Joyful Abode

I don’t think I new what a bunting was called until last year or so… I just thought “string of flags” or “pennants” or something. But a bunting it is, and it’s cute as anything.

I made this bunting as a holiday decoration, and rather than sticking with red and green (not my fave, really), I went for a more festive red/orange + green/blue. I like it.

This would be a really great thing to do with childhood clothes too, as an alternative to making quilt after quilt. A bunting would be an adorable way to preserve a bit of that nostalgia.

So here’s a little (er, long… full of pictures) tutorial if you’re interested in making your own bunting, either for a holiday decoration, or year-round in a child’s room or craft room.

First, choose some fabrics that you think would go well together. I chose 3 pairs of fabrics, so I can do front/back and both sides will look nice. For instance, the blue dots and red dots will go together to make a set of triangles (blue front/red back), and so forth.

Roughly cut strips of fabric… I just made a snip at about 7 inches down and ripped the width of the fabric to make a strip. Don’t worry; we’ll clean up the edges soon.

Iron the fabric to make sure everything is smooth and ready for cutting and sewing!

Now we’re going to make our triangle template. I wanted mine to be about 6 inches long (after sewing, turning, and trimming) and around 6 inches wide. You can do a long skinny triangle if you want, or a short fat one. But for now, we’re making a rectangle to approximate the width/length of triangle you’d like.

I drew the 2 lines the length I wanted, then folded the paper so the crease would connect corners… and cut it out. I’m making this more complicated than it needs to be… basically mine was a square. Yours can be a rectangle of any size/dimensions.

Fold your square or rectangle in half and draw a diagonal line…

like so…

And cut it to make your triangle pattern.

Now we go to the cutting table… first trim the edges of your fabrics. I’m doing each pair together.

Now place the triangle  with the short edge along the long edge of your fabric, and cut along the pattern. I used my rotary cutter, which is probably the fastest and most precise, but you can do it with scissors of course!

After the first cut, I just flipped the previous triangle like this…

And used it as a pattern to cut along.

And keep flipping…

Until you have a nice pile of triangles!

And repeat with the other pairs of fabrics.

Delicious!

Now, sew along one of the longer edges of the triangles, with the coordinating fabrics’ right sides together.
You can do a whole bunch at once, and clip them when you’re finished.

Then, sew the second long edge the same way. See how they’re all connected? Cut them apart…

And then flip them right side out. I used the tips of my scissors to poke out the point, but sometimes I use a chopstick. The eraser-end of a pencil will work well too.

Smile at all the pretty colors when they’re all flipped.

And then iron them so they’re nice and flat.

Gorgeous! We’re almost there!

If you have bias tape, you can use that for your “string,” but I decided to use twill tape this time. Cut lengths of twill tape or bias tape as long as your bunting will be. I estimated about 2 yards for each of mine (I made 3 buntings with 11-12 triangles in each one).

Then, fold the twill tape in half and iron it. If you’re using double-fold bias tape you won’t need to do this step, since yours is already folded.

(Not shown: Trim the top edges of your triangles with your rotary cutter so they’re straight and “clean.”)

Snuggle the triangles in between the fold of the twill tape or bias tape, and pin in place.

They’re almost done!

Tuck under the ends of the bias or twill tape like this, and then…

Fold them again, like this. This way when you sew them, they’ll be nice-looking and won’t fray (don’t forget to back stitch at the beginning and end!)

Now, in one long line, sew along your twill or bias tape, making sure you catch the triangles and the back of the twill/bias tape.

Please be luckier than I was… my needle broke into 3 parts for some reason, and the middle part shot out and HIT ME IN THE NECK. I sat there feeling my neck for a couple minutes, sure I was bleeding and dying… of course, I wasn’t, but I never found the 3rd part of the needle, so I maintain that it is inside my neck.

And when it’s all sewn, go ahead and iron it again. Ironing is to sewing what makeup is to my face. You know, it makes it look acceptable even if there are a couple zits or something. Or, you know, wiggly stitches.

Now you’re done! Or you can keep going like I did, and sew some bells onto some of the triangles. I didn’t do all of them, but maybe I will add more bells later.

Just stitch them onto the end, and make sure to secure your thread ends well!

Enjoy your beautiful bunting! I hung mine with thumb tacks (how very college-student of me).

I’d love to see photos of buntings you’ve made or that you make in the future using this tutorial. If you ever make one, go ahead and post the link (to your flickr or blog or wherever you share it) in the comments here.

I have 2 more buntings… maybe I will add them to the shop so I can share! Anyone interested?

Today was the MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) Christmas Stop. We woke up at 6, loaded up the car, took care of the dog, and got on the road to set up. Setting up took a little longer than usual because we weren’t sure where to put the gridwall and the things on it… now I know to take a few pictures of previous set-ups to shows with me, just in case I need to jog my memory about what worked and what didn’t work.

We actually changed the gridwall positioning a little bit after the first couple of hours… found something that worked a little better. After a little while, the shoppers started to come. I love seeing people see something I made, pick it up, and turn it over in their hands carefully… or run their fingertip over the hand-stitched appliques on my blankets.

I’m not so much a fan of the people who rifle through my things like it’s a discount rack at Wal-Mart… letting things fall to the ground and smooshing them as they pick them back up. That’s just not nice!

Most of the people were nice though. haha.

Thanks to my wonderful and helpful husband, I was even able to explore the show a little and see everyone else’s booths (though I did hurry through a bit so I could get back to mine…). There were a lot of people selling handmade and home-baked goodies, and other people representing companies like Pampered Chef, Southern Living at Home, Mary Kay, and Arbonne (hi Arbonne ladies who were across from me!).

There was also a whole other room, but I forgot to take my camera with me when I went exploring.

In all, it was a nice day… I met some great people, made some sales, and got quite exhausted. The show only lasted until 2:00, which is kind of an early closing compared to other shows I’ve done… but I was pretty tired and okay with the idea of going home.

When we got home, we walked the dog, then I fell asleep for a little while (maybe 20 minutes?) before we went to a friend’s barbeque down the street (mmm ribs!). Very nice day!

I also got a few more people who signed up for the email newsletter. If you haven’t done it by now, you really should! I only send about 1-2 emails each month, and they always include some sort of coupon code or sale.

Plus, they’re pretty emails if I may say so myself. I finally fixed the sign-up on the left side of my blog, so now there is an actual box to type your email address into. Before, there was just a blank space and you had to guess where to click…oops!

Since moving to Meridian, Mississippi, I have mostly been limited to my current stash of craft materials. You see, here, there’s no Michael’s, AC Moore, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics… really no craft store that I am aware of. There is a nearby-ish fabric store in a neighboring town, but I haven’t been there yet.

So for this project, I took myself down to Lowe’s. Craft materials from a home improvement store? Sure, when you’re making a plaque for your sewing room!

My Lowe’s materials: A wooden address plaque and 3 metal letters (for South, East, and West, near the mailbox numbers).

So this is the bare-bones layout.

First, I painted the background a lovely shade of turquoise (the same one I used to match my Ikea Amorf bedspread).

And then I painted the edges… the bevel a pretty cream color, and the edge a nice muted coral.

After that, I sketched out my design in pencil. (I laid out my SEW letters so I could arrange everything properly.) A needle, button, some pins…

…more pins, another button, and a spool of thread.

And painted everything in, using the same color pallet I used on the edges. (I did mix the cream and coral for a lighter shade of coral to use on part of it.)

For the super-thin black lines, I used a fine-tipped Sharpie. I’m not too handy with super-tiny paintbrushes so Sharpies are good.

See how it’s coming along? I added more Sharpie detail on the buttons and thread, too.

I marked the letters’ placements with pencil-dots where the screws would go, and then screwed each one in. The wood was surprisingly hard to penetrate!

But I got through, and everything was finished very quickly!

So… just a pretty reminder of what my machine over there is for! And made with materials from the home improvement store. Imagine that!

Zora and I were going for a walk the night before last when this dog came up to us looking for love. He and Zora sniffed each other, played a little, and then coexisted nicely. The dog followed us. No collar, skinny as anything, not neutered.

I borrowed a collar and leash from someone who lived nearby, we fed him and gave him water, then put him in the back yard where hopefully he could spend the night. He hopped the fence twice though. The first time he came right back when my husband went outside, and the second time we looked for a while before we found some neighbors who had found him and fed him (again).

They had called security, and someone was going to come get him to put him in a kennel.

So he spent the night at the police station, and we picked him up in the morning to take him to the vet. The security officer said that if we hadn’t claimed him, he would’ve been sent into town to be euthanized the same day.

Here he is, in the back of my Jeep. I have two leashes on him so he wouldn’t climb into the front while I was driving. It mostly worked, but he did manage to lick my head a little bit. The bowl had 2 cups of food in it. It was gone in about 10 seconds.

The veterinarian cleaned him up and gave him a flea and tick treatment. For the next 24 hours, hundreds of tiny dead ticks fell off of this poor dog… he had obviously been wandering in the woods. We kept vacuuming up the ticks, and now he seems to be pretty tick-free. He was not micro-chipped (If you have a pet, please microchip it!).

We’ve put up “Found dog” signs around the base, at the pet store, at the vet’s office, and at Wal-Mart. We’re also contacting the base newspaper and town newspaper to run classifieds for him. I really get the feeling that his owner isn’t looking for him though. So many animals here get dumped if it’s not convenient to keep them, whether because the family is moving, money is tight, or whatever.

The rescue where we got Zora is full, … I’d rather keep him temporarily than send him somewhere where he’ll have an uncertain future (I think none of the other shelters in the area are no-kill shelters). So we bought him his own kennel, food bowl, leash, collar, and food. And a Kong toy, because every dog needs a Kong toy.

He is so sweet… calm and sweet. I wish I knew where he came from.

The night we found him, I had a dream that, to raise money for vet bills and food and kennel and all of that, I went through all of my craft stuff and picked out stuff to raffle.
It was a good idea, so I woke up at 6:30 yesterday and went through my craft things and books for an hour, picking out things to raise money for this sweet stray. If his owner claims him, I will donate the money to the East Mississippi Animal Rescue (EMAR), which is where we got Zora.

If his owner doesn’t claim him,we will take him to the vet again, make sure he is updated on shots, get him tested for heart worms (and treated if he has them), and get him neutered before adopting him out. If there is extra money, it will, of course, go to EMAR.

I know we can help this sweet thing.

Here are the raffles I’ve set up to raise money for him and EMAR. The drawings for each raffle will be held when the tickets sell out, or on September 12th, whichever happens first. Winners will be announced here and the packages will be mailed to them, free of charge.

Click each link or photo for more pictures of the raffle items, and to purchase tickets. You can, of course, purchase more than 1 ticket for each item.

I’ll type out a list of the ticket-buyers for each package (with someone’s name listed 3 times if they buy 3 tickets, and so forth), cut it up, and choose a name at random as the winner.

Fabric scraptastic: Over 4 pounds of fabric scraps, and 20 1-yard samples of handmade cotton bias tape. $3 a ticket.

 Crochet explosion: A ton of great yarn, 3 fantastic crochet books, and a brand new project bag worth $59.99 from coco cesca (I JUST bought it and haven’t used it or even taken the tag off yet). $10 a ticket.

 Creative Crafts: “Where Women Create” book, 2 embroidery hoops, lots of foam state shapes, bells, fabric yo yos, a tatting shuttle, craft wire, and artificial sinew. $4 a ticket.

Paper Crafts: Easter/Spring greeting cards and envelopes, feathers, rubber stamps, metal word embellishments, metal hinges, wire frames, and more. $5 a ticket.

Not crafty… but…

Military Wife Books: Army Wives, The Homefront Club, and Heroes at Home. $2 a ticket.

Please link to this post from your blogs, websites, etc, to spread the word and help raise money for this sweet rescue dog and for the East Mississippi Animal Rescue!

Edited to add: My sister put up a facebook event about this fundraiser. Thank you, Caroline! It’s an open event, so if you have facebook, you can join and invite all of your friends to let them know about it!

Edited again to add: Two people have asked to donate (without buying tickets) so far, so I figured it would make sense to add a “donate” option here if you’re interested in helping, but not interested in winning craft things and books! You can donate any amount you’d like to.

I never did post pictures of my craft area in Milton, did I?

I loved the color of the walls and the curtains (they were like that when we got there)… perfect. And they coordinated perfectly with my bulletin board and office chair, too.

The desktop computer is only hooked up because I forgot to move some files off of it… we later freecycled it. There is also a closet to the right that holds my supplies.

This is where I write for Joyful Abode, Start Cooking, and Tippy Leaf, where I read your delicious and inspiring blogs, and where I manage our finances.

This is where the sewing happens, and where I package orders for shipping.

The guy made me this ribbon spool holder… 1 dowel + 3 hook thingies + 3 office alligator clips

And I love how colorful and cheerful all the thread looks… like art in itself!

My sketches are screaming, “Make us into something! Embroider us! Make us into stationery!” … aren’t they cute all lined up like clothes on a line?

When you sew a lot at one time, the machine gets a little fuzzed up… so it’s good to have a can of air nearby.

And this computer desk is perfect as a sewing desk… the keyboard tray keeps all of my essentials close at hand!

I wonder what my new office/sewing room will look like! Maybe I’ll mix it up a little. Any suggestions?

Things that have been going on around the Joyful Abode:

My friend Liz told me that I needed to cut back my avocado plant (It was about a foot tall, maybe taller, with big healthy leaves) so that it would become a bush instead of a tree. I was kind of nervous for the plant… I thought if I cut off all of the leaves it wouldn’t be able to photosynthesize and it would die! But I did it… and sure enough, it soon sprouted an extra “arm” with a couple of buds for more.

Now, a couple weeks later, the main new “arm” has 5 healthy leaves! I’m proud of my little avocado baby. It’s about a year old now.

Some of the things I’ve been making for Joyful Abode… they’ll eventually be online. I promise!
Annum napkin sets - with four napkins, each depicting a tree from a season of the year.

About a million aprons. Stripes, paisley, toile, coffee prints… something for everyone!

Other Joyful Abode news… you might notice some new links at the top of the page. I’ve added a link to my MySpace, so if you have one, please add me as a friend! I also added my Flickr link, and I’d love to have new friends there too. In my opinion though, the most exciting new link up there is to my portfolio at Trunkt. I’ll be adding more pictures to that, but it will serve as my portfolio to show prospective wholesale customers. So if you have a shop near you where you’d like to see my things, you’ll be able to give them my Trunkt URL so they can see if they’re interested in carrying my line!

I’m also working on a new web shop that will allow me to have more things listed in a more flexible way, and a new homepage for the website, so that is all very exciting!

I also have new helicopter change of address cards and birth announcements to add to the shop, and T-45 Goshawk moving cards and baby cards are coming soon!

Also, I wrote before about where I’ve been, and I mentioned that on May 8th, we’d find out what lies in the future for my guy’s training. Well, we found out that he got what he wanted! We’re going to Meridian, MS for him to train to fly “tailhook” which basically means planes that land on carriers. He’ll be learning on the T-45C Goshawk, which is a hot jet compared to what he’s been flying.

But guess when we’re moving!!

This FRIDAY!. The movers are coming on Wednesday, and we’re driving up Friday with everything we need for several weeks… The on-base housing is full, so we’ll need to stay in a hotel when we get there, so we can go house-hunting. What an adventure! I’ll keep you updated on what happens!

Shisha (the Hindi word for “little glass”) embroidery is also known as mirror-work or abla embroidery. Originally, pieces of mica were used as the mirrors, but later, thin blown-glass pieces were broken and used. Today, small mirrors are commercially available for shisha embroidery. If you use these, make sure to file the edges first so the mirrors aren’t sharp.

I like using paillettes, those large sequins with a tiny hole in the side. They’re extremely lightweight, not sharp at all, and readily available in many colors. They worked perfectly in my “Local pride” apron. I also think it would be really neat to use coins from around the world in shisha embroidery.

I’ve recently gotten really into playing with embroidery, and I decided to at the very least do this one tutorial to share my love of the art form with you all. All you handcrafting/DIY-type folks, get ready!

1. Gather your materials. You’ll need fabric, an embroidery hoop, a sharp needle, a shisha mirror (or paillette or coin), and embroidery floss.
   
2. Secure your fabric in the hoop tightly. Thread your needle and knot the end of your floss.
   
3. Place your shisha on the fabric, and secure it with a crossing of foundation stitches.
   
4. Now, duplicate the foundation stitches, but turned 45 degrees… like this.
   
   Until you get this.
   
5. Now, you could leave it at that, and decorate around it. It’s pretty secure and it looks pretty, right? But if you’re more interested in creating a solid frame for your shisha, continue. Poke your needle up through the fabric beside your mirror.
   Then, slide your needle under the foundation stitches, from the center toward the edge.
   
6. Pull your needle through and tighten the stitch, then work one backstitch right next to your mirror.
   
7. Now, your next stitches will be like blanket stitches. Again, thread the needle under your foundation stitches from the center to the edge, but make sure your thread is looped UNDER your needle as you pull the stitch tight.
   
8. From now on, when you work the backstitch after your blanket stitch,make sure to initially poke your needle through the previous backstitch. This will create an attractive chain around your shisha.
   
9. Once I get mine shishsa started, I like to take it out of the embroidery hoop. You can if you want to, but you don’t have to. Keep working steps 7 and 8 around the mirror.
   
   This is why I like to take it out of the hoop. It allows me to sort of bend the fabric backward to have more control over my backstitches.
   
10. Keep going until you’re finished!
    
11. Are you proud of yourself? You should be! You could stop there, or you can decorate it some more (back in the embroidery hoop for this). I started with a border of turquoise chain stitches, to match my paillette.
    
12. And then… oh look! The shisha is shining with happiness!
    
13. I finished mine up with some delightful little french knots.
    
14. Enjoy! And join the flickr group to show off your own shisha embroidery.

I’ve read all sorts of tutorials and how-to instructions for making a homemade lightbox for photographing things… and I’ve tried a couple of them.

The cut-up-a-cardboard-box-and-line-it-with-tissue paper thing didn’t work out for me. It felt flimsy and didn’t even yield decent pictures (for me, at least).

Then I combined some different thing I have read, seen, and heard about, and came up with a pretty decent solution to my macro photography woes.

You will need:

• one of those milky white/clear storage containers, like Rubbermaid or Tupperware or whoever makes them
• several clip-on lights. You can use what you have, or buy inexpensive ones from Lowe’s or Home Depot. Make sure you get some that will handle the watts of the bulbs you wish to use. We don’t want to start a fire!
• Stuff to clip the lamps onto.
• A power strip to plug all of the lamps into.
• Light bulbs. I’m using full-spectrum “GE Reveal” halogen bulbs. They have a halogen bulb within the regular outer bulb, which is nice because you don’t have to worry about getting your fingers’ oil on the halogen part and making it explode.
• Some sort of background material. I bought a white poster board and a black poster board.
• White fabric for diffusing the light.

These are the lamps I got. I think they were 7 dollars each. There was a smaller size for 6 dollars too.

My light bulbs. Like I said before, they have a halogen bulb inside the regular glass bulb. Very cool.

I’m clipping my lights onto random things, propped up by other random things… it really doesn’t matter because those aren’t ever in the photos (unless you’re writing a tutorial on how to make a light box). The containers kept falling over, until I stuck some weights in them. Now they’re good to go.

This may seem like common sense, but plug all of your lamps into a power strip. The awesome part is you can leave all of the lamp switches on, and just use the power strip’s switch to turn them all on and off at once. It’s a little thing, but very cool.

Here’s my general set-up so far. The box is on its side with the background material in it, and lights clipped all around it (and one on top). I guess you can tell I’m not using my tripod, because it’s over there on the left looking lonely.

Make sure your white balance is set to the correct setting (for my box that’s usually the tungsten setting… or I’ll do the manual setting, in which you just point the camera at the background, click, and then it’s set!) That will take a pretty good picture, but there will be some glare. This photo is unedited.

If you want to reduce the glare, take a piece of fabric…

And drape it over the lightbox, between the lights and your product. I just kind of threw it on top, but if I were feeling perfectionistic, I would smooth everything out. I’m still obviously not using my little tripod, as you can see it in that picture, looking sad.

That’ll give you a less glare-y photo, but slightly darker.

Which can easily be fixed by playing with levels in any photo editing program.

It may not be perfect, but it’s way better than what I had before (stick the product on a background and try tons of angles and light sources to try to get it to be well-lit and good-looking).

Works for me!

I took all of my stationery photos using the light box, too. Very helpful, and I’m happy with the results!

I made this by embroidering on foam:

And then I scanned it and made it into this:

Which you can get by clicking here: download free valentine card. (The inside says “Just sayin’…”)

Just open the PDF and print it out, then fold it into a card. I don’t have borderless printing, so I had to trim mine a bit, but that’s ok. And if you have a borderless printer, lucky you! You won’t have to do a thing!

Enjoy! Let me know who you plan to give yours to.

You know, I realized that I never updated about my quilt that I made in October!!! I teased you with cutesie illustrations but never showed you photos. So here they are!

The binding turned out a little weird… but I think that’s largely because of the batting I used… which was pretty puffy, so it made the edges really thick and tough to deal with. Overall, I’m really happy with it, and I love the embroidered hearts on it.

I was at work the other day when I thought of a hedgehog on a tire swing. I don’t think the children remind me of hedgehogs or anything like that… but children are cute and so are hedgehogs. And children like swinging on tire swings, and so do…um… hedgehogs? So maybe that’s part of it.

Anyway, I sketched it out and squeed with the adorable factor of it all.

So I refined my drawing, and then traced the “final” version in pen. Then, I decided, why not try another medium? I love embroidery. It’s like doodling with thread. It’s so organic and flexible, like crochet is.

I still need to stitch in the rope and the tree’s branch, but I couldn’t wait to share this little project.

Chances are, you know a young girl. And chances are, at some point, you’ll want to buy or make her a gift. Well, one girl I know is my adorable niece, Dorsey. She’s in first grade, and is reading like CRAZY. Seriously, I showed her my (handwritten, scribbled, partially crossed-out and edited) rendition of a holiday song, and in seconds she was giggling. I didn’t think she could have possibly read it in that time, but she had! She read it out loud to me with no hesitation when I asked her to.
In any case, the girl is a reading machine.

For Christmas, I decided to get her The Daring Book for Girls, which is awesome. If you haven’t seen it before, check out the link. You can read part of it at the amazon.com website. It covers all sorts of girlie topics, like 14 games of tag, making daisy chains, spying, sleep overs, building a campfire, and wayyyy more.

A book by itself isn’t much fun to open at Christmas when you’re 6 years old, no matter how fun it is when you’re reading it, so I decided to make her a girl kit with some of the essential gear listed in the book.

I found the little papier mache suitcase box at Jo-Ann, took it home, and painted it. Then I filled it with a bandanna, some rope, duct tape, a whistle, and a compass. If the girl you’re gifting to is a bit older, a pocket knife would be a great addition.

So back to the reading thing. I thought that this would be a book Dorsey would need to go through with her mother (my sister). Instead, within minutes, she was reading one of the pages seemingly effortlessly.  Very amazing. Go Montessori education! Of course, I’m sure my sister will still go through the book with Dorsey.
Think she liked it?

Over the last two days, I uploaded all of my zipper pouches and my tree ornament set to Joyful Abode @ Etsy.

Here are just a few:

All of the zipper pouches are the perfect size for giving recipe cards or bias tape as a gift.

Check them out on my teensy tiny Christmas tree.

There is SO MUCH MORE in the shop… so be sure to check it out in time for Christmas gift-giving.

Hopefully soon, I’ll be able to get the aprons photographed so I can put them in the shop. I tried this weekend, but it was way to windy and the sunlight was much too harsh. None of the pictures turned out well. I may have to do them indoors, though that’s not my favorite.

Technorati Tags: zipper pouches, tree ornament set, recipe cards, bias tape, gift, Christmas tree, gift-giving, aprons, pictures

I finished up another batch of these zipper pouches. I love the way they look all together.

My bobbin box is one of my very favorite things…

And I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish off another spool of thread.

Does the little pile of threads and scraps that always piles up near the machine make anyone else strangely happy? I love it! If I were the type to spin yarn, I’d save it up to make a big sewing-scrap yarn.

If you’re in the Pensacola, Florida area, you should definitely come out to Belmont’s Bizzare this Saturday, from 10am ’till 4pm. See you there!

PS Sorry for my absence the last couple of days! I guess NaBloPoMo, combined with getting ready for Belmont, kind of wore me out! I’ll be back in full force soon, I’m sure.

A couple of craft shows I’m applying for require pictures (they’re juried), and one of the pictures has to be of the booth set-up. Since I haven’t done any shows yet, I set it up this morning in the driveway. My fantastic husband made the lattice thingies, which are great. They have horizontal poles on them, to act as racks for the hanging aprons. (Note the rainbow order arrangement… I’m insane.)

I think I’ll arrange things differently when I’m at Belmont’s Bizzare, to entice people to actually come “in” and look at things… but does anyone have specific suggestions? I’d like to get more height to the things on the table, but I’m not sure how to go about doing that without buying more stuff.

Cross your fingers for nice weather, too… I don’t have a tent!

Weird thing, too… I swear I had more aprons than this. I think I’m missing some, but maybe it’s my imagination.

I finished 4 more aprons today, plus 2 for a custom order from a coworker. Aaaand… Say goodbye to Rosaria. She’s going to a new (confidential, due to the holiday season) home! I’m sure she’ll be well-loved and very happy.

Check out Joyful Abode @ Etsy for more fantastic gift ideas (don’t forget yourself, too!).

Technorati Tags: craft shows, booth set-up, aprons, custom order, holiday season, gift ideas

So far, in the last month or so, I’ve broken two sewing machine needles and bent one (today). This is getting ridiculous! I know I’ve been sewing like a crazy woman lately, and when I worked at Hancock Fabrics there were people who came in and bought needles all the time… but this seems excessive.

Sewers, is this normal? Or do you think maybe I need to get my sewing machine checked?

I guess I’ll be picking up some needles this weekend… and JoAnn Fabrics has a 50% off coupon valid this Friday and Saturday, which I am definitely going to take advantage of (not for the needles though; for something more pricey).

Technorati Tags: sewing machine, sewing, Hancock Fabrics, JoAnn Fabrics

Less than 2 weeks left until Belmont’s Bizzare. These two weeks will be filled with tons of crafting after work. I have a bunch of aprons left to finish, as well as other little projects.

I just finished 1 “batch” of lined zipper pouches. These would be perfect to use as gift bags for the bias tape or recipe cards. And the recipient can use them later to stylishly carry makeup, feminine products, or just the essentials in place of a purse (cell phone, money, keys, driver’s license).

Sorry for the bad pictures! It’s night!

I have another batch of these all cut out and waiting to be sewn, too.

Belmont Arts Center in Pensacola, FL is hosting a funky arts and crafts show December 8th, 2007.

And guess who will be there as a vendor… yours truly! So if you’re in the area, you definitely need to come check it out.

I’ve been crafting up a storm…

Making lots more bias tape, in the hopes that sewers and quilters will be in the mix.

And working up a new project.

Of course I’m making lots of aprons too… no pictures of those yet! But come out to the bizzare and bring a friend or 20.

(Look at my etsy after the show for some shop updates, probably.)

Ten points to whoever can figure out what is wrong with this double fold binding. I made them all one night, and I must’ve been sleepy and not paying attention. Needless to say, I won’t be selling this…

Above the tags on the left, see that metal thing? That is my sewing machine needle, BROKEN. I felt a little proud when it snapped… I’ve never actually broken a machine needle before.

Can you tell I have been very busy? I am behind on writing Joyful Abode posts… I HAVE indeed been cooking, though writing everything up takes a while, and I don’t want to break my crafting streak. So for now I will keep teasing you with fun crafty photos.

I have a ton of photos to edit for Joyful Abode… but it may not happen for a little bit yet.

Little boxy pouch tutorial by threebears - So adorable and I LOVE the fabric she used in the tutorial photos. I have some zippers who have been waiting for their calling…

Heather’s favorite knot is now also my favorite knot. I wasn’t sure at first how it could beat my previous favorite knot, but the first time I tied Heather’s favorite knot, I knew it was love.

Some big embroidery site (not a blogger) has directions for how to do Shisha embroidery. If you don’t already know what it is, it’s that Indian mirror embroidery that’s so gorgeous. I recently used it in my Tie One On Local Pride apron… instead of mirrors though, I used paillettes (those giant sequins with one tiny hole near the edge). They also have examples of Shisha work and a tutorial for a project.

I always feel a special sort of connection with Sarah of The Small Object… based mostly on the fact that we’re from the same small town in South Carolina. Besides that though, she has an eye for the tiny and cute. If you haven’t seen her adorable little clothespin people, you’re missing out. Anyway, she recently posted this tutorial for fabric-covered floss bobbins. I may have to make a few, because right now my embroidery floss storage is decidedly un-cute.

Montessori By Hand posted a tutorial for her gorgeous “Recycled Bath Mat”. It’s so gorgeous, and it has cutesie little embroidered footprints on it. I think it would take a little convincing for me to actually step out of the shower onto it though, just because it looks so much like ART.

 Sew Mama, Sew! has been linking to tons of fantastic tutorials every day, and will continue throughout the month. Each day has a different theme, so definitely take a look.

What could I be making? And are you excited?

ERROR

The iron survived this incident.

Good thing, too, because I’m working on a lot of things right now.

Embroidery might be climbing the charts in my list of favorite crafts. I love the way it makes things look, and actually doing it is relaxing and methodical. So I recently decided to make some place mats for myself and my husband combining sewing, appliqué, and embroidery.

I learned a fantastic applique technique that I might write a tutorial for later, but for now, I’ll just let your eyes feast on my latest project-just-for-me. I love the way they turned out, and they grace our table now along with the place mats from Jennifreckles.

After ironing on interfacing to the yellow-dotted fabric, I appliquéd an autumn leaf onto each place mat. Then, I added a backstitched line for the leaf’s falling path.

After that, I layered two pieces of muslin on the back and bound the whole thing with handmade bias tape.

I decided to do the embroidery in two colors, for his-and-hers. I like that they match but aren’t exactly the same.

I also put one of my new tags on the back of each one, just because they make me smile.

This 1″ double fold bias tape is made from 100% cotton and is the perfect way to finish table linens and quilts, embellish existing clothing, create aprons, and more! Each package includes 3 yards of bias tape, but if you have a bigger project, I have multiple packages of a few of the prints. Just check out my bias tape listings on Joyful Abode @ Etsy for details.

And isn’t my packaging the cutest?

(Stick with me for this post… I’m not feeling very clever with words today.)

The last theme for the Tie one On apron challenge was “Local Pride.”

I was born and raised in Charleston, SC, but spent my teen years in Columbia, SC. When this apron assignment was issued, I was preparing to get married and move to Florida. I thought I wouldn’t have time to complete an apron for Tie One On. But then after we had moved to Pensacola, FL, Amy extended the challenge!

And then, we were packing up to move again, this time to Milton. So…

Finally, in my second house in Florida, I hunkered down and finished my Local Pride apron. I decided to use the deliciously beautiful Emerald Coast of Pensacola as inspiration. The water at the beach here is a lovely clear green, not blue. So with a green theme, and using embroidery, applique, and shisha embroidery, I came up with my this, representing my brand new local pride:

We were pretty hot pirates if I may say so myself. I made our shorts and hair accessories (my headband, his do-rag).

Simple Jack-0-Lantern this year. And thanks again to Marci for the cute scarecrow wreath.

We got tons of trick-or-treaters tonight. The best costume ever was a hamburger. The girl said her friend’s mom made it for her. I LOVED it.

Now and then, I like to visit Craftster and look at other people’s projects and occasionally post mine. Recently, I found a couple of swaps that sounded fun to me, so I signed up! One of them was a Mini Halloween Swap. We were supposed to send two “medium” and two “small” crafted items to our partners.

My partner Marci made this adorable scarecrow wreath for my door.

But when I close my glass door, its face gets smashed and it did NOT like that. So now he lives on the little flag pole holder, where he is much more comfy.

Then she decided to go crazy for me with an incredibly time-consuming project… a gorgeous and snuggly knitted scarf! I know how to knit but don’t have the patience for it, so I know how much work went into it. I love the way it feels, and it even has pockets for my hands! My yard scarecrow wanted to model the scarf for you, but he does NOT get to keep it!

Look at the pretty leafy cable design!

Marci also sent me a delicious-smelling jar of mulling spices. I’m so excited to try them out! I may go pick up some apple juice later today.

This is what I sent to Marci.
A jack-o-lantern zipper pouch:

Some embroidered Jack Skellington coasters (she loves Nightmare Before Christmas):

Halloween-y pennant flags (or garland) to decorate with:

And a jack-o-lantern apron (I couldn’t not do an apron):

More/bigger photos here in my flickr.

Check out this fantastic tutorial for cocktail napkins at The Purl Bee. You could do these for any holiday or any time of year.

Sewing Stars has posted a cutesie little skeleton that you can print and cut out. If you put it together with brads, it’s movable. I think it would look really cute in a little apron.

My Paper Crane has made some adorable printable Halloween garland along with a smaller version that can be used as sucker toppers.

And this one’s not Halloweeny, but Turkey Feathers has a tutorial up for a beautiful Autumnal patchwork pillow (again, of course you can adapt it to different seasons).

Check out the Joyful Abode coloring contest entries, too! We’ve got FIVE entries now, so the contest is officially on. If you want to get in on the action, submit your entry by the end of Monday, October 29th. After that, the race to 13 votes commences. 

I actually haven’t carved pumpkins this year yet. I’m going to wait a bit longer so that the pumpkins don’t rot before Halloween, BUT… I wrote up this tutorial last year, and I thought it would be helpful to some people who might be reading Joyful Abode this year.

Before:

The pumpkin awaits its transformation. Tools await their destiny.

Step 1: Cut a lid. Make a notch in the back, so that you can easily replace it the right way.
Mine’s bleeding!

Step 2: Remove the lid and cut off all the nasty stringy stuff.

Step 3: Scrape out all the gooey stuff from the inside. Save it so you can get the seeds for baking!

Step 4: After everything is all scraped out, tape your pattern to the pumpkin. If you are drawing it on, go ahead and do that instead. I made mine in paint and printed it out. If you like my jack-o-lantern carving template, it’s available in free stuff.

Step 5: Use a poker (a toothpick or a seam ripper would work if you don’t have one just for pumpkins) to poke holes around your pattern lines. If you drew on your pumpkin, you can skip that.

Then remove your pattern.
It’s hard to see the pokey holes, isn’t it?

Step 6: Rub flour into the holes so you can see them. Wipe off excess with a damp paper towel or sponge.

Step 7: Carve away! Start with the smallest holes, then proceed to bigger ones. This will help keep the stability of the whole thing as you cut.

Step 8:
Light with a tea light, and turn off the lights! (I rubbed cinnamon onto the underside of my lid, so that when I burn the candle the room smells yummy.)

This is a really cute box template I found, and I added illustrations to it to make it Halloweeny. It’s a milk carton style box that would be perfect for filling with candy for party favors or small gifts. I hope you enjoy it! The template is in free stuff.

It’s just print, fold, and glue!

It’s just waiting for its turn in the sewing machine!

I wrote about my first quilt. Since then, I have finished the top and machine-quilted the whole quilt top-batting-backing sandwich (I should’ve used a walking foot on my machine to make it a bit easier, but it turned out fine). I bound the edges in my handmade bias tape, which was a good choice.

Now for the finishing touches… some embroidery I decided on at the last minute. Four embroidered hearts.

A long time ago, I made a log cabin quilted wall hanging under the guidance of my mother. Really though, I made the top, and then lost interest. My mother finished by quilting and binding it, and that was the end of my quilting.

Recently though, I’ve been inspired by numerous blogs full of gorgeous quilt. I decided to attempt a simple checkerboard pattern quilt. It’s very small, because I didn’t want to experiment on a large scale.

I think it’s coming along nicely so far.

For a while, my jewelry has been lumped together in a jewelry box. When I want to wear earrings, I have to hunt for mates… when I want to wear a necklace, I must first unravel it from a tangle of its cousins.

Not anymore! If you have this problem too, you might enjoy making some gorgeous jewelry boards for your bedroom (or dressing room, if you have one… I have heard of such things).

You’ll need frames. Buy them on sale! Sometimes Michael’s has a selection of frames on clearance. I got mine at Linens n Things. Buy one get one 1/2 off.

You will also need cork. I bought 4 square-foot boards from Michael’s with a 50% off coupon. I only spent 5 bucks on them.

You will need hot glue, a ruler, an exacto knife or similar blade, stapler (regular kind), fabric, coordinating ribbon, coordinating pins, and a FEW minutes.

Remove the glass from the frames, but save the cardboard. Using the cardboard as a guide, cut your cork to size. It’s ok to piece it in order to make it big enough. No one will know.

Then, use your amazing hot glue gun to affix the cork to the cardboard.

Now, cut your fabric a little larger than your cork/cardboard mess. You can always trim it later, so err on the larger size. Place your mess cork-side-down onto the wrong side of the fabric. Stretch and staple. Staple a lot. And look out for those corners!

Now, if you just want a plain old covered cork board, you’re pretty much done.

For the magical jewelry boards though, pull out your coordinating ribbon.

Turn over your boards and measure where you want your ribbons. Mark with a pen. Don’t worry… no one will see the back.

Now, wrap your ribbons and staple staple staple (on the back, of course).

See what we’re getting at? Now they’re ready for the frames!

You’ll probably have to kind of cram them into the frames, because they’re a little bulkier than a photo… but it’s worth it. Make sure you secure your board by bending the little metal thingies down.

Check it out!

Now pull out your coordinating pins and your ruler. Add pins below your ribbons, about an inch apart. These are what you’ll hang your necklaces on. I pushed my pins in almost all the way, and then bent them out a bit so they’re like hooks.

Now, hang your jewelry and you’re ready to go! Hook your earrings over the ribbons, and hang your necklaces.

I really like this because everything is out where I can see it. It also really looks like the jewelry is framed, and since I chose frames, fabric, and ribbons that coordinate with our bedroom, it’s like a piece of art.

Let me know if you make some! I’d love to see photos.
And if you have a different solution for your jewelry storage, please comment about it. Another reader may prefer your solution.

My wedding is coming up, and I wanted to have a thank-you gift for each of the special children in our ceremony. My fiance and I have 3 nieces and 1 nephew, and they will be the “flower children.” (We’re not doing the ring-bearer thing.)

I wanted to give the kids something they could play with during the rehearsal dinner, which is when we are giving our gifts. And I didn’t want to go the bride-and-groom barbie route.

So I went to Michael’s and got each of them a stuffed bear. I also picked up a roll of tulle and a spool or periwinkle ribbon (one of our wedding colors).

Then I went home and “edited” the bears into perfect gifts for our flower children!

Our “flower boy” gets a handsome bear with a periwinkle bowtie.

And our flower girls each get a lovely bear with a veil. I cut 2 lengths of tulle, folded each in half, gathered them and sewed them to the bears’ heads. Then, I hot-glued a periwinkle bow over the stitches.

I hope they like them!

You will need:

• one picture frame, whatever size you like. I used 18″ x 24″
• a piece of corrugated cardboard cut to fit your frame
• cork tiles, which you can find at Michael’s next to the whiteboards, about 10 dollars for 4 (12″ square)
• pretty fabric, a little larger than the area to be framed
• hot glue gun + glue
• stapler + staples
• x-acto knife

Step 1: Glue the cork to the corrugated cardboard. You will probably have to cut some pieces, but that’s okay. No one will see! Just make sure they are pushed close together, no gaps.

Step 2: Try out your fabric in the frame, just to make sure you like it.

Step 3: Lay your fabric wrong-side-up on the floor or table. Then place your cork+cardboard cork-side-down on top. Stretch the fabric around it and staple to the back. You can use a regular stapler for this; just open it up. Start at the middle of each side, then work toward the corners.

Step 5: Install the fabric covered cork in the frame. I took mine to Michael’s and they did it for free. Lovely!

Step 6: Hang and use!