The Gamble Life

Baby presents & old college memories

I finished a little baby vest today that is a present for a new baby.  Here's a peek (don't want to give it all away until it's delivered), and my picture of the day, number 80 (I've got all the others taken, I just need to put them up here, and at the 365project...).

Back in college I was on the rowing team and at our big end-of-the-year race (which was more of a tournament) the rowers from different schools would trade shirts.  The men would actually give their racing jersey to the winning squad...so at the end of the year if you were fast you had a collection of racing jerseys from all the teams you'd beaten.  The women's squad didn't do this, instead we (and almost all the other schools squads too) printed up t-shirts at the end of every year and then rowers would buy as many as they wanted and trade them with rowers from other schools.

I wore all of these for workouts in college and when college was over I didn't want to get rid of them.  I didn't want to wear them out.  Really, I wanted to keep them somehow, but I wasn't sure exactly what to do with them.  I had the idea of making a quilt out of them and spent a couple of years coming up with ever more elaborate designs (making the shape of a Y for Yale out of the shirts, that kind of thing) and carting them around with me from move to move.  Eventually I decided I would do some kind of quilt for our guest bedroom.  Well, we don't have a guest bedroom, and really, wouldn't that be kind of embarrassing?  Then, last summer we bought our awesome hammock on vacation.  Gus and I discovered that the hammock is a lot more comfortable with some blanket between the ropes and your flesh, so last night I FINALLY just did it.  Threw the t-shirts and some fleece together and didn't worry about it being clever or perfect or anything.  Just fun and DONE. 

The sewing is definitely wonky in places and I don't care at all.  It's finally finished, I can use and enjoy the shirts again and the next time we move I won't feel guilty about carting around a box of t-shirts from college and fleece I bought way back in 1997. 

Some of my favorite shirts:  a painted sweatshirt my mom made for me, a clever cartoon from a Boston University shirt (I think), and my year, my crew!

 

Any hey, go comment on Toy Truck!

Round-up: Gifts

I have finally managed to deliver all of the Christmas and other gifts for 2009 (the year of late gifts)!  (Well, actually, there is one exception but I'm not going to worry about that.)

Gus' knitting bag:

Gus' teachers' Christmas gifts:

 

The pattern for this little box bag, which is so adorable and very simple to sew, came from Stacy Sews.  I have plans to make a couple for myself, they are the perfect size for sock, hat, or lace knitting. 

A few carry-and-draw kits.  I found this Eric Carle fabric and completely fell in love even though I had no idea what I would use it for at the time.

And four very special girls received these Princess & the Pea sets (from the book Itty Bitty Toys).  They took me almost all of December to knit, but I think they came out really nice.  I used up every bit of worsted weight leftover yarn I had and bought (and used up) a bunch more.  In the process I decided I really like Cascade 220--it's a nice, basic yarn and comes in a ton of colors.

 

How cute is the pea?  I was going to knit one, but then I found these Japanese erasers and couldn't resist.

new bibs

Take an old towel, some fun fabric, some seam binding...(I absolutely love these make-your-own-seam-binding tools by the way; they are so easy and useful).

Some straight-forward sewing.

And one reversible, large, absorbent bib is created!

Tuesdays are tomato soup and grilled cheese days for lunch and Abe is definitely in need of a really good bib so I decided to make some of my own.  This is a great way to use up scraps of fabric and give old towels a new life.

Happy Halloween!

Gus in his school Halloween parade.  Oops, make that Captain Pirate Gus!

Captain Gus and Jack-o-Lantern do some early trick or treating (before Abe needed to go to bed).  Abe loves to knock on doors, so he caught on to that part right away.

He also loves to take things out of containers so that was also a breeze for him to figure out (Gus did show him the ropes at the first house).

And he happily carried his candy in his hands, objecting vociferously if anyone tried to take it and put it in his bag!

I made trick or treating bags for the boys this year, after my friend Kristin told me about hers.  We were given one of those plastic pumpkins years ago, and still have it, but I didn't want to buy a second one.  The bags were so fun for me to make, and they got several comments from people who saw them this evening.  Those darn plastic pumpkins always brake, take up tons of room the other 364 days of the year, and everyone has them.  I was proud that my kids carried one-of-a-kind all cotton bags!

 

Toothfairy Pockets

Aren't these totally adorable?  I think I'll need to make even more of them.  Even Gus, who already has his custom toothfairy pillow, decided he needed one of these.  The incredibly easy pattern is free from purl (I'm having problems putting in links; don't know why.  You can find it www.purlbee.com).

Birthday Present

Not for me, for my friend Sarah...who I met through knitting.  I made her a knitting bag.  Gus made her a happy birthday pillow.  Bag pattern is a go-to pattern for me and is from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, a wonderful book.

Crafty Schedules

Our Easter tree--we had so much fun creating our different eggs.  And I've tucked them away in an egg carton for next year.  I knit the knitted ones.  Gus and I felted the two green and pink ones together.  I'm not thrilled with how they came out.  Felting the roving on the wooden eggs was difficult.  I assume it is a matter of lack of experience on our part since people felt roving onto rocks wood should do be doable.  Still we had fun dipping them from hot to cold!

Gus sewed the felt egg and we each made a paper egg (via Folding Trees).

I knit this little guy for Gus' Easter basket, by request.  I love him so much I plan to make more.

March was entirely devoted, craft-wise, to Easter.  First the five bunnies, then the mousie, and all the eggs.  April is practically half over which I find hard to believe, but it's true.  I've got two friends new baby girls that I want to knit for, plus I'm making a pair of socks for myself.  But my main focus is Abe's first birthday on May 6!  I want to make him a birthday banner and knit him a stuffed animal or something and maybe a little sweater.  I'll have to see what I've got time for since I also want to throw him a party.  I also have Mother's Day and my mother-in-law's birthday in May/April.  Then Father's Day.  Then a break!  August starts up the birthdays again though, so I feel like I've got lots of crafting to do.  And I really want to make this quilt.  We'll see.  I prefer to be a no-pressure crafter so what gets done, gets done, and what doesn't, doesn't!

Here Comes the Easter Bunny

And they are finally finished!  I have never sewn any toys before and I can't say that it was the most enjoyable project ever--those skinny arms and legs were a bear to turn right side out.  I learned a lot though and I am definitely in love with these five bunnies.  I only hope the little ones who will get them love them too.

You can see where I used my car fabric for some of the shirts.  The heart fabric was a fat quarter I had in my stash and the green pants fabric my sister in law brought from India for me!  So these are some pretty special bunnies.

For anyone interested in the details, the patterns for the bunnies, clothes, and sweater all came from Purl Bee.  There is a dress pattern too, but I didn't make that one.

After making one sweater exactly as proscribed in the directions I branched out a bit, making some longer, some with thicker yarns, one with stripes.  It was fun and the bunnies are not very demanding!

If you decide to make these bunnies I would suggest that you make your seam allowances smaller than 1/4" on the foot and the bottom of the ears otherwise these pieces are extremely difficult to turn.  Also, I think these bunnies do better lightly stuffed so they are squishy rather than firm.  I also modified the way the arms were attached from the pattern.  I attached them in the same way the legs were attached so there is an outside seam on the sides of the body and the bottom of the body. 

Finally, the pattern directs you to cut out four torso pieces but you only need two, and the shirt pattern has an error.  The shirt pattern has one sleeve about 1/2" shorter than the other!  Also, the shirt pattern is designed to wrap and tie but I converted it to a pull-over style with a simple slit in the back to enable the head to fit through.

I also learned a lot about embroidery.  When I first started I had knots showing, which you can see on some of the bunny feet.  But then I found this wonderful tutorial on how to bury your knot!  You can see on the one set of bunny feet that I did almost perfect this technique (if you look closely you can see where I pulled the knot through the fabric as it left a little tiny hole).  It is so handy!

Sewing Time

I think perhaps five years old is a magical age.  Gus wants lots of attention and wants to spend a lot of time with me still (this is good!) but he is able to participate in what I'm doing at a whole new level.  I've been working on sewing some Easter bunnies (They are finished!  It's very rainy though so I can't get a good picture today.) and Gus said he wanted to sew too.  He went through my scraps and picked out some fabrics he liked (good taste, huh, choosing the Kaffe Fassett fabric!).  I loaded up a needle and showed him how to sew and he sat down next to me and sewed away while I worked on my sewing. 

He decided he wanted to make pillows so after he sewed three sides he turned it right-side out, put in a little stuffing, and sewed it closed.  The button was also his idea--and his choice from my stash of buttons. 

He ended up making several pillows and I think will want to do it again another day.  I remember learning to sew also, and I'm excited he is interested.  I've also been teaching him to knit and he's doing a pretty good job at that too.  He wants to knit his brother a blanket.  I'm trying to make sure these skills stay fun.  It's a fine line because he wants to do a good job, but if it becomes too hard then he won't want to do it at all.  I remember his first Montessori teacher told me once (and I've since read it other places as well) that I never needed to point out what he had done incorrectly or less-well, that he'll grow to see those mistakes himself.  Instead, point out what he has done correctly and well so that he is excited by his mastery and progress.  And this really works--when I admired a particularly small and neat stitch I could see that he slowed down and tried to make the next stitch similarly small and neat.  It's hard as a parent sometimes, not to point out to your child where they fall short because you want them to learn and do well.  But they also want to learn and do well, and they will see their own shortcomings without any help and strive to improve on them if they believe that they can, which appropriate praise will help them believe.

I am NOT talking about the incessant and obviously false constant stream of "Good Job!" you hear from some parents (I've heard parents complimenting their children with such over-the-top and unending streams of Good job! that I've had to move to another part of the park!  "Good job digging that hole! (to a child older than age two)").  No, I'm talking about sincere, thoughtful acknowledgment more than praise.  For example, when Gus practices writing his numbers we will sit down and choose our favorites.  In this way he sees without my saying so that some 5s (for example) are formed better than others and he can be proud of the beautiful 5 he wrote but also realize that all his 5s could be that good.  But from me he hears about the beautiful 5, not the 5s that you have to already know are 5s to recognize them.

As a parent I love my kids so much and I want them to be happy and smart and all those things.  But it isn't my job to unnaturally boost them up.  I have to find a way to support their intrinsic confidence without turning them into praise-junkies, a way to foster their willingness and interest in learning and tackling difficult tasks without making things so easy that they crumble at the first difficulty and without making things so hard that they suck can't have fun.  It's a tough balance, but such an important one.

Green...Trucks

Some green I ran across this morning, to finish out Green Week.  It's been really fun.  I like the idea of a photography "goal" or exercise.  I think I may give myself some more photo assignments.

And, I found my fabric, and for only $9.10/yard.  I found it at a local quilting shop, but if you too need car fabric you can buy it online with that link.