Holy destashing, Batman! October 20, 2009

I’ve been madly putting together a website for the beads I’m trying to unload. I really need to get rid of this stuff. Honestly, much as I may be a magpie where sparkly, shiny things are concerned, all they do is depress me now. I used to love making bridal jewelry, but my business died off thanks to taking a break when my daughter was born (in the beginning of wedding season). Since then, I’ve tried several times to start things up again, if only to use up the thousands of beads that I have stashed away. I have sold maybe ten pieces of jewelry in the past 7 years. The last one was through Etsy in the spring, but I can’t justify the listing fees. So, it is time to purge. I’m more interested in gemstones these days anyway.

Truth be told, I’m actually pretty disgusted by how many crystals I have in my stash. The numbers on my little website don’t even reflect what I have made into jewelry samples.

Anyway, if anyone wants cheap beads, the website is http://kimsbeadbox.webs.com/

I wish I could say it is fun going through all this stuff, but it is time consuming and is actually making me kind of blue, since there was once a time when touching beads made me excited. Now it just makes me sad.

Posting twice in one day! June 18, 2009

More finished projects.

Owl PJ’s:

My second vernal equinox shawl, a gift for my mother-in-law’s birthday.

Closeup. Can you see the tulips?

Puffy hearts – another gift.

Now I’m officially caught up.

Been too long… June 18, 2009

I’m a bad crafter. I haven’t updated this in a while, but that doesn’t mean my hands haven’t been busy. I won’t bore you with blather, so here are some pictures:

Finished Vernal Equinox shawl:

The colour is off in that picture. More accurate in this one.

Apron for my friend across the street:

Dress for Risa’s 7th birthday (I need to take pics of her in it still).

Obi belt. I have linen to make two more, in black and chocolate brown. I love this belt!

Finally finished piecing Cole’s quilt top. I’ve got the quilt put together, and am currently hand-stitching the binding. Fun. It will only take me the rest of my life.

Fabric balls for Leslie’s classroom:

They stuffed them to save on shipping. Can you imagine how much it would have cost to ship 30 stuffed balls? I wish I had a picture of them after stuffing.

Shannon’s birthday sweater:

I’m too lazy to include links and pattern numbers and such, so if you want to know, comment and I’ll give you the information

I made another skort April 24, 2009

Same pattern as last time…

It is a great print, but a bear to work with. The bolt I bought it from wasn’t printed exactly straight on the grain, which meant I had to cut out everything one piece at a time. I cut out one front and one back piece, then laid the cut fabric down on the fabric to match the pattern, then cut around that instead of the tissue.

I bought lots of it too, but fortunately the rest is destined to become an apron, so no matching necessary.

Despite the off-grain print, I managed to perfectly match the pattern at the back seam. I have mad skillz, yo!

I want to make a dress form! April 24, 2009

Any volunteers? I think my husband will think I’m absolutely insane to make a dress form out of a t-shirt and duct tape, but I think it is ingenious, and much cheaper than shelling out $200 on one. For the record, I got to use a commercial dress form back when I worked at Fabricland, and I thought it kind of sucked. They’re difficult to adjust exactly, and they don’t take some body shape issues into account. This, however, is freaking genius. I wish I’d thought of it!

Etsy Labs – How to Make a Dress Form

Stained Glass Quilting April 14, 2009

I love stained glass, but given how clumsy I am, I think it is a bad idea. Besides, we live in earthquake country, so probably not the best plan.

I found some directions for stained glass quilting today, and want to give it a shot. Look at what you can do!

I love dragonflies, but I want to do something that can be hung as a pair. We don’t have nearly enough art in our house, so I decided on water lilies to go with the dragonflies. I’ll do edging like on the magnolias, to keep the stained glass theme more true. Here are my images. The dragonfly one is from a print called “Dragonfly Dreams” by Robert Ichter. The water lily one is a photograph I found through Google’s image search.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to start, unfortunately. It will take me some time to pick out fabrics. I don’t have any solid black fabric at all, and I’m not going red with the dragonfly hanging. I’m sure I have some scrap fabric that I can make use of, but most of it will have to be purchased. I want to make them about 10×10, plus borders, and will probably have to get them custom framed.

It’ll be a real adventure! In fact, I’d like to reproduce this for my daughter. I think it would be a lovely wall hanging for her room. She has no art on her walls besides a poster from the Tinkerbell movie, so maybe for the kids I’ll do some kind of stained glass quilt wall hanging for their crafty Yule/Christmas gift. I think the boychild will get a gecko, since it will go with his quilt (which still isn’t finished). He likes dinosaurs, so maybe it will work… although it might be beyond my ability.

Denim skort April 10, 2009

The pattern I used is Butterick B4460. It’s out of print, but I’ve had it forever.

Why a skort? Because I hate shorts, but skirts aren’t practical when you ride your bike everywhere. This one is a lightweight denim chambray. I’ve got a fun turquoise, cream & brown print to make another, and I’m sure I can find something to make a third. I only own one pair of shorts, and thanks to my bike, they’re too big now. So skorts it is!

Thanks to my bike, there’s extra fullness under the back darts. Buns of steel! I need to lengthen the darts to take away that extra. But I’m happy, and they were quick to make!

I’m only a little addicted April 3, 2009

Fun quiz from The Knitting Fiend…

You scored 63%. You are a recreational knitter. Although other people accuse you of addiction, you are not addicted.  Nope. Knitting is just fun. You could quit any time. Really.

Yep. I’m a recreational knitter who is in denial that I might be a little bit addicted. Nah. I know I’m addicted. Hell, I have a craft I can take anywhere with me! To me, that’s bliss!

Maybe if I sewed less, I’d have been able to say I knit more hours each day. But I love sewing too!

Pillowcase dress March 26, 2009

I decided to add pillowcase dresses to my Etsy shop. Why? They’re cute. They fit a wide range of sizes from babies to young girls. They don’t take a lot of fabric. They’re fun to make.

I just wish I’d known how to make them when Risa was younger… but I only first heard about them last summer.

At any rate, I sewed one up today and posted it on Etsy. If it doesn’t sell, no huge loss since Risa can wear it as a tunic. That’s one of the great things about these dresses… the dress is 31″ around, which will fit anywhere from a 2T to a size 7… maybe even bigger if the girl is slender.

Take a look at my handiwork!

Communion Dress March 25, 2009

I don’t know if I’ve written about this here before or not… but one of my good friends’ daughter is having her first communion next month. My friend was having a hard time finding a dress she liked that didn’t cost too much money, so I offered to make it for her.

This is the dress she liked:

This is the pattern I used:

And this is how it turned out, modeled on my daughter, who is almost the same measurements as C. Risa is a little shorter and has a smaller chest, so it will fit C better than it does Risa.

I think it turned out really well, and I can’t wait to see pictures of C in it. She’s going to look so pretty. I want to make Risa the shorter version of the dress for her birthday, but I’ll have to take it in at the chest.