all things gelb

Backing Into Corners

2011-11-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

'A' is on the move- backwards that is. She can get up on her knees and hands, but thus far has only figured out how to make it work backwards. I so enjoy seeing her making all the changes and, for some reason, am excited about her learning to crawl. I really don't know why, though, as I love the stage she is at and am not that eager to baby-proof the house! I guess it is just exciting to see 'A' learning about herself and the world. These days, she is starting to like butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Peas are not a hit. She also loves to choose cars out of Oliver's car container - this can keep her entertained forever. I'm sure the cars are not technically baby acceptable, but they are certainly large enough not to be choking hazards!

The newest superhero in town

2011-11-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

This one has conquered the potty - yay! I'm so proud of O. I promised him a superhero costume when he filled out his sticker chart for potty-training. This occurred faster than I anticipated. I partially backed down on my word and only made him the cape. I am requiring further good behaviour for the next part of the costume. I'll post better photos of the cape later.

Xmas Stocking

2011-11-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

This is an Amy Butler pattern. Looks simple to put together, but I found the assembly quite unusual (due to the fact that it is lined) and really important to follow the instructions step by step, which, thankfully, I was patient enough to do this time! As a sideline, when I went to Amy Butler's website, I discovered that she has a new line of fabric out (here)- love the Kasbah!

A is 6 months old!

2011-11-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

Amelie's thoughts on rice cereal:

We eventually gave up (after a week) and tried oat cereal, which she likes!

O's 3rd Birthday: Robinhood

2011-11-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

Treasure Hunt and Bows and Arrows

2011-11-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

the shark and the cupcake

2011-11-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

maan farms

2011-10-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the farms today. I bought the Groupon for it a month or so ago and kept waiting for a sunny Sunday. Finally, it worked out!

big brother

2011-10-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

This was a hard picture to get, but I always wanted a picture of O in this shirt with A.

A's first mommy-made dress

2011-10-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

And I hope that there will be more! This is 'A' at 3 months. Picture taken by Pops. Pattern from Made by Rae. There. All credits given where they are due!

wedding photo

2011-10-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

My friend Karin recently got married in Seattle. She sent me this photo of O outside the wedding venue and in front of the ice cream truck that we all got to enjoy icecream from. It was a beautiful wedding and the icecream was amazing!

flowers

2011-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

We recently got a better camera, and I am enjoying it (albeit still on the automatic setting). Hmmmmm... this picture also makes me miss our old place in Langley.

what NOT to do

2011-08-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Had a hard time deciding what to title this post, although a number of titles came to me easily, some of which were: "what not to do", "what to do", and "...and they slept". I'll start with what not to do:
1) Leave the instructions on the computer in one room of the house while you sew in another. My lazy self would often assume that I knew the next step for the project when in fact I did not.
2) Use a pattern without asking a few Socratic questions to yourself, like "Would this pattern allow me to make a bag big enough to put glasses in it as shown Made by Rae's tutorial and Stuff by Maja?" If not, ask why. I somehow printed the pattern at about half of the intended size. Consequently, the project took me about twice as many strips as at should have (and resulted a smaller chevron pattern) to make one approximately the right size.
3) Use a zipper that your mom (or maybe grandma) bought in the 1970s. Okay, this wasn't really the problem (although my zipper did come from one of the aforementioned sources), but I thought it was at first. The actual problem that I ran into related to #1 and #4.
4) Assume you know a better way to do something. Occasionally this is false, but not this time when it came to sewing in the zipper. End result? My lining keeps getting jammed up in the zipper when opening the bag because I sewed the lining too close to the zipper teeth.
5) Rush. This is something that I never seem to learn. Because there is never enough time in a day, right?

Okay, onto what to do:
1) I think I only have one or two of these. And I have pictures to go with it too. I did not like the idea of cutting the strips to exact size and having to precisely line up each one. I am not much of a perfectionist, and, as mentioned in #5 above, I always rush so I knew that lining up each piece would not work for me. This is what I did instead:

Cut a bunch of strips of the right width (remember, I made mine smaller than I should have b/c of my small pattern pieces) with diagonals going both ways. I couldn't do really long strips because I only had 0.5 meters of fabric, but this would go even faster if you had a longer piece of material.

Match up stripes of similar length and sew these together.

Cut your pattern pieces from this.

2) The other thing that worked really well for me was to have the kids stay up really late all weekend (okay, this really only applies to 'O'). Then, today, when I went to work on this project during nap time, they slept extraordinarily long (thus the alternate title "...and they slept"). It.was.amazing.

So here are my end products:

The little one is the size of the pattern I printed (not to scale). I just made the size of the bigger one up. I was going to give the bigger one as a birthday gift to a friend this week, but that is the one with the problematic zipper, so I guess it is mine. My friend shall have to get by with the little one as a gift.

A few months back...

2011-08-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

My favorite crochet project thus far!

A's Dress

2011-08-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is the second dress that I have finished just in time for A to fit into it! It turned out to be easier than I expected, although the quality of my work leaves something to be desired. I also think I should have laid out the strips vertically for the skirt part. Next time!

The Beach Robe

2011-08-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, here are the pictures of O's beach robe that I sewed up from the MADE pattern. We went to a spray park for a picnic tonight, and even though O was completely dry by the time he got over to where I was sitting, I made him wear the robe for some pictures. It was a fun project, but I'm not going to lie, it was somewhat work intensive. Or, maybe that was because I set a ridiculous deadline for myself and abandoned all housework at the expense of finishing this robe before going out to Saskatchewan for vacation. I've washed it several times already and it seems to be holding up really well. Looking forward to seeing more versions of the robe!!

One Onesie

2011-04-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Idea taken from V and Co. I had hoped to do quite a few onesies but this is the only one I have finished so far!

Monkey Pants

2011-04-26T21:22:00.001-07:00

Reversible pants from the book Handmade Beginnings.

Peeps

2011-04-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Easter shirts for O and his cousins. I did this with a free download from....hmmmm......I can't remember where I got it from now. I did it with printable transfer paper, but they recommended freezer paper stencils as well.

T-shirts packaged and ready to go.

A Thrifty Score - a before and after

2011-04-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

I got this for $5. How fun is that? Never seen a vintage doll stroller like that?

This is it after. I had redone the visor as well, but unfortunatel the metal frame snapped. Still hoping that it can be fixed, but the kids kept bending it so it wouldn't last long anyhow. I made O a baby to push around in it, but haven't yet taken a photo of it.

My New Addiction

2011-04-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Was supposed to be a newborn size, but I am guessing it will more likely fit at six months.

Headband

This is what got me going. My friend had something like this for her daughter (a hat with interchangeable flowers) and I thought I'd try and make it.

My first project - a cocoon for newborn photos.

And how could I not make O a hat as well? Also turned out kind of big, as you can see. Pattern from InnerHooker on Etsy.

Bassinet

2011-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Picked this up on craigslist. Think -- originally -- eyelet lace fabric with lots and lots of ruffles.

M's Tiny Party

2011-04-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

Last year when I lived with my sister I helped her put on a birthday party for my niece. Really, Martha Stewart did most of the work with her Tiny Party Kit, but I had some fun making aprons for all of the kids (see if you can spot them).

my boys

2011-04-22T04:06:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist throwing in this non-craft picture. It is almost May and O still talks about "vrooom vrooom....snow....Uncle Ian." He is so ready for next winter!

We are ready!

2011-04-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am actually surprised by the number of baby room and other baby projects that I have completed (more to come!). I think this room is pretty much complete. I can't decide whether the rocking chair is okay the way that it is or if it should be painted. Thoughts?

Also, the bookcase is sort of empty as is the top of the blue cupboard. With time.... Oh yes, and for giving credit where credit is due: This room was inspired by rooms and/or projects featured at Matsutake, Covet Garden Magazine, and in Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings.

Fabric Flowers

2011-04-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...I could swear I already did a post of links to fabric flower tutorials. However, no worries Sew.Craft.Create has a great post with links for fabric flower tutorials.

gift for baby "i"

2010-12-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the cloth bag the gift went in which was perhaps my favorite part!

Advent Calendar

2010-12-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

I got this a few years back (as gift? not sure), but it is another Martha Stewart craft kit. It was really easy to put together and super fun for O. On day 25, the front door was opened to reveal a big present inside. I wish it was reusable, but think it is a one-time use thing.

Christmas Treats

2010-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

You can hardly tell, but there are snowflakes on top of the chocolate cupcakes. I used Martha Stewart stencils from Michaels for this (with powdered sugar). The first time I tried this, the snowflakes disappeared. I thought it was because the cupcakes were still warm. The second time, they disappeared again. Either you have to do it immediately before serving or these particular cupcakes are just too moist for stenciling!

Christmas Decorations

2010-12-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how many decorations I seem to have, but when I put them up around my house and take pictures of them, I see room for more. Xmas is the one time where I don't know if I'll ever be able to lose the vintage cheer!

Hmmm....which one?

2010-12-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

I had some fun over at picnik.

Little Owl

2010-11-10T14:38:00.001-08:00

O's 2nd Birthday

2010-10-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

When we got home from Saskatchewan, O went crazy over helicopters and airplanes. Lucky guy has a helicopter flight school owner for a father and lives 5 minutes from the airport, so he gets lots of exposure to both! Having a helicopter/airplane party was a no-brainer this year!

More of O's Party

2010-10-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Just to show how much he loves planes and helicopters - this is what we found him looking at while we were preparing for the party. The kids had a treasure hunt outside where they looked for airplanes and helicopters. They then turned in the planes/copters for their favor bags, which they had to fill at the "baggage claim." One friend of O's came over a few months later and asked his parents, before arriving, if he might find helicopters in the yard again. I was very lucky to find helicopter/airplane/transportation things at Michaels - build your own helicopters, scratch art, and magic grow capsules. Oh, also note the airplane-shaped airplanes (hard to see, but look really hard). I think Amanda gave me the airplane mold before O was born!

10-10-10 Surprise

2010-10-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

My family was all planning to come out to BC for my graduation and then I learned that, previous this, my brother was planning on having a big bash for his 10-10-10 birthday party (October 10, 2010). I was telling my sister about this and she had the idea to see if we could get some of his good friends to fly in to BC for the celebration. They came and we surprised my brother pretty good (unfortunately he wasn't feeling super well, though). Not pictures are all the people, the good East Indian food, and all the presents that came in 10s (e.g., 10 books, 10 fire starters, 10 kinder surprises, etc.).

Ideas for Party #2

2010-04-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Favors:

http://www.thebirthdaypartycompany.com/products/show/288/Robin%20Hood%20Pencil

http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/index.php/robins-hood-party-tale/

Games

http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/index.php/robins-hood-party-tale/

It's been done before:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moline/4380451064/in/set-72157594570276788/

http://weefolk.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/robinhood-in-sherwood-forest/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingteaparty/3319426566/in/pool-1114384@N20

http://handmadecathygaubert.blogspot.com/2008/10/our-forest-party.html

Graphics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neatocoolville/2089865244/

If I were to invite a dog...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercuryglassmoon/4058763691/

Felt Campfire

2010-04-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

I made this for Beginners Sabbath School. It is the lesson where Jesus feeds breakfast by the sea to the fishermen. I hope to put up a pattern for it soon.

Playhouse

2010-04-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

I made this playhouse using the patterns and inspiration from www.homemadebyjill.blogspot.com with a few of my own adjustments. Oliver's cousins love it, and I hope that Oliver will grow into loving it as well!

Rocket Party

2009-10-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

During the year that I lived with my sister, my nephew had a space/rocket party. I had fun helping out a little bit with it, especially checking out supplies on Bake it Pretty, where we go the straws and the candy mold from! I love how the jello cups turned out.

blizzard's pillow

2009-08-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is the first thing I made for Blizzard (my cat) that she actually likes. The idea is that if she sits on these, she will stay off our furniture! She alternates between this and one of our brown chairs.

backpack, pencil roll, and lunchbag

2009-08-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've been having a lot of fun making stuff for Oliver. The backpack and pencil crayon roll are his birthday presents. The other is a lunch bag for when he starts going to daycare. The lunch bag is from the Sew and Stow book by Betty Openheimer.

O's birthday crafts in progress

2009-08-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of crafts I've been working on!

the shirt

2009-08-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the shirt that I thought might work.

Handkerchief Bag

2009-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

This is out of the Sew and Stow book. Super easy project made with 2 handkerchiefs that I got for $1 each.

Oliver + S Pants

2009-08-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the pants I made with the pattern Sascha and Amy gave me. It was fun to make clothes for a change!

Family Room

2009-08-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the family room. I am needing some advice as to where to put these pictures.

Butterfly Wings

2009-08-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

I've been making a bunch of these with singlets that Heather and I go in Australia.

Hair things

2009-08-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Quiet Book

2009-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun with the cover of the book. I used a fairly stiff iron on interfacing, and then sewed felt on the inside of the book covers. All the pages of the book are put together with a sewing machine, and if I did it again, I would sew everything with a machine! Some of my favorite designs are from a quiet book that Heather Jean's grandma (I think) made for when she was a kid!

2009-08-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

I think the shoes are one of my favorite pages. I haven't bought the rings to put the book together yet, but the eyelets worked great!

2009-08-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't made Jonah yet (haven't found flesh-toned felt yet). I am hoping one of the Heathers (an excellent opportunity to say this again:) will design it for me (ha ha). The flowers are put on with snaps. The mailbox lid is just sewn to the book across the bottom. I am not happy with my notebook page; you can tell that it was the last thing I did on the book. I was obviously tired of working on it! Oh, and for the apples, I sewed 2 pieces of fabric together, and used the button hole function on my sewing machine; wish I hadn't done that last part, as I had difficulty getting them centered (should have done this before cutting out the apples).

2009-08-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't do the picnic basket right, but it still gives a chance to practice opening and closing buckles. I should have had the belt coming up from the bottom of the picnic basket. I did use the sewing machine to put together the weaved basket. It was really quite easy to do. For the girl's hair, I tacked it down at the center and once on each side (where you can see that the hair is bunched up). I put velcro on the cookie jar lid, but not sure if this was a great idea b/c velcro sticks to all the felt; not just where you want it.

2009-08-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

It might be a little difficult to see where the extra branch is on the nest. It is lying basically horizontal towards the left side. For the dress-up clothes and clock hands, I added interfacing so they would be stronger. Also, in between the 2 clock hands I put a washer so that they would slide better. Wish I would have done that for the mailbox.

bib

2009-07-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

The ultimate clothes protector. This is a pattern mom gave me. I am imagining it becoming especially useful once Oliver is feeding himself. I have to adjust the velcro placement, because the neck hole is way too big. There are straps to go around the legs.

Cloth Basket

2009-07-21T09:56:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite projects. Made with the tutorial from Pink Penguin.

Butterfly Wings

2009-07-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

My first post-dissertation project was to make butterfly wings. Got the idea in Australia where we saw them at a open air market in Sydney. M is modeling hers in Australia. I made a bunch, and they can be found in my Etsy shop.

A before and after

2009-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some vintage finds in their original condition that I showed in the previous post.

Living Rm/Dining Rm

2009-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to mom for helping me do some arranging while she was here last time. I got the two black mirrors from Value Village for $2 or 3 dollars each. The birdcage was also from Value Village, and was $1. I made the bird with the pattern from Spool Sewing. The table behind the couch came with our house!

Butler and Sukie

2009-07-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

This is a Stitches for Little Ones pattern using the Sukie transfers that Amanda gave me. It was actually quite a quick project. I think it will be going in Oliver's church bag once he is older. He will probably enjoy taking the book out of the case more than the actual book. (Sometimes I think that I make toys more for my enjoyment).

All things bright...perhaps too bright

2009-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

So, I was really excited about the pattern for the bag, but in the end, not about my fabric choices. This is a lesson for me. I am too easily swayed by sales, and know that I would not have chosen the turquoise fabric if not on sale. As for the table runner, I can't decide about this. I thought the muslin would help neutralize the brightness of the quilted section, but now I am not so sure. I made this for the patio table, but it doesn't really add much there. I will try it out on the patio again once the table is painted.

Apples, pears, and cherry juice

2009-07-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

This was a gift I put together for Karla. She didn't end up getting the onesie, as, right before I was heading out to the baby shower, we were pitting some cherries. Unfortunately, the cherry juice spurted further than we realized - right on the onesie, and did not have time to clean it before leaving. Oh well.

Patio reno has begun

2009-07-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

And it probably won't go any further for awhile. However, we just got an old table that we are going to paint black. Now we can leave our dining room table in the dining area rather than haul it out to the patio each time we have company. Anyway, we have lots of plan for this patio once we have the funds to do more!

Sewing at last!

2009-07-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

The quality of these photos are not so great. Wish I knew more about taking photos and/or had a better camera. Anyhow, I am finally having time to sew. These are two projects from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for little ones. The shoes were supposed to be size 6-9 months, but at 7 months, they were too small for Oliver. I guess I have a gift ready to go!

2009-06-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

These were made for Massiel's farewell potluck (lower 2 pictures). Wasn't sure how we were going to use the baskets until we got to the church and started decorating. We put the forks in, and it wasn't until after the meal that I realized that we totally did not need forks for the picnic lunch. Oh well! I got to reuse the baskets as party favours for my SFU birthday picnic (top picture: each one had a brownie in it).

A few more projects

2008-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

I've been home in Saskatchewan for the week and these were my projects. The chocolates, which have pistachio cookies and a chocolate filling inside, were quite a lengthy endeavor.

Completed Nursery...or close to it

2008-09-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Maja took these pictures for me (except for the blocks, which clearly aren't photographed who knows what they are doing). The baby block idea came from golly g on flickr, & the felt animal patterns are from www.puchicollective.com.

Coming along!

2008-09-17T08:14:00.001-07:00

Nursery in Progress

2008-09-10T19:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the nursery in progress!

Baby Nursery

2008-06-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Since we couldn't find out what the gender of our baby is, I get to do my choice of theme for the nursery (i.e, woodland theme). Sancho wanted to do cars for a boy, but since we don't know, we clearly cannot do that theme. (That I get to do my theme makes me much more okay with not knowing the gender of Baby G!). I have selected the fabric for the crib quilt, and I want to get some birds, squirrel, and owl wall decals from http://holly.etsy.com. I am planning to make a mobile, and Sancho is making the crib. We are going to paint the walls green. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon!

Vintage Block

2008-03-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm working on making a set of these, each with different noise makers inside (this one has a bell).

Madeline's b-day gift

2008-03-13T15:22:00.001-07:00

I can't wait to see her in it! It should hopefully fit her this summer.

I think that this creature (supposed to be a cat) looks like one of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics mascots.

New 'Art'

2008-01-30T07:21:00.001-08:00

I had something else in these frames before, and, unfortunately, when I went to take it out of one of the frames, I broke the glass. I need to go to Ikea and get another frame. (At least it photographs better without the glass!).

Madeline's Room

2008-01-18T21:36:00.001-08:00

I love this picture. Of course Heather put it all together, but I had fun making the little vintage flags. Thanks to mom, we got them finished at all....they turned out to be a much bigger project than expected AND we made twice as many as we ended up needing.

Xmas Party Favors

2008-01-18T21:31:00.001-08:00

I made these for xmas party favors using Martha Stewart Halloween kits from Michaels. Great part about doing that was I got them about 75% after Halloween was past.

Sancho's Xmas Projects

2008-01-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

Mom was the lucky recipient of this amazing cutting board. The unfinished clock was for Philip. Ian got a similar one, but we didn't get a picture of it.

Cooking in the Kitchen

2008-01-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun making these cooking sets for my nieces. Madeline isn't old enough to appreciate hers yet, but Lexy seemed to really enjoy it! She especially liked pretending to take cookies in and out of the oven with Uncle Sancho (the oven was a pillow laying flat on the couch!).

Some monkeys for the wee ones

2008-01-18T21:12:00.001-08:00

Arrrrr! Now I must get meself a right fine ship!

2008-01-18T21:03:00.001-08:00

This was my first attempt at a pirate monkey. He was pretty fun to make; I just hope Carter understands that the bandanas are sewed on and not to be yanked off!

Carter in his matching bandana and eye patch. Carter improvised with the sword since I didn't make him one.

Handmade Holidays

2008-01-03T22:11:00.001-08:00

Maja and Amanda's

Heather's
Mom's

Amy's

Sascha's

Mandy's

Amanda and Maja got the matching ones

2007-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

A little strange that I choose to call my blog pinkblizzard considering that I think Blizzard was a rather bad choice for a cat name. Perhaps I will change it someday, but for now, here is a picture of Blizzard in pink.