Quilted Pillow Magnets

Well hello! Long time no see. That's my fault, I know. Sorry about that. But I'm back now, crafting my little heart out. I actually started these quilty pillow magnets ages ago but you know how it is - you get a little sidetracked and before you know it three weeks goes by and your dusting off and reviving an almost-forgotten-about project.

I wanted to try these fabulous little magnets after I saw the ones that Nova posted on her Flickr page. Hers are MUCH nicer. Her stitching is as near perfect as you can be and her designs make me swoon. Knowing that mine would not look anything like hers, I just couldn't help myself and had to give it a try. They were really fun to make! And when you make an utter disaster out of one, you don't feel bad about wasting fabric because you are only using 3 square inches at a time.

For each of these pictured, I used scraps of Bliss fabric by Moda (I think we all know I have a lot of those scraps laying around) and backed them with linen from JoAnn. I used Beacon Adhesives craft glue to secure the magnets that I got at Michaels. As you can see, my quilting designs are rather simplistic - mostly just 1" squares that I sewed together using 1/8" seam allowances. I stuffed them with a small amount of batting to make them pillow-like but I didn't want them to be too firm.

I confess, I have about 10 more in the works already. They are highly addictive to make because they are quick and easy and give you a chance to be creative with all those tiny little scraps. I have a long list of projects begging to be started but they are just going to have to wait a little longer...

How are your crafty adventures going this weekend?

Kate

Creative Fits and Starts

I've had a lot of creative starts and stops this week. I had a little unplanned hiatus, thanks to some delightful illnesses that the kids brought home, followed by a total fail of a project that I had hoped to complete for February's Craft Book Challenge. I can't even show you photographic evidence of the fail because I was so frustrated that I couldn't bring myself to take a picture. I didn't do anything rational like walk away or put it aside to see if I could salvage it later. Oh no. I immediately hacked it to bits (well, that's dramatic - I cut up the largest pieces of fabric to salvage for other projects) and tossed it into the trash. I won't even tell you what project it was. It's too embarrassing. I will just tell you that sometimes I think I'm taking a shortcut, or doing something an easier way, when in fact I'm actually just doing it WRONG. End of story.

Moving on. See the fabric above? It's from French General for Moda and I bought it last summer but haven't done anything with it yet. Since I'm also in possession of the French General book Home Sewn, I thought it would be fun to use these rich fabrics to create something for the Craft Book Challenge using a project from the book. As you can see, this is still in the conception phase and I will let you know how (and when) it materializes. If it does. Which remains to be seen.

Does this ever happen to you? Creative fits and starts and fails that kind of suck out your mojo?

Here's hoping your creative endeavors are going better than mine today!

Happy Crafting!
Kate

Sew Simple Heart

This little scrap of the paisley print from the Bliss collection seemed destined to become a heart. I already made it's sister scrap into a mug mat that lives near my favorite craft book collection and I decided that I have enough mug mats for now ("for now" being a relative term). So a heart was the fate of this scrap of my current favorite fabric. I love hearts anyway and with Valentine's Day creeping up on us it seemed appropriate.


Like with my heart magnets, I cut a heart shape out of paper, Kindergarten-style, traced it onto the fabric, and sewed. Not perfect but not too shabby either. I threaded some embroidery floss through the top because, well, frankly I just forgot to put in a hanging ribbon before sewing. Oops. Oh well, the thread works just as well. Now I have a festive little decoration in my craft studio. And because I generally like hearts and this one doesn't really scream "Valentine's Day", I will leave it up all the time.



Hope your Valentine projects are coming along well!



Happy Crafting!



Kate

Valentine Card

Today I have a Valentine card and tag duo to share with you. We still have a very wintry landscape outside, thanks to the buckets of snow that have been pummeling us lately, so the winter wreath seemed appropriate for a Valentine card.

I also wanted to make some very simple tags to go on Valentine treats that I have in mind (chocolate truffles anyone?). For the tags, I wanted something that would be very easy to make in numbers, and I don't know if it gets easier than using 3 punches and calling it good. (Tag supplies: Tag and heart punches, whisper white, perfect plum, and crumb cake cardstock all by Stampin' Up!)
The card is equally simple in design and I fancied it up a bit by dotting the wreath with some liquid pearls in White Opal and painting the heart with the sparkly champagne ink shown above. The stamps are from one of my favorite stamp companies, Memory Box. I purchased the stamps and liquid pearls at Ink About It and the cardstock, heart punch, and champagne ink from Stampin' Up! (Colors: Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake, ink is Basic Brown also by Stampin' Up!)

Now to go check the spinach-artichoke dip and potato skins in progress for our Superbowl viewing pleasure. Hope you're having a fun and craft-filled day.

Happy Crafting!

Kate

Felt Heart Magnets

I finished the felt heart magnets! The stitching is horribly imperfect but I can live with it. It adds character, or something like that.

This project was ridiculously easy to pull together. The felt and thread are from the Paris Flea Market collection at Prairie Point Junction. I made a small heart shape on paper and then traced it onto the felt. I cut out two felt hearts to make each magnet. I blanket-stitched the hearts together (getting the blanket-stitch down is always the hardest part for me. By heart #2 I had it and it really is easy) leaving a small opening for stuffing, stuffed them with a small amount of batting, and stitched them closed.

I couldn't find my E6000 adhesive, so I turned to my Beacon Adhesives craft glue. I used it to glue small magnets onto the back of each heart.

Here they are gracing my fridge. You can see I'm down to 3 from the original set of 6. The kids each comandeered one and I put one on my vision board because I just like how warm and cozy they look. A perfect little Valentine project. I hope you like it!

Happy Crafting!

Kate

Hearts in Progress

Shovel. Make coffee. Stitch (or sew or bake or watch a movie on the couch with the kids). Repeat. That's my life right now in the Northeast, where we have been getting pummeled with snow almost daily since December 26. But hey, that's New England weather and we're a hearty bunch so we're making the most of it.

Pictured are my hearts-in-progress. I realize it's February and therefore time to turn my attention to Valentine-y crafting. In general I don't go hog wild over Valentine's day, though I do enjoy it, but I thought it would be nice to make a few heart-themed projects to honor the occasion. Do you remember the pictures like this with the felt houses? They are still in progress and are currently my favorite project, so it was a natural leap from there to make some simple felt hearts. I am really enjoying using felt as a medium because it's so forgiving and easy to work with, plus it's a great way to practice my stitching.

The stupid blanket stitch confounds me every time and it's embarrassing because it's such an easy stitch. You can't really tell from the photo, but the dark pink heart is one big stiched mistake. I did the whole thing wrong! I managed to tie little knots all the way around instead of making a nice stitch. So, back to Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects for the instructions once again and then success on the second heart.

Many more in progress. I'm thinking magnets for these guys...

Happy Crafting!

Kate

Coffee and a Card

I love snow. I really do. I will grant that it's starting to border on the ridiculous that we have so very much of it right now and that we got another 10 or so inches last night and that the kids are home for their fourth snow day this month. But, all that said, snow days inspire me to pop in a movie, make some coffee, and get my craft on.

Today I decided to give the sewing machine a much-deserved break and bust out some of my card-making supplies that have been sitting idle. The coffee and snow combination really warms my heart so I pulled out this old favorite stamp set by MFT and this softly colored snowflake paper, appropriately titled Snow Day, from the Wassail collection by Basic Gray. To jazz up the card a bit, I punched some snowflakes with a Martha Stewart punch (and while I like the shape of the snowflake, the punch is a big pain in the rump on the heavy cardstock that I favor because it's always getting jammed) and painted them in some shimmery gold paint that I got from Stampin' Up. I used Stampin' Up! cardstock in Whisper White and Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft). I also threw in some Martha Stewart twill tape ribbon, crochet ribbon from Wright's, a pearl sticker that I picked up at Michael's.

Now to go make some more coffee and see what else is on that long, long list of projects...

Happy Crafting!

Kate