July 10, 2007
Hue Cues
There's a riot growing outside my front door and it's slowly moving into the adjacent studio...
Posted by Steph at 06:24 AM | Comments (1)
January 30, 2007
This one's for you, Dad!
I hear you've been wearing the wool beanie a lot (the first beanie that I ever knit, which wound up being too short, that I nonetheless gave you for Christmas). Well, although it may be very sentimental to you, I insist you try this one that I knit the other night. It's the perfect neutral Shetland virgin wool, and it'smells so rich with lanolin, you'd think they built the wool from the extract up. It's soft and I didn't make ANY mistakes either. It's so genius. And it's all YOURS. Enjoy!
Posted by Steph at 06:58 AM | Comments (7)
October 18, 2006
Raise Your Hand If You're Sick of Circuitboards...
We aren't! We, being everyone in this household besides myself. We like to carry little palm-sized circuitboards around all day, clenched in the grimy sweat of dirty boy hands; we have a pizza box full of different sized circuitboards in the boy's room (the brains of a computer mouse, calculator, motherboard, to name a few); we leave them at the center of little robot crime scenes across the living room floor (and it really hurts to step on them, DAMNIT FORD).
All this deconstruction has led to a massive reconstruction project of knee-patching, due to all the time Ford spends on the floor laboring over his electronic hardware. Of all designing I could put into a knee patch, I never would have guessed he'd ask for circuitboards. Never in my life. So here we go:
Git yerself 2 layers to quilt with: fleece makes it squishy, cotton is a nice outer layer. Kids pick the colors if they're lucky. Cut to size (to cover at least an inch around the perimeter of the holes? Use your judgement). I used the regular straight-stitch foot on my sewing machine to embroider the circuitboard design thingy, then I sewed around the perimeter of the patch. I then overlapped the edges with the cotton, ironed everything flat.
Next, I cut a piece of Heatbon UltraHold iron-on adhesive to match the shape. Affixed it to the bottom of the patch.
Then I ironed it onto the pants. I had to REALLY IRON that puppy down, with so many layers. A real pain because I'm pretty impatient. That's why this isn't much of a craft blog but I'm learning to find a quiet meditative religion in the whole craft process. Anyhow,
I decided to blbindstich (is that right?) around the edges, to really secore those edges down.
And viola
they turned out pretty cute he thinks, I think so too
I could shop for new pants. This rubs me the right way, though. Who doesn't like being rubbed the right way?
Posted by Steph at 05:48 AM | Comments (2)
October 14, 2006
Horsing Around in the Moonlight
It's midnight and I can't sleep. The shelf above my desk retains a wall of towering fabric scraps, folded in assembly and ready to be all cut and sewn up. Into what? Perhaps a glow-in-the-dark circuitboard horse? Why not!
Cutting through thick wool felt is so satisfying, like the slow and steady joy of learning to cut through paper in preschool. And the way it sounds, like horses chomping on warm hay.
The surplus yarn in the office here is Fall-friendly and begging to be touched, wishing it were warm enough to get all knit up into scarves and pants and hats. Otherwise, it makes great manes and tales. But do you notice that Chas is wearing fleece?? After eight months of flip-flops I found myself wearing wool socks under my Air Jesus' and I felt so...back in northern California. Layering is fun. 60 degrees F feels so nice, so much better than 90 degrees in mid-October.
Posted by Steph at 04:26 AM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2006
Oooh, If the Dust Ever Settles in This House...
A circuitboard made of white foam and leftover yarn that Ford's friends made during his birthday party; Chas' wild volcano painting, originally with volatile sound effects; A featherwreath adorned by Betty and Boo; Ford's rock collection: "magic rock," amethyst geode, coral from Galveston, birthday geode from CZ...
Our Fall nature table. Little Ivy Elizabeth Walker, Ford's favorite character last year from The Village, sitting on the resting rock in the middle of a little Hill Country glade; Burr oak and Post oak acorns from around town; Edwards limestone; Ball moss from everywhere around town; chickenfeathers and unknown native grass, what I pretend is a White-Tailed deer...
at Ivy's feet: "HEXAGONS!" that Chas found on our walk through the neighborhood (courtesy of a sunbleached, long-dead armadillo skeleton)...
Gretel, another storybook favorite, plays cavalier atop Big Billy Goat Gruff; and no nature table in our house is grounded without a chicken.
Posted by Steph at 05:51 AM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2006
Garden of Earthy Delights
The chicks are hardy in the heat. This has been the hottest week this summer and they've spent the whole time outdoors in their new tractor. I'll return home at noon from the gym, walk barefoot to the edge of the deck, and peek down on them. Looking back at me are three chicks that are always an ounce heavier, more feathered and panting with open mouths. Every few hours I give them cooler, fresher water. I love the way they peep quietly as I move about, rinsing and rearranging.
We've been terrestrial lately, despite the heat outside, tending droopy plants, cultivating the soil, digging. We have a few good books to inspire more curiosity and garden-play: Diary of a Worm, by Doreen Cronin, and Thumbelina, by Hans Christian Anderson. Ford digs Thumbelina. Yak yak. We haven't yet made it to Microcosmos yet. Then, of course, we have all the nonfiction we could need at home. The huge sci/nature nonfiction library in our bedroom: that would be my fault.
This afternoon, Ford and Chas helped me pin together a 3x4ish compost bin out of some remaining galvanized builder's cloth. Once we'd finished, they helped me rake leaves and pile them into the compost bin. Somtimes they'd run through the piles and the lawn would look no different than it had before I'd organized the chaos, and a fuse would blow in my brain, but I've been more mindful of my wiring today. I'll have to write more about that later, about what it's like lately, ramming horns all day with the four year-old rebel. But right now I'm slipping like mercury through planks of burnout. And I'm falling asleep. But god, he has his Hallmark moments, too:
Posted by Steph at 11:35 PM | Comments (2)
July 26, 2006
Chicken Tractor Links
I'm sensing that a few of you may be brewing a little chicken ideas in your mind, dreaming up having a backyard brood of your own. After all, it's a great idea. Pest control. Companionship. Eggs. That cute sound of gossiping hens in the middle of the day. It's really cute. Well, if you are thinking about housing options, let me share a few links I've used.
We're building what they call a chicken tractor. It's a henhouse that you can move throughout the yard, so the chickens always have a fresh patch to scratch on. They're just as safe as a regular henhouse.
I like the ones below, which obviously required more time and labor to build. We don't have much of that around here, which is why ours is, well, amateurish. But the hens will love it anyway. Here's my thirty second link list:
Chicken tractors
Chicken tractor project idea
& etc
And here's an article about the benefits of using a chicken tractor to benefit your soil.
I'm sure you can google all you want and find a good clutch of ideas out there. I say go for it. And let me know if you, too, decide to get a few chicks. We're having a blast! Now, off to add the chickenwire...
Posted by Steph at 10:43 AM | Comments (2)
July 25, 2006
...Painted a First Coat...
I got a blob of paint in my hair. On top of my head it looks like green bird poo. How does one get exterior water-based latex paint out of hair? Or maybe I'll just have fun explaining to people how it got there. Any suggestions? It's just not silly enough that I got it while painting a henhouse.
edited to add: the paint came off after I washed and dried my hair. I was able to slide it out gently, running the globs down the strands of hair ;)
Posted by Steph at 10:39 PM | Comments (4)
July 24, 2006
Getting the Chicken Coop Did
Damon thinks the chicks will be gone in less than four weeks. Such shallow hopes! Still, he spent another day grunting in the oven outside, throwing lumber around like an ogre and eyeballing his way through his final weekend project. Which was more a honeydo than a "project" in his queue. But the reality was that I was too preoccupied doing God-remembers-what inside with the kids, probably sitting inside under a ceiling fan with a child on each lap, sipping iced tea, laughing about how crazy Daddy was to be outside in the sauna, sweating over a heap of lumber.
When he'd thrown in the towel for the day, after completing the first phase of construction, I stood back and grinned at the expressive fabrication. I'm usually a perfectionist, but I found the artsy, passive-aggressive unevenness oddly charming. Or maybe I was just very grateful that he had spent his entire Sunday afternoon laboring over my whimsical chicken fancy.
This design is an A-frame chicken tractor. It has hanndles on the bottom so you can move it around the yard. Encircling this frame that he built will be chicken wire, even on the bottom, for predators. We'll find some scrap wood and I'll get the kids to help me nail together a ladder, so the hens can scamper up to the little roost at the top. And looking at it now, this will certainly be a feat--can you see what I mean? Look how steep that grade is going to be?! Oh, dear. And hopefully there will be enough room for three hens, but we can always add another loft, if necessary. We, meaning Damon.
So, this evening at the local DIY megaplexx he helped me wrangle children and pick out a buttery avocado exterior paint that will weatherproof the lumber. Such good taste. And all for a mere four weeks. P-sha!
Posted by Steph at 11:16 PM | Comments (3)
July 06, 2006
Sunprints
There's a Storm Trooper maintaining his aquatic fleet.
Waiting for Chas to finish napping so we can go out to play. These short, quiet little projects are sweet fillers in a day jammed with chaos, amped-up play and an onslaught of noise.
Posted by Steph at 10:31 PM | Comments (5)
June 10, 2006
My Toys Are Your Toys
I made this aluminum starfish at RISD when we were told to design a toy. I'd just returned from a weekend at Narragannsett, where I'd found a scattering of beached brown sea stars. Inspired by the way they clung to my hands (I'd never before felt one) and their bumpy texture, I immediatedly brainstormed a way to recreate one (or a scattering of them). And because I couldn't get enough of the oily sharp smell of metalshop in winter, I HAD to make one out of aluminum. My favorite memories from school there are from this project.
And what a pang I felt when I looked up this morning to find Ford playing with it! He was whirring and buzzing it all over the house, pretending it was an omidriod robot, for HOURS. It was so rad. I almost cried.
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Posted by Steph at 07:29 AM | Comments (2)
May 01, 2006
Hold On To Your Pincushions!
This dress. I whipped it up last night on a sewing machine that I hardly deserve. As per the instruction in the pattern, it only took me eleven stitches and a half an hour, but that seemed like a lot of work at the time. And the belt isn't really working, but it's a good excuse to shop for a wider one.
I have a hundred reasons to avoid my sewing machine, but as much as I like lists, it would bore you to tears reading a list of whiney excuses. Know that, at the top of the list is: two boys under 5, under my feet, all day long. And right under that? Very little patience.
Posted by Steph at 04:40 PM | Comments (13)
March 11, 2006
Studio Friday: Eyes, and Chas' Birth Quilt
When Chas was somersaulting in utero, around seven months, I began to stew up a birth quilt for him. At the time, Ford had checked out a book from the library that I found terribly inspiring, Ducklings and Pollywogs by Lizzy Rockwell. The guache and watercolor illustrations were flat but the compositions rich in detail, and I'd find myself oggling the pages when I was on the phone, or sipping coffee. It was the theme that most intrigued me: paying reverence to a small pond throughout the year, noticing small changes, seasons. So I chose to use a pond theme for the quilt. One afternoon I tore the colors I loved out of old magazines, and after I had a collection, began to assemble them on a page in my sketchbook. After the arrangement seemed right, I picked up a glitter pen and made droplets fall upon the water, adding rings of vibrations through the pond, as if I was looking into the water during a rain. For more interest, I started drawing black eyes of frogs. I cut them out and pasted them onto the paper (I had made about twelve little compositions). After that, I was in love.
Of course, after selecting fabrics and playing with applique, I chose a composition based less on cryptic eyeballs peeking out of the water and more on the idea of lilypads, or pods, on the water. Something more evocative of how I felt as I sewed: healthy, whole, very pregnant.
I handpainted the watery background, staining the kitchen floor with aqua splatters. Scraps of pond colors littered the hallway floor, beneath the table where I worked. Natural specimens lined the window above my sewing machine: reeds, willow blossoms, seed pods and empty chrysalises. With my machine, I sewed ripples in the water fabric with gossamer thread, sandwiching soft layers and different textures of cotton. I tied the quilt with different shades of green, like the aquatic plants that slide between my toes when I wade.
Chas noticed the circles one day, very young, and smiled, running his finger along the seam of a circle. I was so pleased.
And I like the way it turned out, myself.
Posted by Steph at 10:02 AM | Comments (17)
March 09, 2006
Corners
I would love to have a fancy hardwood barn and dollhouse for the kids to play with. But they are expensive! I think I made a smart decision to recycle some boxes from Costco, fashion a good working barn from them and gesso it for the kids. One morning soon, we'll get around to "decorating" it. Until then, it's been getting good use as it is.
Since I can't have my own Hanoverian gelding, I bought a pretty one at Target. It's a Schleich and I named it Claus. When the boys ask me to play, I tap it across the rug in a meditative half pass left, then right, then I a collected canter around the rug's perimeter. Chas will pick up a heifer and follow my little program. Ford picks up the Velociraptor and shrieks, thrusting it through the upstairs doorway, attacking the little brown rabbit.
And there you have it: the farm play "corner," which actually is sitting atop Chas' birth quilt, atop the chaise in the living room. But we carry it all over, sometimes outside. See more corners here.
Posted by Steph at 10:22 AM | Comments (2)
February 04, 2006
Horizon
There's an open door before you
Shed last year's skin before you go
A gift, upon the hearth below
Postcards, from a swap that Christina organized.
Posted by Steph at 01:12 PM | Comments (3)
January 21, 2006
Happy Distractions From the Act of Writing
I enjoyed making this doll for Chas, who was referring to it as "Dee Dee" before dismissing it to the floor and moving on to deconstructing an old Blackberry device. Ford has since grown attached to it. I myself have been carrying it around the house also, and when I'm least aware I find myself twirling the little cap between my fingers and daydreaming about making more for the new babies in 2006 (what do you think, Elisa? A sophisticated pink velour for Claire? :)
If you ask Ford what he wants to be when he grows up, these days he will enthusiastically tell you that he wants to be "a daddy." If you could see him escorting Chas through the line at the burrito shop, or sharing his cereal with him in the back seat of the car, or hear him translate Chas' babble when I'm most desperately trying to understand what he's saying, his choice would make perfect sense. Ford is very sensitive to human expressions and needs, and he loves to help and to understand how people work. I think he'll be an outstanding dad someday. If I could only get him to remember to feed the Betta. Too late! Bird died yesterday, but it wasn't starvation. I was tending to that. He had some sort of growth that prompted me to warn Ford (yesterday! whew) that the fish may not live the rest of the week. Bye, Bird. Thanks for contributing 4 months of exotic flare to our dining room, and for freaking out about the Le Creuset Flameware (it was just a pot!) We will miss you.
Posted by Steph at 09:11 PM | Comments (2)
January 05, 2006
'dee dee' in progress
Posted by Steph at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2005
Tie One On
Trippy, huh? Bright red is a hard color for me to photograph. All the iPhoto tools in the world can't help this out. I'd take a better picture than this silly one if I hadn't already given this to my mom. It's her Holiday Celebapron. More here.
Posted by Steph at 12:59 AM | Comments (4)
December 28, 2005
Oh, well. Who am I kidding, anyway?
I don't pretend this is a craft blog, but to mark my time on this planet I have to log the hours I spent making these little wee people into the wee hours preceding Christmas. Behold, Ivy Elizabeth Walker, cloaked in the safe color of mustard and in the forbidden woods with her bag of magic rocks! (Reference to the movie "The Village")
And here are a grandmother and her grandchildren, open for interpretation; I've been using them to play Hansel and Grethel:
And lastly, Grandma fairy, made in the likeness of my mother-in-law (and who she forgot to take back home with her):
Posted by Steph at 12:10 AM | Comments (1)
December 16, 2005
Gnomey hat
Ford doesn't want to wear this adorable hat made in Noro Kureyon chunky, a pattern from Hello Yarn. It was so easy and quick to knit that I'm going to make more. The pom poms seemed excessive, especially for a boy. Maybe a braided tassle might be fun?
Posted by Steph at 04:15 PM | Comments (4)
December 12, 2005
I Am Not Yet Ready for Christmas
Instead, I am knitting. Clothing is a priority. It's too hard to fit normal pants over cloth diapers, so I have to knit my own. The solution: Little Turtle Knits pants. Noro Kureyon. He seems to like them. These won me kudos from our local knitting shop, where we left only minutes before taking this picture. Not before buying another 3 skeins of yarn for: another pair of pants.
Now, back to procrastination.
Posted by Steph at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2005
Show and Tell
Knitted Little Turtle Knits soaker, Araucania Natural wool, happy model. Knitting is therapeutic and addictive. Like running, once it becomes routine it's hard to miss a day. Then, just as easily, it's possible to quit without looking back. I dropped the needles in May of last year and I'll probably do the same this year. I think it has seasonal appeal, to me.
Posted by Steph at 12:13 PM | Comments (2)
November 14, 2005
Sunday Tapestry
Santa's elf has set up her workshop upstairs:
...and is ready to open the gimongous $3 bag of vintage fabric:
While Santa snoozes outside:
Posted by Steph at 01:57 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
Making Wreaths with Chas
Posted by Steph at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2005
Modern Quilt Along update
Kelp quilt. Abandoning the Redwork pattern in the Modern Quilt Along book and adopting a freestyle motif. Turquoise/olive and puffy, similar to the quilt seen here in the book by Jean Ray Laury.
Posted by Steph at 05:11 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2005
Thinking of: Holiday CelebrAprons?
Posted by Steph at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2005
He had me at "Kelp Forest," Fun in the Garden, Hold the Sprinkles
We have a wonderful wool rug in our living room. We bought it in May about three hours before our renters signed a year contract on our home in McKinney, and I somehow believe that it was because of the rug. Being inviting and cozy, it softened our concrete floors and probably made an otherwise cold and cloudy Spring day a little warmer.
There were 3 designs we were deciding among when Damon sold me on the one now own. He told me that it looked like a kelp forest, and with those two words I was sold. He literally had me at "kelp forest." And every time I catch myself staring at the rug, I get warm fuzzies thinking about happy creatures like sea lions sea otters and encrusting bryozoans. And sometimes ice cream and bubble gum. Because they're made with carageenan. Which is made of kelp. You know.
Anyway, this rug is very special to me and I decided it's time to make a napping quilt in it honor, for the cooler month or two ahead. I've been on the fence about joining the Modern Quilt-Along but I figured I could do a me-version of the Redwork pattern in turquoise and dark olive. Maybe take a little creative license and use variegated and hand-painted solids with hand-painted floss? Maybe a little trapunto?
We explored another nursery in town today: The Natural Gardener. It blew me away, I think it is an attraction on many levels. The prices are fair, they have a tremendous variety, endorse organic gardening, have an abundant and helpful staff, numerous display gardens and a few barn animals. I could and will take the kids there on a weekday and kill an hour easily. And maybe a coupla twenties. Easily.
For the kids garden I selected:
Lamb's Ear
Texas Rock Rose
Pineapple Sage
Texas Fall Aster
Purple Oxalis
some feathery-purple-flowered perennial that attracts throngs of Viceroy butterflies that I can't remember the name of and I'm too tired to go outside and look on the plant tag to find out what it's called
Round-leaf eucalyptus
and Damon's pick:
Squid Agave.
(They were out of Pony Foot and I dutifully denied myself the Smoke Plant, but I'll be back for both soon enough)
We had terrible cupcake cravings today and I didn't fight the urge to bake two dozen vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. Magnolia Bakery recipe. The frosting became a pale pink and Damon insisted I forego the sprinkles (which I will never forgive him for; he believes that sprinkles ruin cupcakes but I will fight this argument to the grave--who WOULDN'T?!). The icing called for one entire bag of confectioner's sugar. That's right. Ultimately, they tasted like Krispy Kreme donuts with the same pleasurable guilt. One can only eat perhaps, well, one. So I boxed them up immediately and marked them "BARBEQUE" for tomorrow's potluck at Damon's colleague's home. Why bother taking a photograph when you can imagine what they look like, without the sprinkles.
Posted by Steph at 01:56 AM | Comments (4)
October 20, 2005
crazy crayons
These are an exhibit of tedium but the children enjoy them. Chas left toothprints, do you see them?
Posted by Steph at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)
fingerpainting.
the cornstarch recipe is not as pretty as goopy.
Posted by Steph at 09:51 AM | Comments (2)
August 03, 2005
Simplification
Since I have difficulties juggling two kids, multiple personalities and a clunky EOS Rebel, I begged Damon to trade me his teensy Elph for my monstrous camera baggage. "Do it for the kids?" I urged, to his chagrin, but he caved and I love him for it.
Here is it's new sleeve, lovingly (albeit hastily--c'mon, this is just after Girl's Nite Out) stitched by hand from leftover sake monkey's tie fabric when I should be sleeping. But it's protected now:
Posted by Steph at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2005
The machine is still humming...
This afternoon we were all so amped on imaginative play that we decided to set up a sushi bar in the boy's room. With remnants I've been sewing salmon sashimi, tuna sushi and seaweed salad. It was so entirely diverting that we might go thrifting tomorrow for more kitchen accessories and vintage fabrics. Ford also mentioned wanting his own tea set and glasses for bubble tea and a sushi cutting board with a picture of a glass of bubble tea on top. And he wants bubble tea. I think the green tea variety.
Driving to playdate this morning with the restless boys in the back and Sake Monkey buckled into the seat between them, I realized the satisfying feeling of control that a stuffed doll offers. No matter what scenario you place them in, they remain quiet, trusting and happy.
For the past hour I've been drawing silhouettes for stuffed dolls. I began with a human-type but it quickly morphed into a starfish-person. Go figure. Add starfish-person notions to the thrift store list for tomorrow.
Posted by Steph at 11:58 AM | Comments (2)
While the machine is still warm:
Aren't these just Dandi?
I believe I've been inspired to make some aprons for Christmas and for another group:
Posted by Steph at 05:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2005
Sake Monkey
My sewing machine needed a jumpstart so I jumped onto the July Month of Softies bandwagon in the nick of time and created a sock monkey (this month's theme) out of a pair of Damon's old boot socks. Guess what? He doesn't smell funny. Chas thinks he's charming and likes to snuggle with the toy already. When he is older he might think this is amusing. Why would his mother make a toy out of used men's socks? Really, there isn't enough Oxy-Clean and bleach in the world...but look how cute this is:
Posted by Steph at 10:26 AM
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Want to see all of July's pedal primates?
