goats milk soap & organic cotton cloths

I have no idea why I've taken such a long break from my blog - I have had fun though! The best Thanksgiving ever (despite losing my granddad), tons of crafting, sewing and knitting, tons of cooking, and Christmas tree decorating and hanging out with Craig and Pipsqueak :) I am way behind in sharing my creations, so here goes!

My eldest sister got married this year (happy dances!), so for their wedding present I decided to knit up some organic cotton washcloths and pair them with homemade goats milk soap.


The cloths were very relaxing to knit - easy and elegant. Blocking is the real trick to get them to look neat and tidy.

I wrapped the soap in tissue paper and topped them with some stickers I had been saving since I was a teenager (yes I save stickers).

I also wanted to give her a little something sexy and special for her bridal shower, so I whipped up a lacy thong from some wonderfully soft and washable green merino wool from Knit Picks. I definitely want to try knitting that pattern with silk to see what a difference it makes.

I tucked the knitted goodies, and a few other good smelling goodies, into a patchwork drawstring lingerie bag. Note about this - use thin fabric! While the patchwork looks nice, the fabric is a bit too thick to gather nicely for this size bag. Next time I'll use some very thin cotton or silk.

More to come soon! This past weekend was so very fun - I made monster cookies (several dozen!), baked bread (awsome recipe here - more on this soon), cooked up some bolognese sauce (13 cups worth - my freezer is stocked with cookies and sauce!), and worked on a very special knitting project for my mum-in-law. Altogether relaxing and wonderful. This holiday season is shaping up nicely!

wire hanger

I was looking through my stuff from Italy a while ago (I did a foreign study there in 2001), I found a stack of beautiful postcards that I couldn't believe I didn't have hanging up. The trouble was how to hang them. I didn't want to tape them up, and I didn't want to just lean them against something. After looking at several wire wall card holders in places like Pottery Barn, I decided I would make my own (story of my life).

It took about 5 hangers, bascially all twisted by hand except the spirals which were twisted using pliers. 10 very sore fingers later, instant gratification without shelling out dollars for wire. Yay!

I think it's wonky shape is anthropologie-esque. I hope I'm not the only one :) Here it is holding some of my postcards:

It really does brighten up our bedroom too. I should take a picture once I have the room cleaned up a bit.

Just for fun, here's a cute pic of our little Pipsqueak asleep in his chair - adorable!

happy october!

Exciting things are happening around here... As you can see, I have gotten a beautiful pumpkin to celebrate fall - and not just any pumpkin, it's a organic pie pumpkin :) Right around Halloween I plan to bake it, puree it and make a yummy pie. It's sitting on a stack pure goodness - free, 100% cotton patches. Yes, you heard right - free! I shall reveal my secret:

Wallpaper books. If you call your local wallpaper store, they will very likely have discontinued books that they would otherwise throw away! A lot of wallpaper books have fabric samples too, which is where I got that beautiful stack. I swear it's like gold to me.

There you can see a fabric patch that perfectly matches the wallpaper sample. I haven't even begun to sing the praises of the actual wallpaper - it can be used for wrapping paper, book-binding, decoupage, note cards, etc. Anything you can use fancy paper for, you got it.

Gold baby, pure gold.

This is how many patches came from seven wallpaper books.


I was positively hopping with glee. Take a look at some of these beauties:

That round of books and fabric was particularly wonderful - I doubt I'll be that lucky again. I did go to another local wallpaper store and managed to get another 10 books (!) and 15 fabric books (!!!). Not quite as fantasmagorical as the last bunch, but beautiful in their own right. I have to sort the fakey fabrics from the cotton and silk ones. Lots of projects are looming on the horizon!

Once I deconstruct the fabric books and sort the fabrics by fiber, I'll start the washing, drying and ironing phase like with the last bunch. Gotta love eco-friendly free crafts, even if they do involve some work.

Soon I will post photos of two finished sewing projects (hint: they are wearable). I hope you all have a wonderful start to fall - and lots of pumpkin :)

labor day weekend labor part 2

As promised, here is the white flower tee modeled. It looks quite different on a body than on a bed. I'm very pleased with how this came out - I definitely plan to make more (I have lots of H's old undershirts to play with). I'm considering adding a few more ruffly flowers to the neckline to thicken it up a bit.

Among other things, I got necklace happy this past weekend. There are some hits and misses, but all fun :) This red one is my favorite, and really the reason I started messing about with beads. I had this in my head for a few days, begging to be made. The beads are super cheap glass which I had for some reason or other, but they do look rather nice and modern done up this way.


This next one is what I'm wearing right now - it's super simple and (I think) chic. Just a champagne-clear glass bead on a gold chain. I paired it the other day with freshwater pearls.


For this one, I painted little wooden beads with red nail polish and strung them on the same gold chain. Fantastically light weight, and reminds me of cranberries and Christmas!


This next one is clear glass beads on a blue ribbon. Probably the least versatile, but I still like it. It was inspired by the jewelry on this wiksten post.


Following the same simple modern idea, I tried a few large wooden beads on my gold chain - I've already worn this to work, and I like it so far.

It is rdiculously late to show this, but here is the "after" photo of the jacket refashion I began in June of 2008 (here's the "before" picture) - good heavens, that took a while to get posted.

Here you can see the original idea I found online on the left, and the final result of my refashion on the right. Not too far off the mark.


Anyway, I love it and wear it a ton.


I had to rig a diamond shaped patch on the back to cover up where I took in the back - I am no expert after all :)

More pictures to come soon...

Benjamin Bear

May I introduce Benjamin Bear, a soon-to-be baby gift, commissioned by my mom. Benjamin is a very distinguished fellow, as you can see by his proper nose and mouth, and no-nonsense eyes. He is the contemplative sort - a bit of an amateur philosopher, really.

Pattern: Knitted Toys from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Yarn: Sublime 100% merino wool, DK weight

Needles: US5 Circulars (16" and 24" - helpful to have the two different lengths to distinguish the beginning of the round without a marker)

Modifications: I used DK weight yarn instead of sport weight, so I didn't hold the yarn double. Also, I noticed an error in the pattern when you get to the shoulder reductions - if you follow the instructions, the bear would have a shoulder sticking out the back and front. I must have read it 50 times and I declare it doesn't make sense the way it's written. I also totally winged it on the ears. The placement of the markers (and lack of extremely clear instructions for how to run the yarn inside the bear), left me eyeballing where the ears should be and how to weave the yarn so it would cinch up properly. Lastly, as you see he is wearing the kerchief rather than the recommended scarf. I simply didn't have yarn thin enough to make a nicely draping scarf. The kerchief pattern was also more exciting and fun :)

I used regular cotton thread for the eyes and nose/mouth, which I think finished him off nicely. The polyfil (fakey fake - but actually quite soft and spongey) turned out well, but does show through a bit.

I think Benjamin is excited to gaze out of new windows soon :) I sent him off with my parents yesterday after their first ever stay with H and I. We had a thrilling, sweet and wonderful weekend celebrating my dad's birthday. Great times. I want more!

Oh, and our local windowsill frog would like to say "hullo!"

yo-yo barrettes

i don't think i've shared these little barrettes with you yet. i was inspired by angry chicken's tutorial to cover some of my plain metal barrettes with felt and give to my sisters as stocking stuffers. i modified angry chicken's directions a bit because the felt "sleeping bag" kept slipping off the barrette. grrr. so i basically cut out two barrette shapes from the felt and sewed them together, then made a little slit on the back and squeezed the barrette inside. it was much trickier this way, but resulted in a very snug and secure fit.

i experimented with buttons and felt shapes, but was frustrated by my lack of cute buttons, and how fiddly the felt was. instead i added tiny yo-yo's (see heather bailey's tutorial) with a single bead center. cute! fun! albeit a bit fiddly.

my favorite part of the whole project was putting them on card stock as the "packaging." it made them seem half-way professional and very festive!

short and stout

here are the other christmas goodies which i've only now gotten around to posting. incidentally i've decided to channel e. e. cummings and see how writing in all lowercase feels. my "square" self is having paroxysms. my "hippie" self feels rather cool...


this little beauty was created by my multi-talented sister. she is MUCH better and more inventive than me at hand-building ceramics. i find myself at home on the potter's wheel, but i just haven't gotten into a groove with hand-building. at least not yet - it seems too much like a chore. if i hang out long enough with pooky brains (aforementioned artistic hand-building ceramicist sister), her enthusiasm just might rub off!


look at the little curly-q handle! it's just so cute!!! every time i see it, i am transported to a proper woodland tea party outdoors. i've just got to come up with a use for this thing - soy sauce dispenser? no?

it has found quite a happy home on our little cafe dining table. it's the perfect simple decoration between holidays.


when i was at summer camp in my very first ceramics class, i was determined, determined i say, to make a teapot. it is one my biggest creative failures that i have not been able to make a teapot yet. it is the whale to my ahab.

lastly i want to show off the gorgeous magnets she made! don't you just love the seashells? the tree? the artsy heart? the sweet little leaves? these have raised the artistic value of my refrigerator considerably.

soon i want to show you some sewing i've done and haven't posted about. most of it is pretty old, but it's still fun to share :)

Handmade Goodies

Allow me to introduce some beautiful gifts from my siblings. My brother-in-law made two gorgious pens on a lathe, one for me and one for H.


The blue one is mine, and is made from a material I don't recall which was apparently very difficult to work with (sounds like me). The wooden one is H's, and is made from discarded wooden trim my BIL found in New York when they were helping us move. That means so much to H that he nearly killed me when I dropped it. Ahee. He has it hanging on one of our little entry way hooks so he can see it as he comes and goes everyday.


This gift is super special - it's not handmade, but it means ever so much. I used to have one of these when I was little, and I of course broke it to bits and cried a river. It's a seashell coin purse, which is ideal considering I've just moved to the beach.


I seriously considered putting it in my new purse, but I remembered crying over the last one, so this one is sitting safely on my bookshelf. I haven't decided yet what I should put in it...any ideas?


This wonderful stuff is handmade facial cleanser from my SIL. It is wonderful stuff. She has rosemary mixed in which is one of my favorite smells. This is just gritty enough for exfoliation, while still being gentle - it leaves the skin soft as a flower petal. Cheers!


This is also from my SIL, though you can see it's not handmade. I just aboslutely love the design of the tube - it makes me happy everytime I see it :) It also smells heavenly and is shea butter!

In my next post I need to show off pictures of my most intricate handmade gift from my sister. I'll give you a hint - it's short and stout :)

Winging It

I am very proud to present my very first sewing project made without a pattern! I kept seeing all these beautiful purses all over the internet, all the while mentally tweaking the shapes and colors to fit my needs. This is by no means perfect, I am thrilled with the results of my first flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sewing adventure :)

I used my wonderful canvas weight fabric obtained from a discarded futon cushion cover in New York (I had to wash it twice to feel comfortable using it - heh). H likes the rose pattern so much he has decided to make peace with the fabric's seedy past. Hehe. The black strap and end pieces are suede - so soft! - which were harvested from a very old, oversized 90's style leather jacket. My sisters and I all wore it when we were teenagers, and while I did try to give it a happy home in my closet, it was just sooooooo worn and out of style.


I think it likes its new stylish life as a purse.

The zipper is from a make-up bag I acquired somewhere...not sure exactly. At my old job I frequently got leftover goodies from my bosses' travels. I have a small collection of cosmetics bags from various airlines and corporate party favors. The lining of this purse is the black canvas side of a black pastic-y travel bag. This gives it some heft without using interfacing.

I had way too much fun loading the new purse with my goodies. Note my super special change purse from my sisters, and H's old cell phone. Why is his old cell phone in my purse you ask? Welp, my phone decided to commit suicide out of my bike basket on the beach over Christmas break. My dad found it half-drowned in a tidepool. It does still work, but it has some very odd ticks now. Ahem. I liked H and my old phones much better anyhow, so I'm back to cuter ringtones and the pretty silver exterior. The battery doesn't hold up as well as a new phone, but it lasts all day and that's all I could ask for, or need really. I have an upgrade coming up in September, so let's hope I can keep everything zipped and dry until then :)