Sarah Jane on Parade or the Little Reusable Lunch Napkins

Have you ever fell in love with a fabric line and just had to make something from it? 

When I came across some Sarah Jane at my local fabric store I decided to ignore all the projects on my table and whip out a few little reusable napkins for my daughter's lunch bag.

I find inspiration here and there, but it's not often that I find an artist's entire body of work so delightful. Sarah is an illustrator and textile designer, and her blog lets you glimpse into her world at Sarah Jane Studios.

My Juki is a Tease

Yesterday morning I woke up to finish a "quick little project." I was making my daughter another Ottobre Polka Dot blouse before starting work on spring top for Made by Rae's Spring Top Sewalong. You might remember my first rendition here. All my pieces were cut, pressed, and pinned to go and my sewing machine was talking to me:

Zip, zip, zip, zip four shoulder seams were done just like that . . . duh, duh, dum -  my machine turned to the dark side:

The first seam I tried to overcast (that's what us lowly crafters without sergers do to finish our raw edges) I broke the pin on my overcasting foot.

Time to pull out my fancy degrees (which clearly have nothing to do with engineering or fabrication) for a professional fix.

Can you believe it worked? I only had to replace the tape every 20" of sewing, what a bargain! Tomorrow this lovely should appear in my mailbox to 'Take my cares away' better than Calgon.

Hedgehog’s Wear Perfume or the Hedgehog Pin Cushion Experiment

Lilly, David. sonic31.jpg. 22-Aug-99. Pics4Learning. 16 Apr 2012

Okay, not exactly. Scientists don’t know why, but when a hedgehog finds a new and interesting scent, they lick and bite into the object then lick their “scented” saliva into their fur.

My four-year-old son is obsessed with animals and mysteries, so somewhere in between checking out every known animal book at the library and the kid’s series Mysteries of Alfred the Hedgehog I decided that a hedgehog would make a lovely pin cushion.

A quick internet search told me that my idea was far from original, so instead of starting from scratch. I found two nice inspiration pieces to work from.

Braddlebury Crafts' Felt Hedgehog Pin Cushion

The first little cushion I fell in love with was an image from a project by Sarah at Braddlebury Crafts, a crafter in Milton Keynes, UK who sells on Misi. I loved how the pinked edges gave the little guy a spiky faux hawk.

Fiona Marie's Free Hedgehog Pin Cushion

The next discovery was this little guy from Fiona Marie’s Thread: a piece of my mind. Perfect! It came with a free pattern.

I decided to use Fiona Marie’s pattern, but attempted to execute it more like Braddlebury Craft’s pincushion.  The pattern looked smaller than I wanted, so I enlarged it on my printer as large as it would while still fitting on a single sheet of paper. I used recycled synthetic felt for the exterior and stuffed it with wool scraps. I did a little needle felting to give it the shape I wanted.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inquiring Little Minds

This Crafter ♥s a Woodworker

The men in my life are impossible to shop for gifts. Unless it's mundane (socks) or expensive (drill press upgrade) there's not much out there that my husband would find useful. Don't get me wrong, he has a great hobby that lends itself to a lot of ideas, but woodworking toys are exceptionally pricey. Not to mention he manages a woodworking store, so there's nothing I could pick out that he couldn't find a better deal on.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

She Keeps My Imagination Alive

Craft It Forward Epilogue

I joined the 2011 Craft It Forward party a little late. You may remember my earlier post Craft It Forward 2011. Well, the blog I responded to only had two participants, and I only had one; rather a fizzle after the bang that got the party started. I think the overlap with the holiday festivities was a little more than most felt like taking on . . . and probably something I should have considered as well.

Celina from petit á petit and family made both of my kids cute embroidered pillows. Both from recycled materials (yay!) she made a Dala Horse for Chiara:

Photo from petit á petit and family

and for Xavier a plush Race Car:

Photo from petit á petit and family

My Craft It Forward gift went to Jen from Jenny Reb's Gems. Fortunately Jen is a patient soul because my first package never arrived. Thank the craziness that surrounded my 2010-2011 transition for never photographing the first item, a simple little handbag for her niece with brown twill exterior lined with a delicate purple flower calico and matching exterior pocket. The make-up item had to be special, so when she asked for something for a baby girl, I thought of the adorable bib Charlotte Lyons designed for the Souleful Mothering Series on Amanda Blake Soule's Soule Mama blog.

Photo from Soule Mama, Charlotte Lyons' bib for Soule Mama

My Version of Charlotte Lyons' bib

I wish that I had visited my local fabric stores before I embroidered the image, because I was unable to find a coordinating ric-rac trim or ribbon. After a week of no luck, I decided a plan B needed to evolve. I gave up on the adorable trims and did a simple top stitch edging, and I lengthened the circumference of the neck strap to accommodate a button closure. The final product was not as cute as I had hoped, but an acceptable alternative. I rather like the simplicity of the ivory linen and clean button closure.

Want to see what others are making this week? Check out these linky parties:

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:


A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

First Snowfall of the Year

The Snow Pant Refashion Tutorial

I wanted to title this "The Emergency-Hurry-Mom-The-Snow-Is-Going-To-Melt-Snow-Pant Tutorial" but that seemed a bit of a mouthful. The northwest got hit by back to back snowstorms this week. We went into this winter a little unprepared. My son, now solidly in boys' clothing, only had an old pair of 2T snow bibs that just wouldn't do for the hours of snow play that were to fill our week. The stores were taking full advantage of the snow panic and buying a new pair was out of the question; it was time for a mommy refashion. I photographed the process, but it was all a bit rushed and I can't remember the last time I saw the sun, so I apologize for any blurry or dark photos.