March 6, 2010 of 365 : pile of grey ’scraps’ from johanna for my hexagon project
The English Paper Pieced hexagon project that I’m working on is using all shades of grey with splashes of orangey red. I have quite a few greys in my collection, but I was hoping to have only one or two hexagons of each fabric. I have estimated that I’ll need over 225 hexagons to make my pillow, so that’s a heck of a lot of grey. I asked Johanna if she might open up her vault of fabric (over 20 years of collecting) and snip a few small pieces for me. She generously handed over an incredible stack of delicious grey pieces from her huge collection and each piece is a real gem. (I actually do mentally envision Johanna’s insane fabric collection as a huge vault full of fabric. She seems to have a neverending stash of amazing prints.)
Last year I got Andrew’s dad & grandfather some fishing lure for Christmas. These jigheads have a super sharp hook, so I thought it would be cute to sew up little fabric fish from scraps and safely hook these little guys into them before wrapping them up. It was something I did at the very last minute, but I think it looks so cute!
For some other ideas, I thought I would just point you in the direction of my holiday posts from last year, since I can’t really share this year’s ideas just yet.
A couple people have mentioned to me that they’ve made some of the French Chocolate Granola for gifts. I personally think food gifts are awesome.
I can’t tell you what a nice birthday month I’m having. I’ve had cake everyday for about two weeks and sadly now it’s all gone! What the heck am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow?!
I had to share the handmade gift I received from Andrew with you. A beautiful cedar birdhouse of his own design. Even better, he used all scraps of cedar wood he had lying around the house from past projects. That’s the kind of design I love!
I’ve always wanted a birdhouse and this one is deluxe. I can’t wait for a happy bird or bird family to move in!
I’ve been slacking on my ‘Crafty List of Things to Do‘, so I finally decided to tackle one of the easier projects. There are so many great patterns in the ‘Softies‘ book, but of course, the sweet Snow Bunny caught my eye. My bunny collection is coming along nicely. Thank you for asking. I’ll do a group shot of my bunny family soon, if I can get them all in one place at the same time.
Snow Bunny was designed by one of my favourite softie designers Tamar Mogendorff. The construction is quite simple and I enjoyed all the hand stitching. I was quite inspired by Tamar’s embellishing and pretty much tried to replicate it as best I could. I was happy that I hadn’t gotten rid of my bead collection so that I could give the Snow Bunny a little ‘bling’. She’s a pretty posh bunny.
For the pom pom tail, Debbie donated some gorgeous, chunky cream yarn from her extensive stash to the cause. I took this opportunity to try out the Clover Extra Large Pom Pom maker. It was easy and fun. I wanted to make more, but what else can I make with pom poms?
I used the same wool stuffing we use in the Animal Softies class for filling. I will never use anything else. It feels so wonderful, it molds nicely and feels slightly heavy. The wool will also deter dust mites and mold. Plus, if you’re making dolls for children or babies, the wool will retain familiar scents that can be very comforting.
the workroom received oodles of new books and patterns this week, so I’ll be updating My Crafty List over the weekend with some new projects. Baby Stuff by Aronzi Aronzo has some definite bunny possibilities!
I finally decided to get myself an iPhone. My first priority was make a cozy for it, as I have a tendency to knock things about. I had a mental list of features it needed to have – interior credit card/money pocket, closure, wrist handle and clip.
This summer I often found myself heading out the door to walk Maisy with my cell phone and keys in hand, since most of my dresses don’t have pockets. (note to self : start putting pockets in your dresses!) We also walk to and from work everyday and often times I couldn’t hear/find my phone in the depths of my birdie sling. I had been inspired by this pet pouch to make something that might attach to the handle of Maisy’s leash.
My original plan was to do a zipper closure. However, when I was designing this pattern, I quickly realized that having a zipper would mean that the cozy would have to be much bigger than I wanted it to be. A magnetic snap was out of the question, so a button was the logical solution. The clip came off an old bag I had a long time ago. I try to scavenge hardware off anything I might be getting rid of. I used a scrap piece of cotton batting off one of my quilts to add a layer of protection in the middle of the fabrics. That sweet piece of lacy crochet trim is from Melinda. She used it on her zippered pouch and gave me the rest. I have decided I need to have more trim in my life.
The cozy is perfect. When I head out the door, I just clip it to Maisy’s leash. I even clip my keys into it. No more fumbling around in my bag!
I’m loving my iPhone and have already tricked it out with:
- my favourite app is Things. I’m constantly writing lists in my head, on scraps of paper and generally, worrying about getting things done. Now, every time I think of something I need to do, buy or remember, it just goes into my Things list where all the items are sorted by priority, tags and projects. I have it on my iMac also and they wirelessly sync to each other. I feel more organized everyday.
- i just downloaded the Style.com app yesterday and I love it. It’s fashion week in New York right now and I can watch all the shows easily on my phone.
- i love anything Polaroid, so I had to get Polarize to change my photos to look like Polaroids that you can even write notes on.
- i really wanted to have bird songs for my ringtone, so i recorded all kinds of wonderful birds from enature.com and created my own… i love hearing the Purple Finch, Northern Mockingbird and Sage Thrasher when people call.
I’m doing well with my goal of working on more ‘house-related’ projects. I just finished these simple patchwork pillowcases. The patchwork strip is an off-cut from the queen sized quilt that I’m currently hand quilting. Since it will likely be quite a while since I actually finish the quilt, I thought a few pillowcases might motivate me to move faster. I can’t wait to get the finished and washed quilt on the bed! I can’t even imagine how satisfying that will feel.
The pillowcases are very simply done, with an envelope pillow-style opening at the back. I just copied the pillow cases from our new Dwell bedding. (bought at the cutest little shop – La Merceria). I’m planning on doing a duvet cover next but I just figured out that it will require about eleven metres of fabric. So, I’m going to need to do a bit of planning.
I’ve also got a couple window treatments in progress and I’ll post those once they are complete. With the nice weather approaching I’m trying to focus on doing these home projects before I get the itch to start making dresses again.
I have a new obsession.
Over the weekend I started making these mini log cabin blocks from scrap fabrics from my stash and from the scrap bin at the workroom. I collected all my favourite scraps and then sorted them all by colour. Then I started creating little mini colour palettes for each log cabin block and so it began…
Here’s what I love about this. Each tiny block is an exercise in colour. I can try out dozens of different colour palettes without committing to an entire quilt or large scale project. I can be experimental, spontaneous and playful without worrying about the outcome. It’s soo much fun!
Also, I’m using up tiny scraps. A lot of these are leftovers from all my past projects or leftovers from YOUR past projects. I’ve been swiping your little scrap bin throwaways for months and finally I’m using them.
This particular block was inspired by a spread in one of my visual diaries. I’ve been making these visual diaries/collage/scrap/inspiration books since university. It is one of my favourite all-time activities to sit down with my bottle of rubber cement and endlessly arrange the bits and pieces of magazines clippings and ephemera that I collect. Every time I open one of my books I’m immediately inspired. This particular colour palette stood out and I gathered my orange, grey and navy scraps. These are colours that I never would have put together on my own, but they look so delicious!
A crafty nod goes to Jen, whose log cabin heart medallions made me want to do tiny patchwork.
I almost didn’t head out to this show, but I’m so glad that I did. There is no way that I would have seen Grant Heaps’ textile piece otherwise, it’s absolutely massive. A few months ago Grant put out a call for vintage cross stitch patterns and now I know why. His piece is an interpretation of one of those patterns, made up of one inch squares of fabric loosely stitched together. It’s absolutely incredible.
Grant is a regular at the workroom’s Quilt Sunday and each month he brings in one of a series of quilts he has been working on for over a year. They are each magnificent, using only scraps of fabrics and detailed embroidery to depict a narrative in imagery and text. You can read a great profile of Grant on Toronto Craft Alert.
Bev Hisey’s hand-tufted carpet representations of various diseases and bacteria in petry dishes was my other favourite from this show. Who knew that SARS could be so beautiful?
Take a look here to read about the other participants. Radiant Dark is organized by MADE and is now on my list of MUST SEES for next year.
Of course, there’s one last thing to report on from the weekend – the Love & Rummage Trunk Show! But since today is my day off and I worked extra hard last week, I’ve scheduled in a few hours of seriously indulgent relaxation. I’ve just made a pot of cheese fondue and I’m going to curl up under my quilt and read a deliciously trashy novel. I won’t admit just yet which novel it is, but I’ll give you a hint – it was very recently made into a movie. (MB – Yes, it’s THAT novel and I’m swooning already)
{NOTE: WOW, a huge thanks to Grace for posting these photos on Design*Sponge. Welcome, to everyone who is visiting from one of my all time favourite blogs! Also, Grant Heaps has posted some comments below speaking a bit more about his textile piece. Be sure to check them out to find out exactly how many little squares make up that huge piece)
You would think that after making fifteen snap coin purses, I’d take it easy for a while. The ‘lull’ in my schedule over the holidays actually put me into craft overdrive and I’ve got at least six craft projects in various stages of completion. Some are late holiday gifts with a healthy dose of things for myself. Nothing makes me happier than having expanses of time with which to make things.
Back to this little creation. Having learned the secrets of the purse frame from Reva’s class, I wanted to make my own pattern. I chose one of the larger curved frames (6″ x 2.75″). I made several muslin samples, fooling around with proportion and size. This is close to what I had in mind. The next time I try this pattern, I’ll do mini pleats along the top rather than gathering.
The outer fabric is a scrap of a beautiful Scottish silk/wool leftover from a tunic dress I made a couple years ago. It’s got a shots of orange and blue running through it. I bought it at the infamous ‘yardage sale’ at the Textile Museum. I loved the selvedge so much that I included it and it runs along the bottom of the clutch.
I used cotton batting again, instead of interfacing and I really love the look and feel. It requires a bit more force to get the fabric into the frame, but with the help of an awl, it fits snugly and seems more secure.
You might recognize the orange printed lining from the linen apron I just made, there was more scrap left over from this and I wanted to use it for something for me. I also snatched up someone’s scrap of the Japanese Eiffel Tower fabric from one of the classes to use as the inside pocket. Because every purse should have a lip balm in it, I made a special spot for a lip balm to live happily & permanently (right beside the eiffel tower!)
This clutch is for me. J’adore!
This is the linen apron that saved me.
I’ve been wanting to make a simple apron for Andrew for a while now. I came across a leftover piece of linen in my stash on December 23rd and suddenly knew exactly how I was going to make it. For the tie, I found another scrap bit of fabric. That orange print always reminded me of a vintage kitchen textile. I made a very long piece of bias tape out of it, enough to wrap around the waist twice and tie. Then I cut the piece of linen to a large rectangle, using the selvedge as the top edge. To finish the other three edges, I folded a two inch hem, then folded it in again and made mitered corners. I love the look of mitered corners and when I have some time, I’m going to make some embroidered mitered corner cloth napkins. (hmm.. great holiday gift idea for next year!) To finish off, I just lay the orange bias tape across the top, folded the pretty selvedge edge down over it and sewed the top edge. It was simple and fast and the apron is so lovely.
NOTE TO SELF: More holiday projects like this next year!
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