Sew and Sox now on Etsy!

I finally opened my store on Etsy. I only have a few magazines up there now but I will be adding more stuff over the next couple of days including more magazines, fabric and vintage items.

And if you are very interested in seeing/buying the things that no longer fit in my house, you can also find my items for sale on these sites:

eBay
Half.com
Amazon

Tutorials

Here is my big list of craft tutorials that I have made or want to make but never will due to the short, short life we live. Some are repeats from older posts but I wanted to consolidate this list into one post that I can update regularly.

Sites with many tutorials:
The Purl Bee (Lots of really excellent tutes. Check out the right column of the blog to find them.)
Wee Wonderfuls (Mostly softies)
Craft Tutorials has a ton of tutorials
Moda Bake Shop has tutorials for precut fabric packs ("honey buns", "jelly rolls", etc.)

Misc:
Camera Strap Cover at Made by Petchy
Checkbook Cover at Liesl Made
Honeycomb Smocking at Tumbling Blocks
Ironing Board Cover at Instructables
Fabric Bunting at WhipUp
Fabric bucket at pippijoe
Box pouch at Indie House

Baby & Kid stuff:
Baby dress/tunic at Made by Petchy
Chenille Bib at happythings
Chenille-backed Quilt at happythings
Baby Cubes from London Mummy
Cloth Shoes at Stardust Shoes
Superhero Cape at Puking Pastilles
Paper Dolls at Sugar City Journal
Boarder Fabric Sundress at Lil Blue Boo

Bags:
Reversible Patchwork Bag at Pink Penquin
Tote Bag at JCaroline Creative
Drawstring Bag at happythings
Lindie Bag at Craft Apple
Cozy Camera Case at Amy a La Mode
Bagsket at Foofanagle
Kidlet (small bag to hang on a door handle) at JC Handmade
(Check out this older post for more bag tutorials.)

Holiday:
Elf Clogs at allsorts
Peace Dove ornament at Bella Dia
Wine gift bags at Under A Blue Moon
Little trees at Little Birds Handmade

To wear:
Spring Ruffle Top at Sew, Mama, Sew
Shirt to Blouse at Jezze
Hat at Curiously Crafty
The Eddie Cap (for kids) at Mushroom Villagers
Summer Slippers are Lady Harvatine

Patchwork and Quilting:
Gretchen Block at Seven Stitches
Value Quilt at Willy-Nilly
Polka Dot Quilt at and other silly things
Rick Rack Patchwork Blocks at Oh, Fransson!
Rec Room Patchwork Pillows at Oh, Fransson!
Dear Jane blocks at That Quilt


Embroidery:
Embroidered Alphabet Mini Quilt at O.F. Patterns and Tutorials

Slow blogging

(Image is completely unrelated to the below post. But every blog entry needs a picture, right? Why not a cute kitty? That's Izzy.)

So we have "slow cooking" and "slow living"...how about "slow blogging"? (Did I just invent an internet term? That would be so cool.) I have some posts brewing...or simmering, if you will...but nothing is done yet. I have been doing some crafty things and even planning more crafty things. I've been concentrating on the baby, finding a job, and relaxing with my crafty things rather than blogging about them.

"Slow" is not a word that would describe me well. Well, that's not totally true. I do sit still regularly. But even when I am sitting still I am thinking of the list of things I would like to get done. Right now, as I write this post, I am watching a Red Sox game, sewing hexagons, and checking Twitter/flickr/blogs. I blame MTV. My formative years were during the 80s when everything was 3 minutes long and choices between TV channels and ice cream flavors multiplied by the hundreds. If life isn't overwhelming then I'm just not living.

Recently I have become more mindful of the amount of stuff in my life...the to-dos, things, and wants. I'm trying to pair everything down to something more manageable...something that would create a happy rather then frenetic life. I have my priorities (my family, our happiness, our health and security) and now I'm trying to reconcile the stuff with those priorities.

I've started by clearing out some of the clutter in the house. Stuff that doesn't jive with my priorities is getting the boot. I have listed some things on eBay, I have a pile of items to give away (to friends or Goodwill) and I plan on having a blog giveaway one of these days.

This is all a process (we have a lot of stuff). But I am trying to keep "slow" top of mind.

Have you slowed down lately? Was it because of the season, the economy, life change or something else entirely?

Inspiration: Outdoor Music Festivals via The Fabric Shopper

The Fabric Shopper blog has a very neat post about fashioning your own cool clothes to wear to summer festivals. They give two examples for a rock & roll festival and a jazz festival. But I thought there was one glaring omission...didn't the hippies invent summer music festivals? So here is my suggestion...

I couldn't find a good inspiration photo but I'm thinking a long tiered skirt and a tie-dyed cami.

Do it yourself skirt with this free pattern from j caroline creative:


My selection of fabric for the tiers (picking fabric for this skirt is great fun!):


1. Garden Bright from the London Calling collection by Robert Kaufman
2. Jackie Blue from the Pretty Please collection by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit
3. Libby Royal from the Dance with Me fabric collection by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit
4. Unicorns Purple from the Far, Far Away fabric collection by Heather Ross for Kokka

Then, sew up a white cotton cami using Simplicity pattern 3882 and tie die using these instructions from Rit Dye. (I suggest a single complimentary color to the skirt or you may end up looking like a crazy person!)


And maybe a headscarf to complete your look?

I am soooo not the hippy but this post was fun to play in...thanks Fabric Shopper for the inspiration. AND for the giveaway win! I won an American Pastimes fabric bundle! I can't wait to get the package in the mail to see what fabrics were selected from the collection. As you may know, I'm a big Red Sox fan so I'm particularly happy to win some of this baseball inspired fabric.

Misc.

Library finds...very surprised to see that the Alabama Stitch Book's patterns at the back are still intact. And how cool is it that Julie Jackson of Subversive Cross Stitch did the embroidery design on Heather Armstrong's memoir??

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Gillian of I Heart Handmade is having a very cute giveaway (ends July 3)! She is in Dublin but will ship internationally. She has a very cute blog...I miss being in Ireland.

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I attempted some tissue paper tie dye with not much success. I think my tissue paper may have been too good. I'll try it again with some dollar store tissue and see if it works. I also think you need to use dark/saturated colors to get any dye out of the tissue.

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Remember friendship bracelets? (Link found via House on Hill Road)

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I picked out some fabrics and started tracing the pattern for Peanut the Wee Elephant today from the Last Minute Quilted & Patchwork Gifts book. (I am so far behind in my projects! That book has been out for almost two years now.) But that is one project on my To Do list so I'm happy to have it started.

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Currently reading these blogs: Liesl Made, Make Something, Yummy Goods

Dank

That is what the weather has been like here for what feels like weeks. Maybe it has been that long. It's been raining or about to rain constantly. The house smells funny from all the humidity. It's been too wet to leave the house much (I really don't like going out in the rain). You would think that I would have gotten more sewing done but, see, I started reading those Twilight books and...well...that along with taking care of the baby meant no extra time for other things.

I have completed two projects and both of them are on my To Do list! I'm very excited to cross stuff off already.

The photos are poor from the lack of sun to help my tired camera along. And I also embarrassingly didn't realize that I had left the manual focus turned on. So I've been taking pictures thinking that the camera was focusing on it's own and then swearing at my camera when I saw the blurry images full-size on my computer screen. My camera thinks I'm crazy.

I made the baby boy some modified "Kimono Style PJ Pants" from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. Rather than adding the extra wide trim at the bottom, I just used some homemade bias tape. I was looking to make shorts but these are more short pants. Next go-around I will make them a bit shorter but in a bigger size. He's is going to grow out of these very quickly.


And the second project is a play mat, also for the baby. This is the only photo that was in focus (!) so I will try to take them again once the sun makes another appearance.


I used this tutorial on the "katie did journal" blog. Have you seen this blog? Katie makes some beautiful clothes for her two little girls...gorgeous stuff. She has a little boy now as well so I will be looking out for ideas on sewing for boys. (Why is it so much harder? Are dresses really all that much more exciting then pants?)

The play mat is just two solids -- blue and dark tan -- plus batting quilted together in a free form zig-zag pattern. I added some patchwork to the binding just cuz. The mat is about 30x35 inches. And I call it a mat because that is what it's job will be but it could also make a very nice baby blanket. Thanks Katie for the nifty idea!

Newsboy Cap

Help! Where can I find a pattern for a newsboy cap? Preferably free? I know, tall order.
It has to be just like this one with the "slouched forward" top. And I'd like to find pattern sizes for both babies/child and adults.

Thanks for any help!