Stitching

Stitching, originally uploaded by spinster sister.

Look at all the cute stitching done by our group of fifth grade American Girl Club Members! They did such a great job and really took their time with this project. So proud! The girls used crayons to tint the fabric and stitched the outlines to finish it off. I spent the morning looking around for fun embroidery patterns for the girls to stitch. As usual, I found some really cute patterns but even after downsizing them they were either too intricate or too big for the hoops.
I really did think I'd bought the larger hoops. In the end I drew up some simple designs myself.
I think you can see for yourself which were the most popular. (hmmm...cupcake....) I was so impressed by how much time and patience the girls put into this project. They really did a great job and its pretty clear by the lack of whining that they really are growing up. :)

Quilt Giveaway

Lizzie Ann Quilts is having a giveaway for a beautiful quilt! I love the frayed edges on this quilt. Its a great design too! So now that I've told you about it, you can go take a look at this beautiful piece. However, since I was nice enough to tell you about it (you know, purely for inspiration) please do not leave a comment on her blog and try to win it. Clearly I can't afford any more competition over there, so many comments already. Alright? So, pinky swear that you won't comment and enter the giveaway and then you have my permission to go have a look.

I know, the suspense is killing you...

Finally, the finished mini quilt for the Spare a Square Challenge. I loved making this project and using other people's scrap fabric really was fun. I think my favorite is the green in the center with the little circles and flowers. See it? How cute is that one? I'd love to get my hands on more of that. Anyone know where to find it from my tiny little piece? Get out your magnifying glass and have a look.

I had some trouble coming up with a working idea for these fabrics when they were full size. There were too many competing patterns and colors none really stood out, except the numbers of course, its hard to miss those. I knew I definitely wasn't cutting into those they are too graphic and needed to be kept whole. I started out with a confetti theme and sketched a little girl tossing fabric in the air. The sketch got tossed out, pared down along the way. I really like the idea of making something from nothing so we have all the tiny bits of fabric becoming a whole. Oh, and a limited edition numbered quilt. Only 6,313 more to go in the series according to my cool numbered scrap. :)

Becoming

The beginnings of my Spare a Square project for the JCHandmade Challenge.

Little scraps of great fabric on their way to becoming something new. I should have taken a picture of the scraps as soon as I received them but I was too busy kicking around an idea for the project. My scraps were from group four and in a week or so you can take a look at the flickr group and see what everyone else came up with for this challenge. There are a few projects posted there already and they look great.

Vintage Bits and Pieces

Another good day at the local craft/thrift store. Love that place! So many fun things to show you. I know I can't be the only one who makes the squealy noise when finding a whole bag of vintage silk thread spools for....ready? Two, yep two dollars. My family thinks its a little weird that I'm not planning to actually sew with it. Maybe someday...okay, probably not. Right now they look fantastic in their little vintage pyramid on my grandmother's desk.
Also from the amazing thrifty crafty place, a huge bag of quilt pieces already basted and waiting for a project to call home. I found a place for some of them on a new notebook holder so I can look ultra cool when I go to those PTA meetings. Its hard to be cool at PTA. :)
On a totally unrelated note, I received my scraps of fabric from JCHandmade for the Spare a Square Challenge. Its amazing how being handed a few fabrics you probably wouldn't have combined yourself can make think. I wasn't really sure where this project was going when I first saw the scraps. After a day of ignoring them and then waking up the next morning thinking about it, I finally got started. The project is going in a totally different direction than I thought, but I really think I like it. Oh, and here's a teaser, I used a little bit of some vintage goodness to pull it all together. Stay tuned for a WIP photo hopefully tommorow.

WIP Winter in October

I know its only October but its been awfully cold here lately, maybe the temperature has something to do with the look of this project. Last night I pulled out my basket of vintage odds and ends and played until I found a combination I liked. I started with the snowflake and pulled in some subtle winter colors. Miss Mimi has decided it looks like a snow globe and so, a snowglobe it will be! The background is vintage linen recycled from an embroidery I was given, which will soon be a new pillow for the bedroom. I don't have any plans for the snowglobe yet....

but I do love the way the late afternoon light shines through.

Spare Change Swap

Have you seen this?!
Chickpea Sewing Studio is organizing a scrap challenge. Sign ups are open until October 15th.
Basically a 1/2 yard fabric swap (cut into 5x5 inch squares). The squares will be used to make a white and scrap quilt. I may just be able to check a Christmas gift off my list after this swap!

An example of a white and scrap quilt made by Chickpea herself. I love the way the white makes all the fabrics stand out. Go check out that swap for yourself and let's make some quilts!

Goods for the Gratitude Swap

No more sneak peeks! Here's the real deal, this is my completed Gratitude Swap package winging its way to Tonya. She should receive this today. Hope you like it Tonya!
I used Soulemama's free Gratitude Wrap Pattern. You can find the downloadable pattern in her sidebar. This pattern is great, easy to follow and quick to produce. So simple and yet so cute!

Tonya likes a good surprise so I hope this is fun for her. My only clues were greens, browns and she loves hedgehogs. The wrap is mostly linen with recycled denim (with four kids we have a lot of that around here!) and some other fun scraps. I used denim and chenille for the inside pockets for some added texture. The cute hedgie embroidery pattern is a freebie from Pimp Stitch, another fun pattern!

I filled those pockets with some handmade cards, made with stamped linen scraps and stitched onto cardstock. I really like the way these turned out. Oh, and if you look closely, the thread ends were left on intentionally. I thought it looked kind of cool.

Also included in the package were a few local treats. We found some yummy candy, popcorn on the cob, apple jelly and a beeswax candle with a (plastic) bee in it at the local farm market. They have the best stuff and the coolest Halloween Teepee filled with Jack-o-lanterns so it was no hardship for the kids to go shop there! Although the littlest one did leave the teepee in tears. I think it was the hanging skeletons at the end. Oops, forgot about that part.

This was a great swap, hosted by Melissa and I had so much fun putting all this together!
Alright, now go check out those free patterns!

Waahahaha......spooky!

Wow! Its really hard to photograph a table runner! You'll have to forgive the weird angle because short of standing on my head to get the shot, and I did consider it, this is the best I could do. :)
So its almost October and in our house that means a trip to the attic to release the ghouls and goblins. New for our table this year is this slightly wonky modified log cabin runner with spookies. I feel little like a game show host with my description... so, "Come on down ghouls and gals! Its almost Halloween!"


(Cue sinister laugh) Waahahaha..........................................

Sneak Peek

A sneak peek at a WIP for the Gratitude Swap. I'll be wrapping up a few loose ends and mailing it out this week. I hope my swap partner likes it.

The Colors of Fall

Sunflowers from the village Farm Market.

Apples fresh from the tree.
A new school bag with a Gnome (embroidery design from Badbird's) to tag along.
Happy Fall!

Magic Carpet Bag

A little late for a beach but, a finally a bag big enough to fit all our towels for swimming at the Y. This beauty holds six beach towels, keys, sunglasses, snacks and a small sketchbook. What else could we need?

Made using linen and my favorite Japanese nesting doll fabric and some recycled jeans for the pocket and strap. I made up the bag as I went along and was able to finish it in an afternoon. I think my favorite part is the pink chenille scrap that I used to line the top four or five inches of the lining. It gave the bag a nice weight at the top and kept it from being to droopy.

Totally unrelated to the bag, I've also signed up for a few swaps/challenges. The Gratitude Swap is being hosted by Melissa and the Spare a Square Challenge hosted by JC Handmade. For those of you Seinfeld fans.....the challenge is totally unrelated to the toilet paper episode. I do love the name though and can't wait to get started! I'll post pics of the Gratitude Swap as soon as my partner receives it.

Monkey McFly

The latest addition to the family, meet Monkey McFly. Two birthday gifts for Mr. Man made with love ( and very little time, I'm a last minute kind of girl) on his big birthday number five. We think he likes them. (See happy boy photo.) Monkey has a matching cape suitable for all high flying adventures. Mr. Man tested his cape out last night on the lawn. It turns out that you can actually fly higher if you hold the ends before you run. Oh, and it also helps to have your sister waiting at the end so you don't accidentally fly into the road.

Birthdays R' Us

Another birthday gift, this time made for Miss Mimi. A very pink apron with a pink chenille pocket, and hiding inside were two stuffies a bunny and bear. The stuffies were free embroidery patterns from Wee Wonderfuls. There are some great freebies over there and while I do love free I also purchased the felt Gnome Pattern last year for Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of those but they came out great! They were so much fun to make and were definitely a hit with the 7 to 10 year old crowd. Its going to be hard to top those gnomes!

Mmmmm ....lunch

I've been making lots of birthday gifts for some of my favorite littles. In my usual style most were made at the absolute last second.....yep, thats me, the day before the party. For our friend Riley who was turning four, a smorgasbord of felt food and an apron to cook it in. Now I did make all the food, but at the last minute had to purchase an apron. Shocking that I couldn't squeeze in that apron too! Lucky for me there is a small craft store in town whose owner make children's aprons and sells them for a crazy low price! I love that store. Little Riley is currently up to her elbows in pizza, ravioli, a mystery meat sandwich with all the fixings, bowtie pasta ( I know, a little heavy on the carbs!) an ice cream cone, orange slices and various other goodies. I still owe her a blue cotton candy. Its coming Riley! Hold on!