Pop Pom Farmer Monster & a Throw Quilt

 I decided to take the plunge and make a commitment to NOT buy any new craft supplies for the next 3 months! Well, with the exception of extraordinary yard sale finds and of course, adhesives. So I set to work on my shoe box of small/medium sized fabric scraps.

 Here is the box of fabric that I turned into....

 A throw quilt! I just cut a ton of 5x5 squares and sewed them together. Then pieced together fleece remnants (that I originally bought to make stuffies, but I've got tons of sweaters to cut up for that) to serve as both the backing and the batting. I just used a straight stitch on my sewing machine to "quilt" it. The thing is kind of little. I think it's like 40x50 inches, perfect for the couch.

The edge looked like crap because I had just zig-zag-stitched the edge because I got bored and/or lazy. So the next day I got some motivation back and crocheted a border, using nearly a whole skein of forgotten stash yarn. To make the holes to crochet in, I just used the 1/16'' hole puncher part of my Crop-O-Dile to punch holes along the edge, 1 inch apart.

I had just enough yarn left over to either make a small ball of yarn that would go unused probably FOR-EV-ER, or I could continue with the stash-busting spirit and make a little pom-pom monster. The chose the latter. I made 2 pom-poms, sewed them together, then glued on some craft felt ears, paper eyes and teeth, pipe-clear arms and legs, then a wee straw hat from the stash. And of course he had to be holding a rooster feather because that's country, and I thought it went with the straw hat. I also tied a loop of yarn to the top of the hat to make him into a hanging ornament.

Anyway, much love! I feel like crap today! Here's to a better day tomorrow :)

Birdy Branch Mug Rug

In case you're wondering, "What is a mug rug?" I'll tell you. It's like a mini-art quilt, an over sized coaster, and an undersized place mat all rolled into one. They're meant to be big enough to go under a mug and a little snacky thing like a bagel or sandwich. They're useful and FUN TO MAKE!

I made this little bird and branch mug rug using lots of different fabric scraps and felt. Since it's such a little project, they're a great way to use up those little pieces of cool fabric that you haven't had the heart to throw out.

It's not perfect, but I like it :)

And here's the back, where you can see the fun quilting. What's nice is that you don't need a long-arm quilting machine... I did all this on my regular sewing machine!

My Best Idea!

Happy Thursday, everyone! So, back in the day when this blog was a wee new bloglet, I shared an idea I had about using clothes hangers as a source for cheap chip clips (See original post here). Enter Pinterest a few years later, and this little idea has spread far and wide!

Well, having thousands of folks see a picture of my thumbs-up is cool enough on its own, but I had the opportunity to contribute to a fabulous new iVillage video series called "My Best Idea." In these vids, the Kissters, a dynamic (and pretty!) hosting duo, present good, useful ideas that you can start applying to your life right away! I'm all for working smarter :) So hey, watch this!

To see more "My Best Idea" videos, click here over to iVillage. You'll learn something useful, I promise!

I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

Trick or Treat! Pumpkin guy

Yesterday I made this very Alexz-inspired Halloween decoration for one of my friends who has been helping me out a lot with my back. I wanted to make something season-appropriate and handmade, and thought something like this would be perfect for a door hanging.

The head is made from a stuffed scrap of jersey fabric with string wrapped around it. The first head I made was from plain old non-stretchy cotton and it was an epic fail. Definitely important to use stretchy fabric!

The body is stuffed felt, wrapped in green floral wire, then the arms and legs are 8 twisted strands of the same wire. Hands and feet are felt :) I really like the way it turned out... I think I'll have to make another one to keep!

I was especially proud of the little hat... I made out of toilet paper tube and hot glue, then covered it with bits of paper to hide the toilet paper tubeness of it. With a little feather, ribbon & novelty yarn, it looks pretty darn cool if I do say so myself. Happy Wednesday!

Junk and stuff garden sign

My garden was a big sea of green and brown, so it needed a little bit of color! So I made a little garden sign out of some wooden stuff from Michaels and some junk beads and jewelry I had laying about.

Isn't this fishy guy cute? I couldn't resist... I went to Michaels on Wednesday, saw it for 59 cents and needed it. It added some much needed color to my garden. I can't wait till the tomatoes start turning red and the sunflowers start blooming... I still think my garden's in the need of more outdoor decor.

First Blanket Ever.... Size FAIL

So, the women in my church are making blankets for Project Linus for this year's ongoing service project. A bunch of fabric and yarn was donated to us that needs to be sewn, knitted, and crocheted into blankets. I'm working on crocheting a blanket, but it's taking a long time, so I thought I'd try my hand at sewing.

Now, this is my first blanket ever, so I guess I kind of have an excuse, but.... I didn't even think about seam allowances and the blanket kind of just kept getting smaller. So it only ended up being 32''x26" instead of 39''x32". FAIL. I'm reasoning that it's not a complete loss, because it cooould be used for a newborn baby.

Anyways, I sewed on a little kitty cat to add a personal touch. I'm overall happy with how it looks and how it turned out. If only I had thought ahead and had it turn out bigger, I'd be 100% pleased. Well, at least I learned something. Hopefully, I should be done with my crocheted blanket of the correct size in 3 weeks or so. I want to try to make at least one blanket for every month this year.

Well, we get the keys to our new place tomorrow, so we're going to be starting the moving process. I probably won't be updating as often as usual over the next 2-3 weeks which is a bummer. I'm pretty excited to be able to re-organize my craft stuff into my new craft room, but not too excited for much else moving-related.

More WIPs! Altered book & Yeti Pillow

I swear, I've been crafting!!! I've been working on some bigger projects which reminds me why I don't usually do big projects. Instead of falling off the blogwaves, I thought I'd update on what I'm working on, even though it's not done!!!

This is a little board book I've started altering! I got it at the flea market. So far I've prepared the cover and glued in various neat papers on the inside pages.

I was lucky enough to find a board book with a wooden cover! I had to sand off the snowmans on the outside. It's a plain wood for now. I haven't figured out what I want the cover to look like.

Here we have the biggest plush I will have ever done... It's an XL wool sweater I also got at the flea market. It's so soft and wooly, I had to make a cute yeti pillow out of it. I've started stitching on the chest... it's taking too long. I can't wait till this giant is finished!

And a little reminder! Please vote for my artwork :) There's a link just to the right, here on my blog! And don't forget, you can vote every day, so please do! Thanks to everyone who has been voting, you're the BEST!!!

Colortastic and Blue Bowls!

I've been doing a ton of fabric bowls lately for gifts and things, and I was pretty excited to use my variegated thread for the first time last night! It turns out so rad! Definitely worth the few extra bucks.

You can see some shiny material there, the green and pink. That thar is ribbon, and the sheen is so fancy, it had me wondering why I hadn't used it before. I didn't put handles on this one for a couple of reasons... First, I wanted to see how it would look with no handles. Second, I was afraid I'd run out of cord.

This blue one I made for my dear MIL for Christmas! She really liked it and it made me happy :D

After using my mom's sewing machine to make that red/mustard one at her house, I've noticed that my machine doesn't make the bowls as well (foot in mouth after teasing my mother, "my machine is way better than yours!"). I think there's a bit of an overhang that doesn't allow a sharp curve up on the lip of the bowl. Maybe I'll whip out my other machine and see how the old monster does on bowls. Blargh, I'll probably need a new sharp needle.

Plushie Apple Retractable Measuring Tape

I sewed up this little measuring tape for a friend tonight! It's upcycled angora sweater material and felt! I wish I would have snapped a photo of the measuring tape before I covered it with the apple. Oh well.

It's basically one of those small plastic measuring tapes that you pull out and press a button to make the tape shoot back in. You pull the leaf and PRESTO! Then just squeeze the apple and it's back to normal.

This little thing was just so fun to make. I got the idea from some swap items I received made by other people. I have a Mary Poppins hat where you pull the flower out for the tape, and a cupcake one where you pull out the cherry on top. Super fun, cute, and USEFUL!

Coiled Fabric Trivets/Potholders!

My family had our Christmas morning today so my sis could do official Christmas Day at her in-laws! So now the posting of Christmas goodies I've made can begin!!! Here are a set of trivets/potholders I made my mom using the same method I used for all those fabric bowls.

This one is my fave. All the blues worked out really nicely...

This one is cute, but I didn't think the colors were as good.

I used the same fabric for this whole thing. :D I've gotta go, now! We're playing games!

Homegrown Apples in a Fabric Bowl!

One of the things I miss about the northwest are the delicious homegrown apples... They're little and so crispy and fresh and always taste better! These ones grew on my mom's tree and are flippin' delicious.

I had time to make a fabric bowl today, for a friend back in Alabama who is sooo kindly watching our dog while we're away. The decor in her kitchen is red apples, so I thought this red/mustard fabric would be a good material to use.

I'm trying to think of things I can load into the bowl as kind of a gift basket. I haven't ever really put together a gift basket, so I'm kinda stumped. I'll probably throw some fresh apples in there and maybe some Tim's Cascade Chips..... Mmmm, my favorite.... It sucks they don't sell them in Alabama. Anybody have any ideas for stuff they'd think would be good in a gift basket?

Woodburned Wooden Spoons with Jellyfish!

This little project was a joint effort between my husband and I! He has been on a quest for a hobby, because he sees all of my different artsy hobbies and gets a little envious when he's bored and I never am :) He bought a woodburner a while back and used it a couple of times, but lost interest because he "can't make up designs."

So I bought him some wooden spoons and drew some sealife doodles on them for him to burn! I think they turned out pretty cool! I got the idea from another artist on craftster who burned seagull silhouettes into some wooden spoons.

On the octopus, you can see where the woodburner was acting up on one of the legs... Unfortunately, the temperature started to go berserk, then the woodburner finally quit. SAD! I'm sure it's easily fixed though, it's gotta just be what? A heating element attached to the on/off switch? We'll see, because I'd have fun making more of these....

So now, my crafts have spread to the kitchen! I'll let you know how they stand up to real usage....

Oval Spiraled Fabric Bowl

Alright folks, this has to be fast! (I borrowed Breaking Dawn from a friend and desperately need to get back to reading) Made this oval-shaped fabric bowl with that same fabric scrap coiling spirally thingie!

And a hot pad...

Both together and my dog mid-woof in the background!

G2G!!!!