tomchowder quilts

Friday, September 27, 2013

Better late than never (Super Tote!)

I made the Super Tote by Noodlehead! About two months ago, but whatever.

The fabric is Stof from Denmark, bought at my local Bernina store. The solid is an Essex linen, probably natural? I can't remember.

This is the first bag I've sewn for myself, and I'm so glad I waited for this pattern.

I sometimes get frustrated by non-pratical items (tiny in size, no zippers, not washable), but this bag is perfect. It can carry an assload of stuff (my brother calls it "The Mary Poppins Bag," but doesn't look huge. And I'm only 5'4, so it's easy for a bag to dominate me. The exterior pocket makes organization easy, and the inner elastic pockets are perfect for fitting things like flip-flops, etc.

It also has interfacing, which makes the finished bag have such nice structure. The pattern was easy to understand, and I didn't have any "WTF is going on here?" moments during construction.

This little outtake. Choooowder. <3

The only things I changed were: I fully lined the inner elastic pocket and exterior pocket instead of just facing it. And I added a zipper pocket inside. I have a weird thing for zipper pockets ... I need to keep all my shit secure in something zipped, or else I'm constantly panicked.

And that pocket held all my critical cash on an amazing trip I took with my little brother to Glacier.

At this point, the bag had been soaked, shoved and crammed, so it's a bit wrinkled. But still awesome.

:::

It was exactly the kind of trip you want to have with your brother when he's 27 and you're 29. You have enough cash to crash at a hotel room if you get fall behind on your already-loose schedule, but you're young enough to camp at the hilarious KOA instead.

You're grown up enough to try to actually sleep at night, but young enough to know sometimes it's way better to stay up at watch Skyfall on your iPhone until 6 a.m.

Here's some photos for now. I'll write a proper post on it later.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

More baby sewing

About 90 percent of my sewing for the under-5 crowd is for just one little guy.

I have a special sewing relationship with this dude. I think it's because the first thing I ever really sewed was the baby quilt I made for him.

And since his family added a new baby brother last spring, I've been neglectful in sewing for said new brother.

So here's my attempt at evening things up. This is the 6-9 months size, which should be just perfect come fall.

It's the Anna Maria Horner Baby in the Hood Jacket from Handmade Beginnings.

My mom sent me the blue fabric months ago, and the rest is from quilt scraps. The buttons came from my aunt's stash.

The pattern was easy to follow and had a few nice details, like an elastic hood and top stitching.

I added a little label with the kiddo's initials and a bit of twill tape for hanging purposes.

I think -- from start to finish -- the whole thing took just a few hours. Love it.

:::

This project also took a few hours. With equally successful results, I'd say.

Strawberry-rhubarb pie. Killer.

I make some variation of this recipe almost every time for the filling.

-- 2 boxes of strawberries, cut in half (I never measure ... it's just two of the little fruit boxes they come in)
-- 2 bunches of rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
-- about 1 cup brown sugar
-- about a half cup white sugar
-- 2 pinches kosher salt
-- thickener of your choice (I used 2 tablespoons tapioca flour this time and really liked the results)
-- juice of 1 orange
-- zest from one orange (you zest and then chop the zest into tiny bits if you're concerned about texture)
-- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
-- spices (sometimes I add a bit of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. It's different every time)

Adjust the sugar to your preferred sweetness level and dot the filling with about 2 tablespoons of diced butter once you pour it into the crust.

This pie had an all-butter crust. I think all-butter is the way to go. For sure it takes more time, but it pays off. Here are a few tips that make a big difference.

-- Keep your butter cold. Like REALLY cold. Like after you chop it into cubes, stick it back in the freezer for 15 minutes to get it cold again.
-- Use a pastry blender. It's not that much extra work, and really it's less work if you're like me and don't own a dishwasher to clean the 1,864 parts that are needed to make the average food processor run.
-- After you get things to dough state (and DON'T OVER-MIX!), gently push the dough into two balls (if you're making a top and bottom crust) and wrap it in plastic wrap. Flatten by pressing down as much as you can. It'll make rolling out easier after the dough chills.

Well ... that's all I got.

And this. This is awesome. I don't eat meat. A few weeks ago the dogs got into a pile of mail and chewed one thing in particular.

I'm a vegetarian, so there's never meat in the house. The dogs chewed up one piece of mail. It was this.

I love it.

More sewing projects coming up ... now that I have time to sew!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Shirt! Shirt! Shirt! Shirt!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made that. Or, more accurately, #@$%& YEAH, I MADE THAT.

That's how I feel about sewing clothes.

There's the time when it looks like this:

And then this ... which is like sort of almost a thing that might be a shirt or pants or maybe a sleeve?

And then this happens:

The damn yoke. It took me way to long to figure it out. And once I did, I said out loud: "No s#*t." Because I felt that stupid. It's the most obvious, yet totally confusing, thing. Maybe ever.

But after you survive the yoke, and the night of drinking it causes, you end up with a little redneck baby sleeveless shirt.

You could just stop there ... but then you add the sleeves, which is the same as adding sophistication. And class.

BAM! It's a recognizable piece of clothing that a real human would wear.

It's at this point that I get all giddy and say to the dogs while jumping up and down "Look! It's a shirt! A shirt! With sleeves that look like sleeves and a collar that does what collars do!"

To which they reply:

(this is "meh" in dog)

But anyway, here it is in action! On July 4, which is what I made it for (four). Ha.

This is an Oliver and S Sketchbook shirt. I love these patterns. So far I've made their School Days Jacket and a few of these.

:::

I also finished this quilt.