artsy-crafty babe

stash

Oops, I did it again.  I seem to be on some sort of fabric binge at the moment.   These are from Jona's shop, Fabritopia, and an etsy shop Fabric Closet.  Getting fabric in the mail is such fun, isn't it?  Since I'm on the subject of fabric, I decided to play along with Sew, Mama, Sew's Tell us about your stash!

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What do you usually sew?

Bags/purses, quilt-y stuff that can be pieced.  I don't like sewing big things like curtains or anything.  I like to sew clothing for myself, but that takes more time than I can give at the moment.

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?)

I generally buy a half yard, but if I really like it, I'll get a yard. 

Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need?

both

Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it?

Nope, I never wash my fabric.

Do you iron it?

Nope, I don't do that either.  I do iron as I'm working on a project - my iron and I are BFF's.

How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.)

I sort my crafting fabrics by color and my garment fabrics by type (knits, wovens, etc).

Do you have any special folding techniques?

No. I fold them to fit on the shelves.

How do you store your fabric?

on shelves

What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash?

Don't try to do it all at once.  I try to buy things that are on sale.  Also, I'll occasionally take note of what colors I'm lacking so that next time I see something that fits the hole, I'll get it.  Ultimately, I try to buy fabrics that I'm in love with.

When do you say enough is enough?

Is there ever enough?

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects?

Most definitely quilts, though I never feel the need to stash bust.

Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it!

Um, not really.  Right now I'm in love with Anna Maria's stuff.  The bright colors make me so happy! 

What’s your definition of the perfect stash? (Consider sharing a picture or two of your stash & storage, or direct us to a pic on Flickr!)

My idea of the perfect stash would be one with every color of the rainbow.  Though I have a lot of fabric, I'm certainly not there yet.  As my tastes have been changing, I'm noticing a lot of holes -- you know what that means, right?

Here's a link to my fabric the last time I cleaned and sorted.  It doesn't look like that now - there's a big heap in the middle of the floor.  I'm very messy when I'm in 'create mode'.

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I'm in the middle of a big studio clean-up /rearrange, so the next time I show you my stash, it should look different :)

whew!

Guess what y'all?  I'm tired!  For weeks now I've been working, working, working, sewing, sewing, sewing, tweaking, tweaking, tweaking, and now....I'm pooped.  Remind me not to try to work on two patterns at once again, okay?  I've been staying up way too late for too many nights.  Why?  I guess I'm a little bit nuts.  When I get an idea in my head I have to do it right.this.very.instant.

That's what happened with that funky little quilted bag.  As I was making it, and cursing those pieced curves, I told myself that I wasn't going to make another one.  Then I had a little lull in my day, and before I knew it, I was making another one.  I still haven't mastered those stupid curves, but I'm making myself put it aside for a little while.  I need some rest. 

I'd like to get back to my rusted root and I need to finish reading a book (I'll tell you about it in a day or so).  Tonight is one of my favorite trash TV nights (Housewives of OC), so I'll have my eyes glued to the TV (okay, maybe I'll be knitting while I'm watching/listening to the TV) - no sewing, though quilt ideas keep popping into my head.  Gosh, I do believe I'm hopeless.

shop talk

Well friends, I've been a busy bee behind the scenes these past few weeks.  My recent bag making flurry has resulted in my drafting 2 new patterns - the Ava Rose Tote and the Pretty In Pleats pleated purse.  I'm pretty excited about this!  Both patterns are downloadable PDF's, available in my etsy shop.  Working on two patterns at once has been a challenge, but oh so fulfilling!  I hope you like them :)

 

While I was in pattern mode, I converted the Short & Sassy pattern to PDF.  I just so happened to sell my last printed pattern, so the timing was perfect.  I made a few changes to the pattern, but nothing major.  If anything, I made it a little easier to understand.

Oh, I also got the chance to upload some of my recent bags to the shop.  They're priced to sell, so check them out.  I'm holding on to a few of my samples for now, like the two above that I used for the pattern covers, but I may change my mind in the near future.

As always, thank you so much for your encouragement and support!  All your positive comments fuel my fire!!!

funky little quilted bag

 

This little thing sure was fun to make!  I got the idea in my head a few weeks back to try a different version of this bag.  I sliced and diced, added seam allowances, then voila - a crazy pieced front bag.

I was going to make another big tote, but I don't need one of those.  I do need something smaller, when I don't want to carry around everything but the kitchen sink with me.  This is perfect :)

I used all scraps on the front - love that.  I didn't intend to make it totally Anna Maria Horner, but after putting a few pieces together, I decided to just go with it.

When it came time to quilt it, my plan was to just quilt around my seam lines, but when I started sewing, I got all crazy with it.  It was like I was posessed.  I've never done any sort of free motion quilting, so this was all new to me - I just went with it.  It was kind of fun.

So there you have it, my new funky little quilted bag. 

keeping it real

 

A few days ago, Stefani's post about showing real life got me thinking.  I was reminded again after reading Caroline's post.  Yeah, real life.  I'm often asked by y'all about how I 'do it all'.  Well, I don't. NO WAY.  I choose to only show you the pretty side, but there's a whole lot more going on over here. 

All this week I've been woring on making bag patterns and Matt has been busy with school stuff.  The household chores have fallen by the wayside.  There are oodles of dirty dishes, loads of dirty and clean clothes, toys all over the floor, just a big ole sty.  We had frozen lasagna last night for supper and breakfast food tonight.  No, I won't be winning mother of the year any time soon.  Because things were already a mess, tonight I decided to let the kids go at it with construction paper, glue and glitter.  Fun stuff.  So see, I'm not perfect.  I'm far, far from it!

On the agenda this weekend - a little house cleaning :)

For all interested, the fabric in the last  photo came from etsy sellers downshadowlane and sewlovefabrics.

i couldn't resist

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've made quite a few bags in these last few weeks.  They've all been made from stash fabric.  It's been fun rummaging through my fabric, but being around all that fabric only made me want more.  So, I caved.  I ordered more fabric.  Can you believe that I hadn't ordered any fabric since the middle of November?  Well, maybe I did buy those solids for my quilt back (that I still haven't made) back in December, but that doesn't really count. 

 

Shoot, I don't feel one bit guilty about my purchase, in fact, I'm pretty proud that I held out that long (it may be a record). Yep, I think I deserve this new fabric :)

come on spring

This past weekend I started coming down with a head cold.  I spent the majority of Sunday lying around, wishing I felt better.  Because I have a very hard time just lying around, I started on a new knitting project.  On the needles right now is rusted root.   I'm only 1 sleeve away from finishing my blue cardi, but I've lost my love for it.  I'm starting to think about warm weather, so finishing that probably won't happen this season.  I have a feeling this fall I'll rip it out and make something different with that lovely malabrigo.

I have to say, I'm not too happy with this yarn.  I went with the recommended Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, but I think it's kind of icky and splitty.  Sometimes it takes me a while to come around to a yarn, so there's still hope.  I decided to veer off of the pattern and make my version with a deeper neckline.  I know that the neckline as written will not look good on me, so I dropped it about 5".  Because I wasn't reading the pattern, I left off the puffed sleeves.  Oops.  Oh well, puffed sleeves don't look that great on me anyway, so I'll just do regular sleeves.  I'll probably bring them down to right above my elbow.  Knitting this is like spring between my fingers - I can't help but think about fresh grass.  I'm already daydreaming about what skirt I'll make to go with it :)