What I Sent

Oh I've been neglectful. I have been running around like a mad person, fighting multiple illnesses and a crazy busy work week(or two) before making it back to all my crafty duties.

I'm still hard at work on my swap items for the Dia de Los Muertos Swap, hoping to finish on Thursday so I can mail Friday. Tuesday is the last day to mail, but thankfully I don't have too much left to do.

I did send all my goodies for the Fabric Scavenger Hunt Swap and my partner received, so I can share with you what I sent her:
 

A reversible sewing machine cover(left) to fulfill something cozy. For senders choice some fabric(top center) and for something green I sent four FQs with green in them(bottom center). Embroidery scissors on a necklace for something sharp(right), and fabric weights for something bumpy(right).

The sewing machine cover was tougher to make than I anticipated. I read a couple of tutorials on it, looked at a couple of patterns and thought, "please its two rectangles sewn together, how hard could that be?!" and then attempted to proceed without a plan, resulting in many errors. Thankfully all were fixable but I wasted a lot of time redoing things because I didn't have a step by step plan. It's still a super simple project, though, and I'm planning to make one for myself, probably with a tutorial for you, sharing all that I've learned. :)

As for the fabric I sent, you'll see some of that pop up later. I ordered a lot of it online and had to cut my own fat quarters, since most stores won't send them to you that way, so I saved a bit of it for myself. Especially excited about that tea pot fabric.

The package that she sent me in return was absolutely amazing! I've had the pictures on my camera for a while, so I still need to post them, but let me tell you, I was blown away! Everything was perfect for me, she clearly did her homework, and I was especially impressed with the neatness of her sewing, as that's still something I have to work really, really hard on. But that's for another post. In the meantime, I'll be hard at work making ________ and some coordinating _______ ______ for the Dia de los Muertos swap, and hoping I finish in time!

Go and make things -W

PS- go RIGHT NOW to Sew, Mama, Sew's blog page and check out the absolutely amazing giveaways happening all across the internet right now! They started Monday but most are open through Wednesday and some even through Friday. There's some really awesome stuff up for grabs!

Ambition

The 30 Rock sampler is finally finished! Check it out:

My boyfriend and I loved the quote when we saw it on 30 Rock embroidered onto a pillow in Jack Donaghey's office:

Didn't want to make a pillow, however, so went with a snarky sampler style project instead. I am actually really proud of this. I wanted to design and stitch this project from start to finish, so I even charted my own script alphabet based on a font I liked. Here's a close up on the design across the top and bottom of the quote:

I also like that the design and color scheme makes this look almost traditional at first glance. Can't wait to pick out a frame for it this weekend and hang it up on the wall. 

All Work and No Play

OK, maybe some play. I've been dying to bust out the sewing machine this week thanks to oodles of pretty spring fabric I've been eyeing from my stash. When it comes to sewing projects though, I'm mostly drawn to small-ish things that I can finish in an evening or a weekend, generally while parked in front of the TV. I needed a new fun little something to stitch up- here's what I ended up with:

It's a skinny little wallet, or (and this is totally what I intend to use mine for) a business card holder! I got coordinating fat quarters from the fabric store and some lightweight interfacing and went to town.

This is the outside. Then I decided to modify a little and created a different version:

This one just has the one pocket, and the fabrics for the outside and pocket are reversed. I also used more interfacing on this one to make it a little more sturdy, which I definitely prefer.

On the next one I'd like to add some elastic and loop it around a button so that the folding wallet will stay closed and you can use it for additional things. I can make three or four of these guys (depending on if you go big or small) with just two fat quarters, so its a great stashbusting project as well.

I think they are pretty darn cute, and I definitely plan to make some more, especially since they are done start to finish in about half an hour. Can't beat that!

Introducing Alabaster Farnsworth

No St. Patty's Day crafts for me this year. After working on that dang zombie I never want to see the color green again. Instead, I'll be showing you something so terrible, so gruesome that words can't even decribe!

My what big teeth you have! Actually, they're quite small. I had a lot of fun making this guy at our last CCC night.

One of the ladies got the template from online somewhere, and several of us got caught up in the cuteness and neglected our other projects for our own little felt monster. It was quick and easy too, with good results- my favorite kind of craft. I'm thinking of making another one for the cat with a little surprise nip inside, but maybe I'll make hers a fish.

I'm hard at work on a snarky sampler with a 30 Rock theme- look for some progress photos sometime next week!

Valentine's Day Cuteness

Oh my goodness what a week! Last week was busy busy busy right up until the moment my valentine and I sprinted away to the beach for Charleston's Blues Bash and some much needed relaxation. Much fun was had, even more food was eaten and Sunday night when we got home, in addition to some other handmade goodies, I presented him with this:


AWWW!

Video game themed cross stitches are about as nerdy as they come, and this tetris one is no exception. I honestly can't remember where this idea came from, I think it may have been another pattern from Geek Crafts but I've seen it quite literally all over the internet! I googled and came up with several image results and just left it up on my screen while I went to work.

I'm also a big fan of it's adorable little frame from Target. It was around $5 when I bought it, but it'll likely be even cheaper tomorrow!

Tonight though its back to working my own patterns and finally getting started on a 30 Rock themed sampler that I've already charted and can't wait to finish. Fingers crossed for minimal distractions!

The Big Reveal!

As promised in my previous post, I am now prepared to reveal last week's finished project!

Ta-Da! For those not in the know, this is one of Han Solo's quotes from Star Wars, and one of my favorites as well as the birthday girls!

I can't take credit for the pattern, it was designed and charted by one the writers for Geek Crafts, and provided for free right here as a jpeg or pdf. Pretty awesome, right?!

The birthday girl loved it, especially the teeny light sabers and blasters around the text.



I'm quite pleased with how the framing turned out as well. I think the colors work well together and I like that the frame is fancy enough to actually hang out up somewhere. One last look:

up next: Valentine's Day cuteness!

BRAAAAIIINNNNS

This past weekend the boyfriend and I took a trip to Chapel Hill and Carborro for a concert (which was super fun, btw) so I didn't have much time for stitching.

Instead, I'll share a project I finished just before starting this blog that took me an entire year to complete.

BRAAAAIIINNNNSSSS!

This project took me forever! I started it one fall as a fun Halloween project, but for whatever reason just couldn't get it finished. I put it down for MONTHS before finally picking it up again after christmas and finishing it just a couple weeks ago. 

The pattern/idea for this came from a project another crafter did, a similar looking zombie made from perler beads! It was easy to transcribe because each individual bead became and individual stitch, so the hard part was pretty much done for me, and using perler bead designs is a great way to practice making your own patterns. I'm working on finalizing the actual pattern for it since I made some changes as I stitched, so as soon as thats done I'll post it.

I just can't decide what to do with the little guy now, any thoughts?

More to come this week!