Fab Bee Blocks

thanks for all the love for my map quilt guys!


i'm really happy that i finally blogged it, cause i got to show you all the awesome photos, but also because i have SO MANY THINGS to blog, i need to start getting caught up!


such as bee blocks! i have so many to blog about!


first up, the Fab Bee, which is mostly made up of local people that i knew before the bee started, but also includes a few further away who i've gotten to know since.


Holly was the queen bee for May, and she stuck with neutrals for her block, which i surprised myself by loving! she sent us each a bundle of seven neutral fabrics, along with a teensy bit of solid coloured fabric, one colour for each of us. she also made a pinterest board of neutral quilts that inspired her - i'm sure they'll inspire you too!

remember the "It's Not About Age, It's About Attitude" tote that i made awhile ago? i made it right after i made Holly's block, you can totally see the similarities.





Holly even sent along embroidery floss that matched the accent colour in each of her blocks! she's so amazingly organized! i am less organized though, and didn't manage to get a picture of my signature block after i finished the embroidery...


Barb and Holly were apparently thinking alike, because she planned to do neutrals in June as well! for her block she wanted us to work with stripes, and asked us not to use a ruler for cutting, to just use our scissors. i think some of us were scared!



though most of the fabric that Barb sent were dyed solids, one of them was a neutral print, and i reversed some pieces of it to add a little bit more visual interest to my blocks.



after i finished the one big block, i sewed together all of my leftovers to make her a few littler blocks as well.


Darlene went back and forth, but eventually decided to have us make Stacked Book Blocks, cause they're her favourite. she made a pinterest board full of blocks that she loved (along with a few of her other options), and sent us a big bundle of fabrics that just screamed DARLENE as soon as you opened them!



can you guess which fabrics i added? there were two!

her block felt so simple compared to the others i've done for this bee (such as Cynthia's heart blocks!), so i decided to add a little bit of embroidery as a secret little message for her. i put it on the very top piece of the block, so that she could remove it and put it somewhere else if she liked.



it's very tiny! i used two strands of 50wt(ish) sewing thread to embroider it.



i used a Pilot FriXion pen to draw on my letters, so you can kind of see the white marks it left under my embroidery, hopefully that'll wash out after Darlene finishes the quilt.



Ellen (who doesn't have a blog, amazingly) left her month super open, just asking us to make blocks with an owl, however we wanted. she sent us a bundle of prints along with a navy blue solid for the background, and let us do our own thing. i was originally thinking that i'd paperpiece an owl, perhaps using Sonja's Easy Peeping Owl pattern that i sewed a long time ago, but then Sonja went and did a talk at the August FVMQG meeting, along with her patterns, and a few other people dibsed her owls first!

after i learned that, i thought about drafting my owl paperpiecing pattern, but i let it mull around in my brain for a little bit. then i had a brainstorm! i made up a sample to test my idea (which i'll blog separately, cause i LOVE it!) and then went full force into owl-mania.



after i made the first one, i couldn't stop, and i still had fabric that i hadn't used, so i made two smaller owls as well.


(i used a ton of starch on the eyes, but that'll wash out! that's why they look like they have marks on them, etc)

the owls use a whole list of techniques, which makes me super happy for some reason. they've got half square triangles (HSTs), 3D flying geese, improv curves, a prairie point (also known as a burr or a pinecone), and applique circles. i'm already planning more!



i'm all caught up with this bee, thank goodness, and i received the fabric for the September block from Berene last week. i'm very excited to get going on it!

Handmade Ornaments - owls, crosses and paperpiecing (with pattern!)

looking for my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway? scroll down, or click here!


speaking of the giveaway, ohmygoodness, y'all are leaving such lovely comments on that post! thank you! i'm definitely going to write up a tutorial for it, though it might not be until i'm home next week.

yes, you read that - i'm home next week! yay! i enjoy being out here, but i miss my friends and family, time to myself, and most of all - my own bed. i can talk to friends and family on the phone, and steal a few hours at night for myself, but there's nothing i can do about my bed! sofie and i will both be very happy to get back to it.



it occurred to me that i made holiday ornaments over a month ago, but i've yet to blog them. maybe that should be a new year's resolution.... hmm. anyway.

remember a whole long time ago when i mentioned the Trim The Tree Swap on flickr? i wanted to wait until my ornaments have been received before i blogged about them, but then i got distracted, obviously. and then i started making more, so i figured i might as well blog about them all at the same time.and then i contemplated writing a tutorial for some of them, but that's not going to happen, so i'm thinking i'll meet you half way and share my pattern. cool?

but wait! i'm getting ahead of myself here!

let's talk about the ornaments for the swap. i had three partners that i was crafting for, and because i think thaty's the best part of swapping, i always try to take my partner's likes and dislikes into consideration.

my first partner likes red, green and blue, woodland creatures, nature, and embroidery. after going through her favourites and checking out the mosaic that she made, i saw that she really loved owls. i spent a whole bunch of time looking at different owl projects, and pinterest'd a ton of them, and in the end, used a pattern that i've made before, because i love the end result, and it's totally mailable.



aren't they cute? i used red linen for the bellies, and a stripey green snowflake print for the owls themselves. i figured that way they can be christmassy or they can be wintery, however you prefer to look at it.

the pattern is actually for an owl garland, but i adapted it to make individual ornaments as well back when i made them in 2008. if you were on craftster.org back then, you probably recognize the pattern, they were super popular that christmas. the tutorial is by moonstitches, who also has a tutorial for cute little stuffy owls.



i posted them in the flickr group and asked which owl people likled best, and my partner liked the one on the bottom right, with the white eyes. i kinda think the upper right one looks evil, what do you think?


my second parter didn't make a mosaic of ornaments that she liked, so it was a bit harder to figure out what to make for her! however, she did say that she liked red and white, and after going through her favourites, i saw that she liked this cross pincushion made with teensy little wonky crosses.



i decided to use the red linen to incorporate a bit of contrast, and white kona. there's a layer of cotton batting, and as you can see, the backing is a neat red print that i found at the thrift. i made the ornament when i was out here in november, without rotary cutting tools or my own sewing machine, and i decided to embrace the wonkiness inherent in hand cutting strips of fabric.



i did a bit of hand quilting inside the crosses, and machine quilted on the linen. i like the combination of hand and machine.

and then because i LOVED how that one came out, i made myself an ornament with just one wonky cross. i bound them both in strips of white kona.



i combined hand and machine quilting in this ornament as well.



i was really happy with how they turned out, though i think that my binding was a bit too wide.



and my third partner! i struggled a bit with hers too, just because i really didn't see any patterns in her favourites or mosaic, any particular thing that she really loved. she said that she liked teal, burnt orange, and red, and that her tree was very eclectic tree. she preferred ornaments that are a bit funky, and is attracted to modern and scandinavian designs.

i decide to use one the shapes commonly used for vintage ornaments, and make it a little funky by (somewhat) freehand paperpiecing it. i made two ornaments using shades of orange, both solids and prints, and white kona, and again posted them to the flickr group asking which people liked best. she was super busy and didn't have a chance to comment on it (which i sooo understand), so i sent her the one with the most burnt orange in it.





i used christmassy fabric for the back of one of them, and the same folky red print as the cross ornaments for the second.



i didn't do hand quilting on these ones, just machine quilting, but i really like how the quilting emphasizes the curve of the shape.


so those were the swap ornaments!


and then i decided to make some more paperpieced ornaments. i have three more started, but these are the only two that i've finished so far. i wanted to try using a single fabric for the ornaments, and i like how that worked too.



i fussy cut the ornament fabric so that the snowflake would be centred, and i like the little bit towards the "neck" of the ornament too. i backed it with a super cute mitten print that i think is from the same fabric line... maybe. i might be wrong. robert kaufman, a few years ago? i'm not sure.



speaking of the "neck", i changed how i did the little hanger portion too. i used silver fabric, to look more like the usual ornament top. it's the same fabric used on ironing boards, and it worked perfectly. i also used white yarn, but that's just because i forgot my white ribbon at home and raided my grandma's yarn stash out of desperation!

i fussy cut the second one as well, and this particular print had the benefit of the stripes giving the appearance of piecing even though it was a single fabric.



i backed it with fabric from the same line, which is a bit more peachy than it comes across in the pictures.




so! do you like my ornaments? do you want to make your own?

here's the template i drew up -


if you open a word file, change your margins to narrow and set it to landscape, you can fit three upright patterns across the top of the page, and two sideways patterns across the bottom, with plenty of space around them to cut them out. and here's a sideways version, for anyone who doesn't have photo editing software to turn it themselves.

you can see that the ornament has four distinct sections - the top, the centre, and the two sides. piece the centre, then add the solid strips along the sides. piece the top, then sew it to the bottom three sections. does that make sense?

when you're piecing the background, you'll need to use multiple pieces, each with a slightly different angle, to maintain the curves. if you're not sure, click on any of my pictures above and go to flickr, where you can see the photos larger by clicking on "actions" then "view all sizes". clear as mud, right? on that same note, if you'd like to download the original size pattern, view all sizes and click on "original", then right click and save.

i wouldn't suggest these for your very first paperpiecing project, but don't be intimidated by the curves either!


if you make one, i'd love to see it!

halloween, homos and authority. and a red hat.

i was going to post a bunch of xmas pictures, even a few tutorials, when it occurred to me that i still have halloween stuff that hasn't been posted!

obviously, i should catch up on them first. hence, some of the stitching i was doing in october and november. (i posted the needlework vulva a while ago)

these two halloween pieces were just for fun, and were done right after a bunch of pieces that were my own designs. sometimes it's just nice to chill out and follow instructions, you know?

plus, i LOVE the patterns! they're designed by Prairie Schooler (book no 156) and have a vintage halloween vibe going on. i'd love to stitch up the moon and the cat too.

the skeleton


and the owl


they were both stitched with glow in the dark thread, which is annoying to work with, but oh so fun anyways. the skeleton bones are all glowing, and the owl's eyes.


once i'd stitched them up, i moved on to this for a friend's housewarming.


in typical craftydame fashion, i didn't count out from the centre (i hate doing that!) and my piece ended up being an odd shape that wasn't very frame-able.

to solve that, i sewed a piece of kona cotton onto both sides of the aida cloth. then i slipped it into an ikea frame that i'd painted previously, and ta-da!


the homo sweet homo idea has been around for ages, and i don't think it's possible to say who really started it. i'm not as fond of the more traditional sampler style cross stitch (with flowers and borders and bunnies, etc), so i chose to do a more graphic design. i used the same lettering as i did for the queer piece, ages ago now.

after i did the purple one for tara, i played with it a bit more, trying varying aidas. see how tiny the bottom one is? i didn't actually cross most of the stitches!



and somewhere in between all these pieces, i stitched up a radical cross stitch design to hang in my kitchen. (cause the colours match) their patterns are fabulous, and are available from their etsy store (along with issues of hoopla, which i also recommend highly!)


after saying that i'm not into the traditional cross stitch style (even with ironic words in it!), this may seem like a bit of a contradiction - however, there are NO bunnies. ;)


if you looked at the listing for the pattern on etsy, you might have noticed that the colours are a bit different. that's for two reasons. one, because i have six million skeins of thread, but never the right ones. i'm trying to use what i have instead of buying more, cause every time i walk into the stitching store to buy one skein, i walk out at least $20 poorer! and two, because i wanted the colours to be a bit brighter, to match the blue and the green towels i have in my kitchen.


i've worked on a few more needlework pieces since the xmas hoopla settled down, but one is a set of two, so i'll wait until they're both done, another needs to have the edges finished, and yet another is soooo sooo close to being done that it's ridiculous, but since it's my "PG" project that i work on in dr's offices and such, it probably won't get the finishing touches for a while yet.


however, one thing i did do, that i haven't done over a year, was pick up my crochet hook again! several friends were talking about crocheting, and i'd bought bulky yarn in a lovely shade of red at micheals on boxing day, so i got inspired.

i actually started out with a pattern, but quickly changed it drastically. i think i frogged and re-crocheted the majority of the hat about 4 times. it was getting ridiculous, truthfully.





i'm still not entirely in love with it. i kinda feel like it makes my head look like a mushroom, but no one else seems to agree. but i do love the colour!

swap package - clothes, christmas, stuffy and more!

okay, last post of the night, i promise. it's past my bedtime already.


this package was HUGE. i made everything for jungrrl, and then USPS lost it. (i think they hate me). i am very very sad, though i'm hoping that something magical will happen. i mailed it 45 days ago, so maybe i should give up hope!

i made her two shirts, one with my fabulous owl fabric, and one with awesome vintage yellow and black star print jersey







a dress, using the same pattern as the fuscia dress (actually made this one first)




another one of the plaid cropped hoodies (again, made before the others)




the hoody and the dress are both made out of the fabulous 70s poly knit new/old stock from the fabric store. i love that stuff.

a simple skirt made out fun fabric


a stocking with her name on it

(the black is an ultrasuede type fabric, and all of the doilies were dyed before they were stitched on.

the felt gun from readymade





a cool owl pincushion using a retro owl mug i'd been saving


and a vinyl octopus!

i absolutely adore this vinyl, the colour is amazing. i bought a few metres when i first got it, and then i sent my sister back for the last 2 metres on the bolt! i'll definitely be making bags out of it soon!

he has BIG pink eyes.... and polyfill stuffing just in his head/body

and blue circles (suctiony cups)on his bottom!

his body is cut from 5 pieces all together - 4 of the blue, and the large silver underside.

he was really my first attempt at a stuffy in years, much less out of vinyl, and i love how he turned out.



i'm so sad that this package got eaten by the postal service!