Fois Bois Book Case - the eternal diy project

Whew. This project. I thought it was going to take a Saturday afternoon - and it ended up taking two weeks. Whoops. 

I started with a basic bookcase that my dad made when I was about a year old. I took it with me to college and painted it yellow, which does not fit in with my current decorating scheme.

It all began with stripping the yellow paint.

After spending a million hours scraping old paint off while crying and sweating, it was ready for the new coat of paint. I painted the whole thing a basic light brown. I believe it is called "Hazelnut."

After the Hazelnut was all dry, I drew a basic fois bois pattern on a piece of contact paper and then started cutting. I didn't bother using any "negative" space in my drawing - I just spaced the contact paper out on the bookcase. This made for a nice stencil.

Then I painted two coats of dark brown paint, and topped the whole thing with a matte sealer. It probably would have been faster to use spray paint - but it is ILLEGAL in Chicago. Lame. 

And finally, two weeks later, here it is in my entry way (note the mail basket - very helpful!):

Only took two weeks. Sigh. 

The fruits of my screen printing - Felt Coasters

In addition to the Girl Scout totes, I screen printed these coasters. You may remember them from a few months ago. They've been done for awhile - but I wanted to reveal all the screen printed stuff at one time - so "Ta Dahhh!"

They're backed with vintage fabric, and even though they suggest eating, I'd say they're pretty good for drinking (please don't eat felt). 

I bought the grey wool felt with this project in mind, but didn't know how it would work, so I bought some acrylic felt for the test run. Ahem! I mean "recycled" felt. Both variations worked great!

Why the "Eat Me" design, you ask? Well, #1 - cake is delicious. And #2 - I originally came up with this design when my theater company did an Alice in Wonderland - themed fundraiser. I had big plans to sell Alice-themed crafty wares, but that didn't really pan out. My screen printing class gave new life to the old idea!

Music of the Month :: Sufjan Stevens

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the enigmatic Sufjan Stevens. 

I would say he is one of my top-10-favorite musicians of all time. I'm highlighting him now because his brand new album, The Age of Adz, was just released on Tuesday. I've been listing to it non-stop for the past two weeks, courtesy of NPR. I heartily recommend it.

Stevens is mostly known for a folksy style - he plays the banjo a lot (do you see a trend with my musical preference?). But on this new album, he explores a more technical sound, to great success.

Although I can't stop listening to this new album, I think my favorite is still Illinois. I used to listen to it while biking around Chicago - perfection.

The fruits of my screen printing - Girl Scout Tote

Remember that screen printing class I took this summer? Last weekend I finally got everything together and sewed up a few tote bags out of the Girl Scout fabric.

There are two colors - mushroom and magenta. I must say I'm kinda partial to the mushroom. 

They are lined with vintage material (sheets, my favorite), with a little patch pocket that matches. And I finally remembered to use my new woven labels!

I really went for an easy construction with these - note the webbed handles. I knew I didn't want to screen print on pre-made bags, but I also didn't want to spend a ton of time sewing. A fine balance. 

I am sooo happy with how these turned out - I want to start using one immediately. However, I will resist - they will be in the shop sometime next week!

I'm addicted

I found another paint-by-number to add to the collection. 

The Provincial Sweater Vest

Oh, this sweater. This dumb, dumb sweater.

I thought this was going to be an easy project to use up two skeins of Cascade 220 I had laying around. I certainly used up the yarn (to the last 3 feet or so), but I cannot give this pattern a shining review. 

The pattern is Provincial Waistcoat (Rav link) from Interweave Knits Winter 2006, and it did not live up to expectations. The fit is kinda terrible, but I probably only have myself to blame for that - I was worried I was going to run out of yarn, so I knit the size medium while following the length for the size small. So, yeah, if it was longer, it might be more flattering on me. It just makes me look a bit chubby as is.

In general, this pattern is not well written. It's vague, and assumes you can magically infer shaping from photos or something. Also, the pattern on the back does not line up for any of the sizes larger than small. I was extremely confused while comparing the magazine photo to what I was knitting. After reading a few reviews on Ravelry, I know I'm not alone. Frustrating.

And I did run out of yarn, hence the edging in a nice grey. Not the worst thing to happen to the sweater. Luckily I had the perfect matching vintage buttons, which pulled the whole thing together nicely.

Check out my snappy photos! Rae - who also lives in the Midwest and suffers from perpetual darkness from September to May - posted these great tips for taking photos, and they have totally changed my life. 

At least it looks nice laid out!

Traverse City - The Gift

Ok, finally a bit of crafting. For wedding gifts in general, I like to do something handmade, especially for my friends. Most of my friends know that I am a crafty lady,  and I think they appreciate the special gifts, like this memento I embroidered for my friend's wedding in January. 

So for Brooke & Michael's wedding, I knew I wanted to make them something, and I decided on washcloths. They're a bit nicer than store bought, but still useful for a new couple. Now, Brooke is primarily Chris' friend from college, although she and I have become good friends. So when I told Chris that I thought knit washcloths would be a good idea, he immediately said "I want to  help!"

Yes, this man is dreamy. A dreamy- knitting - man. So I refreshed his basic knitting skills, and we made four washcloths total. Let me tell you - he is a damn fine knitter. 

My washcloths:

The pattern is this basic feather & fan pattern.

And Chris' washcloths:

Very nice! A basic garter stitch cloth, which I finished and crocheted that little loop at the end. 

For that loop - just take the last loop on the row after casting off, and crochet about 8 chains. Crochet through the row below the cast off row and weave in. 

Check out that motel room carpet!

We supplemented the washcloths with some fancy dish soap, hand soap and surface cleaner from Target. All wrapped up in a bamboo bowl, it makes for a nice presentation. I attached little tags to our washcloths telling Brooke & Mike that we had both knit the washcloths.

The couple that knits together... 

Traverse City - The Adventures

So although it was beautiful in TC - 

It was freeeezing!

But the real story here is this hay:

Check out this trunk full o' hay! 

Ok, so part of the bunny's diet is UNLIMITED HAY. And unfortunately, hay is expensive in the city. Like $7 for 3lbs of hay at Petco. So when we stopped at a diner by the side of the road, right next to a "western store," we asked if the owner knew where to get a bale of hay. I mean it was a rural area - so why not! He pointed us toward a feed store, and we set off. 

When we got to the feed store in a very small town down the road, they sold us this giant bale of hay for $5 total! We were so flabbergasted that it was so cheap - and the guy working at the feed store was not impressed. I tried to explain that we were from "the city" where hay is expensive, but he definitely thought we were crazy. Our trunk looks like a barn, but we won't need to buy hay for months! Huzzah to that!

Oh, yeah, and a case of wine. It's "Witch's Brew," for our Halloween party.

Traverse City - The Apples

After the wedding last weekend, Chris, our friend AJ, and I drove up the Old Mission Peninsula in search of an apple orchard. It was a gorgeous day, and we found apples...

in a front yard! It was pretty adorable - they had a tube for money and bags, but no one was out there. So we left our money and picked some apples. 

A brief struggle over the apples between Chris & AJ

After the apple picking, we drove back down the peninsula and stopped at a winery. A lot of grapes in Northern Michigan! The views were absolutely beautiful - at one point you can see Lake Michigan on both sides. How long til retirement - 2 years? 3 years?

Traverse City - The Wedding

Chris and I had a great weekend in Traverse City, Michigan. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

Brooke & Michael, the lovely couple, put together a really sweet, homegrown wedding. Even though it was a bit cold, and it rained for a minute, it didn't ruin anyone's spirits. 

There was some crazy dancing (talk about sweaty), ending with an hour of 90's hits. Nothing more fun than being surrounded by your friends, belting out songs you loved in middle school.

I wore a vintage 60's dress, and it was almost a huge wardrobe disaster. The night before, I went to iron the dress with steam, and the minute water touched the dress, the fabric puckered up. I maybe freaked out a bit - luckily Chris is the most patient, and came with me while I drove around in a panic, looking for a back up dress.

It all ended well (with a good stiff dry ironing), and was a wonderful night all around!