Fairy Princess Pumpkin House--work in progress

Well, I decided last night that I will post pics of the pumpkin house in progress and not wait until summer.  Since I have a while to wait until my stuff in the dryer is done (and I have no jeans until then), I thought I'd make use of the quiet morning hour by updating the blog.  Sooo...here we go:

First, I cut off the back of the "funkin" in a flat plane, then cut the windows and door. 

After that, I needed to establish floors.  I used 1/4" foam core board, partly for its durability, and partly because I knew I could get a good fit by angling my cuts so that they fit the curves of the pumpkin. 

Floors need covering!  This is some heavy scrapbook paper.

My floors are not perfect, so to both cover the minor gaps and to give a nice, finished look, I glued some fine, flexible braid that I had on hand over the seams.  It also gives a little extra stability to the floors.  I have used hot glue in some areas, but Fabri-Tac in most others. 

It was my husband's idea to include supports for the 2nd floor, and a cool aesthetic appeal.

I also added crossbars to the window holes.  The wood I've used is actually a bundle of grapevine stems, so I've been able to incorporate their curly bits to add to the character of the house.  After all, pumpkins have curly vines!!

Windows need curtains--and this is where I got to be more creative.  I used 20 gauge beading wire and size 8 beads for the curtain rods, winding them around a fine knitting needle for the curly ends.  For beadwork, I used G-S Hypo cement (made for beadwork), which has a fine tip (and is kind of hard to thread the cap back on, as it is a fine piece of wire that has to go back in the needle tip of the glue tube!).  You need to have ventilation for it--it is a stinky, toxic substance!  The curtains are made from some cotton Leaver's lace.  I tied the curtains using 1/4" orange ombre ribbon, and to decorate, some teeny, thin polymer cane slices in leaf patterns. 

The curtains installed.  Definitely gives things a finished look. 

And here is where I ran out of time, and left things unhappily unfinished.  I started a chandelier for the bedroom, and also did some candle sconces for the downstairs, but never finished.  First, the roof of the pumpkin had a small flat spot, but it was kind of ugly looking, so I covered it with a bit of scrapbooking paper (I do a LOT of crafts). 

Then I worked on devising a chandelier using jewelry findings and beads.  I couldn't just stick a pin into the ceiling (well, I probably could, but it would have been messy, and look unnatural), so I made a lamp finial (don't all hanging lamps have a circular flange/finial that covers the wire box?) with a resin flower, a head pin, and some necklace chain.

The chandelier itself was a bit of a challenge, getting all the wires to line up properly, then gluing them in place, and then making them all curve the correct direction, etc.  I have all the beads and findings set aside to complete the candle look, but haven't done the gluing.  My cement ran out!  And life caught up with me.  Sigh.  But here is the unfinished chandelier.

And, for scale, a Polly Pocket doll (same scale as many other tiny princess dolls, including Tinkerbell and friends).

Oh, and here's the front door--I made a handle from a bead and wire, then made hinges from twisted wire.  Good thing we aren't working on sealing it from the weather!  I had to cut it from the section I removed for the back, and got the size a bit off.  However, it swings open easily!  :)  And does rest on the base, so it isn't always hanging out.

Here are materials I gathered for the project...I plan on using the styrofoam as a base (this was pre-finished for use as bases for Halloween houses at the craft store) and the faux foliage as decoration/vegetation around the house (as well as on top).  Gotta make it pretty, you know?  I do have a lintel/mini roof to go over the door, complete with woody supports, but am saving that for after the interior is complete. 

I'll post more when I get in that Autumnal spirit again!

New Year, New Stuff in the Works...

It's been a while since I posted anything...life got very busy once school started.  I've been almost completely overwhelmed with papers to grade and curriculum to develop, as well as a bunch of changes at my school that have taken some adaptation.  Add a rambunctious, immature bunch of sophomores to the mix, and well...you get my work day.  I've also had a lot of medical stuff going on with my daughter, who has been in and out of the hospital since September 7.  She's back in again, but this time, we were successful in solving the problem that we tried to fix in September!  I won't tell you how many tries we've had. 

I've had a lot of projects to work on--Christmas, and all the gifts to make, etc.  I never did finish the Fairy Princess Pumpkin House, although I did get most of the interior work done.  I lost momentum mid-October, and never recovered.  However, I think I'll easily finish it this summer.  I will have to post work-in-progress photos this summer. 

In the meantime, I got to work on a small project this evening that has given me some of that "instant gratification" feeling, and I'm in the mood to share, in spite of the fact that I need to go to bed, and I'm tired.  So...I'll keep it short!

I was browsing crazy quilting online the other day, and came across a list of quilters on Vintage Vogue's website (http://www.vintagevogue.com/).  So I explored different peoples' pages for inspiration--I love to see what other people are doing!  In my explorations, I came across another Blog:  Blossoms & Lace.  http://blossomsandlace.blogspot.com/  What intrigued me was her crazy quilted tin box--it looked to me like an Altoid tin, and the idea stuck in my head.  I use Altoid tins for needle cases and holding all kinds of little things, and this was a great idea.  So...tonight, in the solitude of the house (my husband is at the hospital with our daughter tonight), I plugged in an audiobook ("The Seduction of the Crimson Rose" by Lauren Willig) and began stitching. 

I didn't make a specific block for this project--I actually took one that I'd started before and was very unsatisfied with the corner of it I had previously worked on, so I cut off the end of one side, and thus had my patches. 

I embellished them in the early evening (I'm not happy with the way the first one turned out--too messy and cluttered), and was pleased with my second patch.  So...feeling that I wanted to put it together, I got out some fabric bits and trims, and decided to cover one of several empty tins I had floating around. 

I used Warm and Natural quilt batting as my padding--a single layer on the bottom, and several layers on top.  I used my favorite glue--Fabri-Tac--to glue the batting to the box first, then the actual fabrics.  I had to cut some ease into the curves at the corners to accommodate the bulk of the fabric (I made the block many years ago, before learning to trim while piecing), but the bottom piece was easy to squish into the glue around the corners and keep it flat.  I applied the fabric directly to the tin, gluing evenly as I went (short sides first, then long sides, then corners).  After I had all the corners down, I added trim. 

Inside, I decided I wanted a functional box, so I made a little pillow of shot silk dupioni as a pincushion on the bottom, and a single layer (fray-checked around the edges) of the same fabric on the lid.  I cut a small piece of Warm and Natural batting as my needle fabric, and glued the bottom edge of it into the tin lid.

I can't wait to show my Crazy Quilting group next Saturday! 

Until later,  keep on crafting!

Sewing, Anyone?

Well, I got some instant gratification sewing done in the last two days.  Last summer, I cut out six or seven dresses and a couple of nightgowns for my daughter, and then left them in a pile in my sewing room, unstitched.  Worried that she may have outgrown them, I checked the pattern measurements, but to my relief, they were still the right size.  I guess I was thinking ahead last year!  Anyway, I decided to actually sew them up this weekend.  Yesterday, I worked on and finished a nightgown for her.  The fabric had, of course, a Disney princess on it--Ariel, with friends, printed with a tropical feel in teal, red and yellow.  Bright, but for bedtime, perfect.  The way it worked up, it reminds me of a Hawaaiian muumuu!  However, little girl loved it, even though it was too big in the neckline and kept falling off her shoulders.  I corrected that by running a 1/8" red ribbon through the neckline (it had a narrow bias facing) and tying it in front with a bow.  Now it fits perfectly, and she's thrilled.  Wore it all morning!

Today, I didn't know where to begin, so I asked Ella to pick which dress I should make.  The one she chose was white pique embroidered with a pink and green floral border that I purchased a few years ago from Farmhouse Fabrics on clearance.  I got a second one, but I'll make that up later.  The pattern was very simple, the sleeveless sundress pattern from Kari Mecca's Sewing With Whimsy.  It worked up so fast (no hem!) that I had time to get halfway through a second, similar dress.  Ella absolutely loved this dress, and couldn't get it on fast enough.  She danced all over in it, and wouldn't take it off until bedtime.  I consider that a pretty good indicator that she liked it.  In fact, I had a hard time making her stand still long enough to photograph her in it!  You can see that she's got plenty of room in it, and the hem hits her at about mid-calf.  The camera angle is a little high, so it looks long.

The second dress I'm working on is sooooo cute!!  I got the fabric at JoAnn's one day...a mother and her mother were getting some fabric cut out, and I thought the print was cute, so after she was done with it, I got it from her!  I'm using the same basic sundress pattern, but I'm also using some wide ric-rac on the neckline, armscye, and as detail trim on the bodice.  The skirt uses three different patterns, tiered.  I'm very excited to finish it, because I know that Ella's going to love it. 

Well, going to go downstairs to play a little Lego Star Wars with the husband...if he's in the mood. 

Getting in Gear, part Deux

Soo...not having to get up at the butt-crack of dawn turns me into a night owl.  I've spent far too many hours lately poring over patterns online, especially at Ravelry...I just joined, and WOW!  I love it! 

Anyway...I'm always on the lookout for nice doll patterns, so I browsed the doll section.  I had NO idea so many American Girl patterns were out there!!  When Ella gets old enough and wants one, I'm set for life!  But I sew for smaller dolls, so I had to weed through all the big ones to find the kind of thing I wanted.  I stumbled across a pattern called "Lati Yellow Dress" by Shelley Sellwood.  I don't have a lot of BJDs, and the smallest one I have is about 7" tall, and the La Ti Yellow dolls are 10 cm tall!!  (4" for us Yanks)  But...Kish's Riley has a narrow torso, and Ellery is only 5 inches tall, so I thought I could try the pattern and see if it could work...or if I could tweak it to make it work for slightly larger dolls. 

This thing knitted up so fast--it was adorable!!  My box of fingering and sock yarns is buried in my sewing room closet, so I used what I had on hand downstairs, which was Cascade Yarn Heritage in a rich wine red.  The pattern calls for 4 ply yarn, which I think is fingering in the UK, and 2.5mm needles, which, of course, I don't have...I have 2.25, and 2.75, but not 2.5.  Considering all the little knitting I do, you'd think I would have that!  But...I used the 2.75, because the yarn is more of a sock weight.  I found a few things to tweak...the neck was too loose for my taste, and I needed to run a line of yarn through the cast-on stitches to cinch it up a bit.  I think I cast on maybe a little too loosely...not sure on that one.  But I made some adjustments, and shortened it, and Voila! 

The red one is my first attempt at the top/dress.  I love it!  This is on an 8" Wendy (Madame Alexander).  The blue-green one is my second attempt, in which I tried to correct some of the things that bothered me on my first workup.  This time, I used a size 0 needle to cast on and do the first row, then switched to a size 1 for the second row, and a 2 for the rest of it.  The fit of the neck was much better.  However, this time, I also used a different yarn, which worked up smaller and shorter.  I forget what the yarn is (the label is downstairs, and I'm not going to go get it now), but it was definitely a fingering yarn, a smaller diameter than the Cascade Heritage yarn.  I wouldn't say it was a lace yarn...a little too big for that.  All my lace yarns are finer.  But it is a lovely graduated marled yarn, and not all the colorways show on the ball.  The tail I pulled out of the center was green marled with a hint of lavender/purple, and as I knit, it got more and more purple.  I LOVE the color graduation!  I need to make more with this stuff!

Riley is lying down so that the color graduation shows up better!


In my next post, I'll talk Bleuette....stay tuned!  (oh, wait...nobody reads this.  Sigh.)

Getting into gear

Now that I'm off for the summer, I have been working on multiple little projects, kind of getting myself primed for bigger projects later.  We're going on a trip to Idaho in 2 1/2 weeks, so I don't want to get too involved with any big projects. 

SO, with that in mind...here are some things I've made in the last few days...

I love Bleuette dolls, and have recently purchased a doll bed for my girls.  I thought I'd make the bedspread/blanket published in La Semaine de Suzette in both 1906 and 1917.  The translated instructions did not give me any guidance regarding yarn size or hook, so...I had some lovely rose-colored Cascade Yarns Heritage sock/fingering yarn, and used a size 3 steel hook (although a US C hook would have worked, it seemed a bit large for the yarn).  I happily crocheted away, and when I got about halfway through the main part of the blanket, I realized that there was no way this would be long enough for my doll bed, let alone be useful for a Bleuette.  Sigh...  Me and wanting things to be delicate and not "hurky".  But rather than give up and toss it, I finished it (although I made it longer than the pattern calls for...it was just too short), and decided to see if it might work on one of my other doll beds:

And it does!  This is a Strombecker doll bed (actually half of a bunk bed set) that has no bedding on it.  I keep meaning to make bedding for it...hmm...  Maybe this is the excuse I need?  I thought I'd make the second bed's blanket in cream (I have that colorway in the same yarn), and then run ecru/cream ribbon through the pink blanket, and pink ribbon through the cream blanket.  Not matching, but coordinated. 

Here is the original pattern image: 


And here is my finished blanket:

 

I have not yet blocked the blanket--I will do that soon.  I've got too much crap on my ironing board at the moment to do that.

As for my Bleuette bed, well...it is a double-sized bed, so the blanket looked completely ridiculous on it!  I think I'll find a nice DK yarn (hmm...an excuse to go yarn shopping!) and maybe enlarge the central section of the blanket to fit the bed's dimensions.  The Strombecker furniture is for 8" dolls, like Wendy, Ginny, and all my little Kish girlies. 

Sigh...must clean up the sewing room...I've got too much stuff in disarray again...

Summer SUMMER Summer VACATION!!!

AMEN for vacation!!  What would I do without it??  I have three days left...three days of getting up at ungodly hours, dragging myself into the shower, dragging a reluctant 4-year-old out of bed and to preschool, and dragging reluctant high schoolers through the joys of English.  But no more!  My Seniors graduated last week, and all three classes of them have become my three new prep periods.  Yeah, baby!!  :)  What have I been doing with all this free time??  Let's see...I've graded the few papers I have left for my sophomores, filed my original copies back in their binders, filed extra copies of assignments, etc. in my filing cabinet, taken down my classroom decorations, put my books in my cabinet, inventoried my textbooks, sent miscellaneous leftover items away to the lost-and-found, and shopped for yarn online.  That was on Friday, when I was tired and feeling less than motivated to do anything. 

But the end is in sight, and I'm really energized by it.  Well, that and the delicious ability to catch up on lost sleep on the weekend.  Yesterday I was particularly lazy and shiftless, but today...I made my husband breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes (normally his job on the weekend), and sent him off for a "man day" to himself.  I think that's probably a better gift for him than anything I can buy...guilt-free time to himself without any cling-ons, like a very loving but very demanding little girl, as well as a rather shaggy-looking puppy who wants to play.

So...the child is napping, the kitchen is clean (although the living room is not...I may be somewhat energized today, but tackling the kitchen was enough), and I have an hour and a quarter to myself. 

So...SUMMER:  I'm not a huge fan of hot weather, being rather round and having excess insulation, but I am a huge fan of vacation.  And I have been spinning all kinds of projects around in my head.  SO many things I want to do!  Knitting and crocheting and sewing and embroidery and painting and camping and playing and all that good stuff.  And since I've been able to come home guilt-free, I've been able to dedicate Ella's naptime to my projects. 

I've managed to finish cutting out the pile of Bleuette clothing I've stockpiled--can't wait to get started on some of those.  I also set aside some simple embroidery projects for Bleuette--aprons, nightgowns, underthings, blouses, and in a few hours yesterday and a few this morning, I've finished a set of underthings as well as a blouse--that one I did in a very fine shirting material I got at Fabric Depot about a year ago, and embroidered the scalloped edging in one strand of floss.  My first attempt at the neckline went a little wonky, but I picked it out and started over again after I'd done more of it.  The second one looks much nicer.  I will have to post pictures here soon....

I've also been obsessing over vests and tunics for my daughter.  I don't want to pay the money for the expensive sweaters I love at Gymboree and etc., and because she has a long waist, most of them end up too short on her before she really outgrows them.  She also doesn't seem to like bulk on her arms.  SO...my solution is vests/tunics to keep her warm.  She's got somewhat sensitive skin, and already has KP (Keratosis Pilaris--commonly known as "chicken skin"--a form of eczema), and since I had bad eczema as a kid (and have not entirely outgrown it), I am careful about the fiber content of yarns for her.  Wool of course is warmest, but...it itches.  I don't care how soft they say it is, even cashmere itches.  And cashmere is expensive.  I cannot wear wool--even the softest stuff starts to itch after an hour or two.  I have a sweater set that I love that is a wool blend, but I can't wear it more than half a day.  At that point, I'm ready to rip it off my body like The Hulk in a temper!  My husband also has eczema, so the poor kid is doomed.

The downside to non-wool fibers is that they don't always have a nice feel to them.  I hate the squeak--that squeaky noise that you get when you're working with acrylic/synthetic yarns.  Ugh!  So...I'm trying to find decently-priced alternatives to wool.  Fortunately, I'm only planning to have her wear the tunics/vests over a shirt/blouse, so a wool blend might be ok for her.  Knitpicks has some nice cottons...I may invest in some of those.  I love their Crayon DK cotton--SO soft!!  But boucle yarn has some limitations.  Still...I've got a rainbow stash of it, so I may end up making her some rainbow-striped things. 

I recently discovered Ravelry, and have been spending many hours poring over their offerings--WOW!  I think I'm in trouble.  I'm afraid to bring home more yarn, though...my husband may not understand my obsession, and is generally supportive of all my creative endeavors, but...he does complain about the clutter and how we have too much stuff.  Hmm...he works during the day...and I'm on vacation, so....hmm...  :)

Well, gotta hop in the shower before it is time to wake up the munchkin for her bath and subsequent trip to the Ram for Father's Day dinner. 

Happy crafting!