In my ongoing quest to use up scraps, I’ve started making scrappy wristlets. This one is entirely made of scrap cotton and linen left over from other projects, embellished with a bit of bright blue embroidery. This satisfies two objectives: 1) use up scraps, and 2) stock up on environmentally-conscious goodies in time for the Earth Day Festival. Of course, if you can’t wait until Earth Day, you can find this one at the Underground Spring Fling Fine Art Fair next Sunday.
This weekend was Rhapsody in Bloom, so I got to spend both days enjoying art and nature in the Luthy Botanical Garden. The predicted rain did not materialize, the garden plants and creatures were lovely, the art was lovely, and it was wonderful to see so many people come out to visit the garden and check out the art.
I loved meeting so many new people, and seeing some familiar faces from the RiverFront Market and the Peoria Heights Art Fair. I keep trying to make new things, to keep things fresh and interesting, and this weekend was no different. I stayed up way too late on Friday night making new straight-sided cosmetic pouches. I broke out some of the fabric I have been saving for “just the right project,” and each one was embellished with fancy French velvet ribbon or ric-rac.
Three of the pouches in this picture are gone, but I have a few more in the works, and hopefully I’ll be getting a few listed online in the next two days. And they will definitely be putting in an appearance at this weekends’ RiverFront Market. (I loved doing Rhapsody in Bloom this weekend, but I did miss my weekly market time, especially the tomato man and the lettuce guy. I’ll be happy to see them this Saturday!) I hope you had a wonderful weekend, too, and that this week shapes up to be a good one!
The Earth Day Festival is coming up this weekend, so I’ve been busy since last weekend preparing. I have been focusing on making environmentally friendly items, and I’m loving how they’re turning out. I have been making tiny pincushions out of bottle caps and felt scraps, and it’s like I’m creating a tiny felt garden! I’ve been saving the bottle caps for awhile… I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to start making these little guys.
Also in the “I’ve been saving for awhile, why am I just making these now?” category: Wristlets made from recycled fabric.
The fabric comes from a variety of places, clothing from thrift stores and from pants and shirts that are perfectly nice but for whatever reason are no longer being worn, thrifted vintage sheets, and from my giant collection of fabric scraps. Every sewing project generates scraps of fabric, and I haven’t the heart to throw out perfectly good, but tiny, pieces of fabric, so I save them for “someday.” Until someday comes, I risk being buried alive by fabric scraps and bottle caps and all the other little things I save to upcycle. Well, someday has come, and I’m glad I’ve been saving my scraps. The fabric scraps are particularly useful for adding applique embellishments to bags.
It feels so satisfying to give something new life instead of trashing it. I just need to do it more often, so I don’t end up featured on an episode of Hoarders!
I’ve got lots more to make before the festival, so I better get back to work. I’d love to hear, though, how you use recycled elements in your art and craft. And what are your plans for celebrating Earth Day?
P.S. If you like seeing a peek of my projects in progress and what I’ll be debuting at upcoming events, check out my Facebook page. I frequently share mini updates there that don’t always make it to the blog!
A winter storm rolled in yesterday and it’s been snowing big, wet flakes ever since. While I love the dreamy, cozy feeling of being snowbound, the reality isn’t always so nice. Slippery roads and cars in the repair shop are not dreamy or cozy at all. The plan for tonight is to make up this Chunky Celery Soup and some warm homemade bread and maybe settle down for a movie with my sweetheart.
Staying home has given me some time to work on some new wristlets, though, and I’m so excited to share them with you! I’ve been thinking spring, and I think that’s evident here. Butterflies and other insects, pale pinks and greens, and richly colored french velvet ribbon. Some of the bags are adorned with the ribbon and some with pretty vintage brooches. Some of these are intended for S’more Couture, but if you see something you like, let me know. With all this snow, I’m not going to make it in to S’more Couture right away, so you could snag one of these bags first!
This weekend I made up a few new bags to take over to Re-, as their supply of Anodyne Design wristlets was running dangerously low (hooray!). It’s been awhile since I’ve made wristlets from recycled fabrics, and I forgot how much I love transforming the unloved into the completely cute. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I did get three bags finished. Another one from the same white sweater I used before, and two from men’s dress shirts and twill pants. Instead of buttons, I accented each of these bags with old brooches I found at Goodwill. I don’t know if they’re technically “vintage,” but they are pretty and add a nice touch to the bags. And better they pretty up bags than languish behind a jewelry counter.
If you like these wristlets, you can find them at Re-, a cool shop full of all sorts of re-cycled, re-used, and re-purposed goodness, in the Peoria Metro Centre.
Anodyne Design Eco Wristlets and Card Wallets can now be found at re-, in the Peoria Metro Center. re- specializes in items made from re-cycled, re-purposed, or re-claimed materials. Anodyne Design products appearing there are made from recycled linens and clothing, turning unwanted and unloved fabrics into new, ready-to-love accessories.
re- has an amazing variety of sustainable products in stock, ranging from organic children’s items to re-purposed glass bottles, and reclaimed wood from wine barrels turned into platters and a lazy susan (which I oh-so-desperately want!). I picked up a special housewarming gift for my brother when I was there, and I know he’s going to love it. re- also offers a variety of classes geared towards creating something new out of something old, like old sweaters into pretty brooches and old tin cans into jewelry. Definitely stop by and check out this unique shop if you’re in town!
Here’s a peek at some of the Anodyne Design wristlets and wallets you’ll find at re-:
There’s more, so you’ll have to stop by to check them out!
P.S. There’s still time to take advantage of 25% off your total order at my Etsy shop if you get me up to 100 sales (I’m currently at 98). See the details here.
It was another beautiful day at the RiverFront Market yesterday. The sky was unbelievably blue and filled with puffy white clouds. It was cool and breezy. And the people were plentiful and friendly. I got to chat with so many people, some new and some I’m beginning to recognize as regulars. And, of course, I loaded up on fresh produce for the week. “Triple sweet corn,” a bouquet of basil (which is going into a marvelous vegan pesto tonight!), and a bag full of gorgeous peaches, among other things.
I also debuted a new quilted tote bag at the market this week. I quilted the fabric myself, in a simple pattern of perpendicular straight lines, but I think future versions of these new bags are going to give me a great opportunity to work on stippling with my new, and as-yet-unused, free-motion foot. I love the quilting and the soft structure of these bags. They’re also quite roomy, and I think rather pretty, especially with that green french velvet ribbon for trim.
All in all, it was another lovely Saturday morning and I’m looking forward to next week already! Do stop by and say hello! And remember, if you are looking for something particular that you don’t see in my booth, or my shop, I always welcome emails for custom work.
On another note, you may have noticed in my site redesign that I have added a link to the Anodyne Design Facebook fan page. Please take a moment to check it out and become a fan. I update it frequently with information about past and future events and photos. And I expect it will be home to special offers and giveaways in the future. You wouldn’t want to miss out on something like that, would you?
The sun is shining today, I slept in, and my sweetheart took me out for lunch. Mmm, tasty chips and salsa. What a lovely start to the weekend. Yesterday was absolutely awful, weather-wise, with rain and wind and thunder all over the place. The poor kitties had to spend a good portion of their time in hiding. To counter that, I made a couple of sunny, lemony wristlets.
Isn’t this Alexander Henry fabric just wonderful? I think it would be pretty hard to have a bad day if you were carrying this around, even if it was raining. Another good thing today: Needle ‘N Thread is having a stash giveaway. Share a little bit about how you organize your embroidery threads and be entered to win some pretty new embroidery thread and storage containers. Now who couldn’t use that?
It sounds repetitive after awhile, but every new creation seems to be my favorite. Until I make another one, and then that one is my favorite. It’s hard to have so many favorites! But it is comforting to know that even if I have to part with a favorite, as I often do, the next thing I make will be the best thing ever again. I say all this by way of introducing you to my new favorite, the Carefree Wristlet.
I created this pattern at the beginning of the week, and was just itching to get through my work days so that I could make more. (Maybe you can guess what my plans are this weekend!) I hadn’t originally planned to include the button, but when I finished the wristlet it seemed like it needed just a little more embellishment. Pleats are pretty, but I think the button just makes it look finished. I made the covered button into a pin, since I imagine not everyone may think it’s as cute as I do. Or maybe they will want to move it around, or replace it with another pin. Either way, a pin opens up possibilities that a plain old button just can’t.
Sigh. *Love*
Chia’s House of Stirfry (which is a great blog you ought to be visiting anyway) is having a contest! Chia has declared May to be Reader Appreciation Month and to celebrate, she’s going to give away an Anodyne Design tote bag to one of her readers. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on her blog sometime during the month of May. Maybe you’ll win a cool tote bag, and you’ll definitely discover a cool new blog full of paper and rubber-stamp art info, posts on desert life, tutorials, templates, and more. To learn more about the contest, click here.
I’m so pleased that Chia decided to thank her readers with one of my bags, and I hope the winner loves it!
