Thinking Fall...and Purses!

Wow. Can it be? Almost six weeks since I posted? Clearly I need to get a better routine going. I've made all kinds of stuff, but haven't had the foresight to take pictures, let alone post about them. I made a gorgeous Amy Butler halter top for myself, that's been worn and washed already. I'll definately post about that later.

Most of my very favorite projects are usually things that I sort of dream up, and wing as I go along. I find that with a pattern, I have this preconceived notion about what stuff will look like, and if it doesn't, I'm never quite as happy with it as I want to be. This project was one of those organic ones...it started with some great lucite handles I bought at Mood in January. They were really reasonable and I have another pair of light grey ones. Since this bag came out so well, I'm sure I'll be making another with those shortly!

The result was this...


I've seen these types of purses a lot of places, and wanted to make one with a simple shape, but as interesting a pattern as I could find. Something I might be able to use a lot. So, of course, it's black and white. It's made from an upcycled, felted Fair Isle cardigan, and some awesome Michael Miller Disco Dot for the lining.




It's not very big, only about 7" square, with about a 1 3/4" width. I've seen people with these really overstuffed, and the sweater just stretches out and the handles stress...so I thought if I made it small, it would be harder to overfill.





The handles are sewn on with the cuff edge of the sweater, so the color matches perfectly. I was so thrilled that it fit through the opening on the lucite handles, it seemed perfect. I did stitch the sides closed again, I wanted them to be as strong as possible.



I LOVE it...but I am promptly putting it in my Etsy shop. My first sale really got me motivated. It's already time to start thinking about the holidays and gifts...where does the time go???

You Are HERE

My kids never seem to have a shortage of great, new, creative ideas. This project was no exception.

My son, for some crazy reason, has been asking for a pillow with the state of Connecticut on it. He does love maps, and we do live in Connecticut...other than that, who knows why.

So I showed him some of the stuff from my ridiculously growing stash that I thought he might like for the back. He ended up choosing some very cool Echino that is black with pigs and cobwebs.



For the front, I used a grey base from a reclaimed men's wool sweater, and then I cut out the state freehand from a reclaimed men's black wool sweater. Thank GOD we live in a relatively easy state to cute out! Can you imagine if we lived in Virginia, or Alaska...EEEK. But here's the final result.



The whole project took me maybe an hour or so, and he LOVES it. He slept with it last night. I used a 12" x 16" pillow form and slip stitched the opening shut. I am thinking these might be a cool thing to offer in my Etsy shop? What do you think?

Amy Butler Placemats in Lotus

Wow...these made up super quickly and easily. The pattern is from Amy Butler's book "In Stitches". I bought the Lotus fabric from Above All Fabric, a wonderful online fabric store. The owner Melanie offers super quick shipping, an amazing selection and top notch customer service.





I love when I actually make the projects out of the MANY books I own.

All aprons, all the time

So, when I get into something, I really get into it. I started out making two more of Jona's "Apron in an Hour" from the free PDF on her blog/fabric website Fabritopia. I'm spreading the fabric love around though, because the fabric came from Close to Home in Glastonbury, CT (super nice staff) for the pink and green preppy one, and Lisa's Clover Hill Quilts in Berlin, CT for the mum and purple one.




I had gone to both shops to check out how close they are to me, because they're both participating in the 2009 CT Shop Hop (my first one!). I figured it would be good to scope places out before I had to visit all 18 in such a short time. I'm really looking forward to it!

The last one is for my dear friend/coworker Kari (you can follow her on Twitter at @KPlavcan13), for a belated birthday gift. She is a talented cupcaker extraordinaire, and I figured she needed a cup-cakey apron for when she's working her magical goodness. The pattern for this came from Bari J, an amazing and talented fabric designer. Her pattern has great tips, and I can assure you, I needed all of them! The fabric is a very cool mix of Joel Dewberry Aviary (pink) and some of Project Runway Season 1 winner Jay Carroll's Woodland Wonderland fabric line.





I'm getting much better with my new machine, and I'm looking forward to making some more actual garments. I made a skirt this week that came out just god-awful. So bad, there's no pictures!

Until next time...

Pillow pair

This is a pair of pillows that I made from ALL recycled (upcycled, found, etc). fabrics. I was laying in bed one night, thinking of the fabric, and I decided it would look great with one bold flower from the pattern for the front of the pillow. The best part is, I had ALL of the materials, I just had to dig them out and sew!


The fabric on the back was purchased at a Salvation Army store. There was a bunch of uncut fabric, that must have come from an elderly person because there was a TON of stretch 70's polyester. Not that I have anything against 70's prints...but none of it was for me...too much lilac and olive green (ewwww). But this is a sort of nice burlap/woven feel to it, so it sewed up really nicely with the felted wool sweater I used for the front.



The small one is for my daughter to use in the car. She's always saying she needs a pillow to "rest her head". Those were the days...

I will definately be doing more of this, found fabric back, felted sweater front. I'll likely put zippers in from now on though, because pillows at our house tend to get spilled on.

My first Etsy Listings!

This is scary and exciting all at once!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6459539

My very first quilt block

Oh boy.  That will teach me to be overconfident!  Hats off to all of you quilters out there.  

I found a quilt shop that is actually pretty close to my house, and lo and behold, they have classes.  Just what a budding fabric junkie needs, right?  Classes to learn to make things with all that yummy fabric that I can't seem to stop buying.  They have a Saturday Sampler class (this is Close to Home in Unionville, CT) where you learn a new technique, or try a new gadget each month, and at the end of the year, you have enough blocks for a quilt.  GREAT!  A block a month.  I can handle that, right???

I started this with two very erroneous assumptions...one, that I can sew a straight line.  HA!  It's much harder than I thought.  And two, that because I like math, and puzzles, I can cut squares neatly with a ruler.  HA  HA!  I may use a fancy shmancy calculator at work and I may be good at fuzzy math, but cutting out perfectly square squares...not so much.

So after much cursing, and sweating...VOILA

 And for those of you quilters out there, you know this was EASY!  The instructions were to make 8 rectangles.  Dear lord...

I'm actually very pleased with the result, given that it's my first attempt.  I'll take more pics once I have the border on my square.  Can't WAIT to see what they have us building next month!