Serious Play

Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

So, I bought a vintage Singer sewing machine.

 

My previous machine has been giving me trouble for some time now. It got to the point that I would expect anything I attempted to do to take at least double the time. As much as I wanted to be using it for various projects, I was avoiding it.

So, I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to try to find a good used sewing machine. Shortly after this conversation, she was texting me to say she had found one. Long story short, she picked it up for me at a thrift store for a mere $40.

 

 

There is something to be said about products made back in the 'good ole days'. They are just more sturdy than most of what we pay good money for nowadays. The body of this fine machine is cast iron and there is barely a scratch on her. I immediately wiped her all down from sticky fingerprints and general use, all the while examining every inch of her.

She is perfect. I named her Greta.

 

Whoever the previous owner was, it is evident that Greta was well loved. Other than normal wear and tear, she is really pristine. All of the parts were included and in great shape. There was an accessories box that was filled to the brim with sewing goodies that made my heart smile.

 

 

All of the cords and connections and foot pedal are still functioning well. She even came with her lovely carrying case, where the foot pedal and cords are stored when not in use.

 

So now I have no excuse. I will be doing more sewing now. Not so much with fabric (although I could possibly even attempt that with Greta) but mainly on paper projects. In fact, the day that I got her home, and I finished cleaning her up, I sat and sewed an entire mini album! Greta just purred as she worked her way through 4 sheets of cardstock at once!

 

Do you use your sewing machine for paper projects?

 

 

 

 

Knit Cowl for Spring

So, over my Spring Break I finished knitting a new cowl.

 

Now in my town, winter is not much of a problem; it is spring that is a pain. It never really comes. We have a day or two of sunshine and you think spring is here, and then we get two more weeks of snow. We seem to go straight from cold snowy days, to warm snowy days, to cold rainy days, to warm rainy days, to summer!

Having enjoyed my winter wool cowl so much I decided I would like a lighter spring one too, which I will probably end up wearing until the end of June...

 

As much as possible, I try to keep with all natural fibres in my clothing. I find that they just breathe better and feel nicer on my skin. So for this cowl I chose all 100% cotton yarn. 

It is a bit difficult to see here in these photos, but I actually used two colours of yarn. One is a soft cream colour and the other is a light pink. Like my wool cowl, I knit this spring cowl with the circular needles. Using two colours was a bit tricky at first but then I figured it out and got into a flow. Since I was knitting in the round, I simply used one colour at a time, leaving the other hanging until I came around again and then switched colours of yarn. Without keeping track, or having any real pattern in mind, I knit a few rows in one colour to get a nice chunky stripe before switching to the other colour. It turned out very subtle and very random.

And I love it like that...

 

 

So spring, I am ready for you...

 

 

 

 

Knitting for Spring

So, I am knitting a cowl for spring.

 

Our weather has not been so nice yet this spring and I am still needing some warmth. Hovering somewhere around -10C means still dressing in layers and keeping warm around my neck.

Having had some success with my first cowl that I knit earlier this winter, I decided to try my hand at it again. I found myself missing the soothing clickety-clack of the needles as I sit by the fire in the evenings. I am one of those people that has to be doing something all the time... and often multi-tasking at any given moment. Watching TV is not one of my pasttimes, however, on chilly evenings I just want to sit close to the fire with my husband and he is often watching TV. So, I like to keep my mind and hands busy while sitting with him.

I tend toward natural fibres in my clothing and so the yarns that I chose also reflect that. My winter cowl is made out of 100% wool and I love it. However, I am overheating a bit in our current temperatures if I wear it. So, I decided this time I would make one of 100% cotton and in lighter colours of cream and pink. I am hoping that this one will be just warm enough for the transition to spring.

Do you have a favourite article of clothing that gets you through to springtime?

 

Valentine's Candy Strips

So, in keeping with an entire week of Valentine's gifts for my girls, today is a little candy strip DIY.


To begin, I purchased an inexpensive roll of parchment paper and cut strips that were approximately 3in wide. I wouldn't worry too much about how long the parchment is. I think most parchment is fairly standard and mine is about 14in wide (which turns out to be the length of my candy strips).




In order to avoid having to sew up the sides of the strips, I folded the strips as a tri-fold so that each face of the fold was about 1in. This gave me a tube-like piece to work with.




Taking these strips to my sewing machine, I started by making a stitch across the bottom edge of the 'tube' or tri-folded parchment. This allowed me to slip a candy into the top of the tube without it falling out the bottom.




After pushing the candy to the sewn end, I sewed another strip to 'seal' in the first candy.




I continued this process of slipping in a candy and sewing it closed all along the way, stopping a little over an inch from the top. Now, I did not measure the distance between each sewn line. I simply sewed 'just past' the candy even though the sewn lines do not match up exactly when two strips are side-by-side. I decided to embrace this imperfection because time did not permit me to be that fussy and I didn't think it was all that necessary anyway.




 
Once I had two 'tubes' sewn (I did not seal in the last candy as shown below), I cut a piece of patterned paper that was 3x3in.



 
Folding it in half, I wrapped it over the top of the two ends and ran it through my sewing machine. This attached the two strips together as well as closed in the last candy. You could secure the two strips with glue inside the patterned paper if you'd like, but I did not find it necessary. I simply held the first parchment strip in place while sewing, then positioned the second parchment strip and sewed the rest of the way across my patterned paper.

This is how I will be presenting this little candy treat to my girls today. After taking this photo, however, I did add a letter sticker on each one to represent the initial of each of my daughters.



 
And when they want to indulge, they can simply tear off one of the sections to reveal the candy heart inside!



What is your 'go to' Valentine's treat that you share with your children? Traditions are such a wonderful way of celebrating life and I would love to hear how you celebrate in your home...



 

Valentine's Mini Chalkboards

So, this begins a week of lovin' on my girls with various Valentine's Day crafts.

 

In the morning my girls will awake to one of these mini chalkboards hanging from the doorknob of their respective bedrooms.

I started by preparing mini chalkboards that I found at the dollar store. I followed the same chalkboard tutorial as I did for myself a year ago.

 

I wanted these little chalkboards to be a place where I could write them messages of encouragement, or reminders, and vice versa. Intending to hang them on their doorknobs, I need a way to also attach a piece of chalk to write with that wouldn't always be getting lost.

After cutting a long piece of baker's twine, I spread some glue on one end of the chalk (pink for Valentine's Day of course).

 

Next, I wound the Baker's twine around the chalk starting at the end and winding upward until I had enough to secure the chalk - about an inch. Using my finger, I spread around any glue that seeped through the string as I was winding it, just so that it would further secure the twine on the chalk and not leave bumpy ridges.

 

To attach the chalk to the board, I simply tied the opposite end of the Baker's twine around the clip on the chalkboard. In the future, when the chalk is used up, I need only to cut the twine and wrap a fresh piece of chalk in the same manner.

Next, I trimmed a piece of red and white ribbon to enable me to hang the chalkboard on the doorknob. I tied a knot at the end of the ribbon...

 

...and slipped the folded end (opposite the knot) through the hole at the back of the chalkboard. When pulled tight, the knot stops the ribbon from going through and allows me to hang the chalkboard.

 

Now the chalkboards were ready with a hanging ribbon and an attached piece of chalk.

 

I can hardly wait to see their reactions to these little gifts of love...



 

Painted Owl

So, the other night my little owl got a makeover with Annie Sloan paint.

 

I was invited by my sister to a night class where they featured this awesome chalk paint. Not to be confused with chalkboard paint. It has such a nice creamy texture and is easy to work with but it enhances more than a meagre chalkboard.

There are quite a range of fun colours to choose from and so I chose this one to match my new Raskog trolley that conveniently holds my most-used crafting supplies. This colour was named Provence.

The very cool thing about this paint is that once painted on and dried, you can then take a damp sponge and start distressing back the paint to reveal the colour underneath. The paint actually re-emulsifies so that you can work with it.

 

Initially, when I was invited to take this class, I did not understand what we would be doing, so I brought this little ceramic owl. Even though the paint will go on many surfaces, it seemed to look the best on wood. My sister took some $1.99 picture frames and painted them up with tow colours and they turned out fabulous.

I played around with some copper paint (which was not Annie Sloan and therefore permanent) to highlight this little guy's eyes. Not sure if I am in love with the finished overall look, but I did learn a whole lot about this paint.

 

The Annie Sloan website has a bit of a gallery where you can see how this paint is being used on antique furniture. And you really must go check out Annie Sloan's blog as it is full of colour inspiration. If you have an entire afternoon, go browse Annie's Pinterest boards. You could lose yourself there for quite a while.

 

Of course, I look at everything in my house differently now. It all has the potential to be covered in glorious Annie Sloan paint...

 

 

 

Knitted Cowl

So, I finished my knitted cowl on the weekend.


As part of my OLW this year, I decided to PURSUE this project. 

 

I am happy with how it turned out.

I am happy that I tried something new.

I am happy that I had YouTube to help me (because I am not a knitter).

I am happy with the colour combo.

I am happy how snuggly it is.

I am happy that it is 100% wool.

I am happy that I completed it within the month.

I am happy to wear it in the -20C weather we are having!

 

 

DIY :: Gold Chevron Wall Art

So, I have commitment issues when it comes to hanging art on my walls.

 

I have been in my house now for 13 years. I have yet to hang much of anything on my walls...any of my walls. I just can never decide. When out and about I am always looking for art to hang on my wall. And when browsing magazines or Pinterest, I admire the art work on other peoples' walls. 

I think it has something to do with changing my mind. What I mean is, I tire of decor easily. In fact, almost every time I vacuum, I end up changing around the furniture in my livingroom or any other room in my house. To me, this keeps things fresh and interesting in my home. So, if I buy some expensive art work and a few weeks later don't like it...then what? It will have been a waste of money.

So when I saw this interesting piece of art on Pinterest, it caught my eye. That was something I could do for relatively no money at all. And I figured I could probably do it just from looking at the picture. This little project has been on my mind for quite some time and I finally got around to doing it.

 

I started with a white canvas that I picked up at Michaels.

 

I started by painting the canvas all over with gold paint from the dollar store. Yes, I am still on the gold kick from the holidays. Because of the glitter, my paint did not spread on evenly, but that just ended up giving it more character. I left the canvas to dry entirely before moving on to the next step.

This next part was the trickiest. Once the canvas was dry, I cut 4in strips of masking tape (just some I had on hand) and laid it in a chevron pattern. I just eyeballed it all, so you can see that not everything lines up perfectly. But I was okay with that. Again, I thought it would add to the character of the overall piece.

 

Once the entire canvas was covered with pieces of tape, I spread on some white acrylic paint, again from the dollar store.

Again, I let the white paint dry completely. This part was the hardest of the whole project because I was so anxious to see how it worked out! I ended up putting on two full coats of white to ensure that the lines would be solid and I couldn't see the gold paint coming through.

Then I started carefully peeling back the tape until it was all removed.

When it was all said and done, I was pleased. However, when looking back at my Pinterest example, I felt like the solid gold colour didn't have quite the same effect as the multi-coloured art piece. All the same, I like the glitter of the gold at various times of day as it now hangs on my wall. And if I change my mind, I can just recover this canvas with new paint and start all over!

 

After looking at my new wall art for a few days now, I am thinking it looks kind of lonely there, doesn't it?

Perhaps it needs a buddy...


 

A Little Knitting Project

 So, I have been knitting.

 

I am not a knitter. I have no real experience, except for that one scarf I knit last year.

But I am one to jump in to a project that is appealing to me. So when I saw Elise's cowl back in November, I knew I wanted to make one. Why wouldn't I with claims of it being 'super simple'?

 

After a trip to Michaels and buying exactly what she recommended (except my needles are 8mm because they were out of 7mm needles and I went back twice) right down to the brand of yarn she used, I was ready.

Well, almost ready...I had forgotten how to cast on. So I had to go find out on YouTube.

Then, once the first row was cast on, I had to figure out how to knit with circular needles! Thankfully, Elise had provided a YouTube link for that!

 

All in all, once I was past that first row and figuring out how to connect the ends, it has been a pleasureable experience. I am finding moments to knit while the family is all watching TV, or in the few minutes before getting ready for bed. I almost took my knitting to work to squeeze out a few rows here and there but thought better of it. I probably wouldn't get any work done...

So, as our chilly winter days wind down, you will find me sitting cross-legged, totally lost in a knitting moment, a cup of tea by my side and a smile on my face.

 

Are you a knitter?

I'd love to connect about projects you have done and others you could recommend...

 

 

 

 

2013 Calendar DIY

So, I have a new calendar for 2013.

 

It was a gift from my girlfriend whom I appreciate so much. Thank you Carissa!

She found a downloadable calendar that she printed out and gave to me for Christmas. You could use any download that you find or even an existing calendar that you want for this DIY.

The pages are adorable, in very bright punchy colours and fun designs, all with the 'sweet' theme.

 

I wanted a fun way to display my new calendar, so I created a little DIY frame to display it on. I started with a cheap frame from the dollar store and removed the backing and glass from inside the frame. Next, I painted it white. Knowing I wanted to use a shiny silver pushpin that I had, I cut a piece of foam core board the size of the frame and inserted it in place. This material was soft enough to push my pin into, but firm enough to withstand the pressure and hold my pin in place.

 

Securing the calendar cards together with a bulldog clip, I then hung the clip from the pushpin.

 

And there it was... an adorable little calendar to put in my home office.

 

Since the back of the original frame was removed (the part that has the built-in stand) I found an inexpensive clear acrylic plate stand at the dollar store that I could mount my new Calendar Frame on!

 

Let the year begin!