holiday recap

Now that the holidays are over (or close to), I can share some of the sewing projects that were given to family members this holiday season!

First up, the place mats:

Since they were for my brother in law, I opted to go with a simple, subtle flourish…. you know, so that the place mats could be still somewhat manly!

I actually used a stamp but had to clean up the edges because it wasn’t as deeply carved as my block print stamps are. But good news… now I know how to use my stamps for block printing…

Next up, Christmas holly table runners!

These were block printed from a design that my husband actually drew for me (he’s pretty artistic too… and sometimes I can coerce him into co-creating my crafting projects!) then I carved them into my own stamps!

And finally, setting the table (in our living room for more space!):

Because I’m lazy, the circle garland is still hanging… I’m actually sort of tempted to just take down the red circles and then leave up the white circles! Festive living room, aka laziness, here I come!

It was a quiet holiday on our end, but still good. I hope it was the same for you on your end!

Happy New Year!

my first craft fair and other news

That’s right. This weekend I’m participating in my very first craft fair. I’m excited. And nervous. And mostly just excited to see how things going and get my feet wet! And get a sense of how things sell at a fair vs online through Etsy.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy making these:

And these:

It feels like there is oh so much left to do between now and Friday afternoon, my head is spinning. Spinning I tells you!

Things done so far:

• Table cloth
• co-sewing  56 various table linens with the lovely Fleur de Pixie
• block printing 7 sets of napkins (4 per set)
• block printing 7 sets of place mats (4 per set)
• new ornaments (more to make)
• printed out more business cards

Things still to do:

• Prep my craft day kit (scissors, snacks, cash, decor and more)
• Wash and iron remaining linens, then package them
• fold mini cranes for ornaments
• attach business cards to all items
• mini stickers for prices

Oy vey! Maybe I shouldn’t have written a list—I feel more stressed now!

patchwork scarf

My latest crafting adventure was to make a patchwork scarf for a friend for her birthday. (I’m all about the sewing these days).

Because she loves blue and looks awesome in green (by the way, my s isn’t working well on my computer so if it’s missing please forgive me… I’m pushing on the key about 3x harder than the others and sometimes I miss that it’s not there…)

Anyways….

The scarf was a combo of brown, green, and blue. Here’s a sample of me hard at work, piecing it together:
 
My cat, Mayla, wanted to contribute, so she supervised while I was sewing (I’m literally leaning back as far a I can go to get this shot of her on my lap):
 
Seriously, what i it about cats that they want to be right in the midst of things at the most inappropriate times?

Here’s what I ended up with:
 
As you might be able to see, the back it trimmed with a soft moss green fleece, for comfort and warmth during our cold winter months.

Close up:

I really wanted to create something that was bright, funky, warm and fashionable as a gift. What do you think? Did I succeed?

[hearts]

 

I mentioned a while ago that I was working on my first quilt. It’s white on white (cream and white) so you can’t see the details very well in the photos, but here are some sneak peaks:

Close ups of what I did with the hearts! I kept the edges raw and did really jagged uneven sewing for an artsy effect. And, bonus, there’s so many seams that there’s no way one of those hears is EVER coming off!

And the edges. I just have to finish off the back and polish up a few small details and then I’m done.

I’ve broken 2 needles on the damn thing! I’ve never broken a sewing needle before! Not ever. I enjoyed the free edges and sewing the hearts, but finishing the quilt up has become a bit of a chore. Probably because the end is sight, I’m getting impatient, rushing things and screwing up because of it (I did break 2 needles after all!).

If I can get the last details done soon to my satisfaction, I’ll actually be quite pleased with the project. Sure there are some mistakes (some of which I’ve covered up more successfully than others! and no, I won’t share them if you can’t find them!) but it was a new project for me and overall it turned out mostly like what I’d envisioned when I started it. Which for me, well that’s a big deal!

And, I’m also really looking forward to being able to devote my time to projects soon! I’m feeling the need to paint again.

i [heart] sewing: heart applique quilt

It's been a long time since I've sewn. A very long time.

What, you think I'm exaggerating? Well, considering the layer of dust that I had to wipe off my computer...sewing machine

But I sewed all weekend and I realized that I really miss sewing. I'm working on a special project for a friend's baby (and I am assuming she doesn't read this blog so I'm going to share what that is... if you do, just pretend to be surprised!)

I'm making a baby's quilt, with staggered hearts.

So I cut out a ton of these hearts (my husband helped)! And then I sewed them to the top level of the quilt before sewing everything together. All that's left is the final edging and details... to be unveiled once the project is completed.

Overall, I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with myself and the way the project has turned out. There are a couple small glitches, but considering how long its been since I've sewn, and that I've never done a quilt before... yeah... I did pretty darn good!

Once I get more thread and can finish the last bits, I'll be sure to share!