Look what I found at Marshall's for $5.99.
Are these not the coolest colored pencils ever? Sometimes I like to sketch out a quilty idea.
These will get to stay out on the desk for those times. Even the box is beautiful. It looks like handmade paper. I thought they might be a bit uncomfortable, but they're not.
These points will require some whittling rather than a pencil sharpener, but that's okay. It appeals to my outdoorsy/craftsy side. Doesn't everyone have a pen knife on their key chain? Just me, huh?
The package says they are eco friendly, from sustainable wood and all that.
I've been playing outside today with some other things I found at Marshall's. I shall post about it later today or tomorrow. Busy, busy, busy!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Lucy's on a Diet
This is Lucy, my mother's cat.
She weighs 25 pounds! Lucy has been on a diet for a week now. Hence, the annoyed look. We had an intervention to get my 94-year-old mother to stop overfeeding the cat. She swears that Lucy does not eat too much! Since I'm buying the cat food, I will have a little control here. How strange to be in the position of telling a parent that she has to behave!
Lucy isn't speaking to me right now. She just turns away. That may be because walking away would involve too much effort.
She weighs 25 pounds! Lucy has been on a diet for a week now. Hence, the annoyed look. We had an intervention to get my 94-year-old mother to stop overfeeding the cat. She swears that Lucy does not eat too much! Since I'm buying the cat food, I will have a little control here. How strange to be in the position of telling a parent that she has to behave!
Lucy isn't speaking to me right now. She just turns away. That may be because walking away would involve too much effort.
Wish Lucy luck! I'll let you know how she's doing.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Baby Gift is Finished!
This link has all three of the bib patterns I used. LOVE them.
I liked the idea of having different sizes. I've had the Michael Miller duck fabric sitting in the stash for a while now. Finally got to use it! |
I quilted a heart on the little one. It's there--really--look closely. |
I sewed the neck ribbon to the stuffy and through the bow itself so it won't come undone or off. |
About the taggy blanket... I made it a bit large. I had no idea how big a taggy blanket should be. As I started lining up the ribbons, I decided less is more. (That sounds better than saying that I was too lazy to put on all those ribbons. I'm happy with it! I put the ribbons between the seam instead of on the edge--happy with that result, too.
I even had some matching ribbon in the stash, ducks and bubbles just like the fabric!
Everything is backed with yellow flannel, the color of the ducks. The flannel makes the blanket perfect for summer--enough but not too much. Thanks, as always, Sandra! I am so freaking pleased with how it all turned out.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Denim Button Basket
So the sewing muse (aka Sandra of Suddenly Sandra) mentioned making fabric baskets from denim and this picture of my denim scrap pile came to mind:
Actually I only had to look in the corner of the sewing room to see this. I took my stash of scrap denim out about a week before when I was thinking that I really should do something with it. It was supposed to turn into a rag quilt long ago. Stealing Sandra's ideas has become a habit, so here is my new button basket!
My previous button storage:
My plan was to use my twin needle again, but you know how plans go. I broke the needle on the first row! My own fault, too. Must remember to make sure the needle is screwed in tightly in the future. Instead, I used a simple decorative stitch to attach the batting to the denim. The dimensions are the same as I used for the Asian fabric basket in the last post, 24x18 1/2 inches, I left the handles off this basket, but I miss them. The new denim ribbon basket will have handles--with ribbons, of course. Check out Sandra's blog for her fabric baskets and a link to the original tutorial here.
Actually I only had to look in the corner of the sewing room to see this. I took my stash of scrap denim out about a week before when I was thinking that I really should do something with it. It was supposed to turn into a rag quilt long ago. Stealing Sandra's ideas has become a habit, so here is my new button basket!
I liked the idea of "labeling" the button basket with buttons. |
My previous button storage:
Okay, maybe I do buy too many buttons. |
It's not even full. I may have to get more buttons while I'm shopping for a new twin needle or two. |
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
One Apartment Warming Gift Finished!
"Somebody" is using black and red for her new apartment. I decided to make kitchen towels, but my Savory Swirls designs didn't look good in black and red. I found these Asian embroidery designs, and I love, love, love how the towels came out. Rather than paper wrapping, I made a fabric basket from some Asian inspired yardage I had on hand.
I bought a bolt of Huck toweling a while back at Joann's, prewashed the whole thing, ironed it, and put it back on the cardboard. So nice to have it in the house when I want it! These designs are from The Embroidery Library. I posted about making the Huck towels before. You can see the dimensions I use here.
The fabric basket idea was from my sewing muse. Yes, I have a sewing muse. You have to get one! I've adopted Sandra from Sandra Sews. She's always using techniques, fabrics, patterns, and "things" that encourage me to kick my sewing up a notch. Sandra made some small fabric baskets recently. You can take a look here and get the link for the free pattern. (Free is always great!) I doubled the size of the pattern and used solid pieces of fabric instead of piecing squares. My main pieces were 24x18 1/2. The handles were double the size of the original pattern as well.
With the batting, my bag is a bit wobbly which doesn't matter if the basket is full. Next time, I will probably use a mid to heavy interfacing instead of batting, or, maybe, with the batting.
Back to my muse. I would never have tried the twin needles if I hadn't seen how nice that perfect double line looked on Sandra's projects with batting. I decided to try it on this fabric basket. Sandra said it was easy and gave me a few tips. I watched a few YouTube videos, too, to get up my courage.
Turns out, it IS easy! Doesn't that look nice? I might try doing more of this on the next basket. That may well provide enough stability so that I won't need to the interfacing. I shall let you all know!
I put in some red dish clothes--store-bought. I CANNOT find terry fabric at the fabric stores that I like. I make hair towels with Joann's terry cloth, which is okay, but it really "wrinkles" up with one use. It doesn't look pretty hanging. It works great, though.
Should the recipient see this before the gift arrives, there will still be a surprise. There is something special under those towels!
I bought a bolt of Huck toweling a while back at Joann's, prewashed the whole thing, ironed it, and put it back on the cardboard. So nice to have it in the house when I want it! These designs are from The Embroidery Library. I posted about making the Huck towels before. You can see the dimensions I use here.
The fabric basket idea was from my sewing muse. Yes, I have a sewing muse. You have to get one! I've adopted Sandra from Sandra Sews. She's always using techniques, fabrics, patterns, and "things" that encourage me to kick my sewing up a notch. Sandra made some small fabric baskets recently. You can take a look here and get the link for the free pattern. (Free is always great!) I doubled the size of the pattern and used solid pieces of fabric instead of piecing squares. My main pieces were 24x18 1/2. The handles were double the size of the original pattern as well.
With the batting, my bag is a bit wobbly which doesn't matter if the basket is full. Next time, I will probably use a mid to heavy interfacing instead of batting, or, maybe, with the batting.
Back to my muse. I would never have tried the twin needles if I hadn't seen how nice that perfect double line looked on Sandra's projects with batting. I decided to try it on this fabric basket. Sandra said it was easy and gave me a few tips. I watched a few YouTube videos, too, to get up my courage.
Turns out, it IS easy! Doesn't that look nice? I might try doing more of this on the next basket. That may well provide enough stability so that I won't need to the interfacing. I shall let you all know!
I put in some red dish clothes--store-bought. I CANNOT find terry fabric at the fabric stores that I like. I make hair towels with Joann's terry cloth, which is okay, but it really "wrinkles" up with one use. It doesn't look pretty hanging. It works great, though.
Should the recipient see this before the gift arrives, there will still be a surprise. There is something special under those towels!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Do You Bring Along Sewing When You Travel??
The Clover and Violet blog has a linky going for readers to show the sewing they take along when traveling. These are pics of my travel sewing complete with kit. I make yo-yos for the most part, but have put in some hexagon supplies now, too.
There you have it! I hope you will head over to Clover and Violet to let us all know what sewing projects you do when traveling.
Recycled containers to hold everything. The Pandora box holds my scissors, thread, and needles.The padded top is perfect for the needles. The plastic zippered bag is recycled from some Adidas item. |
Yo-yo makers, material scraps, box with needles, thread and scissors, a bag to keep the hexies separate, and another for the finished yo-yos. |
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Literary Quilt Top is Together!
I really need to take this outside for a photo. The colors look drab here. Actually they are drab in comparison to most of the print out there right now, but it's supposed to be a manly/scholarly kinda quilt. It does still need a border, but I'm getting there! I'm going to practice my machine quilting on an old quilt top before tackling this one.
Now the rest of the day is for playing OUTSIDE! The weather is just beautiful. Here in the northeast, one needs to make the most of these kinds of day.
Happy Memorial Day to all those who celebrate it! I do love having my best friend home for these long weekends.
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