Yes, that's sand between my toes

Pleae excuse my silence! I'm on vacation. I'll be back soon. In the mean time, I have some sun to saok up. :)

A year of blogging link love

My blog turned one last month. Happy birthday, blog! It's the first time in my life I've kept a blog going for this long. To honor the occasion -- which let's face it, I've actually already missed -- I wanted to introduce you to a number of others blog that started in the last year, all of them by real-life friends of mine. They're all unique and worthy of your click over to see what they have going on.

My friend Kim moved to Nanjing, China last September for her husband's career. She's dealt with that cross-the-world move with a grace and positivity I never, ever would have mustered. Her blog is all about daily life in China, where fruit is super cheap, where she has a driver to drive her everywhere, and where doing a load of wash takes all day. Her blog is called Kim Kim's Far East Adventures.

My friend Heather is a bad-ass prosecutor by day, a crafting, cooking, workout-loving Mom of two all the other hours of the day. She's brand new to blogging, writing about those three aspects of her life. She's shared a very effective workout system that you should seriously try, as well as recipes and a few craft projects. Check her out at Craft, Cook or Cardio.

Julie was one of my college roommates, and she recently moved to Oklahoma City. She's found tasty craft beer is not exactly free flowing and easy to find down there. So she and her husband Mark have started to brew their own. She blogs about her adventures in doing so, and she's a by-day journalist with a fantastic writing voice. Her blog is BeerOK.


Finally, Alex is a co-worker of mine. I love working with her because she's talented, smart, creative but tons of fun, too. She loves to bake and decorate cupcakes, and so she just started a blog about her kitchen creations called Motor City Cupcakes. Again, her writing voice really shines and her cupcakes are oh-so-cute.

My friends have all been out there with their blogs from the start, sharing links on Facebook, or letting their friends know to come and check it out. I on the other hand have been slow to share my own blog with the people in my real life, because, well, no good reason. My insecurities, I suppose. What if they think it sucks? What if they think I am a huge sewing nerd? And then I wonder about how it looks professionally. All stupid reasons. I like sharing my life and my sewing nerdiness with the internet. I'm going to stop acting like it is some weird secret hobby now. Mkay? Mkay. Thanks friends for showing me there's no reason to hide a good thing!

Owl burp cloth tutorial

You know how when you're pregnant, you're not really supposed to say if you want a boy or a girl? The correct stance is: as long as the baby is healthy, I'll be happy. As a mom of a baby who was decidedly not healthy at birth, I get this, totally. That said, I'll admit: the first time I found out I was having a boy, I felt disappointed. I think to some degree, we ladies all want a baby girl, a daughter who will grow up and share things with us that boys just can't. I'm totally happy with the way things worked out for me with two adorable, sweet, smart little boys. But the wanting-a-girl thread is still in there something deeply buried. I know this because when I found out my sister-in-law is pregnant with a baby girl, I squealed and basically skipped around the room in excitement. A girl! A niece! My first. I'm so very excited. 

It's fun to make little girl things at the sewing machine. Here's my first project for my niece, due in May.
An owl appliqued burp cloth! I guess some people never use burp clothes because I suppose their children are perfect little creatures who never regurgitate anything. Mine were quite the opposite. I went through at least one a day. I suppose I hope it runs in the family!

For this project, first I cut three rectangles of fabric and sewed them together with about a quarter inch seam. Iron those seams flat and then fold the new long piece of fabric down the middle. I use another burp cloth I like as a pattern. I love burp clothes in this oversized bone shape. They fit on your shoulder well and cover a nice portion of your back, which is nice when the adorable baby really lets it fly. 

After getting the top done, I turned to the owl applique.

I freelanced a pattern by cutting and play with the pieces. For mine, you need an ovalish body, a smaller oval for the belly, a half-circle for the face, two oval-shaped eyes and the wings. I cut the shapes and then ironed them onto medium-weight interfacing and cut them out. The interfacing makes the applique process a little sturdier and also, I hope, will prevent from fraying of the ends.

First I sewed on the body around the edge with a straight-stitch. You could also use a zig-zag, but I went for straight stitch with everything on my owl. After the body, I sewed the face on top, overlapping the body slightly.

I then placed the wings and sewed them only along the inside edge. You'll sew the outside edge down when you attach the owl to the burp cloth. 

 

Finally, I sewed on the eyes. The left one looks better because I took it really really slowly, hand-cranking the stitches for the most part and rotating the fabric every two stitches.

Here's how our little owl looks ready to be appliqued on!

Then it's simple. Place Mr. Owl in the middle of the burp cloth and sew around him using an edge stitch. And the top is done!

I backed my cloth with white terry cloth. I used my top as the pattern, placed the two pieces right sides together and sewed, leaving a hole for turning on one end, with a quarter-inch seam. Turn right-side out, iron very well, and then top-stitch around, being sue to close your turning hole. And you're done. One cute owl burp cloth for one, I'm sure, very cute niece.

This and that

I have nothing sewing-related to show you, unfortunately. So how about everything else in my camera? Maybe see what else I've been up to recently?

Cute baby in a bath. You are welcome. 

My Dad and his grandkids. I love this picture.

Mom2Mom season is back! I will be going out tomorrow, and a couple of weeks back, I rounded up this loot at a sale. I think I spent $14 for all of this.

When my friends Martin and Michelle moved to Germany, they didn't want to take this cute Ikea shelving unit. So I bought it from them for a very reasonable price. I honestly don't know how I lived without it. Not only does it fit perfectly in my dining room, but it is holding all sorts of things that before were crowded up my drawers and cabinets. 

Napkins, bibs (in the basket), cookbooks, huge salad bowls -- everything has a place now!

I found this cute orange Pyrex at an antique store. 

The other side. I love having my KitchenAid on display. Let's be honest, that baby is a work of art. It deserves a spot in a display case.

Moving on, I bought this cute pre-ruffled black and white fabric and can't figure out what to do with it. Pillow? Cute baby dress? Ruffly scarf? Ideas, please!

Do you need anything around your place fixed? I'll send him right over. 

Have a nice weekend! I have the very best intentions of actually sewing. Hopefully will have something to show you soon.

A mid-winter tank

We ave been having a heat wave here. Are you enjoying this, too? For about a week and a half, it has been at least 60 degrees. Now, we're into the 70s, and in the next day or two, 80s! I know, I know, I'm blathering on about the weather and you're thinking, why do I care what the weather's like there? You probably don't. But it's SUMMER in the winter! It's literally my dream come true.

And so, this tank top is totally appropriate sewing for March. That's the bottom line.

 

It started as this pretty polyester fabric, the same one I used for my infinity scarf. I saw it made into a maxi dress at the fabric store and just loved it. I thought about turning it into a skirt, but I also wanted to try something new. Enter, tank!


 I don't have photos of the process, sorry. I used Anna's "Sewing with knits" tank tutorial as a guide. A tank on hand with a similar shape served as my pattern. I tried my best to match the pattern up on the sides, and honestly, it turned out really well. It's worth the time to try and get that one right!

After that, it was fairly straight-forward except for two things. My needle broke on my very first stitch, which seemed like an ominous sign. And I burned a hole in my fabric with my iron. Oh yes! I did! I didn't realize it was polyester until I heard the sizzle. The hole was on the back near the top. I thought the entire thing was ruined, and then, light bulb! Darts! Darts can save the day! And so, if you look back at the top back, you'll see two darts coming now from the neckline. They make the tank slightly more racer-backish, which I like.

The whole thing only took about an hour. I left the hem untouched. The bias tape closures for the neck and holes was the most time consuming part. When you add them, you cut the strips to about 75 percent of the area they're covering and have to stretch them a bit to fit. It's a little tricky. When I can I leave myself more bias trim and then trim it to fit near the end.

All in all, for an intermediate sewer, someone who is a bit familiar with knits, it's not a hard project at all.

I'm getting lazy with my self-portraits. One of the things about making something to wear -- it's funny when no one notices it. Is that good or bad? They think it is a run-of-the-mill store-bought item, I'd guess. So do you focus more on the fact that they think it is run-of-the-mill or that they think it is something mass produced? I guess I will leave you with that deep thought for the day.

The Sewing Circle: Jessica from A Little Gray

I've been sitting on this latest interview of The Sewing Circle for a week now. Bad me! And it's a good one! Meet Jessica from the blog A Little Gray. I've enjoyed Jessica's blog for quite some time. Her projects are always flawless, but she comes across are totally mortal; not like some sewing bloggers I read and think they must have bobbins for fingers or something. Her voice is friendly and funny, and she's got a great eye for fabric. She makes a little of everything, from kids' clothes to bright, modern quilts. She's a rising star, too; Jessica is participating in Project Run and Play (a blog version of Project Runway for kids' clothes) this session. She also routinely hosts sew-alongs, including an ongoing one now through the book Little Things to Sew (which is now on hold due to her Project Run and Play.) Thanks to that sew-along, I was inspired to complete my puppet theatre in time for Christmas. So I owe her!

Read more about Jessica on her About page, and find her Tutorials here. 


Now, onto the interview. I've created a set of questions now that I'm going to use for all Sewing Circle interviews moving forward. Here she is! 

How old are you? 29 (No really.)

Where do you live? Cincinnati, OH

Do you have kids? If so, how many? 2 kids- Hendrix, nearly three. Elsie, nearly one.

How long have you been blogging? About 2 and 1/2 years, I think.

How long have you been sewing? Almost 4 years.

I love this simple, colorful baby bibs. Found here!

Who taught you how to sew?  My mom showed me how to use the machine. From there it was just me and the internet. I also recently took a quilting class, which was great. If you've never taken a local sewing class, I'd highly recommend it.

What kind of sewing machine do you use? I use a Brother Project Runway PC-420. I won it in Prudent Baby's potholder contest last year!

I love the colors in this mini-quilt. Isn't this gorg? Found here!

What kind of things do you sew? Probably too many kinds of things. I have become a full-on obsessive quilter in the last 9 months. But I still love sewing things like bags, gifts, home decor, and especially clothes for my kids. This summer I'd really like to spend some time sewing clothes for me, which I've always been a little scared of.

How often do you find the time to sew (or do other creative pursuits?) I usually sew at least a little every day. Sometimes naps will align for this to happen, but mostly it's after bedtime. My husband is a restaurant manager and works most nights, so I have that time all to myself. 


Do you have a dedicated space in your home for sewing? If so, tell us about it! Yes, I am very lucky to have a sewing room set up (also a guest room, but mostly a sewing room.) I definitely do not have one of those beautiful organized spaces you see on the pretty blogs. I can't operate that way. My creating is very messy by necessity. I try to clean up occasionally, but that doesn't even last until lunch.

Do you have an out-of-the-house job? Tell us about that if you can.  I actually work in a fantastically adorable local fabric shop called Sewn Studio. It's perfect. Close enough for me to walk there, very flexible schedule, fun and creative co-workers, and 25% off all my favorite fabrics.

This is that first quilt she made. Found here!

What's your favorite thing you've ever made? Definitely the first quilt I ever made, last July. I used all bright solids and did heavy straight-line quilting. It's on my son's bed, but sometimes I'm tempted to steal it for myself.

OK, now what was the most disastrous thing, and why? One time I tried to refashion one of my shirts with a yellow ruffle. It was the saddest ruffle you've ever seen. Also, I cannot pull off ruffles. Lose-lose.

Do you most often sew for yourself (whether to wear or keep for your home, etc) or for others (your kids, gifts, etc)? The items are for others. But the act of sewing is really all about me- I'm sure you can relate!

A pair of pants from Sewing for Boys. Adorable.

What are some of your favorite sewing books? Right now I'm leading a sew-along thru Leisl Gibson's Little Things to Sew. I think I've made eight of the projects now and I love them all! I've also been making a lot of things from Sewing For Boys.

What's your favorite sewing tool, aside from your sewing machine? My Havel's Snip-Ease clippers. Cannot live without them!

Where do you most often find your inspiration? Well, blogs and flickr of course. I'm trying to limit my internet inspiration consumption though. (For example, I'm stubbornly refusing to get on Pinterest. It's silly, I know. But I'm steadfast!) Not that I don't love all the inspiration from my internet friends, but I want to give myself room to also look to things like nature, the city, and my family and kids for inspiration. 

A hand-embroidered potholder, which won her a new sewing machine from Prudent Baby.

What's your favorite place to buy fabric? Well, Sewn Studio obviously. But if I buy online, my favorites are Hawthorne Threads and an Etsy shop called Fresh Modern Fabric.

Do you have a favorite fabric designer or line or fabric? If so, do tell. :) I can't help but love everything Anna Maria Horner does, and Innocent Crush is one of my all-time favorites. But lately Lizzy House has become a tie for favorite. I'm working on a quilt for my bed using all her fabrics right now.

Do you pick the fabric after you know what project you're working on or do your more often just buy to build a stash and then pick from it when you find a project you want to do? For a while there when I first began working in a fabric store I went a little crazy building my stash. Since the new year though, I've really tried to focus on using that up now and hold off on buying unless it's something basic like solids or linen. I've kind of realized that I don't really need to buy every new line of fabric that I love because I just love it all! So when the time comes that I do need something for a project, there will be new fabric to love then too. I think it's all about balance with this issue, and being able to get to work whenever inspiration strikes.

Airplane applique available through free download free.

If you could meet one other sewing blogger, who would you want to meet? There are SO many cool people I've met through blogging and getting to actually hang out with them would be one of the coolest things in the world. My real-life friends like to give me a hard time about my "virtual friends." Psh. They just don't know! This summer I will have at least one opportunity to meet up with a group of these friends for a sewing weekend- maybe two. I'm so excited about it! But anyway, since those people are way too many to list (including Krista!) I will just tell you the person who I might consider a sewing-blogger crush. I'm so struck with her talent that I never even comment on her blog or flickr photos, just admire them from afar. (Isn't that silly?!) It's Amy of Badskirt. She's got the best eye for fabric, she's always trying something new, she's hilarious, she's thoughtful about sewing, and she's just plain bad-ass. And I would totally be embarrassed if she ever saw this.

What's on your sewing to-do list now? Most urgently, I need to finish a mini quilt for a flickr swap I'm in, and a charity quilt for a flickr bee I'm in. (If you aren't familiar, the quilting world on flickr is... well, cultish.) I also really need to start thinking Easter clothes for the kids. Oh! And I have one more (HUGE! GIANT! EXCITING!) project coming up that I can't tell you about just yet- check my blog Monday if you are curious!  (Ed note: this is the Project Run and Play announcement. Congrats, Jessica!)

Thanks so much to Jessica! Sorry it took so long to get this up. Life is crazy right now! If you'd like to be featured in the Sewing Circle, or have another sewing blogger to suggest, drop me an email at tharshesews@gmail.com. To read more Sewing Circle Interviews, just click here!

An unenviable task -- a photo story

When you're 3, it might sound like a lot of fun to take a box of Ziploc baggies and throw them all over the kitchen floor, creating a pool of slick plastic fun.

That is, it's fun until your meanie mama says you have to pick up the hundred of so slippery suckers and put them away.

Then, you've got a serious job to do.

Let's see how that unfolds.

Success! Except for that lone remnant on the floor. And the spillage coming out of the drawer. Which you know is going to burst forth with Ziplocs the second you open it.

Still. A for effort.