Another Doll Quilt

Well, I think obsession is hardly the word to described what is going on over here at casa de Katie. I've totally been stalking the doll quilt swap, and I'm so jealous of everyone's beautiful little quilts, but it's also been quite inspiring. While perusing flickr (completely addicting), I found a few groups for doll quilts. One is the Doll Quilt Challenge and July's challenge is the Confetti Quilt with a tutorial by Lady Harvatine. It is a wonderful tutorial and a fun technique.

I finally finished up the binding today and I think it came out pretty well. It is a little puckered, but what can you do. I did some handquilting again, only few straight lines around the squares.

I'm trying to decide if I should keep it, or offer it as a prize for the Use What You Have Challenge. Speaking of, it is almost the end of July. Remember to add your projects because the amount of projects you add equals the number of entries you get for the prize!! So get to using up your stash, it's only a few weeks before you'll all be running out to the fabric store!

I heart IKEA

Since we have a very small house, I have limited crafting space. With only 2 bedrooms, our dining room has become my sewing room. We never have meals on our table, and the hutch has been home to most of my crafting supplies. When it started looking like this, I knew things were out of control. A quick little trip to Ikea and I now have a somewhat organized space. It's not able to hold everything, but it defintiely cleaned the space up.

I may get some more of these organizers for my bedroom/office area. Most of the rooms in our house serve a dual purpose, and I just love little things like this that make the space more functional. Ikea rocks, seriously. We are lucky enough to have one down the street. Unfortunately, me and the rest of the D.C. area likes to shop there, so it can be quite crowded. At least they have .50 hot dogs to keep Isaiah entertained!

Doll Quilt Finished

Oh, how I loved all your poop stories. I am happy to report no more pooping instances have propped up. Thank goodness. I finally finished my first doll quilt in my quest for a wall of quilts. It's really small, but I do love it. I'm glad that it is all mine and that I don't have to swap it!! I hand quilted it, which was an experience. The stitches are long and uneven, but I kind of like it like that. I don't know how the Amish do it so neat and perfectly. I suppose practice makes perfect. I also used Heather Bailey's tutorial for quilt binding and it is brilliant! It is written so clearly and couldn't be easier. I didn't take a picture of the back of the quilt, mostly because I forgot, and partially because it is not too pretty to look at. The backing is from the same fabric as the binding. Now that I have a lot of 5" squares I see many more doll quilts in my future!

The pictures aren't the best because I think we're getting ready to have a thunderstorm. I love when it rains in the summer! Have a great weekend!

Thrifty finds and a story about poop

It certainly is nice having John home for the summer. One of the perks is that I actually get to go to the thrift store by myself, and on the 25% off day nonetheless. I was trying to find a few finishing touches for my swap (for which I was successful) and ended up finding some other goodies as well. I swiped up this lot of See, Hear, and Read books with records.

They're so cute I can't stand it. Even a Strawberry Shortcake one. I had these books when I was a kid and had one of those tiny little record players in my room. Oh, how I loved them.

I also found this cute vintage paper tablecloth. I think the print is just so darling and I wish it were fabric!! Anyway, it is still in the package and I'll probably use it for some papercrafting.

And now, the reason why you're probably really reading this post. The poop story. Now, if you don't like poop stories, stop reading!! It goes something like this:

Last night Isaiah went to bed surprisingly easy. I said yesterday that he hadn't been sleeping well, so this was a much welcomed easy night to bed. Ohh, wishful thinking. He woke up around 10ish and I brought him into my bed where he promptly fell back asleep. Sometime after My Life on the D-List, I fell asleep next to him, only to be kicked and pushed by Isaiah in his sleep. Shortly after that, he woke up and stayed up until 1:15 at which time I called John at Outback and asked him if he was going to be home soon because I was too delirious to deal with Isaiah. Long story short, Isaiah stayed up and played until about 3ish and then slept with us, only to wake up at 7am. Being the good, tired parents we are, we put him in his crib. I thought we were in the clear and we heard no noise until 8:15. I just thought it would be o.k. for him to play in there for awhile. No one told me that a kid screaming and making monkey noises meant that the child needed something. Who knew. I walk in the room, only to find Isaiah standing naked in his bed, a poopy diaper on the floor, and several poop smears on the crib, activity box, and sheets. Oh yeah, and all over Isaiah's face. Why didn't I think to take a picture!?!? Surely he'd want to see that photo in his wedding collage.

Several notes to self next time (and hopefully there won't be a next time)

1. Do not put child in bed in just a diaper. Pants with suspenders are necessary.

2. If a child is screaming loudly and making strange monkey noises, one should check on him pronto. Don't play the waiting game with your husband to see who will get up first.

3. After child won't go to bed at 3am, put a note on him "Free Cute Baby" and leave him on the curb. Just kidding, I'd wait til morning when there are more people awake.

I know I'm not the only delirious poopy smeared mama out there. Please tell me someone feels my pain!! Oh, and my favorite quote from John. "Did he think that if he made monkey noises that it would be ok for him to smear his poop!?!"

Everything's coming up...

Orange and yellow. I haven't been sharing a lot of crafting lately mainly because Isaiah hasn't been a very good sleeper lately. Any crafting that has been done has been for my Bucket Full of Sunshine Swap. At first I was having a hard time figuring out what to do. Generally orange and yellow are not among my favorite colors, but suddenly, I started having yellow and orange tunnel vision. It was everywhere. And I loved it. Now I'm almost finished, but I'm just finalizing my container which is giving me a little trouble. Grrr..

Anyway, my partner Raesha tempted me with a little sneak peak, so I thought it was only fair to do the same.

Look, even the Zinnias and the surprise tomato plant in my yard followed suit.

Thank you, may I have another?

Oh Martha, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... This morning I'm enjoying an excellent muffin baked fresh earlier from Martha's Baking Handbook. Plum Coffee-Cake Muffins. Yum. I have made this twice this week. The first time I substituted peaches. This morning, plums from the farmer's market. Baby plums to be exact. I also made a struesel topping that the recipe didn't call for it. Odd because I when I think of coffee cake, I think of crumbling topping. But maybe that's just me. Anyway, I'll share the recipe. If you don't have this book, you should get it. It has some great recipes in it. These muffins are so easy to make and really quick. Well, that is, if you remember that you don't have eggs and your husband doesn't have to run out and get them in the middle of baking. Otherwise it'll take 1/2 hr, baking included.

Plum Coffee-Cake Muffins

1 stick of butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 T for sprinkling

3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon (add more if you like spice)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 T of baking powder

1/2 teas salt

pinch (or 2) of nutmeg

2 large eggs, room temp

1 teas vanilla

3/4 cup of milk (I used skim and it's fine)

3 ripe red plums ( about 1 pound) cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 375. Butter 10 cups of muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, 3/4 cup sugar. set aside.


In another bowl, (I just used my pyrex measurer) whisk together wet ingredients. Using rubber spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture until just combined. Fill each cup halfway, smoothing batter flat.


Distribute the plum pieces even among the cups. Spoon remaining batter over top. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar mixture (or make a streusel topping, as I did).


Bake, rotating pan halfway, until the muffins are puffed and golden brown, about 16-18 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand 5-10 minutes. Turn out muffins on a rack to cool for a few minutes. Serve warm.


I'm enjoying mine with a nice cup of coffee, made from coffee beans from the farmers market. Lucky me. I acutally had great pictures of the process, but John gave me the camera without the memory card in it. And since I still don't have my cord, I have no way of getting them off the camera. grrrrr.

More Swappy stuff and Winners!

On Monday I received my swap package from the swap I organized. Stefanie was my partner and boy did she send me some great stuff! I was like a kid in a candy shop going through all the delicious items to sent me.

She also included a Martha book because she knows I have an unhealthy obsession with her (but who doesn't, right??) With all my new fabrics I've been receiving, I really need to get to sewing!

Speaking of Martha, I'm putting my ideas together for my upcoming swap idea. Anyone have any input on what they'd like to see? I'll probably get the details out within a week. I have to finish up my swap things for the Sweet Goodness Swap. My partner is Ms Raesha and I'm hoping that she'll love all the goodies I'm going to be sending her!! Once that is all sent out, I'll put up the details for the swap. So, be on the look out next week.

And finally, thank you thank you for all your sweet comments on my 100th post!! Without further ado.... the winner of the box of goodies is... Kirsten and the winner of something I'm making is... Felicia.

So ladies please e-mail me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com

Felicia, you'll have to wait a few days until it's finished ;) Hope you don't mind!

Quilty goodness

Perhaps you remember saying that I'd like to have a wall of quilts. I started my hexagons, which oddly enough, have still not been sewn together. So much for finishing my 4th of July quilt. At least that happens every year.

Partially to blame for the unfinishedness (a new word I think), was my new stack of 5" squares. They were just so yummy and cute I had to start using them. Awhile ago I stumbled across this tutorial at Allsorts blog, which is a great blog by the way. Anyway, she used much bigger squares, so it was a little difficult maneuvering my tiny ones. (BTW, check out her awesome quilt!)

I just love how this is coming out. (I also just realized these pictures are quite blurry.) Don't look too closely, or you'll notice that the squares in between don't quite match up right.

All I have to do is quilt it and then do the binding. That should be an experience.

I also paper pieced a few more blocks from Amy Karol's mailorder.

I think that I should have put some border in between the blocks, but they're sewn together now, and they're going to stay like that. I also have to quilt this one. I'll probably do them at the same time. I just have to work on getting fabric for the backs.

Thanks for all the congrats on the 100th post. Don't forget to comment on the post below if you want to enter for the giveaway.

Fabric Happiness and my 100th post!

Ohmigoodness, where have I been!??! I've been waiting and waiting for my camera cord to arrive all week and it was driving me nuts! My mom had told me that she sent it out on Tuesday and I bargained with John that if it wasn't here by today that we could buy a memory card reader (which perhaps may have been one of my reader's suggestions.) Anyway, it didn't come today, so while I was waiting for an hour to get our new phones, I found a reader on sale for $10. Sold! Ahh, it feels so good to be able to upload pictures again!

Anyway, I have lots of new things to show off. I certainly won't be lacking in things to post for the week. You may remember I was involved in the "my fingers hurt" swap. It was one of the best swaps ever. Wednesday I received a box with 9 different packages of 5" fabric squares. Oh, the joy. These girls outdid themselves with the fabric choices.

I've had so much fun playing with my new fabrics, and can't wait to show you what I've used some of them for. Our lovely organizer, Jen, sent along her fabrics with this cute little pin. I just adore it!





Oh, and perhaps I should just spread the love. This happens to be my 100th post! (And someone else's as well) I seriously thought it would take me forever to get here, but at some point, I started posted almost every week day. My first blog was in October of 2006. And there is a very cute picture of Isaiah. It's just making me laugh right now.

When I first heard of blogs, it really confused me. I didn't quite understand the point. Then I found some craft blogs, and I became addicted (to say the least). I think the first blogs I read were Posie Gets Cozy and Little Miss Meshell. I still read these blogs and love them! I love the connections I have made through blogging and certainly the input on my crafty endeavors. So to thank you all, let's have a little giveaway, shall we!?!?! Some might think this is a way for me to get rid of my fabric for the challenge (ahem, Karyn), but since I've been getting some fabric goodness, I thought that you should too. Anyway, rambling. Let's see. How about 2 winners. One will win something crafty made by me (a surprise) and one will win a stack of fabrics, maybe some trims, buttons, we'll see what else makes it into the box.

Ok, you know the drill. Leave a comment to enter. If you're a lurker, de-lurk and tell me about yourself. I'll do the drawing on Wednesday. And, thanks again to all my bloggy "friends."

Good Things are back!

When Martha redesigned her website, I was totally missing the "Good Things" section. So this morning when I check my e-mail, I was happy to see that Martha said they were back! And now they are all in nice categories and everything. Since I have a few swaps going now, I won't do it for a few months, but I will host a Martha Good Things Swap. I did one on craftster a while back and it was great! I've been wanting to do another one, but I don't want to host one on craftster. That's just too much for me. Anyway, just keep an eye out. I think it would be fun with all the martha loving blog peeps. I can't believe I just wrote peeps and it's not even Easter. Oh my.

Anyway, my house is out of control. Since John works for a school, he is home for the summer. My schedule with Isaiah feels all out of whack. He's not been going to bed until 9 (and his bedtime is 7), waking up at 8 something and not taking a nap until 12. This seriously puts a cramp into my crafting. Isaiah, get your act together. Mommy doesn't like this!!!!

So, thanks for all your laughs, and sympathy about me putting my pictures on CD. Let's see what the disk holds for today's pictures. Oh, yes. Isaiah "strawberry picking" in NY.

Not thinking this through, clearly, I dressed Isaiah in a white shirt. Doh. Let's just say more strawberries made it into his mouth than in the bucket. Oh, and on the way home, the strawberry flat was next to Isaiah in the car. He had slept most of the way home, but when he woke up, I turned around to see him picking strawberries up from the flat and eating them. He was totally covered in red! Ah, fun times.

And a picture of the Hudson River and Catskills at sunset from Mills Mansion. I love that place!

Now, I could clean up or craft. Since John's napping, I think I'll craft ;)

Back to regularly scheduled crafting

So I am still without my camera cord. Luckily, my mom found it at her house and she'll be sending it to me. I feel so naked without it. Of course I was missing blogging and pictures, so I ran off to Rite-Aid and made a CD of my pictures. Now how obsessive is that?!?!

On our trip to NY, I started another hexagon quilt. I intended to just use red and blues, but some white sneaked in there, so now I have a red, white, & blue quilt.

Which is fine. John and I were married July 3rd, so it'll look nice in our room. Maybe I'll finish it by the 4th. We'll see.

This is a very addictive method. Almost as addictive as paper piecing has become. I ordered Kingpod's last mailoder and it had several different paper piecing papers. I've made these three blocks so far, and the plan is to make a few more for a mini quilt.

I used some of my vintagey fabric that I bought on eBay awhile ago. I loved them so much I was afraid to cut them up. But, these mini quilts are perfect because you only have to use a tiny bit of fabric. So much for stashbusting! I'm sure there will be some more quilting in the next few posts. Let's just say I'm a "little" obsessed with it right now. We'll see how long that lasts!

Last Call for Swappers

Today is the last day to sign up for the swap. I'd like to have at least one more person to make it an even number. So, if you were on the edge about siging up, come and join us!! It'll be fun, I promise. Just send me an e-mail seekatieswap@gmail.com with the info found on the swap page.

Back Home

We had a great trip in NY and I even managed to get some sewing done on the trip. I started another hexagon doll quilt and I was planning on sharing when I realized I left the camera cord at my parents house. So, no pictures today. I did try out one of these after Erin has showed off her cute one. It's so easy and cute I think all of you should make one!

Tomorrow's the last day to sign up for the swap. I hope some more of you can join us. It's a no pressure, no frills kind of swap. You can also swap a flat rate envelope so you don't have to have a huge stash to swap. Plus, you can fill it with other goodies other than fabric. If you're interested check the details or e-mail me at seekatieswap@gmail.com

Have a great weekend all!

Additional Swap Info

For international swappers, the size of the evenlope is 12.5" x 9.5" and the boxes are either 11"x8"x5" or 11"x3"x13". If you want to participate, hopefully you can find something similar to these. Basically the flat rate shipping offers one price regardless of the weight of the package. I think our post office offers international flat rate boxes, so I'm not sure if your country does or not.

For all other swappers, I think I will leave it up to you and your partner as to which box you want to use. Since the shipping is the same, it really is only the shape of the box. When you get your partner, just discuss which one you'd like to use.

Here is the button if you'd like to add it to your blog. It's kind of boring, but I suppose it'll work. I don't know why it is so small here, but here's the link. Thanks to Anina for fixing the problem!

Swap Info & Sign-ups

Since I've been using what I have, I've realized that a lot of my fabric have not been touched in over 4 years. While I still like some of them, my style has changed and I'm bored of having the same fabrics. I think that's my main purpose in wanting to swap supplies. I feel less guilty about getting some "new" ones because I'm not technically buying them

Anyway, here's the info for the swap. I'd like to call this swap the "Use What Another Person Has" swap. That way it will confine to the rules of the Challenge. And since I co-organized the challenge, I say that this swap is within the realm of the rules (hopefully you'll agree Karyn). So here is how the swap will work. I will offer the choice to either fill a flat rate box or a flat rate envelope. That way the shipping will be the same for each person, and the amount of supplies will be comparable. So, if you want to swap, but don't have a lot of supplies, the envelope would be a good choice. I will match people up by your preferred shipping method and I will try to accommodate which type of supplies you can send and/or which you want to receive. This is intended to be a quick swap, so try not to go crazy! Here are the guidelines:

1. Send only usable supplies. You can send scraps of fabric, but please make sure they are bigger than 2-3 inches. If you send scraps, please also include some larger things as well.

2. You and your partner can determine what you'd like to send and receive. If you want to include paper, beads, etc., that's up to you.

3. Vintage and new are welcome as long as they are usable

4. Try to use what you have, after all, that is the purpose of the swap.

5. You have to promise to use your "new" supplies in your upcoming projects

6. Try to include a variety of things, like trims, bindings, and zippers if you have them. It's not required, but I think it might be nice to include supplies other than fabric. Even old craft magazines might be nice.

7. Sign-ups end Saturday June 23rd, mail out by July 9th.

8. I will start a flickr group and you can post what you've received when you get it!


If you're interested in participating, fill out this form and e-mail it to me at seekatieswap@gmail.com

Name:

Address:

e-mail:

blog or url:

flat rate box or envelope:

type of supplies you'd like:

type of supplies you can send:

any other info, i.e., favortie craft, color:

willing to ship internationally if needed?

So this is what

500 5" squares look like. They weight 2.25 lbs and all but about 3 of them are prints. I didn't realize that most of my stash consists of prints. I hardly have any solids. I hope the people receiving these like a lot of prints! I'm so glad the cutting is done, and now I get to wait for the good part. Receiving 450 new fabrics! I think I'll use some of these to make some other doll quilts. Since starting my little quilt, and seeing this wall of quilts, I've decided I want my own wall of quilts! We'll see how far I get on that.

Now, I was thinking of perhaps organizing a very small, quick swap. I have a lot of 5 in squares left over because I found cutting in 4's was the easiest. It also left me with some pieces slightly bigger and smaller than the 5 in. So, I was thinking maybe a swap in which we fill up a flat rate box with scraps, trims, bindings, ribbons, etc. Basically, you could send whatever you want, as long as they are usable scraps, i.e., bigger than say, 2-3 inches. Anyway, if anyone is interested, leave me a comment or e-mail me. I won't be able to get to the details until next week, but I'll be able to answer any questions you have.

Tomorrow I'll be basking in the sun at the Yankees game, hopefully watching them beat the Mets! Last year was the first time I didn't go to a Yankees game since I was a little kid (darn you Isaiah!) So I'm super excited, and this is a great father's day gift for my Dad and John (although, John is definitely not a fan of the Yankees). Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend.

My fingers hurt

You know that old lady in Happy Gilmore that is sewing quilts and she says to Ben Stiller "my fingers hurt." Yeah, that would be me. Now I'm waiting for someone to scream out "Oh yeah, now you're back's going to hurt because you just pulled landscaping duty."

I'm loving all this hand sewing, but I'm really feeling it in my fingers and elbow. The outcome is worth it though. This is my first time attempting a project like this and I'm learning along the way. I have a lot of stitches showing, some gaps, and some skewed fabric. I know if this were going to be a bigger quilt, that I wouldn't notice these things. But since it is so small, I'm noticing every single little detail and it's driving me nuts. Hopefully I'll be able to fake it when I quilt it. If I ever get around to that!

I've been sewing while Isaiah's playing, or at night when John's at Outback. I don't like being downstairs in my sewing room when it's dark outside. It creeps me out. This is a perfect solution because I can craft and be upstairs. At this rate, I may be starting another quilt top for my car ride on Friday.

On the cutting front, I have to cut out of 24 more fabrics. The great thing about this swap is I get to rediscover all of my fabrics. I feel like I keep buying new ones, and I neglect the ones that I have had forever. And I'm really having no problem finding 50 fabrics to cut either. So, apparently I am a real fabric hoarder. Thank goodness for swaps!

Oh, a few weeks ago, I got a scrap pack from Posie, and it had this fabric in there. Only a teeny piece though, and I'm wondering if anyone has one that looks similar to it, or the exact one. I'd love to swap with you for it, or even just buy it from you if you do. Just leave me a comment or e-mail me.

If you can't buy fabric.....

How do you get around a challenge that you cannot buy fabric for? Well, you join a fabric swap! The other day Sarah posted about a swap over at Jen's blog, so I checked it out right away. Jen was only taking 10 people, so lucky that I signed up in time. The idea is that each person picks 50 fabrics and cuts out 10 5" squares from each. We're all sending our squares to Jen, and then she is graciously organizing all our squares and sending them back out to us. We're going to be getting a total of 500 squares each. Can you even imagine?!?! The idea of getting that many new fabrics (without buying, of course!) was so exciting, that I may have over looked the fact that it takes forever to cut out those squares. I started last night, and so far have only cut out of 11 fabrics. I'll be busy today and tomorrow cutting them out because they need to go in the mail on Friday. We're taking another little trip up to NY, so I won't have a chance to use up the extra few days before they're due out.

One swap that I am sorry I missed out on is the Doll Quilt Swap. I've been eyeing it for a while and hesitated and now it's full. I had been really wanting to try out this method for a long time. John's mother actually gave us a full hexagon quilt that was made by my FIL's aunts. Well, I think by them anyway. Both sides of his family were quilters and my MIL has a whole bunch of the quilts. So, last night I wanted to do some crafting that didn't involve my sewing machine. I drew out a bunch of these templates on the back of a magazine. Then I hand basted the hexagons. I started sewing a few together and this is what I came up with. Actually, John came home from Outback last night only to find me sitting on our bed with these spread out trying to find the perfect arrangement. Ah, I'm just laughing at myself thinking about it.

This has become very addicting and I'm really enjoying the hand-sewing. I figure this will be a good craft for the car ride. Last time I went to NY I was itching to craft so badly, so I'm glad I'll have something to bring along.

Alright, me and my rotary cutter have a date. Hope my fingers don't fall off! Oh the things we'll do for fabric.

Something other than totes

I was getting kind of sick of all the stash busting totes around here, so I decided I'd try my hand at making a wallet. I wanted something small, but long enough so I didn't have to fold up my bills. Not that I ever carry around a lot of cash. Anyway, I came up with the "skinny wallet". I figured, if I can't wear skinny jeans, at least I could have a skinny wallet. My pattern needs a little tweaking, but they came out pretty well. Only problem is that they don't eat up a lot of fabric. So, I guess I'll be back to more totes after all.

Last week I found some amazing thrift store finds. They'll be making their way to eBay soon, so if you've got a doll fan on your hands, you might want to check them out. First, this new in box 18" doll bed, with storage compartment.

A retired Angelina Ballerina by American Girl Magnet Room. Still in the plastic!!

I looked it up on eBay the other day and someone was selling it for $99. I definitely won't be selling it for that! I'm not sure it even sold for that anyway. Finally a brand new American Girl puzzle set. Interestingly enough, there was 2 of every on of these things at the thrift store. I only got one of each because I figured, if they don't sell on eBay, I can just give it to my niece.

I also found this cute little milk carrier on a quick visit to the thrift store yesterday. Perhaps it will be redecorated for an upcoming swap??

Now, I'm going to start some much needed housework. Hopefully.

Blah blah blah (Another great title)

Well things may get a little boring around here with the Use What You Have Challenge. I've been whipping up tote bags because they're so easy and simple. I may have to move onto another project soon.

Ms. Rebecca, of Thrifty Goodness, was a sweetheart and designed this graphic for our challenge. So feel free to use it and put it on your page.

You can right-click or here is the url. I hope mine came out ok on my page. It's a little small, but at least it's there. I should have paid attention in my html class in college. I couldn't pay attention in that class. My teacher's name was Sam Butz and he always said .edu funny. Kinda like " dot eee deee oooo." Ah, it still makes me laugh.

I had some thrifting success on Saturday. A 2 full bags of rick-rack and some yummy bindings.

Actually one bag had this entire roll of rick-rack.

Now before you go saying "But Katie, what about your challenge!?!?" I don't plan on keeping these, I'll add some more goody bags to etsy. But, I can't promise 1 or 2 won't mysteriously disappear into my stash. At least I didn't buy any fabric or sheets or pillowcases. And believe me there were some good ones. So I hope you're not rolling your eyes at me!! Hee hee. I'm showing some major restraint since this challenge began, but then again, it's only been a week.

Hop on over to our flickr group. We have some great new entries from Jess and Anina. Hopefully that'll coerce some of you slackers (not mentioning any names) into joining us ;)

Challenge Update

For all of you non-fabric hoarders out there, the challenge is still open to you. We know there are lots of crafty gals out there that are hoarders in something other than fabric! So, whatever your vice is (unless it is hot naked men, in which case, you can just send those pics to my e-mail.. just kidding!), come join our challenge. Refashioning, scrapbooking, crocheting... all are welcome! And of course, the challenge is open to you international crafty gals as well!

Thanks for all that have already joined our little flickr group and major props to Karyn and Chara Michele who have already posted some pictures! I hope they're not the only ones doing some major stash busting this weekend!!

In other news, I have an idea that I need your input on. I had this brainiac idea that perhaps starting a crafty mail order for kids would be a fun idea. When I was little, I used to belong to one through a hobby magazine. Do you think anyone would be interested in this? I'd love any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, so feel free to drop me an e-mail if you're interested!

That's all for now. Sorry for the boring-est of posts. Have a great weekend! I just realized I used an exclamation point in every paragraph. I just had a lot of coffee.

A Challenge for You!

When I walk into my "sewing room" I am so overwhelmed with fabric that it's almost hard to choose a fabric to use. When Karyn suggested that she needed to go on a fabric diet, I thought, well dangit, me too! So we have been e-mailing back and forth the last few days, coming up with a challenge to pose to all of you. I present to you the "Use What You Have, Stash Buster, I Will Not Buy Anymore Fabric No Matter How Dirt Cheap It Is" Challenge. Here are the "Rules."

1. You enter buy joining our group on flickr. You can post your projects there as you finish them. This will be the "official" sign up place
2. The challenge will last until the end of July
3. You should try not to buy any new fabric, but necessary sewing supplies, such as thread and interfacing are allowed
4. All types of sewing projects are welcomed, so enter anything that you've created using your stash
5. There will be a prize given at the end from things Karyn and I have made. Each time you enter a project, your name will be added to the pot. So, if you show us 20 projects, that's 20 entries for you to win something fabulous from us!
6. Feel free to post about this challenge on your blog.

If someone is smart enough and willing to make an icon for us, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!

Now, Karyn, did I forget anything? Happy Sewing!

Bag and Resin

Finally got to sewing yesterday. I put the finishing touches on this tote. I hand sewed on the rick-rack and it was very therapeutic. Hopefully I'll get to some more sewing today. I was a bad girl yesterday and ordered some fabric from Sew,Mama, Sew! I couldn't resist. The Flea Market Fancy was on sale and I've been wanting it for soooo long. Anyway, that's it for fabric. I'm not buying anymore until I get some more sewing done.

Here are some more pendants waiting in the wings to be resined. Is that a word? Anyway, this process is becoming very addicting. It's pretty much all I can think about. I may post a tutorial somewhere down the line, but I need to perfect my technique first. When I first wanted to make these, I looked for tutorials everywhere and couldn't find any. So, this is trial and error, and if all goes well, you lucky gals may get a tutorial.

Now I need to turn the computer off so I am not tempted to read blogs or visit etsy. I must sew or perhaps vacuum the cheerio encrusted carpet.