carrie girl

our good friend turned 32 on valentine's day, so i whipped up a little gift to bring to his birthday brunch. i used the tutorial from purl, and found it pretty easy to follow. the tie turned out skinnier than i had imagined, but our friend is pretty skinny himself so he can pull it off. for the tie keeper i used vintage ribbon, and i thought the heart was fitting for such a festive birth date.

in other news, i got my computer fixed (after 3 years sitting broken in the box in the closet) and am in full-on wedding craft mode. we've got about 4 and a half months to go, and i'm still undecided about decorations. i blame pinterest for the barrage of amazing ideas, and couple that with being an indecisive libra and that makes for some serious procrastination. 

at last! some sewing that is purely for my etsy shop! i've been thinking about making a large version of the travel jewelry wallet for a while now, and i was really happy to find myself on saturday with a couple hours to spare for this little project.

the original jewelry wallet is about 4 inches by 3 inches with pockets that measure 3 inches by 2 1/2 inches. this is great for earrings and more delicate necklaces, but i've been wanting something for my chunkier pieces. the large wallet is about 6 inches by 5 inches with pockets 5 inches by 4 inches. the pockets of the travel wallet used to be the bane of my existence. they took so long that if i really charged my hourly rate for the production (plus materials, etc.)  the price tag would be ridiculous. so with the large wallet, i set out to streamline the process.

the new pockets consist of one large piece of fabric folded and sewn in an origami-like way so that they are vitrtualy seamless. this shaved off at least an hour from the construction time. i haven't tried this technique on the little pockets, but i'm hoping it works for them as well.

this is the new wallet filled and closed. i'll give this a test-run when i head home to kansas city for the holidays.

here's a shot of carrie girl's newest intern.

turkey, oysters, prosecco and pie--needless to say, i was a happy girl at this year's thanksgiving dinner. we shook it up a bit and spent a few days in new haven, connecticut with ted's family, and headed back to brooklyn for the rest of the weekend. we got a tree, addressed save the dates and drank martinis. all in all, i have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season--dear friends, amazing family, a job i love, good health and loads of laughter. now all i need is a dog who can be left alone, and i'll be really good to go.

i busted out the gocco for the first time in years to print our save the dates (by the way a lot of wedding forums abbreviate them to std...why??) anyway, we've been thinking about the save the dates a lot since we jumped back on the wedding train in february, and we're really happy with what we came up with. the fabric pennants are from my vintage fabric stash, and cutting/sewing 400 of them wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it was going to be. i think it is good preparation for the many craft projects to come.

speaking of my vintage fabric stash, on my not-so-recent-actually-it-was-last-august trip to iowa city i went back to my favorite mennonite thrift store and picked up a few pieces to add to the stash. i'm most excited about the larger piece next to the bottom--i love that it looks like feathers on an arrow, and there's enough to make quite a few things with it. sadly the new york vintage fabric scene looks a lot like $25/yard instead of $1/pound, but there's always ebay!

i'm gearing up for some major holiday sewing (yay!), but i'm easing into it with little projects around the house. if anyone has ever crate trained a dog, they know that crates aren't all that attractive. and if you have a scared little dog like we do, then you've probably read that covering them up makes them more den-like. so after looking at an old towel covering her crate for the last month, i decided raisin's space needed some sprucing up.

i made it hard on myself and cut 3 panels, and sewed them together instead of using just one long panel. i guess i thought it would look better, but i'm pretty sure it took me twice as long for probably the same outcome.

and what little dog doesn't want to go to bed and wake up with a room filled with flowers?

i have a feeling that sewing with a dog around the apartment is going to be a new experience for me.

hey there!

i got a dog!

i'm also getting married...to ted!

yay!

here's the little lady of the house. her name is raisin, and she loves nothing more than to be snuggled and eat cheese. she's a rescue, so she's a bit scared to be left alone, but we're working on that. she's a recent graduate of puppy kindergarten and is a super star at daycare, so we think we got a good one.

and you all know ted! we're getting married in july. in a barn. with cherry pie. it's going to be epic.

so here's to fall, my favorite season, and some more frequent blogging, if anything just to show you pictures of my pup.

hello summer! despite my decision to teach summer school this year, i have still been able to relax and make plans for fun things that don't involve students, lesson plans and curriculum maps! i also have fridays off, so i spent all of friday morning in my underwear drinking coffee and reading blogs/emailling friends/figuring out google+ (which i still don't totally get.) it was glorious.

here are just a few pictures of this weekend. don't worry, there are no underwear coffee drinking pictures.

bloody marys and some music

happy may! despite the allergies and fighting a cold, this month is off to a good start. i happily spent my weekend cleaning and organizing the apartment, as well as sampling the best bloody marys brooklyn has to offer. ted also made me a killer spring mix that made the dusting and scrubbing seem rather painless. here are a couple of my favorites...

random update

*i rode the amtrak for the first time last weekend. the seats are more comfortable than a plane, but the bathroom is pretty rough. i also am 90% certain i would not like to live in schenectady or poughkeepsie.

*i bought the best butter dish from west elm. i mean the. best. butter. dish.

*i got new glasses from warby parker. (for a semi-awkward photo click here.)

*i am addicted to the miniseries the kennedys and plan to finish watching it tomorrow on my flight.

*this advice column will change your life.

happy spring break!

baby stuff!

my dear friend katy is having her first baby next month, so i wanted to make some things for the wee one. after receiving a big box of adorable fabric and a request to make bumper pads, a blanket and a crib skirt i got to work. i found an online tutorial for the bumper pads and the blanket, but the crib skirt was more of a challenge. after this project i am happy to say i am no longer rusty, and definitely want to keep the sewing momentum up.

i made 24 linen ties for these, and that was more of a mental challenge than a physical one. the one thing that i have a hard time with in a project is repetition. i get bored really easily and want to move on to the next part, but some things just have to get done. i powered through the turning right side in/pressing section with a bottle of wine and the bachelor (yes, i'm watching it this season...and i am a little ashamed).

the back of the blanket is that soft minky fabric. i will die a happy woman if i never have to use this stuff again. i don't have a walking foot or a serger so stretchy fabric is not my friend. sewing it together required a lot of patience and few choice expletives. i made this blanket on the larger side so that the little one can use it into the toddler years, but there was some left over minky and elephant fabric, and since i am obviously a glutton for punishment, i made another smaller blanket that can be used right from day one.

this is the back of the crib skirt. i did a box pleat with the elephants on the insert. this is the part of the project i was most proud of. i finished all of the seams with my overcast foot using the serging stitch which made all the difference. it felt really finished and clean. i had a great time working on this project, and i can't wait to meet this babe! i just hope he/she likes elephants...