Tea Towels

My partner Jan and I swapped our towels this week. These are the ones I made. I carved a stamp from my window design, and printed it on my tea towels with a golden yellow oil based printing ink. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.



Jan's towels are lovely fiesta tea cups that match my kitchen so nicely. What fun to get in the mail!

I'll be linking and sharing everyone else's soon. Check out the flickr pool, or add yours.

Spring

I like fall, but I love spring. The warm weather has made me feel so hopeful and cheerful lately. Here's some spring loveliness around our house:

John's got tomato seedlings in the window. He gave the lawn its first hair cut this past week, and everything looks fresh and clean. Soon we'll be getting our garden together, although we're going to keep it small this year. I think we say that every year.


My houseplants have been looking a little ragged lately. Willem's been eating the leaves of my poor dracaena plant - he also almost killed John's peace lily - so we're all glad he's able to get outside more. My jade plant was looking a little thin, so I moved it to the porch - it gets some sun from my window, but it really likes to be outside.


We have a few other residents on our porch now. John got some chicks last week. They'll have to stay under the heat lamp for another month or so, but then he'll move them out to the big chicken coop. He's been cleaning and suring it up for them. We haven't had chickens for awhile, so we're excited to get back in the game. Keep your fingers crossed for hens!

Oranges Revisited

The Sew Fruity contest recently reminded me of my orange softie, and since I've been having so much fun matching fabric for my giraffes, I thought I'd bring back the orange with some vintage scraps. I've had this small piece of fabric with a neat print of sewing supplies in oranges, reds and browns. I've been hanging onto it for just the right project since I didn't have much.



I have had quite a time matching up all the little corners. I'm learning t's much easier to do by hand than on the machine. So I've been machine stitching it together, and then redoing it by hand!


I also had to redo the pattern a couple times to get the shape right. My original orange had 6 sections, but its sort of short and fat, so I made this one with only 5 so it would be more round. Also, it seems like the shapes for the slice should be the same as the rest of the orange, but they're not. The slice looks way too big that way, so I had to play around with that shape until I got it right.

I can put one together in a few hours, and I just love seeing the different prints and colors together, so I'm planning a few more over the weekend. Find them in the shop.

I'm side tracked so easily. I haven't made a wonky log cabin block this week, but I'll try to get one together over the weekend.

Tea Towel Swap Reminder

Tomorrow is the day our tea towel packages are to be mailed out. It feels like this has been stretched over a long time, so I'm excited to finally get mine out in the mail. I'm so pleased with how they turned out - I can't wait to share, but I will.

I made a flickr group (click on the image left) - feel free to post there, on your blog or email me your pictures. I'm flexible. I'll try to link to everyone again, once we all get our packages.

I was looking around for a blank recipe card, when I started noticing some of the cute designs on cards that friends have given me. Why don't I have any cute recipe cards? Hmm... that could be a fun craft swap, too. Or I could just get some here or here.

some recent etsy favorites

ooh, lookie:

Spring Cleaning Dust Mitt Tutorial

I went to a great local rummage sale recently where you can get a bag of clothes for a dollar. I was a little gluttonous and grabbed everything that I thought I could cut up and use for something else - although I didn't have anything in mind at the time.

Later when examining some of my finds, the materials dictated the project - and I ended up using three different garments together for this project. I used a sweatshirt, a terry cloth shirt (who wears terry cloth shirts?), and the cuffs from a shrunken sweater. You could do this same project with just a sweatshirt and a hand towel if you wanted. Or if you have a swiffer, try this similar tutorial.


Typical of my sewing style, this tutorial has few actual measurements - just deal with it.

First I cut the terry cloth shirt into a rectangle that was a bit wider than my hand and twice it's length. Then I cut four - four inch strips the same length as my rectangle from my sweatshirt. Next cut slits along both long sides of each rectangle, towards the middle, but not quite touching so that your rectangles are shaped sort of like a pipe cleaner. You can see mine aren't very straight.


Lay one strip fuzzy side up, towards the left side of your terry cloth rectangle, and sew down the middle. Lay the next strip so that it overlaps the first and repeat, making sure you don't sew down any of the fringe from the first rectangle. Repeat this with the next two strips so that you have spaced the four strips somewhat evenly across the width of your rectangle. It should look like this:


Now fold the fringe on each long side in like this:


Now you will fold the terry cloth rectangle in half with your fringe inside, and sew up the side seams. Folding the outer fringe in will insure that none of it is caught in the seams.


Once you have sewn your side seams, with the mitt still right side in, place the cuff from your sweater (or take one from your sweatshirt) and put it inside the mitt. With a zig zag stitch, sew the edge of the cuff to the edge of the mitt. My cuff seemed a lot smaller than the circumference of the mitt, but I stretched it as I sewed and it ended up fitting fine. If you're worried about this, you could pin it first. It should look like this once you have sewn it on (sorry for the fuzzy picture).


Turn the mitt right side out and trim any stray threads. Ta da!


Now get dusting!

Made one? Add it to the wewilsons pattern pool.

new giraffe

I cut out a bunch of fabric combinations a while ago, but I can't ever do one thing for two long, so I'm only just sewing this guy together. These are two of my favorite vintage fabrics. The brown has verbs written all over it with little stick men acting them out. Cute! And I'm a sucker for little bitty polka dots. I'm still hoping to get a whole herd together, so I'm going to hang on to him for awhile.

He actually has the nicest shaped head of all my giraffes. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of the pattern, or maybe it was just luck. I think I've decided I like the little crocheted hair better than the french knot hair I did with the first one, so fuzzy and quick.

Taco Salad

We tried a new variation of taco salad last night because we didn't have our usual ingredients around - it turned out really nice, and pretty healthy, so here it is. Sorry no measurements, just handfuls of this and that.

heat 1 can of black beans in skillet with a little garlic and taco seasoning. Let it cool a little, then toss with the rest of the ingredients: tortilla chips; fresh spinach (we always use spinach instead of lettuce now - it's easier on our tummies and healthier, too); diced fresh tomato, onion, green pepper, and a half to whole avacado; and a nice handful of chopped fresh cilantro. Top it all with a red french dressing.

You could probably make lots of substitutions here, but don't skip the fresh cilantro or french dressing. They pretty much make it. It would be even healthier if I made my own french dressing, which I'm considering - we just don't use it that often. Although if I could make a very small amount, then it would be better that having to keep it on hand.

Also, did you notice my sweet new orange bowl? I got a nice set of vintage Pyrex mixing bowls in yellows and oranges at our latest Associates Sale (a local rummage sale) for a steal. Gorgeous!

Give Away Winner and Thanks!

I chose my give away winner use the Randomizer, which picked poster number 8: SassyPackRat. Congrats! I'll be emailing you (and mailing you!) very soon.

I really appreciated all the feedback. It was pretty interesting to hear what everyone had to say. I was surprised by the consensus on your favorites! The yellow was probably the least favorite (it's mine, too), and the two blue prints with windows were the favorites with the vine on blue following close behind. I was surprised that the red wasn't a favorite, since everyone liked it so much before I got the color tweaked - even though it was too orange before, maybe it was nicer because it was lighter?

I am not surprised by what you guys thought you'd make from the fabric. Although you guys did have a lot of creative ideas, most of you thought of home decorating ideas, especially in the kitchen. Which I agree it seems fit for since it was inspired by my own decor.

I think I'm still getting a feel for scale. I was worried that the blue window (with no plant) would be too large, but you guys seemed to like that. I guess it depends on what you'd use it for. I wonder a little if your opinions are swayed by the way I presented the fabrics in my photos - so much pressure for those photos!

Thanks, thanks, thanks! I feel like I've learned a lot, and I'm eager to start playing around with the designs again, and maybe start some new ones. I'm sure I'll keep you posted, but if you want to check out all my spoonflower fabrics, you can check them out here.

Giraffe Kits and Tummies

I made some new giraffe craft panels with bright and fun colors. I finally got the kits assembled this weekend - nothing difficult, just lots of little things I had to get around to. I think they turned out pretty cute. I photographed them all this morning so I could list them on Etsy - I take my photos on my kitchen counter where I've got lots of natural light. And I kept getting my belly in the picture! I've been feeling so big and pregnant lately. I can't believe I have less than three months to go. I've got so much to do!

Etsy Give Away

This has been an exciting week for me on Etsy. I made my 200th sale, and now I'm introducing my new fabric line! I thought I would never get it right, but it's finally here. I've already started making some quilt blocks from the fabric, but I'm excited to share my fabric, too.

I've learned a lot about fabric design from this process, and I think my next line (whatever that may be) will be even better. I appreciate all the comments I've gotten so far about my Jade line, but now that I've got it all together, I'd really like to get some more feedback.

So, here's the give away:

The prize: A bundle of goodies from my shop, perfect for another doodling designer:

1 Fat Quarter of the winner's choosing from my new line, a handmade-handstamped notepad, a watercolor journal, and a My Orange Curtain Giraffe Kit

To enter: All you have to do is have a look at my new fabric line (either in my shop or at this previous post) and let me know what you think. What would you use this fabric for? Which prints are your favorite, and what do you think of the colors? I'm putting myself out there for a good old fashion critique! I'll randomly choose one one winner from the comments on Monday morning, March 23rd. Be sure your profile is public and includes an email address or leave your email with your comment so that I can contact you if you win.

*bumped*

Wonky Log Cabin

Have you ever had a project just begging to be made? When I designed my spoonflower fabric, I was really just interested in designing a line of fabric - so I hadn't thought much about what I was going to do with it. Then, last week some time, I saw this tutorial posted on WhipUp about wonky log cabin quilts and I loved it - a quilt design with structure, but allowing for lots of freedom and improvisation - which is about the only way I quilt.

I was already wondering what to make of my new fabric and this seemed like the perfect project for it. My fabric was inspired by things I love in my little house - and if you've ever seen our little house it's a pretty wonky cabin. (I'd love to show you a picture of my living room with the windows that inspired the fabric, but I just can't get the lighting right - so this is a shelf in my kitchen.)


We rent our house from some friends who own the gorgeous historic home next door. Our house was the slave cabin. It often reminds me of the Quilts of Gee's Bend, because it's made of mismatched windows, and there's hardly a right angle anywhere. But it's also got nice wide trim, big open rooms, and large windows that fill it with light.

We plan to leave this house in the next few years when we're ready to build our own. We're eager to have our own home, but we will sure miss this one. So what a great way to honor our first home by using fabric designed from it and a quilt block perfect for it!

I wanted to make the center of each block be white, so that they would resemble the windows that I love so much - but then my mom called while I was sewing. She told me that traditionally, women would put yellow or orange in the center to represent the homefires burning. What a great idea! Women are so smart. So I had to use that, too.


I cut a bunch of strips of coordinating fabrics and kind of loosely grouped them. Then I arranged each block as I sewed. Very improvised.


Next I squared up each block at 15" with white on the outside. I thought that might help unify them when I put them together (someday, eventually, later). I hadn't planned on using so much black, but it just seemed to work, so I'm going with it.

The only problem is that I don't really have time to make a quilt right now. As usual I have about eight other projects going. So I thought I would just try to make a couple or so blocks each week, and put them together eventually someday later. My goal is to post at least two blocks each friday. A flickr search shows lots of great wonky log cabin blankets (way better than my skill level), so I made a flickr group. Please share your blocks and quilts!

Jade Prints from Spoonflower

I'm pleased to present my first line of fabric: Jade in My Window from Spoonflower!
Available in the shop now.

Here are six prints from my Jade in My Window designs. I have several other variations of colors that I didn't print because really I could have printed an infinite number of these, but I settled for this six.

This first pair are sort of the originals. The one on the left was the very first design that spawned all the others. The yellow is from the same design, but with a different repeat so that it has a diagonal thing going. I like both, but I'm glad these were just the beginning because I think the designs got better.

This pair is an all over print of the jade plant. I got so many lovely comments about these last time, even though the red was wrong with the first print. Now that I've corrected it, people keep saying, "oh yeah, that is better!" I love the red - it reminds me of a Matisse painting.

This image shows the before and after red. The one on the left is the first one I ordered, and it's a little orangey. The second one is right on. :)



And the last two feature just the window without the plant. I really like the green, but I'm digging the color on the blue one, too.

I'll post tomorrow about what I'm making with the fabric so you can see it in action. But I've also listed a few fat quarters in my shop, so you can play with some, too - and I just might be having a little give away. So stay tuned.

Anniversary Card

I made this card for John for our anniversary. I've gotten into the habit of making him cards for special occasions - that just makes them seem more special. I got out all of my stamps, colored paper, and thread and played around on my sewing machine to see what kinds of designs I could make. I always want to send people cards, but if I don't have one ready I put it off too long and forget. So I made about 20 cards of various designs just to keep around for when I need one.

weather

While I was out of town John sent me pictures of the snow he got here at home. It looked pretty incredible.



It was all gone by the time I got home, but we still have branches all over our front yard. In the nice weather that followed the snow, the daffodils all popped up - so one side of our drive way is lined with daffodils and the other with fallen branches.

Oyster Soup and Beer Bread

Yesterday was our anniversary and I had every intention of sharing a picture of this yummy and easy oyster stew I made, but it just didn't look that good. But it tasted good, so here it is:

Oyster Soup
Saute 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery stalk, 1/2 an onion, a handful of sliced mushrooms (or two handfuls if you like mushrooms like me), crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and 1 can of oysters. When vegetables are tender add 1 and 1/2 cups of milk (or silk) and heat through. Makes 2 servings.


I also made another beer bread from a different recipe. I'm still amazed at how easy this bread is compared to how incredibly good it tastes. We like it best toasted, and it makes a nice breakfast.

Wheat Beer Bread
3 cups flour (1/2 wheat, 1/2 white), 4 tsp baking powder, 1 and 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1 - 12 oz beer. Mix and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

John got me the book A History of Icon Painting which I have been wanting for such a long time. It does not disappoint, full of pictures and history. I plan to spend much of the day with my nose in it.

home again, home again.

L and I went on a little trip with my sisters and nieces to visit my family. Flying with three young children is adventure enough. We came home with one less stroller and one extra passenger: a stomach bug. Ick.

I'm trying to get caught up on all the good online crafting, but I'm still taking it a little slow. I haven't sent out the tea towel swap partners yet, but I'll try to do that this evening.

Tea Towel Swap Closed

Thanks everyone for signing up! Our participants are:

Laura
Amy
Claire
Elaine
Chara
Caitlyn
Marjo
Kristen
Tabitha
Jan
Peggy
Whitney


I'm really excited to have such a diverse group. Would you guys rather send pictures to me, or put them in a flickr pool?

Don't forget to mail your tea towels and recipes by March 27!

Doll Basket

This was another of my childhood toys that L has inherited. Like the Bunny, it's gotten a little worn out, especially the elastic. The basket cover used to be held on by drawstrings (now missing) and elastic - now it is pinned together with about 18 tiny saftey pins (I vaguely remember doing this in my bedroom one summer). I couldn't find any patterns for basket covers, although I did find this nice one for a cloth doll basket.


I kept the handle cover and the pillow the same, but I whipped together a new cover for the basket out of a green sheet - less ruffly than my grandmother's version. It needs to have some pretty ribbons sewn on to hold it together around the handles, but right now it just has safety pins. Some things never change.

Napkins

I love cloth napkins, but so far I've only bought them at yard sales and goodwill. After I saw this tutorial via Sew Mama Sew's fat quarter month, I decided this would be a good use for my spoonflower fabrics. Since my fabric was inspired by living room (and my living room colors come from my fiesta ware), my fabric just happens to be perfect for around the house sewing, at least my house. So, I'll probably end up using a lot of it for that kind of thing.



I included the edge of my dutch oven in the corner of this picture so you could see the difference in the red I was going for and the red I had printed. The more I look at my digital pictures of my printed fabric, I realize that the red really didn't print as differently from my image as I thought. I think part of the difference in what I wanted and what I got comes from the way we view color as light (computer monitor) and color as pigment (fabric). It seems normal to look at a really bright red on my computer, but translated to pigment it seems like neon. You know what I mean? Well, at any rate, it's another good reason to get the spoonflower swatch before printing.