great...

oh, good. i broke my arm.

works in progress

Since i'm bad about actually finishing projects, i tend to have 5-10 things happening at once. i did manage to finish this bag tonight, though i still need to press it. it's definitely nowhere near perfect, but i tend to rush things when i'm anxious to finish. it's the handbag from Bend the Rules Sewing. The striped fabric is from a collection of napkins i picked up at the thrift store last weekend. the inside green is darker than it shows up here; it's kind of an army green, and it's from a great tablecloth i thrifted a couple of months ago.

Here we have my husband's anniversary gift in the making. i'm making these little wee wonderfuls in our likenesses. He's been working a lot of overtime, which makes me endlessly bitter, so i've had a little time to work on them. though i picked some bad fabric for the clothing and had to back it with some flannel cotton after the fact. hopefully they turn out okay. i love their little heads so much. all the fabrics except for the wool for the hair and the cotton flannel for the faces and hands were from thrifted sources or my fabulous collection from my mom, which i got during her recent move.

i also just really love the backsides of their heads. the outline of their hairlines on the pale fabric is just too cute.

i've also been working on some knitted items. this is a little "convertible top.dress" pattern i'm trying to perfect. it would actually have two straps, not be a halter but i just wanted to get an idea of what it would like with more than just one dangling strap. my plan is to make it adjustable so it can be a little dress for an infant and a top for a growing baby. i've still got a long way to go, though. the color's showing up horribly here, but it's a straight-up teal. it's from recycled cotton.

these are those two patterns i was working on a couple of weeks or maybe a month ago. the first is a sweet little beret. i put a felt "button" on the flap because i didn't want to have any choking hazards. i figured this would be slightly less of a concern. i need to find a way to display it better so the shape can be better seen. it's made with organic cotton.

and this is a tiny little dress that turned out girlier than i was expecting to make. i opted for a less flowery flower as a decoration and put it in neutral colors to balance it out and i like the way it turned out. this is also organic cotton. and it's very sweet and tiny.

lastly, (though not really because i still have to weave in the ends on the striped socks i finished and i've got a fair isle beret i've had sitting around for a while waiting for more work and probably a zillion other things), i started a little amuragami (oh my god, i have no idea what the word actually is but i am too lazy to look it up now) pig for my australian niece who loves pink. a couple of these are gifts to send along to australia when my dad and stepmom get out here to visit, like the bag and the previously seen socks. i'm still not great at crocheting, but i'm trying! i got a bunch of hooks and a book and a carrying case from the husband for the holidays.
i guess that's it for now! work's been nuts so it's been nice to blow off some steam (a phrase i probably once promised myself i'd never say) with some good ole crafting.

more in the works

some hanky holders. two cotton flannel hankies will fit in each of these. i love using handkerchiefs and it's always better than using paper you throw away...except when i'm really sick. otherwise, you'd have to have a zillion. i still have to press these:

a little dress i'm working on. i'm really excited for this but i think i might run out of yarn before i can finish:

flailing

i'm kind of too lazy to figure out the legalities of putting pictures up from corporate websites, so i'll just link.



i've been failing miserably at my attempts to green up my lifestyle in a more systematic way. granted, we do pretty well, but the hope was to really step it up. i've been having issues figuring out what to do with the water that's collecting in my bucket in the shower and my husband's probably tiring of it sitting there full of old, cold water. i've been too scared to start planting anything because i don't know a thing about keeping plants alive and i haven't mopped even though i should. i'm thinking it might be easiest if i put a little plastic watering can in there one day and the next day a smaller bucket for using to flush the toilet or something. the larger bucket when i'm going to mop on a weekend or something. this takes a lot of thinking! i've also resisted buying all of the fancy eco-things i want, like this aerating showerhead, to reduce our water use. and these sandwich wraps. part of it is that this month i'm trying to work on my consumerism. which was a stupid decision considering this month we've got a lot of things, like a bike for my husband and helmets for both of us, to get and i'm saving for a new camera. but, i figured that there's always going to be something so it would be a better challenge to make this work while we're in the middle of wanting to consume a lot. however, i do think it's important to REDUCE first and foremost and then from there, get the recycled and greenest options.
so my goals are:
-to buy secondhand clothing only, which i basically already do, but now with no excuses (though underclothing is new...until i learn to sew my own underwear, which i think would be rad). and i joined the Wardrobe Refashion challenge to help spur me along.
-and i'm buying only rechargeable batteries,
-and used cds, dvds and books (though i blew that last night when i bought "curious george" new for my nephew).
-also, i want to really try to buy local, unless the price difference is significant. so, for instance, i'm trying to find someone locally who sells locally-grown and spun yarn or at least someone who recycles yarn locally, but it's been tough. i realized that the time it takes for me to do it would end up forcing me to sell things for more because of all of the extra time, so we'll see what happens there.
-also, though we don't eat out very frequently, i'm going to attempt to only eat at locally owned restaurants.

anyway, it's a constant battle i guess so it makes sense that it feels like i can't keep from always realizing that i've failed again in this little experiment, but i guess that's human, right?

getting the hang of it

here are some more projects i've been working on. well, this is that completed sock. completed but for some kitchener-ing at the toe:



and a new beret. it's got a sweet little flap that will close up and hold a felt button (we don't want any babies swallowing a hard button right?). it's very simple, as most of my designs are because my whole goal is to make organic, repurposed, and cute as affordable as possible but i've got a couple of ideas that i hope will make it feel even more special. i do like the little flap, though:



once i get all of my stuff finished, i'm collaborating with a friend who is, sadly, moving to houston next month but who is a fantastic and creative photographer. i'm really excited. i got really inspired by this yesterday. what a great way to show how your clothing lays and moves and set yourself apart. i think alyson fox must definitely be the bee's knees.

works in pr...done

finally, some progress to be shown:

that "artsy clutch" from Bend the Rules Sewing:

I made it reversible. these are both fabrics from vintage pillowcases:

my first sock; i'm hoping it'll fit my stepmom who's coming to visit with my dad from australia in about a month. since it costs so much to ship to them, i save most of their gifts for when someone can pick them up, so i'm trying to get together a big package of stuff to give them to take back to the nieces and nephews out there...plus a little something for them too.

here's a prototype for an art pouch that i'm making for east.west. my hope is to finish up an art smock i'm working on and have them color-coordinate. my goal is to finally get this off the ground in april with a "spring collection" of which this will be a part. it's larger and has little zipper tabs but i think i'm going to change the tabs a bit and hand sew the lining. i like the look of it better usually. the fabric is vintage from my mom's old collection:

lastly, here's that silhouette thing i was working on for our house. my husband oh-so-kindly pointed out that i looked like cro-magnon man (i'm on the right), so i think i'll work a ponytail into mine to give myself a neck:

double trouble

i forgot about it being a leap year until today. it makes me feel like i should be doing special with my extra day, really living it up.



that's how i tend to feel a lot of the time: like i should be out there enjoying life more. what that means is hard to say. to everyone it means something different. i struggle a lot with not getting frustrated about working. i do non-profit work, even, and i still have a hard time finding the meaning in seeing coworkers more than my family and spending 40 hours of my week working...oh yeah, for the next 50 years. of course i know the importance of what i do, what we all do, but, like i said, it's an ongoing struggle. which is why i'd like to find a way to allow what i really love to become a larger part of my life, whether that's knitting or spending the day with a friend. doesn't it seem like everyone seems to find more time than you for fun when you're looking around at blogs? i know it's because we're only seeing snippets of each others' lives and that when you look at a blog, spanning years sometimes, you're looking at an overall picture, painted by the writer. lots of pictures and excited stories about camps and trips and, sometimes, sadness, isn't the same as living through it all and we all have the boring, mundane days. not everyone writes about them, though. with all of that being said, i've got a pretty amazing life and amazing friends and family. i just want to make sure i recognize the opportunities i have for enjoying that. it's supposed to be gorgeous weather this weekend, so instead of sitting inside sewing all day, which also has its merits, i'm going to try to make sure i get out lay in the grass with my man until we're ready to go home.

so, i decided that before i cut off all my hair for locks of love again, which i'm planning to do in a couple of months, that i should take advantage of having long hair and do my hair in the heidi braids i've always loved and admired. my hair's super thick and doesn't like to be tamed, so it's ridiculous looking but i'm trying to work it anyway. dang, i can't keep one of these postings short. that should be a little challenge to myself.