Friday, September 30, 2011

{this moment}

As inspired by Soule Mama:
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 
 

Noodlehead's Basic Boys Wallet


Back in March when Dana at MADE was inspiring all of us with Celebrate the Boy, Noodlehead's basic boys wallet caught my eye, but at the time I was up to my eyeballs teaching freshman how to write a research paper. Add six months, subtract one teaching career, multiply by one very insistent four year old and I cleared an afternoon to try my own hand at wallet making.



Anna at Noodlehead created a cool urban wallet with wool suiting, leather, and grommets. Although I thought the style rocked, my four year old still prefers pictures to graphics or textures. He scrounged my fabric scraps until he found the preschool friendly lizards leftover from an I-Spy Swap I participated in over at Obsessively Stitching.


I decided to add a tab because I knew the wallet would not be fitting in my son's pocket for at least another a year or too.

I followed the tutorial for the body of the wallet. I found the directions easy to follow, and only two small discrepancies:
  • First, when I was ironing the 8.5" x 10.5" fabric into the accordion shape that would hold cards the numbers did not add up. She indicated to make folds 3", 1.5", 2", 1.5", and 2" apart, but that only adds up to 10" not 10.5". I ended up just cutting a 1/4" off the top and bottom so that the finished size was 8.5" x 4".
  • The other was a simple mistype. She indicated to put the wrong sides together and stitch with a 1/2" seam allowance then open and iron so wrong sides were facing. Clearly she meant to say put right sides together, stitch, then iron so wrong sides are facing; but it could throw a beginner if they were not studying the pictures closely.
My stash of medium weight interfacing was empty, so I used deco heavyweight interfacing. To accommodate the extra bulkiness I cut the interfacing without seam allowances.



You can also see where I left the space to turn and top stitch and insert the tab for snapping on the left. This is where I made a major mistake. I forgot to consider which side of the wallet the tab should be on (the right side so it closes like a book) and instead I left the wrong side open. In addition, it was exceptionally hard to get the 1/4" seam allowance to iron under with the thick accordion layers of fabric. Follow Noodlehead's tutorial and leave your turn and top stitch opening at the top where there are fewer layers of fabric.



I compensated for messing up the tab by creating a longer one, 4.5" when turned and finished, and used two small grommets to attach it to the back of the wallet.


After begging for months for his wallet, my son spent the afternoon showing everyone at his big sister's school his new wallet. Thank you Noodlehead and MADE!


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Back to School

 


My sister-in-law at Moose Threads (see her work on Etsy here, her blog here & her facebook page here) has been amazing me with her crochet skills for years. I know my way around a sewing machine and have a basic understanding of knitting, but crochet has always been an enigma to me. That is why I'm so excited that Dana at Craftyminx opened her Crochet School, a free month long course for beginners. Click on her graphic for links to the syllabus and supply list, but don't wait classes begin October 1st!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

The New Home - Living Room Part 1

We recently moved from our overcrowded project house from hell cute starter cottage to my grandma's 1960's two story home in the city. The kids have their own rooms, there's a bathroom for the girls and  the boys to get ready in the morning, and the yard is complete with heavily laden apple, pear, and plum trees.



As excited as we are to start our pseudo farm from scratch, it's going to be labor intensive. The indulgent fun is in planning the home decor. Today I'm starting with the living room. I'm not a design expert, so I'm sure my methods are unorthodox, but I began by determining the "fixed" portion of the color palette. (There  is no budget for buying new furniture and Philip is far to busy to build any right now.) Then I began brainstorming possible accents. I had a stroke of luck when Dana at MADE posted her Pinterest picks for autumn yesterday. The end result was my fixed palette and the optional accent colors below.


Friday, September 16, 2011

{this moment}

As inspired by Soule Mama:
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I love the excitement of moving into a new space; all I see are possibilities!

Friday, September 9, 2011

{this moment}

As inspired by Soule Mama:
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.