Cheshire Cat Hand Warmer

While browsing the books at Jo-Ann's a couple of weeks ago I came across a book called 'Everything Alice'.  I picked it up, assuming it would be a book of patternless clothing (a la the Bog Coat), simple cooking (like donut pudding) and dachshund joy.


Imagine my surprise when I found it was a book based on Alice in Wonderland, a book I used to hate because of people calling me Alice In Wonderland when I was a child.


Hannah Read-Baldry and Christine Leech have created a book of over 50 projects to sew, glue, cut and bake in this delightful book subtitled 'The Wonderland Book of Makes and Bakes'.


To make it even better, the first project I saw when I cracked the cover was the Cheshire Cat Hand Warmer....the perfect project for someone who tries to get her dachshund companion to provide warming for her hands when the RA acts up.  Alex's butt may be the perfect size but he rarely will stay still long enough for any therapeutic effect.  A hand warmer is the perfect solution..


Here is the project as shown in the book:

Here is my simplified rendition:

Here is it being used by one achy hand:

Other projects I want to try are the Sugar and Spice Comfits, Lavender Cookies, Fabric covered Tea Pots and... well, just about everything!


For the Alice in Wonderland lovers out there and me.

For Your Wish List

I just got a wonderful book in the mail that I think you will want on your wish list especially if you are a Jane Austen fan..

It's called 'Jane Austen's Sewing Box'. Subtitled 'Craft Projects & Stories From Jane Austen's Novels', the author, Jennifer Forrest, takes fourteen projects referenced in Jane Austen's novels and gives you a historical perspective on the project, excerpts from the novels relating to the project and then gives you instructions on how to reproduce the project.

Projects include a 'huswife', a bonnet, a needlepoint pillow, a knitted miser bag and nine more for you to try out.

I love this book.

It is a joy to read each section with the mix of historical information and the bits from the novels.

The projects are interesting and the illustrations are lavish.

Just browsing through it for a bit this afternoon I was taken back to the Regency Period and kept imagining myself the clothing of the period sitting in the rooms pictured working on paper flowers for the coming holidays.

Although this book does not have a U.S. publisher, it is available through Amazon from several sellers. Mine came from The Book Depository in Gloucester, U.K. It only took a week to get here and I am so looking forward to cuddling up in bed with Alex and the Girls to read it this evening.

For those who watch the movies based on Austen's novels and get distracted from the action by the clothing, accessories and home decorations, this is the book for their library.

101 One Yard Wonders

There's a new sewing book out there that you might want to take a look at when you have that stray yard of fabric begging to be used.




This is a book that will not teach you how to sew but it does have some great projects. I will admit that some are pretty lame... like how to recover a small ironng board using the old cover as the pattern (duh!) but there are many, many more that will stretch your imagination and give you some great results.

I decided to try out one of the projects this weekend just to test of the instructions. Each of the projects are designed by different internet based sewers but the instructions are all written by the editorial team. The one I chose is a cat bed that looks like a big floppy bowl. I was intrigued by it as the design is based on trapezoid walls that lean out from a small bottom.

Here's how it came out:

Doesn't Kelis look mad to be woken up by the flash?

Those big fluffy walls are just Alex and the Girls love to rest their heads on when they are taking naps....just don't tell them that it was designed for a cat!



The fabirc is a golf themed flannel that I have no idea how I acquired it or why. I stuffed it with tiny bits of cotton scraps that I spent way too long making even tinier while clearing out the TIVO yesterday...I should have just run out and bought some fiberfill as suggested in the instructions!



The instructions were very well written, short, to the point and very accurate. If you follow them, and do not get distracted, you will have success with this book. Please note that it is not written just for quilters with their obsession with 1/4" seam allowances, although there are a lot of projects that need bias binding as an edge finish. Many of the projects are suitable are non-quilting cottons which makes this an extremely versatile set of projects.



Even though I do like this book, I am a little disappointed in the projects offered. Even though there are some darling children's clothing and some other great things I haven't tried, there wasn't a hint of a bog coat or a six square jacket... not even one bias top or a simple bag for a wheel chair.



I guess there is still a lot of material out there that can be included in the next addition.

In the Mail

Chronicle Books had a friends and family sale last week and I couldn't resist ordering a couple of things I am always thinking I need but never buying. With 30% off it was finally my chance to get 'The Complete Wosre-Case Scenario Handbook' . It is 500 plus pages of advice on how to survive many extreme situations. Like, the pilot is dead, or you are locked in a walk-in freezer, or your child won't eat their vegetables, or you meet a mountain lion in the woods - this book has hundreds of solutions to these and other scenarios. Most of the advice seems very practical for the layman and gives you the confidence to actually survive a bad situation. The book also includes a DVD of all the worse case scenarios from the eleven books in the series. I have not looked at the DVD because the book is so engrossing.

For your bathroom library or reference shelf, this book would be a wonderul addition.

Now if I could just remember the advice about meeting a mountain lion or landing a plane without carrying the book with me all the time!

In the Mail

A couple of days ago I got in the mail several Japanese language craft books. I ordered them after hearing on a lot of blogs about the clear, illustrated instructions and the general quality of the projects presented. I went to Yes Asia and had a browse around as the initial welcome screen did not seem to have anything I would like - lots of ads for Korean, Japanese and Chinese movies, music and television shows. When I searched on sewing a whole other world opened up. Here is what I ended up ordering:

The two books on the lower right are published by Ondori and are part of a series. They cost $4.49 each and are excellent resources for felting and sashiko. Sashiko is a particular style of hand stitching origianlly used to create padded jackets for outdoor workers. Both the sashiko and felting books are excellent resources if you are interested in these topics. The projects were unique and beautiful and look like you can do them from the illustrations without reading the Japanese instructions. Both are well worth the price.

The handmade Zakka book speaks to a phenomenom in Japan defined, by Wikipedia, as "the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane. To qualify as a zakka, a product must be attractive, sensitive, and laden with subtext.". This book is essentially eye candy. Beautiful pictures of items to make plus pictures of various venues with the projects artfuly arranged. The instructions are a little less clear than the Ondori books but doable.

The book in the upper left with the beautiful blue and white tote on the cover seems to have the theme of items for travelling. There are ten quilted handbags/totes, half a dozen pieces of clothing (including a gorgeous wrap dress) and a couple of home dec items. This book is a lush combination of eye candy and doable projects. There is a lot of attention to detail and the handbag finishing is laden with hand stitching to give these projects a wonderfully finished look. The garments are lovely but, as you can imagine, too small for me BUT I bet a talented pattern maker could size them up easily.

The last book is the most interesting to me. It was advertised as a sewing book but it is so much more. This book has about 15 basic patterns with 2 - 4 variations of each pattern. The key to successfully completing these garments is accurate measurement taking which is very well illustrated. There are four sizes included for each garment - S, M, L annd LL. The book shows detailed diagrams on how to draw the patterns for your size, detailed layouts of your pattern on the chosen fabric and excellent illustrations on how to make each garment. I am definitely bigger than the LL size... heck, I am even three inches taller than the LL size but the clear pattern drawing instructions should make it easier for me to up-size the patterns to a more American size.

The best part about all this is that Paul's girlfriend should like some of these styles and is closer to the sizes shown. I will probably be able to experiment on things for her before plunging into garments for myself. The last couple of pages have detailed instructions on general sewing including how to insert different styles of zippers. The very last page of the book has the simplest design of all so you can try your hand at garment sewing without a huge expenditure in either time or money. The project is a pull-on elastic waist skirt with side slits. I wish I could read Japanese so I could understand the item labelled, in English, 'One Point Advice'.

Except for the sewing book, all of the books open like western style books. Scattered throughout there are English words for things like 'how to make p. 72' but 99.9% is in Japanese. If you are not a visual learner you might want to find a Japanese speaker to help you over the rough spots. I am having a hard time deciding what to start on first but since I have some travelling coming up I will probably try the sashiko book first. One final note, there are several projects in these books for book covers where the back cover slips into a pocket and the rest wraps around the book to close with a button and ribbon. A very nice design and easily adapted for all standard paperback book sizes.

Ready Made

Ready Made Magazine that is. I love this magazine but never subscribed until the Maker Faire last year when they were doing promotional subscriptions for $5.00 a year. For $5.00 I thought I couldn't lose and so far I haven't. It has an eclectic mix of how to make stuff, what to buy and some wonderful regular contributors. One that I particularly like is the interview series that asks someone HDYGTFAJ! (How Did You Get that F***ing Awesome Job! with apologies for the profanity). In addition Todd Oldham does a column on making simple accessories for you and your home. Who can resist a column called Hod Toddy?

The June/July issue is all about vacations but with a Ready Made twist. There are reviews of various camps where you can learn furniture making, basket weaving, fly fishing or a number of other adult pursuits. Another article has a whole bunch of camping equiment from smaller manufacturers. I thought the article on how to build a camp fire was pretty lame until I remembered how difficult this skill is for most of the participants in the TV show Survivor. They even devoted a couple of pages to vacationing at home in unusual ways. Heck, I even learned that the first hot dogs were invented in 1690 and called 'little dashchunds' (ewww!).

I have never made any of their projects but with the beginning of pool weather I decided to try Todd Oldham's Beach Tote. The complete instructions are in the magazine and online as well. My towels were bigger than he used but I think it turned out pretty well.

Folded up and ready to carry over the shoulder:

Unfolded down the stairs with the pillow at the top:

Close-up of the pillow and the side pockets:

I didn't have enough webbing or cord for the handles to reach all the way around the bottom so I improvised with some marine cord I had in the garage. I also put the handles on the short edges of the bag for stability. The pouch at the top of the bag has three pockets. The large middle one for an extra towel to be used as a pillow, and two smaller ones which seem just the right size for paper back books, water bottles and sun screen. Though I am not a great swimmer I do enjoy time at the pool and, with this tote, I will definitely have all I need for an hour or two at the community pool this summer.

Stay cool!

Finny and Donk's Sewing Adventure Update

PROJECT ONE - BUTTON SCARF

The first project for the sew-a-long is based on the button scarf from 30 Simple Gifts to Stitch. The scarf is just about the easiest sewing you will ever see but there is a challenge in it. To replicate the scarf you need to use fake fur, a fabric that is a pain in the butt to work with and, fortunately, not suitable for Houston weather! I used a piece of taffeta burnout, couched on some suede yarn (for more texture), lined it with a blue silky fabric and used a leaf bead as the button. As I used the full width of the fabric rather than the suggested 26", it's more of a stole than a scarf and it will be good for my shoulders. I'm pretty proud of the bead as I had to drastically alter it from its florescent tourquoise look by rubbing on black paint, copper pigment powder and some bees wax, for shine. I have enough fabric left to make a matching skirt but I think I will revert it to the original purpose which was to make a couple of purses for the Kingwood Quilt Guild auction.
(Sorry that the button is hiding in the fabric!)


I wonder what the next project will be?

Scarf Madness

Although Houston is not seeing the extremely cold and blustery weather that the rest of the country is , we do occasionaly need scarves to keep oursleves warm... or as a fashion accessory. I have been experimenting with some of the yarn I have around here that just isn't enough for a big project but just right for a scarf.

The scarf below is made from a chenille type yarn, multi-colored and hand dyed by the Great Adirondack Yarn Company. There was about 100 yards of it on the skein as I had only used a bit for the Carol Taylor project. The yarn was a little hard to work with as it tended to be a bit sticky. I garter stitched it on size 35 needles, 10 stitches wide, and ended up with about seven feet of scarf. I washed it in the washing machine and dryed it in the dryer. Some bits are now sticking out where the knitting was a little loose. Fortunately, that does not bother me as it does not detract from the great colors or the general coziness of the result.

My second attempt at playing with yarn for a scarf was a bit more adventurous. I had about six balls of various yarn in lovely sherbet colors. I garter stitched it using three strands of whatever was at hand, about 20 stitches wide on those size 35 needles. It came out to about four feet long and more like a shawl than a scarf. I don't know how cozy it will be but the various textures feel great and the fuzzy fringe will be fun to play with.

My final attempt is still on the needles but the texure is so fun that I thought I could share it now. I am using Tahki (I think that's the correct spelling) classic cotton yarn in navy and bright pink so there will be pink followed by blue followed by pink in color blocks. I had previously seen the basket weave effect in a fancy yarn shop with fancy wool made up into an elegant sweater. I loved the effect but had no idea how to do it until I read 'Drunk, Divorced and Covered with Cat Hair" by Crazy Aunt Pearl of blogging fame. The basketweave is achieved by knitting 10 stitches, pearling ten sticthes and continuing until you get to the width you want. I did not have a width in mind so I repeated the pattern once. The basketweave effect comes when you switch from knitting first to pearling first every ten rows or so. I'm using 5mm needles to do this one and it is 40 stitches wide.

BTW - Crazy Aunt Pearl's book is a wonderful read, not about knitting but about how she recovered from a divorce with knitting as therapy. We have all been devastated by an unexpected event in our lives and her journey is truly inspirational. You'lll laugh, you'll cry and, if you make it through the book, you'll find a few easy knitting patterns at the back of the book including instructions on the basketweave effect.

The Funeral Purse

While I was away in Canada my son's girlfriend's grandfather passed away. Born in Viet Nam in 1921 he left behind a huge number of family including one great-grandchild. I decided to attend the funeral and it was held Saturday at Holy Rosary church in Downtown Houston. There were hundreds of people at the church for the all Vietnamese service. The internment was near here at Brookside in an area that seems to be exclusively set aside for Vietnamese graves. It was interesting to see the blend of old and new traditions in the graveside service and I loved the smell of joss sticks that seemed to be burning at most gravesites. A most unusual aspect of the graveside service, at least to me, was when the grandchildren removed their traditional white garments and laid them in the grave with many flowers added by the attendees. I had been curious about the voluminous garments and was horrified at the poor quality of the fabric and construction... not realizing that they would be discarded at the end of the grave side service.

While anticipating my attendence at the funeral I realised that I wanted a new handbag to carry that could hold those few things I might need like a handkechief and allergy medications. I had noticed previously that the Amy Buter "In Stitches" book had a Flickr.com sew along group and that their current project was the patchwork handbag.

I wanted to try one of her patterns so conceived of a little dark but flowery bag using some clip art images of fairies and angels. I created a sheet of fabric transfers and proceeded to search the stash for appropriate fabric.

That was when things began to go very wrong.

I realized that I didn't have just the right bunch of stash fabric to complete the purse as anticipated but I did come across a yard of over-dyed cartoonish glamour girl fabric I had purchased a few years ago at the International Quilt Festival.

Out the window goes the flowery, girly concept, in comes the naughty lady concept. I did not change the basic design of the bag but I added a couple of 'jeweled' zipper charms that I had made previousy instead of using the provided zipper fob pattern. I also used a purse zipper that has two pulls so that the bag can open in the middle rather than just from one side.

I have not added a firm base to the interior (I may not) but I added two long pockets on the inside to organize the bit and pieces of my life.

I may do some additional top stitching to crisp up the edges but that will take a while before I am motivated to do more work on it.

I did not use the handbag at the funeral... some how it seemed really inappropriate but I think I will get some use out of it when running around town or as a small knitting project tote. This was a fun project to complete. The instructions were extremely thorough but it is definitely not a project for a raw beginner. The lining is hand applied after the exterior is completed so I actually had to pick up needle and thread to finish it off which I did while waiting in the car for the attendees to come together before the funeral.

I wonder if I will ever have the nerve to carry this bag at a funeral? Probably not but it will forever be associated with funerals on a hot Houston morning.

In Stitches and Simple Sewing

In Stitches by Amy Butler and Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter are both recently published by Chronicle Books and each include 20+ projects that can be sewn for anyone's home. Lotta's book has a definite Scandanavian look - all linen and simple/primitive prints. Amy's book has a definite retro look - all cotton and rich, bold, colorful, complex prints. I purchased both of these about a month ago and have had a wonderful time looking at their beautiful photographs.

Lotta's projects are simpler to sew with clean lines and wonderful fabrics. Amy's patterns are much more complex and the instructions can go on forever. Both books seem to have had the instructions written by the same people and use similar terms and layouts. Both also have full size patterns in a pocket at the front of the books. Neither of these books are for someone who has never sewn before but there are quite a few descriptions of basic techniques. Amy does give credit to a whole cadre of pattern writers and testers as she is much more of a designer.. which is probably why her patterns are so complex. Lotta appears to be much closer to the actual sewing of her designs.

I probably would not have purchased either of these books if they weren't so beautiful. There's something about a book that feels good to hold and use that always speaks to me. There are Flickr groups out there that is sewing all of the patterns from both books. The posters are very frank in their critiques of the patterns. For instance, the Simple Sewing hat project caused several of those who made it to comment on the fact that they couldn't see out from under the rim while those making the In Stitches bathroom caddy were bemoaning the overly complex 19 step process.

I think my flurry of sewing related book purchasing will stop for a while. If you are looking for sewing books for others, I would recommend Amy Karol's bend-the-rules Sewing for those who haven't sewn a lot; Simple Sewing for someone who knows how to sew and likes clean design lines; and In Stitches is definitely for those who are fans of Amy Butler's complex fabrics and patterns.

Weather Update: It turns out that Houston is on the 'dirty' side of Tropical storm Erin so it has been raining a lot around here. As the rain has been coming in bands, my area has not seen any flooding however those who live more to the south and west of me have been having a much harder time of it. If Hurricane Dean comes along the middle of the projected track we will again be on the 'dirty' side. I hope we get a few dry days between these storms so I will have a chance to clean up after muddy puppes before I need to do it again.

The Crafter's Companion

'The Crafter's Companion', edited by Anna Torborg, is a series of articles about 17 well known crafters. Each article includes answers to these questions: Why do you create?, What inpsires you? and Where do you work?. Each crafter also presents a project that represents not their signature work but something simple that could inspire you to go further.

I loved reading the answers each of the crafters came up with for the questions. For example, one of them lives in a studio apartment where she does all her work... heck I couldn't even fit my fabric stash into a studio apartment ... but she makes beautiful art. I also liked the fact that the crafters live all over the world so the reader gets an international view. I think I am a little bit of voyeur because I was disappointed that only one or two of the crafters had their pictures in their sections. As the articles included blog names or websites, I guess I will need to go look up these people to satisfy my curiosity.

This is a book for those of us who are curious about the crafters represented and it is a pretty good value. I would not recommend it for anyone looking for a how-to book or for in-depth instruction in the crafters' signature styles.

Craftivity

"Craftivity" is a book by Tsia Carlson that I received the other day from www.Amazon.com. It is a compilation of 40 DIY projects that have been created by 40 different contributors. Some are simple that can be created in an evening from things you may already have on hand while others will take a week or more. Examples of the more simple projects are a string bag crocheted from old plastic grocery bags and sewing your own panties from old t-shirts. More complex projects, like casting your own wacky ceramic teapot, would take a significant investment in time and materials. One of the best parts about the book is its detailed explanations of all the techniques used. For example, the book does not assume you know how to crochet and has detailed, well illustrated instructions on how to crochect. The folk behind this book all have a connection to www.supernaturale.com which is a strange website that looks at the larger craft scene but seems like an inside club. I like the book as it explains a variety of crafty DIY techniques then gives you a couple of cool projects using those techniques. I think it cost me about $13.00 and I can well see it becoming a book I will go to again and again for instruction and inspiration.

bend-the-rules Sewing

bend-the-rules Sewing is a new book authored by Amy Karol. Its been all the buzz all over the web so I went out and purhased it, at full price no less, from Barnes and Noble yesterday. First of all I must say thatt I am an Amy Karol fan. She has a blog called tie-one-on that has an on-going apron making competition. In addition, I must admit, that I admire anyone who gives birth to their third child the same week as their book is published and still manages to answer e-mail and give interviews. Talk about an over-achiever!

I was pretty excited about the purchase because I had already seen some of the projects on Flickr and they looked great. I was particularly impressed with the number of baby bibs that posters had made... it seemed like any one who made one started churning them out like candy. Another project that had many postings was the Charming Handbag. There were several different sizes and they loooked like fun. Most of the comments were of the nature that they would change the bag in some way to make it useful but those semi-warm comments did not deter me.

Part 1 of the book concentrates on what you need to actually sew these projects. Amy has extensive instructions on which notions are needed, how to use them and why you should use them. She talks about using her patterns, appropriate fabrics and even how to sew on a button and make bias binding. Part 1 should be reproduced and given to anyone thinking about taking up sewing for fun or profit as it contains excellent instructions, humorous descriptions and good advice. I was particularly glad to read that she recommends having more than one pin cushion as I seem to scatter them all over the house to catch errant pins.

Part 2 contains the projects. They are pretty standard but Amy puts her own mark on them. A standard tote bag becomes interesting when one handle is shortened into a loop for the standard sized handle to slip into for carrying. An apron becomes a fashion accessory when embellished with an unusual pocket. A plain old expanse of fabric becomes a scalloped edge baby blanket in Amy's hands. I have a couple of bones to pick with the patterns. They require the sewer to execute teeny tiny fold overs of raw edges and top stitching by machine to get an adequate result. Even now I sometimes have trouble turning an 1/8" fold over of a raw edge and top stitching can run off the edge when you are working so close to it. Another tiny complaint is that with all the turning required I don't remember that she ever has anyone clipping corners for smoother turning and sharper corners.

This book is not for the experienced sewer unless you want to see what the newer sewers are doing. The patterns require a copy machine as most need to be increased in size for good results. I would give this to anyone wanting to sew something unique for themselves, their friends and family as it has such a good introduction to the equipment needed and how to use it. I am off to try a couple of the projects and I will post the results. Wish me luck.