It's a .....

Now I can officially start getting things ready for the Baby Boy :)

Flickr Favorites Friday 11.18.2011

1. Rainbow Reflections, 2. Rainbow Crystal ball cave (Marble, crystal, geode, Refracted Sunlight,prism, light, refraction, focus, RGB), 3. a fuzzy rainbow, 4. “The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched”, 5. There once was an ugly duckling. With feathers all stubby and brown., 6. bright rainbow colours, 7. Rainbow Rose, 8. Sewing_Rainbow Wrap Skirt_DSC_5967, 9. Purple and Yellow Strip and Flower Pillows, 10. 'Rainbow Bokeh', 11. Straws 1, 12. A Flowing Spectrum, 13. finally..., 14. Bands of blue..., 15. Rainbow Chandelier Crystal Necklace, 16. Ring of stitches

* * * * * * * *

I haven't done one of these in awhile, and it's a crying shame. My thoughts:

1. This makes me want a nice macro lens for my camera something serious. Maybe someday.
3. I don't felt nor do I have the desire to, but these sure are pretty to look at.
5. Must learn to use the selective gradient tool in Photoshop....
8. I love love LOVE this skirt! I smell a possible Christmas present for the little girl.
9. Must learn to make pillows, stat. And to sew with felt :)
12. I really want to make one of these melted crayon canvases for my daughter's new room.
13. If I ever get the time, I WILL learn to paper piece hexagons.
14, 16. And if I can get the motivation, I WILL get back into some embroidery. It's so relaxing!
15. I have the itch to make jewelry. Now for the motivation...

Big Girl (rainbow) Bed Quilt

With Baby #2 on the way it is time to move Baby #1 into a bigger room so we can turn her room back into a nursery. To ease the transition this means my little girl will be getting a nice, newly decorated room complete with her own bed-sized quilt.

I struggled at first with the design. I have managed to pass down (force) my love of rainbows on to my daughter, so I decided I'd like to make some sort of rainbow quilt. I also wanted it to be a relatively quick one as my last two were quite time intensive and I have a lot of crafting for my daughter, the new baby, and holidays that I'd like to do. The solution came when I came upon the "Parisville" quilt over at Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts. It's design is based upon a string quilt, which I've made before, and it also involves large blocks of fabric. I like this idea for two reason: (1) less sewing :), and (2) it allows me to showcase the particular fabrics that I choose.


These are the fabrics that I chose for this quilt. There's a vast array of modern prints, and my (and my daughter's, I think) favorites are from Kaffe Fassett. I took these pictures right before I started cutting and sewing, and since then I've finished the red, orange, yellow, and lime green rows (pictures to come). After seeing the fabrics in the quilt I have since gone back and ordered some additional ones to swap in place of some of the above because some of them just don't look how I'd like. It's just one of those things that happens once you actually start sewing. Also, as much as possible I've tried to give my daughter the reigns in fabric selection. She's certainly old enough to have opinions on what she does and doesn't like, and I wanted to make sure she was entirely pleased with her quilt.

Since this is, in a sense, a simplified string quilt, I needed to decide on fabric color for the "strings" in the middle of the blocks and also how wide to make them. I chose white Kona cotton for the strings, because I wanted the color to go with all of the fabrics, and as I tell my daughter, "white goes with everything." I cut them to 1" by 18" (approximately), because the individual quilt blocks are 12" square before being sewn together (11.5" square after sewing).

The entire quilt will measure 103.5" x 92" when complete. I wanted it to be large enough to allow for plenty of drape over the sides of the bed and over the foot of the bed. I have yet to decide on a quilting pattern and will post my ideas later when they come to me.

There will be plenty of leftover scrap fabric and I hope to use it to make a mini quilt for my office as decoration. The Rainbow Room can never have enough rainbows. :)

Halloween 2011 - Princess Leia

My daughter has recently fallen in love with the Star Wars trilogy, and we figured a great way to celebrate this would be with a Princess Leia costume from A New Hope.

This has to be one of the easiest costumes to make. The only supplies needed were:

• Brown fleece and matching thread
• Elastic
  
• An old white sheet
• Gray ribbon (and lighter to heat seal the ends)
  
• Necessary cutting devices
• A glue gun
• A sewing machine.

To make the wig first I measured her head from hairline to the nape of her neck. I then measured her head from crown to bottom of her ear. Finally I measured from her part on her forehead to the part at the nape of the neck. You then cut that shape out of the fleece (I doubled up the fleece so I only had to make one cut). Make sure to allow a little extra room when cutting for seam allowances and for stretch. Sew the pieces together and then at the opening sew a little hem all the way around to allow room for the elastic. Make sure to leave a little opening to feed the elastic through. After feeding the elastic through sew the ends together and the opening shut.


To make the "cinnamon buns" on the side of the wig cut three (roughly) equally sized fleece strips measuring around 1.5" by 60". Then braid it and use the glue gun to glue each end together. Then start rolling the braid into a bun shape, gluing it to itself as you roll. After you finish you then glue the entire bun to the side of the head. Then repeat for the other bun.


To make the costume take an old white sheet and fold it in half lengthwise. Then fold it again sidewise. Next take the child's measurements from midchest to fingertips, armpit to fingertips, neck to floor, and midchest to shoulder. Then draw that shape on the sheet and cut it out. When you unfold it you will have the entire shape of the costume with only one set of cuts. Then sew the edges together (except for the neck and feet openings). Serge or zigzag stitch if desired. Then at the neck hole find the back and the middle and make a 4 inch cut downwards so the head will fit in all the way. Fold the edges of the cut over and sew down for a more polished look.

To make the collar cut a section that is roughly the same length as the neck opening from the tailored edge of the sheet, making sure to add a little extra room for the curvature of the neck and to make the edges look polished. Also cut some small lengths of fabric to make ties to keep the opening closed. Fold the ends of the sheet used for the collar twice and sew down. Then fold the sheet in half and iron flat. Next make ties to close the costume and place inside the collar. Sew down and top stitch all the way, except for the unfinished edge. Next pin the collar to the neckline and sew down and you're done.

Finish off the costume by cutting a length of gray ribbon to make the belt. Make it long enough for your child and heat seal the ends with a lighter to prevent fraying. Super simple.

In all the wig took around an hour or so to make and the costume was made extremely last minute (as in minutes before we had to leave to trick-or-treat) in about an hour-and-a-half. Not time intensive at all and definitely much loved. An added bonus with the costume is the dress part can double as an angel costume for Christmas time (or next Halloween if not outgrown). All you'd need are some wings and a halo.

June in Photos: Days 152-181

It was a bit of a slow photographic month, aside from the fact that this post is about 4 months late :)

The Remainer of May in Photos: Days 133-151

I am hugely behind on my pictures. Case in point: here are the remaining pictures from May 2011, Days 133-151. To make matters worse I have been in a picture-taking funk this month, so I do not have much to show for the month of July (whenever those get uploaded). Hopefully this will change soon. I will be taking photography classes starting next month, so this will likely get me going again.

1. Coffee Thinker, 2. Greens and Blues 2, 3. In Rainbows, 4. First French Braid, 5. Habanero Gin Cocktail, 6. Gin Joint, 7. Beaded Rainbow, 8. Yorktown Aged, 9. IMG_1328, 10. MacStunnaz, 11. Singing, 12. Livy Festival Ride, 13. French Braid Black and White, 14. Mini Frog, 15. Grunge Wall-E, 16. Silver Toes, 17. Livy Looking, 18. Blue Sucker Teeth, 19. Watching Videos, 20. 4-Year-Old Foot, 21. Please Hurry Up and Take the Picture, 22. Sewing in the Inner Circle 2, 23. Sleeping, Long Hair, 24. IMG_1320, 25. IMG_1330

June's round-up will (hopefully) follow in the next few days... :)

Flickr Favorites Friday 7.22.2011

1. rainbow of pendants, 2. a seaside heart with a sun bathed coast, 3. B is for baby, 4. Embroidered Christmas Tree, 5. Dream Fragments, 6. Birdie Stitches BOM ~ March, 7. 141/365, answered with a question mark, 8. Crochet Lamp, 9. Modern Swappers - Wall Organizer, 10. Sonnenschein, 11. roygbiv., 12. All 'buttoned' up, 13. zigzag quilt -- hand-quilting on ZIGGY, 14. Untitled, 15. unique sheep triumph, 16. free hand fish

It's a day late, but I wanted to get my weekly inspiration out there.

1. Love this jewelry and love these colors. I've been scouring Etsy looking for my own beads to start my own.
2. I love the rich colors used in this heart and the different textures.
3. Next time I have a baby I'm making something like this for the nursery. I love how simple and elegant it is.
4. This reminds me that I want to start making some Christmas crafts while I don't have the pressure to get them done.
5. I adore this! I've had the felt for awhile to start making different crafts, and I might have to make something like this. The paisley look is so polished and the beads really make the work pop.
6. Is this not the cutest embroidery?! Perfect for a baby quilt or just because.
7. I've been in a photography funk lately, and I've thought of trying my hand at still-life photography to help snap myself out of it. Something like this would certainly fit the bill.
8. Babukatorium on Flickr has some of the most amazing and colorful crochet creations. Loving this and realizing how much I want to get back into crocheting and soon.
9. I don't know if I have any more space in my office to put something like this, but it is a very cute idea.
10. I've used this picture before for inspiration and no wonder. The arrangement of fabrics in this quilt is stunning and a nice take on a color wheel quilt.
11. I plan to make a small wall quilt at some point along these lines. I love the simplicity of the squares and the way the colors pop against the white fabric.
12. Nice project to use up some of my button stash. Now to find an embroidery idea and I'll be set!
13. Would LOVE to make a quilt like this. I've wanted to make a solid color zig zag quilt for awhile and just need to get the Kona cotton to make it. The hand quilting in it makes it even more special.
14. Another great idea for felt. Would be really nice if added to a skirt or shirt of some sort.
15. A subtle reminder to myself that I need to start making my shoulder wrap from my Unique Sheep purchase before the weather gets cold. I'd like to actually USE it this winter :) I miss winter...
16. One of my favorite embroidery pieces of all time, and I want to give it a whirl. I think the only way I'd have patience for it is to make it small, because there are a lot of french knots and small stitches involved in this piece.
    

Etsy Inspirations: Necklaces

Etsy Credits:

1. pulpsushi 2. MegansMenagerie 3. ARainbowLife 4. Nafsika
5. NuadaAccesories 6. owlandsparrowvintage 7. silverliningbyds 8. laromantica
9. 1000and1 10. threebirdsdesigns 11. Lylahsidea 12. MaggieMcManeDesigns
13. NestPrettyThingsKids 14. LindenAvenueDesigns 15. artsysparkle 16. candybead
17. bluebirdss 18. CircesHouse 19. GreenGlassSanDiego 20. DawnWillBreak


MIXKO

So many beautiful necklaces I don't know what to do!

I've been itching to make some new necklaces for myself for quite sometime. I'm not a huge jewelry person, but I do always wear two things: my wedding set and a necklace. I particularly love these rainbow themed necklaces and want to give my thoughts on a few.

• 1,8,13: I am in LOVE with these cabachon-style necklaces. They look so vintage but modern at the same time. I can't wait to make a rainbow one, if I can only stop procrastinating supplies :)
• 2,6,17: Another favorite style of necklace are ones made with briolettes. I wish I could afford real stone, but glass will work just fine with me. I've grown particularly fond of iridescent stones. I saw a necklace someone similar to 6 years ago. It was made by Fossil. I've been hoping to recreate one for myself ever since.
• 4: So easy to make and so dramatic! I just need some tinier beads!
• 10: Another of my favorite styles of necklace. I bought something similar a couple of years ago on Etsy, and I've been making necklaces of a similar style for awhile. Love them!
• 19: Sweet goodness, so beautiful! Must do something like this soon. I like the idea of sticking to a color scheme rather than doing a rainbow.
• Ribbon necklace: I don't know if I would wear it myself, but I just love it!
  

Flickr Favorites Friday 6.24.2011

1. Rainbow collage details, 2. Mini Quilt Swap for Pam (Uberstitch), 3. Rainbow BHB bracelet, 4. 10-08 crazy color wheel, 5. °149: "Rainbow blythepod, white" -Limited Edition-, 6. Rainbow Ghost Image, 7. DQS11 Angel Quilt #2, 8. The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears., 9. P1180165, 10. 002, 11. Rainbow, 12. Pretty Rainbow..., 13. Rainbow blossom

I haven't done one of these in ages (nor have I updated my blog), and I really wanted to give a glimpse of what has inspired me this week.

1. The center rainbow collage is to.die.for. I wish I knew where the artist found all of her little beads and baubles, because this is definitely on my short list of things to make.
2. I love these little lampwork Pandora-style beads. I don't usually wear bracelets, but I might have to scour Etsy to find some and make an exception (or a necklace)!
3. I find Blythe dolls a bit creepy, but I must admit that they are growing on me. Especially the little outfits you can make for them.
4. I'm going to have to make the solids and white color block quilt. If not a mini quilt, I'll at the very least make a large block to one day incorporate into another quilt. It's too cute!
5. I would be late in the game, but I'd love to one day make Stitched in Color's Bottled Rainbows quilt. I have no idea where I'd PUT it, but I'd love to try.
6. I never thought I'd be a fan of ticker tape quilts, but after seeing the above's Bottled Rainbows quilt, I'm going to have to attempt on in some way.
7. Ahh, my continued love of crazy quilts. One day I'll start mine. One day :)
   

Day 132 - 5.12.2011