Daily Baby - Stash busting, infant approved!

Feels like the last week or so has been a whirlwind.  We have a trip coming up to visit my parents in England.  It's our first plan ride with Owen - an 11 hour one at that.  Needless to say, we're excited to take him, but a little nervous about our very active child being couped up in tin can for that long.  Hopefully he will be his usual charming self and our neighbor passengers will find him delightful before he passes out for the rest of the flight.  One can hope right?

Meanwhile, around the house, we've been having a blast.  While we have our fair share of battery operated toys, it is fair to say that kids and cats like playing with random household items.  Remotes, coasters, tupperware, spoons, cat toys, storage bins etc. are all fair game.  This suggestion is a quick and easy sensory toy for anybody who needs an excuse to get rid of fabric scraps!  I simply took a variety of scraps in different sizes and trimmed them with pinking shears.  I tied some pieces together to make longer strips, and popped them all in an old wipes case.  He took to it right away and loves to remove and inspect the fabric.  As with anything else, he also tries to chew on it, so if that is a risk for your child, don't cut any pieces too small that they could accidentally swallow them.  Time spent?  About 10 minutes (most of which was selecting the fabric).  Total cost?  Pennies.  Now, if only I could get him to put the fabric back in the box rather than leaving it all over the living room...

Daily Craft - Crate covers

Finally got myself organized, so here's to my other recent sewing project.  You know those stackable plastic crates that you can get at office supply stores?  They're great for storage, but not all too pretty.  I happened across this tutorial on Pinterest on how to sew covers for said crates and knew that it would be perfect to make some cute storage for the nursery.

I used crates that I bought several years ago at Target ($2.50 a piece I believe).  They'd been storing some random crap in my closet from a while back, and I cleared out the junk when we got ready for the carpeting.  [Note the pretty new carpet by the way - we're really happy with it.]

I found both the striped fabric, and the fabric used for the interior of the crate in the clearance section at Joann.  Fabric cost was under $10 and enough to make covers for 2 crates, with plenty left over.  Total cost ended up being about $15 for the pair, which I consider quite a steal for customized storage.  Plus, they only took about an hour to make.

I'm loving that I can use these for safe, low level storage of books or toys.  I also love that the covers are easily washable, which from what I hear is important when babies and toddlers are involved.  :)

Seeing as there are several more of these crates around the house that are storing various things, I kind of want to cover them all so that they can be displayed more prominently!

Daily Craft - Making progress

So I realize I didn't give you all that much of a clue as to what I was working on in my last post.  On account of having to use some vacation time (which is not a problem that I would want to whine about), I was able to spend part of yesterday working on the quilt blocks that I so mysteriously hinted at.  I'm about half way done putting together the blocks, but here's a little preview of what it's going to look like.  I'm in love with the fabrics and enjoying how it's dramatic, but has a feminine touch.  I still haven't decided how big I want to make it, but I guess I'll see how the blocks I've already cut work out once they're all put together.

Anyway, hope you're all having a happy Friday!  Any good plans for the weekend?

Daily Craft - Squares and strips

I think I finally narrowed down the design that I want to use for my next quilt, and started cutting all the squares and strips last night.  It's really quite satisfying to sit down with the rotary cutter and end up with neat little stacks of fabric, ready to be sewn.

Now that I've started cutting and looked at the fabric patterns together, I've concluded that I need some plain colors mixed in to make each individual pattern really pop.  The patterns together as I have them now will be just a little bit too crazy!  Of course, buying additional fabric means I could end up making this a really big quilt...or perhaps two smaller ones would make this process more manageable.  I'm still deciding if I want to do the plain fabrics in just white, black and grey, or if adding a matching teal (assuming I can find a perfect match) will be too much.  Sometimes I think I just have too many ideas all at once - decisions, decisions!  

Daily Craft - Quilting plans

I think that one thing that has held me back in my desires to quilt has been feeling nervous about fabric and color selection.  I don't have a quilters fabric stash or anything like that, and sometimes I have a hard time envisioning how my fabric scraps will look together.

Joann's is doing a pretty good sale on their Quilters Showcase cottons right now ($2.49/yd), so I wanted to go check out what they have.   One thing that was really impressive, for the novice quilter like me, is that Joann's has designed this line so that certain fabrics very obviously go together, using the same colors and tones.  I was able to grab a fabric that called to me, and from there it was very easy to select the complimentary designs.  The hardest part was actually narrowing down the fabrics to the ones that I wanted because there's quite a bit of choice!  I'm also learning to calculate the amount of fabric needed and, after scrawling down a bunch of basic calculations, I think I had it figured out (with excess built in just in case I got it completely wrong). 

Now that I have the fabric for 2 quilts In hand, there's no excuses for not getting to work on this I guess.  I'm really happy with what I picked and I'm hopeful that they'll look really nice when I'm done.  I've decided to try the disappearing 9-patch block, so more on that to come...

Daily Craft - Crochet hook roll

I have a handful of fabric fat quarters hanging about the house and, as much as I'm enjoying making quilted coasters, figured I'd like to try something new.  Over the years, I've misplaced quite a few of my crochet hooks along with the roll that they were in, so decided to make a new one.  This was a great use for the small-ish fabric pieces, and I just love how the two fabrics look together.  I checked out a variety of tutorials, and made this one using a hybrid of several.  The only thing I did know is that I didn't want the stitching for the inside slots to show on the outside of the roll, as I think it's just neater. 

I'll hopefully have a minute to put together a detailed tutorial for you all soon, as I suspect I'll be making another of these to hold my make-up brushes.  Talk about multi-functional!

What do you look for in a storage case for crochet hooks, knitting needles (or make-up brushes as the case may be)?

Daily Review - Fabric District

As somebody who loves to craft, the Fabric District in Downtown L.A. is a resource that I probably don't use enough.  The streets in that area are filled with store after store of floor to ceiling fabric bolts with everything from apparel and upholstery fabrics, trims, lace and more.  If anything, it's somewhat overwhelming and if I were in fashion school, it would be a dream.

Given that it's a three day weekend and I had no particular plans for today, I decided to head down there and take a good look around.  I've been before, but usually with husband in tow.  While he's quite accommodating to my crafty whims, I didn't want to torture him with what I knew would be a lengthy stroll through that spot.  I wasn't searching for anything in particular and this was really more of a mission to see what was on offer.

Parking can be a real pain and even though it's a holiday, so the meters weren't an issue, finding one can be completely impossible.  I decided to pay the $4 for a parking lot and not have to deal with the painfully slow "looking for a space" traffic crawl.  Fortunately, the fabric stores seem to be concentrated in a relatively small area with a few blocks in either direction of Santee and 8th.  With comfortable walking shoes, it's a breeze.

I'm going to use Joann as a point of comparison for pricing, as that's a good standard, although I know there's lots of places online with more competitive prices.  If you're looking for apparel fabric, there are tons of places that have offerings starting as low as $0.99/yd.  I'm a big fan of brocades and while those usually run about $9.99/yd at Joann, they seem to average about $3/yd downtown, which is a nice savings.  There were lots of places to get a great discount on minky fabrics, with the cheapest I found being $6/yd (compared to $12.99), and I bought some polar fleece for $2/yd (compared to $9.99 and up).  I didn't look too closely at the upholstery fabric, but there was no shortage of choice.  The one thing that wasn't readily on offer was quilting type fabrics, which is a shame because that's probably what I would have the most use for.

Some shops have their prices very clearly marked, but other places you will need to ask.  Those seem to be the places where negotiating is almost expected.  For example, the shop where I purchased the fleece had quoted me $2/yd, but a different sales person told a lady that came in just after I did that it was $2.50.  You definitely want to bring cash as well because most places don't take credit.  The other problem can be that the fabric content isn't always clearly marked, so worth asking and making a note of as you buy.

A review of the Fabric District certainly wouldn't be complete without mentioning Michael Levine, which is probably the most well known store in that area.  I did pop in for a few minutes, and they have a terrific selection of whatever type of fabric you might want - from silks, denims, leathers, flannel, Kona cotton and so on.  One thing to note is that they are not the cheapest place and while I'm sure the quality is better than Joann, the prices are definitely higher.  Across the street is the Michael Levine Loft, which has tons of fabric bins filled with what appear to be end of bolt or scraps from the cutting room floor.  Everything in there is $2.50/lb and is great if you have the patience to rummage through everything to find suitable yardage for your project.

Overall, it's a fun place to spend a few hours, but I would definitely suggest having some idea of what you're looking for.  I think I'm going to go through my clothing patterns and figure out what types of fabric/yardage I need for next time I have some extra cash.  I'll probably be buying every color of minky available too!  :)

Daily Craft - A swap haul!

In an attempt to get rid of some of the excess in my craft space, I signed up for a destash swap on Craftster - which involved each pair swapping craft supplies that they're not using.  I guess technically it's not reducing the stash, but it's obtaining "new to me" things without additional cost right?  (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). 

I sent my original partner a bunch of knit and crochet supplies, seeing as she said crochet was her new thing - yarns (both commercial and recycled by me), a crochet hook roll, stitch markers etc.  Unfortunately, my partner turned out to be a flake.  I would like to gripe for a moment about those that flake on organized swaps.  The fact is that crafty types are very giving people.  We're constantly making things for those around us, donating supplies or making things for charity groups, offering free patterns and tutorials to help others perfect their skills.  Quite frankly, not holding up your end of the bargain is crappy.  Of course, for every flake, there are hundreds of wonderful crafters out there who keep up the good name.  Big thanks to my swap angel, Connie, who sent me a substitute package to make up for the one I was supposed to receive but didn't!

She sent me some lovely fabrics.  I intend to turn the blue/green fabrics at least into quilted coasters, which I had fun making previously.  

She also sent me a bunch of jewelry findings and beads, even going to the trouble of making sure that I have at least 2 of each bead in the package.  How did she know that I'm an earring addict?

There was also a "slice of pie" soap bar, and some Halloween stamps.  Never quite managed to get a good picture though as Deuce tried to claim the soap for himself.  As you may recall, this is not the first time...

Daily Craft - Ooh...Pretty!

I got these fabric packs and Joanns and I'm coming up with a quilt concept in my head.  Picture these with black for contrast so that the colors pop.  Pretty no?  ;)

Daily Craft - Quilting: Where do I begin?

Before I begin my ramblings today, I would like to give a shout-out to my parents.  Last week, they celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary (yay!) and yesterday it was my mom's birthday.  I figure it is well deserving of a mention!

As you may recall, I made this little patchwork blanket not too long ago.  It was delivered to the intended recipient this weekend and very well received by parents and child (despite the wonky, mismatched corners).  I'm also half way done with the simple quilt design I'm working on for my nephew.  I can confirm that I've got the quilting bug. 

Joann Fabrics has their Moonlight Madness sale going on right now - which is dangerous as far as I'm concerned.  Last night, I headed over there armed with a plethora of 50% off coupons to get myself a good bargain.  The challenge, of course, is that the coupons can't be used on sale items so I end up with the personal challenge of making sure I find something good that's not on sale to use them for.  Husband doesn't quite understand this logic, but I'm sticking to it!  Anyway, after arming myself with some awesome sale priced flannel for baby blankets, I then proceeded to search out non-sale fabrics for quilting purposes.  Seeing as I'm a total quilting novice, I ended up with 3 coordinating fat quarter bundles and figured that I can go from there. 

Now that I want to make something a little more complex in design, I'll readily admit that I am ridiculously overwhelmed as to where to begin with the quilting thing!  It's like a chicken and egg to me - do you decide on the quilting pattern then buy the fabric, or the other way around?  How much fabric are you supposed to buy if you don't know what you're going to do with it yet?  Having already purchased fabric intended to go together, how easy is it to modify an existing pattern to make those fabrics work?  The list of questions goes on and on!

Having spent some time at lunch today looking for quilt pattern ideas, I have found a couple ideas that I think will work, although doing all the math based on how many cuts for each fat quarter, and what other fabric supplies I need just might be doing my head in!  I also think that I want to make all of these designs by Jinny Beyer.  For now, I guess I'll keep doodling and calculating until I come up with something that makes sense.  If I get it right, I suspect it'll be pretty though!

So, any experts out there that have tips to share?

Daily Craft - Hard to resist

Seeing as I got out of work early today, I decided to take in my car for it's 60K mile tune-up and while waiting for them to call and tell me it's ready, I decided to steal husband's car and head off to Joann's Fabric.  I figured it was a good way to spend an hour wandering aimlessly.  Also, I had one of those "coupon commotion" flyers they send out once in a while and I certainly can't pass up a good deal!  

Apparently I also can't pass up cute baby flannel prints with cartoon animals either.  Having perused all the aisles, I decided up on these adorable prints and also grabbed some terry cloth.  I anticipate burp cloths and bibs coming off the sewing machine soon.

Speaking of Joann, if you sell on Artfire, you can now become a VIP member which allows you a 10% discount on everything (including sale items).  Not a bad deal if you ask me. Check out this link to enroll!