Time to Clean Up

Last year was a year of change, transitioning from India to the United States. This is going to be my year of cleaning and purging while we stay put in one house for a while. I got a good start during the packing and unpacking last summer and fall but now that the holidays are over it's time to get back on that project.

I went through my stash fabrics and I used this tutorial for a tree skirt for the Christmas tree, this one for a scrap skirt for Muffin (photo to come once I've completed the whole outfit), and this one for a Lego bag. I have a couple winter clothes projects planned, for which I had to buy some new fabric, but once they're done it's back to the stash for spring and summer sewing.

I've put a number of books up on PaperBackSwap.com and have resisted the urge to use all my new credits to receive a bunch of replacement books.

I've been cleaning out my closet. On Friday I put a ton of clothes up on Freecycle.com and by the end of the day half of it had been picked up. Anything that's not picked up by the time Muffin goes back to school on Tuesday will go into one of the many donation bins that we pass on the drive between home and school.

I gave a little TLC to the vacuum cleaner that was put into storage in 2008 and not used since then. The filters are supposed to be washable, but they weren't washed before going into storage (whoops!) and they are beyond washing now. Black and Decker no longer makes them but still has some for sale on their site so in lieu of buying a new vacuum I bought new filters so I can delay a vacuum impulse purchase and research a good one.

I realized that now that I'm driving around in winter with a kid in the car, I really should get things checked out in a timely manner because I really, really don't want to break down in bad weather with my little companion. On that note the car is going into the mechanic shop again today.

I joined a gang... of other moms who are training for the same half marathon that I am in March. Once the kiddos are all back in school we hope to start running together again. I need that. My lungs are all dusty from the cleaning. I need fresh air on a regular basis but without motivation I won't go outside when it's cold.

Right now it feels like my full-time job is to get ready for the next move and whether I'm cleaning out my closet or getting the car fixed, everything contributes to that goal. We don't even know when the move will be or where it will be to but it is always looming. I'm still unpacking boxes from the last move. I'm making trips to the dumpster every day. I'm spending time in various stores trying to decipher the best storage solutions for things like all my stash fabrics and sewing supplies so it's more organized for the next move. I'm reducing clothing and toys and books. We put every single DVD and CD into sleeves in binders and threw out all the plastic cases, reducing our next move by several boxes and pounds.

It's going to be a long, cold winter and I resolve to put my indoor time to good use. 

How to R2-D2

This year for Halloween we had a three year old who wanted to be R2-D2, accompanied by a Princess Leia mommy and a Han Solo daddy. Leia and Han seemed easy. Buy, borrow, or steal appropriate clothing and get a fairly popular wig. R2 was going to be more of a challenge because I wanted something more charming than store bought. I searched Google Images and pinned to Pinterest. I came up with a plan:

We spent an afternoon at a craft store trying to find just the right materials: foam, felt, glue, and something to craft the headpiece from. For the headpiece we ended up with a plastic army helmet glued to the inside of a salad bowl, both from a dollar store.

We crafted.

I bought a full Princess Leia costume, complete with hair-buns wig and ended up hating everything about it. So I Freecycled it and started from scratch, changing my concept to Hoth Leia. White yoga pants on sale for $5 and a beautiful white vest and snow boots that I'll wear this winter anyway paired with a long-hair wig that my mom helped braid. Han had to buy a henley shirt and black vest, supplying his own pants and boots. We bought $5 blasters and decided to keep them fake looking by not painting them black.

Star Wars family complete!

This was Muffin's first Halloween in the United States so we had to go the extra mile for her. Although, she's only three so the extra mile didn't have to be too far. We drove to a nearby neighborhood where a friend of ours was having a small party. We trick-or-treated at about five houses then went to our friend's for pizza and "grown-up" treats. Muffin ate too much candy but she didn't have school the next day so we could have a later night than usual and manage her the next day without too much difficulty. (Friday night she slept for twelve hours.)

I'm going to skip over Thanksgiving this year -- dinner is at my aunt's house and Mike most likely won't be home for it anyway -- and jump right into Muffin's First U.S. Christmas.

The Amy Sedaris Ghost Cake

I know I'm a little late, so bookmark or Pinterest this one for next Halloween.

I bought Amy Sedaris's I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence when it first came out several years ago. I love so many of the crafts and recipes but I'd never gotten around to trying any of them. About a year ago, though, Muffin became obsessed with the book, especially the pages with ice cream on them and the pages with ghosts. I looked forward to her being old enough to do the craft projects. When I made her a pair of tissue ghosts, she was ecstatic. My next project was the ghost cake for a Halloween party.

It was really quite simple, since I'd already tested cake mixes and frostings (back for Muffin's birthday party). I followed the photo in the book for the shape of the ghost. I cut out the shape of the head and used those pieces for the arms. I secured the arms with toothpicks and frosting. I used a white cake mix so that crumbs wouldn't be seen through the frosting. For the frosting I made sure to use white butter (no yellow coloring added) and I didn't add any vanilla so it was as white as it could be. For the mouth I cut a chunk of chocolate.

While I was working in the kitchen, I gave Mike and Muffin the task of testing the flaming eyes. I'd been saving egg shells all week so the two best ones could be used on the cake and the others could be used for practice. The instructions in the book call for sugar cubes soaked in lemon extract with an additional teaspoon of lemon extract added to the eggshells. We didn't have lemon extract, so after experimenting with vanilla abstract and whiskey, we determined that whiskey produced a nice, blue, glowing flame that lasted long enough for everyone to ooh and ahh and take some photos. (Don't worry, we didn't use the good whiskey from the stash. If you have any Teacher's Origin, India's finest, this is the best use we've found for it so far.)

Boo!

Muffin loved the ghost cake. I was laughing at myself the whole time I was working on it, the lengths I go to for such silliness.

Book cover image is from Amazon. Book link is an Amazon Affiliate link.

The Smallest One Was Madeline

I started thinking about Halloween costumes months ago. You need to start planning early so you can figure out what you can buy locally and what needs to be ordered from the United States. I can buy a lot of fabrics here but not a lot of other craft supplies. Some ideas were heavy on things that needed to be ordered or purchased whole rather than made. After a while I gave up the idea of a family costume and decided just to concentrate on Muffin, because my October activities calendar was filling up. Eventually I decided I could easily make one really great dress, so I gave Muffin the choice of Olivia or Madeline, two of her favorite characters.

She chose Madeline. I turned to the books for inspiration. I decided on a yellow hat and cape with a blue dress and found a vintage pattern -- 1970's Simplicity 7410 from Lanetz Living -- that was perfect for the cape and dress. I opted for the sleeveless dress because it's 80 degrees outside and it would make my life easier.

I got a little stuck on the hat. I couldn't find a suitable hat locally and I was afraid ordering one would result in a crushed hat. None of the patterns I had in my stash seemed appropriate. I turned to the internet to find hat tutorials. I couldn't find a good hat tutorial, but I did see a lot of Madeline costumes -- all of which looked like the modern cartoon rather than the classic book, which made me a little worried about my cape and my color choices. (And I'm sorry, but grown women wearing Madeline costumes rather than Madeline-inspired outfits is a little sad looking.)

Still full of indecision about the hat and having a little bit of self-doubt about the costume in general, I went fabric shopping for my blue and yellow fabrics. I knew exactly which store I wanted to go to, but my driver suggested an expo instead. Against my gut instinct I agreed to stop in at the expo. And after fifteen minutes I'd assessed the whole place as having many lovely fabrics but nothing that was anywhere near what I was looking for. It felt kind of good to continue on to the shop I'd originally asked my driver to take me to, walk in, and find the exact fabrics I wanted right away. I bought cheap "matching fabric," the material used to make the blouses worn under saris. It comes in all shades of solid colors and it was at least a cotton/poly blend if not 100% cotton (I could live with a  blend for this project.). I brought it home, washed it, realized it was a little too see-through and decided to line the dress, and gave my driver a swatch to take back to the store to buy another meters' worth for the lining. With my blue and yellow fabric and some black ribbon from the grocery store I was ready to sew a Madeline costume.

I made the cape first. Muffin was thrilled with it. As I started working on the dress she became anxious about my progress and started "working" in the sewing room with me so she could monitor how things were going. She has a Madeline doll and I keep some craft supplies especially for keeping Muffin entertained in the sewing room. While I worked on her Madeline dress she worked on clothes for her Madeline doll. It was kind of sweet and it was the first time she did independent projects while allowing me to sew, so it was a nice milestone for us.

With a Halloween party bearing down on us I still had to figure out a hat. I went back to my patterns and decided to use the sunhat from Butterick 3846 with the brim turned up. I made the brim slightly wider to give me a little more to play with. I was prepared to "starch the hell out of it," as I'd read in one of the many hat-making tutorials I'd poured over in the last few weeks, but it actually worked out quite nicely with just some interfacing. The hat and cape were so cute together that I didn't care anymore that it didn't look exactly like the book or exactly like the cartoon. Muffin looked like a little French boarding school girl and the vintage pattern added a bit of style.

Her new black Mary Janes arrived in the mail just in time to finish off the look.

Sewing Room Friday

Many people know that along with running and studying, I like to sew. It's often what takes a backseat when I'm too busy doing those other activities though. I've realized that if I don't watch as much television, cull my Google Reader to the blogs I actually enjoy reading, and spend more time doing rather than Pinning, I can actually get a lot of things done in a day. So, Sewing Room Friday. Friday afternoons are a good time because I strive to finish my weekly homework assignments on Friday morning and since I do my long runs on Saturday, I'm not running on Friday. Even if I'm only in there for an hour or two once a week, I can get some projects done.

Today while Muffin napped I dusted off my sewing table, threw some fabric in the washing machine, and traced out the Oliver + S Seashore Sundress pattern to make some party dresses for Muffin. She has her own birthday party coming up and a friend's party. I should be able to make two dresses in the next couple of weeks.

(Image from Fabric.com.)

That Room

I wouldn't sign us up for Hoarders, but we collect stuff. Mike has his cameras and his bike parts. I have fabrics and bits of paper. We both have CDs and DVDs that have been listened to or watched once. We both have old clothes. Occasionally we do go through our stuff and pare it down a bit but we still end up with that room. That room where boxes remain unpacked and stuff that we need to keep but don't use ends up. All the moving around that we do hasn't cured us of our habit of collecting things and holding on to them forever. We moved in together about eight years ago and I'm afraid we might still have boxes from that first apartment stashed away somewhere.

We've lived in our current house for almost a year. We moved in just before Christmas and the last delivery of our household effects was on New Year's Eve. So I decided that before the end of the year, I want that room cleaned up and organized. I've had a junk room rather than a sewing room and office. It was a room that Muffin had never even seen because the mess was piled so high. Even when the mold hit, I braved the room long enough to rescue some fabric but we never go to the rest of the room.

When Mike had last Friday off and we had a full staff of housekeepers and nannies to keep Muffin busy, Mike and I went in and tackled that room.

It's still not perfect but it came a long way that morning. I've sketched out a couple little work tables to be made and I've figured out my storage needs. I've found homes for two sewing machines, the printer, and the scanner. All the fabric is on shelves. Our housekeeper gladly took some of the craft supplies that I felt I no longer needed. Her daughter and young cousins keep scrapbooks and love getting my crafting hand-me-downs. Muffin sneaks in there now and marvels at the fabrics, anxious to touch them all, making little "oh, oooh," sounds.

I can't wait to start using my new sewing room office.

P.S. We've been doing some big cleanups around the house, and one morning we put out several garbage bags, including one from the catbox, because, well, we have a cat who uses the catbox so we have to throw it away. Within an hour, every garbage bag was gone from in front of our house except the one full of kitty litter. It took several days for that one to disappear. The ups and downs of having a "private" garbage man. He doesn't really have to take anything he doesn't feel isn't worth sorting through to see what can be resold. Eventually it all disappears though.

vegetable ivory and biodiesel

A few days ago I went to a shop that sells jewelry made from vegetable ivory beads. I’d never heard of vegetable ivory until my mom sent me an article about button identification and preservation a few weeks ago. Vegetable ivory is the way to go, if you want all the fun of real ivory without harming elephants.

Here in Burundi, vegetable ivory comes from the nut or seed of a locally found palm tree. I got to see the whole production process, from sawing open the nut, to dying with curry powder or other plant-based dyes, to polishing and carving, and finally stringing the beads into beautiful necklaces. The retail shop is on a compound where all the work takes place, too.

At the compound, folks are also experimenting with oil from jatropha plants. Its seeds have a high yield of highly usable oil. It can be adapted for diesel engines, lamp fuel, cooking oil, and even made into soap and candles

As an added bonus, the compound also has some fearsome guard geese, stupid turkeys, a friendly monkey, huge toads, and an owl that was sleeping. I love how everyone’s yard here is basically a petting zoo. (Clicking on the photo will take you to flickr, where there are more photos of the beads and the animals.)

Spoonflower.com

My dream of Grendel-printed fabric may come true soon! All I need is some computer elves to help make my photos the correct dpi.

Spoonflower.com

What is this? A topiary for ants?

I've been trying not to clog up this space with wedding planning. I feel there's an appropriate time and place for discussing that stuff and not everyone wants to see it take over my life. Also, there are some things Mike and I want to keep away from public consumption until our guests come and see it all for real. But this is a story that is only secondary to the wedding. This is more a story of me sharing the secret that I'm not always as clever and crafty as I'd like people to think I am.

So, we want topiaries. I found these on super-sale for $6 each at Save-on-Crafts.com. Yes, I read the description that said they are 18 inches tall but for some reason that did not register in my brain as being so short. Luckily I only bought 2, rather than the full number we'd like. When I opened the box, which was huge--very tall--I was struck by the reality of 18 inches.The damn box! I was so excited to see it was so tall that it still didn't occur to me how short 18 inches is. My damn brain, that has no idea how to estimate lengths and distance.

I have now taken out a tape measure and know I want something closer to 36 inches. But none of the tall topiaries are on super-sale for $6.