Biscuit's House

A bag from Posie

I'm hard-pressed to post even twice a week these days. I'm preoccupied with work and exhausted with the exercise I've been trying to do in the evenings ; I'm afraid the program in the book I'm using is way too hard for me.

Today I received a bag I had ordered from Alicia. Last time I had hesitated to buy one and finally not taken the plunge, but when she had her final book bag sale the other day I decided to splurge ; I was curious to see the work of a celebrated crafter in real life.

It was prettily packaged with more of the famous red and white baker's twine, and a postcard and business card which went to join the other things on my inspiration board.

It's well made of course with very neat stitches. I don't know how she could manage to sew dozens of these bags ; it would have driven me wild. 

Funnily enough I just asked Puni what she likes best on my board and after saying "the mermaid" like last time I asked, she mentioned the cards from Alicia I just added.

My computer was just changed yesterday, now I have Windows Vista and Window Mail and am having a hard time getting used to the new locations of icons and menus and stuff. This computer doesn't have Japanese Windows anymore so I can't use my old software that we got when we were in Japan, Fireworks and Dreamweaver. About the latter it's OK because I'm not updating my website anymore, but for the photos I have trouble with Paint Shop Pro, it's more complicated than Fireworks. My monitor shows colors a bit differently too, so please tell me if today's photos are too bright or not bright enough.

I was relieved the other day to find that my blog is not worth $0.00 after all. 

My blog is worth $9,032.64.
How much is your blog worth?

I was using biscuitshouse.typepad.com as URL instead of biscuitshouse.typepad.com/biscuits_house/ and it wasn't working, but for several days I really thought it was worth nothing. $9000 is not much compared for example to Alicia's $700,000 but still it's something!

More mail love

I'm feeling a cold coming on. Throat begins to hurt, nose is getting stuffy, and I'm feeling comatose. It's getting quite warm and I find having a cold when it's hot outside quite unpleasant.
On such a day, what could be better than a surprise in the mail? A parcel arrived today from the lovely Vicki which was supposed to contain just the March issue of MSL, so what could be in the pretty smaller package (tied in that delicious red and white baker's twine)?

It's Christmas in April! A pretty card, a vintage pattern for a lovely ballerina doll (will have to make this one), beautiful fabrics and embroidery motifs (have to think of the right project for these)...and even a maze book for Puni who loves mazes. Thanks Vicki!

Off to the sofa with a giant cup of tea and MSL, I leave you with a photo of the mess on my sewing table this week's WIPs. I miss the big work surface I had in Japan when there was a whole room for myself dedicated to dolls and sewing (before Puni was born, then the doll room was turned into a baby room), but I guess I should be grateful for my little corner, at least I don't have to use the dining-room table.

Thanks Debby

I am completely fried tonight. Just back from production planning and detailed scheduling training, yay. My head is like a pumpkin. Thankfully this week-end will be 3 days long.

Coming back from work I found my surprise from Debby.

Such lovely packages in colorful tissue paper with pretty tags and stickers.

There was even a magic wand for Puni, "too pretty" in her own words.

The new issue of Antique Doll Collector also arrived today. The photos of the "minuscule" felt dolls made me want to make a small felt doll. Better not, I have too many unfinished things as it is.

Now for an episode of Little House of the Prairie, a little crocheting, dinner and - finally, blissfully - bed.

Pin up

Ooh what a week. A girl in my team had a car accident last week-end and is off work this week (fortunately she had only light injuries). I have to cover for her but was not trained to do her work yet so had a crash session (no pun intended) on Monday night with my predecessor who thankfully wasn't on holiday and hasn't left the company yet. Another lady from the team is in hospital having scheduled surgery and a third is on holiday. The rest of us are coping as best we can. I took charge of this department only 2 months ago and am still struggling to stay on top of things. The work itself  is more interesting to me than my previous position which is a saving grace I suppose...though I'd rather be at home crafting.

I received my "cup o' joe" the other day (thanks Connie for the translation, though I wonder now what's the relation between joe and coffee) to replace the cupcake I traded with Laura because there was green in it. Pretty pincushions do make sewing more enjoyable don't they?

I also indulged in shrinky dink pins from Goldfish 1925, prettily presented in a small box complete with "do not drink" potion.
Speaking of shrinky dink pins, I guess everyone knows that Wee Wonderfuls has a tutorial on how to make them. We've had some of this material here and Puni and her cousins had fun making keyholders, I'm sure there must be lots more uses for it.

Well, time for dinner and then I'd better work a bit on this week's WIP if I want to have something to blog about next time.

Swap?

  This week I'm on call at the factory and today I had to go and make the rounds, I spent an hour walking around the plants in the rain and was glad to come back to a warm home, the sofa, a cup of tea and a book (I've just begun reading Angels and Demons to rest my mind from historical biographies).

And to the shortbread. It's quite good and I took a couple more photos.

I made a first pile of the fabric I have to swap because the colors are not me - if there is any that interests you please reply to this or e-mail (biscuitbear at yahoo dot com). I can swap for anything, what I like most is surprises, what I don't like is green and an abundance of black or dark colors.

# 1 : ducks, 89% cotton 11% rayon, 26" x 26". Some glue residue at top edge. Reserved

   

Hunting, silk Dupioni, 25" x 26". # 2 : black on grey and # 3 : red on gold green. Reserved

 

Confetti, cotton, #4 : black or navy background (can't tell) and # 5 : green background. 13" x 17". Reserved

 

#6 : bucolic, cotton, green background, 27" x 27". #7 : fruit basket, cotton, khaki green background, 27" x 27".  Reserved

 

#8 : toile de Jouy, green on striped green background, cotton, 26" x 27". Circular holes and some glue residue at top edge. #9 : toile de Jouy, blue on green, cotton, 26" x 27". Reserved

 

#10 : toile de Jouy, green on white, cotton, 26" x 27". #11 : toile de Jouy, black on white, cotton, 26" x 27". Reserved

Increasing

Not, it's not me that's increasing, it's the stash. Though maybe I deserved it because the last few things I made were entirely from supplies I already had.

A day (seemingly) spent running around the subway corridors and the streets of Paris. I had a meeting this afternoon and on my way there I stopped at La Droguerie (OK it was not really on the way I made a slight detour). It was late morning and the shop wasn't crowded ; there were three yarn salespersons but still it took 30 minutes before one of them was free to attend me. When it's your turn it's nice to take your time and ask to see this and that, but when you're in a hurry it's quite maddening. There was a lady from Italy being served when I entered the shop, choosing yarns to make a sweater for her granddaughter. She had selected the model but was completely changing the colors and asking at each step for the little girl's opinion. When at last I thought she was done, no, she went to see the buttons, and there are so many to choose from it took a looong time. Then I was readying myself for the kill, I mean readying myself to grab the salesperson before someone else did, but noooo, the same hullabaloo began again for a boy's sweater. Argh!

I got beige mohair and off-white wool to make a cushion (it will also need pink mohair and felt wich I already have), and cotton yarn in the colors I was missing for my future amigurumi (china girl and blue bride). Unplanned but irresistible purchases were the glittery yarn (will be useful for accents on amigurumi) and the rabbit kit (because the creatures at Little Cotton Rabbits are so cute, I want one too). The rabbit will get a knitted dress when it's done (in the distant future probably!).

While I was waiting I selected three postcards, which I will send to the first person who wants them. Postcards are spoken for!

And today my robot/mixer arrived, not such a good idea after all since I decided last week-end that it was time to start a diet and lose the 2 or 3 kilos I gained this winter (and I even got some exercise today, there was an accident in the subway and it ran late, I ran to catch my train home and hopped on with about 10 seconds to spare - puffing and panting and my chest burning. Out of shape, me?).

I hereby decide I will not eat cake more than once a week.

Probably it's a good thing that you can't see me (no webcam here!).

More fabric

I got more fabric samples from my mother last week-end.

My favorite are the striped and dotted fabrics. Most of them come in several colorways and the dots in particular come in many different hues from bright colors to pastels.

I really must get cracking with the bags I want to make. Hopefully it will make me tear out less hair than stuffed things!

Pincushion Parade

Woohoo, it's Friday! Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy. In a world where much is uncertain it's good to know that this little joy at least will come back pretty predictably.

I don't know why I have become so obsessed with pincushions over the past few weeks ; it must be a combination of the broadening of my interest from doll clothes making to crafting in general, eye candy from crafting blogs and a steady diet of inspiring books and magazines. These days I check Etsy almost daily for new pincushion listings.

The strawberries are from Speckled Hen, Lauren's shop ; when I spotted them on Etsy I just coudn't resist them, especially since their pricing made them such a guilt-free indulgence. Lauren also makes pretty hair clips and other stuff and her packaging is as lovely as her creations.

The ball is from Three Cat Nite. When I got a raise the other day I went straight to Etsy, looked up the items I had marked as favorite and went click-happy, this was one of them!

The cupcake, is, of course, from Betz White. I first spotted one of her pincushions on Etsy a couple of months ago ; it was a "Cup O Joe"  and while I was very much drawn to it, I thought, mhh, $32 for a pincushion, better be reasonable and give it up. Then after a few days I couldn't stand it anymore and went back to the shop, alas, it was sold. I went back a couple of times after that and everything was always sold out. It was only a while later that I realized that she had been on Martha Stewart's show and was quite famous. Soon afterwards I was able to grab a cupcake and three weeks later it arrived.

Although she mentions she is unable to accept custom orders, I had included a request in my order to avoid green if possible as it's the one color I don't like. It looks like it wasn't feasible, probably she was too swamped with orders.

I also like these pear pincushions on Etsy and have them in my favorites - maybe one day!

Fabric samples

I got some fabric samples from my mother last week-end.

Each design comes in several colorways.

My favorite are the geometric patterns above.

I'm going through old MCI issues looking for bag patterns. One thing I don't like is, their instructions are a bit too sketchy for me. Probably all right for experienced seamstresses, but not so easy to figure out for me. I learned to sew and knit (I knew purl and knit when I was small, but was incapable of anything else, such as assembling a sweater) using Japanese books which are so wonderfully detailed that now I'm spoiled and anything less precise seems not enough. Also, I don't like having to reproduce a pattern from a small drawing. Their little sketches are not always to scale so enlarging on a scanner doesn't work.

I need a seat cushion for my computer chair whose "leather" is torn. I probably could make one with these fabrics, I will have to look for a pattern. I get to choose more samples when we go and fetch Puni in 2 weeks.

Sajou

I'm still in an organizing mood (probably the continuing effect of this book) and decided to order "beehive" cards from Sajou to sort my ribbons. Strangely, I had never heard of Sajou until I read an article about them in a magazine a couple of months ago.

Of course, I couldn't stop at the beehive cards. I got a pair of scissors with attitude (Louis XVI style), pins, miniature safety pins in case I ever make fabric flower brooches, and lace, plus a little something else I may show tomorrow evening if it's finished.