It's been a while . . .

. . . but I'm finally unpacked and set-up in the new place.  And look - my very own sewing nook!

Pretty good nook, I know!  Now I can get back to sewing more bags like the one that was featured in the Kiss of Autumn treasury by peacesofindigo :)  My first treasury inclusion!  I'm so excited. 

In Transit

I haven't had much time for anything crafty, lately.  Unless you count spackling and painting rooms as "crafty."  In which case, it's been taking up all of my time.

This weekend is the big moving day.  We're almost finished fixing up the rooms, but I am no where near finished packing.  Why are there never enough boxes?  And how on earth did I accumulate all of this stuff?!  One thing I'm very excited about is getting my own sewing area, complete with brand-new sewing desk!  I can't wait to be all moved in.

This is the room my sewing will take place in before:

During:

And finally, after!  Ta Dah!

It looks like mint chocolate chip ice cream in there.  Makes me giggle.  I love green.  This room is good to go.  The bedroom, however still needs some help.

Oh, well.  We really did get a lot accomplished. Once I'm all moved in I need to make some stuff for the walls.  I found this one really great tutorial for these bird pictures.  Once I remember where I saw it, I'll post it up!

1 Hour Skirt

I love pattern-free sewing.  Mostly because I'm completely horrible with patterns.  They might as well be in a different language.  I look at the picture and have a fairly solid idea of how to progress, but by the time I get to step 3 in the instructions, I'm lost, lost, lost.  So many thanks to DIY Couture for posting this free tutorial, and to Etsy for featuring it on their How-To Tuesday section of The Storque!

Since I'm kinda hip-y and gathering isn't necessarily flattering for that, I made my shirt out of a really light-weight knit so it wouldn't add too much bulk.  I finished in just over a hour.  It probably wouldn't have even taken that long, if I hadn't been wrapped up in No Reservations.  (I'll always love you, Anthony Bourdain!)

Here's a not-so-great photo of the finished product.  Please excuse my messy room and the fact that for some reason, it's only letting me upload the photo sideways.  Booooo!:

Anyway, I'm completely in love with DIY Couture.  You can see their entire collection on their website.  The instructions make so much sense to me.  And once they have the instructions for their wrap-top up, it is all mine!

Spiderman Swag

I'm blogging while listening to Pandora Radio.  God, I would have been so cool about a decade ago.  Always a little behind.

I finished up the Spiderman pillow for AJ!  And just in time, since I've got to mail his box o' gifts out this weekend in order not to miss his birthday . . . like I usually do.  Not this year, my small friend. 

Here's the finished pillow.

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a picture of my jerk of a cat refusing to move so I that I can take a decent picture.  

I found the Spiderman panel at a yard sale easily over a year ago.  I re-found it in the bottom of a box of assorted fabric scraps, bits of elastic and ribbon pieces just last week. 

I love pillows.  They're the easiest.  Two bits of fabric, a bag of fiber-fill and and hour of spare time is all you need.  I'm going to be doing some patchwork pillows to match the dinosaur pillow purchased a few weeks ago for the quickly-approaching co-habitation with the boyfriend.  Two weeks left.  I really should start packing at some point.

I also made a quick elastic-waist skirt last night, which I will be posting just as soon as I take some pictures of it.  Every shirt that even comes close to matching it is in the laundry basket right now.

A Second Store for Aunt Batman?

In addition to creating new items for my etsy store, my other long-running project is sewing for my niece and nephew out in California.  They live so far away and I get to see they so seldom, that it feels nice to send them something I made while thinking of how much I love them.  AJ has quite the collection of hand-made presents, but that's just because he has a few years on Em.  His favorite thing I've made him is his Batman blanket.  He used to call me "Aunt Batman" when he was younger.  It's the best nickname I've ever had!

Josqueline (mother/best friend extraordinaire) recently suggested that I start a line for babies and children.  She loves the things I've made for her kids - blankets, pillows, tiny bath robes,stuffed toys.  I'm still kicking the idea around, but I think I like it.  It would have to be a separate store, though, as mustaches and babies have very little in common.

I'm working on a Spiderman pillow for AJ at the moment.  (Spidey is by far his favorite super hero)  They'll be pictures up later this week when I've finished.

My favorite part of California visits <3

Embroidery Accomplished

. . . sort of.  It's not the one I posted yesterday, but is similar and up on my etsy site now:  http://tiny.cc/cip1l

I like how you can see the marks on my crappy apartment wall :)

There were complications with the green one.  Mostly centering around me not being bright enough to test the zipper BEFORE I sewed it all in.  Stupid, broken zipper.

It's okay.  This one is red.  Red and corduroy.  And I kind of love it.  I need to make one for me.


Also, my creepy mannequin hand came in the mail yesterday!  Huzzah!

Embroidery on a Train

With all the bizarre things I've seen done on trains into and out of Philly, I'm surprised needlepoint gets you so much attention.  Why are they staring at me when the man in the back, left corner is downing can after can of Sparks (which is still a thing, turns out), a couple just a few rows behind me are madly groping each other, and the dude with headphones is singing "Let Me See That Thong" very much off-tune (which is only slightly worse than  Let Me See That Thong sung pitch perfect)?  But, apparently, I'm the weirdest thing in sight.  Go figure. 

My embroidery is shaping up fairly nicely, though, I'm happy to report.  This will one day be a change purse.  Hopefully sometime tonight.  I love the mustache.  It's sooo soft and pet-able!