Another present I made for my mom this year was a mini crazy quilt project....well, 5 mini crazy quilt projects, really. I was going to post a link to a tutorial on crazy quilt piecing, but in a [cursory] search, I was disappointed with the lack of a good tutorial with fabrics that you wouldn't associate with your great Aunt Tessie. (subtle HP reference there for those of you who are HP literate) So maybe later this spring, I'll have to post a tutorial complete with step-by-step pictures (because it's kind of hard to explain if you don't already know what you're doing). It's a method of quilting that does not require any precision whatsoever in measuring, cutting, or sewing. It's basically like putting together a fabric puzzle or collage based on color and composition. So due to its great right-brain/left-brain-ed-ness, it's probably my favorite way to sew.
Anyway, what with my mom's knee surgery and all, I figured that she would need something to do that would require her to sit still. She's been doing a lot of knitting, but I wanted to give her the opportunity to mix it up a little bit. She used to make these purses where she would crazy quilt the top and then embroider all sorts of lovely stitches all over them. (I get my love of hand-stitching--actually, I get just about every crafty thing I do as well as a majority of my personality, quippy sayings, and general way of being--from my mom.) I don't think she's made one in a long while, so I thought I should remind her how awesome (and how much fun) they are.
In addition to sewing up the tops, I also sent along coordinating fabrics so my mom would be able to finish the purses and sell them or use them or give them away. This was a "process over product" sort of gift, which is probably the kind that suits my mom best. She is a woman of constant motion, so I was glad to aid the motion of her fingers while preserving the rest of her knee.
In addition to Miss Sadie Joy, my family drew my mom and dad in our Giberson Christmas lottery. You'll have to wait to see what I gave my dad because it's one of the more impressive and extensive things I've ever made. For my mom, I did a sampling of littler presents...nothing very grand but all given much thought and made with love.
At the beginning of November, my mom had knee surgery. I'll save you all the gory details and all of the reasons it's totally unlikely that my mom would rest through the prescribed recovery period and just suffice it to say that I went down to Jersey for an extra week before Thanksgiving to help out. In the midst of helping to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner, I noticed that my mom was in need of a few things in the kitchen: kitchen towels, potholders, and trivets. So I set to work on putting together a lovely little set of trivety* goodness.
*Trivety is a word that I have invented to mean having the properties of a trivet, which are to save whatsoever you desire from getting a nasty surface burn. You're welcome, English language.
I originally thought about buying plain towels and appliqueing on them and making potholders from scratch, but then I got reasonable and went to Target. I found a set of blue kitchen towels that I liked and set to work crocheting a few trivets. I started each using this book of crochet motifs and then improvised my own extra rows if the pattern was too small. Here's how they turned out:
(Click to see in more detail.)
I made a few of these a while back just because I wanted to make them. I didn't know what I would ever use them for, but I wanted to try my hand at some crochet motifs beyond the simple granny square. I really enjoyed making them but since they didn't have much utility, I forgot all about them and hadn't made any since. But recently, I've been using them as trivets and hot pot lid grabbers. They are absolutely perfect when you have something that's too hot for your hand but not quite hot enough to justify putting on the full oven mitt. So there you have it: trivety pot lid grabbers.
So...towels, check (thanks to Target). Trivets...check (thanks to the magic of crochet motifs). Now for the pot holders. I found some simple potholders (also at Target) that I intended to embroider. But as impeccable as my hand-stitching is, it is not one of my speedier skills, and that Christmas clock just doesn't yield to embroidery. Also, I figured that potholders need to hold up in the washing machine, and I didn't want my handiwork to unravel. So I decided to use fabric paint instead.
I had done freezer paper stenciling once before on a lion burp cloth for Judah. (It's cooler than it sounds, but it has gone missing, so I can't prove that.) The lion was pretty detailed but it was nothing compared to my idea for the potholders. I wanted to copy the design on the set of towels I bought. But my freehand drawing skills are just not up to snuff with my visionary skills. So I brought the towels up on the Target website and traced them. Then I traced the design onto freezer paper and proceeded to cut it out with an exacto-knife. Twice. (Because you need 2 matching potholders, obviously.) I ironed my stencils onto the potholders, sponge brushed the paint in, peeled off the stencil, and voila! Custom potholders to match the kitchen towels! (For a thorough tutorial on freezer paper stenciling, check this out. It's even Harry Potter themed.)
The paint ran a little, which is disappointing. I'm not sure if I used the wrong kind of paint or just applied too much or if the design was too intricate to hold up or if I didn't iron well enough or if the fabric isn't conducive to this procedure. But in the end, they are still functional and prettier than they were before I put my hand to them, so I am satisfied.
And now my mom has a complete set of kitchen linens to cook the day away without further damaging the nerve endings in her hands. How perfectly trivety!
2011 was the Christmas of a ridiculous amount of felting. I had several very large, time-consuming projects to complete, so it was nice to be able to mix it up here and there with something little and not quite as time-consuming. One such little project was for Jason. One of Jason's new favorite movies is Despicable Me. It's about a villain named Gru who is trying to pull the biggest heist of his career. To aid him in all of his despicable plots, Gru has hundreds of little minions.
The minions are by far my favorite part of the movie. Here's a trailer featuring them:
I decided that Jason needed a special little team of his own to do his bidding at his new job as a junior high and high school Bible teacher. Originally, I was just going to make one minion, but who has ever heard of having a singular minion? That's just totally ridiculous. So I made him a pair. And here they are...Jason's very own desk minions, ready to commence the most dastardly scheme he can conjur...which will most likely be...midterms. Dun-dun-DUH!!!
And by "ready" I mean that they are actually goofing off in Santa's sleigh at the moment. But they're minions. What else did you expect?
The Giberson clan has grown to quite an impressive number. In the past three years, the number of third generationers has gone from 0 to 5. So add parents, siblings, and husbands, and Christmas had gotten very expensive. So this year, we decided to draw names for present giving, and each person had a $50 limit. As it happened, Jason and Sadie drew each other. Sadie joined the family just 6 months ago. She slid gracefully into the world after just 2 pushes. (Megan is a champ birther. It took me 2 hours of pushing to get Judah out.) Sadie is just the calmest, sweetest, quietest little angel of a baby ever. (I think Jesus decided that Molly fulfilled Megan and Justin's racket quota and rewarded them with one of the most easy-going babies of all time.) She gets prettier and sweeter every day. She is 100% go with the flow. She is content to lay peacefully wherever you put her and even let you eat your dinner. She's basically a miracle of a baby.
See how go with the flow she is?
Since there are now 2 Benson girls, Megan has transformed their bedroom into girly glory, complete with pink painted birdhouses and a tree mural and mobiles with birds and flowers. It's quite lovely. So for Christmas, I decided to contribute to the decor by making Sadie a blanket to match the one I made for Molly's thunder shower. I bought a plain white quilt from Ikea and set out to make a duvet cover. I pulled out the remaining fabric from Molly's, and much to my dismay, I didn't have what I needed. The yardage added up, but it would require cutting and piecing, and any way I put it together, it just looked like I did it that way because I didn't have enough fabric. So I set out to the fabric store where I purchased Molly's fabric over 2 years ago, desperately hoping that they still had the fabric I needed in stock. And low and behold, miracle of miracles, they did!! So I did a little happy dance, got just what I needed, headed home, and sewed up this little blanket for little Sadie Joy.
(close-up to show off the pretty fabric)
Now Molly and Sadie's cribs can be all matchy matchy in auntrobinmade warmth. Sweet dreams, Sadie Joy Benson!
When I first found out I was pregnant, I couldn't wait to start making things for my baby. I was thoroughly impatient to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl so I would know what color yarn to buy. At 18 weeks, I saw Judah for the first time and instantly fell in love. But Jason and I had only agreed on girls' names. So right after the ultrasound, we went to Panera, and I said we weren't leaving until we agreed on 3 boy's names that we both liked. We decided on Jacob Alexander, James Richard, and Judah Benjamin. Once that was settled, we headed to A.C. Moore for some yarn. I picked out a few and started crocheting blankets. I wanted to experiment with variegated yarn because I love colors but hate having to weave in the ends when I switch yarns.
The first one I started remains unfinished because I ran out of yarn and can't decide what to do with it. But even in its unfinished state, it came to the hospital when Judah was born back in March, and it was the first mommamade goodness that ever wrapped him up:
The hat was made by my lovely friend Heater, artist and crafter extraordinaire. You can check out her blog here.
The second blanket I started for Judah presented several challenges:
It took me forever to decide on a pattern. I searched and searched: google searches, ravelry searches, crochet book searches...but nothing was quite good enough for this yarn that I was so in love with. So I decided to make up a pattern of my own: just a simple shell stitch. It was perfect for how often my yarn switched colors. In the end, I decided to add a half-double crochet border, which also worked nicely with the rate of variegation and gave it a nice finished look. Problem solved.
I ran out of yarn. (I've learned my lesson, and now I know to buy way more yarn than I think I need for a project.) It took several months and several desperate trips to A.C. Moore before they stocked it again, and when it finally came in, it was a different dye lot, so the colors were slightly different. But I dug through the bin to find one that was close enough that I don't think anyone would ever notice. Problem solved.
My new skein of yarn had the colors in reverse order. So I had to pull from the outside of the skein instead of the inside. Granted, this is not a big deal, but it did result in some nasty, time-consuming tangles. Luckily, next to my impeccable hand-stitching, untangling is one of my most advanced skills. Problem solved.
My beautifully variegated yarn was naturally creating a perfectly randomized spattering of color. But then, out of nowhere, for No Good Reason, it started patterning!! Looking down at the blanket, I was horrified to find about six inches of very distinct stripes. I pulled it out and did it all again. Same thing. I tried varying my tension. No difference. I pulled it out and tried again with even weirder tension tricks. Still striped. I walked away and tried again a few days later. Stripes stripes stripes. I must have pulled it out and tried again a good half dozen times. Maybe more. I finally settled into defeat. The blanket would just have some stripes in it that I would probably be the only one to notice. Problem accepted.
Judah was born, and I ran out of time to devote to crocheting. But I decided that 9 months was long enough to wait for a complete mammamade present, and I determined to finish it for Christmas. And I did. Problem solved.
And here it is:
Do you see the stripes? Even now they drive me a little crazy. I have to force myself to not think about them.
Half double crochet border.
(For those of you who are not crocheters, I am not being redundant--half double is different from a single crochet.)
And here's Judah opening it up on Christmas morning:
Momma, you made this for me?
Yes, Judah. Yes I did. It only took me about a year.
That's great, Mom. But this box is ever cooler!!
Where's Judah?
There he is!
Cozy up, little man.
And there you have it. Judah's first completed mommamade present. I don't think he's very impressed, but I'm quite happy with it. I love how the shell stitch shows off the colors. And it's a good size for the crib and for a little playmat. Despite all the issues it presented, I really enjoyed making it, and I've decided that it's going to be my go-to pattern if I ever need to make another baby blanket. And now that I have it all figured out, I just might be able to finish another in less than a year.
The past two months have been a frenzy of making...a veritable smorgasbord of craft. My apartment was in a constant state of creative chaos. Every waking moment that Judah was kind enough to spare me, I was sewing, felting, quilting, crocheting, painting, or embroidering. It was by far my most handmade Christmas ever, and even in the midst of the constant stress of the ticking calendar and having SO MUCH TO DO, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Obviously, I couldn't share anything with you before Christmas, but now that Christmas is Christmas past, I am happy to have a little daily show and tell party with all my Christmas makes. There are at least ten that I can think of off the top of my head, so my goal is to share one for each day until I run out. And then my goal is to start making Christmas decorations for myself for next year (before I pack up this year's decorations), and when that starts happening, I'll share those, too.
But tonight, I'll just leave you with the anticipation of it all and a "Happy New Year!" Because really, I think the best part of New Year's is thinking about all of the good things to come. :o)
I've REALLY been wanting to get back into blogging. We moved into our new apartment over a month ago. It's a rental, but I love it anyway...despite our really noisy upstairs neighbors, who are listening to Christmas music this morning...not cool, people. It's November 9th.
I admit that I've been thinking about Christmas and trying to get into Christmas production since August. I wanted to go mostly homemade this year. There's no good reason not to. I'm home with Judah all day, every day, and he is usually a very good napper. Judah finally has his own room, which means I get a crafting space again. And I had all these great ideas and all these great intentions of starting early...
But now it is November 9th. Occasionally Jason will say things like, "There's less than 7 weeks til Christmas," or "Yes, Robin. It's November," or "I get to see my family soon" (it's his family's year for Christmas), and my response is always "I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!!!" I think he started saying those things to get me excited about Christmas. Now he just does it 'cause he thinks it's funny that he can make me panic on command.
So not only are my neighbors annoying because they are Christmasing WAY too early--which I HATE. (I have very strict rules about holiday traditions, one of which is that Christmas does NOT start until AFTER Thanksgiving.) But they are also reminding me that I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!!!
(I generally think that writing in all caps is really annoying, so I try to avoid doing it whenever possible, especially when I have emphasizers like bold, italics, and underline available. That just goes to show you how EMPHATIC I am about this.)
So...all that to say, I actually have gotten started on Christmas crafting. And I've wanted to share some makes with you, but...obviously, I can't do that...because they're for Christmas. But today, my sister Amy posted about some AWESOME Halloween costumes she made for her boys, and that reminded me of the costume I made for my boy, which is much less impressive but nevertheless warrants a post because of how cute Judah is.
So, without further ado, here is my Halloween post:
(Actually, just a little more ado...every time I write Halloween, I sing in my head a song I learned in 3rd grade from our terrible music teacher, who used to throw books and desks at students. It goes "H, A, double L, O, W, double E, N spells Halloween." Without that song, I cannot spell Halloween. I wouldn't even know where to start.)
I debated for a long time whether or not Judah would get a Halloween costume this year. I wanted to make him a lion costume, but I knew I wouldn't have time in the midst of the Christmas crafting I am SOOO behind on. We could have bought one, but we were waiting for this perfect costume at Target to go on sale, which it never did, and then it sold out. My indecision took me to the morning of Halloween. I wasn't going to take him trick-or-treating because: 1) we got 6 inches of snow that weekend--which I think was just another way Christmas is trying to remind me it is coming whether I am ready or not--and Halloween night was a toasty 35 degrees, and 2) people would have known that I was way too old to go trick-or-treating and was just using my adorable baby as a way of getting free candy for myself. And Jason was taking the youth group trick-or-treating, so I wasn't going to host a costume party by myself just so Judah could have something to dress up for. And we live in an apartment building, so I knew we weren't going to get trick-or-treaters. So why bother, right?
But in the end, Halloween morning rolled around, and I felt that not having a costume for Judah's first Halloween meant that I was a terrible mother. I decided that I needed to make him a costume so I could take pictures of him in it and prove my love for him so that years from now, he couldn't say, "You don't love me, and I know that because you didn't dress me up for my first Halloween." Taking inventory of Judah's wardrobe and the portion of my craft supplies I have unpacked, I had to ruled out lion, lion tamer, Daniel in the lion's den, and a snowman (in ironic memorializing of the unseasonable weather). And I settled on a lumberjack. Why? Because his flannel shirt, jeans, and boots happened to be next to each other in his pile of clothes that are still awaiting a dresser. So no cute cleverness to celebrate his name. No important reason or hidden meaning or funny story that I would remember forever and tell his future girlfriends. Just general messiness and chaos yielding uncharacteristically helpful results.
I had a hat I'd crocheted for his cousin. I had the shirt, jeans, and boots. Now all he needed was a beard and an axe, and I could call it a day. Mission motherhood accomplished. I had some brown jersey fabric that would do for a beard. I'd never sewn with jersey before, but I used a zigzag stitch, and it did the trick famously. And I threw together an axe in about 5 minutes. And here are the results:
And the money shot:
I decided to give you the whole photo shoot, since that was the point after all. Judah actually did really well with the beard. He didn't mind it at all. He was much more interested in the boots.
And...just for good measure, here is the song that was in my head all day on H A double L O W double E N:
