2 Weeks Until Our Trip to Capital City!

It's amazing how "true" these little a-la-carte avatars can be. Though A) my eyes aren't really that wonky, B) there's no option for two-tone hair, and C) it's really a shame that they don't have this guy as a T-shirt icon. (I know, it's not the Simpsons, but...)

Try it, it's fun!

Summery Green Vintage Goodness

This top just looked so fresh and summery (and easy!) that I could not resist.



The fabric came from here (a remnant) and the pattern came from here (a treasure trove of affordable patterns sold by a very nice lady--don't mind the utilitarian site design and tiny images).

While viewing this photo I am beginning to see the wisdom of tucking this style of shirt in (as per the pattern illustration), but I guess this is what the kids are wearing these days.

Amber Waves of Grain

Today was harvest day!




No purple mountains here, but still...pretty all-American for the 4th of July, no?
I left a few heads of wheat outside for the birds to snack on.

Before & After

(Before)

Egad. Is this anyway to store your knitting needles?
Um, no.
How about this?
(After)





I have a cheap-ish plastic set of drawers that used to hold art supplies. These have grudgingly been giving way to my growing collection of sewing/knitting/crafting supplies. My organizational skills within these drawers is sketchy at best, which explains the “before” picture. Finding the right sized needles has always been a bit of a thankless task as I wrestle with flailing circular (all the better for subway-knitting) needles and stray double-points.

I have always longingly eyed needle organizers such as these, but I’ve never been 100% in love with any particular design and being the ever-practical gal, I always think “Oh, I can make that. (Famous last words.)

I believe the black and white fabric came from Superbuzzy. It’s been cut and sitting in my closet from a year or so. The cross-stitch print is from purlsoho and also sat around for a while. I often have a hard time cutting into my small pieces of fabric...as if I won’t someday find another piece of fabric that I will love as much as that particular one.
So after having the fabric stare at me for (at least) months I hopped on the train a few weeks ago to spend the afternoon here. There, on the scraps-sold-by-the-pound
table in this booth, I found this little strip of red, sewing-themed Japanese fabric which turned out to be the catalyst for this project. Months of tentative cutting and fabric piles sitting around turned into one day of sewing and completion.

And no, I don’t really store my needles in the grass, but it made such a nice background.

Speaking of Renegade, it was a lovely day. I also picked up this little cutie

from my friend’s wife’s (which makes her my friend, too!) store booth for a friend who is expecting this fall. I also got a lovely tiny crocheted daffodil bobby pin from here.

And finally, one other installment of Before:


And After:


Yum.
It was perfect with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Don't Go In the Water

Yeee-Owwww!
The smocking tease has blossomed into a full-fledged pocket. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I had wanted to add a button-on cephalopod-themed towel, but...I set this aside about a month ago and only picked it back up this week. At least I planned ahead enough to have finished the smocking and assembled the apron part. The actual fish involved a lot of last-minute improvisation. I actually sealed a pin inside it somehow, so I might someday be saying "Ouch" for real whilst wearing this.



Yeah, the lemon wedge is supposed to be for the fish, you know...? I wanted to be holding a shrimp kebab, but that would have involved a little more planning.