Well not yet. . . but I'm on my way thanks to the lovely Hannah of Made with Love by Hannah. We had an amazingly fun and informative day yesterday, she taught me so much!
I met Hannah at the also lovely Jenny Ryan's crafty ladies party a couple of months back and we had talked in passing about screenprinting all the things that I've been handpainting in my product line. She was shocked that I painted all those logs and woodgrain. . . she's not the only one. What can I say, I'm a bit looney. . . Anyway. . . she screenprints a lot of her fabrics and she offered th hook me up with some of her old tools she no longer uses. So nice! Then we started talking and she offered to show me what to do.
I learned sooooo much yesterday AND I printed 22 logs in the time it would have taken to paint 2. AWESOME! And she gave me so much, not only info and tips (such super tips!), but supplies to help me get started. It was like Christmas but more fun and with more adorable knick-knacks and yummy sandwiches. Definitely one of my top craft days ever!
Mom has offered me the workbench in the garage as my printing area and I can't wait to get started! Robots and woodgrain are dancing around in my head! Yippy!
Now I have to order all my supplies!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Craft a day - 27, 28, 29 AAANNNNNNDDDD 30!!!!!
Woo HOO! It's over! I did it!!!
I haven't posted for the last 4 days but I have crafted my tush off!
First, Tuesday:
It's a log deconstructed, on paper. Why you ask. . . well, the logs are going into mass production! Well. . . sort of. . . The lovely Hannah from Made with Love by Hannah is gonna teach me to screenprint! This is the pattern I sent her and she's gonna burn the screens. So exciting!
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I went pillow CRAZY! I went thrifting on Monday in preparation for something I'm really excited about but that I can't yet discuss (ooohhh mystery!) and found a ton of great fabric. One of the fabrics was this fab floral barkcloth ($4 for 2 yards!) and I made 2 fun bunny pillows out of it. Then today I made a pillow that has been sitting in my head for a while and it turned out just how I imagined, which is always nice. Here they are, pillows a plenty!
And finally, the whole kit and kaboodle! A month's worth of crafting, sans 1 thank you note, 1 hostess gift, and 9 logs, all resting quite comfy-like on my lovely daybed!
Impressive!
Most of these beauties will end up in my Etsy shop. Tomorrow I take pictures and then I start listing away!
Thanks so much for following me on this crazy little journey with me. I may just do it again in the near future. It was super hard but it did get me working and sometimes that push is the one thing you really need to create some lovely, lovely crafty goodness.
Hearts and puppies,
erika
I haven't posted for the last 4 days but I have crafted my tush off!
First, Tuesday:
It's a log deconstructed, on paper. Why you ask. . . well, the logs are going into mass production! Well. . . sort of. . . The lovely Hannah from Made with Love by Hannah is gonna teach me to screenprint! This is the pattern I sent her and she's gonna burn the screens. So exciting!
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I went pillow CRAZY! I went thrifting on Monday in preparation for something I'm really excited about but that I can't yet discuss (ooohhh mystery!) and found a ton of great fabric. One of the fabrics was this fab floral barkcloth ($4 for 2 yards!) and I made 2 fun bunny pillows out of it. Then today I made a pillow that has been sitting in my head for a while and it turned out just how I imagined, which is always nice. Here they are, pillows a plenty!
And finally, the whole kit and kaboodle! A month's worth of crafting, sans 1 thank you note, 1 hostess gift, and 9 logs, all resting quite comfy-like on my lovely daybed!
Impressive!
Most of these beauties will end up in my Etsy shop. Tomorrow I take pictures and then I start listing away!
Thanks so much for following me on this crazy little journey with me. I may just do it again in the near future. It was super hard but it did get me working and sometimes that push is the one thing you really need to create some lovely, lovely crafty goodness.
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
My quilt is famous!
Well. . . maybe not famous but it was mentioned in the lovely Craft Magazine Blog! Yippy!
Craft a day - 26
I had planned to do something bigger but it was a long day away from the house (which was lovely, by the way!) so I didn't get my craft on until rather late. Luckily I'd bought this crepe paper peony kit from the Martha Stewart Craft's collection from Michael's a few weeks back just in case this situation should show its face.
Click the above link and you can see the wonders achieved by Martha's crew. . . here's my flower:
Not bad. . . not bad at all!
I do wish the colors on the packaging matched the colors available in the kit, but still I'm happy with the end product. Here's a shot of my flower with Ms. Martha's:
I think I did her proud!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Click the above link and you can see the wonders achieved by Martha's crew. . . here's my flower:
Not bad. . . not bad at all!
I do wish the colors on the packaging matched the colors available in the kit, but still I'm happy with the end product. Here's a shot of my flower with Ms. Martha's:
I think I did her proud!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Monday, March 10, 2008
Craft a day - 24 & 25
Is there any love greater than the love between a robot and his bride? I think not!
I made her yesterday. . . him today. . .
Aren't they lovely! I do wish I'd gone with my first impulse and made them shorter. . . there's always next time! I'm gonna put them on a cake friendly base and offer them up in the shop as a cake topper. Now all I have to do is figure out what that base should be. . . hum. . . any suggestions?
Guess that's it for now. . . 'night.
Hearts and puppies!
erika
I made her yesterday. . . him today. . .
Aren't they lovely! I do wish I'd gone with my first impulse and made them shorter. . . there's always next time! I'm gonna put them on a cake friendly base and offer them up in the shop as a cake topper. Now all I have to do is figure out what that base should be. . . hum. . . any suggestions?
Guess that's it for now. . . 'night.
Hearts and puppies!
erika
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Craft a day - 22 & 23, Craftastrophe and Redemption
Oh. . . why can't things just work out?
In hindsight, Thursday's craftastrophic events were all my fault, a perfect storm of late night sewing, stupidity, forgetfulness, and cockiness. I was dead set on finishing my little quilt and I was going to do it properly, not in my, as Cindy has dubbed it, punk rock quilting way so I picked up my Quilting: the Complete Guide and went to work!
All started out well. . .
I decided to take it easy and do a simple diagonal design so, using 1/4" tape, I marke the lines that were to be sewed. I layered the front, the batting, and the back and pinned the whole lot together at 4" interval, just like the book suggested. I wrapped the overhang of the backing to protect the edges of the front and pinned those. Things looked good! Just like in the book.
Okay. . . first big mistake. . . when everything you read tells you that to do machine quilting, you should really use a walking foot, they're not just trying to sell expensive machine attachments. You can't get away with a pair of grippy gloves and your regular machine foot, no matter how much fun the grippy gloves are and no matter how much they make you sing "Magic To Do" from Pippin while pretending to be Ben Vereen.
You can almost see the cocky shooting from my be-gloved, jazz-handed fingers. . .
Second big mistake. . . if you remember hearing, several times over, that you should start your quilting at the center of the piece and that you should then work out to the edges. You should really start your quilting at the center. You shouldn't start at the edge just because it's easier. And you REALLY shouldn't then flip it to the other side once things get all bunched up in your machine, basically working from the edges in, because this is what happens:
It's hard to tell, the picture's kinda dark and all the stripes from the pinstripes make it hard to see, but there is a big 2" wide pucker right in the middle of my quilt. A wrinkle I didn't catch until AFTER I'd been sewing for 6 BLEEDING HOURS! GGGGAAAAGGGHHH! 2 in the morning and the only thing I can see is failure and a ruined quilt front.
And so I start ripping. . .
and ripping. . .
and ripping. . .
5 more hours of ripping out the quilting and then once that was finally done I realize that I cut a hole in the boarder fabric so I had to rip THAT off too! Then it was another couple hours cleaning off all the loose threads and steaming out all the little holes left from the mishap. . . by 6 pm Friday I was basically were I was at 6 pm the day before. One whole day lost. . .
And so we begin again. . . tape and pins and grippy gloves and "Magic To Do", but with a new edition! Ladies and gents meet my hero! My new walking foot!
Ain't he sweet!
And this time I started at the center. . .
And by 2:30 am I had a wonderful finished quilt!
It's far from perfect. The stitch sizes are a bit wonky because I've yet to learn how to finesse the combo of walking foot and grippy gloves. Sometimes I helped too much and the stitches were huge, sometimes not enough, and the stitches were itty-bitty. And my straight lines are questionably straight, there are lines that wobble around more than a socialite at a sobriety checkpoint. . . but that's okay because I love it for its imperfections and I'm just soooooo very happy it's done!
One more shot, close up!
Yea!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
In hindsight, Thursday's craftastrophic events were all my fault, a perfect storm of late night sewing, stupidity, forgetfulness, and cockiness. I was dead set on finishing my little quilt and I was going to do it properly, not in my, as Cindy has dubbed it, punk rock quilting way so I picked up my Quilting: the Complete Guide and went to work!
All started out well. . .
I decided to take it easy and do a simple diagonal design so, using 1/4" tape, I marke the lines that were to be sewed. I layered the front, the batting, and the back and pinned the whole lot together at 4" interval, just like the book suggested. I wrapped the overhang of the backing to protect the edges of the front and pinned those. Things looked good! Just like in the book.
Okay. . . first big mistake. . . when everything you read tells you that to do machine quilting, you should really use a walking foot, they're not just trying to sell expensive machine attachments. You can't get away with a pair of grippy gloves and your regular machine foot, no matter how much fun the grippy gloves are and no matter how much they make you sing "Magic To Do" from Pippin while pretending to be Ben Vereen.
You can almost see the cocky shooting from my be-gloved, jazz-handed fingers. . .
Second big mistake. . . if you remember hearing, several times over, that you should start your quilting at the center of the piece and that you should then work out to the edges. You should really start your quilting at the center. You shouldn't start at the edge just because it's easier. And you REALLY shouldn't then flip it to the other side once things get all bunched up in your machine, basically working from the edges in, because this is what happens:
It's hard to tell, the picture's kinda dark and all the stripes from the pinstripes make it hard to see, but there is a big 2" wide pucker right in the middle of my quilt. A wrinkle I didn't catch until AFTER I'd been sewing for 6 BLEEDING HOURS! GGGGAAAAGGGHHH! 2 in the morning and the only thing I can see is failure and a ruined quilt front.
And so I start ripping. . .
and ripping. . .
and ripping. . .
5 more hours of ripping out the quilting and then once that was finally done I realize that I cut a hole in the boarder fabric so I had to rip THAT off too! Then it was another couple hours cleaning off all the loose threads and steaming out all the little holes left from the mishap. . . by 6 pm Friday I was basically were I was at 6 pm the day before. One whole day lost. . .
And so we begin again. . . tape and pins and grippy gloves and "Magic To Do", but with a new edition! Ladies and gents meet my hero! My new walking foot!
Ain't he sweet!
And this time I started at the center. . .
And by 2:30 am I had a wonderful finished quilt!
It's far from perfect. The stitch sizes are a bit wonky because I've yet to learn how to finesse the combo of walking foot and grippy gloves. Sometimes I helped too much and the stitches were huge, sometimes not enough, and the stitches were itty-bitty. And my straight lines are questionably straight, there are lines that wobble around more than a socialite at a sobriety checkpoint. . . but that's okay because I love it for its imperfections and I'm just soooooo very happy it's done!
One more shot, close up!
Yea!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Craft a day - 20 & 21
Soooo sleepy. . . I got a little too into today's craft too late in the day. I think I finished up my work around 1 am? Still I'm quite happy. . .
But, not to get ahead of myself. . . yesterday's craft:
I've dubbed this bag Clutch my Heart! Get it? Get it? (where'd all these crickets come from?)
I love this clutch shape. It's so easy to adapt and change. I've used it for clutches with ruffles and appliques and vintage fabric and pleats and the ideas keep coming! I love me some versatility!
Now for the craft that knocked me cold. It's technically not finished, I still need to do the quilting, but I finished the front of something I've been wanting to make for a while. A Doctor Who themed quilt. I know. . . I need to get out more. . .
and a bit of detail:
Yea!
Now, must sleep.
Hearts and puppies,
erika
But, not to get ahead of myself. . . yesterday's craft:
I've dubbed this bag Clutch my Heart! Get it? Get it? (where'd all these crickets come from?)
I love this clutch shape. It's so easy to adapt and change. I've used it for clutches with ruffles and appliques and vintage fabric and pleats and the ideas keep coming! I love me some versatility!
Now for the craft that knocked me cold. It's technically not finished, I still need to do the quilting, but I finished the front of something I've been wanting to make for a while. A Doctor Who themed quilt. I know. . . I need to get out more. . .
and a bit of detail:
Yea!
Now, must sleep.
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Craft a day - the real 19!
She's back!!!
After a craptastic week, I'm now ready to rock!
Yes last week was meh, and was punctuated buy a car accident (I'm fine, rolled into a parked car, all are well who are not cars). And followed by Saturday where I chased what I thought was my neighbors dog 3 blocks. . . barefoot. . . after the dog got spooked by my Vi. . . OH! and another neighbor tried to help with his car and it broke in the chase AND we never caught the dog but we did have to push his car back to his home. . . all that and I found out that it was not my neighbors dog I was chasing. . . so i was running after a strange dog. . . and I am woefully out of shape. And I might be cursed. . .
Anyway. . . I'm now back on track! Yea! I made this yesterday:
Joi had mentioned that she thought a stuffy house would be cute. I said, I can do that! So I did, so Joi, this one's for you!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
After a craptastic week, I'm now ready to rock!
Yes last week was meh, and was punctuated buy a car accident (I'm fine, rolled into a parked car, all are well who are not cars). And followed by Saturday where I chased what I thought was my neighbors dog 3 blocks. . . barefoot. . . after the dog got spooked by my Vi. . . OH! and another neighbor tried to help with his car and it broke in the chase AND we never caught the dog but we did have to push his car back to his home. . . all that and I found out that it was not my neighbors dog I was chasing. . . so i was running after a strange dog. . . and I am woefully out of shape. And I might be cursed. . .
Anyway. . . I'm now back on track! Yea! I made this yesterday:
Joi had mentioned that she thought a stuffy house would be cute. I said, I can do that! So I did, so Joi, this one's for you!
Hearts and puppies,
erika
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Craft a day - the week that never was. . .
That's what I'm calling this week! I get a replay!
I suppose you could also call it the week of the log because that's what I made this week, lots of logs! First, the lovely Chris from the lovely Seattle took a picture of Monday's log in it's new home:
It looks so smart in its new home! I bet this log will be doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle in pen in no time!
And these logs are heading to Kansas City, MO and Venice, CA!
I tried making other things this week but nothing really panned out. I started working with polymer clay for the first time in like 10 years and I forgot what a pain it can be, especially in dusty Bakersfield. No matter how many times I washed my hands my clay still got all sorts of muck in it. I did okay with the darker colors but the lighter colors. . . YUCK! And the bubbles! I never remember having a bubble problem before. Wonder if they've changed the formula, or maybe I was just that good back then. . . hee. I did make these deer:
I need to varnish them now which takes forever with the waiting and the wet sanding. . . makes me remember why I love felt.
Anyway. . . I'm extending the craft a day one week because this is the week that never was. . . That's the plan anyway. . .
Hearts and puppies!
erika
I suppose you could also call it the week of the log because that's what I made this week, lots of logs! First, the lovely Chris from the lovely Seattle took a picture of Monday's log in it's new home:
It looks so smart in its new home! I bet this log will be doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle in pen in no time!
And these logs are heading to Kansas City, MO and Venice, CA!
I tried making other things this week but nothing really panned out. I started working with polymer clay for the first time in like 10 years and I forgot what a pain it can be, especially in dusty Bakersfield. No matter how many times I washed my hands my clay still got all sorts of muck in it. I did okay with the darker colors but the lighter colors. . . YUCK! And the bubbles! I never remember having a bubble problem before. Wonder if they've changed the formula, or maybe I was just that good back then. . . hee. I did make these deer:
I need to varnish them now which takes forever with the waiting and the wet sanding. . . makes me remember why I love felt.
Anyway. . . I'm extending the craft a day one week because this is the week that never was. . . That's the plan anyway. . .
Hearts and puppies!
erika
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