CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

Father's day and more

Did you have a good Father's day? It was Thomas first and Finn gave him a nice stack of presents. Two daddy and baby books, this one and that one. Two framed portraits, a big one and a small one and finally a mixed CD from me ( a labor of love and iTunes).
I think that having portrait of the two together might be a brilliant father's day tradition ( not to flatter myself) and I intend to act on it every year to come.
All have have to do is take the month of July off from sewing and focus on learning Raw photography. I am currently reading The Art of Raw Conversion and understanding every one word out of five. But that word already teaches me so much! It's no walk in the park but I might as well learn to use my dSLR now that it's here.What did I say...Quit sewing in July! Madness... especially since dear Karin makes sure that I have the most enviable Japanese import collection of double gauze. I can't stop looking at them... What shall I make?

( I'll add a picture here of the fabric later today)

No Thank You! turn around and run...

This was to be my morning bad deed. I had it all planned out for days... What in the world is she talking about?

I am going to find a McDonald, pull in to the drive through and order a small hamburger with a small portion of fries, at 10:15 am. Here is why: Although I technically never eat meat, once every couple months I faulter and secretly head towards the Golden Arches. I'll take great care to pay cash and hide the wrapper when I am done. Not that anybody cares but I do...because here we don't eat our friends! For two weeks I have also been without dairy to see if it improves the baby's skin rashes. So I break down and park by the microphone. A women of Latin descent tries to take my order
Me: (shouting) ONE SMALL HAMBURGER.
The lady: wjhgcskfgkrfjhgl!
Me: (louder) ONE SMALL H.A.M.B.U.R.G.E.R!
The lady: rgfliregi;b'jrg'wb'rwh'!
Me: (feeling horrible) I am so sorry but I can't understand what you are saying. ( I have a French accent remember).
The lady: No hamburgers, only breakfast. Hamburgers in 15 minutes if you'd like to wait. Would you like breakfast?
Me : (after a stunned silence) No thank you, I think I'll go...

I drive away, bumping into the curb, feeling crushed by fate and the McDonald corporation...
As I get home I make myself a nice little sandwich with cold baked tofu, vegannaise, radishes and cilantro. Add in some potato chips and leave this disappointment behind (for now).

Tintin

I think I found where my passion for mushrooms started from. I must have caught the bug as a child.
Thomas happens to have this miraculous collection of Tintin comics, rare find in the US. We are reading them all over again. It's weird but I don't remember a thing about the stories, they are like new to me. The graphics have not tired one bit!

On a brighter note...

Since the little guy decided to keep sleeping I have the rarest opportunity to post a few scans of Marie Claire idee, spring issue. It comes fresh from my mom's suitcase, I told her not to bother coming here without it ;  )

oh! I hear someone climbing on the fuss-bus, this could take a while...

By the way you can click on the images for a better look.

I love the polka dot sheets, and the mushrooms. Actually I was just thinking that Finn is going to need one of those awesome tops ( toupie in French, I am not quite sure about the English here). It's the toy on the bottom left, I played endlessly with mine as a child, or at least I think I did.

Here again it's all good, as is the bottom one don't you think? All done with tiny little stickers.

Ottobre! Ottobre!

Recently I made a decision, which might turn out to be a temporary lapse in judgment. I decided not to invest in any of the many irresistible Japanese craft books but to instead renew my subscription to Ottobre Design and expand it to the children issues. It's not cheap so I had to think about it for a moment. For those who have never heard of it, Ottobre is a magazine from Finland ( translated in English, well) that contains many many patterns (full size) for children clothe four times a year and women clothe twice a year.
The kids patterns are super cute while the women patterns are very wearable by anybody, not just Kate Moss or Carla Bruni (hail the new French first lady...I blush in shame).

I scanned my favorite outfit ( which I plan to sew in boy colors), but all the pages can be browsed upon on their webpage

Oh! and my next post will be the 100Th... I might implode on the spot.

Just Too Weird

OK, this is one of those twilight zone moment and it happened ten minutes ago.
I was casually browsing Warm Fuzzies a book by Betz White on using felted sweaters, when I came across those mittens, It's still really cold here and I could  use a pair for the short drive to the studio where I teach sewing.
You might remember that I just went thrifting with Sara, and bought two sweaters to felt. Well what are the odds to find that Betz used the same exact sweater for the mittens!!!!  ( they look a bit different in colors on the picture but that is just the camera playing tricks on me) I just cannot understand this kind of coincidences. They are just too much for me. Is this a sign...must I absolutely make those mittens? Hum... I was thinking more along the line of the cute stuffed animals from MSL a few years back. She would never use Old Navy sweaters though, new or recycled!
On the subject of Betz White, she has the cutest Pea in a Pod tutorial here, peas in a pod are my second greatest/obsession after Mushrooms.

Christmas in January

My Christmas issue of Marie Claire Idee (sent by my mom, I just love her for that) arrived yesterday. It left France December 15Th, After a while she predicted its arrival for Easter.
I really find much to look at in this glossy, even after the holidays. I share here some of my favorite non-seasonal pages. Enjoy! Oh and one terrific link for stuffed toys here.

A feast of foreign books.

                                                                      During the Holidays, I decided to get my first Tone Finnanger book through ebay. Ebay Germany that is. You see German is not quite as occult than Norwegian to me! At any rate I though I was ordering Tildas Julhus, which looked like a great deal at the time, but received this instead. Since it came after the Holidays it's maybe for the best, as it is full of spring projects goodness. The only drawback is that this book is actually available in English (!) for much less money. Still the European version has a certain je-ne sais-quoi that cannot be denied. It might be the I-can't- really understand-what-it-says factor...

As I was saying it is really full of goodness, 35 patterns in one book! surreal.

Some of Tone's things are a little bit too country for me but she still can do the most classic house accessories. The bags are a must, and they look so easy to make... She also has a bunch of softies with a real vintage feel to them.

Besides this book, two others are available in the US. They really made the covers look unappealing in my opinion, but they are filled with more softies patterns. One is for Christmas, and the other for Easter.

the picture of the mice is from the Christmas one.

The other book I have been reading before bed, is from France. My aunt thrifted it for me and sent as a gift, it has a good amount of Boy things, which can be so hard to find. The best part are the mushrooms... How could she know?