Made By K

A Pillow

2017-03-05T13:57:00.001-06:00

Sophie was invited to A------'s birthday party. So we made a pillow for her. A purple "A" pillow. She loves purple!

The super-snuggly-soft stuff is from a remnant I bought a year (?!?) ago or more, thinking I'd make super snuggly soft pillows for the girls.

Um, they have yet to get their pillows. But now A------ gets hers.

I am the cobbler whose children run around barefoot...

My New Daughter-Designed Blog Background

2015-02-10T13:25:00.000-06:00

Middle Daughter was home from school with me yesterday, both of us trying to recuperate from colds. After posting about Kenny’s cake, I HAD to also get rid of the pink blog background. Apparently, two years ago I liked it. But no more. Yech!

So I went back to bgpatterns.com, my go-to website for years to make my own background images, and boy was I in for a surprise. The creator has totally revamped it. Right around this time, Sophie joined me to eat her lunch. And watched me. And then saved me.

On the left is the original background. In the middle was what I was contemplating putting up. (I blame my momentary lapse of judgment on too much medicine cake.) On the right is what my soon-to-be 10-year-old daughter came up with.

I did have to help her make a custom image for the K since the website doesn’t include any letters, but the rest was all her. A little kooky, but for now, I love it!

Oh, and my only beef with the new bgpatterns site is that I couldn’t find a way to make the overall final image smaller. So we had to do that with another app.

But other than that, it was a lot of fun. Need a seamless background image, with your own custom colors and shapes? Try it out: bgpatterns.com

Lego Birthday Cake

2015-02-09T11:44:00.001-06:00

Haven’t been feeling well the past few days. So sat on the sidelines with a box of tissues and wrapped in a blanket while the rest of the family ice-skated yesterday. (I would’ve probably been better off in bed, but didn’t want to miss out of the family fun completely.)

At home again, Ken noted that the Dayquil I’d taken had done nothing to help ease my symptoms. Neither had the free-range organic chicken stock that he used to make that day’s soup. So he made something that he felt SURE would help me. Chocolate cake. With chocolate frosting. : )

I took two doses last night and have had another today. They’re at least as beneficial as the DayQuil, if not better.

And all that as a silly introduction to recap the birthday cake I made quite a while ago for the man who makes me cake when I’m sick. : ) And who enjoyed the Lego Movie, which had just come out around the same time.

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, as always.

I baked a square cake – to become the main brick pieces – and a bunch of little mini-cupcakes – to become the studs on the bricks.

I cut square in half, then put one of the resulting rectangles on a piece of cardboard cut to the same size. Also made some supports out of cereal boxes, to help hold up the overhanging sections of the top brick. You can just see the in the picture below. Simply a rectangle piece folded in half. (Note: I put the bottom cake on the green baseplate and frosted it. Then put the second cake on top and frosted it.)

To frost the studs without pulling my hair out, I skewered the top of the mini-cupcake with a fork and slathered frosting onto the sides. Since the sides sloped inward top to bottom, I put more frosting at the bottom than the top to make them appear straight up and down. I also tried to build up extra frosting at the top edge so the last step would be easier, then used the fork to position the stud onto the block.

Then I pressed down on the unfrosted top so I could pull the fork out. And finally I carefully frosted the top of the stud. If there was enough of a build-up of frosting around the top of the sides, then it was almost more like just filling in the hole in the middle, which made the studs look less domed and more like they had a flat circular top.

We added a few other Lego blocks, including some plates to cover up the cereal-box supports and a happy minifig to hold the sign one of the girls wrote.

And with that, I think it’s time for my next dose of my medicine cake. Yes, that’s what my girls are calling it. As in “Mama, can I have another piece of your medicine cake?”

Oh, and when I saw it cooling on the counter, at first I couldn’t figure out why it looked so squat. And large. “Oh, you baked it in a jelly roll pan,” I said. His reply: “I did what? That’s not the usual cake pan?” Oh how I love that man.

L’s Patchwork Pillow

2015-02-03T09:26:00.000-06:00

Years ago, I made a friend online – she was a blogger who, like me, had three daughter and, like me, had ties to Singapore (though hers are MUCH stronger) and, like me, loved to make things and blog about them too.

Then when I won some lovely felt food during a giveaway on her blog and she asked for my mailing address, we realized we lived only an hour from each other and soon became friends in real life.

During one visit, I was surprised to hear that while she loved to sew, she’d never tried quilting and didn’t think she’d be any good at it. (Yeah, right!) On my drive home, an gift idea for her popped into my head…

Because of who it was for, I searched for some solids in my fabric stash – blues and tans. And because of who it was from, I had to throw in some prints too.

I cut lots of strips, tried not to obsess too much over which to put next to which, sewed them into blocks, and then machine-quilted each strip with parallel lines.

The top left block was like a quarter of a log cabin pattern. Could make a person think of the letter L.

The top right block was just simple vertical lines. Kinda like a capital I.

The bottom left was similar, just horizontal stripes this time. Reminiscent of the sideways strokes of an E.

And the bottom right was a shallow zig-zag. Sort of like the right part of an R.

And what’s that spell?!? My friend’s Chinese name.

I was SO pleased with how it had turned out. Everything about the pillow made me happy, but especially the graphic “hidden” letters. I sent it off, not even knowing it would arrive just days before my friend’s birthday.

When she told me how much she liked it, I did ask her not to post about it on her blog. I wasn’t ready for the world to see it. On the one hand, I was afraid that people would see it and love it and make their own versions and there would suddenly be “graphic hidden letter blocks” all over the interwebs. I wasn’t ready to lose my idea yet. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. And it was still mine.

But on the other hand, I was also afraid that people would see it and be indifferent and no one would make their own version. No one would embrace it. No one would take my idea, the one I was so in love with, and run with it. It would die in obscurity. –sniffle sniffle–

So I kept it hush hush and played with the idea some more. Designed a whole alphabet of “hidden letter” blocks. Designed a quilt top for another friend with her last name and the name of every member of her family, even the dog, hidden in it crossword style. But then other ideas emerged, other projects were created, and eventually that little idea of mine – and its associated sketches – was relegated to some backup hard drive somewhere in my house, two laptops ago.

These days, I see the pillow on my friend’s couch when I stop by for a visit. And I know it makes her smile. And that makes me smile.

And now, with this post, my guarded, beloved idea is out in the open. Now, it can flutter off into the great wide world to seek its fortune. And I’m OK with that.

More Stenciled T-Shirts :: I Heart Horses, Harry Potter, and Camp Half-Blood

2015-01-22T11:03:00.000-06:00

I love reusing old ideas but I hate redoing old work.

So I was pretty annoyed with myself when one of my daughters wanted to make an “I {heart} Horses” t-shirt for a friend’s birthday gift recently, like the one we’d made for Cassie, but I couldn’t find my stencil template anywhere.

I was slightly less annoyed with myself when another daughter wanted to make another “Camp Half-Blood” t-shirt, because I did find the template, but only after looking through every old laptop and back-up drive I could find in the house.

To avoid either of these scenarios in the future, I’m loading my three most recently used T-shirt stencil templates here. If someone else can use them too, so much the better.

1) I {Heart} Horses

Notes: I used fusible web to stick a pink fabric heart onto the t-shirt (I love that the heart matches the pink neck trim, even though you can’t see that when it’s being worn), then stitched around it, but one could just use pink paint too. Also, I was a little lazy with the heart on the template. Long story short, I ended up with two tiny points at the base of the heart and didn’t feel like messing with it anymore so left it as is. Obviously, you should just cut a single point – the tiny black line shows the centerline if you’re a perfectionist.

I Heart Horses Template by Karin

2) Please Don’t Say Dead Sirius, I’m a Harry Potter Fan

You can’t really tell in the photo above, but while we did most of the text in white paint, we then painted over “Sirius” and “Harry Potter” with silver paint to make it stand out more. (For the i/e combo letter, I cut the dot of the “i” and the little “serif” on the “e” when I cut out everything else, but then ironed the little serif piece onto the shirt. I painted only the “e” with white paint. After it had dried, I pulled off the little “serif” piece, then painted the dot, the serif area and left side of the “e” with silver.)

And why didn’t I take more photos to illustrate all these steps?

Because, like usual, it was about 3 minutes before we had to leave for the party and I was just finishing up little details. No time for nice photos!

P.S. One of the details I was finishing up was using a black sharpie to draw over some areas of white that seeped under the stencil. Made the letters look much crisper and cleaner. And the cover-up wasn’t even noticeable from normal viewing distances.

So anyway, here’s the template. I put a small silver HP on the back near the neckline. I thought about putting a snitch there too, but had neither gold paint nor time.

Sirius Harry Potter Template by Karin

3) Camp Half-Blood, Cabin 6

This shirt has been a BIG hit at the recent late elementary/early middle school birthday parties. After making two, I finally got smart and cut three layers of freezer paper at a time, so as to have extra stencils with less work.

Camp Half-Blood T-shirt Template by Karin

Daughter’s Cowl with Button

2015-01-16T14:01:00.000-06:00

Just realized I haven’t posted a picture of eldest daughter’s crochet project now that it’s finished. She looks so grown up wearing her cowl and she’s so proud.

But that reminded me of Middle Girl who also finished a cowl, who also looks so grown up wearing it (well, when she’s not being silly for the camera), and who is also so proud of what she finished.

A gift for her classroom intern who has since returned to college in Germany, it’s actually a long scarf, knitted on her round loom, so it naturally curls all along the long edges.

To make it into a cowl, I helped her make a detachable button. That’s also reversible. In case her intern wants to show a more sassy lime green side.

A close-up of the button – actually two buttons, spaced a little apart and connected with yarn that’s then been wrapped around itself.

Now she’s been hired by our next-door neighbor to make a crocheted cowl for her little girl. Fun fun!

Pillow Progress

2015-01-12T11:17:00.001-06:00

I decided I didn't need to do a whole granny square spiral blanket. I could just do a pillow and finally use up all those pillow forms that are cluttering up the top of my (newly tidied) workroom closet. And add some color and personality to my couch.

Now I just need to pop in to the thrift store and find a matching sweater, to finish it up. (Lucy at attic24 has a great tutorial for how to make a pillow back from a jumper a.k.a. sweater.) Well, maybe I also need to make a cover for the pillow form -- it does show through the holes if you look close...

Speaking of tutorials, I want to make a note here of how I did this, especially the beginning. But that'll have to wait till I'm at my laptop, not my phone. And till I find my scribbled notes...

De-Knotting Daughter's Yarn

2015-01-07T09:37:00.001-06:00

I was about to start some housework when I saw a crumpled plastic bag, containing my eldest daughter's crochet project. Her first one ever, if you don't count the forest green square she made when learning over Thanksgiving break six ago.

And I remembered her request in the car on the way home from school yesterday. "Mama, can you get a knot out again? I'm stuck."

While I'm at it, I think I'll re-wind the whole ball -- for some reason, it's been getting knotted up way more than usual.

At some point, I'll teach her how to de-knot (and re-wind) yarn herself. But for now, during this time of setting a foundation for a skill that I'd like to last her a lifetime, not just be a two-month passing interest, I think I'll make it as easy as possible for her to pick up her hook and crochet! The housework can wait fifteen minutes.

I'm Back...

2014-12-30T23:14:00.001-06:00

Over the last 21 months of non-posts here on Made By K, I have been making things.

And I've been writing blog posts. In my head. Perhaps it's time to write them on my laptop (or my phone, in this case) instead.

In other news, I learned to knit recently! Saw a fun knit+crochet headband at a store. Bought it. Reverse engineered it. Then proceeded to make it in six different color combinations.

And tonight, with all that fun yarn that's leftover and having just finished cleaning up my workroom, I was about to start an eight-strand never-ending spiral granny square blanket, but then remembered I want to get back to my "won't start one till two are done" system!

And that makes me think of all sorts of other things I want to write, but I'll leave that for another time.

Till next time. Hopefully sooner Sept. 30, 2016 (i.e. 21 months from now).

I think I can manage that...

Ruthy's Pencil Case

2013-03-31T13:10:00.001-05:00

Ruthy made it onto her plane yesterday. And so did her pencil case. I did finish in time.

Roadtrip

2013-03-29T18:55:00.001-05:00

On our way home after a too-short visit with dear friends and family. Ruthy, our intern last year, flies back to Germany tomorrow. Think I'll get her pencil case done in time?

Fancy Owl

2013-02-25T10:31:00.004-06:00

As I sit here in my painting clothes, ready to finish painting the basement walls, why not post a photo of someone dressed much nicer?

Fancy Owl lives up to her name with a glittery red satin body (it's hard to see the tiny pieces of glitter in the photo above but they're there) and flashy blue lamé eyes and peachy sequined beak and her lacy wings (made out of a lace collar, still in its package, left here by the previous tenants of the house; so glad I didn't chuck it with all the rest of the junk we chucked after moving in).

Accessory: removable pearl necklace.

Giggly Owl

2013-02-23T15:37:00.000-06:00

If I'd made Construction or Painter Owl, I could've showcased that one today, in honor of the dozen middle and high school girls that descended on my home, wielding hammers and saws and rollers and brushes. (They're American Heritage Girls, earning their Home Care and Repair badge.) But instead I'll showcase another owl that fits their activities of the day just as well: here's Giggly Owl!

Accessory: nothing visual, other than the silly pupils going in different directions. But press the blue polka dot up on the right "ear" and Giggly Owl emits a squeak!

Army Owl

2013-02-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

In honor of our sweet next-door neighbor -- the only boy at Sophie's party -- who finished up his final vision therapy appointment this week. It's been a long year but he persevered! So tonight we're going to celebrate with him!

I'd dubbed the little stuffie "Army Owl," but his new adoptive daddy soon renamed him Camouflage Ninja Owl. : )

Accessory: I rejected the idea of making a weapon (owls don't need 'em; they have their beak and claws) and didn't want to fiddle with other suggestions (compass, radio, flashlight) so finally settled on an eye mask, which Owl's daddy can wear too! And, unlike all of the other owls, this one's pupils are shifted way to the side, kinda like he's suspicious, on alert, ever ready for attack from all sides.

Eight-Yarn Never-Ending Spiral Granny Square

2013-02-21T07:40:00.000-06:00

:: another break from owls; more crochet ::

The question at the end of my Never-Ending Spiral Granny Square post wouldn't leave me alone. And now I know -- it CAN be done with eight yarns. In fact, after the initial mess of the first few rows, it's even easier than using four yarns.

I think it would look great with 4 strands of white and 4 strands of various colors. Or 8 yarns in rainbowy hues. Or actually anything would look better than the "antique lime" and "harvest gold" and "pumpkin" used below. But it's what I had in my scraps.

Looking at the picture again now, I'm already seeing things I want to change. Specifically, the beginning and the ending. I see more spiral crochet in my future. But, ugh, I must find some new scrap yarn for these test squares!

Party Owl

2013-02-20T07:54:00.001-06:00

In honor of my momma's birthday today: meet Party Owl!

Accessories: sequined party hat and gift bag, both removable. (Why I made the teeny gift bag lined with pink felt and with real eyelets and everything, I'm not sure... I think it had just been too long since I'd eyeletted anything.)

Travel Owl

2013-02-19T10:13:00.000-06:00

In honor of the "Globetrotter" class I'm teaching after school today, where we "visit" a new country each week, trying its food, learning its language, playing its games, here is Travel Owl.

Accessory: removable fake leather messenger bag. Yes, it really opens. No, there's nothing inside it. Yet.

Never-Ending Spiral Granny Square

2013-02-18T07:58:00.000-06:00

:: more owls to come,

but i did some crochet today that i want to keep track of ::

Recently, my friend Mo and I were discussing various patterns for afghans. We both love the look of granny squares but hate the endless weaving in of ends.

I was thinking how nice it would be to make some sort of spiral, which would eliminate the constant starting and stopping of colors. Sure enough, Mo had seen such a pattern on Youtube.

Nice idea. But I didn't like the way the colors didn't all start in the very center. So tonight, I sketched out how it could work, and then tried it with some yarn scraps.

It worked! And I like it!

Then I thought surely I can't be the first. And, once again confirming the idea that there is nothing new under the sun, I found the technique by searching for "spiral granny square" instead of "neverending granny square." Here is a video, by SmoothFox, that shows how to make a spiral granny square afghan with four colors that just keep going and going and going.

Now I want to know, can it be done with eight colors? I will figure it out, but not today...

Sleepy Owl

2013-02-17T17:55:00.004-06:00

I slept for five hours today. (Perhaps I should be going to bed hours before midnight instead of hours after.)

So it's a good day to show Sleepy Owl, who, due to her lowered eyelids, was also dubbed Exasperated Owl by one of the girls. : )

Accessory: little stuffed teddy bear, made by Sophie and me; bear is attached with hook-and-loop tape

Snowy Owl

2013-02-15T20:20:00.003-06:00

In honor of the snow outside, and the man and three girls who didn't have to go to work or school today and played in it instead.

Accessory: blue scarf, knitted by Sophie on a 8-prong knitting nancy but going back and forth, instead of around in a never-ending circle so that we ended up with a flat strip instead of a tube.

Lovey Owl

2013-02-14T13:08:00.000-06:00

Accessory: little felt envelope that can hold teensy love notes.

Sophie, asking about the initials on the envelop: "What's S.W.A.K.?"
Me: "Sealed With A Kiss"
S: "Oh, cool!"
Sometime I'll have to tell her about how a less romantic, more literal lover signs it:

S.W.A.L.C.A.K.W.S.

which means

Sealed With A Lick Cause A Kiss Won't Stick

(Mama, remember when you told me about that? I was probably Sophie's age.)

* * *

P.S. Sorry if you already saw this. I managed to delete the original post when I meant to click edit!

Overrun by Owls

2013-02-13T10:54:00.001-06:00

Time to break the six month blog silence. And since my old way of blogging (taking lots of pictures, writing lots of words, spending lots of time) doesn't seem to be working anymore, time to try something new.
One photo--right off my phone, a few words, a few moments of my day, and done.
By this weekend, these owls will all have gone to new homes. It's been lots of fun making them with the girls, picking out fabrics, deciding on the little touches. Hmm, I think I'll introduce each one over the next 12 days...

The Cross-Cultural Wedding Cakes

2012-09-18T23:52:00.001-05:00

Since my cousin and her new husband have just celebrated their one-month anniversary this week, it’s probably time I post some cake pictures. Here’s one of their wedding cakes, very similar in structure to the one I made for a Marriage Retreat Weekend, except that I made the inserts wider. And since there were globes on every table (the groom is American, the bride is German), I decided to wrap the inserts with map paper.

The flowers were very much inspired by a photo of a cake Jana found online. I made sure to save the source so I could credit it when I wrote the inevitable blog post, but now I can’t find it again. Ack! So here’s a close-up of MY flowers, instead.

That’s a LOT of flowers. At the last minute, I called up some reinforcements – a few of the American Heritage Girls that I lead – and we had a grand time coloring and rolling and pressing and shaping.

The other cake, sort of a “groom’s cake,” was a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Cherry Cake, a Bavarian specialty. I’d never made one before, probably because I’d tried a piece once, when I was about nine, and hated the taste. But cherry liqueur and I get along much much better now; I could eat this cake all day every day! So yummy!!!

Ooh, I wish I would’ve gotten a picture of the inside. It’s three layers of cherry-liqueur-drenched chocolate cake, divided by layers of cocoa cream filling and this amazing cherry compote. Mmm, methinks I should make another soon. Ooh, I also thought I could earn “Best Mom Ever” points at my kids’ German Immersion charter school by making Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes and leaving them in the teachers’ lounge. A cherry-liqueur flavored cupcake with a cone shape cut out of the top and filled with the cherry compote, then the cone shoved back into place (or eaten by me), and then the whole thing covered with the whipped cream icing, sprinkled with dark chocolate shavings. Doesn’t that sound yummy?!?

Oh and the topper on the cake: When Paul and Jana were here and we were discussing the cake, Paul discovered there wouldn’t be a topper on the “real” cake, other than the flowers. So that’s where the idea came to do this other cake, and someone suggested that they use Playmobile figures instead of buying a generic couple topper. (Playmobile – the quintessential German toy.) I sent them up to the toy area, thinking they’d come down with our “sporty” figures, since both of them are into fitness. They did grab the bike, then hitched it to the carriage and added a prince and princess. Clearly, both of them are also into silliness! Just take a look at their fun engagement photos on Facebook!

And finally, seeing the Playmobile sitting around the kitchen for a few days, my oldest was inspired to make a little stop animation video as a wedding present for them. So that’s what I’ll end with:

(Translation: “Ach du meine Guete!” is German for “Oh my goodness!”)

(And anyone who’s been visiting this blog for a year or more: did you recognize the folded star made from music sheets?)

One Big Reason Why I Haven't Posted Anything Since The Bags Update

2012-08-14T15:49:00.001-05:00

Jana's getting married in two days!

Personalized Teachers’ Bags

2012-08-09T11:06:00.001-05:00

Had a bit of a break there between the last post and this one! In fact, my kids are now only 18 days away from the start of their new school year. But here are the purses that my girls, together with their classmates, gave their teachers last May.

And since I’m not feeling particularly verbal today, I’ll make this Show ‘n Tell more show and less tell. So the few “in process” shots I’m including have no further explanation; but often a picture is enough, and if you have questions, you can also email me or ask down in the comments. (Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.)

For Frau B---, who is comfortable, casual, and natural, who “sang” into the hearts of her first graders (after the upheaval of their saying goodbye to not one but two other teachers who had to leave due to cross-country moves and other unforeseen issues) and who brought about beautiful growth in each of the children.

And for Frau K----, who is cosmopolitan and hip yet also caring and nurturing, who is returning back to Germany after her 3-year teacher exchange in Minnesota (hence the shape of the applique), and who is deeply loved and admired by her class of third graders.

I must say, I’m getting excited for school to start again. Not so much because I long for a return to routine and structure to our days, but rather because I’m thrilled that our experiment to throw our kids into the German immersion charter school had such great results and I’m eager for it to continue and now include my youngest as well.