Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Yearly Archive: 2008

a slight dilemma

my quilt patches More than a year ago, I started work on this quilt, with hopes of finishing in time to take it to college. I figure having a nice handmade quilt in college will be great: cute, fun, and a daily reminder of my creativity. A few weeks ago, I remembered my goal, and now, less than two months before college (scary!) I’m attempting to finish an enormous quilt.

my quilt patchesI dug out the box full of patches, and counted up in accordance with my self-made chart. I then cut out as many additional patches as I could from my fabric scraps… then I ran out of half of the fabrics. According to my calculations, I need at least half a yard more of each of the lacking fabrics. And, as this was a stashbusting quilt, most of the fabrics were purchased from Jo-Ann’s clearance section well over a year ago, so I have no idea how to track them down. Oh no!

For now, I suppose I’ll keep stitching together patches.. I’ve got an extremely basic pattern in mind that I came up with myself (although I’m sure it’s been done before) but unfortunately, it uses a pretty much equal amount of each patch. Perhaps I can do a few simple patch substitutions with similar fabrics; as long as it’s somewhat organized, it should look pretty decent. I’ve still got some hope! But I can’t help realizing that I do not have the time to complete a full-size quilt; ugh. The quilt top is easy, but I have no idea how to do the other stuff!

So wish me luck, and hopefully I’ll come back with a slightly more optimistic post!

more illegal fabric smuggling

floss-covered beadsThis should bring some interesting google searches my way. But really, I’m not allowed to buy fabric. And really, I’m having problems with my self-made rule. So every time I buy fabric, I have to smuggle it past the roadblock in my brain, and let myself bring even more future projects into the house.

But G-Street, my favorite fabric store, was having a sale. And I want to try some more silkscreening, since I did it at school and I really enjoyed it. So I had to get some silk. (tip: i’m using some polyester chiffon – it’s about 1/4 the price of real silk, and it should work fine! i’ll let you know!) But of course, their clearance table…. and it’s so pretty and appealing, and everything’s $2.97…

So now to add to the pile of fabric-that-will-become-projects, I’ve got a turquoise stretch denim with which I hope to make a jumper, a bright pink print with birds for a summer tank top, new light blue velour for whales, black and pink flowered cotton for pouches, and, oh yeah, that chiffon I’m using for the silkscreening. It’s just so easy to think up lots of great projects when you’re in the store; it’s only when I get home that I realized I’ve added another week of nonstop sewing to my agenda. I really don’t have any more room for fabric.

And here’s a picture of my latest experiment: floss-covered beads. I got a few necklaces in Spain that utilized this technique, and bought them primarily for their cuteness but also for the inspiration. They’re not difficult to make, just a bit time-consuming. I’ll probably write a tutorial for them eventually, but they’re pretty self-explanatory.

So now I’m off to continue washing my new fabric and then playing with it… or maybe I’ll make a new screen today! ooh.. get excited! Whale t-shirts, anyone?

oh, the ways we spend our days

new rug and new pumas!Yesterday, my mom and I went on a college shopping spree. We headed to Target to peek at the minifridge of my dreams (it has a separate freezer – for ice cream emergencies!) although we didn’t actually buy it yet. Then we stopped by the outlet mall and looked through the Pottery Barn outlet. I was hoping for some awesome sheets, but they didn’t have any in the Twin XL dorm size. However, I did find my ultra-perfect dorm-ready rug. It’s huge, 7′ x 9′, but oval, and it’s blue, pink, green, and white. The braids are made of soft, fuzzy chenille, so it couldn’t be comfier. I also scored some clearance electric blue Pumas at the Puma outlet, and that made me very excited because my other cute & comfy shoes are just about dead. So that was definitely a successful shopping trip.

We also stopped over at Jo-Ann’s, because clearance is half-price and I’m planning on running a sewing camp during the first week of August. I’m planning to teach middle-school age girls the basics of sewing, and they’ll get to make and keep a pillowcase, a tote, and a pair of pajama shorts. I picked up some great clearance flannel, and I am very excited to pass on my skills to ensure the art of sewing doesn’t die off.

funny bunny goes exploringAfter all that running around, it was nice to have a calm, relaxed day today… not much that needed to be done, but still not so little that it became boring. I took pictures of the two latest totes, and put a bunch of Butterick patterns up on Ebay. There are a few for purses/totes, one for historical blouses and costumes, and lots and lots of patterns for outfits for young girls. If you’re interested, you can see my pattern lots here. I’m hoping to just get them out of the house, since we’re trying to clean out the basement, so whatever I can get for them makes me happy.

I also made my new, restaurant-class paninis for my mom, little brother, and myself for lunch. All they are is nice, fresh, Italian bread brushed with olive oil (i mix a bit of salt in, too), filled with whatever you like, and pressed into the sandwich maker. I like mine with cheese, turkey, tomato slices, and a few spinach leaves; Andy prefers just cheese. Whatever you put inside is made exciting just because the bread is so tasty!

I haven’t done any sewing today, and haven’t even been inspired much to do so. At first I was surprised, but as I looked around the sewing room it was obvious why I am not eager to start a new project. I have lots of cleaning to do… ugh. Last night, while I was on the phone, I sewed the head and arms on this little Funny Bunny (as I call them). I’m using that as my excuse for her lopsided “hug me” position. She’s still pretty cute, though… maybe the thought of making her little dress will be enough incentive to get me to start cleaning. I also think she might need some sort of nose; however, my embroidery abilities are quite sub-par.

Whether I clean or not, I’m pretty sure it’s time to get myself out of the computer chair and onto more productive things… I hope you are all taking advantage of the beautiful sunshine and fresh breezes of the last few days!