Drawing with Gel Pens

For Christmas my Mother gave my daughters and me, each, a set of gel pens.  We have been drawing pretty regularly ever since.  I found some videos on You Tube for learning Zen Tangle.  This is the lady I copied emulated. Doesn't emulated sound so much better.  She really is quite good.  This is not quite that good.  Fun, though.

 
My older daughter's drawings.  She is very into fashion lately.  From drawing dresses to making up clothes on a mini dress form.

My youngest daughter has to follow what her sister does, all the time once in a while.  I do love the bustle thing going on.  Thats something unique.

My younger daughter built this wonderful snowman all on her own. Isnt he awesome? I love his huge schnoz. 

Doesn't he kinda look melancholy.  Made me just want to say, "awww".

Duffle Bag: Simplicity Pattern 2274

It's like I forgot all about this blog.  Truth is I have been thinking about how I would like to grow it. Post more often, have tutorials, gee this sounds like resolutions.  Okay, here are my resolutions for 2014 in the Crafty area of my life. Some of which I have done but I need to continue to do it this year as well.

1. Get more organized in my crafty room (definitely have been working on that the past couple weeks).

2. Create with what I have and stop buying more fabric.

3. Finish my UFO's or rid myself of them.

4. Create an Etsy site to sell my stuff.

**************************************

I made this cute little bag from, Simplicity Pattern 2274.

Here is what I liked about the pattern/bag:

I love how big it is, plenty of room to pack stuff for a weekend away and then some.  Perfect for the quilting retreats that I go on where I pack my sheets and towels as well.

I love the side zipper.  Nice place to store things that you might need in a hurry without having to dig through the bag.  It's zippered so you don't have to worry about it falling out either.

I love the little front pocket- great place to stash a ticket as you are getting ready to board.

Here is what I didn't like about the pattern/bag:

Three inch webbing is hard to find so I made my own handles with stabilizer.

I also didn't like the floppiness of the bag- I think I would have used a little more stabilizer.

The one big thing that I didn't like was the quilting/cutting of the main body of the bag.  You should cut it to size after you quilt it.  Depending how close together your quilting is, it will alter the size of the piece. So, quilt it first, large enough so that you can cut away to size as required by pattern.

Would I make it again?  Definitely.  Since I made it for my daughter for Christmas I am sure I need to make it for my other daughter and one for myself.

Fabric Bin from a Charm Pack

I ordered a charm pack from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I dont usually buy charm packs but this one was cute and it was a good price.  So I bought it.  Kind of a teaser when you buy one of those bcause so many of them in the pack I totally want now.

I have been looking at the charm pack, feeling a little guilty.  I wanted to do something with it right away.  But what.

Meanwhile my kids have this whole collection of Christmas stuffed toys that come out once a year at Christmas time.  They usually end up all ove the floor, on the couch where I sit.... all over.  Then I thought I totally need a bucket to put all this stuff in!  Goodness.

Light bulb moment!

Sew a bin.  And I did.  You can totally do this with one charm pack and a piece of muslin.  I used Kona cotton Hunter green in the inside but you could use muslin too.  I sewed 4 rows of 9.  I had a few squares left over for the handles and the letters.  I kind of screwed one of the letters up so I had to use fabric from something else. The two "f"'s were from the same piece but I put the fabric back to back.  I was so proud of myself cutting two f's at the same time.  Then I realized one was backward.  Ha.  So again I used a  piece of something else.

I used the hard iron-on crafters webbing.  It was great but I didn't have enough and did not want to spend more so I kind of improvised with scraps.  No worries, it's all good.  It looks cute but it is not going to win any awards for perfection, that is for sure.  No matter, it does exactly what it was intended to do with room to spare.  The thing is pretty huge.

If you want to sew a bin, I suggest you head to one of these sites to learn how.

A lined bin made from diaper boxes.

Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson for Sew Mama Sew

I am pinned to Pinterest

Why have I not been blogging on my craft blog.  Well, you see, it has a name... Pinterest.  Any computer time I spend drooling over the oodles noodles of Pinterest pin.  All very inspiring and all very addicting.

If you have not caught on to the mega mounds of inspiration that is Pinterest, what the heck are you waiting for?  Do it!

Here are just some photos that I found there among the millions.  These are the very things that distract me.

A little zaftig

tumblr

But I have been crafting too.  Honestly.  Just haven't found my way to my blog to tell you about it.  I will soon though.

Mousse Pad

Yes, those are my essential oils.  I am into it.  Thanks to my cousin a doterra rep, I have some melaluca, Breathe and peppermints.  Love them!  I have used the Breathe after I cam home from a walk in the cold outside.  My lungs hurt.  It totally helps me.  I was diagnosed with asthma last year. I spent a lot of time sick during the winter months.  On steroidal inhalers.  Anything I can do to not let that happen again, I am trying. 

But this is not why I wrote this post.  I finally made a custom mouse pad.  I love it.  The fabric is by Kaffe Fasset, one of my fabric designers.  I couldnt be more jazzed about it.  Its so easy. 

Cut the fabric to nearly the size or exactly the size of the mouse pad you want to cover.  You have to be pretty good aim if you cut it exactly.  I used Elmers Spray Adhesive*.  Worked like a charm.  Spray the adhesive onto the pads top layer.  Position fabric and smooth down.  Trim away any excess from the sides.

*Spray adhesive in open areas with lots of ventilation.  Outside is best!

Scrapitude Part II- triangulations

The next step in Scrapitude was announced.  Here is what you need:

1. Take your 5 1/4" squares, and cut them on BOTH diagonals (in an X from corner to corner). You'll consequently have four triangles from each of the 5 1/4" squares.

2.   Using the triangles you've just cut in the step above, sew 128 triangle patches using one background fabric and one scrap fabric.

Be sure you lay the background fabric triangle on top of the scrap fabric triangle (right sides facing), and place the 90-degree angle corner under your sewing machine needle to sew the 1/4" seam. This will ensure you're sewing the correct sides together.

3. Next, take your 2 7/8" squares and cut on ONE diagonal.

Using the pieces you cut in step #3 above, as well as some of your 2 1/2" scrap squares, you'll now sew 12 units together that use three different scrap fabrics for each piece. (Sew one triangle each to two sides of the 2 1/2" square.) Also, don't use the same fabrics in the same corners for multiple units as you'll be sewing some of these units together in the future. In other words, keep these 12 units as scrappy as possible. 

5. Next, sew 32 units that use two different scrap fabrics in the opposite corners, with a 2 1/2" square of background fabric in the center. Trim all your dog-ears. 

Note: You will have 8 smaller triangles left after sewing your 12 and 32 units--make sure they're all different fabrics. So you may want to plan ahead before doing all your sewing.
For an excellent tutorial/step by step instructions and a video from the Queen of Scrap- Charlotte, visit my fabulous friend- Sandy's blog- Quilting For The Rest Of Us.

Scrapitude- Month One

Don't you want to pick the thread off that one on the bottom. Ugh! Call me obsessive.

For those of you who do not know, one of the members in our guild is hosting a mystery block of the month.  Charlotte is an amazing quilter who pulls scraps together to make awesome quilts.  Sometimes she follows patterns and sometimes she makes her own quilt designs in EQ (whatever version she has).  This one is all a mystery to us.  We have had cutting instructions which you can see here and now we have our first step.  Follow along with us.  You can visit my blog or my friend Sandy to see where we currently are at. You can also post to the Flickr Group here.

Our assignment for this month was

With the two and a half sized squares, sew:

112 four square blocks (two background fabric, sewn in opposing places.
25 four square blocks of four different blocks.