shimandsons

pillows :: take two

We had loads of fun at Big J's birthday party over the weekend. Of course we're a little wiped out from the festivities and it doesn't help that another wave of colds has hit our house. [Please, oh please let this be the last of the illnesses this year!] I'll share photographs from the party later this week. In addition to preparing for Big J's party this month I have been fully immersed in spring cleaning. After a few trips to Goodwill I've been able to clear out some closet space around the house. I've also written lists for changes I would like to make in each room of the house and have prioritized the list. It feels so good to have a "game plan" and to dedicate some time each week to make it all happen.

One of the projects on my list was to make new pillows for our family room sofa + club chair. Last month I picked up the grey tree fabric from Bolt even though I wasn't crazy about the colorway.

Sure enough as soon as I made the pillows I knew they were not going to work for me. I love the print, but the color palette just doesn't look right in the room.

So earlier this month I ordered a few pieces of Cake Rock Beach fabric [designed by Joelle Hoverson of Purl] from Sew Mama Sew. I think these pillows are keepers, or at least until I can replace them with some textured pillows like this or this.

P.S. The shoppe will be celebrating its 1st anniversary on Thursday! I was originally planning to have a big update on May 1st, but I am going to push it back a week or so since this week is packed with volunteering in Big J's classroom, going on a field trip and working on a few project deadlines. Stay tuned!

covering up

Continuing with this month's theme of "finishing the unfinished", I made my first ironing board cover. I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish this project because I completed it in about 1/2 hour. I removed the old cover and used it as a template to cut out the new cover from my favorite Ikea print.

Using some white double fold bias tape I made a casing to thread some thick string through. [By the way, if you haven't checked out Amy's bias tape video tutorial, you must! It is very informative and hilarious, just like Amy in real life!] You could also use elastic, but I just recycled the string from the old cover. I placed the new cover on the ironing board and pulled the drawstrings, which was then clamped into place with one of those clamp-dealie-bobs [I don't know what they're called]. My ironing board comes with an attached mini board for ironing shirt sleeves so I also made a matching mini cover.

And you might have already noticed but I whipped up a few more calendars which will be sent out to some friends as soon as I track down legal size mailers.

You'll be seeing more of this paper + stitching combination around here, it is so fun!

And another project that has been sitting around since last year, a sewing machine cover. Yes, a bit matchy-matchy, but what can I say, I love the Ikea print. This was another project that took under 1/2 hour. Thank God for quick 30 minute crafting projects. [Ha, I sound like I'm the Rachael Ray of crafting.]

   

The yellow + grey is really popping up everywhere in my studio. Although I've had a life-long love of white + grey, the yellow + grey love was definitely inspired by Martha.

P.S. Thank you for all the Easter toolbox love. They were a big hit this morning! Quote from Big J, "Thank you SO much for the toolbox. I'm going to work really hard and make pretty things like you!" They also had fun hunting for easter eggs at church today.

P.P.S. Special spring break sale in the shoppe this week. Stay tuned!

new month :: new projects

I love how the beginning of each month brings a fresh new start. The first day of every month I write down all my projects + work deadlines + goals and post them on a pin + strip in my studio. I find it helpful to see all the things I need to accomplish in one glance. And I love removing the little strip of paper once a project is completed.

One of my goals for this month is to make a few birthday presents. The first birthday in March belongs to my mother-in-law and I decided to make her a simple pin + board. She loves green, so I chose green + grey linen leaves to embellish the pin + board.

I meant to make a batch of calendars for family + friends last Christmas, but never got around to completing them. So I decided to finish up one calendar to add to my MIL's present. I printed out some of my favorite photographs of the boys in 2007 and affixed them to the calendar.

Big J made a card for his Nana. Metallic pens + glitter pens are Big J's favorite tools these days.

Now it is all wrapped up and ready to be sent off. On to the next present!

preschool crafting

It is our fourth week into preschool and we're loving every minute of it. Big J has been working on reading different words he spots while we are out and about. The other day we were in the car while Big J was looking at a notebook which had a picture of a cute sheep and the word "mouton" on the cover. I could hear him sounding out each letter carefully until he figured out how to pronounce the word. Of course he immediately asked, "What's mouton?" Ha! Never thought he would be reading French at such a young age.

Big J has also been doing quite a bit of crafting at preschool, which incidentally means I've been doing a lot of preschool-related crafting. Wednesdays are sharing day, so a few weeks ago he wanted to bring a fish to school since it was "F" week. We don't have any fish, but I remembered Mama Urchin's wonderful go fish craft she had posted about a few weeks ago.

So I cut a fish out of two layers of linen and two layers of wool felt, stitched on some eyes, secured a magnet in between the layers of felt and then stitched up the entire fish. I made a fishing pole out of tree branch, put a little magnet inside a little felt pouch and tied it to the end of the pole. Big J loved it and he said the kids had fun playing with it at school. And as you can see Baby J has also been having fun fishing!

And for Big J's funny feet parade at preschool, I made him some little sock friends.

Which double as hand and foot puppets!

And today we went on our first field trip! Nothing is cuter than seeing a classroom of preschoolers hiking around a state park in their rainboots and jackets. Oh, being in preschool is so much fun!!

linen + leaves + lotta

The cooler weather has definitely put me in the mood to changes things up over here at Casa Shim. Most of you know that I have a thing for mobiles and floating objects in general. There has been a steady rotation of mobiles/floating objects in our kitchen nook over the past year and I've been meaning to replace the tissue paper pom poms I took down a few months ago. So a few weeks ago I revisited my favorite linen leaves craft and sewed some together to create linen leaf chains.

And since it is difficult to make just a small batch of linen leaves I now have a tray full of linen leaves waiting to be transformed into a simple little mobile.

I was testing out a few ideas for a freelance project last week and decided to make little covers for some glass cups I have sitting in a wood tray on the kitchen table. They were influenced by my pencil + cups and have now inspired me to make a few new pencil + cup designs.

It is no secret that I have a weakness for Japanese craft books. I am in love with the beautiful photography and styling of some of the minimalist books. Since I think I've only used one pattern from all the Japanese craft books I have, I usually don't even care whether the books contain patterns since so much of my inspiration is drawn from the handmade objects themselves. So when I saw Blair had posted about Lotta's newest book, I made a mental note to stop by our local Kinokuniya to check it out.

I picked up a copy this week and of course I was not disappointed. The projects are simple + modern and I actually like that fact that she doesn't include patterns for all the projects, that way every person can come up with their own version. And like so many of us who are influenced by Japanese craft books and find ourselves working on similar projects as other craft blog friends, I was pleasantly surprised to find two projects in her book that were similar to what I had just worked on. I love the pattern on her fabric mobile [in the book Lotta explains several ways to print on to fabric.]

And she has some really cute cup + flask covers in there as well as some spiffy tote bag designs.

Oh, and I also thumbed through her travel style book at the bookstore and it is chalk full of inspiration--definitely putting that book on my wish list.

s t r e t c h e d

I originally titled this post "ode to elastic", but "s t r e t c h e d" seems a bit more fitting. The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind--business trips for Appah, first week of preschool for Big J, work deadlines and a new schedule for all of us. I'm still trying to fall into a nice rhythm around here, adjusting to all the new changes and trying to achieve the right balance between family + friends + personal crafting + work. And fall is upon us here in Portland--cooler weather, crisper air, loads of delicious apples at our local farms--which always signifies a new beginning to me, probably because for 25 years it marked the beginning of a new school year for me [oh man, I miss having to buy fresh stacks of notebooks + pens for school!]. As always there are a million and one things I want to accomplish this fall--personally and professionally--but am constrained by time and energy. I'm not complaining though because often these constraints give me a reality check and help me prioritize what is really important to me and my family.

new-ish top for moi <> built by wendy pattern <> used a nice textured cotton lawn from Bolt

I'm excited about volunteering in Big J's preschool classroom [I taught and worked in preschools throughout college and graduate school]. We're going on our first field trip next month and I cannot wait!! Baby J cried twice last week because he didn't want to leave Big J's school, but no tears this week [although there was a lot of gentle tugging on my part to get him out of the classroom]. I'll often hear Baby J talk about Big J's teachers and what he learned at school [two educations for the price of one I tell ya!]

new belt for Big J <> he chose the pink/grey elastic over the rainbow and navy/red selection they had at the fabric store <> I prefer these belts over the D-ring type because they are so easy for him to take on/off

I also plan to update the shoppe on a regular basis up until early December, hopefully giving people plenty of time to do some holiday shopping. I'm also designing a small holiday stationery collection which will be available in the shoppe early November. [I know, why am I talking about the holidays already? I'm just trying to plan ahead this year because time is so limited due to Appah's numerous business trips this fall/winter and no back-up childcare since our babysitter moved away to college last month.] And for those who were wondering whether studio CRAFT will be held again this fall, we've decided to postpone it until next year [maybe spring 2008].

I always replace the shoe strings with elastic <> I suppose one day the boys will have to learn how to tie their shoes

A big "thank you" to those who stopped by the shoppe. I'm working on packaging up the orders and will have them out by this weekend. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

first day of preschool

Today was Big J's first day of preschool. He was decked out in his Uniform Studio hoodie, applique t-shirt, linen pants, new kicks, new arm splint [he got his cast removed last week] and a handmade tote full of goodies.

I made him a simple "J" tote, inspired by a baby onesie I designed recently for a friend's son. The handles are quilted and the tote is lined with a simple green cotton fabric. I also made a little drawstring pouch to hold odds and ends as well as a little tissue holder [for no reason other than I had the urge to make something else to put in the tote]. A friend sent me a wonderful package of goodies [which deserves its own post soon], including this sweet squirrel notebook which I thought would be perfect for Big J's new tote.

We are so grateful Appah flew home yesterday, just in time for Big J's first day of preschool. [Baby J is pointing out the bell at Big J's new school.] Big J loves his new school and teachers and I could barely get him to say goodbye to me when we dropped him off this morning. Baby J on the other hand shed a few tears when he realized he wasn't going to be staying with Big J at school. He's a social guy like his big brother and the lure of the sweet teachers and new toys was very difficult for him to resist.

You might have noticed that Baby J is sporting a new bag. I whipped up a litle bag for him over the weekend, which is just the right size to hold several of his toy cars and a bag of snacks. I'm happy to say he has been putting it to good use.

I was planning to update the shoppe on Wednesday, but I'm not sure what I was thinking since this is Big J's first week of school and Appah just returned from a business trip. I've been squeezing in work here and there, but want to enjoy this week with my family. So, I'll be postponing the update until NEXT Tuesday, 9.18.07 @ 10am PST. Thanks for your patience!!

yes, I still craft + sew

I just realized that it has been almost a month since I last posted a crafting or sewing project. It looks like all my productivity in July was offset by a quiet August. Although last month was a bit slow on the crafting front, I did manage to work on a few birthday gifts and finish up some freelance projects. Where's the evidence? I no longer have it. Remember my crashed laptop? Well, Appah managed to recover the files from my hard drive, but the laptop is dead along with a few of the photographs I took of my projects. [Note to self: back up my files on a daily basis.] Anyways, I've been working on a batch of wall + pockets and pin + pockets. These mini pin + pockets would come in handy in a laundry room to hold loose buttons or dryer sheets.

I have a stack of pockets ready to be assembled into wall + pockets and pin + pockets.

It feels good to get back into the sewing + crafting groove. I have some last minute back-to-school projects to work on before Big J heads off to preschool next week [he is SO excited!]. I'll also be updating the shoppe next Wednesday, 9.12.07 @ 10am PST.

"hey, is that an etsuko furuya sling?"

This week has been filled with a series of doctor's appointments. I went to the doctor on Monday to have my cough checked out. Nothing serious. The doctor recommended two or three medications I could take to relieve my symptoms, but after telling him that I'm still nursing, he said, "Well, then I would recommend cough drops". Just what I thought. On Tuesday morning Big J woke up with a swollen elbow. Which meant a trip to the pediatrician's office, another set of xrays and news that he had a fractured elbow [he had only complained about his wrist on Sunday, so they didn't take full xrays of his arm]. Then back to the pediatrician's office for a full arm splint and Snoopy sling [have I mentioned how much I dislike theme prints? So you know where this is going, right?] [side note: Big J calls him "Snoofy", he has no idea who Snoopy is.]

The next day we went to see an orthopedic specialist and thankfully he said the fracture was small and should heal within a month. So now Big J is sporting a big ol' red arm cast. But the Snoopy sling had to go. I asked Big J to pick out some fabric from a pile on my desk and he chose a simple Etsuko Furuya print. I used the old sling as my guide and cut two pieces of fabric, sewed on some black bias tape, made a strap and some loops for d-rings and voila, a brand new sling!

I think Big J is happy with the new and improved sling.

What do you think?

Oh, and did I mention that this is Big J's SECOND fracture? He fractured his wrist two years ago.

Thanks to everyone who bought goodies over at the tag sale. I'm sorry I wasn't able to update the site for a few hours since we were at the doctor's office. Your packages will be sent out tomorrow morning.

restocking the shoppe

I just restocked the shoppe! You'll find a large batch of pencil + cups...

...and paper + clips...

...and button + magnets and push + pins...

 

...all right over here.