More Tea Towels

More tea towel pictures and links to share. This has been so much fun, and there have been so many neat ideas.

Kristen received these sweet tea towels from Chara. I love the idea of a conversion chart on a tea towel.

Claire made these great appliqued owl towels for Tabitha.

Marjo made these nesting doll towels for Whitney. What fun colors!

Amy embroidered this little owl and used such lovely prints.

More to come!

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.

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.

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!

Tea Towel Swap: Rules and Ideas

Swap on! At the end of the post I have a list of tea towel ideas and tutorials, so check it out if you need some ideas. I also came across a similar swap hosted by the Wren's Nest sometime last year. She had some good ideas, I borrowed, and they created a flickr group you can browse.

This swap is open to anyone (that means you), but I'm going to limit it to 50 people. So here's the rules:

1. We'll swap two dish towels (old or new, and embellished by you however you like: embroidered, stamped, appliqued, crocheted edge, or whatever), and a recipe.
2. Sign up by next Thursday (March 5) by sending me your name, email, and blog if you have one to wilsonlauralynn AT gmail DOT com.
3. I will pair you up randomly and sometime the following weekend, I will send you your swap partner's email address. You and your partner will be responsible for exchanging your mailing addresses.
4. Mail your towels and recipes by March 27th. That gives you a whole month to make your towels. I'll try to send you reminders throughout, so no one forgets!
5. Send me a picture, or you can post it on your own blog and send me the link! I won't post pictures until your partner has received their swap so no surprises are spoiled.


Tea Towels
What is a Tea Towel - Wise Geek

Make
Sew Your Own Towel - from Sew Take a Hike
Buy Floursack Towels - from Amazon
Buy Linen Towels - from Target
Buy Martha's Towels - from Kmart and Macy's

Decorate
Printed Tea Towel Tutorial - from The Haystack Needle
Stamp Your Towels - from Design Sponge
Embroider Your towels - from Sublime Stitching
Embroidery Ideas - from Feeling Stitchy
Dye with Leaves - from Ehow
Appliqued Tea Towel Tutorial - from Toby Cat Creations
Crochet Your Towel's edges - from Craftblog

Be Inspired
Lots and lots of Pretty Tea Towels

Tea Towel Swap!

After finding Sublime Stitching's suggestion to use my diaper flannel for tea towels, then I read this Storque article about tea towels. Now I've got the itch to make tea towels!

(this lovely towel is from flowerpress)

My mom has some that my grandma embroidered that are so lovely. How have I not gotten into tea towels, yet? All of mine are red checked from Target, which is great, but I definitely need some handmade!

I was thinking this could be a good craft swap. Anyone interested?

I've been browsing Etsy for ideas (see my favorites on the side). Make your own, buy new ones, or dress up an old one (like the ones I saw here). Then, you can embroider, stamp or block print, dye, applique, or whatever you like to do. I always think you need a pair, so perhaps we could make it two towels?

Anyone have time for this now? If I'm going to do a swap it'll have to be before J arrives. So let me know if you're interested! Leave me a note with your email in the comments, or email me at wilsonlauralynn AT gmail DOT com. If there's enough interest I'll post all the official rules, participants, and more links to ideas later.

More Craft Swap Animals!

Here are three more craft swap animals to share:

This lovely zebra arrived in my mailbox wrapped in pretty paper from Jackie (my mom).


A sweet puppy with a tongue was sent by Whitney to Brittany.

Lillian the Cat, from Chara found a new home with Julie and the kids. She came in true storyteller form, with a story and a CD of cute cat songs!

Craft Swap Animals

I haven't heard back from everyone, but little sock and glove animals have been popping into my inbox for a little while. I have more pictures to share, but I didn't want to spoil any surprises, so here's just a couple for now:

Here's my little glove bunny. I made him from some angora gloves I got at a yard sale on a cold day, only to learn moments later they were too small. Well, they've gone to good use now. I knitted him a little jacket, and made a tie out of seam binding. He went to live with Whitney



Julie's cuddly bear red bear arrived with a lovely apron. She arrived early at my mom's (Jackie) house.



I'll try to post the rest in the next few days...

Craft Swap Underway!

I put my Craft Swap glove animal in the mail today. I'm a little jealous of his trip across state lines to make a new friend. I've been so excited about sending mine that I kind of forgot until today taht I should be expecting a package in the mail, too! I'll be sure to share all the images I get as they arrive.

Crafting can be a great vehicle for creating community I wanted to do this swap to take my blogging experience from a one sided exhibition to a community activity.

Betsy Greer, from craftivism, in her thesis "Taking Back the Knit" on the current resurgence of craft, said:

I am re-establishing a connection via my own channels, reclaiming something that was lost in the postmodern quest for more more more. We are no longer knitting together out of a necessity for basic clothing needs, we are creating together out of necessity for closeness.

I guess there are lots of ways to create closeness, but I thought a craft swap would be a fun one. Let's do it again sometime!

No, I'm on vacation. Really.

Okay, our departure has been delayed by one day. So, I had all my stuff together, and my little glove animal just waiting to be sewn up... I whipped him together before dinner. Really, the whole thing, handstitched, took an hour - maybe. I've never made a sock/glove animal before, so I didn't know, but it turns out it's pretty simple (this should encourage those of you who haven't started yet). Since he was such a quick make, after dinner, I took a little time to make him some accessories. I want him to be a surprise, so I'll just give you a little peak now.

Also, L and I were watching the "birdies", and I just had to share - if I can get this thing to upload. My first exposure to hummingbirds was at my Granny's breakfast table. We would watch all morning, and when one came to the feeder by the window, everyone would hold their breath. I always thought they were skittish.

Imagine my delight to hear a constant hum on our front porch where a handful of hummingbirds fight for their spot at the feeder. They aren't the least bit shy, buzzing past our heads when we're on the porch. I wish I could have Granny over for breakfast. I also wish my video had sound because these guys sound like a racetrack!

Craft Swap - Last Call

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the sock and glove animal craft swap. (see details here).

We still have a few spots available. See the instructions and links to patterns in the initial post. If you want to join in, comment here or email me quick!

wilsonlauralynn[at]gmail[dot]com

Upcycling Craft Swap anyone?

My friend Julie showed me this beautiful little book on making animals from old socks and gloves.

I thought this would make a great idea for a craft swap! This will be the first swap I've ever hosted, so I'm going to limit it to 10 - 15 people. Want in? It's open to anybody who likes to sew and get stuff in the mail! This is what you do:

1. Email me at wilsonlauralynn[at]gmail[dot]com. include your name, address, and blog link (only if you have one, so I can link back to you!) by next Tuesday, July 15th.
2. At the end of the week, I will email everyone back with someone else's name and address.
3. Everyone will make some kind of stuffed animal (or person!) out of an old glove or sock - be creative!
4. On July 29th, everyone will put their stuffed sock animal in the mail to their person. This gives you about two weeks to make yours.
5. When you get yours in the mail, jump up and down with glee, then take a picture and send it to me.

Please, only sign up if you can follow through. It's easy to keep everything you make, so I think its a fun challenge to make something with the idea of giving it away. I've put some links below for ideas, or check out some in my etsy favorites (in the left sidebar).

Hurry up, and email me, I'm eagerly waiting!

Inspiration:

three dogs and a cat via schmeebot.com
sock monkey tutorial via crafster.com
bunny and dog from Kanamori's book from marthastewart.com
octopus sock puppets from objektknot