Thing a Day 28: Counting Down

I can't believe it's the last day of February already! Thing a Day was much easier for me this year than last year. (Which is probably directly related to the fact that many days I took the easy route. Like the day I made Memories. Or the time I spent three minutes folding up a square of paper into a scary rabbit. Or the day I made toast. *sigh* Those were good days...)

Since today is the last day of Thing a Day, it seems fitting that I start looking to the future. TAD helped me pass the otherwise cold and SNOWY month of February. However, we have a Big Deal coming up in almost exactly three months. 92 days, to be exact. To help my daughter get ready for it, we broke out the construction paper, crayons, paper cutter and tape and made a Great Big Paper Chain. It is 92 links, and nearly 18 feet long. Each day, she will be hoisted up to break off one of the links. 

And no, I won't tell you what the Big Deal is. Because I'm superstitious like that. BUT, I'll tell you what I will do - if you'd like to see more of what I'm working on (because, really, who can stop Crafting?) come on over to http://www.lolo-craft.blogspot.com and check it out. I promise I'll tell you in a few days what the Big Deal is!

Keep Calm and Craft On, y'all. 

Thing a Day 27: Choco Chip Muffins

I'm reeeeeeaaaally sorry about this yucky picture...but this is what I made today!! My husband spent the first hour of the day shoveling snow while the two littles and I made these muffins. I spent my morning at a baptism service (with my preschooler daughter in tow) and we all spent our afternoon running errands and avoiding the house we've been cooped up in all week. The last hour of the day was spent clearing away all the evidence of a week spent at home...and these muffins are what ya get today. *grin*

I wish I could at least say they were tasty...but they came out tough. *sigh* Anyone have a great muffin recipe?? I do so love a good muffin.....

Here's something to make you feel better, though - I found my pictures of BBJ in her Chinese New Year get up!!  Since CNY was on a Sunday this year (and Valentine's Day!) I thought it was appropriate that she wear this pink outfit to church. (Yes, she wore pants...sorry. It's formal wear in China, even if it does look like really fancy pajamas here.....besides, she's three. It was cute!)

Thing a Day 26: Grape Scented Roses

Today was...another snow day. It. Never. Stopped.

That being the case, everybody stayed home and, in fact, never even got dressed! One of our activities today was Playdough Time. I had always heard that roses are an easy thing to make...turns out They were right! A little spiral deal in the middle...and then I just pinched off pieces of clay, squished them, and attached them in a spiral. Voila! I kind of like it. *grin* 

Thing a Day 25: SNOW

I was in charge of our little preschool group today...and for the live of me couldn't come up with any lesson topic more interesting than SNOW. (That might have something to do with our forecast here in New England for the weekend. *sigh*) I went scrounging around on Craft Crow for some ideas...and here's what I came up with!
(See those little purple snowmen? Mine is the saucy one in the middle with the sweet neck wrap. Awwwww yeah. I rock.) After that, my Awesome Creative Powers were limited to crafting the faces for those little fiber-fill snowmen.

Thing a Day 24: Itteh Bitteh Quilted Thingeh

Ok, so the title of the post isn't great, but! I finished a teeny tiny quilt! 

You might recognize the patches - they're left over from a baby quilt I made last week with some friends. (What do you do with left over quilting patches? The Wonky Nine Patch pattern makes patches in multiples of nine. In this case, I made 27. The quilt only needed 23. WWYD?)

I was seized with the notion, yesterday afternoon, to throw some of the extra patches together into a tiny quilt. Voila! A few straight seams, 30 blissful minutes meandering around the quilt in free motion mode....I straight stitched the binding on this morning, and then finished hand sewing the binding at a friend's house during our weekly Crafty Playdate. 

As I worked on my tiny masterpiece, a few ladies asked me What is it? Umm...hrm. That's a good question! I intended it to be a wall hanging for a friend's nursery (she admired the original quilt and said it would match her own nursery. *Ssshhhhhh* It's a surprise!) However, I could see how this might make a nice little doll quilt. Or even a small pad to protect your table from drippy, hot dishes at dinner time! 

I guess it's just an Itteh Bitteh Quilted Thingeh after all. Heh. 

(The finished Quilted Object is approximately 14 inches square. The blue patches are a repurposed, thrifted bed sheet. The Wonky Nine Patch pattern is based on a tutorial from Oh, Fransson!. The tutorial can be found here. The Wonky Nine Patches are made from 9 fat quarters. The binding is IKEA Unbleached Cotton, and cut on the bias. This project was the perfect size to use up some bias binding I had already made up. I will NOT be making bias binding again any time soon...at least, not until I start making round quilts! The bias was made as "continuous binding", which means that the binding was NOT a straight line. Ugh. Wish I had thought that one through before I used up all my favorite binding fabric making continuous bias binding!)

Thing a Day 23: Deep Dark...

...in a corner of the house....tulips, waiting to bud! 

I looked up directions on forcing flowers, and then recruited my two littles to help me. Pick up the pebbles, put them in the pans. No, not in your mouth...in the man! Yes, good...no, do NOT throw them. Thank you. Good job, big sister! Now, smooth them all out. Yes, please, hand me bulbs...ok. Good. Good. Now water...no, stop! Don't bump me! Ok, just enough water. Now let's carry them all downstairs!

These pots of rocks and bulbs and water will wait in a dark corner of my boiler room for a few weeks, and then (hopefully) I'll have some beautiful blooms come April!

Thing a Day 22: Pink Pancakes!

Pink Pancakes!!!! 

Daddy worked late, and we're trying to get through a bunch of STUFF in the pantry. So, tonight...Krusteaz pancakes for the kids and I! (Because I'm not mean enough to subject my husband to...pink pancakes for dinner. Breakfast, maybe. Read on.) 

I wanted to make it fun, so I added a little Sala Flavored Syrup. (A friend introduced me to it....it's about $2 for a wine-bottle sized bottle of bright pink syrup. The syrup can be mixed into milk, seltzer water, plain water...or pancake batter, apparently!) 

Mmmmm...pink, carbohydrate-y goodness!

Thing a Day 21: Cream Puffs!

We had guests coming for dinner tonight, and I asked my husband what he'd like for desserts. "Hmmmm...cream puffs with whipped cream!" 

He thought he was joking. Heh. 

Cream puffs he wants, cream puffs he shall have! I was REALLY happy with how these turned out! I scooped them out with a mini ice cream scoop, and they all had perfect little "popcorn" exteriors. Love it! (I didn't have any whipped cream, so I made some chocolate pudding from scratch. My son, Siu Jeun, was a FAN. It kept him quiet for nearly half an hour so I could help my friend pin together her latest quilting endeavor for quilting. *grin* The resulting mess was SO worth it, and nothing a soak in the tub couldn't fix!)

Today's Thing a Day is brought to you by Preschoolers Who Watch Cartoons, and Toddlers Who FINALLY Take a Good Nap, and by the letter C. For Cream Puff. 

Thing a Day 20: Ramen that Tastes Good (and gifting the quilt!)

The baby shower was this morning, and the quilt has been gifted. Yea!

For dinner, all we had the energy to make was...ramen. But! I'm a resourceful lady, with a load of veg left over from Chinese New Year that need to meet their end...so I made some "toppings" - fried eggs, teriyaki tofu and a sort of onion/bell pepper/hot dog saute. (Hey, I've got kids to feed...and a freezer that needs to be emptied!)

Thing a Day 19: Quilt's Done!

It's done, y'all. It is done. Five days. Five days....I'm just so happy with it!

(Heh...if any of you read Bubba Bubbles...this is a double post. Sorry about that.)

Boy’s Quilt – Almost Done!

  

It’s almost done! I can hardly stand it…I quilted it up today. The quilting isn’t completely straight…but, hey – it’s a wonky 9-patch, right? Straight isn’t exactly what we’re looking for! I was really happy to see that the quilting didn’t affect the feel of the plush fabric on the back – still super soft for the baby to snuggle!

Here’s my dilemma now, though – we’re binding it tomorrow. I have some binding in a color that I adore (unbleached cotton) all made up. The only problem is, it’s “continuous” bias binding. The process of making that makes it…well, not exactly straight. And it’s bias cut, so it’s stretchy and a little hard to work with. However, I know it will go on just fine…and I love the look with the rest of the quilt.

But…is it too “grown up”? Would it look better with the excess minky just folded over and sewn around? This quilt hasn’t turned out to be exactly a “baby” quilt in any way except size, and the backing…but I love it! I think it will look great in a nursery…and later on the foot of a big boy bed!

You can kind of see both…

Here’s the unbleached cotton binding…

 

 

…and here’s the minky as binding. Thoughts?

Thing a Day 17: Patches and Patchwork!

(Do you see my little "helper" in the back there? Love that kid! You can also see how I get any work done! I ALSO love baby gates. *grin*)

Two things today! My friend and I are still working on our baby quilt and hope to have it done in time for Saturday's baby shower. Today, we got the quilt top put together, and sandwiched. 

Oh, and this girl? Never quilted before. Ever. She was a professional "stitch setter" in Manhattan, in another life (ie - pre kids) and the girl has CHOPS. She thinks I'm "teaching her how to quilt." All I did was tell her "1/4" seams. Press them open. Match up the seams." I must be the best teacher in the world. ;-) 

My second "thing" was in response to a sad little girl who had put two holes in ANOTHER pair of jeans - the second in a week! She wanted square patches on this pair. 

Test Patch

Heh. We'll see if this works - this is a test, because I don't know if my extra space on Picasa has loaded yet, and a patch because...well, my girl put holes in BOTH knees of ANOTHER pair of jeans. This time, she chose "quares."

And, yes, I giggled the first time she said it. I adore that she doesn't automatically stick S's on the beginnings of S-consonant words. H-nowman. 'tars. 'poon. 'tickers. (Wager a guess, y'all - what is she talking about? First one to get all four right gets...10,000 brownie points, and a shout out on LoLo Craft! Oooooh......)

LoLo Tute: Reverse Applique

Thing a Day 8: KittyBee!

And now for something completely different...costumes for kitties! This was started as part of a barter with a friend of my husband's: a video game for him, and a few "capes" for her kitty, to keep him warm. I started three capes, and was only able to finish two of them in time for the trade. The first two were simple - flannel, in a tweedish-print. The third was more...out there. I found some yellow flannel in my stash, and purchased some black synthetic satin. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to make my bee stripes. The yellow cape sat, unfinished, for months! If you look closely at the cape, you'll see that I tried a few different methods. One of the stripes was sewn (right sides together) and then folded over, edges turned and pressed, and then top-stitched. I wasn't satisfied with that - I couldn't get the edges as straight as I wanted. The remaining three stripes were sewn together with backing, turn turned and pressed before I turned and pressed them, and top-stitched them onto the cape. 

Next time, I think I would cut the backing a bit smaller than the topping. That way, when the stripe was turned and pressed, the black would tuck around to the back and the white wouldn't show around the edges. (Did that make sense to anyone else?!)

(PS - A big thank you to Aslan, my model today. Aslan, you're a champ! The first two capes were modeled by my, then crawling, son. As my son is now running, climbing and jumping...he was less than agreeable to modeling for me today. Thanks, Aslan, for saving the day!)

Moving Spaces

(Edited to fix the picture links. Blogger seems to have eaten my links during the night. Grrrr. 'cause it couldn't POSSIBLY be a user error.....)

The Stuff to move upstairs

The emptied desk...a few things are staying down here, until I figure out what I need in the craft room, and what's better near the kitchen.

The REASON for the move. Oy. Why are little boys INTENT on killing themselves?!

The newly cleared workspace! Ahhhh....much better.

Thing a Day 7: A Bubble Bunny

Well, that's what they called it anyhow...because it's a bunny, made of a bubble. (Come on...just squint a little. See it now? Squint just a bit harder..and tilt your head...there! You do see it now, don't you?! Just say yes.)

I suppose I should make the creases a bit crisper, so that the folds were, umm...crisp. Heh. Oh well - it's cute, and it has just been presented to my daughter, to "watch her fall asleep." Considering that I tucked her into bed 20 minutes ago, and she'd already come creeping down the hall three times to peek...well, I haven't seen her since I gave her the Bunny Guardian. Good enough for me!

PS - I'm really sorry for the lighting on these posts. I've been doing my crafting at night, just after the kids are tucked in...and Natural Light is rather scarce after 8 pm. Forgive me!

Thing a Day 6: Flannelgram!

Tonight, after I had put the kids in bed, I wandered (rushed?) up to the newly prepped craft room and tried to figure out what my fingers wanted to make today. See, I was introduced to the concept of Twilight "fan fiction" yesterday, and...well, one called "Waning Moon" kind of snatched up all my free moments. *grin* I wanted to make my thing...and get back to reading my story! (What can I say - it was well written!)

Seeing as how I had set up the whole room...and forgotten to actually move a chair up there yet, breaking out the sewing machine was kind of out of the question. My eyes landed on my bag of felt, and I remembered a vague idea I'd had the day before to come up with some more felt shapes for a flannel board I scooped up at Goodwill. A few snips, and a Sharpie, later...and I had some shapes, all labelled up and ready to drill my daughter and her classmates the next time I teach Joy School! 

Sa-weet.......

PS - Thanks for the advice yesterday on how to get my Stash in order!! 

Thing a Day 5: A Crafty Space

Not really a tangible "thing" today...more of a preparing. My "craft space" started out in the basement, then moved to the main floor...and now, is finally on the top floor! (The moves have all been based on what kind of Alone Time I could get while the kids were up.) 

Behold - the new crafty space! For the first time, the sewing machine, the cutting mat, the "stash" AND the ironing board are all in the same room. Snazzy, no? After all my organizing, I ended up with all my fabric back into The Stash where it belongs...and a PILE of Un-Finished Objects (UFO's!) to work on. 

Now, if I could just figure out a good way to organize the stash.......any suggestions? 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from lolo-craft's posterous

Thing a Day 5: A Crafty Space

Not really a tangible "thing" today...more of a preparing. My "craft space" started out in the basement, then moved to the main floor...and now, is finally on the top floor! (The moves have all been based on what kind of Alone Time I could get while the kids were up.) 

Behold - the new crafty space! For the first time, the sewing machine, the cutting mat, the "stash" AND the ironing board are all in the same room. Snazzy, no? After all my organizing, I ended up with all my fabric back into The Stash where it belongs...and a PILE of Un-Finished Objects (UFO's!) to work on. 

Now, if I could just figure out a good way to organize the stash.......any suggestions? 

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

Thing a Day 4: A Card

Just something quick for Day 4 - a card! I I wanted to play with some of my paper punches, and this is what happened!

Posted via email from lolo-craft's posterous

Thing a Day 4: A Card

Just something quick for Day 4 - a card! I I wanted to play with some of my paper punches, and this is what happened!

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

A Bit of Elephantine Goodness

A baby blanket for an expectant friend, and the result of a sick-day home from church with two flu-ey and snotty kids, plus two parents exhausted from a night of caring for them.

When my sister had her first baby over four years ago, her nana-in-law gifted her with some fabulous (and huge!) flannel blankets for her little one. I saw those, and thought..."I can do that!"

Well, ok. Back up. First, my sister explained that I could, in fact, do that. Then I received a sewing machine from my parents for my birthday. Then I hit up a fabric sale and bought a ton of flannel for $.99 a yard. Then I started sewing like a mad woman and made 15 blankets to give to friends during the coming year. So, thanks Myrnie. Now, I can do that.

PS - Myrnie has started a new blog - DIY Mama. It's full of tips for how to...do it yourself. Want to re-landscape your yard and fill it with veg? Eat meat responsibly? Make your own yogurt, soy milk or laundry detergent? If any of that sounds like you, or something you'd like to learn about, head over. She's been researching and trying and thinking her hardest thinks for over a year...and this little blog is just the beginning. Head on over and check it out!

Thing a Day 2: Mini Cupcakes

Here we are! Second day of February, and our second Thing a Day. Today, BBJ and I are proud to present...miniature cupcakes. Bon appetit! (Our recipe was the Busy Day Cake from Joy of Cooking. The recipe made 12 mini cupcakes, plus two huge ones. I'm still looking for The One Great Recipe, but this one was definitely quick and tasty! A great vehicle for whatever flavor you choose. In this case, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract!)