Another Year Over...

I know the year's not really over yet, but it's almost October, and that's when I start planning/making/buying Christmas gifts* therefore to me, October is the beginning of the end of the year.

Anyway, it's almost October, and although thinking about how close it is to the end of the year usually depresses me by reminding me how quickly the year has gone by and how few of the things I wanted to do I have actually done, this year it has inspired me to use the next three months to finish projects that I may have began and maybe (most likely) never finished in the previous 3/4 of the year.**

So, my goal will be to post, every week of October, at least one finished project.

I hope.

October's usually a busy busy month for us, because we have three kids' birthdays, and an anniversary, and Halloween, of course, and this year we are also planning a trip to attend my cousin's wedding a few states away - but I think I can manage to finish four projects this month.

Maybe.

Wish me luck.

*Don't give me too much credit, I may start planning in October, but most gifts are frantically finished/bought at the last minute, despite my best intentions

**Or last year.

Or three years ago.

Whatever. It's all about getting things done, not judging me based on how long they've gone undone, right? RIGHT?

Doggie Beds

We recently decide to crate-train our dogs. Even though both are seniors, its been working really well (for us, anyway - the dogs don't seem to be as thrilled about it!) but the crates themselves - well, they're just ugly. And the plastic liners in the bottom of the crates were uncomfortable for my poor arthritic old dogs.

I finally decided to do what I could about it. I had priced some of the beds and cushions available, and they were either prohibitively expensive or too hard to wash and take care of. So, my pups used their ratty old dog bed and a fleece blanket.

Beautiful, huh? I had been puzzling over what to do about the problem for a while when I came across this while cleaning out a closet :

If you're not quite sure what it is, it's a foam mattress topper. We used it for the old guest bed. This one has actually been around for a while, so I didn't feel too badly about cutting it up.

I used my super- precise measuring method of looking at it and guesstimating, and cut it about an inch smaller on each side than the tray that fits in the bottom of the crate.

I also had a pretty, unmatched old top sheet that I had been keeping around, trying to find a use for. It's just a twin sheet, but it was more than enough fabric for both dog beds. I folded it in half horizontally (right sides together) and cut using the same measurements as before (that would be none) but I left an inch or so extra on either side for seaming, and cut down the whole length of the sheet to the fold. You will have some excess fabric if you do this, like so:

That extra length will be useful later on. After I cut the fabric, I simply pinned it, and stitched up both sides from the hem to the fold. Essentially, I was just making a big, long pillowcase. (These are the longest seams I have ever attempted, and they were harder to keep straight than I thought they would be, even with pins!) I turned it right-side out, lay the foam in the plastic tray, slide the plastic tray and the foam in to the case, folded the edge under the tray and slid it back into place under the crate.

Ta-daaaa!

It was greeted with muted enthusiasm, but I think it looks great.

*Edit - I used an old cotton sheet, but I will be replacing this cover - probably with some cotton duck or upholstery fabric - down the road. The sheet didn't stand up well to the dogs 'nesting' habits. On the bright side, though - my larger, more arthritic old pup now loves her padded crate and lays in there even when she's not told to.

The Misadventures of the Sweatshirt Pillow

I hate to just put stuff in a box and store it. I think that the things that are special to us should be out and used. My kiddos have a few items of clothing that are really special to them, and I am always trying to think of ways to reuse the really special ones and keep them around as long as possible. Although I'm not averse to a T-shirt quilt, I hadn't quite gotten up the courage to attempt a full-size quilt - little bite-sized projects are much more my speed - so I thought that this would be a fun way to keep Thing 1's Phillies sweatshirt (from the first game he and DH went to, when he was a wee boy of only 5!) around and useful. This isn't really a tutorial though, more like showing what can go wrong, going wrong.

What I learned from this project:

Sports memorabilia is a rip-off. This thing was so badly made it almost ruined the project, and I'm pretty sure DH paid almost $30 for it at the stadium. Grrr...

I was originally going to sew the armholes and neck closed and make a case for this small pillow Thing 1 likes to keep on his bed. But, as I planned the project, I noticed that:

• The logo was not centered on the sweatshirt
• The logo was too close to the neck for me to be able to sew the neck closed
• DH paid way too much for this p.o.s.

So, I had to improvise. I like improvising, so I was okay with that. I decided I would cut the seams out (faster than picking them) and use any excess fabric to sort of wrap around, under the neck, thereby closing off the neck hole and preserving the logo. Which is, of course, what DH paid $30 for when he bought the stinking thing.

Well, then I ran into another problem - the shirt was made for a child, so there wasn't much extra fabric where I needed it, and sewing around a stretchy circle (neck) was a bit above my skill set at the time. So, I decided to sew a square salvaged from the sleeves underneath the neck hole, and sew the sides together and be done with the darn thing. So, I cut off the sleeves and that's when I saw this:

The shoulder seams weren't straight at all! When I lined them up straight, the sides were crooked. When I lined up the sides, the shoulders were crooked! I almost cried. This had started out as a quick, easy project to finish before Thing 1 got home from school, and was shaping up to be impossible - and I had already cut apart his favorite sweatshirt. Sure, it was too small, but it was still his favorite.

Well, I managed. I had to cut out the shoulder seams and deal with the logo being off-center, but it was done and on the bed when Thing 1 got home from school that day. Barely. But he doesn't notice all the things that make me nuts about it, and when he gets tired of using the ratty old pillow inside it, I can just stuff it and sew it shut. Or maybe by then I'll have decided to tackle that T-shirt quilt.

For The Man Who Has Everything

My DHubs is a hard guy to buy for. Mostly because I am a complete sucker, so we buy him pretty much whatever he wants when he wants it rather than waiting for special occasions, partly because he has expensive tastes, and also because I prefer to make gifts, not buy them, and he's just not into that. I'm okay with that most of the time, but sometimes the stars align and he gets a homemade gift or two.

This year, it just worked out that he got 2 handmade gifts to use in his office, and he seemed to really appreciate both of them. I never get to see his office, so they may just be stuck in a drawer somewhere, but he said he liked them, so I'll just take him at his word.

One gift was the ultra-cool Baseball Bat Hanger and Stand, the second was this business card holder. I hadn't planned on making it for him, the way I had the stand/hanger, but we found out about his promotion right around the same time as Father's Day, so I wanted to give him a little something extra. I was just winging it (as usual), but here's my best explanation of how I made it.

Business Card Holder

Materials:

• scrap wood (I used an old 2x4)
• Hand miter saw and box
• Sandpaper
• wood burner, or paint (optional)

This is so simple to make, but there was some trial and error involved and the directions are not exact, so if you have any questions, please comment below.

Cut approximately 3" off a scrap 2x4.

Using the 45-degree angle of your miter box, make two cuts, approximately 1 inch in from the back and the front edge, as shown:

Please excuse my wonky paint illustrations.

Next, make a cut straight into the 45-degree notch you made, like so:

Now, simply sand the edges and decorate as you'd like. My original intention was to decoupage one of his new business cards to the front bevel of the holder, but he didn't have any yet, so I tried to wood burn the front of it instead. Because of the age and softness and heavy grain of the salvaged 2x4, it wasn't as professional-looking as I was going for, but he swears he likes it, so I believe him.

If anyone makes this, good luck and please post pictures!

Impermanence, And The Persistence of Memory

Well, as another school year starts, I came across this short piece that I wrote a few years ago. It still rings true for me, so I thought I'd share.

Today, Thing2 graduated from kindergarten. I used to think that kindergarten graduations were kind of silly and pointless - I mean, who doesn't graduate from kindergarten? You might get held back in first grade, you might drop out of school or fail classes and never graduate high school, but everyone gets through kindergarten, right?
But honestly, as I felt the pride of seeing Thing1 graduate three years ago, and again as I was watching the kids today in their paper hats, earnestly performing painstakingly memorized songs in low, stage-fright voices, it hit me that the graduation is really for the kids sake. It's a way of telling them without telling them that now their lives are never going to be the same. School is no longer going to be about tying your shoes and singing your ABC's, about sharing your crayons and having recess and snack time. From here on out, it starts to be work. You can still have fun, but that's just a benefit or a side effect, not a goal.
I was struck when one of the teachers mentioned that the kids would be graduating high school twelve years from now. Twelve years does not seem to be as long as it did ten years ago. Or fifteen years ago. Twelve years is an eye-blink, a nap, an afternoon with the kids away. I tried, but couldn't imagine, my kindergarten graduate in a cap and gown. But then again, when he was three, I couldn't imagine him being almost seven and graduating kindergarten, eager for the 'real learning' of first grade. Every age seems like the only age the boys will ever be, until I am shocked into realizing that they have grown up again.
My memory is terrible, which is one of the reasons I originally began writing - I started my first journal in fifth grade, I think; sometimes it seems like the only way to keep that moment and my impressions of it fixed in my mind for more than a few days or weeks or months. It provides me with a record to refer to, so that when my reality changes I can look back and say, this is what my world used to be. I wish I had had more time when they were little to write down what things where like, all of the little things they did and said that made up the hills and valleys of my days then. Now, all I have left of those days is a few tattered memories floating in my head, and a few often-told stories that have already acquired the impersonality of legends. I keep encouraging myself, trying to improve my memory by saying "This is something special that you will remember, the way he talks right now, the little lisp, the gaps in his smile" but I won't know if it works until years later, when I try to remember this fleeting moment...
Anyway, the point of this was that the graduation is a marker, a way to memorialize this transition of our children from our babies to big kids. For them, it's a thrill and exciting and maybe a little scary... for me, I just hug him tight and try to hold on to what he looked when he was three, dancing under the cherry trees.