Crafty

Sock bunny and I wish you a happy Easter and a happy spring!

Ribbon work lilies of the valley.

Directions for these and other 3-dimensional textile flowers can be found in the book Into the Garden by Cindy Zlotnik Oravecz, published by Quilters Fancy, © 1995.

Loving this! For sale at Plushroom Soup‘s etsy site.

Her critters are also available locally at Crafty Planet and I Like You. There were 2 yetis—both with blueish tinged fur—in the front window at Crafty Plant on Wednesday.

My honorary niece Natalia is now five years old! For her party she decided on a kitty theme. I was in charge of the fruit salad:

The kids had painted whiskers and felt ears. Though I really like the fairy princess set Tallie received:

I know I’ve been AWOL lately.

I volunteered to make Christmas stockings for an immigrant family some folks at work adopted for the holidays–two adult women and three-year-old twin girls. And I can do nothing simply.

I had a quantity of red cotton sateen on hand (recognize it from the sling, Jenn B?). And I had plenty of green quilting fabric scraps for the linings. How hard could it be?

I got all kinds of grand ideas and plans in my head…then I realized how much time I had and I panicked. The stockings are batted and lined with contrast cuff, heel, and toe. I didn’t skimp there. But I had hoped to attach sew on the embellishment. When time got tight, I called on the ole fabric glue. (And I was going to embroider the names…yeah, right.)

Here they are

I used different green scraps for the linings

This one was the last one I did. I had planned on poinsettias, but I thought having each of the adult stockings have a bird theme would be nice

Holly leaves are felt and ultra-suede

I think this one is my favorite

Pine Cone and evergreen embroidery close-up

Candy and Sweets theme

I love soutache

Snow/Snowman theme

Could not find silk embroidery ribbon locally so I used common poly satin 3mm

Happy Birthday to my good friend Alice!

Alice and I met in High School. Senior year we started an Art Club. The club was a failure, but we did complete a mural at the school. I hear it is still there 17 years later.

The picture below was pieced from four photos with some distortion as the mural is at the end of a T-shaped hallway intersection.

The pattern is Buttercup Bag by Rae.

It’s in sage and brown cotton poplin (Alexander Henry’s Eiffel). The cotton lining is black with sage, brown, and yellow leaves. Small zipper pocket in lining. The body of the purse is about 12 inches across at the widest part and 7 inches tall. I lengthened the strap a bit and attached it to the purse between the outside and the lining.

I think a heavier weight fabric would have worked a little better, like a home dec or brocade (as the designer had pictured on her site). Ooooo, or corduroy…I love corduroy.

I did add some interfacing to the entire upper outer part and the strap but all I had on hand was lightweight.

Just before my trip I finished the quilt I had been making for Baby B. It turn out pretty well for my first real foray into patchwork, first try at machine quilting, and considering how often (and how late into the game) I changed the design while making it.

I went with a farm/garden/food theme as Baby B’s mum and dad have one heck of an organic garden on their one acre and mum has been active with Heifer International. I could picture Baby B sitting on the quilt watching mum or dad weed or pick fruits and vegetables (though I have a feeling he will want to be more hands on than that!)

I liked the backing fabric: red tomatoes against the grasshopper green background.

I added yellow ric-rac to the binding.

When I began I had planned on Snowball blocks alternating with simple nine patch blocks. By the end, however, I had exchanged the nine patch squares with the much more complex 54 40 or FIGHT! blocks. I really like the secondary pattern this block makes with the corners of the snowball blocks, creating a diamond effect for the farm scenes. I left the center of the 54 40 or FIGHT! block as one solid piece of watermelon fabric (the original block calls for a four patch duplicating one of the corner four patches) to create a tertiary star pattern.

The piecing is a bit off so the points don’t always match up. There’s an old saying “As you sew, so shall you rip.” I put that into practice with this one. I’ve now learned to baste, baste, baste.

In the end the top wasn’t flat. This lead to major problems machine quilting it. I was able to stitch in the ditch around the main diamonds, but had to tack/tie much of the rest of it.

More short documentaries on the making of the stop-motion film “Coraline” (to release February 2009).