Baby Lizard... wait, caterpillar?

Sharon told me about this intensely cute embroidery book. Here is my first design.

Sarah Kusa's Web Store Debut

Sarah Kusa, friend and rower extraordinaire, has just launched her online store! She's been designing hand-screenprinted home decor goods for the past year and is taking her business to the next level. Check her out.
Sarah Kusa Design Goods

cased

Here is a pair of pillowcases that I made to honor the ever so wonderful SOB (sister of bride), who was also a fantastic maid of honor. I loved this old-fashioned pattern by Bucilla that duke sent me and the bright summery colors it required. The pattern, stamped directly on the pillow cases, washes out, but you have to select fairly hot water (40 C/over 100 F).

Repainting dressers

Spring came and with it the desire to upgrade the look of the bedroom, which hosted some gems, like a fire engine red dresser and a totally useless IKEA bathroom cupboard that was desperately trying to live up to the demands of clothes storage. I found a $10 lime green dresser at a school fundraiser, thusly relegating the IKEA cupboard to presiding over greater order in our basement storage space. The fire engine red dresser, in its ruddy health, was not to be discarded or moved, but transformed.

I started first by finding new drawer knobs that could be used on both dressers to create a little more furniture harmony in the room. I found that at a store in Norway a bit like Anthropologie, where it is possible to order new knobs online. I wanted to keep the bedroom rather light, as the room is small, so looked for a paint color in the white family with green undertones and bought paint. We used about 1.5 liters of semi-matte oil based paint for two dressers, be sure not to buy too much as paint is expensivo! Oil paint is great for trim and furniture. In addition, I bought a new roller and a new brush.

On both dressers, Lars and I started by removing the existing wooden knobs and then sanding them, merely to rough up the surface lightly so that it took paint better. I then washed both dressers with a light soap to remove dust (in fact when sanding the red dresser, I wet the surface just before sanding in order to keep red dust down as we were doing this inside). On the light lime green dresser, we skipped the coat of primer as the color was quite light and then over the course of three days we applied three coats (with 24 hour drying time). The red dresser got a coat of primer first and then only required one further coat (and we ran out of paint...).

I think our only surprise was that as we didn't assiduously clean the roller (used for the broad flat surfaces such as top and fronts of drawers), the roller sponge became uneven/a bit prickly and in later coats would rough up the surface a bit. I kind of like the not totally glossy, flat look anyway, and better than opening up white spirit in the apartment to clean the brushes (yuck). Very fun to make something old into something new!!

Spring-- er, summer skirt

Thankfully I finished this before fall. It's my first solo sewing project, thanks to a lot of guidance from my mom. Things I learned: zipper, hem, waistband... um, everything.

Funniest potential blunder: I knew the back should be hemmed slightly longer than the front. I thought an inch difference might do the trick. Right. Like I have an inch's worth of badonkadonk that needs accommodating (wishful thinking). Had my mom not stepped in to suggest a hem-pinning with the skirt on, I might have ended up with something like this:

clutch!

Ta da! Here is the purse I made for Elana's big day! I wanted to make something special out of the hem from her bridal gown and decided a little purse might come in handy. Unfortunately there wasn't enough fabric from the bridal gown for the exterior, so I purchased a matching fabric and stitched together the hem from my SOB (sister of the bride) dress for a spicy interior. The small hearts embroidered with their initials and wedding day are made from her g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s dress fabric (we're talkin' buttery, here). The 8.5" purse frame and Guterman glue came from U-Handbag.com and I followed the directions they posted to assemble the clutch purse.

Paper Doll Apron

The Duke made this apron out of paper doll fabric by Timeless Treasures that we bought online from Lady Button Fabrics. The finished apron has two pockets on the front and was made from Simplicity pattern 3802 (view 'C'). The ruffled straps and piping is absolutely adorable! The remaining fabric was used to make a potholder, placemats, napkins and a tea towel. Anna's kitchen is open for business!

Birthday Pressie for the Peanut

This ditty is for my precious little niece, Holly, who is turning the big o-n-e at the end of June. I made the dress from Burda pattern 9709 and the gingham and fruit fabric is from Sew Contempo, a store in Houston. This was the first time I've made anything from a Burda pattern, and I think both the instructions and illustrations could be improved for clarity. It was an interesting adventure, however, and would definitely be easier if I made it again. I hope it fits!

Manga Me

I saw an extremely cute idea on Craftster.org and since my wonderful cousin had a graduation coming up: Yo. Time for another crafty gift. I found my way to the manga section of Barnes & Noble, which is fairly substantial (to a newbie). Luckily there was a pre-adolescent boy sitting in the aisle whose hunched posture and intense eyes-to-page proximity said to me, "Expert right here. Ask me." Thanks to him I now own my first manga: Love Hina (3).

Here are my versions of the earrings:



Then I stumbled across instructions for folding a paper wallet. Since my friend Ben is *really* good at saving money (and it happened to be his birthday) hark -- another crafty gift opportunity.





I actually shellacked the wallet for durability with the same clear spray glaze I used on the earrings (not high-gloss). I'll check back with Ben to find out how it's holding up (although maybe the Biggest Saver won't be taking it in and out of his pocket very much.)

Loungetastic

Nothing compliments lazy weekends at the cabin quite like a comfy pair of lounge pants! The pattern for the wide leg, drawstring pant is from Amy Butler's In Stitches book, of course! You may recognize the flower print from a previous project (those bedspreads give you oodles of fabric!) and the trim is a tangerine polka dot from Amy Butler's Lotus line. Duke scored her citrus jammies as a mother's day bonus.