CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

Berry-flavored yarn

These two skeins were dyed last Monday during one of Finn's longer afternoon nap. The goal was to try "space-dyeing" and it all went according to plan with the purple experiment. With the pink I had more trouble, mostly because I started with a less than agreeable color mix. After 10 frustrating minutes of stirring and grumbling I just threw every goblet of dye mix in the pot with an annoyed sight. And bingo! a saved skein again, pink like a berry yogurt.

These two will become cowls, one for my mom and one for moi.

Mittens and a cold...

I feel terrible, this cold thing has taken over my life. I didn't even finish the Mc Donald fries Thomas so kindly cooked for diner... But crafting must go on and when in bed, knitting is best. So I started and restarted (7 times) a pair of stripped mittens in gray and pink, the pattern for which I found in the new Martha Stewart Living ( no link yet sorry...). The wool is meant for socks and the needles tiny, so lets hope the final product stretches. Typical of me to use the wrong weight of yarn and the wrong size of needles. I don't really know how to knit. I can just go in the round a few times...

babyshower and off I go!

Today: I invited a friend for vegan pancakes form here and to handcraft her baby shower invitations. We sprouted a garden of stamped flowers on the front and I printed the text inside. I hope the weather is good and we can have it in the real garden, some flowers might have sprouted by then, not just fading bulbs.

Tomorrow:  I am off to Quilt Market in Portland. This was decided and agreed upon a long while before Finn was born, Portland is after all my favorite American city. I am not quite sure on what foot to stand about such a tremendously cool trip. Leaving the baby to fend for himself with his newly minted grandparents; having to pump milk to keep my supply up; hoping he will agree to pick up nursing again when I return...
I worry about all those things, and chew on my finger tips a lot lately.

Fabric Covered buttons

The claim:
The most fun you'll ever have guaranteed!

I started making those tonight for the jacket I am sewing out of the canvas shown in the previous post.
It wasn't going so well at first...the fabric is too thick for the suggested 3/4" size button...but I decided to try the kit on quilt weight scraps, just to make sure I was following the package's information properly...result: love at first sight...heart racing with uncontrollable excitation!
I had to reach for that Liberty yardage, kept for a very special occasion...it as a few little hole at the top now. Liberty needs to be interfaced a bit, it looks better this way. I need to get my hand on a mega-size bag of those. Joann's sells them by package of five, not nearly enough to quench my thirst for more!

Below are two of a kind made out of tiny scraps resulting from the Emmeline apron:

What I did in class today...

This Sunday afternoon I tried something new: I took a class from someone else.
When you are always the one teaching, sewing in this case, it's amazing to be taught to, so relaxing and fun!
Two of my current pupils suggested we go play with beads. I know that I should be off my feet right now (they are hugely deformed still) but the odds of me being good and laying down are slim. Beading was a much more delightful use of some three hours. Yes, I took me three hours to string this little pacifier holder together...Believe it! choosing the perfect Japanese style boy theme takes time. Meanwhile my friend Savannah (10 years old) had finished a weaved heart necklace and was starting on some hearings as her mom Julie was involved in a magnificent/complicated bracelet of her own. Lameness of productivity set aside, I really think that I am on to something here! Plans are already being made to invite pregnant friends and the like to make more and more and more...( I bought a pack of those end clips).

Mobile Swap : check!

Remember that swap I signed up for? Elsie Marley Mobile Swap. Well the mobile is ready! After one solid week of hand work, much watched Tennis and no major injuries, a rather large Pinwheel Mobile is born.
The mystery recipient requested Red and Black. It's a little hard at first readjusting to someone else's request ( I had no idea that we were supposed to ask for something in specific terms) but in the end as it focuses the inspiration it frees the mind of aimless ramblings...

I think I might post a little tutorial on how to make the pinwheels... I didn't end up following much of what is found online.
For the mobile itself, the ring construction was inspired by the MSL post from ages ago...(December issue).

Learning to Crochet little things

last Friday I casually asked  Karin if she could write me a crochet pattern for a tiny mushroom. No more than forty minutes later here it was complete with photograph! Did I mention that she is a terrific friend? The tiny draw back is that I don't actually know how to crochet... but that never stopped most of us crafters to try anything new. So a all bunch of web tutorial later, and one try-out mushroom, here is one i am not too embarrassed to show.

After such fun, Karin wrote me another pattern for a doll beret this time. I had less luck managing with that one, and ended up crocheting the all thing backward. Don't blow up the picture or you'll get a taste of bread crumbs and Nutella. We are out of breakfast cereals...

Felt Craft kits in a Box

I have been collecting ideas lately, for presents for truly special friends. The ones that can sew a little or a lot, the ones that can't. At the quilt store we sell a lot of kits, people love them because they guarantee you won't have to run around only to find out that the fabric you need is out of print. That made me think about making little kits of my own for projects that I know some of my friends love, I know it because they said so ( how much easier can it get?).
Those past few weeks have been great for collecting links to tutorials, everybody as been so generous with sharing  their work.
The first kit I made was for Ambre, it's a Gnomes in a box kit, with all she needs to sprouts some Wee Gnomes (see below). Sadly the weather is so bad it has not been delivered yet...
The second is a Felt your own Donuts box, for Liesl. She is a great fan of SEW DORKY donuts.

So the idea of putting things in cigar boxes come from Amy Karol, the cute gift Tags are from Camilla Engman, the tutorial for the donuts from here, and the terribly cute needle holder from the fantastic book Last Minutes Patchwork Gifts, which I finally got from the library yesterday night.I wasted no time on that one!

That's what I call inspiration recycling !

Marie Claire Idee Felt Jewelry.

Ever since the magazine started, my mom always got us Marie Claire Idee. France is very different than here when it comes to crafts. They were pretty much inexistent when I was growing up, we were told to focus on school,school, school. After years of collecting all those great issues, I cannot actually remember making anything but the recipes in the back. I think we aspired to make it all one day but didn't know where to start. Things have changed in the past fifteen years (slowly), and I can see amazing things being made in France through blogs. Yet my friends there complain about the lack of supplies and usually go to Switzerland to get restocked when they can.

Many of the projects in Marie Claire come from a company called La Droguerie. I have to admit a mild obsession  with  them. They make beautiful kits for things like knitting, embroidery and felt projects. Last summer in Paris I got to visit a store for the first time. I would love to say it was paradise, looking at the place it should have been, but the store clerks where extremely rude. Yes Parisian are rude even to each other, not just to American tourists, chocking!
In the end I felt really fortunate to get five kits for those brooches and a tube of glue (which I practically had to beg for). I just sent one of the red ones to my mother, she deserves it. She got me so many issues of the mag since I moved to the US.
Here is a scan of the page where those brooches were featured in September 2006 (!).
Download bijoux_bohemes.pdf

Grow Your Own Mushrooms

Karin strikes again with a great link for us the mycologists of the world. A tutorial on how to make paper clay tree mushrooms, similar to the ones I blogged about yesterday. Link