Feature Friday! Tanya Seidman!

Hey guys! It’s Friday again! I have Tanya over today! I met her on Facebook (my playground these days, why don’t you come over and say hello?)

Anyway, Tanya is loads of fun and she does custom knitting! So if you want a piece done, you may want to give her a shout.

I better let her explain what she does.

Tanya Seidman

Tanya Seidman! Talented knitter and really cute too!

I’m a stay at home mother to our 11-1/2 year old twins, Ariel and Madeleine and a mom to a host of nine big and small pets. For 23 years, I have been married to Jonathan Seidman. That’s a long time to be married to me! We’ve been together for 26 years.

I love these mittens! LOVE THEM!!!!!

Seven years ago, a friend inspired me to knit. She would knit up these lovely ponchos for her daughter and I wanted the same for our daughters. Rather than asking my friend to knit up the garments, I wanted to learn how to knit and make them for myself. I’m a very visual and determined person, so I went out and I bought a $5 instructional DVD video about knitting. At that time, there were local yarn shops offering classes, but I did not want to throw away $200. I’m a quick learner and I knew I could do it in an afternoon. Seven years later I’m knitting just about anything. I love to add fabric to my pieces or tear apart a pattern and add something unusual to the knitted pieces. I love one of a kind garments.

This must be *the* most fluffy picture ever! LOVE THE FLUFF!

What inspires me the most is color, art and other talented knitters. I own a crazy collection of over 500 pairs of knitting needles. All from glow in the dark to glass needles with hologram skulls on the ends. When you visit my home the first thing you might notice is my collection. They are in decorative, pretty jars sitting on the window sill or on tables. I do not try to hide them or my yarn when someone visits. I see it as… you’re visiting me and not my home.

Oh-la-la! *wiggles eyebrows*

If you are interested in any garment pieces (big or small) or knitted toys, you may contact me via email at tanyaseidman{at}gmail{dot}com or drop me a message through Facebook. All knitted pieces are custom made to order. Also, check out my Etsy shop, Ting Ting and Owl. It’s a bit on the bare side because it is new. If you see a piece that you like or if you have something else in mind, do not hesitate to message me. Each piece is always knitted with care and in a smoke free home.

There you have it! Go send her an email! I am sure it will make her happy! Or say hi to her on FB… It’s nice to make new friends, specially such talented ones!I have a few more pictures for you too, here in a slide show! Check out what else she does… and do you recognise the owl hat? hahahha…. yep! She can make you one of those too!

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If you are an artists, or know of an artist you think deserves to be featured, please do let me know with an email, or a comment here. (You can also send me a message on FB if you like, or that is easier for you)

My featured artists will go on to be featured on three more blogs this month. First on  Louise’s blog, then on  Karen’s blog, and then on the Indie Mosaic blog! So you get maximum exposure! Since we all do different things you will reach different readers on each of our blogs and you really get your name out there! It’s really great. And best of all: It’s free! If you enjoyed reading this and want to be featured yourself, or know of someone that you think should be featured, please let me know through an email, or a comment on this post, or send me a message on FB.

Oh! LOOK! This almost nearly WORKED!

I am super happy to announce: I sewed my very first shirt ever on a sewing machine last night!!!! WOOOT WOOOT!

And it totally almost worked out! It’s amazing! I used a Simplicity “New Look” pattern I got somewhere. Thinking a friend brought it to me from a free pile or a yard sale. It wasn’t totally complete, the instructions were gone, but the pattern bits were all still there and it proclaimed it would be EASY!  (the pattern is labelled: BIN 33 6569 just in case you wanted to know)

“Well”, I thought, “I can just wing the rest!” and I did. I looked at the picture and went for it. First time using bias tape around the edges, first time using knit jersey, first time using a paper pattern for something actually sewn (have used paper patterns for knitted stuff before). I knew how to cut the pieces out and how to use the cut arrows to match the pieces up, but the “gathering” in the front there was nowhere explained. I winged it… I am not sure if I am too crazy about the ruffled part at all… I might leave it off the next one and see how I like that.

My daughter made the pictures, hence the “diagonals” This is again before the bias tape around the arms.

I have to admit: I was sweating it a bit. But I got this knit Jersey fabric for 50% off and another 10% off, because it had a flaw. So for a whopping $3.25 I got 1 1/3 yards of fabric on Sunday. I got it with the express thought of ruining it. I learned how  to spin the same way! I got a pound of the cheapest roving I could find and went for it. Fully intending to ruin every last ounce of it! It worked out in the end! I didn’t ruin the whole pound!

Same here with this shirt! It might not be perfect, but I learned a lot doing it and making these mistakes and I had fun along the way! My husband was super proud of me and said he would take me out in that shirt. Aawwww, he loves me!.. I wouldn’t go out in it though… since the shirt sort of still SUCKS a bit much. Like I said: it was a practice piece!

What I have learned:

• Do not be scared! Just go for it! Remember: you can always start over, just like in knitting.
• Do not start with the bias tape in the front centre of the decollete! Start some place less obvious!
• Do not try to hurry knit jersey when sewing on the bias tape! It will “wave” and the jersey might not get caught in the tape and it will leave a hole.
• Go slow! Trying stuff on along the way as I did today makes sense and helps to wrap my mind around all the seams.
• I am not as hopeless a cause on the sewing machine as I thought!
• I have THE most wonderful and supportive family ever! (I knew that, but they reinforced my knowledge again today)

This is before I put the bias tape around the arm holes.The pink shirt on top is the one I sewed.

I am so psyched by the obvious almost success, that I am planning on saving up some money and buying some more knit jersey. This time “the good stuff”. It’s still 50% off, but instead of $5 it’s $12 a yard and will make a nicer shirt and not quite so see-through either! Then I will try again!

With bias tape around the arms this time!

My family loves me lots. They are so super supportive, you would not believe it! My daughter saw it and said: Could you make me one like that? Only not in pink? What a compliment from a 16 year old!!!! My husband said: Oh now that you know how to sew shirts, could you make me this one? After you knit those “toe” socks though…” Yep! He wants me to make him a shirt. He has this underarmor shirt he loves to death, but it’s falling apart. I know how to make patterns from existing stuff, so I *think* I might be able to make him one. After I get a bit more practice in!
I am VERY proud of myself, for just jumping off the deep end finally! I have been dreading it and telling myself I can’t sew clothes for so many years! How silly of me! Now I will not only scour the thriftstores for yarn, but for more sheets to make clothes!

I WILL HAVE A HANDMADE WARDROBE ONE DAY!

Gunnister Man Pouch Done :)

It’s done! Not “quite” like the original, but I like to think that the original Designer of the pouch would have used what he/she had to finish it, like I did.

I used the yak yarn for the top and when it ran out I went on with the camel. The green is a bit of superwash merino and the medium brown is plain wool. I know the fibres are not really traditional either, but it’s all hand spun and plied on a spindle. I rather think it turned out cute!
Hope Christiane likes it as well! Off to spin more yarn for one of these little pouches for me! I think it would be SUCH a cute project pouch for a sock project, no?

The designer of the pattern, Chris Laning,  (pattern chart for free here) is really, really sweet! I emailed her to find out how many yards this pouch needs, but she did not know, neither do I btw, because I forgot to measure! Sorry… I will measure the nest one! I promise! Go ahead and let her know if you are making one of those! Also: Make one of those! They are such fun to knit and so fast done and a great way to use up little bits of handspun yarn and make great little presents, or gift bags!

Cute and Quick fix

I love my reusable shopping bags! My handmade ones specially, since I know they are good quality fabric and well sewn. I know they can get washed and dried and will come out just fine. I wash the bags after every use, so they have to withstand quite a bit. I also got one really nice canvas bag from the place I volunteer at. I washed it once and the seam came undone.

Now, I must have gotten a “Monday Piece” since others had the bags for years and nothing happened to them. Alas, mine broke and I was thoroughly vexed by it, since I LOVED that bag! It was canvas and sturdy and the handles were just the right length and it was big and I use it every Monday when I go volunteering to schlep all my stuff in…

So I had to fix it. Well sewing it with the machine was no problem. I had to “darn” it, since the weave came unravelled a bit.

aawwww my bag!

So what I usually do is: select a big zig zag stitch and strong thread and whoosh, it was done. Sturdy and won’t come undone EVAH! But really it does not look so pretty now, does it?

Humming and hawing and there was the idea! Take a bit of felt, cut it into a pleasing shape and PRESTO! I cut a few hearts (cut from felted sweaters) and sewed them over the rip and just a plain rectangle on the inside. Et voici le produit fin:

Cute, huh?

Pretty bag! I don’t have to be embarrassed to be seen with this little cutie! I had another bag I needed to fix, so I made a few leaves out of green felt.
I made a few extra felt hearts! If you need some, go to my shop and grab them while they are there! Now that I am done sewing mine on, I am thinking I could have embroidered on them first. I think that would have been so cute! But as it is, I will leave them and use some embroidered ones some place else! There will be plenty of uses for these cute little guys!

The green ones.

The white ones.

The turquoise ones.

The blue one.

Sunday Puzzle! :)

I LOVE MY DOG!!!!!

Feature Friday! VANESSA UTTARO from THE BIG CITY BUMPKIN!

Hey guys! It’s Friday yet again! YAYYYY!

Today I want to introduce you to a very sweet lady from Chicago! Vanessa Uttaro and her etsy shop The big city Bumpkin!
She makes the cutest map necklaces ever!!! (I have one! Yes! I really do, with the part of the map of Chicago, that has Wrigley Field on it! GO CUBS!)

But here is Vanessa in her own words:

Anyone who creates or crafts knows what it means to get the itch — you’ve been idle or stagnant for too long, and you don’t just WANT to create something, you NEED to create something, anything!  As a seasonal employee at Wrigley Field, I have long off-season to do exactly that, but I had reached a point in my creative journey that felt like a dead-end.  I didn’t know what to make, any more, I just knew that I had to do something.

One laundry night, as I was sifting through our apartment buildings “giveaway table” (where tenants leave things they can’t use any more for other tenants to take), I found this neat laminated map of Chicago.  It got me thinking about all of the different neighbourhoods in the city, and how people love to represent where they’re from, and I had a “Wouldn’t it be neat…?” moment.  I thought it would be so cool to wear your neighbourhood on a necklace, but this was an all new arena for me — I had never really made jewelry before!  I went to a craft store the next morning to see what I could find, and picked up a few bezels and some epoxy resin, and got to work.  The first few pendants were rough  – cool, but rough — and that particular craft store was going to make me go bankrupt if I kept buying my supplies there, so I ran to Etsy.com.  I found a fellow crafter who sold supplies, and took the leap of faith and ordered 25 pendant frames.  Believe me, it was a leap, because I had about $30 to my name at the time!

I couldn’t believe how quickly these pendants took off!  People all over the city, and even in other cities, loved them, and started requesting custom pieces.  After one big order of custom key-chains for a customer in Southern Illinois, I was able to start investing my profits back into the “business”, and building up a stock of different maps and styles of pendants.

I’ve only been at it for about two months, but the feedback has been fantastic!  I started a Facebook fan page (facebook.com/thebigcitybumpkin), where I met the lovely host of this blog.  :)  I’m planning on doing a big craft show in Chicago this Autumn.  My boyfriend even got in on the fun, and we’ve started making Official Game Used Major League Baseball pendants, with balls hit out of Wrigley Field that he catches on the street!  You can find my pendants at thebigcitybumpkin.etsy.com, and in auctions on tophatter.com.  Oh, and I’m on Twitter @vuttaro, and I blog at thebigcitybumpkin.blogspot.com  Phew!

I’m back at work now, so most of my time making the pendants is on the weekends, but it’s so great to see the feedback I’m getting, and I can’t wait to see how this project will grow over the next year!

Review: The Fox

The Fox by Arlene Radasky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What have we here? This book has two stories intertwined. The first one is Jahna’s story. A Celtic Pict woman, living in 80AD. It describes her life, her love and her death.
The second story is that of Aine, a 20th century Archaeologist, digging in Scotland and getting over a divorce and death in her family.

The two stories intertwine because of Jahna’s awake dreams, where she travels in her mind and shows Aine impressions of her life/ I will not go any deeper into the hows and whys of this. Read the book!

The research is SUPERB! The writing is captivating. The characters are well developed. I could hardly put the book down at times.
The flow between the ancient time period and the modern time is very well done. Sometimes these things can get a bit disjointed, but Mrs. Radasky is pulling it off so nicely. It all makes such sense.

The story captures your heart and you feel for the characters plight. You feel their happiness, their pain, the fear. It takes you on an adventure, like a good book should.
I had to take a break on a few occasions, since the story was so emotional, it made me cry. I skipped the “taking part” all together. I could not bring myself to read it.

I did find the modern day heroin, Aine a bit on the whiny side. It was a bit off putting, but nothing to really detract from the overall magic of the book.

Although the historical details are wonderfully researched in this book, it is still fiction! I have gotten sick and tired of people citing “The Tudors” on HBO, or “The other Boleyn girl” as historical facts!!!!

I would definitely recommend this book to people that like reading historical fiction. If you just want to read a romance, this might not be the right book for you, since the historical details might be a bit much for you and you might loose interest. Like I said, it really goes into things. Mrs. Radasky describes not only the ancient landscape beautifully, but the daily life, chores, practices and rituals of the ancient people. If you are not into that sort of thing, it will be boring.

If you are like me, then you will LOVE this book!
As of today, 4/19/12, the book is still available for free on Barns and Noble’s website as an e-book!

View all my reviews

Home made shampoo

I made shampoo yesterday and as promised on my FB page, here is the recipe to share with those that were interested!  : )

It takes all of 15 minutes and time to cool down… that is all.

You need:

• 8-10 soap nuts (If you rather like lather, then use 1/4 cup castille soap instead of the soap nuts, it won’t be as much lather as store bought shampoo, but more then the soap nuts. I don’t use it, I’m good with the nuts)
• 2-3 bags of chamomile tea (or about a tablespoon, if you use loose tea like me)
• 1 tablespoon dried lavender (you can use any kind of herb you like the scent of here.. like rosemary for example, or basil… just imagine! You hair could smell like basil! YAYY)
• 6 cups water
• cleaned out shampoo bottle, or any other container with a tight fitting lid

Optional ingredients:

• Juice of one fresh squeezed lemon (The lemon can be drying, but if you have greasy hair, it will take care of the grease nicely)
• 1/2 tsp grape seed oil (This is great if you have rather dry hair to start out with!
• 1 tablespoon honey helps with frizz
• a few drops of essential oil of choice (to make it smell just the way you want it to!)

How to:

Put all ingredients into a pot and let boil for 15 minutes. You may want to stay there, since it tends to foam up and boil over like milk, or pasta water would. Just stay there and watch it and when you see it come up, just blow gently on it and the foam will go back down.

When it is cooled down, strain the solids out of the liquid. Pour the liquid into an empty shampoo bottle, or any other container with a lid and use as you would shampoo. (you may want to pour it directly on your head, since it will be a bit more liquid-y then regular shampoo. I am experimenting at the moment with pectin…but I can’t make any promises just yet if it works out or now. I will let you know!

Notes:

This shampoo will NOT foam up! You will have to get used to that! You also need less then with bought shampoo! This shampoo makes hair incredibly soft and it smells amazing!  Please be careful as it can irritate the eyes when the liquid gets in them. Just like store bought shampoo, or soap does. Just rinse well for a few minutes.

Your hair will have to get used to it as well. Give it a few washes. (it can take anywhere form one week to two months for hair to get used to no shampoo. It depends on the person really)

If your hair dries out more then it did before, use less of the shampoo next time you wash your hair, if it is still a bit greasy, then use a bit more, or leave it in a bit longer. Make sure you wash it out well!

This is so much better for your skin and for your hair then the chemical-filled bought shampoos. It does have a best by date though. Try and use it up within two weeks…If you think you might not be able to use it all in that short amount of time, let me tell you: it can double as a body wash as well. That ought to speed the usage! You could can it. That might prolong it too, but still not indefinitely. Honestly I have never done it, so I can’t say anything to how well canning the shampoo works….

You can follow this shampoo with a vinegar rinse if you like. Just mix apple cider vinegar with warm water and pour over your wet hair. massage in a bit and then wash out.

A word about soap nuts:
I use soap nuts for my laundry as well. I love them! They are biodegradable, make the laundry clean and smell fresh and leave no residue! Try them sometime if you haven’t already!

There are tons of other recipes out there for soap nut liquid and it’s use, have some fun and try them out! Find what works for you!

See the soap nuts? Our local Co-op has them here (maybe yours does too?), but there are tons of online places that sell them! Just do a search!

Oh and here is a picture of my hair, so you can see what it looks like : )

It’s actually nice and shiny (like a healthy dogs coat hahahaha) you can’t see it here how shiny it is…I have to make a better picture, but it’s too dark now.

My hair bleaches out a lot in the sun, so I will be super blond in summer again. (I’m a natural blond, but in winter, my hair gets dark.. it’s always been this weird…)

P.S. I know today was supposed to be a yoyo-update, but I haven’t done ANYTHING to it since last time… *sheepish grin* hence a recipe instead of an update. Hope that was ok

My Grape nut recipe

I made my own grape nuts. Haven’t done it in a while. Sad really, since we love the home made kind…Ours is sort of an in-between of grape nuts and Granola really….I love to fiddle with recipes, so by all means: take this one as a guide and fiddle with it to your hearts content! Change things, try what fits your family’s taste-buds best!

I thought I share this recipe with all of you, since it is super easy to make, super fast and SUPER YUMMY!!!

You need:

• 3 cups of flour (whole wheat if you have it. I sometimes use just unbleached, if I run out of whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup of organic hemp fibre (you can totally substitute another half cup of flour for this. I used hemp fibre for the first time today in our grape nuts and it turned out so yummy, I will use it again! I have tried hemp fibre by itself and it was nasty! But it’s good for you, so here is a use for it)
• 1 cup of oatmeal
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 cups milk (try almond milk, or rice milk, or buttermilk for variety)
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp flavouring (whatever you prefer. Vanilla, maple syrup….Pick what floats your boat)
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 2 jelly roll pans

What you do:

Mix all ingredients together until well blended, spread them on a greased jelly roll pan and bake for 15 minutes. The entire dough will fit on one jelly roll pan! You need the second one later!

Take the pan out of the oven and let cool a bit. Cut the “cake” into pieces and crumble them in your food processor. (try not to eat it all at this point! You do want some for the cereal! lol) Make sure you do not process them too long!!! Just until they are nice and crumbly. Then put them back on the pan in a single layer (you will need a second baking sheet for this) and put them back in the oven at 300 degrees for one hour, stirring them every 15 minutes, or so. After the hour is up, turn the oven off and leave the grape nuts in the oven over night. You can enjoy the cereal the next day. I put mine in an airtight glass container. It doesn’t last long in our house, so please don’t ask me how long it will take for it to go bad. We haven’t had a batch go bad yet….   (I would say maybe ten days,  two weeks?)

Sunday Puzzle

This will be a bit harder here!Since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo and my dear, sweet husband is hispanic, I give you a fantastic parade image! (NOT MY PICTURE THOUGH… sorry) This time with more pieces! ;D Just for you, Kathy!

Image credits: http://chicagofree.info/2009/05/02/free-cinco-de-mayo-festival/