What's Been Keeping Me Busy...

Hi Angel!

I can't believe how this year is flying so far. I owe you an update on the crafty front! I have been so busy with my little business, which is great. I feel like things have finally kicked into a smooth, steady gear. I have had a constant stream of projects to work on, mostly custom orders. (See below for a few examples!) But eek, it's hard to stay afloat on all fronts and I feel like my blog posting has fallen by the wayside, along with my socializing. I'll try to catch you up here!

First, I wanted to show you the little Valentines I made with the kids for Valentine's Day last week. I had noticed this adorable lollipop-holding photo idea on Design Mom a while back and pinned it. The weather was horribly rainy and gloomy in the days leading up to V-day, so I had to take indoor photos of the kids, which of course were slightly blurry. They turned out pretty cute though, and were a big success with their friends!



Ben has a little friend named Angel in his class!



In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I also made some heart-y table runners for my shop. I love how these turned out, fun!






A few weeks ago, I scored a whole bunch of new fabrics from both Drygoods Design Online and Hawthorne Threads. Here are some photos to make you drool. There is some Stamped, some Bella, some Notting Hill, and more loveliness. Pretty much all of this is going into projects for my shop, though I'm thinking of saving some of that Notting Hill sateen to make a pillow for our living room.






Here are some of the custom orders I completed recently: a book cover for our friend Carrie's bible study tome, some quilted table runners, and a custom set of coasters.








Also, I am in charge of the auction art project for Ben's kindergarten class. Their curriculum is project-based, and their winter project has been "Fabrics through the world". How fortunate! As you can imagine, I've been invited to do show and tell a couple of times.

For the auction project, we've been working on a large piece of fiber art, involving fabric. I had visions of branching out from my usual burlap art and doing something edgy and cool. But all the feedback I received from the adults involved has been to stick to the type of stuff I've made from my shop, so the project will involve a tree and some birdies. Here's a glimpse at my prep work. I'll share more soon!!




I think that about rounds up all that's been keeping me busy lately. How about you? What is occupying your hands lately? What fabrics are you drooling over? What projects are getting you excited? I'd love to know!

Last Week I:

Got together with my "Four Sisters" gardening group, it was the first time I'd met with them in many months. Thankful they held that space for me.  We talked seeds, at night, without kids. Yes this is a big deal.

(Ordering from Baker Creek this year for the most part, what a gorgeous catalog!)

Changed the name of my shop to Angel Funk Designs, for simplicity's sake. Thanks Etsy for honoring that change. I hope to have some new items up for sale soon, fingers crossed.

Ran errands, by myself, in my own car. Came home to an empty and quiet house. Thankful for a husband that helps me find that time alone, I am realizing lately how important it is to my sanity. I bought chicken feed at Green Wagon (tell Kev I finally have a local spot for organic feed!) along with a Happy Dragon candle and bar of soap from local company Alchemy of Sol. I wish you guys could come visit this year, you wouldn't believe how much this neighborhood has changed! I can't even find a parking space on the weekend to go to the hardware store.

Contemplated, and then talked myself out of, this Needle Felting sculpture class at Arrowmont in June. I would love to go, the artists' work (Stephanie Metz) is amazing! But things are not really coming together in terms of planning and there's that little issue of paying for it, and that's ok. Something else will present itself at the right time, I just know it!

Received Wee Felt Worlds in the mail from our friend Amanda Carestio at Lark Crafts, did you get one too Jen? I've got my eye on the "sweet shop" set for Silas, at least a few of the pieces. (Speaking of, here's a short tutorial to make a donut from the book!) I need to figure out what to do for Valentine's day this year! (How about you?)

Hello!

Hello!

One thousand apologies for my absence, but let's get on with it shall we? 2013 has been very creative for me so far, and I'd love to share a few of my latest projects.



This little fox is the result of a lot of sketching and thinking, more on him later! I'll have a separate post, soon.



This piece I made for the upcoming art auction at Ian's school. It was inspired by their class's country for this year, Haiti. (The school's theme is "We are the World" this year.) I did quite a bit of research on fiber arts in Haiti, and found a group called Haiti Peace Quilts. A common theme in many of the quilts was a Tree of Life symbol, and that was the inspiration for the students' pieces as well. (More on that later!)



I'm not quite done with this one, Ian asked to keep it at our house.





And, last but not least, I made a ton of these little fabric and felt catchalls for Christmas gifts. A piece of 100% wool felt, a nice print fabric in the same size, some embroidery floss and some buckwheat hulls! They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. The embroidery in the center creates a small indentation for keys, jewelery, etc. I hope to have some of these in my Etsy shop soon!

All the felt is from Janet at Felt on the Fly! She's one of Stumbles and Stitches' sponsors, but I am also a loyal customer. Her felt is wonderful, her customer service is outstanding. Thanks again for picking out such beautiful colors for me, Janet!

How Is It FEBRUARY?!

Hello!

It's been a while since I've signed on, apologies. We're emerging from, oh, 6 or 7 weeks of sickness around here. It's been one thing after another, and at least one person in our family was sick at all times during the month of January. AAH! I know in the large scheme of things, I should be grateful that we're overall healthy and it was nothing serious. But it sucked, and I am knocking on wood that we are done!

Since I've been home a lot with the kiddos, I've been trying to get organized, make lots of stuff for my shop, etc. I sorted through all my fabrics recently and gave a lot away, and then I re-organized what was left in my fabric cupboard. Take a look. Pretty!




While going through my overflowing basket of works-in-progress, I found the following Christmas tree blocks I had made in November or early December.




Remember this table runner I was planning on making?




Clearly, I never did finish this table runner in time for the holidays. Bummer! Maybe it will be done by next year's Christmas. I like how the blocks turned out, each quite different, but they work well together.








I have a lot of stuff to share and write about, some tutorials to put together, and tons of things in the works. So I'm hoping (planning!) to post a bit more frequently in the coming weeks and months. Assuming everyone stays healthy...


How is everyone? What have you been working on lately? I'd love to catch up in the comments.

Handmade for Newtown

Have you guys heard of Handmade for Newtown? This is an online auction organized by my friend Rachael and From The Heart Auctions to benefit the parent community in Newtown, CT after the horrible massacre that happened there a few weeks ago.




I donated an original piece of burlap art to the auction to help raise money for the cause. It's called Sunset Birds. It is handmade with fabric designs appliqued onto a piece of upcycled burlap from a coffee sack. The artwork is stretched onto a wooden frame, professionally finished and ready for hanging!

You can see the auction listing for it here and if you'd like, bid on it!




There are a ton of fabulous handmade items, along with supplies like fabric, patterns and more up for grabs. Go check out the auction album and bid generously, it's going to a good cause!

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what's open for bids:








Pretty awesome, don't you think? Go check out the auction album and bid away!

You can "Like" From the Heart Auctions on Facebook here.

And here's my artwork again, just because I took a bajillion pictures of it, ha ha!




You will find the how-to and rules for bidding when you go to the auction album. It's pretty self-explanatory. You bid by leaving a comment with a higher dollar amount on whatever item you'd like.

Bids will be accepted through Friday, January 18 at 10pm EST. Go bid!

Infinity Scarves and Coffee Cozies

Hi there!

I mentioned yesterday that I made quite a few gifts this year, but surprisingly, it didn't feel like that much. That might be because I had just come out of working like a nut to prepare for my first Holiday Fair. Or it might be because I made several of the same, easy gifts!

I mentioned yesterday that I made quite a few infinity scarves this year. Here are more I made for you Angel, as well as for Ben's teacher and assistant-teacher, and last but not least for my Mom! There are all made of voile from various Anna Maria Horner collections. So soft, and wonderful to work with!










I bought some Field Study voile to make one for myself too, so I'll try to take some pics and share how I make these. Super easy peasy and they just use ONE yard of fabric.

The other gift I made a lot of were coffee/tea cozies. I started by using a cozy pattern (that I can't find right now) that featured a velcro closure. I made this teacher gift for Henry's preschool teacher, who also happens to be my neighbor and friend. I gave that to her along with an assortment of teas in a handmade fabric bucket (more on those soon!). This one features a print from the new Stamped collection by Ellen Luckett Baker (love!!!!).




Then I decided to simplify the cozy pattern and made a whole bunch of them by skipping the velcro and just sewing both ends on top of one another. It worked great. I made one for myself using some leftover Echo by Lotta Jansdotter and I use it all the time (which tells you just how I often I splurge on lattes, ahem).






Since we weren't going to be in Texas with my family for the holidays, we sent a care package. In it, I included a coffee cozy for each adult member of my family. When we connected with them on Skype for our traditional Christmas breakfast, they each had a coffee cup in hand, adorned with a cozy. It made my day more than any gift!


Have you caught on to the infinity scarf craze? Do you have a favorite pattern? What do you think of working with voile? What are some of your favorite go-to holiday gifts? Let's chat in the comments.

Gifts for Secret Santa Exchange

Hello!

We're back to the school routine over here, as of yesterday, and I'm trying my best to get back into the swing of things. It doesn't help that I'm a bit (a lot) sleep-deprived due to getting sucked into yet another dystopian trilogy. Oh, how I love to read with my little Kindle, but I need to stop staying up so late!

I've been going through all my photos from the holiday season and realized I made quite a few gifts this year! I will start by showing you what I made for a handmade Secret Santa gift exchange with a group of mama friends.

In this exchange, we all provide some helpful tips and personal information about our tastes and wishes to help guide our Secret Santa. Among other info, my gift recipient said she would love a new scarf and small jewelry, and adored the smell of lavender. I focused on those points as I made my gifts:


- A pair of earrings

I made these with sterling silver and jade beads (at least I think they are jade, salvaged from a former bracelet) from my stash. It was fun to make jewelry again, it had been a while. There was a time in my twenties when I made new pieces almost every day!




- An infinity scarf

This scarf features voile by Anna Maria Horner on one side and double cotton gauze in a light shade of coordinating chartreuse on the other side (Angel, do you recognize the style, I made yours at the same time!). I actually made quite a few infinity scarves for Christmas this year and will share more tomorrow.




- Lavender dryer bags

These are so easy! I use reusable cotton tea bags, fill them with drier lavender and zigzag-stitch them shut. I then create a little pocket out of pretty fabric and stuff the tea bag in it, then top-stitch them closed. You can throw one of these in the dryer with your wet clothes and your laundry will come out smelling lovely! Multiple uses for each bag until the scent disappears.






- Scrappy Stocking Ornaments

I used my own tutorial to make some little ornaments for her! I kind of like this non-traditional color scheme, what do you think?




I also threw in some homemade cookies. And that was it! I hope my recipient enjoyed her Secret Santa gifts!!

I myself received some pretty cool handmade Secret Santa gifts, including a large button trivet similar to this one on MAKE. I love it!


Did you guys participate in any handmade exchanges this holiday season? What did you make? What did you receive?!