novamade

on productivity

I have written many blog posts in my head, I just haven't actually typed and posted them.  We have all been there, right?  I have been too busy actually doing stuff to talk about it, I think every now and then we crafty folk need to do that; do the thing and not talk about it so much (or, if you are like me, obsess over other people's amazing craftiness to the point of inertia, or something like that).

Over the past weekend I went to New Hampshire to craft my little heart out, it has sort of re-energized the craft of crafting for me.  It was supposed to be a knitting weekend; but, I spent a goodly amount of time making buttons.  With clay.  And a toaster oven.

I just think it's funny that one can make buttons with a toaster oven.

 

But maybe that is just me.

These buttons are not assigned to any sort of project at the moment (none of them, and there are a lot of them).  Should you have any great contribution to make to spark my creativity, do share.  I am almost at the edge of being "all tapped out."  Almost.

 

I am particularly proud of my shawl pins.  I know the sticks look like carrots.  Try imagining them with some sort of earthy twig found while taking some walk down some path somewhere.  I know, it's hard to see past the carrots.

But I did also do some knitting; or rather, I did some weaving of ends on knitting.  You know that tomten with the 50 bajillion ends?  Ends woven, surplus cut.  The fact that there is now the zipper and pockets to contend with is something to think on later.  Let's focus on the positive, shall we?  Ends woven.  Surplus cut.

Such a feat deserves a fitting celebration, like pie.  Truly great and excellent pie.

Like carmelized orange tart with blackberry puree (go and print the recipe, I will wait).  Delicious.  Perfection in pie form, really.

Okay, back to the doing.

quixotic celebrator

Quixotic, is quite possibly, my favorite word in the English language.  It has a "Q," and an "X" and ever since I was able to assemble it on a Scrabble board with someone else's "C" I have been a fan.  Aside from all that,  it is the word that best describes my way of celebrating birthdays.  You (and I) never really know what kind of fun I will come up with.  Special K thinks it's a little crazy, the lengths I go to to celebrate a birthday, but I disagree.  I think birthdays should be celebrated with great fervor.  Sometimes it takes a little work to celebrate just the way you want.  But who says work can't be fun?

After seeing this great birthday banner that Rae put together, I knew I had to make one for Little Sir and the celebration of his second birthday. 

I saw all sorts of potential for the banner and using the distribution of letters from Scrabble as my guide, I made a whole bunch of letters (see first photo).  Should I ever have the opportunity to meet and throw a party for a Quincy, Xavier or Zarathustra (you never know), I totally can.  And I can do it in a very colorful way.

It was easy (albeit a bit time consuming, because I did 64 letters--plus one exclamationa point-- you don't have to do that many, but you totally could) but it was fun, and really I will take advantage of any excuse to whip out the hot glue gun (but with this project, I found cutting the letters out by free-hand to be kind of the best part).  I cut out sets of felt circles in 3.5" and 3.75" glued them together with a folded ribbon in the middle.  And, like Rae, I used ric rac for suspension.  And because I wanted to go crazy with color, I used 14 colors of felt (I left a lot of colors at the store, so I think I showed some restraint here).  That's a ton of fun for very little moolah.  You should make a banner too, you will be glad you did.

 

And I do have to apologize, if you came here looking for pie today.  I gave myself on out this week, or rather, it was a bye week for pie.  Because for birthdays, most people (especially if I am involved in the equation) get cake.  Little Sir is sort of a minimalist when it comes to desserts (sadly).  He usually opts for plain fresh fruit but he knows how to celebrate right and asked for a "banilla" cake with "banilla" frosting. 

And how fabulous is my new cake stand?!

For me this meant a classic white cake (best white cake recipe I have made to date) with buttercream frosting (the kid and I just made the frosting up as we went along).

Because he was helping me make the frosting I have no idea how much confectioner's sugar he scooped into the bowl, so I added butter, heavy cream and vanilla until it tasted good and looked spreadable. 

His enthusiasm for fire is not just a little concerning.

A little imprecise, but it was fun and tasty, so whatever.

I also wanted to make a quilt for the kid's birthday, but sometimes you have to cut your losses (so much for quixoticism). 

It became apparent to me that I would not finish this quilt in time, so I am saving it for the weekend (because it's just an excuse to drag the celebration out even more, in my opinion--yay for being quixotic!). 

So yes, it was a lot of work, but really when your kid thanks you with kisses, it's totally worth it.

making things for others

It's what I do.  It brings me joy, yadda yadda... I am back from vacation... Hey, look at this!

I made this apron a while ago, but since I am trotting out all of my productivity for this wee parade of sorts (to divert your attention from other projects, ahem), I thought I'd share it. 

Little Sir impressed me by saying "ceviche" while watching the Food Network (in our house, this is considered "educational television viewing") and asked why the cook wasn't wearing an apron.  "Because he's Rocco DiSpirito," wasn't really an acceptable answer, in hindsight, I realize this.  And since my kid isn't Rocco (yet), I figured he needed an apron.  So I made one. 

I have already mentioned that my sewing is pretty mediocre.  I am also one who tends to like guidance (i.e. directions, patterns, templates, something); but, I figured it was an apron, how hard could it be?  DIY-time! I took a look at my apron and cut some upholstery fabric samples I picked up 5 years ago for no reason other than they were in the sale bin (I was less discriminating back then).  It's not perfect, but it's an apron, the point is to keep the kid's pajamas clean.

Because Little Sir is totally my sous chef.  I mean really, have you ever seen anyone handle an egg so chef-tastically?  I think not.

He helped me make today's pie, a Fresh Orange Tart with Hazlenut Crust a la Greenspan via epicurious.com. 

I We made today's Piehole Wednesday contribution for my friend M whose husband is going to Iraq on a photojournalism assignment.  She needed cheering.  The pies, they bring cheer, especially this one.  It's a good one...but it's a little, shall we say, involved.

Luckily, I had help.

There is no heat involved here, don't get your panties in a twist.

And that is how I get all the baking done.  Secret's out.

diy challenge #1

Make the sock puppet of your dreams.  Last week when I picked up Little Sir, I received a note with a sock with the assignment of making the sock puppet of our dreams.  Right.

I don't dream of sock puppets (especially when I turn into a one woman manufacturing factory at this time of the year); but, if I did, I think one of them might look like this zebra that I whipped up (it all started with the black wool as inspiration, wool as horse hair!). 

I am a fan of string and needles in all weights and types; but, I have to say, some crafts warrant dictate the use of a hot glue gun (there was no way I would have time to sew the stripes and ears on...just wasn't going to happen).  Having never used a hot glue gun before, I now have a fervor for using it.  Should you have anything that needs to be hot-glued, please send it my way.

And because it's that time of year, we pulled out the celebratory props over the weekend.  You know, to get the jolly going.

Okay, this elf has to get back to work!