Little Man round-up

Some people are not DIY'ers. I get it. And some people simply don't like sewing. I get that too. I didn't sew a single thing for Gwennan's nursery. I lacked confidence and skill. Instead I very happily painted a bookshelf and dresser, and passed off sewing projects to willing friends or relations. Sewing just wasn't my thing.

This pregnancy I'm sewing everything I can think of. This pregnancy it is my thing.

If you don't sew, I don't want to offer a guilt-producing post where I point out how easy it is to make everything you just registered for. If you don't sew, making a crib sheet isn't easy; it's a nightmare. The first set of crib skirts I made took me 6 or 7 hours, and all I could see were flaws. The most fun part was sweeping up and finishing.

But if you enjoy sewing, I want to share the excitement and the results of scanning so many tutorials. I don't feel the need to re-write the instructions that are available, but I thought I'd pass along what I found.

A nursery round up of sorts. A no obligation peek or inspiration and instruction.

1. Pacifier clips at I'mSimplyMe

2. Squared-off crib skirt {more suited to a little man perhaps} at VanillaJoy

3. Fitted crib sheets {without a serger} from Sew4Home

4. Aden and Anais style swaddling blankets from ThisLittleMiggyStayedHome {a note - you do not need a serger if you have an overcasting foot for your machine. Not sure what that is? Check your owner's manual.}

5. Nursing Cover from PrudentBaby

That about does it for Little Man's layette. When I opened the shopping bag after my last trip to JoAnn, Tim's eyes widened with that, 'haven't you ever heard of Target??' look. As of this morning, I only have 2 yards of fabric left. Then I'll be scratching my head for new ideas to stay still and busy for the next 6 weeks.

A couple project-y thoughts

DH likes to remind me that I have absurd focus, namely that I obsess about something and let everything else slide. I have a couple big focus drawing projects right now, so I don't have a long cohesive post this week today. Instead I thought I'd combine mini thoughts.

First, a gardening question: Do you remove suckers from tomato plants?

{Not sure what I'm referring to? Here's a picture. P.S. You're probably in the "don't bother" category.}

Last year, I pruned religiously. I turned those vines into tomato trees and saw fruit within weeks of planting. But that was it. I got half a dozen 3" tomatoes, then they were done.

This year, I left my plants alone, suckers intact. They took twice as long to produce fruit, but that fruit is huge, 6 inches or more. Too many biology classes taught me that more leaves means more photosynthesis means more energy to pack into fruit, but what do I know.
So I ask, do you prune your tomato plants, or do you leave them alone? And with what results? Hardly a life altering question, but I'm still curious for your response.

I should mention that all my plants are heirloom varieties. Might make a difference.


Next, an excuse for not posting regularly/update on crafty doings around the house:

I mentioned my newest quilt the other day. Here's a preview:

I call this my "newest quilt" like I quilt so often. Let me be more specific: my most recent, which happens to be my second ever, all on my own, no sis or mom to help me out quilt. The first was a simple 9" block pattern which I quilted with a 'stitch in the ditch' technique. Not advanced, but much loved by big one.

This quilt is still not advanced technique by quilters' standards, but I feel like I stepped up my game with more piecing and free motion quilting {still to be attempted - we'll see how that bridge crossing goes}.

This is where my focus and free time is going. Subsequently, my writing is sloppy {never mind my house and cooking}. Thanks for your patience. I should be finished, well, sometime in the near distant future.

Another P.S.: Sorry for the hoaky Instagram borders. The Canon felt like too much work this morning.

Crafty Celebrations

How do you celebrate with people? Are you a card writer or a party thrower?

As you might have guessed, I make stuff. When my best friend went into labor, I knitted baby hats until the birth announcement text arrived. For me, it's more than just giving a gift. The making helps me feel like I'm part of the process, part of the party.

I pulled out fabric tonight to celebrate with a dear friend. She leaves this week to bring home her new daughter from China. Before my sewing machine, quilt in process, I'll rejoice while they celebrate with baby Miriam.

Last week, we celebrated with another sweet friend who is welcoming baby number two. Picking out fabrics felt like I was nesting. {Personal revelation - maybe this is how I stave off the baby bug.}

Our house was covered in craft for a week - banner, mobile, dresses. I lost myself in whimsical fabric. Finishing in time to start again. {This time, DH is traveling, so the mess isn't quite as disturbing to family life.}

Un-posted Projects

The MacBook, trusty grad school purchase, came to a grinding halt this week. I watched it lag, ignored its complaints Your startup disc is full. PLEASE, for the love of Steve, delete some files! and like the overworked Sewell horse, it finally dropped to its knees, unable even to run applications thanks to the burden of my photo library.

The beauty in my computer's darkest hour: I couldn't blog during the craftiest week of my entire life. I appliqued a tragically librarian sweater, made a hooded hippo towel, and built, painted and created decals for two toddler beds. All those bragging rights and no computer.

Painting a reclaimed door turned head board and dreaming up the amazing post I would write if I could, a verse from the sermon on the mount floated between brush strokes:

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. Matthew 3:5

The January blog revival wasn't on impulse. I prayed and labored under the idea of once again tackling a project that had turned on me twice. Blogging feeds my salivating pride.

Head bowed, I asked the Lord to block my posts if I could not write encouragement based from a humble heart. Meekness. Grace. Work done in the light that others might give glory to God. Not my brain. Not my sense of humor. Not my crafting or cooking or cute kids or any other lesser thing.

God blocked solid, obvious, complete, saving me from myself. Thank You! You search my heart and know my profound weakness. In omniscient wisdom, You establish my footsteps.

Hemming Rectangles

Rental houses are a beautiful thing. My previous experience with renting, a dorm room, came with a delightful lady Martha. She cleaned my bathroom every week. I miss her.

As a couple, we're buyers, project hunters. Our first condo had no toilet; our first house seeped cat pee. Trend? But here we are, Mellon St., renting. Hot water heater blows? Call the landlord (true story). Our real lesson in this house: live with it. We don't live with anything. We pull up every scrap of vinyl flooring, yank out every dated light fixture, paint every. single! wall. Now in a rental, I'm learning to work around the existing. For instance, our kitchen floor is red and white checkerboard. Bold statement. The walls are light blue, and I'm forbidden paint. Fine IKEA-esque pallet, but not one I would pick. I've largely ignored it, but we've been here a year with no plans to leave. Time to integrate.

Exhibit A: red checked floor

Couple's Candle Making

Paired tapers hanging by a shared wick slowly rising from a vat of colored wax - one of the most beautiful things I saw at Williamsburg as a child. I envisioned Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin writing by the yellow light of those candles, wax melting onto a metal stand. It might be an overly romantic notion, but in that moment history was displayed through those candles.

This weekend, T and I tried our hand at candle dipping. We inherited 30 pounds of wax with all the equipment from my sis-in-law. Judging by the bulk of wicks and wax, she was anticipating a side business. She left us lots of options.

Sarah's Senior Thesis

Whew - I came home just in time. Gwenny woke up with a low grade fever and a bloody nose?? Random combination.

Afton and I spent the weekend in Knoxville visiting my sister for her final art exhibit. In three weeks, she's officially a professional ceramist, no longer a student. My parents are almost done with us. Almost.

I couldn't mention my trip before because we were trying to surprise Sarah. Granted she only reads the blog about twice a year, but Murphey's Law dictates that she would read the blog as soon as I hinted the trip. None of that even matters because the surprise didn't work. She just assumed I'd come. She told everyone at the craft center I was coming even though all evidence pointed to the contrary. She knew I couldn't skip her big day.

The show was fantastic! Want to see?

Covered Bakers with Lionfish Detail

"Xray Plates" - Each animal has a raised section showing an Xray image.
My fav - The chicken has an egg.

Every piece of fabric in this quilt was hand dyed. Super cool.

The softer side of Sarah - her linens, again all hand dyed

Bug Mugs - each mug has a different bug inlayed on the porcelain.
I brought one home for Tim.

Set of measuring cups - 1 cup, 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup. This would induce anyone to bake.

Finally, my apron. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Afterall, I looked at that pattern for months in microscopic anatomy. It's skin, microscopic skin. I love it. It satisfies my nerdy science side and my crafty side at one time. Also, I've wanted a Sarah apron for about 4 years now. She made one for my other sister, and I've been waiting around for mine to appear. It's finally here.

Visiting the craft center wasn't the inspirational moment you might expect. I mostly felt defeated, at least I did while wandering around the gallery. Now that I'm home and more removed from the unattainable artistry, I'm feeling somewhat more inspired. Hopefully, some interesting posts will come out of the beautiful work I saw this weekend.

ReUse It - Cardboard Canisters

Another "green" reusing moment here at Renaissance Momma. This time the cardboard canisters that coffee, tea, oatmeal, etc... come in.

Again, you can just throw them in the recycling, but I think there are more interesting ways to use them before they meet their end.

1. Cover in heavy duty wrapping paper and use in place of cookie tins around the holidays. I'm suggesting this now, so you can start a stock pile for Christmas. Biscotti would fit beautifully inside a canister like this. BTW~ A friend promised to teach me how to make biscotti. When I learn, you will, too.

2. Reuse as a canister. I know that sounds obvious, but canisters are much more convenient in your pantry than bags. Just place a nice big label on the front so you don't get confused.

3. Pencil Cup for your desk. With a couple coats of acrylic paint and some stamps, you can create pretty junk holders for your desk.

4. For you nature enthusiasts, I have a slightly more ambitious project... Birdhouses. You will need:
4 empty canisters
water based polyurethane
drill and screws
Liquid Nails (hot glue would work too)
plywood - 2 pieces - 24"x6" and 6" x 10"

Paint the outside of the canisters with polyurethane (you can paint a color first if you want). Allow to dry for 1-2 days.
Short ends together, screw the plywood at right angle so you create and upside down "L". If you want to retain the color, paint with polyurethane. Otherwise, just let it age naturally.
Glue the bottom of the canisters to the long upright piece. When you're finished, four inviting tubes should be facing you.
Hang in a quiet spot in your yard. Make sure it's secured well. I suggest screwing it to a tall fence or the side of a shed. You can encourage nesting by leaving some coconut mat nearby. Come spring, enjoy the chirping of new hatchlings.

5. I would be remiss if I didn't mention G's treasure tin. Gwennan is still running around with her canister of Christmas bows.

Anyone else have suggestions for ReUsing cardboard canisters?

G's Treasure Tin

Baby G caught me in the act today. I was throwing out a treasure, an empty oatmeal canister. I certainly don't know what I was thinking to miss its hidden potential as G's new box for collectibles. It came complete with a lid. Fortunately, she rescued it immediately and loved it as her own.

After she carried it around all morning, I thought I'd make it pretty. We rummaged through the big craft closet finding fun, glittery paper and Mod Podge.

The only tricky part was keeping the card stock conformed to the round container. Thank goodness for rubber bands.

The finished project. 

If you're thinking that my one year old really doesn't care if it says "G" or "100% Whole Grain Oats," you are correct. Sometimes a project is worth doing just because it's easy, or because you really like the smell of Mod Podge. At any rate, G now has a pretty treasure canister that she can call her own.

It always helps when your treasure chest is full of play silks!

Back to needles

I'm knitting again. Swollen fingers and pregnancy carpal tunnel have made knitting an undesirable hobby for the last couple months, plus I have a hard time knitting stuff for cold weather during hot sticky summer days. However, I've recently hit a knitting streak.

By knitting, I mean yarn craft in general. I crochet as much as I knit. But "knitting" is a much less cumbersome word than "crocheting" (which is even a trick to type).

Anyway, it started one evening when we took Baby G to a restaurant where she sat directly under an AC vent and was turning blue by the time dinner was over. I decided that she needed a short sleeve jacket of sorts to wear on summer and fall evenings when the AC is on high or the weather drops a few degrees. That sent me digging through my yarn stash (a super size ziploc storage bag that is so full, I can't shut it anymore) where I found some very soft Caron Eco yarn. My mom is shuttering even as she reads this because she doesn't believe in any yarn that isn't at least 123% natural fiber and hand painted, but I don't have her yarn budget.

Her little sweater was a crocheting delight - almost instant gratification. I remembered how nice a quiet craft is. While I love the even more instant gratification of sewing, I don't love the sewing machine waking G from her nap or working in the sweat shop I refer to as my sewing room. Knitting, on the other hand, can be done in any convenient location in silence except for the soothing background noise of a movie.

I'm looking forward to knitting a few items for our new baby as well as for my friends who have recently become mommas. Happy needles, yet again.

P.S. The basic pattern came from ravelry although I modified it some to fit my needs.

Silk Placemats

Good morning! I have a totally quiet house right now. DH is off at camp. Baby G stayed up way late with the babysitter last night and is down for the count now. Perfect time to plan out my week and post my newest sewing tutorial. Yay!

I've been stitching like a mad women recently, but no projects that would post well. For instance, do you want to read about the 15 cloth diapers I've sewn?! Probably not. This weekend was different.

If you got married, say last night, then skip this post until you've opened your gifts. Otherwise... I needed a wedding gift for a neat couple who've traveled, particularly in southeast Asia. I wanted to make something Asian inspired but not shamelessly copied. I settled on silk placemats.

The placemats were fun from beginning to end. I got to buy bright colored fabric; I didn't have to use any funky stitching; as an added bonus, my sewing machine tension behaved itself. And the result was a gift I could be proud to put our name on.

How to Sew a Placemat:

Note - This tutorial is specific to working with a light weight fabric such as silk. If you want to use a heavier fabric, like broadcloth, I would follow this tutorial at SewMamaSew.

1. Start with a trip to the fabric store (yay!). To make 4 placemats at 14"x17", I bought 3/4 yard of backing and single-sided fusible webbing and 1/4 yard of each of the front panel fabrics (3 total fabrics for 3/4 yard total). Also, you will need double fold bias tape and corresponding thread.

2. Cut the pieces for your front panel. Before you cut, decide how big you want the placemat. As I said, these were 14"x17" which will comfortably house a large dinner plate. The front panel can be as complicated or simple as you like. Regardless, consider your seam allowance when you calculate the front pieces. In this case, I had two seams at 1/2" per piece of fabric for a total of 2" seam allowance. The center strip was 7"x17", the thin strip was 3.5"x17", and the wider top strip was 5.5"x17".

3. Piece and sew your front panel. You can skip this step if you chose a solid piece for the front. To piece, simply pin the fabric right side to right side and sew a straight seam along the pinned edge at your designated seam allowance.

4. Iron the pieced seams. The seams must lay flat, otherwise you will have odd ridges in your placemat.

5. Cut and iron fusible webbing. The webbing gives the placemats structure without adding a lot of bulk. The webbing should wrinkle slightly when it's warm enough to bond. If the webbing isn't sticking, turn up the heat on the iron.

6. Trim the placemat. With the webbing in place, straight cuts become much easier. This is the time to square things up and ensure that all of your front pieces reach the edge of the placemat.

7. Attach backing and and bias. Pin the backing on first. At this point, you can trim the backing to ensure a good fit with the front of the placemat. Then pin the double fold bias tap around the outside edge, making sure to fold and pin the corners as you go. When sewing, use a straight stitch positioned as close to the inside edge of the bias tape as possible. This will ensure that you get a big bite of all three layers of fabric and that your bias tape doesn't fold up or roll later.

Ta Da. You're done. 

I really enjoyed making these. Throughout the process, I kept thinking about what I wanted to do when I made some for us. I think I have a pretty cute idea coming up. Can't wait to show you. In the mean time, try sewing some silk placemats. They can really spruce up your table setting or make an excellent shower/wedding present.

Quirky Pillows

I love pillows that resemble stuffed animals. Hence my desire to make the plush owl pillows that I mention on My Craft Ideas page. I know that sounds very specific, but check out the examples:

Top Right: I can't wait to make these from the pattern available from Blissfully Domestic. I'm thinking the crazier the fabric, the more interesting these owls will look. While Tim doesn't care for my other bird project idea, I think he likes these.

Bottom Left: Stuffed monster pillow from A Little Gray blog - BTW that fabric looks hand dyed. She sells them through her etsy shop.

For those of you looking for a more simple pillow idea, I'd try embellishing as seen here. Ottobre Design has great patterns.

Crafting with Kids

For those of you with kiddos coming home soon for the summer, I stumbled upon the Craft Kids Corner. It's a little too advanced for the Ellis household, but I can't wait to use it later.

Tye Dye Onesies

In the midst of baking 3 lasagnas, cooking yoghurt and washing dirty clothes, I decided to tye dye some hand-me-down, formula stained onesies. Hardly the most unique project I've done, yes, I know. The dye transformed these otherwise boring, very dingy onesies into stand alone pieces. I felt like I was recycling.

Sometimes, I get frustrated with baby clothes. The color spectrum is very limited. I want to see my girl in some fine bright colors. Instead, the clothes line is a heavy with pastels. When I pulled these onesies out of the 6 month bin, I decided it was time to spice things up a little.

With wool, I use food color as dye. Working with the food coloring is pretty easy because it's totally safe, so I can use any vessel in the kitchen to mix colors they way I want them. Not so with dye for plant fibers. They require a separate dye pot and dye utensils. When I first read that, I thought I'd use "natural" dyes. Turns out the mordant used with "natural" dyes is as toxic as the fabric dyes. Oh well.

Now that I've gotten my feet wet, I'm ready to try some more difficult colors and techniques, I think. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Promised Mobile

A few days ago, I asked for accountability to finish G's mobile. It worked. I finished it and have moved on to a set of leg warmers for my soon-to-be-scooting baby. Now, all the mobile pieces are waiting on Tim to finish the frame (He's close).

I made up the patterns for the dragonfly and bumblebee, but the pattern for the ladybug is here and the flower is here. They were very quick and would make great gifts. I am working on the write up for the dragonfly. I had no idea how time consuming it is to write out a pattern. When I'm making it up, I just adjust until it looks right. Reproducing it for anyone is difficult.

A word about where I find patterns. I usually list the websites on the left side of my blog under "My Inspiration." My favorite site for knitting and crocheting patterns is ravelry. They have hundreds of free patterns to make just about anything you could think of. If you have any interest in yarn crafts, ravelry is gift.

New Craft Day

My girl is in a benadryl induced coma (part of the diaper rash regiment - she actually has hives), so I am taking some time to work on my neglected blog. Thank you for being patient while my family was here. I really enjoyed the visit.

Good news - someone is viewing our house in Knoxville today for a second showing after getting their finances in order. I'm very excited at the prospect of finding somewhere permanent to live in Virginia. Big thank you to the Fehl's for providing us with a home thus far.

My house is in order; we have plenty of leftovers; Tim's at work; it's raining. Is that not the most amazing description of a craft day? It doesn't get any better.

My mom always motivates me to start knitting. She is a wonderful knitter who always has the best yarn. I know it's a sin, but I covet her yarn basket. Anyway, since she was just here, knitting every time she sat down, I dug through some ravelry patterns looking for a new project to tackle.

My ultimate goal is to knit my first pair of socks with yarn my mom gave me. I want to knit them both at the same time because, as any of my readers know, I don't like multi part projects. To practice knitting two items in the round at the same time on the same needles, I've started a pair of leg warmers for G. They should knit quickly and come in handy in the next few weeks. She has started rolling over easily - front to back and back to front. Next step, scooting.

I frequently become distracted while writing, looking for different craft projects and any available dogs on craigslist (I really want a dog). Today, I stumbled upon a video for DIY shoes from Patagonia. Of course, I can't find them for sale anywhere, but it started me thinking about how easy it would be to make a pair of moccasins. Hmm... I see a day of leather punching in my future.