Play Kitchen In A Bag

Hey you know when is a good time to decide to make your kid a play kitchen? Any other time than 7 days before Christmas. (You might have seen this lapse of sanity in my twitter feed. If you see anything like it again, do feel free to give me a good hard punch and a "seriously?")

See I got started making felt sushi, ('member?) and that was super fun. So I made some edamame. And that was fun too. Then I saw a tute for broc-a-trees on exactly the same day I thought "huh, we could use some brocs" (uncanny!). And then we happened to pick up a little set of pots and pans when we were at ToysRus (more about those later). Then things might have got a bit out of control.

I gave some serious thought to an Ikea hack of a bedside table but I just couldn't make it work size-wise. And then I saw this roll-up version at Balancing Everything and was all "OH YAH YOU DID!" and I did a little dance and that was that.

So, I give you... The Play Kitchen in a Bag!

Now obviously the real props here go to Jessica. The only things that I modified on her design was to add knobs that turn. (um, notice the deliberate mistake in the shot with Teddy; I totally didn't add the second knob 'til after he got it!)

I used three layers of white, medium weight felt for the base and I sewed the elements, sink and faucets on with a close zigzag stitch after I stitch-tacked them down.

Then I stuck the top layer on the bottom two base layers and zipped around the edges with the same zig zag stitch (no turning inside out for me, I'm too lazy).

Next I poked two grommets ($1.99 for a pack of 14 from Fabriclnd) through all three layers of base felt (yay for whacking things with a hammer!).

I sewed the big buttons onto smaller buttons through the grommet holes. Leaving enough slack so that the big buttons can be twirled all the way around.

And voila!

Wondering what ELSE is in the bag? WELL...

We got this set of pots and pans and tools from ToysRus (they're OK but not awesomesauce. I wish we'd have held out and gotten the Ikea Kids Duktig sets).

And some baking supplies (and some cookies):

A couple of pasta dishes (felt farfalle and ribbon basgetti) and some brocs, cauliflower, beans and carrots for sauteeing:

Also eggies for frying (inspired by Heidi's tute actually), the sushi and SAMMICH fixin's . The pink thing is Montreal Smoked Meat, or you know, ham.

And lastly, a bottle of dish soap and a scrubbie, for the unlucky guy on KP duty.

Talking of KP, when it comes time to clear up, the food goes into a take out container

And everything else goes into a clear plastic box,

And the whole shebang goes into the shopping bag!

The Bear mostly cooks "veg-bill curry" and "clown chowder (it's like clam chowder but infinitely creepier)" and "I making PIEROGIES mummy. Are they awe-sum?" Mmm pierogies. Yes, yes they are awesome. Actually I should make some felt pirogies right now. Also maybe some real ones. with butter. and bacon. and butter. hooboy.

Lastly of all I wanted to say that if you're stocking a play kitchen then you could do worse than hitting up your dollar store. I scored this stuff at the Dollarama, and the clear box to jam it all into too.

The Incredible Magnetic Boy

Hey, you know what would be awesome? Being able to magnetize my kid and stick him to the fridge so he couldn't get into shenanigans while I was doing the dishes. What's that? You're calling child services? Oh. Did I say awesome? I meant awful. bad. terrible.

Le sigh.

Turns out there's only one socially acceptable way to stick your progeny to the fridge. Like ziz...

This is part of the magnetic, dress up-able bear set that I made Teddy's grammie for Christmas.

This isn't a tutorial exactly, on account of how I use Photoshop like a chimp trying to tie a bowtie; you know, with honking rage and tears of frustration.

But what I did was take a picture of the shortpants there against a lightish backdrop. Then I meddled with it a bit in Picnik (so much less scary that Photoshop, and free!).

Then I used photoshop to cut and paste it onto a white background and go around the edges of my bear in white. I used a biggish brush with a blurry edge.

I took pictures of some of the bear's favorite things, like Mr. T-bone Walker up there (you can call him T-Bone, he's cool like that) and a few different hats, his bear ears, fire chief and yellow hard hat. I also scavenged a flower and a balloon offa the internets.

I outlined them in photoshop too then I resized them and moved them all onto the image of the bear, so I could make sure they fit him like. Here's where most of the honking howls of frustration came in.

Next I used Picnik to make a word -bubble that says "HI!" and a heart with "I Love Grammie" in it.

I saved my files as jpgs then printed those suckers down at the drugstore. You could use your own printer but mine is LOUSY and for 19c a pop you can't really go wrong.

Once I had them printed I cut my images out then stuck them on sticky magnetic sheets, trimmed the magnetic backing and voila, fridge-ready.

Presentation wise, I stuck them on a bit of card with some rolled up tape and popped them in an envelope.

I might ALSO have made my guy chums some Vargas Girl pin up magnets for their fridges using the same technique. And that might have looked like this... (Look away now if you're offended by scantily clad women or copyright infringement)

But I'm not admitting to anything on account of how those images do have copyrights and googling "Vargas Girls" will show you some genuinely nasty things and may acquire you a virus so bad that it decimates your computer and makes you cry like a baby at the thought of losing every single picture you have. Or, ahem, so I've heard.

Monster? Owl? Rabbit?

You guys, the time has come, I feel, to have a frank discussion about the awesomeness of interchangeable eye'd stuffies.
Because if not now then WHEN!? And if not us then who (wait do I mean whom? Maybe I do) and if not...
OK, so really all I wanted to say was that these guys here KILL me with their cuteness.


They're called Oddbods, and their eyes and badges are interchangeable. I'm a fan and I think maybe you should check them out HERE.
I have this theory that Mildred Brown and Eric have some kind of EPIC love story going on (WAY more epic than Twilight) but I could be wrong, see what you think and report back?
On a slightly less crazy note, these guys are made by someone pretty awesome, to whom I am tenuously connected and for whom I wish good things. So yay for Nikki.
x

Sushi Combo B - or "I can't believe I'm doing this again"

Is craft amnesia a thing? Maybe? I'm going to go with yes it is. Because what else could possibly explain the fact that I am making ANOTHER all-hand-stitched felt Christmas present for my bear?
Here's the rational,
Just recently Teddy has been ALL about the play cooking and play cooking needs play food right? (Right? Right?) And my kid's favorite food in the whole world is... sushi.

OK, firstly of all, I KNOW that makes me sound like a pretentious urbanite. In fact I just rolled my eyes at myself. But I can explain! Honest I can.
It's not like he honks down slabs of sashimi (well, aside from tuna, kid loves him some tuna) he just likes avocado Maki rolls and Eel nigiri and Miso Soup with big chunks of "tofes" (soft tofu).
Which when you break it down isn't that crazy, it's just rice and food that is squishy.
And I've been taking him to the sushi place for lunch since before he could sit up by hisself. Because I LOVE sushi (I lived in Japan for a while). And my sweetie DOESN'T like sushi, so Teddy and I go at lunchtimes about twice a month, and he's really good company.

This was taken almost a year ago, his hair is EVEN crazier now.

So Yah. That's why I'm making felt sushi. Want to see how it's coming on?

Like ziz! California rolls, partly finished Nigiri and Tamego.
I kind of love them. And they're super fun to make.
I've been making the design up as I went along and I thaught maybe I'd write a tute. BUT a quick cherche around the internets turned up this one from Carrie at Tao Of Crafts that is completely awesome. I'm SO making some edamame! Cuuute!

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

What Mama Scored

How did it get to be Wednesday already? I could have sworn it was just the weekend seconds ago. Was there time travel? I suspect time travel. Or maybe aliens.

Anyway. Did all the (non- European) mama types have a lovely mothers day? Mine was pretty awesome, stinky weather notwithstanding.

Sunday I got presents delivered to me in bed.
"MUMmeeeeeeee parcel mum-mee ope parcel mum-mee. MUMMMMMeeeeeee parcels!"
And the bear was gracious enough to let me open them myself. I knew what I was getting as I had helped choose it, but it was my sweetie's idea so that totally counts.
I got a hat. Just like Teddy's. See:


And a little red watch. Both inexpensive little presents that my sweetie thought about. I LOVE them.
Then we had a spot of breakfast, English bacon sammiches, made by my sweetie.
Then we went back to TCAF, the Toronto Comics Art Festival, (it's fairly indie so think Ghost World or Jellaby as opposed to superhero-giant-boobs-guys-in-tiny-pants).
I wandered around, talked to some folks and had a really nice moment with Joey Comeau (AND I totally managed to not choke and say something creepy. So yay for me.)
My sweetie took Teddy home when it was his nap time and left me with a crisp shiny $20 bill. Which was a brilliant present.

Does that sound stupid? It wasn't, it was AWESOME. In a couple of ways. Firstly, who doesn't love a shiny new bill, all ready to be spent on nothing but silliness; not boring old stuff that you need or even something useful-but-fun like lunch, but just plain old life gravy (you know, the extra stuff that goes on top and makes life more delicious?).
And also $20 is just enough to get something nice but not enough to feel guilty about.
That's not just me right?
Anyway. Here's what my $20 of gravy money bought me:


The two big ones are Rice Boy posters. Rice Boy is a blisteringly brilliant online comic that is by turns funny, achingly sweet and heart-scaldingly tragic. You can read the whole thing here; in one sitting, while your bottom gets completely numb and 3 or 4 cups of coffee go cold if you like.

And the frogs! See the frogs? Frogs are a bit special for me. And these ones are a letter-pressed, limited edition card by David Huyck. He does really great stuff, and I think you should check it out (but only if you have eyeballs and are into awesomeness!).

So that was the weekend. It was super. The week has been little suckier on account of rain and politics and grumpiness but this weekend is looking like a trip to the zoo. SQUEE!

The Brownie Bakin' Apron

When I posted about Ali's apron a few days ago, I asked if anyone would be interested in a tute, in fact I was all "ANYONE? ANYONE? Was that a YES? Oh. You were just coughing? Well that's good enough for me!". (Thanks heaps Kuka! x)
So here it is.
The Brownie Bakin' Apron.
So called because I got brownie batter on it before I could get a picture of it clean. 'Cause I'm classy like that.


It's a bit... silly. But it was super simple and gratifying to make. Especially as I used a bodged version of Creative Little Daisy's bias maker to make the waistband.
Which is... dun dun duhhhhhn...

Step ONE - making the waistband.
First take your measurements at the spot where you like to wear your apron. If you're going for a double-wrap, tie-at-the-front waistband then double your measurement and add at least 2 and a half feet for a BIG bow. If you're tieing your apron in back then just add your bow allowance to your waist measurement.
And that's all the maths you need to do. The rest you can wing.

So my waistband measurement for this apron was about 2 and a half yards. (Anybody found to be extrapolating my waist measurement from this will be issued a sound beating and sent home.)
The next step is to decide how thick you want your waistband to be. Anything over about two and a half inches gets bunched in the back if you're doing a cross-over-tie-in-front waistband. The Brownie Baking Apron has a band of 1.5".

Now, I I happened to have some long strips of white cotton leftover from the stinking rotten blasted duvet project so I didn't have to piece together the length of the waistband. I just cut out the width I needed which was roughly 5" (3" for the band 2-ish" for the seam allowances)
Then I made an oversized, NON bias, binding. With a cocktail stirrer. And the iron.
See...

I pinned the cocktail stirrer to our ironing board. The pins are 'sactly 3 inches apart.

Then I fed one end of my 2 and a half yard x 4 inch strip through the contraption. Right to left.


And ironed...
The I folded in half again and ironed some more...

And BWALA! Acres of waistband in no time at all.Which leads us to ...

Step TWO - the skirt.
This skirt used to be pants. Jammie pants. GIANT jammie pants (they fit 47 lbs ago). If you're using a regular, rectangular width of fabric the you can ignore the next little bit. Perhaps have a nice cup of tea?
But if you happen to have some jammie pants that have expressed an interest in apronhood then this is what I did:
Cut the leggies off,
opened them out,

Sew them together to form an skirt/rectangle shape,


Next thing to do is hem the sides and the bottom. I used some store bought bias binding on the bottom hem. Then I folded over the sides twice, ironed and pinned them.


Then it was time for pleats (you could do gathers if you're feeling ruffly)


I figured my pleats by eye and they're a bit squiffy on account of trying to hide the seam that is dead center of the skirt.
Once you've got your pleats arranged, ironed and pinned you can whip around all three (or four if you've skipped the binding on the bottom hem) edges of you skirt.
It might look a bit like this.


Which leads us to...
Step THREE - jam it all together.
You'll need to find the center of your waist band. Fold it in half and mark it with chalk or a pin or something. Then the center of your skirt, same deal. Then line up the center marks and jam the skirt between the waist band. Like this:


Pin it in place then...
Top stitch the whole way along your waist band. Maybe going back and forth a few times where the skirt meets the waistband for extra small child/monkey swinging from your apron proofiness.
And you're DONE!

I added the leftover pink binding to the waistband 'cause I thought it looked a little plain without. Then made brownies with my bear and got the apron filthy.
x

Aprons Aplenty

Today was my chum Ali's birthday. This is funny, beautiful, zombie walking, deliciously quirky, baker-of-mind-blowing-desserts, Ali. Everyone in this house ADORES her.
I wanted to make her a something. And the something I decided on was an apron, for a few reasons;

• I've just made one for myself and am kind of in love with it.
• Ali bakes, and her baking is to be warmly encouraged. (What? You were expecting an UNSELFISH reason?)

I happened to have a spot of fabric in my stash in her signature colours Black, White and Red.


The fabric started life about 15 years ago as a little dress. That I wore MAYBE three times, and the last time was at least a decade ago.
I have no idea why it has moved with us 3 times (once internationally!) but it has. Maybe it was always hoping to be an apron.
The red is leftover from another version of Vogue V8615 that I made. (It turned out REALLY badly, but that's for another post).
I also used three tiny heart shaped buttons that I might have compulsively bought about a year ago, with no set project in mind.
Here's how it turned out:


And this is what it looks like on (bearing in mind that Ali is MUCH slimmer than me)


I'm being sneaky! Shhhh!
The skirt part is pleated at the top and the straps are long enough to cross in back and tie in front. The little buttons are placed pretty randomly in the center of the flowers, just for because. Here's what they look like:


I wrapped it up in brown paper and red ribbon and left it on her door when I knew she would be out (See, sneaky!). She says she likes. I hope she's not weirded out by it's ancient, refashioned origins.

Wow this is a LONG, picture-heavy post. So, lastly here's the apron I made for myself a few days ago. My mama bought me the fabric as a giftie last week, so while it's not technically stash, I didn't exactly buy it either.

It's literally two rectangles and a few pleats, but if anybody is interested I could throw together a tutorial.
x

Some Very Weird Things

Remember the gifties I mentioned? The ones I made whilst taking a mental health break from sewing Castle Awesome? Well, now they are safely in the paws of their (bemused, slightly disturbed?) recipients, I can show you what they were.

For my chum Ali (of zombie walk fame), who is a horror movie aficionado I made this happy couple

It's ALIVE! it's ALIIIIIVE!

They're actually not finished in this picture, I popped them both on a key ring fixing, back to back. They're made of felt and have innards made of scraps of flexible chopping board plastic leftover from castle awesome.
I like that Doc Frank's Monster is rather punching out of his weight class, girlfriend-wise.

And for our chum James, a hand sewn leather mustache keyring. Of course!


I made a few of them for my favorite chaps, from a spot of recycled leather; but I didn't take pictures of any of them before giving them away, so here is James using his as a cunning disguise.