Checking Things Off That List Left and Right

Yesterday, I felt like I accomplished so much! I did the ragging of Maddie’s quilt while watching TV. I sandwiched, stitched and turned John’s quilt (no pictures yet, sorry!).

I wrapped some gifts I even took some left over bits from the tree skirt and made a throw pillow slip cover for one of the pillows on the couch!

Oh, I finished the swag for the office mantle, too! Every year, we spend waaaay too much money to have my boss' office decorated for the holiday season (I didn't realize just how much until this morning - lets just say I could pay rent for a month!). A florist comes in, hangs wreaths, does a mantle swag, brings in about 8 poinsettias and a vase of fresh flowers. Last year they went rather skimpy on the decorating. I mean it looked nice, it smelled very Christmasy, but for what they were paid...there wasn't much. So this year, in the spirit of cutting unnecessary expenses from our budget, a few of us decided to pitch in and decorate the office ourselves. I made the swag from greenery cut from my sister's house, pine cones from my neighbor's, cinnamon sticks and red ball ornaments that I had on hand and ribbon that I spent all of $2 on (and it's waaaay better than the one from last year, if I do say so myself). Marcia will be getting poinsettias and Lisa said she'd make us a wreath. If I get ambitious this weekend, I may make up some small wreaths or something to hang on the windows.

You can see in the side by side, last year's Christmas decor and this year's mantle swag. Click on the picture to enlarge it some (and look at the mantle on the left, you'll probably have to squint - skimpy I tell ya!). Wait...that doesn't work - click here.

My office is celebrating Hanukkah at Deb's tonight (I love multicultural holiday celebrations - Hanukkah with Deb, Christmas with my family, Yule on my own!).

Enjoy your Thursday!

Back in Business

The Janome, she squeaks no more! Whoo-hoo! Sewing machine oil must have supreme magical abilities to take care of a squeal that bad. I was able to finish 9 blocks on Maddie's quilt last night and start another 6 (it has thirty 12"x 12" blocks). So I'm back in business with the Christmas present making!

Oh, and for the first time in my life, I decided to buy something that I had intended to make myself. I had planned to make the actual boxes for my mother and aunt's Quilt Shop roomboxes. I even made a "first attempt" to make sure that I could actually make it; it came out cute, but a bit small. So I have ordered 2 roombox shells that I will paint and decorate myself.

I almost never do that...whether it be pants or a quilt or a shelf, whatever, if I could possibly make it, then I won't buy it from a store/online. When I told this to Juli, she damned near had heart failure. During our conversation, she kept saying things like, "Now wait, tell me again - you're BUYING something that you could MAKE, but you're not going to MAKE it. You're going to BUY it. Do I have this right?" If we hadn't been on the phone, I would have kicked her!

But the best part about ordering them is that I paid less for two of them, pre-made and with shipping and handling, than I would have if I made them myself (gas to drive to Home Depot and back home, cost of MDF, cost of glue and then there's the time and effort).

Last year, I was working on Christmas gifts right up to Christmas and realized that I didn’t relax and just enjoy the holiday season. So this year, I've made a conscious decision to finish the Christmas present shopping/making early and spend time stress-free. Come December 22, I will be done with everything; done with gifts, done with baking, done with decorating, done with wrapping said gifts. I just want to sit back and relax, eat some sugar cookies, drink a cup a tea, read a book and watch Christmas shows. For those four days (from the 22nd, when I leave for Mum & Dad's till Christmas), there will be no lists, no pressing matters, no worries, no thoughts other than enjoying those 4 days (then it's back to work, to a totally empty office, on 26th). The house will be cleaned before I leave, the laundry will be done and ironed for work. It's not a goal or an intention...it's a plan, set in stone, that I will bust my ass to make happen.

Happy Friday!

What the Hell!?!

I got three square stitched on Maddie's quilt last night and my sewing machine started to squeal. I greased it up (something I just did not too long ago...maybe it's from stitching through all that fleece) and it's still squealing.

This is not the time for my machine to die on me!

Yes, I can steal my mother's old Kenmore, but that's not the point...it's not my machine with the electronic stitch controller and the needle threader, the automatic button-holer and the push button stop.

I'm praying that the oil will seep into all the squeaky parts and when I go home, it will be miraculously better and I can continue with sewing as usual. But dread is sitting in the pit of my stomach (never a good sign).

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

another WIP done!

meet hilda. she's a winsome witch, but a bit flighty!

i finished her the other day and i'm totally in love with her! but despite that love, i've put her on etsy.

she just rocks with her black and purple striped leggings (which i painted), her sparkly star dress and that funky hat! she even has sparkly eye shadow and lips (which you can't see in the pictures). even her broom is homemade (it's a tree branch and hay gathered from the field next to my parents house).

she was so much fun to make, that i've started on another one, only she has black and orange striped leggings. since this sunday is supposed to be rainy, i may take the day to work on her (make her dress and her hat, do her hair, find some broom material...)

anyhoo, had to share!

dyeing w/ tissue paper how to

Dyeing w/ Tissue Paper, originally uploaded by faerytreecreations.

i've wanted to do a tutorial for a while and this was a fun and simple project that i attempted over the weekend. it is definitely an outdoor project (which i learned the hard way...and so did my mother's living room carpet).

it's very simple, all you need are 5 things:

1) light colored cloth

2) plastic covered table (i used a garbage bag cut open. don't use newspaper as the print ink will get on the fabric)

3) spray bottle full of water

4) scissors

5) bleeding tissue paper (found it at a local craft supply shop. 20 sheets of 20 colors for $4.99)

simple instruction: set your fabric out flat on your plastic covered table. cut your tissue paper into whatever shapes you wish. spray your fabric with water so it is wet (not damp, wet) and now place your tissue paper. i tried two different sized pieces of fabric: a small and a large. with the large, i did single layers of just strips and squares and layered pieces over in places to see what colors i would get. on the small, i used the left over strips and folded them over twice to see if i would get deeper colors. then lay flat outside. once the tissue paper becomes very dull and mostly dry, peel it off and hang your fabric on the line to fully dry. there, very simple!

this was all experimental and now that i've played, i think i'll try making shapes with the tissue paper. the only bad thing about this project is that i can't wash the fabric. it would strickly have to be for wall hangings that wouldn't be washed. i tried to heat set the fabric, but excess color still ran from it, fading the colors more. i've also seen that you can fabric paint your fabric, put the tissue on it and drying it in the sun for more unique color arrangements (this also makes the colors more bold).

to see the individual pictures, go here.

and i'm having issues with blogger, so the finished projects are in the post below!

i hope you enjoyed and will maybe try this. my next attempt with this will be to try it on card stock, but i'll save that for another weekend!

have a fun filled day, all!

finished product

Dyeing w/ Tissue Paper - finished product, originally uploaded by faerytreecreations.

the bonnet

this is the "test" bonnet. the inside is a super soft, funky patterned flannel that i absolutely loved!









the outside is a heavy duty twill (that i got for 99 cents a yard! killer bargain) . i didn't add any ribbon since it would be a waste to put it on the test bonnet.






doesn't this seem really small on my head? do i just have a freakishly big head, or is the pattern a touch too small? (lets got with the pattern being small, so i don't get self-conscious).

it just seems really short, but that's how the picture looks. i want it to be almost shoulder length, so i can wear it in the winter. i guess i will be adjusting the pattern for it and trying again, but i think this time i'll try to dye the twill first to see how that works. i do have to say that this was by far and away the easiest pattern i've ever used! i whipped this puppy up in an hour!

(oh, and shari, i didn't forget that i promised to make one for you...i just want to make sure i've perfected the pattern to my liking before i make yours).

anyhoo, happy friday to all. have a fun-filled weekend - my will be spent attacking the kitchen cabinets with paint!

WIP to done

from this:

to this:

to this:

and "grazing" is done!

i'm feelin' a sense of accomplishment right now.

have a wicked evening, folks!

maine quilts 2006

("shadows in the garden of mauve" quilted wallhanging by roxanne wells of south thomaston, maine)

friday was the 29th annual maine quilts show.

at 9 am, mum and i took off to the augusta civic center (a scant 10 minute drive from my house) and already there were at least a hundred cars in the lot.

the place was hopping with vendors selling their wares, many many women and a handful of men. we hit the vendors first; some booths consisted of just buffet tables covered in fat quarters, embellishements and bolts of fabric, while others were set up to look like mini versions of their shops. all had quilts, quilted wall hangings and quilted clothing in all the colors of the rainbow (and every color in between) displayed around them, on walls, hanging from the railings of the civic center's balcony seating. this was the set up, here.

not 5 minutes inside, and we run into marge, the wonderful proprietess of maine-ly sewing on route 1 in nobleboro (where my parents live). and of course we have to stop and talk for a few (10) minutes! then it was time to move on, until we got to the sanford sewing machines booth, where they had a representative from the baby lock company there showing you how to use the different machines. i was so psyched, i got to try a newjoy personal long arm quilter and a serger (thoughts of what next years tax return will be invested in came to mind several times at this booth!) if i purchase a new machine of any sort, i believe that i will go to sanford sewing, as they fix machines right there at the store and never send your machine out of state! how very handy!

i was very proud of myself. i could have gone hog wild buying fabric, but i showed restraint. i only bought 5 fat quarters for the pink and green quilt that i will be making for myself soon (hopefully this winter). you can see them here, here (this may not go into the quilt - it may become something else), here (reminded me of pajamas!), here (loved this hummingbird fabric from australia) and all together here. i'm on a mission to collect pink and green fabric between now and...november (just giving myself a deadline) and i'm trying to come up with a block design for it. i've already gone through my stash to pull out pinks and greens i want to use in it; i need to go through my scraps bucket, then it will be off to find new fabric wherever it presents itself.

after finally completing the vendor circuit, it was on to the quilts. i took pictures of all the ones that i really thought were incredible and felt inspired by. you absolutely have to check them out, here. really, all i can say is wow! as you can see, trying to describe them would be difficult; descriptions truly pale, even the pictures pale as compared to experiencing them up close. there are some truly amazingly talented quilters and quilt artists out there! it was so inspiring! i was so excited, all i wanted to do was go home and create. so i did! i started creating "grazing" and will continue to work on it when i can. i'm so happy that i got to go to the quilt show this year.

anyhoo, must go enjoy the rest of this day off! have an inspiring day all!

more about the fairy wings (and a wicked dinner)

almost done! just need to do the little elastic arm pieces and the wings are complete.

the head piece is almost done as well; just needs little flowers on the back. the stick of the star wand is painted and i put glitter on the star itself, those will get attached tonight. the wand will be dripping with ribbon and then it's on to the yellow & orange flower petal skirt! and then to make brooke the same exact thing!

oh, so i have to thank brianna for her farmer's market post, because you see, this propelled me want to make dinner using only what i had in the fridge. after a minute of staring blankly at the void that is my fridge, i took off to the grocery store for veggies . i had chicken at home and red potatoes, but i needed milk and sandwich bread anyway, so i figured i'd get some green beans. i walked out of the store with green beans, organic italian dressing, garlic hummus and rosemary & olive oil bread. no milk. no sandwich bread. i'm telling ya, if i don't write it down...poof...it's gone! but i had a lovelylovelylovely dinner of grilled chicken marinaded in mediterranean mango sauce, grill potatoes, green beans and rosemary & olive oil bread dipped in hummus. yum!!

must run to the craft store for more flowers. enjoy the day!

fairy wings

how much am i lovin' the angry chicken blog right now?
uh...tons!
my friend's daughter, megan, is turning 3 on thursday, but having her party on saturday and when i saw the fairy wings on the angry chicken blog, i knew that i had to make them! and who better to make fairy wings for than a 3 year old! i have to make a fairy wand, too, oooh and maybe a little flower petal skirt...hmmm, now i need fabric for flower petals and satin ribbon. but this is what the wings look like, so far:

these things are so very easy! a couple of metal coat hangers, a pair of pantyhose and duct tape! then you paint them and decorate them however you want. i still need to add glitter and maybe glue on some jewels; i have a funky shimmery gold/orange fabric that i will stitch around the center where the duct tape is, find a funky flower to put in the center and get some ribbon to stream from the flower! i should make her a little ribbon circlet for her head, too. oh this is so much fun! i hope i can finish everything by saturday!

for those of you who have the day to yourself, i hope it's spectacular. for those of you who have to work, i hope the day goes by quickly with little to no hassles and your evening is slow and languorous!

fabric therapy and vacationy goodness

so yesterday, after the press event in lewiston, i decided to go for a little "fabric therapy" before driving back to work. as i wandered the stacks of fabric bolts my creative energies went spiraling out of control, as my brain suddenly bombarded me with images of quilts and capri's and aprons and dresses and skirts and wall hangings galore; all the things that i could make...if only. if only...if only i had unlimited amounts of money and time, to stash a bit of every bolt of fabric on the shelves; to let the creative juices run rampant and scribble down every idea that each fabric color and design evoked; to sit without consequence and without guilt, at my sewing machine, at my dining room table/design table, with no laundry, no painting, no dishes, no vacuuming, no phones ringing, no work needing to be done...if only.

i had to limit myself to 5 fabrics, as 4 of them will become capri's (which need 2 yards each). this is what i found:

my favorite is the ones that kind of look like roses, but i'm not sure if they're supposed to be poppies. i don't know, but they'll become my sister's capri's. the salmony pink flowered one might too, but i haven't decided yet. the rust w/ gold spirals is definitely mine. the 5th fabric (which blogger wouldn't allow me to download but can be seen on my flickr site) is americana sheep, to appease my love of all things sheep. i think it will become a table runner for my kitchen.

my vacation starts tomorrow. i have a week off to do whatever. i won't be leaving the state, but i will be hanging out at the lake, finishing some projects at home (i'm notorious for starting projects and taking forever to finish them!), my friend juliana and i are going to go on an adventure of old (i hope! when we were younger, we used to just jump in the car and take off for whatever adventure overtook us. i miss those days - sans her car always breaking down - and i'm in great hopes that we will be able to do that again!) and a trip to portland is in order for the first outside FREE concert of the summer from the portland downtown district's alive at 5 concert series in monument square, sponsored by my favorite radio station, WCLZ (which you can listen to on the internet by going to their homepage and clicking the radio stream media player link on the left side menu - they play a great selection of music: pete yorn, damien rice, willie nelson, sarah mclachlan, beth orton, phish, springsteen, concrete blonde, shawn mullins, john hiatt, guster, tom waits, ray lamontagne, kathleen edwards, jack johnson...the list goes on and on, it's very eclectic!). they are hosting the subdudes. i can't wait! and i definitely want to stop in to edith and edna on exchange street, that i originally learned about from the soule mama blog (whom, i have to say, i garner inspiration from each day - i don't know the author of the blog, but her photo's (of all that she creates) spurs my creative process on! many thanks to her!)

my posts may be sporatic next week due to the whole vacationy goodness thing happening, but i promise to take lots of pictures of whatever i end up doing!

have a wonderful, wonder-filled weekend, everyone!

smartie pants

so last night, i came home from work and found this waiting for me in my mailbox:

i was so excited! it was a package from the lovely, lovely paula! she sent me a haul of smarties from portugal.

check this out. how cool is this? little boxes of smarties, tubes of smarties, the portugese version of smarties and a very cute ducky postcard with a hello from paula.

paula, you are amazing! thank you so much for my goodies! i do so love them (and i'm sharing them with co-workers today). i'm so happy that you had a chance to check out maine on the internet. and please remember, if you need-want-desire-long for anything from maine...you name my dear!

quilt

almost forgot...the chicken purse

check out the chicken purse that my mother made on etsy! it is super cute and funky! she's made several now.

Mine was an easter present. the bottom half is yellow with bees, the top half is black with sunflowers and bees, and the lining is green with white polka dots. can you guess what the button was shaped like...a sheep :^) and there is a little tiny bee over it's head, sewn on to the flap. (the reason for the sheep is because i love sheep! they're just so darn cute!)

the spirits of family seamstresses smiling down on me

the skirt is done!!

and the capri's are starting to come together! i'm so excited.

you see, i come from a long line of women who know/knew how to sew and sew well! my mother

quilts and used to make clothes (still does on occasion). my grandmother used to make clothing for my mother and her 5 siblings and my great grandmother (on my dad's side) was an amazing seamstress, it was what she did for a living. and though this creativity runs in my veins from both parent's families, there was no guarantee that i would actually be able to make anything (take my poor sister: the creative bone skipped her and went straight to my brother and myself). i mean, i'm pretty confident in my abilities, for the most part, but there is always a lingering doubt and the knowledge that i'll probably run out of patience, set the project aside and never come back to it! i'm good at that, i recognize it and i'm trying to be more consistent in my finishing of projects.

the skirt was sooooo easy (there are more photos of each on my flickr page, just click on either of the pictures)! it's just a simple wrap skirt, i know, but it was instant gratification! i even embellished the bottom of the skirt with a decorative stitch. now i want to make one for me! i just hope it fits Maddie properly.

and the capri's...the capri's...remember how i said i was leary because it seemed too easy. well upon further reading of the instructions, i realized that if i followed the directions the pants would come out completely wrong and messed up! thankfully, upon further inspection of a pair of capri's turned inside out (that i already own), i was able to figure out how they needed to be cut and stitched for them to come out actually looking like pants! i'm bringing the pattern instructions to my mother to see if she understands them. crazy things!

AND!! this is the best part of today, so far: i get in to work late (because i had a dr's appointment) and i'm telling my co-worker, marcia and my friend, melissa about the sewing projects; marcia says, "well, i think you should just take tomorrow off and spend the day sewing!" and since marcia is keeper of the schedule, she could make that happen for me. i thought about it and asked her, "would you mind?" she just smiled, pulled the friday calendar up on the computer and typed "TIFF OFF" at the top of the day and said, "done, but i want to see you in those capri's on monday morning!". so i have tomorrow off to do nothing but sew! how wonderful is that?

yippee!!!!!

don't want to work ~ itching to sew

in honor of color week:
this morning's brief thunderstorm that has now given way to bright sun and a muggy feeling. my garden is rejoicing!

sunday is my friend maddie's birthday. every year maddie's birthday springs up and my friends and my normal conversation upon this realization goes something like this:

"oh no, maddie's birthday! it's this week! oh my god, what are you getting her?"
"i don't know what are you getting her?"
"i don't know! i thought her birthday was in july!"

we've come to the conclussion that june 18th really isn't her birthday, that she was supposed to be born july 8th. so this year has been no different! monday rolled around and instant panic set in...maddie's birthday was less than a week away. so i wracked my brain, trying to figure what to get her and yesterday, inspiration set in...i am going to attempt to make her a wrap skirt(thankfully, she doesn't read this)! i have this wonderful cotton sheeting material that feels so soft; it reminds me of the old sheets my mother had when i was a kid, the ones that i used to bury my face in and sniff when they came in off of the clothes line because they smelled so fresh and clean. this is my favorite material, perfect for summer. it just feels so cool against the skin! so i set the fabric into a purple dye bath last night; tonight i will rinse it and bleach stamp it (use bleach gel and a foam stamp or a bleach pen to draw a design on the fabric that will leach the color out of it - very very easy). i'm still deciding on a design.

oh, i started working on one of my pairs of capris last night (the pink ones). they are all cut out and just need to be stitched. the pattern seems very simple! i'm a little leary...it seems to be going all too smoothly. hopefully i'll get to finish them this weekend (though maddie's skirt comes first).

okay, must get to work! hope everyone has a fabulous day!

maine's bargain central

the sun finally emerged on sunday, to the delight of many, me especially! i was able to hay the field that my lawn had become. it's not a big lawn but it was definitely becoming a hay field. and the rain pretty well beat the life out of all my yellow irises! but the sun is out and that's all that matters right now.

yesterday was a great day. my aunt, my mother and i went shopping at maine's bargain central, a place called mardens. marden's sells everything under the sun for cheap, cheap, cheap because they do salvage and surplus: furniture, clothes, dishes, luggage, food, tools! now some stuff that marden's gets can be...well...crap, but other stuff is great! my parents have bought brand named couches and recliners there that have last forever and paid very little. the best and most important thing that they carry is fabric! they get all kinds of different fabrics, not all at once, but... like jinny beyer, rjr, hoffman, assorted batiks. normally they are discontinued fabrics or last seasons *new* fabrics. it seems that they often get the fabrics that you see right now in the keepsake quilting catalog when the season ends and new fabrics come in to keepsake quilting. the best part about marden's...many of these fabrics are $2.69, $2.99 or $3.49 a yard! they also had some 108" wide fabric for $5.09 a yard!! love love love this place! marden's is a bargain fabricaholic's dream. my aunt spends at least 2 hours in this store and over $150 every time she visits from maryland. the ladies that work there said that every year they have 2 women from missouri who each bring an extra suitcase when they visit, so they can load up on fabrics at mardens!
so this is what i bought:
the bright colors to the left are the 1930's reproductions that go with the "slave to convection" quilt, i previously mentioned. the ones to the right will be used to make an apron and capris(green w/ blue polka dots for the apron, other two for the capris). to get a better look at these, the trim i'm going to use on the apron and to see the fabrics that i bought to use in my christmas tree angel/fairy toppers go here, here, and here. all told, i bought over 10 yards of fabric and paid about $30! i was so excited! and still am, i've never made capri's or an apron before, but i am bound and determined to make clothing. so many people say that it's easy, i've just been too chicken to try!

i was also able to finish two more fairies that i would love to post the pictures of but blogger won't let me. they are on flickr and etsy, so check them out. the quilt fairy, for my aunt's friend in maryland and the blue celestial fairy to sell on etsy. i love the way they came out! i love creating these fairies; they are so much fun to make!

alright, my lunch break has come to a close. must get back to work! i have a 4th of july letter to draft for the 240th engineer group overseas, someone's resignation from a commission to rescind and postpartum depression legislation to work on. full steam ahead!