Still Working

After a long two days of webmastering for the Pahrump Arts Council I am more than ready to work on my own net adventures.

I finished the Amish Fans quilt top and it is stunning. I'm also most of the way done with a scrappy Churn Dash quilt top. I had a dream about somebody spray painting some lovely street art all over it. I wish I knew someone who would do that for me.

I started a new knitted scarf/wrap. It is the Morning Frost Wrap by Debbie Stoller. I made this in the same natural colored cotton as the drop stitch scarf in hopes of dying it to my likes. It may be much further into winter before I get to wear it tho. The lace pattern is simple but takes some patience. Meaning that I can't just whip thro it while watching tv. Counting those stitches takes too much concentration. Thankfully I learned about life lines in stitching before I started this piece. I've had to rip back twice so far.

There Goes My Resolution

Well my New Year's Resolution of updating my blog weekly has been shot. For 6 months I have slacked. Granted, a good chunk of that involved moving and hanging out with my parents in Nevada. During that time I fried a laptop, got a new laptop, lost a cat, moved to Florida, got a new cat, started an etsy shop, wrestled with a bit of depression, got a new sewing machine and taught myself to knit.

My crafting has suffered from much of this. As have my clip art collection and personal photographs. But I seem to be up and running better now with a few projects in the que. There is an Amish Fans quilt top hanging on my design wall and a drop stitch scarf begging to be photographed. I am also trying to decide about a baby present and pick some yarn for a sweater.

So, picks and stories coming soon. Now if my back would just feel better....

Naughty Inchies and Firey Foxes

My last swap before the next big move is the Alphabet Inchies Swap on craftster. Group 2 are all the ladies who said they don't mind (or even prefer) "naughty" words. I had every intention of being truly foul mouthed. God knows I have no problem with that. Instead, my words tended towards innuendo and the pictures to sexy. Of all the inchies I've made this set was the hardest to split up and send. They look so great together and I just love the combination of vintage images, modern photos, hand drawn images and 3D objects. I'm just crossing my fingers that they all get to their new home safe and sound.

About halfway through living in Germany I started my infatuation with foxes. Around that same time I came across a pattern online for a paper banner of little foxes. (sorry, can't find the original source) I downloaded the artwork but it took me a while to find just the right paper to use. It was 6 coordinating purple and green florals. They looked so great in an open window against the spring background of our neighbor hood. Then.... I got a cat. He liked my paper foxes too. I repaired them 4 times before deciding on a needed change. Thankfully, I had just the right batik fabric and grommet setter. Now these foxes are stylish!

Obligitory cat pic: Vash is so cute when he sleeps.

A Dapper Raccoon and Some LOL Cats

These three ATCs were made for the January Ongoing ATC Swap on Craftster. The first is a sweet little racoon made for blupaisan. A secondary theme of hers was top hats and i think he looks dapper in his fancy hat. The raccoon is hand drawn by me on pieced felt bits. The background is scarpbook paper from my stash.

The next two cards were made for krafty_karasu's theme of LOL Cats. She also wanted some interactive cards and I knew Monorail cat would be perfect for a pull tab card. Pull the arrow and Monorail Cat "leaves the station." (I like to make a swooshy sound effect when I play with it) A little editing of the original pic and some cutting and pasting. I'm getting pretty good at pull tab cards.

Long cat is a quick bonus card for KK. I had him in my head for myself and knew she would also like one. (plus it was just two fold so not alot of work). Long cat starts out long but unfolds to be loooooong. I can't take credit for any photoshoping on this one. It is borrowed from the net.

Vintage Papercraft and Obligatory Cat Pics

After a month of not posting I have plenty of to share. I seem to be in a papercraft state of mind so lots of ATCs and inchies lately.

This is the set I made for the 3x3 ATC Swap on craftster last month. Alwaysinmyroom gave me 9 themes to try to incorporate in the spread. I was able to fit most. The prominent ones are Asian, sewing and red. Also included are cats, wildlife and technology. To pull together all of the varied themes I made all 9 from the same background paper. I Mod Podged a vintage sewing pattern to some card stock and toned down the shininess with gesso. Then I scoured my ephemera collection. I pulled together all the mismatched items with the color red. Always adores it and even called me her new craftster crush. *blush*

I usually try to make a copy of all ATCs for myself. In the case of the 3x3 Swap I really couldn't. Most of my found objects were one of a kinds so it really was impossible. Instead, I took a second background page of the decoupaged apron pattern and added the bits of the rest the sewing pattern. The first row is from the front of the envelope. The second is from the back. The third row as bits from the instruction pages inside. The set is pulled together by scraps of lace, ribbon and rick rack repeating in each row. I love the vintage feel of the set. It is so cute.

With the leftovers of the leftovers I had just enough to make a matching set of inchies. I added drawn on stitching lines to define each object.

Between sewing projects Vash entertained me by running around like a freak. Mike started calling him Super Vash after he started taking corners by running up the wall. I new then that he needed a cape. I used scraps of fleece and a bit of ribbon. It slides around a bit but it is so cute.

Here is Super Vash preparing for a day of crime fighting.

Taking a break but staying vigilant by watching for evildoers out the window. Or is he watching squirrels? Or are they EVIL squirrels?

Epic Fail

Just before the schedualed back up of my computer my hard drive died. Not reformat-and-load- back-up die. No, please-install-hard-drive die. Thankfully my most recent crafting photos are still on my camera or up on flickr. Unfortunatly, I think of new things every couple hours or so that I have lost. About 6 months worth of pjoto originals, all my crafty web favorite links and the rerip of the 6000 MP3s that I was fileing and uploading to iTunes. Damn, I just remembered all the clip art from Dover and Vintage Moth. Bleh, well, pics from ATC swaps to come this week.

Inchies and One Tiny Thing

A crazy month of swapping is almost over. Most of my partners have received in the Inchies, It's a New Year Swap and sloth003 got her One Tiny Thing yesterday.

I sent Miss Slothy a wallet because she hinted at it in the last OTT swap gallery. She said she liked bright colors and geometric paterns. Here is what I came up with.

And here is the prototype I made for myself. My last wallet made from a comic book was getting a little small with all the discount cards in it. My version also has no pocket for cash since I don't carry any. Oh, and button and ribbon closure (like the DS case) because I managed to forget to sew on some velcro.

Can you tell where my priorities lie? Fabric, books and books, baby!

This is the full set of inchies. 56 in all. I started with some crazy quilt blocks made from shiny bits of scrap. Cut those down and added embelishments. Way more hand sewing than I originaly planned on but garsh they look good.

Then I had this great idea that all my partners should have personalized inchie boxes to store them all in. I drew the boxes out in Corel, colored the base design with markers then stamed on the detail. I narowed the stamps down to two sets so I would go completely crazy. I really thing I had too much time on my hands that week.

When the boxes are put together they look like this.

I need to go get pics of the Ongoing ATCs I sent out as well as the 3x3 ATCs when they are finished off. I really impressed myself with those ones.

Goth and Sweet Lolita Swap

My darling partner, ojy, has recived and opened her pakage. I can now post pics and not ruin any surprises.

I made some boxes to pack everything in since I couldn't find anything premade that would work. This way I could make sure that it all was pretty and nothing would get damaged or smushed. I used some heavy 12x12 scrapbook paper and up sized box templates from all over the net. The paper come from the same color way so they all match and look spectacular together.


As soon as a saw a lace choker on ojy's wist I knew I had to make on special for her. Of course I couldn't just use store bought lace so I needle tatted up this beauty. This is the first large peicce of tatting that I've done. I love the pearls. They give it that extra bit of class. Oh, the pattern came from This 'n' Tat. I love the net!

Somewhere on the swap thread we were talking about good luck origami cranes and stars. I think everyone can use some extra luck and this is even personalized. I printed up some gradient squares with my partner's screan name and folded away. These whent in the octaganal box with a window in the top. I think I can fold cranes blindfolded.

Every Loli needs a mini hat. I took inspiration from a wist item that had peacock feathers on it. The feathery part is pin on since I didn't know what side ojy wears her hat. I could make babys all day long. Anyone want one?

At the last minute a kazashi hair accessory came up on ojy's wist (garsh I love wists). So happens I just bought the book Kanzashi In Bloom. I made a couple practice flowers for myself then put this lovley together. I am so impressed with myself I can't even tell you. Mike came up with the idea of shading the fabric for the look I wanted. I used colored pencils and blended them with my fingers. Sakura blossoms are my favorite. *sigh* So pretty.

Link to original swap thread here.

Well, I Could Have Told You That

Your rainbow is shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Gifts From Friends

This week was all about crafting for swaps. Instead of spoiling the surprise I would like to share some things my friends gave me this week. I'm not sure how I got so lucky. Sometimes objects made by hand with crafty love just need to find someone to fully appreciate them.

Charu gave me this fabric wrap from India. It is about 6 x 3 feet big and hand embroidered all over. Every vine and flower is filled in with chain stitch. There are also little silver jewel to give it some sparkle. The amount of work that went into this peice is a little mind boggling to me. Added to that the fact that Charu had 3 of them herself. Eventhough the person who stitched this was doing it to make a living I hope she put as much love into it as if it were for herself.
The detail is just amazing. Thank you for thinking of me sweety. You are amazing!

This table runner (I think that's what it was intended for) was embroidered by my friend Mark's Grandmother. When she passed away she left behind some amazing craft work. The box I was gifted included this stitching and a small collection of vintage sewing advertisements and patterns. I can't tell you how honored I am to be entrusted with the memories of past artists. Thank You Mark!
Here is the detail of the lazy daisy stitches. The pattern is unfinished but still gorgeous. The small spots are from an unfortunatley placed needle. It seems to have gotten a little rusty in the 50 years of sitting in a box.