After a long drought!

I finally got a chance to be productive in a non-paperwork way. That is a good thing, since my hands were very jealous of all the work my brain was doing! There were a good number of projects on the docket, and I enjoyed switching between all of them in my extremely non-linear, non-patterned, very messy sort of way all afternoon long....

The first project is a quilt I made for my former coworker Cindy, who just had a baby boy named Bennett. I used fabric from my stash for the top of the quilt, but struggled a bit with the backing until I decided to go simple and just use cream flannel (I didn't think my old standby of fleece would work, since this is a California baby). Of course, one layer of flannel still showed through, so I had to do two layers. Orange rickrack around the edge was the finishing touch. And yes -- I did pick the tiger because he matched.

Then I moved on to an experiment of sorts. Erica will remember this fabric from some stash augmentation we did in DC last time I was there. I decided to use it to do some improvizational quilting where I kinda just started sewing stuff together. I'm not sure, honestly, how I feel about how its working out. I will tell you that there's not a straight line in the thing, so I have no idea how, if ever, I'm going to finish it with a backing and such. But for now its fun, even if its not particularly efficient with fabric!

Mom, are you twitching yet??

There were other things too, but of course those are surprises so I can't post them, but I imagine you'll see them soon enough! I'm off to Walmart to buy wrapping supplies so I can send the baby gift on its way!

Long time coming

A little while back my good friend Erica sent me a treat -- out of the blue sky! The best surprises are the ones you never see coming. And since I'm not going to be able to post any of my own creations anytime soon (unless you want to see the pile of papers and used coffee cups that is my desk) I thought I'd share a picture of the treat. I should have posted it long ago! That E -- she takes good care of me. Power to the super crafty women! (And yes -- sometimes tea does turn into cocktail hour! But there's also that risk at coffee break, lunchtime ...)

A quest

I'm sure you've all seen the cinematic classic "Jaws", and may even remember the character of the Mayor of Amity -- "These beaches will be open". Well, there's a certain someone in my life with a birthday coming up who LOVES the Mayor's signature sportcoat.

Yep that one. The blue one. With the anchors. You may be able to better see it here: http://www.angryalien.com/0804/jawsbunnies.asp

Anyhow, here's the help I need -- I need to find that fabric. Keep your eagle eyes peeled, ladies. 4 yards should do it.

Costumes and pumpkins!

Look at the Halloween costume I made my favorite 2 year old! it will probably fit him next year, so the plan is to find lots more cool patches for him in the meantime. And isn't it cool that they do Mr. Potatohead pieces for pumpkins?

driftwood challenge

So I made an anti-teasing crown! Sticks and stones may break my bones ....

Thank goodness mom gave me a skeleton on my Halloween gift -- it was just the perfect piece to add in! Elements you may not be able to pick up in the picture include brown lace, doilies, copper findings, feathers, torn paper, old trim, DRIFTWOOD, and even (yes, I know its crazy!) some religious medals ...

I'm going to try to get the shoe polish out from underneath my fingernails. I'm thinking I'll put this into a box and send it around for an in person viewing -- kinda like what they do with the Stanley cup. Who wants it first?

you guessed it ...

... I made more jewelry! This is a going away gift for a researcher (who has been gone almost a month now, but who's counting). She had asked for my help suggesting jewelry for a bridesmaid dress she has to wear in the fall -- it's brown, and I thought these lovely purple-ish pearls would go nicely. The old buckle/clasp combo were a windfall in my junk box. Gotta hope she hasn't already bought something....

The other necklace is an idea I got from In Style magazine, of all things -- velvet ribbon and old buttons. Easy peasy! I wore it today with an erica-blue jersey wrap dress, but got no comments. Can you believe it?

What do you think?

I finally did something!

Aside from spending 100s of dollars on equipment and supplies, of course. Check out my new necklaces. E, you may recognize the one scarf. Mom, you may recognize the other!

To make the bottom necklace, I cut apart a doily that Hendi had given me from her grandmother -- so I think that one is going back to her. I was inspired by the necklace that we saw at Homefrocks, even though I can't really remember what it looked like (though I'm sure it was expensive!)

I think next time I'll use less wire on the scarf necklaces, and maybe screw around with some wide bore beads instead. What do you all think?

Birthday loot!

Look at all the great stuff I got for my birthday from my crafty women! The stamped bag is from Erica, obviously. It says "don't forget to believe" and is stamped "dream". She also bought me the cool fabric and ribbon in San Fran!

The crocheted bag is from mom. The lining is an outrageous poppy print and the tag/bobble says "all I need is world peace and a shiney new tiara".

And the cool card was handmade by Amy and says "happy birthday to my sis" inside. It came with a cool vellum envelope that did not survive Lucy's affection.

I love it all!

Yahoo!

I have seen the zipper. I have mastered the zipper! Yay!

@"#($*@%@#*$

This picture compares and contrasts. The left hand side as you look at it is how they want me to fold it after I put the zipper in. Notice it covers up my piping and will be REALLY wide. The right hand side is how I want to do it, with the self-facing turned to the inside so its narrower, and the piping shows.

This picture is a close up of the facing, folded only once.





First the zipper didn't come in the mail. And now I'm totally flummoxxed --

1) Pin front band to front matching symbols. Stitch. Press seam toward front (did that. That's when I put the piping in)

2) Turn front bad to inside along inner fold line, as show. Press. Baste across upper edge (did that)

3) Open zipper. Pin zipper face down to front band self facing, placing stop at large circle and teeth over center front fold line, as shown. Bast in center of zipper through all thicknesses (that's 2 thicknesses by now. I'm working
with a shorter zipper than it calls for -- 22', not 36;)

I haven't done this yet, b/c its the next step that screws me....

4) on outside stitch along basting using a zipper foot.

5) Turn front band to outside along center front foldline, as shown. Press, baste across upper edge.

This is where I get totally screwed. The final fold makes it four layers of velvet, which is thick and lumpy. Plus the final fold covers up all the piping I worked so hard to put in there.

So my thought is to turn the front band to the inside along the fold line, and somehow decrease the amount of velvet so its only 2 thicknesses, not four.

am I going to ruin everything? I'm worried about the yoke fitting....

Tuck or Pleat? Pleat or Tuck?

Is there a difference? I should probably know if I'm tackling this project. I cut out the pieces for the academic robe Sunday, and marked them last night. There are many, many tucks. And many many pleats. Someone should tell me now if there's a difference! I've got me 7 some odd yards of fabric to wade through!

Not As Exciting As POTD!

I fear we are falling behind in the blog race. We need to step up the pace if we hope to compete. So here are 2 necklaces I did.
This one is a tile with my grandmother's picture on it. I did it a while ago but last weekend I redid it. The original beads I had used looked very tacky and I had used wire that was kinky so this version is an upgrade. I am wondering if it needs more..like maybe some branch fringe?

The second necklace is lemon quartz and smoky topaz. I found the quartz in Charleston. It is a very pretty necklace but I have yet to wear it because it seems to go with nothing!

I have a new web site for you to check out. www.shopscadonline.com
It is the Savanah College of Arts & Design's site. Some interesting things.

not in her right mind?

Shopping for a new knitting project is a dicey thing to do alone. Here's what I purchased, and I was excited about it at the time. That quickly evaporated, when after my sale was completed, the saleswomen (resplendent in belly rolls, moustache and smokers rasp) shared with me that SHE had just made the very same thing!

The pattern is for a "cap sleeve shell" made out of ribbon yarn. The yarn (also pictured) is shades of rust, dark blue (Erica blue some might call it) and uggy green varigated.

It might be horrible. Please let me know. And by the way, that's NOT me in the picture.

My Easter Gift!

Would you check out the awesome Easter gift I got in the mail yesterday? It's the coolest! There's an egg in the nest that's the loveliest shade of (robins egg?) blue. The tag says "She accidentially put all her eggs in one basket" (who hasn't??!). And her hat sparkles like a true Easter bonnet should.

maybe its just an unflattering picture ...

I mean really, how good can a jacket look when you take a picture of yourself in it in the mirror at 8:45am when you're already late for work? I did get a compliment when I walked into work, so it can't be all bad.

Anyhoo, picture notwithstanding I'm pleased with how it turned out -- I actually took the time to finish it nicely (though you will see I cheesed out on the buttonhole and used a pin instead). I'll try to find someone to take a (more flattering!) picture of me in it later for an updated blog!

beads and other adventures

Hey guys --
So after buying just about every bead in the Western hemisphere (yes, i did make Paul wait for me outside of Beadazzled when I was in DC, just because I hadn't got JUST the right shade of brown at the Atlanta bead show the day before ...), I finally just got around to making some necklaces. Here are the fruits of my labor.

You'll notice that I redid the red one so its not quite so heavy. Not sure I love the green and orange one quite yet, so that might get a redo.

And here's my bag -- need some advice on how to do the handles. The pattern calls for a zipper -- is that within my skill set?

And here's my final treat of the day -- I went to the Dogwood festival in Piedmont Park today, which had a very big craft festival (and beer and kettle korn and corn dogs, but I wouldn't know anything about that, would I?) I bought this vase, which I thought was really pretty -- and I loved the (expensive!) jewelry that this woman did: www.whippleworks.com.

nothing says spring like a new bag ...

So this is the fruit of my visit to the big ol' fabric store a few weekends ago -- a jaunty new spring bag. More are forthcoming, and you all may benefit from the largess -- because really, who needs 3 flowered bags?



What do you think of the trim?
Please see close up. Hey Mom -- I used a pattern and everything!!

Also, not so crafty, but I spent some quality time this weekend building Swedish bookcases. The Ikea here is much less chaotic than the one in DC, especially on a Sunday morning (think Georgia is in the bible belt? Nah!). My spatial relation skills SUCK. It took me hours -- and I still screwed it up and put one of the shelves in upside down. Dang! [note cool orange laptop bag xmas gift in left hand side of photo!]

First Blog!

Hi guys!
I mentioned to both of you that I thought it would be fun to create a blog where we could post pictures of our crafty things, talk about crazy things we've seen, and generally kibitz. So here it is! We should think of who else we'd want to have play with us.

I don't have a whole lot of things I've been working on, but I did find a very cool section of town yesterday -- I guess it's kind of the warehouse district, but there were some serious fabric stores (all home decorating fabric) and also some cool garden/pottery places. We'll have to check it out when you come visit!

I also made a necklace today -- mom, those are the beads I picked out when you were here (obviously!) What do you think about the big piece of coral? Too much?

Mom, you should definately post the pic you sent me of the blanket and tag -- it's amazing!

And it goes without saying -- changing the name to something that more accurately reflects the coolness that we do would be good good. Don't want anyone mistaking this place for a googley-eye-festival!