Pencil Rollup

My mommy-in-law just left this morning after a ten day stay with us. She is much more efficient with dishes than I am. I came downstairs every morning to a clean kitchen and tidy living room. It was nice, but tomorrow morning my paints will still be on the floor and that is just fine with me. :) 

She enjoys colored pencils and had them laid out while drawing last night. I wondered how she was going to get them home, and thought of the cute little coloring rollups that I have seen on other blogs. So I looked a couple pictures and started cutting. (I should have done a little measuring first too, but in the end it all worked out just fine.) So I threw together this little roll-up pouch and she absolutely loved it. This type of thing is right up her ally. 

I used the leftover fabric pieces from my purse and they were a great size for my project. Although it is a little odd to see the fabric I carry over my shoulder in a different project and I think it's just a little busy.

To show that I enjoy all sorts of creative outlets, this week I've done some painting:

Trees painting - work in progress

Last week's painting

Kindle case

I threw together this case for my kindle tonight. I need to get some velcro dots to put on the strap. I'll see how it works out, but I think it went together pretty well.

Creative Weekend

Way back when I bought a purse kit. It was supposed to make a hobo bag and even came with handles. However, it did not come with the instructions that were supposedly included. I got this book a couple weeks ago with a cute purse pattern. It has "favorite" in the title which made me think it might be a good alternative choice. It seemed better than trying to "borrow" one from another kit at Walmart - if I could find it.
The final bag turned out a bit smaller than I expected (I do have a good bit of leftover fabric), but I like it anyway. I posted this picture on facebook last night, and a lot of people seemed to like it too.  So I think it was a good choice. I skipped the handles from the kit... They didn't look so nice and I thought I'd try the pattern (ooh, I didn't slip and say recipe) the way it was written first. The bag is shown with a fabric flower. I think it would look cute here, but by the end of the weekend it seemed frivolous. ;) Maybe someday. The one thing I'd really like to have added was a snap to keep it closed. I just didn't know what to get or how to go about that. (side note: the Joann's in my new town is so small and all backwards.)
 

 

Then today I finished up another project. I painted this canvas black yesterday, and painted on the word today. I printed out the word, traced it on the back of the paper with chalk and then pressed and rubbed it onto the canvas. Then I just painted over the chalk. It worked great! I might have to make some matching ones that say Love and Faith. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

 

Organizing my creative space

I have picked up a lot of creative ambitions over the years. I tend to forget about one thing when I pick up another. I want to have greater access to all that "stuff" and clear out what I know I won't use. So today I went at it. My intention was to focus on the non-fabric crafts, but as it turns out, my fabric needed some organizing too and that was where I spent most of today.

Here is the final result. I bought the shelf this morning.

 

I have sewing items in the left bin and other art stuff in the right.

 

This is all fabric I have bought (with one exception) since I started quilting to make something. Some pieces are what is left and others haven't been touched. (I'm glad I've refrained from buying fabric on the whim this last year. I was shocked at how much I have that I haven't used!)

 

This is my almost finished pile. I have two quilts that just need quilted, one quilt top and then everything I need to make a quilt top. Also a pillow case. 

 

This is the type of thing most of my fabric was in. Plastic drawers or plastic bins. This contains scraps of batting and fabric that was gifted to me. Mostly large pieces of fabric I would never buy. 

Which reminds me. The pretty box with a lid in the first picture is also full of gifted fabric - the smaller cuts. And I have a box (not shown) of Christmas fabric, some I bought, some gifted. I feel so organized!

Well, I will really feel accomplished when I go through the other plastic boxes you can't see on the closet shelf. Paining, etc and one of yarn. I think I also have an under the bed box of craft stuff... maybe.

Old Sewing Machines

I was in Old Sacramento last week and in one of the stores they had a display of old sewing machines. I thought it interesting and snapped a few quick photos with my phone. One of the things I found interesting was the brand names. Of course, who hasn't heard of Singer, but I never heard of Standard before, and thought Brunswick made bowling equipment!

A quilt for me

I wanted to make a pretty blanket to cuddle in, so...
Dec 31, 2011...stack of fabric.

January 2, 2012... quilt top

I still need to add a border, but my quilt top is just about done. Hooray.

Next, I need to find backing and binding fabric and some money to get it quilted, because there is no way I am quilting this big quilt on my little machine.

Terrain layouts

I have played with a few different layouts. So far, I am liking this one the best.
First I tried mixing the colors up. too scrappy. didn't like it. Then I tried grouping by color and allowing the colors to blend into each other as they seem to do. Wasn't fully satisfied. This last time I arranged them so the same colors are in the same long row.


As I look at now, I am thinking I should switch the pink and teal green. I am going simple on the design. White sashing and using extra layer cake "slices" to put in the corners of the sashing. I just want to have it completed so I can curl up in it!