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Friday, February 26, 2010

Black & White

Time for another Apron contest over at Tie One On.  The theme for this one is Black & White.  I've been thinking about making another apron since the plaid one I made in the fall and I was hoping to find the time to make one before the end of February.  My mother is coming to visit for the weekend and was supposed to arrive this morning.  Due to bad weather her flight was canceled which means she's delayed until tonight.  It's too bad we'll miss the day together, but that did give me a few hours to kill.  My thoughts immediately went to the apron.
I had no idea what type of apron to make.  I like the way half aprons look and I'm more apt to wear one if there's only one set of ties, but I have this terrible habit of wiping my hands near my waist so half aprons don't have enough coverage for me.  I also love anything with a high waist these days.
ok maybe not "anything"

I thought maybe a high waist black leather apron would be perfect.
Just kidding.  
I thought maybe a high waist  apron with an area made especially for hand wiping would be best.  I also wanted something simple since I only had a few hours to play with.  So I went through my stash and found some black and white fabrics.  These were narrowed down to:

a black piece of i'm not sure what type of fabric. 
it feels like a light canvas and i have no idea where it came from.
i just know it's perfect for an apron.
it almost feels like a heavy napkin fabric?
and the flowery fabric is PERFECT.  guess what it's made from.....
swimsuit material!!!
i made a suit out of it years ago and i had a piece just the right size.
you do realize i meant swim"suit" right? 
just checking

First I had to make a quick pattern for the high waist area since I wanted it to curve at the top edge and look sharp.  I had a gift bag that was too crumpled up to save so I cut it up to use as a pattern.


it's at this point that i'm going to apologize for the blurry pics.  the lighting was terrible in my sewing area this morning so i played with some of the settings.  the results are less than perfect






Most of the measurements were just where the ruler ended up since nothing had to be exact, but this is what i came up with:
32" wide by 6" high at the center point
from the center i measured out 3 1/2" on both sides twice
the first off-center points are 5 1/2" high
the second off-center points are 5" high

I have Styling Design Ruler which I don't really use the way it's probably meant to be used.  I got it for a class a took a few years ago.  I enjoyed the class, but we never really used the ruler much during it.  I've used it a ton since, but again I have no idea what I'm doing with it half the time.  That being said, I used it this morning.

from the center point to the first off-center points i drew the arc from about 14 1/2 to 18
seriously though, you could use anything to make this arc.
there's no need to get out a fancy ruler.
i just like the way it feels when i use it.
like something amazing is being created.
it's like using beakers and flasks in the kitchen...
not that kind of flask

this kind

Anyway, back to the pattern

for the second off-center points i drew the arc from about 6 1/4 to 10
that's because this part of the apron will be around my hip
no it won't
i just liked the shape of that arc
please ignore the part where the ruler mentions hips

Then I drew a straight line to the side edge.  When I cut out the pattern and pinned it to my dress form it started to look like what I had envisioned. 

yes that's right...

...i had envisioned a wrestling belt

I started to doubt my vision.  I started to doubt my skills.  I started to doubt my Styling Design Ruler....

I pressed on and pinned some of the black fabric to the dress form to figure out what size rectangle to cut.

what's that? 
do i have a cat?
why do you ask?

oh.  yeah that's gross.
don't worry.
i have to share my sewing area with the cats
but i have a secret weapon:
the apron will be machine-washable

i also have this not-so-secret weapon

it's that new pledge hair picker-upper-thing
and it works pretty well

sorry, but cats shed

Remember how I pinned the black fabric to determine the size rectangle I should cut?  Well it turned out to be about 17" by 21" which I of course forgot to actually measure.  It looked like this when cut and pinned:

except it was less fuzzy in person

When I took the paper pattern off the dress form I cut it in the center since I wanted both sides to be the same.  I cut a piece of the black fabric on the fold using the pattern.
 the other side of the paper was shiny and blue, remember?







I also cut a piece of the swimsuit fabric on the fold.







Remember how I have to share my sewing space with cats?



ugh....
i don't have a secret weapon for dealing with kitty snags on swimsuit fabric.
yet.
i saved that piece in case i find one.
or invent one.



The last two pieces I cut will be used for ties.  I like the idea of using the swimsuiting for ties.  It gives them a stretchiness.
these are 2" by 14" strips of the swimsuit fabric
also i found where i DID take an accurate measurement of
the black rectangle
and it says 17" by 21"
so i should feel smart
because i figured it out without the piece of paper
but i really just feel dumb for forgetting about the piece of paper

Now that I had all the pieces cut out and ready to go I had to figure out what to do with them.  I'll post the assembly section soon.

Keep your fingers crossed that this apron doesn't look turn out looking like a WWE nightmare....

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Why I love warm fuzzy lighting

Beth at The Stories of A to Z is having a Get Your Face On!! party so I decided to join in. You can read all about it here:


At first I didn't have any desire to post my face before OR after my morning daily routine. Then I looked at how many women were joining in and I couldn't believe there weren't any Mary Kay users out there! Where are all of you??

I must admit I'm a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, but prior to selling their products I USED them for 6 or 7 years. So this may seem like a gratuitous plug for my business, but I really do love this stuff.
I use these four products every day.
Timewise Cleanser, Moisturizer, Day and Night Solution
Now I know that Beth didn't ask us to post a greasy-haired-i-just-finished-working-out-and-haven't-showered-since-yesterday photo, but I wanted to show a before washing photo so you'd get the full picture.

Before I turn the water on for the shower I put on Lip Mask which is great at removing any dry skin.
That's the weird white stuff on my lips. 
This gives it a chance to work it's magic before I rinse it off in the shower.
Then I wash with the cleanser and when I get out of the shower (and let my hair dry and put it up out of my face so you can see) my face looks like this
shiny and clean and in a scary scary light.
This is where I pause and ask myself "why would you - after neglecting your blog for months - decide to plaster photos of your face taken the day BEFORE you get your eyebrows waxed all over your blog.  I mean, it's not like you didn't know you had the appointment scheduled...."
I then use either the day or night solution depending upon what time of day it is. 
I'm not going to lie.... i run out of the night solution before i use up the day solution.
The thing i like the most about the Mary Kay Timewise products is that they're created to work together.  This makes the whole applying foundation step a lot faster.  I squirt some of the moisturizer on my hand and then some of the foundation.  Then I mix them together and apply them both AT THE SAME TIME.
I also apply some of the Lip Balm and use the Age Fighting Lip Primer to seal it in.  This stuff really keeps whatever you put on your lips on your lips.  I have terribly dry lips and sealing the balm in with the primer really helps keep them moist.
This is my face (again SCARY scary light) with just the previous steps applied
Some days this is about as far as I get.  If I am going out of the house I will apply at least some mascara.  I don't know why, but mascara sort of seals the deal for me.  It doesn't matter how much other makeup I put on, if I don't put on mascara I don't feel put together.
This waterproof is the best out there.  I've been hooked for YEARS.  Everyone goes on and on about the Mary Kay Ultimate mascara, but i always come back to the waterproof formula.
Hooray for warm fuzzy lighting!  This is the normal every day look for me.  I didn't go as far as putting on any blush, eye liner, lipstick (or gloss), or eye shadow.  Maybe I'll post a pic of what that looks like AFTER my brow waxing appointment.
In order of appearance: Satin Lips Lip Balm, Timewise Cleanser Combo to Oily (refer to oily hair pic from the beginning of this post for any questions), Day or Night Formula, Moisturizer AND Foundation, Lip Balm AND Lip Primer, Mascara.
Before and After
Before and After
 
even with the creepy greasy hair i STILL prefer the no-flash lighting

This is why I love warm fuzzy lighting

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Etsy Profile

When I redid the Call Ajaire Etsy banner recently I thought I'd use a few pictures to represent where I am and where I come from. Sort of my life in seven pics. 

It took longer than I thought.

Since it applies to this blog as well I thought I'd repost the bio here:

I started with twenty MUST includes and through gritted teeth whittled it (ooh i should try whittling) down to seven. So here goes...
(in no true order other than eye-pleasing)





1. I hadn't embroidered in years, but decided to give it a go for some christmas presents this year. This is my parents' house and where I spent most of my younger years. I love quilting and the way the little scrappy pieces sort of wander this way and that yet are clearly framing the emroidery in three even rows. I had a lot of fun with these projects and am excited to have found my way back to embroidery.

2. This is one of the candy dishes we used at our wedding. By far my FAVORITE colors of green. I love the pink jelly beans contrast. Plus they taste good!

3. Though I don't think I'll ever truly love any color the way I do green, pink has caught my eye the last few years. Maybe it's the girly side of me trying to break it's way free or maybe pink just makes green look so much better (see the candy dish pic...really go look at it again...so maybe it's complement and not contrast)

4. I love knitting and crocheting. I taught myself about three years ago and I wish I had started sooner. (on ravelry as Ajaire) It's so satisfying to make something using just your hands. Well and some needles and yarn, but you get the idea. I've always been a sewer (eew that looks wrong...seamstress?) but knitting is so portable that I haven't done nearly as much sewing lately. I had a LONG bus commute when I lived outside seattle so I was knitting up a storm. That's when I started knitting and crocheting my coffee handlers. Essential programmer tool... way to carry multiple cups of coffee back to your desk at once without spilling on the stairs or in the elevator. I used to be called "a spiller."

5. Wedding present from my mother. LOVE the color. Basically Le Creuset doesn't sell the right shade of green for me so I went with flame. Sounds cool huh? This and the dutch oven I got in the same color are the greatest. I use them almost every night and the color just makes me happy. I do a lot of cooking and baking. My metal bundt pan is jealous of the dutch oven... so flashy, so useful.

6. I am thirty-something and married July 25, 2009. My husband is wonderful and the reason I'm able to spend more time knitting and less time on a bus. I knit and felted my wedding flowers and it was my first try at felting. I think I was afraid to try felting because of the wet-dog wool smell, but was so happy with the result that I should have started years ago. Plus I won a ribbon at a county fair in PA for the flowers so that was worth getting over my fear of smells. I made my dress too. (Refer back to the part about being a sewer)
I didn't mention it on etsy, but you can see i'm holding my grandmother's hanky in my hand around the flowers.  My mother gave it to me to use on my wedding day because she had carried it when she married my father.  This was my paternal grandmother and she was pretty special.

7. My older sister gave me this hand-me-down chair when I moved from MA to WA years over 10 ago. I remade some cushions with a piece of old-ladyish fabric that I love. There is something magical about this chair. It is sort of low to the ground and since my legs are very short it's one of the only chairs I am really comfortable in. And it rocks. Like it rocks back and forth... ok it rocks! It's a perfect yarn-craft chair. I can even tuck my legs up under me and sit comfy since it's pretty wide. The cats like it too so we have arguments over who it really belongs to.


Anything else you want to know?  I'd love to hear how you found your way to my page and what you think so send me a message. or a massage.