Just a mish-mosh of things

I just made that word up, mish-mosh. Either I made it up or I've heard it before and dredged it up from my depths of my mind. Either way, I think it's a cute word and vow to be using it more often.

Answers to the questions I've gotten recently:

1. Yes. That's my real hair color. (I'm kidding. I didn't get that as a question.)

2. Where do I get my felt flowers? I had a supply of the American Crafts Greenhouse felt flowers, but ran out of those. Now, after an exhaustive internet search recently, I buy all my felt flowers on Etsy from these stores:

Basketgirl68
Crafty Craze
Kutz (which in my opinion makes the most delightful felt cuts in the world...only downfall is they are in Italy and sometimes shipping takes forever.)

3. Where do I like to buy fabric online? I have a couple of favorite Etsy shops:

Mountain of the Dragon
Latelier

And I also really like:

JCaroline
Pink Chalk Fabric (quickest flipping shipping EVER)

4. Do I swap things? Yes! I gladly do swaps privately should you ever be inclined to want something I've made. I also swap on Swap-Bot.

5. Do I have an Etsy shop? I do. You can find it here.

5a. You can also find my wares in the November Sampler and at Needles + Pens in SF.

6. My favorite craft item? Seriously. Has. To. Be. RIC RAC. I can't get enough of it.

And since we're not project-less here, the doll quilt I made for a recent swap:

My poor hands!

I can delete another tutorial from the bookmarks folder! Deleting one or two a week is quite a nice thing, especially considering last week I cleaned out said folder(s) and it took me nearly 2 hours. It's nice to clop another one off and it's a nice sense of accomplishment to have something to show for it.

A few hours yesterday and a few hours today have been spent making birthday presents for two little girls in my world: a one and a two year old. The one year old, whose birthday isn't until March, is getting a house (there's a tutorial I'm not looking exactly forward to) and a set of these hair clips. The two year old, whose birthday was at the beginning of August, is getting that set of blocks from a previous entry and a set of hair clips.

That's right...this weekend was hair clip weekend using this tutorial.


Easy? Very. Just draw, sew, cut, and stuff.


A little tedious? Yes. Especially when your hands bother you from doing small pieces like that and not even the hand brace helps. (Alas, it's not just my sewing and embroidery projects causing issues, it's how I sleep.)

Worth it? VERY. They are adorable and a great way to use up bits of left over fabric from my growing stash.

Tips: the less you stuff your circle, the easier it is to get it to look like an actual flower. I used 3 strands of embriodery floss instead of two simply because I like how it looked and it seemed a bit more sturdier to me.

Cozies and banners and such

It's been a banner productive week here. (I laugh at my own play on words there.) When I finished Erin's quilt and matching pillow (go a post back or so) I realized I had an entire panel of blocks sewn together with no real purpose. I was in dire need of a quilted cozy for my beloved French Press coffee maker and after some quick measurements, the cozy was born.

It fits like a glove and works so exceptionally well. In an experiment yesterday, it kept my coffee hot for about 2 extra hours and warm throughout most of the day. I certainly call this fly-by-the seat of my pants no pattern or tutorial cozy a success.

Then Wednesday night found me inspired by something that I would normally find more irritating than anything else: the uppity woman who came into the store to buy stuff for a class she was teaching and was rude...but in that I'm going to laugh like I'm making a joke because I think I'm funny way. She was not funny and not very inspired about the class she was going to be teaching, but I did vow to prove her theory wrong once she'd left.

She was teaching a banner making class somewhere else and was concerned that the letters she'd picked out would be too small. They were perfect...I could see it in my head while she spoke and I knew that what she had would work. But she wasn't having it and left after purchasing a few other things. That's when I turned to Erin and said "I want to make something."

This was born:
And this:

And this:


Just a simple banner. Decorative paper mounted on top of an ink colored piece of cheap cardboard. I rubbed the edges with some ink and used the Grunge board for the letters, coloring them with a chalk ink pad. (I don't do paper creations often but when I do, I love the chalk inks. Such fantastic colors.) A little Stickles, some foam tape to give it some dimension, some ribbon, and poof! I had three very cute and whimsical banners.

I think it's one of the best, most adorable things I've ever made. Thanks uppity, unfunny rude teacher lady!

Where nothing matches but everything works.

My dear friend Erin is having her last Wednesday at work tomorrow and in honor of her constant inspiration the last 7 years, I decided to make her a lap quilt and pillow.


The squares for the pillow actually were a set I bought from ReproDepot a long time ago and never did anything with them. (As I am wont to do.)


The rectangles for the blanket came from my recently cleaned out scrap bin. I love projects like this because it truly does get rid of all that excess. I didn't quilt it traditionally nor am I going to tie it off...I was going to but I love the simple blanket look that I'm going to leave it the way it is.


The backside is not and soft and worn...I busted into my vintage sheet stash for the backing and couldn't be happier about it. Good thing I'm giving it to her tomorrow night otherwise I'd be tempted to keep it for myself.