belle epoque

We’ve been having a blast, as my wonderful mother is here visiting. She is fun and creative and full of life, and inspires me to no end. She is also terrific with the girls, making “divide and conquer” all the easier, so I’ve been able to do a few things on my own while Moondoggie takes Miss S and mom takes Her Nibs.

On Sunday I went to the most magical Steiner dollmaking workshop by Christine of The Puppenstube. I learned so much about how to make a doll that is lovely and full of life. Her perspective on making dolls is also a wonder– at the beginning of the workshop she lit a candle and explained that she views dollmaking as bringing a being into creation and approaches it with reverence. I really do think having that attitude made my doll one of the best things I’ve ever made, or at least one of my favorites. So much better than the one I made for HMB at Christmas! That, and of course her tips on how to get it stuffed properly, and proportion the head, features and body correctly.

She is a petite 8″ tall, and the clothing was provided by Christine, as we didn’t have time to make clothes. What do you know but Miss S and she became instant pals

So far, Rosie (as we’ve named her) has come with us to the park twice, gone on the spinning thing and jumped off, and made it out to dinner with us, all on the direct orders of Miss S, who, up until now, has not been particularly attached to any one toy. She has been heard to ask, “Where’d Rosie O’Grady go?” and “Rosie come with us?” It is still early days, but I am hoping that they remain fast friends!

I finished HMB’s Waldorf rag doll over a month ago, but then she was without wardrobe for another month, and now she is dressed but for shoes, so I’ll show her to you!

Her pinafore is reversible and serves as a summer top with her little pants

As HMB’s favorite state for herself and her dolls is “neekit! neekit!” I’m guessing this doll’s clothes won’t stay on for very long, but one day perhaps she will enjoy dressing as well as undressing her. I used Maricristin Sealy’s book Making Waldorf Dolls for this one, and there is a lot I am not happy about. Her head is not round enough (which is my fault, and I need more practice with doll heads), but the body proportions are also off– the arms much too short and the legs too long, which is the fault of the pattern. The clothing patterns were also very weird and sized funny, and I was only happy after I had tweaked them beyond recognition. While the book is a huge wealth of information on doll making of this kind, I’ve been frustrated/unsatisfied with a lot of what I’ve made from it. Another mom at one of our Waldorf classes recommended getting a pattern/kit from Joy’s Waldorf Dolls (which is sadly closing due to retirement), so I have one for a 16″ doll waiting in the wings for another time. I also got some of my supplies from Weir Dolls, and they are lovely–their wig-making pamphlet is terrific, and I might try one of their patterns or kits one day as well, assuming my girl(s) are interested in rag dolls for a few more years.

Since the days are getting colder and holiday gift season approaches, I also thought I would share my recipe for gourmet hot cocoa mix. I’m sort of a snob about hot chocolate and have been ever since I had my first sip of French hot chocolate at Payard in NYC–made with cream and melted chocolate, it forever severed my ties to watery Swiss Miss or even homemade Hershey’s. These days, my favorite place to spend non-toddler alone time in San Francisco is Bittersweet, a local chocolate cafe. Their hot chocolate is delicious and everything else about the place is just lovely. But there are days when I don’t feel like coffee in the morning, and afternoons when, if we make it out the door at all, it will be to go to the park with no stopping for a treat for mommy. For those days, I need a stash of good cocoa at home. I think ounce for ounce this recipe is a LOT cheaper than comparable cocoa mix from Vosages, which is my favorite of the gourmet varieties I’ve tried. Of course it is a lot more effort than microwaving some water and pouring in a packet, but the taste difference is incomparable.

Gourmet Cocoa
small (1/4 lb?) block of bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate (I get reasonable Ghirardelli from Trader Joe’s)
1/2 c good unsweetened cocoa powder- I like Droste. Do not use Hershey’s, it tastes awful.
1/2 c Sugar (superfine is best, but anything that isn’t fake will do)
A tin for storage
Chop 1/2 cup of the chocolate relatively fine (just pop the bits in your measuring cup as you go, and when you have 1/2 cup stop chopping and save the rest of the block for later)–a few chunks can be the size of chocolate chips, but you want most of it to be more like little slivers so it will melt easily. Pour the chocolate chunks, cocoa and sugar in the tin, shut the tin tightly and shake to combine.

Preparation
12 oz whole milk (it is fine with low fat or skim milk but if you really want to go gourmet, make it with whole milk, or add some 1/2&1/2 or cream to your lower fat milk)
1/4 cup cocoa mix
Frother if you have one
Pour your milk into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Keep an eye on it! The minute it begins to boil, throw in the cocoa, turn off the heat and whisk until you are sure most of the chocolate chunks have melted. If you have an aerolatte or frother, go ahead and whip it in the sauce pan to get a nice frothy chocolate top and ensure good chocolate meltage. It will be scorching hot, so if you have some vanilla ice cream or cold whipped cream to put on top, go for it, you’ll be able to drink it sooner without burning your tongue.

If you have a fancy jar or tin, you could make a batch for a cocoa-loving friend as a holiday or hostess gift, along with preparation instructions, a cute mug, and if you’re feeling extra-generous, a frother.

This one has been popping up all over the crafty interwebs, and I was so excited to get my hot little hands on it!

Hand-Stitched Felt by Kata Golda.

These projects are all so charming and simple. I think they would be terrific not only as gifts for children (and grown-ups who appreciate the sweet), but also as first sewing projects for a child who is ready to hold a needle and thread. They are all the more darling for any mistakes or imperfections, and utterly satisfying and frustration-free to stitch together. I made three of the sweet finger puppets that are featured on the book jacket

They took almost no time to make–just a few snips and a few stitches, then instant gratification! I’ll also be making a little “bed” for them so I can roll them up together and pop them in HMB’s stocking for Christmas…

I’ve been trying to make HMB one or two new outfits a season. I’m guessing spring might get a miss, seeing as a tiny wee someone will be sleeping in what is currently, but not for long, the craft room. But for the moment, I’m halfway through the two outfits I have planned for fall/winter, but I figured I’d just show them to you one at a time.

It is a larger size of my favorite wide-leg pants pattern (self-drafted) and a onesie appliqued using Heat’n'Bond light and then blanket stitched by hand.

I also stitched some pretty ribbon (bought pre-baby at the wondrous Alameda Flea Market, where I hope to go again one day) close to the pants hem

Easy to make and very practical for a busy little girl who is always on the go (skirts are a no-go, and dresses are ok if they’re made of jersey and worn with leggings), and who is calling to let me know that naptime is over! Hope you are all having a happy, crafty week!

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, trying out new recipes, cutting things into toddler-sized bites, and then attempting to clean it all up again before I go to sleep (with help from Moondoggie, of course!). Given that I spend much of my “creative time” in there, I mean to do a bit more to make the kitchen more cozy and functional.

Step one was to *finally* make a plastic bag bag– despite the fact that San Francisco basically outlawed plastic shopping bags (for big chains, anyway), and I use two industrial-size canvas bags for weekly grocery trips, plus reusable bags in the stroller and every purse for impromptu shopping, we still accumulate a fair number of the plastic ones, and have need of them. Up until now they’ve been stuffed in and spilling out of yet another big plastic bag. Enough!

I got a big bunch of this red stripy canvas at a thrift store years ago, and I love it. It is perfectly sturdy and cheerful. This was such an easy project, I’m embarrassed I didn’t make one sooner. It is basically a tube with a drawstring on one end for putting the bags in

and an elastic opening on the other, for pulling the bags out

I think I was inspired to do this, oh, two years ago, by the amazing Linda, whose book I plan to get my hands on lickety split!

In addition to having a baby myself, I’m surrounded by lovely friends having babies too! Which of course is always a good excuse for some tiny, fun crafting. One of my dearest friends had her baby shower this weekend, prompting a few projects. I made a bunch of shrink plastic necklaces with clip art from children’s book illustrations to use for a game


And the ever-popular appliqued onesie– I copied the elephant she used on her invitation to make the applique, then used heat’n'bond lite and hand stitched the edges using a blanket stitch. I would have used my Bernina’s machine blanket, but I was working during naptime and didn’t want to risk waking HMB with the hum.

I have more things in mind for this particular baby, but my pre-shower craft time was limited. I will have to work fast, though, as this little guy is due a month before my wee girl!

I’m working on this amazing doll pattern, by Mimi Kirchner, incredibly available for free at The Purl Bee. I am stunned by the generosity of creative people with such a signature style who make patterns available at all, let alone free of charge. Mimi’s work is so beautiful and quirky, so making a doll in her style is great fun– the construction of this one is really ingenious. It is all hand-sewn and I’m working away a little at a time so this is all I’ve got so far

The little legs sort of creep me out unattached like that. But I love the way the pattern makes such a nice, realistic shape for both the arms and legs. I’m looking forward to stitching it all together and embroidering the face. I’ll keep you up to date!

It has been quiet around here! Mostly because I designated April as “Spring Cleaning Month” around the house and have been slowly following FlyLady (a warning if you haven’t heard of/been there before–sometimes the style is a bit rah rah, but the substance is really helpful!). It is surprising how much time picking up after yourself takes at the end of the day. But that said, I don’t have huge piles of stuff on the floor of my closet at the end of the week because I put my things away every day. Probably most of you learned that when you were little, but organization and putting things away have always been a huge struggle for me!

Anyhow, that’s what I’ve been doing. That, and indulging in a torrid love affair with the CSA box we started getting last week. All sorts of wild produce shows up and I look for recipes and cook things I’ve never cooked before. It is SO MUCH FUN. But also takes up post-baby-bedtime time that I might spend crafting. So far the successes have been garlicky chard, roasted cauliflower soup and steamed artichokes with green garlic dip. The HUGE failure was dandelion greens– I cooked them with bacon and carmelized onions, so you know they were bad– before having them I didn’t think anything involving bacon could be bad.

Ah! But I also finished something crafty. The Alabama Stitch Book is too gorgeous and inspiring, but I didn’t think I’d ever actually hand-sew an entire garment from it. Well, I surprised myself and made the T-shirt corset.

I’m not sure if you can tell from the picture, but this is one hot shirt. It is very comfortable and flattering, and the construction is so lovely. It was meditative and surprisingly fast to make– lots of straight stitching (I flat-felled the seams). I can take a closer-up picture of the stitching on the inside if anyone wants to see it? Anyway, I’m sold, and plan to make a fancy version of this shirt as part of a dream-outfit idea I have that may or may not come to fruition.

My next spring cleaning mission is the craft room– it is just too cluttered to get anything done in there!

Hello! Thanks for all of your nice comments about the Two-Year Blouse. I wanted to get started on another blouse pattern I had, but found that I had cut out a larger size (I bought the pattern after HMB was born and thought I’d be able to stitch it up before losing the baby weight, hah!), and discarded several pieces of my current, smaller size, so cutting it down will require more energy than I’m ready to expend. Bah! Anyway, instead I made the Yard Sale Wrap Skirt from Weekend Sewing

I highly recommend reading Erin’s excellent post about making this skirt. I ended up cutting the two front panels on the fold, then cutting two extra regular size panels to make a full circle that overlapped completely in the back. I extended the waist ties and put a buttonhole in the waistband for one of the ties to pull through rather than allowing a bunchy mess in the back from wrapping and tieing. And I did a three-thread serged hem, as hemming a circle skirt is enough to drive me insane.

Thankfully this is a gift for someone else. As much as I LOVE circle skirts, they just don’t do anything for my figure (thanks to Heather’s post, I’m willing to accept it!). A circle skirt on a dress is a different story, but especially with a wrap like this, I’d have to tuck in the shirt I wore and it would just look wrong. The friend it is for is tiny, ladylike and petite, could easily get away with wrapping this skirt over a slim wee tank with strappy straps, then trip-trapping out for a summer picnic. I sure hope that’s what she does in it!

You’ve heard of the seven year itch? Well, this isn’t as scandalous but from a crafty perspective perhaps a little bit embarrassing. It is of course perfectly acceptable to spend two years on a quilt, blanket or intricate knit sweater. But a simple blouse? Well. I have my excuses– namely that I cut it out and marked/sewed the darts in the spring of 2007 right before I found out I was pregnant. Which of course scuppered any chance of my wearing a fitted blouse anytime soon. In the spring of 2008 I had a colicky baby who wouldn’t sleep, nixing any chance of sewing when I might catch some shuteye instead. So finally, in the spring of 2009 I can present to you the Two-Year Blouse!

It is Simplicity 4077, which was all over the blogosphere, surprise, surprise, two years ago! I mightn’t have written about it at all but two crafty ladies complimented me on it and said that I should. I highly recommend this pattern– it is relatively easy (wouldn’t take you two years except in extenuating circumstances) and turns out a good looking blouse that is VERY comfortable to wear. I’ve already worn it and washed it twice since finishing it. I used a $1 a yard quilting cotton from Joann’s that I had no high hopes for, and it actually turned out fine (even after washing and not ironing). I thought the bright pink buttons would save it from being too froufy and Laura Ashley (not that I have any objections to either, just that I wanted to add a little zing). I have another blouse in mind that I hope won’t take me two years!