Catalog Christmas Trees

I came across this little craft in the book, "Complete Origami" by Eric Kenneway, however I've since seen instructions for it posted around some craft blogs as well. It's a great way do something with all those catalogs that come (I could have created an entire forest). No glue or cutting involved, just some folding, and tada, cool recycled Christmas trees.

Clothespin Angel

My mother still puts this little angel on the tree every year that I made as a child. I was probably in Brownies or Girl Scouts. It's a classic craft of a clothespin, felt, yarn, glitter, and glue. Still cheesy and loveable today!

Bread Bag Clip Necklace

I was in the third grade and sitting in an assembly in the school gymnasium. Next to me on the bleachers was a new girl who was wearing a bread bag tie bracelet strung on a rubber band. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I pulled out the collection from my kitchen drawer and strung them on a snake chain. Great recycled/green project.

References:
Bread Bag Clips (Kwik Loks)

Awesome Thanks

I found a cute book of Paper Fashions at Franklin Mills and gave it to Peter's niece, Ava, who is wonderfully creative and crafty. The book was really adorable - it had stencils to make paper doll clothes and came with cute papers and little tiny hangers (I really wanted to keep it for myself). I received this awesome handmade thank you card from her in the mail, made out of some scrapbooking supplies that look strangely familiar.  Love the frog and lily pads - keep craftin' Ava!




References:
Paper Fashions (Klutz S.)
Franklin Mill Store

Buttons so Hip

I'd like to blame my pal Kathy Sperino on my button collection, but I think she just fueled the fire. It started when I took up making the hats, my sister and I spent about a half hour digging through a bucket of buttons looking for the cute fifties plastic ones that they were selling for 10 cents each. Then this year Kathy asked me to keep an eye out for mother of pearl buttons. I found some of those. And now my eye is drawn to them and buttons of all sorts. At this last Brimfield I got a huge haul from a dealer in the back of a field who saw me looking at a box of buttons and said, "I'll make you a great deal." She then proceeded to bring over another box and offer it all to me for $8 dollars. Hundreds of buttons. I jumped at it.

Later that day we went through a few booths where they specialized in buttons and ribbons which was further inspiring. LizaP has a picture of one of those booths here. At one of the booths I bought a new book, Buttonware, by Amy Barickman. The woman who was running the booth, Susan Gower, had some of her bracelets featured as a project in the book. She had a fantastic assortment of buttons, notions, and other squeal inducing items which she also sells off of her website, NiftyThriftyDryGoods.com.

I made this bracelet from another project in the book, Charmingly Graceful. I'm pleased as punch at how it turned out. Will have to make some more button projects soon.

It's a girl!

A very talented crocheter at work made these adorable items and I was lucky enough to win them in a silent auction. My niece is expecting a baby girl in November - I think they'll be perfect for her. It's hard to beat crocheted baby stuff on the cute scale, especially when there's a ducky involved!

Bali Bag

This is another fabric covered clothesline project inspired by my bali bowl. I decided I needed a summery bag and my friend Elizabeth had given me this fabric, so away I went. I modified the technique from the pattern so instead of doing a pre-sew on the strip, I overlapped as I went. The only issues I had with the construction were that the bag was somewhat small so it was a bit difficult to manipulate on the machine at some points, and attaching the handles got very bulky to cram under the presser foot - but I managed. Love how it turned out and that it can stand up on its own. Couldn't resist adding the starfish pin.

Puddin's Catnap Bowl

This is a fabric covered clothesline basket that I made from the Bali Bowls pattern by Aunties Two. It was easy to make and followed a similar construction style to Susan Breier's book. However instead of the raw-edge wrapping, it used a binding style which gives a neater appearance, but makes things a bit more bulky. Love the look of the batik fabrics. I put some catnip in it and put it in a sunny window and within moments Puddin had found it and settled in.

It's A Wrap by Susan Breier

I was in Quilter's Stash and saw a fascinating fabric basket. Not the Timtex stuff we've all seen, but one that looked like a coiled pot. They teach classes on it and the woman said that in one of the classes a student spontaneously burst out saying, "THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!! I've never had this much fun sewing!" I didn't take the class, but I did buy the book, It's a Wrap: Sewing Fabric Purses, Baskets, And Bowlsby Susan Breier. The basic concept is you take strips of fabric and wrap it around cotton clothesline. You then start a little coil and then zigzag stitch it around and around on your machine. The instructions made it sound straightforward and the pictures are great so I couldn't wait to get started.

I didn't have any clothesline on hand nor could I find any at Michael's, Joanns or Home Depot, so I decided to give it a try with some old cotton piping I had in my sewing junk drawer. I've been working on organizing and pre-cutting my scraps into strips and squares so I had lots of fabric strips on hand. While watching TV I wrapped strips around the piping gluing every so often to keeps things together as she suggested. I was using Sobo Fabric glue which I had on hand and managed to cover my fingers in glue. I'm sure there's a neater way, but no worries. Next day I set to work on sewing it together. I was a bit skeptical as to whether I could fit this rather bulky stuff under the presser foot. After a little bit of jimmying to get it under there initially, I found it fed through easily once I got started. And then you start going around and around. And you see the magic start to happen as this basket forms in front of you. I can completely understand the student's outburst. I was pleased as punch with how easy and fun it was to make this pot. Even using completely random scraps I love the finished results. Then the brain starts going...I can make a cat basket....I can make bags for everyone for Christmas...I could make a rug for the kitchen. Isn't this what a good craft book is all about? Clear instructions and a fabulous result that inspire you to expore your creativity.

So I explored. I tracked down some cotton clothesline online at Erica's. When you wrap the clothesline you have a raw fabric that spirals around on it so you do get some fraying stuff. I decided I'd try folding it over so I had a double layer and a neat edge. To keep the bulk down I only folded it down about a 1/2 inch so that I'd only have three layers instead of four. I also decided to sew the strips together into one long continuous strip. Wow, what a complete disaster. The uneven layer of fabric made things not wrap around easily. And the really long strip of fabric (like 15 yards) and the long piece of clothesline, well they're not easy to wrap around each other without creating a very large twisted up mess. I wrapped about a foot of it before I gave up.

A few weeks later I sat down at the machine with the book nearby and began again. This time I used 22" strips that were 3/4" wide and only glued/wrapped a few lengths at a time as I sewed it together. Very easy. I also applied the glue with a small paintbrush and it kept my fingers much less gluey. Using the clothesline also produced a much nicer end product than the piping. I could only follow the directions so far and tried a custom handle technique and was pleased with the results. Next day I tried one more time with the remaining strips I'd cut. I went back to the "wrap the whole piece of clothesline before sewing" method. I have this efficiency thing and I just don't want to sew/wrap/sew/wrap/sew/wrap. What I learned from the earlier disaster was you just can't use a long continuous strip of fabric, small strips are much easier to deal with. The book recommends doing the wrap-as-you-go so you can match up when the fabric changes along one spot up the bowl. Sure, it looks nice, but I just am not that picky and think it looks fine if it changes randomly.

It took me an hour and a half to wrap 17 yards of clothesline with fabric. It took me half an hour to sew the bowl on the machine. Just love the results. One thing I learned - this takes a lot of thread - I went through three bobbins on the smaller bowl, so wind yourself a few in advance and make sure you've got plenty of spools on hand. I feel more comfortable with the process now and know it will be a great outlet for scraps. I'll post more bowls as I make them. Thank you Susan Breier for a great technique and a wonderful book.

Update: here are two more of my clothesline wrapped projects:
The Blue Bali Bag
The Bali Catnap Bowl

Craftster.com

Craftster is a great forum for crafters of all sorts. If you ever want some inspiration go here and click the link for "Recent with Pics". I check in here daily. They also have great challenges, swaps - you never know what you'll find really. I got a very silly T-Shirt from them with a picture of skull and scissors that says, "Quilt Fast, Die Warm". It was a big hit at the guild getaway weekend. Craftster was started by a Bostonian named Leah Kramer who owns Magpie in Davis Square and is an organizer of Bazaar Bizarre which is the most awesome craft show.