Craftyminx

Handmade projects of 2014

I posted these to Instagram a week or so ago and thought I should share them on here too since some of you may still follow the blog, but not my IG account (which is also craftyminx). Compiling these photos by phone was not fun!

 

Oh and I can't forget the Supertote I forgot from these originally! ( I made this bag for my OSU loving friend, Meg and she adores it!)

If anything, I think this shows me that I need to get back to using my dslr to take photos and not rely on my phone camera so much!

My favorite projects were my triangle quilt, of course, and the pajamas I made for my nieces for Christmas. I did actually get good photos of those so I should probably write up a blog post about them this weekend :) My laptop has been so horribly slow lately I dread doing anything on it.

This year my crafty goals are:

• Make 3 quilts (well at least the tops haha). I have already started the Arcadia Avenue Block of the Month with my mom and cousin. Well, we cut all our fabric. We'll start our first block next month.
• Make a travel bag set and a supertote for myself.
• Sew more clothing for myself
• Knit socks or something like that while I'm just sitting and watching tv.
• I would like to finish my Granny a Day afghans now that I've found the squares while unpacking the craft room.

And I know I say this all the time, but I really would like to start keeping track here on the blog again. It just seems to take up so much time to actually blog things, sigh.

Triangle Quilt Finished!

I finished my quilt this past weekend and it is everything I hoped it would be! About 2 feet of it is draped over the fence in these pictures, so you'll just have to imagine what that part looks like ;).

I worked frantically on it over my one and only vacation this summer deemed #quiltcation by my friend Staci.

I started working on this quilt May 11, 2013 and had been picking out fabric since before January 2013. This quilt was definitely a labor of love (or obsession). I had been dreaming of a triangle quilt in these colors for awhile having been inspired by this quilt, and this closet (I can't for the life of me find an original post for this). 

My mom, who is an amazing quilter (award winning even!) helped me make this quilt. I've made one baby quilt before (with the tutorial from Rachel Denbow) but making a queen size quilt is a huge task that I wasn't sure I was up for, nor did I really have the space.

When I finally started quilting, my machine or walking foot decided to be awful and not work properly and I got frustrated because the tension was all off and the stitches looked so bad! My mom let me use her babylock Jane sewing machine and I kind of fell in love with it. So I had to quilt it in a day which wasn't that hard, just time consuming but it did make me feel like I was racing to finish in time.

So it's not perfect. There's some puckering, and the triangles don't meet up perfectly in some places. But it's my first big quilt and I absolutely love it!

And I must say, it looks pretty awesome in our (unfinished) bedroom!

For any questions about my process: I don't know all of the fabric I used sorry... About half of the colors are kona solids, the others are whatever I could find in the color I envisioned. I used this triangle tool (amazon affiliate link) to help cut the triangles. It is 16 triangle bases wide and and 16 rows. Since I had to piece together the back I decided to put in the little 1.5 inch rows of pieced rectangles to add some interest to the back.

My first quilt

 I decided to spend my time working on this triangle quilt I started a year ago during my time off this weekend instead of writing book reviews. Those are coming I promise! I only have 4 more rows on the quilt and then I'll be able to focus on books :). Acutally I've been listening to books while sewing so I have even more books to add to my review list!

I started this quilt last year (May 11th to be exact). This is my first non-baby quilt and it will be a queen size quilt for our bedroom when I'm finished. I decided to make it because I couldn't find any bedding in the colors I wanted or style I liked. I wanted something geometric and triangles won out over hexagons when I finally decided to make my own quilt.  

It took me forever to pick the fabric. While I knew what colors I wanted, finding the perfect colors in the right fabric was a little difficult. Most of these are kona solids which are of amazing quality. I can definitely tell the difference between them and the other fabrics I chose because I liked the colors better but the fabric isn't as great. 

I started the quilt with my mom and was thankful to be able to use her huge upstairs sewing room to lay out the pieces and see everything together. I was still living in my tiny house at the time and could have never laid out a queen size quilt anywhere. 

I finished four rows that weekend and this weekend I finished 8 more! I am so excited to almost have the piecing done. I'm planning another trip to my parents' house in July and plan to make my quilt sandwich there and start the quilting process. Part of me wants to hand quilt it, but the other part of me actually wants to use this quilt sometime soon! So we'll see ;) I still have a little time to decide. I'm pretty sure I want to do the quilting a 1/4" away from the seams so it will have a shadow effect.

Did any of you work on any special crafty projects this weekend?  

Finished Butterick B5605

Well I finished my birthday dress right in time for my party. Like 2 hours before the party to be exact. It was crazy to say the least. I didn't even start sewing on the dress until 11:30 on Friday night. I decided to vlog through the process to keep me going. I'll add my rambling vlogs to this post, you know, in case you want to see what happens when I pull an all-nighter. 

Overall, I'm very happy with the finished product!! The top is a little too big. I didn't do as much fitting and tailoring as I should have because of time constraints but I'm really happy with it. I think I'll go back and make the adjustments it needs to be perfect. 

Here are the tutorials I mentioned in the vlog:

Gertie's Horse Hair Braid Tutorial

Kimono Sleeve Gussets Tutorial

 

Thrifted Thursday

I found my dream sewing machine y'all!!! I tweeted about this on Saturday and it has been a very long week waiting for Thursday to get here so I could share it with you. Are you ready for this?!

A vintage hot pink sewing machine!!!!

Anyone else have a dream thrifting wish list? I know plenty of thrifters who do. I have about 5 things on my list right now, one of which was a pink or teal sewing machine. I've been waiting for the perfect vintage machine for years! It was worth the wait.

So here's the story... My pal Staci was in town so we went to a few of my favorite thrift stores with Levi. I usually have a plan when I go through thrift stores, and it always starts in the bedding. But that day, the back room was calling my name so I told Levi I was heading back there first. This thrift store always has about 5 sewing machines in their cases back there, and I assumed they were all the ones that I had opened before, but I decided to peek in to all of them again any way. Levi was with me when I lifted the top off of this one. I squealed, yelled "mine!" and then picked it up to look for a plug in.

I said I would leave it if it didn't work. It was marked $50 but everything was 50% off that day and $25 was just too much for a sewing machine that didn't work, even if it was pink. Thankfully it ran fine. I'm sure it still needs to go to the shop for a tune up. And I need to find a manual. After searching online for the history of this machine, I only found blog posts from people who had it and couldn't figure out how to wind the bobbin.

The case needs a good cleaning, but the machine itself is in perfect condition. I'm not sure if I'll actually use this one very often, since I LOVE my singer, but this makes some pretty awesome eye candy and it's the same color pink as my studio. 

We were meant for each other.

What I Wore: Cute as a Button

Like I said in today's previous post, any "what I wore" posts will be few and far between, but I feel the need to occasionally share. 

Nail polish: Essie - Cute as a Button (a favorite spring color)
Yellow dots: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Yellow Kitty (a new favorite and I love the play on hello kitty for the name)

Dress: I made it from a sheet using an Amy Butler Pattern.
Cardigan: Old Navy (I've had it since high school haha)
Tights: We Love Colors 
Shoes: Jeffrey Campell
Dog: Dewey 

There were more photos, but I look really awkward in all of them. I'm sure I'll get better at taking photos of myself. I don't like looking "posed."

Special thanks for Sara from Deluxe for donating the quilt top above for our wedding! My mom made it into a quilt and we took wedding pictures on it. It's a very cherished momento now.

Disclosure: I'm not affiliated with any of the products mentioned. 

DIY Elf Hat

Read my Elf Yourself post first please :)

Because every Elf needs a hat, I thought I needed to show you how to make those too.

 click the photos to see the full size

You will need felt, a hat that fits you, a paper bag to make the pattern, a ruler and measuring tape, scissors, pencil, marker, pins and a sewing machine. Yarn and pom pom maker are optional.

 
Measure around your head where a hat would set. Take that number and add two for the 1/2 inch seam allowance, then divide that number by two. This number (x) will be the base of your hat. make a rectangle on the paper with x as your base and 3.5 or 4 inches as the height.

Next we'll draw the top of the hat

 
 Make sure the curled part of the hat is wider than you think it should be. Remember that you will be sewing it together and turning it inside out so you want enough room for that. Note: Don't worry if your hat looks like it would fit a giant. I promise it's probably not too big and you an always adjust it later.

 
Cut your pattern pieces out and cut two pieces out of felt.

 
When you sew together, start with 1/2 inch seam allowance because that's what we measured for, but as you get closer to the top, especially around the curl, sew close to the edge. Turn right side out using a pencil to help with the point of the curl.

 
You can be finished from here, but I wanted to add a different colored band. so try the hat on and fold up the bottom until it's comfortable. It probably won't be even all around since everyone likes to wear hats differently. Cut off the bottom so we can sew on another band. 

 
Cut the band off of your pattern, and cut out of felt. I added scallops to mine using that green tin to mark them. Sew up the short sides using 1/2" seam allowance.

 
Sew the band to the hat. It's very important that you sew the right side of the band to the wrong side of the hat so when you fold up the band, it shows the right sides and hides the seams.

 
I made a pom pom for my hat, but you don't need one. they look cute without anything, or you could sew on a big jingle bell, a piece of sparkly garland, anything really.

See me and Sheldon in our full elf regalia here. And don't forget you can make a matching apron by visiting my tutorial on Michelle's blog.

 P.S. how do you like my new format for tutorials? I tend to be a bit wordy sometimes so I think adding words to the photos helps (if I can get the font big enough!).  I also have plans for a video or two, since my new camera has the capabilities.

I'll see you tomorrow with some more goodies to share.

Elf yourself!

Last year, Sheldon and I started the fun tradition taking a ridiculous Christmas card photo.

This year, while shopping at target, we found Dewey a santa hat with beard and Bella an antler cap. Then we had the awesome idea to dress as elves. Sheldon immediately wanted to go look at tights. That's why I love my husband, he's as quirky as me! We almost decided against the photo this year because of losing Bella, but it brings us joy. So this past week, I made our costumes and turned the dining room in to a winter wonderland with Elf inspired paper chains and snowflakes. And we added Bella to the tree so she could still be part of the photo.

 (this isn't our actual card photo. It's so much better than this.  I'll show that later. I want our recipients to be surprised)

So here's where the elf "yourself" comes into play! The wonderful Michelle Clement of Scissor Quirk asked me to be a  part of her blog party yesterday and today to celebrate the release of her new blog design (which looks wonderful btw)! So hop on over there and see my tutorial on how to make these fun Elf inspired aprons! If you make one I would LOVE to see it!

 
Wait...that's not all! I also put together an Elf hat tutorial for you as well. Just add tights and a goofy grin.  

Updated 6/21/2011 with full tutorial

Last year my then fiance and I started the tradition of taking a ridiculous photo for our Christmas cards. This year, we brainstormed for months and finally decided on an Elf inspired photo shoot, as a tribute to our favorite holiday movie.
 
Instead of making full costumes I decided to make us elf inspired aprons and I am going to show you how to make your own today! These would be perfect for a party, making holiday meals, or taking fun photos, of course.
First, gather some supplies.
 
The body of the apron will need to be felt from the bolt, but the other colors can be 9x12 sheets if you have limited color options on the bolt. If you don't have a sewing machine, don't worry! These can easily be sewn by hand or even glued if you needed to.
 
Trace around an apron you already have to make your pattern. The aprons can be as simple or fancy as you want to make them. You can see a big difference between our aprons. For my pockets, I used a pocket pattern I had from a dress pattern in my stash. Use your resources or free hand it, felt is really forgiving so you can trim it until it looks right.
 
Pin everything in place before you sew it together. This is also a great time to try it on and make sure everything is in the right spot.
 
Sew it all up. You can use a fabric glue too if you don't sew.
 

Complete any final touches, you could add some embroidery or beading if you wanted to get really glitzy. Have fun and make it your own!