Break

I’m really busy at school right now and I have a friend visiting from the Netherlands, so no posts for a few days.  I have a crochet project on the way and may post about some other crochet projects that I’ve completed recently.  Stay tuned.

We got our CSA food box from Plan B on Tuesday night.  Here’s the contents: apples, bananas, apple cider, red onions, carrots, potatoes, yams, collard greens, living green salad, and celery.  I still have carrots, onions, and a squash from last week.  I find it hard to find good recipes for carrots, but I’m going to need to get a move on.  Also, I’ve never had collard greens, so I need to find some recipes for that too.

Until then, enjoy this winter scene.

xo Saree

Cat Cushion

We bought an Expedit bookcase from Ikea for our living room this past spring and thought leaving a cubbyhole open for the cat would solve our cat furniture dilemma.  A didn’t want to have a cat bed for Ally since all the affordable ones were not the most attractive.  We decided that the cubby would provide privacy and a spot of her own, which is out of the way.  To make it more comfortable for her, I decided to make her a cushion.  I took a cat mat that we already owned and cut it to fit the space.  I then took four of my favourite green fabrics and stitched them together to make the top of the cushion.  I cut brown fleece for the back and sewed them together like a pillowcase, leaving a hole to insert the mat into the cover, while being able to still remove the cover for washing.

When it was all done, I put it in the cubby and patiently waited for Ally to use it.  I tried luring her into the spot with treats and catnip, but she wasn’t game.  I really wanted to see her use the cushion before I left for a research trip, but she held out on me.  Finally, when I was in a different country, A emailed me this photo:

A also told me that Ally seemed to like it more on the other side of the cushion where the fleece is, and that is how she uses it now.  She likes it so much that when I went to photograph that side, she magically appeared to lay on it.  You get the idea.  So, if you are thinking of doing something similar for your cat, save your nice fabric and just use fleece.

xo Saree

iPhone and HTC Desire Case

This past fall, A got an iPhone and wanted me to make him a case for it.  We went fabric shopping together at Fabric Land and he found a classic herringbone wool.  We decided on a sleeve decide after a couple failed attempts at making a pouch with a button closure.  Plus, if the phone is ringing, a sleeve will provide quick access.

I started out by measuring the phone’s dimensions and then adding about 0.25 inches all the way around for seam allowance.  I took the iPhone length and doubled it (plus the seam allowance) and cut a piece of herringbone to that length (the width was only the iPhone width plus 0.5 inches).  I did the same with a lining fabric, which in this case is a muted plaid suiting fabric.  I sewed the fabrics together inside out (like a pillowcase) and then flipped it right side out and sewed up the hole (if you make the hole on the long side, it will look better later).  I then ironed it out to make sure it laid flat and folded it in half, ironing again.  I sewed up the 2 sides as close to the edge as possible, leaving the end open.  It is a good idea to back stitch a few times at the beginning and end of the edging, to ensure a secure seam.  Now, if you had your hole on the long side when you pulled the fabric right side out, you will find that your stitching up the sides at this point will cover the stitching you did to close the hole.  If your hole was on one of the short ends, it will, unfortunately, show up right where you slide the phone in, making it a lot more noticeable. If you slide the phone into the sleeve and find it a bit too loose, you can always stitch up the sides again closer to the phone to make it snug.  I find it better to start loose though, and go from there.  If you use thread of a similar colour (I used brown), it really isn’t noticeable.

Here is the phone case I made for A.  His barber liked it so much, he’s put in an order for the exact case.

For my HTC Desire, I decided to go with something a little different.  First, make sure you measure the phone, because the Desire is a bit smaller than the iPhone.  I took my measurements and did the same (adding 0.25 inches all the way around).  This time though, when I put my fabrics together inside out (ie. patterns together), I also added a piece of batting on top.  This way, when I turned it inside out, the batting was in the center and there was a bit of cushioning to the case.  I used the same fabric for the exterior and interior.  I bought the fabric at a little shop in Arnhem, Netherlands and love the pattern, but I have no idea who the designer is, since it was scrap.  I used white thread for this case.  My only issue is that since I was making it for myself, I wasn’t very picky, so I ended up leaving some of the selvage intact, and I made the hole to pull the fabric through on the short edge.  So, when everything was done, I found that the selvage and the stitching from sewing up the hole are right where I slide the phone in.  It is quite noticeable, but I’m ok with it.  Lesson learned though.

Here’s my phone case (I’m taking the picture with the phone, so no ‘phone in sleeve’ photos):

xo Saree

Moby Dick Sweater

I was browsing Design*Sponge in December and saw this post for a gift guide- revenge of the nerds.  Being a nerd, this gift guide was right up my alley.  I spied this awesome Moby Dick sweater from Out of Print and had to have a look on their site.  Out of Print has a wide range of book covers on sweaters and t-shirts for men, women, and kids, and the purchase of a shirt/sweater sends one book to a community in need! Living in Canada, the fleece Moby Dick sweater sounded super comfy so I placed my order.  I’m so glad I did.  This has quickly become my favourite sweater.  Check out Out of Print and I’m sure you’ll find a favourite book cover to wear.

xo Saree

Picture Sunday

Bon Echo Provincial Park

xo Saree

K Quilt- Just Finished!

I completed the quilt for K and I couldn’t be happier.  I quilted it with diagonal lines, which goes really well with the pattern on the quilt top.  I used orange thread to blend in, but it pops nicely with the white border.  The batting is pretty low loft (it was scrap batting that was gifted to me), but I was happy to use it up.  I wrapped the backing fabric around for the binding and I’m glad I added the white border because I think it would have been too busy without it.  Overall, I am quite pleased with this quilt.  I think it is my best one yet, so it’s nice to see that I’m improving!

xo Saree

K Quilt- Progress

My cousin K is also having a baby this spring and the sex of the baby is unknown (although she does want to know).  I may be meeting up with my parents this weekend, which would allow me to give them the quilts for S and K, so that they can pass them along.  Therefore, I’m under a bit of a deadline.  For K’s quilt, I wanted to try something different.  I had some great orange fabrics that I wanted to use and so, I decided to cut large squares of each, cut the squares in half to form triangles and then sew different fabric triangles together.  I don’t know all the fabrics in this quilt, but some are Amy Butler and some are Lizzie House.  I’m backing it with some Red Letter Day ducks from Lizzie House and wrapping the backing around to form the binding.  Instead of having the orange binding right up against the orange of the quilt top, I decided to add a strip of white all the way around, to really make the top stand out.  I was nervous about the design, but I really love how this is turning out.

Last night, I was able to cut and sew the quilt top, and baste the quilt.

xo Saree

S Quilt – Just Finished

Another cousin of mine (S, sister of E) is having a baby in the spring and she wants the sex of the baby to be a surprise as well.  I’m starting to notice a trend.  Anyway, S is having a baby and I am very excited for her.  I knew right away that I would make a quilt and as I was thinking about what to do, I happened upon this post from Film in the Fridge (see the links sidebar).  I thought the It’s a Hoot (I love MoMo) fabrics were perfect for a baby quilt, so I ordered a couple of charm packs, as well as a charm pack of Robert Kaufman solids from Fat Quarter Shop.  I then ordered some new minky fabric from Hawthorne Threads.  I laid everything out on the floor, got rid of the pink It’s a Hoot charms to make it more unisex, added some solids, and I was ready to sew.  This quilt took me two evenings (probably about 5 hours, including breaks).

The first night, I finished off the quilt top, with the addition of a Circa 50 border:

The second night, I added the minky backing.  I sewed the quilt up inside out, turned it right side out and sewed a border, then sewed around 4 of the squares to keep everything in place.  It took very little time and I think it turned out pretty well.  Very colourful and cheery! Sorry for the picture quality.  I’m having a low light situation.

xo Saree

CSA Food Box

Since the New Year, A and I have been trying to eat more healthy and consume less ‘stuff’.  This isn’t a resolution, and would have occurred anytime of year, but the decision just happened to occur following New Year’s.  We had already banned the purchase of meats since the summer (although this doesn’t prevent us from eating meat if we are at a restaurant or someone’s home) in order to decrease the impact that our consumption has.  Following the holidays that saw us buying a lot of food for Christmas dinner, house guests, and a New Year’s party, we decided to take a week and a half and not buy any food at all (no restaurants and no groceries) so that we could eat all the leftovers we had.  We also made a dent in the pantry.  Finally, when that was complete, we went to the farmer’s market and bought fresh produce and eggs, to keep us stocked up.  That week and a half saw us only spend about $40 at the grocery store getting things like broth, sour cream, and crackers.

This brings us to the present.  Last week I went online to research the CSA farms with shares available in our area for the winter.  The two with websites were ManoRun Farm and plan b organics.  ManoRun seemed to have a few winter shares, but I think we may have been too late to buy in.  As for plan b, their site included an online ordering form and we were easily able to order our shares.  We decided to get the regular 1-2 person box and skipped purchasing the local box (our thinking being that we would get the local produce box when we have entered the local growing season).  The boxes are available for pick up at a number of locations and there was one very near to our house.  The boxes are placed outside at the pick up location once a week for 4 hours (Tuesday 5-9pm in our case), which is a perfect window to make a pick up after work.

The first box was picked up last night and here is what we got:

1 butternut squash, 1 avocado, 1 bunch of kale, 1 grapefruit, 6 onions, 2 pears, 4 apples, 1 bunch of living basil, 1 head of romaine lettuce, about 20 carrots, apple cider

When you order your box with plan b, there are a few options besides size and local vs. regular- you can also choose weekly or biweekly delivery, add eggs to your order, add apple cider to your order, and make substitutions.  You can make up to 5 substitutions for $3 per box, and I was tempted to do this since I have an intolerance to white potatoes, but didn’t want to spend an additional $3 per week to get the potatoes removed (A will happily eat any potatoes).  Fortunately, this box was potato-free! Since we didn’t pay for the apple cider as an add-on to our box, it’s inclusion was quite a nice surprise as well.  In fact, as you can see from the picture, A was so keen to try the cider (prepared Jan. 13th), that he managed to drink some while I ran to get my phone for the picture.

We are now on our way to eating better, one step at a time.  There are a lot of blogs that have helped with inspiration, as well.  For inspiration of your own, check out the blog “Crackers”, which I’ve linked to on the sidebar.  It has gorgeous photos, local field trips, and many ideas.

xo Saree

Baby Onesies!

This isn’t a post of a project I did, but I bought some really great baby onesies on Etsy at the shop Caustic Threads and had to show them off.  Two of our friends had babies recently and in a search to find some onesies that were ‘just right’, I stumbled upon Caustic Threads.  I knew I wanted a onesie that had the fold over mitts on them, but I was having a hard time finding plain white ones that I could do some applique with.  I was running a search on Etsy and stumbled upon these and knew I had to get them!

Caustic Threads was really great to work with too.   I saw some designs on her site that I liked, but they weren’t on the onesies that I wanted, so I convo-ed her and she made me a custom order.  The ones I asked for are actually being sold now on her site.  So cute! She even threw in a gift, which I really appreciated!

Here they are:

xo Saree