Pattern Organization

When I was shopping with my Mom at Alewives I pulled out my little pattern book to reference. She commented on it and said what a good idea it was so I figured I'd share the idea here too in hopes that it could help someone out.

I find that when I used to go to fabric stores I would either find patterns on sale that I liked and buy them, or I find fabric that I liked and buy it. The two things don't usually happen at the same time. This resulted in me having patterns I never used, and fabric that I bought 1-2 yards of because I thought it was pretty, and never used. Not anymore. At the beginning of the year I vowed to not buy fabric unless I had a clear plan and pattern to use it for. (I've only made one slip up thus far). To remedy this I made a cheat sheet of my patterns.

In Goggle Docs I created a table 2X2 size and wrote the pattern name at the top, both designer and pattern number. Then in the table I added either a picture that I liked of the pattern, most found on pinterest, or a copy of the sketch from the back of the pattern. The sketches are easy to find if you just google image search the pattern number. Then I used my measurements to figure out how many yards of fabric I would need for each pattern, wrote that into the document, wrote the notions I would need, and the recommended types of fabric for each pattern. I printed the document and pasted each pattern write up in a little book that I carry in my purse. Speaking of purses, I also have a few write ups about the purse patterns I have, just in case I find some awesome fabric I want to use to make a Bonsai Bag, even though I wasn't planning on making one (true story, this actually happened to me.)

I did all this before I got a smart phone, which makes looking up your patterns a lot easier, but you still have to remember what patterns you have at home. I've also e-mailed my smart/tech-savvy friend about creating an app like this little book, but I think he said there is already something like that, or he thinks I am crazy so he ignored me. I'm not sure, both are very real possibilities.

This system works well for me. I have added the two links to my google docs of all the patterns so you can get a better look and copy/modify the documents as you see fit, if you'd like.

Do you like how I write this posts like 10,000 people who sew read this blog, when really most of my readers are my family and friends who don't sew at all, some of whom I force to read my blog (Hi Charlie!) My little book also contains random musing on life, grocery lists from 2007, a King of spades I found on the ground in Charleston, and this sketch of my dorm room layout circa 2005. Good times.

I hope this helps at least one person in blogland.

Lauren!

P.S. Happy Anniversary Dad and Marylou!

P.P.S. Happy Almost 4th of July, and Engage-aversary to Charlie and I.

Cardboard Christmas Villages

Over the holiday weekend I knew my two cousins would be around, and I decided that it would be fun to do a craft together. Sure beats Black Friday shopping if you ask me. I e-mailed my family members a week or two in advance and requested they save and bring cardboard, cereal box weight, to be used for the crafting. I got inspired by many things; first was Dana's Ghost Town, as well as a dozen or so gingerbread houses on Pinterest, and this Martha Stewart idea.  Here is what we came up with:

Each row of houses is one cereal box unfolded. I drew a rough idea of the house outlines on the cardboard then cut them out before hand. For one I cut the windows out before we started and for the other three I waited. Waiting means you have to cut through a few layers of cardboard and paper. Cutting the windows and doors first meant the houses were a bit more flimsy to work with. I also used another cereal box to make trees to go behind the houses. 

We all went to the movies then came home and started working. Rich was nice enough to let us all work on the floor in the living room next to a roaring fire. He set out a huge piece of cardboard so we would paint, glue and glitter to our hearts content. 

 The houses are painted or were made with scrapbook paper. We decorated each house with paper, paint, glitter paint and or course lots of glitter and snow paint. Then we hot glued the cardboard to a strip of plywood to make them stand upright. I love how they turned out. In the day time they are pretty to look and notice to details. At night, with some electric tea lights or a string of white lights behind them, they are a great silhouette.

This turned out to be a really fun project. Charlie came home from a visit with his friends and said "Wow that turned out way better than I thought it would." He's always underestimating my crafting skillz. The project kept my 10 year old cousin, my aunt, and myself busy and for at least 4 hours if not more. It also kept the rest of the family entertained with watching us. The only trouble was that my back hurt from sitting on the floor for 4+ hours and I still have glitter in my hair from 3 days ago. 

All and all it was a great time. I love sharing my love of crafts with others. We all inspired each other and shared ideas. It was a great time.

Lauren 

P.S. I am officially paying $2.99 a month to continue blogging and uploading pictures. Hope you enjoy these posts people! If I post 4 times that's 74 cents, talk about motivation to blog! 

P.P.S. I spelled "skillz" incorrectly on purpose Dad. I was feeling like a gangsta. 

10 Things

Here is a short list of things I've been thinking about and wondering:

1. Who dog sits for Will and Kate's dog when they go on vacation? Obviously this is the most pressing concern I've had all week. I'd love that job.

2. Why can't we American's watch Downton Abbey like the British? And by that I mean, why can't  watch it right this very instant? Moving to London to dog sit and watch Downton is becoming more and more appealing. I am literally looking forward to the wedding of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley more than my I looked forward to my own wedding.

3. Once Downton does come out, where oh where will I watch it? As I've mentioned before I don't have a TV, cable, friends, or any other necessary items needed to watch the show. I think it would get suspicious if I called out sick every Monday from January until the end of the season because I was at my Dad's house watching the show and couldn't make it back home in time for work on Monday.

4.  You can just watch the trailer multiple times, just as I have. I just hope it's online at PBS.org. I will actually pledge money if they play it online.

5. Picture day at the middle school is on Tuesday. Then in a few weeks there is picture day at the elementary school. If history repeats itself I'll get at least 24 wallet sized photos of myself, and if I plan it correctly I might even get two sets, one Middle and one Elementary set. Get ready for that explosion of Lauren in your Christmas card family members!

6. Speaking of cards. I realized the other day that I have saved literally every card anyone has sent to me in the last 2.4 years. I read all of them one night and cried for at least an hour. For some reason all of the cards I got when my grandfather passed away were right next to the one from my friend telling me she couldn't come to our wedding. I don't know why I felt it was necessary to re-live that, but then I just packed them all up to read again in another 2 years with two more years worth of cards on top I'm sure.

7. I really want to get my hair cut. It's long and heavy and resides mostly in a pony tail right now. I need some style. I always put more effort into my hair after it has been cut. I live right above a hair dresser but whenever I go in there and say "Cut my hair right this second" they ask if I have an appointment and tell me to come back in 2 days. Maybe they don't understand, when the urge to cut my hair comes on I cannot make an appointment, I must get it cut then! Usually I just come back upstairs, think about making an appointment and get distracted.

8. Have you seen "The Mindy Project"? It was pretty funny. I liked it, which means it's awesome. Unless you ask my dad, but he doesn't like Downton, and prefers to watch Tosh.O, so I guess you can figure out that his taste level is dismal. Anyways, the pilot was funny, let's hope it continues.

9. Speaking of awesome things to watch. I read in The Week that "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" got 4 out of 4 stars. I have been excited about this moving coming out since I heard about it in January. Much to my dismay however, it is not playing in New Hampshire. WTHeck? I'd have to drive to Cambridge, MA to see it, which is the closest theater playing it. NEWS: A more through google search revealed that the movie has been released as of September 28th, and will be "everywhere" October 5th. I think the term "everywhere" is used lightly here, considering I'll still have to drive 25+ minutes to see it.

10. I feel dumb saying this but for at least 2 weeks I thought my camera was broken because it wouldn't focus on anything. I finally decided to take it to a camera shop and pay to get it fixed. I had tried different lens' and nothing worked so I figured it must have been something with the camera body, probably due to my dropping it a few times, and I also figured it would cost me a bagilion dollars to fix. I walked into the camera store and a very nice man let me explain my issue with the most dumbed down photography terms ever. He didn't even look at me like I was an idiot. Then he pressed 4 buttons and fixed it. What a relief. I've made two decisions based on this. First, Learn to use my camera, and learn the correct terms for using camera. Second, keep my camera in the case, protected, out of harms way, off of tall things it could fall off of, etc. Same goes for my new computer. If theres anything I hate it's when I break something because I'm an irresponsible 26 year old twerp.

Enough rambling for tonight.

Lauren

Inspiration/ Things I Want To Make

This post is mostly for my own benefit, because I find ideas online and then forget what they are or save a picture and then have no way of knowing who to give credit to for the idea. But if you like sewing and crafting and anything else I find a post here all the power to ya.

- Hand embroidered dish towels using any of the free patterns found here

-More aprons like these ones that I found online at the Flickr page called Tie One On. They are all amazing.

-Make a cool purse like the one from the Sew-n-Tell made by Vintage Fern.

-Reusable sandwich bags/just regular bags for my lunch stuff, since I don't eat sandwiches very often, and when I do they are mostly Fluff, and I like the environment, but not enough to scrub Fluff remains off of a reusable sandwich wrap. (Sorry Mother Earth.)

-An advent calendar. Like the one I saw in this book, but it was too expensive to buy, now I will just have to make up the pattern myself, because who am I kidding, was I really going to follow the pattern anyways?

-A Christmas Wall hanging from all those fat quarters I bought on a whim in North Carolina and now have no idea what to make.

-A cosmetics case from cool fabric, like the kind for making outdoor table cloths, from my Amy Butler pattern.

-Once long long ago I made soap from a kit, it was so fun, I want to do it again. Maybe I could convince my Mum to help me do it at her house. Mumma, will you make soap with me? I want it to smell like lavender or lemons.

Okay now I am getting carried away searching the web for the perfect soap recipes and dreaming about making all the Christmas presents I give out this year. I've been carried away by the infamous Goggle searching monster and Charles will be home from work any second and I have done nothing since I got out of class. (It's Sunday, I know, don't ask.)

Hope you enjoy my crazy ideas

Lauren!