Gauntlets for the Artist

My youngest son has a passion for drawing and has been suffering for his art this winter. Unbelievably cold hands. Fingerless gloves or gauntlets, seemed like a reasonable solution.

Being determined to use up yarn in my stash, the pair of gauntlets match...up to a point. ;o) The fact they are scrappy looking though, doesn't bother my son. His hands are warm and I received a request from our other artist in residence for a pair of his own. Yay! Another chance for me to dive into my yarn stash. You can be assured that the next pair will be oddball ones as well. hee hee

In case you're interested, this is my stack of knitting inspiration at the moment.

Attention fabric lovers! You don't want to miss this giveaway...

Be quick and get over to The Fabric Shopper to enter the giveaway for an Amy Butler pattern and a gift certificate for fabric from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics . Believe me, you will swoon when you see the beautiful fabrics you can choose from!

I'd rather be sewing...

instead I'm trying to find a means to keep my purse

from being empty!

Job ads and resumes are a part of my days at the moment. Trying to find a fit for my skills and wondering what you do to keep your purse full?

** The purse is made from a vintage sheet and quilting cotton. Pattern is from Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle.**

Simple Baby Blanket

It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest projects are often the most gratifying. This baby blanket is a prime example.

A plain piece of pink flannel that I bound with binding made from the remainders of a thrifted sheet. Simple and easy.

(please excuse this shot of a gravity defying chair... just focus on the pretty binding on the blanket, okay?)

Stalled Project back on track...

It seemed like a great idea when I started this project, months and months ago. Then I got stuck. I couldn't seem to make my idea come together as I had envisioned it, so this project has been languishing in the "incomplete and don't know yet how to finish it" bin. Forgotten.
Until a couple of nights ago, when I woke up and had the answer to solve the project problem. Finally.

With a bit more work, I will have it finished and ready to share in its completeness. What a relief.

Does anyone else have a place where they shelve projects that stall out? Or am I the only crafter that has the equivalent of "purgatory" for projects that stump me, but I can't quite abandon completely? ;o)

Knitted bliss

It's been quiet on the sewing front for me this past week, but my knitting needles have been busy. I've been using up bits from my yarn stash to make warm, handmade goodness for the artists in the household. Here's just a peek at something I've been working on. There's something magical about seeing the simple cable design come off my needles. Makes me feel like I'm really getting the hang of knitting. ;o)

"Recipe" for Brightening up the Kitchen

Start with a bright and lively print:
Cut and piece with other vivid prints - polka dot fabrics are highly recommended "ingredients" for this....

Next, take those fabrics and combine with a lovely design such as Meg's Emmeline apron.

Now, cut up an out of style wool coat and add the patchwork pieces, a custom quilted lining and binding to make some zippy looking oven mitts.

Ta-da! Now wasn't that a simple way to brighten up your winter kitchen?

(Best part of this apron design is being able to reverse it whenever the mood strikes or a spill happens ;o)

Thread Giveaway

Guess the universe heard about my need for quilting thread, because I just stumbled upon a thread giveaway here. So, if you win, instead of me, you have to send me a spool of red quilting thread, okay? LOL

Getting There

I thought I'd share my scrappy redwork project today, even thought it is still a work-in-progress. Here is one part of the project, a table runner, shown at the basted stage in the quilting process. I thought machine quilting it freehand with a continuous whimsical heart design would be fitting. This is what my test piece looked like. I always have a test piece to stitch on before I quilt my project. The test piece lets me check thread tension, stitch formation and to just 'warm-up' my quilting muscles. ;o)

Having experimented on the test piece I felt ready to tackle the actual project. Going freehand with machine quilting is very liberating and also a bit intimidating at first. Telling myself to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and just let the stitches flow for this project was hard initially. Once I got over seeing the flaws or jerky looking bits, I really got into the quilting.

Sadly my quilting thread ran out before the completion of my project. That's the trouble with freehand quilting. I always use more thread than I think I will. This time it meant that I was caught short and since I'm not inclined to pick out the stitches I made in red and then re-quilt it all with white ('cause I have plenty of white thread onhand, doncha know ;o), I need to get more red thread to finish this up. Now the debate is - should I run down to the fabric store and pay more for the thread and have it right away... or wait and order thread for less online with a friend? Tough choice, isn't it?

Revealed

Several weeks back I posted some sneak peeks at something I had been working on. Remember? I can finally show you what I was keeping underwraps. I made scrappy wristlets for my Pay-It-Forward gifts.

I tucked needlebooks and other sewing bits into the wristlets and then I made scrappy matching pincushions to complete the gifts.

Two of the gifts found their way to their new homes this week.

This wristlet went to Meg... (here's the reverse side)

and here's the front....

The second wristlet travelled to Susan.

For fun, I added a appliqued bird to the back of her wristlet.

Now, the third wristlet is to be sent out very soon. It's going to be a surprise for the recipient...

I hope she likes pink!

Heartache

It was with a sad heart that late last evening I read online of the devastation that has happened in Australia. It all seems so surreal. I felt this way a few short years ago when a wildfire struck where we were living. I thought that the firestorm that raged through Kelowna in 2003 was horrible. It pales in comparison to the tragedy of what has happened in Australia. I'm filled with heartache over the losses and I'm trying to decide on the best way to help. We really are living in a global village - something I understand more clearly since joining the blog world. I'm concerned about the many friends I've made. I'm also uplifted to read on the Australian blogs I frequent, of concrete ways to give aid. Helping will not change what has happened, but perhaps it will lessen the heartache.


*** Here's a link (thanks Nikki!) which details a lovely idea to provide some comfort to the children surviving the bushfire. You can put your sewing talents to use or even purchase the paks that are to be distributed to the children. This means that even those of us from other parts of the world can reach out in a tangible way to help the smallest victims of this tragedy.

Scrappy Red Patchwork

I plundered my stash of scraps for reds and got busy on a new scrappy project. See for yourself why I love scraps so much! I took my fabric mess from this...

to this!

It's a good start. I still seem to have plenty of scraps to keep me going. Hmmm...I guess my scrappy red patchwork is just beginning. ;o)

Matroyoshka Math

It started with this one doll...

and she needed a friend... so one doll became two...

and they looked so adorable that two dolls led to three...

which inevitably led to a family of dolls.

You'd think I'd be satiated at this point. I'm actually thinking I'm a bit addicted. A project so simple and so cute is a sewing delight. ;o)

It seems Matroyshka math is all about addition. ;o)