A Year of Blogging

One year has elapsed since I started keeping track of my craft projects online. I have thoroughly enjoyed channeling the extra time that comes with children who sleep through the night and eat off their own plates into bright and shiny beads, colorful fabric and ridiculous numbers of zippers. And, since the local farmers' market gives me a place to distribute finished projects, I have avoided becoming what my sister in-law termed the fabric equivalent of "the cat lady".
So, 2009 was a fabulous year of crafting, and especially sewing. I can further report I am not up to my eyeballs in zippered pouches, having sold 550 items since the summer to the fine shoppers of Urbana, my friends and my family. What a kick!

Blue Earrings

I haven't played around with beads for quite some time, so the best way to rejoin the creative flow is to make something simple. I found these lovely hand-hammered silver earwires and headpins online and added three pleated beads to each one. Voila! Fast and cute, even my husband noticed they were new.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Cross-stitched stockings hang by the chimney with care. I designed them a little wider than the typical stocking to hold just a few more treasures from Santa each year. Though they require wire at the top to stay straight, they get the job done. The countdown is finished and Christmas is here.

Origami Ornament

Even as a kid, I was intrigued by origami. This Christmas ornament is folded from a square of fabric instead of paper. A few tacks of thread hold the whole piece together and a bead gives more weight and dimension to the center.
I like the idea of origami with fabric, but it's not a durable addition to a sewing project. As a Christmas tree ornament, it can succeed in the middle ground between pretty and practical.

Dollie

Knitting is one craft I would love to master. I haven't yet put the time into improving enough to even finish a project independently. This doll for K occupied most of a fall to complete. I had hopes my little girl would coo over it on Christmas morning. She was just the right age to realize what it was and that it is a little girl kind of toy. It was the reaction I wanted. Though the doll is just another one of her stuffed animals today, it was still a successful Christmas project.

Gingerbread

What better eatable craft is there than decorating gingerbread? Loaded up with icing and nuggets of candy, there is no better dessert. I asked for a gingerbread cookie cake for my birthday last year. There is too much creative potential in decorating with bright candy to save the fun for only once a year.
This year each family member made a cottage from gingerbread. We reinforced the structures of our holiday village with hot glue, so the houses are just for looking. The accompanying cookies are certainly for eating.

Candy Cane Cup

For Halloween I made a couple of treat buckets for the collection of candy. A smaller version of the same stabilized fabric cup holds candy canes for Christmas. Something with glittery trim around the rim would also be festive.

Red Sweater

There is undeniable pressure to give the "perfect" Christmas gift. It must surprise and delight, but also exactly suit the recipient. I have attempted over the years to make a special gift. Something hand-made certainly can surprise. If it's reasonably well-done, it will also delight.
I labored for months over this red and white sweater for N. Wish as I might, I have never gained traction in the craft of knitting. I require a simple pattern and many trips to my mother's house so she can undo mistakes and pick up dropped stitches. Nevertheless, I have completed a few projects reserved especially for Christmas gifts.
As you can see, N was thrilled with his sweater.

Postcards

I find that the creative side of me if fueled by collections. Maybe the mental exercise of noting what is alike and what is unique about each object in a collection is the focus I need to choose a direction in a new project. I'm equally motivated to make something if the new item will add to the wealth of items I already have.
When first exploring Ebay, I began a collection of Christmas postcards. They're inexpensive; they mail and store easily; they're very graphic. Now, what can I make that owes its spark to these little lovelies?

Advent Village

A tiny gingerbread boy button stands at the doorway of house number 17 on our main family advent calendar. I labored over this wall hanging, following the pattern so closely the directions became dog-eared. I cut each roof and each house separately, striving to have the pattern on my scraps of fabric suggest shingles or siding. Miniature candy canes slide under the roof and inside each little home. My sewing machine stitches a snowflake pattern, so I added dozens of individual flakes on the background of my advent village. The year N was born, I added the gingerbread boy button to house number 17, his birthday. Happy birthday, N!

Holiday Cards

Holiday cards are arriving in the mail. It seems to me the style of the card sent is related to the attitude of the card sender. Some folks are stream-lined. Others are almost frilly. Many are literal; these last people you can spot because they base their Christmas greeting on a holiday photo of themselves. Most of the time I like to make my Christmas card. I throw in a photo of the kids, too. Though I will admit I bought my cards this year, I still share samples of my greetings from other years.

Advent Plans

Just because I have a half-finished advent calendar stored away in a box does not mean I can’t dream about the next advent calendar project. The bottle neck when designing an advent calendar is finding a way to make your own numbers. Silk screening might be the answer. I can paint numbers that flow around an off-center string-pieced Christmas tree. I’m thinking the tree would be pretty made from scraps of red that lean toward pink and splashes of white, while the background would be greens.

Boxy Santa

Some years ago, I borrowed the candy cane Santa on the left from my mother in order to make my own version. But, I didn’t get around to recreating this very 70’s Santa of fabric over shaped styrofoam until this year. Sadly, I stored my model Santa in the basement under a small leak. His red felt hat surely got wet and then a little moldy.

My Santa sports a Marimekko fabric jacket, vintage acrylic donut beads for holly leaves, an over-sized red pendant nose and donut bead buttons capped with felted wool beads. He's not quite as fabulous as the original, but he is close.

Unfinished Christmas

Some Christmas projects remain unfinished for many holiday seasons. I had planned to give this appliquéd advent calendar to my brother. I knew just where it would look the best in his house. I folded lovely batik fabric into envelopes to serve as the pockets for the calendar days. I fussed over the most interesting collection of browns to be Santa’s reindeer. And I have yet to finish the project. And my brother has now moved. Someday.

Santa Advent Calendar

The triangular Santa pattern is easy to paper-piece and pleasantly graphic. I shrunk Santa down and made a whole bunch of them as the base for this advent calendar for my sister. Numbers hand-sewn down the side are counted off with a Christmas tree button.

Mini Santa Quilt

A seasonal wall hanging is an ideal gift because it allows me to do more sewing and saves my gift recipient from having an over-abundance of hand-made items to work into their décor. This 9 inch by 12 inch Santa is a desk quilt. I made a series of 12, again as a birthday gift for my mother. My idea was that each mini-quilt could be strapped over a desk frame next to my mom’s computer…a sort of desk calendar without the clutter of dates. Nearly every month’s quilt also had beads worked into the design, though for December all I required was two blue beads for Santa’s eyes.

Winter Flowers

One year for my mother’s birthday I made a series of 4 quilted wall hangings, one for each season. Following a pattern in a magazine, the “frame” of the wall hanging remains the same. The center panel of appliquéd flowers leans toward a season and is attached to the background with velcro. Winter’s floral arrangement is an amaryllis.

Zip It Up

Of course this year my interest is sewing with zippers. Zippered pouches made with holiday fabric could hold a gift card or tickets to something interesting. I made several to have on hand at this Saturday’s Holiday Market at Lincoln Square.

Wrap It Up

I find I buy holiday fabric with the same gusto I acquire patterns with more general use. Now, what can I do with all these seasonal prints? A couple of years ago I made fabric lunch sacks to hold small gifts. They were quick to make; they’re very reusable. A sparkly button closure makes the whole project satisfying.

More Muted Santa

The very same Santa made with more muted Christmas colors looks different carrying his toy-filled sack. Black seed beads for eyes and an applique star that I wish was a tree round out the center of this small wall hanging. I have found that any pieced border adds interest to a quilt. This one is simple, but sometimes a quilt sparkles when the border is more complex than the main design.

Santa Quilt

Around the time I first started making quilts, I shopped at a holiday craft fair held at the school where I taught. I bought there a very large and loosely constructed quilted Santa wall hanging. For several years afterwards, when I saw a Santa wall hanging pattern for sale, I would buy it. Now I have several quilted Santas. This one is small and simple. Santa doesn't even have a face; I like the way the plaid on the boot fabric conspired to make them seem more real.

Holiday Workshop

It's festive and congested in my sewing room. I'm busy working on pouches for the upcoming Lincoln Square Holiday Market as well as little presents for R, N and K. Maybe this is what Santa's place looks like as December gathers steam. Bits and pieces are all around in various states of completion. There's still plenty of possibility in the raw materials, yet you can see where the project is headed.

Felt Santa

Many of my Christmas decorations are copies of decorations my mother made and I remember from childhood. This felt Santa is one. I simply traced the original Santa’s silhouette on paper for a pattern and then cut out bits of red and white felt. To my eyes this Santa is clearly a copy. It reminds me of the original, but it isn’t a full replacement. My own kids don’t see him that way, though.

Plates

Christmas brings out the craft side of everyone, and it makes me want to try new project media. I can’t draw or paint, so I imitate instead. This painted tree plate is my version of a Spode design. It’s not nearly as cute at the one my husband made on the same day, but when we cover them with gingerbread cookies no one can tell.

Amaryllis

This two foot by 3 foot amaryllis wall hanging is based on a picture I saw in a catalog. I tried to quilt Christmas motifs on the plant pots, then filled in the rest with stars. Paper piecing kept the project accurate, but I could still add long skinny triangles with impunity.

Advent Crafts

It’s December 1st and the Advent calendars are up. The Christmas season is so full of crafting possibilities, it seems quite doable to generate a holiday craft project blog to count down the days until Christmas.
Here’s the first entry in my handmade holiday advent catalog. It’s a folk art cross-stitch Santa bound with a tea towel border. It hangs at the base of the stairs, ready to be advanced each morning of December when my husband comes down to make the morning coffee. There was a time I worked on many cross-stitch projects, even adding beads to cross-stitched Christmas trees to serve as my Christmas cards one year.

Fiddling Around

At the Lincoln Square Holiday Market two weeks ago several shoppers commented that the zippered pouch I made to hold pencils or markers would serve nicely for knitting needles if it were longer. I now have a pro-type design for such a pouch. The outside is a cotton canvas, and its extra thickness and weight should hold a pouch shape well, especially stabilized for even more rigidity. I don't knit myself, so a casual survey of those who do knit suggested a common length for knitting needles--14 inches. This pouch will hold 14 inch knitting needles, a small pair of scissors, stitch counters and likely a pencil to mark your place in a cute sweater pattern.

Dressing the Turkey

Since I don't cook with much confidence, dressing the turkey refers to a simple dress I made for K. She is the perfect age for fun prints; this one is flowers in fall colors on a soft corduroy. K is also the perfect age for striking a bargain. In this case, she would let me take her picture if she could act silly in it. What a turkey!

To Market Again

I'm booked for this Saturday's Lincoln Square Holiday Market. Bags and pouches are finished and arranged. Since this summer and the last market I attended I've:

-changed the clutch purse closure from a loop and button to a magnetic snap

-added zippered pouches with silk-screened words on them ("mad money", "gadgets", "misc.")

-devised a zippered pencil pouch

Otherwise, it's more of the same. I know my smaller pouches fit gift cards for holiday gift giving. I know, having been a teacher myself, that fabric pouches would make a welcome teacher gift. I've been to the Holiday Market to double-check that no one else is making small fabric items. I'm set. Maybe I'll see you there.

Bag for G

My friend G requested a messenger bag in black canvas with a Japanese floral lid. It was a good exercise on two fronts. I have now scoped out the best in-town source for colored canvas fabric, and new supply sources are always interesting. I also devised a new method for neatly attaching binding. A little strip of steam-a-seam tape along the back side of the binding tacks the piece in place, so even when I sew it from the front side of the purse lid, I don't miss catching any binding. Try it!

I Love Scooter Fabric

I broke down and bought the only color combination I was missing in my stash of Japanese linen scooter fabric. Technically, it's not the most expensive fabric I own, but it's close. I have no particular plan for the fabric, but something will present itself. Until then, I'm enjoying it as quirky possibility. Whoever designed this fabric has my number; they could only better their design success by printing the fabric in more color combinations.

Smaller Messenger

I find I enjoy making the same thing over and over. Sometimes I like the soothing, repetitive assembly-line nature of working through many of the same item. Other times I get a kick out of considering how to improve the efficiency of the steps to make something. I made another messenger bag, but this time it is smaller. The 12 by 12 1/2 inch bag still has a magnetic snap closure and an interior zippered pocket. I pieced a 2 inch-wide strip of fabric into the back panel so there's something to see "on the wrong side". There's still plenty of room to showcase a pretty piece of fabric on the lid. Maybe next time I'll use strips of fabric on the purse lid.

Scooter Bag-Revisited

This Japanese linen scooter fabric might be my favorite fabric this year. Unfortunately, the pattern does not lend itself to being cut into small pieces. It turns out to be very difficult to isolate a scooter on a smaller swath of fabric, and I really don't like sacrificing neighboring scooters to harvest just one. The lid of a messenger bag offers a pleasantly large and uncut expanse of fabric, just right for scooters.

This new purse has a coordinating stripe of fabric on its back side, an interior zipped pocket, a strap long enough to go over my fall coat, a magnetic snap on the lid, and a vintage donut bead for a faux flap closure. I plan to wear it around for awhile to see what changes to make for next time.

100 Postings

My blog control panel informs me this is the my 100th posting of craft-related musings. Though I've already shown a peek of these candy bags, they are now finished and soon to be dropped in the mail to my nephew and niece. I've made several of these cloth candy buckets, and I enjoyed revisiting the pattern this time. Something slightly smaller and without a handle would be very cute in a Christmas pattern to hold a handful of candy canes.

Ready For Candy

10 days from Halloween and I've only purchased the candy I plan to give out to trick-or-treaters 3 times. I feel reasonably prepared for the approaching festivities. The costumes are chosen; the pumpkins are ready to be carved; little hands have arranged our decorations around the house. I even have a good start on two fabric candy buckets for my nephew and niece. Machine applique makes this project largely a matter of rooting around for the right snippet of fabric. The orange duck fabric on the bottom tier of one of the candy corn pieces is my favorite selection.

I Couldn't Resist

Fresh off the plane from Utah, I convinced my family that a stop at IKEA (to eat lunch, of course) was in order. Since I eat at a good clip, there was time for me to slip away from the cafeteria to choose a little fabric for the drive home. I bought 2 yards of this random and colorful pattern I plan to fussy cut into many smaller items. Flowers, people, billy goats, pagodas, this fabric has it all. Maybe I should stretch it on a large frame and store it up on the wall of my craft room for awhile.

Utah Inspiration

I'm just back from trooping around the wilds of central and southern Utah on a family vacation. Two weeks without sewing or shopping for anything related to crafts forced a closer inspection of everything else. The Sego Canyon cliff paintings are chock-a-block full of ideas for silk screening or fabric piecing. I like the effect of something visually interesting and simple, but not childlike.

Misc. Pouches

Hiding the patterned fabric on the inside of these pouches leaves the outside free for a solid color and a silk-screened message. Thus far I'm finding that the paint is easy to work with if I'm careful. It dries evenly, irons, washes and is the opaque look I was hoping for. There are 5 more colors of paint to try in the silk screening starter kit. Maybe I'll make party gift pouches for K's upcoming birthday that say "4 is Fab!"

Shine On, Sun!

I'm experimenting with silk screening my own words and designs onto fabric. The first step is to think of something to say and print it from the computer. An exposure of exactly 30 seconds to the bright fall sun fixes an image of my design on a reusable screen. I'm still working out the best method to neatly paint through my stencil onto fabric. I don't want fancy or intricate, just crisp and vaguely competent.

It's reassuring to find there are still crafting avenues I have never explored.

Pencil Case

I worked for an entire afternoon to puzzle out how to make a pencil case with ends folded up in triangles as you would wrap a present. My thought was if I could make the pattern in paper, origami-style, then I could reverse the math to add seam allowances, turn the pattern inside out to make a lining, add a zipper, and I'd have a pencil pouch. Well, either the solution is awkward and no fun to sew, or it escapes me completely. I fell back on what I know how to do. Here is a pencil pouch with tapered sides and a squared-off bottom. It will stand open to reveal art supplies, but is at its heart a simple zippered pouch.

Rings On My Fingers

I'm a fan of circles. These donut beads speak to me. They could be cute earrings, a dangle on a purse, or some sort of ingenius loop hardware for some project. I have bunches and bunches of them, just in case.

New Design

My favorite pattern person on Etsy, Keykalou, has a new rounded clutch design to try. In the past I've taken her patterns and lengthened them to suit my needs, but this one I sewed pretty much as she directed. The inside has a small pocket, and the flap closes with an ultra-thin magnet snap, my latest favorite sewing notion. I like the way the red polka-dots came out, and I have pieces cut to make the same bag in some of my favorite blue Japanese linens. Maybe a black linen body and a patterned flap would work. I'll try...

Getting Ready for the Season

Before even the big box stores have thought to trot out holiday displays and merchandise, I have a holiday crafting thought. I'm going to make zippered pouches in holiday fabrics. The perfect size to hold a gift card, a zippered pouch makes wrapping easy, is reuable and regiftable, and doubles as a change purse or whatnot holder.

Package!

I've been waiting patiently for several weeks to receive juicy fabric from Japan. One yard of the cutest linen robot fabric every made (and I've spent some time comparing linen robot fabric) and a half yard of green lion fabric (because R's favorite animal is the lion and his favorite color is green) arrived today. How marvelous to have the technology in my own house to prowl the planet for perfect craft supplies. But even after emails around the world and money exchanged through secure second parties, I still wait to hear the distinctive rumble of my mail carrier's car coming around the bend with my well-traveled parcel.

Pro-type

I'm playing with the design of a zippered pouch that is more wallet in nature. Somewhat larger than the smaller of the two pouches I currently make by the dozen, this pouch sports an outside pocket for storing important scraps of paper and a d-ring for attaching keys or clipping the whole wallet securely in a larger purse or bag. Accent binding on the pocket and along the pouch edge pumps up the main fabric.

Now I debate: should I use a wallet for awhile and see how I like it day-to-day, or just set to work making a bunch of them for a future farmers' market?

Scooter Purse

I have completed a commission of a scooter clutch purse, made with delicious Japanese cotton-linen fabric. Lined in linen, the purse sports a fabric-covered button. The back of the purse is more of the pink and green scooter linen. K wandered into my sewing room while I was finishing up the purse and observed that if I wasn't going to make her a dress out of the scooter fabric (and I'm not), maybe I could sew a small square of it onto something as a pocket. For 3-and-a-half, she has an eye for cute design. Watch for her this fall in Target jeans embellished with a pink scooter pocket.

Kindle Pouch

While I don't own a Kindle, the people I know who have one are enjoying the technology of having oodles of books at their fingertips. My friend C saw my zippered pouches at the farmers' market and wondered whether I could make a fabric carrier for her Kindle. Here is the result. It is padded on the inside with quilted fabric, and the outer fabric is also bonded with fleece. A swivel hook on the end of a short strap allows you to tote the pouch as a sort of purse or hook it through the handles of a bike or larger bag for carrying around. A sport zipper gives a sturdy finish to the pouch. Thanks to M for making a life-sized Kindle blank with scrap wood in the garage so I could be assured that a real Kindle would fit in this pouch. C has assured me she will field test the design and let me know what to change for next time.

Raw Materials

Emboldened to try a craft booth again, I am collecting fabric, beads and zippers that I think would make cute zippered pouches. I am enjoying the process of collecting, buying and matching materials. It's a summer for sewing.

Saturday Sales

A breezy and delightfully cool morning brought out the shoppers at the weekly Market at the Square, site of my first attempt to sell zippered pouches and small purses. I manned my booth at the edge of the food and craft vendor rows facing the fire station all morning and learned two things: 1. Fire fighters will use the fire station pole to come down from upstairs even when there is no emergency, and 2. The manual dexterity of Saturday morning shoppers in Urbana is a-okay. People unzipped and zipped pouches, touched and squished pouches and bought them, too. Folks made suggestions for adding pockets, key fobs and fabric that had cherries on it. Shoppers pointed me to their favorite fabric and special bead shopping sites online.

Thanks to the friends and family who came by to see my personal lemonade stand. The photo features my mother-in-law making a purchase. She didn't even ask for a discount.

To Market, To Market

I've been gearing up to explore whether I'd enjoy selling my crafts from time to time. I have reserved a booth space at the Urbana Market at the Square for this Saturday. I figured a display easel of some sort would lift my rather small pouches and purses up enough to catch the eye. M got to work putting together such a display rack, largely using items laying around our garage. I guess in an unintended way, we've shown we really do need all the random pvc pipe, scraps of wood and whatnot that has collected in our house. At the moment my youngest assistant is enjoying reorganizing items on the shelves. She is a very thorough field-tester.