Mastermind with Factotum of Arts

 

Welcome to the last week of Sew Ready to Play! Sad, but true… BUT, WAIT! We have a new guest today. An online friend that I will get to meet very soon in real life! Michelle from Factotum of Arts is here today for her first game on Sew Ready to Play! I originally met her through our do.Good Stitches group and now through the Quilt Design a Day group on FB! She’s full of great inspiration! And is currently releasing quilting patterns developed from her QDAD drawings! If you don’t know her, you’ve got to check out her Blog!

Can you guess her game?  Click on over to her blog to see how she made a quilted wall art version of Mastermind! One of our favorite games!!!

Thanks for playing, Michelle!

 

Sept 9th- Liz and LiZ  from Simple Simon and Co

Sept 14th- Stacey from Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts

Sept 16th- Narelle from Threadistry

Sept 19th- Debbie from A Quilter’s Table

Sept 21st- Louise from I’m Feelin’ Crafty

Sept 23rd- Al from Shaffer Sisters

Sept 26th- Michelle from Factotum of Arts

Sept 28th- Ashley and Emily from Frances Suzanne

Sept 30th- The Recap!

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Cash Cab with The Shaffer Sisters

I love the Shaffer Sisters! One day I hope to meet them for real! They seem like so much fun and I love how they all craft together! They joined in on the fun last year with a fantastic dress and I’m so excited to have them back this year. I don’t remember how we ‘met,’ but I sure am glad we did! And I didn’t plan this, but they are competing in Project Run and Play with a hugely talented group of women this season!

Welcome Al!

Hello I’m Feelin’ Crafty Readers,

I am Al the youngest of the Shaffer Sisters. It is always our goal to encourage, inspire, uplift, and create with you. If you think that sounds like you or something you need in your life please don’t hesitate to follow us. We could really use your support as we compete in Project Run and Play in the upcoming weeks.

We are so tickled to be back at Sew Ready to Play. The parameters of this series always make it easy to say yes. Despite the fact that we love it, it always takes us forever to decide on project.

I love this series because each year it gives me a great opportunity to reflect on my kids and family together time. Life with kids is like getting to see the full spectrum of colors. Without them in my life things would be much more bland and predicable, but with them there is a flooding of emotions. Moments to treasure like a first smile, or something that becomes funny just because of your child’s uncontrollable laughter that leaves everyone feeling good inside.

Lately things have been crazy busy and it has been hard to notice those glorious moments in the stress of deadlines. But I was given my glimpse of heaven this week as my husband came home from school and began playing with the kids. They didn’t need a special toy for entertainment, just the presence of someone special giving them love and attention.

To be honest this dress only came after 3 failed attempts to make my son, Heber, a sweatshirt that I could make Uno themed. It was going to be witty and funny, but it didn’t work out. He has a sway back and massive head so each pattern I attempted either didn’t fit over his head or they had such a narrow fit that they almost looked girly.

Right now is such a busy time with real life, a new baby, and Project Run and Play that I really didn’t have time for these failures. Scary offered up the idea of a Pictureka as a final backup plan and I thought that we could put the “girly sweatshirts” on Boston who is a girl and have her model it. But I was feeling so down. The option felt plausible but was also a let down to the creative process.

So I went back to the drawing board and figured out this look. Without a doubt, of all the games our little family has, Cash Cab is definitely the most used and loved. The kids don’t yet get the trivia of it, but they love rolling the dice, moving the cars around to different destinations, and playing with money. I have to keep this one at the top of the closet because it is so interesting to the kids.

I love how fun and modern this look is. I feel that if you didn’t have the context of cash cab you could still really like the dress. The design of the skirt was inspired by the logo on the TV version of Cash Cab. I made it by just doing a little math and planning out the exact size I wanted of my finished squares. Then I added seam allowances and cut out my pieces. It’s a little complicated, but if you take the time I’m sure you can figure it out. After piecing the skirt together, I pressed open my pieces and top stitched inside each box with a coordinating thread.

I made it using the Caroline Party Dress (affiliate link) from Mouse House Creations. I thought the lines of it could read city if it was paired with the right fabric. It was a first time sew for me and I seriously loved it. The pattern (affiliate link) gives such a nice finish and fit. It’s wonderful to have the capped sleeve as just part of the bodice. For the most part, I’d rather make dresses with some kind of a sleeve so I don’t have to find a sweater to pair it with later.

The skirt was lined with the same mustard yellow as the squares to give it a stronger color and stability to the piecing. All the fabric was just basic colored broadcloth that you can get at about any fabric store for pretty cheap. I loved using it because I was able to go to the store with an exact plan and be in and out in about ten minutes as opposed to walking the rows of fabric debating the right one for an hour. Works better for 3 kids don’t you think? Also I didn’t have to spend a lot and feel guilty about it later.

P.S. I have a funny story I want to share that came up in creating this project. When the last sweatshirt didn’t work out, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to have Scary around to take pictures. I would have to resort to using the camera on my phone.

When I told Ty that I was making her a dress and that I would be taking her pictures, she got this confused and slightly betrayed look on her face and said, “Not Scary?!” I told her I could take pictures, but I think in her mind Scary is her own personal photographer. You can’t take a model away from their photographer. I love four-year-olds!

So instead, the kids woke up at 5:50am so that we could drive to Scary and be at her house in time for good lighting and to get this blog post done.

Here is a picture with the little darling and her photographer on their way back from the photo shoot.