CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO: Books

November 16, 2014

Handmade Scandinavian Christmas (a book Review)

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I was approached a few months ago by the British editors the of Stitch/Craft Create book-club to participate in a blog hop style book review. I had a few e-books to choose from, all of them about Christmas. I went with Handmade Scandinavian Christmas by Hege Barnholt, because it suits my aesthetic best and really who can say no to a free book!

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This photograph reminds me that we should save a few leaves as we rake them.

The concept of the book is simple: make most of your decorations and don't over do it. I can buy into that (pun intended) as most years I dread cluttering our living space with Holiday decor, and I enjoy storing everything the rest of the year even less. However, as we have just concluded our house renovation and now have a dining room I feel like doing something this year... a big tree perhaps? or a simple branch in a jar. Many if not all of the projects in the book can be made by children, probably 7 and older. I think that children love seeing their own creations on the tree and personally I would prefer if we stayed away from noddle garlands (a French Kindergarten classic).

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This Bird and buttons garland is one of my favorite project in the book: I like the soft harmony of whites and natural/beige ribbon. Here is another favorite, handmade candles, which Finn and I will attempt this year once school is out, we will most likely use a soy wax mix such as this one on amazon.

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Another section of the book that caught me eyes contains lots of beautiful treats that can be made for the birds. We have a large bird feeder outside of the kitchen window and since we have some extra hooks there it would be nice to vary the bird buffet with some of those beautiful treats:

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In this book you will find recipes, advent calendars, homemade gift ideas such as simple knits and decorating tips. It will surprise no-one that I cannot fail to share a few pictures of winter flowers, always a favorite around here:

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If you like a simple, low key kind of Holiday, I think you might enjoy this book very much. The projects are not complicated, yes they look homemade and that is the point! By this I mean that you do not need to be Martha to end up with lovely objects born of the lovely ideas in this book.

If you feel so inclined you can get a paper copy from here. Here is another picture to tempt you with!

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If you have crafted a christmas decoration already and would ike to share it, you can enter a picture of it in this giveaway:

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Share a picture of your own handmade Christmas decoration with the lovely people at Stitch Craft Create and you could win £100! Just add your photo to their share board or use the hashtag #SCCXmas on Twitter or Instagram.

Posted at 07:00 AM in Books, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 29, 2014

Mollie Makes US edition!

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Ladies! This is very exciting news: The cutest crafty magazine in the world now publishes a US edition!

It launches today and should arrive in stores and in my mailbox very shortly. You can check out a sample and subscribe for 74% off the cover price using this link:

www.molliemakesusa.com/buynow

Mollie Makes, for those of you who don't already know, is a UK based magazine packed with projects of all types -- sewing, crochet, up-cycling, etc. -- along with news and product information for the craft lifestyle, and profiles of notable designers and makers.

Growing up in France reading Marie Claire Idée, my dream was to one day contribute to such a magazine. Well Mollie Makes is the english language equivalent and I am crossing my fingers that I can make this little girl's dream happen in the future as I am about to review each copy this year, courtesy of the editors!

Looking at the cover above I can't help but wonder about the Japanese tie-dye, something I have always wanted to try for a scarf and a whole cloth quilt...

edit: Typepad seems to be struggling with the link feature at the moment, please for the moment copy and paste the full link in the article if you are interested.

Posted at 10:08 PM in Books, Mollie Makes, SEWING, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 19, 2014

make your own reds, dye and over-dye

First and foremost: Thank You! I am super excited about all the nice quilters that I have reached me through email and comments to offer some of their red scraps as contribution for the Domiciles Aardwark quilt. It going to be a house quilt from many houses, perfect!

Before I decided to reach out I experimented with dyeing my own red, in some cases over-dyeing traditional quilt fabric. Incidentally, commercial quilt fabric takes the dye very very well. I only used Rit so for, but I also usually like Dylon for a quick dye. But more seriously, I am passionate about the process of dyeing fibers and had been looking at this book (above, Modern Color by Kim Eichler-Messmer) for a while at the bookstore. After actually finishing a few project I felt better about taking a closer look and ordered the 6 Procyon colors from Dharma trading required to make the quilts in the book such as this one, my favorite:

The ultimate cradle to grave project, from creating the fabric to quilting the quilt top. ambitious no doubt but I believe that like more and more quilters I value total ownership. Here's to hoping it comes to life!

Posted at 12:09 PM in Books, FABRIC, fine arts, SEWING | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 13, 2013

A few little nothings

Maybe it was the rough day finally looking up at 4:30pm but I felt the sudden urge to take a few pictures and write this entry. Of course by then I had exactly 10 minutes to capture the last of rays of sunlight. Daylight savings is not kind to the procrastinator. It's been all up and down at La Maison Lanvers and seeing Finn sick, in pain and clutching his belly all day is just heartbreaking. We are all better now, which is a huge relief for everyone. Hence a little frivolous posting...

baby hat for Quitterie

First and foremost I finished Quitterie's white baby hat. It is much larger than I anticipated but her little head is certainly growing. It is made of the most wonderful Cotton-Wool mix from Rowan. Very special and never itchy. It only took one 50gr skein which means I could probably make another smaller version pronto. I always feel that any present needs a custom bag, and sometimes one is already there waiting for the perfect gift, convenient! The pattern and my Ravelry notes can be found here.

This strawberry Liberty of London print is just lovely, I might have to make a diaper wallet with the leftovers.

baby hat for Quitterie little Liberty bag

Moving on now to the little things we picked up during the veteran's day sale at the thrift-store. Books mostly, an English deco book and a collection of Nature Science books for children from the 60's by Dr. Glenn O. Blough. The illustrations by Jeanne Bendick are to die for, so are the titles: Not only for Ducks, the story of rain. The concept reminds me of an uber popular independent French nature gazette called La Hulotte. It is written by a former elementary school teacher who is also an exquisite illustrator. It is completely possible that most of my plant and wild creature knowledge came from those pamphlets. They have a facebook page ! it feels all wrong but I am liking anyway!

Thrifted nature science book from the 60's

The little house was unpainted but strangely compelling and cheap ($.99). I am giving it the usual treatment of grey paint. At this stage only the first coat is on. The little gilded box came from a closet somewhere in the house. It was still Ikea meeeh and as I was considering letting go of it the idea struck to make use of the pot of gold used for the bamboo frame. It's considerably more regal now and Finn thinks it's "very beeeeautiful!".

thrifted little nothing and a gilded Ikea box

Posted at 06:13 PM in Baby, Books, FABRIC, Kids, Knitting, SEWING | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 10, 2013

I Hate To Cook Book

For those interested in the Polar Sock Pattern I am still in the process of developing an in depth review. I hope to see it here by the end of the week. In the meantime it was bothering me this lack of time to post anything worthwhile just as I am getting used to writing regularly again. This morning on a short Goodwill run something irresistible presented itself and ouf! we are saved.

Thursday Goodwill haul

What is this under the die-cast Chevy toy car for Finn and the little French jar? An hilarious cook book illustrated by Hilary Knight. The same Hillary Knight that gave Eloise her big belly and forward attitude. I am in heaven! It is important for me to note how much I love love love! Eloise. I was introduced to her by some truly evil people during my childhood and yet even they could not pollute the shades of the Plaza Hotel. Let me show you inside:

Thursday Goodwill haul

The chapters also include such gems as "The Leftovers or every family needs a dog" or "Company's Coming or your back to the wall" and a final one "Canapes and Heartburn Specials or who stated this business".

I am delighted to see that Peg Bracken wrote another book illustrated by Hilary Knight, "The I Hate To Housekeep Book". Both are easy to obtain on Ebay if you absolutely must have it!

Posted at 11:01 AM in Books, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 17, 2013

Books for a Sunday afternoon

Christian Tortu vase

In this house books don't get read anymore, they used to but then came fanfiction, netflix, pinterest, blogs, facebook and soon it was game over. Hopefully this month marks the beginning of a come back, after trudging through the new P.D. James Death Comes to Pemberley (apparently not my thing but enjoyed by a dear friend) I picked up Hitchers from the reader's choice shelf at the local library. A sure way to find something enjoyable, I have been told. The main character in Hitchers is called Finn, a good sign surely and so far the story has been riveting. This book is really well crafted, I find myself re-reading entire paragraph to enjoy them all over again, and thinking of sending a copy to my mother who likes to practice her English by reading novels. I sent her Never Let Me Go, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Beware of God, all personal favorites... This one might fit in just fine.

Speaking of favorites, this green vase from uber famous French florist Christian Tortu has been a really great ebay find. You can fill it with one flower or five and it works! Magic...

Posted at 08:08 PM in Books, floral design | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 17, 2012

Loot and recycle

Library Sale Loot

Our Local public library is 'weeding' its shelves, books can be had for 50 cents hard cover and 25 cents soft. Which means this stack cost a grand total of $1.75! Still I had no money in my pockets so S. had to bankroll this coup, great friend to have.

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The shed chic is going to be a classic for all ages. It's part sheds part cabins part tree houses and beautiful gardens around them. S. also brought the flowers, held in a water bottle on her bike, very neat. The petals fall in my hair while I sleep, I feel very romantic (wink).

recycled jcrew bag

Speaking of flowers, I was in the unenviable position to wrap a doll today for a little girl fourth birthday. It's a Lalaloopsy (big head, button eyes) and it comes in the most uneven shaped box ever seen. After much grunting with brown paper I gave up and sat down to consider the meager options remaining in the bag closet. But I shouldn't have doubted the ever sturdy/cool JCrew bags. A few stapled leaves( from scrap-booking paper) one sheet of tissue paper made in a peony, some hot glue, and some more hot glue et voila! I like the bag better than the present now, and wouldn't mind at all making more...

Posted at 07:06 PM in Books, paper crafts, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 06, 2011

Crafting With Cat Hair, a review.

The good people at Quick Books, who brought us such genius as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, have sent me this funny little Japanese book to review. It's called Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya. It arrived on Monday while I was pondering the age old debate: "why is sheep/rabbit hair fine to use but cat hair weird?" Probably because I pay a premium for the first while spending most of my time vacuuming the second. I usually take cat hair off my crafts but I might have to start putting it on after reading this adorable book, the Japaneses really have it all figured out!

Cathair
I asked Uli if he would give me a paw to write this review but he gave me his usual answer: " (yawn) I'll sleep on it (yawn)".

The book contains 10 projects that appear simple, some require no felting equipment. You will find coin purses, scarves with appliques, pin cushions, book covers and more. Bellow are two of my favorites. click on them for a larger view. The book is very affordable ($14.95) and would delight a cat lover anyday.

crafting with cat hair

It also contains an educative section about cat grooming/allergies and of course an overload of cat cuteness, does it compare with Uli on that level: "not a chance! (yawn)". proof

I think this review would not be complete without a little Maru, the world most famous cat (sorry Uli!) who happens to be Japanese.

Posted at 09:48 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 13, 2011

A microscopic book review

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While sitting around at club med, I quickly realized that if I wanted to read anything I had to go for value, long and cheap because the magazines there were sold for over $10. I opted for a kindle copy of 'a discovery of witches' by Deborah Harkness. Having seen it at the grocery store and downloaded the free preview I felt safe in my purchase. Well, I don't like to criticize in vain, especially here but this book can be described in two words: pretentious and boring. I didn't make it through on the beach, and once back home I found the pedantic descriptions of expensive wine tastings insurmountable. I just couldn't do it any longer.

Looking for satisfying fluff elsewhere, I fumbled through a few self published kindle book with no success until settling for an Omnific publication by Jennifer DeLucy. It's called Seers of Light and as supernatural romances go it's really very good. The prose is solid and the story fleshy enough to overcome the unavoidable cliches of the genre. It makes me ponder why some author get all the love, that is published and aggressively distributed while other more deserving books have to be pretty much self promoted and suffer bad cover art (no joke):

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Posted at 10:37 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

April 21, 2011

love is ugly sometimes

the little american (don't trouble yourselves, it's not soda)

Finn and I went to JoAnn today to buy a book called Let's Draw Happy People. I thought it would be great fun to try and practice together. We found the book and that atrocious batman fabric as well. Explaining to him that the lady wasn't cutting his Batman blanky was interesting, he thought the entire bolt was his (shivers down my spine). I had plans on trimming the eyesore with one equally tacky satin double fold, but back at home I scrapped the idea and went for a white serged edge that took less than one minute. The entire time Finn is jumping up and down, tripping on the cord and screaming; " I AM BATMAN!!!!!". Meanwhile I am thinking: "This is unquestionably the ugliest, most yucky feeling thing I have ever made, it will be his favorite for sure..."

So like I said, Love can be ugly sometimes, but it's so so good.

Maybe I should forgive him his bad taste, he is extremely color blind. It's a challenge at that age when everything is color coded. As I am typing this he is getting frustrated with crayons 'that are the same' or in the case of the grey/white one "doesn't work". Maybe a little nap under the Batman cape will settle things down? Dream on.

( getting a thank you kiss, yeah!)

Just a reminder that I am answering comments directly on the blog from now on, not that I get that many, except from you Lisa love!

Posted at 02:36 PM in Baby, Books, SEWING | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

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