Stitch Rabbit

Around The Crafty Web

I miss my sewing machine.

It's been really, really busy around here. Between a new dog, spring digging, planting seeds and cleaning up after a muddy, muddy family (it's REALLY muddy here right now) I haven't had time to sit, to think, to sew, to breathe. Not that I'm complaining. It's freakin spring.

Though I have nothing in the likes of "Ooooh, look what I made" I do have some lovely ideas that have caught my eye in the wee hours of blog loving on Blog Lovin'.

 

Dish Clothes From Pickles

I know, you're thinking "How many times is this lady gonna blog about cute dish clothes?" but I can't help myself - how fancy and rad are these?

 

Bloomers by Kathy at While Tangerine Dreams sells these adorable bloomers AND you can also make them for yourself by signing up for her rad looking Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp!

 

Amazing! I'm going to make these with the kids tomorrow. Great masks from Kellie at Ricebabies. The How-To is over at Whip Up

 

Language Barriers

Reading Japanese sewing patterns in Chinese is really hard. Cotton Friend is not so friendly to me right now. The patterns were easy enough to find and cut, the instructions are pretty clear and there are tons of illustrations - but it's the fine details - the oh so important fine print that is making me crazy. Instructions like how many pieces to cut and what sides are folds and what sides are cuts.

 

I've got the bigger pieces up on the dress form and I'm working on figuring out the four or five pattern pieces that are all strips of different length...it may be a slightly different version of the dress shown, but if I get this figured out, I'll be happy! Anybody have any tips for sewing with patterns in another language?

 

 

 

Introducing Our New Guy....

It's been a busy weekend. We were away, on a mission, to bring home somebody new. He's a big, beautiful somebody and we're thrilled at the Perfect Gentleman that he has been so far...

 

 

We've been looking for a good dog to join the family for awhile. I wavered back and forth from big adult already-trained dog to cute adorable puppy...but in the end, we knew the adult was better for us. Not that this guy is even a teenager yet. He's a month shy of his first birthday and he's massive. But his mild manner and sweet ways have totally won our hearts, and as I'm writing this now, he is sleeping on my feet. Perfect puppy. The kids are more than thrilled and Frankie especially. She can't even believe her luck. Happy family tonight...

Spring Bags Are Exactly What I Needed

There is nothing quite like bare bums in the spring (not mine, the wee ones thank you very much) Bare feet on the cold grass and warm sun coloring their little dirty faces. My neighbors think I'm a lunatic for letting my children run around without their pants on but hey - it's spring. Let's DO this.

After a day of turning dirt and ripping weeds, there is also nothing like a cold beer after the freshly scrubbed children are tucked in their bed. Gooooodnight tired babes.

* * *

Now, onto the sewing: I made a version of the Pleated Tote Tutorial by Thimble I posted about earlier this week. It's a great bag. For anyone humming and hawing over what kinda easy, casual spring bag to make - I vote this one. It's super roomy, the pleats are cute and it's a great sling-over-your-shoulder-and-head-to-the-park kinda bag. I've already test-drove it to the park. Twice. Please pay no attention to my rushed zigzag attempt at fixing a mistake two minutes before heading to said park. I didn't have time to pull the bag inside out and fix the seam. So I zigzaged it. Don't tell me you haven't done that before, it happens. It makes it unique.

The pleats are cute, hey?

 

 

Flinging Open The Doors and Windows

I have nothing sewing related, knitting related or craft related to share with you. Not a stitch. I haven't even taken photos of my kids these past few days. Where have I been? What else could I possibly be doing?

Well, I don't want to torture anybody east of the very west coast here....but I've been in my garden. For the past three days. Rain or shine, we've had em both...but when it's shining....it's bloody glorious. It only takes about a half a sunny day for west coasters to remember exactly why they love living on the west coast. Pure beauty.

The turn in the weather, the spring equinox, the "Super Moon"...whatever it is, or the mix of all three... I've been busting my butt from (early) morning till night. Diapers on the line, freshly turned garden beds, seedlings in every window, and a smile on my pretty little face. The kids are happy too. Frankie got up at 7:00 the other morning and by 7:15 she was outside and up a tree. I no longer have to hold a shrieking baby down to pile layer upon layer of wool just so he can step outside for a minute. The windows are open, the doors are open. I even piled the winter woolens, the extremely large pile of scarves and hats and cowls and mitts, the winter boots, the snow pants and the jackets, folded them and shoved them into their bins, shipped them downstairs and rid them of us for at least three glorious seasons. Good riddance. (Though I know I'll be craving them come fall....I love me some winter woolens)

And so onto the work that is our garden. This year, I hope will be a prosperous one. I spent a lot of last growing season helplessly unavailable to the many seeds and seedlings I threw out there, with a baby and all (poor baby, getting blamed for Mama's overgrown garden) Our yeild was good, but I didn't have the time to preserve a lot. This year will be a new year, one for growing and nurturing and teaching the wee ones all there is to know about the beauty and possibilities of growing your own.

I assure you, I won't be gone, or even slow down. Nor will I put down a needle and thread or some knitting sticks anytime soon...heaven forbid I have idle hands in the night. But these last three days have wiped me from any kind of energy at all come darkness....except to sit and admire my broken dirty fingernails and dirty jeans and to listen to my ratty-haired, tree-climbing garden children snoring in their bed.

 

 

Easy Sunday

What happens here, any day and every day.

 

 

Spring Is Stirring - Let's Get Busy!!

I thought I'd share with you a few Spring projects that have caught my eye...I am renewed and refreshed by the sunshine, the seedlings and the dirt under my fingernails. Let's get busy!

 

Sparrow's Nest at Purl Bee

 

Dress From a Men's Shirt Tutorial at Cubic Dreams

 

DIY Spring Fringe Garland at Sunshine and Carousels

 

Beach/Park/Market Bag Tutorial at Thimble

 

Ruffle Shower Curtain Tutorial by A Little Lovely - seen at Sew Mama Sew

 

Braid Scarf Tutorial over at Pickles

 

 

Castle Peeps Pencil Crayon Pouches

We've got a set of twins down in Florida who's birthday is coming up (not our twins - we're not hiding twins in other countries) I can't imagine having twins. These twins are the same age as Frankie, and I remember them coming for a visit - all three babes were maybe three months old. And I was stretched and stressed and full of milk and tears over my newborn babe - and then super twin mama comes in with her twins - with double the feeding and double the diapers and double the hours of non-sleeping....wow, what the hell was I complaining about?! I mean - sure, it's hard for all new parents - but you add more babies to that mix? You add more tears. It goes without saying.

Now our girls are all grown up and almost five and we're raising little women instead of wee babies with all kinds of demands like a goblet instead of a drinking glass, eight tiny braids right before bedtime and more art supplies then you could have ever possibly imagined that you would have to buy in your entire adult life. Girls. Sheesh.

 

So I made these little pencil crayon/art supply zip up pouches for the twins in Florida to take with them where ever they go. I used Lizzy House's very cute Castle Peeps fabric and of course I made an extra one for Frankie - I'm no dummy. With the little extra left over, I'm working on a roll-up crayon holder for my main man Char Char. I think he'll be stoked.

 

 

For The Love of Japanese Sewing

A friend told me about this Japanese household goods mega-discount store called Daiso the other day and showed me some of the adorable buttons she got in the sewing section.

Excuse me - sorry...Sewing section? Yep - so I busted out there yesterday to check it out. While the sewing section wasn't as big as I was hoping (they never are) and my fantasy of finding yards of Japanese fabric and rows of Japanese fabric books never came true (it never does) I was quite happy with my loot.

 

Well said, Japanese Interpretation. A new diary for my daughter.

 

Miniature Japanese sewing/craft books with about five projects in each.

 

Ribbon. Tons and tons of great ribbon.

 

I know I said no Japanese fabric - but they did have these weird pre-cuts of different colored denim..I didn't get any, but looking at the photo now I kinda wish I did, just because.

*   *   *

 I rang up my loot and was still feeling a little low about the no rows and rows of Japanese sewing books. I covet the styles, the patterns, the pictures in those books. I've ordered a few online and one I use for a lot of Frankie's clothes - "Carefree Clothes for Girls" by Junko Okawa, but they usually come from the States and the shipping and customs is killing me...

I asked the cashier if she knew of any bookstores in the mall and she told me there was a Chinese bookstore upstairs. I couldn't believe my luck when I found this:

 

A Japanese Sewing Book - In CHINESE!!

It's this massively thick magazine that obviously shares the same friends as I do. I knew it had to be a sewing pattern magazine because it was wrapped in plastic and I could feel the bulk of folded paper inside. I took it to the front counter and had the titles loosely translated by a lovely if not slightly embarrased gentleman:

"Show you how to wear skirts. Show you how to wear pants. Show you how to wear top and pants that match. Show you how to wear things in the Spring"

Mmmhmm...replace the word "wear" with "make" and I'm in luck. I bought it with a good feeling that I was right on the whole "wear/make" thing, ripped open the plastic and quite possibly squealed with glee a little, much to the amusement of the five or six elderly Chinese people watching the kooky white girl.

Amazing - right?! Smocks and weird gardening dresses galore! Just what I love!

Of course the pattern directions are all in Chinese but I took a look at the patterns and I'll totally be able to get by. I'm cutting patterns tonight!

 

 

 

More Than Just A Crafty Rabbit

I think it's hard to come across as anything other then one-dimensional in a personal blog - especially a personal blog about sewing and knitting. Sometimes I think I must give off the impression that I spend each and every night rocking away humming "knit one purl one" or elbow deep in a basket of scraps well past midnight, my babes sleeping peacefully and my husband apparently nowhere to be found and definitely not pestering me.

Well, this may be the case some nights, and in the winter season I'll admit this is most nights. (Though the sleeping babes don't sleep all night and my husband, while not pestering me, is indeed in the house.) But I don't want to give off the impression that this is me - this is it. Because life is not the same every day, and some days are harder than others, some days easier. Some nights I'm too tired to make my hands do anything more than turn the channel on the remote or bring a chip to my mouth. Other nights I'm sitting at the kitchen table with Gabriel, drinking beers and laughing and just talking through the night.

And some nights...this busy rabbit gets to get her party on. I've got a social weekend planned and I'm stoked. Two nights out of the house, one alone and one with Gabe...I'm a lucky, lucky girl. So do me a favour, friends and tonight - imagine me not the rocking mama with the thread and needle - but a lady of the night, with makeup and good hair and tight, tight pants.

My favorite boots. 

A purse that can't possibly hold a diaper or a snack.

And definetly not my knitting. Sorry knitting, see you on Sunday.

 

 

 

Cowl Girl Fabric Cowl Tutorial

Feeling ready for something fresh around your neck? I whipped up this light and airy spring weather cowl yesterday. It's simple and fast and pretty darn cute hangin' round yer neck.  Here's my tutorial so you can whip one up too:

 

COWGIRL FABRIC COWL TUTORIAL

 

Materials:

2 pieces of cotton or voile fabric 10" wide by 36" long

2 no-sew capped snaps

1 sew-in snap (meant to be a hidden snap)

 

Cut your two pieces of fabric for your cowl, one as the outside piece, one as the inside. I chose a lightweight floral voile for the outside and a soft lightweight cotton for the inside.

Line the pieces up right sides together, pin and sew. Leave an opening about 4 inches at one of the ends.

Cut your four corners to and flip your cowl right side out. Poke your corners out with a chopstick and press all sides.

 

SNAP PLACEMENT

Okay - on to the snaps! Lay your fabric cowl out flat, right side down and measure where the inside sew-in snap fastener will go. From the left corner, measure in 19" and mark the spot. Sew your fastener piece here. This snap is on the inside of your cowl and will keep it wrapped snugly around your neck.

Sew your other piece of the snap to the RIGHT SIDE of that left corner.

The finished effect, when the snap is connected, should look like this:

Now it's time to place your final two snaps. These are on the outside of your cowl, so choose some cute ones! Lay your cowl down again, right side down. From the left again, measure and mark about 12.5". When putting in your snap, remember this is where the socket piece of your snap goes, facing the RIGHT SIDE of the material. Here, it shows you the inside of that snap placement:

Place your next snap about 4" below the first one.

Finally, place your last two snaps (the stud sides) on the far right side of your cowl, cap on the right side of the material, stud on the inside of your cowl, about 1/2" in from the edge and 4" apart.

 

You're done! Wrap that cowl around your neck, call yerself a cowgirl and go! YeeHaw!!

 

 

 

 

Turning The Earth

We've been a busy family of rabbits getting the ground ready for springtime planting. I've got my seed pots ready, my seeds sorted, my seed list done, more rain barrels ready, the boxes are made and being made and a load of manure on it's way. Well done family, you make your mama proud.

Smock Is One Of Those Words That Sounds Weirder The More You Say It.

I love me a smock. Painting, housekeeping, gardening, doesn't matter. Something with pockets that's meant to get dirty. With dirt and food season right around the corner I've been sourcing the internet out for some good garden smock inspiration. I always need the extra pockets for my seeds, and what ever else I'm squirrelling away at the time. Skinny jean pockets just don't do the job.

* * *

So I made this smock last night using Anna Maria Horner's pattern from her book "Seams To Me - 24 New Reasons To Love Sewing".  I had made one from the same pattern last year, but hated the gather in the front. There is no need to look like I'm pregnant unless I am. Been there. Not pregnant now. Happily skinny. I serged in the sides of the smock and renamed it a four year old's dress. She was stoked.

This time around I traded the gather for some flat lying pleats and I'm happy with the way it turned out. In hindsight, I would've made the smock longer, with the pockets further down, purely for my own picky pocket comfort, but it works.

Cute, hey? I'm hooked. I will be adorned in smocks only this spring, if I can find the time to add to the collection. Here's a few links to what I've been admiring...

 

Vintage Aprons to Smock - by Maya Made

*easy, adorable, and great up-cycle for the old vintage apron*

Hemp Smock - by White Jupiter Dreams

*you can buy her utility smock, or visit her blog and sign up for her really cool E-course and learn to make four great pieces from her - plus she's from Nelson BC*

Spring Top Tutorial - bu Made By Rae

*she says top - I say smock - nevertheless, I'm making it*

 

Now I only have to convince my husband that the smock is sexy. Or, at least what I'm wearing underneath it is.

 

 

 

Old Quilt (Renamed)

I've got an old friend with me in the sewing room tonight. I pulled the suitcase down and pulled out my strips and started making blocks again. You may remember, I have pulled this "old quilt" out and put this quilt away many times over the year. A block here and there. What I like about it is the carefree process of it. No measuring, no math, just cut and sew and see how it goes. I bring it out whenever I feel overwhelmed by all the other projects I have on the go, or when I'm stuck staring at my fabric trying to decide what to make next. Does this ever happen to you?

I've got piles of spring colors stacked all over the place, with big dreams for skirts and dresses and vests...but I can't get the wheels in motion. I don't feel like measuring or cutting straight lines or making perfect seams. I wanted to sew today, but it wasn't fresh fabric and clean lines I craved. I wanted to wing it. So, it was the old quilt, which today, I have happily renamed "Let's Just See What Happens"

 

Blushing, A Little!

 

I can't hardly believe my luck! My Gathered Rainbow Chevy pillow was chosen as one of the Top Twenty pillows in the Sew Mama Sew Pillow Contest. I feel a little like I won the lottery.

To see my pillow and vote for it - and see all the other beautiful pillows that made the Top Twenty just click on the button below: