March Pin Madness

So "Pick a Pin" was sort of a misnomer for the month of March. "Pick a Few Pins" doesn't work either. The only thing I can say about last month was that a sort of madness overtook me. And I went with it.

In no apparent order, here are my picks and makes and purchases for March from things I've pinned:

I bought: a fiddle leaf fig.

A couple of Ekby shelves for my studio.

This cheap but super functional desk lamp for drawing.

I made: Geo wall hooks.

Neon macrame.

Leather baskets.

Blood orange marmalade.

A pallet compost bin.

Homemade linen spray.

The one thing I didn't do? Those egg geodes. I couldn't find alum powder anywhere except online for ridiculous prices, and I would rather spend my money on plants and crafts than 2 ounces of powder.

On a related note, suddenly I can't link pins from my boards onto my blog. Anyone else having similar difficulties? I know Pinterest has switched over to a new layout but why, I wonder, am I no longer allowed to put pins on here? Anyone know?

what I like about my job

It shames me to admit it, but sometimes there's a part of me that starts to feel like a failure when I write "Homemaker" as my occupation in paperwork. As if making money is the only thing that validates people. I also admit to having days where I would love to boot my kids out the door and let a paid teacher deal with their attitudes, grade their work, etc.

But that's only sometimes. Ninety percent of the time I love my job: I love the comfort of being at home,  and of knowing my kids aren't being exposed to all kinds of garbage unbeknownst to myself and my husband. I love the freedom of being able to take a break when we need it and not just when a dead president has a birthday. Mostly I love having my kids around, even when the noise level is overwhelmingly irritating and the sound effects are reaching critical mass.

Plus, I just love that I can sit around making something silly like this--something useless and geeky, the only purpose of which is to make my kids laugh.

Here's to homemakering, homeschooling, and to tiny polymer clay Daleks. Cheers!

It's December 1st and I'm already done

Not with Christmas, of course. What I'm done with is making stuff. Yay!

Okay well that's not exactly true. I still have to sew my niece's quilt, and to quilt my son's quilt, but I'm not counting quilting stuff. I'm counting all the little fiddly things I've been working on for the last few weeks. I've decided to post a few of them here--mostly anonymously of course. :)

An apron for my middle son, Xander. A few months ago my oldest son got a Star Wars apron from my mom in the mail, which left Xander feeling a little left out. They both like helping me bake, so I figured I would make him one. At first I was frustrated with fabric choices--it seems like all "boy" fabric is geared toward babyish stuff. I mean okay, zoo prints are cute but no self-respecting kindergartner is going to sashay around the kitchen wearing hedgies or elephants. So then I thought, A HA! The perfect opportunity to buy some Echino fabric, which is prohibitively expensive and something I would normally not buy. But I couldn't pass up this chance. I was so happy when I got it and realized it was sort of a linen-like canvas, perfect for holding up to kitchen messiness.

My oldest LOVES to draw, particularly with markers. He's pretty fastidious about keeping his markers all together, too--he's had this set since April and he still has all the colors except black. Anyway, he also loves rainbows so I thought it would be cool to make him a holder for his markers using fabrics from my scrap bin to match the colors. It worked out really well, I was pretty proud. I only had to buy a few pieces of purple fabric since that seems to be the only color I never quilt with.

A sketchbook cover I sewed for...somebody. I actually started with another one which was a disaster. Does anyone else do this when coming up with a pattern yourself? The first one is like this giant pain in the butt that takes forever and turns out very "iffy", and that helps you figure out exactly how NOT to do it the second time around? Yeah. This one took me like a half hour. The first one (not picture here for prides sake) took almost three hours. Ugh. Anyway, this one came out good. Here's the back:

I also made several of these gathered clutches from Noodlehead's Tutorial. I love the way they came out! I made two more for some friend's birthdays. They are pretty easy to make and perfect for carrying a few things around in. I think next time I'll sew a little loop handle on one end for convenience. 

I made some homemade mulling spices. I love me some mulled cider. I figured I could give a few jars away to like-minded mulled cider lovers. I used a combination of allspice berries, cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange rinds, and vanilla beans. Mmmmmm.

Well the other things I made would be dead giveaways for who they're for, so I'm calling it a day. Hope you're all as excited for Christmas as I am!

a few things

here are a few things i've made lately. just a few, cause some are still under wraps.

a watercolor i did for my niece, olivia. she probably won't care really but a girl's gotta have some original art. even if she's not even one yet.

a felt yoda i made for johnny. i still haven't given it to him yet, cause we were all sick on his birthday. :(

a quilt i made for my mom. pretty traditional for me, but still enjoyable. and FAST. man, i didn't realize how time consuming freehand piecing is compared to chain piecing. the only reason this became a christmas present (instead of the birthday present it was supposed to be back in OCTOBER--bad me) is because i tried a new method of quilting on my rack that didn't turn out so well. i spent about three days picking out all the stitches then had to start from scratch. ugh. i'd really love to move beyond stippling but apparently i still lack the fundamental skill. drat.

in other news, i've been baking up a storm, rolling truffles, making meringue mushrooms, all in preparation for a christmas party we're having. i hope it's fun. i get so nervous about this sorts of things.

random stuff

it all started with an idea. the idea was that i'd always wanted to try making a real quilt, only i didn't want something old-ladyish and overly structured. enter the inspiration: "drunk love in a log cabin" by denyse schmidt. hours and days and weeks later, a giant queen sized quilt top was born. then i had a birthday, and what did i get but a ginormous quilting rack that still scares me silly to look at. today, after HOURS of sewing, pinning, winding, and trying not to say bad words, my labor of love (which could nearly be equalled time-wise to an elephant's gestation) is finally on the rack and ready to be quilted. now i just have to grow a pair and START already.



to distract me from my abject terror i've been stockpiling lovely fabrics for future terrifying endeavors. i love this series by heather ross, it's so pretty and orangey. i love orange. the nice part is the company who i ordered it from accidentally gave me too much of two fabrics, and instead of sending it back they are sending me the one i ordered and i get to keep the extra stuff. yay! i love freebies.



these are some of my greens for boy #3's quilt. i've decided to go with green, not because it's supposedly gender neutral but because i like green. as soon as i'm finished with the monstrosity on top i figure i'll go ahead and start this new one. hopefully my due date will give me the extra impetus to get started (and finish) that. ha.



on a completely unrelated note, this year i decided to bite the bullet and try some naturally dyed easter eggs. the blue ones are red cabbage, and the rest are onion skin dyed. i love them! i can't wait to experiment with more colors...

random decor

i got bored today and made these to hang above my couch. it was fun.