All My Chickens, week 18, fun with paper!

Mkay, these are super-simple and cute, and have nothing whatever to do with Memorial Day, except that if you are as exhausted from this past weekend as I am, simple is a really good idea.

From Paper Modelz, Cute Farm Animal paper craft. I got lost for about an hour when I found this site. So many seriously cute things to make with paper, all of them ready to print so you can just cut, fold, glue, and there you have it. Super Cute.

*pic of my own creation added after-the-fact*

Saluting the Rooster

The week got away from me last week, and somehow, though I had everything to hand, I didn't get to this cute little rooster until Monday of this week.
When I did finally pull everything together in one spot, this took me maybe an hour to stitch up.

In the interest of full disclosure, the yellow/gold color I used here isn't the one they specified. It's 783 instead of 782, because that's what was in my box of floss. I know I have the required color, somewhere. Most likely involved in another project. I just wasn't going to go out and hunt it down, wasting valuable creative time, when you won't really know the difference. If I hadn't had one very close to it, I might have felt differently, but I was lucky, so I just forged ahead with what I had.

Now, a word about needles. See on the right side of the rooster, where my stitching is all wonky? That was me, trying to make do with a tapestry needle. Tapestry needles are not sharp, they have a smooth rounded point because they are meant for use with needlepoint and cross-stitch fabrics, which have a loose, open weave. But to do this sort of stitching, you need a pointy end just to get through the layer of batting. When that length of thread ran out, I reached into a pouch full of needles that I had handy (less than a foot away, if you must know) and searched out a sharp embroidery needle to finish the rest of it. See how smooth that line is along the left side? That's what using the right tools does for you. Lesson learned.

Decided after I'd stitched it that I wasn't very likely to wear it if I made it into a pin, being not terribly much into wearing pins on a regular basis.

Frame is from the dollar store, which I only know now because the stickers were still attached to it when I pulled it from the frame stash. I think it gives it a decidedly "oval office" feel, don't you?

The Printed Chicken

(almost sounds like a good name for a shop...almost)

This was, as I said before, a total no-brainer, easy project. As long as it really did come out the right size to fit in a standard frame, which, thank heavens, it did.

I was going to go for something plainer, but this barnwood beauty called out to me from my massive collection of why-did-I-buy-that frames I have tucked away under the window seat.

I could have been happier if I'd cut it outside the picture on the bottom edge there, and chopped a little off the top, but this'll do.

All My Chickens, Week 17, wishing for something Queenly

I really really really wanted to find us something in the way of a Queen Victoria sort of chicken to celebrate Victoria Day this week. Sadly, I was only able to find recipes for something called Chicken Victoria, which I just couldn't get excited about. (I'm sure it's delicious, it's just that I've got some big projects going, and something "new" for dinner isn't going to work right now.)

The idea came to me when I spied this traditional picture of the Queen, in which I quite clearly see a broodie hen:

(from here)

See what I mean?

Anyway, for lack of anything more appropriate to the week in question, I bring you, instead, an easy print-and-frame project.

From the Graphics Fairy, a lovely encyclopedia page from 1888 (which was, at least, during her lifetime), featuring chickens.

When I clicked it, I got a printout that would just need a little trimming to fit a 5X7 frame, with no loss of actual chicken graphic. You could get more creative, and decoupage this onto something, or print it on fabric and sew it up. I'm just going for simple myself.

*pic of my own project added after-the-fact*

Sewing Mishaps

I finished 2 UFO's over the weekend, (so, technically, wardrobe items 8 and 9, if we're counting stuff I may never really wear) one of which fits nicely, but is so loud it will likely never get worn (more later), and the other looks very nice, totally belongs in my wardrobe, but isn't likely to see the light of day until, a) I lose 10 lbs or so, or, b) I figure out how to best let it out, as much as possible, keeping in mind there is a side zip in the way of that.
Add to that the blouse that I managed to get folded over in the way of the serger blade (first time for me), resulting in an inch-long slit situated prominently near the neckline (though I do have more fabric from which I can cut a new right front),

and....

It was not my best sewing day.

Stranger Pirates

I went to the premier of the new Pirates movie last night.

Awesome.

If you'd been there, you'd have seen many a pirate sword-fight, and, um, plenty of pirate eye-candy, like this fellow:

I have no idea who this is, but he's easy on the eyes, no?

A good time was had by all.

I think my favorite scene was the escape from the castle.

But, how they did all that with the mermaids? Wow.

Retail Therapy

Sometimes, after a long tax season, I need to get out and do something I haven't been able to do much in the last four months: SHOP. I was lucky in finding not just one, but three craft fairs in my area over a couple of weekends, and shop I did. (I like to buy local when I can.)

Numerous cocktail rings were purchased,

ranging in price from $5 to $16

as were gifts for mom, ties for the boys (You know about that, right? At most craft fairs in Utah, there is a booth with a ton of ties, from toddler to adult, in many many colors and patterns, selling for $6.95 or less. I love this booth. In fact, aside from school ties, all my boys ties have come from this source. Awesome.), and of course, pumpkin chocolate chip bread and raspberry cream cheese filled cookies. Yum.

What I'm super excited about and can't stop looking at, however, are these awesome pouches from Vinylicious:

a skull pouch, and incognito pencil case

(complete with colored pencils)

How cool are these? I love them. This company makes all kinds of stuff in vinyl, like bibs, notebook covers, scripture totes, and even a cover for the mini Book of Mormon, complete with book.

I've never been super-excited about their booth before. I have no need for bibs or baby booties, or anything for small fry in general. Cute as it was, I admired, and walked on. But the skull? and the mustache? That's more like it!

Now, I've got bits of vinyl in my stash, and these are not difficult shapes. I could easily have gone home and stitched up some just like these, no problem. I thought about it. And then I walked back to the booth and snatched up the pencil case anyway - I already had the skull pouch tucked into my basket; he was just too adorable to resist, and there was only one.

Sometimes, you just have to go for it.

hesitation

I'm hesitant to commit to Me Made June '11.

Thing is, I've participated in the last two Me-Made's, and I think my Self-Stitched wardrobe may be a little...stale. I did sew up a bunch of stuff during March, but that's all been shown off already. Add to that my almost total lack of self-stitched pants, and the thought of wearing pantyhose and heels for almost the whole month of June because heavenknowsIhaveplentyofskirts, and, well, I just don't wanna.

(I know, I know...the wearing of hose and heels is not at all mandatory for skirts/dresses. Except, for me, it is. I'm old-school when it comes to my legs - I'm not fully dressed until those sheer-energy pantyhose are in place.)

I have a lot of clothes. I know it. I wear more office clothing than anything in a given month, but I tend to sew more creative and casual stuff. I'm okay with that. It's not that I'm against making my own dress pants and nice work blouses. Not at all. But I do already have a bulging closet full of these things, most of which are no where near the "charity shop" stage, so I'm not exactly motivated to sew up replacements, just to prove that I can. (I get it, I really do - the rampant consumerism, the trendy, low quality goods - it's better to stay away from all that. I usually do. But I also have a good eye for a quality bargain, and I'm willing to pay for it.)

That's basically where I get stuck: I've already got more than enough in my closet that gets worn on a regular basis.*

On the other hand, my desire to have a no-repeat MMMar'11 did get a fair few things out of the UFO collection and into the closet, which is always a good thing. (Even if a certain item ends up in the donation box afterwards, at least it's not in the sewing room, right? Right.)

The upshot of all this is that I reviewed my list of self-stitched clothing (which I'm so glad I worked up, thanks to SSS), and the contents of my closet, and then dug around in my UFO's and Planned Projects, and came up with a dozen or so items I'd like to see become a reality, whether I need them or not.

So at this point, I'm left asking myself if it's even remotely possible to complete these projects before June, or at least, before the end of June, so I can justify doing another month of Me-Made? Or should I just sit this one out?

I'm willing to up the ante this time - commit to a minimum of two me-made items per day - which would generally mean I'm head-to-toe in the product of my own hands. I just don't want to end up hating the work-horse pieces that already earned their place in my everyday wardrobe, in favor of that oh-so-exciting something-new that just sucked up a week of my already-limited sewing time (but look! it's new!).

*This hasn't stopped me from buying fabric and patterns. The logic of this hasn't extended quite that far yet. I have noticed a tendency to purchase more patterns than fabrics lately, which I think could possibly mean I've finally acknowledged the enormous extent of my fabric stash. Maybe. Or maybe I just haven't seen much that inspires me in the way of fabrics.

All My Chickens, Week 16, Americana Rooster!

Seeing as Armed Forces Day is coming up at the end of the week, I thought it was a good time to start in on patriotic chickens.

From Palette Primitives free pattern blog, selected for it's diminutive size, and cuteness factor, the Americana Rooster Pin.

*pic of my own stitchery added after-the-fact*

Close Encounter with Nature

Yesterday, while working late at the office, I heard a bit of a ruckus outside my window, and turned to see a young beaver clamber down the rock walls of the window well, thus startling the two young birds who had been hiding there all day.* He paused to nibble a bit of dandelion green, at which point I turned to find the camera. When I turned back, I thought he'd gone, but then found him right up against the window. Unfortunately, this is when he also saw me looking out at him, and took off for the rock wall, to find a place to hide. None of the crevices seemed quite big enough to hold him, and there was a moment of indecision on the part of the beaver when I could have gotten a nice shot, had the stupid blinds not been in the way.

He raced the rest of the way up the wall and away to...who knows where. To my knowledge there aren't any significant bodies of water near my office, so he must have been a ways from home.

An odd little moment, to say the least.

*In retrospect, I should have had the camera out, and the blinds up, when I first saw these young birds and their momma. Twice I saw her come back and feed them, and both times, it was a totally adorable little grouping. Perhaps these birds were a hint that I might want the camera handy for later. Duh.

This Chicken is HOT!

Or, at least, she can take the heat, so you won't have to!

She's lined with a super-thick insulating layer on the bottom, and a single layer of cotton batting on the top, with a little bit of stuffing to hold her head up.

By the way - forget the seam allowance on this one. It took me a minute, looking at the pattern, to decide to chance it with mine, but I was right. The way they've drawn the piece you use for the bottom, it allows for a 1/4" seam in the top pieces. The bit just under the head is a little tricky - you have to make sure you get your binding right up against that seam, or you'll have some raw edges showing. (In fact, I had to take some hand-stitches right up under the neck, just to be sure those raw edges wouldn't escape later - but you can't see them, and I'm satisfied with the effect.)

I made the comb using a scrap of my binding fabric. I cut it 2" x 4", and gathered it up similar to how I did it for the log cabin chicken. It turned out a little tall, but instead of picking it apart, I stitched it down in two places, dividing it into thirds.

I decided to add a little quilting to the bottom of mine, to help secure the padding in place a bit. I just followed the lines in the print, and made it up as I went. All by machine.

To make it easier to sew the top and bottom together, I zig-zagged my outer edges together, so I'd have the padding and fabric working as one.

I didn't find the color I wanted in commercial bias binding, so I made my own. I cut my fabric 2" wide on the bias, folded down the center and ironed the crease, then folded both edges into the center fold and ironed again. Somewhere in my sewing stuff I've got some of those nifty bias-tape-making do-dads, but I can't seem to find them just now.

I was totally going to machine-stitch the binding on (I even have a special foot for my Singer that will do this, using flat bias - it's awesome!) but with the thickness of this particular bird, I decided to do it like I'd do a quilt binding, sewn on by machine on the top, and hand-stitched down on the underside. For the life of me, I don't know why I didn't do this like I usually do for quilts - fold in half, sew on with raw edges even, and wrap folded edge around to the back - I think it's because I was recently doing some other bias binding, on a pair of pajamas, that had to be done using the double fold stuff. Would have been good to have the double layer of binding on the edge of this. Rats.

There are a couple products on the market that help make a home-made hot pad safe to use.

Insul-Bright has a layer of Mylar,and has the advantage of being very thin, lending itself to greater creative scope, while still providing good heat resistance. I don't like the crinkle sound you get from the Mylar, so I don't use it much.
Another good option is to use multiple layers of cotton (not poly!) batting. I've had some disappointment with that filler, though, especially if my hot pad gets a little damp.
My personal favorite, which I discovered a couple years back when I used to do the craft fair circuit, is ironing board padding. Not the flimsy foam variety that often comes with the ironing board, though. This stuff is super-thick, and either needle-punched or quilted together. At first I cut my hot pad filler from used pads, which mom had left underneath the new one on the board. When I ran out of that, I managed to find an online source that offered it in large rectangles, which you'd cut to fit your board. It's been a while now, and my source no longer carries that option, so I'm hoarding the last of it.
I did find you a similar product, ThermaFlec, which is sold by the yard, and is currently all the rage for casserole carriers and the like.
In any case, I do recommend you use something with heat resistance when you make a hot pad, otherwise burned fingers are bound to happen, and nobody wants that, right?

Belated Wee Xmas Tree

I'm still processing the Kitchmas Tree (it needs a base - but I'm torn as to what to make it in - it used far too much of the Homespun to get both tree and base from the same skein - maybe because my tree is bigger?) which bothers me a bit because it leaves the second half of the Year of Ami technically unfinished. Finally bothered me enough that I went back and dug out the alternate knit pattern for X, and made up this Wee Tree.

I thought holding two different yarns together would give me a little more variation and texture than it actually did, but it's acceptable.

Pattern is well written, no mistakes. Best not to over-stuff, though, or it won't sit flat.

I think it needs some friends.

Yarns: Impeccable in Grass, ancient Bernat Boucle in pea green

Good People. Bad People. No other difference.

I mentioned My Name Is Khan before, back when it came out. Mentioning it again, because now it's available to watch instantly on Netflix, and also, I've now had a chance to see it for myself.

Amazing. Truly.

It's about being Muslim in America, pre and post 9/11. It's about loving your neighbor. It's about (interfaith) marriage. It's about living with a disability. It's about good people, and bad people, and how to know which is which.
Shah Rukh Khan is fabulous, as is Kajol.
Even though this is a serious film, with great sadness and depth, it also has the humor and style of Bollywood that I love so much.
The entire film is subtitled, though much of it is spoken in English.
Some profanity, and some violence, so it's not for the kids, but it does make for a good thoughtful evening alone, or with your sweetie.

All My Chickens, Week 15, Clucky!

In honor of Mother's Day (did you have a nice one yesterday?), I'm making this awesome Momma Hen with her Chicks, from the (not free) pattern "Clucky" by Melly & Me.

I've had the pattern in my stash for a while, and I think it's finally time to whip it up.

You can get the pattern online here, or check your local quilt shops.

*pic of my own creation added after-the-fact*

In Bloom and Buzzing

Tater Tots - a free pattern!

This little fella may look pretty simple, but I actually did spend some time figuring him out, so I thought I'd just write it up and share it with you. (see below for link to pdf)

Tater Tots

Size E crochet hook

Worsted yarn (I used Vanna in Mustard)

Stuffing (or yarn scraps)

6sc in magic ring

Inc X 6 (12)

Work 5-6 rnds plain sc (make a variety of sizes)

Stuff your tot

Dec X 6 (6), sl st and cut yarn

Stuff a little more if it needs it

It won’t look much like a Tot yet – it needs some shaping.

Do a nice finish on the end, then poke your needle all the way from the center of one end to the center of the other end.

Pull tight to help flatten the end, take one stitch, and run needle back out other end.

Take a stitch, and run needle back to other end again. Each time you run it through to the other end, pull it up just enough to give it shape.

Once you’re satisfied with the shaping, finish off and cut your yarn.

Enjoy your Tots!

available as a pdf download, too! (click link, then select Print from the File menu)

Cheeseburger & Tots

Aren't they cute? Don't you just want to eat 'em up? I know I do!

I modified the bottom bun on the Cheeseburger. It felt to me like it was a bit too skinny, so I added 2 rounds of plain sc. Back up at the top, I sorta thought I might like to take out a round or two, because it looked kinda big, but I left it as written. If I make another, though, I think I will take out a couple rounds up top. I also skipped the round of slip stitch up top. I just didn't like how it looked after trying it out. Also felt like perhaps some of the rounds where she says to work in the outermost loop should have said to work in the front loop. Like, when you do the lettuce. Because when you do the tomato, you need to work that round in the back loops that are left from working the lettuce in the front loops. At least, that's how I interpreted that part.
Wishing I could figure out how to add pickles, onions, maybe some avocado. Not sure I'm up to that level of designing right this minute, though.
All-in-all, this was a great little pattern, and a fun break from sock yarn for me.

I made a few tots following the pattern I'd linked to (you can see one in the front, second from left), but then decided that, as mine weren't going to get faces (my fiber-foods rarely do), I might want the shape to be a little more traditional. So I made up my own! I tested different methods for various parts, and different sizes/row counts, and finally settled on how I liked them best. I'll be sharing the pattern with you later this week!

Yarns for Cheeseburger: Vanna in Beige, Angel White, Scarlet, Chocolate; Impeccable in Grass; Wool-Ease in Buttercup.
Yarn for Tots: Vanna in Mustard

All My Chickens, Week 14, Chicken Hot Pad!

Remember this?

And how I said I'd found a pattern online for a similar chicken hot pad, but I'd get to it later?

It's later.

Since the one I have was purchased somewhere South of the border, I figured Cinco de Mayo was a good time to make one.

Tipnut has provided us with the Pattern and Instructions. (Scouring pad optional.)
Don't worry if you can't get the pattern to print out exactly to scale. All the pieces are from that same pattern, so there aren't any extra measurements you have to match up to later. As long as it's close to 1" per square, you'll be fine.
Don't forget to add your seam allowance! It says to add seam allowance, but it turns out, that's already there.