Insomnia Satisfaction

A few nights ago I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I've just got too much running around in my head lately. I also had an itching to make something that wasn't on the "to-make" list. I needed to be spontaneously crafty. Browsing through some blogs and other websites, I came across an adorable bird embroidery pattern from Geninne.com.

I first wanted to try putting the little guy on a solid color kitchen towel. The problem with that was that I didn't have a solid color kitchen towel, any extra funds to get one, and it was after midnight. I do have a bunch of IKEA blue and white kitchen towels on hand and immediately loved the idea of embroidering on a patterned fabric instead. A little after 3am (I think), I ended up a very happy camper. I kind of adjusted the pattern as I went along- omitted some details, most of which was intentional. I think. I'm currently wrestling with the desire to make many (many) more. I think that sewing birds onto everything I own might be a little overkill. But it's still pretty tempting.

Happy Birthday, Claire! (Craft Fail)

I usually do a pretty good job of crafty flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. Every once in a while, though, I have no pants to fly with. The wheels fall off. It's usually not pretty. Lots of screaming, throwing objects and general disgust.

Friday night was one of those times.
Andrew and I had decided to make Claire a birthday gift using freezer paper stenciling. She loves to watch Chuck and expressed interest in the official shirt. (Warning: ripoff alert!) I have a super-awesome screen printing kit, but embarrassingly haven't had the chance to play with it enough to try screen printing on fabric. I soooo want to do it, but really want to make sure I have time to play with it and do it right. Anyway...

We went to get supplies and found some paint that boasted of its opaqueness, claiming to be "Like silkscreen in a can!", "So easy to use!" Spray on fabric paint. Seems genius. I wanted to work on a black shirt and the paint seemed like a good idea.

Long story (and night) short, the canned fabric paint is not really compatible with freezer paper stencils. When it (good gracious, finally) dries, the freezer paper pulls off but leaves the paint on top, making clean edges completely non-existent. I spent two hours imitating a surgeon with an X-acto knife and a black sharpie trying to make the edges look somewhat presentable. From a distance, it's pretty passable. The closer you get, the worse it looks. Not at all the smooth, crisp edges I was going for. I didn't want this thing to be obviously made in my kitchen. Sigh. (The pictures actually don't show the letters with edges nearly as ragged as I remember them being. Nice work, camera.)

I made an official "Craft Fail" tag for it, so at least we all got a few good laughs. Sorry, Claire. Happy Birthday! We owe you a better gift. :)

A Onesie for Jack

Because first, I have an inability to leave a onesie unadorned and second, robots with mustaches are funny.

Hee hee.

Progress.

See? I have been busy! I'm working on reaching craft equilibrium before Baby Jack is here. I'm making progress. Halfway through a huge bib order, almost finished with the baby bedding- I'm having fun taking things off the to-make board above my sewing machine. Not that I don't enjoy making things, just that I don't enjoy them hanging over my head. Next goal: get the Etsy shop stocked up. Wish me luck.