Crafty Dreams

7/31/2007

I have these silly dreams. Dreams of creating items for Leila that she will grow up with and give to her child one day. Dreams of making beautiful dolls that she will love and cuddle and hold all day long. So to full fill those dreams I started making the ball roll. I made my first doll from scratch. Did it turn out perfectly? Nope but I am pretty happy with it in the end. It was a good dry run. A lesson learned if you will. I will embroider the face first and add the hair. I will attach the arms and head to the body first before stuffing the body.

I know this doll is the first of many more dolls. And once dolls are created clothing is next, oh and doll quilts, lots of doll quilts. Who knew that one doll could lead to so many projects and dreams.

I wasn’t raised to be crafty. I was raised to be who I wanted to be, who knew that would be crafty? My mom and I recently had a conversation we are both amazed that my mom and dad raised two artful daughters. My baby sister is an amazing artist. She paints and draws. She has been drawing her whole life. Since mom gave her a crayon. Art work was everywhere and her talents grew as she did. I was different I was the studious type, and very musical but I cant draw a decent stick person to save my life.

I found out after knitting (started well after graduating high school) for about a year my one grandmother used to knit and sew all of her kids clothing. She hasn’t for years though and really doesn’t have the urge to do that any longer. My other grandmother created beautiful quilts but hasn’t for years due to arthritis. So where did the artistic drive come from? My dad has a mathematical mind. He is an artist in his own right (though he would never admit that) he can look at something determine a way to make it work better, take it apart tweak it and put it back together. He has built homes with his own hands and man power. He is a true mister fix it. My mother is an author, she hasn’t been able to pick up a pen lately but she has dreams of being an author. An artist in her own right. So after adding it all up I was created by creativity just not the medium I have chosen to express myself with.

I hope to expose Leila to my love of crafting. But I won’t push it on her. I want her to express herself in whatever way she chooses to do so. That is the only thing as a mother you can do. You give tools and you watch your children grow and create themselves from those tools. So for right now I will cross my fingers that the next time I give Leila a doll she doesn’t throw it down and crawl to cuddle with the dog. A girl can dream right?

Slow and steady

7/30/2007
Pretty uneventful weekend. And honestly with all the "events" happening lately I am more then happy to have a bland weekend. I got a chance to start up my embroidery. I have to be honest with August fast approaching (along with my birthday) I cant wait for the month to fly by and fall to be here. And with my dreams and hopes of fall I have started making things that reflect fall to me. Or at least have cooler colors.





I am planning on this to become a tote. More pictures to follow when it is complete. Now I must go back to standing in front of the fan dreaming of cooler weather.

Peek a Boo

7/26/2007
*Cheese*


*Get that camera away from me*


*Like my hat?*


*oh la la *


*Peek a boo!*


*Ok mom all done!*

This is my attempt at a shirt for Leila, it went ok the elastic was a little tight so I am going to try again. She humored me for a bit so that made my day.

Same Ole

7/25/2007

Nothing much happening here. I cant get to my camera at the moment. New software and stuff. So enjoy Leila enjoying her Cheerios! hopefully I will have some crafty posts soon! Tons of thoughts in my pretty little head not much to show for it yet though!

Happy Birthday

7/24/2007


Happy birthday baby!

This is one of my favorite photos of Ken. It was taken shortly after Leila was born.

Vintage clothes runneth over

7/23/2007

I hit the mother of all estate sales when it comes to vintage clothes. For a quarter a piece you cant go wrong! Oh and the last picture was a sewing basket from a different estate sale that had the cutest in progress aprons. Though I am going to use the fabric for something else I think.

Happy Monday everyone!

I heart tofu

7/22/2007

Sorry about the mini breaks lately. The humidity went down and we have been living outside. This is also Kens "birthday weekend" since Tuesday is his birthday so we are doing whatever he would like this weekend. And unfortunately for me sewing is not in his plans!

I love quick easy snacks (or meals in my case) in the summer and this is a great one that Ken introduced to me when we first met.

Take a box of silken tofu (we like firm)
-slice into cubes keeping the box shape
-chop up as many green onions as you like and sprinkle around
-pour on some soy sauce & sesame seed oil
-Enjoy!

Now back to enjoying the weekend sans Harry Potter, I think I am the only person in the world who didn't catch the Potter bug!

The Gifts

7/18/2007
Yea! Since BBF already got her gifts I can show them off. Well, two of them.



This is my first linen tote and frankly I am hooked! I love the look, this one is based off of a Japanese tote I saw in one of my numerous craft books. I am so proud of myself I put in a pocket zipper for the first time and it went in so easy thanks to this tutorial



And here is the wallet/pouch/makeup bag/whatever she wants it to be! I loved how this turned out as well. It was an experience I did paper piercing, hand stitching, and added a zipper. Basically every technique was new to me.

I also made two blue and brown log cabin type throw pillows for her. I didnt get pictures of those because I didnt have forms yet (I wasnt thinking I would be getting her gifts to her till this weekend) so pictures of those at a later date.

All of the gifts had some sort of new technique I had never done before, I am glad that for guinea pig projects they all turned out so great!

Happy Birthday!

Monday was my bff's birthday. She called up and asked if she could come over, she drove a little over an hour to see little ole me on HER birthday. Plus she brought the food! She is too damn cute thats why I love her so.

She came over with her two beautiful babies "I" and "J" we will call them. "I" is soon approaching 3 "J" is 10 months old and already walking up a storm! It was so fun to see the train they created "I" a ball of energy running around "J" and Leila trying to catch her.



We had a great evening. After dinner we took a walk downtown. It is a shame that everything was closed. Though I doubt we would have been able to maneuver around any of the small stores with our parade of strollers. Since "I" was a good girl she got some ice cream at the only open place the movie theater. Should have taken a picture of her blue face (it was cotton candy ice cream, it smelt SO good) but silly me didnt think of it until faces were already washed and pjs were put on.

See the mess created? Before BFF headed home "I" helped me and BBF put all the toys away even though she didnt pull them all out! That ice cream was well deserved.

I wish I had a car in the evenings I would take day trips up to my BFF's all the time but alas I dont so I will just cherish the weekends we get to spend together and the impromptu visits when she is going stir crazy and needs a road trip!

Swap gift received

7/17/2007
I am so glad I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap I know I will want to sign up for the next round too if the girls throw one together again. My quilt is from Sheridan all the way over in Australia it was super exciting to get a package from another country in general but once I saw the contents I was giddy with delight!

I asked for something shabby chic/pinks and greens for Leila's soon to be decorated room. Sheridan did not disappoint.



I love this quilt. I almost want to hang it in my craft room for inspiration but I know it was intended for Leila and I am trying REALLY hard to stick to my guns. But then I look Toe Tapping Tilly and my knees go week.

Must.....stay....strong.....

Winner!



Congrats #1 Tiffany
e-mail me :
artsymomma (at) gmail (dot) com
with your address and I will get out your gift!

The Great Giveaway

7/11/2007
Today is my one hundredth post in honor of it, like many do, I would like to do a giveaway. It will be a surprise and will be something handmade from me. Depending on how many people enter I may give one or two gifts.

So leave a comment in this post to enter. Tell me your favorite color, tell me how you stumbled across my blog, tell me how to cope with a teething baby (its her molar right now), ANYTHING, just basically say hi!

You will have until Friday 11:59pm cst to enter.

A part of my heart remains with you

7/10/2007

My dearest love,

I don't know what I did to upset you so but please come back to me. Just tell me what I did and I promise to never do it again in our lifetime. I miss you so. The other craft scissors can never compete with you. You are my one and only. I have searched everywhere for you. In all of your favorite spots like in between fabrics that are works in progress. My fabric begs for your return as well, you treat it better then any other scissor on the block.

Until I find you again my beautiful gleaming scissors a part of my world has stopped as I know it. I shall never be whole with out you.

Come back to me.


*photo courtesy of www.gingher.com*

Details Continued (3)...

7/09/2007
I am hooked on paper piecing in particular this
and it is ALL Katie's fault. This is another gift for my bff's (he he) birthday so only the details.

If you havent ever tried this method be forward it is HIGHLY addictive. Need some inspiration? There is a great flickr group already created.




They arent perfect but I kind of like the wonky look of them! (Psst bff, hows the pink and brown scheme looking for you)

Its hot!

7/08/2007
Nothing is better on a hot day then a root beer float, nothing.




Details Continued (2)...

7/06/2007
I am loving this theme I really hope everyone is as well. Besides sewing I have started to do embroidery if you havent tried it I really urge you to. It is one of the simpler "crafty" things to do!





You know those things you see at a thrift store, garage sale, antique store that are etched in your mind and you always regret NOT buying them? I felt that way about this first detail. After seeing this rooster all I did was dream about it so I marched right back to my local antique store and lucky for me it hadnt sold yet. I plan on using this as a pattern for myself as well as using it on everything I can think of! I mean who doesnt want a rooster adorn with flowers.





The second detail was found the same day as I picked up my dream rooster. The pillow case is SUPER soft but has seen far better days. It now is tattered, torn and yellowing. Lucky the birds have yet to be touched by age and I plan to keep it that way. I have a few ideas as to what they will become but nothing set in stone. I may just use this as a pattern and frame the lovely!




Finally my own attempt at making a mark on the embroidery world. A few onesies for my niece. This first one I am rather happy with and I have a few more I want to make. The pattern is from Sublime Stitching if you havent been there run do not walk and dive in! Embroidery while not only looking so damn cute also is an affordable and quick craft and really all you can do is grow with experience!

Details Continued...

7/05/2007
I think I will stick with the detail theme for awhile. Less talking and more showing. We have some not so good details going on around here. Right now I can really only concentrate on the small details. I need to keep distracting myself away from the larger details, they are too big, too scary, and too unthinkable to think about right now.

I am working on a super secret present for my best friends birthday. If I could bottle up the love and support she gives me I would. Not only would I make a fortune then everyone could be as lucky as me to have such a wonderful, kind, loving best friend. I am so lucky to have her and I really enjoy making gifts for her. She is my biggest cheerleader and I know anything I make for her she would love. This year in particular I really want to make her something that she cant live without and that years down the road she can say "my best friend made that for me for my such and such (shh I wont say your age Katy) birthday"

So here are the details to her first gift.

All about the details

7/04/2007
I think for the rest of the week I will just show bits and pieces of projects I am working on. Mainly because all of my projects are gifts and I would hate to ruin the surprise!

First up on detail mode is my Summer Doll Quilt Swap gift. I truly hope that my partner is not hoping for perfection because unfortunately she will not be getting it. I am far from perfect in general and this is my first go at quilting. I like the quirks. Except for the binding I am truly unhappy with the binding but I don't know yet if I have the heart to redo it the seam riping on that will be horrendous. I am thinking I may need to get creative and make it pretty all on my own :)

Enough talking enjoy the details!

Lucky me

7/03/2007
I lucked out when we moved to our current town. It is small enough that people are friendly but it is close enough to a larger city (Madison). I love Madison we lived there for four years before moving out to a nearby town. This town is tiny well under 10,000 people but we are blessed with a quilt store. Actually we were blessed with two but the one has decided to close shop. It is sad to see them go, it is really sad to see any small business leave town but it is a double edge sword living near a big city. You cant afford the rent there (the big city) as a business but your clients seems to like to shop in the city and not in town. Really sad. Both quilt stores sell great fabric but I know they cant compete really with Joann's and the like. It is a bitter sweet time for me because I am able to take advantage of the closing and get great fabric at 50-75% off.



The joy of Madison though is the farmers market every year. It is held around the capital building which itself is an amazing piece of art. It is fun just to people watch at the farmers market. Also they have started to allow artists to set up booths at one corner of the square. A local artist told me about it, I think next year I will have to try it for a weekend/month. I hadnt gotten a chance to grace the farmers market till this past weekend with a close friend. We had a lot of catching up so we took the long walk from her place to the square. A scone and apple cider later I felt so at home again.

Next weekend is the Art Fair on the Square . It is an awesome event with artists all over the country gracing our city with their amazing art. I am really excited for it, my husband doesnt really care for it so I have a friend who has volunteered to go with me. I dont care if I cant get anyone to go with me it may be fun just to enjoy it by myself. We will have to see.

I love swaps

7/02/2007
I recently joined the "Use What Another Person Has" swap thrown by Katie. I am a lucky duck my partner was Katie herself and boy did she send some great loot! She like myself is a collector of vintage pillow cases and sheets so I knew I would be one lucky girl! My package arrived super fast she mailed it Saturday! Here is just a little of the fabric I recieved.


Besides sending fabric she also sent all kinds of notions and trim as well as a great quilting book!
This is my favorite of all of the fabric a pretty embroidered pillow that I already know the perfect project for.

As a stipulation of the swap we are to use this fabric in a new project and I believe showcase it. Or at least that is the rule I am giving myself so soon to come a new FO.

Katie your package is on its way, hopefully it will arrive to you as speedily as mine did!!!

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