And so it begins...

I have often wondered how I have built my stash of fabrics. Sometimes its because something just screams to be purchased. Sometimes I buy some fabric because someone else has bought it. Most of the time, I buy fabric because I think I need it. Herein follows the story behind a recent purchase of about 12 yards of fabric.

This saga begins with the KAQG Auction that was held back in April. I bid on a couple of the silent auction items and one of them included a beautiful red and white padded box. Its pretty large and now hold all of my beading and jewellry making stuff.

That got me to thinking how nice it would be to have other containers made with red and white fabric. Things like magazine holders, notion baskets, tote bags, wallets, quilts and other accessories. While at Laura's Fabric and gifts I saw this fabric and the wheels began to turn.

There wasn't much of the red and white fabric there so I googled the fabric and ended up at J. Caroline's Creatives. Interestingly enough this company is in Houston and someday I'm going to track them down . Until then I have started using up the red and white fabric. My first project was a hobo bag for the Bag Ladies Swap. I sent it off to Potugal without taking a picture. The fabric worked out well for it and the recipient said that it was quite functional.

Next I tried a magazine bin for my bookshelf. The pattern was on J. Caroline's web site. I think it needs a little more stiffening on the sides but all in all I like the way it looks. I will make a few more for the rest of the magazines I store and I think several will look good on my book shelves.

Next I decided to try out a tote bag. The pattern I used was in the summer Threads issue. I wanted to try making the end pockets based on their instructions and I think they are very functional. I did not make and use the bias the pattern requires because it seemed that more red and white stripes, on the bias, would cause headaches. While I was playing around with the tote I also made a large zippered pocket for the interior and a small case to corral the bits and pieces that tend to get lost in the bottom of a tote like candy and lip gloss. The bag is about eight inches tall, twelve inches wide and four inches deep.

Next up will be a quilted wallet then more bins then... who knows. From the twelve yards of fabric I originally purchased I have about nine yards left. I better get cracking on some more projects or this fabric might begin to breed on me.

So that is how stashes get built ... you see something great, buy it, then, eventually, use it up. I hope I can move on this soon as I really am out of space to store it for long periods.

Wish me luck!

Charity Dog Bed

Finally, a picture of the bed in use:

Note that I have the inside (fuzzy side) of the sweatshirt on the outside of the bed. I'm not sure if that is correct but Alex likes it.

Also, note that this picture shows that Alex is completely healed and that his fur has grown back. His coat was fairly smooth before he was attacked and, except for a couple of scarred areas, is smooth again. The only residual impact of the dog attack is that he is still a little nervous when he hears other dogs barking when we are on walks. When that happens he just turns around and starts power walking back home. Although I am saddened by his being scared, his power walking is a little funny as he tries to pee on every bush and mail box without stopping.

Have a good week!

Fabric Organization

Those of us who sew have a constant battle on our hands - how to deal with our fabric leftovers. After buying and storing precious yardage we all hate to actually throw some of it away. A friend came up with the answer the other day and I have moved her idea into the path all fabric takes in this household. Here then is the life and death of fabric in my home.

Step One - usually yardage or at least fat quarters. Yardage is kept on wooden hangers, fat quarters folded neatly in drawers with other bits up to one yard in length. There it ages until ready to be used.

Step Two - something is made from the suitably aged fabric. The bits that are left over after the project is done get sorted into five subsets. Those are:

• bits big enough for more projects are put back on the hangers or into the drawers.
• bits big enough for other projects but I can't stand any more are sorted into a shopping bag for giving away to a charitable project that sends fabric to a sewing initiative in Mexico.
• bits big enough to use but not even a quarter of a yard are sorted into one of two bins - one for quilting weight cottons and the other for everything else.
• bits too small for re-use plus all the trimmings from a project are placed in an old sweatshirt for the making of a dog bed for a local animal shelter.

Step Three - fabric is used until it make its to the dog bed stage when I am finally done with it.

In the end, nothing is actually tossed out. Even bits of batting are saved for dog beds. The dog bed idea came from my friend who has been saving stuffing for months. I decided I could make my own dog beds and pass them on already completed. The dog beds are made out of old sweat shirts of which I have several. The neck and arm holes are sewn up. The bed stuffed through the waist opening and the whole thing sewn up. Alex and the girls have vetted the one I have completed as quite comfortable and, as yet, they have not destroyed it. I think its a little lumpy but the doxies don't mind. And, before you go looking for a cute picture, I have tried many times today to get one of them on the bed I have completed but they have thwarted my efforts.

Another time.

Sashiko e-book Cover

I took one of the sashiko experiments and made it into a book cover for my Sony e-book. Although the reader has a very nice leather cover I find that I am not the neatest person and spend a lot of time cleaning various foods off the cover. I guess that's what I get when I eat and read at the same time!

The details are that I used the grey twill sashiko stitch-out, cotton batting as the filler, a cord I made several years ago from leftover embroidery threads and a big, old grey button. The button has peices of 'Crystalette' (pink in reality, white in the photo) on it as an experiment in how this product works. I found it in a sale bin in Canada but it is distributed by Kandi Corp. in Clearwater, Florida. The website can be accessed here. The trim is some old dupioni from a failed project. I left the edges raw, which may have been a mistake as it seems to shed more every time I pick up the book.

This project worked and I think I will add it to my repetoire of things to make with leftovers ... besides zipper pouches and little dog toys.

Have a great weekend!

Dog Tales

Back in another era, my son used to watch a great Disney Cartoon called Duck Tales. I loved it as well, especially the opening sequence of three little duck bottoms marching on the screen. Watching the three little Doxie butts talking me on a walk the other day brought it all back to me. I recently found the sequence on You Tube and, even though the quality is not good, I think you might enjoy this .

BTW - I guess that makes me Scrooge McDuck!

300 Posts!

This is my 300th post since beginning this blog. In one sense, it feels like a lot of work ... 300 mini essays on stuff... while, in another sense, it feels very ordinary... just another part of my day. When I started this I said that a day with creativity is a day worth documenting. In so many ways that remains true today. Without this record I could never have imagined that I had a creative bone in my body and, the revelation to me, is that I LOVE sharing my ideas and inpsiring others to try out new things.

I see that my readership has gone up to about 35 people a day. I have no idea who most of you are but I seem to have regulars from every continent. I expected to have readership from friends and family in the US and Canada but imagine my surprise when I discovered that I also seem to have people regularly stopping by from Norway, South Africa, Austrailia, Great Britain, Argentina and many points in between. Do I say anything interesting to the person up on Hudson's Bay or was that just a random hit? Will the person in Turkey be inspired to try some of my experiments in doll quilt making? Is my use of the English language too complex for the person in Norway or too simplistic for the person India?

I don't know. (comments are always welcome!)

I do know that I love the technology that allows all of us to share our thoughts and projects. I know we may not solve world hunger or bring world peace but, in a small way, this technology brings us all a little bit closer. If this blog can bring a little beauty or laughter into your world then that is a good start.

So here's to you, faithful reader. Go make something and bring a smile to someone's world.

Time Waster

..... but worth it! I got this from Angry Chicken and had a good time playing with this on-line photo manipulation site, photofunia. You do not need to log-in or buy anything and you can load the picture to a disk or your hard drive. Way too much fun! Here is what I came up with - I wonder if Alex would enjoy having his portrait at MOMA?

Digitized Sashiko

While I was at the ASG Conference I saw Penny Muncaster-Jewel. She is an extremely talented sewer who has won numerous awrds for her wearable arts and is an expert digitizer of machine embroidery designs. I saw a wondeful garment at her booth that included some sashiko designs. I bought the disk and have been playing with it. Here is Penny's website. Although it is under construction you can see some of her garments and get a sense of her joy in all things. Congratulations Penny!

Here are three different stitch-outs of the Hollyhock sashiko design in a hexagon border.

The first thing I tried was a pink rayon Sulky thread on some hand dyed fabric that was waiting to be stored. I'm not sure that it was an effective use but it was fun to watch it stitch.

The second try was with some variegated Sulky blendables thread on some grey twill. I have no idea where the fabric came from but Alex was making a nest out of it so I thought it would be fine for an experiment.

The third try was on the same grey twill but with a solid Sulky thread. I think this is the most successful use but my heart always goes to the varigated threads.

The stitch-outs were done on two layers of fabric around some Warm 'n' Natural cotton batting. I did not use any stabilizer and don't think these required it anyway.

I intend to use at least one of these on a new case for my Sony e-reader. My old one had a cover with a velcroed closure. I think this one will use a button like the Zakka book covers I saw in one of the Japanese craft books I received a month or so ago. I will post it once I get it done.

Silk Purse/Sow's Ear

A while ago I mentioned that I had left a silk purse in a dye bath for way longer than recommended. I played with it for a week or so. Not sure if the product is great or not but it has been fun to try a bunch of techniques. I do not have a picture of how it started but the purse was at the Heartway International booth at the Houston International Quilt Festival. Here is a picture of the bag in black. I started with a cream purse so you will need to use your imagination a little see how it all started. All in all I dyed it, over dyed it, stamped it with bugs, silk screened some leaves, wrote on it, glittered it and drew on it. After heat setting it and washing it, this is how it turned out:



SIDE ONE



SIDE TWO

Side two had most of the embellishments on it and, as you can see, most of them washed off/out of the fabric. I have used this bag quite a bit in the last month or so and it is a very usable purse. One large inside zippered pocked and three other interior pockets (two with elastic) make this a wonderful hand bag. It also has a secret packet in the bottom of the bag to hold things you would rather hot have exposed when the bag is open. I had originally purchased this bag to try out some machine embroidery and the secret pocket was supposed to facilitate that use. I couldn't figure put how to get it hooped correctly for embroidering. I might just add some later on but I don't think it really needs any more embellishing time.

In the Mail

Last week I finished up the Bag Ladies swap for June. I sent out the Tot Pack I finished in January of this year. Since I did not make it for this swap, I felt a little guilty so I filled it with stuff from the local independent toy store. I understand that the four year-old who is now using it was thrilled with the results. I was also thrilled as I have not had an opportunity to spend some quality toy shopping time in quite a while and it was nce to see all the new stuff available for creative kids.


In return I received the following from Sylvie's Creations in Denmark. It is approximately 13" x 14" with thin leather cords that can be used to sling it over your shoulder or as back pack straps. I used it the other day while running a bunch of errands and it worked great. I might experiment with this design a little and make the straps wider as the thin cords did tend to cut into my shoulder when the bag was fully loaded. The theme for the month was a child centered bag. This bag works well for both children and adults alike so it was a good choice for me. Thanks Sylvie!