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Friday, September 30, 2011

Feather Bag, Purse Contest 2011

Today is the last day to enter the A Lemon Squeezy Home Purse Contest! I put a lot of time and effort into my design and was able to finish the bag last night. I used this pattern by Lula Louise as a template and made several alterations. The La Jolla Sling from Lucky Brand, available here was also inspirational for me.

I purchased Dyer’s Fabric and used a potato stamp to print the diamond design for the body of the bag. Perusing the style magazines and blogs this last month, I noticed that Native print is in style this fall (see Billabong Fall 2011 and Hurley 2010). So I went with a native theme, after all - I am Native. I rounded the arm hole out more on the pattern and added the following: fusible fleece with extra strong interfacing on the bottom, cell phone pocket, pen pocket, swivel key ring, and a magnetic closure. The interior is a simple red with white polka-dot fabric. I used my Brother SE-350 to embroider my name inside, as I do on all my projects. I made the pockets freehand you could say, but they are similar to the pockets Amy Butler used in her Modern Diaper Bag (from her book Little Stitches for Little Ones) which was an earlier project I completed that you can see here.



The embellishments on the exterior were probably inspired by the 50+ blogs I follow. I have seen a lot of tutorials on how to make a tassel or braiding fabric necklaces and bracelets. I took some of my scrap materials from the bag and just started tying them on, gluing in feathers here and there. Overall, the bag turned out a little bigger than I really needed, but it’s nice to be able to carry my lunch! As you all know, Nola’s diaper bag can carry the kitchen sink. So this is a good medium size bag for shorter trips.



I will lovingly refer to my new bag as the Feather Bag. Try as I might to give it an interesting Salish name, there’s no way anyone will ever be able to pronounce those words. Check out this guide to Salish Pronunciation, our language is very guttural.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

New Blog Header in Honor of Halloween!

Halloween is upon us! The ghostly ghoulish night is my absolute favorite holiday, hands down! Fittingly, I updated my header for the season. I wonder, do you guys know how to make a header? Do you have a publishing software to play with?

I took Graphic Arts 101 my 2nd year of college. Its unbelievable how much really cool stuff you can make and edit in something like Photoshop CS3. I've often thought of offering Photo Retouching for people as a part-time business. It's time consuming, but I enjoy that type of work.

So, if I become a Homemaker in the near future, I will be a part-time Graphics Artist/Seamstress/Tailor/Crafter.

By the way - Ghost Adventures is one of my favorite shows. We sit down as a family and watch it religiously!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Wedding Flower Hairpiece


I finished this flower hairpiece for my bestie Nichelle tonight. This flower will be worn in her wedding, so I put LOTS of love into it with hand stitching. I have never singed fabric for manipulation effects before, so it took lots of practice and one seriously burnt thumb to get it right. I got the idea from a tutorial here http://mrspriss.com/tag/fabric-flowers/.

Nichelle, i hope you love it sister!!!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Finnstyle, Kalevala Jewelry


i <3 Kalevala jewelry!! I bought several rings before I left and received a necklace and earrings from my lovely Finnish fams since then. From what I remeber, many of the designs are replicas from an archaeological dig they did in Finland many many years ago. The designs are romantic and playful at the same time. Check out Finnstyle.com and see for yourself! And while you're there, I adore the Marimekko fabric, sigh!!!!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Spin Art


I was surfing my blogs, considering an activity for the kiddoes, when I came across this. Say Yes to Hoboken, via Whipup.net, had this cool idea to use a salad spinner for spin art! brody had fun splattering paint, and the mess was minimal :).

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Woman's tank-top onto toddler dress


i finished this gift with time to spare :). Saturday was my Great Niece Kara's 1st birthday. I used one of Nola's Old Navy dresses for a pattern guide and whipped up this blue dress from a women's tank-top i picked up at the Variety Storefor $4!

The design on the bottom is from a linoleum blockprimt i did in high school. I scanned a print into my fave photo editing software, removed the color and upped the contrast. Then I printed it on Iron-On Transfer paper. A lil' ironing and i was done!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Claire's 1st Birthday Present, Doll


i finished Claire's doll in the knick of time! She comes complete with her own dress with matching belt and scarf - all made by me. Her stomach is embroidered with 'To Claire, Love Aunt Patsy'. Hope she loves it and drags it everywhere with her until all the yarn falls out of her head!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Baby Shower Gift


Mrs Lynette Milligan is expecting her frst baby this august! The ladies gathered yesterday for her shower, these two onesies were part of my gift.

The 'i love bella' pic was pulled from Lynette's Facebook into Photoshop where I added the text. On the lavender onesie, i used my badass embroidery machine to stitch 'baby milligan' next to the hand sewn rosette.

I'm ready to start a local Stitch and Bitch. What's your craft specialty?

Monday, May 16, 2011

Nola's quilt, 3


Rosettes, check.
Quilted hearts up the middle, check.
Should i hand quilt the zig zags or do it by machine?
Let's not forget Nola's burthday party is sunday!!!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Quilt for Nola part Deux


The top is all pieced!! Nola's birthday is May 23rd, so whats that leave me? Two weeks? OMG!! I have to put the layers altogether, quilt hearts up the big pink row and whatever else i'm going to quilt, and finish with the blanket binding. You think I'll get it done?!?!? Who wants to babysit ;)?

Monday, April 11, 2011

Quilt for Nola


Just a glimpse at Nola's birthday preset. My lil' angel will be 1 next month!! i have been working on this mostly pink quilt since 2005. Its almost like I knew she was coming :). Cant wait to finish it!!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Maryjane Booties


My first post from my iPhone!! I finished these booties for nola today :). They are a little big on her, but she'll grow into them just in time for summer! I found the pattern at http://taoofcraft.typepad.com/. Cute pattern, but admittedly bummed there is a visible seem allowance in the interior. Adorable nonethelesa, and if i find time i will make another smaller pair :).
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