Little Owl

Little Owl
Originally uploaded by jixichick.

For today's project, I made a little brown barn owl. He was a lot of fun and I plan on making more. I started with a clip art drawing of an owl. I then cut out sections and selected fabric that sort of gave the feel I wanted. He's backed with brown corduroy. Most of him is stuffed with regular poly fiber but I wanted him to sit up so he needed more weight on the bottom. So I used scrap t-shirt fabric (from the t-shirt quilt I'm working on for my hubby) that I cut into shreds and stuffed it in the bottom so he would sit up.

One of my Very First Creations

I

One of my Very First Creations
Originally uploaded by jixichick.

came across this a few weeks ago and was overjoyed! I remember making this at my grandmother's house when I was probably 7 or 8 years old. She gave me a few scraps and I made this little pin cushion. It was one of the first things I sewed on a machine. I still love it. I must admit I spent about an hour carefully pulling out the 20 or so needles I had stuck in it long ago (I guess I confused needles with pins - OUCH!!!)

Nap Time Craft of the Day - Bunny Scrap T-shirt

Nap Time Craft of the Day - Bunny Scrap T-shirt
Originally uploaded by jixichick.

While Paul was napping today, I started another little project that is a spin-off of the "scrap map" I made for the WhipLash competition recently. I ironed a pile of little scraps to fusible web then cut out the bunny shape and ironed it to a baby's t-shirt. I appliqued around the shape and "quilted" throughout the shape to hold the bits in place. I think I might add a fluffly little vevet tail and a ribbon around it's neck.

Yummy new sites I came across today

While reading through some of my fave blogs this morning I came across some wonderful sites and other blogs. The first is Hop Skip Jump. This artist makes the most adorable little stuffed animals. I then saw another site referenced on her site called Mahar Dry Goods. All I can say is YUM! What a cute collection of stuff. Also found a site called Kiddley that looks like another winner. Lots of reading to do...

I'm still working on my June Coloriffic Swap. Almost done with the handmade part. Pictures coming soon.

Whiplash Week 6 - Entry - A Pile of Scrap

us-map-closeup
Originally uploaded by jixichick.

This week's Whiplash contest was "Colour". I created a little ditty I call "A Pile of Scrap". I really, really really want to win this week - I've been coveting the Denyse Schmidt book especially! I started by noticing that is impossible for me to throw my fabric scraps away - no matter how tiny. If I can still pick it up, then it goes in the scrap bag. I have ended up with an indecent amount of little nothing pieces of fabrics - little shreds, tiny snips and other seemingly useless bits. I remembered seeing a quilting technique on Simply Quilts where an artist used little tiny fabric bits to "paint" her quilt. She sandwiched the "painting" between netting and her backing and then painted with thread to quilt it in place. So I started pulling out my tiny scraps and finding a few larger scraps to sacrifice for the cause. I rolled through the scraps with my rotary blade - slicing, dicing and mincing the fabric into a nice little heap of colorful confetti. It sort of reminded me of watching a cooking show where herbs and vegetables are being minced up to make a colorful salad. Next, I had to decide what to "make" with this medium. I started playing around with the little pile and noticed it looked a little like the (continental) U.S. AHA! Using a map I printed out, I arranged the pile into roughly the shape of the U.S. on top of a piece of netting. I placed a second piece over the arrangement and then basted it on the sewing machine. Then I pinned the map on top of the netting and stitched around the edges. To "quilt" it, I simply sewed over the boundaries of each state. Then I peeled back the paper, trimmed around the edges and admired my creation. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I think I'll frame it and hang it in my son's room. More photos of the project are at my Flickr site.

Bling Bling T-shirts

I was inspired by a project on Craftster the other day that used pictures of jewels from magazines to make an amazing "faux" necklace. Being the magazine hoarder I am, I thought this would be a perfect way to make use of some of my old Vogues and other fashion mags. To put a little twist on it, I cut out the photos and then scanned them in as loose jewels. Then I printed them out onto iron on paper and cut out individual jewels and arranged them onto the front of baby t-shirts in a necklace pattern. I think they turned out soooo cute! I've got several other ideas for these little gems.

Altered Necklace

I've been coveting the colorful necklaces made of a mixture of crocheted beads, colorful glass beads, wooden beads and other yummy stuff. Even though they aren't that expensive (about $15-$20 for the ones I saw at Target), I wanted to do my own thing. So I was at Target today and saw a couple of necklaces on clearance that had elements of what I wanted - and they were each about $3.50. So I snatched them up and brought 'em home and made my own concoction. I alternated stringing the beads with little scraps of fabric tucked in here and there. I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to wear it - maybe tomorrow to story time!

Items revealed from the Whiplash Yarn challenge

Here are the items I used in the Whiplash "Yarn" challenge (see previous post below):

1. Rubber Band
2. Dryer lint - yep! I sort of fashioned dryer lint into a rope-y yarn (I guess it was a primitive way of spinning!) and then crocheted it.
3. A narrow "ribbon" cut from a plastic shopping bag
4. A thin strip of suede leftover from a project
5. Clear packing tape that was folded in half lengthwise then trimmed to about 1/2" wide
6. Wiring from an old pair of headphones
7. Satin ribbon
8. White tissue paper
9. Cotton fabric scrap

Grandma's Photo Album

I customized this photo album for my mother in law for Mother's Day and I just love how it turned out. I spotted the dark brown fabric album with cream embroidery at Old Navy a couple of days ago and was inspired to incorporate a photo of my son and my MIL that was taken on our recent trip to New York. I altered the photo to have sepia tone coloring and adjusted it so that the tones would mesh well with the dark brown fabric on the album. I printed the photo onto special fabric made for the printer. Then I trimmed the photo and a piece of fusible (Heat N Bond) to a size that would fit the blank space of the album. I ironed the fusible to the album first (I did this because if I ironed it to the fabric picture and then to the album I thought there might not be enough heat coming through to bond it to the album). Then I peeled the backing off the fusible and ironed on the photo. The edges were a little rough so I thought I would fringe them a little, but that didn't look so hot. So I went around the edges with a dark brown Sharpie marker and it actually looks great - sort of mimics the look of applique because the marker is just a smidge darker than the album. I plan on putting lots of recent photos of my son in the album. Unfortunately, I didn't send it yet so it won't make it there for Mother's Day but I know when she does receive it she will LOVE it.

Whiplash - Week 5 theme "Yarn"

This is my first entry into the online craft challenge called Whiplash. Each week there is a theme and a short timeframe in which to create something that inteprets the theme. With this week's theme being "Yarn", I was a little worried since I don't really knit (I sew a lot) and I can just crochet a strait stitch. My initial thought was to do a collage of some kind that showed where Yarn comes from (cotton, sheep, etc.) but I was having a hard time getting my head around that idea. So I started thinking of where yarn doesn't come from (usually) and thought of lots of different things that I could crochet as a sort of sampler of things that (y)aren't yarn. This is the piece I came up with. It is somewhat inspired by samplers and by animal specimen collections (like butterflies and insects). There are 9 different items that I used to crochet with and none of them are "yarn". I thought it might also be fun to let people guess what each thing is before I post them so each one is numbered. I've also included a couple of more detailed shots to help decipher what they are.

Birthday Hat

Birthday Hat
Originally uploaded by jixichick.

I made this little hat for my son's 1st birthday back in December. I just loved the way it turned out. I basically made a photo copy of a fabric I liked onto heavy white paper. Then I made a little banner that had some clip art and "Birthday Boy" printed on it. I glued the banner on along with a few other embellishments (gold star, a paper plume).

My first quilt - completed

Well, here's the photo of the quilt I was making for my grandfather's 80th birthday. It seemed to be a big hit and I think he will enjoy it. He recently purchased a team of mules and a wagon for them to pull and I think the little quilt will be perfect on his lap on chilly rides (or at home in the recliner).
The quilt is far from perfect, workmanship wise, but there was a lot of thought, time and love put into making it. My grandmother (who passed away more than 10 years ago) was an avid quilter so I think he will appreciate the work that went into it.

Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama May Sent

For May swap, (see more info in the previous post) my secret pal was Michal in California. She likes to knit so I picked up a yummy citrus yellow skein of Mohair yarn from Purl when I was in New York. I loved visiting their shop as well as the new Purl Patchwork (which sells quilting fabrics) a few doors down. Also in my package to Michal were silk scarf buttons by Pamela Barsky, yellow and orange buttons, fabric, notebooks, soap and lotions, candy and yellow bunny print tissues. For my handmade item, I made a drawstring bag (for shoes or other stuff) out of orange corduroy. Then I appliqued her initials on the bag in yellow and citrus-y colored fabrics (she likes Dr. Seuss so one of the fabrics is a Seuss print). It's pictured in the previous post about Monogrammed stuff.
Next month's theme is black, white and ? - I'm already thinking about what to send my pal for June.

Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama - May package received

I signed up for the flickr group Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama and participated for the first time in May. The theme was yellow and orange. I received a great package from Teresa in Portugal. She made a pair of earrings and a ring as well as a little stuffed fabric flower pin. Also in her package to me was fabric, ric-rac, flower seeds, tea, embroidery floss, beads, candy, a notepad, marker and postcards from Lisbon. I absolutely loved the package and can't wait to use the craft supplies in future projects.

Monogrammed stuff I made

I'm on a monogram kick I guess. I made the orange and yellow "shoe bag" for the May Color-iffic Swap-O-Rama that I am doing. It's made of orange corduroy with a zany Dr. Seuss fabric and yellow bumble bee fabric with the initials "MW" sort of intertwined. Then I made a little baby t-shirt for a friend's baby with a cute patchwork "H". I really loved how they both turned out and I'll probably be making more stuff like this.