Missing...

Um, guys? Has anybody seen my craft mojo around?
It's pink and it looks like a angry, misshapen unicorn.


If you see it will you ask it to come home please? Because for the last two days everything I touch is turning to wet kitty poop. And that is NOT useful for getting stuff done.
Fanks.
x

Lacy Linens

If I had all the money in the universe. I would buy 365 sets of 600 (million) count cotton sheets and duvet covers. And I would have a robot who would iron them and put them on for me and maybe spray them with lavender and plump up my pillows and bring me chocolates and trashy novels to read and puppies to play with and generally do my evil bidding.

What I'm saying is that I like nice new linens. But the ones I like I can't, as a general rule, afford.
I wanted to make a duvet cover and a set of pillowcases that had a Restoration Hardware/Pottery Barn, Laura-Ashley-with-a-touch-of-quirky, mismatched, stolen-from-your-grandmother's-hope-chest feel to them. And naturally it had to be on the cheap.
Here's what I came up with:

Wondering why they look that wrinkled? Yah? This is why:

And also this:

ANYWAY...
I used
A dirt cheap fitted sheet set (one flatsheet, one fitted, 2 pillow cases. In white, naturally.*)
Another flat sheet, (you could use a plain ready-made duvet cover)
About10 meters of cotton lace trim ($1/2 meters from the Dollar Store in three different designs)
Some long strips of stitch witchery (the iron-on adhesive stuff)
A handful of plastic snaps/poppers

First you take the flat sheet that will be the TOP of your duvet cover and lay it out on the floor. Then you do it again and again because your dog and baby instantly leap on it squealing and wagging. Then you decide that maybe doing this at naptime would be more sensible.

Next you mark out where you'd like your trim to go. My duvet cover has two big squares, one inside the other. You can get all math-y and work out the numbers and measure or you can eyeball it and hope for the best. (Guess which one I did.) I used a bit of white chalk to mark my lines but if you have a fancy pants disappearing pen thingy then awesome.

The next part is actually kind of optional. Depending on how brave you feel. You could simply pin your trim on along your lines and have at it with a sewing machine.
OR use your long strips of stitch witchery to stick the lace on BEFORE you have at it with a sewing machine. I did the latter.
I found it easier NOT to start at a corner, and I like the way the turned edges look (there are other ways to turn corners).

Oh, and I know you know, but don't forget to flip the stitch witchery the same way UNDERNEATH the trim.

Once you have your lace in place. Whip around it, pretty close to the edge, with a medium sized stitch on your machine. And that's the top bit done (or the whole thing done if you used a pre-made duvet cover). Stick the top good-sides-together with the other flat sheet. Whip around three sides and add a handful of poppers (or ribbons or buttons) along the bottom and voila. New duvet cover. The Pillowcases are the same thing but on a smaller scale.
Just get your robot minion to iron the lot and you're all set.

I've also been thinking that this would work really well with a heap o' cotton doilies, scattered randomly about on a crispy white cotton. Yup. I am DEFINITELY keeping my eyeballs peeled for doilies from now on.

* I am weirdly scared of dark coloured sheets. I know it's crazy. BUT, in my head dark sheets equals heavy. Therefor I could be CRUSHED LIKE A BUG under a navy duvet cover. Like a bug I tell you. Crushed.

Sneaky Like... (Mama Don't Look!)

So, you guys can keep a secret right?
I made a giftie for my ma and I wanted to show it off on account of how it's the first proper crochet thing I've ever made that followed a pattern and wasn't brutally wonky.
I think I should be safe as my ma is EVEN NOW lounging on the Greek island of Rhodes. (Yes, I do have some envy, but she TOTALLY deserves some lovely sunshininess)
So here's what I made:

(No peeking mama!)




While I was finishing it I told Teddy that it was a present for his grammie and he wanted to
"Hep (help)? Hep? Teddy hep grammie bag?"
I gave him his own crochet hook and he poked it a bit then resorted to putting slobbery wet handfuls of kissies inside the bag. Which slays me.

The pattern I used is here and here ( there are two parts) and if I can manage it then anybody can! I used a few balls (are they called balls? heh... balls) of a poly-blend I happened to have.
This here is the official version.

I love that it's called the Provence Summer bag. Mostly 'cause we lived in Provence and I know that my Ma has very good memories of living there. Also Provence... le sigh et swoon!

I found the pattern via One Pearl Button, Alli's round up of Nice Things is something I totally look forward to on Fridays. If you're not familiar you should race over and check her out.
x

Still Alive... And PLOTTING!

I am I am!

I've been... slacking. And lounging. And playing out. And ignoring housework. And sipping martinis in our courtyard with my girl chums. and stomping to the parks. and sewing summer dresses (because I don't have enough of those nope nope nope). and watching my bear play with his new water table. And sitting in the sunshine with my brother. And eating icecream with my sweetheart (who is turning swoon-inducingly blond in the sun). And spotting new awesome street art projects to see with Teddy. and and and...*
It's sunshiny, see.
And cleaning the bathroom when it's sunshiny outside is like honking a spit in Mother Nature's eye.
That's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

Anyway. I have good intentions and there's rain in the forecast, so here's what's coming up chez my blooge over the next little while:


June is Sew What month with two of my favorite bloggers. Melissa of Until Wednesday Calls and the Cynthia (The Sewing Dork herself!) are running a challenge where you pick one type of fabric (linen, denim, whathaveyou) and stick with it for each project. I'm going with knits (because they scare me and I want to practice). You guys should join in, s'going to be heaps o' fun!

They other thing I'm doing is this



Which is just what it says. It's a creative kick in the pants. Only without the kicking (or the... pants?)
It's free, there's no obligation to share if your don't want and a bunch of pretty awesome folks are on board. I'm going to be using my camera. And I SUPER excited about it. (and also maybe a bit nervous? but in a good way).
There's still time if you want to play along with either of these. And hey maybe we could compare notes?

*Wow. Reading that list back is funny. I don't mean to sound smug (Do I sound smug? Maybe? Little bit? Sorry if I do...) it's just that I feel like my life is pretty charmed and writing down what's good is a nice way of reminding myself.

Who needs historical accuracy?

So, here's the next installment of knightly accessories for my own Sir Poopsalot (my sweetie says I have to think of a better name for him than that).
It's a shield. A... heraldic one? (I'm not putting too much effort into historical accuracy here).
And here's what you'll need to make it.

• Foam floor tiles - Ours came from the dollar store (of course). We've had them since the bear was learning to sit up, they're not beautiful but the sound of his little bald head bouncing off of the hardwood was too much for me
• Craft foam for adding decorative details
• Some felt for making arm straps
• Scrapbooking brads
  
• A cutting implement. I used a set of cheap metal snips ($2 from the dollar store) as scissors to get through the foam. My actual scissors were a bit too puny but the snips worked like a charm.

The first thing to do is decide on the size and shape of your shield. I went for a basic shape in toddler size. But if you're thinking of something more complex or fancypants then try goggling medieval shields .

Once you have a vague idea of what shape you'd like you can either make a paper template or just freehand the shape your foam in pencil.
Then cut it out:



See? Looks like a shield already!


but it might need a bit of something by way of decoration.


I added my decorations with the scrapbooking brads because I like how they kind of look like rivets. BUT they totally could be a choking hazard, so you could use hot glue to attach them if you're worried or your pookie is less than three. The bear doesn't really put stuff in his piehole but I keep a very beady eye out.



I chose to keep my design simple because I'm lazy for the sake of authenticity, but you could get all crazy and cut out the family coat of arms and unicorns and things. This site here has HEAPS of free heraldic imagery clipart for inspiration.

Next you need a way to hold the shield that will free up the hands for ummm... combat. Or eating cookies?
To do that you need to cut a strip of felt and attach it to the back of the shield like this:


I doubled over the felt to make it stronger where I attached the brads and I gauged how big the loop should be by jamming it around Teddy's arm.
I did two armband thingies, see?


Flip it over and you're done.
Time for some gratuitous bear shots:



Teddy is all about the dragon rights. "SMOOCHES NOT SLAYING", "Dragons are people too".

Regal. Super Super Regal.

I'm slowly making the bear a knight costume to go with Castle Awesome. I'm hacking together toddler friendly versions of all the accoutrements that a good knight might require. Though to be honest I suspect this might be more my thing than his. Still, I'm hoping to brainwash him encourage his interest.
Here's what I've got so far:

A crown,

SURE it looks like it might be too big for a 2 year old but JUST THE RIGHT size for a grown woman... but it's.... not? OK FINE, I made this one for me.

BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!

But I made one for him too. The trouble is he HATES it. He doesn't even like me wearing mine. I guess he has moral and political objections to the monarchy? and hats? At any rate I wasn't able to get a picture of Teddy in his but it looks like this:

Here's what you'll need to make your own crown,

• Craft foam
• Scrap booking brads
• scissors

It just so happened that our dollar store has pre-cut crown-shaped craft foam (I suspect they've been reading my mind again) which is awesome.
But if you can't find pre-cut crown shapes then you could cut out a crown shape from standard rectangular craft foam, either freehand or using this PDF that I threw together.

For my crown I went with kind of a She-Ra/Red Sonja circlet as opposed to the full-on crown, but the idea is the same.
You cut out the shapes,


then poke the brads through the foam and open them out to hold the crown together.


You could get all fancy and add some PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GEMS! Or not. Your call.
Stay tuned, next up is The Shield.

It's ART baby! ART!

OK. Time for something funner than that last post. Like... one of these maybe:



It's a magnetic picture frame for the fridge. So Teddy's abstract art can be properly appreciated! This one is called "Blue Dog Reclining With Grapefruit".
The full tute is over at weebabystuff if'n you want to take a look.

Kid art slays me, I like the random scribbles that Teddy does a LOT but I LOVE LOVE LOVE drawings by kids who are a bit older (the other one on the fridge is by my little brother David) It's like being given a glimpse of how they see the world and it's magic.