One Inch Square (Inchie) Art

Today I figured I was well enough to get back to the business of being an artist. I was dying to get started on several projects. The first one is making an Inchie Art Embroidery Piece. I'm doing my best to stick to a natural color scheme (white, brown, tan, muted tones). So I pre-washed and ironed some thin muslin. Part of this I dyed in a coffee bath. Part of it I left natural and hung to dry. Then I ironed it and drew a grid of 1" squares on it.  If this was going to be my final piece, I would just embroider every square. But since I rarely do things the easy way, I'm going to cut out and hem each piece, so in reality, only some of the squares will have embroidery or embellishments on them. The rest of the squares will be part of the seam allowances. This muslin was very thin so I doubled it to make a better foundation for the embroidery.

My first square is a little brown sheep. The second one is a bit of pink ribbon. The third one is a button sunflower. Some of the squares will be set on the diagonal, and some will be horizontal.

My kitten thought it was playtime and he really interfered with me getting much done.  Then we both took a nap.  The coffee dyed fabric should be dry now so I'll go bring that in and iron it.

Ready for embroidery and embellishing.

One inch grid on muslin.

Brown sheep with button head. I tried to hold the button on with French knots but it just popped right off.
I think I can do better.

Button sunflower, brown sheep, and pink ribbon.  I'm looking for just the right thing to put on the ribbon inchie.

Button sunflower on the diagonal.

The 2nd project is a primitive doll or prim. That was why I bought the coffee in the first place. So I also threw the doll's face into the boiling coffee.  She's hanging out on the line too.

Polly Pyewacket before coffee bath.

After being boiled in coffee. I thought it would be much darker. I may have to bake it.

An Obsession With Patchwork

Yesterday I had a fabric shopping spree for quilting fabrics. I fell back into the quilting bucket and I can't get out. I'm working out 4 different projects: the chicken bumble, the paper pieced animals, a quilt based on a purple palette sample, and a quilt  based on blocks affiliated with the state of CA.

Up till now I've been making do with some scrap fabric bits I got at a thrift store in Atascadero. There is a great selection there, but when I was making the elephant block, I realized I have very little green or grey. The dolphins also require grey. So I stocked up on grey, purple and green fabric.

Then I found a bolt of orange with a shine to it for $1.50 a yard. There were almost 11 yards on the bolt so I got that. Somewhere I have more orange set aside for a belly dancing costume, so I need to get those into the same  pile. I remember years ago I wanted to make an orange and aquamarine colored belly dance costume. I am not a huge fan of orange so I don't want to dress head to toe in orange. With my body shape, I'd look like a giant orange!

Yesterday at the library I got a book written by a quilt historian listing a bunch of squares associated with each state. So since I've lived in OK, NM, NV, CA I thought I'd represent each in a quilt. I might add NY as well since that is where my father's side of the family is from. The book is full of facts about each state. For example New Mexico was once claimed by Texas, Mexico, and the U.S. There is also a page for Wanderers and Canada is included as well. It's called Create Your Family Quilt by Barbara Brackman and comes with a CD to help you design it. 
(ISBN 1-893824-1001)

Time to get back to sewing. You guys take care.

Rainy Sewing Day

Rainy days and sewing seem to go so well together. First I had to get some dishes out of the way. I don't recommend sewing in your kitchen/dining room, but if that's all you have, then it is what it is. It was a joy to iron strips of fabric and then set my cold hands on the warm material. Then I pieced 6 different prints together. One had frogs, several had polka dots, one had diamonds, and one had a shape like a lozenge popular in Googie architecture. All I have to make now is the waistband, but I'm waiting for some measurements. Fun.

Beads and Sequins on an Eight Gored Skirt

I've been absolutely obsessed with a sequined 8 gored skirt I am making. It started out with sequins, then I couldn't resist adding beads. Beads might make it too heavy. And I wanted the bling of sequins. I decided to bead each panel and then sew them all together. That way the project is very portable. So I have to be careful not to sew any beads in the seam allowances.

I learned from the first panel that it's better to start in the center and work out.

Each panel will have 2 beaded flowers.

The background is a mottled navy blue, more like the last photo.

Ohh shiny!

The starting point. My needle wouldn't go through the beads so I had to tack the sequins down.

At first I didn't have a beading needle. So I dug one up and things got a lot easier. I only had enough fabric for four blue panels. If I get through those four panels of this insane project, I'll get more fabric for the other four panels, either in navy blue or black.

Zakka Zakka Zakka

I went a little crazy today and dove head first into Zakka. Evidently I'm the only one that didn't know about this trend, because when I looked it up on Pinterest, there were dozens of boards of Zakka crafts and home decor items. When I found out we were going to Hobby Lobby today I specifically looked for fabric in muted tones to use for Zakka. I never buy muted tones, so I literally had no fabric that would work for this aesthetic. Lucky for me all calico was 30% off or I would have just walked away. The muslin I needed wasn't on sale, but it was only $2.99 a yard and I used my 40% off coupon. So visions of little Zakka elephants are dancing through my head. I have to preshrink everything first so after I get to the laundromat I'll show you the fabric. I sorely miss having a washer and a dryer or it would have been done already.

Zakka combines things I love doing; namely patchwork, embroidery, and sewing. A friend of a friend gave me two books full of Zakka projects, but since I intend to sell the things I design, I won't be using any of the things in the book, just the concept. I already ran across one blog where they are having a sew along of every single project in the book! 

My daughter married into a Japanese family, so I'm thinking she will love this Japanese inspired style trend. I need to figure out something cool to make for her or my grandson.

Love the chicken fabric.

Pre-washing the fabrics I chose for Zakka crafts.

Combining Halloween and Zakka

Ugh, Sorting and Organizing

About bedtime last night I was told there is a 50% chance of rain tonight. And I have a ton of boxes sitting in the yard from when we emptied storage last week that can't be left out in the rain. So I've spent from the moment I rolled out of bed until now sorting through crafts, yarn, glitter and fabric trying to get rid of useless stuff and consolidated useful stuff. What a PITA. Especially with a cold. Every time I bend over either my nose runs or I can't breathe or both. After a short break to get out of the hot sun, I'll get back to it, but it's feeling pretty daunting. On the good side I found a decent lamp for the desk, some scissors, some photos of my mom, more serger thread, and all the gourd dyes we couldn't find last week.

One More Time

Hello my doves,
We've just finished filling our 4th moving van. I am beyond tired but I still have to drive 2 1/2 hours to our new home. So I'm relaxing for a few minutes to let my feet and back rest. The dryer went to a nice lady who just got back from the hospital visiting a new grandson.  I'm glad it went to someone that really needs it.

We gave a nice propane bbq to our neighbors. His son helped us move. To the workers go the spoils.

The garage is empty. The backyard is cleared of the things we wanted to keep and a whole dumpster of things we didn't want to keep. Now we are doing the last bit of the house.  Even for a tiny kitchen, we sure had a lot in it. Soon we will unplug the computer and hope it works at the new house. We'll only have dial up there, which I'm not happy about. I hope I can still access my favorite sites.

Today I made a side trip to M&L fabric to pick up some turquoise fabric for my bedroom curtains. The house is already carpeted in dark blue, so I'm kinda stuck with blue.  But I'm going to do turquoise and rust and orange and desert themed colors, like I grew up with in N. Mexico. And not much of the blue rug is visable with my bed and furniture taking up most of my room.

I also found some cool pumpkin fabric for Halloween that I couldn't resist at only $2.49. a yard.

Okay the grumpy people are telling me to get back to work so I gotta go. Take care, see you when I get back on the net.

Fabric Stash

I just boxed up a ton of fabric for the moving van tomorrow. It is inspiring me to make all kinds of belly dancing costumes and bohemian fashions. I guess I've been subconciously hanging on to it all in the hopes that some day I'd reach my ideal weight and look good in the costume I was spending all that time on. It's no fun to put something on and have it look nothing like you expected on your body type. Some girls look good wearing a burlap sack and a smile but I'm not one of them. I never want to move this much fabric again.  I want to use it for garments I can wear or gifts for friends or things to sell in my online shops. I don't want it just sitting around in boxes year after year.  The purple back-drop in this photo is a bolt of fabric. Maybe I can make a beledi dress out of it.  We'll see once I get to my new house. We'll have to have an unpacking marathon.

Three New Dolls

We were back at our friend's house yesterday teaching part 2 of the arrow making class. While the boys made arrows I cut out more dolls. Unfortunately when I cut out the first 3, I forgot to add seam allowances.  That's what I get for talking and crafting at the same time.

So I put those away to use for applique, and cut out another one with seam allowances and got that one all sewn together.

I gave the first two dolls to my friends but I took photos before so here they are.  They will be the prototypes for my Etsy shop.  If you order now I'll go with $15 per doll custom order.  Once I get them officially listed, that might go up when I figure out how much time this is actually costing me. Click on the photo to see the bigger version.

My friend said he got his just in time. He said  if he'd gotten it a day earlier, he would have beat the stuffings out of it.

Shapes and Colors

Now that being sick is behind me (I hope), I spent today outside painting as much as I could. I didn't quite finish the painting but here is what it looks like so far.  Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow if my hands aren't too sore. I hope I can use this design on fabric.

Stopping to smell the roses. The crazy new apartment owner wants to rip out this rosebush I planted, so believe me, I appreciate every bloom.

I love color. Can you tell?

Do you like it so far?

I got pretty far in one day. I just have the background to finish.

Wallop wanted to come out and help. He forgets he's an indoor cat.

More Craft Books and Fabric.

Here is what I bought at the Medieval Marketplace yesterday. The stretch velvet fabric was $15 and is 60"wide and at least 3 yards long. The bigger books were $5. each and the rest were $1. each. My total was $30.

Designing Fabric

I'm teaching myself to design fabric for Spoonflower. I sorely miss paint shop pro 7 because there were some cool tools on there that would have helped design fabric. I'm getting by with Photoshop but it's just not the same. You can check it out over here: Piggleswiggins on Spoonflower

Unfortunately their prices are out of my budget. Or I'd be ordering yardage of my own designs.

Making a Fabric Wedding Journal

I finished the wedding present just in the nick of time. It was a long drive there and the freeway was congested. We carpooled with friends. We literally got there 15 minutes before our friend walked down the aisle. Whew.
They didn't open the gifts at the reception. So I didn't get to watch the look on her face when she opened it.

Today I'm back to sewing a shirt. I'm tired though. I had to take a break.

An Apple a Day?

The Dr. sent me home with antibiotics, and hopefully with a little more rest I'll be able to get back to one of the things I love most, which is making things. I've been working a bit on the fabric wedding journal.  The idea of making little flat pillows is very charming to me. And I want to make a long banner. At first I was going to do 'pigglewiggins' but that's a long name and I'm not sure people could read it.  Then I thought maybe I'd spell out artist. It will be a vertical banner.  Now I'm more leaning on 'welcome'. I'd like to get some velvet for part of it. I don't buy velvet often but now and then I need it.

I haven't decided what kind of paper I want to put inside it yet. But it's going to have to be twice as wide as the journal so I can fold it in half.

Spoonflower and Fabulosity

I've been drawn back to Spoonflower. http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/pigglewiggins?shop_selection=recent&sub_action=new_profile Hopefully this links to my profile. I don't have any of my fabric designs up for sale yet because it costs $5. to proof each one and money is tight now.  But I can still add to my inventory until that day when I have some money to move forward. I can't wait to sew some things with my very own custom fabric designed by me.

I'm also reading an empowering book called Fabulosity. Every woman concerned with branding and selling should read it.

Shirts 4 and 5

Yesterday I made not one but 2 appliqued t-shirts. I was hoping the bonding material would form a secure bond so I could be done with the project, but it's not holding as well as I would like. So now I'm going to have to go around all the edges with fabric paint. In the meantime I've thought of some ideas for some more shirts. Soon I'll have to buy more shirts. It's not like I own enough t-shirts to make another shirt every day for a year. I sure wish I knew a publisher who could turn all this into a book. In the meantime at least I have blogger.

Knitting, Painting and all that Jazz

I found a pattern on youtube last night for a knitted hat on 16" circular needles. So today I went on a quest to Joanne's to procur said needles.  Of the three or four brands they carry, they only had 16" circular needles in bamboo (Clover) and the smallest needle size they had was 8. I would have prefered size 6 or 7 because I already started another hat on double pointed needles in a smaller size, but it's the smallest they had so I got them.

For those of you familiar with the Knifty Knitter looms, I was happy to see Joanne's is now carrying another brand of looms with finer pegs for more delicate fabric. I've seen that type of wood loom on youtube videos. The large one was $44. I will wait for it to go on sale and hopefully get one. They also had a smaller size.

While I was there I picked up some fabric paint for some t-shirts I have in mind for my Etsy shop. And I got a fabric marbling kit by Jacquard as well. I was hoping my boyfriend could use it for the crown dip on arrows but he didn't seem to interested. I wanted to use my 40% off coupon on it, but it turns out it was already on sale for 25% off so I ended up paying a bit more than I wanted to.

I saw some trim and fabric for my steampunk costume, but at $17.00 a yard it's going to have to wait until I either sell more crafts or get some other income heading my way.

I was sorely tempted to buy more jewelry findings when they were buy 2 get one package free, but as I haven't sold any jewelry on Etsy at all I couldn't justify the expense right now. Maybe people will crack open their wallets closer to Christmas time.

When I got home I went to work transfering the hat I started on double pointed needles onto the 16" needles. I started at the tip, and I can't gauge just how big to increase it to so it will fit on an adult head. Even though the video says the size 16 is the right size for adult hats, the stitches are so crowded on the needle right now I really can't get a feel for the diameter.

And if you don't knit I've probably bored you already.

Yay for Yard Sales

Having had such poor luck with thrift stores, I was determined to go to yard sales today. One problem. It rained yesterday and I when I drove around the neighborhood I didn't see a single yard sale. So I went grocery shopping and went home.

Later in the day I went to the fabric store and saw a garage/estate sale sign on a pole. Turns out the fabric store didn't open until noon, so I went to the garage sale. I'm glad I did. Turned out the lady used to make purses and I picked up 6 plastic bags of upholstery scraps for a mere $5. I also got a bunch of tools like wire cutters and even a saw for .50 each. Wow. I can't wait to look at my new found treasures.

Then I went to the fabric store and got some glover's needles for sewing leather. I wanted bigger ones, but that was all they had so I'm sure I'll put them to good use. I also got some long doll needles designed to go through the thickness of a stuffed doll. I got some glittery gold ribbon to use to hang pendants from and some green fabric with tiny yellow paisleys and some yellow fabric with little feathers in various colors. I'm glad crafts were there to take my mind off of my problems today.

Design Your Own Fabric

One thing I want to do this year is design original fabrics and order then from Spoonflower. So I was delighted to see this new video by Spoonflower that was just posted.

Scotty Dog

I've been wanting to make one for a while so when I found a free pattern I jumped on it. I still want to make my own pattern so I can sell some though. But I needed to practice my gussets and I can always put it in the gift pile.