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Monday, 28 January 2008

lavender cloth baby shoes

My friend Sariah is having a baby girl any time now - her due date is today! I was totally late in the game making a present for her, but luckily, I am getting FAST at making these shoes. I whipped these out last night in just an hour and a half. I think I'm in love with the color combo.


UPDATE: You can find the pattern for these baby shoes at Stardust Shoes. Be sure to post photos of your results at the cloth shoes flickr group!

Sunday, 27 January 2008

Ultra-immersive, long-form video games from the past or future

As our technology and understanding of nature improves, we are living longer, and many predict that this trend will continue to the point that humans will become nearly immortal. When confronted with the possibility of living for hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years, most people express several concerns: "Will I still be able to retire at age 65?", and "Won't that get boring after a while?"

Fortunately, technology is also improving it other areas (and not just more deadly weapons). Video games, for example, are getting quite sophisticated. As the graphics and other interfaces improve, video games become increasingly immersive and involved, and we begin to feel as though we are really inside the game. As this trend continues, will we get to the point that the games feel so real that we become completely immersed and forget about the outside reality?

So what will million-year old people do to manage their boredom? Perhaps they will play long, complicated, multi-player, fully-immersive video games. If your regular life lasted millions of years, occasionally spending a hundred years playing some fancy game might seem reasonable. Perhaps you would play-out your character's entire life span, from birth to death, in one "sitting". In order to really feel the experience and keep the game authentic, you would of course make it so that everyone playing would forget that it was just a game (though maybe some people would try to cheat).

The obvious question: Is that the future, or the past?

Once we eliminate the certainty of our perceived reality, then how can we justify our certainty of anything else? Accepting true reality, whatever it may be, requires letting go of everything specific.

dachshund sock dog

I made this silly dachshund sock dog for my little buddy Jack, who turned one year old today.

There isn't a pattern in Sock and Glove for this dog, but you can follow the basic rules of the zebra pattern with a couple of modifications (lengthen the torso, leave off the mane, etc.), and by the end, you'll have a cute little dachshund.



Happy birthday Jack!

Tuesday, 22 January 2008

burp cloth tutorial


I've had a few requests lately for my burp cloth pattern, so I decided to put together a little tutorial. These burp cloths are peanut-shaped to fit the contour of your shoulder and have a rag edge.

Materials needed (makes a set of 4 burp cloths):

1 total yard of 2 coordinating flannels (1/2 yard of each)
1/2 yard quilt batting (I prefer warm n' natural)
matching thread
template

 
 To print this template, right click on each image to save to your computer, and then print them as a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  You'll need to print two copies of the end piece and one copy of the middle, cut them out, and tape them together to form a full-sized template.  It will look like this:
 

The assembled template should measure about 19 inches long and 9 inches wide (the burp cloths will shrink in the wash if you don't pre-wash your flannel, which I never do).  The trick to getting a correctly sized template seems to be to right click on the template image, and save it to your computer.  Then, open it up as an image file and print as a full page image. 
 


The diagram above is not to scale. The dotted lines represent top-stitching.

1. For each burp cloth, cut out 2 pieces of flannel to the above shape, and 1 piece of batting.

2. Layer the flannel (wrong sides together) with the batting in the middle, like a sandwich

3. Pin around the edges


4. Top stitch around the edge (see the dotted line on the diagram) using about a 1/2 inch seam.

5. Top stitch through the center of the burp cloth (to secure the batting). To ensure a straight line, I fold the burp cloth in half and pin along the fold. The pins act as a guide so you have a nice straight line through the middle.

6. Time to clip the edges - fold back the two layers of flannel so just the batting is exposed. Trim the batting close to the seam.



7. Snip the fabric about every 1/4 inch around the outer edge of the burp cloth. Be careful not to cut through your seam.

8. You are just about done - wash your burp cloths 2-3 times, or until the edges fray nicely, and dry.

I like to make large batches of these to have on hand for baby showers. A set of 4 burp cloths make a great gift.

I hope this tutorial is useful to you! If you have any questions about it, please email me at homemadebyjill@gmail.com. Use the tutorial as much as you'd like, but please do not sell burp cloths made from this pattern. Thanks!

Thursday, 17 January 2008

crafting for a cause

I came across a crafty volunteer opportunity online with WEME Mainstream Nutrition and Health Center - a meals-on-wheels program serving approximately 500 frail homebound elderly on the upper west side of Manhattan. They are looking for volunteers to make valentines day cards that will be hand delivered to the seniors. Many of the seniors in their program are lonely and feel forgotten. Hopefully, receiving a valentine will let them know that someone cares and is thinking of them!

Step 1: Get out all your pink and red crafting supplies, make a huge mess and go crazy.

Step 2: Send your sweet homemade valentine over to WEME and brighten someone's day.

If you'd like to participate, send your handmade valentines to the address below. They would like to receive the valentines by February 5th.

WEME
ATTN:BETH
263 WEST 86th Street
New York, NY 10024

UPDATE: I contacted Beth at WEME, and she emailed me the following card suggestions

  • The cards should be approximately 4x6 inches, no envelope required
  • No heavy glue or glitter
  • Suggested message: "'Thinking of you' or 'Sending you Good Wishes,' etc. on Valentines Day"
  • Messages not suggested: anything including "V-Day" or "XX OO" (i.e. phrases the seniors may not be familiar with) or personal messages
  • Please sign the cards "From your Friends at WEME" - they would prefer no names

p.s. - fellow book clubbers: if any of you want to donate a valentine to the package I'm sending, please bring them to book club next Thursday!

Sunday, 13 January 2008

bird scherenschnitte

I made this bird scherenschnitte after church this afternoon. The design is borrowed from the very talented Cindy - she has an entire blog dedicated to scherenschnitte. She really does beautiful work. You can watch an instructional video at her site here.


The birds replaced a very generic and ugly print that has been hanging on our wall since we've been married. I've been wanting to replace it for a long time but was finally shamed into action by my friend Megan (thanks, Meg).

Tuesday, 8 January 2008

monkey business

My mom got me sock monkey socks for Christmas. Such a happy present! Attempt one brought us this little guy, who went to my husband. Jared often feels left out because I rarely craft anything for him, which is true - I just don't think he would want most of the stuff I make!

He likes the sock monkey though. As I was leaving for work yesterday morning, I caught him snuggled up to it asleep, which just about melted my heart.

It is no wonder why I love this guy.

Monday, 7 January 2008

polka dot baby shoes

These shoes are my favorite project of the moment. I couldn't let Megan have all the fun!


The best part about these shoes is how little fabric they take. I came across a bag of flannel scraps leftover from burp cloths, and used recycled denim for the soles. An hour and a half later, I had swapped my scraps for a pair of shoes. I love it.

Building a great team

Unless you happen to be really great at everything, it's very important to build a well matched team of people who have complimentary skills and can work well together. Unfortunately, that's much easier said than done, and most startups really struggle to find the right people. That's why I'm excited to announce another great addition to the FriendFeed team. Check out my post on the FriendFeed blog to understand why this is a big announcement.

Sunday, 6 January 2008

sewing baby shoes

Last night I taught Meg how to make cloth baby shoes (using the pattern again from Stardust Shoes).


As you can see, she is already a pro. They turned out so cute!! What a lucky baby girl to be on the receiving end of these.

Thursday, 3 January 2008

Should Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail block Facebook?

Apparently Facebook will ban you (or at least Robert Scoble) if you attempt to extract your friend's email addresses from the service.

Automated access is a difficult issue for any web service, so I won't argue with their decision -- it's their service and they own you.

However, when I signed up for Facebook I gave them my Gmail address and password, using their find friends feature:


It was very helpful -- I didn't think that I would know anyone on Facebook, but it turns out that I knew hundreds of people.

However, Gmail's Terms of Use seems to prohibit this:
You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Service.

Facebook can also import contacts from Yahoo and Hotmail. Yahoo TOS says:
You agree not to access the Service by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Yahoo! for use in accessing the Service.

And Hotmail TOS says:
In using the service, you may not:
...
Use any automated process or service to access and/or use the service (such as a BOT, a spider, periodic caching of information stored by Microsoft, or "meta-searching")

So the question is, should Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail block Facebook (or close the accounts of anyone who uses Facebook's "friend finder") for violating their Terms of Use?

Tuesday, 1 January 2008

crafting for Christmas: my take on Scherenschnitte

Scherenschnitte, which means "scissor cuts" in German, is the art of cutting continuous paper designs. I first read about it on a blog that I love called The New Awesome. I do not know these girls in SF, but they sure seem like fun.

Then I saw this guy (girl?) Koyla's work on Etsy - he cuts city landscapes into that countries currency. It is amazing.

I also saw a company who sells box cards with city landscapes - NYC, Paris, London - but I can't find the link! They were beautiful though (p.s. I may have copied your empire state building). If I find the link again, I'll be sure to post it.

Anyway, my best friend moved to the city this summer. While her home will always be St. Louis, I hope that she feels at home here too. Feeling totally inspired by the projects above, I decided to make her two pictures - one of St. Louis and one of New York City.

I put them in shadowbox frames and separated the layers with foam dots (the kind you use for scrapbooking) to give them a bit of depth.


They were impossible to photograph - too much glare with the flash, but too dark without it. So these aren't great, but they give you an idea.

Anyway, they were really fun to make, and I think I'll do it again. I'd love to have a large piece of cut-out artwork for my apartment. I love you Meg! You are one of the few people in the world I would lose all feeling in the tip of my finger for (note to self: next time, don't press so hard on the xacto knife!).

crafting for Christmas: 2008 wall calendars

I made several 2008 wall calendars using a template you can purchase from A Little Hut. The template is such a bargin (only $3.99!!!) and more than worth the small price tag. I love this project - you can use fabric or paper for the backgrounds behind each month, and the possibilities are just endless.







Now I just need to whip one up for my own desk!

sewing class II: a Christmas stocking

I had the pleasure of taking another sewing class after work a few weeks ago. This time we made a black velvet Christmas stocking with a pretty gold cuff.


For the cuff, we sewed ordinary black ribbon onto gold fabric using a triple zig-zag stitch. It was very easy to do and turned out quite pretty!


This stocking went to my sister, but I hope to make a few for myself next year.

crafting for Christmas: hostess aprons

I made a bunch of hostess aprons for some of my favorite ladies:


a cardinal Christmas apron for my sister-in-law, Michelle


a snowflakes and stars apron for Jaime

a paisley apron for Stephanie

and a black and white toile apron for Mitzi
Mitz was even kind enough to model hers for your viewing pleasure. Notice how she can effortlessly pull off evening wear with a touch of domesticity - lovely.

ornament swap - last post

Last post on the ornament swap - I received so many beautiful ornaments and just wanted to share them with you all. Thanks to everyone in group 52!!!

A winter scene from Krystal in Minnesota
www.kayjay1.etsy.com


a pretty pottery ornament from Ricky in California (Jared claimed this one as his)
www.pastelpoetry.com


a cookie cutter tree from Jennifer in Utah


colorful candy canes from Amanda in Pennsylvania


a Christmas dress ornament from Patti in Tennessee
www.audreyblissful.etsy.com


a flirty gold skirt ornament from Susan in Oregon
www.westcoastcrafty.com


a button wreath from Courtney in Vermont


and an angel from Bridgit in Kentucky
www.stuffandnonsense66.blogspot.com


Thanks again everybody!

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