Another birthday banner

I've officially decided that I love giving birthday banners as gifts. I signed up for a crafting swap of sorts with some friends earlier this year. One of these friends I have known since junior high, and reconnected with in the past couple of years. I realized that both of her childrens' birthdays were in April, so I decided to make them a birthday banner.

The construction is the same as previous banners: applique'd letters, double-sided banner pieces, and bias tape as the ribbon.

Simple, pretty, and fun.

Happy birthday, Conner kids!

Bellydance costume revamp

Last year I bought a bellydance costume from a friend. It had been her sister's, and had belonged to who knows how many people before that. It's fun and funky, but it was showing its age. I decided to give this bra and belt set a makeover on a budget.

The problem was these paillettes. While the sequins still look great and the rhinestones are in good shape, the paint on the paillettes was badly chipped, making the whole costume look beat up. My solution: nail polish.

3.5 bottles of polish and countless hours later...

Ta-da! The paillettes are back to shiny and colorful. Much better. An inexpensive (though tedious and a bit stinky) way to revitalize a tired-looking bra and belt set.

Now it's all set for my next performance!

Volcano!

What happens when Papa has the kids for a Saturday afternoon while Mama's off at bellydance workshops?
They make a papier machê volcano, of course!

3...2...1...

Lava!

Doodle's totally got a leg up on the grade school science fairs in her future.
"Make a volcano? Sure. Piece of cake. I did that when I was four!"

If that wasn't awesome enough, our friend Liv just posted a link to this amazing photo journey to the Nyiragongo Crater in Africa. So now Doodle's really REALLY excited about volcanoes and lava. and lava lakes. Really, check out the photos. Very cool.

We may make the eruptions a regular thing; stage our own reliably-timed lava flows. Y'know, like Old Faithful, only with molten lava. Ohhhh yeah. Parenthood is pretty awesome.

Kid's Nature Bag

Doodle has a friend here who we'll call K. K is the daughter of a couple of science-nerdy parents, and recently had her 5th birthday. What does one give an outdoorsy 5y.o. daughter of a soil scientist and a science writer? Why, a nature bag, of course!

K's birthday card. Doodle drew K, and I drew the bag and scenery as requested.

In standard MamaBee fashion, I didn't just go out and buy a pre-made nature bag, or even any bag at all. Oh no. This sucker was handmade by moi; meaning I agonized over where exactly the pockets should go for optimal bug jar positioning, and how exactly I was going to successfully construct a multi-pocketed, lined bag having *cough* never made one like this before.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Doodle was eager to model it for me (and will be even more eager to use her matching bag once I finish sewing it).

Doodle picked the fabrics, in K's favorite color.
We stocked it with a magnifying glass and some bug vials. Next time I'm planning to include a little laminated basic bug ID sheet. Unfortunately I didn't have time to throw one together this time around, what with the frantic bag-designing and such.

Pretty cute, I think. Maybe I need a Mama-sized nature bag next.

Caftan!

Presenting my very own caftan, designed by J and sewn by yours truly. As a bellydancer I regularly need some sort of robe-ish thing to wear over top of my performance costume. I have a couple of covers which have worked okay, but I have wanted a good, reliable, pretty cover-up for a little while now. I bought this fabric 2? 3? years ago after J said he'd make me a bellydance-appropriate cover-up as a Christmas present. Well, other projects have come to the forefront (thesis, dissertation and baby come to mind, plus a bazillion small things too), and the fabric sat. And sat. Until I approached J and proposed that we work on my caftan. One guilty look and a "yes" later, I was looking at styles, we were drafting a pattern, and voila! Caftan!

I love the shiny blue prettiness. And the secret zil pocket inside. But my favorite thing about it is that J put so much thought and effort into making it just right. I love it.

Do me a favor, please: don't remind J that I haven't yet completed my gift to him, promised that same Christmas. Oops.

C.A.D.D. and the bellydance top

I have a confession to make. I'm afraid I'm a bit A.D.D. when it comes to crafts and baking. I start one project and have to work on four others before I can finish the one I started. It's pretty annoying.

Case in point: remember all these projects I have lined up? Plenty to work on, right? Guess not. Instead of working on ANY of those, I decided to design and sew Doodle a new bellydance top today. True, she only had one top up until now and it was constantly going missing. This frequently lead to games of "find the bellydancer's top buried in the toy bin" or talks of "no really, bellydancers ALWAYS wear tops. You need to wear something. Anything. Please." So a little sewing project in the name of sanity preservation, even if it wasn't something on The List, is overall a good thing. Right?

Here are photos in the now-standard crappy, flashless quality. The top is made of some purple velvet scrap I picked up at the thrift store, and tied with ribbon in the back. Doodle's gone a bit tribal too.

Craft piles ahoy!

J is home and all is well. The kids and I survived our week without him, though we're all much happier to have him home. Now that J's back and I have a little more free time, the crafting has resumed. Oh yes.

On my desk I have the following projects either started or in queue:

• first knitting project - a scarf. I'm ~12 inches in.
• feather-and-fake-orchid hair clip fluff things for tribal bellydance costuming. I believe they're called "fascinators" on Etsy. Not sure what's so fascinating about feathery hair decor, but whatev. I will be fluffy and tribal, and soon!
  
• bra to deconstruct and reconstruct as a tribal coin bra of awesomeness.
  
• satiny cabaret bellydance skirt to sew.
• bellydance cover-up (caftan) #1 to finish sewing, figure out pattern details (J's design!)
• bellydance cover-up #2 to cut out, sew, decorate.
• pajamas for Roo.
• pajama pants for Doodle.
• Valentine-themed banner to put together.
• a couple of these for Doodle and Roo for Valentine's Day.
  

So far I've made one feathery fascinator thingy, and one headband. Caftan #1 is mostly done, and I'll hopefully get that done yet this naptime. (Thank you forces of the universe and/or basic human physiology that require my son to take a nap every day, without which I would accomplish even less than I already do.)

Also, on Friday I had my first solo bellydance performance in a non-hafla setting (Indian Restaurant) since MAY. It had been far too long between performances, but I feel it went really well. I'm glad I did it, I had fun, and I really hope I get to do it again. If so, I will bring my video camera next time. This stuff needs to be documented, yo!

I keep thinking I'll get around to posting photos and links for all the fun things I made for Xmas. That's on the pile too, along with sharing more Maui stories (though I'm still lacking photos) and maintaining sanity and making lots of yummy food and oh, what's that? We're pretending that you're the mom and I'm the kid and Roo's the baby and we're flying to San Diego?

Duty calls. Anyone want to work on my craft piles in the meantime?

Handmade holiday overload!

The crafting is (again? still? always?) going full-tilt 'round these parts. Yummy sugary things have been made...

...many child paintings have been completed (and then repurposed)...

...and the pile of sewing is slowly getting smaller.

After the traveling and the celebrating (and after these things are no longer surprises) I promise I'll show off some of the things I've been making. In the mean time, I'm off to crank up some festive music and sew and glue and bedazzle and package away!

First

Our first dusting of snow in State College. The holly looks so festive, so perfect for the season. (Note the oaks, still with a bunch of lower leaves, in the background. I wonder when they'll finally drop.)

Today we made a paper chain to countdown the days until Doodle's birthday and Christmas. This year she has declared that we should start decorating for Christmas before her bday, so we're putting wires on our stuffed birds (to perch them in our tree, once we have it) and glitter-gluing our assortment of collected cones (also for the tree). I'm enjoying the holiday crafting with Doodle, plus sneakily sewing some surprises for her after she goes to bed.

Here's to embracing the magic and the fun of December!

Stuffed

Stuffed birds made to humor Doodle in her desire to decorate our Xmas tree "with birds! All over! And even a red one on the very top!" this year.

Morbid staging by me.

Crafting has resumed

Now that we're settling in and getting more comfortable in our daily routines, the crafting has resumed. I should say MY crafting has resumed, since it's been mostly me sewing things that I just must do right now. Example A: the curtain for the front door. Practical, nice to have, and pretty too. Doodle picked the button above from my meager button collection, and I think it's perfect.

Example B: patchwork skirt for Doodle. Something I hadn't tried yet, and I was itching to play with. After her initial disdain and refusal to wear it wore off, she now loves it. Thank goodness, otherwise I may very well have turned it into another curtain or some crazy patchwork pants for Roo.


Example C: Ah yes, the infamous polyester. I used a little bit of it to re-cover my sewing box forever ago, but still have an awful lot left. Doodle finally agreed to let me sew her a skirt out of this and she's been wearing it regularly. Hooray! Now I just need to finish the half-done matching funky skirt for me. Then we shall take the town by Bright Polyester Storm! Hmm, think I can get J to wear a shirt made out of this?


Example D: patchwork pillow cover. My own design, thankyouverymuch. It's nothing spectacular, but I finally got to use that pretty middle fabric, and gave new life to a kind of ugly, no longer exciting pillow that was laying around.

Flaps on the back so it can be easily removed for washing. Vital feature with small children around.


Example E: Doodle's leaf book. It's a different kind of science-crafting blend which we are loving right now. As this is her first fall in deciduous-tree-land, I decided we should collect different kinds of leaves and look at them. It has since become a fun goal to try and find new leaves, plus I'm enjoying trying to identify the trees they came from. (The oaks though... ugh. There are a lot here, and they hybridize. I still don't know what species of oaks are in our own yard and I've been fussing over it for weeks now.)
Also pictured: our felt leaf garland. I made it last year with felt scraps from the thrift store. I like it.

It's nice to be creating things again.

To Learn

I want to learn how to knit, partially because I want to make super-cute things like this acorn cap.

Knitting is on my List of things To Learn, along with quilting, woodworking, surfing, mountaineering, silk dyeing, deer hunting, pole dancing (for fitness, of course) and mastering a kick-ass pie crust.

What's on your To Learn list?

jumper!

Remember this fabric? Vintage 70's fabulous rust-and-floral corduroy, scored at the thrift store. I had a vision of a cute little cord jumper for Doodle, and fought with different design ideas for a while. Then I found this pattern for free. It was exactly what I had in mind, and wound up being really easy to make. Victory! Here's the finished cuteness:

Doodle helped me design the pockets, and officially approved of the ribbon/lace edging and the yellow flower buttons on the shoulders. She's already been bouncing around the house in it, sticking chapstick, a necklace, and other goodies in her pockets. Perfect for a rambunctious little girl on the go. Yay!

Added bonus - it was cheap to make. Here's the grand total for supplies.
Pattern: free online
Fabric: $1 @ thrift store (and enough left over for a skirt for me!)
Lace: 35 cents @ thrift store
Facing (fabric inside): $1 @ thrift store
Buttons: $1.50 (half off) @ fabric store
Ribbon: from my stash
Thread: from my stash

A thrifting, sewing success!

More sewing and beyond...

Yes, more sewing. But it was for a good reason! I'd made a birthday banner similar to the one in the above photo for Doodle's birthday. I used a mishmash of fabric scraps from my stash, and it turned out well. Some friends who came to Doodle's party loved it, and kept talking about how awesome and clever the banner was.

Fast forward to last week, when I learned that one of those friends was throwing a surprise party for his wife. I asked him if I could make a banner for her party and he said "that'd kick ass!" So I quickly whipped up the banner in the above photo, and brought it to her party the following evening. They *love* it, which makes me happy.

Close up:
The letters are applique'd on (ironed then sewn), and the whole thing is sewn to a long strip of bias tape. Some of the fabrics were selected for silliness (bees for the letter B, tie dye because I love it), and some because they're familiar (I made a purse for their daughter A out of the blue H fabric last year, gift bags out of the D fabric, and a skirt for daughter S out of the purple P fabric). I'm very pleased with it.

Then here's the weird thing: academic interest in my banner. One of our friends' friends is an Extension faculty member in sewing and design stuff. She teaches classes on sewing, classes on designing dresses... you get the idea. So she saw my banner and approached me about making a How To sheet which would then be published in a peer-reviewed manner. A peer-reviewed sewing publication?! I barely feel like I know how to sew!!! So I'll be talking with her sometime in the next couple weeks, and may get a publication out of the deal. Totally crazy!

Crafting...still...

I seem to have gone off the crafty deep end being home with the kiddos. Projects I've started or am thinking about include:

• making 8 necklace/earring sets for my bellydance troupe. - I have all of the earrings done, and one necklace done.

• making my first real quilt. Think at least twin-bed-sized. - I completed my first panel today, and got the fabric cut out for 6 more panels tonight. It'll be 25 panels total.

• double-layered circle skirt for Doodle. - DONE. Finished this today. Not sure why I thought the glittery fabric wouldn't be so bad once it became a skirt. Holy fairy orgy, Batman! The GLITTER! It is EVERYWHERE. We're going to be finding glitter in things for YEARS thanks to this skirt. But Doodle loves it, so I grin as I pick another 10 pieces of glitter off of Little. For the fifth time today.

• fluffy flirty skirt for me, out of that ridiculously bright polyester I mentioned before. - Still in the designing process, trying to decide whether to make a gored skirt for myself now, or wait until I lose a few more pounds of baby weight. Besides, it's still effing cold outside (high of 35ish yesterday felt sooo nice), so I have nowhere to wear the skirt right now if I do get it done soon. Okay, this one can wait.

• corduroy skirt for me, from thrifted 70s rust-colored corduroy. - Still designing, waiting for a skirt book from the library.

• corduroy jumper for Doodle from same corduroy. - Still in the designing process, need to borrow a friends' pattern.

• another quilt as a gift - this one will be simple and pretty quick. Nothin' fancy. - I'm repurposing a thrifted duvet cover, keeping one side intact while hacking apart the other side to make blocks for a big, blocky quilt. I have a vision, but not all the material. So it's technically still in the designing process too.

On top of this I have a bellydance improv solo performance at the end of the month to prepare for (Indian Oven Feb. 27th, 8pm! More info soon), and more choreographing of our troupe music before late March (Club Cairo on March 27th). Plus keeping the house from becoming a total disaster, not neglecting the kiddos, feeding the kiddos, spending time with J... yeah, I may be trying to do too much. Again. Always.

I'll post periodic updates on my list if for no other reason than to help me feel accomplished. And because, as J will confirm, I love lists.

Crafting like crazy.

I'm on a crafty kick. Being home with the kiddos all day is giving me the opportunity to think about craft projects I've had in the works for a while but haven't gotten to. I recently agreed to make the jewelry for my bellydance troupe's new costumes, which got me back into beading. While I was playing with those beads I pulled out what I already had, and found some near-complete projects that I just finished. Here they are:

I just got this pendant. Disassembled an old necklace I'd made and never worn, and used those beads for this. I love it.

Had these beads forever. Couldn't commit to a single color scheme. Finally I decided I'd rather wear them for a while then disassemble them and start over instead of just having the beads in my bead box forever. So ta-da! New earrings.

The big project - troupe jewelry. I made this necklace as the prototype, and will show my troupemates tonight. If they like it I'll make 8 more (plus earrings, not pictured) before March.

I'm also on a bit of a sewing kick, but it's still in the design stage. I have an idea for a quilt (full size!), a jumper for Doodle, birthday banners to give away/sell(?), and skirts for me.

One question for my crafty friends: what would you do with *cough*4 yards*cough* of this?

It's polyester, I think... the printed side is smooth and slippery, and the reverse is soft, almost fuzzy, and sticks to itself. Ideas other than a giant mumu? I'm thinking a full, flirty fluffy skirt, but don't know where to start. Help!

Xmas PJs

This year I started what I hope will be a tradition for a while: Christmas Eve pajamas for the kiddos. I'd heard of friends giving their kids each a new set of pajamas on Christmas Eve as something special to wake up and open presents in the next morning. I liked the idea, and decided to try my hand at sewing a pair for Doodle. (Little was too small for the pattern this time around, but will get some mama-made PJs next year.)

This was my first time using a pattern in YEARS but it went really well. The pattern is the kimono pajamas from Oliver+S. I think it's really cute. I used some purple fabric (her favorite) that I had left over from a batch of girly skirts this summer. She thinks they're great. I think it's a tradition worth continuing. Yay!


Another Christmas-related sewing project shown: gift bags. The gift bag at her feet was one of many that we made this year. We started sewing gift bags as an alternative Christmas present wrapping method a few years ago. It cuts way down on the paper waste, is reusable, and is pretty to boot. I usually but Christmas-y fabrics in January when they're on clearance, then we make the bags in December once we know the sizes we need. It works great and I love it. Our families have even taken to keeping the bags and reusing them in subsequent years. Hooray!

Beer zills and bubble wings

Doodle, as you may know by now, loves bellydance. She loves to put on my bellydance CDs and will dance for over half an hour without losing interest. Sometimes she insists on wearing my tinted chapstick because she knows that when I perform I wear lipstick. She also enjoys the props: she has some small silk veils she dances with, and a hip scarf she'll sometimes wear. But lately she's been coveting two of MY props: zills and wings. The zills (or finger cymbals) I'll let her play with on occasion, but only once has she gotten to wear and dance with my silver lamé Wings of Isis.

So what happens when she asks her creative, resourceful Papa if she can play with my wings or zills? He improvises and makes some just for her. Behold the beer zills and bubble wings:

Beer bottle caps with holes punched in them and ribbon running through.
Doodle dubbed them "Beer Zills."

The wings are bubble wrap with chopsticks as the handles.
(Apologies for the fuzzy wing photos - they're from my phone.)

What a lucky kid.

Calling all sewing friends

Alright, crafty friends of mine. I need your help. I have three yards of this awesomely 70s rust-brown corduroy ($1 at DI) that's begging to be used. I'm thinking skirt for me and a 70s fantabulous jumper for Doodle, but don't have any patterns or ideas for where to start. Suggestions?