Week 11 Project

Return to a barter system. Lose the cash.
Everyone needs a skill. When the computers take over, I think they'll eventually mess things up and we'll end up back in charge. So, when that happens, how are you going to obtain the things you'll need? So many of us don't earn our living "making" anything tangible. Just to be prepared, start thinking about what your skill will be. I'm not here to judge. Just think. Will you make cheese? Will you be an iron smith and make horseshoes? Will you be a carpenter? Will you grow turnips? Will you raise llamas? Me? Me, I'm gonna craft stuff. Anything you want, I'll try it and make it.

I did not want to do my taxes. I've never wanted to do my taxes. My mom mentioned she was doing her taxes soon. She also mentioned she wants new curtains for the spare room. Light bulb!
I traded her curtains for tax services.

Have you ever bought fabric by the bolt? I hadn't, but we needed two bolts for this project.




I also made pillow cases for a mini lumbar pillow and a body pillow. Mom doesn't want a headboard on the bed, but thought the bed still needed something. I added some pleats to one side of the body pillow. I wanted to try it before and I generally like the asymmetrical look. 

My mom often told me that she did this or that B.C., which in our house stands for Before Children. She took cake decorating classes. I think I remember hearing about some belly dancing classes. She did a lot of quilting. The quilt on the bed was completed by her in 1980. It was all done by hand. BY HAND. She didn't use a machine. At the beginning of her teaching career she spent three summers stitching this baby. I don't have the attention span. What were we talking about?

Oh, yeah, It's an amazing quilt!

Curtains for Tax Trade. Done.

Week 10 Project

~This is Maria~

Maria is my cousin Mary's daughter. She calls me Aunt Laura. I call her my niece.

Its a lot easier than calling her my 1st cousin once removed. None of my siblings have any kids, but I've been an aunt for a while now.

At this point in her life, Maria's biggest passion is BTR. What you don't know what BTR is? Then you probably know BSB or NKOTB or Menudo, or the Beatles, or the Jackson 5, maybe even the Osmonds. If you know none of the musical groups I just mentioned, you're probably a guy since these are all boy bands. The Boy Band of the day is BTR... Big Time Rush.

A few posts ago I took a basic t-shirt and embellished it with a flower and a skirt. Mary said she wanted one made for Ri (Maria) but with a BTR theme. I loved getting this commission!

So, I took some of this,
    and added it to the bottom of a BTR t-shirt,

 Ri's mom, Grandma and I had a mini photo shoot of her the the front yard after the St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown. Over all it was a pretty good day!

 Big Time Rush Shirt Dress, Done.

Ruffle Bum Update

Remember back here when I blogged about Adam's birthday tie and his cousin Jake's "I have a new sister" tie. Well I also wrote about Jake's sister Lilly's Rufflle Bum Onsie. Her mom, Kim, was kinda enough to send me the cutest pictures of Lilly wearing it!

She's the cutest thing with the most amazing chubby legs! She'll hate how much we all talked about this when she's older, but when else are chubby legs adorable? 

P.S. I'm gonna need Kim to show me how she "collaged" these three pics in this cute frame.

Week 9

             I probably have about 5 projects started around the house. I try every weekend to get one done, but I somehow can't seem to accomplish any of them. So, this weekend's plan was to not turn on the television. At all. No exceptions, even the marathon of one of my favorite shows. I would have done really well, if it weren't for March Madness. I didn't turn the TV on, but it seemed to be on everywhere I went. My good friend's had some people over Friday night. I went, but it was to see friends, not really to watch the game.
Anyway, I've always been really good when I have a deadline. I remember writing the final paper for my History of Rock and Roll class in college the night before it was due. I stayed up all night and walked into the room at 8:02. I was the last in line to turn in the paper, but there was still a line so I wasn't late.

My friend Annemarie's son, Cameron, had his first birthday party today! I, of course, choose to make him something. Note, the New Year's resolution was to make something each week. It didn't promise it would be something different.  I wanted to make him a tie shirt, but I want to try something new. I want to dye the t-shirt. I took inventory of the fabrics I have on hand and decieded to try a teal color, kinda gender neutral, right?

The process was much simpler than I had thought it would be. I filled a bowl with hot tap water and added about a tablespoon of salt. I added about half a bottle of RIT dye, and put in two white onsies and two white t-shirts. I made sure the fabric was completely saturated and then I "stirred" it about every 15mins for about an hour. It came out darker than I planned, so next time I'll just take it out sooner. A simple wash and dry and the color is set.

I've tweaked my tie shirt process with each one I've made.

 I apologize for those of you that received earlier models.

The new ones are much better!

I've turned the edges of the tie under so they won't fray or look choppy when I used my pinking sheers.

Cameron is a pretty cute kid. His mom is one of my oldest friends, she's not old, we just been friends a long time. We worked at King's Island together back in high school... back when work was fun!

Dyed T-shirt with coordinating tie, Done!