artsy Amy

Country Chic Pillows

via sew4home.com

This is pre-xactly why I returned the sheet set I bought a few weeks back. Why buy new bedding if I can make my own fabulous pillows and use the same ole' organic or bamboo sheets I already have? Very thrifty and environmental on my part. I could have saved at least 45 minutes trying to decide between 400, 500, or 600 thread count. Another 10 minutes was spent deciding if I preferred pin tucks to standard satin stitching details. Pin tucks won. Of course, the cost varied with both thread count and stitch finish options. More time was wasted with computation as I debated the worth of thread count and/or finishing. I'd never make it in pork bellies...too indecisive. That and I spent the money from the sheet set return on treats & prizes for my students. (Didn't think for a second about doing that!) Now, I just need to evaluate my fabric stash and whip some of these up before dear Hubby asks about the sheets he recently categorized in Quicken.

Night Y'all

I'm trying hard to make some real changes in my life. More frequent posts is one of the easier items on the list.

School has started back. Busy. Busy. Our football season gets underway this week. You can find me on bleachers somewhere in rural Alabama every Friday night till November. I start classes next week. {Seriously overdue.} I've vowed to volunteer less so I can manage being a student myself again. Please remind me of this. The first meltdown, complete with tears and a snotty nose will occur before the end of September I predict. Time management has never been my strong suit. Ask any family member. My creative processes are adversarial to the notion of time, just as my craft supplies are to space.

Oh, I finally broke in my new Bernina ruffler foot. It's amazing! I made a tea towel using measurements from a handmade one. I'm not happy with it. That's why you're looking at my mug instead of a tea towel adorned with ruffles. I've got to work out the dimensions before I cut into my prized April Cornell fabric. Well it's so late now, if I calculate the amount of time between lights out and alarm time the product is oh crap so I better go. Hope y'all have a good week.

Progress Report

I went M.I.A. on y'all again. School started. I could go on and on with what all that entails, but I'll spare you.

I have been crafting. No final products to share pictures of though. The marble magnet project is halfway. Tiny papers have been glued to the back of the glass marbles. That's about it. I've played around with freehand embroidery inspired by the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad I bought. A Mary Englebreit fabric panel has been sewn but I've ripped the cherry embroidery stitches out of the black border fabric twice. Perfectionism and crafting aren't always good companions. Especially when the perfectionist is trying to de-stress by crafting. Crafts should relieve stress not cause it. So, the cherries have been set aside for now. More napkins have been serged, but not top-stitched. Supplies have been purchased for numerous projects that may or may not ever make it to fruition.

I had a birthday. August 27th I turned 36. Friends and loved ones showered me with gifts I didn't deserve. Dear Hubby gave me horse riding lessons. I have photos and video of the experience to share. He won major brownie points for that! Dear Sharona sent me a fabulous new book...

 

Sewing eye candy and has a new way to construct tote bags in it. I've made countless totes and never came across such an easy way to put contrasting fabrics together before. See how beautifully the fabric's stripes are totally aligned on the cover photo. I'll have to scan in those pages for you. Genius. I also received a Barnes & Noble gift card, cash (which was spent on candles, pottery, and this program which I've wanted for at least a year)...

I received some of the loveliest cards ever and had dinner out with my dear Parents. Great birthday.

Now, in addition to all the stress living life at the pace we currently do...I have decided to give up Coke. My doctor is always telling me how bad it is. And Lord knows she won't cut me any slack on my weight. No one seems to understand that without sugar, I just can't function. The Lupus is bad enough, but the low energy is killer. I found out thirty pounds ago that this southern girl could successfully run on Coke (and cookies). So pray for me. My current substitute is Natural Spring Water (in plastic bottles, not very earth friendly, but have you tasted Alabama well water?) and this...

 

It's "off tha chain" as dear Son would say. Really! I hope the immunity part kicks in before flu season. Just another perk of working at a school. Well, it's time to shuttle dear Son to band practice. The fun just never ends.

Checkbook Cover

Checkbook Cover, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

I love Vera Bradley's things, but that farm girl budget always reminds me it's not necessary to pay extra just for the name. A fact my 14 year old dear Son has yet to learn. Anyway, I used leftovers from this project and directions from a Batik Purse kit dear Aunt Gayle had ordered from Fons & Porter. Don't you love a fellow crafter with access to a copy machine! It was pretty simple considering I ditched the idea of decorative trim. I was in a hurry and digging out ribbon or rickrack was out of the question.

We have been run ragged between band camp (American Pie fans insert joke here) and getting ready for school starting back. Where has this summer gone? I had all these grand intentions that never materialized, as usual.

A recent shipment from Barnes & Noble came with two new crafting books I'll share soon. New craft books are coming out once a month for the next few months. The only thing better than a finished craft project is a new craft book!

Man Crafting

Paper Tray 2, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

It's a coin tray! I found a tutorial in the June/July 2007 Home Companion magazine. Click here and here for the two part tutorial I scanned in on my Flickr account. I hope Mary doesn't come after me for copyright infringement. If she asks, you don't know where you found it...crafter's Code of Silence.

My only advise is to play around with your presser foot pressure. It was tricky to find the right pressure so the stitches were even. The next one will be better. Happy Crafting...

Handmade Party Favors

Handmade Party Favors, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

During my recent trip to Georgia, five of us girls (various ages) and two goldfish bunked in one room. For my younger two dear 2nd Cousin bunk mates, I made these party favors.

Ok. The base is toilet paper rolls. Don't gag. I sprayed them both inside and out with Lysol and air dried them over a lit lamp. This adequately sanitized the "$hitter rolls" as dear Hubby calls them. The candy inside is individually wrapped. If you want to use something unwrapped, like jelly beans, use a paper towel roll and line the inside as well....just in case. Anyhow, I cut scrapbook paper and used my Xyron 500 to adhere it to the tubes. Using my new fab accessory, tulle, I sewed a seam 5/8th inch in and then turned it right side out. Tie one end of the tube closed with ribbon and fill with Starburst (or candy of your choice), then tie the open end closed with a ribbon. Quick, cheap, cute and a big hit with the kids! Other than the candy, everything else* (*not including the t.p. rolls) was laying around the craft room, aka master bedroom. Re-purposing is a way of life around here.

Diaper Burp Cloths

Diaper Burp Cloths, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

I ran out of time to make baby bibs as planned. No real surprise there. But I did get a small set of diaper burp cloths done in time for dear Marianne's baby shower. (Great tutorial here!) Then I decorated a plain bag with punch outs from a calendar dear Hubby gave me Christmas before last.

Punch outs can make a huge difference fancying up gifts that are otherwise pretty plain. Here's another photo where I used punch outs to make plain wrapping cuter.

P. S. Sorry the last feature photos have been obscured by too much tulle. Consider it a tulle phase.

Girly Fabric

Quilted Rose Fabric 1, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

I just bought half yards of two companion fabrics for baby bibs. Dear Rebecca has a newly born baby girl and dear Marianne's baby girl should arrive sometime in August. Both are baby blessings of coworkers. I hope I'll have time to make some matching diaper burp cloths. I tagged a great tutorial for them on my del.icio.us account. I'm new to del.icio.us so by the time I add all my link love, they'll have to add more server space.

Totally unrelated, but question...I ditched the pink on the left and right columns. Is it easier to look at with the new simplistic theme? I've fallen out of love with my header and thinking of a serious blog makeover in the near future.

Sewing Again

056 Sewing Again, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

Finally!  All these daily obligations keep getting in the way of my crafting.  If I could only figure out some way of being financially independent so I could craft at my leisure.  Without selling my crafts of course, because that sucks the fun right out of it...the word "embroidery'"springs to mind.

I am working on a second set of napkins.  At the rate things are going, they might be top-stitched by April.  I've also dragged out several pieces of fabric that have been aging for years.  I can't decide if they will end up as napkins also or another skirt.  If they are to end up as anything, it best be a quick project.

Now, let me confess what I did.  Months ago in a phase of inspiration (crazy) I volunteered to teach sewing as an elective at school next year.  I didn't figure it would happen because our Home Economics teacher was not replaced when she left for medical reasons last year.  They just shut down the whole building.  So this week, when dear Son came home with registration papers and I saw "Sewing" as an Enrichment course, I nearly gagged.  What was I thinking?  Like I'm not involved enough and since I apparently had an out of body experience in which I thought I had excess free time at work and/or life in general.  What was I thinking?  Yes, this is why I'm in the group Solidarity League of Creative Women Distracted by ooooh! Shiny!  Group mission statement, "For all the creative women who find the shiny-ness of a new project too tempting to resist, and for those of us whose vast imaginations and boundless creativity are exceeded only by our tiny little attention spans."

Valentine Pouch

096 Valentine Pouch, originally uploaded by Artsy Amy.

Ok. I'm in love with pre-quilted fabric. Found this darling pink & green print at Wal-Mart. How sad our only local fabric source is Wal-Mart. Anyhow, dear Son wanted to give a few favorite things to his newly reconciled sweetie...hand lotion (raspberry vanilla), gum, Three Musketeers bar, Tinkerbell pencils. I made the pouch 7in. by 7in. I also added the fancy green beads as a zipper pull. The zipper pull was inspired by these pouches. I also spritzed the valentine pouch with Febreze so the gift bag would smell great. Oh, and I learned the quickest way to break two sewing machine needles is sewing in a zipper.  Little tip there for ya.