Craft Weekend

Last weekend I spent three lovely days at my sister Susanna's house participating in a "craft weekend". She extended her dining room table to it's full length, plopped down a few trash baskets and opened her doors.

Alyssa and Amy needle-felting and beading

 
Over Friday - Sunday various friends and family members dropped by to work on craft projects - some came prepared with something in mind and others showed up looking for a new creative outlet.

Adrianne, Savannah and Nessie even brought a "food craft" and set up in the kitchen to make Lumpia (similar to eggrolls).

Aidan kept all the ladies company, including being a great babysitter to 3-week old baby girl.

Aidan multi-tasking: holding a baby and playing the Xbox

Mom and I were working on making presents for other people so I can't post them on the blog yet.

Following are some items made by others!

  

Amy made two needle-felted flowers to pin on scarves and hats.

 

Susanna needle-felted bird ornaments to sell this Christmas (the photos don't do them justice since I only had my camera phone). She used Laurie & Kevin Sharp's latest book for reference.

 

Susanna also picked up this awesome Halloween craft magazine that I snapped a few photos of below (can't remember the name of the magazine). I don't decorate or craft for Halloween, but I thought some of these ideas were excellent inspiration for other projects.

I might carve my pumpkin like this...

Man in the Moon Pizza!

Pumpkin cookies

It's that time of year again...

On the first weekend of October Mike and I headed south on our annual Eugene Football weekend. This time we left on Friday so that we could stop in Silverton to hike in Silver Falls park. Due to our late start in leaving Portland we opted for the 2-mile trail that took us past two falls (and this beautiful lodge).

We haven't had rain in months so the falls weren't raging, but they were still something to see.

It was a beautiful fall day and being Friday afternoon we encountered few people on the trail.

In Eugene we opted to stay in a new place - a cottage that we found off of VRBO. It was awesome and I wish we'd gotten photos of it. Here's the VRBO listing, and we would definitely stay here again.
Not only was the place great, but it was within walking distance of all our favorite spots. Over the two days we made it to the Steelhead Brewery, Eugene Saturday Market, La Perla Pizzeria, Keystone Cafe, Ninkasi Brewery, Down To Earth Home & Garden, The Beanery, and of course, the UO Bookstore and Autzen Stadium.

Ducks beat the Huskies

We also checked out a couple new spots...

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of tofu and tempeh firsts...

Gorgeous historic house at the base of Skinner Butte

Scout Tee: Gray Floral

At the same time that I was wandering the aisles of Mill End looking for a print fabric for my last Wiksten, I came across this floral rayon. I was initially drawn to it because of the gray and purple colorway - so very much my colors. I was a little nervous about the rayon because I've only ever sewn with cotton before, but I felt like it was time to branch out, and after a quick call to my mother for reassurance, I splurged. I had no project in mind until I read Miranda's post about the Grainline Scout Tee. She was so enamored of the pattern, and the price was right, that I decided to give it a go.

This is a quick and easy shirt to sew up and the rayon posed no problem after I switched to a micro needle (the regular needle, even the smallest one, punched holes in the fabric). The shirt was a little wide in my shoulders so I gathered the neckline slightly before I attached the bias tape around the neck opening.  I actually like the slight detail this adds because I think it could be a boring shirt otherwise. I'd like to try a version of this where I add a keyhole to the neckline. All in all I'm pleased, and it's a nice addition to my wardrobe when I want to wear jeans but need a nicer shirt for work.

Kitchen Project Update: cabinet installation

 

Now that we have our wood floors installed, Mike has begun installing the cabinets. We've got two more upper cabinets to install and one more lower cabinet. It's taking shape!

Wiksten Plaid

Can you tell what my favorite new pattern is?

This is my third Wiksten Tova (here's 1 and 2), and this time I used the sleeves per the pattern, no substitutions. I like this top a lot, but I think for my next Tova (yes, there will be more) that I'll either lengthen the sleeves to my wrists, or shorten to just above my elbows. I find myself constantly pushing the sleeves up, so it's clear that this length is bothering me.

I bought the fabric from the Mill End store, and I spent about an hour wandering around looking for something with a print. I wear so few prints and decided that it was time to shake up my winter wardrobe. I was drawn to the plaid for some reason, and would periodically pick up a bolt, walk around for awhile and then put it back. I settled on this one because the colors would transition into my wardrobe well.

The fabric is a woven cotton shirting, not flannel, which I was originally intending to get. I can confidently say that I will not purchase this type of fabric ever again (I'm 90% confident when I say that). The fabric weave was so loose that it constantly shifted while cutting and sewing. I was attempting to match up the plaid too (didn't think about that when I bought the fabric) and after awhile I just gave up. As a result, the plaid does not match up, but I don't think it's glaringly obvious, and the neck opening is larger than I'd like. If I had to do it over, I'd put some interfacing in the placket to give it a little more structure. I ended up pinning the top closed as a last minute fix, but I'm going to go back and add some buttons so that I don't always have to wear a camisole under it.

These tomatoes are really, really delicious