Little Rip & Tiny Colz

We picked the Babe's crib up on Friday. Rip needed help deciphering the assembly instructions. His trusty side kick, Royal, was there to help. Royal is very very good at following directions and is always willing to help a brother out. I was going to post a blog about the current state of this baby's room but have decided to wait to do so upon it's completion. Patience is a virtue people.

I thought it might be cute to hang photographs of Rip and myself as children in the baby's room. Instead of just tossing some photos in frames, I decided to dress them up a bit. I made a stop at the local JoAnn Fabrics and grabbed some quarters and some frames and hit the ground runnin'. 

Most frames you buy at the store come with a piece of cardboard that gets sandwiched between the glass and the back of the frame. I used this cardboard as the backing for my fabric. I am not too concerned about keeping the fabric on the cardboard forever so I grabbed my trusty UHU stick and affixed the fabric to the cardboard. Easy!

Once I got that glued up good, I flipped it over and gave the front a quick rub down with a bone folder. This just ensures that the fabric makes contact with the cardboard and eliminates any air bubbles or wrinkles. If you do not own a bone folder, you should. Go buy one, you would be amazed on the many uses you will find for it while sewing, folding, bending, wrapping and etc. Do it, seriously!

Once the air bubbles are eliminated, I flip it over again and cut the corners off. This will help keep the back as flat as possible and eliminate any excess fabric.

I pull that UHU stick out again so I can glue those edges back. Notice the corners with no extra fabric. Nice!

Now it is time to get that photo of Rip attached to the front. I didn't want to damage the photograph so I dug out some plastic photo corners that I had in hiding. You could find something more decorative if you would like but these will do the job just fine. 

There you have it folks! Super easy, super simple, super fast. 

Happy Birthday Caylia Rose!

Holy Shit, this might be the coolest thing that I have ever made. I know it's not perfect, but it is doesn't matter because it is awesome. Caylie loves, LOVES, LOVES, Full House, so I felt it appropriate to give Bob Saget (aka B.Sags) in crochet form for her 24th Birthday.

How things are Going: A mobile update from Colzoz

I got these birds on their sticks now. They seem pretty stoked about it! A good and 

smart friend of mine pointed out that babies are color blind until about 4 months of 

age. She suggested I stick some black and white birds up there to keep the baby's 

attention until those rods and cones are fully functioning. Duly noted. 

I used a wax coated linen thread to suspend the twigs. You could use anything you desire but the wax

coating keeps any knots you tie from slipping. So that's cool.

In lieu of trekking through the forest in search of sticks and twigs, I cut up some decorative sticks

that I had here at the house. I really like the way these branches turn and twist. It made for great

places to tuck the birds in. 

Shhh. The Great Spotted Blue Bird is very very rare in this part of the country. Isn't it

majestic?

I was a bit worried about the process of getting this thing to balance properly. It was 

pretty easy though and the whole thing was put together in under 30 minutes. In case 

you were wondering, I pulled out my handy dandy glue gun to affix these little beauties

to their perches. Easy!

Ta Da! This thing looks pretty sweet! I think this babe is gonna love it!

I'm a crocheting machine!

Slowly but surely I am making progress on Finn's blanket. I am realizing that, YES, this will take forever. New goal, have it done for Finn's first birthday in July.

So I just discovered a new use for etsy... buying patterns. I bought patterns for both this hat and these shoes. I have been making and remaking these all month. Finn's not impressed, according to him he has no use for a hat or shoes and he promptly removes them from his head and feet.

I also made a secret pair for Bob and Urs' soon to be little guy or gal. Shhh.

A homeade card

Finn demonstrates: He agrees, I made the first version too small.

The second version is better, but I remake it one more time so that it can have a citron stripe.

I discover that dry ice comes with your grocery delivery. Experiments ensue.

It's cold and rainy so I give stew a try, and it's one of the best things I've ever made.

Recipe found here pass it on

Birds for Babes

I found this mobile at spoolsewing.com. I decided that I should try and whip one together so that when this new babe gets here she will have something pretty to look at while she is chillin' in her crib.

Here is the stack of fabric that I'm going to build these birds from.

Mill End Textiles sells Fat Quarters for $1.50. These are lovely bits of fabric that are the perfect size for smaller projects that you might be making. Mill End also has hella awesome coupons and deals. Print your coupons off from the internet and head on over there. 

Here are some of the birdies freshly cut from fabric. Next step, stichin' shit up.

 

I start by pinning the first edge together. I am hand stitching these and need things to stay put while I work.

Ya get one side done and then get cookin' on the other.

Once you get that belly sewn on, it's time to sew that bird face together. Here is a pre-op bird face.

Ta Da! Got that bird sewn up good! Now all there is left to do is stuff it and sew up the tail.

Here are some finished birds. 

Hen Party.

Now that we've got these birds all put together the next step will be to arrange them, ever so strategically, upon some sticks. 

Stay tuned for installment 2 where we attempt to accomplish this delicate balancing act. 

Happy Staycation to Me.

It was over 50º yesterday and we decide to take Finn on his first trip to the Como zoo. Jeff and I are home all week for our first ever "staycation".

It's all my two dads up in this zoo. On the left we've got Paul Reiser and on the right it's everyone's favorite art dad.

The Giraffe's and Zebra's have to stay inside because they hate the winter.

Finn thinks tigers are "super kew".

Then we head over to the conservatory to check out some indoor plant action.

Fern's are cool!

I start a new project, soon this will be Finn's first blanket from his mom.

It's a SLIPPERy slope

I've discovered that yarn can be turned into lots of things; blankets, potholders, scarves and even three dimensional objects like slippers! Holy Shit. This is my latest endeavor, a red house slipper perfect for keeping your feet warm while you're busy crocheting more slippers.

Here's a view from the top, I even shaved my ankle hairs.

I also attempted and failed at creating a "Granny Square" style slipper. These ones make my feet look fat. I like my red one's better.