FINALLY FINISHED: lacy days of summer top

Ah, there's nothing like tying up unfinished business. Crossing one more thing off the old Craft To-Do List feels mighty good!

I started crocheting this top, oh, two years ago. The pattern is from the July/August 2007 issue of Crochet Today, and was originally published with the option to crochet a whole dress or just the top (which can be worn alone as a crop top).

I always liked the idea of adding a fabric bodice to the crochet top, so that's what I did! I used this pretty Liberty of London print which I picked up at B&J Fabrics in the garment district here in NYC. Liberty fabrics are big in ready-made fashion this year, and it was a good choice for this top because the material is light and flowy enough to have the airy drape I was aiming for. (A heavier fabric might have been a bit stiff, creating poofiness. And poofiness is not my friend, especially around the abdomen area, if you know what I mean.)




I made one modification to the pattern: when working the band at the bottom, I crocheted it back and forth (instead of in the round), leaving a space under the arm where I made a button closure:



Why do this? If the band were worked in the round and the fabric stitched directly to the crochet portion, the sewing thread would likely break when the top was pulled over the head. Since sewing thread doesn't stretch the same way as yarn, the thread would just pop at the first sign of stretching. Then later on the thread would unravel and the shirt would fall off your body, most likely when you were off at a day-long event with lots of important people, and it would be a complete catastrophe. SO, the button closure gives more wiggle room for taking the top off and on, and it also creates a break in the sewing thread so that it won't be pulled taught and snap. Disaster averted!

Special thanks to my mom who helped me rescue this top from Unfinished Projects Land - she was sick of witnessing my procrastination on this particular item, so on a recent visit to her house she sewed up the fabric bodice for me, and all I had to do was hand stitch it to the crochet top while lounging on her back porch. (Mom - you're officially invited to my place for a month to help me finish everything else I have lying around!!)

egg timing

I am now officially crafting in complete and utter disregard to the calendar, and I don't care!

On that note, I've been hard at work on some more Ukranian Easter eggs, and I finally have photos to share. (Coming soon: an alpaca sweater I'm finishing up just in time for summer. Next up, probably some Thanksgiving decorations or Valentines or something!)


Ok, usually I follow patterns to make really traditional designs, like these eggs my mom and I did in recent years.



But this year I played around with some non-traditional designs of my own, like this crochet-inspired doily egg.


This egg was a result of teamwork: Anthony drew the tattoo-inspired ship, and I waxed it up.



I played around with some simple line designs, too.


And Anthony got super calendar-rebellious with this one!


And back to a little more tradition. Playing around with my own designs rather than following patterns definitely gave me an appreciation for the amount of planning and design work that goes into the more elaborate eggs. But, I like the idea of taking an ancient technique like this and using it to make modern, reinvented designs. I hope to play around with some more looks over the coming months, but we'll see where my fickle crafting ways lead me next!

my moment with martha

Something really exciting happened last week. Really, really exciting. Like, I-can-now-die-a-happy-woman exciting.



I got to be on the Martha Stewart Show!

A friend got a bunch of tickets to a taping of the show, and invited me to come along. It was a special crafts-themed episode, and everyone in the audience was asked to bring a craft they'd made.

Since it's Easter season, and since I know Martha has a thing for Easter eggs, I decided to bring a Ukranian egg I made a couple of years ago:




Before the taping began, the audience was corralled in a waiting area, and producers came around to look at our crafts. Everyone buzzed in their seats, waving their projects wildly in the air, hoping to be noticed. Next thing I knew, a producer came over to talk to me, asked to take my egg backstage, and a few minutes later I was being fitted with a microphone to appear on camera and show off my craft!

After hyperventilating, I dug around in my purse for lip gloss, texted my mom to tell her to turn on the TV (the show was LIVE, people!!), and took my seat up front.

Do not drop the egg, I told myself. Do not drop the egg. For the love of Martha, do not drop the egg.

And before long, the egg and I were safely on set with Miss Martha herself, Rosie O'Donnell, Martha's daughter Alexis, and her friend Jennifer Koppelman Hunt:


(I'm the blurry purple one on the left. Really, I swear it's me.)

The ladies asked me about my egg, how it was made, how long it took me, etc. Rosie was really into it and during the commercial break, Rosie and Alexis cornered me to talk eggs. I invited Rosie to come over to my place to learn the technique anytime. I'm still waiting for her to call.

If you'd like to watch a video of the segment, go to Martha's web site, and click on the "audience chat" segment in the video box at the right of the screen. (It's the box that says "The Crafts Show", and you have to click "next" to get to the "audience chat" segment.) Just don't blink or you'll miss me - I'm only on for about 50 seconds!


This is Martha cruising around on-set during a break.

Now I know that after all this, what you really want to know is, how can I make an egg like that myself?? Well, I'm working on a Ukrainian egg dyeing how-to, so check back soon for a fascinating step-by-step!

salt n peppa here

I have been woefully lacking a good salt and pepper dispensing system. I've had a lousy pepper mill forever which I hate, and I've been using salt straight from the supermarket container it comes in. For, like, years. So not fabulous.



Why would I ever do such a thing, when there are so many cute salt and pepper accoutrements available? I finally picked some winners this week: an aqua pepper mill from Anthropologie, and the cutest-ever salt cellar from Fish's Eddy.



I have a gigantic crush on this pair. I mean, a tiny little lamb to hold your fleur de sel? I can't stand it. I have to go cook something right now.



I also acquired a few other happy-making kitchen accessories recently: bowls, owl trinket box (and pepper mill) from Anthro, and perfect-sized tea cups (and salt cellar) from Fish's Eddy.

If you haven't heard of Fish's Eddy, it's only the most awesome dishware store in the world. It's all plates, glasses, mugs, and miscellaneous cute dining things -- a mixture of authentic vintage, vintage reproductions, and the store's own original designs. No trip to New York City would be complete without a visit to this fine establishment. (It's located, lucky me, just a couple blocks from my new office, and I am developing a serious lunchtime-retail-therapy issue with this place!)



Finally, this delightful little juicer guy joined my collection this week as well. My mom and I picked him up at an antique shop in Pennsylvania a few years back. He was stowed away in her china cabinet until I snagged him on a recent trip home, and smuggled him back in my suitcase. I love his adorably psychotic cross-eyed stare.

currently coveting: pepto pink?

I thought any interest I once had in pink walls went out when my parents finally let me repaint my all-pink childhood bedroom. Yet I am mysteriously smitten by these blushing beauties which have me totally thinking pink:

above images from the home of dave alhadeff via design*sponge

above images from Domino via sfgirlbybay

This is not an easy color to pull off with any sophistication, so I'm really admiring these spaces. Um, but I'm declaring a 30-day waiting period before I paint anything pink at my place...

quilt gallery

While I'm sharing pictures of past creations, I thought I'd also post some of the quilts I've made.

I started quilting a looooong time ago. My mom is a quilter, and I think I first started playing around with it when she was making a log cabin quilt for my little brother. My mom says she doesn't remember this, but I know I didn't make it up... when I was a wee crafty lass (I'm thinking I had to be about eight years old), my grandma gave me a book of upholstery samples. I cut out all the little fabric swatches in the book and sewed them together to make a doll quilt. I remember that I pieced together the little top, layered it with batting and a backing, and started machine quilting it in an X pattern (which was the same pattern my mom was using for the log cabin). I never finished the quilting on that project, but I can remember that little unfinished quilt stuffed in the back of my closet for a long time. It has since disappeared, but I sure wish I had finished it and still had it.

Then in high school I got back into quilting. I made a sunflower-themed quilt to take with me to college, and another more traditional sort-of Amish quilt that I didn't finish. (I think that project might still be stuffed into my old closet at my parents' house!)

Sadly there are no existing photos of these early creations, and that's probably for the best anyway. But here are some pictures of more modern quilts I have made in recent years.


made for the first baby of my childhood best friend


made for myself, and this is now the snuggly blanket we use on the couch every day



made for noa, the baby girl of dear friends



made for demonstration on the DIY Network's Uncommon Threads





made for sweet little baby Sophie... see the how-to here!

piece of cake

This weekend I was browsing through some photos, and realized it's high time I post about some of the cakes I've made!

I got into making fancy cakes a few years back - I always liked baking, then one day I decided to make a really special cake for a friend's birthday party. It was the first time I experimented with fondant and advanced decorating techniques, and the result was very wonky and crazy, but cute. Two other friends who were at that party liked it so much that they asked me if I'd make their wedding cake! I was like, you must be drunk, but sure I'll do it!

So this is what I made for them: my first wedding cake ever! I still can't believe my friends trusted me with this responsibility, but it was a great challenge and I really had fun with it. It was butter cake with passion fruit buttercream, covered in white fondant with little polka dots. I made the topper by covering styrofoam balls with fondant. A friend and I drove this cake (with the five tiers unstacked) from NYC to Pennsylvania in a heatwave. We loaded the cake boxes into his parents' minivan, covered them with dry ice, then covered the whole heap with a bunch of blankets. I was a nervous wreck that the cakes were going to overheat and fall apart, but they were cool as cucumbers when we arrived at the wedding site. I can't believe we pulled it off.



This was a little baby shower cake for a boy-to-be.



This cake is silly, but it's still one of my favorites. A giant chocolate D for my friend D. This one was chocolate cake with white filling, Hostess-cupcake style.



A girly birthday cake for a friend. I've never gotten into writing on my cakes, but I love adding an initial whenever possible.



A simple cake was requested for this wedding, which was on a boat. From what I hear, it survived the waves intact! (The cake that is, not the boat.)



For some rock n roll friends, a peppermint patty-inspired wedding cake: chocolate cake with mint chocolate ganache filling. This one was totally over the top - that's silver leaf applied on the fondant, with a beaded metal branch thingy I made on the middle tier.


That's me, the proud baker! It really is fun to show up at a party with a big crazy cake.