turkey feathers

And I have the papercuts to prove it...

Whew! The first shipment of autographed books has just taken flight and are on their way.  I'm expecting one more delivery.  I'll do my best to be speedy. I appreciate everyone who has patiently been waiting. 

Are you finding it hard to believe it's the last week of November already?  There's a young lady here who is having a birthday in two days.  My baby is turning eleven! 

Look - a finished project!  Grace's inspiration board...we actually started on this during summer, but kept getting side-tracked.  Finally just covered it with fabric we already had with the help of a hot-glue gun.  Now it's hanging in her room being adorned with lots of pretties and inspiring tidbits, and my work table is mine once more.  I love the sight of a clean work table and thinking about the next project.  All the possibilities.

But first it's good to tie up loose ends.

Tourniquet Patch

A fashion statement for the new economy.

Damage Control

This is the sight that greeted me when I stepped into my sewing room.  I'm always pleased when there's a thought process before something gets discarded.  Questioning whether it can be repaired, recycled, or reused in some way before adding it to the landfill.    However, it's always a little sad when someone's favorite jeans end up on the chopping block.  These belong to "Sarah".  I suppose she meant for me to save them in some way, with my trusty scissors and thread.  We could afford a new pair, but she loves these.

And I suppose she could wear them 'as is'.  After all, torn ragged jeans are considered fashion-savvy in some circles.  (Would you look at this price tag!)  Maybe.  In the right setting.  Amongst others who get that.  For kids living in a rural environment though, it can look downright pitiful. Like you just tumbled off that proverbial turnip wagon.   That may not be the case at all, but it's the image often perceived.  Especially if there's a great big goofy patch on them - so sensing my cue here, I shall proceed with caution and try and do what I can to salvage these.  Maybe fetch me some PR innovation.  Then, to be continued . . .

Blanket Statement update:  *Thank You* all again for your excited correspondence (in all forms!) I'm thrilled with the response.  I've got a load of books ordered and on the way for those requesting signed copies.  At the request of Calamity Kim this morning, I've already started a flickr group here, to share your finished projects.   Maybe a little soon, since many are still waiting for books to arrive, but it's there when you need it.  Join up anytime.  And, my book is now available on Amazon and also, I just noticed, online at Target.  (I'm so proud.) 

Have a great weekend!

Kitchen Goodness

Thanks for the blog love and encouragement.  And the funny spider tales!  It's nice to know I'm not alone in that.  Well, 500 posts is an accomplishment!  (You have no idea.) Grace made me this giant "commemorative peanut butter cup" to celebrate.  She's totally got my number.  It's the size of a cupcake!  And not a miniature doll house sized one either.  I nearly died laughing when I saw it.  I haven't eaten it yet, I don't think I can!  Not alone anyway.  That might be tragic.

Here's one of the half-a-dozen things I've been doing lately.  Did we really need another dishtowel?  Not really.  Did we need some fun stitching.  Why yes,  we did.  This folksy redwork pheasant is just one of the free-with-purchase bonus designs for November.  And surprise!  Blog pals can download it for FREE and print it out. You'll need to trace it of course.  Or you can get it as an iron-on transfer with any printed-pattern purchase from the PatternBee website this month. 

I used almost a full skein of DMC #3801, a bright rosy red.  For some reason, I'm sometimes asked to show the backside of my embroidered work.  So here you have it.  I'm also frequently asked about cotton dish towels.  Found this one at a department store in our area.  It came in a four-pack of different colors for about $5.  The fabric border is a jelly-roll strip (I forget from what collection now) .  If you've been reading this blog a while you already know my penchant for jelly-roll strips.  I find them handy for all sorts of things, such as dressing up plain towels like this, for instance.  There wasn't a hem, just the selvage end, so it served another purpose besides looking cute.  Applying them is simple.  Cut strip a few inches longer than the width of your towel, and fold in the ends so they are even with the sides.  Pin strip right-side down to the wrong side of the towel.  Stitch strip to towel with a 1/2" seam allowance.

Open it and press seam allowance toward strip.  Fold the raw edge of the strip over about 1/4-inch and press.  Fold strip over again onto the right-side of the towel,  with the seam along the bottom edge.

Press it flat, pin, and top-stitch along the folded edge.

The back should look neat and tidy like this.

See?  That wasn't so hard. 

First Things First

I’m getting ready to make a BIG bag for Grace, as a ‘thank you’ for all the help she’s been to me these past months as I’ve worked on my book, which is nearly finished (yipee!!) more about that later. While I was in my sewing room this morning organizing the bag project and my workspace I thought this might be of interest to share.  Because whenever I go to the trouble of enlarging patterns from a book, and it turns out to be something I’ll make again, or just need to put away until I have the time to make it, I have a storage system that has worked really well for me and maybe this will help you too.  By taking a few minutes to print out and paste a photo of the book cover, and the project name on an envelope, I have saved myself time and frustration hunting for the pattern pieces again, not to mention trying to remember which book the directions are in. Most book patterns don’t have any identifying information and it just keeps everything all neat and tidy.  I like that.  Oh I really-really do.  You can reuse those large envelopes that greeting cards come in or purchase envelopes in bulk from your office supply store if you want to make a nice pattern library.  OK, that’s it…I’m off to do some sewing now…will share the finished bag soon. 

Little Bird Bag

I actually had time to do a little craft project this weekend!  My grand-daughter's turning four in a few weeks and I wanted to make her something special.  This tiny bag was the result of a little borrowed Zakka influence.  It's a scant five inches tall (not counting the handles).  Sorry, no pattern to offer or point you too.  Just "winged" it.  But, the bird pattern is part of the new free-with-purchase bonus designs for August up on my PatternBee website.  I'm trying to figure out what to make to put inside this.  Any ideas?  I'm feeling the itch to stitch.

Polka-Dots This Time

Another apron-smock finished!  It's a reverse of this one, same pattern.  From same re-purposed duvet cover.  Only I seamed up the back this time, and left an opening big enough so I can just slip this on over my head.  Didn't put elastic in the sleeves either, just left them loose.  I like how breezy and comfortable this is.  I'm imagining how perfect it will be for summer days spent in the garden or in the kitchen making jam.  It definitely has that casual, carefree summer vibe.  Click on the image for a larger view, and take a gander over here to see the back. 

I can't tell you how much I love this type of facing.  Love it.  It's a facing and a bodice all in one.  All so neat and tidy on the inside too.  What's more, trim, lace, or rick-rack can be added as you top-stitch it into place just by sliding it underneath as you go along.   Brilliant!

Charm Square Bag

Anyway, here's a sweet little goodie-bag I made last month and never got around to sharing here. Some of you might find it interesting because it's made from eight pre-cut charm squares.  They've been sewn together 2 x 8 to form a rectangle, and fortified with iron-on woven interfacing on the back.  Once you've made this foundation you can just fold it in half and sew up the sides.  I added box corners and lining to mine, and a few embroidered and appliqued elements for fun.  And fancy handles.  Sometimes you need fancy handles.  All in all, makes a nice little gifty-type bag, the finished size being about 7 x 7-inches.  Full view here.

Freezer Paper Print-Outs

It's our turn to jump on the bandwagon with a few freezer-paper projects.  Sarah made these t-shirts in preparation for her new little niece who is due to arrive in a few more weeks.  I guess we have bunnies on the brain with so many of them romping around the yard right now.  Plus the tags on these say, Rabbit Skins (from Dharma Trading Co.), so I guess that did influence our decision.   (If you haven't seen this technique before, Craftster has tutorials.) I prefer using the C. Jenkins 8.5 x 11 freezer paper sheets rather than the paper rolls from the grocery store though, mainly because you can feed these sheets into your inkjet and print any line design directly onto the paper.  This is great if you want to adjust the size as I did, but it can also save time if you're making many.  (Of course, you can trace designs right onto the paper too.)  Just a few more nifty uses and applications for the freezer sheets here; including printing directly onto cloth as I've done here. 

I'm probably the last one on the block to try this, though I've often admired quilts with old photographs printed onto the fabric and always wondered how difficult that might be.  It made me a bit nervous to tell the truth, but it worked fine.  I did have some ink smudges in places, so make sure your cloth is securely stuck to the paper before you proceed.  I used vintage pictures and photographs printed onto light-weight muslin that was trimmed to fit the sheet.  (After printing, let it dry completely before peeling off the freezer-paper backing.)  I imagine you could make all sorts of labels too.

I used a few as appliques on the newborn onesies I've been working on for baby grand-daughter #2.  She'll have lots of hand-me-downs from Sister, but it's always nice to have a few new things too.  Love how sweet these look with just a touch of blanket-stitching around the neck and a rosebud or bow, or in this case, the printed appliques.  (Used a tight zig-zag machine-stitch all around the raw edges.  Close-up view.)  TIP:: For cotton knits use a peel-away iron-on stabilizer on the inside of the garment in the area you're working on.  It's also a little tricky keeping these onesies flat under the sewing-machine needle, requiring a bit of adjustment as you go along, however, not too difficult.  My daughter-in-law will have to let me know how they hold up in the wash.  Since newborn clothing is outgrown in a flash, I doubt it will be much of a problem; though it's probably wise to use permanent or archival ink cartridges for making things that you don't want to fade.  I'm thinking about what to do with the other images I still have here.  Oh, the possibilities are endless.

Updated 4/29 to add:: I didn't use Bubble Jet Set, but did do a wash test on these printed images and had no fading at all.  I used an Epson printer, and their inks are made from permanent pigments, rather than dye-based types, such as the ones used by InkJet printers, which do fade and wash out more readily.  So in that case, you would need the BJS to preserve the ink longer.

Proceed With Caution

Pure poetry.  More of the ornamental fruit trees burst with bloom over the warm weekend.  The honeybees and hummingbirds were buzzing all around them.  If you're still waiting for Spring where you are, I hope these bring joy.

I went outside to take a picture of the trees and found a mama bunny sunning herself on the mossy road behind our house.  She sat perfectly still while I took her picture, and was probably on the look-out for Peter and Benjamin who are often seen sneaking around on this side of the fence. 

*Thank You* for the slipcover love.  I'm happy if I've inspired anyone to think about recycling and re-purposing old chairs and linens in a fun way.  I've covered up three so far, and what a difference it's made.  The rooms look so much nicer.  More furnished and pulled together.  The next chair I cover will probably be the one I'm sitting on.  Need to finish up my apron-smock first.  Can't wait to tell you all about that.  There's a fun twist to the story.

It does seem like my email box is bulging more than ever these days with requests for patterns and "quick" tutorials after sharing something on the blog that I've made.  (Sorry folks, I don't have one for slip-covers.  Since chairs come in all shapes and sizes,  I can only give general information and point in the direction of the many excellent books already written on the subject.)  Lately though, I can't help but wonder if readers are genuinely this needy, or if it's true that there's covert blog-mining happening for the purpose of commercial enterprise.  I've actually been observing subtle forms of this since I began blogging, but it really shocked and saddend me when I saw this.  Is there no shame?  (Hugs to you, Hillary.)  I'm actually beginning to consider that maybe, my crafty-blogging days are numbered.