i haz more cat fans!

Weasel Peterson enjoys friend Frog.

i haz catnip

My latest consumer product tester, Marigny Treme Brown-Gervais. She's sampling the beta stage of My Friend Octopus Catnip V. 1.5.
The idea to make cat toys stemmed from a kittenwarming party I recently attended. (My friends planned to surprise another friend with a kitten, but then re-calculated and decided give them a cat-owner gift certificate to the humane society. The rest of us chipped in with kitten-related presents.)
For Marigny, the cat pictured here, her dignified owner LOVES octopus, and once even wrote an octopus opus. So I decided to treat her with a bright-blue, stuffed felt octopus, crammed with that crazily obsessive herb that smells like nothing to me: catnip.
The kittenwarming recipients received Bird V. 1.0, as well as Gnome Head and Mouse. Another friend received Frog.
But, of course, I still had catnip leftover. Oh yes, just wait...there's more.

My lovely model

Thanks to my lovely friend Jenn for showing off one of her birthday gifts, a chiffon flower hair pin.

singe my fingers for this?

New technique - singe the edges of circlets, stitch them together in blooms. Brooch or pins, your choice.

Updated on Sept. 20: and now...organza!

Pinata

To celebrate a dear little girl turning a grand old age of 7, I put together a horse-shaped pinata out of a paper bag.
Last year, a friend's 27th birthday was feted with a Pegasus-shaped pinata, mostly decorated with bits of crepe paper.
This time, I decided to use acrylic paints, glitter, yarn and bits of cardboard.
The shape came together nicely, but figuring out how to suspend the pinata was a bit tricky. This is when I wished I had more engineering skills. In hindsight, I should have punched out two holes and strung it up like the tutorial.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the party, but I saw lots of photos of children wielding a stick and then a little crowd of kids gathering candy on the ground. I hope the horse-pinata fulfilled its short-lived life of duty.

Survey says...

My co-worker Stacey samples what I'm calling "Broken-Ankle Brownies," in honor of two other co-workers (not pictured) who have had recent tumbles. Success! (Not for the victims of broken ankles, I mean.)
I thought a batch of Peanut Butter Brownies with Chocolate Ganache would be the thing.

Zip! Zip!

Finally, the laminated fabric remnants find a life in these bigger-than-coin-purses, smaller-than-clutches creations.
Detail oversight: zippers are handstitched. One of the purses doesn't even have a zipper because I cut the fabric too short. So they're not the sturdiest purses in the world, but I can always reinforce later. Looks first!

wall-eeeeee

Inspired by friends' handiwork and craft blogs, I longed for a jewelry board of my own.
I have lots of canvas squares, left over from two Christmases ago.
The fabric is from a vintage bank bag, like the kind you see starring in robbery heists. I spotted it at an Oregon coast antique shop. It was once cylindrical and had a toothy zipper, but I've long since torn it apart and pressed it into a single rectangular piece of fabric. It almost became a notebook cover for a boy, but then I thought...wait. I hate boys. :)
The buttons are my favorite. I've got a thing for vintage buttons, which almost competes for my interest of boys.
Of course, this jewelry board can't possibly hold up all of my necklaces (like bulky pearls or pendants), but at least my jewelry box is considerably less cluttered. Most importantly, my favorite necklaces - made of delicate chains - will no longer tangle each morning if they are neatly hung - hooray!
I arranged the rest of my pendants in a little candy dish that was a thrift store find.

And just 'cause, I felt inspired. Brooch tie!

applique? por que no?

In the last month or so, my gifts have been Applique Unbound.
Applique is a technique where a small ornament is applied on top of another surface. I think of as an intentional patch of fabric.
There's tons of information about how to properly apply appliques, like this video from Craftster.
I'm more haphazard. A wraparound blouse from Old Navy that was my friend's castoff had a pretty blue, pink and navy pattern. I cut out easy-to-sew shapes like circles and ovals and either hand-stitched or used a zigzag stitch on my machine to create easy, peasy appliques. 'Cause that's how I roll.
In no particular order...
A bag for a friend's baby shower:

Applique-decorated beanie hat for a dear friend's birthday (I made the hat out of a recycled sweater):

And I'm a bit ashamed to admit this one, but:

I liked that bag so much, I had to make another for my friend (you'll be happy to know that the sewing is improved on the second version):

And here's detail of those appliques:

making heads turn

How can anyone resist $.33 plastic headbands that are on sale at Craft Warehouse? Not I!
This was a lot of trial and error, but once I established a crafting template, I could easily replicate. So I thought, hmm....could I script my very own tutorial?
Here goes...
Step 1: headbands!

Step 2: sew a casing. That is, cut a long strip of fabric that's twice as wide as the widest part of the headband, plus a teensy bit more for the seam allowance. Make sure the fabric is just as long as the outer edge of the headband's curve, plus at least two inches longer on either side. Then, fold the strip hot-dog style and sew along one side.

Step 3: turn that casing inside out! Use a safety pin to catch one end of the casing.

Then, work the safety pin through the inside of the casing, by scrunching it along. A childhood friend taught me this trick when you want to re-string any kind of drawstring.
Once the casing is the right way, pull it over one end of the headband. (not shown in photos)

Step 4: This is where I fudge. To secure the ends of the fabric, I pleat over the ends and sew them under. This can be tricky, because you want the ends of the fabric to stretch as taut as possible if you don't want headband fabric to be all saggy.


It won't look perfect, but the ends are tucked behind your ears, anyway - who sees that part?
Step 5: Adorn away! I used hair accessories that may or may not look familiar. It's wise to try on the headband in the mirror to determine the placement of said adornment.

skirt with pockets

This began as a thrift store dress I found at a Value Village in Seattle in the "ethnic" section. Where I belong, I feel.
It came off the rack as a traditional, salwar kameeze type of Indian dress with short sleeves and the high neck. Probably a few sizes too big.
On a whim tonight, I turned the dress into a skirt, and decided to add pockets.
Pros: this turned out to be a quick little bonus sewing project. This dress had the honors of hanging in my closet (which meant I was flirting with the idea of wearing it) and wasn't even in my stash!
Cons: Regretfully, I still have lots of obligatory sewing projects to do.

12 hours

Waking up at 5 a.m. gives you a lovely perspective sometimes. Not only do you feel like you're an 80-year-old fisherman, you also feel like the morning light is a glorious catch that needs to be documented. So I started with one photo of these homegrown peonies, and kept going with my day. A good day it was.