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I'm packing up and moving. Like across the internet.

Follow all my projects, progress and mishaps at MakeAndDoGirl.com. See you there!

Badass Quilts Come To the VMFA!

The second best thing to spending an afternoon making things yourself has got to be spending an afternoon admiring things that other people made. Yesterday I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to see the American Quilts exhibit and do just that. Wow. Those old-timey chics had it going on. Even if it was my daily pursuit to do nothing but work on a quilt that represented my hopes and dreams for my impending marriage like these girls did, I'm really not sure I'd end up with a finished product that showed such incredible craftsmanship and commitment to detail.

Even though the current craft movement seems to be at least in part triggered by our lives being too cluttered with made in China junk, lots of what I and many people choose to make is still often based on efficiency. If I'm not a child of the YouTube generation, I'm at least a cool aunt of that generation and I almost always make quick, I-can-work-fast-and-be-wearing-this-by-Friday projects. The women behind these quilts clearly had an entirely different tolerance for long-term crafting endeavors. And for that reason, I think it's perfectly appropriate that their crafts end up in an art museum to be admired by thousands of visitors and mine end up in drawers, around my neck and under my bed to be used up and replaced by the next project that captures my attention.

Since there is no photography allowed in the museum, here is a picture of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I enjoyed in the cafe afterward.

Two Cowls Are Better Than One...

...So I made another one!

Shank Sisters Craftathon

Thanksgiving Eve, my sisters and I got inspired to whip a little something up--not apple pie or green bean casserole--but cowls! A quick trip to the yarn store and two movies later, voilà, our necks were covered in woolly goodness.



Pattern: Lion Brand Scalloped Cowl

China + Jess = Dynamic Crafting Duo

One of the perks of working right next to the largest Chinatown on the west coast is that I have access to lots of weird cheap stuff, like dollies and dominoes and farting pig keychains. I found these napkins in the basement of a Chinatown store, and since the difficult lacy part was already done (thank you, machine in China), I decided to add my own embroidery flair (thank you, Mom who was alive in the 60's to learn this kind of thing.)

A Needle Through a Haystack Garland

This is a very easy project took WAY longer than I thought it would.*

To make this garland, I used a ton of cupcake papers and circles cut from fabric, tulle, burlap and tea-dyed coffee filters. I stopped at 26'. No one needs that much garland.

















(*I guess that could be said about 96% of the things I make.)

Dominotrix

This latest project left left me longing for the the good old days when you could roll up to the general store, park your pony, and pick up a box of dominos and decent bottle of whiskey.

Now days, apparently simple black and white dominos are are not easy to come by. Domino designers had to get fancy and start putting colored dots all over everything, which is fine for game play, but not for my purposes. I didn't need my fireplace mantle looking like a sprinkle doughnut.

I finally found three boxes of plain dominos at "Canton Bazaar" in the depths of Chinatown. (Probably the biggest lesson I've learned living in San Francisco: when you need something weird that no one else will sell, go to Chinatown. If you don't find what you need, at least you'll come home with a wooden back massager or a toy to hang from your non-existent cell phone antennae.)

I simply glued the dominos on a piece of plywood to make an inexpensive, and surprising heavy, piece of art.

So Many Slippers

It was quite the sweatshop around here preparing for Christmas this year. My gift of choice was cozy felted slippers.


These were my first experience with felting (knitting wool and then washing it in hot water to make it shrink) and it was so much more fun that accidentally shrinking wool. If you can get over the temporary wet-dog smell, you can really make some cool stuff.

This is how the gigando slippers looked before I put them in the washer.


And this is how they look after.

To finish them off, I sewed leather on the bottoms and made some gift tags using rubber stamps.

Cozy Ankles

I make hats for heads. Slippers for feet. Mittens for hands. Sweaters for arms and tummies. But what about the quiet, unassuming ankles? Besides those few mishaps in high school volleyball where they didn't quite show up for me, my ankles have provided me with constant stability (what else can you say that about, really?) It is time those pillars of strength are recognized and honored.

Dearest ankles and lower calves:

I want you to know that you will be overlooked no longer. I hear your voice when you crack on the way up the stairs. What you have to say is important to me. And I will listen.

I'm sorry that I sometimes cut you when I'm shaving. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but you're just so bony and sometimes I'm in a hurry.

Please accept these legwarmers as token of my appreciation for your constant support.

Love always,
Jess

A Hairy Snuggle

I finished this "ripple pattern" scarf made from alpaca yarn I found in Half Moon Bay. If you could reach through the screen and touch this thing, I guarantee you'd want a bodysuit made from this delectable yarn. It feels like a little baby bunny snuggled around my neck.

Unfortunately, it sort of looks like that too--everytime I wear this scarf, my shirt ends up looking like I have a heard of cats at home. I'm not sure what's less icky: walking around covered in the hair of your pet, or walking around covered in the hair of an animal you've never met or seen?

A Feather In My Cap

The recipe for a perfect craft: felt, a barrette, feathers, a rhinestone piece of fanciness and a ton of hot glue. What's not to like about that? My crafty cousin, Kim, taught me how to make these awesome feather hair do-das while I was in Portland recently. They're perfect to put on a fedora or straight onto your noggin like an exotic bird.

Pumpkin Self-Portraits

A Crafty Weekend In Providence

I went to visit my crafty friend, McCall, in Rhode Island last week. She actually has an entire room devoted to crafting (my boyfriend likes to say I do too--it's our entire house). So we took advantage of all the space and made these leather flowers. They are hair-do das/pins/hat decorations/total awesomeness.

































McCall took a quick intermission to try out the rubber stamps we bought that day. They're pretty freakin' awesome. Of course, I splurged on two sets because I didn't feel like I could limit my creative potential to one typeface.

Stitching Up a Storm

Katie just moved into an adorable new apartment in Russian Hill, which gave us the perfect excuse for an crazy ambitious, late night craft project–pillow making. After discussing 3, 506 color/texture/pattern combination at Britex Fabrics (one can't just turn an art director brain off), Katie swiped her credit card, and we were committed.

Despite it being her virgin voyage with her sewing machine (even though she's owned it for four years), Katie and the machine preformed beautifully.





Sew a girl a pillow and she'll sleep well for a night. Teach a girl to sew and she'll sleep well for a lifetime. Or, until she finds new fabric she likes even better.

One-Upping Urban Outfitters

I have a love-hate relationship with Urban Outfitters. When I'm sick of sifting through dirty socks and logo-ed coffee cups at thrift stores, I love that I can go to UO, shell out five times more money and instantly get something that gives me some amount of hipster cred. I hate though, that when I go in there, I almost always also find some made-in-China version of something I've recently spent months making myself. I swear I'm in some secret Urban Outfitters focus group--a focus group that's so secret, I don't even know about it.

But this time, I'm one-upping Urban. I fell in love with this green fabric tapestry there. I backed it with brown cotton and now I'm quilting the hell out of it to create a queen-sized bed spread. Unfortunately, it probably won't be finished by the time UO is stealing my future children's creative ideas.

Bootie-licious

One of many pairs of baby booties I've cranked out lately. Stop reproducing people, I can't keep up!

Homemade Lip Gloss – Not As Charming As It Sounds

When I was home this Christmas, my mom, sisters, aunts and I tried a cranberry honey lip gloss recipe my mom had found in the newspaper.

As good as it looks simmering in that pot, I'm sad to report it didn't quite cut it as lip gloss. If it had been summertime, I'm sure a hummingbird would have tried to make out with my bright red, sugary lips.

Our Response to Threat Level Orange

A disclaimer: this isn't a current project. Mike and I screen printed this design back in 2005 (and if you're wondering, yes, the threat level was orange back then too. It'll be orange for my lifetime.) We made it as a sort of a joke. It was our way of reconciling the fact that we were going to endure another four years of Bush in the White House. Wearing it through the airport security line has proved to be quite an interesting social experiment.

Cohabitation Cooperation

What's a girl to do when she moves in with a boy who only has one pint-sized closet?

a. Each get rid of some clothes and share the closet
b. Buy plastic shelves at Home Depot and put them in the front hallway
c. Refinish some gym lockers and roll your clothes into little balls like you're in middle school P.E.

We agreed immediately A wasn't going to happen. We agreed not-so-immediately B wasn't going to happen (Boy needed a lot of convincing about why this wasn't an acceptable solution). And after several weeks of tripping over each other and our clothing carpet, we agreed C was the way to go.

I found some decent lockers on Craigslist and drove 40 miles to pick them up before work one day.

Once we got them up to our fourth floor apartment, I set to scrubbing, sanding and painting them on our fire escape.

I worked well into the night, many nights, spray painting by flashlight.


Our neighbors might now have slightly diminished lung capacity, but we have a bounty of new cubbies in which to store our stuff.

Stamping With Lotta Jansdotter

Recently Katie and I went to the Craft Gym (yes, can you believe this actually exists? Idea #483 that I wish I would have thought of.) Lotta Jandotter was there promoting her new book. Consequently, lots of crafty women, including me and Katie showed up to play with paint.

These are a few of the swatches we made with potato stamps. My mom used to make us potato stamps when I was little, and now they're how I decorate wrapping paper every Christmas.

Delicious Domestic Bliss

Two of my good friends are getting married (to each other--yay!) soon. They're a great match: the guy really loves to bake, and the girl really loves to eat, so I made them some aprons as a wedding gift.

Carton Craftiness

Katie and I just launched this spiffy new brand site for the California Milk Processor Board (the "got milk?" people.)

Being the crafty girls we are, we decided it would be cool to create some projects people could make from their empty milk cartons and jugs.

We designed the projects, cut, glued, taped, painted and even photographed the final products in our office (which looked like a pre-school classroom for much of March.) Fittingly, the site was launched on Earth Day.

Here are a few of recycled creations. See them all and download the instructions for each of them here.

The Everlasting Mother's Day Bouquet:




















Skimbot 2000, the Milk-Drinking Robot:





















Free as a Bird Feeder:




















Carton Cottage:


















Put Your Money Where Your Milk Is Wallet: