Thankful for Yo-Yo's



Mom's November Card - Jumbo YoYo Pumpkin

Coming up with new ways to use yo-yo's in my projects gives me lots of joy. So this Thanksgiving I am grateful for these little bits of fabric that bring joy to my life and to those who receive them as gifts.  To make the large pumpkin for this months card to my mom I chose orange fabric and then used the Clover Jumbo Yo-Yo Maker to make the pumkin then I used cooper metalic embroidery thread to create the lines in the pumpkin and a small piece of fabric stitched with brown embroidery thread for the stem. The leaves were made with my Cricut.  To highlight the edges of the leaves I gently ran the edges against a stamp pad. While doing this I accidently dropped one of the leaves on the stamp pad and when I lifted it up I noticed the ink had highlighted the cuts (or veins) of the leaves giving them more dimension which turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. In the future I definitely plan on using this technique again but instead of dropping the leaves on the stamp pad I will gently press them on the pad.

Yo-Yo Water Bottle Cover



Yo-Yo Water Bottle Cover

Last winter I had the misfortune of losing one of my favorite gloves.  I didn't have the heart to throw away the mate so I left it in my car. Then one very cold morning I had ice in my bottled water so I thought I would put the glove on it to help insulate the plastic bottle.  It worked great - so for many months I had my glove (with fingers and all) insulating my water bottle. Well, after a while I began to get a little self-conscious when I would take a drink because it looked like I was waving to folks or had an octopus with short tenacles on the bottle bottom.  So I took it in the house and sewed straight across the bottom and then cut away the fingers of the glove.  For a while I was happy with this but it was a little plain.  It just so happened my sister had sent me a yo-yo pattern for a wine bottle cover and I knew I could adapt it to a smaller sized water bottle cover. With a plan in place I found some black and white fabric and started making yo-yos to fit around the water bottle. When all the yo-yos were made I attached them to each other and then attached them to the repurposed fleece glove.  Finally, I feel I have done justice to a glove that had served me well.

Birthdays: Cards, Gifts, an Elephant, and Pens

July, August and September are filled with birthdays for us.  Trying to keep up with them all is a bit challenging but always a lot of fun!

Pin Wheel Birthday Card

Thinking of You Card

In July I started out making pin wheel cards and as they were easy to make I made a variety of pin wheel cards that I could use for our different family members (and I still have at least one more to make).  As you can see by the photos you can change up the paper and embellishments to create a different card each time. I don't know about anybody else but I have an extremely hard time making an exact duplicate of any of my cards or crafts, I've tried, but it just doesn't happen. August is probably the largest birthday month with nine birthdays. To be honest I can only make cards for half that amount and the other half end up being store-bought cards.

July Birthday Pin Wheel Cards

Birthday Tote Bag

Usually, only one person in August receives a handmade gift but this year I was able to make two.  I am only going to show you a photo of the one gift as the other gift needs to remain a surprise as the birthday doesn't fall until the end of the month. Two years ago (or maybe it is three years) my sister visited me and while we were out shopping she saw this tote bag in one of the quilt shops.  Well we took pictures of it for the fabric design layout and then when we got back to my house we went through my fabric to select the colors to make the tote bag. Since that time it has sat on the corner of my sewing work table until this July when I got it out, found a simple pattern for me to sew, and got busy sewing.  There has already been a request for me to make another tote bag and hopefully I will be able to make it in less than two years.

Riding 8000 lbs of Grace and Beauty

We also went on vacation in August and one of the fun things I got to do was to ride an elephant.  As my sister said, we rode on top of 8,000 pounds  of grace and beauty! 

Our Pens

After we got home from our vacation we had a couple of extra days to relax. On one of the days my husband and I turned a couple of pens. Kingwood was the wood I chose for my pen (nearest the stamps) as it has a strong wood grain and Don chose Cocobolo (a tropical hardwood) for its lustrous coloring.  We both made an American slim pen. As I am still new to pen turning I received a lot of support from Don but I was really excited to learn how to get my wood turned closer to the bushings and to learn how to shape the wood as I turned it to make the bump at the end of the pen.  The "bump" is a bit of a signature mark of my husband's pens.

Fine Feathered Friends

The summer is always a busy time for me as there are so many birthdays to make cards and gifts for that sometimes it is difficult to keep up with them all.  I have to admit that once in a while I am forced to buy a store-bought card or gift just to keep my sanity. Usually I manage to balance it all out the next year by alternating who gets the homemade card or gift versus the store-bought card and gift. 

Ready for flight

With all this going on I did manage to finish Spreckles friend.  Spreckles is on the right in the photo above and his friend is on the left. Each time I sew one of the birds I find it gets easier and the legs get stronger and I am able to make them hold up the bird better.  With Puff (see him under For the Birds) and Spreckles they tend to keep their balance on the bend or elbow of the leg but with the new friend his legs better support him and in the one photo he looks like he is getting ready to take off in flight!  The friend hasn't been named yet as he is being shipped to my mom who will get the chance to name him. Other gifts have been in the works and I am waiting to show them to you at a later date as I don't want to give away the surprise.   So stay tuned.

Pinwheels and Greetings

Pinwheel Card for Mom

Inspiration for me seems to show up randomly.  It also usually shows up while I'm ironing. To give you a little perspective my ironing board is a permanent fixture in my craft room. It sits in front of the window and just to the left of it is the desk that I use for making my cards also sitting on the desk is my small TV where I catch the morning news. So as I iron whatever I've chosen to wear to work for the day and as I catch up on the news I glance at all the colorful papers, patterns, and rubber stamps that haven't been put away.  I may shuffle them a bit and that's when an idea starts to form. And that is exactly what happened when I started working on my mom's June card. 

Not put away yet was an origami pattern for making a folded star and recently I had seen an article on fabric folded origami.  With my idea now firmly planted I started looking for fabric that would make a fun pinwheel and then I started cutting out the squares I would need for the folded stars. Next, I ironed the origami folds onto my fabric. I was surprised that the fabric folded just as easy as the paper did. Then I ironed my shape flat and added just a touch of gold glitter to the edges of the fabric to keep it from fraying and to give it a tiny bit of sparkle.  For the "pin" in the pinwheel I used an extra small yo-yo. The pinwheel stick is a skewer that I cut to size and painted with a brown Sharpie marker.

A Special Gift

When a friend at work showed me some felt fortune cookies she was making for her daughter to take to school for Valentines Day I asked her how she made them.  So with her directions in hand I set out to make some fortune cookies too. It was so much fun to see these flat 4" circles turn into a wonderful felt cookie that would hold a special birthday message. I could just imagine the recipient being excited to read each little fortune so I tucked a small gift into the container as a surprise for when the cookies were removed. This personalized tin made a wonderful container to hold the cookies and the red chopsticks just added to the whole gift with no need for any additional gift wrap.

YoYo's, Flowers, Fabric, Felt and More

Birthday Card for Linda

Like a lot of you I have multiple projects going on all the time. Recently, I was able to complete one of my cards that I have had in various stages of readiness waiting for the right combination of paper and embellishments.  Sometimes it takes some mixing up of things that are not working to get to that  "ah ha - that's it" moment. As you know I have been experimenting with different fabrics for the Oval yo-yo maker and the vase on this card is from a sheer gold polyester fabric. The top of the yo-yo was folded under about 1/4 inch to create the lip of the vase. Originally I was going to add ribbon flowers but the combination wasn't working for me.

Clover Kanzashi Flowers

It so happened that I had been experimenting with different fabrics with the Clover Kanzashi Flower Maker and I had made a flower using wide wedding ribbon that worked perfectly with the oval yo-yo vase. For the stem and leaf I used green silk ribbon and added a button for the center of the flower and "voila" it all came together!

In process still is another fabric bird using the bubbled fabric technique. I'm hoping that this bird will turn out as well as Puff did.  Then I am working on a couple of gift ideas using these felt fortune cookies.  They are a little monotonous to sew but very fun when they are finished. 

Bubbled Fabric for new bird

Felt Fortune Cookies

Of course no matter what I'm doing my shadow Boots is generally around making sure I'm doing everything properly and taking appropriate breaks to give her chin scratches and rubs.

Overseer Boots

There are times when I don't get to work on my crafts at all as things around the house need attention.  Two weeks ago the weather was perfect (low 80's and no rain) for getting our deck stained and sealed.  We' were very pleased with our results as this is the first time we tried using a spray painter on any of our home projects.

Our Deck Project

Crazy Quilt Book Cover

Crazy Quilted Book Cover

In the Embellishment Study Group class I'm taking with my friend our last assignment was to make a traditional crazy quilt block and to work with fiber etch. I decided not to try the fiber etch as it has chemicals in it that deteriorate the fabric and since I use my room to iron my work clothes I could just see me getting the tinest of drops on one of my favorite outfits so I thought it wiser not to work in that particular medium. 

Crazy Quilt Blocks

The crazy quilt block I really enjoyed making.  Whether it was choosing the fabric combination or deciding on the width of each piece or just piecing it - the entire process was really fun! From the start I knew I wanted to make a book cover with my block so I ended up making two coordinating blocks then sewing them together before I cut out the book cover. 

Crazy quilt bookcover opened to outside

For the handles I made sure I saved enough of one of the fabrics I was using so everything would coordinate. The book marker is made from gros grain ribbon and then embellished with a large button, an extra small yo-yo then topped with a smaller button. I like to put the large button behind the ribbon and then the yo-yo and smaller button on top of the ribbon, it just seems to balance things out.

Crazy quilt book cover opened and ready to read

Book covers make great gifts and I think I will make a couple more book covers to have on hand as I have a family who loves to read! Oh, I know I have at least one friend who would love to receive this as a gift too!!

Pen Turning Class

Don's Pen

Deanna's First Pen

Last weekend Don and I took a pen turning class together. For me it was a new experience as I have always gravitated towards the soft crafts using fabric or paper. During the class I was a little at a loss with some of the terms that the men grasped right away. Our instructor was really good though and with his help and the help of my husband I was able to turn out my first pen. Even Don, who has been turning pens for a while now, picked up some new tips to make his pens even better. He even added the little "bump" or flare at the end of his pen.  Everyone in the class was given the same pen kit and we each  turned an American Slim Pen made out of cherry wood  and we all received a certificate of completion. Everyone got to use their new pen filling out a little survey which was passed out at the end of the day.  I would definitely like to try this craft again.  What's next?  Possibly a class to learn how to turn bowls on the lathe.

Fabric Bird Named Spreckles

My Bird Spreckles

For me as I work with each project it seems to take on its own personality - that's how it was with Spreckles.  From the get- go Spreckles was just harder to work with than Puff. His legs gave me the most trouble and then what should have been easy (sewing on his eyes) became a major undertaking as they just didn't want to go on straight. Through each trial and error of getting Spreckles put together, we bonded. Although not quite as glamorous as Puff, he is still quite handsome.  Working with the bird pattern designed by Terry Grant I'm finding the hardest and most challenging part for me is bending the wire for the legs and inserting them into the bird properly.  In Terry's interview with Pokey from Quilting Arts magazine, Terry said the most important part for her was getting the beak to stay stuffed and firm.  I know I have lots more to learn when making birds so don't be surprised to see a whole flock show up one day!  After all that is part of this year's Challenge with my friend Connie.

Yo-Yo Vase of Ribbon Flowers

Mother's Day Card for My Mom

I'm still in my oval yo-yo phase trying to come up with different ways to use the shape.  While I was playing one day I noticed it looked very similiar to a vase.  That was the start of this card's design. Flowers always make a nice Mother's Day card so I made this one especially for my mom.  It is very hard to see that I did a running stitch around the top of the oval yo-yo and indented it a bit at the top to make it so I could bring the flower stems up through the vase. For the flower petals I used silk ribbon and  buttons for the center. I'm hoping to make a few more oval yo-yo vases adding a little more detail to them so that they stand out a bit better. I promise I will share my results.  Wishing all mother's out there a very happy Mother's Day!

Easter Eggs of Yo-Yo's

Egg-cellent yo-yos for Easter

What comes in oval shapes?  Well, one I thought of was eggs.  So with the help of the new Clover Oval Quick Yo-Yo maker I made up a few yo-yo eggs and decorated them with ribbons. This is the card I sent to my mom for Easter.  I think the fabric worked really well for the eggs.  Unlike the round yo-yo's where most fabrics look really good, I'm finding the oval yo-yo is more particular, and I'm having to test make yo-yo's to find which fabric patterns and weight work the best. The results are mostly (sometimes I get a dud) a pleasant surprise!

"Puff" the Bubbled Fabric Breasted Bird

"Puff"

I'm so excited that my experiment worked! It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be in fact it was pretty easy to work with the bubbled fabric.  First, I drew the pattern piece onto the back of the bubbled fabric. Next I straight stitched around the drawn line with my sewing machine and then I cut the piece out.  The bubbles on the outside of the stitched line went flat once I cut them which was great for sewing and the inside bubbles retained their shape.  It was a little tricky turning and stuffing the beak but with the help of a stuffing tool and a bamboo chopstick I was able to get the shape of the beak the way I wanted.  The pattern was very easy to follow.  I can't wait to make another bird but next time I want to use a heavier gauge of wire.  I wasn't able to locate the 19 gauge wire the pattern called for at any of the craft stores in my area so I used a 22 gauge which is just a little too thin to completely hold the birds weight without resting on the elbows of the legs. I found a size 12 gauge copper wire yesterday at a local craft store and I am going to experiment with it and then the next time I go to the hardware store I'll be checking their aisles for wire.

Bubbles and Birds

Bubbling Fabric for the Birds

What do bubbles, birds and a dishwasher silverware sorter have in common?  They are all a part of a design I hope will come together.

Last night I played with the bubbling fabric technique in the book Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond by Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heahter Thomas and Lauren Vlcek (I'm still waiting for my book to arrive but Connie graciously loaned me hers so I could play). I didn't have a metal grid anywhere in the house so while searching through my cabinets I found an extra dishwasher silverware sorter that had the right size grid I was looking for. My one concern was while ironing the fusible interfacing to the fabric there was a small chance I could melt the plastic but all turned out well and I was able to remove my bubbled fabric with no damage to the fabric or the plastic dishwasher tray.

 Now that I have overcome that hazzard the next part of my design idea is to see if I can cut and sew the breast pattern piece from the bubbled fabric. The bird pattern I am using is one created by Terry Grant for the 2009/2010  International Quilt Festival magazine. As I was mulling this over before falling to sleep last night I decided I would need to draw the breast pattern piece on the back of my fabric and then stitch around the drawn line before cutting out the piece. By sewing on the line I'm hoping to anchor down my bubbles so that when I cut it out the shape will remain.

As Mom's Easter card is waiting to be finished and a couple of birthday presents and cards need to be made, I'm not sure when I will get back to this part of my fabric bird so you'll just have to keep checking back! Oh, and don't forget to wish me luck on this process, I think I'm going to need it.

Happy Birdie Day

Happy Birdie Day!

A while back I ordered the "Straight from the Nest" Cricut cartridge and I recently had a chance to play with it.  It is a fun cartridge and I can't wait to use it again.  This card was made for my sister-in-law and I really hope she likes it.  Did I mention this was a milestone birthday?  Here is the inside of the birthday card.

Printing on Ribbon




Printing on Ribbon

   I am still waiting for the book Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond  I ordered a couple of weeks ago to arrive.  Hopefully, it will be in my mailbox this week.  One of the projects I remembered from looking at Connie's book was printing on ribbon.  I decided to try it this weekend and I am pleased with my first results.   The book recommended to make your design layout, then save and print your design.  This helps for your alignment.  Next, you center and  place your double-stick tape over your printed words or design and then lay your ribbon on top of the tape making sure no tape is exposed. Then I think it said to put a piece of tape over the ends of the ribbon so the edges did not catch in the printer roller.  Next,  you place your ribbon paper back into the printer and print your file again. With a little luck your words or design will be centered on your ribbon.  Some of mine printed a little off center but for a first effort I am thrilled.



Printing on Ribbon Detail

 Along the way I learned that I do not need to anchor all the edges of the ribbon down with tape. Just taping the ends down that feed through the printer works great.  I think when I removed the extra tape from the edges it caused my ribbon edges to be extra wavy. Also, I do not need to bold the font as the bolding causes the ink to bleed more (this could also be due to my particular printer ink or the type of ribbon I was using). The last ribbon on the bottom is the one I used the bold font on and you can see how much darker it is.

Printing on Ribbon Close Up

What worked really well was expanding the font spacing. This kept the letters from blurring into one another.  For this project I used the 1/2 " double-stick tape but yesterday while I was out I picked up some 3/4" double-stick tape and plan on experimenting with wider ribbon and using some of the wing dings or graphics.

A Day-Cation

Cherry Blossom Trees, Washington, D.C.

My husband and I took this last Friday off to have a one day vacation.  We decided to take the train up to DC to have lunch and visit one of the Smithsonian museums. Without actually planning it we were there when the Cherry Blossom trees are closest to their peak. Our timing could not have been more perfect as today we are experiencing a little bit of snow.



Union Station

Once we arrived at Union Station we decided to walk down and over to the Air and Space Museum.  Our walk took us past the Capitol building and the Botanic Gardens.  From the Capitol building we could see the Washington Monument which is always just an awesome sight. Inside the Air and Space Museum we were amazed and awed that some of these planes, especially the bi-planes, were so delicate looking but had managed to make some extraordinary trips around the world without all the navigation equipment we have available to us today.  In the space exploration area we shook our heads at how vulnerable the first astronauts were in their spacesuits, everything looked too flimsy to withstand outer space. Then there was the display of the American flag on the moon (it is such a classic).




Washington Monument



Spirit of St. Louis

As I looked at the photos this morning, I noticed a lot of neat design elements from the cherry blossom trees, to the writing on the Spirit of St. Louis. There was the engraving on the wall of the Air and Space Museum and of course the shadow photo I took of us and then the unique architecture of Union Station.  Our day wasn't without its unexpected moments like how cold the wind was or the 2-hour delay in our homeward bound train but all-in-all it was a perfect day.

Self-Portrait Shadow Play



Space Exploration Display

 

Air and Space Museum Wall



YoYo Hearts of Clover



YoYo Hearts of Clover Mom's March Card

It was the "luck of the Irish" I finished this card in March.  It still needs to be mailed but it's finished. I'm not at all sure about the difference between a 3-leaf and a 4-leaf clover (I'm sure I could look it up) but for the sake of this design I liked the 3-leaf clover made of yo-yo hearts the best.  The yo-yo clovers are made with both the large and small heart yo-yo makers.  For the centers I knotted some gold braid, it is the same braid that forms the stem.  The finished card is not exactly as I visualized it when the idea first hit me but the best part is next year I will get to try again as I absolutely love coming up with new ways to use the different yo-yo shapes in my cards.

Apple Salad

Apple Salad Hot Pad

Saturday my friend Connie and I got together for a play date.  Our project was weaving fabric.  This technique is one Connie had done before for a class and is in the book Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond by Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heahter Thomas and Lauren Vlcek.  I had so much fun with the fabric weaving technique and the book was full of other terrific techniques that this morning I went online and ordered it.  The hard part will be waiting for it to arrive!

Apple print fabric

We started out with our two pieces of fabric.  I chose this apple print I had and then a cream colored fabric.  These were backed with a double-sided fusible.  Next we cut wavy strips on one fabric going horizontal and on the other piece we cut our wavy stips going vertical.





Weaved fabric

 Carefully, we kept our pieces in order and started the strip weaving technique. When we had finished with the weaving we ironed (fused) the pieces together.  When my piece was finished we thought it looked a lot like an apple salad.  This morning I finished sewing a zigzag (mostly satin) stitch down each wavy strip first horizontally and then vertically and then trimmed my piece and finished the outside edges with the satin stitch.  I also had weaved a smaller piece (left side of photo) of this same fabric and I'm thinking of using it on one of my cards.  You'll have to come back at a later date to see the results of the apple salad card.

Back side of Apple Salad hot pad

Here is the back side of the hot pad.  My husband is thrilled that he now has a large enough hot pad to place under his french toast baking dish. Usually we need to place two pads under the dish.

Latest Binder Cover



Inspired by Old Sewing Notions

Each day I come into my craft room and try to create I look around, shake my head and tell myself there is just way too much stuff in the room.  While trying to thin out and pare down the amount of yarn, paints, beads, saved articles and you name it I ran across some old sewing supplies, I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog.  I saved the best of those old sewing notions but I didn't have the heart to throw out the ones that were "not so perfect" so my solution was to cover another binder using these items. Somehow I convinced myself that this project was helping to clean out my room - it's a weird justification but it allowed me to be creative while quieting the nagging little voice that was telling me I should be reorganizing and cleaning. Looking at this binder cover and my first binder cover I feel as if I have kind of got the knaack of it.

Annual Challenge Update

Tree Challenge 2011

Our Tree Challenge was a success!  We both (mostly) finished our project, although in all honesty we had more than enough time to complete it and then some - you know how it is - knowing you have plenty of time to work on it you do something else first until it is down to crunch time. The main thing though is that we are both happy with our results.  As soon as I finish thread painting a few more areas on my tree it will be finished.  I've decided to frame and hang it in my sewing room. Truth be told I could hang it up now and no one would know it wasn't finished except me!  Since I last wrote a  post about the tree, I embroidered a little cardinal sitting on one of the branches.  I'm not sure you will be able to see it in the photo though so in the future I will try to do better and take close-up photos of some of the details. 

The quilt show was very inspirational. I just love seeing all the different quilt types and the different techniques that are being used in the quilts. While at the show I purchased the Clover small oval yo-yo maker and the butterfly yo-yo maker. The small oval yo-yo maker so far is my favorite as I'm still trying to figure out the butterfly yo-yo maker with it's two-step process. Hopefully, soon I'll be able to show you some beautiful yo-yo butterflies.

Part of our annual trip to the quilt show is to select our next challenge. This year it was Connie's turn to choose and we will be making a bird (possibly using the Artful Bird: Feathered Friends to Make and Sew by Abigail Patner Glassenberg ) but we can use any pattern or make up our own plus we need to make a brooch to be worn at the 2012 quilt show. For the bird we can use any pattern but we must personalize it somehow - for me that may be figuring out how to embellish it with some yo-yos and for Connie she might create and use some of her fantasy fabric.  For now - anything and everything is possible!

"Romancing Spring" Butterfly Yo-Yo Card

With February being such a short month I knew I could not get a Valentine's Day Card made in time to send to my mom but I wanted to use my heart yo-yos. About the time I was working on the card we were having some very pretty "spring-like" days and I looked at my design and it looked like the butterfly was romancing spring and that is how the card got it's name. The butterfly was made using Clover's Large Heart Yo-Yo Maker for the wings and for the body I used Clover's Extra Small and Small Yo-Yo Makers. Did I mention I love my Cricut Expression machine? It is the best for cutting out letters and designs.

Romancing Spring-Mom's February Card

Of course I have never been good working at just one thing at a time so while working on my mom's February card I have also been paring down and weeding out some of the craft supplies I no longer use or use very seldom as I want to make room for a new table I purchased which has been riding around in my car, still in its box, for the last several weeks.  The other project (besides the Tree Challenge piece) I started was a collage binder. While going through my many boxes I came across some old seam binding packets produced by Penneys with the prices on the top.  One packet of 1/2" wide seam binding sold for 17 cents and another one that was extra wide sold for 27 cents. As I had several of these packets I decided I would decoupage them onto one of my empty binders and when completed it can hold some more of my magazine articles. My husband often refers to me as "Monica" for the Monica on the sitcom Friends who categoried and organized everything - as I have a strong tendency to do that too. My magazine articles are broken down by reference such as the best glues or threads to buy and project type such as home decor, clothing, or kids projects. Other items to be included in the collage are old zipper and snap packets. You may remember back in 2010 I had a play date with my friend Connie and covered a binder using a few of Julie Nutting's techniques. It was so much fun I decided to try it again.  If you haven't seen any of Julie's work I really encourage you to visit her site.