January 28, 2009

Knitting away waiting...

So I think these three weeks without my sewing machine are going to be harder than I thought.  So I started getting some knitting projects going to help me keep busy.   I have been working on a cute little hat for my nephew but ran out of yarn so have to go to the shop to finish it off.  My sister also e-mailed me with a request she found on at this blog

 It is a cute knitted headband that can be used in the winter to keep ears nice and warm.  The pattern was taken from Nitty and it was SUPER easy.  It took me a few hours.  Started and finished it after work yesterday.  I used lion brand cashmere which is super soft! and size 6 needles.  I think it should fit my sister well.  If not I can always knit up another one in no time.  I might actually make one for myself :)

January 25, 2009

Machine's at the doctor :(

I had to say good bye to my sewing machine today for a yearly cleaning.  I really have worked it hard this past year and had accumulated a ton of dust.  I wont be able to see him again for two to three weeks, YIKES!  

I have to say I was a little nervous leaving him at the store when I heard that, so I tried to keep my mind off things by getting my swap squares ready.  I was busily cutting all the triangles for my block Go Along #2.  



Unfortunately I ran out of the cute polka dot fabric and so had to use some left over squiggles.  




Hopefully my swap team wont mind.  I think the blocks will come out really cute.  Really excited to get and see everyone else's.  I have to be patient though, I wont see them until March.   

January 23, 2009

I just had to share...

Isn't my companion just the cutest!!  He loves cuddling up in my stashes of fabric spread throughout my table.  


January 22, 2009

Swaps and stuff...

So I have to say I am fully immersing myself in the internet world.  I have been joining swaps and sew along here and there.  It really is making me be very productive.  Below are two kids toys that I made for Karen, my Homemade toy swap partner.  The swap was to honor hand made goodies in light of the new laws being passed for kids toys.  Read Annie's blog to get more info.  I thought it was a wonderful idea!
Karen has two little boys and although we only had to make one thing for the swap, I couldn't have her kids potentially fight over it (like my sisters and I would have) so I made them each a little art pouch (I am, after all, an art teacher and must promote creative minds).                                    






These two pics show the outside and inside of the crayon "brief case".  The black thing you see is a moleskin journal.  I am a HUGE fan of moleskin.  You can pick them up in most bookstores.  



These next two pics show the colored pencil roll up.  I have seen many people make these and thought it was so cute.  It also comes with it's very own moleskin journal of course!

This last pic is of the cutest pouch ever.  I found it because it was featured in Daily DIY, which if you haven't checked out is a great source of inspiration.  The tutorial for this cute and super fast and easy pouch is available at Patchy Apple, another GREAT website! If you are running out of time to make one for yourself she also has links to her etsy store and you can buy one already made.  I just LOVE the way it turned out.  I am going to have to make a ton more, especially for gifts.

Hope your Thursday is going well.  Only one more work day to go!


  

January 21, 2009

Ooops forgot my Obama cake....



Since the cake was really tall (4 layer cake) I decided to add Obama's slogan to the sides "YES WE CAN!" 

Hope everyone's Wednesday is going well :)



This next project was also on my "to do" list.  I had bought the fabric at a quilting expo back in June and finally put together the very simple yet fun baby quilt.  I just loved the blue and brown together.  This one might be going to my cute little nephew that was born mid November- but it might be to "girly" for him so we will have to wait  and see what his father says about it, haha.



January 20, 2009

Inauguration brings sewing time...


Since I live in Washington, DC and am a school teacher, I got a four day weekend!  Which can only mean one thing... uninterrupted crafting time! I have been as busy as a bee finishing up some projects from my resolution list and I even had enough time to celebrate the inauguration of our 44th president!  
 
First I'll start by showing you some projects that I have finished ...


































The first picture is a door stop. I used Oh Fransson's tutorial.  I just love the way it turned out and it was super easy.  

The next two pictures are of a quilt I started probably 7 years ago (when I was still in college).  I had pieced it way back then but had never got to quilt it because it was so large (fits a queen).  Since my resolution list included finishing all old projects, I knew this would be my first to tackle.  I have to say I didn't quite piece it together that well (which I noticed as I quilted) but overall I love the way it has turned out.  I feel a sense of accomplishment and I still love the combination of fabrics.  Too bad it is too "girly" as my boyfriend likes to put it, he wont let me put it on our bed.  I will have to wait to get a bigger place and show case it in the guest bedroom.  I had another picture of a baby quilt but for some reason my computer is acting up... i'll have to show you another day.  

I also wanted to share with you my Obama cake that I made for my friend Anne Marie's bday.  Her birthday was today, inauguration day but we celebrated on Sunday after going to the massive concert at the Lincoln Memorial.  Unfortunately my computer isn't quite cooperating so I'll try tomorrow.  

Hope everyone had a great inauguration day!



January 15, 2009

Give Away from Hot Butter

Thought I would let you all know that Hot Butter is having a great give away.  She has quite a few linen pouches showcased.  You have until Saturday to post a comment.  So hurry up!!

January 14, 2009

Ceramics

Last semester I was taking a sculptural ceramics class.  We did quite a few pieces that were pretty big that they all weren't able to finish firing by the end of the class.  The only piece that made it out is this one... 

The assignment was to take two different images, one for the background and the other for the people in it.  My two images were of a cafe and Mary Cassatt's  "Girl in a Staw Hat" (my favorite painting of all times!).  I wasn't the biggest fan of adding the little girl once I had finished the cafe scene,  I just loved the way that came out! But over all, once I put the brown wash on it and it got it's final firing I am pretty proud of my first sculptural piece.  

Tomorrow I am starting a photography class so I'm sure I will feel the need to share some of my work from there as well.

Hope everyone is getting excited about the inauguration!  I only live a few blocks away so I am going to try to get a glimpse of it on Tuesday.  

Take care!

January 7, 2009

Project Improv

So I am keeping myself busy and joined "Project Improv"!  Not only did I love the name, since I am a fan of Project Runway, but loved the idea and was hooked instantly.  If you ever wanted to challenge yourself with something you need to read this site.  I am used to doing traditional quilts and taking, for the most part, g the "safe" route on the design front.  I am really excited to see what I can come up with for this challenge.  I hope you join in as well!

January 6, 2009

Joined a sew along....

So as I am obsessed lately with the inspiration I get with blogs, I was "poking" around on the internet and I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Stardust Shoes, and saw that Joanna and her sister started up a cute advent calendar sew along.  Check out their idea and you may just want to join in. I have already done a little stocking advent calendar out of felt so I have decided to be inspired by another blogger found on their flicker page, and do an advent finger puppet calendar.  I plan on making it the nativity characters.  So far I am only in the planning stages but will keep you posted as they are being made.  I also am starting to realize just how hard it is to come up with 25 characters for the Nativity.  So far this is all I have
 Baby Jesus,
Mary
Joseph
Wise Man #1
Wise Man #2
Wise Man #3
shepherd
donkey
north star
sheep


As you can see I still have quite a few characters to think up of.  I think I am going to have to make a couple of the same animal so that it will all work.  I also have been toying with the idea of adding lobsters and an octopus because I absolutely LOVE the movie Love Actually.   If you have any ideas I would love to hear from you.  

January 2, 2009

Just in time...


Even though I know I am posting about this in the new year I actually got this tree skirt finished a few days before the official start to 2009.  I know I totally missed Christmas, which is obviously what this was intended for, but at least this way I got a few days to admire it before tucking it into one of the holiday boxes and in the attic.  I just know that with all the projects I hope to do in 2009 I will have forgotten that I have already made this tree skirt and it will be Christmas early for me when I start taking all the decorations out.  

I was inspired by CrazyMomQuilts tree skirt, which you will notice have lots of similarities.  My "present" squares aren't a log cabin pattern I just created 7.5 inch squares using different 3 bands of of 7.5 inch wide fabrics.  I also wanted to make mine round.  I did have to use some of my high school math skills,  lol.  But if anyone is interested in knowing dimensions and the simplest way to create this skirt please write me and I'll be happy to share (this way you don't have to sit down trying to remember geometry like I had to do).  

I have been pretty busy these past few days I will have to blog about them as soon as I take some pictures.  I hope everyone's 2009 is off to a great start!