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These Days

Lately I’ve been getting tangled up in balls of yarn strewn about the house. This is due to my 8-year-old’s new obsession with finger weaving. She is making scarves, bracelets, necklaces, belts, doll clothes and all kinds of things with her finger weavings. If you’re not familiar with the process, you can learn it here.

Seems like life has been pretty busy for us lately. I’ll be working on some new projects over the next couple of weeks so I won’t have as much time to dedicate to the blog. More fabric and another book, perhaps? We’ll see where it all goes.

And if you turn to the back of the new family issue of Real Simple, you can see my name! I contributed a tidbit about making a homemade kazoo for their wacky holiday calendar. It’s a great issue full of party, holiday, and organizing ideas, so be sure to pick it up!

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Liberty Projects

I haven’t gotten much sewing done lately, but I did manage to make a few skirts for my older daughter, one with this fantastic Liberty Tana Lawn print that I bought from B & J Fabrics when we were in New York last month. I must admit that I was a little awestruck by their huge Liberty selection.

And I re-covered my worn out mouse pad using this tutorial that I did a couple of years back. Worked perfectly! I ordered that Liberty print last year from Purl Soho.

You can find the pattern for the girls’ reversible Change Your Mind Skirt as shown below in 1, 2, 3 Sew. If you’re using a Tana Lawn print, just be sure to use some thin interfacing to make the fabric opaque.

Photo by Laura Malek.

 

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Etsy Finds Friday

Ladder Tier Davis Necklace, $65 from Orange is the Sun.

Baby Boy Cap, $19 from Lullaby Birds.

Folk Garden Thank You Cards, $15 for set of 8 cards from Spread the Love.

Nani Iro fabric, 1/2 yard $10.80 from Kicoli.

Pencil Pouch, $13 from Mod Diva.

Reusable Reversible Coffee Sleeve, $10 from The Doe and the Mouse.

Bunny Playsuit, $96 from Vintage Child: Modern.

Set of 6 Magnets, $10 from LBC Paper.

Nagy Bag in Lemon, $37 from Bayan Hippo.

 

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Lunchbox Napkins

Every year I make some new napkins for the kids. In addition to liking the idea of not wasting paper napkins, I just think it’s cute! So head over to Alpha Mom for my quick instructions on how to make these simple small napkins. This is the perfect project for a beginner. For more napkin projects with detailed instructions and illustrations, you can check out the first chapter of 1, 2, 3 Sew, where you’ll learn folded corners, then mitered corners and finally work on a table runner with mitered corners and pockets. And of course napkins can have endless variations.

Sadly, this is my last post for Alpha Mom. I have loved working with Isabel and being part of the site with such a great line-up of crafters, but since I can’t add any hours to the day, something had to give. I’ll still continue to keep up with what’s going on over there and I’ll be sure to include the fun kids’ craft projects in my regular round-ups.