DIY Racing Stripe Desk

Oscar is still on a huge maze-drawing kick. He sits for hours every day drawing complicated mazes of every subject imaginable-- valentines, Super Mario Bros., the auditory system, words ("OSCAR" is his favorite to draw a maze through), the Mousetrap game, scenes from Totoro. As much as I love watching a budding skill, however, we had a problem. Despite my constant reminding him to put his finished papers in a designated box, his mazes had completely taken over the dining room table. It was clear to me that Oscar needed his very own space for creating. 

With permission, I dug a long-forgotten student desk out of my parents' shed. It was pretty beat-up, and years of neglect had left the seat very rough-- it would need to be refinished, or Oscar would be getting a bottomful of splinters every time he sat down on the thing. So I decided to have some fun with it and paint racing stripes on it.

It's my first furniture painting project, so it has its share of flaws, but I am so pleased with how it turned out. I left two stripes bare to let let the pretty wood grain shine through. Best of all, Oscar loves it, and I have my dining room table back! Win win!

I which I eat my words

As someone who does a lot of things outside the mainstream norm, my mantra is, "Don't knock it till you try it!"

However, there are some exceptions.

So when I wrote a post a little while back, basically saying that quilting is dumb, there was no chance I'd have to retract that phrase, like ever, right?

My word-eating process began when I realized my fabric scrap collection was out of control. In an effort to tame the streams of scraps spilling out of the closet, I went through all the scraps and sorted them into plastic bags by color, to be stored in a box.

Really high-tech, I know.
But you wouldn't believe how fast I can find the fabric I want now!

This was all the cotton scraps that were too small to be wrapped on bolts like the scraps in a second box. Not to be confused with the third box of scraps that holds all the specialty fabric, like fleece and jersey knit. Hi, my name is Maria, and I have a fabric addiction. Anyways, I looked at all these bags of cotton scraps in every color, wondering, how am I EVER going to use all this stuff up? How would the thrifty and resourceful pioneer women of old deal with these scraps? 

Oh. Oh... yeah.

So I am working on a new project on the weekends.

Yes, that is 100% made up of stuff I pulled out of the closet. It's pinned up on the walls because 1) there is no other convenient place to put it, and b) it looks ridiculously awesome. The wall art that will eventually replace the quilt has a hard act to follow! Here is a chart of what the finished product will look like...

And I am actually enjoying myself. The meticulous measuring, cutting, and matching seams is right up my alley. In an attempt to keep this a low-budget endeavor, I decided to skip the Quilting Basics class and reference the internet for technique. Living in the Information Age is such a wonderful thing! :-)

So here is what you'll most likely find me doing on the weekend nights after the kiddos are in bed. It's fun because my work bench is opposite the room from the computer desk, so usually Adam will be surfing the web while I sew and showing me all the silly stuff he finds online. 

So no, quilting is not dumb.

Downright Domesticity DIY: magnetic spice rack!

Since we ended up renewing our lease for another year, we have decided to really make our little apartment liveable. In Oklahoma, we fell into the trap of looking at our apartment as just a temporary place to stay... and three years later, we were still living in a bland, crowded, dorm-like space. As Adam and I packed up the house and prepared to move, we agreed that we would decorate and home-ify EVERY space we lived in thereafter, whether we were there for six years or six months.

This past year, we did a great job with the living room/dining room/kitchen area, but the den was a wreck and we never got around to getting little necessities around the house (like a toothbrush holder). So when we renewed our lease, I made a little home decorating wish-list, and I've been trying to tackle at least one thing a week.

First up... a magnetic spice rack!

 They stick right to the fridge!

Labels on the side...

Incredibly strong neodymium magnets glued to the top.

A word about the magnets. Every tutorial I found was vague on these magnets, so I was kind of shooting blind when I ordered them. I got the 1/2" x 1/8" magnets from here. If I could do it over again, I'd get magnets that are at least 1/4" thick, because the jar tops dip inward more than 1/8". I had a problem getting some of the heavier jars to stay put on the fridge until I stacked some of the magnets on top of each other so they could actually touch the fridge. If I had realized this earlier, I probably could have gotten away with using fewer magnets. But it is definitely a testament to the neodymium magnet's crazy strength that some of those jars are held in place without having a magnet physically touching the refrigerator!

4-oz Ball jelly jars (12-pack) -- $8

50 neodymium magnets-- $17

Gorilla glue-- $2

Reclaiming my cupboards from all those spices-- TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

Linked to Works for We Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

Wordless Wednesday: The Quiet Book Edition

Okay, this actually requires a few words... I've been meaning to post this since December, when I finished this quiet book for a client. Yes, I sew for fun and profit! Anyways, if you're my facebook friend, you've seen these all already, but I thought the rest of y'all would enjoy seeing the fruits of my (very intense) labor. Have a lovely Wednesday!

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Linked up Wordless Wednesday, Homegrown Families, Gay NYC Dad, Mama to 4 Blessings

Woolly-Headed!

A few weeks ago, I got really ambitious. I was going to knit! Wool longies! On circular needles! So I jumped online and found this free longies pattern on Ravelry, which seemed to be basic enough for a knitting newbie like myself. I liked this pattern immediately because you calculate your own pattern from formulas provided, so instead of specially buying needles to suit the pattern, you make the pattern to fit the materials you have on-hand. You also make it based off your baby's measurements, so if your kid has a tiny waist or super long legs, you'll supposedly still get a perfect fit.

It sounds great, but how did they really turn out? You tell me:

You can see the preliminary swatch on the right.
For this pattern, making a swatch is absolutely vital!

The legs are little long, but the seat fits like a glove!

And then Oscar started doing an Abercrombie model pose.
I just about died.

Since I wasn't sure how these would turn out, I just bought some cheapie wool from the craft store down the road. It's not the greatest, but good for a trial run. Next time I'll invest in something a little softer and better quality. Why wool, you ask? Wool is a marvelous natural fiber that keeps the wearer warm in winter and cool in summer. It wicks moisture, and when lanolized, converts moisture into salt crystals, making this ideal as a diaper cover. Just throw it on over a fitted (like my fitted diaper cover pattern!), and you're good to go. I sewed a wool soaker from an old sweater a few months ago, and the wool/fitted combination held up to Oscar's 12-hour nights with nary a leak.

And now... I'm working on a second pair. This one is actually for Oscar's second cousin, and it's made out of some rich, soft alpaca yarn. Can't wait to see how they turn out!