I decided to make a new large pin cushion for my sewing desk. I needed one that was big and heavy, one that I couldn’t lose or knock over accidentally.
I don’t know if I’m the only one who tends to lose things in the midst of a project, but I’d guess I’m not the only one with backups. I’ve got a selection of scissors, multiple packages of needles, a spare pair of reading glasses, and a collection of pin cushions scattered about. (If however, you’re the kind of person with perfect organization who always know exactly where every supply is just play along for my benefit.) Besides that, A quick and easy pin cushion project is just the thing for a blah rainy afternoon.
This is the cushion I created. It’s a basic rectangle shape with a big flower on top. I made it to fit inside this low, wide planter making it nearly impossible to lose!
After the jump I’ll share my technique for making the cushion and give a tutorial to make the petals for the flower.
I saw this lovely tutotial over on Mairuru’s blog here: http://mairuru.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-make-origami-drawstring-bag.html
I had to give it a try the day I saw it. The tutorial was easy to follow, took no time at all, and the final product is adorable! I made this sweet little pouch for my favorite nine year old to hold her little mp3 player. The long ribbon lets her hand the player around her neck keeping the player easy to reach while enjoying her music.
The little pockets on the sides are so cute and clever. I was delighted to find that they were being put to good use when I borrowed the bag back to snap some pics and found tiny flowers she had gathered all dried and precious safely tucked away. Adorable!
Action shot! She loves the little bag so much, and that makes me happy.
I used 8 inch squares to make this bag. the final size is about 4″x4.5″.
I remembered this little pouch last weekend when I was having a minor bag emergency. I needed just a little backpack to tote along a few items on our trip to opening weekend of Saturday market. I had less than an hour to whip something up, and I liked this so much more than just grabbing one of my totes.
I simply altered the design by using larger squares of fabric (33 inches) and folded down the triangle flaps and making the drawstring channel before sewing the sides. I ran the straps through the channels and stitched the ends to the bottom corners when I sewed up the sides.
The final size for this bag was about 13″ x 15″.
It was just what I needed!
Be sure to check out this blog if you’re not already following her. I love seeing the adorable and beautiful little things she sews. Like the tutorial she shared for her little Sarubobo dolls
(This is one I made)
I finally took my camera out with me yesterday. I’ve been meaning to snap some pictures of the lovely blooming trees in my neighborhood. These bright trees are easily my favorite part of spring and I look forward to it every year. I’m thinking it might be time to take a walk through the Japanese garden again soon! I hope you’ll enjoy these photos from my day, and I hope you’re taking the time to enjoy the scenery where you are.
I made this sleeve for a friend who lost the case for his blackberry.
I used a sturdy black canvas for the fabric and some heavy weight interfacing to help protect the phone.
The strap that holds the phone in wraps around the back so he can put it on his belt if he wants to.
There’s also a slit on the side to accommodate the charging cable or the headphone jack.
One of my favorite things about the case is the magnetic closure I used for the strap. The blackberry turns itself off whenever the case is closed because it has a magnetic sensor under the keyboard.
I love to have my music with me everywhere I go, but I hate the tangled mess my wires become when I toss them in my bag or pocket. Last night I whipped up a fun and functional solution by adding a zipper to my earbuds.
This project took me around an hour to do (perfect for catching up on some t.v. from hulu.com). The supplies are few; basic sewing supplies, a pair of headphones, and a nice long zipper. I happened to have this crazy purple and gold nike zipper I found thrifting a while ago, it seemed perfect for this project.
The first step is to pull the earbuds apart, to separate the wires all the way down to the plug.
Next, take one side of your headphones and one side of the zipper tape and start stitching the wire into the tape. Simply fold the outside edge of the tape under to the wrong side (enclosing the wire) and use a running stitch to hold it in place. A little bit of glue could be used at the top to attach the end of the zipper to the earbud, but I found that it wasn’t necessary for me.
It’s as easy as that! Zipped up, I can toss them into my bag or pocket without worrying about tangles or having them get caught on something and breaking.
Then unzip them to the length I want and put them on so much faster than having to untangle the mess!
I took a moment this morning to snap a couple of photos of my black and white quilt. The sun is actually shining today and the quilt was just begging for my attention!
The quilt is officially half way done now. It measures 70″ by 45″, once it’s done it will be a 70″x90″. There are 54 hand quilted squares there! (and that means 54 more to do, oooh).
I am still really liking the quilt as you go method for joining the squares . With this technique you never have to have more than one block’s width rolled up under the arm of your sewing machine. (the blocks are hand quilted, but pieced together by machine). I also love that it is pieced together so that it is patchwork on the front and back, too. To be honest, I am feeling a bit intimidated with the amount of work left to do. Each of these blocks takes me 45 minutes to an hour to quilt (I’m slow, but getting better!). I even toyed with the idea of machine quilting some of the squares just to keep motivated and get some of it done quickly, but a friend told me, “Don’t do it! you’ll never forgive yourself”. I laughed, but I thought about it and she was right. I just know I’ll be proud of it when I’m done and know that I put so much effort into it, and didn’t compromise my plan.
Right now I just want it done so I can snuggle up under it.
Drew Carney (from PDX channel 8 local news) was out visiting the “Breadquarters” for Dave’s Killer Bread early this morning. I’m a huge fan of Dave and his bread. It’s the best bread in Portland. Healthy and organic, local to Portland, and unbelievably sinfully delicious! But don’t take my word for it, you might think I’m biased having a handful of friends and family proudly working for the company. Take a look at Dave’s facebook and you can see what everyone else is saying. Honestly, once you’ve had this bread, you’ll never look at bread the same way again.
Anyway, when I heard that the bakery would be on the news this morning I borrowed a television from my mom and set my alarm for 5am. It was fun to see the segments throughout the news showing different parts of the bakery, and a few familiar faces (Hi Zac!), but what got me personally quite excited was right at the end. Dave and Drew were talking and standing by a table covered in the different kinds of killer bread, including one of my favorites, Good Seed:
And right on top was Good Seed, a stuffed version of the lovable logo I made as a gift for Dave from our little group.
Yes, I felt silly taking a photo of a television, but I was really excited!
I had made a set of Good Seed for myself last summer and had them sitting out as an xmas fireplace decoration this last December:
A friend of mine mentioned that Dave would love them. It thought it was a great idea, and something personal I could do to show my appreciation for Dave. He’s an inspirational person, and the opportunities this company has given to people I care a lot about has changed our lives so much. I started right away on a second set of good seed to give.
They’re a simple stuffie, made from fleece. I embroidered the faces and ended up doing a lot of hand sewing on these guys. They were just one of those projects that I totally underestimated how long it would take (and completely forgot how much time I spent on the first set). Something I thought I could knock out in just a couple of hours ended up taking close to ten hours over the course of a week! Turning those tiny limbs right side out and getting them smoothly stuffed, and then getting everything stitched together was rough. Totally worth it, though. Their sweet smiling faces just brighten the day, I think, and I was just so proud to see that Dave liked them enough to include them in their interview this morning. Thanks!
I’ve been keeping up with ton of great craft blogs lately, and I’ve noticed a quite a few new posts sharing crafty goals for the new year. I love the idea, so I thought I’d share some of my own.
We’ll see how I do!
1. Finish my black and white quilt
I’ve been working on this one for a couple of months now. I’m about a third of the way through it now, and I can’t wait to have it done. I’ve been hand quilting the blocks, which is a first for me!
2. Post new tutorials online
I love sharing project how-to’s as much as I enjoy reading them. I’ll give myself the goal of ten new tutorials for 2010.
3. Get my supplies better organized.
I’m looking at you, giant basket of buttons! And yes, even the as-of-yet unpacked boxes marked “misc.” tucked away in the attic.
4. Continue with Social Crafting
I have so enjoyed going to local meetups, crafternoons, and craft and cocktails around town this last year, so I’m going to pledge to keep my attendance up and make sure I get to at least one event a month. (I’ll look forward to seeing you all!)
5. Participate in some Craft swaps on Craftster
I’d like to complete 5 swaps this year, so I’ll keep my eye on the swap board for all the newest swaps!
I might just check out swap-bot, too.
6. Fill my closet with more handmade fashion essentials
Ideally, I’d love a wardrobe of all handmade items, but for the year I’m going to aim for a minimum of five of each of these items:
Sweatshirts/Hoodies
Long sleeve tees
Tees and tanks
Dresses
Fitted jackets / vests
Coats/capes / wraps
Skirts
Undies
Accessories (hats, scarves, legwarmers, etc.)
7. 100 crafted things
Maybe 100 is too many, but I’m aiming high and counting the little projects, too. I guess that should lead me into another goal to keep track of this one:
8. Keep a record of completed projects
Being prolific in my crafty endeavors and having a horrible memory means that I can never remember what I’ve been doing with my precious time. I’ll start a simple list to keep by my desk, and a folder on my computer to record a photo if I’m feeling ambitious.
9. Master a commercial sewing pattern
I don’t know why this is such a hard one for me! I can’t think of many things I’ve made (that I was happy with) from a store bought pattern. Is it impatience? Inability to adjust properly to my measurements? overcoming my need to “make a few changes”. I don’t know, but I’m going to find a pattern I like, sit down with it and follow the directions beginning to end, and make something good.
10. Set more crafty goals throughout the year
having a tangible list, or a written reminder is a great way to motivated. Have you heard of 43 things? It’s a simple website that allows you to list 43 things you want to do. List whatever you want! Short term goals, like “Kiss in the rain ” (completed by 6320 people) or go big and “become a millionaire” (1,675 people want to do this). You can list your goals, check out what other people want to do, comment or make entries about goals, and even give and receive “cheers” to support good goals. You can read all about how people have completed their goals, and share your own tips and advice on the goals you’ve completed. Check out the Zeitgeist list for recent activity, or swing by my list and give me a cheer. Let me know if you start your own list so I can come and cheer for you, too!
A while ago I thrifted this Cashmere hoodie that was so soft and warm and a lovely grey. Sadly, it was a little small and had a few holes along some of the seams, but I knew it would be great for a recon project. This morning my chilly toes were just calling out for some toasty socks and it clicked, I need some cashmere knee socks!
I snipped off the sleeves and cut some roughly foot shaped pieces from the hood to make the bottom of the sock. The end of the sleeve with the cuff would become the top of the sock.
I lined up the heel of my foot tracing with the seam on the sleeve. The wider toe part of the bottom lined up with the higher part of the sleeve that used to be the top of the shoulder.
Just a quick stitch around, attaching the bottom piece to the sleeve. Repeated for the other sleeve.
Sweet! Cashmere socks for under $5 and in less than 10 minutes.
I received a lot of great comments and interesting questions from people about my past post on my glow stick hoops. I was delighted to see a link posted to my blog at Hooping.org. I love that site for videos and music suggestions. The glow sticks are a great and cheap way to make a glowing hoop on a tight budget. The lights will glow all night, but there are some downsides. The glow sticks do rattle inside the hoop (although it never bothered me, I guess some people don’t like that), and unfortunately, the glow sticks will have to be removed and disposed of. It’s a small amount of waste but they can’t be recycled. I had a question about the toxicity of the glow sticks and I can tell you that they’re not harmful. I wouldn’t suggest ingesting them, but the chemicals won’t hurt you or the planet any more than household cleaning products. I actually had one break open and it made a big glowing mess on my hands, but I didn’t have any adverse reaction.
Anyway, I would certainly suggest the glow stick hoop for someone who just wants a glowing hoop for a special night or just every once in a while. If you plan on hooping at night often (and you probably will, it’s crazy addictive) an LED hoop is a must. I’m delighted to announce that I have conquered soldering and leds and made myself a couple!
It actually wasn’t that hard, and with all the materials together (including the hoop tubing I had used for the glow stick hoop) it came in under $50 for supplies. It did take me ALL day to make my big blue/green and flashing red hoop. It’s got more than 80 5mm LEDs on it’s length and glows really brightly.
(click above images to see full size)
I haven’t yet come up with a good solution for the battery, though. I used a 9 volt so I’d only need one battery, but it doesn’t fit inside the tubing so I just taped it to the exterior of the hoop with the wires going through a small hole. Before you ask, no, the battery doesn’t effect the hooping at all on the outside of the hoop. I’ve used this hoop for hours and hours now and can’t even tell it’s there. I know a lot of people use AA or AAA sized batteries and put them inside the hoop, but they also use 1 inch tubing or more. I really like the smaller 3/4 inch tubing myself. Having the wires come out of the hoop at the ends I can pull the wires nice and tight and tape them down near the connector to keep the LEDs from rattling inside. Because I’m using the smaller tubing there isn’t enough room to wrap the LEDs in bubblewrap like I’ve seen some people do.
Anyway, I’m silly happy with my LED hoops and I’m sure I’ll be making more.
Here are some long exposure shots and a short video clip with my hoop:
