Fabric as Art

I most recently found the answer to my art dilemma in the Summer 2009 issue of Quilts and More. I have been searching for a piece of art for behind our headboard. Since the tornado, I have a fear of putting a heavy mirror behind our heads. Plus, our kids will occasionally mess around on the bed. Leaving it bare is boring! But then I found this!



Here is the fabric I've selected--an array of blues and greens.



And the 10 x 10 art canvases I found on sale at Jo-Ann's.



I'll show you a picture of the finished project. I hope it is as easy as the article makes it sound.

Yo-Yo Tutorial

Awhile back I mentioned how I found some yo-yo tools that make it easy for you to make them quickly. I received some questions and curiousity. So, here is a quick tutorial about how to make yo-yos using these tools. You can purchase the Yo-Yo makers at any Jo-Ann, Hobby Lobby, or Michael's. The brand I purchased is Clover. Here are the Yo-Yo makers in Large, Medium, and Small and the sizes of yo-yos they make respectively:




I'm going to make a medium yo-yo. First, you'll see that the disc comes apart.



You're going to find a small piece of fabric from your stash and place it between the discs with the right side facing the larger disc. You'll then snap the discs shut.



Notice how the fabric extends beyond the size of the disc. You'll want to cut the fabric around, allowing about 1/4" excess.





Now you begin sewing in and out of the grooves of the disc, working all the way around.



Once you have gone around, you'll sew one more time into the groove you began with.



You can then pop the disc open and remove the fabric.



When you tug on the thread, you tighten the fabric and then you have a yo-yo!





We have way too many yo-yos around here. My daughter uses them all the time. Just recently she made a cute card for her teacher.

Discount Fabric Find

I found this fabric on sale at Jo-Ann's. I thought it was fun and gender-neutral (for a blanket). Got any cute fat quarter baby quilt patterns?

We Remember

One year ago today a tornado hit our tiny town. It is still so fresh for me though all the repairs have been completed on our home and all. I just remember the feeling of not being able to get to my daughter's school which was less than a mile away. I had horrible visions of her lying in a field needing me, crying for me. Praise God she was fine and her teachers took care of the kids like they were their own.

Just yesterday I was at her school and the news was filming because her school, Windmill Enrichment (the fourth picture is a picture of her school the day of), was right in the path of the tornado and a lot of heroes were revealed that day. I sat in on lunch and all the kids were talking about the tornado. I asked the teacher if the news being there was causing them to rethink it all. She said that the kids have never really stopped talking about it. I know it took MiniMe three months to finally tell me in detail what she experienced that day.

I'm so grateful that we are a year beyond it all and a lot of healing and rebuilding has taken place. But I still can't help but remember.....

Inspiration

Whew! It's been crazy around here. I've not had much time for creativity but rather than not blog, I thought I'd post some links to projects that I plan to start someday. First, the Boxy Pouch. I saw this on the Sew Mama Sew blog recently.

Little Boxy Pouch was created by Three Bears. I think it is the perfect project to use up some of your leftover fabric. I have some cute Japanese fabric picked out--just need to find some time.



My second inspirational link is Blurb. Have you heard of Blurb fellow bloggers? You can use Blurb to "slurp" your blog contents into a book. A pretty book too--coffee table pretty. I've been playing with a template and flowing content from my old blog. It's crazy the things you'd forget if you didn't write them. I am so glad that I keep a blog if not just for all the memories and pictures I've posted about! I have an idea that I'll also use Blurb to make a book for my second-born. I know it is pretty normal that the second child doesn't have a baby book. I just can't seem to find the time to go back and scrapbook a book for him. I've decided that I'd make life easier and use the digital images and the bits and pieces I've written in his journal to just Blurb a book. It is almost cheating but I can see by looking at the featured books, others have done it too!

More Crochet

Ok, surely you've checked out Beata and her GORGEOUS crochet pillows? Her pictures are so pretty and I'm sure that in person, these pillows are even more fun! She so inspired me. I'm loving picking up crochet again. My mom taught me to crochet when I was a little girl and I've crochet many an afghan. It comes back to you like riding a bike. Go on over to Beata's blog and get inspired!

Saving the Selvages

Do you save your selvages? I've only recently started. I've followed the Selvage Blog for a while now. There are some crazy selvage stashes out there! I have a very little collection and most of my lengths are just fat quarters so I'm not sure I could do much. I save them with the hopes that I'll find the right project someday. Or sell them. The Selvage Skirt on the Selvage Blog is fun. I can't imagine wearing it or seeing someone wear it but it is a fun piece to stare at!

Kokeshi Fabric

I attempted to make a Spoonflower fabric. I'm not a graphic designer but I tweaked around this weekend while B watched basketball. I thought this came out kind of cute. I love Japanese fabric. Do you get the Japanese fabric feel? The colors are off from the actual colors that would print on fabric but you get the idea. My pinks aren't so florescent and my blues are more of a turquoise than blue. I have a color swatch. It's a bummer that the colors don't correspond better because it is hard for you to see the real image as it would print.

I love kokeshi dolls (and babushkas). I told B that I want to collect them and he laughed because where am I going to find an abundance of kokeshis in the U.S.? But then I looked on Etsy and Ebay and there are a lot out there so HA! He wasn't so thrilled with the idea for some odd reason. He asked where I'd put them. They don't take up a lot of room, they're tiny dolls for goodness sake. I don't know. It was really funny to me though because when I told him I didn't think he'd have an opinion about my idea of collecting. By the look on his face you'd think I'd said I was going to start collecting bloody shrunken heads. :)

Quilt Progress

I am loving my quilt but it continues to take me FOREVER to make much progress. Here is where I stand: I've got 5 columns left to sew together. Then I have the whole rest of the quilt--binding, backing, quilting! How long on average does it take you to finish a quilt? I'd say it takes me about 5 months. I would get it done so much faster if I didn't try to pursue other endeavors such as spending time on Spoonflower, making crochet motifs, and working on my Socks That Rock sock club socks.

Crochet Fun

I haven't crocheted in a long time. But I've been drawn to all of the flowers I'm seeing on various blogs. We have a bedroom in our basement that I'd love to make a pillow cover or two for. Here are the colors of the duvet cover:

So, B and I had a date night Friday and had some time to kill before the movie and went to Barnes and Noble. I purchased Crochet Motifs.





I've been playing around and made a few circles. It is great and mindless fun!