Project Project Runway- Week 1

Here we are in Week 1 of the new season of Project Project Runway. This season the House of Nodrok is using a new model-Veronika.



Veronika was discovered while working as a nanny for a family in a suburb of Minneapolis. She was at the pool when we offered her a better gig. It will be exciting working with her in her first season on PPR.

Week 1- Time's Square Anniversary Party was the theme for the week. Designer's were challenged to take a look that we had designed in previous season that was an example of your design esthetic and design a complimentary outfit for this week. I struggled with this one. None of my designs were jumping out at me. I chose one from my final collect from last year and went with it.



This week's look is a floor length strapless dress with a layered bottom. I envision this dress flowing on the runway as Veronika shows it off. I chose simple shoes and a bag to go with it.



I hope that the judges will keep me around for another week to see what I can do.

PPR #10- Sew 70's

After a few weeks off to settle in to the school year, the House of Nodrok is back this week. The designs of the 70's bring back bad photo memories from my childhood but I embraced the challenge and went with it. This week the challenge was to look to the past to find your inspiration and create a sophisticated 70′s revival design. For my first design I decided to do an updated twist on the poncho with black suede pants.

 The judges agree with my assessment that the pants ended up being a little long but the model refused to wear the high-heel shoes I picked out and walked on the runway barefooted.

 I was rushing in the workroom to finish my second look (kids needed to be picked up at school and Tim kept telling me the clock was ticking.) This look is a simple one piece dress with a belt.

I feel lucky to have gotten the second look done but hope that it will get me to the next week.

Challenge #5- Off Track

This week on Project Runway the designers were challenged to create a look to go with Heidi's line of New Balance shoes. This look is more my thing as I am either in sneakers or sandals depending on the time of year. So off to the studio I went.

 I found this great denim fabric with some black floral print on it and had some suede in the workroom. I started out thinking long skirt but when Heidi showed up in the workroom she shook her head at me so I decided a short skirt was the way to go.

    

I finished off the look with a sleeveless knit top.

 

I could totally see running errands in the skirt and a pair of tennis shoes. The outfit for the mom on the go.  Hopefully the judges don't think it is too ordinary and that I make it through to the next challenge.

 The show it self was a little too much drama for me. And the run at the beginning was a little strange.

Iron Craft challenge #32- Summer!

Summer to me means warm weather and time at the pool or beach. We are getting ready to head south to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to see my brother and his family. We love to spend time on the beach, relaxing, playing in the surf and catching some rays. The one thing that drives me crazy is when my beach towel falls down off the top of the chair. That was the inspiration for this week's Iron Craft challenge.

I decided to take a beach towel and modify it. I first added some pockets at the bottom of the towel to hold my sunblock, water (keeping the bottom out of the sand) and my sunglasses when I cool off.

Then I took the top of the towel and made a little pocket there to hold my Kindle or book- don't want it getting wet or sandy. After I made the pocket I folded the towel back on itself and sewed the sides to hold the towel in place so it won't slip down the chair.

Now I am all set for some fun in the sun.

Iron Craft #30 HOT! HOT! HOT!

I know it is July and it is suppose to be hot but we have had hotter weather than normal. It is funny-here in the Frozen Tundra we have had a 128 degree temperature swing between -25 in January to 103 this summer. We get it all.

This week for Iron Craft we were challenged to make something with the theme of hot. I thought right away about pot holders. Not sure why, maybe because mine are in really bad shape. I have never made these before but they were super easy. I did a little online research and decided to just go for it.

I tried 2 different ways of quilting and definitely learned a few things. I am thinking these might be on my project list to make for Christmas gifts.

Thing 1 was busy working on another project this week. The results will be shown soon and Thing 2 did what everyone wants to do in hot weather- he headed to the cabin and is playing all week in the lake. If he ever returns he will be back in action :)

Check back tomorrow to find out why I have gone crazy and to meet my model, Emelie for Project Project Runway.

Iron Craft #22 part 2- Al Fresco with Things

This week for the Iron Craft challenge the theme was centered around picnics. The 3 of us all had an idea of what we wanted to make.

I decided to try making candles for the patio. This was something that I had never done before. I bought some soy wax, wicks and used some canning jars Kathy gave me. To color our candles Thing 2 picked out some crayons and we used shavings.

I like how the colors turned out but I can definitely tell that there is more involved in making the candles than just melting the wax. Something to try again as I have more wax left.

Thing 2 decided to use his sewing skills again. Each summer we love to go camping as a family. I have all of the silverware we use for camping in a plastic bag. Thing 2 made a bag to hold the silverware and put a stamp on the bag.

He is becoming quite the sewer.

Thing 1 is not quite done with his project as I type this up. He is making a napkin holder to use outside. What better use for the box of popsicle sticks we have sitting around. He ran into problems in figuring out how to keep the napkins from blowing around. Knowing him he will work on it until he gets it right.

Until next week, and who knows maybe we can get dad to help us with the project since he will be home.

Iron Craft #20- To a T

Wow! It is hard to believe that we are 20 weeks into Iron Craft. I did not think I would make it past week one.

This week the challenge was to do something with a T-shirt. There is no shortage of t-shirts in this house and since we have made a few already for Iron Craft Thing 2 and I decided to do a little twist on the project. It was also perfect timing for a project that Thing 1 was doing for school. He belongs to the Anime Club at school and they all made t-shirts to wear this week for the last day of the club.



Thing 2 and I were talking about the theme and what he wanted to make. He came up with the idea of taking a favorite t-shirt he had outgrown and make it into a pillow. He is a bit of a pillow hog as he has at least 5 on his bed currently. He cut the sleeves off the shirt and then he sewed up the sleeves, collar and the bottom and stuffed it. He is getting pretty good at sewing which is fun to see.



He is planning on using it as a neck pillow for road trips in the car.

Every summer the Things come with me to work to attend one of my day camps. Each day they haul a lunch, sunblock, a water bottle and a book. I get tired of looking for all the stuff each day so I thought I would take one of the old t-shirts we had from camp and make it into a tote bag. This project could not have been easier. I just cut off the sleeves, the collar and then sewed up the bottom and squared it off. Instant bag. These would also make great good grocery bags.


Until next week and hopefully we won't be finishing our project late on Tuesday night again. We seem to be getting busier and busier around here.

Iron Craft #16 - Cha-ching!!!

This week on Iron Craft it is all about money. That word makes me think of Pink Floyd's song Money and the cha-ching sound. We had fun this week with this theme- lots of different projects going on here.

I had to work on Saturday so the Things spent part of the day with Kathy and Matt ( I am lucky to live 9 blocks away and that they are nice enough to help out when I need it!!!) Thing 1 loves the book The Encyclopedia of Immaturity, Vol 1. Among the many things it has that make boys laugh it shows you how to make a ring out of money so...Thing 1 made a little Rupee Bling for his pinky.

Thing 2 worked with Kathy to make a paper mache piggy bank.

We came home with both of them to be decorated. Not to be left out, Thing 1 decorated the other one.

Thing 1's is on the left and Thing 2's is on the right.

My mom made a great card that could be used to hold money. I guess it is not my birthday card since that is not my name on it....

But, the child who has a birthday next week is standing next to me as I work on this and sees his name wondering if Grandma is giving away a birthday secret. (He says he can't believe Grandma would spend the time on making the card and not send it) He says the money does not need to be in it- he just wants the card.

I was excited for this week's theme. I have been wanting to make a little coin/money pouch for awhile. There are many times I just want something to hold a few cards, my driver's license and my phone. I used the pattern found here -I tried to add a pocket on the outside but as my son would say-"epic failure" . I chose some springy fabric as we cannot seem to leave winter behind. I love my new pouch!!!

Looking forward to seeing what next week's challenge brings.... the one thing I really hope is we have some warm weather!!!

Until next week...

Iron Craft #10- the Fat Quarter

I was so excited to see fat quarters as the challenge this week for Iron Craft. I knew right away what I was going to make. A couple of weeks ago I had gotten some new makeup and some new brushes. These brushes needed something to hold them in and I knew just the thing. A brush roll. I had made crayon and pencil rolls for the boys a few years ago to hold crayons and colored pencils. I knew that all I needed to do was adapt it to hold the brushes and I was set. I am super happy with the results and even left room for a few more brushes. Now I need to make a pouch to match.

Grandma joined us again this week. My brother has twin girls- Sophie and Gwyn who are 6 years old. Both of them have American Girl dolls. Grandma decided to use a fat quarters to make some clothes for the dolls. Each piece in the outfits is made with a fat quarter but with the two girls she had to use more than one to make clothes. And being grandma, she did not stop with just one outfit for each doll. I know these outfits will be loved.

I had another idea for Thing 1 and Thing 2 to do for their project. Both of them love to draw and write in journals so I thought that covering your basic composition book with a fat quarter would be the perfect thing for them to do. The hardest part was getting them to go with me to pick out the fabric.

This project is really easy. Just measure out the dimensions of your book you are covering. Cut a piece of a fabric about an inch bigger and a piece of heat and bond. Adhere the heat and bond to the fabric. Once that is done you attach the fabric to the notebook. It is that simple. Now Thing 1 and 2 are set with a cool notebook to take on spring break.

Looking forward to what the next challenge brings.... the boys wake on Thursday and always ask what we are doing next.

Iron Craft Week 3- Just Bunt and bunt we did!!

Well, what is it that they say about the best laid plans....

I knew when starting out on this endeavor that doing a craft a week with my kids there would be some weeks where they could do the crafts and other weeks where they couldn't or would need more help. Well, this was a week that they needed a little more mom help. That's ok. I had fun helping them with their projects. I love seeing what they come up with.

Thing 2 had his all planned out- he was going to do his name for his room since he recently got his own room. He knew the number of flags he was using and how to decorate each letter- that was until Friday night at 7 when he announced he wanted to do a Packer garland and it had to be ready for the game the next day. You see, we are a Packer family, the dog is named Lambeau, Grandpa had season tickets and dad has been going to games for years. So Saturday night's game was a big one. Being the good Packer fan, I of course had some fabric around the house and our garland was planned out. Thing 2 helped sew up the flags, turned them right side out and even did some ironing. Come game time on Saturday it was all ready to go and so was he. So were the Packers as they won big!!!

Thing 1 had an idea to add to the skateboard theme in his room. Coming up with something for a boy did not prove as difficult as I had thought. I did have to help with some of the cutting and gluing due to the "stupid sling" as he calls it but the idea was all his. I think the skateboards came out great. We used felt for the boards and just glued them on. I use bias tape for the top. There is a plan to add more skateboards when the arm is healed up and Thing 1 can do them himself.

My garland on the other hand did not get made. Oh well, like I said- the best laid plans......

While the kids and I were back home working on our challenge, the Big Cheese was off taking photos of lightning over in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

We anxiously wait for the next craft. Thing 2 can't wait.

Iron Craft Challenge 2 Draft Snakes

So my cousin, Kathy at Kat Crafts was bugging me to join her Iron Craft Challenge group. I resisted until New Year's Eve when Thing 1 told her that he wanted to do the challenges. Since he wanted to join in I thought it was a great opportunity for me to do crafts with my kids, especially during these cold Minnesota winters. They will do as many of them with me as they can. Here we are at week 2- I am starting a blog and embarking on 52 crafts in 52 weeks.

This challenge was an easy one to do with kids and they both had ideas on how they were going to decorate their "snakes" . We went and got fabric markers and used some extra canvas around the house. They both planned out their designs before they started on the actual snake. Thing 2 wanted to sew his himself- Thing 1 is hampered by a broken arm so no sewing for him. This project was very easy for them to do and they had a fun time doing it. My snake is pretty basic with some IKEA fabric I had around the house.


Thing 1 wanted a tongue.

Thing 2 did his own sewing.


So we are waiting to find out what challenge number 3 will be. Kathy won't spill the beans early and she is sitting right next to me.