Mom ♥

This is my mom :-) She and I are both embarking on the crafting etsy adventure and having so much fun sharing the process with each other along the way! 

Here are some of the fun things she makes!

Find her here: 

ETSY - FACEBOOK - WEBSITE

Her presentation on Etsy:

My name is Sandra Hanken and I live a country life in northern Minnesota. My mother taught me to sew when I was a little girl and I have loved to create things ever since. I use lots of re-purposed materials for my creations. I enjoy the variety of colors and textures this allows and it is wonderful to see something old given new life. I have made memory bears since 2006 as BecomingBears® but am currently having fun creating lots of new creatures that I call ETCs (short for Especially Terrific Creatures). I hope you will enjoy meeting them!

Mom, Grandma and Oliver

My mom's mom and my Grandma, Eleanore Mejdrich, who taught my mom to sew and me to crochet turns 95 next week! Happy Birthday, Grandma! 

In these times of youtube, google and online tutorials isn't it wonderful to sit down together and make something? To take time and pass on skills like sewing and crocheting through generations? I feel very lucky to be able to experience that. 

Here I am helping mom sew. :-)

Oliver's turn. :-)

Giveaway!

Since my mom is just starting out with Etsy and Facebook I thought we could put together a little giveaway to get the ball rolling. She has just started selling patterns so to celebrate she will give away 1 pattern of choice to 3 winners. 

To enter like her FACEBOOK page and then leave a comment here on my blog post. 

The giveaway starts right now and ends on Sunday night at midnight CST (the 29th of January). If you leave your email address we will contact the winners that way. I will also publish the winners on my facebook page.

You could win the Owl pillow pattern

Or make an especially terrific creature!

Good luck! 

We had fun searching through old pictures! Here we are in 1988 :-)

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Enjoy your time creating!  And if you have snow, make a snowman!

Zoltan

This is Zoltan.  I made him on vacation in Minnesota.  My mom (aka sewing superwoman) had this cool book by Fiona Goble and it has some really cute monster projects that are great for beginners (aka me).

So I made him under the expert guidance of my mom while Oliver "helped".  Here is Oliver helping me stuff Zoltan.

And playing with Zoltan.

Oliver likes Zoltan.  :)

The chair project - part 2 - Monster bookends

I had some fabric leftover from the chair project and decided to make some monster bookends inspired by Lotta Jansdotter to decorate in Oliver's bedroom. She has this pattern in her book "Simple Sewing for Baby". I love this book!

Well, as is tradition with sewing projects, I showed this idea to my mom while she was here visiting at Christmastime and guess who made them? Yes!  Mom! My mom is a master at the sewing machine and I am very enthusiastic about making things but not the most confident of sewers.... yet! Mom designed them with super cute little button eyes and embroidered smiles.  :-)  

Check out the amazing job she did with these bookends!  

And here I am with mr. wiggely next to the funky chair in the bedroom.  

  

The chair project

I really love the idea of making something new out of something old.  Recycling old clothing in new sewing projects and that kind of thing.  It is eco-friendly which is great, but it also presents new challenges and stimulates creativity.  A win-win.  

We needed a chair in the baby room to nurse in and I couldn't find one I liked.  (That's not entirely true.  I found one I liked, we bought it and it got "stuck" in the living room where Øystein also liked it as an ideal Simpsons-viewing device.)  In anycase, I went to a big garage sale and bought an old rocking chair for kr. 50,- (about 8 bucks)  I also found 5 meters of awesome fabric (steal!).  So with an investment of about 15 dollars (ok, and a 20 dollar stapler) I went to work!  

Before:

Now let me be clear.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  How hard could it be to reupholster a chair?  

First you have to remove about 2 million staples.  

Then tear the whole thing apart finding old treasures like coins that are no longer produced in Norway etc. I ripped it all apart and decided to keep the wood.    

Then I started the work of putting it back together.

I used part of a mattress and an old comforter that I washed and prepared.

Staple, staple, staple.....  Then I figured out fabric placement.

Made new buttons from an old funky purse.  (that I bought at the same sale for the fabric)

Sewed and stapled away and voila!  

Several hours later (ok days later...) and I had one unique funky chair to nurse in!  A success!  

Mei tai summer

My mom and I like creating stuff together.  We live an ocean apart (Minnesota - Norway) but were able to spend a whole 5 weeks together last summer.  2010 was a really cool year in our family because my husbands brothers were also expecting babies.  3 perfect little cousins in 2010! We were first with our baby in March and I had discovered the wonder that is the Mei-tai.  Baby carrying is cool and after trying many types of carriers I found I liked the Mei-tai best.  A friend of mine here let me borrow hers that she had sewn and mom and I went to work making lots of them!  Thanks, Sissel for introducing me to baby carrying and letting us borrow and copy yours!  So all the little cousins and their parents got a matching mei-tai!  It was a really fun project!  Here are some pictures from the process!

Mom and Oliver (4 months) buying fabric at the fabric store.  (oh, how I miss the American fabric stores)

Mom working out the pattern in her brand new sewing room.

Oliver helping figure out what design to cut out of the fabric.  This fabric we bought at Ikea.  Tip:  Ikea sells great fabric for this type of project.  They have many cool prints in the right weight.

Nice sewing room, Mom!

Finished!  Man it looks warm there, doesn't it?  It was warm.  Hot, in fact.  Nice to look at these pictures in January!

Oliver was really sweet and cooperative.  He likes to be carried in the mei-tai.  We have used it alot.  He has been on many hikes here in Norway in that carrier.

Here is one example.  Oliver's first meeting with a cow.  (He slept through it)

Here he is awake on Øystein's back on another fall hike.

There they all are!  Now they are in their respective homes carrying their respective babies!