Of Piping and Seat Cushions

Today I'm gearing up to make my friend's seat cushion. She has an adorable small-scale wicker seat that has followed her travels. Its current iteration is in black. Now she just needs a fun cushion to match the dynamic colors of her room.

I've got my pattern, as you can see from the photo. I simply placed some heavy duty trace in the chair and outlined the shape of the seat. As a rule of thumb (for any of you emboldened to attempt this yourself after reading this), after tracing the entire seat base (or cushion, if there was one), fold the paper in half and then create a secondary outline that's a happy marriage of both sides. Having a symmetrical piece is more pleasing to the eye, easier to work with and finishes much more nicely.

First, I'll need to get the foam cut to the right shape. Then I'll move on to cutting the fabric and creating the piping. I'll post new pictures as I progress!

Heating Up...

Well, I went on an unintentional brief hiatus. So I'm sure happy to be back in the saddle.

I found myself having to find a heating solution for my crafting space. As you've seen, I've taken up residence in our sun room. And as beautiful and sunny as it is out there, it really is a three season room. 25 degree weather does not a cozy workspace make. It took a couple experiments with a few space heaters (along with a couple tripped breakers) to come to a viable solution before I could start working out there comfortably again.

For good measure, in addition to the heating conundrum, I needed to work through some sort of virus going around. I'm happy to be done with both. And so today I found myself grateful to have my energy back, standing at my work table pinning ribbons in place as I watched the snow fall.

I finished the ribbon board. Here are the fruits of my labor...

Using my staple gun and 3/8" staples to attach the fabric, batting and ribbons to the Homasote.

Placing and pinning ribbon as trim to cover the raw edges of the fabric (because even the back should be neat!)

Done pinning...

...and ready for the glue gun.

The finished piece, ready to hang on the wall.

The Ribbon Board

Today I began work on a ribbon board: one of those lovely padded concoctions typically of fabric, ribbons and tacks to hold pictures or notes...

Most DIYers recycle an old bulletin board or corkboard. I didn't have anything like that around, so I opted to use some Homasote I had stored for just such an occasion. I first learned of the stuff during my days in Architecture school: wonderfully thick, great for acoustical applications, but most commonly seen as foundations for the iconic bulletin boards of the 70's. (Did I just date myself?...)

Moving on. Since I'm making this for a friend, I wanted to customize as much as possible. Which, it would turn out, was necessary given the unusual colorway of her bedding. Instead of using the old standby of furniture tacks, I decided to do covered buttons, which helped bring in that beautiful but peskily difficult to find orange-red she was eager to use as an accent.

I got a lot done today, though I still do have a bit left to accomplish. I'm sharing my progress thus far...and pleased, so far, with how it's coming together!

Finding the Balance

Yesterday and today have been reality checks for me. While I have the noble endeavor to document my creative flow each day, life doesn't always cooperate to accommodate such grand schemes. What's that saying?...best laid plans?... something about guys and mice?

Yesterday the opportunity to pass time with my sister-in-law presented itself. And with a brand new residence that is now an hour away (as opposed to the convenient five minutes down the street), a 'short visit' in the truest sense of the term really wasn't realistic. So, I thoroughly enjoyed passing my day at my in-laws' new place mounted on a small hill overlooking a lake. The neighbor's horses came up to the boundary fence to add the final touch to the overall feel of leisure. I was not missing my crafting, I must confess.

A wonderful creatively inspiring thing did occur during that visit, though, that leaves me excited to create for my new work area. I snapped a picture of some old drapes that my sister-in-law had removed from an old house she'd lived at years before. She'd hated them, thinking they were ugly. But her Mom couldn't bear the thought of them being tossed. Now they're serving the noble purpose of giving my nieces some privacy.... and of inspiring my desire to create a concoction of sheer diaphanous material with delicate lacy crochet for the vast panels of windows in my sunroom/work space.

Here's the inspiration. After I'm done with the ribbon board and seat cushion, these will be high on my priority list to get started...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Having been largely focused on either crochet work or the evolution of my work space, I decided to change it up a little and take a look back at one of my first major sewing endeavors.

In 2008, after succumbing to lay-offs (like a good portion of the nation), I had an opportunity to learn how to sew. Well, maybe for my mother's sake I should say I had an opportunity to re-learn how to sew. Because I'm one of those thick-headed people who needs to take a go at things quite a few times before I really get the hang of it. Anyway, a dear friend of mine who has quite the knack for sewing was gracious enough to have me over to her sewing haven for a weekly session of how-to. Her benefit? Extra hands to get her work done. My benefit? Having life experience under my belt and less fear of the sewing machine to 'make it stick' this time. 

After a year of working together, for my birthday this same dear friend gave me a pattern and fabric for an apron.  This thoughtful, lovely and relatively simple gift would ultimately prove to be a powerful inspiration and springboard for me creatively.  But more about that another day (because I certainly have plenty of creations, and photos thereof, to blog about). She had no way of knowing what kind of monster she'd be creating. ;)

Anyway, the fateful pattern was from McCalls Fashion Accessories: Retro Aprons (M5643). Of the three pattern choices in the pack - Posies's Kitchen, Sophia's Dinner (yes 'dinner', not 'diner') and Lucie's Cafe - I chose to make Posie's Kitchen. The fabric seemed to scream for it. And that, then, my friends is what you see in the images here. Not too shabby for a day's work... or a first serious attempt at following a pattern for an article of (somewhat) clothing!

I had the pink striped fabric in my stash. The buttons were a fun find at the local JoAnn Fabric Store

First Creation of the New Year

Now that I've managed to get a semblance of organization in my work area, I'm about to embark on my first craft of the year: a ribbon board and seat cushion for a dear friend of mine.

The color scheme of the room in question is inspired by a bed set design by Ty Pennington in aquas and oranges.

So the ribbon board will be in black, with aqua ribbons held by buttons covered in orange sateen. The seat cushion will be in the striped aqua, with red-orange piping.

So, here are the fabrics. I'll likely enjoy Sunday as my 'day of rest'. I'll definitely check in, but I'll likely indulge in another retrospective. :) And then Monday I'll be focusing on the board! Yippie!

I want to get this project done post haste for two good reasons: it's my Christmas gift to my friend. But also because I'm already thrilled to get working on two ideas for the craft room. Can hardly wait!

Sew Fantastic

I know, I know. The title's oozing of cheese, but I couldn't help it. I pulled back the curtain to the sunroom sliding glass door to do the 'big reveal' for my Mom. She'd yet to see any of my progress thus far. With coffee fresh in me, I was as giddy as Charlie in the chocolate factory.

And as I step out here a couple hours later, I'm even more enamored. The sun spilling over my sewing machines. The crystals on the chandelier sparkling. The forsythia and bird feeders right outside the windows. I'm SO overjoyed by the cheeriness this space is taking on!

My creative juices have already begun flowing. I've already placed my baskets of yarn to the right of the table, introducing my first splashes of vibrant color to the currently neutral palette. I can't wait to see how electrified the space becomes as I place the shelving and begin organizing my sewing stash!

My goal is to finish major furniture placement and organization of at least part of my sewing tools before picking up my Bugaboo from the bus stop this afternoon. So I'm committing myself to posting progress pics later. :)


6:15pm: As promised, I'm posting a progress pic. I'm pleased with how this is coming together, considering I've not bought a single thing to make it happen (boy do I have a ton of stuff). Looks nothing like my 'dream' craft space, but I am so tickled with the overall result.

Which works out good, since I came across several ideas on Pinterest that'll give me no peace until I implement them... Oh goody, another creative journey to blog about!

This Week's Retrospsective...

It's day two of organizing my creative area. As I clean, tidy, sift, organize and purge I find myself acknowledging that I'll likely have very few photo-worthy moments to 'blog' about. I have also been clear-minded enough to acknowledge that having something new to talk about every day will, at times (even for a talker like me), prove to be difficult or overwhelming. My all-powerful effective solution to this potential 'problem'? I can do retrospectives! I have a ton of projects that I've done over my past two to three years off the grid (I did, after all, start this blog in, what, 2008?.... yikes...). They are projects I am deeply pleased with, to a point where I surprised myself. And I definitely would like to get them 'out there', so to speak. So, as I organize my tangible creative space I realize I can also organize my virtual creative space: weekly 'retrospectives' where I post photos of projects past. Not sure exactly what I'll say, as I tend to enjoy going with the flow of my thoughts. But a certain semblance of organization in thought conveyance is always nice, wouldn't you say? And more importantly I end up killing two or three birds with one stone, to coin a cliche... 

So, with that rambling preface, I would love to post about a very recent stream of bags I crocheted over the winter break. I first came across the bag on a web-site that is one of my guilty pleasures: Ravelry. So many creative people making beautiful things out of long colorful strands of you-name-it. I could get lost there for hours... {slobber}. But I digress. I came across the Sunflower Satchel, designed by Asami Kawa and fell instantly in love. I just HAD to try making that bag. I am ashamed to confess that, since we are one of those American families that has been particularly beaten up by all the economic downturn stuff that's gone on over the years, footing even a few dollars for something like a crochet pattern was just not in the realm of possibilities. Nor was the idea of paying $11 per skein for the particular yarn that was spec'd out of the pattern. Both shames in their own right because, as an artist, I never want to be one to deny someone their own means of survival by not giving them proper dues for their creation (especially when those 'proper dues' translate into $$$). Just the same, I have to confess that, rather than buy the pattern, I studied the pictures and devised my own pattern for the bag. So, mine is NOT the same bag pattern, but it is closely inspired. One day, when we're in a better spot I will do right by Kawa and buy the pattern. Until then, I'll just point as many people as possible to her pattern. 

Back to the bags. If you've been following me, you'll know I already have a gigantic yarn stash. Well, it might be meager to most, but it seems outrageous to me. A dear friend of the family's mother used to own a yarn shop. Mother isn't much into needlework anymore, so they gave me all her things... including her stash. I couldn't justify going out and spending $25 on yarn when I had so much at home to work with. (It would be particularly hard justifying the expense to my husband). So I also broke away from Kawa's pattern by using a seven color palette of different yarns, rather than one variegated yarn. The first bag I made was monochromatic, in a rose/red-violet colorway. That one took me the longest because, although I'd drawn my pattern, I had to make adjustments along the way and do a lot of ripping out and re-working. It was actually pretty arduous, so I totally respect Kawa's skill considering all the lovely projects she's designed. But the final product definitely pleased me.

Although I hadn't done it at the time of the picture, I purchased a faux silk fabric in a bright rose color and used that to line the inside of the bag. It offset the yarn work quite nicely, I think. 

Having eight children in the extended family to consider gifting for Christmas, we needed to stay as low-budget as possible. The bag ended up being what I decided to make as Christmas gifts for nieces, since 'homemade' and 'free' were perfect for us. In order to have each niece feel like her bag was unique (and to eliminate even more of my stash), I decided to do a second bag in a jeweled color way, focusing on blues, greens and purples.

For that bag's lining, I chose a vibrant violet color in the same faux silk fabric.

Since it was winter break, my Bugaboo noticed I was busily crafting away and asked me repeatedly if either of those bags was going to be for her. When she discovered they weren't, she then asked me if I was going to make HER a bag (with those big, brown slightly-disappointed-looking puppy dog eyes). 

Armed with my JoAnn's Fabric holiday coupons, I ran out to the store and bought three skeins of a comparable variegated yarn on December 23rd and began to feverishly make my third bag. I finished it Christmas afternoon {whew} and presented it to her that evening, complete with more of that silk lining (which I actually had the presence of mind to photograph this time):

For more details about the yarn, pattern or needles I used for this bag, you can search for me on Ravelry (see link above) and do a search for Sows Ear Silk Purse. Okay, folks, that's my novelette for the day. Now I'm off to organize!

My New Creative Center On A Budget

If you are like me, you have the plans of a king but the pocket book of a pauper. So many fantastic, thoughtful, creative ideas and inspirations, so little money....{sigh}

So I found myself scavenging from what I already had around. At first I was a little unsure of my success potential. After all, as a designer I want a space that would make the most seasoned designer/crafter snarl in envy. In the end I needed to re-establish my entire work area after giving away my key piece. But I needed to replace my dear old white table spending little or no money. So, the key to success, in my mind, was figuring out how to jimmy a new work surface (that would never quite compete with Old White).

I'd resigned myself to the idea that I'd need to paint a piece of plywood and mount it to some wire cube cubbies. Less than ideal, but it'd get the job done. I certainly wouldn't be making Martha Stewart jealous by a long shot. As I sifted through our garage (we just moved six months ago) I glanced briefly to my right and felt my heart soar. Off on the other side of the garage, tucked away in the corner stood my grandfather's drafting table.

So many wonderful works of art came from that table. My grandfather was a natural artist, his first "job" at ten was painting signs for local shop owners during the Depression to earn money for the family. He studied graphic design, but ultimately landed at the FBI (yes, you read that right) as a sketch artist. The work he produced over the course of his life enthralled me. When he passed, I cried when my grandmother told me of her intention to gift his work table and tools to me. I think, my friends, Old White has been sufficiently replaced...

As I brought Grandpa's table out to our sun room, I spied an old small chandelier that had been rescued from an abandoned apartment. "Surely there's a way I can work this into my space?..."

A little cleaning, a little clearing of toys (as I'll now be sharing space with the kiddos in what we've up 'til now been referring to as the play room) and I'm starting to feel good about how it's coming together.

Here's what I've got so far, and I'll hopefully be able to finish pulling it together tomorrow...

Starting Fresh

The new year has some facing resolutions made of their own volition. And others have to start fresh because circumstances thrust upon them. A family member found herself having to move over the past holiday weekend... no small task when it involves a large family with small children.

A friend of ours found himself destitute and having to start out completely from scratch. As families pulled in around him and his children, he's already been able to acquire the basics... and our family was happy to pass along a round oak table that had been given to us. We had been at a low point in our own life, and a dear friend passed it to us. It became a place of many meals and memories, lovingly refinished and, of late my staging point for all things crafted, sewn, painted... you name it.

Anyway, we've found ourselves in a better place, and with a larger rectangular table where we take our meals together. And it would seem that the round table was an easy let-go. But it wasn't. It's led me, instead to my own new start...

Passing along my trusty crafting area has opened up a door of opportunity to re-create my creating space. Mu first task will be to determine the 'where'. Then I can press on to the 'how'. And, while I miss my trusty friend, I know it's a cornerstone for new memories for its new family. And its departure is an open door for me to new possibilities in this new year.

Happy New Year!

And what better way to start a new year that's chilly and blustery? With a new scarf and hat, complete with giant pom pom ball. As goofy as my Bugaboo is, the pom pom is just begging to be bounced up and down and back and forth.

Combine Bugaboo's Jim Carrey-ish physicalities with her newly lost tooth and that slouchy hat action, and the entertainment value is through the roof.

Happy, happy new year, all!