wise craft

featured sponsor fabric crush

I am so excited to talk up the newest featured sponsor on wise craft, Fabric Crush. A local shop here in Seattle, one of my favorite places to visit any time I have even just 5 minutes to spare. (You see, when my kids went to school nearby, sometimes all I did have was 5 minutes, and I would beeline it over for a little fabric fix.)

The first thing you should know is that the shop simply glows. No kidding! Located in the historic Wallingford Center, even on the dreariest of days, those tall windows flood the space with light. The first time I walked in this space I thought it felt practically angelic! I needed to buy something, the heavens were telling me to!

Sarah, the owner, has a knack for picking the best of the best in quilting fabric, and is very enthusiastic about carrying fabrics made locally here in the northwest. There is a nice hand-picked selection of quilting cottons, home decor weight fabrics, laminated cottons, sewing supplies, patterns, and beautiful books to get inspiration from. And they have recently updated their website with an online shop if you can't make it into the store. But if you're local, and if you've ever had even the slightest urge to sew something, anything, I really urge you to stop in. The folks there will help you find what you need, give you tips on how to get started, and advice on where to begin.

 

Or you can take a class there! My friend Katie teaches some great ongoing Improv Quilt Workshops and Half Square Triangle classes. You may recall that she was the one who got me moving on my very colorful and super warm (flannel-backed) Stash Value Quilt, which is frequently fought over and well-loved in our family room these days. You can find out the latest shop news and info on the blog.

I have been known to teach a Sewing 101 class there on occasion, just sayin...

Stop in, they are such nice folks. You can add to your fabric stash, then next door you can add to your yarn stash, and just a few steps away you can top it off with cupcakes!

Welcome Fabric Crush! And thank you to all the sponsors who support what I do here on wise craft. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor on wise craft, please email me at wisecraftblog@gmail.com for details.

collaboration

Saturday afternoon crafting with Emma while listening to This American Life. A project inspired by this lovely book. 

Wait till you see what you have to put in it!

chalkboard

I have to agree with Molly. I definitely smell Fall. The smells of freshly sharpened #2 pencils and new backpacks. Daily discussions slowly evolving from "where's my super soaker?" to "it says I need a solar calulator".

Another summer is coming to an end. I even changed my blog banner. Well, I realize its not quite Fall, but pretend it is. I'm ready.

I have been getting the family organized and ready to jump into a little more routine around here. I admit that this kind self-imposed preparing for Fall ritual seems to suit me, if no one else in the family. I mean, we would probably all get to where we needed to be even if I hadn't taken the time to pull out the ratty old hats and mittens that don't fit anymore, and lovingly wash and lay out to dry the ones that do. A solar calculator would certainly surface somewhere in this house. Garage sales don't have to happen. But, still, I like to give it all just a little helping hand. That's what we moms do.

For a long time now, I have been writing the family's weekly schedule on a piece of wood that I painted with chalkboard paint and hung on a small angled part of the wall between our living room and the kitchen. As with many of my projects, Peter shook his head the day I nailed it up, not understanding why I had to change yet another element of his orderly surroundings. He would get the kids to write anonymous messages on it for me, like "why do we have this chalkboard here", things like that. But I pshaw'ed them and continued to write our activities on it. I mean, it certainly helped me to keep track, if no one else.

Soon enough though, I realized the kids had started to rely on it. I would see them stumble in to breakfast and look over at it with a sleepy stare each morning. They were actually reading and relying on it. Peter almost once said something like "but it wasn't written down...?". uh-huh...

I haven't filled it out all summer and have been reprimanded several times by Ian. Words are quite powerful to that one. "I like to see it blank sometimes" I would say, but that didn't appease him. Plus, I had started to resent the size of that board. It was a little small for our seemingly busy little lives, and I was thankful not to have to cram words like "soccer game at 2:00, birthday party at 4:00, do homework sheet, find empty shoebox for school", all on Sunday's little space on the board.

So, with impending Fall and back to school, last weekend I decided to paint the entire area of wall in chalkboard paint, and get rid of the small chalkboard all together.

Imagine the shock and awe.

Now there is plenty of room, there's even chalkboard area we can't reach. I ordered one of Shanna's wall decals to go around the cuckoo clock at the top. That clock never worked, and, well, you know me and spray paint, we are a good match. I like it better green. And I like the chalkboard bigger. And I like that me writing our days on it is such a good tool for my kids.

 

And because I can never leave a surface untouched around our house, I added a little color to the eraser by gluing a piece of fabric on it (not quite dry here in this photo). The eraser sits on the corner of our mantle, so I felt it needed to be presentable.

tiny things are cute free shipping extended!

Just got word from sponsor Tiny Things Are Cute that the free shipping offer has been extended through the end of September! So go get those stocking stuffers!

Thanks Caryn!

assemble

Emma and I spent a lovely afternoon recently at Assemble, in the Phinney neighborhood of Seattle, and I wanted to let locals know about it. I had driven by and noticed it several weeks ago, and that same week my friend Sam sent me the list of classes they offer, nudging me to sign Emma up to take a class with her daughters, so I her up for the flag banner sewing class. Emma can already use a sewing machine very well, and could probably make one of these with the fabric I have at home, but isn't it a lot more fun to be in a class environment (complete with supplied snacks?) 

What a sweet shop! Part carefully curated artist's goods for sale, part workshop and studio, it offers ongoing artist's showings (a little bird told me that Lisa will have a show there in 2011!) as well as instructional classes for kids and adults on everything from crochet to bookbinding to sewing to whatever you want to learn. I believe they also open their space up for parties as well. It has a welcoming atmosphere, everybody feels right at home when they walk in.

If you live locally, please stop by and say hello to Andie and Emily and have a look around. Oh! I believe they are in the newest issue of Sunset Magazine as well.

OK, Sam are you in for crochet??? Who else local is ready to learn crochet?? Let me know, let's learn at Assemble!

(Sorry about the bad photos, taken with my phone).

i'm still here

...just knee deep in the last week of summer vacation. Be back momentarily.

interior inspiration and a couple of public service announcements

There are few interior magazines I really enjoy these days, so many of the best ones (to me, at least) went away. (Peter, thank you for asking if you should save all those Domino and Blueprint Magazines during the book cleanout of the summer 2010.)

One I still get giddy about is Living Etc. Even though most everything in it is well out of the realm of possibility for me and my decorating budget, I continue to be inspired with every issue. With so many interior magazines, I put it down with a sigh, feeling as if everything in it is out of my range. I never feel that way with Living Etc, how do they manage that?

I just can't stop looking at the lovely interior shots of textile designer Diane Bergeron's home, in the August 2010 issue. All that white with small bursts here and there of some of my favorite strong colors...cornflower blue, leafy greens, reds, blacks... Seems like its just the right amount.

 

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I wanted to let locals know about Seattle Square, an outdoor market in Pioneer Square featuring some really talented artisans, crafters, and etsy sellers from our area (this is how I discovered Deviant Decor and I'm in love with her pieces). Every weekend until the end of September. Be sure to check it out (maybe I'll see you there!)

I'm currently doing some research for a client on local mom blogs. This is not a genre I regularly read, so if you have favorite sources, from the Seattle area, I'd love to hear about them.

OK, back soon.

yarn-wrapped hangers

Until I dive in and finally learn to crochet (at which point I will make a bazillion of these), here is a super easy way to cover a hanger with yarn. I love simple, quick projects like this that take ordinary, household things we use every day and make them more noticeable and interesting. If you've got a stash of yarn you're trying to work your way through like me, try this. Its easy to get the hang of, and even kids can do it with a little help getting started.

Yarn wrapped hangers

Supplies:

Yarn in an assortment of colors (I would recommended worsted weight or thicker, thinner yarn is harder to control (in the top photo you can see the hanger I wrapped with different thicknesses of yarn to test them out)

wooden hangers

white glue

scissors

(optional) needle with an eye large enough to thread your yarn through

To Make:

1. Pick your first yarn color and, starting at the left side of the hanger, tie a knot around the hanger width (I tied my knot to begin about 1" in from the edge of the hanger, leaving the hanger's ends unwrapped, you may choose to wrap yours).

 

2. You want to thread the yarn around the needle by looping it, similar to a knitting cast on with one knitting needle (much easier than it sounds). If this makes absolutely no sense, this video may help make it clearer, but only if you pretend the knitting needle she's using is a hanger. Starting on the opposite side of the hanger, loop the yarn around the hanger like I've done in the photo below-

 

Pull that loop nice and snug, lining it up directly beside the first loop. Catch the tail of the knot in the loop. Like this-

 

3. After you've made 4 or so loops, pull them away from the edge slightly and put a dab of glue on both sides of the hanger. Slide those end loops back over the glue. This will hold the edges in place.

 

4. Continue making these loops across the hanger, switching colors as you like. When you switch colors, you'll tie the new color on, position the knot on the bottom, and catch the tail as you continue making loops.

 

This all starts to move pretty quickly. Before you know it, you have made a pretty pattern-

 

I'm totally addicted to these, I can make one in about 20 minutes. I've temporarily put down my hands busy blanket in favor these. Before you know it I will have no yarn left. Good excuse to buy more. (Who said that?)

And thank you for Ian's birthday wishes! More soon!

still my baby, though

My baby turned 9 on Tuesday. (And he would be very upset if he knew I was referring to him as "baby" anything, so don't tell him.) He completely geeked out on his birthday (more on that soon), and we just geeked out right there with him. He asked to go the Science Fiction Museum (who am I to refuse him?)

Several weeks ago we were looking at family video when the kids were little. There are many of the little things that I remember about both my kids when they were little. Seems like with child #2, the things I remember are more accidental, a little more surprising, perhaps because I wasn't paying as much attention? I don't know. Here's a few things I remember about Ian as a baby/toddler-

-He spit up constantly.

-He spit up on every close friend and family member that ever held him.

-And then he would proceed to poop out the side of his diaper.

-We always knew all of this was coming, so I brought lots of extra clothes for him whenever we left the house, my car looked like we might be moving.

-I brought extra clothes for me too.

-He smiled constantly.

-Even when he was spitting up.

-Even when he was pooping.

-He loved this book so much he could recite the animal sound on every page long before he could talk.

-We reprinted the pages of the book and hung them up in his room.

-I could listen to him recite the pages from his crib when he would wake up from his naps.

-He doesn't remember any of this.

-That's why I'm glad we have it on video.

-He was an extremely fast crawler.

-He didn't walk until he was 15 months old.

-Why walk when its so easy to crawl? We would say.

-He was always smiling when he was crawling.

-Look at this picture and understand why our favorite phrase at that stage of his life was "I'm gonna squeeze his guts out."?

 

-I still want to squeeze his guts out. 

-And the good thing is, he'll still let me.

Happy Birthday Ian, I'm so proud to see you grow up every day.

 

"hands busy" blanket

I'm beginning to think my stash yarn may actually become a blanket someday. I started this back to basics knitting project a while ago you might recall, and in the months since, I've been sporadically picking up the needles and knitting a square when Peter and I are watching movies in the evenings. In my mind I've named it the "hands busy" blanket because its been a great deterrent to night snacking, a big pitfall for my diet. Plus these are just garter stitches (knit every stitch, every row), so there's no counting, no looking actually, once I get my rhythm, I can just go go go.

I got a little discouraged yesterday when I started figuring up exactly how many of these squares I will actually need to make a decent sized blanket. Around 72-ish squares. Um....yeah....that feels like a lot.

But then I went through my stash of felted sweaters and found a few pieces (plus a couple found since this photo) that I can cut into squares and add to the blanket. Might be kind of cool to mix the textured squares, and I'll be using up more of my stash of craft supplies, which never seems to end.

Now I'm excited again!