Choose Joy Auction and Benefit - Supporting Ashley Hackshaw

I'm SOOOOO thrilled and proud to be participating in this incredible auction benefiting my dear bloggy friend, Ashley Hackshaw of Lil' Blue Boo. I'm finishing up my donation item; a mixed media canvas in honor of Ashley. The team has stopped accepting items at this time, due to an overwhelming response and hundreds of items being donated! YAY! I'll show some pics of my canvas when it's completed, but in the meantime, I wanted to spread the news about this incredible on-line event.

I was honored to be one of Ashley's first pattern testers when she was starting her Lil' Blue Boo business. I've learned so much about sewing from Ashley. That's a little hint at the theme of my canvas ;). You can read about that first pattern and the crazy backstory of how we got connected, here. I can't believe I've still never met her in real life! Of course, I feel like I already know her through our mutual friends and through reading her blog. Her creativity and her attitude to "Choose Joy" is contagious. If you're part of the crafting world, sewing world, a DIYer, or blogger of any kind, you've probably heard of Ashley, and more recently, of her battle with a very aggressive cancer. Through all of the tragedy of the last year, Ashley remains determined to live her mantra to "Choose Joy".

The auction is being organized by several of Ashley's friends and as I said, hundreds of people have come together and donated items toward the auction. The proceeds will go toward Ashley's medical bills as cancer treatment is VERY expensive.

So, while you're sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for pics of my completed canvas (heee, hee!), head on over to Amy's blog and read more about the Choose Joy Auction and Benefit, which will support Ashley.

I don't know many details of the auction, but as I get more info, I'll be sure to share!

Help Japan

Amazing Ashley of Lil' Blue Boo is donating 100% of the sales of her patterns between now and midnight of 3/14/2011 to Mercy Corps to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

This is a great time to purchase Ashley's super cute patterns and also know that your donating funds to a very worthy cause.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from my little Tinker ;). Wishing everyone a fun and

safe time celebrating!

Waldorf Doll Making Part 5 - All DONE!!!

Introducing...SALLY!

She's all DONE! And we absolutely LOVE her! Taylor has named her Sally after her very favorite doll who went missing about a year ago :(. Sally was a doll bought for her by Grammie and she was well loved by Taylor. You can see a pic of Sally in this post. Taylor still asks about her and says she "worries" about her. We're pretty certain she took her out to a store or something and left her there, so I've told Taylor that I believe another little girl found her and is taking very good care of her.

So, now we have Sally the Second, in our family.

I need to say a big thank you to my wonderful friend Sarah who came over last night to help me with Sally's hair. I found a wonderful tutorial on how to make her hair (there are several different ways to make hair for Waldorf dolls). The tutorial requires a crochet cap that the hair is then hooked into. Well, I can't crochet. I've tried a couple of times, and I just find knitting soooo much easier. Sarah, on the other hand is crocheter extraodinaire! So she crocheted the cap for Sally's hair and I did the rest of her hair. (I was determined to finish her last night and I {happily} stayed up until 1:30 this morning working on her hair!

This is a shot of her with her hair down and gives an idea of just how much hair she has. I've said all along that it's really the hair that makes these dolls and I fell in-love with her once her hair began to take shape. At the same time any doubts that this dream doll would become a reality, disappeared as I hooked strand after stand of hair into her cap.

And Taylor wanted her hair in a ponytail at one point, so I took a shot of that, too. Since I followed the tutorial linked above, I gave her a full head of hair which lends itself to a variety of hairstyles with no bald spots.

Now, clearly, my hand-sewing skills need some improvement. I realize her eyes aren't "perfect" and the stitching around her neck is also not "perfect", but the smiles and squeals from Taylor when she awoke this morning to find her finished makes me think it's perfect enough. Then, when hubby brought her home this evening and Sally had a dress and rosy cheeks and beautiful pigtails, Taylor declared "Oh, Mom! You made her SO cute! I love her!" my heart melted. Ooey, gooey, melted. Really, could I ask for anything more?

{updated to include a link to the tutorial for the hair and a link to a past post about our first Sally}

Waldorf Doll Making Part 4 - The Body

She's looking like a doll, now! In this pic, I've sewn the seams of her legs and body and the seams of her arms. I've sewn the arms to the shoulders, but the body still needs to be sewn to the shoulders, she needs stitching to define her feet (that's why she has pins in her ankles) and hips and she needs a little more stuffing. I had hoped she'd be a little plumper overall with a bigger head like I mentioned in my last post. But, the doll is supposed to be reflective of it's playmate and her playmate Taylor isn't plump at all (lucky girl is tall and slim) so maybe it's meant to be! Maybe the fact that I want the doll to be plumper is a reflection of me, ;) ha!

Waldorf Doll Making - Part 3 Making the Head

I made some progress on Taylor's doll last weekend and am just now getting around to updating here. As noted in the original post about making the doll, I'm using a pattern from Weir Crafts and I followed the instructions in that pattern for making the head. The only alteration that I made is that I formed a nose. I didn't have a tutorial and I'm not completely happy with it, and actually, the head is smaller than I'd like, too. Since the pattern is copyrighted, I can't share the details of how I made the head, but there's a great tutorial here on how to make a head. I've already decided that I will be making more of these dolls and the next one will have a bigger head with chubby cheeks and a better formed nose. Stay tuned for pics of the body!

{The head was formed like this, with the pins marking the eyes and mouth for several days, until hubby said to me very firmly "Would you PLEASE finish that. It's creeping me out!!!}

Waldorf Doll Making Part 2 - The Washing of the Wool!

Did you notice when I showed all my supplies in my last post that the doll's stuffing was missing? Well, that's because when I ordered all my other supplies from Weir Crafts, the stuffing was out of stock and I didn't want to wait for it to get back in stock. Traditional Waldorf Dolls are made with all natural materials, so I didn't want to go to JoAnn's and buy just any stuffing. I found the wool fleece that I ended up with on e-bay. It was a fraction of the cost of other fleece I had looked at. But, here's why: I would have to hand wash it upon delivery. Yep, it was freshly shaved off the sheep that wore this fuzzy coat of wool. The pic above is what it looked like when it arrived in the mail. There was also much nastiness in it and it smelled like a barn. Mostly just dirt matted into it and pieces of straw and random bits of leaves. Nevertheless, each of the 2 batches, took one wash and about 3 rinses before the water was clear. I'm sure many (most?) people would opt out of this and either wait for pre-washed fleece to get re-stocked, or head out to the store and make-do. My thinking is, where's the fun in that? I think the washing of the wool adds another step of love in the making of this doll. The scent also actually brought back childhood memories of my Dad's farm. I know, I'm kinda strange. ;)

Washing the wool was also a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon free of humidity thanks to a couple of days of welcomed rain. It was also a great opportunity to teach Taylor about where materials come from (even if she did think the wool smelled like "poop" ;) )

Prior to purchasing the wool, I did a quick Google search to see what I might be getting myself into and I found this simple tutorial on how to wash the wool. I followed the tutorial, but I also did a second "wash" with diluted vinegar and baking soda to help subdue the barnyard scent. That's Taylor joining in the fun.

After it was thoroughly washed and well rinsed, I let it bask in the sun to help it dry. After a few hours, I brought it in the house and finished drying it with a hairdryer on low heat. Putting it in the dryer would have just felted it. So, that wasn't an option.

Once it was dry, I pulled it apart (I'm sure there's a term for this step) and ended up with soft and fluffy fleece!

I still have half the batch to pull apart, this entire basket was used to create the (not very big) head of the doll. I'm trying to convince Taylor to help me because she's such a sensory seeking kid, I know she'd love the soft feel of it in her hands.

It was a very relaxing and therapeutic way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Even hubby was impressed at the end of it all, despite thinking I'd lost my mind when I started the whole process.

The scent lingered for a bit, but now it smells fresh and clean!

Waldorf Doll Making - Part I

I've been wanting to make a Waldorf doll for Taylor for, well...for forever, really. I love the simplicity of the dolls and everything about them. Now, there are some waldorf dolls that are very, very basic, and some that are quite well accessorized with gorgeous outfits. I've done a lot of research over the last few weeks in preparing to make a doll for Taylor.

The most well known Waldorf dolls that I've seen are Bamboletta, Natural Buddies, and Apple Treehouse. I also just came across this site last night, and in browsing through her shots in her flikr pool, I fell totally in love with her dolls!

The Waldorf dolls that I am so in love with cost upwards of $100 (with many closer to $200). These dolls are all handmade from all natural materials and a great deal of time and love go into making these dolls. So, while I'm certain that these dolls are worth every penny (and even more!) I don't have a hundred dollars to spend on a doll. What I do have, though, is the skills to make one myself! I just needed supplies and instructions. My desire to make a Waldorf doll to Taylor was reinforced and my confidence grew when I read this post. I love that she says "the best kind of doll for a child is a mama-made doll".

I bought the wool with the yellow label from Weir Crafts as well and the rest of the yarn is from Michael's. The variety of strands of yarn for the hair is really what makes my favorite Waldorf dolls so beautiful. I wish you could feel how soft these yarns are. I have a few other yarns that I might buy because they are just soooo soft. Bamboo yarn is amazing soft and so is the bamboo/silk blend. I could have spent more money on yarn than all the other supplies combined so I had to remember that part of the reason I'm making this doll is because I can't justify spending the money to buy one. The other darker wool is a merino blend that my dear friend Jen gave me when I first started knitting, given I don't have a knitting project for it (and I'm afraid my days of knitting are limited - read on), I decided it was a perfect addition to the doll's head of hair.

Taylor loves red and bright colors so I picked up some fat quarters from a local quilting store in all of Taylor's favorite colors. And of course, lots of polka-dots! I'll be making the doll's clothes with these fabrics.

I bought the yarn intending to knit a sweater for the doll. I started knitting with another kind of yarn and only finished casting on the stitches and then finished the second row, and a few hours later, I had pain and swelling in the knuckles of my index finger. Pretty certain I've developed arthritis. I've had varying degrees of pain in that finger and other joints since then. That was 2 weeks ago, now. I've got a doctor's appointment later this week to see what's going on and how to manage my pain. :( . Fortunately, I have a dear friend who I'll be swapping projects with and she's going to knit Taylor a doll sweater! Still working out what I'll be making for her little one.

In the meantime, I refuse to stop crafting, but I won't be able to craft as often. I have to do a lot of writing by hand for my hospice job, and I spend a lot of time typing and doing computer work for my work with Kids With Food Allergies, so crafting will unfortunately likely be limited to weekends. Which also probably means I won't be blogging as much :( .

A lot of time and love will go into this doll so I'll be posting about the progress. Taylor knows I'm making it for her as she fell in love with the dolls I've been looking at on-line. I decided to include her in the process of making the doll. She's quite excited about it and I am, too!

Another Pattern Giveaway by Lil' Blue Boo

You all know how much I LOVE Ashley's patterns. I'm lucky enough to be one of her testers. You can see dresses I've made from her patterns, here, here, and here. I'm SO glad she's finally released her doll size dress pattern!

I've got plans and supplies to make a special doll for Taylor and I'm so happy they'll have matching dresses! I can't wait to get my hands on this pattern! If you want one, too, head over to Ashley's blog to see how to enter her giveaway and you could win the pattern for free!

And stay tuned, in the next few days I'll be posting the details about the special doll for Taylor. :)

Mini Fabric Bolts from Cardboard Boxes

This is one of the best organization ideas I've seen in a LONG time. I LOVE IT! I'm totally going to organize my fabric like this! A great way to use up all the empty cardboard boxes in my garage and organize my fabric at the same time. You can find the tutorial here. Thanks for sharing, Fawnda!

Handmade Camera Bag

This is bag is based on a purse that I already had, but I wanted it to be larger and padded to accommodate my camera. It's roomy enough for my camera body w/ 2 lenses, a photography book, my wallet, cell phone and keys. I absolutely love it!
I purchased the fabric in Canada last summer because, helllooo...it's got all my favorite colors AND flowers! It doesn't get much better than that! I picked up the coordinating fabrics at JoAnns to add some detail to the adjustable strap and the side pockets.

The bag is very versatile. I can see it in different sizes all the way from child size to a full size diaper bag. I'm thinking of making it available as a PDF pattern/tutorial for a nominal fee (less than $10). Let me know if you're interested. I haven't written the tutorial, and I already know a few things I would tweak on the pattern. And, of course, I'd need pattern testers to test it out before I made the PDF available for sale. :>

Thrifted sweater Quilt

Do you remember when I posted about getting ready to make a quilt out of thrifted sweaters? Well, I finally finished it! The actual project could probably be done in a weekend but with my crazy life, I never get a whole weekend to dedicate to a craft project. I've got constant interruptions from an adorable 4 yr old and a husband who likes me to realize he's alive once in awhile!

But after several weeks of interruptions, I finished the quilt last weekend and I love how it turned out! (I know, I say that a lot of my projects, but really I'm quite happy when my visions are realized! It doesn't always happen!)

If you purchase used sweaters for this project, be sure to wash them all together, in hot water and dry them on high heat before cutting. I did this because when you buy a thrifted item ya never know where's it's been so I wanted to be sure I was working with fresh and clean sweaters! I also put it through the high heat because my daughter's bedding has to be washed with hot water and dried on high as one of the measures we take to manage her asthma and reduce and neutralize the cat dander and other allergens that are present in our home.

So, let me show you how I made this:

To create the basic rectangles that make up the quilt: I first cut off the sleeves of the sweater, at the seam where the arm and shoulder meet. I then cut the sleeve open along the remaining seam on the sleeve. I determined the size I wanted the quilt to be and asked my hubby to help me with the math. Have I ever mentioned I hate math?

A Twin size comforter is 68"x86". I didn't want my quilt quite that big and I decided on 64" x 82" as the finished dimensions. My wonderful husband told me to cut 106 rectangles measuring 5" x 13" which would give me a 1/2" seam allowance and finish with a 64" x 82" quilt.

Once I had all my rectangles cut: I laid 'em out and hubby said I needed 7 rectangles in length and 16 in width. I arranged them on the floor in a random pattern, while also ensuring a somewhat even dispersement of color. Then I sewed the long strips (So I sewed the 7 rectangles end to end). Remember to sew them right sides together!

Once all 16 strips were sewn: I sewed the strips together lengthwise, adding another strip once one was finished until I eventually had it all sewn together. I then backed it with a jersey sheet by simply sewing the jersey sheet to the quilt, right sides together. I left an opening at one end to turn it inside out and then top-stitched it closed.

My girl loves it and so do I! Such a cozy quilt! I'm thinking of making one from sweaters in different shades of browns and cream for our master bedroom.

If you decide to make one of your own, leave a comment or e-mail me a link. I'd love to see how many variations can be created.

Any questions, let me know!

Preschooler Backpack

Taylor was recently diagnosed with asthma. Given she has multiple asthma triggers and an asthma attack can come on at anytime and can be fatal if not properly treated, it's important that she always has her rescue inhaler on her. I decided to make a backpack that will go with her everywhere. I wanted it roomy enough to hold her inhaler and spacer on a daily basis and then also hold her Leapster, crayons and drawing pad and a book or 2 for our frequent doctors appointments or other outings.

Given it's going to become a constant accessory, I figured she should have a say in what it would look like so we headed to the fabric store and she picked out this floral fabric and I assisted in picking out the coordinating fabrics. I absolutely LOVE the colorful combination of fabrics!

In this pic the backpack is hanging on the back of her doll stroller.

I used this tutorial and pattern as a starting guide but made a few modifications. First, I made the body of the backpack slightly larger and the sides slightly narrower. I also lined it, added a zipper to the sides, eliminated the open fold as the opening and created a pocket on the front.

Here's a pic with her inhaler and spacer inside.

The fabric tag has her name on it since everything that goes to preschool has to be labelled.

When I finished it last night, she was quite excited. I asked if she likes it and she said "Yep, I do. It's beautiful, Mom".

Love that girl!!!

She was soooo excited to carry to school today and bring it home again.

Recycled Sweaters Doll Quilt

Last Sunday, I spent the day with my dear friend, Jen. Her very talented sister, Karen, made a cozy sweater quilt for a friend and Jen wanted to make one for herself. So, I took Jen on her first thrifting adventure. Once I saw all the bright, soft sweaters, I realized this would be a perfect blanket for me to make for Taylor's new bed! We're getting some nearly new hand-me-down bunk beds for her and I haven't found just the right bedding for her. A sweater quilt is the perfect solution! While I was cutting my pieces, I decided I was going to practice sewing the sweater pieces and make a doll quilt for Taylor. I wanted to work out the quirks of using the different textures with varying degrees of stretch, before I started on the full-size version. So, first I cut all my sweaters into rectangular strips to be used for the full-size version.

Then, I took some of my scraps and cut them into equal size pieces. As I was sewing, I realized these tips:

When sewing a finely knit/super soft piece to a cable knit piece, feed the fabric through the machine with the soft sweater piece on the bottom and the cable knit piece on top. This will help the fabric guide through the machine much more smoothly. The cable knit pieces tend to require more care going through the machine and would get stuck in the feed dogs. Otherwise, the knits weren't as tempermental as I thought they'd be. When I was done sewing them altogether, I simply backed it with one of Taylors old flannel receiving blankets.

Working with recycled sweaters can be addictive! I've got lots of projects in mind for my scraps!

Sewing Station

I FINALLY did something CRAFTY this weekend!!! I've been a little stressed and on edge since I haven't done any crafting in...well...months. Crafting is seriously how I stay sane. February was kinda crazy around here and by last Friday I had had it and I was determined to do some crafting over the weekend.

Part of the reason I haven't been crafting lately is that my stuff is so disorganized since our move. I finally dragged out my sewing machine a couple of weeks ago to do a quick little project as a favor for a friend, only to discover that my set up didn't work at all! You see, I was fortunate enough to inherit this computer armoire. Our landlord left it in our house and when we moved in I called and asked if I could modify it and have it! They quickly agreed. I immediately knew it would make the perfect sewing station! Here's a before picture of the inside:

The back wall of it was almost like a burlap fabric and it was in pretty bad shape. This is what the inside looks like now:

I absolutely LOVE it!!! It makes me sooooo happy every time I look at it! The fabric for the back is a yard of fabric that I absolutely had to have! I had planned to make a laptop bag out of it, but I never take my laptop out of the house so this is a much better use of the fabric! I was going to tack the fabric to the existing backboard but that didn't work out so I bought 2 large pieces of foam board from the Dollar Tree and used spray adhesive and stuck the fabric the the foam board. Then I simply push the foam board to the backboard and the shelf keeps it in place. For an added punch I used a glue gun to stick thrifted white buttons to the centers of some of the flowers. Then I glued ribbon around the edge for an added touch.

I decorated the file box in the middle and it will be the home for my sewing patterns and pdf tutorials that I print from my favorite blogs.

The shelf holds my fat quarters (or is it flat quarters? I can never remember how to say that!), some of my favorite sewing books and a few of my favorite full yards of fabric, along with some jars of ribbon and embroidery thread.

The keyboard tray pulls out and is the perfect height for my machine to sit on. The shelf below, holds 2 (of my many) bins of fabric.

I made a simple cork board by covering a 12x12 cork tile with patterned cardstock and ribbon and I plan to tack pattern instructions to it when I'm sewing. I've had the little flower hook rack for years and now it has the perfect home! I also already had the flower buckets and I'll use them to hold little odds and ends I need to have within reach. My yard stick hangs from the hardware the keeps the door closed.

and of course the other door holds my thread rack.

And...I absolutely LOVE this plastic tray that I picked up last week at Target. I love the color (of course!) and the shape is so girly! Perfect for holding scissors, pin cushion and all the other things that need to be close at hand.

Now, here is the best part of the whole piece...at least this is the part that makes it functional! The first time I tried to sew with my machine on the keyboard tray, the machine shook and the keyboard tray slid back under the main shelf as I fed my fabric through my machine. Obviously not a pleasant and productive sewing experience. So, my incredibly talented and helpful husband did this:

He built 2 legs that are attached to the keyboard tray with hinges. When in use, they rest against the bottom of the armoire to stabilize the keyboard tray which prevents it from shaking and keeps it from sliding back into the armoire. It doesn't budge at all! When not in use, they fold up and stick to the underside of the shelf because the feet of the legs have magnets and my husband installed washers to the underside of the shelf. Thus, when I'm not sewing, the legs fold up and the sewing machine can be moved to the main shelf, the keyboard tray slides back in and the doors close! And it's all tucked away until my next sewing session! And tucked away is a good thing because there isn't enough space in my craft room for this, so it's just outside the door to my craft room, which means it's in our dining room!

My craft room is coming together, too, and I hope to be doing a LOT more crafting now that I know where my stuff is and I have a proper place to sew! :)

And...a HUGE THANK YOU!!! to my husband who made my beautiful sewing station FUNCTIONAL! I love you, baby!

Updated: I almost forgot to add this!!! Taylor was commenting on the progress of this project and when it was finally done, she said "OK, Mommy...you can eat, sleep, read, and sew there, OK?"

That's definitely OK with me! Basically that means I'll be living there and I love this little station so much, that I will live there!