaorganic]

smokering- can you put the wheat baggie in the oven?  We have no microwave.  DH even got rid of the one I kept in the garage for setting dye on yarn :(  But I love the idea of this bag if I had some way of heating it....

[Smokering]

iowa: Er, I guess? As long as the cotton didn't char - I don't really know what happens when you bake fabric! You could probably wrap it in tinfoil or something...

[kitchensqueen]

I'm taking a point for a taggie blanket that I made for the baby. He loves it! I was so excited to see how much he adores that thing; there is nothing better in the whole world, I swear. So I think that puts me at 48/52 projects for the year thus far. 

[OkiMom]

Kitchen- I made a couple of those for the girl and the boy, they all loved them. For Christmas I made the boy a giraffe taggie, its mane and tail were made of ribbon.

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by OkiMom 

Kitchen- I made a couple of those for the girl and the boy, they all loved them. For Christmas I made the boy a giraffe taggie, its mane and tail were made of ribbon.

That's such a cute idea to do them as animals! We're going to have some new babies in the family this summer, which means they will be about the age to like taggies come Christmas. I'm "stealing" your giraffe idea!  

[iowaorganic]

My cousin made me one for DS2 and she actually sewed part of a stuffed animal in one corner- it was awesome.  Who doesn't have a million little stuffed animals that could use being cut in half and sewn into a taggie?  I also made one with a wooden ring in one corner- weird for tiny baby- but awesome for teething.

I am going to get out my camera and get some points going tonight.  I really don't know why I hate doing that so much.  But I have been busy :)  BBL

[OkiMom]

Steal away! If you need a picture just ask I also did a horse and a monster for DS. He love taggie animals. Ill probably make at least 1 for the baby in the belly for Christmas. He/She will be almost old enough to be grabbing things during Christmas time.

Tomorrow we find out if its a girl or a boy! I can't believe Im already past 19 weeks! It feels like this pregnancy just started.. and has been going on forever

Oh I think Im going to take a point.. Im officially done unpacking!!

[OkiMom]

Just wanted to update, we are having a healthy little girl! My girls are super excited to be getting another sister.