Musical Monday

When Scoot was assigned to recite a poem in his English class, he chose "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late," by J.R.R. Tolkien.  It's the sort of piece that would most effectively be sung, while dancing on top of a table, so the Caterpillar searched for some music for it.  He found this:

The Fellowship recorded an album of music inspired by Tolkien's work, and it is all rather nice. 

Scoot usually doesn't seem like the dancing-on-the-tables type, but he did earn 175% on his presentation.  I may have to inquire about the details!

Just Ducky

 The baby boom at church is banging along.  Dandelionslayer and the Caterpillar talked to a couple who was expecting a girl for their firstborn. They showed the guys a pile of pink things that others had given them, and a smaller pile of other colors that they had acquired themselves.  We decided to help augment their non-pink collection.

I started with this towel, on which Grandma O had appliquéd a duck.  Cute pattern, isn't it?  I wish I could find it in her files.

 I used some decorative stitches to add coordinating waves to a washcloth.

And then, since Dandelionslayer had boasted to this couple about my amigurumi habits, I had to crochet a duckie to match.  I've searched for a pattern like this before, and didn't find anything quite right for me.  So I made it up.  And it worked out pretty well!

D2 likes the duckie, too, so when I make one for him, I'll try to write down a pattern for it.  Have a ducky day!

Rollo is 11!

Rollo turned 11 in April.  It was a good day.  He spent most of his school time playing jazz at a couple of other elementary schools, and went out to lunch with the band.  He had ice cream at lunch, and we went out for more ice cream after dinner.  And in between we gave him a few presents.

Rollo loves the Ranger's Apprentice books, and wanted a "mottled gray-green cloak" like the rangers use.  When Scoot asked for the same thing, I sewed this:

Oh, dear.  Did I never post the Halloween pictures last year? Well, here you go.  Ranger Scoot, in reversible mottled gray and mottled green.

The Caterpillar sewed his own cloak, right before (and during) the Trunk or Treat.  We used McCall's 4139, which turned out to be quite large.

Much too large for Rollo.  But my copy of Simplicity 5512 (sadly out of print) seemed too small.  I used it anyway, increasing the size 8 to something that fits just fine.  I found some mottled gray-green corduroy, but not very much of it.  So I used it for the hood, shoulders, and hem binding, with plain gray for the body of the cloak.  This cloak is reversible, too, with black inside for when Rollo feels Phantomish.

He wore the cloak for his party the next week, where he led his friends in making and dueling with foam swords, archery, and capturing the flag. 

Rollo decorated his lemon-flavored cake himself with a Lego ranger fighting bad guys, Lego foliage, and cake ball boulders (they finally worked!).  I believe a good time was had by most.

Happy Birthday, Rollo!

Serging Ahead

This month I decided it was time to try out Grandma O's classic serger.  Little did I know that it was National Serger Month.  How appropriate!

I checked out a book from the library, which was good for general serging information, but my first attempts didn't go too well.  So I ordered a user manual from Singer.  It didn't give much more detailed information, but I loaded up four colors of thread, adjusted the tension more carefully, and came up with some perfect samples.  It was time for a real project.

I'd found some decorator fabric in Grandma O's stash that seemed perfect for replacing my beat-up grocery bags.  I decided to start with the print on the right, which reminds me of alien olives.  (Grandpa O thought it had green and orange circles.  They're pink.  Pink!  Men.  Honestly.)

I used my own measurements with instructions from this site.  I also added a layer of denim in the bottom.  I switched the thread back to all white, and serged up the interior seams.  This time the serging was not so perfect.  The stitches were pretty even, but would skip in some places.  Or one of the needles would unthread itself.  I still don't understand what happened.  But the seams are neat, and hopefully strong.

I added a loop at the top to hook onto the bag stand during loading, and top-stitched the seams on the outside for more structure.  By making it myself, I was also able to ensure that the handles weren't too long.  Here's one of the two alien olive bags in use.

There wasn't as much of the green plaid material, so I'll need to change the design a bit.  I can't say I mastered the serger during National Serger Month, but I'm glad I got started with it.

Oh, Crumb!

I have a hard time with cake.  Baking cake is easy enough, and eating it certainly isn't a problem.  It's the decorating.  First of all, I don't really care for frosting that much.  But the big problem is that I can't do it neatly.  Granted, I've never taken a proper cake decorating class.  But I've tried tricks like freezing the cake layers, or applying a coat of thinned frosting before spreading the real thing, and the result is always the same.  Crumbs mix with the frosting, and leave it looking not so decorative.

by Bakerella

When I first read about cake pops, I thought they might be a perfect solution:  mix the cake with the frosting, and decorate with melted candy.  The experts make them look so smooth and easy.  Dandelionslayer's sister even gave us some supplies for Christmas once.  So when I couldn't find any suitable candies for the ward Easter egg hunt, I decided it was time to try.  I could make some cake balls that fit in the little plastic eggs, and they would be cuter and tastier and more fun and maybe even less expensive than candy, right?

I chose a blue velvet cake mix, which looks a lot like Play-Doh, before and after baking, and especially when mixed with cream cheese frosting.  Should taste better though, right?  D2 and I rolled them up and popped them in the freezer.

But when we tried to roll them in the melted candy, guess what?  Crumbs.  I guess the candy wasn't melted correctly, though I tried both a small amount in the microwave and the whole bag in my makeshift double boiler.  Not only was the coating not smooth, but it wouldn't even stick to the whole cake ball.

Fed up, I just glopped some candy on top of the last ones.  D2 thinks they look best, but I'm not sure they're really stable.

I'm not sure about the stability of the plastic eggs, either, so I wrapped a ball in plastic wrap first, and popped it in--oops, it didn't fit!  Too much gloppy candy. 

It's probably for the best.  If we'd taken them to the hunt, probably half of the cake balls would have been dropped in the parking lot.  Which is better than bright blue cake being ground into the church carpet.  Anyway, we're off to buy some mass-produced candy that has the advantages of size and name recognition.

How do you solve crumb problems?

Stash to Treasure: Toddler Jean Jacket

Toddlers love dogs.  What could match the thrill of meeting a furry, tail-wagging, panting animal with bright eyes and a big wet tongue?  And then to reach out and--almost touch--before jerking away at the last second.  A dog who waits sedately for that tentative touch is exciting enough for these little guys.

But how about the puppy that plants a paw on a toddler's chest, or a big wet kiss on his face?  That's something a toddler, or at least his mother, will never forget.

I drew this pattern, beginning with pieces from Kwik-Sew's Sewing for Toddlers book.  Then I consulted McCall's 5191 Jean Jacket pattern (now out of print) to divide the pieces into sections and style the collar.  I stitched the appliqué and embroidered paw prints from the Anita Goodesign Baby Puppies collection.

The denim comes from my boys' old jeans, and the appliqué materials and soft flannel lining are all from my stash.

This was a crazy idea, but I like the way it turned out.  Hopefully a little boy we know (or at least his mother) will like it, too!

Creamsicle Baby Quilts

When Grandpa O sent me the first batch of thread from Grandma O's stock, he padded the cases with fabric, including this orange trio.  According to a receipt in the bag, this is probably some of the last cloth she ever purchased.  I don't know what she had planned, but to me, these pieces shouted, "baby quilt!"

Zig-zag baby quilt, to be precise. 

 

And, adding some white to set off the zigs, there was enough for two baby quilts.  I've been eying this design for long enough that it disappeared from the first place I saw it.  But I found the directions elsewhere, and it looks like the author has posted it again. 

I like the design because it creates these great diagonals without cutting diagonally--it's just a bunch of two-piece squares set (very carefully) on point.  The first top went together pretty easily once I really read the instructions and made sure those little blocks were square.  The second was a breeze.

 

These little blankets are also my successful-machine-quilting debut.  I've tried before, but the backing would scrunch up and get lost.  For these, I used the long-desired walking foot.  Even with the walking foot, machine quilting isn't quite as easy as I'd hoped.  My stitches aren't that even, and my shoulders got pretty sore working with a crib-sized piece.  But it was a whole lot faster than quilting by hand.  I guess I'll have to do more, to build up my endurance.

Now I just need to find someone to give these to . . .