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Creative Weekend Plans

Shannon — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:00:53 +0000

The weekend is upon us! In what creative way will you spend this weekend? I plan to start mine with some delicious homemade pizza topped with basil, tomatoes, and slices of fresh mozzarella, a glass of wine, and an episode or two of Quantum Leap. (If you are a fan of Quantum Leap and Scott Bakula, check out this excellent song on YouTube.)

Alright, so this post was supposed to be about helping you get some inspirations to be crafty and creative this weekend, but I just went to YouTube to find the link to the Scott Bakula song, and I came across all these other great Scott Bakula clips. So what if this is a crafty blog? I need to stop for a moment and pay homage to Scott Bakula. My Quantum Leap watching buddy and I (we’re on Season 5 now, and sad about the impending end of the series) both have a special place in our hearts for that time when Scott Bakula sang Volare.

Ok, I realize most people don’t share my love of Quantum Leap and Scott Bakula. Even so, you have to give him kudos for doing his own singing (more singing here). I guess if your weekend plans don’t include watching Quantum Leap, you could try some of these crafty things instead:

Make a luggage tag and get out of town. May I suggest your destination be somewhere warm?
Can’t get out of town? Stay at home and snuggle up in a blanket with built-in hood.
Try making some adorable shrinky dink pins from Wee Wonderfuls.
Make the weekend sweet with some delicious chocolate chip cookies. (I have made this recipe, and these cookies are both huge and delicious.)

Whether you try some of these suggestions or not, I’d like to hear what your creative plans are for this weekend! Even more, I’d love to hear that I’m not alone on this whole Scott Bakula/Quantum Leap thing.

Handmade Holidays

Shannon — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:00:26 +0000

Now that it’s November, I’m seeing holiday decorations and talk of holiday preparation everywhere. I even walked into one store that had Christmas carols playing on November first! A bit early for Christmas music, in my opinion, but I don’t think planning ahead for the holidays is a bad idea, especially if you plan to make some of your gifts. If you don’t regularly read Sew, Mama, Sew! I suggest you check it out. For the month of November, each day will be dedicated to different types of handmade gifts you can make, with links to great tutorials. Even if you aren’t planning to make your holiday gifts, this will be a great crafty resource.

And while we’re talking about handmade and the holidays, have you seen the Buy Handmade pledge yet? Sponsored by a bunch of crafty, handmade-oriented web sites, like Etsy and Craftster, Buy Handmade is a promise to buy handmade for the holidays and request that others do the same for you. If you wonder why you should bother to do that, you can read up on “why buy handmade?” Even if you don’t want to make the pledge, you may want to think about incorporating something handmade into your holidays, simply because of the extra care and love that goes into it. Especially if you’ve made it yourself. I know that not all of my holiday gifts will be handmade, but I will be making some and those will probably be some of the best gifts I give.

Rotary Cutting

Shannon — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:00:17 +0000

Back around Labor Day, I got myself a rotary cutter and self-healing mat (how does it do that?). I’ve been cutting up all sorts of things lately, and I love using the rotary cutter! It’s so much faster, and I’m able to cut much straighter lines. And straight lines for me is a pretty big deal, because I’ve never been so good with the fine motor skills. Just ask my mom. So I’ve been happily cutting away, but I’ve discovered that even rotary cutting takes a little skill. It’s easy for me to stop focusing and have the cutter roll away from the straightedge. So, of course, I did a little internet research on rotary cutting, and here are the fruits of my labor:

Quilt.com has come basic rotary cutting how-to’s, with tips on how to prepare your fabric for rotary cutting, how to cut basic shapes, and how not to cut your finger off. McCall’s Quilting also provides some basic rotary cutting steps, with a particular emphasis on getting your fabric straight (which it never is after being cut at the store, washed, and pressed).

Rotary cutting blades are sharp! Given my clumsiness, I live in fear of the day I roll that wheel of pain over my finger. Which is why I really appreciate About.com’s Top 10 Rotary Cutting Tips for Quilters. Sure, I probably could have figured them out by myself, but now I don’t have to, and hopefully I’ve decreased my odds of injury at least a little bit.

QuiltUniversity.com addressed my specific problem of rolling away from the ruler while I’m cutting. They say, “Keep the rotary cutter’s blade vertical against the edge of the ruler. If the cutter’s blade is tilted either right or left, you’ll get an inaccurate cut. The width of the strip will vary, and the pieced segment will not be the correct size.” Their tips also address how to hold your ruler in place on long strips of fabric (which is useful if you’re like me, and you keep accidentally sliding the ruler around on the fabric!)

I think these links will help me to keep my lines straighter and my fingers attached. I hope they are helpful to you!

Everyday Internet Use

Shannon — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:00:50 +0000

What are the things you do or use everytime you go online? Do you have a regular site you have to visit or a web-based email you have to check?

I’m a creature of habit, and I’ve been thinking about my Internet habits lately. I’ve noticed that there are a few things I do everyday. Since I’m also a list-making creature, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of the things I always do online.

Everyday I:

Check Gmail – “Check” may not be the most accurate word. More accurately, I run Gmail notifier in my system tray, so my computer is automatically checking my email for me every minute I’m in front of the computer.
Check Google Reader – I love being able to consolidate all my favorite blog feeds in one place, and knowing when there’s a new post to read!
Visit Etsy – I check my shop for new hearts and see what’s going on in the forums. If it’s a weekday, I look for the daily blog love post to announce to the world that there’s a new post on Anodyne Design.
Check the news – I read CNN.com and AZCentral.
Check MySpace.
Check any waiting stumbles on StumbleUpon (and if I don’t have any waiting, I stumble a few random pages.)
Chastizing myself for “checking” so many things when I could be doing something productive.
Repeat.

So that’s what I do online everyday. What are you doing?

Machine Quilting: Some Basics

Shannon — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:00:24 +0000

Last night I got started on putting together a tote bag. A friend of mine bought a kit to make the tote and, not being a seamstress, had some trouble with the directions. I think the finished product is going to be very cute. It’s a patchwork design with some large interior pockets and a cute envelope-style pocket on the outside. The finished tote is quilted, and since quilting is still new for me, I thought some research on machine quilting was in order.

Machine Quilting: Tips and Designs

AllPeopleQuilt.com has all sorts of clear tips to take you through the entire quilting process. In the article Machine Quilting Like a Pro, they provide direct suggestions for the best needle to use when quilting and ways to make the actual work of quilting go more smoothly. While tips are great, I wanted to know more about different quilting designs. Being a general quilting resource, AllPeopleQuilt also listed the common quilting designs:

Stitching in the Ditch: This involves stitching just inside the seam line, and results in stitches that are less noticeable.
Outline Quilting (also called echo quilting): stitching 1/4″ from a seam line, this type results in more visible stitches.
Stipple Quilting: Stitching in a random pattern. Specific shapes, such as flowers or stars, can be added into a stipple design.

Stipple quilting is most appealing to me, as it seems like the most “artistic” approach to quilting. I know many of the quilts I have admired have been stipple quilted. Of course, it also seems like the most challenging quilt design, as there’s no safe straight lines to rely on. Since this tote isn’t for me, I think I’ll resist my urge to experiment with stipple quilting and stick with outline quilting. With a patchwork design, it should be fairly easily to outline the squares.

Helpful Basic Quilting Links

Crafty Blogs

Shannon — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:00:21 +0000

I sold my last two card wallets yesterday. Talk about exciting! It’s the first time I’ve sold out of anything, and it puts me one sale away from that nice round number 20. So while I whip up a fresh batch of card wallets today, check out these cool, crafty blogs I’ve stumbled across to get your daily blog fix:

Crafty Daisies
Whip Up – Handcraft in a hectic world.
The Purl Bee

Happy Wednesday!

Flickr

Shannon — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:00:26 +0000

You may have noticed that I added a flickr section to the left side bar. It pulls the 6 most recent photos I’ve posted to flickr. I’ve known flickr existed for some time, but never bothered to check it out. I finally got around to it (it’s amazing what you get around to doing when you’re supposed to be doing something else), and it’s become a little obsession. I didn’t realize you could join groups and post your photos to group photo pools. Even better, you can see everyone elses’ photos that have been posted to the pool. I’ve joined a bunch of crafty groups, and it’s clear that people are doing wonderful things out there. It makes me want to create more (which also, unfortunately, is on hiatus until I have less school work to do.)

Here are some of the cool things I’ve found through flickr (so far):

A tutorial to make cool fabric lampshades.
A tutorial to make pretty folded star trivets.
A picture of the lake I swam in when I was a child (and haven’t seen in years).
A group devoted to pincushions.

Are you on flickr? Will you be my flickr friend?

Free Sewing Patterns

Shannon — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:00:49 +0000

It’s Friday! What are you doing this weekend? I’ve been hard at work on my dissertation all week, which has put my sewing activities on hold. It’s also preventing me from doing too much with today’s blog post. It seems like the right time for another one of those posts where I share links with you, to other sites where people don’t have dissertations keeping from them from being interesting and creative. So for today, a collection of links to cool sewing patterns:

Amy Butler has a bunch of free patterns available on her website. Included are patterns for bags, quilts, pillows, and clothing. I particularly like the Birdie the Cat Pillow and the Cafe Wrap Skirt.
U-Handbag has a tutorial for this Silk Pleated and Darted Purse of Prettiness. It’s really gorgeous. I want to make one, when I get my life back.
Craft Apple has a tutorial for a pretty patchwork notebook cover.
Tiny Happy has a tutorial for a very popular shoulder bag.

Hopefully these links will get your creative juices flowing. I hope you have a great weekend!

And a quick thank you to Lynn at Pink Polka Dot Poodle, for her mention of Anodyne Design on her blog! And, really, thank you to everyone who has been kind of enough to mention or link to Anodyne Design.

A Few Crafty Links

Shannon — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:02:20 +0000

Just a quick post today. I’ve been keeping busy with school and sewing up a whole pile of card wallets. I had no idea they would be so popular! I thought I’d share a few cool and crafty links I’ve come across in my web travels.

Terry Cat Instructions – Learn how to make your own Terry Cat (a cute little stuffed kitty made from a bath towel!) These little guys are adorable. I tried my hand at one and learned that stuffed animals are not really my strong point (my poor little kitty was bow-legged and looked like he’d been kicked in the face), but maybe you’ll have better luck.
Lotus Pincushion — Step-by-step instructions for how to make the cutest pincushion I’ve ever seen. I tried to make one of these, too, and wasn’t able to wrap my head around how to fit all the pieces together. The instructions are good, I just have a hard time thinking in 3-D apparently. I’m sensing a pattern here.
Fabric Panels — Pretty, easy wall art. I have not tried to make my own fabric panels yet, but I intend to, and I expect more success than I had with the terry cat or the lotus pincushion. I think anyone could make fabulous fabric wall panels.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try any of these tutorials, I’d love to see your results!

Starting Your Wishlist

Shannon — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:34:00 +0000

It’s still only August, but I’ve already heard talk of gearing up for Christmas, mostly in terms of Etsy shop owners building up their stock for the holiday buying season. I’ve recently come across a website that helps you to consolidate a wish list (like an Amazon wish list, or Etsy favorites) for anything you can find on the internet, so you aren’t just limited to one online store. This is a great way to keep track of things you’ve found and want to come back to or to help those people who insist you’re hard to shop for, but still want to give you a gift. It’s called Wists, which I assume is a clever combination of Wish Lists.

All you need to do is create a free account and put a Wists bookmark in your browser toolbar (which they explain here). Then when you see something you want to add to your list, you click the bookmark and select the picture on the page you want to show in your list. You can add tags and notes if you want. To see what your wist might look like, you can take a peek at the one I’ve set up. Happy shopping!