Fabric Journal: May 2011

The Reappearance of the Oriental Blouse

My poor sister gets the strangest presents from me. I wonder if she ever wore it?

I love the retro fish print. Wish I'd bought more of the koi appliques when the Joann store across the street closed. They have googly eyes. GOOGLY EYES!!!!
The lily pads were one of my first projects on my embroidery machine. I guess they turned out okay.

Interlude

This is not fabric.

Horrors!

There is this weird tree thing near the border between Utah and Nevada, out on the salt flats. I took a picture of it once. Look upon it and despair!

What's YOUR Favorite Christmas Carol?

I bought an excessive amount of Rudolph craft panels when they went on sale after Christmas. I made this one up with a light up musical nose that plays Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, what else? I got it from Sunshine Crafts online, but they don't seem to carry it any more. It was a nightmare to put it! I broke the wires connecting the nose to the music button; we had to buy a soldering iron and burn holes in my flexible cutting board (non-silicone) to fix it. It turned out overwhelmingly cute. Let's see if I can upload the Quicktime movie I took of it ...

Hey waddaya know. I apologize for the quality.

Summer of Vine and Roses

More blouses for the (ex)s-i-l, alas.

Alice in Wonderland

Have you ever used pre-printed craft panels? I get a kick out of them. It's hard to find anything other than bags and aprons these days. You may still be able to find this fairy tale doll panel on eBay, which is where I got her. There are also Cinderella, Snow White, and Red Riding Hood. I am a long-time Alice fan.

I have a couple to do for my goddaughters. I ought to get around to it.

Hello, Kitty!

Remember those satin blouses? This is the shoulder-opening knit version.

This is my sister wearing it. Again, no faces, blah blah blah.

My sister and I are about 15 years apart in age and about 3% apart in personality. We have our differences, of course - she's a tree hugger and I will always regret being too young to vote for Reagan - but we are remarkably similar. It almost makes me feel sorry for my brother, who is a good man and a wonderful father but also often an real jerk.

Running the Brocade

Maybe that's why my mother-in-law never uses the wallet I made. Maybe I am the only one who likes brocade.
Hmm.

Eyeglasses and Tissue cases

"Shoe Carrier" - one could put

anything in there of course

The infamous cosmetics case

Tri-fold wallet

The wallet is from a 70's era pattern book I got from Mom; the tissue case is of my own "design." (I cut a piece of brocade big enough to wrap around a small tissue pack, folded it over, and bound the edges.) The others are Simplicity 5025 again.

I especially like the dragonfly beads on the zipper pulls. You may guess that my mil likes dragonflies.

I Love My Grandpa

How many of you had a Grandpa who was at White Sands and at Nagasaki?
If you read this and you know my Grandpa, tell him I'm proud of him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read blogs.

Ooo, limeade!

I Am Not an Entrepreneur

I guess you already know I'm no photographer either, right?

I made a few of these cosmetics bags to sell on eBay. No one wanted any. I finally gave them all away.

Well, except for the one I kept for me.
You can still get this pattern - Simplicity 5025 - though of course there are many others which are quite similar. I think my fatal error was choosing quilted brocade instead of cotton. I find brocade elegant; I suspect my potential customers found it grandmotherly.

Warm and Fuzzy

Happy birthday Mom!
Chenille is warm and fuzzy and soft and oh so messy.

No, I Did Not Stage a Performance of Flower Drum Song

For the ladies this time: Red for Mom, green for my sister, gold for the (ex)sister-in-law.

Once again from a Simplicity pattern. It zips up the back; the satin was a bear to work with. The alternate style opens across the shoulder but must be made from knit.

A Shirty Father's Day

My father-in-law is Hawaiian. He likes the shirts I make, the louder the better. I had enough left over to make my a mu-mu for my Cabbage Patch Kid.
Yes, Dariah Gussy is one of the first series of commercial Cabbage Patch Kids. No, my mother did not get mauled obtaining her for me.

The BBQ shirt is for my Dad. Can you zoom in enough to see the buttons? They're little slices of tomato with seeds in.

Dresses - June, 2005

Did these for my now-ex-sister-in-law. No "action shots," sorry. I like the Madras snowflake material.

A little baggage

For my goddaughter. I made one for my husband's co-worker's child, but neglected to take pictures. It was actually kind of fun to do; maybe I should dig out the pattern again.

Name on back in sparkly gold paint again. This time, instead of writing it on directly with the fabric paint bottle, I printed the outline in a script font on transfer paper, ironed it on, and filled in the gold paint with a paint brush. It's a more subtle effect.
She still has the bag, though most of the beads have gone the way of the wild goose.