whipping up some handmade goodness!

In the corners of the days lately, I've been working on some crafty holiday projects...so here's a peek at the first "products" -

First, I'm so pleased with Wild Thing and this stenciled canvas bag project - I found it on the SewMamaSew! Handmade Holidays (my favorite tutorial roundup each year - check them out!). The tutorial is here if you'd like to give it a try! The idea was a bag for his teacher, who is putting in a lot of extra effort in taming Wild Thing in the classroom. We appreciate this so much because it's got to be tough handling 25 six-year olds anyway, without the rambunctious ones thrown in there to mix it up!  And one bag for his tireless day care provider who's been taking care of Wild Thing since he was very small. We love her so much.  Anyway, there's one more in a 3-pack of canvas bags from the craft store, so we have a total of 3 now. We'll need another project or two for grandparents and such, but this was a whole project off my list, done! (phew!)

This is a little crisper picture of just the bags - I think he did a great job!

 Then, we have the little zippered owl pouches (there are lots of free tutorials out there on how to make these, so take your pick!) I ordered an assortment of zippers from the best online zipper store - zipit - and she also had some pouch pre-cuts for these little owl fabrics. So cute! I forgot to take photos of the linings, oops...next time.

Lastly, a favorite from Noodlehead's crafty blog tutorials, the gathered clutch. I've been wanting to try this one, and now have the zippers and the incentive.  They are not too hard at all and after the first one I cranked out the other two in an evening (I think - but my time is so fragmented that you can't hold me to it because it was 20 minutes here and there until they were finished!  (The clutches are also linked into the Handmade Holidays)

Again, I should have photographed the insides because there are nifty little card pockets and a divider. These are a great size for a grab and go evening or trip to the grocery store without taking your whole wallet (or in my case a giant mom-sized handbag!)  But I did take a photo of Frida from the backside of the first one I made - probably I will have to keep this clutch for myself.

We have craft explosions in the kitchen and more in the basement craft corner - I've been stitching some modern designs on linen to make pillow covers, and Wild Thing has been helping me laminate some special vintage paper dolls (scanned copies) onto magnet paper with the Xyron. These were drawn by my grandma who recently passed away. My auntie will get the originals, but I wanted to reproduce them for mom and my sister, and the magnetic backing gives you the fun option of sticking them on the fridge or wherever (yeah, since my fancy stainless fridge isn't magnetic!)  Teen Wonder has some drawings in the works for the Gocco, which I can hardly wait to snap and print with her. So, more to come...

Give Thanks! (plus a few photos of the finished baby quilt...)

Today is a good day - I have so much to be thankful for in my life. Starting with my family, and our local community. I'm grateful for the gift of time, despite my frequent whining about there never being enough of it. I'm grateful for changing seasons and the surprises that always come with them, despite the fact that they shouldn't be surprises anymore - that's why I'm grateful for them!

I'm happy that I started this blog - I wish I had more time to devote to it, but given the state of my life, in all it's glorious over-booked chaos, that I have the chance to post once in awhile. Today, finally, I do have some photos of the baby coin quilt that I finished - I just got it washed and dried yesterday evening. This was my very first time free-motion quilting, and although I didn't get the tension correct, quite (there are a few places on the back where the front thread pulled through), you can't really tell after the crinkling of the wash. I really like how it turned out and it's a good thing we don't have a baby around here anymore or that this isn't a bit larger to make a lap quilt size, because then I'd be tempted to keep it!

The back is a Valori Wells flannel...very soft!

I had some help from a lovely woman at Quilt Fans (in Alameda) picking out this stripe for the binding - it pulled together the prints perfectly!

I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving and that you have as many blessings to feel grateful for as I do!

(p.s. the tag at the top of this post is available as a free printable on this sweet blog...)

Another great quilty holiday fundraiser - but you don't have to be a quilter to participate!!

This is a great fundraiser organized by Heather at alamode fabrics - {Modern} Relief - below is the explanation copied and pasted from her website (so go there because the links will not work with copy/past and I don't have the punchline linked, which is how you can buy some raffle tickets to win one of these quilts!)

There are several amazing modern quilt geniuses participating and the raffle ends December 1, I copied and pasted the quilts below (but again the links may not work from here) so get over there to enter your chance(s) to win!
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{ Modern } Relief is a simple concept. We are Modern Quilters uniting through the holiday season by bringing the warmth of our quilts and the warmth of your hearts together for others in need. This season, 2010, we will be supporting World Vision. We hope YOU will join us in taking a stand against hunger by participating in our fundraising raffle. Please let me introduce to you World Vision.

World Vision is leading the effort to end hunger. 

In the next seven seconds, another hungry child will die.

World Vision is on the front lines of the fight against hunger.Today — and every day — we’ll distribute nearly 600 metric tons of emergency food aid, nourishing the hungry. We’ll give local farmers the seeds, tools, and training they need to grow their own food and feed their own communities. And we will plead the cause of the hungry in halls of power all over the world.

Please join us in creating a world without hunger — a world in which no child dies for want of nutritious food. This site offers in-depth information on hunger, its causes, and how it can be stopped. You can learn more about key hunger-related issues and share what you discover with friends and family. Use thislink to begin your journey.
Please meet the members of this season’s event and view their donations that they have generously provided to this fundraiser raffle.
Heather from { House } of A La Mode

Amy from Amy's Creative Side

Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson!

Nettie from a quilt is nice

Aneela from Comfortstitching

Brioni from Flossyblossy

John from Quilt Dad

Kate from One Flew Over

Ashley from Film in the Fridge

Katy from i'm a ginger monkey

Tacha from Hanies

Amanda from Sasikirana Handmade

Jennifer & Jessica from Twin Fibers

Nova from a cuppa and a catch up

Ryan from I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts

Julie from Jaybird QuiltsJacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio
Alissa from Handmade by Alissa

Blankets for kiddos this Holiday season? I'll take that challenge!

In the quilt-y bloglands there is this awesome project for the holidays - 100 Quilts for Christmas.  Although I have a list of projects to make gifts for friends and family, the reality is that my family all around is opting for less "stuff" and more charitable giving - and I love this!  So, in addition to the regular donations we make to honor people for the holidays, why not make a couple of blankets to donate?

The quilts and blankets don't have to be very elaborate - just bright and cheerful and snuggly! I'm planning to donate through the local Project Linus branch - the SF/East Bay Chapter who have a great list of recipients including shelters, hospitals, and individuals.

Ideally, I'd like to make one quilt (and practice more free motion quilting!), and probably something else simple like a fleece blanket (which seems like something you could do in an hour or less not counting shopping for fabric time).

Anyone want to join me?  You can easily find local organizations to donate to, and if you want you can post your pictures of projects on the 100 Quilts for Christmas link-ups to enter for fabric giveaways from sponsors!

List-o-mania!

I am such a list-y girl. to-do lists are my favorite - daily at work, weekly for home stuff, weekend to-dos seasonal to-dos, crafty projects, menu planning lists, party planning lists (for the rare time these days when we actually entertain!), packing lists, shopping lists...anyway, you get the idea.

Here is a real-life example in which names are changed. Most of it will be gibberish to anyone but me, but looking at my lists makes me laugh. I mean have you ever checked out Martha's to-do lists in Living? She does like one thing a day? No, I don't think so. (And yes, it is true that there were 3 different going away parties at work today. Yes, that is a little freaky and depressing - although 2 of them are people transferring to different jobs at other sites for our company in Europe so I guess it's not really good-bye but farewell?  But I only made it to one out of 3 anyway...)

To-Do Friday Nov. 19th

• BB check email (work)
• quick check email (home)
• TC @8am re: compound XXX
• deal with flagged emails
• So-and-so's Research meeting@11am
• going-away luncheon for Dr. X
• workout (? not sure I'll be able to make small grp training, so come up with plan)
• scan and send out copies of signed blah blah documents
• review new blah blah presentation and send feedback to boss-man
• finalize travel plan for Dec F2F
• come up with 2010 hits and misses, plus some goals for 2011 and send to boss-man
• going away party for Dr. C at 3:30pm
• make appearance at company social - theme "Courage" (?WTF)
• clean desk piles
• going away dinner for Mr. BD - probably need to decline
• pick up Wild Thing at 5:30 (he wants to do 6pm KF)
• what's for dinner? (heh. pizza and a movie)
• take photos of FO (rainy today - try weekend)
• finish blog post from last night

Since the holidays are nearly upon us, I've got lists going for gifts, especially handmade ones. But the list I haven't thought about much is a wish-list for myself. Now I've got a new category of wish-list that is sort of like a to-do list - things I'd like to try in 2011. Sewing wise, I'd like to be brave enough to make some clothing. Basic skirts are not too scary, pajama pants are high on the list because I don't have to wear them in public, but I have knits on my mind (remember?) too. And voile for a shirt or dress - I've never sewn with this either, but there are some very pretty fabrics out there.

An on-line fabric shop I've recently purchased quilting fabric from, Above All Fabric, added a wish list feature to their site. The challenge was to build a list and blog about it to have a chance to win a gift certificate. This offer came out last weekend, but I really couldn't figure out what to put on a wish list from a fabric store without going crazy and putting a bazillion fabrics on there (and I don't have that kind of time!). Then I thought I should think about my vague plans for garment sewing and find maybe a couple of patterns and new (to me) fabrics like voile. The pattern that appealed to me most on their site is "Liverpool" by Amy Butler - a shirt/tunic/dress pattern that features bold prints - I figure using a vibrant busy fabric would help compensate for amateur sewing skills (but I could be making a terrible miscalculation!)

Some possible fabrics? There are these lovely voile prints from Anna Maria Horner -

I also have on this wishlist a scarf pattern booklet that I'd seen somewhere else on a blog that I remember looked promising...

Anyway, I'm still too bogged down in gift list-o-mania to spend too much time dreaming about new projects for 2011. BUT, that's what a list is good for too - keeping track of fun ideas.

Fall Craft - a little leafy wreath project

Last year I picked up a couple packages of faux oak leaves in the clearance bin somewhere. I stuck them in the "Halloween and Fall Decor" box and forgot about them. They are sort of a fabric/plastic hybrid stuff (made in China, so who knows), but they look quite nice and not plastic-y.  I have no idea what I had in mind when I bought them, so they were sitting around on the buffet in the dining room waiting for an idea.  I thought a wreath would be nice, but never made the trip to the craft store to buy a wreath to tack them onto. I figured I could pin them to a foam wreath, or hot glue to a grapevine wreath...I hadn't decided.

Then Wild Thing pulled a coil of wire out of my wire and ribbon box in the craft corner while we were looking for a ribbon for a bell he found to tie into a necklace for him. At first I snapped at him a little for uncoiling it since I couldn't get it back in the box easily...but immediately I thought maybe it could be fashioned into a circle to make a wreath.  So I set out sticking the end through the leaves and experimenting with how to arrange them.

I tried to convince Wild Thing that this would be a fun craft to do with me, but he was not persuaded.

Then I tried to entice Teen Wonder, but I don't think she even took her earbud out long enough to hear a complete sentence. In her defense, she is writing a novel this month for NaNoWriMo. So okay. I was on my own...

Once they were all strung, I just wrapped the wire ends and fashioned a little loop to hang it with.  I had to fuss around with the shape of the wire and with the leaves to minimize the amount of wire showing. Then after I hung it on the door I had to do that again. A drop of glue here and there would probably minimize the shifting around of the leaves - we'll see after a day or two.

voila! A little Fall crafty for a Sunday afternoon.

In other news, I am overcoming my fear of free-motion quilting.  So far, not too bad though my stitches are all over the map in length. I'm sure I will get better and hopefully the recipients don't know much about quilting!

Baby, it's a coin quilt!

Time for another baby quilt!  Wild Thing has been sick this week and going to bed very early, so I had a couple of evenings with time to work on a project.  I've managed finally to give up a more complex plan for this quilt (more on that another time) and am using a very straightforward coin quilt design.  It's my first coin quilt, but I foresee more of these in my future.

I just sketched up the dimensions and used a Tweet Tweet by Keiki charm pack plus cream muslin. The back is a nice Valori Wells flannel. I'll show pictures of the final quilt once I figure out how I should quilt it and then put on a binding. I'm thinking something pink for the binding because 1) it's for a baby girl, and 2) the colors aren't too girly on purpose, but the flannel a green agapanthus print making it even less girly. Pink binding could draw out the pinks in the Tweet Tweet and contrast with the green. But I don't have anything suitable in my stash, so it's a little mission for the weekend (darn, I'll have to go to the quilt shop). This baby is coming within the next 2-4 weeks so there's no time to waste!

I used this tutorial from Quilt Taffy for a quilt as you go baby coin quilt with somewhat different dimensions. Overall I'm pretty happy with it so far - though I'm not sure my stacks are as straight as they could be.  I started out pinning like crazy (see below), but ended up with fewer and fewer each strip until I just just had a couple at the top and that was it. The tutorial advises more pins due to shifting of the layers.  I think this is probably true, but after the first 3 strips the layers were more stabilized.

no time to blog really...but there are some great things happening out there!

I just found this particular holiday ezine chock full of projects for gifts and holiday decor!

And of course there is the annual Sew Mama Sew! Handmade Holidays for the month of November - I have been trolling these for, what?, 3 years now?  That would make sense, since it's the 4th Annual one...

Anyway, I hope to have some good crafty gift action to post in the next little while.  

In the meantime, if any of my few readers know about spray adhesive to baste quilts, let me know. I have a pattern that is a quilt as you go thing and it just says "spray adhesive" - but I'm sure it needs to at least be water soluble so it will wash out.  Same pattern uses glue sticks for raw edge appliques - but I'm pretty sure you can get the washable school type for that.  Do I need a special basting adhesive or can I use the craft repositionable stuff?