Ruched

Sunshine

It was sunny today so I had the chance to take some photos outdoors after I finished cleaning out another closet.

 

This hummingbird was doing some spring cleaning of his own.  He spent twenty minutes kicking cooties and scrubbing his beak, I even saw him stick out his tongue a few times.

Mmmnnnn..cherries (to be) .

If you've never seen fig leaves in person, you really could use them as underwear, they are that big.

I picked up my machine on Friday and it hums again,  I hadn't realized how noisy it had gotten.  I used it to work on some clothes for the Amish doll.  After spending fifteen years in the altogether she has pantaloons and a dress with an apron and bonnet on the way.  At one point I had to measure the "waist" so I could put elastic in the pantaloons and I questioned my sanity.  I'm thirty, no kids, and messing with dolls.  Then I decided it's a legacy project, no shame in that.  Besides, artists are supposed to be eccentric.

I think I'll finish her ensemble tomorrow, either way I'll post some photos.

Pre-printed softies

I found this fabric at Repro Depot over a year ago and after I saw it in person I really fell in love with it.  I'd only gotten 1/2 yard so I totally freaked out and looked everywhere for more and finally found it at Bug Fabric (I think).

The animals are about palm sized so I cut a few out and made softies to go with the baby quilts I gave away to friends.  The fabric on the back was a stripe that coordinated and unfortunately I can't find a photo.  I also made a rooster and can't find a photo of that either.  The hardest part was getting the ribbon lined up and snipping the curves and corners.

The idea for the ribbon tags came from a Taggie toy that I saw somewhere.  Now that I look at the photos I think it might be fun to add some embroidery to the animals next time.  I'd also like to make the little girl/doll, trim away her printed pigtails and replace them with yarn. 

Woven Cuff

I signed up for this jewelry class about 2 months ago.  I didn't pay much attention to the supply list, why I don't know..maybe because my bead stash looks like this and I figured I already had everything I needed?

You would think I'd have a few gold jump rings in there but you would be wrong.

Little arrows next to the supplies I'm missing.  I left a half hour early and found everything I needed.  I was toying with the idea of participating in "use what you have" month, oops.

I had plenty of beads to choose from.

WIP, one row to go.

The business card the instructor passed out.  She brought samples of the class project and other things and they were all very cool. She develops her own patterns and I really like how she uses the shapes of the beads, it's very deliberate.  I also liked her teaching style, no one is left behind.

I love the colors in her card, this combo makes me think "Japan" which makes sense.

These came today from the very kind Jennifer ,  She was offering them to anyone who was interested.

I love this note paper, which I think she got at a Japanese dollar store.  There's a real button too.

And finally, a gratuitous photo of my dog.  He's started taking a medication that makes him really hungry, this isn't normal behavior.  He'll stick his beezer in anything resembling food these days, and he was always food motivated.  Oh, and it's from my camera phone.

Cleaning out the closet

Yesterday I didn't post because I was cleaning out and rearranging the bedroom closet.  Look what I found!

I must have been 14 or 15 when I made it and it's an Amish doll so it's intentionally faceless. The pattern is one my mom had bought at a quilt shop.

Woo, look at that craftsmanship.  It's surprising I managed to finish the doll, I was so impatient with hand work.  It was only about 5 years ago (I'm 30) that I really settled down and started enjoying it.  If it wasn't on the sewing machine with the pedal pressed to the floor I wasn't going to do it.
 

The pattern, fabric, and pieces cut for clothing surfaced about a month ago. 

It might be fun to finish the clothing and maybe make the quilt too, it's doll size so it wouldn't take long.  My mom must have been planning to make this for me when she bought the pattern, how funny that I'd end up making it for myself.

More on the Amish theme, the colors in this quilt are just fab,  I adore them.  Right after I got the kona cotton swatch set from Hancocks I matched them to the photograph.

The color names weren't printed on the swatches, I had to do that myself.  I really like to toss them around so it was worth the time, I never would have been able to keep them in order.  I'm glad I pulled the colors out of the picture, I never would have put O.D. Green and Iris together.  It would be nice to make something with this palette but it's at the bottom of a long list.

I often wonder about the original colors of antique quilts, this one has certainly faded. 

Buttons Cuff

I tried the Buttons Cuff from Craftster tonight.

I couldn't make sense of the loop diagram until I actually made a few pieces.  Then I realized that you start with the width, not the length.  I wanted cuffs that  were two buttons wide and I ended up with two singles.  It was good to finish them off, it seemed like a waste to  cut them apart or leave them in strips.  The orange bead marks where I used stretchy clear bead cord for the closure.  I made them just large enough to slip over my hand.  I really worked to think up a better solution than the ties in the tutorial.  I think the weakest part of most hand made jewelry is the clasp, it lets the rest of the work down.  I want to make things that look hand made, not home made.

A sample using Mastex thread.  I liked the color but it was too thin and slippery.
 

I liked the feel of this crochet cotton but this is the only color I have.  I think it's from Lacis so it has to be something hard to get.  It's twisted so tightly it's almost stiff and I think that it would wear well.  The craft pearl cotton I used will probably beard a bit.  I'm not sure that beard is the right word, I mean when little fibers lift up and create sort of a halo around the thread making it look ratty.

My current favorite fabric, hearts and strawberries, so unlike me.  It's poly cotton too and I won't use synthetics.  These were in a lot of fabric from eBay and this smidgen is all I have.  It might be worth making some Bubble Jet Set fabric and printing my own.

A friend suggested I fill out the "About Me" page, I'll try to get that done tomorrow.
 

Finished

I finished the 4 in 1 bracelet.  I really thought it would take me longer but the modular assembly method really improved my speed.

So to recap, I'm glad I took the class because I learned some new plier and assembly techniques and met a cool crafter, but after working with these rings I think they are inferior to the rings in the byzantine kit.  The cuts are rougher and crooked and the quality of the clasp isn't as good.  I also learned that I prefer the flat cuff style to the more bulky round rope.

The fabric in the background reminded me of a group of things I used to have on top of my bookshelves.

   

I still love these colors together. I still have all of this stuff, it's just spread all over the house.  Maybe I should put it together again.

Tomorrow I'll post a small quilt I'm making that was inspired by these log cabin pillows because, well, who hasn't been inspired by them.  I really didn't like the log cabin pattern until I saw it used this way, I'm really not into the sunshine and shadow look.  The quilt is ready to start machine quilting and I'm hemming and hawing (sewing humor!) about taking my machine in for a cleaning before I start.  The problem is that I've started the last five projects in the same manner and my machine is starting to spit out clumps of lint, hello it needs a cleaning. 

As I said, the quilt is small and it would only take a few hours to quilt but I'm sure they'll want to keep my machine a few days and that's just too long!  You can see where this reasoning gets me.  I have no deadline for this project, I'm just ready to get going on it.  I spent my whole first semester of college without a sewing machine and I thought I would die, but then my very sweet mom rescued me by buying herself a new one and sending me the old one.

4 in 1

This morning I headed off to a chain mail bracelet class and here's what I came home with.

The multicolored sample is a practice piece, the colors make learning the pattern easier.  The silver is the actual bracelet, I think this bit is about 3 in long and while the pattern isn't complicated it takes forever.  I'm glad I took the class because the instructor had several tips about holding pliers and a few other things that will made the process easier, but the best part was the nice woman sitting next to me.  We had lots of things in common and chatted the while we worked.  She even quilts a bit and had recently gotten some DS quilt cards.  I even gave her the url for my blog, which was weird, I've only given it out to family and close friends.  Hello if you're reading this, it was wonderful to talk to a fellow creative.  I love reading blogs but talking in person is so important.

There were also several chain mail junkies in the class.  The woman who sat across from me was wearing chain mail earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, and a watch band, all of which she had made.  She mentioned that she had worked her way through all of the kits here and was waiting for them to add some master level patterns.  Her jewelry box must be bulging.

I also have some photos of thrifted fabric I found this weekend.

I tried to put it all in one photo but frankly it looked nasty.  Sometimes I find a group of fabrics that look nice together but not this time.  Everything in the first photo is linen.  I thought the Cape Cod calendar dishtowels would be nice bag linings.  The towels are for a softie like this.

Bracelet

The bracelet is finished  with two days to spare.

The name of this pattern is Byzantine and it's essentially made from jump rings.  It's fiddly but the instructions promised that you get into a rhythm and eventually I did.  It took about 2 1/2 hrs.  I had to focus to make the pattern properly but the time flew by and sometimes it's nice to zone out while working. You can see some of my joins, the idea is to make them almost invisible and I think I did a good job on most of them.  Now I need to decide if I want it oxidized and I think I read something about putting the finished piece in a container with a boiled egg that's been sliced in half.  Sounds weird, but who knows.  This won't be a passion of mine but I would try another kit.  The kits by the way are really nice, the packaging is attractive and the instructions are very good.

I saw this in the grocery store.  Sassy colors!

I found this while thrifting today.  It was $8 (big money!) and I just love it.  It's the sort of painting I see in articles about people who have decorated strictly with thrift finds.  I read the articles and wonder where they shop because all I ever see is crappy waiting room or cats playing poker type art.  I also found a bunch of fabric today which I'll post tomorrow because right now it's out in the garage waiting to be washed.  For anyone outside of California, washing machines live in the garage in this state.  I've even seen them on a patio or in a shed.  I guess because it rarely gets below freezing?  At least I never have to worry about the washer flooding the house.

Goke Cat

Here's the book information I promised to post.
 

If you look closely you can see that two of the cats have earrings, how punk is that!

The other softie pattern.  This book only has two, cats and dolls.

I need to make one of these.  When I do anything by hand, like binding a quilt, I just dump all of the supplies in a soup bowl from the kitchen and settle in front of the tv .  This would be much more classy.

I think I mentioned that I have two Goke books.  This one is projects with patterns, the other is photos of her art quilts, no instructions.

Shrinky Pins

Here are the shrinky dink pins I promised to show.  This is my fourth batch, there's a surprisingly steep learning curve with shrink magic.  You might notice that my pins are opaque white.  I picked up a package of bright white when what I wanted was "rough and ready" clear.  I used a craft punch to get nice even circles and a plain old sharpie to draw the designs.  They remind me of blue and white china so I'm not sorry to have bought the wrong color.

The octagonal box came out of this sewing box which I found at a thrift store.  I was so excited when I spotted it on top of a pile of things.  Usually when I find sewing boxes they're empty but this one was crammed full of polyester lace and the notions you see in the picture.  One pair of scissors and the tomato are marked with the name of the former owner and that makes them even more special to me.  Oh wait, I forgot the pair of pinking shears that my mom nabbed as soon as we got to the car.  I figured it was her consolation prize, she had walked by the box without noticing it.  She has a thing for pinks that wasn't passed to me.  It did spark a lovely conversation about sewing when she was in her teens, before tumble dryers, knits, steam irons, and sergers. 

One more Seedpod block.  It seems kind of plain but I'll leave it be. 

This is a rabbit softie to be.  I used a punchneedle and trimmed the loops to make it more fuzzy.  The pattern is from a Dover Chinese stencil book and I think the rabbit is about 3 inches wide.  I kind of made this for a friend's baby about a year ago so she isn't a baby anymore.  It's just been hanging around waiting for me to sew and stuff it.  I love the feel of the fur, I'm don't think I would mix shades of floss again.