You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch

by Kimberlee

This is sort of embarrassing to blog about, but I've decided to put a temporary moratorium on making clothes for myself.  I have been LOVING learning how to make clothes, but some of my cancer meds (steroids) has caused my weight to go up a couple of dress sizes.  Also, for whatever reason and unlike my last round of treatment, I developed a yen for sugar.  So many of these things are mysterious and vary from patient to patient - last time I lost both my hair and weight, this time I gained weight and kept the hair.  But in any case, I don't want to invest the time, energy and money in creating clothes for this current body when I have a good plan for getting back to my ideal weight.  OK, enough of that!  On to fun stuff.

I found some photos I had taken of my Valentine's decorations, and even though we are far past that, I though you might enjoy seeing what I did:

Lips n Love

I was smitten, and remain smitten with tissue paper carnations!  I don't think that, until recently, I had made them since grade school, but they were as cool as ever.  The original idea for this chandelier came from Kevin and Jessica, and I tweaked it with birds from Martha Stewart. I was super-happy with how it came out.

I usually make fairly fragile V-day crafts, and can't pack them easily, and usually can't bear to part with them, so I have started putting them in the overhead of our entryway closet:

A much better shot of Martha's Birds

Sweetness and Coats

You can see several of my paintings in this (the Unicorn is paint-by-number)

I can't lie, I get a kick out of this every time I open the closet!  It just makes me happy.  I seriously suggest that you try it - I have tiki lanterns and leis in there, as well.  Use any funky or pretty hanging things, garlands, whatever.  Only you will see it, and it will make you happy, too.

I also finished up another pillow.  I picked up this Southwest pattern in Jo-Anns scrap bin and it was crying out for an animal touch, so I made a crow silhouette applique in fake leather and  stitched it on:

 

This was also my first time making my own piping.  It turned out pretty well, the only place I had problems was on the closing after I had stuffed the pillow.  It looks right at home in the Artifact Room (ie the second bedroom - need to do a post on that).

And rounding up the odds and ends...I've been admiring the idea of framing fabric.  I had an old gold frame & matting lying around, but unfortunately it had no glass.  So I decided to use some batting and cardboard, wrap it with fabric and with a few good hits with the reliable staple gun - voila!

I'm super-happy with how it turned out.  The fabric has a burlap-quality to it, and though you can't tell from the photos, it is very textural.  I want to do something more with it, but I can't decide what.  I could hang earrings from it, but I was also thinking of using it like a scrapbook, since it can take thumbtacks.  Well, we'll see.

I have some fun stuff coming up in the next few posts!  I've been making some improvements to the bedroom using some French touches and finished my first knitting project.  And, awesomely, my friend Jill sent me a HUGE BOX of vintage patterns from the 80s, which are clearly cool enough to deserve an entire post of their own, as I am certain you will absolutely want to see a lot of them.  I love them, and it will be fun to start making some clothes from them as my weight loss progresses.  Until then, at least, I can touch and pet them. 

And speaking of pet, I'll leave you with Scrabble!  Talk to you all soon!

I swear, I'm innocent!  I've been framed!!!

Pillow Project - Pillow #1

Thanks, everyone, for your great suggestions for pillows!  I decided to make several pillows, so here's Pillow #1.  I decided to focus on texture for this one.

 

This pillow is incredibly soft - the shell is natural flannel, a new favorite fabric of mine.

 

The flowers are made of denim, muslin and flannel, and the adorable buttons were Christmas gifts from my co-Magpie...aren't they pretty and shiny?

 

I decided to sew inside the circles so that the edges of the flowers would eventually fray and give the pillow a pretty, almost shabby chic effect.

So pillow number one is done! Thank you again for all the advice, much of which I will be using as I go along.  Take care and much love!