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.

Hey, Its Those Sewing Projects I Promised

All these projects have been made in the past couple months and for some reason never got photographed or posted.

First up is a Sashiko Stitched Saddle Bag Purse. The pattern comes from Stitch Magazine, Fall 2009. The outside is a shiny pretty blue fabric that was going to be part of a halloween costume that never happened. The stripes inside are left over from a messenger bag I never finished. The asian is a random fat quarter I had in my stash.

Of all the embroidery I've done in the past this is the first that is done in sashiko. The traditional Japanese stitch was used to hold together layers of fabric in winter kimonos. There are many traditional patterns all done in the simple running stitch.

Bag opened up so you can see the two pockets. This seperation makes it great to put my electronics and sun glasses in one side and things that would scratch them in the other. The pockets are just big enough to slide a note book in making it perfect for grocery day or carying a sketch book.

Here is the detail shot of the sakura blossom. The pink thread wasn't quite right but I like that the flower is a little hidden. There is also a blanket stitch around the patch.

Next up is a scraf born from compulsion. When I saw the pattern in the lattest Quilting Arts Magazine I just had to make it. All the patch work fabric is from fat quarters in my stash. The back is left over from a swap I did last year.

The colors don't seem to go with anything in my wardrobe so I'm going to send it to Mom. It is so her colors.

Time: 5 hours

Cost: $0

And last is a little bear purse I made as a 50% scale prototype for the Goth Loli Swap I'm working on. I think he needs a nose and maybe wiskars. The zipper will work a little better in the full size bear. Otherwise he is pretty cute.

Pink gingham is scraps from my Sickly Sweet halloween costume. All other bits are from my stash.

Time: 1.5 Hours

Cost: $0

EXTRA!!!

An ATC made from the leftovers from the bear bag. It is called "Loli Leftovers". I think it is super sweet.

Inchies From Heaven

I just finished a great swap of inchies. I received my last set today. It was a welcome gift after pulling weeds at the demand of the army for 3 hours. I sent mine out last week and enough people have received that I think its safe to post my sets. (that and no one will probly read it anyway)

These buttons are attached with Diamond Clear. They are super shiny. I wish that I would have stitched them before glueing, oops.



These are called "In Stitches." Embroidery is done on denim squares filled with my favorite stitches.

From top left: Chain, Couching, Cloud fill, Button Hole, Basket Weave, Brick Stitch, French Knots, Sheef Stitch.



Here is a set of Origami. The animals are folded from one inch squares making it doubley inchified.

From top left: Crane, Blue Bird, Pig, Cat, Whale, Turtle, Butterfly

"Poker Night" set was made from a deck of mini playing cards to hold even mini-er cards.

From top left: CHEATER!, Flush, Aces and Eights, Pair of Jacks, Full House, Duces Wild, Straight Flush, Stright

Embossed copper sheets make up the "Copper Texture" set. I was going to add some patina or aging but they were so happy looking when this shiny. Oh, there is another four letter word but I decided to keep that one for myself. *snicker*

I cut out some mutants and other Marvel comic characters for the set "My Hero". This is my favorite set and my husband almost didn't let me send them out.

From top left: CPT America, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Spiderman, She Hulk, Thor, Hulk, Ironman.

These are the least inpresive looking set untill you hold them up to the light. The black squares are slides from a Veiw Master reel about sea life. I am very proud of myself for this set as I love to have art you can play with. I call the set "Look" in honor of being interactive.

I can't wait for all my partners to receive. I hope they all like what I made. I know I had a great time putting them all together.

I super excited to put there peices in the inchie frame to fill in those blank spots. I have just the place in my studio to hang the finished collage.

Finaly Settling In

I havn't posted in a long time but I have still been crafting. The problem with moving back to the states is that there is a long time when you don't get to your stuff. In our case it was over two months. Except for having a limited wardrobe I really missed having all my craft stuff on hand whenever I wanted. So I had to decide just what to bring with to keep me busy. This craft had to be light and compact, keep me busy for looooong periods of time and be alowed on aircraft. I narrowed it down to embriodery. It is small enough that I could put it in my pocket if I had too but varied enough that I wouldn't get bored with it easily. But what will I do with all these little works of art? The inspiration was just next door. My neighbor in Germany made a quilt of little skulls for her son and I totally ripped off the idea (with her aproval, of course). I was also inspired by the tattoos that my husband and I had recently got. Add it all together and you get an Embroidered Tattoo Quilt.

Here are the first pannels from a project that will probly take me 15 years to finish.

This is the first embriodery for the tattoo quilt. It is a zombie girl in the Dios De Los Meurtos style. Unfortunatly the design is "borrowed" randomly from a flash web page. If you know or are the original artist I would love to give credit for the art. My favorite part is the netting over her hair. Finished in April 09 at my mom's house during a quilter's meeting.

This is my second embroidery for the quilt. Inspired by the "incognito" tattoo. You get a mustache on the inside of your finger so you can put it up to your lip and you will be in disguise. The twist is that this mustache belongs to Alex Louise Armstrong (seen below) from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Notice the pink glitter, thats my fav part! Designed and finished while playing "All Flesh Must be Eaten" at Jon's house May 2009.

The next embroidery for the tattoo quilt was inspired by those generic hearts with "mom" on a banner across them. Everyone has seen them. I like my mom but I think nerds deserve some love too. Designed and finished during that same game of "All Flesh Must be Eaten" at Jon's house May 2009.

And last (for now) this is a classic Sailor Jerry tat. I think the white highlights came out a bit bright but I'm sure not taking it all out. I finished it while sitting in the motel room waiting to get our house on post, June 2009.

Right now I'm working on a lovely mermaid pinup. I'm about half way through. Oh yeah, and I did up a logo for an yet unstarted etsy page. We'll see how that goes in the next couple of weeks.

I'm also working on unpacking a millon boxes. We were down graded in houses and I'm going a little crazy with a lack of storage in this place. We are also lacking so much wall space that I can't hang 2/3s of my art. Thats what happens when this is the first place we've been in with no stair well.

If you have some ink you would like featured on the quilt please send me a pic. And if you would like to see larger pics of the embriodery you can check out my flickr page. More of all the crafty goodness will be coming soon!

Photos, Phinaly

Oh my, I've done it. My new camera is up and running. You will probably be able to see the difference in the quality of between old and new camera. The Fuji was getting a little senile and taking strangely colored pics. Now I have a Sony Cyber Shot. New and cute and small and black and new and 10 mega pixels and new. So now to those crafty things.

Ok, Claus isn't crafty. But he dose deserve a little memorial. He was a good fish. Don't cry Lonnie. He was given a beautiful ceremony (down the toilet)



First real craft up is Poppy. I made Poppy to make sure that the pattern we were using in sewing class would be fairly easy and well designed. It was neither. We still made it. (see Katie with Emily in past post) I was so frustrated with the pattern that my version say around naked for months. I finally promised Katie that Poppy would have some proper clothes, not just a tutu.

The black and gold dress was down sized from my old dress. I had fond memories of it and just couldn't throw it away. Now Poppy can wear it to a Halloween party thrown by her future husband. (we never got those fire works to explode the toy tank). I also crocheted a little hat and scarf for the cold winter months we are now experiencing.

Time: 10 hours for doll and clothes
Cost: Free, all scraps and recycled material

Next is a tiny cross stitch pattern that the shop had about 50 of up until this Christmas. We finally got so sick of seeing them that they were given away as a "gift with purchase." I bought some glitter and yarn and picked of this delightful (read "gag me") creature. Of course I had to twist it to my tastes. Originally the thing was supposed to be tossing snow balls. Now it is throwing its own decapitated head. Trust me after seeing these things and counting them in 2 yearly inventories you would have done the same.

Time: 5 hours of killing time

Cost: Freebie and a small part of my soul

My obsession with all things Japanese and kawaii has led me to collect bento boxes. Historically, they are small lacquered (now plastic) that the Japanese carry there lunches in. Rice and other food is shaped and arranged to be pleasing to the eye as well as the stomach. I got bored packing all four of mine this week. After some cute flowers out of veggies and baby birds from hard boiled eggs I couldn't resist something more twisted. Enjoy Evil Hello Kitty Monster.

Eggy brains fall out of teriaki meat face. Glowing red tomatoes for eyes and a cheesy grin. So yummy and so scary.

Time: about 2 hours for all four boxes of food and arranging

Cost: mostly left over and I already owned the boxes

Lots more going on this week and plenty of time to work on it. I will have 2 days in the waiting room at Landstuhl while Mike gets his first exam for eye surgery. I also have a couple of commissions to do all while sorting and prepping the house for an overseas move in 3 months.

Much Swapage

I finished up a few swaps just before my hubby got home from his long trip to fight the bad guys.

First was the Reading Rainbow Swap. Partners sent each other a tote, a bookmark and a good book. How very appropriate since I'm SUCH a bibliophile. I crocheted the tote and made the bookmark from the same fabric as the lining. My partner had slightly different tastes in books so I sent her a blank book to use as a journal with a remade cover. I used suede mat board and inlaid a rose using the laser engraver to make the vector cuts. Then I found a copy of The Princess Bride at the PX and thought she may enjoy that also (plus it matched the tote so well). And as a bonus I included a couple book bracelets 'cause I had a few beads left over from the huge set I made earlier. [16 hours]

Next comes the Friend of Craftster Secret Swap. We didn't know who was sending to us and we could only stalk our partners without asking any questions. Unfortunately my partner was MIA for most of the round and not as easy to stalk as I could have hoped for. With her two themes, 8 Bit Theatre and Dragons, I came up with these projects. Some crossed stitched sprites with magnets on the back and a reverse stencil dye discharged dragon t-shirt. I cut out a silhouette of a dragon from freezer paper, ironed it on and sprayed a 50/50 bleach water mixture on the shirt. When the dye is bleached out I got the amazing reddish color underneath (much preferred to the off white you sometimes get on black shirts). Also included are some beer stickers because of her hobby of brewing and a couple iron on transfer pencils from her wists. Gwenyvarr has received her package but has not posted or informed me and the organizer that she has. More frustration ensues but I hope nothing tragic has happened to her. [6 hours]

Now that Hubby is home I'm back to crafting more stuff. I'm totaly addicted to crochet right now and am much closer to the crocheted tire cover for my Jeep that I have been dreaming of. I'm also teaching sewing to the kidos again. Weekly classes with K and an upcoming class with Girl Scouts and SAS. Plus ALOT of people are asking about crochet classes (more than quilting amazingly). Lots of work to do at the real job after this nice 4 day weekend I gave myself. More projects to follow this week.