52 Project Challege, 2012 - Page 25

[iowaorganic]

Ms.Shell- nothing yet but I really thought Monday night I was having the little one!  I finally did get a new camera that is compatible with my Mac- so maybe tomorrow when it is all charged I will add some recent pics :)  I love free motion quilting- it is all I do!  

Smokering- those are awesome!

I started a wool soaker- the seed stitch one on Ravelry- so far it is good and I am using some awesomely rustic but soft Rowan BFL in a darkish brown :)  My mom also told me my pack n play was gross- threw it away and then ordered me a new one- so I can't be mad right- cause my old one had been through 4 babies....  Anyway- I went to HobLob today and bought material for a couple of crib sheets (which was the main reason mine was so gross to begin with....) So hopefully if no baby tomorrow I will at least get the sheets done :)  No sewing has been going on here though because I can't stand to have my feet down since they are so swollen :(  Oh well.  

[JPiper]

PHEW-- I haven't been around for a while--you all are amazing!  I am thinking anyone who crafts a baby should automatically be given 40 projects (1 per week of gestation).  Very inspiring, everyone!

A busy couple of months work-wise is limiting my crafting time, but my husband and I have managed to do quite a few outdoor projects over the last few weeks.  Our growing season is so short, if we don't take advantage of it we miss out.  Our wooded property is truly a boulder garden and we are slowly moving some of the smaller rocks into more a more 'landscaped' arrangement.  I will have to come up with pictures, but we have done:

2 terraced garden beds with stairs to each-- one now planted with Asparagus and Strawberries, and one with annual veggies.

Another garden area cleared and planted with a bean teepee and perennial flowers/herbs

Over the last three years (since construction) we have seeded our leach field with wild flowers and native perennials. This summer it seems to be really hitting a stride and blooming beautifully with a huge variety of flowers!  Since this space isn't appropriate for trees or edibles, we are really enjoying the beautiful flowers, birds, butterflies, bees, etc... We are weeding out the undesirable plants slowly, but surely!

Transplanting raspberry and blackberry bushes to a better spot

Re-vamped our fire pit area

DH built a picnic table 

Hauled more manure and compost for soil amendments than I thought possible!  

I'm counting all the outdoor work as 6 projects-- one per week of MDC absence

Indoor projects--

Major mending pile tackled

sweater knitting completed, just need to finish pieces together.

= 2

Goals

Use materials from stash as much as possible 

Plan ahead carefully for big projects (like chair upholstery project) requiring purchase of supplies 

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

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: 29/52 (including some big ones!)

[Smokering]

20/52: Finished another pair of overalls for DS, out of one of our groomsman's shirts. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow - he looks adorable in them. :)

I have a wedding cake and a fancy, tiered birthday cake to do in the next few weeks, and I'm totally going to take points for those. Also for the costumes I (hopefully!) end up sewing for the birthday party.

[Smokering]

21/52: DS' birthday cake, which was actually a whole flock of miniature sheep cakes. They went down well. :) DS had cake for (more or less) the first time ever, and LOVED it; although it must be said he was cheerfully bouncing round the bed, crowing and giggling, at 11 at night.

[iowaorganic]

Awesome smokering!  First bday cake is so much fun!  Weird- but I was asked to make a wedding cake for a wedding last week.  I don't decorate cakes though- so it was weird....  So being due and hot and me NOT being a decorator- I declined....  Still weird.  And weirder still that they wanted my awesomely fabulous chocolate with chocolate butter frosting... which would have melted everywhere.....

Ohhh that reminds me I finished my SIL's Chirstmas gift from last year.....  I made her a suede and shiny leather tote bag :) It turned out great!  I divided the interior up for her iPad and other random things.  It was a pretty small tote bag- but she loved it regardless and I was happy because it turned out lovely!

I also finished that wool soaker- turned out awesome.  and I knit a newborn baby hat.  it is chocolate and cream striped and is one of those munchkin hats that is like a 15" long :)  Just need a baby to put it on now....

So I think that puts me at like 51 or something...  But this is all slowing down to a screeching halt pretty quick.

[Smokering]

And weirder still that they wanted my awesomely fabulous chocolate with chocolate butter frosting... which would have melted everywhere.....

Hee! I once made a chocolate mud wedding cake iced with white chocolate ganache, in January... which is midsummer here. It was a fiasco. White chocolate ganache is sort of transluscent, so the cake kept showing through the icing, and white chocolate is VERY temperamental... I ended up icing most of it actually in the fridge. Luckily the bride liked it - she must have had low expectations. :p NEVER AGAIN.

How did you sew the leather? I've always wanted to try leatherwork, but I don't know anything about it. Is it hard? Does it require strength and sinews? Because I'm sort of flimsy.

[iowaorganic]

Leather is kind of temperamental depending on what kind you use.  I started off with garment leather which they said I could sew on my regular machine.  Eh... not so much unless you want to trash your machine.  So we found an ancient upholstery machine on Craigslist- and that works pretty well.  I can do like 3 layers of upholstery leather- which is pretty good I think.  It is an old beast of a machine though- but I have used it on things like curtains and whatnot too.  I do most of the bag construction with the machine and then attach straps and hardware with a sewing awl- which is a lot of work. I wouldn't call myself flimsy- but more 'plucky'.  If I can't shove the awl through I use a block of wood and pound it through with a mallet :)  I get my hardware from the hardware store- so that is always kind of like treasure hunting for the correct rings and snaps and whatnot.  Probably the hardest thing was finding leather that would hold up.  The garment leather was awesome to look at but doesn't hold up to the demand of an everyday bag.  Tandy leather is pretty low quality and not a smoking hot deal by any means- although the people that work there are very helpful.  I found that the Hide House has amazing quality leather- and they are super helpful and fairly inexpensive shipping- although for you you probably have better local options!  The other thing to think about is that even thick leathers stretch- so that has to be accounted for too.  

[Smokering]

Fascinating! I didn't realise leather stretched... well, if I'd thought about it I might have realised that leather jackets can go baggy around the elbows. But even sturdy, handbag-type leather? Huh.

Unfortunately it sounds like sewing leather is even more of a pain than I thought. :p Oh well! Maybe one day.

My next project is to make a Captain America tutu for DD to wear at a fancy dress party this Saturday. Her idea. Off to the drawing board with me!

[Smokering]

OK, I have a question for you crafty ladies. For Christmas I want to make DD some costumes (if only to give my eyes a rest from her Snow White dress, which she wants to wear EVERY DAY, in midwinter mind you!). She loves dressing up. So I was thinking a fairy costume, a superhero cape, maybe another Disney princess dress if I can find one that isn't strapless.. but anyway, she's very into weddings at the moment and loves playing bride.

So. Dress-up wedding dress for a four-year-old. Is that neat, or creepy? I honestly can't decide. I know she'd love it, but... is it disturbing and wrong?

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

So. Dress-up wedding dress for a four-year-old. Is that neat, or creepy? I honestly can't decide. I know she'd love it, but... is it disturbing and wrong?

I'm voting neat. I loved playing wedding when I was a child - it's not even so much about the getting married aspect that kids go in for at that age - all I remember about playing wedding when I was young was dressing up as the bride and then serving everyone play food cake, while Canon in D played in the background. It was a grand old time. 

In other news, I have taken no points for anything. I keep thinking about doing things, but then... nothing. And this is why I end up as a nutcase in November trying to finish Christmas gifts. Oh well. 

[OkiMom]

Im voting neat :) My girls have a wedding veil in their dress up truck..the other day they were sporting it along with cowboy pants and a construction worker vest,. Never quite understood exactly WHAT they were suppose to be playing but it was fun to watch..

I meant to get a bunch done today and instead I didn't do anything..Well,I did convert 2 old picture frames that I was going to throw out into felt boards for school

[OkiMom]

Yesterday I finished all the curtains for the house, 14 curtains are definitely point worthy..

Today I have to, have to, have to make some maternity clothing.. I let someone borrow mine and never got them back (pretty typical, its happened every pregnancy.. I don't know why I loan clothing out anymore except I'm not good at saying no to people) so I'm starting to run out of clothing that fits. I guess at 28 weeks its about time I start to wear maternity clothing anyway I'm re-purposing some shirts into tops for dresses (2 dresses totally) then using the parts I'm cutting off the shirts for tops of skirts. Also if I have time I want to finish converting a skirt I found at the bottom of my "oh crap I need to finish this" basket.

[iowaorganic]

Well I have been super busy and need to take like 5 million points!

[iowaorganic]

Oh- and Smokering- it is fun to play wedding dress up!  I used to do it and DD does too- my sister found her Ariel's wedding dress and veil at a yard sale and she loves it!  I add straps to anything close to strapless...  but somewhere there is a pattern (Mc Calls, simplicity or butterick)  for princess costumes- I had a copy of the pattern but lent it out and well we all know how that goes :)  It is a pretty tasteful pattern too!  

Okimom- I would hit the target clearance racks for maxi dresses- I have worn the same 2-3 for months- but am tickled to be in a normalish smocked waist skirt today!

[Smokering]

iowaorganic, congratulations!! How'd it go? Do you have a birth story up? :) Five million points indeed!

OK, so you've convinced me about the wedding dress. I might do a long-tulle-skirted white "fairy" dress and a veil, and that way she can call herself a bride or a ballerina or a fairy or whatever she's into that day. Not that it's a priority right now anyway - my immediate must-finish projects are DD's winter coat, more long trousers for DS, a long-sleeved (but far too big, but I may as well finish it) shirt for DS, and a wedding cake.

Well, I'm taking three points.

22/52: DD's Captain America tutu.

23/52: DS' Starfleet uniform (SO CUTE, if I do say so myself! We wore it to the party and the birthday boy's mother was admiring DS, and when I said "He came in costume, he's a Starfleet baby" she said "Aww, so he is, bless him! He's a little Luke Skywalker!" Heh.)

24/52: Four-tier topsy-turvy Batman cake, for the birthday boy (well, "boy"... he's 30).

I'll try to get hold of some photos of the costumes - our camera battery's been playing up.

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

23/52: DS' Starfleet uniform (SO CUTE, if I do say so myself! We wore it to the party and the birthday boy's mother was admiring DS, and when I said "He came in costume, he's a Starfleet baby" she said "Aww, so he is, bless him! He's a little Luke Skywalker!" Heh.)

Heh. I always feel smug when people mess up Star Wars and Star Trek. I really want to see this uniform - though you didn't make him a Red Shirt did you? Red Shirts always get the short end of the stick... 

And congratulations Iowaorganic! She's adorable! 

[AfricanQueen99]

Stephani is worth a million points!!  She's lovely. :)

Congratulations to the whole lot of you Iowa Organics!

[Smokering]

I really want to see this uniform - though you didn't make him a Red Shirt did you? Red Shirts always get the short end of the stick...

Technically kindasorta, but no. :p It's a Voyager command uniform - red across the shoulders, black everywhere else, with a grey shirt with a slightly standy-up collar underneath. Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris and (on a few occasions) the Holodoc wore 'em, and they all survived...

Basically, I couldn't get hold of any fabric in that Engineering mustard yellow (he was going to be Miles O'Brien, after whom he was slightly named); but I always thought that was a ghastly colour anyway. Command red suits him much better. :)

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

Technically kindasorta, but no. :p It's a Voyager command uniform - red across the shoulders, black everywhere else, with a grey shirt with a slightly standy-up collar underneath. Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris and (on a few occasions) the Holodoc wore 'em, and they all survived...

Basically, I couldn't get hold of any fabric in that Engineering mustard yellow (he was going to be Miles O'Brien, after whom he was slightly named); but I always thought that was a ghastly colour anyway. Command red suits him much better. :)

Whew okay - the Voyager reds did seem to fare a little bit better than the classic red shirts. You've done your homework! And I love it that you kinda sorta named your kid after a Star Trek character. 

[zebra15]

February

1. Legwarmer (1)

2. Blue/Brown/Cream Blanket

3. Blue/green/yellow Blanket (small)

March

4. Legwarmer (match to #1)

5. Pink camo blanket

July

6. Green Blanket (for my new place)

7. Starting DS legwarmer #1

Congrats on the babies...

I still have moving!