Stamp Layering

I was rather sick to my stomach this morn so I stayed home from work today and made soup. I got a bit bored of my cycle of pintrest, TV and books.   I recently admired Genine's stamps and had wanted to carve some up for my Christmas cards this year. Last year, I did the water colored scene. I loved those, but wanted to change it up a bit.

I started by sketching designs on to a larger index card since that would be the general size of the overall image. I ended up wanting to make a scene that only could be achieved by making multiple stamps to layer to create depth. I went for a mountain scene with moon and trees. I decided on simple designs that I can use at later times, other than for Christmas cards.

I made the simple triangles stamp first. I free handed the triangles onto the master carve based off the earlier sketches I did. I am not a skilled carver so I started with the basic exact-o knife to cut straight lines into the master carve, trying not to go too deep. I took thin layers of the background off in small sections. I tested it out many times. Cleaning it up as I went along. As seen above, on my test scrap I sketched in the mountains and moon onto the opposite side of the master block from the trees. This master carve block is so thick and expensive ($35 for a 8x11 thick sheet).  It helps me get more stamps and I know it will be the same size to match up the images.  

I used a rollerball carver on the mountain side, trying to do continuous cuts in order to keep the lines smooth. As you can see I don't always keep true to the ball point line. The extra bump in the middle mountain felt natural when I carved and looked great when I tested it. The fine tip helped make the fine valleys. I started clearing the sky with wide curve tip with the intention to take it all out. I kept with the line of the mountain I had cut first and created these great curves. I did a test and loved the effect it left in the sky. Cleaning out high spots until I liked it.

I started layering it up with the triangles. I love the placement. I will say that working with double sided stamp is messy and I now have ink all over. It would be best to have a similar size of cardboard to sandwich between your hand. The ball point ink will come off in the first few stamps but, will soon fade. Also, working with exact-o knives and rollerballs is tricky, always point away from yourself and go slow. The top middle one in the image above was the final stamp.

I am known to mix inks which eventually dirtys the lighter colors. I always lay the stamp face up on the table and apply the ink pad with my hand. I think most people do it the opposite way. This helps me mix colors on the triangles to look like trees in the above image. Also, I could make the moon or half the triangles a diffrent color or achieve shading in the right spots.

Here are some awesome triangles by themselves will make nice wrapping paper. I ended up switching colors and getting kind of purple trees. This can be avoided by stamping off all the ink on scraps. I like when there traces and it creates variation. It also allowed me to see that the triangles in a  non-Christmas color are an awesome pattern to have as a stamp.

Quick Fold Over Clutch

I needed a modern clutch for a wedding rehearsal dinner. This wedding and all of the events are rather dressy. I have spent money on a few items, mostly dresses. I want to make my own dress but fear it won't be right and I would have spent all this time doing it. I am not a seamstress Iam mainly a quilter. So, I shall leave dressmaking to another place in time.

I quickly realized I was going to have to settle on making an accessory. Jewels were out so I got it stuck in my head that I should do a clutch.

So this was the result to wear with my new cobalt jacket and my grey and black leather trimmed dress.

I had a few tricks to making this bag in only a few hours.  I dont have exact measurements to share. I would like to share my process on making these. It is much like other things, I look at something, size it up, then make slight alterations (usually aesthetic design). 

I see fold over clutches in style, which lead me to pick  up one in Forever21 opened it and checked out the construction. I didn't like the color or cheap chain. I went home empty handed to my bins of fabric. This silver vinyl has served its purpose for many creations. I feel that vinyl is a great item to sew with because it is so durable. I use my cheap Brother sewing machine and it sews through with a newer needle with great ease. I rarely sew through multiple vinyl layers, I cannot attest to that.

 I like duck cloth canvas too much and have a nice stash. After a few projects the silver is running low so I basically decided on the exact size for the clutch based on the size of vinyl scrap I had. From that I cut the canvas at the same width. I use a self-healing mat and rotary cutter with ruler, I just didn't look at the measurements really. I realize that seems odd, I find that I get a better looking finished piece if I go with my gut rather than the inch. There is a lining that came from a purple pillow case and a grey zipper inside. The zippers I keep on stash. I buy them longer than most and cut them down to size if needed. It seems to be easier to cut one down than make it longer. I box in the zipper in 2-3 wide strips of canvas. 

Then added the vinyl end and canvas to the other. Attached the lining with a small hole in the bottom for turning and inserted some rectangles of poly fiber board. It is the secret in making it stiff and keep its shape. I cant wait to use it! It is awesome that it cost me so little, and if someone likes it, I get to say that I made it.

All in the details

I love a sweatshirt, I dont particularly love how boyish I look in them. I was in the dreaded wal-mart the other week , looking for cheap yoga pants, and I was thrown off course by this huge display of $3 Hanes sweatshirts in the middle of the bathing suits. It's spring ya'll! I grabbed up this awesome blue and brought it home and stuffed it in the drawer . I got ready to wear it the other night and decided that the rounded neckline had to go. I went for it with the sharp scissors. I wanted an off the shoulder with a low v-neck. After holding it to myself to decide how wide to make the cut, I  smoothed it out on the table folded in the center (shoulders together) and cut straight lines. I never drew a line, I just went for it. I have very very very sharp heavy long dress making shears that made this beautiful neckline cut possible through 4 layers.
I would recommend penciling your lines in, using a ruler and cutting each side separately, if you dont have baller scissors like I do.

As soon as I cut it, I put it on to see if it was as I planned. Perfect. When I put it on I noticed the seams on the shoulders were pulling apart because I had cut the ending knot out. Not so perfect. I thought for a moment about grabbing the same color thread and fixing the seam. Then I remembered seeing awesome embroidered sweatshirts on Pinterest. Oooh and this.

I found my favorite color, salmon peach, and went for it. I knotted the seams back carefully. and then did a super easy dot dash pattern. I may add another color row, but I wanted to wash it to see if it rolled up at all after wash and dry. I am concerned that the embroidery will get "eaten" by the roll that normally happens on raw edge fabric. 

I love it now and hope that dosent happen. I love that it is kinda girly and screams "Look at me, I make stuff, and I think I am awesome!"

 I am tempted to go buy more $3 sweatshirts. I will not, but you should! This was super easy and maybe took me 20 min to make. It could take all day if I kept elaborating on the pattern. Great future gift idea too! Super cute for kiddos stuff too!

Hell, I could put a bird on it if I wanted to! Imagination is the limit!

Okay enough exclamation points...

Kaffe Cloth Napkins

This might just be my favorite project i've worked on in awhile. 

I have been unemployed since leaving NC two months ago and moving to Eugene, OR. I have moments of thinking that my husbands  income will barely sustain us, then in tears that I left my seeming perfect job in NC, and finally excepting of the time off as a vacation. Recently, I seem to lean more to the fact that this is a much needed vacation. The lack of employment will end and I will be mad that I didn't use my time better.

There have been a few things to hinder my wise use of time. First, I have been sick, my stomach is just not happy at all. Second, within two days of moving into our apartment we decided we wanted to move  into the more accessible part of Eugene. So, when it came to unpacking boxes some boxes were never opened and shoved into the garage. I finally found the desirable Kaffe fabric that always inspires me. How could you not be inspired by all those colors.

And Third, I've spent more time on Pinterest than any person should admit to. Today, I decided to finally make a few things on my "Make this NOW!" board. These napkins were perfect for the Kaffe scraps. So, between bouts in the bed, on the computer sending resumes and Pinterest rabbit trails, I churned out these six lovelies.

 The Kaffe Scraps came from the quilt I made my Mom last year. I had tiny pieces of some and yards of others that I purposely bought too much of. It is hard for me to cut down the bold Kaffe flowers. I enjoyed using the chevron ikat and organic prints to balance the bold flowers. Kaffe's prints all work so well together sometimes there were too many choices. I tried to use the scraps first that could be joined with out cutting or trimming. I also hesitated on cutting any yardage piece, therefore this project probably too me longer than it should have.
 I adore the eggplant shot cotton from Kaffe's line. I am unsure of the precise color name but it is a dark purple warp and orange weft. Which looks different in lighting and perfect solid to compliment all that color from the print side. The current kitchen is rather boring but at least their is a lot of natural light.

I think cotton napkins give a nice pop on the light wood table and they are not so formal that they wouldn't be unpractical for everyday use. Stay tuned for coasters and seat covers from the smaller scraps that I can't let go to waist.

Wedding Love

I just completed an awesome project for dear friends of ours that are getting married soon. I wish I had thought about this for my wedding! I feel so honored to help with their wedding. Instead of a guest sign in book, these fabric patches will be signed and for the wedding reception they will hang around the deck of the cabin. I was super stoked to use up all this scrap fabric I was hoarding. I did buy the crisp white Kona solid cotton.

I live in a different city than my dear friends so they have yet to see these in person. Her wedding colors are teal and lime green. I was amazed at how much I had in that color pallet. Her favorite animal is owls and I had that awesome owl in the tree fabric. Then I went with a earthy feel to work with the mountain cabin location. The intention is that the flags will eventually be made into a beautiful quilt for their home. I have offered to piece it together for her. I don't have the ability to quilt it. 

I completed this project while packing up my house in order to move to Oregon. I am amazed at myself for getting this project done. I am generally a super procrastinator. I think they turned out beautiful. This will be something that the will be able to have and enjoy for the rest of their lives.

Look and here they are at the wedding!

Camera Strap Cover

I made this camera strap from $5 worth of velcro, scraps of fabric I had and about fat quarter of fabric, and batting. I looked up the sizing of the camera strap (Its a gift, I didn't have one to measure) on the Canon website. Make sure you find the width and lenght of the exisiting strap and double that and add 3 inches. Most padded part of all straps are 20 inches, but look that up too.

 I started by piecing Kaffe scraps to make one side of my strap. It was about 30 inches wide and 10 inch tall.

 I sewed on the 20 inch Velcro piece along the pressed scrap pieces leaving 5 inches at the top and bottom. The opposite side of the Velcro was attached to the outer fabric onto the opposite side. This allows for the strap to be reversed! I layered the scrap side batting and stripe fabric and sewed almost all the way around. I flipped it inside out. Then pressed with the iron. Then I top stitched all the way around making sure to seal up my hole that allowed it to flip inside out.

 I picked a favorite fabric of Kaffe stripe for the other side and included a folder over pocket for battery pack or card. Batting between the two pieces of quilting fabric makes the camera much sturdier.

The Velcro hides the strap and is set back enough so it wont scratch your neck..well my sister's. This was her birthday gift from me. Love ya Lady!

Free Fabric

 I recently received a large box of upholstery fabric from my aunt. I couldnt say no to the beautiful fabrics, I have very little upholstery in my huge collection.  I made a deal with myself that if I took the fabric that I would start immediately trying to make stuff and use it up, or donate it. I am running out of room to hoard all this stuff.

From the box this beautiful floral brocade yelled jewelry roll at me. I found a coordinating yellow in the box as well for the inside. I did very minimal cutting, instead of using a pattern. I decided to make the jewelry roll the size of the brocade scrap that I had. I also used ribbon from a bag of ribbons that I picked up at the flea market for 50 cents. The only thing that I purchased was the thin zipper. I paid 1.50 for that. I am very pleased. For such a small price, was able to recycle and create beautiful gift.

This one is for my aunt! Thanks aunt Dee! I hope she like what I made for her. There is much more coming out of the box!

Mama's Bag

I made this purse for my mama. She came to visit last weekend and we just hung out around Raleigh, eating good food and  doing a bit of shoe shopping. My mama just retired from her state job of 30 years! I am so proud of her. She seems so excited about the future ahead. If I retired I would buy myself a new sewing machine and sew away. 

This bag has the inside is the top of blue jeans that I recycled. I just sew the zipper and legs closed. It makes great pockets with out all the work. I cut the leg of jeans into strips and make these awesome bowls. I like how the stripes are on the side pleat and strap.

Here are the morning glories that are creeping up my fence still. They are amazingly resilient through the blazing summer and hung on into the fall. I still have slugs chewing up the leaves. I have been excited to turn off the A/C and open up the windows. Happy Fall Ya"ll !

Kaffe in Pieces

I made this Kaffe quilt for my Mom's Birthday this past weekend.  I was unable to share the process of making this quilt for fear she would see. I picked out the fat quarters for the most part back in February. I have been thinking about and planning this quilt for quite sometime. Of course I left the task of quilting until the morning of leaving for the trip. I am a major procrastinator. It is a genetic thing I believe. I am however more proud of the work that went into this quilt more than anything I have ever made. I absolutely love this quilt. Here area few shots from construction.
Rough rectangles that I pressed, starched and trimmed to perfection.

My two different sides of the triangles

Here are my triangles laid out on the futon. The instructions in the Kaffe Fassett book made it impossible to mess this quilt up. They were simply detailed instructions.

 

I love this shot on the clothes line, even if I forgot to rotate the picture before uploading. This is just the top no borders, no backing. My diamond points do not match up perfectly, Kaffe may not be as proud as I am of this quilt. Hey, it was my first of hopefully many more.

Crochet for Babies

I have 3 friends/family members expecting babies in the next few months. I have been working on hats, booties and eventually a sweater. I was having a hard time deciding what colors to go for, because I don't know the sex of any of the babies. I finally settled on a pale green and white combination. I am happy with it, fairly gender neutral. I worked in a baby section of a department store at one point and I absolutely hate how baby clothes are super specific to a gender. It is very hard to find gender neutral clothing. I love making handmade items for babies. It takes much less supplies and time to create a one of a kind cherish-able gift.
I have had a hard time finding free patterns of things I like. I like a more simplistic modern style. Most free patterns I find are from the 60's/70's with crazy decoration on it.  I have made all the hats up as I go along and ripping out rows if I don't like it. I think this is why I am afraid of knitting because you cant rip out rows if want a different size.  I am a bit concerned about trying to do the sweater with out a pattern. I have looked at quite a bit of images and I know what I want. I am just not sure about making the shoulder join to the sleeve.  I will keep you updated on these projects.

Pink Bunny For Emily!

My niece turned 1 years old today! Happy Birthday Emily, we love you very much.
I made her this bunny and blanket last week before we went on a family vacation. 
I know she will love the snuggle bunny! I looked at a few images on flicker and then freehand cut the pattern. I was really happy with the way it came out. I embroidered the eyes and mouth. She is slightly sad looking. It grew on me. I made the blanket from a scrap from the quilt I made for her when she was born. She has unstuffed arms and legs with knots tied at the ends. Her ears are also unstuffed which makes them super floppy. She would be fun to tie around your arm or stroller. She also has a a sweet dress that can be removed. No bunny is complete with out a fuzzy tail. I almost forgot....but found a scrap of santa hat trim. It worked perfectly. This project in total took me 4 hours. I loved every minute of making her. I will be making more very soon.

Sister's Granny squares

So my great aunt taught me the basics of crochet when I was a little girl. I called her Sister, everyone called her Sister. Sister was a very creative woman! She is the inspiration for a lot of things that I make. My Little sister's birthday is two days after Christmas. She slept on my couch one night last week, I had crocheted her this lap blanket. I thought about our great aunt a lot while I worked on this project. I laid it on Lil' and woke her up taking pictures of the the Granny Square blanket. Lil' seemed to like it a lot. I loved making this and will make another very soon.

She had to get her glasses on before she could see it! We are all blind!

Texas Quilt

Here is the finished Texas quilt. I worked on it right up until Christmas. The Star part was very daunting task. It is still too small in my opinion. Hubby's parents came to our house from Texas the day after Christmas and we had a great time with them. They seemed to really like the quilt. I wish I had time to take better pictures of the quilt. This is the only picture I took.  I am still trying to figure out my new camera. The shots in this series is all yellow. See the process of this quilt here.

Birthday Bowl

I made this fabric crochet bowl recently for my friends birthday.  Happy Birthday Liz! I recently gave her the birthday bowl, so now I can share my creation. I make them out of strips of fabric. This one I used 1 inch pieces of fabric, so it looks chunkier. Now back to elfly duties.

Reusable Gift Wrap

Ive been thinking beyond the normal reuse of gift bag, bow or shirt box. I purchased quite a bit of Christmas fabric back in January when it went on sale. I wanted to put to use so, I have decided on making draw string bags for gift giving. I hope that the receiver will be inclined to reuse. I used awesome ribbon as the drawstring and added bells to a few. I admit that I like glossy wrapping paper, however it takes up awkward space in my closet and year round which is a serious nuisance to me. I would like to use up what I have, and work toward future nullification of the wrapping paper. I think these bags will be good to give to immediate family, so I can explain my idea in hopes of getting them back. I don't think this will work for every gift I give. I would like to cut down on bags of paper after Christmas unwrapping.

Finished Projects???

There is a major lack of Finished projects on this blog. I have just changed jobs so I am very excited about the more free time that I will have to complete projects. I have a serious long list of projects to complete before the Holidays. I feel that I have to write it down.
So here:
Granny Squares
Dads Stitching
Two Blue Jean Bags
Blue Jean Basket
Baby Gifts
T-Shirt quilt
Texas Quilt

Texas in scraps

Here are the majority of the 11/2 inch strips that I spent the last two days cutting out. I was really excited to get a jump start on this project. It is intended as a Christmas gift, therefore I will only show this quilt in small pieces. I tried really hard to pull out the scrap basket. I wanted to buy as little fabric as possible. Currently, I have spent about $25, mostly on Texas themed fabrics. Eventually, I will need to purchase backing. For now I am just excited that I started it. I was really rushed last Christmas and did not have enough time to make handmade gifts for all. I planned this quilt just after the Holiday season. Well, we are almost half way there.

Summer Beginnings

I woke up and decided that I wanted to hang out with the dog. I think that she had a different idea, she got pretty muddy in the back yard, she was very proud of herself. She has taken a liking to digging holes when no one is watching. She stayed in with me in the ac while the storms passed. We had some pretty threatening thunder storms today. I worked on getting some baby  gifts completed, my two step-sisters are pregnant. I am going to see them soon at the lake. I had done the machine sewing a while ago for all three. The pieces went to the beach with us and have rode around in the back of my car for a whole week. I kept thinking I would work on them on my lunch break. I did finish all of them today. I bought a set of 24 of the plastic links and have used them now for 5 balls and have enough left over for two more. I really enjoy this project.  This is my mammoth sunflower plant. It grows noticabilly everyday. I am so happy we have a small garden going; tomatoes, jalapenos, lettuce, basil, cucumbers and yellow squash and a few flowers.

Baby Toy

When my mom came to visit last week for my b-day we went to new a fabric store. My mom is very supportive and willing to do what ever I want (she took me and 3 other teenage girls to a bush/no doubt concert when I was 13! Wow!). I know she was not particularly into the fabric store scene, but she made the best of it. She picked out the kit/template by sew fun to make "baby brainy ball". The finished product seemed slightly daunting, but surprisingly it was simple. Mom picked out the cute fabric from the fat-quarter bin.  She wanted them to give as gifts for co-workers. I also will make a few for the babies to come this summer. This was a fairly simple project until you have to hand sew the wedges together. A lot more hand sewing than I really wanted to do. The end result is extremely cute and practical (gotta love machine washable, handmade soft toys!). I love the idea of mixing up the contrasting fabrics and textures! Think ill stuff the next one a little more. Can I put a bell in there? or does that make it a dog/cat toy?

 I also made this bag out of super cheap christmas fabric from Jo-ann's. For now it holds all of the christmas fabric for a quilt. It will eventually be given as a re-useable gift bag.