I’m not sure if he’s going to love that we dressed him like this or if he will hate us for it. Time will tell.
The boy’s Halloween costume was my project this week. I am so thrilled with the little jacket that I’m attempting a more polished version made from a felted lambswool sweater. If all goes well look for them in The Shop sometime towards the end of the month!
My mama taught me how to make these years ago and I thought other folks might dig them as much as I do. And as much as all the people I’ve made them for have liked them too!!
It’s meant to hang in a sunny window so that the crystals reflect the light around the room. Each one is composed of the highest quality materials including spiritually healing stones.
So this one’s pretty fancy with the hand beaded centerpiece and all, so look for some simpler versions within the next week or two. They are equally as stunning with just a large bead or wire wrapped stone in the center as well…those will start at $25.00 and go up according to the cost/labor of the centerpiece.
Each suncatcher is cleansed and blessed before embarking on its journey to its new home and the package will include a card detailing the meanings of the stones. People love these! They make fantastic gifts and it’s always been one of my go-to handmade offerings.
This one is up for grabs in The Shop right now. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or are interested in a custom piece.
So I finished the hat that I was working on the other day and have happily been wearing it around even when it makes me feel a bit silly. And though I attempted to copy one made by Raimbowtree (whom I found when doing a search for my own headbands), it didn’t even come close. Which is good. I can further develop this idea and offer them in my shop without feeling like a creep. That’s how inspiration works I suppose-it’s good to be reminded of that.
Here is what I came up with:
There is also a felted hatband in the works that I think will really push this design into the stratosphere. And yes, it does make me feel a bit silly because I’ve lost touch with that whimsical part of myself since becoming a mother. This is the time that it’s most important for me to be whimsical, isn’t it? And though I’ve worked very diligently to not be a “sweatpants mom”, I have slowly evolved into a “jeans and t-shirt mom”. This hat begins the evolution back to my style, bit by bit.
It reminds me of something that I read years ago:
“Thinking of the person you wish to be is a waste of the person you are.” –Beverly Nye
Now go out and be yourselves.
I’ll be updating The Shop later today with a couple of items and I’m hoping that the project that this little baby is a part of will be ready as well.
Oh, I am having fun these days. A ruthless purge is indeed good for the soul.
It’s official: my love affair with wool has begun. Lately I feel like if a project doesn’t involve wool then there’s just no point in even looking at it.
And so begins the wonder of creations made just for winter:
The evolution of the headbands…
…a blatent attempt at reproducing this hat for myself (which I am still totally asking for in my letter to Santa because mine just isn’t as purty)…
…and a big ol’ pile of squares cut from Ecuadorian sweaters that are ready to move onto their next life as a toasty patchwork blanket for our couch.
Hope these autumn days are inspiring warmth in your life as well.
Though it’s taken awhile (!), here is Part Two of my Free Motion Quilting series. I must admit it’s a bit easier to think about these things now that I am no longer chained to the couch with first trimester woes.
After many years of attempting to learn how to do free motion quilting on my own (and failing miserably), I finally broke down and took a class. It cost all of twenty dollars but I would have spent three times that in order to finally crack the mystery of this “easy” technique. The very first thing that the very talented teacher instructed me to do was to get a sewing machine platform before the class. In her words, “You just CAN’T do it without one.” She was right. You can’t. Well, you can but there is a lot of really ugly stitching involved. And a pretty frustrated sewer (just ask Papa J about that one).
After some research online, I discovered that such a thing costs about a hundred bucks to purchase. Now if you are like me, you might be thinking that paying so much money for a piece of plexiglass is just crazy talk. I am well aware of the fact that there are people out there who will happily save themselves the headache and let someone else make the thing for them, but I am a hardcore do-it-yourselfer. After looking at the basic design, I knew I could make one myself for about 12 bucks. And here I will show you how to do it too.
And I’m not going to lie: you have to be a bit handy to make this. If you are not so handy, find a happy little helper who is.
For this project, you will need:
Part One: Measuring and Marking
Measure the length of the arm of your machine…
…the width of the arm of your machine…
AND THE HEIGHT OF THE ARM OF YOUR MACHINE (which I neglected to get a picture of–this is very important as you will see in a minute). Also measure the distance from the arm to the front of the machine. Please feel free to email me if this part is confusing at all.
Using your trusty pencil and straight edge, mark the plywood so that it measures 18″ x 24″ and mark the slot for your machine arm. You will want the front of the platform to sit flush with the front of your sewing machine just like the little bitty platform that came with it does. Basically you’re making a giant version of the detachable piece that goes on the arm of your machine–it will just give you a lot more room to the left and behind your sewing area.
Part Two: Cutting
This is the handy part. Cut the rectangle for your machine’s arm and trim the piece of plywood so that it measures 18″ x 24″. My free motion quilting teacher also recommended rounding off the corners because the quilts are more likely to get hung up on squared edges. Now take out your sander and get to work. The edges need to be as smooth as an Olympic ice skating rink or you will never forgive yourself. I’m not going to sugar coat it: sanding plywood to the desired smoothness takes a lot of elbow grease (even with a sander). A solution would be to buy a higher quality piece of wood, but then it wouldn’t cost you twelve bucks. It’s up to you to determine what your time (or your helper’s time) is worth. My helper was happy drinking a beer on a beautiful summer day so he didn’t mind taking the time to sand plywood.
Ok, cutting the legs involves a tiny bit of math. Take your measurement from the height of your sewing machine arm and subtract the thickness of your plywood. Be very accurate with this because you want to make sure the platform is level with your machine. Ok, now take a deep breath and cut four little legs. If you screw it up you should have plenty of dowel left to cut some more.
Drill the appropriate size hole for your screw in one end of each leg.
Drill a corresponding hole into the platform. There’s no real rule about where to put them–if you’re smart enough to make it this far then you can probably figure out the best spots to evenly space legs on a rectangle.
Attach the legs by screwing them onto the platform. The screw goes through the plywood first then attaches the leg. Drill them down just a bit below the top of the plywood so that you can apply putty over the top of the screws, making the surface smooth.
Here is the bottom of the platform, complete with its little legs sticking up in the air.
It fits!!
Part Three: Finishing
In order to finish the platform, you will want to fill in the sites where the screws are with wood putty and then apply a finishing of some sort to the platform in order to make it slick and smooth. This is easily done with paint or a clear coat product. It is also wise to attach a non-slip surface to the bottom of the legs. Rubber tape is a great solution or you might be able to find little rubber feet that will fit the dowel. You could also just put one of those non-slip little pads like you use in a cupboard under the platform too. You’re clever, do what works for you.
And there you have it! Please feel free to email me with any questions or for further clarification. You really DO need one of these in order to successfully embark upon a free motion quilting project. Good luck!!
Being pregnant is a hell of a lot easier the second time around, that’s for sure. Not so much physically but definitely mentally and emotionally. I have learned that when the urge to nest strikes I better act on it, because soon I will be far too enormous and uncomfortable to move the same piece of furniture around half a dozen times before putting it back where it was in the first place.
This past week has found me chest deep in a ruthless purge. Is it my favorite thing in the world? No? Out it goes. And that too. Just get it out of the house before I change my mind. And take this too. I don’t care how much I loved it when I found it, get it out of here.
Thankfully I have a very patient partner who simply rolls his eyes and dutifully carries each load out of the house almost as quickly as I pile it up.
As I’m sure you can imagine, this kind of eats up most of my free time that I usually devote to creating. It’s stressful and somewhat painful at times but I know in my heart that it is freeing up space (my new favorite decoration) and consequently freeing up my muse as well. They say that faeries and other magical little critters don’t like to live in clutter. It must be true because ever since I started unloading some of the stuff I have been swarmed with all of these funky ideas for felted hats and handwoven hatbands. Nothing has actually come to fruition yet of course but be on the lookout later in the winter. This was a moment of divine inspiration–I can feel it in my bones.
I have managed to work on a custom headband for my mama:
I’ll try my hand at beading with this one to make the flowers look a bit more like poppies. I couldn’t find a pattern that I was satisfied with so I went for a free form approach…we’ll see how it goes when it’s all stitched up and ready to go. And though I really like the color of the base it’s an itchy one so I also get to figure out how to attach a not-itchy liner without ruining the shape of the piece.
I’ve also been nesting online as well. I’ve diligently been checking out Etsy Teams that would be a good fit and have wandered into some good ones. In addition to my own little creation (The B Team), I have also joined the Needle Felt Etsy Street Team, the Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team, and Etsy Bloggers. I’m also secretly wishing I could join the Mad Scientists of Etsy because they have really cool challenges but a scientist I’m not. I think I’ll just secretly participate anyway–like this month’s challenge is “Geothermal”. Watch out for the headband in the works for that baby. It’s cool.
Back to swearing at the piles of crap around my sewing room. Happy day!!
