Adventures with Sinks, Pipes and Plywood

This one

Before...

         

During...  

After...!

 See, it really works! lol

Chalk one up for DIY housewives!  Woohoo!

12 12 12 Day!

So far, so good on Easy Street!  I'm linking up on Quiltville today.

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Up.  All.  Night. Last night.  Ugh.

But, I did finish!

These are some of the string pieced pine tree blocks my 4th and 5th graders sewed on my vintage sewing machines at school! 

I was making the blocks into potholders to sell at the school's Winter Bazaar fundraiser.

Also, this top got quilted for the student teacher's going away present

I designed it last week, got the kids to make the ocean theme blocks with Pentel Fabric Pastels and finished the top Wednesday...Almost done quilting it now.  I love how the gradient blue fabric worked out.  And those red strings?  I had them on hand also!  See, I wasn't just wasting time a few weeks ago when I just wanted to sew but not think and made about 30 9" string blocks.  Red, because the red bin was too full.  Funny thing is, the bin STILL is full.  What the deal is there, I do not know.  Reminds of that Grimm's fairy tale, with the bag of money which never empties or the magic skin of wine or whatever it was. lol  Devil Spawn or pennies from heaven, take your pick.

Off to bed now!

Check you later!

Love,

Sarah

Color reason found

Got all these blocks together and working on borders now.

Here's why that color (magenta with brick red and green) works!

Ice plant!

Copyright 2011 David Tennant

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I've been mainly thinking about sewing knits this week.  Nothing to show.  Need to spring into action on that.

And playing with these, in my what seems eternal search for a take-along project to be working on:

Rose Star (tiny version)...

Patchwork of the Crosses, playing with a border print...

I wonder what anyone else is doing for a take-along project...What are you working on at the playground or the dentist or during hockey practice (for example!) ???

-Sarah

Design Wall Monday 7 May 2012

So, going through and organizing my stash a while back I noticed I had a bunch of this kind of thing...

Whaaaaa?  It's not really greens, or reds...Or golds or...

I have no idea who I was when I bought this...I must have really thought it was a great idea at some time!

So I decided to do something with them.

I went onto this Color scheme finding website, which is super cool...

And found that magenta and turquiose would go with those colors.  I never would have thought of that!

But actually, I do like it!

So, then I just played  around with those blocks I made until I decided...

...

On this one!

                            

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I also got my JT2 blocks done today!

Ooops, that is so sideways!  :  p

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And another diamond block!

With the freaky doll.

Linking up with Judy's blog today!  Click over there and scope out what others are up to this week!!

Cheers,

Sarah

Random good things

Thrift store shopping yielded these last week:

All these fat quarters and a beautiful big piece of this gorgeous peach and cream chrysanthemum fabric!

A jewelry box with possibilities...

Before!

It turned out to be out of some pretty nice oak and what a great spot to put some vintage embroidery!

After!!

From the Dollar Store:

Ooooooh yeah!  Nitrile faced gloves!  They work perfectly for machine quilting!

Not bad for a buck!  And easier to pick up than the Machingers which I have to send away for and pay shipping!

And from the back yard:

The girls are back in full production!

Hooray for Springtime!!!!

Cheers,

Sarah

Found thing

Look at this thing someone made

I love it.

I found it in a dumpster about 25 years ago.  Yeah, well, art school and dumpsters go together.  What can I say...You find things.  Things come to you.  

No idea who made it.

It's appliqued onto part of a dishtowel and with the most wonderful collection of random scraps of fabrics.  To me, it says no matter what materials you have, you can still create!  It's the heart and soul of an artist!  It is the joie de vivre that appeals most to me and the joy of creating!

It's the opposite of "Whaaa, I can't make anything because I have no stuff from the store"!

I kept it on the wall in my studio for a long time and lately it seems to want to do something.

Maybe that lady wants something to actually be sitting on...She must be tired of holding that pose for so long!

Maybe a bench.

and some grass

More grass...

Hmmm.

Thinkin' on it.

What would you do?

Cheers,

Sarah

Kindle DX cover #1

Oooooooh, yay!!

I got a Kindle for Christmas!

The BIG one!

Not too much on the market for cases for the DX so I hadda make one.  Of course.

Here are some pix of my first attempt!

Love the Maremekko.

Lined it with heavy muslin.

Plastic guard plates in pockets thanks to Safeway (vinyl display signs that said "Vodka" and "Sherry". Nice and easy to cut for templates and this kind of thing!)

Front

Back

Open

Cover folded back and ready to snuggle up with for a cozy read or game of Scrabble!

Pretty easy and fine for a first try.

I'll attempt to create an actual pattern to make more.  It's a great way to use up the smaller pieces of those "special" fabrics I've been saving!

The next one needs a better clasp incorporated and a hand strap on the right inside cover so it will be easier to hold on to when open.

That's it for now, though!

Happy New Year!

-Sarah

UPDATE.
This turned out to be the dog's breakfast.
1. The plastic, even doubled up, does not seem stiff enough to protect the Kindle from bending.  No, I did  not bend my Kindle, but I worried about it!  This thing is not small and I really didn't want to mess it up putting it into my purse with other bulky type "stuff" next to it.  
2.  The elastic is too soft on the corners and doesn't keep the cover on reliably.


Back to square 1!

The Mother/Daughter Craft Bug has bit

I am a sucker for this type of puzzle!

First we found this online tutorial,

HERE

And it was really fun to figure out!

  

Cute!

This was the prototype.  I think the "real" ones will be lined.

I have some really long zippers too...Maybe it will work for a bigger purse.  We'll have to see.

I mainly had fun hanging out with my daughter, ripping old sheets into strips for another craft idea she has in mind...Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Sarah