Made Mermaiden

I finally got Hillary's book. It is so awesome -- of course I want to make every single doll in here. Maybe I will. I make Ruby a doll for her birthday every year and the first one that stood out for me was Margot, the topsy-turvey doll. Now, I'm prone to stressing out over complicated projects (not that any of these dolls are too complicated), so I thought I'd test the waters by making a back-up doll.

Mermaiden is one of the smallest and simplest dolls in the book, but it's also one of the cutest. This doll is really simple -- like, if you wake up in the morning and realize that you didn't get anything for an afternoon birthday party, you could probably whip one of these up.

I chose a pretty wacky colour combo, digging through my vintage scraps to find something that would work. I realize the hair is a little odd (and my freestyle quilting is a bit wonky wonk), but this is totally my style, so my kid is used to it. And if I don't finish Margot on time, I'm safe.

Gifted

Happy 2011! We had some lovely holidays here. The kids were happy, Santa was sweet, much food and wine was consumed. Here are some of my most lovely presents (my friend Alana knitted the shawlette -- isn't it amazing?). Cooking, knitting, and vintage. What more could a girl wish for?

Given

One of the best gifts that I had the pleasure of wrapping this year was a trio of art pieces that Ruby created to give to her two grandmothers and her Aunties. We borrowed this idea for single colour collages from a project that Ruby's kindergarten class did at the beginning of the year. Each child was assigned a single color and had to collect objects from home to use in their collage. Then they painted a canvas a solid colour and Mod Podged their objects down in whatever manner they chose. The pieces are displayed in the foyer of the school and they're amazing. Ruby was assigned black, which is kind of a boring color to do, so we decided to give it another crack with some brighter colors at home.

Having a well stocked craft room makes this project a lot easier, since we could grab scraps of yarn and ribbon and cut off pieces of yarn to our hearts content. Ruby chose the colours she used, taking the recipients' tastes into account. It took us the course of an afternoon to glue everything down and we had a lot of fun doing it.


I really love the finished look of these guys. It thrills me to no end when a five year old can so easily make something that looks like real life ART. Everyone who received a picture was beyond thrilled and my little gal has never been more proud. Neither has her mother.

We Are Family

Ah, this post is painfully overdue. Every year, I make Ruby a doll for her birthday. If I weren't so lazy, I'd link back to them, but every year they've been a little bit different: Kate the Knitted Cat, the Wee Wonderful kitty, a Raggedy Ann-style rag doll, a Ruby doll and now, Amy Karol's Aunt ___ doll from Bend The Rules With Fabric. I've been meaning to make one of these ever since Amy first posted the idea on her blog a couple of years ago, but I think I really needed the template from the book to push me over the edge.

Aaron's sister Daniella lives in another city and we only get to see her a couple times a year. This fact would be made easier if she wasn't one of the most awesome aunties in the world. Ruby and Henry both love the stink out of her and it's painful that she's so far away. Hence, the Auntie Daniella doll. And, soon to be sent off in the post, for Daniella's birthday (which has also passed, I'm such a failure), Ruby and Henry dolls.


These were incredibly easy to make, the hardest part was going out to buy the printer-ready fabric sheets and hoofing over to my parents' house to print the photos (we're a laptop family and don't have a printer). Super easy, super cute and a little weird (I'm such a sucker for a floating head).


These were ridiculously hard to photograph because Henry would not keep his paws off of them. He was even kissing them, which is why there are some wet marks on the faces. He loves his Auntie 'Nella (as he, and no one else calls her). And I do too.

Re-Gifting

Every year, Aaron's dad tends to be the hardest person to buy for on our Christmas list. He's a man of simple pleasures: he likes to spend his weekends cutting the lawn or washing his car, or in the winter watching sports in front of his fireplace. He likes golf, cigars, and a nice glass of Scotch. Which means that any gift related to any of these activities has been bought for him years and years ago. So it's tough. But this year, thanks to Aaron's mum, the perfect gift managed to materialize.

As mentioned, Aaron's dad likes to relax with a nice glass of Scotch and I've long admired his special glass he likes to drink from: a vintage bar glass with pictures of pheasants on it (you know the type). Turns out, the pheasant glasses belonged to his late parents, which makes them all the more special. Well, Aaron's mom spied a matching ice bucket in a ridiculously overpriced small town antique store. So yesterday, we drove down and bought it. Perfect, no? The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is truly a beaut.

And yes, I did not blog yesterday. NaBloPoMo was in my sights and so close to the finish line I bailed. That said, I have a lot on the docket, so hopefully the frequent posts will continue into the upcoming months.

Fingers And Toes

Finger puppets! A little team of finger puppets! These little dudes all come from the Arazni Aronzo book Baby Stuff, which is awesome. There are a bunch of finger puppets in there, and I had grand plans to make all of them, but I only got to six (there's a pig that I made that I found after I had already taken this picture. Sorry piggy, I swear it has nothing to do with that flu that I think Ruby may have).


I actually made these guys a while ago, when our kitchen renovation was going on. I promptly stuffed them into my embroidery bag and forgot about them. The problem is, they originally started off as a baby gift, but then I realized that no baby wants one of these finger puppets. They are far too flimsy and delicate for a baby, or even an adult to play with. I was thinking of maybe buying a couple of deep picture frames or shadow boxes and sticking them in there as little pieces of nursery art. That would be a nice baby gift, no?

Cookin' By The Book

As promised, I finished the cover to the family cookbook that I plan to gift to my future sister-in-law at her wedding shower (Erika, on the off chance you're reading this... STOP NOW. TURN OFF THE COMPUTER). Sorry about that.

Anyway, I got the idea for the cover, and the entire book, really from Alicia's book Stitched In Time, which is, of course, totally awesome. I used a tea towel for the cover and some vintage fabrics for the inside lining as well as the flaps. I opted to not do the tie (which I know I would find annoying if it were my own book) or the embroidered pictures, because I think they would have been too cutesy for the bride's taste.


I've already talked about the innards of the books, but I'll revisit: I collected recipes from many of the women in our family, raided my mom's cookbooks (which included some old Grandma-style faves) and added some recipes from my own collection. Then I typed them all into this so-so recipe book software I bought (and I had to do it at my parents, because apparently, the ladies who make recipe book software are not fans of the Mac). I printed out a copy for myself as well (without the fancy cover), and I've already used it plenty of times. In fact, tonight we had a delicious salmon dish, courtesy of my Aunt Shelley. Thanks, Shelley.


So yes, much hard work yields a really great shower present. I truly hope the bride loves it and uses it often. For my brothers' sake at least -- there are some pretty fantastic recipes within these pages, if I do say so myself.

Pillow Talk

I can't even tell you how long I've been dreaming of collaborating with Ruby on a project like this. This little pillow is a birthday gift for my mom, featuring artwork drawn by a certain Miss Ruby and embroidered by myself. The picture is a portrait of my mom (which suspiciously looks a lot like Roo's portrait of Obama). I love it. Love it. Love it.

For the actual pillow construction, I used the template for the Farm Girl Pillow from Alicia Paulson's Stitched In Time. I had thought about doing a photo pillow for my mom, but I'm not too crazy about the printed on fabric photo look and I didn't have a photo that seemed perfect. So, I got Ruby to draw up the picture and got to work.

Following my resolutions, I didn't have to buy anything to make this, except the pillow form. The fabric is left over from my lap quilt (which is still, uh, unfinished) and from my soon-to-be-retired kitchen curtains (there's a renovation coming... I'm in denial). It was super easy and the actual pillow construction took no more than an hour or so. This was so easy and so much fun, I already have another edition in the works. Ruby and I make beautiful craft together -- I can hardly wait to see what happens as her skills grow.

Raggedy

I had a really special moment with Ruby the night before her birthday. I don't usually put her to bed anymore, but Aaron was out with friends that night. She chose Goodnight Moon as her bedtime book, which thrilled me, because although we read it every single night from the time she was one and a half until she was three, we haven't picked it up in nearly a year. I read the sweet words to her (still pretty much by memory) and gave her a kiss. As I was tucking her in, she said "Mama, when I wake up, will I be four?" I smiled and said yes, and she smiled back and closed her eyes to go to sleep.

In the morning, she bounded into our room saying "Mama, Daddy, am I FOUR now?" "Am I a big kid now? Are my clothes still going to fit? Now that I'm four, I can watch spooky movies! But I still don't like mustard!" In Ruby's mind, mustard is a food for big kids and grown ups. But even at her now advanced age, she wants nothing to do with it.


As I've mentioned before, every year I make Ruby a doll for her birthday. It started with Kate, then the Wee Wonderfuls Put-Together Kitty, and last year the Ruby Doll (who has since been renamed Martha). This year I finally made the Rag Doll from Amy's Mailorder #8. She turned out exactly as a rag doll should -- completely wonky. My sewing machine stopped cooperating with me towards the end, and I'd procrastinated so long on finishing the doll, I didn't have time to try to figure out what was wrong, so I just kept chugging along. But, since it was a rag doll, I wasn't too worried.

As keeping with my crafty resolutions, I barely had to buy any supplies to put Raggedy together. The dress and pinafore fabric is from the vintage fabric sale I went to last year, and the hair was from the stack of fat quarters I bought ages ago to make my Wee Wonderful Olive and Archie dolls. The only thing I had to buy was the muslin for the doll's body, which I tea dyed (hence, learning a new skill!) so it would look a little more flesh-toned. I didn't dye the muslin for the bloomers, which are stark white.

I'm not too crazy about the face, but in general, I think this doll is awesome. And Ruby loves it. She asked me before her birthday if I was going to make her a doll and told me that she loves it when I make her things. So, even if I think it's a little wonky, the person who really matters thinks it's just perfect.

Old School

I don't know what it is about this week, but it's kicking my butt. I only have a tiny bit left to do on Ruby's doll, but I can't seem to pick it up. I have a feeling I'll be up until midnight on Saturday embroidering the face, but every time I go to do the last few bits, I feel like I'm going to pass out. Let's blame the January blues.

Back to happier times, I have one last bit of Christmas business to take care of here. I try to make at least one handmade thing for the kids every Xmas, and this year it was a quick and easy one -- wrapped before I even had a chance to take photos. A long while back someone sent me a couple of pieces of pre-printed fabric as part of a swap. The lady who sent them is a little bit older than me, and said they'd been sitting in her sewing basket since the '80s. Naturally, I was thrilled with the old school Blueberry Muffin and Care Bear, but it's taken me a while to actually stitch them up.

Of course, Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears are totally back in style with kiddos -- something that my childless friends are usually unaware of (My Little Pony is also still a hit). Strawberry and her posse have undergone a major makeover, so I'm thankful that Ruby has this old fashioned Blueberry Muffin in her collection, rather than the new tween-style one. Henry has yet to appreciate his Care Bear. but if he's anything like my brother was back in the '80s (who, incidentally, looks a lot like Henry), this grumpy little bear will become a treasured favourite.

WIP: Rags To Riches

Every year I make Ruby a doll for her birthday. My little beauty is turning four in a few short weeks and doll #4 is well on her way. Ages ago I ordered Amy's mail order rag doll pattern with dreams of making a Raggedy Ann of my own. Well, I'm finally getting around to it, and I am beyond thrilled.

I made good progress on Miss Raggedy earlier this week, managing to tea dye my muslin (sooo much fun), make the body and the hair, legs, and almost finish off her little dress. So far I've loved making this project and I have high hopes for the finished result.

I haven't seen many of these guys during my travels on the Internets. Have any of you made this pattern? If so, speak up! I want to see!

Admiring The Knits Of Others: Holiday Edition

My own knitting has come to a pathetic slow-down over the last year or so, but our house was blessed with some knitted goods over the holidays. I honestly don't think anyone appreciates a knitted gift as much as another knitter. I love the three items on this page and honestly believe they're all worthy of slipping into the family heirloom category (which reminds me -- I have some actual family heirloom knits to show you -- another post).


A package arrived from our dear friends Josh and Joanna earlier this week and it was a very sweet new year's surprise. Jo is a great knitter -- a true master of the sock. She's also an amazing horticulturalist, but that's another story. Anyway, she sent the little doll decoration that you see at the top of the page (knitting and felting! I'm impressed!) to Ruby and a lovely pair of long booties for Henry. So cute.


And speaking of wee Henry, his Nana (Leena) knit him this gorgeous sweater. It's so cute. With the seed-stitch yoke and the pockets it's like a little woolen jean jacket. Cozy and cute, perfect for my little man.

Christmas Leftovers

At last, our very-much-on-sale Canon Rebel XS arrived and I'm head-over-heels in love. It's been so long since I had a real camera -- the kind you need to hold in two hands. Anyway, here is some photographic evidence that Santa was indeed in our house.

Above, you've got Henry in his new moccasins. Moccasins were really big in our family this year: by my count, four pairs were exchanged, including this very cute and very tiny pair.


A gorgeous re-strung vintage beaded necklace, under the tree for me.


Ruby decided that she was going to ask Santa for a dollhouse in July. On Christmas Eve, she was so concerned about how Santa was going to get it into our house (we don't have a fireplace) that she started running a fever and eventually threw up. Once Aaron explained how Santa travels through the chimney and then the heating ducts in our house, emerging in the basement by the furnace (duh), all was fine and any signs of illness vanished.


Oh, and it was the year of Barbie. Girl, you'll be a woman soon.


And Aaron's sister and her girlfriend hit the craft shows hard. I got this cute book. Love it.

Crafty Odds And Crafty Ends

Henry has proven that he is not indeed the easiest baby in the world (still pretty damn easy, but now that he's four months old he actually likes, you know, attention) so I don't have any finished craftiness to show for, but I have been sneaking a few minutes of stitchin' in here and there. In fact, I've got more projects on the go than I should, just not a lot of finishing. I'm still working away on Ruby's Stichettes and am almost done a baby sock, plus the stuff you see here.

Above, my Bend-The-Rules Sewing Lap Quilt. It really is, as the pattern advertises, easy. I've been afraid of quilts yet dying to try one for a while, and this one is totally boosting my confidence. Today I cut out the back and the batting and machine quilted like crazy. And it only really was an hour or two of work (and that's while tending to Henry). So far I'm loving it. I'm a little afraid of the binding, but I really want to finish it sooner than later.


And here, another page for Henry's knitted book. It's a chick!


Finally, I didn't actually make this guy, but I get to live with him. Aaron's Great-Aunt Betty is in her early 80s and is totally amazing. When she was young, she studied engineering at university (not a common degree for young women 60 years ago) and eventually became a pilot as well (and also fell in love with and married her flight instructor). She never had any children of her own and Aaron almost thinks of her as a third grandmother. She made this little bear for Henry and added the pilot details to cuten him up. I love him.

Other People's Knits: Blanket For A Boy

I can't believe I haven't posted about this blanket yet -- it's so incredibly beautiful and I've had it for four months. This is Henry's blankie. After spending months on a blanket for my nephew last year I wasn't too anxious to knit a blanket for my own babe. Plus I knew that my lovely mother-in-law Leena wanted to knit something special for our little guy. Naturally she chose a beautiful yarn and a great pattern made of up of mitered squares.

I can't tell you anything about the pattern and the yarn -- sorry. And I know this picture doesn't say that much about the blanket -- but it's nice and big, about the size of a crib mattress. Really, this post is just a public thank you to Leena and an excuse to show off a picture of the baby. It's the weekend, I thought you could use a little shot of the cutest boy I know.

Little Gifts, Little Effort

As you may know, I really love giving handmade baby gifts, probably more than any other kind of gift. By my count, I know about 20 babies who are due to appear in 2008, and with Henry and Ruby eating up about 22 hours of my day (the other two are for sleep/compulsive DVD watching), I am not logging in much craft time. Since there's no way I could make 20 Jess Hutch dolls or even 20 baby hats, I decided to steal a page from Angry Chicken and whip up these onesies.

Amy posted about these about a year ago and I've had them stuck in my mind ever since. So cute, so easy and I have all this kids' fabric from Reprodepot laying around, left over from Henry's swatch portraits. So, with Ruby at her Nana's yesterday I swung into the craft store, bought some iron transfer paper, picked up some onesies at the Superstore and got to work.


So easy. I got 10 of these done in about two hours and I figure a package of two (or one for a not-so-close friend) should make a nice babe gift. I have one cousin who gave birth two days before Henry came along and another who had a baby last week (I have a big family, but three great-grandchildren in a month is a record for my Grandma), so I'm going to send a few of these off a.s.a.p. That leaves me with a few in reserve, plus the motivation to easily make some more when more babies are born. Hooray for simplicity, I say.

Depending On The Knits Of Others

Well, I'm not going to pretend I've been making stuff (other than food). For the first time in Henry's life, I knit a few stitches the other day, finishing the toe of a baby sock. Not super exciting. So, I'm going to spend a couple of posts celebrating the knits of others that have come into our home.

The awesome Lucy and her sweet family came by the other day with handknits for both Henry and Ruby (and a skein of Socks That Rock for me... Hooray!). Here's Henry in a sweet little sweater that she made. It fits perfectly (better than my still pretty big BSJ pictured a while back). And I love the bright colours -- baby clothes are usually so drab in colour and they wash poor Henry's dark good looks out.


It's been impossible to capture Ruby on film lately, so I had to photograph her sweater without a kid in it. But, it does look really nice on her. I love the i-cord tie at the neck. Super cute and also fits like a glove. And, she actually is willing to wear it, unlike most of the stuff I make her.


Finally, in an attempt to feel useful as something other as a full-time milk bar, my obsession with the Martha Stewart cookie book continues. And today, I actually made a successful cookie -- the Chocolate Chunk Walnut Banana cookie (though I used pecans instead of walnuts). It's basically banana bread in cookie form. Delicious.

Ruby Red

I finished my final handmade gift for Ruby's birthday. I didn't make her anything for Christmas, so I figured I'd make up for all those made in China toys with plenty of handmade goods. After the two aprons I figured she needed an actual toy. I've been meaning to make the Ruby Doll over at One Red Robin for ages (for obvious reasons) so I finally got down to it.

This gal is easy, easy, easy to do, even for novice sewers like myself (though I did give her a very rustic look, not entirely intentional). She's pretty 2-D (i.e., no bottom), so there's no round pieces or gussets to worry about. I used a bunch of fabric scraps left over from last year's Wee Wonderful-mania and I really like the folksy look of this doll. Plus she took about two hours to make from start to finish, which is a big bonus. There's also room for tons of variation: check out the other Rubies over at the Ruby Doll Flickr Group.


Speaking of bright red, I made some delicious beet soup the other day, courtesy of Martha Stewart/Everyday Food's vegetable puree soup recipe. I don't have time to look up the link, but you basically just saute an onion in olive oil, add a couple of pounds of beets (or whatever else you fancy), a cup and a half of chicken stock and enough water to cover the beets. Simmer for 20 minutes or so, puree, and to make it really good, add a few tablespoons of lemon juice. If you want, do like I did and pour portions into ziplocks and freeze. Yum! Though, be careful if you're using a hand blender -- I'm still cleaning up beet juice.

Petit Apron #1

Although I've been yearning to knit, there are a few sewing projects that I've promised myself I'd take care of before it's, you know, too late. I've wanted to make Ruby her own apron for a while now and ages ago, I bought the Simplicity 4286 pattern with the notion of making the smock style. So, I did it. Here it is. Upon inspection, there are a few little details that need finishing, but this is pretty much it.

I can't quite remember where the fabric came from, but I'm pretty sure it's Reprodepot. In retrospect, I think it would have been easier to have just used the Swing Smock pattern from Bend-The-Rules Sewing, but the end result is pretty close to being the same. This one was super easy, but I did find the amount of bias tape really annoying. Still, it's super cute, so totally worth it.

With all that said, after prodding Ruby a bit, it's clear that she wants an apron more like Mommy's, so I'm going to whip her up a wee skirt apron. I still have another couple weeks until her birthday, so as long as I don't go too heavy on the bias tape, I should be fine.

The Apron That Saved Christmas

This year it isn't Rudolph that is saving my Christmas, it's Amy Karol. Not only has the Angry Chicken posted soooo many great links to gift ideas and books to read and such (I'm beginning to feel like I'm stalking her and trying to steal her life -- sorry Amy! I'm not trying to become your clone, I swear. You just have really good taste), but I hit full-on panic mode this morning when I realized that I was a gift short for Aaron's sister's girlfriend, Erin. This is the first Christmas that Aaron's sister Daniella has spent away from our family (she's hanging with Erin's fam in Vancouver this year -- they thought that if they're starting to alternate that next year when Frank is here would be a good one to spend with us), so it's the first time I've had to send a nice big package thousands of km away. I started wrapping their gifts this morning and realized I was short.

Luckily, the item I was planning for Erin took literally two seconds to make (well, not literally, but you know). I dug into my vintage tea towel stash (which is shrinking rather than growing -- why are these things becoming so hard to find?) and whipped up a tea towel apron, as seen in the crazily popular Bend-The-Rules Sewing. Sewed some ribbon on and poof -- a fun Christmas gift in no time flat. I love these things so much -- so perfect for someone who loves vintage stuff and also loves to cook, which is Erin to a T. Thank you Amy, you rock.

Oh, and the tea towel is a calendar from 1971, obviously some kind of souvenir from Australia. I've had it for a while, but I don't remember exactly where it came from.

p.s. Martha Stewart is also saving Christmas. Is it just me, or is she twice as cool since prison?