A Cowl For My Niece

I love to knit and crochet, but there isn't much of a need for it when you live on a tropical island. And while that hasn't stopped me from my yarn arts, it has definitely slowed me down. But I suppose I can't complain, spending less time knitting means that I have time to try my hand at other crafts. It also means that I have a storage container full of yarns that I need to use. I hope that one day I'll get to the point where my stash only consists of the yarns I need for my current WIPs. (Knitters, say it with me, "yeah right!")

I had one skein of super bulky wool-ease and I had no idea what to do with it. I also had a hankering to make a cowl.

But seeing as how it's always a humid 85+ degrees over here, I needed to give the cowl away to someone who could give it the love it deserved.

Aha! My niece had moved to Oregon about a year ago and, it having been October at the time, I thought it could find a nice home with her. So I made it and sent to her.

And I was right. Isn't she gorgeous? And that color is just perfect for her.

I used a free pattern from JJCrochet, I think it was the Easy Crochet Cowl. I mostly used it anyway - I used a different size hook and changed the number of stitches and rows so that I could actually get an entire cowl out of that one skein of yarn.

Baby Shower Gift - Nursing Set

I haven't sewn much for me and baby, mainly because we don't know whether we are having a boy or a girl; although, I do have some nice fabrics that would work either way. But I must admit, that's not the only reason for the lack of sewing - as usual, I just haven't been able to make much time to get it done.

My friend Megan is expecting her first baby soon. We actually have the same due date. Pretty neat, huh? Our friends Kristy and Rachel threw Megan a baby shower last weekend. It was a lovely affair, filled with pink tissue paper pom-poms, luscious red velvet cup cakes, and, of course, the requisite baby shower games. For her gift, I decided to make Megan a nursing set - a nursing cover, burp cloths, and nursing pads.

With both Katelyn and Jacob, I just used burpies (aka flat fold cloth diapers) and blankets to cover up when nursing in public. But nowadays there are these new fangled nursing covers that are designed to help you cover up, but at the same time they have a curved opening at the top so you can easily keep an eye on baby.

Don't you just love this nursing cover? Well, I do.

(Now I just need to make another one for myself. If you look closely, you can see the curved neckline.)

I also made her set of three matching burp cloths like the one below. Well, I didn't make the burp cloths per se; more like I embellished pre-folded cloth diapers. Cute, right?



I hope she likes her gift.




It looks like she does.



(As you can see from the photos, I didn't make the nursing pads.)

Easy Ribbon Headband

The girls love making things. And so do I. But sometimes I just want to make easy things. Simple things. Things that don't require any clean up afterward. Things like super simple grosgrain ribbon headbands.

Mele chose blue . . .



and Katelyn chose pink.

You need one hair tie (hair elastic, rubber band, whatever you call it) and a length of ribbon. 

I attached one end of the ribbon to the hair tie by looping it through the hair tie and sewing it in place. Then I did the same for the other end. I didn't take measurements, per se. After I sewed the first end in place, I "measured" it around the girls' heads to make sure it would fit snugly and then I cut the second end and sewed it in place. Did that make sense? To prevent fraying, I very lightly and very quickly ran the cut edges of the ribbons through a flame before sewing.

We planned to add embellishments - buttons, bows, etc., but I suppose we were happy enough with the headbands as they were. Maybe we'll make some more that we'll embellish. For Katelyn, these are already embellished; she likes to wear hers with the hair tie showing.

Take it down a notch (size)

I recently bought a few maternity blouses. A white one and a lovely teal one in the same style - I think it's teal. Either way, they are too big.

But, Deece, why would they be too big - why didn't you just buy the correct size? Because I ordered them online and from the buyers' reviews, it seemed like a good idea to order the next size up.

Well, it wasn't a good idea. It was a bad idea. Because now I'm taking the shirts apart and attempting to take them down a size. Okay, Deece, no big deal, just make the adjustments.

Well, it is a big deal. It's a big deal because I have no idea what I'm doing.

Here is the before, we'll see what happens after:

Forget the Frock, Dig the Dress

I'm not a fan of the word "frock". Am I the only one who thinks it makes a pretty dress sound like an ugly garment?

I refuse to call a dress a frock. I don't want to make frocks, I want to make dresses. I want to make the visions in my mind come alive through beautiful fabrics. I want to wear yellow dresses, blue dresses, polka dot dresses.

I'll get there one day. But for now . . .

 

Hooray for finally getting it right!

In the past, when I wanted a blind hem I would just do it by hand. But that wasn't very often. Mostly because I didn't often have a need for a blind hem, but also because I just didn't trust the strength and quality of my hand hem. I could do it and question how long it would hold or I could pay someone else to do it and know that it would hold up long term.

And then one day I decided to try out the blind hem stitch on my machine. And it worked! Sort of.

I knew I was doing it wrong, but I couldn't figure out how to do it right. I couldn't figure out how to make it work according to the picture in my sewing machine manual. Maybe it wasn't technically correct, but it was conceptually correct and it got the job done. And so for the past few years, whenever I needed a blind hem, I would just do it on my machine.

But it always bugged me that I couldn't do it right.

Well, today I figured it out! I don't know that I did a great job, but I'm so glad that I figured it out.



You know what else I figured out? That I was not only folding the fabric incorrectly, I was also using the wrong foot. My machine, and maybe yours too, came with a blind hem foot - and I knew that, but I guess I forgot until today. The foot is really helpful because it has an adjustable guide to help you keep your hem straight and even.

Even with the correct fold and foot, it was still pretty tricky for me to keep the hem going properly, but I'm sure more practice will help me do it better. I'm thinking about posting the process in more detail because the few tutorials I've seen were still really confusing.

Get a Move On

I made a changing pad to supplement a store-bought gift for my friend's baby shower a little over a year ago. My dear friend Missy gave me the polka dot fabric, isn't it great? Both fabrics are very soft and would be perfect for a new baby. I originally wanted the store-bought gift to supplement the handmade gifts, but it just didn't end up that way.



I was well on my way to making a padded play mat to go along with the changing pad, but my batting didn't cooperate and I wasn't able to finish it in time. I planned to re-stuff it and give it to her late. Unfortunately, she recently moved to Hawaii and the play mat is sitting in my WIP container.

Now her younger sister is pregnant and due only days before me. Unlike the older sister, the younger sister is having a girl. And I do believe in gender stereotyping for babies when it comes to color, so no, I won't be giving her the blue and tan play mat. But if I can get my act together - and judging by my current state, that's a really big if - I'd like to make something for her precious baby.

I'm going to have to make some things for myself and our baby #3 since I gave away so much after thinking that Jacob was going to be our last baby. If I'm able to find a way to make some things for us, I'm sure I can make something for her. I figure, if I can cut one, I can cut two, right?

Island Flavor Jams

Tree-ripened, organically grown tropical fruit jams. No preservatives - nothing is there that shouldn't be.



A delectable treat, whether on Saipan or abroad.



The perfect gift to share a taste of the Marianas with loved ones afar.



Using only locally grown fruits, my jams are made seasonally and by special order. I make all the jams myself in small batches to maintain quality and achieve robust flavor.



All of my jams are pressure canned for safety. Each batch is unique and may vary slightly depending on the sweetness of the fruits, though I strive to maintain consistency.



Various flavors and sizes available. Please contact me for more information: ayorata@gmail.com.

Mango Jam - Pineapple Jam - Guava Jam - Papaya Preserves - Tangerine Marmalade - Coconut Jelly - Soursop Jam

Marathon Sewing

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a nice relaxing Christmas and an equally pleasant new year's celebration.

I spent from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Christmas eve sewing aprons. Almost all of the pieces had been cut and prepped ahead of time, so nearly all I had to do was sew them together. I certainly enjoyed being in front of the machine all that time, but it was a difficult dance trying to care for and entertain my kids at the same time. Thankfully, they spent some time at my sister's house and my husband also took them out for a couple hours to do some last minute shopping.

I was sewing for a friend's special order. I would like to have had a better picture to show you, but I was literally pressing and packing all of the aprons up until the moment she picked them up, so all I had time to do was sneak in a picture from my phone, under poor lighting conditions. But just imagine with me that this picture was not blurry or washed out or on a carpet covered in thread clippings:



Can you picture it? I quite like this set. I know that lots of people do it, but this was my first pairing of brown with pinks. Just darling! I hope the owners enjoy these even more than I enjoyed making them.

Creation

I knew it had been a while, but I didn't realize it had been this long! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spend so much time away from you.

I've been pretty busy creating life. Life for my children, for friends, for strangers even. But my newest life creation is our little baby number three, due in early June 2012.

This was my booth at Brilliant Star's annual Holiday Bazaar earlier this month - along with my two adorable helpers. There were not as many booths as there had been during the previous three years I've participated; there were also fewer shoppers. I tried to offer a variety of local flavored items at prices that hardly broke even, but even then, it was clear early on that sales would be quite lower than in the past.

I'll try to get some items in my etsy shop over the next month or so, but no promises. I am, after all, growing a tiny person in me and that takes quite a bit of energy in itself. But if there is something in the picture that you're interested in, please send me an email (ayorata at gmail) or contact me through Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Ayorata). I must let you know up front, however, I have no more jams.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season! Merry Christmas!