Sketchbook is Underway (and my first interactive piecing project)

I’m stilllllllll working on my tree for Quilt #3………….

I had to take a break! So I did. And I started my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. Totally inspired by the {Interactive} Piecing Group on Flickr, I decided that each entry into my sketchbook is going to be ‘sketched’ with fabric and sewn in the piecing style.

 

My sketchbook theme is Happy Thoughts. This is an image I have had in my head from a story my husband made up for our 2 year old. The story was about our son camping with his favorite stuffed animal Bow Wow.

I have a few more happy thoughts worked out in my head. It’s an easy theme to think about during this thankful and sharing season we’re coming in to! What happy thoughts are you thinking?

Come In WE’RE (da-a tis is) OPEN

ok, I’ve been saying I was going to do this for years. Re-open my Etsy shop! I opened it for a few months years ago, so I figure I’ll take another stab at it..

Yesterday I checked that off my list! I’ll be adding items, slowly, but surely…

For my da-a tis business I primarily make purses, totes and wallets embellished with freehand stitching. I also make what I call ghosties. Silly little plushie dolls that looked like ghosts when I made my first one!

So what started this whole thing??? Well, here’s the story if you’re interested… Years ago a friend asked me to make cushion covers for them. Big ones. Like 5′ x 3′, with a zipper. For some reason big scared me. I even moved and the big unfinished cushions moved with me. FINALLY, I made the covers. Um, super easy…. So I made a little pillow cushion out of the scraps for them. My husband said, you can sell those. So da-a tis evolved. First pillows, then totes, then purses and ghosties and baby blankets. Now wallets, too. The pillows and blankets are mostly custom orders these days.

So now ya know the history!

In Seattle? Want to buy really local? Check out the etsyRAIN street team, of which I am a member.

A Busy Week

I don’t have anything crafty to show from my week… I have been busy though… Photographing some pieces to restart my etsy shop, which hasn’t been used in about 4 years now… Working on my patchwork tree for Quilt #3. The tree is almost done, can’t wait to applique it down! And I was constantly planning my Friday trip to the fabric/craft store!!!

Oh, and my submission to Oh, My! Handmade Holidays Gift Basket Giveaway was accepted!! I can’t wait to see all the other goodies. I’ll keep you posted on more details…

I put together a few of the things that inspired me this week.

1. I loved the hanging baskets from The Mother Huddle! I’ve always thought about making my own, but never have. We’re about to turn a room in our house into a playroom and there is a wall that can’t have furniture on it becuase of a heater. But hanging these storage baskets is the perfects solution! I never would have thought to hang them. I’m sure to make them now!

2. The girl on a swing from Raggedly Owl is just adorable… So inspired to make more sewn art!

3. The faux bois sheets from Boodalee, totally cool. I have been debating on the back side design for Quilt #3. A new friend from the quilting quild suggested using a faux bois fabric. I had looked for this fabric before but I guess the fad is fading, becuase it’s not all that easy to find. And it’s expensive, what I did find… So I thought, I’ll stamp my own. Now I want to stamp in orange! I think it will be really cool!

4. And lastly, this is touching. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I saw it. 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge So far the counter is only at 198,071. I’m going to help that number rise closer to 1 Million. Will you?

Kids Hooded Towel

Well this has been on my to do list for ages!! Hooded Towel- Check. I could check it off, except for the fact I’ll probably make more over the next few years.

Originally I started out to just make a plain ‘ole towel with a pretty fabric back. As I was thinking about it, I thought, why not make it a dragon and give it fins?? But what to do about eyes? Then it became a monster with fins and big googly green eyes and yellow teeth (because monsters don’t brush their teeth and the sugar bugs turned them yellow!)

The plus is I used materials I had, so new towel equals free! I had a towel that was really big and we hardly used it, an old sheet, scraps from the fleece dragon wings for the fins and scraps from the fireman costume for the teeth. And wa-lah, a monster hooded towel!

Working on the tutorial! And it doesn’t have to be a monster. What would you make? A shark… A ladybug…  Let me know!

Quilting Firsts

A bunch of quilting firsts for today!

Firsts, biggest quilt yet is underway, first quilt with no measuring and very few parallel lines, first sew in, first log cabin piece!

Quilt #3 has started. … Being that this is my first BIG quilt, it’s intimidating, but the process of random cutting, no measuring or parellel lines is harder than I thought. 

A bit about the process… I’ve printed the design at full-scale (full scale on a bunch of letter size paper)  and taped it all together.  I’m starting with the tree applique first. If I could just keep going without stopping to think so much, I’d be way further along!

First Sew In with the Seattle Modern Quilting Guild. Very fun and I learned a lot in the 2 hours I was there. There were some really cool projects going on! Learned some tips for Quilt #4. And I got some great feedback on putting Quilt #3 together!

Made my first ever log cabin piece for a member’s baby blanket. (It’s supposed to be a little crooked.) Each block is a little off in it’s own way!

Helping Spread Crafty to Facebook

Nothing crafty today, just a new Facebook page for my blog…

I am totally relishing everyone’s comments on my art and craftiness! I can’t even explain how getting supportive feedback from family, friends and complete strangers is spurring my creativity! So I thought, why not set up other ways for people to see my things, comment and keep me motivated.

And not only that, I’ve found so many other awesome artists and bloggers online from comments on my blog and Facebook. The more the merrier!

The Like button is right over there… To your right…

And just to make it that much easier… Click the image below and away you go to the merry ‘old land of Facebook!

Thanks again for the motivation and inspiration!

I Love the Yarn Wreaths!

My Mom was visiting recently and had a website address written down that she wanted to show me for a wreath. We checked it out and neither of us liked them. The wreaths were decorated for Football season, but with cheesy fake roses and silly dolls. Not to mention they were EXPENSIVE!

We both said, we could do that and we could do it for half the price.

But how would we do it??? A few days went by, Mom went home, I was driving to work and thinking crafty thoughts… How could I make a cool wreath for my mom. And it’s hard to believe the timing, but that morning there was an email in my inbox singing the praises of Take Heart’s yarn wreath tutorial. Hello??? Perfect!

Out I went for materials, wreath 2.50, yarn about 3.00, felt sheets 29 cents each, fabric for bow about 2.00 (if that much), football I had…. total project budget 9.00! Much better the $150.00 one online. It did take a little longer to wrap the wreath with the yarn than I thought, but it’s worth it. I love it. Thinking of Christmas wreaths….

My first (and definitely not last) yarn wreath shows the love for the University of Alabama football team. Although this weekend was not their most shining moment, we are not fair weather fans, so the wreath making continued despite the loss… 

I followed the tutorial, but made a loop in the back for hanging. Very excited and think Mom will be too!

Postcards From The Gulf Update

All the postcards are online! Check them out here, there are some great ones! I have a list of all the ones I want to buy, but I am going to have to narrow that down. way down…

They go on sale tomorrow!! Beginning at 10:30pm CST on Friday, Nov. 5. $50.00 each and all the proceeds go to Alabama Coastal Foundation to help with the clean-up of our beautiful beaches and awesome coast line environments.

If you are in Mobile, AL, you can also check them out in person.

Preview and Sale: Saturday, November 12, 2010

6pm to 9pm

Room 1927 –  Saenger Theatre

Mobile, Alabama

I blogged more about my piece and the project here and here.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Bebe Kern, Winston-Salem, NC; Walter Beckham, Mobile, AL;

Elaine Rutledge, Mobile, AL; Joyce McAdams, Edgewater, FL;

Anna Vanover, Riverside, CA

Happy Halloween!

We had a beautiful day yesterday with the family and the weather! My little guy was a fireman, with a costume made with love.

I used a McCall’s pattern for a kids fleece coat and made it a size too big because those coats the Firemen wear always look so huge! So obviously I had to alter the sleeves a bit.

No fireman wears a plain black coat, so we needed some reflectors. I had cut out my yellow fabric strips to make the reflectors and was going to iron over each edge, sew them on and then sew on a silver ribbon… Then one day at the fabric store I asked for reflective ribbon and she showed me the yellow and silver iron on reflector tape!! So much easier than what I had planned.

And a badge, of course… We found a badge online and with some Photoshop work, changed the name and wa-lah we had a badge. I printed this on printable fabric with a fusible side and ironed it on the front.

And the back needed some letters for Max’s Fire Department. So I used my same technique that I used for the bunting. Iron on fusible adhesive to fabric, cut out the letters and then iron them on. Boom. Jacket done!

The pants were done with a super easy tutorial from Prudent Baby. although I didn’t do a few of the last steps. I made it a bit more simple for the Halloween costume.

And another thing a fireman can’t be without is his crew. I embellished sweatshirts for us and his grandparents!

Spotty the dalmatian was bought. I got the fabric and found a pattern to use to make him as well, but it just didn’t happen… It still can, one day soon….