Amanda's Mandala Tree Day 6- Done!

Amanda's Mandala Tree 

Day 6- Done!

Now I just have to make it into something! 

This was TOTALLY fun- I will definitely be making more Mandala Trees.

Amanda's Mandala Tree

 "Mandala Tree"

Day 3

These really aren't true mandalas but since they also don't really grow on trees I guess I can fudge it a bit. 

(It's called "artistic license".)

A makeover and a WIP

Don't fall over! I am working on a tote WIP today! But it's a new project so I can't really count it toward my PhD. I do have a good excuse for starting something new, though. Notice the cute new logo? Well, I have been wanting a cat-on-a-sewing-machine logo for a while now and finally conned someone into an art trade. 

 

My shirt-tail cousin/friend, Amanda (who incidentally has a new blog and a new Etsy store), designed this for me. Amanda is an amazing artist and also an elementary art teacher. So she is getting a special teacher tote and I got a supercute logo. 

 

This is a panel that will be worked into her tote bag. I thread painted the tree trunk, raw edge appliqued the circles and now am embellishing by hand embroidering. Eventually there will be leaves- I am thinking paisleys for leaves, but I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal so we'll see what happens after I put green thread in my needle. Always an adventure here.

 some closeups

 This was my first attempt at thread painting and I liked it. And it looks ok! I can definitely see myself doing this again.

In the works

Please excuse the crazy glare. When I started blogging I thought my photography skills might improve as my quilting skills did, but it turns out you have to actually work at things in order to get better at them.

This is for a set of bags I am making for a friend. I have an order!! I am sort of easing my way into making this sewing thing a possible money-making gig. My friend owns a business and wants to give her employees each a custom bag for a Christmas gift. (Awesome boss, right?) I took her business card design and tweaked it up quite a bit and came up with this, which is something I think I can applique with a modest degree of success. Now I just have to incorporate it into a bag design. Oh, yeah, and make 7 lined reversible bags... with pockets... and maybe zippers? Nothing like jumping in with both feet!

Huge massive finish. MASSIVE!

My Cherry Surprise Quilt is done!!! Down to the last stitch in the binding. I am so relieved. I started this over 6 years ago and thought it was just the Neverending Quilt. But it has ended, and now I get to enjoy it. I am afraid to use it, though! I put too much into it. So I will just look at it for a while, and maybe in a few months will work up the nerve to sleep under it.

The back. I used a Kleenex box to show scale. It was the closest thing handy.

I was going to hand quilt it and had it basted together and then couldn't bring myself to start. So I picked apart the basting stitches (which kinda stung) and sent it to a local long arm quilter. She did an amazing job and I hope my pictures captured some of her beautiful work. She did something different in each row of the log cabin going around.

Then she did some feathers and vines in the borders and made them look so pretty!




These are my corners- they are much improved! I have been working on that this year. I am proud of these. Lots of practice there.

I am just so relieved this is done! "Ahhhhhh!" *big sigh of contentment*

I linked up over at Lit and Laundry for this post. She holds a "Finish for Friday" every week and I have been able to hit them quite a bit this year. If you would like to link a big finish, head on over. Or you can just see what others have been finishing up this week.

The Kindergarten Bag

Here are some more pictures of the "Kindergarten Bag" being modeled in my home. I had posted about it before I sent it to the recipient, but thought I would give an update. This bag is the one I sent to Brady's kindergarten teacher for Christmas and she sent a note home saying that she loves it and uses it all the time. YAY! It's awesome to hear things like that. She also said she gets lots of compliments when she is using it, so that was nice to hear, too.

This tote is called a "Kindergarten Bag" because you can put a standard sized kindergartner in it and carry him/her around for an indefinite amount of time. (The bag won't rip or tear, but you may.)

Here the bag is shown holding an actual kindergartner. Note the smile and general air of well-being evidenced by the child. This happy feeling is DIRECTLY caused by the fact that he is IN A BAG.

The Kindergarten Bag can also hold a pre-schooler as evidenced here. (This child does not actually have a deformity. The discoloration on his face is caused by the quite common childhood ailment "Koolaid moustache"*. )

*This is not a life-threatening disorder and can usually be managed with soap and water, depending on the severity of the case. The child with the ailment may not even realize he/she has it until someone mentions it or they see themselves in a mirror, upon which they will demonstrate surprise and possibly dismay. To prevent this ailment from recurring the parent may choose to have the child drink his juice, punch or koolaid with a straw. Although that will present it's own set of issues.

Finish For Friday- applique bag

Another Finish For Friday!! I am 3 for 3 this month!

If you want to join in on Finish For Friday, head over to Lit and Laundry and join in. It doesn't have to be a sewing finish- it can be anything.

I have no quilt finish this week, but I did get a bag done. This one is for my cousin and she has been waiting a while for it.

I am slowly getting better at these as I make more. Each time I make one, I tweak something and make my pattern better. This time I made a stiff "board" for the bottom on the inside. I just used the lining fabric, 2 thicknesses of the interfacing and then quilted it with close lines. It really helps the bag hold it's shape. The bag is very large (18" wide x 16" tall x 8" deep) so it tends to be a little floppy. I like the bag to stand on it's own, so I use the heaviest interfacing I can find. Another tweak I made this time was in the large pocket. I put a layer of interfacing in the fabric for the pocket, which keeps it from sagging open.


I have been admiring Joanna's very recent applique art quilt and also a less recent one. I liked how she mixed brights with brown, so that is what I did for my applique on this bag. I liked how it turned out so much that I am making myself a bag like this one, too.

I love the brights and brown together, but would not have come up with that on my own, so thanks, Joanna!

Progress Report

It has a name now! I am calling her (because it is definitely a her) "Pink Tie Affair".

Black and White and Pink all over

So I have three days left to finish this. Nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices (or as I like to call it: "panic") flowing, huh? Kinda gets you moving, especially when you have a whole YEAR to make something and leave it til the last 3 days. But I have been known to do heroic amounts of sewing in very small amounts of time, so there is a chance that I will skate in under the deadline. I think I am going to call a quilt top a finish in this case. (Well, I always call a quilt top a finish, but that's not what we are talking about here.)
I have a box of frou frou to embellish this quilt. It will be for me, so I can have a sparkly, girly quilt to watch t.v. under.

I am a bit of a messy creator as is evidenced by these photos.

Cutting table:

Ironing table:


Do you... smell something?

Yes, yes. In there.

Hmm...


Ah! Someone must have stashed these in here for use in case of emergency.

This situation is not an emergency yet, unfortunately. Maybe on the 31st as I am frantically trying to finish this quilt top I will break open the box. MAYBE this situation won't even turn into an emergency and I can save it for later. ;0)

I've been making BAGS!

I have been on a bag kick lately. I have been making Big Giant BAGS!I started out making a few because I wanted them for groceries. Well, I found a half a dozen on sale at Walmart for a DOLLAR each so I snapped those up. They weren't quite as big as mine, but they rounded out my collection nicely. So now I have enough bags to go to the grocery store, and when they ask if I want paper or plastic, I can answer, "Fabric, please!" :0)

Anyway, it was fun, so when my sister asked me to copy one of my "real" purses, which was just a storebought purse/bag thing, for her, I thought I would give it a go. Here is the real purse- for some reason I can't get it to load right so you all will just have to tilt your heads. I have had this for years and I love it, and always get lots of compliments on it, but it's starting to wear out.

This is the applique that I have sewn to the bag fabric for the new one. The owl applique turned out awesome. It would have been much cheaper just to go buy the bag, but they don't sell them anymore, and plus the one I am making is better made. I may end up making another one so I can retire my poor raggedy worn out one.

I will post pics when it is completely done. I have to make the straps and then sew it together so maybe a few hours of work left on it.

Emboldened by my success I decided to make one for Brady's kindergarten teacher for Christmas. He helped me a little so I can say it's from him. (He likes to peel the paper off the back off the applique pieces.) I made it HUGE- here it is sitting next to a paper bag, so you can get an idea of the size. My cousin is a pre-school teacher and she said that all teachers would love a huge bag to carry all the crap they have to bring in. This should fit the bill! LOL!

I designed the applique myself, just tried to make it bright and fun for kids, but not too kiddish to where she couldn't use it elsewhere. I think I succeeded. She could haul this to the beach or grocery shopping or whatever. My applique is definitely getting better as I practice more.

I think it turned out really cute. The lining on this one was a little loose, and I have not had that problem yet, but I think it is because the bag was SO big and I didn't quilt it much.

These are really fun to play with. I have lots of friends who want them so I am going to be busy making bags for a while. I do have a new quilt in the works, made COMPLETELY from vintage sheets, but no pics yet.