Flamenco

I found this wonderfully funky embroidered cotton piece at Anthropologie in their sale closet. I can't wait to use it somewhere and I'm thinking that an apron is the perfect place. I can incorporate lots of ruffles.

What is so funny about this is that Flamenco is a Spanishdance yet these figures are so Eastern in their pose and gestures. The says "Made in India"

That's one reason I like it!

Apron Mania

My shop was out of aprons so I went on a 2 day apron making binge. I just can't stop!

Spoonflower Patchwork

I'm very excited. I finally did something with my Spoonflower fabric! I started to put together some patches which will probably go into a lap quilt. I was lucky my design just happens to coordinate with Amy Butler's Full Moon Polka dot fabrics in orange and green, I really love this combo. I would like one other fabric to go in between the squares but I'm not sure yet.

Pom Pom Confusion

I made wool sheep out of roving pom poms recently, using cardboard, low tech. Yesterday I bought a Clover pom pom maker for $7.50 which I thought would make it easier to make the poms. Well, it actually is easy! Once you figure it out. My first pom, very sad:



The next few were made with the maker but I had to tie them after the fact which made it even more difficult than my original low tech cardboard method and the shapes were a little wonky. NOT understanding why anyone would buy this silly plastic thing, I do an online search.



Voila! Thanks to Craft Critique (thank you thank you), I realize the instructions on the back of the package were very minimal and don't mention the most important step, which is to wrap the wool around BOTH plastic pieces. Although you can't really tell from this photo, this last pom pom was made quickly and is much more solid than the others, yahoo! Hoping to make a bunch of little sheep and then try replicas of my keeshonds. They almost look like they were made with a pom pom maker, hehehe.

Heather Ross Fabric Obsession

I bought my first H. Ross fabric earlier this year when one of my OFFs (online fabric friend, BTW, I made that up) announced a sale on the gnome and VW bus fabric at an online store so I bought gnomes, pink buses, dots and stripes. Recently I became aware how HTF (hard to find) this set of fabric has become! It's from Heather Ross' collection: Lightening Bugs & Other Mysteries fabric collection. Now of course, I want it all.

Not really but I did want some of the goldfish in bags and out of the bag. You can still find some on Etsy and eBay but it's really expensive, like $14.00 for a half yard or higher. After searching online for HOURs, I was able to find someone who wasn't selling it but offered to selling me 2 yards of each for $8.00/yd, woohoo!

Oh, and if you've never seen this in person, the fabric is really smooth and soft, I'm not sure why it's so different from other cotton fabrics but it feels like it should be pajamas or sheets. Perfect for a quilt!

OK, I am really obsessed.

Linen and Liberty of London

I've had this small piece of Liberty of London fabric and was trying to think of something heart-themed and came up with these little appliqued scrunchy heart shapes free-form quilted onto 100% natural linen. Back is also linen, trimmed with the same Liberty fabric. Embroidered on the front with the French phrase: Mon amour pour toi est eternel (my love for you is forever).

Potholder Mishap

I spent WAY too much time on this project and then it ended in tragedy. Sigh. Using layers of organic cotton terry cloth, insul-brite, batting and cotton fabric, I quilted everything together, formed a pocket on one side and when I went to add the binding, the layers were just too thick. I had to sew the binding on each piece separately and then sew them together. I haven't done much binding so it's not really my expertise. Yet.

More tragic photos on my Flickr page.

Bottle Cozy

There is no end to what I can find to cover with linen in my kitchen. I already have an espresso machine cover and a mixer cover. Yesterday's project was the dish soap bottle cover.

The "neck" has a drawstring and folds down to accommodate bottle height. The tie is separate and can be tied around the bottle any way. I like the sleek way but you can also tie it around the "waist" and it cinches in more. I guess you could leave it loose as well. Anyway, gives a uniform look to my tiny countertop.

It could be funny the first time my husband looks for the soap bottle! He won't recognize it.

New Project, New Supplies

I'm going to make potholders using this yummy organic terry cloth fabric from Michael Miller using the dotted strawberry linen and red dotted binding. Stay tuned for the results.

I made a trip to my favorite local store, Fancy Tiger (in Denver only) and was very disciplined, only buying this terry fabric and a few gorgeous linen and cotton ribbon trims. It was really hard, they have such wonderful stuff there.

A Sort of New Year's Resolution

I have decided to make some quilts for my family this year, starting with my nieces and nephews. I would like to start with my 8 year old niece, a twin bed quilt and her two brothers, 10 and 11. It is SO easy to pick out fabric combinations to buy BUT I really need to reduce my stash so I'm going through the process now to put fabrics together. They don't have to be by color but this is a start.

I pulled out all fabric from my stash with aqua blue, then olive green and then red. WOW, I have a lot of fabric. Anyway, I have other things to do but next I'll do oranges and browns. Then I'll try combining them. Much harder than I thought it would be!

Spoonflower

A few months ago I hopped on the fabric design wagon and made this loverly fabric at Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a wonderful business that prints small quantities of fabric from your own designs. You send them anything and they print it on fabric for you.

It's been sitting in my stashtastic closet for awhile and I really want to make something out of it, what do you think I should make?

Fix You

OK, there are many amazing things about this video I want to say but I think you should watch it for yourself. I received the movie Young@Heart from Netflix on Jan 2nd but didn't watch it until last night.

The man singing Coldplay's song "Fix You" in this video is Fred Knittle and he died 4 days ago on January 1, 2009 at the age of 83. He was supposed to sing a duet with another member of the chorus who died just before the concert.

Before and After

My new craft project started with a trip to the thrift store where I spotted some Pendleton wool skirts, most probably from the 70s and 80s. I would know, I wore them then!

I cut them apart, which was really hard for me, they are so well made, meticulous craftsmanship, all fully-lined, ouch. Then I experimented by washing a small scrap in the washing machine and drying it. It hardly changed the wool, just made it a little softer.

The next you know, they have become pillows! I love reusing, especially such good quality.

New Year, New Blog

I wrestled with starting a new blog. My old blog was geared to my Little Bitsys business (old blog here) and I really wanted to encompass more of my creative endeavors and darn if Sewing Geek wasn't already taken on Blogger! October 8 is my birth date and since 2009 will be a REALLY HUGE year for me (not telling) I thought it would be appropriate.



A week ago, we had out of town visitors and I took them touring around the area and we stopped at Bliss Ranch outside Loveland and took pictures. These little guys just got to me, little merino babies with sweaters on, they were so friendly, sticking their heads out to get a little attention. The alpacas were also so interactive and this multi-colored punk rocker just stuck out, what a cutie!

I don't knit or spin but I did do a little needlefelting this year and made these sheep out of corriedale wool from Larkspur Funny Farm, a fellow Etsian and Coloradan. I am usually sewing so it is nice to take a break and do something different! I did sew the little scarves.