Dolls, Bibs & Where’s The Food?

I packed up the handmade goodies for my new niece earlier this week :

I’ve had the bibs & dolls done for a while, but wanted to wait to finish some other little bobbles before sending them off. You can find many great tuts in blogland on how to make bibs yourself. It’s a great beginner’s project and you can fall into a rhythm and once all the cutting is done, you can whip out a few sets.

I just traced one of Guppy’s old bibs for the pattern, but didn”t want to do a tie bib because I they always got caught in Guppy’s hair, and wanted to avoid buttons because of the choking hazard. Amy Karol’s book Bend The Rules Sewing has an easy bib pattern and she uses snaps, so I tried that. Not sure how I feel about it – some of the snaps didn’t go on so well and it was a little stressful. I think next time I’ll try some velcro action.

I of course also included with the Animal Friends cloth book– I’ll be making another one soon as we’ve friends who are expecting and I think it makes a special gift.

We’re experiencing technical difficulties chez Fish, and I’ve got a load of foodie pictures to share, but am unable to do so because of the evil computerness of a little glitch that will be worked out soon. Have no fear, I’ll be sharing the delicious goodness as soon as I can!

Feel like wasting a little time? playing with yet another net-survey? A few days ago, Melissa at Creating Nunde had a link for this Martha quiz : What’s Your Crafting IQ? I scored way higher than my actual crafting abilities should have let me – 8/10 – but I think if you’ve got some good general culture under your belt you’ll probably surprise yourself with your ultimate crafty knowledge!

Jen’s Birthday Apron

My very best friend Jen turns 30 today! I have never had a friend like her, nor have I ever been through so many things, from the dramatic and traumatic to the blissful and fantastic, with anyone else. I wish I could have toasted to her “live”, but she is in Arizona and I’m not. Sigh.

Despite the fact that we’re thick as thieves, she isn’t a regular reader of my blog (she works in IT and doesn’t do anything in front of a computer screen that isn’t absolutely necessary, which I totally understand…we don’t even really email, we just call – woo hoo unlimited free long distance!), which means I can show off her birthday present which I sent off to her today.

What I miss the most about my Jenniefish is porch-sitting, hanging out on weekend evenings, usually with Jen whipping up something tasty and me opening wine bottles and keeping wine glasses full (because the Shellyfish did no food preparation until just three years ago…and I haven’t lived on the same continent as Jen in 5!). We’d sit outside in the warm pueblo, reinventing the world together… Jen is still often found entertaining post-work cocktails-cum-dinners, so an apron seemed like the perfect gift. She is, like me, always spilling and wearing what she is making or drinking, so this will help keep her clean, and she’s got two pockets for matches to light candles on the patio table, or to carry a bottle opener, her secret decoder ring…

I really wanted to make an apron with gathers at the waistband so I consulted my newly acquired Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol and it was so flipping easy to do! It’s so funny how we think what we don’t yet know how to do is so crazy hard. Not the case at all. I like Amy’s blog Angry Chicken, and also happened upon her “apron blog” Tie One On which has a sometimes-monthly apron making theme/event. This time around it happened to be gingham, which is what this little flirty apron is made of (I actually bought the fabric to make something cutesy for my soon-to-be-born niece, but it preferred to be an apron. Not my fault) so I have submitted it to Amy’s Tie One On flicker group, to go up at the beginning of the month.

And don’t you love my little felt appliqués? Un repas sans vin, est comme une nuit sans étoiles… a meal without wine is like a night without stars…

Happy Birthday, Jen. I love you!