Works in Progress – Page 3 – Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

February 18, 2015

wiwo wednesday: chasing february warmth

I spent a long weekend in South Carolina warming up. Warming up from DC’s frigid temps, and warming up for Katie’s upcoming wedding! It was a relaxing and bonding girls’ weekend, with food-stuffed bellies and joy-filled hearts.

Now that I’m back in the snow, I’m trying to savor the quiet, content moments of the trip. The grays of our last beach walk, the batting-like cushion of the clouds underneath our wings, the golden sunrises and the brilliant stars. I’m working on saving it all up, an inspiration cache.

Of course, what’s a bachelorette party – especially in the Pinterest era – without a bit of DIY? My Silhouette and I have been having fun lately. I’ll be doing a lot of white-and-lacy projects in the next few months, and I can’t wait.

Marie started wiwo wednesday: What I’m Working On. I try and join her as often as I can to give you a peek into my creative process and my works-in-progress. See all my wiwo wednesday posts here.

February 4, 2015

wiwo wednesday: fabric storage and productivity

I’m joining Marie for wiwo wednesday (What I’m Working On). I always love to see what my favorite crafters are up to, and in-progress shots often tell an even better story than the finished product.

This week’s theme is productivity. It’s a never-ending battle, something I’m always Working On, but I’m continuing to streamline my space so that when I have time to make something, I get to make something.

Keeping supplies in plain sight is the best strategy for encouraging myself to sew more often. The dining hutch above holds my Roy G. Biv assortment of fleece, rolled for easy stacking (and easy on the eyes). The hutch also holds a few fabrics I’m looking to use in the near future, and all my spools of crochet thread – something I constantly reach for on little crafts. I call it My New Favorite Crafting Supply.

Another big issue was the lighting in my sewing room. There was no overhead lighting in the room, so I was operating with three task lamps: one at the table, one at my machine, and one at my Serger. It was barely enough light to sew straight, and this meant I didn’t enter that room after dark since it would be fruitless.

I finally found the perfect solution: strips of LEDs with an adhesive backing. They’re lightweight, yet super bright, and they can be easily removed when I move out. I didn’t use the adhesive backing on mine, Brad used a staple gun to attach them to the wall near the ceiling. My staples were just wide enough to clear the strip on each side and hold it snug. Don’t staple through the strip! I bought two spools, 16 ft each, so almost the entire ceiling of my tiny room is surrounded in lights. The indirect light is perfect for sewing, and obviously I get a lot more sewing done when I’m not restricted to daylight hours.

Finally, blogging. Again, it’s all about getting myself started. Blog photos are definitely something best kept to the daylight hours, LED lights or no LED lights (although I’m hopeful they’ll help). But coordinating an idea, photos, photo edits, and an actual post becomes an ordeal when usually I only have the time or the energy for one of those.

I finally gave in and made myself an editorial calendar. The most basic calendar in the world, because grays give me room to do whatever I want. I’m sorting post-it flags by post category, and of course the mobility of post-its is their best feature: nothing is fixed, everything is fluid.

If you’d like to download a copy of my February and (most of) March editorial calendar, it’s here in PDF form:

Download Feb/Mar 2015 Printable Editorial Calendar (PDF)

What are you working on? Do you have any productivity tips to share with me?

More LED strip info, for the curious

For my sewing room, I used 2 spools of HitLights Warm White High Density LEDs and chained and plugged them into one 60 watt power supply. I chose the high density because I wanted it to provide light for the whole room, and I’m glad I did – they’re still not too bright (unless you look directly at them). I chained them and plugged them both into one 60W power supply, which worked fine for me, and I noticed no decrease in brightness. The manufacturer recommends using 60W per strip, meaning I should have used two power supplies, but that made no difference in my case so I just used the one.

The reviews make these sound complicated, but you really just have to plug everything together and go! If you want more details or need help, as always, ask away.

(LED links are affiliate links, but I’m telling you about these because I’m excited about them – not because I’m looking for a cut.)

January 21, 2015

wiwo wednesday: around the house

I’m joining Marie for wiwo wednesday (What I’m Working On). I always love to see what my favorite crafters are up to, and in-progress shots often tell an even better story than the finished product.

Winding down from the holidays, for me, means spending some time on my own and working on the just-for-fun projects that got put off in favor of gifts, cookies, or decorating. January and February aren’t my favorite months creatively since they’re so dark, but the cold does keep me inside, and inside is where the crafts are. So I’ve had a few little projects going.

I’m working on a copy of a favorite t-shirt of mine. The stripes were printed, not woven in, so they faded quickly. But I love the silhouette of this tee, with its wide neckline and roll-up 3/4 sleeves, so I’m hoping I can recreate it at least seven times so I can wear it every day. (haha)

This gray is looking to be a questionable color choice, but it will serve as a muslin more than anything. I’m hoping the fit will be perfect from the start, since I loved the fit of the original shirt.

I’m working on new curtains for my bedroom: my first time sewing with blackout curtain fabric. Here’s a hint: teflon foot required! The wrong side of that stuff will stick to everything! It’s also very heavy, so if you’re looking to get a workout out of your sewing project, this is the stuff.

I’m thrilled to see that these are a huge improvement over the white curtains I had made earlier. The white ones didn’t block any light at night, and their texture, while cute up close, had quite the “hospital” feel once they were hanging in my all-white room. The new curtains will be a welcome change.

And here’s more of a “What I Worked On”… my family has been swept up with HGTV marathons recently (i mean, the entire channel is an endless marathon), so I thought I’d pull an HGTV stunt and paint the kitchen island while they were out for the weekend! It used to be white, so this olive shade is a huge upgrade. It was so fun to do a little surprise: something small that made such a big difference in my parents’ kitchen. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like surprise paint!

What are you working on this Wednesday? Feel free to send me a link in the comments!