Gathering Dust

Kits for Birdsong; Leftover Wool

I've been cutting and gathering, getting my kits ready for my class at Birdsong.  The little purple buds are lavender, if you hold your nose close to the screen, I'm sure you'll enjoy the scent.

The lavender has been my favorite part of putting the kits together.

Cutting the fabric wasn't too bad, but it took a long time- three pieces of fabric each for 35 kits was...105 pieces of fabric...plus cutting lace and ribbon.

But, believe it or not, the hardest part was taking the flowers off of this hat.  (Or, as Karla calls it, "deflowering").  It took about 3 hours. Everyone of those tiny little flowers was stitched on.

At some point, I was planning on pulling these apart, too- but I'm not sure that's how I want to spend the rest of my life.

One of the fabrics that I used in my kits was an old wool blanket that I felted.  I ended up with scraps, and of course, I couldn't bear to throw them away, so I started stitching with them.

The horse is cut from Charlotte Lyons' Rummy fabric.  The fabric design is based on old playing cards, and a fat quarter gives you a LOT of images.

Playing with these little bits of leftover wool has really been fun.  But I'm pretty sure that stitching on all of them is going to take a lot more time than pulling flowers off of hats ever would.

I Found Instagram

Over the weekend, I found Instagram.  Well, I didn't just find it, I've been looking at pictures on the site for a long time.  I just didn't USE it.

When I thought of Instagram, I thought of big groups of people holding their cell phones in the air snapping pictures.  I never thought about using it until the cover fell off my Ipad and I realized I could use Instagram for more than just looking at other people's pictures. 

It was an "aha" and "duh" moment all at the same time.

So, I've used Instagram to post some of my crafting stuff and estate sale finds.  If you want to check it out, you can find me here:

"Low Color" Recycled Wool Patchwork

Earlier this winter, I showed you this patchwork that I'd pieced together from wool from felted thrift store sweaters.

I've done some work on it, but it's still a work in progress.

The problem I have with this kind of project is I'm never exactly sure when it's DONE.

There's always room to add one more piece of lace, one more button, one more section of stitching.

I have a feeling I'm getting close to "DONE".  That's a good thing.  I don't think I'm going to want to spend time this summer working with a lap full of wool.

I Craft Everyday, Really I Do...

Knitting, or playing in my journal or just random stitching...I do craft everyday, I just don't FINISH something everyday.  I tend to think of myself as a long-term crafter.

But I did get some projects finished in the past few days.

A couple of ditty bags.

I made these bags after I took Lisa's woven bag class at Birdsong two years ago, but I just managed to get handles attached last weekend.

Speaking of Bird Song, this is one version of the class project I'll teach. 

If you put your nose really close to the computer screen, maybe you can smell that these are actually sachets filled with lavender.

I finished my "February" journal and started a new one.  I think I've shown the cover before, but I added a red Dennison label so I could add a date.

And like so many of my projects, I've STARTED a lot of pages with bits and pieces that catch my eye.

Here's a little guy that still catches my eye.  Can you believe Button was THREE years old this weekend? He looks very serious in this picture, he's probably thinking about the rabbits under the deck.

Hearts and Earrings

What I did this weekend:  Made earrings.  PAIRS of earrings.  I have a very large collection of single earrings.  Hopefully these will stay in pairs for a couple of months.

Cut up a vintage baby sleeper into hearts. Fuzzy hearts.

And decorated the hearts.

Probably not the most exciting weekend you'll hear about, but I found it satisfying.

February Journal- March Update

I've had lots of diaries, scrapbooks, idea books and journals over the years.  I started with one of the five year diaries with the lock and key when I was about ten, moved on to a fabric covered journal when I was high school.

I stopped journaling when I found out a college roommate had been reading my journal.  Looking back, I can't imagine why someone would do that.  It just couldn't have been that interesting. 

I've made lots of scrapbooks, idea books and gluebooks since then, but they weren't really ongoing journals.  When I made my Valentine journal in Karla's class at the begining of February, I decided it would be a semi-daily journal.

I've kept it in the living room, next to my "craft chair"- along with some markers, glue sticks and random papers and images from my stash.

I haven't made myself finish pages in any certain order.  Here are some pages that started one day and added to later.

EARLY IN FEB:

NOW:

EARLY IN FEB:

LATER IN FEB:

One of the biggest influences to what I've doodled or drawn on my pages is Mary Ann Moss.  Seeing her patterned journal pages made me realize that it was "okay" to draw some arrows on a page if that was what I felt like doing.

I guess the whole point of my post is: this journal is just FUN- it's not art, it's not documenting any important events, it's just a chance to play.

A doodle page drawn by Karla for her Snow White class.  I loved coloring it- coloring is very relazing.

Inside the back cover- drawing with Sharpies is great!

I haven't finished or filled every page in my "February" journal- but that's ok.  It's a work in progress- and I'm going to have to have a March journal in waiting before this one is done.

February Journal

I have lots of blanks books that I use to keep recipes, clippings, gluebook type collages and doodling, but I've really never had a book that I said was "my journal".

I decided that the book I made in Karla's Journal Workshop would be an actual journal for the month of Feb. 

To emphasize it, I wrote "This is my journal" on the inside cover. Pretty clever... That's a good way to start if you aren't sure what to write. 

The paper in our class kits was vintage in all different shades of cream, white, sepia and tan.  I used red toile tissue paper, red flocked paper from Paper Source and some advertising labels to add some color to my pages, and create journaling spots.

This is my first page- the picture of the girl cutting the doll's hair was the cover of a 1930s magazine.  I liked the picture because I thought the girl was being just a little bit brave in cutting her doll's hair- I was always too afraid to do that.

On the right side of the page is a quote from Coco Chanel:

"A girl should be two things, who and what she wants".

The quote comes from a collection that you can find on the Ipad App Nostalgic Musings by Hope Wallace Kearney.  It's the best $.99 you can spend.

Throughout the book, I've added touches of red and journaling spots. 

The envelope is to hold labels that I'll use later.

Some pages may not have any writing, just pictures.

Different pages are in different stages-this page is ready for writing- or something else.

Karla's kits had an extra large page from an 1880s journal full of receipts with great lettering.  I'm not sure if she picked this one out specially for me, but I sure like it- it's a invoice for ironstone from the Alfred Meakin company.  I have a lot of Meakin ironstone, but this is the first Meakin invoice I've ever seen.

Some people used ribbon to tie the signatures in their journals, but I'm more of a twine girl.  A nice thing about this kind of binding is that it can be untied, and more can be added to it.

If you'd like to try making your own journal, Karla is selling kits- but I think she's selling them about as fast as she's making them, so if you don't see them in her store, email her to have her reserve one.

Pretty Pretty Party

Everything about Karla's Valentine journal workshop was pretty...and festive.

Beautiful tablescapes both in the studio and the dining room, pretty decorations, fresh flowers, and all the class supplies were "the good stuff".  Flocked wallpaper, old ledger paper, vintage valentines, piles of ribbon, buckets of charms. 

And food- oh my- chicken pot pie with puff pastry, ooey gooey brownies, cupcakes made with Hawaiian vanilla bean and incredible home made  potato and rosemary bread .  Warm bread with real butter...heavenly.

Creative friends, a fun project, chocolate- a recipe for a special winter day.

Art Quilts and Samplers, No Brainer Books, and the Woolies

I've been using the month of January, cabin fever and winter weather to spend more time crafting.  I've used this excuse even if it was 72 degrees on Monday- it snowed yesterday and today, so winter weather is a very valid reason to want to stay hunkered down in your crafting chair and play with wool. 

This stitched sampler reminds me of the cross stitch patterns published by Vanessa Ann in the 1980's.  Does anyone else remember those?  I think the darker colors give it a kind of folk art feel.

I used wool I got from Lisa- she has more in her Etsy Shop.

Here's a freestyle embroidery sampler that I stitched using an old dinner napkin. 

The finished edge and hem stitch border made it an easy piece to finish.  The back is an old baby blanket.

Both of these pieces are in my Etsy Shop- Gathering Dust.

And I'm still working with paper- a couple of journals I made yesterday. 

I was particularly proud of myself for finally stitching paper into a journal- the one on the right.  I had the holes in the cover all poked and lined up with the paper and went to find some quilting thread to stitch in the pages. I couldn't find any, so I used dental floss, and my book has a minty fresh smell.

It's just 10 pieces of nice paper, a piece of folded cardboard and some...dental floss, but it did give me a very satisfied feeling.  Who knows what's next- 20 pages, 30 pages, full size books--- the possibilities are unlimited!

But first, I have to finish this.  Its a patchwork of different colors and weaves of wools.  It sounded like such a good idea, but it's getting to be HARD.  I stitched the wool squares to a piece of batting and the batting is STIFF and not fun to stitch through. 

I wish I could shave the layer of batting in half.  There must be some kind of tool I could use- the first thing that comes to mind is a really SHARP cheese cutter...

I think if I could get a bit more stitching, some appliques, lace, buttons etc on it, it might be something I'd be really happy I finished. 

That is the risk of trying a new project- they don't always go the way you planned, but sometimes they turn out better.

Crossing my fingers (and my embroidery needles) for better.

 

Hudson Bay Cut and Sew

Right before Christmas, I showed you this stack of wool pieces I'd salvaged from a Hudson Bay blanket.  It was an old, worn blanket with holes that my friend Susan had received in a box lot at an auction.  She didn't want it and knew I liked to play with wool, so she gave it to me.

If it had been just any wool blanket, I probably wouldn't have been as interested, but I've always loved the iconic look of a Hudson Bay blanket.

(The blanket pictured is from LL Bean and is priced at $495!)

I cut it in the direction of  the stripes, and then cut out and got rid of sections with the holes.  Then I sewed it back together in strips, and sewed the strips together.  It was really a pretty fast project.

No way does it look like the original, but I like the way it turned out.  It really doesn't fit the style of my house (because I don't live in a log cabin) but we'll use it for a nap blanket or a TV blanket.

Do you think I should finish the edges? A satin blanket binding might feel nice, but take away from the rustic feel of the blanket.

I did manage to salvage just a bit of the original label, in case anyone wonders where did this blanket come from.

(on a completely different subject- new jewelry and sewing notions in my Etsy shop, SugarPinkMoon