Fruits of Labor

Once again it's been FOREVER since I've posted. I've been overwhelmed with work and hadn't really been crafting much. Last week I decided it was finally time I get the craft hut up and running again. I cleaned out all the chicken dust, threw open the curtains (should have done that before dusting), and pulled out some glitter and glue. More on those projects later though. My neighbor friend Nicole just got back from her honeymoon in Hawaii and we were excited to have an afternoon to craft with each other after a long hiatus with all her wedding planning and crafting. Nicole brought over her fabric scraps and a cute fruit pincushion pattern. This was the first time we actually finished a project in one sitting! Well, almost. A little bit of embroidery on the leaves and I'll be content with it. We hand-sewed our pears and used some wonderful wool felt for the leaves and stems. They came out so cute we decided we are going to make a whole basket full of fruits.

Happy Sewing!

Cerise : )

P.S.: I PROMISE to post more!

Summer Shirt Dress

On a last minute whim, Theresa and I decided we just HAD to use our grand opening coupons at the bigger and (slightly) better JoAnn's in town. Of course, that's always hard to do when almost everything is on sale! We spent way more time browsing than intended, mostly due to a few people with TONS of bolts needing cut, and of course we are easily distracted. A lovely cotton shirt fabric jumped off the shelf at me and I headed overto patterns to find the perfect design for a lovely cotton floral print. I had in mind a wrap dress but a Simplicity Lisette shirt dress pattern seemed absolutely perfect for my newly found fabric friend. When I got to the cut table the bolt was short a half yard for the dress pattern but I decided it would work to shorten it into a shirt or do the other not-as-cute-or-flattering shirt dress pattern in the set. Saturday was my day to relax and not worry about cleaning the house or weedingthe garden so I decided to start on my dress. It's been quite a while since I've sewn. The craft hut is still a chicken-rearing disaster so I brought my machine and tools into the kitchen, threw the leaves into my grandpa's table, and started ironing and cutting away. My goal was to get the dress done for a dinner date and good-bye party but, asusual, that was another silly Cerise dream. After my dinner date (sadly, I missed the good-bye party since dinner took a while), I stayed up late sewing and ran out of thread. Sunday morning I switched from a bright reddish-pink to a bright red spool of thread and kept on sewing while Theresa made a zafu and linen napkins. With the sleeves painlessly sewn on, the button holer was attached and sewing away with not all the button holes being centered down the front plaquette by the end of it all. I added a random mix of white buttons from my collection of odds and ends gathered from thrift stores and old clothing along the other front plaquette and viola! A done summer shirt dress. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so I'll have to put it away for the summer sun, if it ever comes! It's a little snug in my hips but fits my upper body really great.The buttons were put on too close together so theleft side of the dress is about an inch shorter than the right side, but at this point, I don't really care and I don't think anyone else but my fiancé will notice.

Happy Sewing and Hoping for Sun!!!

Cerise : )

Lovely Linen Napkins

Our sad little excuse for a fabric chain store was closing it's doors to open a larger store in the Big Box section of town and there were some great closeout deals. A wonderful green linen peeked out from between gaudy costume fabric and a bolt of disturbing colored velveteen. When I saved it from the pile it pleaded to be made into a set of napkins. Sewing on sunny weekend days is always hard to do but unfortunately Corvallis got a not-so-rare rainy day in mid-summer. Cerise invited me over to sew while she finished up a cotton shirt dress so I measured out my fabric and cut it up into squares, ironed and folded, and sewed away. A half hour later a set of six wonderful napkins were neatly folded and waiting to be used for my next dinner party. A great project for a rainy day!

Theresa, Ommama

Grand Opening!

This weekend marks the grand opening of our local Jo-Ann's here in Corvallis. I took a sneak peak recently. What a change! From a dreary little crowded shop with horrible rust carpeting to a huge, well-lit grocery store size store. Oddly, though they had it well-stocked and full of new things, the place is very "harsh" and "severe". What a contrast to yarn stores, that tend to be well-lit and yet soft and cozy. Perhaps it is the difference between corporate, big box, to independent or perhaps it is the medium: bolts of fabric interspersed with notions and imported craft supplies versus fluffy angora, alpaca and wool. I always want to linger in a yarn store. I will go to the grand opening of Jo-Ann anyway. After all, I have a chance to win a gift card!

Theresa, Ommama

New Studio

We are finally all settled in our new home and I had my first full day in a very long time of just sewing! I have a very spacious room and it is light and warm. I need to get another table to put my ironing board on and shelves for my fabric. All my fabric is now in totes and I waste a lot of time digging through them. The room needs some more decorations but for the most part I am all set. I expect to be very productive!

Portland Day Trip: Part 2, the crafting

The best part of our day trip to Portland and our main goal was to visit Knit Purl (in the Pearl district!) and Josephine's Dry Goods.
Knit Purl is an amazing yarn and fiber store that has an incredible array of sumptuous fibers. It is very comfortable with cushy chairs, wonderfully helpful clerks and lots of books and patterns. Often there are people sitting and knitting and getting help as needed. An interesting fiber blend that was new to me is Seacell, a seaweed deriviative. There is a wool (70%) and Seacell (30%) blend in sock weight and a silk (70%) and Seacell (30%) blend in laceweight. There was also a blend with fique, a plant fiber from the Agavaceae family, closely related to agave and pineapple. This is an amazing fiber that was used extensively by pre-columbians to make rope, clothing, baskets and hammocks and has been "rediscovered." It is very strong and feels similar to hemp or linen. There was a silk and stainless steel blend, too.
I had to hold in my own hand a 100% Pashmina. This is the softest yarn ever, but at $55.50 for a 50 gram skein you'd have to knit up something really special! For more exotics they also carry bison yarn and qikiuk yarn. In the end Cerise settled on a nice bright red merino wool blend to make a shawl. I went to Josephine's Dry Goods mainly for their wall of buttons! But they also carry some splendid fine fabrics that you won't find in any chain store. Linens, wools, silks... unique patterns and if you ever were to tackle making a wedding dress that is the place to go. They are very helpful and are always working on projects so you can see patterns come to life. And they sell their samples, two of which I bought last time we visited. I stuck with the button wall and selected several buttons while Cerise chose a very cute cotton print to make a blouse and a pattern. Go to their facebook page to see some of their finished products. I LOVE the Vogue skirt in houndstooth wool.
Look for Part 3: Shops in Lake Oswego and Nordstrom's (is not so much for us)
Theresa, Ommama

Watch out for Vikings!

My neighbor Nicole and I decided to start getting together to do some sewing projects. She had some really great pictures of cute viking plush pillow people and we decided to make some similar guys. We set out to the fabric stores to find some viking inspiring prints and textures. This was a surprisingly difficult task. Corduroy was a definite and some checks and plaid prints were chosen. Nicole had some great red and orange toned fabrics for the cheeks and noses already in her stash. We set off to making patterns for our people. We have made some good progress the past two days but now are a bit stuck at the beards. The fur fabric just isn't cutting it so we are going to experiment with alpaca roving and wool felt to see what we can make. I think they are awesome so far! They will definitely be very viking with their horns and rugged beards!

Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Crafting in Oregon

Well, it's been a long few months and I'm finally getting a long awaited blog up. Hopefully my life has settled down enough that I will be posting blogs more regularly. I have so so many things to blog about! I've been pretty crafty my first three weeks in Oregon and much of that is attributed to my newest addition to my craft life. Upon our arrival in Corvallis, Oregon, we scrambled to find a better living situation than we had originally secured and fortunately for us we got a beautiful two bedroom house that has a separate little house in the back. And guess where I've set up my crafts? In the craft hut! My parents came up for a visit three days after moving to Oregon and I had a lot of help getting my craft hut pretty and ready for crafting. My mom and I sponge painted the floor and my dad and Dale set up the extension cord from the main house to the craft hut so I could have electricity. I now have everything but my knitting out there and it's wonderful! I have my sewing table and a desk set up so I can leave out projects. There is plenty of storage space, including an old dorm dresser/cabinet from OSU, and plenty of space to spread out. I've already begun many sewing adventures but need to get some curtains up to keep out the sun and heat. I'm so happy I finally have some great space for doing all my projects and glad to have had helpers to get it set up!
Happy Crafting, Cerise : )

The Real Oil Cloth

So the snack bags aren't up on Etsy or Art Fire yet but they will be soon! And to add to the good snack bag news I'm working on leak "proof" snack bags. My first thought for this was vinyl and that led me to using oil cloth. But I realized I wanted to be really green about this, I mean vibrant-in-your-face-kelly-green. So I thought a little harder about the oil cloth. I had looked into this fabric before and found out that all this supposed oil cloth was really cute cotton prints coated in PVC. I don't want PVC leaching into my food! The point is to get away from plastic. So I researched the wonderful web full or information for any and every project you could ever want to start. I quickly came up with the very simple and easy way to make oil cloth. Spread some oil on a piece of cloth. It really is that easy! Real oil cloth is made using cotton fabric and a flax byproduct called linseed oil.


This would be a natural alternative that wouldn't leach nasty PVC chemicals into my food (this link talks about the poisons of PVC). I devised a plan to construct a frame on which to stretch my selected cotton prints. I didn't want to staple the fabric to the frame and waste a whole inch on the edge (you can make neat things out of long fabric scraps). My thrift store embroidery hoops came to mind. I would make a large and bulky embroidery hoop that would hold about a fat quarter's worth of fabric without putting holes into the pretty pieces. I went to Lowe's (this was the fun outing alternative to the neighboring Ikea in Mission Valley) and picked up some long skinny boards, stiff metal joints, and found some boiled linseed oil. I have the outer frame mostly constructed, save the tightening mechanism similar to the embroidery hoops. Due to the lack of a real wood saw (I was stuck using my tiny metal jewelry saw with it's tiny little blades NOT meant for wood) the ends of my boards are really rough. I'm going to have to file down the inner frame board ends in order for them to fit inside the outer frame. Then it's just connecting the last few pieces and I will be ready to get greasy! I probably should have waited to start this project after we moved so I had some sunny outdoor space to apply the linseed oil but I think I'll finish it here and try at least one swatch. Stay tuned to see a final product and more about how cool oil cloth really is!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Facebook Fan Fridays!

Great "breaking" news! We were so kindly featured on Zakka Life's blog on the Facebook Fan Fridays section. Check out the great Zakka Life blog and Zakka Life on Facebook. I love getting the email updates and looking at all the cool craft ideas and projects. Thanks!!! And don't forget to check out the new Krafty Katina and Om Mamma's Facebook page. We might just have to start up a Facebook fan section too!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt Picture!

After however long it's been...toooooo long...here is a picture of the dragon tie belt. All upcycled materials! Unfortunately the camera is thrown off by the shimmer of the gold dragons and can't manage a great picture, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll be holding down the blog fort while mum is in Denver. More to come soon...
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt

A while back my dad gave Dale all his cubicle-era ties he didn't want anymore. One of the ties that ended up in the bunch was my favorite tie from my childhood (next to the Yellow Submarine one of course). I decided to sneak that one off the tie rack and make a belt out of it using some vintage hook buckles I purchased off Gingham Girl's Etsy site. I don't like the belts made by just using the original shape. I wanted a belt that would go through my belt loops but still be noticeable as a tie. I ended up ripping the seam on the back of the tie and trimming the inside support down to the smallest width. Then I pinned it to the support and painfully sewed wiggle designs with my Brother sewing machine in gold metallic thread. This tool FOREVER and my thread broke every few minutes. I had to adjust my tension over and over again and that still didn't help. The thread bunched up really badly in many areas on the back side of the tie/belt. At least only the decorative gold wiggle stitching is visible, not the out of control bunches of thread. I attached the very long belt to the right dragon and began figuring out how to make the belt adjustable without buying more materials. I decided to use buttons. I have a wonderful vintage candy tin full of old buttons from Merry Sunshine on Etsy. I plucked out a card of gold buttons to match the dragon. I tried out the metallic thread for the button holes but threw out the idea on the first break of the thread and used yellow instead. My button holes came out great! I think it might even be the first time I've actually made real button holes for buttons. I sewed on the buttons and though they are evenly spaced, they do not match up with the button holes. I might resew them but two at a time will button in, enough to hold the belt on the needed size. I have three more vintage hook buckles and some thrift store ties for belts. There will definitely be some changes in the second belt but overall this was a really fun project and came out pretty neat. I can't wait to wear it!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Eco-friendly Dry Snack Bags

On my trip to Jo Ann's for...hmmm...I don't remember what for...I had a wild hair you know where and decided to start yet another project. This one I actually started and finished the SAME DAY! Eco-friendly snack and lunch bags, produce and bulk food bags, and shopping bags have been all the rage lately. I have seen them on Etsy, in Whole Foods, and other areas on the web. I decided about a month ago that I should make my own. I have been eco-groovey lately (I think it's the anticipation of being Corvallis and getting back to my "hippier" lifestyle) so I decided to take advantage of some sale cotton quilting fabric. I passed some wonderful pear fabric and was instantly inspired. I also got some cute cherries on checkers and some tree lover fabric (very fitting since it's saving bags!) and picked up a package of sew on velcro. I started in on my project right when I got home. I never pre-wash my fabric (I know, this is a no-no but I have coin-op laundry only!) but I did iron my fabric. I've found this is a really good idea with the cotton. I pulled out my bolt of muslin (sadly it's bleached) and started cutting out square of outer fabric and lining fabric with only a small idea of how I was going to make this snack back. I started with the pear print and quickly finished a great little velcro closure baggie. It came out exactly why I wanted it to! I thought the velcro may not be strong enough just attached to the muslin liner so I pulled out all my ribbon and began matching colors to prints for something to blend in the stitches on the outer fabric. I consulted my testing crew (Dale) and he decided it was quite sturdy with the velro just on the muslin. But the ribbon and lace looked so pretty on the cherry checker fabric that the pears now looked naked. I found some pretty scrap lace and seam biding ribbon for the happy tree fabric and after an afternoon and evening of sewing, with a break for dinner and the weekly crossword, I had three littl snack bags done. I really like the ribbon/lace accent on the outside and am going to hunt for something to match the pears for the next baggie. I love them and will soon be using them when my upcylced ziplock baggies get too ripped up to continue using. I also plan on gifting them and most likely selling them on Etsy or even at a craft show in Oregon and will definitely take special orders and requests until they hit the public market! I have some cute dino fabric on the way to make kid-friendly baggies too! I also want to make some reusable leak proof snack baggies for wet and gooey stuff but that is a future experiment that will have to wait a little while. For now, I'll just be using all the leftover apple sauce jars.
Happy Crafting, Cerise : )

Thrist Store Finds...

It's been a LOOOOONG time once again! And again, I can blame school and work. Over spring break, I had my first field geology experience in the Mojave Preserve and it was a blast. Last week was spring camp at the Fleet, and this week I have no excuse really for not posting anything. I have been crafting this past week and created some eco-friendly dry snack bags (more on that later), discovered a new craft (also more on that later), and am finishing a dragon tie belt project (once again, more on that later). During my lunch break yesterday I went to my favorite thrift store in North Park and hit the jack pot on seam binding, biased tapes, piping, twill tape, and other sewing goodies. I did forget to grab the cute little oval embroidery hoop but maybe it will be there next time. The seam binding was the perfect find for my eco-friendly snack bags and was a much cheaper buy than the craft store and is using (almost) upcycled materials.
One of the other goodies is a sewing machine light bulb that fits my Singer Featherweight.
Ironically enough, the light just now blew on the Singer Featherweight. Good thing I got one at the thrift store. Let's hope it works so I can finish my dragon tie belt. That is (hopefully) going to be my next post.
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

P.S.
I started this post from end to beginning out of my humor for the blown light bulb. The new light bulb won't fit in my machine!!! So so sad. Off to the craft store after all!

Sewing as Poetry

One of my other art outlets is poetry. I had a reading at a local bookstore last weekend so was consumed with rewriting. I also wrote this (not my best, but apropos):

Learning to Sew on a 1954 Singer Featherweight

I.
First year 4-H, make a scarf and a handkerchief:
use an iron without getting burned;
stitch a straight seam on the sewing machine;
pivot and sew another straight line,
pink with shears (so as not to cut through
the seam that you just sewed). Tie a knot.

Second year, sew a practical apron:
learn how to gather a seam,
bunch the fabric for an attractive pouf;
learn to sew on pockets—
presumably for handkerchiefs
when weeping in the kitchen.

By the fifth year make a lined,
formal dress. Do not plan
on wearing it to the prom.
The color will be garish,
the left breast will sag.
You will stop sewing for 20 years.

II.
I am mesmerized by the needle
dipping in and out of the fabric,
ten, twelve stitches per inch,
a locking line of thread
linking two pieces together.

None of the other stuff, before
or after, interests me:

agonizing over choices of fabric,
pre-washing the cloth, ironing,
measuring, pinning, cutting patterns,
winding the bobbin, threading the needle.

The smell of the machine oil
and the whir of the wheel
keeps me sewing, anything
with long, straight lines.

Theresa, Poetmama

The not-so-long awaited cat nip sweater!

A few days ago two packages showed up in my post box. Though both were addressed to me, neither of the them really was meant for me. One of them was a handmade surprise for my mum that was wrongly shipped to me and the other was Katina's little cat nip sweater toy. Of course mum hadn't forgotten about me. I got some sweet little froggy stickers and a wonderful book about a capy, one of the cute R.U.S.S., who lived with a family. But I couldn't give Katina her toy right then because my camera batteries had died, again. This morning I got up "early," did a few chores, and headed out the door for my yucky but conveniently located super market chain to get some batteries. We don't use batteries for that many things but we do go through them like crazy. I decided to buckle down and buy the recharge-ables and a charger since they were slightly on sale. just beat the wonderful rain back to the apartment I was happy to find out the batteries were pre-charged. I plopped the batteries in my camera and tossed Katina her toy I had been telling her about the past two days. Since then she has been sitting on it looking out the patio screen, tossing it around now and then, and trying to rip it open with her vicious little kitty teeth. I think she would give it two thumbs up if she had proper thumbs. I wasn't able to get the best action shots of her because she refused to act out for the camera. She is definitely an embarrass-able little kitty but I could tell she loves her sweater toy. Thanks Mum!
Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Crafter Feature: Elephant and Chickpea

I should be working on my history paper, but I just couldn't wait to post my recent favorite Etsy store find. The elegant picture of a pair of light strawberry colored Mary Jane house shoes on the front page of Etsy the other day instantly caught my attention. When I read on about the house shoes, I was happy to find that the soles are made of upcycled denim and leather and gorgeous upcyled and natural fabrics. Not only are they beautiful (and most likely practically comfortable) they are eco-friendly as well!

Elephant and Chickpea, located in Vancouver, Canada, currently have four shoe styles to choose from: Mary Janes, loafers, T-straps, and ballet flats. Stop by Elephant and Chickpea's store and blog and take a peek at the wonderful assortment of house shoes. Like me, I bet you'll find a pair to fall in love with!
Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Habitarium No. 2

I am now scrambling to get holiday crafts and gifts done since work is slow and my craft "chores" are aplenty. Today I completed my second habitarium with a winter evergreen on a snowy hill. I like how this one came out and I cannot wait to finish my third one I am working on. The snowman is thus far quite adorable though he needs some cute little stick arms. San Diego lacks much foresty area but I know I will find some little snowman arms somewhere.
I am working on shnazzing up some paper stars with layer upon layer of silver glitter. These were leftover from last year. Apparently I never finished them but I am determined to get my holiday crafts done this year. Maybe my mom and I will finally finish that little Santa we've been working on for the past three or four years (how long has it been?). Check back for more habitariums and holiday crafts. I am almost done with a pair of festive arm warmers I knitted!
Happy crafting,
Cerise : )

Habitariums

I just thought to call them habitariums while uploading the pictures for editing. It's done!!! The long awaited "habijar" has turned out better than I had hoped and I finally found a use for a few of my small, nifty, vintage wooden thread spools. The base is secured to the inside of the metal vintage jelly jar lid and the little amanitas, moss, and snail are secured to the "grass" base. All the felt peices are hand-stitched and the amanita tops are secured to vintage wooden spool stalks, complete with little felt veils. I decided last minute to add the moss and am very happy with the look of it. I will be making more habitariums the next couple of weeks and posting them on my Etsy site so look out for these great holiday gifts (you can get them for yourself, I won't tell!). I started making an evergreen tree for habitarium number two but it is a little too large for the jar so I think I will have to think smaller (a very hard thing to do!). So instead it is mearly a snowy little tree. I'm going to make bigger ones to match these and they will definitely also be in my Etsy store.
Happy crafting, Cerise : )

Domo Done!!!

Hey Target, eat your heart out. I finally finished my two year Domo Kun plush project and am more than squeelingly excited about the final product. Poor Domo got shrimpy little legs and was shoved into one of my many fabric buckets (along with other unfinished projects). He has been sitting out for a week now waiting his turn to be a finished creation. I cut off his stupid little legs and bottom and started anew with his lowers, not caring about the weird seams in the end. I know how I could better do him next time at least. Preplanning and measuring is really important. But here he is in all his wonderful Domoness. Now to make him Halloween costumes. I think that might be another few years.
Happy crafting,
Cerise ; )