Sewing Crafts

Once upon a very long time ago – when I first started designing hand painted canvas – we had nothing more than Persian wool and cotton floss to work with. I absolutely refused during those years to do any Christmas ornaments, as these things should sparkle and shine.

They were actually kind of ugly, in my opinion, as little fat pillow things that were perfectly flat in texture. No decorative stitches or metallics or anything of that nature.

In about 1980, counted cross-stitch started becoming very popular. I didn’t enjoy it, myself, but I did enjoy finding the Balger blending filament (now Kreinik) and decided one day in 1985 to do a needlepoint ornament with it. I chose a chart of a peach, and put it onto canvas. It was then stitched with DMC floss and the blending filament – and voila! I had an ornament that sparkled.

However, about the same time I designed this pillow (the canvas now very old and grungy and never finished) it never occurred to me to also spice it up a bit by using the blending filament, so I intended to just use the cotton floss.

I had been watching recently Anne Stradal’s “needle blending” of the skies over her light houses, and started thinking about doing that with water, as the Great Barrier Reef and it’s flora and fauna absolutely fascinate me.

Then someone asked me about blending filament, and the light came on. Also, Anne is now doing a piece with water and fish on it – so the subject of seaweed, etc. came up. I spent a lot of time yesterday researching sea fans, and got quite an education on yet another aspect of Marine biology! Those things are gorgeous – so now my next project is to design some things with sea fans on them and to make them sparkle in a very subtle way with the Kreinik blending filament. I’m excited! (hope I can pull it off). I’m thinking how much more interesting this fish canvas would be with the modern wonders we have now.

The design was adapted from a silk pillow I purchased from a woman in south Florida many years ago. She would dive with her camera off the coral reefs down there, taking pictures – and then paint them onto silk. WOW!

First off, I need to show off the surprise I found in my mail. I squeed so loud the dog looked scared, lol I am part of a Craft it Forward and this beauty was what I got from Ruthie of Roseworks Jewelry…isn’t it awesome!!!!

And the prize. I won this cool polymer clay pen from Mel’s Clay.

And also from her was this cute little tin I got for myself….

And last, but not least, I got this bracelet from Mystic Wynd. This gift to myself actually led to prizes from the Etsybloggers Mega Giveaway – which I will show you after they are received & photo’d

What does back to school mean to me? Time. And sewing.

Last year my youngest had started preschool. It is only 4 hours long, but wow, what a difference that 4 hours makes! All summer I felt like I was getting nothing done. But starting September 21st…that to-do list shall start to whittle!!! That is still so far away…they start the little guys a few weeks after the “older” ones – you know, the Kindergartners

I will be a sewing maniac those first couple weeks, maybe. I am still a master procrastinator, so who knows. But I am really hoping to change things up enough to stay focused.

Oh, and blogging and Excel and Quicken…that’s what else school means to me. From that time aspect anyway.

I am doing A Craft A Day next month, just in time for back to school. It will be easy to check up on me to see if I am actually accomplishing anything. Here’s to hoping that the extra school time will be what I am hoping for *cheers*

Rounding out Friday with a final birdcage feature – this time a cute handcarved stamp by lovesprouts. I really love the darling stamps in this shop… I’ll need to add some to my collection soon.

I still have a gutted kitchen (and lots of dust and boxes), but I thought I would share a fall shower gift idea. My trend is to purchase a gift from the registry and personalize it with sweets. I’m almost too predictable with this pattern. I bought my friend this gorgeous vase from her Crate and Barrel registry and, in honor of her Halloween-day wedding, filled it with a layer of orange jelly beans, a layer of lime green jelly beans, and topped with fall-themed painted marshmallows. Given aforementioned gutted kitchen, painted marshmallows are about the only thing I could create.

For how-tos on marshmallow art, see my post HERE. I used Americolor gourmet writers, found HERE.

To draw pumpkins: Draw the pumpkin first with the orange marker. Use the brown marker to draw the stem, and the brown to draw highlights on top of the pumpkin. Use the tip of the green to draw curly cue vines. Let colors dry about ten minutes between each color used.

To draw fall trees: Draw the trunk with the brown marker. To make leaves, make dots with the red, orange and yellow markers. Use the tip of the green marker to make grass.

To draw leaves: Draw the veins and stem with the brown marker and let dry about ten minutes. Sketch red around the veins and stem, then sketch orange or yellow around the red.

What is my favorite craft or technique? Do I have to pick one? Not sure if I could. My mood dictates what my favorite of anything is, whether it be clothes, food, books, movies or crafts.

I would say that the craft I do most often is sewing, by far. But is that only because I (try to) sell what I make? Or is it because I love it so much? I think the best answer is Yes…to both. I do enjoy taking a flat piece of fabric and manipulating it into something totally different. Bags are what I make the most, but I really like to make clothes, stuffies, pillows, placemats & table runners, wallets, aprons and other house & holiday type things…I think that covers just about, well, anything ☺

Technique-wise, I wouldn’t know if there even is a “technique”…other than hand versus machine. And I like both. I am self taught so when it comes to the technicalities, I am not so much for the knowing. And yes, I know, horrible sentence, but I tend to write how I talk. Like my technical terms…they tend to be rather, um, imaginative. I now know of gussets and plackets and french seams. But I still tend to refer to techniques more like “that foldy in seam” or ” that squooshed together and sewn across texture” or “when you sew long and pull to get it scrunchy”. I know what I mean and since I work alone, it’s fine.

What other crafts do I like? All. I suppose there are some out there that may not float my boat, but so far I have not met a craft I did not like. I do need to work more in too. And next month is going to be the perfect opportunity. I am going to be doing A Craft A Day…so painting, clay, paper and everything else – look out because here I come!