Purple Kappa

Quick Update

I'm home for tonight while Brian takes a turn at the hospital, which is good because I'm about ready to drop from exhaustion. Ivy's surgery went well, but unfortunately they weren't able to do it laparoscopically after all--she's got a 6 inch incision in her belly, making for a longer and more painful recovery. She has IV's in each arm, an epidural for pain, a tube going up her nose and down into her stomach to drain it and a catheter. She's really just miserable and so am I. I'm hoping Saturday and Sunday are the worst of it--once they start hearing activity in her bowels, they can remove the tube up her nose (a gn tube I think?) which I think will really help, it makes her feel as though she's going to gag and hurts her throat.

I really appreciate all the kind words and well wishes you guys have left, really I do. Reading them after spending the weekend at the hospital brightened my evening. I will update again when I can, probably in a few more days.

Getting Ready

Tomorrow's the big day. We are due at the hospital at 8:30AM.

There's a new nightgown

A kitty friend to bring along--there's one for Miranda as well since I'm very conscious of the potential for her to feel overlooked

And a box with scissors, markers, glue and other fun things, as well as books for reading aloud.

When Ivy was in the NICU for her first surgery, I would visit her but really didn't know what to do, I couldn't hold her and she was too young to talk to. So I would read books. I started with little kid picture books, and then moved on to chapter books. She heard all of the Harry Potter books while lying in the NICU and reading them took my mind of my own anxiety.

I'm going to have limited, if any computer access while at the hospital, so may not be able to update until early next week, but I promise to get some sort of information up as soon as possible.

Crybabys Boutique

I first learned about Crybabys Boutique at True Up. There is a wonderful selection of Japanese fabric, and in addition, a great spring sale through May 12: just enter in coupon code ‘SPRING20‘ on the shopping bag page prior to checkout and you will receive 20% off your entire order (excluding sale items). Customer service and shipping were fast and friendly, my package arrived today

Starting with the upper left side and moving clockwise, there is a mushroom print, robots, little girls tending cheep, animal patchwork, animals at school and Little Red Riding Hood. All fat quarters, which is plenty for adding cuffs and pockets to pants, or even the bodice of a small dress.

Yukata For Ivy

This is the yukata Ivy's wearing in the pictures from Children's Day at the Botanical Garden.

I used the pattern in ISBN 4579108272. The kimono in the book are actually elaborate kimono worn for Shichi Go San, but since all kimono are made from a basic series of rectangles that rely on the wearer's measurement's, it was fairly easy to adapt the pattern

A yukata is a more informal kimono, usually made of cotton and unlined. It's worn during warm weather and you often see them worn during the many festivals that occur during the summer months. I made Ivy's to close with simple sash that tied in a bow in the back. You can see some lovely examples yukata at this Flickr post

Despite being a fairly easy pattern, I made the yukata a little too wide and too short. It actually should be long enough to make a fold that falls just below the waist, you can see the fold in these photos. Also, when I was cutting it out, I cut two left sides initially. And since the front and back is one long piece with no shoulder seam, I had to buy another two yards of fabric. No problem, I though, I'll make a second one and sell it on the shop. And then I cut the second set of sleeves wrong. So the fabric has retired to the closet in disgrace. Maybe I can get a summer top or some pants out of it.

Kodomo No Hi

Kodomo No Hi, or Children's Day is actually tomorrow in Japan, but The Cleveland Botanical Gardens celebrated it this weekend with various activities in conjunction with their Horticulture of Japan exhibit.

We made carp windsocks, fish prints and origami

There is also a wonderful Children's Garden

with a fish pond

Working water pumps and plenty of watering cans so you can water the flowers

And inside is a fabulous butterfly exhibit. There seemed to be a lot more butterflies than on past visits

And afterwards we went to The Natural History Museum across the street so we could visit with Steggie for a bit

 

Spring Thunderstorm

I love the way things smell during a Spring thunderstorm. Sometimes a gray, rainy day can be quite pleasant--especially if you're inside looking out at the pouring rain. April can be cold and muddy with a few flowers struggling out only to be covered with that one last snowfall. But May--May in Ohio is beautiful. Even when it's raining.

Part of my herb garden. The tansy is already quite big. Each year it gets to be around 3 feet tall. It apparently migrated here with some of the other plants I brought from my old herb garden when we moved. I don't really know what it's good for--it's medicinal, I think. There is also sage, lavender and oregano in the picture. The pots will be for basil--I've been waiting until I was sure it would stay warm.

Our neighbors crabapple tree. It smells wonderful

Another portion of my herb garden. Here there is more lavender, lemon balm and foxglove. There's also some honeysuckle I transplanted from the back fence. I hope it spreads, I'd love to have it climbing up around the porch pillars. And I think the fairy house is going to need a few repairs, it's looking rather dilapidated.

Violets that sprouted up on the backyard. I hope these spread as well.

No pictures, just links

Yesasia has raised their prices around 3.00 on all books. Good thing I'm pretty well stocked up! Still, I did a comparison over on Amazon Japan and if I'm reading the shipping information correctly, the only option is International Express Shipping which would be around 25.00, with an additional 3.00 handling charge for each item? Even though the books are cheaper in price on Amazon Japan, Yesasia's free shipping still seems to make it a much better deal, as long as I don't mind waiting a month to get my books. Incidentally, does anyone have trouble viewing the Yesasia website in Foxfire? I have problems with everything locking up, I have to view it in Internet Explorer.

I still have some wool felt I was going to make into animals and never did, now I'm wondering about a doll like one of these. I especially like the dreadlocked hair. It would have to be for me though, neither of the girls really likes to play with dolls. And the few they do play with are plastic ones, the Waldorf dolls I labored over lie neglected.

Loose and swingy layered clothing Coton Clothing

 

Dreadlocked Lion's Mane

This is a project that's been taking shape in my head for a few years and I've been putting it off. It's part of a winged lion costume for Miranda

The dreadlocks are made of wool yarn, attached to a piece of elastic. I've interrupted her World of Warcraft game and was taking a quick picture, I see now that I need to move the dreads a bit to cover the elastic in a few places. It was tedious to make, but really quite easy. I've included a tutorial with photographs. The wood floor probably wasn't the best contrast for taking the pictures, but I didn't realize that until I'd already felted the mane.

You need to use 100% wool yarn in order for it to felt properly. I used some scrap pieces I had lying around. I wound it around my arm and elbow to get pieces that were about 30 inches. You want the hanks of yarn to be about 1 1/2 times as long as the finished piece, because they will shrink.

Attach the hanks of yarn using slip knots to a length of elastic long enough to make a comfortable headband

You can make the hanks as thick or thin as you want, but each hank will make a dread, the thickness of the hank will determine how thick the dread is.

Continue until most of the elastic is covered. You can stretch the elastic some while covering it, but it isn't necessary to fully stretch it.

When you have the elastic covered, knot the ends together. Now you are going to felt it in the washing machine. Put the mane in a pillow case--I have a zippered one that works great, otherwise tie it shut or use a rubber band. Don't omit the pillowcase, or you will just get a knotted mess that wraps around the agitator. Use the smallest load setting, hot water. Add a little detergent--I just use dish detergent because it's cheaper and I'm not trying to clean anything, just aid the felting process.

I've always been able to get the dreads to felt by running one load. The hanks pretty much make individual dreads all on their own, although some stick together and you can pull them apart, others kind of stuck but the effect was still okay. It could probably use a few more dreads, but Miranda likes it the way it is.

Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments section!

I spent the morning at the hospital while Ivy completed the last of her tests--a glucose breathe test to see if there is bacteria in her intestines. This involved getting up very early, not eating any breakfast (no food or water after midnight for Ivy, I snuck a cup of coffee and a banana before I woke her up), drinking a glass of sugary warm orange soda and then breathing into a tube every fifteen minutes for two hours. She did much better than I expected--I was really dreading this one, it helped that they had a collection of Pokemon videos she could watch. The results were negative--which in a way is bad news, as it means she does need surgery now. She's actually rather excited about staying at the hospital, although after seeing this video about going in for surgery that La Mammina posted in a blog entry about her own daughter's upcoming hospital visit, she's decided she'd like to fly to Australia for her surgery. Unfortunately we'll be staying here in Cleveland but I think I've managed to convince her that the Cleveland Clinic is every bit as cool as Sydney Children's Hospital.

After a busy morning it was nice to come home to this package

Two back issues of Cotton Friend and some decorative tape--Little Red Riding Hood, hedgehogs, robots and cars. There is a super duper sale going on at Superbuzzy and things are going fast, especially the back issues of magazines. After missing out on the Spring 2007 of Cotton Friend, I quickly placed an order for these two. I'll post more pictures later--I'm trying to convince Ivy that she (meaning me) needs a nap.

ISBN 4579110609

I've been finishing up a lot of projects which is great, but what I'm really doing is procrastinating on a project I've been wanting to start for a while. This is sitting in my sewing room

3 yards of linen and a new book, Homspun ISBN 4579110609.

I first spotted the book at Berlin's Whimsy and then after seeing  this dress from the book made by Sara at The Small Object I really wanted to make one for myself. (click on the image to see the one she made)

But as I'm several sizes larger than the book patterns I need to make a muslin. Well, not really a muslin since I'm using some fabric I'll never use for anything else. Still, it's going very slowly. I've never done this before--adjusted a pattern. And it needs to fit properly, even it it is a loose-fitting dress. Kids clothes are easy, if they are too big you can roll them up, or push up the sleeves, or take in a tuck and it still looks fine. I'm just very hesitant to start cutting into the linen, I don't want to screw it up. So I keep starting on other things, so it seems as though I'm busy but eventually I need to take the plunge.

There are a variety of projects in the books, some with simple, classic lines that I would like to make for myself along with the dress.

Others are a bit--unusual. Such as these "window shirts"

and this doll. Folksy or just a little creepy?