belle epoque

I’m only visiting because Moondoggie is here entertaining the wee one. Crafty moms, how DO you do it? Not only have time to craft, but have time to blog? I’d love some advice that doesn’t involve full time help and total sleep deprivation and/or starvation. ‘Cause when she’s asleep I’m eating, sleeping, or showering! I WISH I was crafting, so, gals, help me out with some words of wisdom if you’ve got ‘em! Granted the wee is just 3 months old today, so perhaps I’m jumping the gun on thinking me-time could be possible at this point

Enough with the whinging, though! I did find something I could do while in the rocking chair– READ! And I was lucky enough to get my hands on some beautiful crafty books from Chronicle that are further whetting my crafty appetite, namely The Pillow Book by Shannon Okey and Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter:

These books are both lovely and inspiring. What with supplies for my Gocco B6 dwindling in availability, and my love for printing growing proportionally, I’m particularly nuts about Lotta Prints, which offers multiple methods of printing and lots of inspiration (not to mention darling illustrations designed for use as stencils in the back!). I’ve ALWAYS loved leaf motifs, and so I’m particularly drawn to the section on leaf printing:

And having a baby in the house has immediately upped my appreciation for pillows– for putting my feet on, cushioning my back, and propping up the wee (who really doesn’t like to lie flat if she can be up and looking around!). So, The Pillow Book is right up my alley! I do love a bolster, and if you do too, you’ll find a ton of different options in the book. Like this nifty triangular one

Of course there’s also a lot of crafty I’ve been able to pine about surfing the web on my iPhone too, for example:
*Emily’s rag dolls! I managed to print out the pattern, and enlarge it at the UPS store (some fussing went on in the stroller as I spent a million years trying to figure out the zoom function of the copier, but I had to tell HMB that she is not the boss of me!). Anyway, one day I want to make one.
*The Magnolia Club! Oh, if I could knit I think I’d only really want to knit with Amy’s beautiful yarns. I almost want to join just to get them in the mail and stroke them.
*The CRAFT baby bootie contest She actually needs booties now that I put her in real outfits without built-in feet!

I’m sure there’s a ton of other stuff that I missed, but that’s what I’m thinking about today. Oh, and the Three Month Birthday Pic, Miss S chatting with her pal Monkey

I have been a huge admirer of Abigail Halpin’s work for a long time now. Back in an earlier incarnation of her website, she offered sweet screen savers, and her “Tourists” screen saver was on my work computer for literally years. I’ve also been lucky enough to acquire a number of her beautiful illustrations over the years. I was dithering about what to do with them, and finally realised they belonged in the baby’s room, so she could peer at them out of her wee peepers (for the brief moments she is awake, she does a LOT of serious looking around). So I arranged three pieces in a frame together and I love it:

Abigail recently has been making lovely tiny pendants with petite portraits in them.

The moment I saw that one on her blog I knew I *had* to have it (much as I felt about Bethany’s pillow). And lucky me, I snagged it in time! She sent it beautifully wrapped, with lovely goodies:

aside: Abigail, if you want to sell me a print of the illustration on your postcard, I would snap it up but quick, so let me know
And I put it on immediately

Hooray! Do visit Abigail’s Etsy Shop and check it out if you are as in love with her charming, whimsical aesthetic as I am!

Something else thrilling came in the mail yesterday that needs a whole post to itself, so I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow!

And now I’ll sign off with the obligatory baby picture, dressed in her tres chic petunia picklebottom onesie

Ciao!

Hello There! So, it has been a little over a week that I’ve been a mom, and it is pretty great most of the time. I promise this is not going to become exclusively a mommy blog (not that there is anything wrong with mommy blogs! they are awesome.), but of necessity it will have to become the craft blog of a mommy. The most crafty thing I’ve done since wee miss S was born is Babygami, which is genius.

But I’m trying to keep up with at least some things crafty–the iphone is my lifeline!
*If you haven’t already, you can apply to be a vendor at the awesome Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire until March 12! There were so many fantastic, creative vendors there last year, it was really hard to control myself. Hopefully the wee will be a good sport and come with me for just a few hours.
*Have you seen the magazine Craft Stylish? It is published by the same brilliant minds behind Sew Stylish, and of course Threads. I recently got my hands on the latest issue and there is so much inspiration in there! I’m particularly excited to make the knit fabric wrap cardigan… Oh! And I also learned that despite what I thought, Sew Stylish did NOT go away! It still exists, just on newsstands and no longer by subscription, phew! I love the magazine, and their companion Simplicity patterns.

I’ve also had the opportunity to appreciate some of the handmade baby gifts I’ve received. Did you know that you can’t put a baby in a onesie until after their little umbilical cord stub falls off their bellybutton? Yeah. So poor wee S has been in t-shirts and diapers almost exclusively, and unable to wear any of her stylish little duds yet. However, I’ve been swaddling her in her Little Snuggle Bunny flannel blankets, which are highly cute.

They are double sided, so not only are they warm, but when you fold over the top of the blanket, it shows a sweet complimentary fabric. So when I take her out, she’s in the pink of fashion.

She is also totally enamored of the scrumptious cuddly blanket Shelly made for her

Which is this squidgy pink goodness on one side, and an elegant cherry blossom print satin on the other.

I’m definitely starting to feel more rested and myself, which of course means crafty plans are bubbling in my brain again! Hopefully we’ll work out the eating and nap schedule here soon so I can get in a little bit of sewing once in awhile

I know, I promised dress patterns today but there are too many that I love. So I’ll need some more time with that. In lieu of dresses, I’ll tell you that I’ve been really into the C.Z. Guest/Babe Paley quality of the full, formal skirt with a button down or sweet cardigan that I’ve seen around lately:

Brooks Brothers and Vogue, respectively
I love long patterned skirts with lots of volume, and while this might not be the most practical of daywear, it would be fun to recreate to wear out for tea or lunch with a friend who’d appreciate it (or perhaps to a daytime wedding?). I’d probably look for the fabric in the home decor section of a fabric store, seeing as it would take a rather a lot of yardage, plus there are often great patterned silks, satins and glazed cottons in home dec, which might have just the right amount of body for a big skirt. If you’re more into the Little House on the Prairie/Field and Stream look, you could use a calico or a plaid. I’d use this pattern:

The gathered version rather than the circle one, and lengthen it to the floor. For the top perhaps this tailored French-cuff button down, or, if I was a knitter, one of the adorable chunky knits from Wenlan Chia’s new book, Twinkle’s Weekend Knits. I was flipping through and coveting it in Borders but reluctantly left it behind, since I’m always very inspired by knitting books and magazines, but then very frustrated by the actual knitting (beginning with how expensive yarn is!). But there is a fabulous turtleneck sweater pattern in there that would be a perfect compliment to a big fluffy skirt until warmer weather returns.

I’m enjoying coming up with these little fantasy outfits– I hope it is fun-ish for you too! I’d love it if you want to join in– please comment with a link to a post/photo of an outfit you’ve recreated from a favorite movie/painting/magazine (by no means need it be Spring 08!), or if you’d like to comment with a link to a picture/scan of an outfit you want to recreate (in your own style, of course), I’d have a lot of fun picking out patterns for fantasy outfits for people other than myself! So, please pipe up if you want.

I will be back later today with more to say, but DID YOU SEE?! Loobylu is back! Hooray! I’ve been visiting her site every so often over the past year, hoping maybe she’d quietly return, and now she has! It is weird to miss someone you’ve never even exchanged e-mails with, but that is the blogging universe for you.

I’m still here, and crafting! Even uploading pictures and stuff, just not posting it all on the blog, mainly because I’m increasingly waddly and sleepy, and concentrating on getting my mess cleaned up and somewhat organized before the wee girl arrives next month.

I’ve been terribly belated in saying something about the truly amazing baby shower my friends threw for me here in San Francisco. I was just blown away, and could go on and on about how wonderful and generous they ALL were. But because this is primarily a craft blog, I’ll show you the crafty bits– mainly some ridiculously beautiful gifts from talented Etsy sellers that make lovely baby things. I am sure I’ll be going back to them once the wee girly arrives!

We had to pass these booties around so everyone could stroke them. They are so sweet and soft I wish they came in my size. Camilla, who was one of the amazing co-hostesses of the party, got these for me after reading about them on Bloesem. They are by Winkel and are a delicious baby gift. I can’t wait to put tiny feet in them!

And my friend Shelly went beautifully overboard in her crafty gift giving too! First of all, she makes the most INCREDIBLE baby blankets– I’ve never seen anything like them, and, again, I wish they came big enough for me. Though it probably is better they don’t because I’d never come out from under them. I told her the theme of the baby’s room (pink, brown, green and birds), and she made a custom satin blanket to match, as well as giving us a trio of wonderful flannel receiving/swaddling blankets

As a member of Etsy Kids and Etsy Moms, she also came across a slew of fantastic etsy sellers who make darling things for babies, like

This outfit from dilly bop designs

Wonderful baby shoes from diddle dumpling, a sweet Waldorf doll from the little nest and a puzzle ball, whose label I lost (chime in if you made it!). And…

A beautiful squishy soft block from hoobaleedoos

I’m not posting all this *just* to show off my awesome loot, but also to give you the scoop on a bunch of great crafty baby gifts and etsy sellers! I don’t know how it is where you are or at your age, but it seems like Moondoggie and I are in the midst of a baby boom here in San Francisco, so it is always great to find unique baby gift sources. On that note, we had the honor of going to the bris of a new baby in our circle. Of course on such an important day, he needed a gift.

Yes, I really, really love the Wee Elephant pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. This one is made in the tiniest baby-wale corderoy I’ve ever seen. It is so incredibly soft, I think this is my favorite one yet.

I’ll be hanging out with my friend Lauren today, on the first Western stop of her book tour for The Seduction of the Crimson Rose. If you want to meet her too, she will be at M is for Mystery in San Mateo tonight at 7pm! She’ll also be in Houston, Dallas, Nashville and New Haven, CT this week, so check out her site for dates, times and bookstores. Her whole series is romantic, adventure-filled, funny and eminently entertaining. Even if I hadn’t been friends with her since we were 5, I would recommend her books to you wholeheartedly.

I hope you’ve already heard that the divine Susan Beal has a book coming out in March. It is called Bead Simple, and it is chock full of original, creative projects. Susan designed all of the pieces and then got a ton of cool crafty people to do their own spin on each one (full disclosure: I was absolutely tickled to try my hand at one of them too, and it is in there).

I got a sneak peek at the book in person recently and people, it is BEAUTIFUL. It is encyclopedic in scope, and artistic in presentation. I’ve seen a lot of beading books and I have to say, this one blows them all out of the water. Click on the image above to go to the Bead Simple site for more details and serious eye candy.

Now that we’ve established that you need this book (really, you do), I’m going to attempt to make it even sweeter. I’ve been doing a major de-stash of my crafty space, and I have a passel of beads to pass on to a fellow crafter. Pop over to Amazon or Taunton and pre-order Bead Simple, then come back here and comment, and one week from today I shall randomly pick a name from the comments and send her (or him!) this grab-bag assortment of beads, all packed into a priority mail box (’cause these babies are heavy!):

You don’t get my glass jar of lavender or my cake stand, just the assortment of beads (which will arrive in the boxes and cylinders you see them in). They are mostly seed beads, but there are some findings and other surprises in there too. I might even tuck a bit of other handmade goodness into the box if there’s room.

To make it even more exciting, Susan has generously offered to send the winner a beautiful Bead Simple Vintagesque Necklace Kit

AND some fantastic vintage lucite beads too!

So, let’s re-cap: you preorder the amazing Bead Simple, you comment here by February 6th, and you get the chance to win all the loot you see above. And really, you win no matter what, ’cause you’ll be one of the first people to enjoy Susan’s awesome book as soon as it is released! Yay!

*Misc Details: In case you’re wondering, I am not currently an Amazon affiliate and do not receive a penny if you click over there from here and order the book- it is just a convenient place to send you! I will not ask to see your e-receipt for the pre-order if you win, but please do play fair and order the book before entering. And I’m sorry to say I can only send within the U.S. Because of how heavy the beads are I’m afraid the shipping would be egregious to send them elsewhere! Any questions? Leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll update this post with the answers.

Still busy working on holiday gifts here! I have a little overrun on one of them, so I might re-stock my wee etsy shop with a few of the extras– I’ll keep you posted! But because I really don’t like to be away from the blog for so long, just a few things that I like!
*The Loop-d-Loop Lace Leaf Scarf pattern

The very talented Joyce turned me onto this pattern a few years ago. It is just right for my knitting style– quick (I can finish one in a few hours), and just interesting and varied enough, but not so challenging I get frustrated. This is not the *best* yarn to show off the nice lacy pattern, but I’m very fond of the autumn colors and the soft, squishy heft of it.
*Pumpkin dip

I know there are lots of ways to make it, here is how I make mine
8oz light cream cheese (preferably room temperature)
1/2-3/4 of a 15 oz can pure pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T maple syrup
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1 t vanilla extract
Cream the cream cheese and brown sugar in your mixer until they are nicely blended and there aren’t any crystals of sugar showing in the cheese. Add the maple syrup and vanilla and blend some more. Add in the spices and mix again until nicely blended, then add the pumpkin a bit at a time, blending between additions. Taste every so often and when you feel it has the right amount of pumpkin taste to suit you, its done! Cut up some tart apples and nosh!
*Spectacular fall sunsets

photo courtesy of Moondoggie
*My grandmother’s teacup collection

My mother recently sent me a few boxes of things from the attic, and this was in one of them, along with a note from my grandmother (who passed away many years ago) to me, about the tea parties we had together and how she hoped I’d enjoy the collection. My grandma and I were peas in a pod, and I know she’d be so excited that I’m not only having a baby, but having a girl! I can’t wait to have tea parties with my own little girl and tell her all about her wonderful great grandmother who gave us these beautiful cups.
*The handmade gift buying opportunities popping up all over the place! I’m particularly excited about an event in Mill Valley that Christina will be participating in next week:
The Love Makers Sustainable Craft Fair
Tuesday, December 4, 2pm-8pm
Ambatalia Fabrics
1 El Paseo
Mill Valley, CA
For more details about all the fantastic vendors, click here. I met Molly, the owner of Ambatalia, at Maker Faire in May, and she is amazing. The selection of beautiful, natural fabrics at her booth was stunning, and I can’t wait to browse the whole store’s worth of goodness, let alone the crafty wonders made by the talented artists selling at the fair!

Ok, I know I’m all over the place with when I post about things I like, but here goes:
*Oswald, the Purl Frog

I found a remnant of the softest green furry fabric at Joanns that needed to be a frog. He’s stuffed with lentils and has a cookie monster quality I love. This is an easy, totally addictive and cute softie pattern, and I want to make one for every baby I know. Just have to figure out a good alternative to beads for the eyes, since they are very definitely not babyproof.
*This awesome card I got in the mail from Camilla, who designed and letterpressed it herself! The ink is actually a lovely dark moss green, I just didn’t take as good a photo as the card deserves:

*The latest issues of Blueprint and Marie Claire Idees, whee! Still waiting for the latest Adorn.

*My Fiskars scissor sharpener

This is my new favorite crafty tool. I will admit to having bought new fabric scissors because my old ones got dull, but no more. This thing is amazing! It even perfectly sharpened my shears from the dollar store!
*The handmade pledge, enough said.
*Biscotti!

The recipe:
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 T vanilla extract
3.5 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
Heat oven to 350
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, then add the eggs, sugar and vanilla, mixing well. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface, then divide into two pieces. Shape each into a log about 10″ long by 2″ wide and place them, well-spaced, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (you can also just grease the baking sheet). The bottoms will flatten out, which is fine. Bake for 35 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes. Once they’re not painful to touch, use a sharp knife to slice the logs into about 1″ slices, then turn each slice on a cut side and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven, turn each cookie and bake for another 8 minutes. Voila! Biscotti. They are quite plain and nice with coffee. I think they’d also be great with toasted nuts in them, or with less vanilla and a bit of almond extract, and also if you dipped one side in melted chocolate.
*Last and very definitely not least: tomorrow’s crafty segment on The CBS Early Show! The show runs at different times in different regions, so click here to find out when it will be in yours. It will be on at 7:45 Eastern live in NYC, which is 45 minutes into the first hour of the show. Pssst…the person modeling my costume is actually my niece, so be sure to tune in!

Without further ado, today I like
*Looking forward to attending the launch party for the lovely book Craft, Inc.. If you’re in the Bay Area, come celebrate this wonderful book, its neat author Meg Matteo Ilasco and the crafty entrepreneurs who contributed to it:
Craft Inc. Launch Party
Tuesday, October 2nd
6-9pm
111 Minna Street
San Francisco
*There will be super awesome prizes from the likes of Chronicle Books, Lotta Jansdotter, Jill Bliss, port2port press and more!
*Eating Italian style

A grilled panino caprese and my darling new red enameled stovetop espresso maker
*My new chicken kitchen timer (say that ten times fast)

*My new favorite place to sit and watch the world go by

that is both a corner of my home (the best one, the window seat) and a crafty home project “before” picture, as I’m determined to recover those cushions, which came with the apartment and consequently have seen better days. I just have to figure out how many yards of fabric I need (and whether I already have a length of something that will do). Either way, the little pillows will end up with log cabin covers because I’ve been itching for an excuse to make some.
*My felted bar of lavender clay soap- I used the instructions in Last Minute Fabric Gifts (which I got out of the library to tide me over while I waited for LM Patchwork & Quilted gifts). So easy! So soft! Smells so yummy! A squidgy wash cloth and soap all in one. Lovely.

The roving I used came from the wonderful Mary Jane’s Attic. If I didn’t have serious over-stash problems in my studio (which is why I haven’t shown you any pictures. But I swear it will be more organized and photo worthy in a month or so), I would be buying another one of Jamie’s divine multi-colored samplers.
*There’s more to tell you about and show you, but I’ll save it for another day!