I'm an engineer with an irresistable drive to be crafty... knitting, sewing, papercraft, photography, jewelry-making, you name it, I've probably tried it! - Email Me -
At my mom's house the other day she pulled out this box.
First, it's labeled in my dad's handwriting, which automatically makes it a treasure. I never realized how precious some things would become. Of course, what's inside is pretty great, too:
It's totally full of antique lace and trims. I started to spread it all out for a photo, but there is just too much!
I have been told to actually put this to use so it doesn't waste away in a box, and I do have a couple ideas for it, but it's going to be so hard to cut it up!! Probably my favorite item in the whole amazing collection is this vintage onyx trim:
As much as I really want to re-purpose it into jewelry, it's going to take a very special idea to convince me to break those threads.
What a treasure! I need to make at least something from it right away - my mom's birthday is coming up in October, after all!
This post is much later than I planned - our internet is down at home and we haven't quite found the time to call about it. So I'm being naughty and posting this from work!
I finished all the necklaces for my cousin, with over a week to spare. The third one is a lot like the first one except with less spacing between the beads.
The fourth one has a beautiful lampwork bead as the focal point, with more vintage and glass beads on either side.
And of course I had to package them in card boxes!
All I have left to do is a necklace for my cousin for the rehearsal dinner - I actually made a first attempt and need to send her a picture to see if she likes it! If not, back to the drawing board!
I have been very slow to decorate our house. I just can't make myself do it all at once, I have to wait until I happen to see something I absolutely love. When we bought our couches they came with pillows I wasn't too fond of:
There's nothing wrong with them, just colorless, and I knew all along I wanted to remake them. So when I saw some gorgeous placemats at Pier One I knew they should be my new pillows!
I had to chop them up to get them the right shape, so I "embellished" the pillows with some contrasting grosgrain ribbon to cover the seam.
I reused the fabric from the back of the original pillows since it matches the couches.
I also reused the stuffing from the original pillow, making a pillow form out of an old sheet. And since I made these as covers for the form, I can take them off and wash them if they get too icky. It's nice to have a house project checked off my list and to have a new spot of color in our living room!
If you could see the list I'm keeping of all the baby gifts I want to make... It is certainly baby season among my friends! In addition to the newborns on the way, the twins that live across the street and the daughter of some church friends all turn one soon. I found some adorable dishes at Target and wanted a little something handmade to go with them...
I made this little placemat set for our church friends' little girl. It's not super girly, but I just loved the circus animals.
I monogrammed it with her initial, and lined the back with a bright fun fabric.
It was a lot of fun using scraps for the patchwork and this whipped up really quick! I never get a project done in less than an hour but that's all I had for this and managed to squeeze it in. Yay! Something for the twins will hopefully be coming soon...
You do not understand how hard it is for me to just finish something. The stitching was done a few weeks ago, true, but things usually sit unfinished even longer than this. It feels so good to have it all the way done!
(And to clarify - the bookmark is marking where my husband is in HP#7 - I finished it about 10 hours after I got my hands on it!)
I've been spending a little time trying to use up some of my jewelry stash... I always buy things with a project in mind but often don't get around to doing the project. I needed a necklace to wear to an anniversary party Saturday so I dug around in my supplies and came up with this:
The hoop is actually part of a pair for making earrings, but I think I'll wear it a lot this way. The beads are freshwater pearls, a type I'd never seen before but love. They'll probably show up in something else before too long.
I have a few other ideas for this type of pendant. Now if I could only remember where I found those great affordable chains...
About four months ago my neighbors across the street had a baby girl. This was right in the middle of my dad's illness and all my traveling for work - in fact, I hadn't even realized my neighbor was pregnant! I have been wanting to take a little something across to them, so to go with a pan of my sister-in-law's awesome lasagna I sewed up a little blankie.
These blankies are the best - easy to sew, easy to take care of, and very cuddly! I always grab a little toy to wrap with it - the kind that pulls and crinkles and has mirrors... my friends all swear they're a great distraction in the stroller or car seat and I'm one to stick with what works!
So hopefully they appreciate the thought and don't mind the tardiness...
I'm sure you're all sick of seeing pictures from my work travels. But I found this really cool flickr gadget and didn't want to lose it, so here are all the "flickr worthy" pictures I took - keep in mind this is only 44 of the 400 pictures I printed for my photo album at home... Yes, I'm crazy. Enjoy!
I did finish necklace #2, and as soon as I'm home early enough for good light I'll take some pictures! It's quite different from #1...
I had a long list of things I wanted to do this weekend. I am always so impressed, reading other blogs, when people talk about making several handbags, or the progress they made on a quilt, just in the few hours they had free on the weekend. From my long list, I got one thing done:
It is part of the project highest on my list - four coordinated necklaces for the bridesmaids in my cousin Megan's wedding. I have the second started. It's a lot of fun picking out the beads, making the necklaces go together without being the same. The beads are mostly vintage glass, some swarovski crystals. And I love the clasp I found.
Hopefully I'll start crossing other things off my list, too. But a slow start is better than no start!
