From the stoop sale duvet comes...

The queen sized linen and cotton duvet that I scored a couple of weekends ago is coming in very handy. So far I used some for the convertable backpack I finally finished:

Here is the inside:



By the way if you want to pre-order the pattern for this bag you can do so on the designer's site here. The flowered fabric is Japanese canvas weight cotton and the orange button is a vintage one from France that I received from Charlotte in Sally Shim's Vintage Button Swap pt. 2. The first swap I also had a European swap partner. Fun.

I also cut a scrap to do this embroidery which is still a work in progress.

When it's finished I'll either use it to make a mini/doll quilt or a pillow, along with some vintage hankies. We'll have to see how much more time I am able to spend on it. Do you notice that the flower I started is blooming with French knots? Oh la la.

One step closer

I had an impromptu trip today to Purl in Soho. I had taken Harlan to the village to visit Grandma and as we left I decided to make a detour to pick up some pierogi. Got to get back to my Ukranian roots.
As we walked out of the store I saw my baby's head slumped over. He never sleeps in the stroller. Never. My heart raced as I saw a golden opportunity to go shopping!!!!! We plowed down second ave. at record speed, dodging hordes of German tourists out on a freezing day (footnote: They are probably not all German but they may as well be). Over the piles of black snow and through the slush we zipped, stopping only to pet a baby border terrier pup. Into Purl we went, and BOOM! Harlan awoke. I knew my time was limited. I tired to remember the yardage for my upcoming pattern projects and ended up coming close, although I may need to go back if I don't cut conservatively. It was so awesome to see all the great designer fabrics in person that I've been drooling over online for months now. So, here's what we have:

I bought a patterned fabric for this dress after all. If I attempt to embroider it I'll never get it done in time for warm weather. I am using this blue ric rack for the trim, but I'm a bit short, so please let me know if any of you have some extra. Check out more "new vintage wardrobe" projects over on Bitter Betty's flickr group:

Here are two types of fabric I bought to make this blouse with. I like the green so much that I may go back for more and make Harlan a summer jon jon from it:

I also applied for a four month stint with nikki-shell's wardrobe refashion project. This is the the pledge for those of you who haven't seen it yet:

The Pledge

• I __________________ pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings! Signed__________________.

This experiment shouldn't be too much a problem for me since I'm not doing much clothing shopping P.B (post baby). If I can lose that last damn ten pounds I'll instantly have a whole new wardrobe, courtesy of my overflowing and unopened closet.

Eatin' + makin' is what I crave

Born on a mountain Raised in a cave Bikin' and F'in is all I crave.

Huh? Why would I have typed such vulgar nonsense you ask? Well, it's because when I was about ten my father bought a motorcycle and our neighbor whom we kept running into would say to my father, "I got the best present for you, you're going to love it!" When he finally brought the gift by it turned out to be a refrigerator magnet with that very poetic life-vision emblazoned on it. My father was appaled. I found it hilarious. What this episode has to do with my blog is simple: Eatin' and makin' is all I crave these days. Okay, I realize how that might sound to anyone as scatalogically inclined as I am, but I meant making stuff . Today I had my very first Jessica Day where Joe took Harlan out for an adventure and I got the chance to do whatever I please. This day will now occur once a month. This is my new year's resolution, along with monthly Joe Day and monthly Joe and Jessica Date night. Anyhow, I had originally made plans to go into Manhattan and hang out with a friend of mine, but I was not able to get in touch with her. Instead I relaxed and read my brand new premiere issue of Cook's Country- the new country-cousin version of the high-brow Cook's Illustrated.

Now don't get me wrong, I am still a big fan of Cook's Illustrated, the magazine where the editors have their very own test kitchen, where they try every method thinkable for different recipes and tell their readers what worked and what didn't. The end result is always a perfect description of how to cook/bake just about anything. I am also recently addicted to their T.V. show America's Test Kitchen. Without this cooking team I would be making dry chicken and gluey lemon squares amongst other atrocities. The Cook's Country quickly stole my heart with its wonderful late-fifties font and design. Even the recipes reminded me a bit of a lot of foods my grandmother loved to make, dishes like apricot Jello with clementimes in it (although my grandmother would probably omit the fresh clementimes). Check out this recipe for the Monte Cristo. Everyone in France eats them, why not me?

After deciding to try their chicken marsala recipe this week I got to working on my new Dreamweaver 8 tutorial. I have to say I am feeling a bit like a computer geek for loving this new web design program so much. I never thought I would love anything remotely related to programming, but learning about how to set CSS style sheets makes my heart soar. I can't wait to completely redesign my website. Bun Bun Babythreads is seriously a "D.I.Y" venture from top to bottom. When I was finished working I decided to look into my WIP drawer and get a crackin'. I started to embroider a pirate/sea theme quilt for Harlan when I was pregnant. At the rate I'm going I realize that the quilt will be a twin size instead of a crib size, but this is probably better since he will get more use out of it this way. Here are the squares I have so far. The designs are from Sublime Stitching and some vintage patterns that I have on hand.

I'm going to use some type of nautical fabric for every other square and for a border. I saw one I like over at superbuzzy, and some at Atelier Jade , but I can't commit quite yet.
After deciding on a few more designs I want to embroider I put the squares back in the drawer and pulled out this vintage stuffed animal pattern I've had laying around for a while:

I decided on making one of the small elephants. I got out some great stretch cord houndstooth fabric from reprodepot and decided to make this the primary fabric. I'm going to put some mustard wool felt on the back of his ears and use it for his tail. I am out of stuffing though, so a trip to Canal St. is a must this week. I wish there was a damn craft supply store in NYC. Where on earth do people go to get things like pellets and animal eyes around here? I have to get mine out in Riverhead when visiting my mother in Long Island. Oh well, enough complaining. How can I gripe when it was such a great day?

P.S. Did anyone on my block catch the pile of dogcrap with the G.W.B. flag stuck on top of it with a toothpick? Pretty rad.