Pinterest WIN!

Yay! I love Pinterest, it has certainly lightened up my hard drive! I used to have an enormous bookmark list, and tons of random images in file folders, but no way to match them up and backtrack. Then Pinterest!

I am fascinated, though, by the sites out there with Pinterest "fails"....lord knows I've got my own share of those! But I do have a "win" to share: re-growing veggies!

I love romaine lettuce, esp the heads, rather than pre-torn salad bags. Snapple the kitty likes it too, she gets the wilty dark tips. So after pinning tips on re-growing produce yourself, I set the end of a bunch of romaine in a recycled lunchmeat container with a bit of water, and in 1 week: Voila!

All that growth is in a week; I chopped it off with a knife, straight across! I think it's pretty awesome, and so far Snapple hasn't discovered it, or she'd be nibbling on it while I'm at work. I love seeing those cute little leaves!

First projects for '14

Oh, I had such plans for the Christmas break! I did finish up some presents, and am still working on a few more (thank goodness my family all understand the madness that is handmade!)

But I spent some time this past weekend in the Art Barn, and did accomplish a few things. I took apart a teeny little Talbots linen top, and now have 71 (yep, seventy-one) lovely pale coral "jewels" that I can use to embellish something new. I cut & sewed up 10 feet of linen bias binding, so that's all ready to go. And I still have some of the fabric left, to piece into a new creation. I'm thinking I'll probably use some of the jewels on something for the Dear Daughter, as she really likes and looks really lovely in that shade. It's always nice to have bias binding ready to use, in lots of colors, and when's the last time you saw linen binding? I think not ever in the big box stores!



I also whipped up something for myself, because I just really needed to....a long raglan style top, with gray cashmere sweater sleeves and a man's fancy dress shirt for the body. Both were from the thrift store, and cost less than $7.00 total! The shirt was really cool; silvery gray, french cuffs and the front placket was meant for studs, but it came with the button tape that I just left in there. The best thing is the print: little champagne glasses, and the bubbles coming out of it are part of the year "2000"....obviously a New Year's Eve shirt for the millennium. The fabric is a jacquard, so the reverse is just as fun as the right side. I used the entire shirt, the sleeves are the darker panels in the back. I've since finished off the neckline edge, and it's ready to wear!

Pleasant labor on Labor Day Weekend

With Dear Daughter off to grad school, this 3-day weekend was mine to enjoy! I was gifted with 5 huge boxes of decorator fabric samples, just in the nick of time, since I gave away the last little zipper pouch in my stockpile.

I use lots of the pouches myself, as a mini-sewing kit, as a change purse, you get the idea. I've been including them as a free gift whenever someone purchases a Red Panty clothing item from my Etsy shop, and I sent the last one out last week. But I've gone thru all the suitable fabrics I had, so I was just about to call up my interior designer friend and beg for samples, when out of the blue, someone emailed me to offer 5 giant boxes of fabrics for free! Snapped them up right away, they're great!


Mom & I went through all five boxes, with the result being I'm left with about 3 boxes worth. So Saturday I spent most of the day in the Art Barn, cutting, sorting, sewing! I like the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done, seeing a tall stack of finished items. It's not art, nor brain surgery, but it is a satisfying moment! I made 26 little zipper pouches....why 26? Because I did not have 27 zippers! Ha! I did use up all the zippers I had in the correct size, though, every single one. Hardly made a dent in the pile of fabric, though. I ordered a new assortment of colors, 50 in all, online from China, so I'll be able to make some more soon. It was fun using up what I had; I noticed that alot of the zippers were "Vintage", some from the 1960's, some from the 70's. Others were upcycled, saved from the thrift shop clothing I use to create Red Panty clothing. So besides saving a bunch of nice fabric from the landfill, I also managed to use up stuff of my own!


I also finished 3 more D-Town Totes to place for sale in the Beehive Bookstore, and there's plenty of tote bag potential in that decorator fabric pile!


The Smiling Scotsman cracks me up!

A thrift shop duvet cover + linen shirt equals.....

Some cute new Gardening Aprons! Just in time for the Scioto Gardens Gardening & Arts Festival!

The reversible duvet cover was just languishing in the Art Barn, black & cream check on one side, toile on the other. A couple of linen shirts for pockets and bias trim, and voila!

I think they turned out really cute, and there are lots of times they would come in handy. I like the full coverage in the front, and the crossover back. I might need one of these when I'm painting or dyeing fabric; I don't like to get messy, and this would be practical!

Fabric Printing

I finished up all the prepared fabric squares from my QSDS workshop and here's a snippet of what I created!

I did some gingko leaves for my mom, and she's already absconded with them!


I also created some little doors; I've got some nice photos from Italy that I can combine these with, although some are sweet by themselves.


I had a lot of fun creating my own stamp motifs in both positive and negative shapes, and cutting out lots of vinyl stickers to use as resists. Now to create some new quilts!

Charms from a charming friend....

As I continue to go thru fabrics and organize the Art Barn, I discover things! This week I discovered a big fat ziplock FULL of charm squares sent to me eons ago by a great quilting friend, Anastasia (just like my own dear daughter, and HER daughter!).

Looking at all those tidy little stacks really took me back...different decade, different style of quilting, fabrics I remember and they don't make any more. They called out to be useful, so I spent the weekend sewing over half of them together. I finished 2 nice big blocks, one in mostly yellows and purples, the other brights. The rectangular bright block I think I will quilt up and sew into a nice tote bag. The yellow & purple block is asking for a nice dark border, possibly some more blocks or applique. Perhaps it will end up a lap quilt, more probably a wall hanging.

I also pieced together a stack to be saved as a bright, random border for a project in the future...here they are all nicely pressed. Now they are neatly rolled and tucked into the drawer with other blocks that are waiting for their moment. It's nice to have a pieced border all ready to go, so when that urge hits me, I won't have to stop and fuss with it!

Thank you so much for the sweet memories, Anastasia!

So I took a class....

at QSDS last weekend! (Quilt Surface Design Symposium) with Melanie Testa. Very sweet instructor, great work, and we got stuff done.

We were taught to use thickened dye to monoprint and stamp on soda-ash soaked cloth. I wish I had finished more, but 2 days just isn't very long! But it's so fun to go to QSDS; gets your creative juices flowing again, or pouring out of you if you weren't stuck.

I still have some prepped blank fabric, and I brought home some of the gooey algaenate thickener, so I guess I need to do some more! It's a little messy, but that's what the Art Barn is for.
We had limited time, so we needed to stick to a single motif. I chose some gears; I cut some out of freezer paper to act as a resist, then I created my own positive and negative stamp with sticky back fun foam & acetate. Quick and easy techniques, and with more time and planning, I can imagine some really great results.