Category: Crafty

Auto Show and Evil Fairies
Crafty · Life Posts · Sewing

Auto Show and Evil Fairies

LSiehLeave a comment

The Husband and I went to the North American International Auto Show yesterday. I haven’t been in several years because I’m mostly indifferent to cars and I don’t need to push every single button that is in a car. I like to look at the shiny ones and then sit in a corner with a book while the Husband does his thing. This year though, we are looking at getting new cars in the spring and thought it might be a nice way to check them out without having the pressure of a salesperson haunting us.

I of course, don’t think I got a picture of the two we were looking at. I was too busy trying them out. We think the Husband is going to get a new Escape and I will probably get an EchoSport. Or the Escape, but I like the Echo better. It’s smaller, more me sized.

I kept saying that about the smaller cars at the show and people would giggle. The Fiat was one of the me sized cars that I liked. It’s so cute and dainty looking.

The Husband requested that I sit in a new F150 and I think I was the only girl around that truck.  I felt like I was 6, but it did have adjustable pedals, so theoretically, it could have worked. That’s assuming I didn’t take out telephone poles while driving, of course.

I like looking at the shiny new cars and I kept taking pictures of front ends because it’s funny how some look so predatory and some look adorable. Case in point: The Alfa Romeo vs. the VW Beetle

Shark:

Sweet:

There was also a couple of Hot Wheels style cars. The Camaro had a hot wheels one on display, but there were too many people drooling on it for me to get a picture. This one is from the Ant Man movie.

I had to take a picture of a Jeep for my friend, who has her own rough and ready yellow Jeep.

There were some cool displays and details in the cars too. The Hellcat has its  symbol in the headlights.

This display was in the Michelin booth.

It’s a 3d printed tire. Surrounding it are ideas for things that it could be made of including wood fibers, plastic bottles, cloth, and orange peels. Also, the Michelin man was there and the little kids were so excited that it was cute.

I have lots more pictures too, but they’ll be posted on Wednesdays probably.

Now for the sewing/evil fairies part of this post… My deal is that I have to finish something from the UFO box before I can start anything new, since I want to get halfway through the boxes in the next year.

I’m running out of tea wallets, which are, of course, the easiest, but I did find four more red ones that were almost completely finished. They just needed outlining mostly.

Three of them are complete. The one that has a button loop will get finished when I do the button. It’s a fall themed one, so I don’t have to rush. I also tied off the ends of more of the brown ones, so those have been added to the stack.

So in addition to the red tea wallets, I had a fairy bag, which is the last of this fabric that I have. It’s pretty adorable, with fairy mushroom houses, mushroom lining, and cheery red background fabric.

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t finished because it may have been infested with evil fairy vibes…Let me list the things that went wrong…

The straps were already sewn, meaning I would have to exactly match the stitching, or sew them on differently. Then, because they were made to go across the pockets, they were super duper long and I had to cut them down twice. I had two zippers that were too small and one that was five inches too big..The fabric got twisted up while I was sewing the corners:

I unpicked the wrong seam and had to sew it twice. The backing fabric was a weird size and I ended up ripping strips off of it. Fancy doesn’t like the sound of ripping fabric apparently and almost took a header under my chair trying to make sure I was safe. Poor dog, running on slippery floors doesn’t go well for her.

I ended up with 5 pocket bag, because I sewed the pocket sem in the last place and one of the times I cut the straps, I cut my new slouchy sweatshirt sleeves as well.

Oh, and there were missing threads on one of the pockets and a strap, which took me about six tries to fix. My thread kept nesting on the strap.

Like I said, evil fairies.

I did get it finished finally, but I probably should have stuck it back in the box and worked on something else. I was so frustrated by the time I was done with it that I wasn’t up to doing anything fun. Plus, it took me at least three hours, for what should have been an hour tops. All of the pieces were already cut out!

It needs to leave my house. I’m still mad at it. If anyone wants it, I’ll give you the “possible evil fairy” discount. 🙂

In a related note, this fortune came up in our “Make Your Own Fortune” book and I’m slightly concerned what my day will be like, considering what I do for a living..

Eek. I only have four appointments today, so hopefully they all go well and this wasn’t a sign of things to come. Send peaceful thoughts!

Weekend Sewing and Being a Midwestern Housewife
Crafty · Life Posts · Sewing

Weekend Sewing and Being a Midwestern Housewife

LSieh2 Comments

My family didn’t decorate full out for most holidays. We decorated the sideboard mostly with seasonal things, or lovely picture arrangements. Christmas was our all out holiday and we did it up good! It never really struck me as a problem, or something weird. In fact, I never had a desire really to have all holidays celebrated or to decorate for them.

Now that I am a nice Midwestern housewife though, I’m having all these decorating urges. Not for all the holidays, I won’t go all green for St. Patrick’s day. I’m more likely to put out something purple for St. Urho’s day the day before (he drove all the grasshoppers out of Norway, I believe.) We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, except to buy half price candy the next day.. Gosh, I make us sound so pragmatic and unromantic…

I just want our house to look pretty and maybe have a few nice touches. We’re simple people. This has totally come on just this year. I must finally be adjusted to actually owning a house. 🙂

The Lego bridge that was on the mantle since we moved in is downstairs for a bit, which gives me that surface and the top of the encyclopedia desk to play with. We’re celebrating Chinese New Year with friends again this year, so I’m doing a little bit of decorating for that. Those are artificial cherry blossoms on the mantle. I have some red and gold things too, but they aren’t set yet.

We also have the leaning shelf, which was partially cleared for the angel host at Christmas. I’m probably going to switch out the pictures and decorations on there as well, because, why not? We have a bunch of decorations that we didn’t have room for, so it would be nice to see them again. Change can be good. 🙂

And before you ask, Mom or Dad, I’m not going to start serving pickle tray with every meal or drinking coffee. I’m not that Midwestern yet. 🙂 Just a little light decorating… (Isn’t that how it always starts though?)

In a very grown up and not at all Midwestern move, the Husband and I perused a model train show this Sunday. My phone died about 2 minutes in, so I only have a couple of pictures. The Husband kindly took some for me, which I will see if I can get for a future Wordless Wednesday post.

It was fun as usual, but also kind of sad. We don’t have a train space yet. We didn’t stay for too long. My back caused issues on Saturday, so I couldn’t walk that much on Sunday. I was able to sew some and have been working on a new scrap quilt.

Honestly, I know I have all these projects to make, but I was jonesing for a rainbow scrap quilt. This one has a home, but it is super secret still.

Now, on to the real question, how to put these quilt squares together? I made 8 of each color, pink, green, yellow, and purple,  and they are wonky log cabin squares.

4 patch, alternating colors?

4 patch same colors?

3 squares, one white corner square?

Or, the Husband’s choice, alternating colors arranged in a diagonal?

It’s going to be a small quilt, with a white, or black border.

Thoughts? I’m leaning towards one of the last two.

This is what I’ve been working on this week. I kept having to dig through my scrap box and am thinking about trying to sort them by color for easier use. Since these types of quilts are my favorites right now, it would probably make more sense. It would be a huge undertaking though. These squares were made mostly from my smaller scrap box. I didn’t pull any fabrics from my stash other than those. Sadly, it doesn’t even look like I made a dent…

My next sewing project should be something from the UFO box, if I can drag myself away from rainbow quilts. 🙂

Fancy is telling me that I should be sleeping, or providing her with belly rubs, if I insist on being awake.

I’ll go ponder the quilt in my dreams. Stay tuned tomorrow for more train show pictures!

 

Yearly Review- Sewing and Crafting
Crafty · Life Posts · Monthly Review · Sewing

Yearly Review- Sewing and Crafting

LSiehLeave a comment

It has been a crazy year! I switched jobs twice, lost my serger pedal, but found it yesterday (!!), made a dress in 5 hours, found a favorite dress pattern, and used up an entire notebook.

I’ve watched multiple seasons of weird British shows (Death in Paradise, Doctor Blake, Great British Baking Show) and some Project Runway. Also, some action shows like The Flash, and Wynona Erp, much to the Husband’s dismay. 🙂

My space is getting organized, slowly but surely.

All my larger scraps are now housed in two containers. I have a shoebox style container full of tiny scraps as well, but they get lost if they are in with the bigger pieces.

Umm.. there’s a slight chance I need to stop saving scraps, or work exclusively in scraps for a bit…

I made about a million tea wallets, which does help with the scrap piles. They’ve also been selling a lot on Etsy all of a sudden. My tea wallets are in a brick and mortar store as well, Hawthorne and Vine, which makes me more confident when trying other avenues in the future.

My Etsy and vending events went decently well. I’ve been better about posting to Twinflower Fancies and am investigating other options for advertising.

One of my favorite clothing makes for the year was my Dita Dress, otherwise known as the “5 hour dress.” I did make some modifications to the pattern,  but got a ton of compliments on it from complete strangers. It’s very exciting to say “Thanks, I made it!”

We discovered that Fancy is not a fan of my dress form unless it is dressed. Silly dog.

I also made two other versions of my strawberry dress, after finally remembering which pattern it was. I like them all, but was so pleased at how the lace worked out on my rose dress. I think it’s my favorite. I wore it in my professional head shot for work too. 🙂

Quilt-wise, my absolute favorite quilt was this rainbow one for a friend’s baby.

I love this quilt. Maybe that’s what I can use my scraps for! I’ll make a version to keep. It does use tiny pieces if I make the 5 inch squares first. Plus, I’m fairly certain I have some extra black squares somewhere.  The Husband is shaking his head at me and suggesting that I should maybe finish the projects I have started for other people first… Silly Husband, deadlines are for other people… (He’s probably right though.)

I also took a huge leap and made the pictures for my office. I was nervous about putting my almost non-existent drawing skills out for display, but was inspired by someone who repeatedly makes me draw things to “help build my confidence in drawing skills.” In the end, I’m glad I ended up choosing the songs and images I did. I’ve had positive responses from people and take pride in embracing my space as my own.

I found a source for my quilts, since they don’t meet Project Linus requirements. My friend has an OT room for kids with emotional disturbances and they will be getting some of them. I have one completed and two tops waiting to be finished.

I used 7 craft books. I added a few more in the process, but have tried to pull patterns or books that I am not using to be donated. I actually was able to connect through the bellydance world with a high school sewing club and they will be getting these items. The box of fabric I had for them is getting bigger and bigger. I’m excited for it to go to kids who are just getting into sewing.

Overall, I completed 67 total projects. This did not include actual numbers of tea wallets. I lost track somewhere in one of the rushes. If you know any tea drinkers, send them my way. I’m sure I can find one for just about anyone.

And what did you learn? 

Things I’ve learned from this year is that I don’t really like working with paper very much, despite having a bunch of scrapbooking stuff.  There is not one paper project on this entire year of blogging. I’ve brought a bunch of it to my office and most of it will probably make its way there.

I need to have a firm hand with the supplies that I keep. I have random craft supplies, Christmas ornament supplies, and beading supplies that I rarely use. Is it really worth having it take up the space, when it could go to someone who would use it?

Organization is my least favorite part, well, along with ironing, of the whole process. Losing my serger pedal is the perfect example of the reasons why I need to get this under control.

Do you know where it was?

It was staring me in the eye from behind a box of elastic and hidden by my thread boxes. The thread boxes that I go to every time I need new thread… that sit next to my sewing area in the basement. That I swear I searched. I’m a bit annoyed with myself to say the least.  My dad is going to say “if it was a snake, it would have bit you” when he reads that.

I may make this picture my background screen on my Ipad if I’m having trouble getting to the organization bit later. Maybe it’ll shame me into actually doing it.

Speaking of actually doing things, here’s my yearly goals.

Yearly goals: 

* Continue blogging both successes and failures.

* Be more involved in the online sewing community for support and growth.

* Continue to develop my Etsy store.

* Learn to take better pictures.

* Learn to use (and not be scared of) the serger. It dishonors my friend’s memory to have it just sit there and not use it.

* Get halfway through my UFO boxes.

* Donate items I am not using/that don’t work for me.

* Be fearless with new projects and techniques.

Whew. That’s a lot of words. Here’s a new cute sleeping dog picture, if you’ve made it this far.

I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along on my journey with me! I know I’ve learned a lot, maybe I have inspired you too!

Here’s to another year of creativity and adventures!

Christmas Sewing, Flamingos, And Tea
Crafty · Life Posts

Christmas Sewing, Flamingos, And Tea

LSiehLeave a comment

It’s time, it’s time! I can show off my Christmas sewing! 

My parents and my aunt each got a table runner made from the same fabrics, with different buttons. The buttons are from my Grandma Shirley’s button stash. I shamelessly absconded with them when I moved out. 🙂

Grandma would have approved. She liked things being used. Here are the buttons up close.

The top button was for my parents, and the second one is for my aunt. I accidentally bought a ridiculous amount of fabric by forgetting how much I actually needed at the cutting area. Table runners for everyone!

We’ll have one too for next year. I have some gold buttons set aside.

I also tried to make a skirt for Christmas Eve, but discovered I had a non-separating zipper right after I had attached it.

I cut the zippers, but I need to file down the edges and line it. It was ridiculously staticky when I put it on and stuck to my leggings. I’ve had the fabric for two years at least, all the while intended to be a zippered skirt. I used a self-drafted skirt as a pattern and changed the waistband. It has a wide purple lace on the bottom. I’ll get better pictures when it’s completely done.

To switch gears, my family knows me very well. I received 5 flamingo items and several kitchen gadgets!

Here are the flamingos! Fancy is trying to steal the blanket already, but I’m keeping it!

She has her own flamingos, from my sister-in-law. 🙂

The Husband got me a coffee and spice grinder, a kitchen torch, and 5 fun tea infusers! The book is from my parents for both of us and it looks like a lot of fun to read. It includes recipes based on books that were meaningful for the author.

Here’s more pictures:

The mittens have already been used. I’m going to have a cup of tea before bed tonight and use another one! I’m going  to have lots of tea in my future. The Nessie one is part of the set of Nessie utensils that the Husband also bought. I’d given up hope of getting it because it was always sold out. He remembered though and now I have it.

The green spoon is a colander, the blue is the original ladle, and the baby one is the tea infuser. I’m excited to use them. They’ll certainly make me smile.

Fancy was so excited for her ginormous tennis ball, but ended up mostly just ripping the fuzz off. It looked like the Grinch was murdered in the living room after she was done. She was extremely suspicious that we were going to take it. She could also barely fit it in her mouth, so it was funny to watch her try to carry it.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I have to go extricate my snuggly blanket from the dog. She keeps creeping closer and closer on my lap, which happens to be covered with said blanket. 🙂

Stay warm!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!
Crafty · Life Posts

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

LSiehLeave a comment

I slowed for a minute on cookie baking, but would prefer to think of it a strategic retreat to regroup. 🙂 I have to decide on what to bring to the Husband’s Grandma’s house for Christmas. Peppermint bark may make an appearance.

I have been sewing, but it’s been Super Secret Christmas sewing, so can’t be shown until after next week.

In the meantime, here is some of our Christmas decor to make it a little more festive!

Christmas trains! This wouldn’t fit with our village on the mantle. Next year, we’re going to set up a table for it.

Another train! Also, the ornament from the in-laws for Fancy’s first Christmas. They couldn’t find a queen one, so it says “King of the House.” It totally fits. How could we be expected to refuse this face?

Here are our Firefly ornaments. I thought it was appropriate for them to fly. The black one has a “firefly” license plate on it.

We like to think of our decorating style as electic. 🙂

Icicle lights in the kitchen window. We found these at a summer rummage sale and I forgot about them until I was sorting presents. They look so pretty when the lights hit them.

We didn’t get a bigger artificial tree this year because Fancy has started guarding everything in sight. This is up on the table where she can’t get to it and it seems to be good.

I did some organizing yesterday. My sewing area is crazy again. It’s not completely put away yet, but this bin and some other piles are at least sorted and ready to be put away.

Here are the piles of neatly folded and sorted.

The fat quarter piles look so pretty!

I also got a present for myself in the mail today! It’s “Rainbow Quilts For Scrap Lovers” by Judy Gautier. I know, I know… But I’ll use at least four of these quilts!

This one is partially appliqué, but the background is pieced, so I might be able to get it done.

Reverse appliqué on this one. But it looks easy enough.

So pretty! And it could use up a lot of weird scraps.

I saved the best for last….

I love owls! I will definitely be making this one. Sometime… after I get the other thousand projects done…

For now though, I have a dog sleeping on my foot and should probably go to bed too. Have a peaceful night!

New Seasons and New Sewing
Crafty

New Seasons and New Sewing

LSiehLeave a comment

I finished the Rainbow Snowball Quilt! Finally! I even had a little of the fleece backing left, which will become a dog coat for the Fanciest pup I know. 😉 I just have to meet up with its new owner and it will be gone. I was desperate to start a new black and rainbow quilt, so I knew I had to finish one of the quilt tops that was waiting.

Here’s the Rainbow Snowball and the backing for it. It’s french seamed essentially, sewn and flipped, and sewn again. No batting because of the fleece backing.

The new rainbow quilt is a Friendship Braid pattern. I had a lot of the pieces cut already, from Maelee’s quilt.  Here is the new quilt:

The colorful pieces are just on one side. This is two pieces how they’ll be when finished. The edges will be trimmed, so they’ll be rectangles.

I have three strips done and a fourth started. It will probably be five strips, potentially six, if I have enough orange and yellow. I run out of those colors all the time! I don’t really use them, but if I’m going to keep making rainbow quilts, I need to get some fat quarters or remnants.

We had fun on our Super Secret Christmas Mission. I took some pretty pictures! It was fun to go on a weekday. It felt like we were playing hooky!

Since our weekend started early with our trip, we continued the fun with a massage on Saturday, a visit from Katy and Fancy’s secret dog friend, Moose, a party with Kayla on Sunday, and a visit to the Lego store. We came home with the next piece of our Christmas Lego village: the Christmas station, a little nutcracker ornament, and the world’s biggest Lego bag. I’m pretty sure I would fit in this sucker. See?!

(I will not be trying to fit myself in the bag, by the way, I just think I could. I think it would confuse Fancy a lot and she would probably try to eat the bag to get me out of it.)

My weekend continued through today unexpectedly.  I didn’t have to go to work at all. My first and last appointments cancelled and I rescheduled my middle one. It was right in the middle of rush hour and would have taken me longer to get there, than the appointment itself. It’s weird transition time right now, since I’m trying to get everyone transferred or referred before I switch to only one center. I will be much happier when my commute is 15 minutes instead of 45.

Because I had this extra time, I was able to work downstairs a bit. The responsible sewist came out today and instead of running out with coupons in my hot little hands for new solid fabrics, I looked in my bins! I want to make some more solid or neutral reading dresses to wear with patterned leggings.

I kept finding cute fabrics that I hadn’t seen in a while. I rediscovered another flamingo flannel piece. It’ll be pjs, of course! I cannot have enough warm jammies ever. I’ve been known to wear flannel pants in June.

Isn’t it cute? It’s waiting to be washed.

I tried to make  dark-colored dress, but didn’t have enough of the fabric. I started a tunic in a very light cotton. As I’m typing, I realized, I should have used a pattern from one of my books! It would have been the perfect fabric for it. Either way, it’s a new pattern, so it still counts for my list.

This is the pattern.

Here are the pattern pieces and the color.

It’s possible I need to branch out color wise… I have a ton of blue clothes fabrics.

Well, Fancy is telling me that it is her bedtime and she would like me to go to bed too. I hope you’re staying warm as fall turns into winter. I’ll be warm again in the spring. 🙂

Cozy Sewing
Crafty

Cozy Sewing

LSiehLeave a comment

We couldn’t take it! We had to turn on the heat. Fancy, as you can tell, was extremely happy. She’s currently snuggled on her fleece on the couch.

I love fall, but forget that about this time of year, I start to freeze. This continues until Spring. I wear two pairs of socks, sweaters, my Jayne hat, blankets as skirts, and wraps around the house. It’s not like we keep it that cold, I just can’t warm up when I get chilly. Fancy will only go out in her fleece when it starts to be 30 or under.

Being cold made me sew a pair of flamingo pj pants that have been in my U.F.O box for a while. I used a striped knit for a waistband and cuffs. I think they are adorable. It’s disguised flamingos in bowler hats, what could be cuter? They are very comfy and warm and I fixed the weird crotch pulling that happened with my last pair by actually following directions! Well, understanding them finally.

I also finished this cute elephant bag. I saw these two fabrics as remnants and they wanted to be together. Who am I to resist what fabric wants? 🙂

It has six outside pockets and three inside. It also has a recessed zipper. It is huge and I love it. Working on it soothed my soul after a couple of hard days at work. It also reminded me how to put in a recessed zipper, so I can add it to my bags for Etsy.

We also organized the pantry over the weekend and some of the closets.

We’re trying to decide how we want to finish the basement. The inner walls are covered in a veneer that isn’t even tacked on. You can’t see it much in the pictures, but the built-in shelves were not put in correctly, so it looks alarmingly like they are tipping forward. Those will come out and metal shelves will be put in instead.

We’ve learned to concentrate on just one area, rather than try to do it all. Being a homeowner can be a little overwhelming, especially when there is a lot to fix or change.

Fancy is teaching us the importance of play even when having work to get done. She’s a silly dog. She fits right in. 🙂

We tried to dress her up as a panda for tonight, but she tried to eat her costume. My sister-in-law sent us the costume and we were hoping it would be nice, but she was too focused on playing with it. Maybe we’ll stick to sweaters and capes for her.

Now I have to go walk her before we’re besieged with Trick or Treaters! Have a Happy Halloween!

Bellydance Beginnings
Crafty

Bellydance Beginnings

LSiehLeave a comment

My weekend was full of creativity, dancing, and friends new and old. My heart and head are now full of ideas and new things to try. I thought now would be the time to share some of them, so I can track my progress on them.

I was at Ooky Spooky, which is a Halloween themed bellydance event put on by Boheme Tribal. https://www.bohemetribal.com/

I love this group of dancers, especially Sarah, the owner. She’s so warm and supportive to everyone and introduced me to my favorite dancer, Mardi Love. I promptly gushed and was too embarrassed to say anything else the whole weekend. I was starstruck. They almost had to stick me in a corner with boozy tea so I could calm down.

Normally, I’m too shy to even talk to the headliners, but I was trying to be brave. I kept trying to think of a way to play it off, but there’s not really a way to say “hey, I swear I’m not a creepy stalker fan” without sounding like one. She was very nice about it though and didn’t run away screaming. I may need to work on that…The not gushing part, not the causing people to run away screaming part.

The workshops were fantastic. I was dancing, so I have no pictures and there were no pictures allowed during the show. You’ll have to imagine a room full of sweaty, energized, slightly dizzy from turning, dancers. 🙂

I ended up actually doing the two technique workshops and just watching the choreography ones. My back was not happy with me. I didn’t do enough dance to prep it ahead of time. It felt good to be dancing again. With switching jobs and financial stress, I haven’t been able to go to an actual class for a while. This weekend made me realize that it needs to be a priority again. Dancing at home by myself isn’t as much fun.

So you may be asking “But how did you even start bellydancing?” It’s a valid question. I’m a tiny blonde lady who still gets carded for R rated movies. It’s not exactly something you would think I might like to do.

It started when I was in grad school and noticed that I was gaining a lot of stress weight. I saw a flyer in the Rec Center while walking the track one day and since the classes were free, I decided to try it. Oh my goodness! It was the most fun I had ever had. For once, my belly was supposed to jiggle and it was high energy and graceful at the same time. It also didn’t affect my asthma at all, which most strenuous exercise does. I went home feeling great! Reality kicked in the next day when I could move without at least 3 different painful spots. 🙂 I loved it though and kept going back.

I am lucky enough to live in an area where there are lots of different styles to choose from. There’s tribal fusion, classic Egyptian, and ATS teachers in my area. I tend to stick to tribal fusion, but really like the classical class that’s close too. Explaining all of them is about three more posts though…

Bellydancing also helped me find an outlet for sewing, as I’ve made a few costumes, and of course, all the hip wraps for Etsy.

Here’s a picture of my fanciest costume and what it started out as.

The shirt was a $6 Salvation Army purchase. It is a vintage Neiman Marcus piece, which my Mom attempted to buy to save from being cut up. The top and the skirt appliqués are all hand sewn. I still have a bag full of the beaded parts, which I will use to add some fabric to the sides at some point. It has two slits in the skirt. I performed in it at another Boheme event last spring. 🙂

I’ve also made some other individual costume pieces for dances at Ren Fest.

These were from the same year. I wore black 25 yard pants (hem measures 25 yards if spread out) and a lace sleeved pirate top under the corset vest.

My very first hip scarf! It is red and white stripes on the front. I had different tassels on it, so was showing the reversible side for this picture. I wear it to any vending show where I am not dancing and all the time to class. It’s my favorite!

Dancing has always been a stress relief for me. I danced pretty much from middle school on, even through college. Bellydancing in particular makes me feel like I can take on the world and I don’t have to care what anyone else says. It’s a very embracing and supportive community.

Well, after writing out all that, I think I should go dance! Hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures and learning about my journey.

Sewing Frenzy
Crafty

Sewing Frenzy

LSiehLeave a comment

I should sew with friends more! I get energized when I do and it motivates me to finish things and try new projects. I had a sewing date with Kayla, who is working on a quilt and some other super secret sewing projects.

Fancy enjoyed her own deconstruction project while we were sewing. Every couple of months we let her rip up the Chewy box. She loves it and doesn’t eat any of the pieces.

I got to teach Kayla how to make log cabin quilt blocks by chain piecing and it was so difficult not to start a new scrap quilt myself. I desperately want to make a white and rainbow scrap log cabin in a different setting to play off of the black rainbow quilts I have made.

The stack of quilt tops I have sitting in a box waiting for me, is quite terrible though. I’m not allowed to start a new quilt until I finish one. I took them out to show to Kayla. I can’t show some of them, as they are wedding quilts, but this one is one just for the Husband and me.

It’s called Magic Lanterns. It’s from Scrap Quilts To Use It Up. It was one of the first major quilts I made and I’m pretty sure it helped my mother-in-law like me. She saw the pieces when they all came to visit me early in our relationship. 🙂

It looks really complicated, but it’s actually a trick block. You start with a large triangle with sides that turn it into a rectangle and then you cut it up and flip it and sew it backwards.

Here is what the border will look like when it’s done.

I have probably had the top completed for 8 years. Yikes! It will have a black back with strips of the leftover batik triangles interspersed for contrast. It should be beautiful and big enough to cover our bed. It already covers the top and hangs off the edge. With a 6 inch border, it will be perfect.

I also made more hip wraps for Ooky Spooky. I have been having fun using bolder fabrics and really playing with trims.

Here are some pictures!

Sugar skulls and silver chevrons.

Spiderwebs and black diamond check. It’s got a black sequin elastic trim.

The red is not quite as bright. These were basement pictures and I edited the brightness. It still needs to be top stitched.

Oh this belt.. It had better sell, otherwise I’m going to have to keep it. It has a really interesting shape, which  I will have to take another picture of later. It closes with part of a faux leather belt and two circle rings. It has black lace and red satin ribbons strung through two of the holes which can be adjusted as needed. It is impossible to get a good picture of this closure, but it looks so pretty and kind of tough.

The rest of the week will be spent photographing everything and getting it on my Square ready for vending. I have a lot to take pictures of, so there probably won’t be much sewing getting done.

Fancy is currently trying to motivate me to pet her by attempting to climb over my IPad… With a face like this though, how can I resist? (This is an old picture, but is one of my favorites.)

Have a great week!

Prepping, But in a Good Way
Canning and Preserving · Crafty

Prepping, But in a Good Way

LSieh2 Comments

So one of the weird ways my anxiety comes out is to consider doomsday prepping a normal thing. Granted, it’s a good idea to have canned goods and an emergency kit on hand, but when I get overly anxious, I can go a bit nuts.

For example, I texted a friend the other day legitimately concerned about what vegans would eat if we got nuked and trade routes went haywire. I don’t think almonds and chia seeds will grow in Michigan… Mostly, I was wondering about how long people would stick to the moral side of things food wise, if all there was to eat was animals. We have no problem eating animals, so I think we’d pull through. The food aspect was still concerning though.

So how does this fit in with my blog, you may rightly ask?

Well, I know how to cook and sew, both of which are very good skills to have during a crisis. The Husband has technical skills and is very good at figuring out how to fix things. We also have a fireplace and a dog who sounds very fierce. We may be wearing clothes made out of sparkly butterfly fabric during doomsday, but we will at least be clothed. 🙂 Plus, even though I haven’t canned tomatoes, I have at least a 2 month store supply in the basement. I am my father’s daughter because counting the canned tomatoes always makes me feel better.

I’ve also used my prepper anxiety for good. I packaged 4 freezer to crockpot or oven meals. I made up Hungarian Beef Stew, Barcoa Beef, Sweet Chili Soy Chicken with Carrots, and Jerk Rubbed Chicken breasts. We also have about a pound of plain stew meat that could be made into pasty, if I ever have a free weekend. The freezer is very messy, or I would show you a picture. Maybe after it’s organized.

I also canned applesauce. Applesauce is relatively easy. Cook it down, smoosh it up, add lemon and sugar, and can it. A few of my jars leaked a little, but are sealed, so I will have to keep an eye on them. It is delicious! It’s incredibly smooth and velvety. I may need to go get some more apples to make more. It made 7 1/2 half pints. The half pint has been eaten already.

I found really nice looking rhubarb at the store unexpectedly, so I have 6 cups chopped in the fridge to be frozen or made into something. I have some time tomorrow morning, so it may get done then, or frozen if I don’t have time. There were a few rhubarb recipes that I didn’t get made.

I did get some sewing done, when not busy worrying about the vegans. 🙂

This batch of tea wallets is set to be mailed today, assuming Fancy will let me off the couch. It’s hard to be productive with a snuggly dog around.

Here are the out and insides of the tea wallets.

These are headed out to Hawthorne and Vine, per a customer request. They were a little harder to make than I anticipated. The fabric print has to be a speific size and I had a lot of fabric waste, as I had to fussy cut it. The fabric is more expensive too and I can only get 3-4 out of a 1/4 yard piece. My normal ones are normally 6-7 out of a 1/4 yard. There isn’t as much variety, due to the fact that the fabric could only be used a certain way. I think these will be a by request item only after this.

I didn’t really sew much else. I want to make a couple more bags for Ooky Spooky and a few of the team wallets with whatever fabric I have left. I also have Dr. Who fabric, which I’m hoping will sell.

One thing I haven’t been good about prepping is my Etsy store. It was down to 10 items at one point, so I need to get that back as a priority. I was experimenting with picture options last week with a black background and I think it might work.

These were just taken in the basement and lightened with a photo editor. It’s a black dance veil over black cotton hanging from one of my new display shelves. Some of my items might look better on a black background.

I want to have a Thanksgiving and Christmas sale this year and see if I can move some of my inventory. I have way too many things just sitting around.

When I originally started to write this post, I thought I might not have enough to blog about, but then after writing it out, I understand why I’ve been extra sleepy lately. 🙂

Here’s another picture of Fancy, just to make your day happier. She was vocalizing her need for me to stop messing around and walk her.

Let me know your thoughts on prepping and vegans during the apocalypse. Or am I the only weird one who thinks about crazy stuff?