WIP Wednesday

Hello, hello!

I seem to have a number of creative irons in the fire lately but am making very slow progress on a few of them.  Last Saturday was quilt guild day (which means I did get some sewing done) and we joined in a silk and wool felting demonstration.  It was good fun and I came home with this handmade flower:

I also worked on a special (secret) project - can't say more than that right now but here's a sneak peak:

And finally, I found a bit of time to finish cutting out my 8" squares for the Layer Cake Sampler QAL going on over at Material Girl.  Yes, I'm about two weeks behind and should have four blocks done by now but since I wasn't using a pre-made layer cake, it took me a bit of time to dig through the stash, choose fabrics and then cut them to size.  But that's done for now and I have 36 of my 42 blocks and a good start of background fabric to keep me busy for a little while.  Hopefully I'll have those four blocks done by next week.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday...

Pinspiration Sunday

Hey, hey and welcome back to not only another Pinspiration Sunday but the last for 2013!  Yes, I will soon be traveling abroad with limited Internet access so this week's pins will have to last you to the New Year when I return.  So go grab your hot beverage of choice and enjoy one last Pinspiration for the year.

Currently:

* watching - Ink Masters Live
* making - one last birthday card for the year
* eating - toasted tuna sandwiches
* drinking - water
* wearing - newly hemmed jeans & a jumper
* weather - clear, 7C (tropical for December, eh?)
* feeling - accomplished; all my chores for the day done!
* wanting - enough time to see all friends & family in two weeks
* needing - to buy just a few final gifts tomorrow
* planning - to see Philamina with friends
* thinking - I'm not going to stress over the holidays - it is what it is
* loving - having turned off my alarm clock
* enjoying - the last few days with Oskar before leaving

On to the pins...

Fairground Quilt

How cute is this banner designed quilt?  I just adore banners so this was a given.  Would make for a fun baby or children's quilt, too.

 

Modern Log Cabin

I love Cindy's quilt designs and fabric/colour choices and this is no exception.  Her modern take on the traditional log cabin design is so fresh and pretty.  Can you just imagine this in Christmas reds with the grey and white?  Just beautiful.

 

Elf on the Shelf Bed

 Does your household have a Christmas elf on the shelf?  If so, perhaps she or he would welcome a cosy little bed to nap in?

Gingerbread Fabric Tag

OMG, this fabric tag is so cute it's painful!  Honestly, how many of you are already pulling out scraps and sequins right now to make your own?

Dress Form Scissor Holders

And these little dress form scissor holders are also adorable and feminine - perfect for a seamstress friend or family member.

 

Felt Heart Garland

Need a simple yet fun project for the kiddies?  How about this super easy felt heart garland - snip out little hearts and thread along narrow ribbon.  Perfect for tree decoration or anywhere in the house.

Felt Christmas Lights

And speaking of tree decorating, how about making some felt lights in a rainbow of colours?

Twist on the Grid Design

I like grid designs and I particularly like the different sizes and shapes in this grid.  The different shapes and sizes also work well to feature natural embellishment clusters, journaling or whatever else you wish to include.

Two-Page Layout Photo Booth Strips

I'm not typically a 2-page LO girl but with the holidays and the volume of photos one can easily snap, sometimes a double-pager is just what you need.  I do love photo booth strips and they work so nicely with this design.

Crocheted Stars

If you crochet, perhaps you'd like to have a go with making some pretty stars?  These are so delicate and beautiful.

Crocheted Edge Tutorial

I *love* quilts with crocheted edges on them.  It's probably one of the big reasons why I'd like to learn how to crochet.  This tutorial will show you how.

Candy Cane Mice

I totally fell in love with these adorable mice when I saw them last week.  I made one (ridiculously quick and easy) for my Secret Santa gift-ee.  They would also make fun stocking stuffers or fun extras for place settings at the table.

DIY Christmas Makes

Fancy yourself a DIY-er and want to save a little cash but still have beautiful decorations throughout your house?  Check out these quick, easy and inexpensive ideas.

Hope your holidays are shaping up well to be merry and bright.  Wishing you all Christmas cheer!

Pinspiration Sunday

Hellooooo!  Yes, it's been a while since I last posted but you see, for we teachers there is currently a much bigger, more stressful time of year upon us than Christmas - the dreaded report-writing season!  However, I'm happy to announce that despite nightmarish dreams last night involving me suddenly discovering I had new students added to my class, for which I had to write reports last minute (true story!), I am officially finished writing reports for my class.  Whew!  So now I can finally start to enjoy the holiday season - I'll share with you what I've been up to recently later this week.  For now, go grab your hot beverage of choice and let's have some pin-sharing fun.

Currently:
* listening - to the radio; Sunday countdown programme
* reading - hahaa!  No, seriously, you think I have time to read these days?!
* making - Secret Santa gift for a co-worker (squee!)
* eating - nothing yet
* drinking - water
* wearing - PJ shorts and fleece top
* weather - cloudy, wet snow, 1C
* feeling - starving!
* wanting - more hours in the day
* needing - to seriously get back in control of the eating situation
* planning - everything that needs doing before flying on the 18th
* thinking - I'm sorry, I don't understand the question...  Brain is mush.
* loving - being done with report writing!  Did I mention that already?  Whoot!
* enjoying - the wee bit of snow we received

And on to the pins...

One-Day Wonder Pillow

Still need some quick gift ideas or home decor for the holidays?  Consider some quick and easy throw pillows.  Love the star but also the running stitch in the background adds great dimension, texture and interest.

DIY Earbud Case

Here's a cute stocking stuff idea that the music-lover or smart phone junkie in your family would likely appreciate.

 

No Sew Tree Skirt

Here's a modern but simple take on the tree skirt that anyone with a glue gun and a pair of scissors can do.  I love how delicate it looks.  Perhaps add a few gold beads to the centers of the flowers?

Perseverance by Amy Heller

I'm totally in love with this LO and not just because I was a figure skater half a life ago.  I often enjoy circular designs but what really did it for me was the wiggly stitch lines that mimic blade lines on the ice.  Total nostalgia.

Mistletoe

I also really love this LO.  Crate Paper has been featuring crafting with pink for the holidays on their blog, as their Bundled Up collection features a lot of pink and it's been very inspirational!

Twine Wreath Card

I know, I know - Thanksgiving was months ago now but I really like the idea of the twine wreath; easily adaptable to Christmas cards if you're still frantically searching for inspiration for those last minute cards (or haven't started yet - eek!).

 

DIY Ornament Wreath

 And speaking of wreaths, how about this gorgeous DIY bauble wreath?  Totally gorg, right?  And what's even better - super cheap and easy to make!  Win, win.

Felt Owl Decorations

Owls!  Yup, my owl obsession kicked in when I spied these cuties!  No ready-made pattern but really, you can figure it out from the photo.  Felt, embroidery floss, ribbon and black beads.  You can do it, I have faith in you.  ;)

Cookie Cutter Decorations

I also thought these were a cute and unusual idea - use cheap cookie cutters as shadow box frames for little holiday vignettes.

Colour Share

And a little colour palette love to leave you with today.  I just love red and turquoise together - they're like the perfect combination for just about anything, as far as I'm concerned.

All right, I'm going to cut myself off there or I might just spam you with another 100 or so images (gah, don't you just love/hate Pinterest?) and deprive you of any time to actually get your own holidays sorted.

Sunny Stitches

The weather here in Malmö has been gorgeous lately!  Last week I spent some time out at friends' cottage and we sat sewing in the garden, soaking up the sunshine and listening to the Wimbledon games.

I took a few hand sewing projects to work on and got quite a lot finished, including those super cute citrus felt coasters I posted about previously.  Here are the finished pretties:

Aren't they lovely?  They were ridiculously easy and fun to make!  In fact, I sense a possible addiction coming on.  I've decided these could make a cute little Christmas gift for my grandmother so I'll make up another batch for myself - thinking I'll stick with just the brightest colours (hot pink, orange, yellow and possibly the light pink), since they were may favourites.  If I can find more of lime green, that would work, too.  If you'd like to make your own, the tutorial is free from The Purl Bee.

I've also returned to working on my embroidery quilt, Nice People, Nice Things.  I loved this project when I first saw it - the sample was a cute little wallhanging and I thought, I could do that pretty quickly.  Little did I realise that the project was not actually intended to be a wallhanging but a full-sized queen (or king?)-sized quilt, double-sided!  Needless to say, it's been anything but quick but at least I always have hand sewing on hand when I need it...  Anyway, I finished all of the picture and sayings blocks for month #6 - hurrah!

I've even been very good and cut out the remaining fabric pieces for the last two months and ironed on the transfers for the next month's batch.  The weather tomorrow is suppose to be clear and warm so I foresee another morning spent lounging in the sun, stitching away.

WIP Wednesday

Today I have a whole slew of goodies to share with you so let's get started and dive right in.

First of all, I've been making (slow) progress on my embroidery quilt.  I didn't realise when I bought this quilt, which is actually suppose to be a BOM (block of the month) that there were nine months included, each month consisting of two panels of six squares to stitch - if you're keeping count, that's 108 squares altogether - yikes!  Anyway, I've been working on month #6 blocks recently and this little teddy bear turned out super cute.

Each of these picture blocks has a co-ordinating saying that will go on the backside.  They're not quite as much fun to stitch, since they're all text and they take a lot longer but I've been portioning it out by doing one picture block, followed by the matching text block so that I don't get too bored or risk leaving all the text blocks to the end.

Next up, I'm heading off to the cottage with friends tomorrow so I've spent the day preparing my next project to take along with me - those super cute citrus felt coasters I pinned on Sunday!  The website provides a printable template page but as I don't have ink in my printer, I decided to make my own templates using various glasses to trace around, which has the added, handy bonus of ensuring my coasters will fit my glasses.  I've done all of the cutting and matched up embroidery floss for the needed colours so now I just need to do the stitching - can't wait!

I also did a bit of scrapbooking work today, but the layout is far from done.  Yesterday I pulled a variety of papers but wasn't quite ready to work on it beyond that.  Today I got some good inspiration for the top portion of the page, including mixing up some homemade texture paste - such fun!  I also made my own little triangle/arrowhead template to use with the paste and it's turned out great.  I will definitely be using this more often.  I pulled out some vellum today, too, along with my Mr. Huey's mist and the sewing machine.  Here's what I have so far:

Incidentally, I ended up with such a large number of papers that I was having trouble weeding down which ones I wanted and I resorted to this:

Yes, that's right, I had to move to the floor to lay them all out so I could mix and match.  Someone please tell me I'm not alone in this and you've found yourself here, too?  I've set the rest of the layout aside for now while I process the bottom part of the page in my head for a day or two.  I know how I want it to feel, I just haven't quite figured out how to get it there yet but I'm challenging my inner Janna Werner and Wilna Furstenberg and perhaps a little Michelle de Leon, too.

And lastly, something that is not a WIP but actually complete - tetra-pack chooks!  I'm so ready for Easter now!

These little gals are so easy to make - literally two stitch lines - although placing the bits (especially the comb) was a little tricky.  If you want to make your own, check out Red Ted Art's Juggling Chooks.  There isn't a template for the felt bits but they're very easy to make - one triangle, a three-hump cloud-like shape and a heart folded along the line of symmetry is all you need.  If you're a papercrafter and have the Martha Steward heart punch, that's probably about the right size, even.  I made the eyes with a colonial knot (slightly larger embroidery knot) or you could use a standard French knot.  Oh, and since these will be decoration only and not for juggling, I left out the rice and filled them just with stuffing, although a bit of rice or sand would give them good weight to sit, too.

Pinspiration Sunday

Hello, everyone!  My apologies for being MIA the last few days.  As I mentioned in my previous Sunday post, my favourite computer game, The Sims, released a new game - The Sims 3 Island Paradise - last Thursday and I've been glued to my laptop playing that (awesome - totally recommend if you're a fellow Simmer!).  Here's a little peek at what I've been up to in-game:

Mermaid Rajan and his adorable toddler mermaid daughter, Coral - so cute!

Right, back on topic.  Go grab your hot beverage of choice and enjoy some photo love.

Currently:
listening - Mix Megapol Top 20 (Sarah Larson)
making - stuffed 'chooks'
wearing - PJS
weather - windy & rainy, 13C (totally depressing)
feeling - hungry
wanting - summer weather & temperatures
needing - to catch up watching 2Peas videos
planning - what to pack to visit friends at their cottage
thinking - I should be glued to the laptop less
loving - playing The Sims 3 Island Paradise
enjoying - having cold running water during daytime hours again (plumbing construction)

I've had these gorgeous citrus felt coasters bookmarked for years now and still haven't made them but I have decided I'm going to change that!  I've finally bought the felt and I'm going to take it with me to the cottage later this week and start stitching.

Another great take on the ombre trend - paint chip placemats (complete with embroidered paint colour names, even!) - love 'em!  I can totally see these in my kitchen and they'd be super quick and easy to sew up.  These versions use the solid ombre fabrics from Moda Fabrics but you could substitute broadcloth in four shades if necessary.  Or, if you're really adventurous, hand dye the broadcloth yourself!

And here's another fun sewing/scrapbooking cross-over: washi fabrics!  A number of online retailers sell this collection online; just Google it if you're interested.

This site is really neat, and having just finished watching the latest episode of Glitter Girl 76: Not Just Geography, perhaps you're looking for a way of incorporating maps into your next project?  Well, this site could help - enter a location, choose a map filter and viola!  Instant map that you can print and use, either with your home printer to make custom map papers or why not print as a photo enlargement to really give your scrapbooking page POW!  The watercolour filter is especially lovely.

There are so many great little details about this grid page by Tonya for the MME blog.  I really love how she ran the journaling around the box and used tiny number stickers to match up the list items with the photos.  I also really liked her use of the black postage stamp-edged mats under the photos and the enamel dots in the grid joins.

I also really liked this page by Nicole Samuels on the SC blog.  I'm one of those scrappers that often holds onto even the tiniest scraps of paper (and actually uses them!) so the idea of using these thin paper strips to make a woven-type frame is right up my alley.

And finally, a bit of colour palette inspiration for you.  These soft, delicate pastels just made my heart swoon.  If you use this palette, I would love to see what you do with it!

So, what's been inspiring you this week?  Enjoy your Sunday!