Category Archives: Craft

exhibit a:

Posted in Craft, Fiber fun, Handmade, Make, Make Stuff, Sew this by

…or how do I get myself into these predicaments ?

 

exhibit a 8x5

 

See these?? These are the piles that have taken up residence on my work table…no, now these piles have nothing to do with my 4 boxes and 2 bins of fabric that are already in residence in the studio (that were supposed to be cleverly sewn/stashed/gifted down to two bins by *sigh* the end of last year) no, these piles are the result of my children conning me into pj pants, my girlfriend finding a steal on fabric pieces and a “can’t resist” sale at the fabric store…

exhibit A:  a stack of too fabulous and super duper cheap to resist fabric pieces from our last foray into Zimman’s Fabrics… next to last on the pile is 3/4 yard of beautiful blue print cotton which is slated to be a cushion for the comb-back windsor chair in the front hall…

evidence:  super-cute snowman fabric for red-bench pillow, orange cotton fleece on clearance for pants for gwen, two pieces of cotton knit on sale to experiment and make tops for myself

exhibit B:  Lily’s stack of fabrics from last week’s raid on Jo-Ann fabrics.  Her pj pants are halfway up her legs so it’s definitely time for new cozy ones…but somehow “pick 2 pieces of flannel” turned into 3 pieces of flannel and one piece of fleece.

look here:  Gwen’s stack of fabrics, same particulars as exhibit B above.

Obviously, this week…it’s a sewing week… otherwise I won’t see the top of my table until spring.  (arrow stamps are from Splendid Fiins Evidence Arrow Stamp and Brush set #2)

Go!

What projects are stacked up on your table this week?

and so we start

Posted in Craft, Crochet, Fiber fun, Make Stuff by

Lily received a crochet kit for Christmas from her Grandpa to make these super cute stuffed animals….except neither one of us knows how to crochet (!)  I knit but never crocheted.

photo 1and so we start….the two of us together on the sofa, my 1970’s era Reader’s Digest “Complete Guide to Needlework” and You Tube videos by our sides…I grabbed some scrap yarn and crochet hooks and we dig in.

photo 2We worked for an hour and honestly, I think we did pretty well considering neither of us had ever done this!  Next it is off to the craft store tomorrow for some yarn and hooks that go together,  my hooks are a little small for the yarns that I had making it difficult to pull the yarn through.  Lily liked it and was working away !  I found it much harder to control the yarn and hold everything than knitting but I’m sure that will come with practice.

crochet-1To make a start…that is sometimes the most important part of the entire project.

Here’s to making more starts this year.

and yes, the top is done!

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Handmade, Make Stuff, Sew this by

I realized while reading Amanda Soule’s blog (if you don’t read it, you need to pop over here, right after your done with mine) that I never shared my completed sewing project that I started in … June.  OK in all fairness, it did not take me until November to finish a shirt…it just took this long for me to post the results.

IMG_0509I started with the buttons and buttonholes on the placket…they are my least favorite thing to do so I figured I’d get them out of the way.

IMG_1427This top was a fun one to make, setting in the bib was a bit tricky but going slowly and paying attention (!) it was fine.IMG_2697So please don’t laugh too hard at my photo in the dressing room mirror (at the Gap trying on jeans while the girls were at a birthday party) Charlie is always teasing me about the look on my face in these types of shots.  Anyway, love the top, it’s fun to wear, very easy, love the fabric.  Will definitely make another one but maybe a touch longer (Top is the Tova Top by Wiksten patterns)

I’ve been sewing quite a bit lately, home stuff mostly, hoping to get more posts up soon.  Very happy to be returning to my sewing machine after too much time away!  Thanks for stopping by…what projects have you been working on?

 

 

permission slips for the field trip

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Make Stuff, Soul Work by

I am a seeker…what exactly I’m seeking…well, that’s kind of the point of the whole thing now isn’t it…maybe the seeking and the journey are really what is important, not just the destination.  Or maybe, unlike what we’ve been led to believe, there really is no destination just a never ending amazing journey.

As part of the journey, I seek out like minded kindred spirits and sit at their (most times virtual) feet.  Yesterday I started another piece of the journey with Brene Brown .  If you don’t know Brene from her Ted Talk (which you must must must listen to… right after you finish reading this) or her books (which are a must read particularly the Gifts of Imperfection and Daring Greatly, both of which I have read-and re-read) Well get the on the computer and to a bookstore!

Brene is teaching a 6 week eCourse in partnership with Oprah based on her book the Gifts of Imperfection.  I jumped in at the last minute and I’m embarking on this journey with a few good friends in my back pocket and art supplies in my hand.

So exciting…and I wanted to share our first assignment…Permission slips.

Remember when we were kids and you brought home that 1/2 sheet of paper that was your permission slip for the field trip?  Yeah, you know, the one that still smelled like the mimeograph machine and had vaguely purpl-ey black type?  Mom would fill it out and you’d bring it back to school so you could go to the zoo or the museum or wherever.   As adults, we need to write our own permission slips to ourselves.  Because sometimes, darn it, life is big and scary …. BUT it’s OK if you’ve got your permission slip…

Here are mine..

permission slips

I give myself permission to…Be afraid and do it anyway…Be a complete dork and totally uncool…Seek joy wherever I go and whatever I’m doing…Take time for myself…Not be all things to all people…To just try, and not necessarily succeed…To mess up, to fail, to try again…To say YES more…Practice BRAVE…To have ideas and act on them… To make a creative home.

No go…write your own…be BRAVE…have fun!  Join me on the journey

Week in the Life – The put-together for Tuesday 9/10

Posted in Craft, Digital Scrapbooking, Memory Keeping, Project Gal- Memorykeeping, Week in the Life, Week in the Life 2013 by

Well, I managed to pull this together in less than two hours including helping child with her homework AND watching Project Runway (squeeee!!)

I felt like a had a weird collection of photos for Tuesday, there were hardly any photos of people, mostly shots around the house and lots of the world while running errands.  So, I told seven stories.  View from the front porch, Sue, Dog, Nighstands, Project, Farm Co-op and Library.  It took a day of mulling it over to figure out how to work the photos into vignettes but I feel pretty good about it!

WITL-13-Tuesday-Cover page WITL-13-Tuesday-Collage page

WITL-13-Tuesday-9 Photos-1WITL-13-Tuesday-9 Photos-2

Photos:  I started with 109 images, I deleted down to 82 (indecisive), of that I used 22.  I edited photos, mostly to brighten and lighten them up in PSE.

Templates, Paper and Embellishments (same as Monday):

Templates:  Ali Edwards  Week in the Life Layered Template Set 8.5 x 11 Vol. 05.  and my 9 photo template

Paper:  “Summer Blossoms” kit by WhimpyChompers Creative.

Embellishments:  Ali’s “Week in the Life Circles”  as a base, deleted the word inside and replaced them with mine.  Font is Antique Olive (chunky sans-serif)

Excellent!  Thanks for coming by!!  If you’re doing Week in the Life this year, how are you doing putting your layouts together?