Star Wars pajamas

The boys are growing freakishly fast. Asher of course has Tom's hand-me-downs, but if I make Tom Star Wars pajamas, then Asher will want some, too. So here we go. I was having trouble with the sleeves (I'm 35! I should be able to manage a damn sleeve!). So I came up with this: Use a T-shirt, and just sew "extensions" at the seam. It worked so well, I can hardly believe it.

It looks kind of dorky with their names down the leg, but I have a hard time keeping their clothes straight, and I wasn't going to make a size tag to sew into the waistband. We had these iron-on letters left over from when my ex made a project. Ugly, yes, but already on-hand, and free! :-)

Here's Asher brushing his teeth. Well, shaking his toothbrush.

Prescription goggles for $2.99

I think I first saw this on Instructables.com. Totally inspired by my blindness in the water (and my inability to wear contacts anymore, thanks to these weird bumps on my left eye), I dug through the bathroom cabinet to find my old glasses.

I popped out the lenses. I bought goggles on clearance.


I Dremel'd the lenses so they'd fit better on the goggle lenses. I bought some epoxy (my very first epoxy project ever -- and I learned a lot, like "Epoxy seeps, which will frack everything up"). If I had it to do over again, I'd have resigned myself to going really slowly with the epoxy, even if it took a few days. The end result looks a little sloppy, but they actually work really well!

At least so far as I can tell on land. I doubt I'll get in a pool again before next summer.

Stenciling for babies ... sort of

I bought off the registry for a friend's baby shower, but then I wanted to get her something fun (and unique), too. I thought about doing a freezer paper stencil, but suddenly thought of all the leftover scrapbooking letter stickers that I have downstairs. I mean, you buy "stars and stripes" lettering for one particular page, and then what do you do with the rest? I know! You use it to create a negative-space stencil-type thing!

I found funny T-shirts to rip off online.

So: Step 1. Use stickers from your craft stash.

Step 2: Dab fabric paint on. This gives it a pretty funky, almost graffiti-esque look -- which is cool, but really I just needed to minimize seepage under the letters, because some of the lines in the letters were quite narrow.

Step 3: Allow it to dry. Remove the stickers (tweezers help). Iron to set the paint. Impress your friends.

Another cool thing would have been to use freezer paper to make the outline. A duck or something could be pretty cute.

Kitchen curtains

Simple, white, cheap: Everything I was looking for in a set of kitchen curtains. I bought several yards of this funny weave-y texture-y fabric on clearance for $1/yard. Oh, and it's probably best not to sew while you're drinking -- I totally messed up the hem on the right-side curtains and had to fix it once I sobered up.

Plain, plain white -- even with a texture -- was a bit blah. I had my fancy sewing machine do an embroidery stitch as a detail throughout, using blue thread that matched the cabinets.

They'll get a little less stiff as they hang there, I know -- but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Coffee Cup Cozy

I made this for my organic chemistry professor. After I finished two semesters of o-chem, she met with me during the summer to help me prepare for the Dental Admissions Test. She refused any kind of payment, but I know she has a weakness for fancy schmancy coffee drinks, so I sent this to her.I made the buttons out of Sculpey (red for oxygen, blue for nitrogen, which is how most molecule model kits represent them). The professor knew the molecule immediately (it's caffeine!).

For the inside of the cozy, I crocheted a simple rectangle that would cover up (and protect) all the embroidery guts, and I sewed that inside. I hope that will make it last a long time.

Adama and Roslin

The Lords of Kobol dig crochet. So say we all.

This was a gift for my son's preschool teacher. She and I talk about the BSG episode every week when I drop the kids off, and all the other parents look at us and no doubt think, "You're chatting about a show about genocidal robots? At a preschool? Really?" The show is taking a break until January, so I made Teacher Ruth these dolls to get her through the withdrawal.I'm not crazy about how the Admiral's hair turned out (a little black helmet, for crying out loud), but I was pretty happy with the method I used for Laura Roslin's hair (a method I first encountered in "Creepy Cute Crochet"). I went sort of a minimalist route with details. I mean, Roslin wears a black mini and a jacket, and pumps -- no problem. But Adama's uniform? I could totally have gotten carried away with trim and the belt buckle and the boots ... but then I never would have finished!

Star Wars stenciling!

When we planned our trip to the Science Museum's Star Wars exhibit, the boys decided they needed new shirts for the occasion.