jUST ARTiNG ARoUND

This is more of a post of avoidance; I’ll admit it straight off the bat (and if you’re reading this, you just might be avoiding something on your end of this here web).

I’m *supposed to be* getting some of my patterns print-ready and instead of dealing with the fact that I’m clearly an outrageous color glutton and use hoards of them in many of my patterns with reckless abandon, I’m sitting here writing a random post about some of my other graphic design work. Hahaha, in your face Time Management. Procrastination and I will have THIS dance now, thank you very much.

Earlier this year, I was approached to create a logo for a local grassroots green space campaign in the neighborhood. I whole-heartedly believe in the Grow A Park campaign (we don’t have enough park space to enjoy!) and supporting such a local effort was not one to pass up, so I gladly turned a design around for them in quick speed. My four happy trees have become a favorite and I’ve now incorporated them into a new main logo for the Jackson Heights Green Alliance. You might spot both iterations around the web and if you live nearby, you’ll find the Grow A Park pledge certificates Where’s Waldo-style in numerous business shopfronts as you go about your daily grind.

I popped into a favorite local store recently and found my happy trees front and center at the cash register, beautifully displayed for all to see. I love Table Wine’s aesthetic anyway, so it’s even more fun to see my little creation well-integrated in a sweet frame chumming up to the GINORMOUS mac they have on the counter. Lookin’ good, lookin’ good!

And now that I’ve shared this with you, I will now make a valiant effort to check another project off my list today. Color-whittlin’ job? Another vest attempt? We shall see! In the meantime, Happy Friday!

Prepping dinner tonight and I spied this bad boy in the veggie drawer. A small eggplant, you say? Or perhaps a festive winter mitten to ring in this fourth quarter of the calendar year? Or is it screaming out for help and trying to hitchhike it’s way out of my kitchen? Either way, it’s safely in our tummies now. Sure does make for a pretty picture!

I have a LOT of sewing projects on my plate at the moment, so I was hoping today to check at least one of them off my list. Hmm, no such luck, I’m afraid. And because of that, you’d think I’d NOT post about it, but in fact, I think it’s good to. Not only because it saves today’s endeavors from completely going to waste, but I think it’s kind of nice to see failed projects in Blogland, because there are usually so many polished-perfect projects showcased and real life doesn’t always give you such luck. So here’s what happened…

I have a wedding in Texas to attend in October and knowing we would all need to be dressy and my 3-year old wouldn’t last very long in a suit, I thought it was the perfect time to order some of my Mexico Springtime fabric from Spoonflower on their new cotton-silk fabric.

The wedding colors are orange and navy blue, so I altered my pattern to coordinate with those colors. The navy turned out a bit more of a deep purple, but that was fine by me. I found a really clean and modern vest pattern from Leila & Ben and opted to cut out the 4T sizing for my pattern, since my little guy is big for his age.

Not only is this technically my first-ever garment made from a formal pattern (I typically make things up from scratch and being a visual learner, I often get overwhelmed by reading all the instructions and not following them so easily without seeing an example), but also as I’ve mentioned before, I just got a new sewing machine. So I thought it was a perfect time to bust that out and give it a test run on this vest. Nothing like upping the challenge by adding new variables left and right to it, no? I’m crazy like that.

So I prepped everything and began my sewing today. My first glitch occurred when I was sewing up the collar piece. The pattern calls for everything to be finished with a topstitch and after adding that to the collar, I stared at it and realized I just didn’t like how it looked. Crooked and just not pretty on silk. Too utilitarian-feeling for a fancy fabric. So I sighed (probably also rolled my eyes) and decided to recut new pieces and sew up a new collar. Clearly I didn’t sigh enough to relax and focus, because I proceeded to cut out the patterned side of the collar without catching that it was UPSIDE DOWN. Noooooooo! Alas, yes. There went attempt #2 and without waiting long enough to start weeping, I ran back to my fabric pile and cut out the collar pieces for a third time. This time? Bingo! Here are my three lovely collars in a row. At least the other two are long enough to use for a headband or something. Giant bookmark, perhaps?

After feeling like I had now amassed the required mad skills to be a professional collar-maker, I moved on to finishing up the rest of the vest. My son was at the grandfolks for the day, so I didn’t have a chance to try it on him until all sewing was done. And herein lies the ultimate flub. Ready for it? You guessed it. It didn’t fit. *Giant sigh* I was completely crestfallen. It looked so good and I was so proud of being able to mark it off my list; it only needed a couple of buttonholes and buttons which I was going to try for-the-first-time-ever on my new machine.

Son came home and tried it on. It’s barely passable. Turns out I really needed to not use up the allotted 1/2” seam allowance that was already built into the pattern, but rather cut and additional 1/2” out all the way around. Plus because my son is so tall, it really needs to be a great deal longer for him. Nonetheless, here’s the almost-finished vest:

Not too shabby (yes, I need to iron it flat; I’m not the best of friends with irons, you know). Now I just need to see it on a matching sized child and it will look perfect.

So what am I going to do now that I’ve used up most of the striped fabric and the orange lining? Well, first I’m going to bed, so I can wash away the woes and start anew tomorrow. Then I’m going to figure out what other orange or possibly navy fabric I can find to line a new vest and make it all over again using the remaining Mexico Springtime fabric I have left. I’m going to adjust the pattern to be bigger and longer and give it another go. Wish me luck! 

Have you had failed projects leave you crestfallen? Are they sitting in half-sewn up states somewhere in your home in a fabric pile? Ever come across them and wonder what the heck you were trying to make? Or do you just toss out the also-ran versions of your projects? Tell me about your sewing project mistakes. It’ll surely make me feel a bit better about a sewing day lost. :D

It’s been another busy week and my Friday began with an exciting package delivery from Timeless Treasures. Yes, folks, a juicy selection of my strike-offs arrived for me to check out and fawn over while I enjoyed my morning coffee. Woohoo! Verrrrry exciting. Here’s a super-sneak peak at some of them:

Just a little over a month left until they make their official debut at the International Quilt Market in Houston at the end of October! That plus the commencement of what we in our house like to call ‘Operation Halloween Costumes: 2011’ (details in a future post) and I’ll officially have fabric on the brain. It’s going to be a very exciting month, indeed! :D

Woohoo, Mister Baby Pants is a whopping four months old today! Let’s par-tay with a room full of baby talk! <3

Mornin’ sunshine!

Just woke up to the fun news that my Banana Strawberry Cashew Shake recipe is 1 of 6 recipes in the Featured Collection over on They Draw And Cook’s main jumbotron. The collection is called ‘Contest Winners! (1st place is Apple Smiles)” and will be features from September 15 to September 18, after which point it can be viewed in their Feature Collection Archive page.

What does that all mean, you ask? Here’s what Nate told me in my email: “Being in a featured collection means that your artwork is viewed by many thousands of people (fans, other artists, art directors, bloggers and magazine editors) via the main TDAC site, Facebook, Twitter, and our email recipe delivery system.You can also see how many people have shared your artwork with their friends from the ‘Share’ icons in your recipe page.”

Plus, each of the top 6 will receive a free allresipes.com Supporting Membership and 2 recipe prints of their choice. Better get my chef’s hat ready and fire up the stove!

Woohoo! One of six out of 140 entries from around the globe…not too shabby! The other entries are really fun; the ‘Apples Smiles’ is an especially hilarious recipe concept that I’m sure is a monstrous crowd pleaser; go check them all out and try some at home!

Thanks to everyone who left such great comments over on my recipe page. I appreciate all of your support! Mmmmmm, now time for a morning shake! Beware little cashews!

Here’s a little something I just finished up. The 2011 Cooking 4 Kids Recipe Contest is being hosted by the fun folks over at They Draw And Cook and I couldn’t pass up the chance to give it a whirl, especially as I had a recent tasty recipe for a cashew shake on hand that was perfect for kids (toddler-approved in our household, so I’m a believer!) and seemed perfect to illustrate just for kicks. Actually, I had done another completely different version a couple weeks ago but I just wasn’t loving the end result, so I had put off finishing it. Done with ink pen and watercolors, the glass perspective and overall scene were different and just not doing it for me. This time around, I switched the overall glass angle and scene, made some things less complicated and others more detailed. I focused on drawing with a lot of whimsy in mind, since it was really just an experiment I was doing for fun. Adding pressure to fun does not make fun happy. Always something to remember. Here, you can see my first draft and the second version in its rough form:

And after a bit more drawing, scanning, and digital color work, here’s my finished entry. Although I didn’t start out enjoying the first version, by the end, I thought it was all pretty fun and I’d definitely do it again. I really love seeing the variety of recipes and the array of illustration techniques used on TDAC. Go check them out and submit an illustrated recipe of your own! Oh and they’ll announce the finalists and winner of the 2011 Cooking 4 Kids Recipe Contest this Thursday so stay tuned! Another really fun project in the bag and I have to thank Amy over at Shiny Orange Dreams for the tip!

In the middle of all my weekly plate-spinning and juggling routines, I received a hefty package I had been expecting but still wasn’t sure I *needed*. Hahaha, why even ask that really. I don’t reallllllly need it. Not like bread and water. Or chocolate, for that matter.

It’s a new Singer sewing machine and serger. Now, I know, I know, people have an array of favorites and we can all debate which the best machines are out there. But this was a crazy one-day sale with the two together bundled at half their regular price. No. I didn’t *need* a new machine. Shoot, I barely know all the things a serger does, let alot deem myself ready to have one cohabitate with me. Nonetheless, the winded UPS man delivered my giant box (hello, only $5 shipping = happy dance) to my doorstep.  

And no, I haven’t opened it yet. I tend to do this. I stare at the sealed box long enough for it to become an eye sore before fetching the scissors to open the top. It hasn’t been long enough yet and there are so many other things to catch up on, having been away last weekend, that I’m not ready to see my new computerized buddies yet.

Who’s the gal on the left, you ask? That’s Betty. Her name might change, but for now, she’s Betty. Or, to my 3-year old, she’s that scary thing sitting in my bedroom that he wants covered with a blanket so he doesn’t have to see it.  She’s another recent purchase of mine. In this case, I’ve been wanting a dress form for a while but was waiting until we got into a bigger home with an actual studio space for myself before investing. So I wasn’t really ready to get one, but a friend of a friend had this one for sale. It was owned by a lady who did a vast array of professional dressmaking for all body types and kept this in immaculate condition. She had an accident that left her unable to use this or most of her sewing equipment anymore (i.e., her Bernina Activa 130 is for sale; if you’re local to NYC and interested, let me know). Anyway, Betty’s measurements seemed about right (which begs the question, why on earth would I even measure myself and consider this 3 months after having a baby? Madness. Shear madness. I digress.)

I just wanted a basic dress form that works and the fact that she’s a vintage gal is a cool bonus. I love the manual just for it’s font treatment and copy alone. It says right there that this dress form ‘Is The Best Money Can Buy’ after all.

Although I haven’t gotten around to it, I’m hoping to adjust her to my size so I can start fabricating that patternless imaginary skirt that I have finished in my mind. It looks perfect in my head and fits me like a charm, I tells ya. And I’ll use my new machine! And the serger! Even if completely unnecessary! And they’ll become my new bestest friendies forever! Muahaha…

Er, gotta open that box first. At least to check that the contents are what I wanted and not broken. How novel of me. Just double the amount of hours in the day or go ahead and clone me and I’ll get on all of that tout de suite.

Man, oh man. It’s Friday already and the week has flown by. This time, I’m finding myself on the more exhausted side. Along with textile designing and my regular design freelancing, I’ve also been taking on some fun logo work as well. Needless to say, I’m ready to slow down a bit and recharge. Yippee for the long weekend ahead! 

First off, I should say that we survived Hurricane Irene with very little if any harm done. Very lucky, I’d say. I was more than happy to be safe than sorry with all the provisions made by the mayor of our fair city. We did have a ceiling leak and I did slip on wet playground equipment on Sunday and scabbed up my knee (go ahead and laugh). Aside from that we’re fine. Looks the little garden area I showed you on Friday also didn’t fair too poorly either. Here’s the before/after shots showing barely any difference:

And a few more photos of our post-Irene neighborhood:

Like I said, this has been a non-stop week. I’d have preferred to have given you my Irene update earlier and then saved this post for a mini Timeless Treasures update, but alas, you get it all in one today. You’re welcome.

*****

On Tuesday I went to Soho with Mister Baby Pants to visit the lovely folks at Timeless Treasures. Along the way, I found some entertaining things, namely some way-too-tight-highwaters-and-I-think-this-trend-should-stop-now pants along with some sidewalk chalk drawing in action, which ended up looking more like another commentary on tight black pants, thanks to photographing while walking quickly…

Arriving at the office with a wide-awake Mister Baby Pants, I brought along a new batch of designs and had a great time talking to everyone at TT.  I’m absolutely loving this new world I’m in. While baby went off to Snoozeville, we reviewed my strike-offs which had just arrived. What can I tell you? THRILLING!!! It was so fun to see everything printed up and hello, bonus, my name is spelled perfectly on the selvage! I don’t have any fabric photos to share as it’s a bit too soon and the oven is still a-cookin’. But soon, my friends, soon. I really think you’re going to like this collection and I can’t wait to show you more.

I leave you today with the odd purchases I made after leaving my meeting. Oh Pearl River, how you lure me in every time. Checkered toed-socks, check! Triceratops ice cube tray, check! Training chopsticks for kidlets, check!

On a gleeful high, I’m clearly prone to buy just about anything. If only I had channeled my excitement into giving out free hugs or something….but I have to tell you, I am IN LOVE with my wacky it-looks-like-three-cups-but-its-really-one cup. My 3-year old finds it hilarious too, so I hereby declare it a perfect buy. Happy holiday weekend!