All the vendors were wrapped around the track at McCarren Park in Brooklyn. So many shops, not enough cash! And the wind was attempting to deface all the handmade goodness…

Everyone loved Hayley’s Diana! She wasn’t sure if it was in full working order, but we’ll find out soon enough! Check out her blog, Mermaid Stew

Loved these necklaces by Sprout!

Snagged an adorable card from Brooklyn’s beloved Enormous Champion! Danielle (that would be the lady with the carpet beard) picked up their “Squirrelly Love” for her sister.

I absolutely had to get this apron. Had to. Look at that little guy! He loves his bacon just as much as me. Oh, revered bacon, I love you so. Thank you Fisk and Fern!

And even though bacon has a special place in my heart, I also like trying awesome new food. And I do love me some veggie burger. So Danielle took us to Foodswings! Vegan fast food, very very delicious. Look how awesome it is. Check out Danielle’s vegan baking blog, Soundtrack for Baking.

Cowboy Burger. Soy patty and soy bacon. So tasty. The bun and the fries went against my diet, but hey, it was a splurging kind of day. And all my will power went to not ordering dessert or a milkshake anyway.

After our late lunch, there was some tornado warnings and we were pretty groggy (in a good way!) so we headed back to CT… tiring, sun-soaked and completely agreeable weekend.  Not sure what the week will bring now… be back soon!

Even though it’s a little big, Gram was very happy with her surprise! Lots of photos and a tutorial after the jump!

Shall I promise to post about sewing every Friday? Maybe not PROMISE but I will certainly try… and maybe my family will have me sewing my way to rent? We’ll see. This weekend is jam-packed with activities to distract myself from Megan’s absence: huge family tag sale and Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn!!

So doing covers for things, or even making your own pillow or cushion is relatively simple. The key is to plan ahead and make sure you’re measuring correctly… two things I don’t really do, but should. So since Gram’s cushion is oddly shaped so some bone of hers doesn’t touch the seat (I have no idea), I decided to trace it last time I was over onto the local newspaper, and copy down the dimensions (roughly 19x16x3).

Luckily, one of the weekends in April I came home, I randomly decided to patchwork some Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt (a local! I almost worked for her, you know). This helped me out a lot since I didn’t want to make something too boring for my vivacious grandmother…

I also used the last of my precious natural colored linen, and sewed them all together for the top. What I did was ignore my newspaper-pattern for now and just do big squares: since I tend to mess up and to leave  seam allowance, I went for 24×21 rectangles. The key with patchwork I find is to make sure the seams are perfectly pressed (in the same direction, or flat, whichever your preference) and lots of pins. Never think you are using too many pins. Pins are your friend.

Quickest way for something to look professional? Topstitch it. Which sounds fancy but just means sewing for decoration close to a seam. I like to mix up straight stitch lengths and sometimes throwing in zig stitches (no zigs for Gram).

Now that I have my lovely 24×21 square, I have to trace the oven-mitt-esque humps of my pattern onto my precious linen. At first I was going to follow my pattern exactly, then realized I’m not very smart and should trace the pattern on one half and fold it over to make sure the humps were symmetrical (top-right). Snip-snip. For the back I decided to use my great-grandmother’s denim, which I love, and which I will be basing my future projects off of. It just looks great with everything, and it’s really sturdy.

Now hem both the top piece and the bottom piece. I did about 1/4 inch, with a longer stitch. Smoothly place both of the “right sides” together (left), and pin to your heart’s content (right). Then sew! I did a zig-zag stitch for some sturdiness. And make sure you don’t accidentally sew together your hemmed tops! The reason I did the hemmed tops instead of closing it in was that I really wanted to make sure that I could actually fit the cushion in there… I wasn’t feeling too confident.

And we’re done! Just make sure to backstitch a little (hit the reverse button on your machine for a few stitches) and you’re set to turn the cushion cover inside out! Since we have the largest side open, it’s pretty easy to smooth the seams (after you do some extra pressing with the handy iron). For a pillow or something similar, you would ignore the hemming, stitch up the 4th side and leave a small gap. Then you would flip your cover right-side-out and stuff with your cushion, and hand sew the small gap.

I’m not sure if that puckering in the middle of my two humps is normal, probably not, but I’ve not had much practice with curves… I’ve seen some things about snipping slits, but I didn’t really want to practice on something for Gram. She wouldn’t pose for it, but she gave me an action shot on the chair

I love Harry Potter. Have I read better written books? Sure. But I met Harry Potter when we were both children, and we grew up together. This of course gives Harry a home-field advantage when Twilight arrived on the planet and blinking, stepped into the sun.*

There is a lot out there in the deep corners of the interwebs about both series, and after finishing Breaking Dawn (the last of the Twilight saga) today, I can see why. Both deal with typically “dark” fantastical elements, such as vampires and magic: fantasy and science fiction typically yield a cult following (see: Lost, Joss Whedon’s entire catalog), and this tends to drive people (parents) a little crazy.

To me, these books are quite different, but both Harry Potter and Twilight really focus on the relationships that bond the characters, and the way both authors treat their readers as mature enough to understand these complex relationships. Twilight especially makes use of this with the Bella, Edward, and Jacob love triangle…

But! Stephenie Meyer, you managed to trick everyone into thinking decent characters meant decent writing! You don’t underestimate your young readers in plot and development but you do in diction and style. Why?! I wish someone could rewrite Twilight, and I’m sure if I wasn’t too terrified to actually go to a Twilight fan site I could find some fanfiction that’s probably better.

So, now that I am successfully educated by finishing the books, I can still go on to say that Harry Potter is better (and so are a lot of other books) :p

*May or may not be a line from The Lion King