Fabric Coasters.

I picked up a bag of odd fabric scrap strips at the fabric store -- thinking I could do something with it all. I think that fabric has been sitting on my table for over 2 months. I pull strips out, lay a batch together, look at it a few days, change them around...not sure what to do with them since they are so narrow. I finally decided to make fabric coasters.

This is a first try so they are not perfect - but I like the color and textures from the fabric and the stitching. The back has some contrasting thread and a different middle stripe. I think I must make more!

Black Cats, Jack O Lanterns, Spooky Ghosts.

Well, I have been on deadline and so haven't posted since Monday. I have a TON of stuff I wanted to blog about...some of our kitchen adventures (the boys made from scratch fettuccine!), some food preservation, some holiday crafts. But I'll have to leave that for another day. Right now I'm excited because I was looking at The Toymaker website and ogling all of the amazingly cool and funky Halloween paper crafts.

Oh yes, the paper art is always so amazing there, and Halloween is my fav. From spinny jack O lantern pickers to spooky paper banners, from candy corn boxes to ghost shows, from treat bags to bookmarks. Plenty of paper fun to last until October 31 (well, and beyond!) . I have a bunch printed for tomorrow!

Crayon Totes.

I have been working on some ideas for kids gifts recently, and trying out ideas and tweaking sizes whenever I have a moment at the sewing machine during the day. My 2 year old is a creative little person, and carries his crayons/oil pastels/Stockmar around in every sort of container you can imagine. So one of the things I wanted to work on was a crayon tote.

I have seen some really cute versions on some other blogs, but I didn't want a big roll ... I wanted a flat tote.


The first one I made for the Stockmar was *almost* right - but since they are fatter than the regular crayons, I didn't quite get it wide enough - but my second try was better.


I also made a longer version to hold the thinner triangle colors. I used cotton fabric for both sizes, but lined them in craft felt so there is some stiffness and weight. G picked out the fabric for the longer one I made today ... b&w fabrics with red thread & ribbon.


He spent a very long time after it was done putting them in ... taking them out ... putting them in ... taking them out...

I think I have a few little tweaks I still want to make to get everything just right, but I think it will make a cute gift template in the end!

Stick Puppets!

Today we made ocean creature stick puppets! The base shape was cut from card stock, and each was decorated, embellished, and painted by the boys!


We set out the supplies, and then worked on one sea creature at a time. Octopus, jellyfish, grouper, moray eel, manta ray.

We taped the stick on the back - and then decorated each item. We used beads, shredded bright fabric scraps, colored pencils, watercolors, glitter paint, and ribbon.

It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun.


As the creatures dried, we setup a "stage" using our shop and some fabric and playsilks.

We sat down and read a bit about each sea creature from our favorite library book of the week as they dried some more, and then they couldn't wait any more and had to PLAY!


A and G put on shows for me...the manta and octopus are friends, but otherwise, they all eat each other. Live action food chain!


I saved the templates for the shapes - I plan to make felt hand puppets out of the shapes for even more puppet fun! !

Rain, fabric, autumn approaching.

A dark, cool, and rainy day. Fall is hopefully here to stay. I always love the clouds and rain, mixed with some good music and a cup of hot tea, but the boys seem to get crabby. Today is a day for relaxing at home, reading books, painting and coloring, and baking a loaf of yummy bread.

This weekend we took time to be out and enjoy the hot sunny days together. It did feel like the last blast of summer - and while driving we saw corn and soybean fields turning yellow, and the tips of certain trees starting to turn.

I was able to stop in at a quilting store this weekend to pick up some fabric for more of my holiday gift making. So many gifts, just 3 months to go. :) I think I have a nice selection for this next batch of projects.

Fabric Banners.

I have been making cloth banners for holidays, birthdays and seasonal celebrations out of fun fabric. I like the idea of having something re-usable, and they just have more of an energy and style than those paper things sold at party stores which are also usually then discarded and go off to garbage-land. I am planning on making a few coordinating table items and some napkins, so that I have a little party decoration set for some of the upcoming birthdays, and our seasonal table.



I found some nice 2-sided fabric at a quilting sale, which doesn't unravel or fray at the edges. I cut it into triangles and sewed the pieces onto bias tape. Each banner is about 8' long!

Embellishing canvas shopping bags.

I have been experimenting with embellishing plain canvas bags with felt and fabric creations - in my quest for personal and useful holiday gifts for this year.


Giving just a plain canvas bag to use for grocery shopping/whatever doesn't seem too unique, hence my experiments with shapes, styles, machine sew vs. hand embroidered...and so on.




For the apple bag, I sketched out and cut felt shapes to make an apple tree - laying it out on the bag helps determine scale.


Pin the items together, and hand stitch the main piece using embroidery floss.


When done, position the piece on the bag and pin - embroider the piece to the bag using more floss...

...almost done with the apple bag...and working on a machine sewn version using fabric instead of felt...and an abstract art version. :)

Fabric Project=Small Bag.

I made another new little bag yesterday. We always need something to put water/snacks/keys/sunscreen in when we go to the park or for walks. And the boys always confiscate my bags and use them to transport their toys and crayons...so I made another one for me (for now, although G already used it yesterday!!!). It is super basic...lined in black felt, 2 pockets, basic straps (long for over the shoulder/neck carrying). The fabric is nice though and it is big enough to carry what we need!

Fabric Shopping...

We visited a new fabric store this weekend, and I found many nice cottons for a few projects. This fabric isn't for anything super complicated - just the basics...cloth napkins, table cloth, curtain, pillow cases, birthday banner, small bags, gift bags, etc.

This store is in a small town about 15 minutes south of town, so while we were there we wandered Main Street a bit. We found a toy store, so we visited and the boys bought some new puzzles. G, who is 2, LOVES puzzles, and so needed something new to work on - he picked a pirate ship!


Now if the two year old will work on his puzzle while I spend a little time here and there sewing...and not using the sound of the sewing machine as a cue to start shrieking PICK ME UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

Organizing spaces...

I've been feeling a little burned out for the past few weeks. Intense 2 year old, too much work to do (biz work, volunteer work, life work), husband having school work a lot - that I just have been feeling like I am dragging. I decided to re-organize some of my creative space to see if that will help rid me of the cobwebs (that and about 18 cups of iced green tea per day).
I don't feel particularly more motivated or anything, but at least everything seems more balanced and coordinated a bit. It only took about 1 minute for the ribbons to become unwound and wrapped around the entire upstairs as the boys ran excitedly by, and G took it upon himself to individually unravel every spool of vintage thread in the wire basket right after I had carefully organized them, but otherwise it went well. It is about the process, right, anyway? :)
And all of the things in progress or made as a first sample "pattern" on my board made me feel like I'm not slacking off as much in this area and that I have made *some* progress!

Home made plushies.

Whenever A sees something he likes, he cuts out the picture (he is an avid catalog collector), and brings it to me. He always wants to create his own home made versions of everything. He has improvements, new colors, changes, you name it, to make it exactly how he wants it.

We made this batch of plush toys after such a moment. The big one is a great travel pillow, and the little ones he said he NEEDED ... they have wheels AND a wrist tie. I don't often buy big chunks of fabric lately - I raid the remnants bin at the store and that way we always seem to have a little bit of anything and everything for our latest project. Worn clothing/blankets/towels/sheets also work great recycled into craft projects.

And speaking of felt...

I have been working on what I thought would be a simple table runner forever. I didn't calculate appropriately the toddler factor. I thought that the super easy minimalist design stitched onto the felt and fabric piece would be quick to pick up whenever I had a minute. I didn't factor in that it is very long, so the rest of the whole piece is rolled up whenever I am working on the left or right design. This alone means that it is a giant toddler magnet, which draws a running/shrieking two year old right at it. Add in a few brightly topped pins, a needle and floss, and of course a mom not staring right at him for every waking breath, and, well, still workin' on it...

A is for...

A always wants one of whatever is being made. His request usually includes some out of this world custom addition - this time it was simple. An "A". Green is his favorite color, so that choice was an easy one. He wanted something bright for the A stitching, so we used white. It has a snap so he doesn't lose the treasure inside. Today that would be his little hedgehog. The stitches are not perfect, but that is a challenge with a 4 year old helping. G wants one now too. BLUE!!! Although as a spunky 2 year old, he isn't quite as much "help" in the process as his big brother is!

Painted Recipe Box

I love boxes. Not sure where it came from, but I see a box, I want to paint it. Doesn't matter how many recipe boxes, treasure boxes, "stuff" boxes, toy boxes, or well, boxes, I have, I am just drawn to them. I think boxes fill the void that canvas used to fill. I just don't have the time to paint a big white canvas anymore - and the boxes are quick, small, adaptable, and functional.

Winging It Sewing - Kids Chair

Last fall I found an upholstered pooh rocking chair at a garage sale for $3 that was in good shape. This was great for me because I have such horrible allergies that anything new that is furniture with fabric generally has to sit in the basement for a long time just to air out enough to come into my home. It just needed a new cover. The same day I found 2 large pieces of fabric for $1 at a different garage sale that I thought would make a nice cover. When I (finally) got to making the cover I simply pinned the fabric together wrong side out right over the chair. Cut along the pins, sewed it up and put on a hem. It felt like it was NOT the most neat/patterned approach, but it worked. The cover fits well, there is a matching pillow (although the kids took it off to add our home made plushies to the chair for the photo) and I can slip it off and wash it easily. I am on the look out now for new fabric for a second cover...this one definitely gets a lot of wear since it is the favorite chair!

Tool Aprons

My boys have been sick all week and so we have been cooped up a bit. I had some tool fabric leftover so I decided to make them both tool aprons. I used plain heavy duty canvas for the base/background, and the tool fabric is flannel I sewed bias tape into the piece to make the tie. A few pockets, and voila. They love them and both wore them around "fixing things" all day.

Craftiness

I feel like I have gotten so behind all of my wish list creative stuff - with sick kids, work, and all of our volunteer stuff. I have been trying to cut/prep things and have them ready for the quick stitches, embroidery, or machine sewing as I have some time here and there.

Here are some hand sewn/embroidered snap wallets that I have been making for gifts. I used all poly felt (I'm allergic to wool) but wool felt would be nice too. I made a few back in December and gave them as holiday gifts too.

Ribbon Blankets

I try to keep a stash of homemade ribbon blankets, burp cloths, soft stars and other "new baby" items so that I can have gifts for neighborhood moms who have babies. I got behind and missed a few new babes in my sub division, but I have been on a roll and sewed a few more. I love the flannel kids patterns which I use on one side, and soft fuzzy fleece on the other. I use scraps of ribbons. My inspiration came from two ribbon blankets that date wayyyyy back to my baby-hood that my grandmother made - she used scraps of ribbons, lace, interfacing, and hand made bias tape from hems and trims of altered skirts and other fun florals. These don't have quite the same eclectic feel of mine from the 60's, but they are so soft and interesting to the tiny ones. I always raid the remnants bin at the fabric store, so have a wide variety of fabrics and ribbons to choose from on hand. Remnants are also great for soft blocks, soft stars, and burp cloths!