Long dog

I am loving this long-waisted dog. When my copy of Sock and Glove arrived in the mail, one of the first things I did was go out and buy a "bucket 'o buttons" (I kid you not, that is what it was called) from Lee's Art Shop. The checkerboard button I used for his nose was my very favorite in the bunch.


I shipped the pup off today to my little nephew. I hope he likes him as much as I do!

Deathly Hallows Ball

Harry Potter mania continues. I was determined to re-read book six before I started the new one, so I just started the Deathly Hallows last night. So far, soo good. I love it. I kind of want to read it only a few chapters at a time just to savor it. I feel so sad that this is the last book.

On Friday night, a group of friends and I dressed up and went to the Deathly Hallows Ball at the Borders in Time Warner Center. It was definately an experience. I have never waited in line for a new book, let alone dress up for it, but we figured that since this would be the last hurrah (at least for the books), we should go all out.

I was Hagrid, and my friends were Luna Lovegood, Fleur Delacour, Padma Patil, and Professor Snape. We also had a cute non-character witch in our group for good measure. Jared wasn't thrilled with my cross-dressing, but said I make a good Hagrid since I have "kind eyes." :)

No one blinked an eye at the sight of our strange group on the subway.


Luna and Padma

Fleur, Hagrid, a witch, Snape and Padma

My personal favorite: Luna's radish earrings
(they were actually turnips - radishes were too heavy)

recycled jeans skirt

I've had a lot of really fun things going on lately - I've won great prizes from other blogs, have had my old roommate come to the city for a visit, I have even attended an accordion festival. I have also made some useful crafts. Since this is a craft blog, I'll start with my jean skirt, and hopefully get to the other stuff later this week. Summer seems to be a hard blogging time for me - not enough time to do all the great things New York has to offer, and certainly not enough time to write about it.

Anyway, on to the skirt. As I said before, my old college roomie and long time best bud came to town and frequently wore an adorable jean skirt, which made me want one of my own. I wish I would have had the patience and foresight to turn it into a tutorial, but I got so excited that I dove right into the project, unfortunately without pulling out my camera. Basically, here's what I did:

1) I started with a pair of great fitting jeans that I no longer wear (my flared leg days have passed).

2) Using a seam ripper, take out the inseam stitching of both legs up to about an inch below the zipper in front and about the same amount up the backside. I didn't cut the fabric, because I wanted to keep the nice front seams intact.

3) Cut the legs off to the desired skirt length - keep the leg bottoms to use later.

4) Overlap the fabric on the front side to the desired skirt width, making sure the fabric lays down flat and pin. There will be a large triangle opening at the bottom where the fabric doesn't meet.

5) Fit a piece of the leftover leg fabric in the opening and pin. I tried it on at this point to see how the denim hung, and readjusted until the fit was right.

6) Sew the panel in and cut off the excess fabric



7) Repeat steps 4-6 on the back. Since you do not have the nice seams on the backside, I ironed the edges flat and sewed three times (spaced evenly) along the panel for a bit of decoration. Then I frayed the edge of the denim.

8) Ta-da! Brand new skirt. The next day at church, you and your husband/friend/significant other pull at the frayed bottom edge of the skirt, making it look even more awesome. :)


Whew - longest post ever. For a more coherent tutorial (with step-by-step photos) go to not martha.

I love Harry Potter

I saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix last night. LOVED IT. I'm obsessed. I'm seeing it again tonight. HP crafts to be posted soon. :)

Skinny Elephant

Tonight I made this skinny elephant. I began with the pattern for the Pointy Kitty from Wee Wonderfuls (click on "freebies to download" for other fun patterns). Using the basic steps of Hillary's pattern (and easy to follow instructions) as my guide and inspiration from Wren Handmade, I sketched a pattern on regular paper (the main body pieces, underbelly, etc.). I think this pattern could be the starting point for any number of simple animals. I'm going to try to make a few others (maybe a lion and a giraffe) to have a set of cute African animals.

Adventures in sewing

Isn't this cute? Couldn't you just see your baby as a little ninja in this outfit? Last weekend I got it into my head that I HAD to make a baby outfit at 10:00 p.m. and I didn't have any fabric for the project. I did, however, have a white t-shirt. A couple of hours later, I had this totally cute, totally unwearable outfit. The head hole was too small for a real baby (I borrowed a friend's as a tester) and I didn't leave nearly enough room in the rear for a diapered bum. It was really fun to make though, I learned a lot, and I can't wait for attempt #2!