Stumbles & Stitches

Goodbye For Now (and a Giveaway!)

2014-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

It's been quite some time since Angel and I have posted regularly on this blog. I wanted to give you all a little update.

Angel has been busy this past year, working with Kaleidoscope, a "community center for the arts" in Nashville. She's been doing a phenomenal job and enjoying her time making art with children.

On my end, I have been focused on my Etsy shop, as well as designing projects and patterns. I worked on a few projects with publisher Lark Crafts and have 2 designs included in the brand new book Never Been Stitched.

Never Been Stitched is edited by the wonderful Amanda Carestio and just released this February. It features 45 no-sew or low-sew projects to make with fabric. So fun! You can find a free sample project from the book on the Lark Crafts blog. And please check out my blog for a review and giveaway!

For the foreseeable future, Stumbles & Stitches will remain dormant. We are not taking the blog offline, since there is a bevy of useful tutorials and project posts on here. We hope you'll continue to visit and browse! We still receive notifications from comments, so don't hesitate to say hello or ask questions.

In the meantime, I will be posting tutorials and craft projects on my own blog, Jenny Bartoy Handmade. I hope you'll come visit me there. You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Thank you for your support all these years, and goodbye for now.

~ Jenny

Ben's Zombie Stuffie

2014-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Smack dab in the middle of the holiday rush a couple of months ago, my 6-year-old Ben came up to me and asked if we could make a stuffie together.

The transition to First Grade has been a bit rough on my big boy: there have been meltdowns galore and less-than-stellar behavior, along with much need for hugs, cuddles and quality time together. Even though I was swamped with holiday sewing and craft show prep, I caved and said "okay".

I'm so glad I did! In just about an hour, we'd worked together on a fun little project and created an adorable plush zombie!

When we work on a project together, Ben often jumps in with a very specific idea in mind (see Halloween costumes for examples) and this was no different. He drew me a picture of the "zombie stuffie" he wanted to make, illustrated with a little cloud of polyfill.

We dove right in. Ben first chose fabric from my overflowing box of scraps: a piece of soft grey and white flannel left over from the backing of Hugo's quilt. He picked two matching emerald buttons from my button stash for the eyes. I helped him with stitching the buttons on, but he stitched the mouth on his own with bright red floss.

I layered the embroidered fabric right sides together with another. I cut out the zombie "pattern" and pinned it on the fabric, making sure to fit the embroidery in the head area. I then used my machine to sew about 1/8-1/4 inch all around the outline, leaving a 2-inch opening on the side of the torso. I carefully cut around the stitches, clipping seam allowance inside the angles between the limbs.

We turned the stuffie inside out and gently poked the limbs out with a chopstick. Ta-da!

Ben was in charge of stuffing. He needed a bit of help to make sure the polyfill made it into the arms and legs, but otherwise handled it like a pro.

I pinned and machine-stitched the opening closed, and we were done! I think it turned out super cute. It definitely looks kid-made and Ben loves it! He calls it Mingu and has slept with it every single night since we made it. So sweet! We also made a lion version for his best friend for Christmas.

I am terrible about prepping craft projects on which to work with the kiddos. I love this type of kid-led spur-of-the-moment instant gratification project. How about you?

Giveaway: a bundle of craft books!

2013-12-09T18:33:00.001-08:00

Hello friends!

Today is Giveaway Day on Sew Mama Sew, kicking off a week of fabulous giveaways all around blogland. And here on Stumbles & Stitches, we're offering up a bundle of 5 craft books -- your choice from the pile pictured and listed below! (Read on to find out the details.)

If you're visiting from Sew Mama Sew, WELCOME! Stumbles & Stitches is a conversation between 2 friends, Jenny and Angel. For the past 4 years, we've been sharing our craft projects (successes and failures both), as well as tutorials, spotlights on favorite artists, giveaways and book reviews.

Things have slowed down a bit over the past year, since Angel helped launch Kaleidoscope in Nashville and Jenny has been busy in Seattle with her Etsy shop and writing projects for upcoming sewing books. We still come by the blog, here and there, to share the latest, and we have a ton of great archives, so please stick around and browse a bit.

Back to the Giveaway: a bundle of craft books!

The winner of this giveaway will get to choose 5 books from a bunch of recent publications by Lark Crafts, photographed and listed below. ($75 estimated value. U.S. residents only, apologies to our international friends!) Lark Crafts graciously and regularly sends us books to review, and we're excited to share!

Available books:

Stitched Blooms: 300 Floral, Leaf & Border Motifs to Embroider by Carina Envoldsen-Harris
Print Collective: Screenprinting Techniques and Projects by Jenny Doh
Doodle Stitching: Embroidery and Beyond by Aimee Ray
Paper Blooms: 25 Extraordinary Flowers to Make for Weddings, Celebrations & More by Jeffery Rudell
Stamp It! DIY Printing With Handmade Stamps by Jenny Doh
Book Play: Creative Adventures in Handmade Books by Margaret Cogswell
Adventures in Pompom Land by Myko Diann Bocek
Sweet and Simple Jewelry by Aimee Ray
Wee Felt Worlds by Amanda Carestio
Paper Pups by Hiroshi Hayakawa
Creative Lettering: Techniques & Tips From Top Artists by Jenny Doh
Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction by Abigail Glassenberg
Flip Dolls & Other Toys That Zip, Stack, Hide, Grab & Go by Laura Wilson
Printing on Fabric: Techniques With Screens, Stencils, Inks & Dyes by Jen Swearington
Journal Your Way: Designing and Using Handmade Books by Gwen Diehn

** How to enter the giveaway **

Please leave a comment on this blog post. (One entry per person, please.) If you'd like, tell us which titles on this list look most appealing to you.
Make sure to include an email address if it's not included in your Blogger profile.
This giveaway is open until December 13 at 5 p.m. PST, at which point we will choose a random winner and will contact them by email.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only, apologies to our international friends.
Void where prohibited.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered! Congratulations to our winner, wobblybobbin!

Thanks for visiting Stumbles & Stitches! You can also find us on Facebook.

And before you leave, I'd like to plug a brand new book that will be released in February 2014. Shameless promotion! I am excited to have 2 projects featured in this book, including one on the cover! It's called Never Been Stitched: 45 No-Sew & Low-Sew Projects, edited by the lovely and talented Amanda Carestio for Lark Crafts. And you can pre-order it now!

Don't forget to swing by Sew Mama Sew to check out all the amazing giveaways happening this week!

Halloween Costumes: King Cobra and Fireman!

2013-11-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hello there!

I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween, with enough candy left over to get you through the dreaded and brutal time change...

Henry's costume was easy this year: he wanted to be a fireman, and we had the perfect costume ready to go in the dress-up basket. It was made by my mom a few years ago for my niece and it is awesome. We even had rain boots to match the jacket and helmet.

On the other hand, I had quite the Halloween sewing challenge this year, with Ben wanting to be a King Cobra snake. How do you make a person, with legs, look like a snake? I went into it a bit haphazardly, but I'm so happy with how his costume turned out, despite the legs!

Here are the boys on the way to school on Halloween morning:

I touched on inspiration for the costume in my previous Halloween post, and showed the "sketch" that Ben made me with his vision. Here are a few photos of the progress and construction, including my own sketch.

The main part of the costume is a simple fitted "poncho", or shell. There is Velcro on one of the shoulders, so Ben could take it on and off. The hood is attached to this shell. The hood is lined with a medium weight interfacing so it "flares" out on the sides like a proper Cobra head.

It took most of my Sunday to complete the shell with hood. At that point, I still had to make, stuff and attach the tail which took a few tries to get right (about an hour altogether). The last part of the construction was to tinker with both the hood and the tail to fit them properly on Ben's body. There was some hand-sewing involved, but minimal.

All in all, it was pretty much a one-day project. Not too bad! It is by far the best quality costume I've ever made. And it was quite the learning experience to sew with pleather (gold and light snake-skin) and stretchy denim (black snake-skin). I used 100% wool felt for the fangs and tongue, which made them very durable and unlikely to rip or tear.

And here's some Halloween cuteness, just because:

How was your Halloween? Did you have some costume-making successes? I'd love hear all about it. Please share links if you have them.

Halloween Prep 2013!

2013-10-17T11:33:00.001-07:00

Are you ready for Halloween? We have a firefighter and a king cobra in the family this year. How about you?

Henry's costume is easy: it's a hand-me-down from the cousins' dress-up box, made by my mom years ago. Henry has been trying it out regularly. He's so excited! He did bring up being a ballerina instead this morning, so I hope he doesn't change his mind at the last minute.

Ben's costume, as usual, is not so easy. He knew he wanted to be an animal again, or maybe something from Star Wars. He went down the list of his favorite animals -- including Secretarybird, Mongoose and Krill, I kid you not -- and finally decided on King Cobra.

Image borrowed from Arkive.org

My 6-year-old knows exactly what he wants and it is very specific. He wants a costume that looks like a real snake, made with fabric that looks like real snake skin. With a hood that creates a flare on either side of the head. And fangs.

Here's his vision of it, with views from the front and from the side:

I went to Joann's the other day, looking for "snake" fabric. I lucked out in the fashion textile departments with snake prints in black/gold and gold/brown. I also grabbed some pleather in gold and black.

I am still hashing out construction. I found this King Cobra Ninja costume online and like how the costume part fits like a poncho/shell over the black clothing. That might work well for our purposes. I shall report back soon...

Ben keeps asking "So, are you ever going to make my costume?". Gotta love the sassy First Grade attitude, oy! But I realized today that, well, he's got a point. How is it already October 17?!!! I'd better get sewing.

What costumes are you guys working on? Any cuckoo requests from your kiddos? Share links if you've got them!

Hugo's Quilt

2013-09-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

Hi Angel!

Oh. Em. Gee. It has been forever since we last posted! And, far too long since you and I last Skyped, ahem! I know Kaleidoscope is keeping you very busy. You'll need to give us a virtual tour here on the blog soon. I'm dying to find out more about this Community Center for the Arts you're growing in Nashville.

Fall is in full swing in Seattle. School is back in session and with it, playdates, soccer practice, swimming lessons and routine (hallelujah!). Before that, I have to admit we had a super summer -- intensely busy but wonderful. We went camping 5 times, heading out for 3-day weekends in various corners of Washington State. Family time, beautiful places, open-ended outdoor time, delicious local foods, hikes galor -- it filled my heart in the best of ways.

In August, we also paid a visit to my large immediate family in Austin and San Marcos, Texas. I have a brand new little nephew named Hugo and we got to meet him for the first time! In the weeks before our trip, as time allowed between camping, beach dates with friends and playground outings, I put together a baby quilt for Hugo. Here he is on it! My brother sent me this photo a few days ago -- it's nuts how much he's grown already!

And here's the full quilt (thank you, dear husband, for holding it and letting me boss you around while I took photos!):

Since I did take a good amount of photos of the quilt in progress, I thought I would provide a little info about the process.

Read more »

Painting Triangles

2013-05-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Angel,

I feel like I haven't posted in ages! I've had so much happening on the business side of my life, with lots of custom orders and my first experience with consignment in a brick-and-mortar shop. I also have been trying to stock my Etsy shop with new items.

But, "real" life goes on just the same. For example, the boys have been sick with the awful norovirus this past week. I've never done so much laundry, blech! On a funner note, our Spring Break occurred mid-April and my mom came to visit for a week! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with her. The kids loved hanging out with Yaya and we sat down for some craft projects.

I had been wanting to paint some square wood panels to decorate our bathroom for a while. I took the opportunity of some rainy day crafting with my mom to get the paints out. Our bathroom walls are a nice shade of turquoise, while the floors are tiled in black in white. I thought some modern triangles featuring those colors along with others might be fun.

I first tried out some large triangles with my watercolors. I love how vibrant the colors turned out, but despite a couple of layers, you can see every brush stroke -- not sure I like that.

Before I went any further, I tried smaller triangles and gouache paint on my other wood panel.

What do you think?

I don't know whether to keep going, maybe add some additional colors -- a pop of red or fuchsia perhaps? -- or just paint over it all with a coat of white and start from scratch.

Catching up (and more burp cloths!)

2013-04-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Angel,

Every time we connect for a speedy, interrupted chat on Skype, I end up missing you even more than before! It is so great to "see" you and hear your voice and all the exciting things brewing in your life. Can't wait to see how things develop!

Here in Seattle, Spring is here. Which means equal parts daffodils and tulips popping up everywhere and RAIN. Rain rain rain. You'll probably roll your eyes and say well, it's Seattle. But the well-kept secret of the Pacific Northwest is that it doesn't rain all that much. It is often cloudy and you do get quite a bit of sporadic drizzle. But real rain that soaks even your best rain jacket? That is reserved for Spring. The kids keep crying and whining because I repeatedly say "no" to the playground or riding bikes. And I want to whine too, especially since it's the time of year when every one of my friends on Facebook is bragging about enjoying sunshine and warm weather. Blah.

Anyway. On a positive note: I am reading a ton lately, and writing too. I have been doing yoga every weekday morning for THREE weeks now (with children and cat climbing all over me, but I see it as helping my zen). And I feel good and like I'm finally rediscovering my pre-baby body (aside from that damn belly pooch that ain't going nowhere... Where's my flat tummy, whah!!). I have been sewing a lot, mostly for custom orders and for my shop. And it feels good to be productive in a very tangible way. I have also been asked to put items on consignment in TWO local shops opening soon. I am going to be busy building that stock! And finally, Ben is on Spring Break next week and my Mom is coming to visit, whee!!! So, there is a lot of good stuff going on!!

Aside from sewing for work, I have made several baby gifts lately. Everyone is having babies around us. As you know, my favorite go-to gift is a set of embellished burp cloths tucked into a gift bag with favorite baby books, toys and/or accessories. Here are a couple of recent sets I made.

I LOVE the Bella fabric for this, it's possibly my favorite trio of burp cloths ever.

For this other set, I also included a little Swaddle Softie.

Well, I'm off to make some lunch. Henry has been asking for food for the past 30 minutes! I hope you have a lovely day.

Sponsor Focus: Felt on the Fly (and a giveaway!)

2013-04-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Oh y'all, I am so excited to tell you a tiny bit more about Felt On The Fly today. As Jenny mentioned a few weeks ago, we (quite regularly) frequent our sponsors' shops, and Felt on the Fly is no different. I plan to have her gather up a new custom order for me soon, and Jenny just got some in the mail........we may have a problem, both of us. HA! (Stick around until the end of the post for a giveaway, you know you want to!)

Felt on the Fly has become my go-to shop for felt, and I'll tell you why: Janet knows felt! It's her focus and passion, it only takes asking her a few questions to unearth a wealth of knowledge. There is a reason that after over 8000 (that's right, eight THOUSAND) sales on Etsy, she has a 100% satisfaction rating. Last time I asked for a custom listing, she wrote back "Of course, you can have anything your little heart desires." I LIKE IT!

I know that for some folks, the cost of wool felt can seem like too much of an investment, especially that first time purchase (before you can feel for yourself how awesome it is.) I asked Janet what she would say the main difference is between her felt and other types that might be slightly less costly. Here's what she had to say:

One of the biggest differences between Felt On The Fly wool felt and other felts is that my wool felt was specifically created for handwork, sewing and crafting. Many other felts (including the most popular wool-blend felt) were originally created for commercial purposes like industrial linings, sound proofing and padding in shipping crates. The craft market for that type of felt was secondary and the manufacturing processes stayed the same.

And, doesn't this make sense? Janet shares on her Felt on the Fly about page:

My motivation was to share this valuable resource with other like-minded artists and crafters who appreciate the best materials and understand that when you commit your time and talent to a project, it makes sense to invest in quality.

I cannot agree with this more! I purchased a custom listing of 20 pieces of felt right before the holidays, Janet brilliantly chose the colors for me, and I was so pleased by what she chose. I think she mentioned something about realizing I probably would not want a bunch of neon colors in our Etsy convo. Ha! That pack of felt served me VERY well during that last minute gift rush. (That plus an Anna Maria Horner fat quarter pack I ordered at the same time from Alewives!)

I think I showed you this before, through a scanned image, but I'll show it again to illustrate my point. I made about a dozen of these embroidered, felt and fabric "catchalls" for gifts, they were filled with rice and dried lavender I'd saved from my garden. They mostly went to family members, a few went to very good friends. I filled their little indentations with Lindt truffles and/or Babybearshop lip balms, depending on the recipient. They were so quick to make, and the amazing quality of the felt combined with the beautiful prints of the Anna Maria Horner fabric were such a pleasure to work with and give.

Janet has generously offered one of her gorgeous 100% merino wool felt "color stories" to one lucky reader! It's the "water lily" palette, isn't it fabulous? Just head down to the Rafflecopter widget and earn up to three entries. Good luck!

The giveaway closes as midnight EST on Saturday 4/6. Sorry, US entries only. We will choose one random winner and announce the name in this post on Monday. The lucky winner will also be contacted via email. (Total giveaway value: $15. Void where prohibited.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Is it Spring yet?

2013-04-03T04:29:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I was up with the birds this morning, as usual, and thought I'd write a post before everyone else wakes up and starts NEEDING THINGS. (Well shit, Ian just woke up! I'll crank it out......and I'll be glad it's not a video blog b/c he has terrible gas this morning. BOYS!!!!!)

Speaking of boys, here's a photo of that special moment Ian and Silas shared last week, when Silas had the Spring Break stomach virus:

That picture reminds me to tell you, the Make Do sets you sent us for Christmas have been a HUGE hit! We have made robots, hats, a hideout, and the "safe saw" is Silas's new favorite thing. He begs for cardboard to cut with that thing, and it's really great for his hand/eye coordination too. So, THANK YOU! It filled many hours of yucky weather, inside time.

So, the weather here in Nashville has been..........unusual. I know we're not alone in this, I'm starting to have a better idea what your summer was like last year, Jenny! It is usually 70 degrees during the day here by now, we've been lucky to hit 50 lately. And gray skies almost every afternoon. Hmmmm, it IS starting to sound like Seattle! This has seriously affected my mood, I need warmth! I just feel like I can't get warm lately, and I spend a lot of time in a hot bath. Soon enough it will be 100 degrees in the shade, so I should probably just get over it.....

It's 5:30 a.m., and I have already retrieved two bowls of cereal (the first was rejected) and am now listening to what has to be the loudest, most obnoxious cereal eating, ever. Someone suggested I teach Ian about table manners, if I had a nickel for every time I have asked that kid to close his mouth while he chews I'd have a pretty good monthly income coming in. I literally asked him to close his mouth twenty seconds ago, could this be a mouth breathing issue? He wakes up shortly after I do every morning, and loves to eat cereal first thing. To say his eating ruins my morning is exaggerating, but let's just say if he was my roommate in college instead of my kid, I'd have probably kicked him in the shins already this morning. The next food offered will be something soft and incapable of making noise. Anyway, I digress. Back to things!

Oh Jenny, your family's poor Christmas box! And now, your birthday has passed too. I think I might just throw it out the front door at the mail lady today, that would increase its chances of reaching you greatly. Here's a picture of the box! Yesterday Ian said, "Mom, do you REALIZE how long ago Christmas was? When are you going to send this?"

In other news, we are in remodeling limbo here. Our kitchen is in desperate need of an update, I've been using the broiler at varying temperatures instead of the "bake" function because the stove is on its last leg! But we are going to install a gas cook top, the kind that goes into a cabinet, and then I'll have the oven in the opposite wall. I think! We haven't figured it out yet. It's been such a cold, dreary Spring so far that I desperately need to change things around in the house for my own sanity, but with big changes on the horizon (probably in the Summer) I can't do anything permanent. I decided some new napkins would help, I could only find three of them that were clean but I made about eight? I need to make about eight more! I used some of the fat quarters you gave me from Drygoods, and looked at your napkin post for help.

I also printed off some recent favorite images from the internet, I'm just sticking them up on the wall with washi tape. It's kind of college dorm, but who are we kidding? I'M college dorm most of the time, and living with two small boys and one large boy, it IS like a college dorm around here.

Did I tell you about our Tennessee Aquarium trip? I love Chattanooga so much, it is a great little town and only a few hours away from us. Perfect day trip now that the boys are older, too. We bought a year long pass, with two visits it pays for itself and we'll go back at least once more in twelve months, I am sure. Most of the pictures Lee took are actually videos, I only have a few! This sea turtle one can suffice for now, until I can go through the rest.

My creative self has been struggling, the weather is not helping! I started a piece called "Emerging Spring", I like where it is going so far. It's more of an experiment than anything, I have pulled out many, many stitches and the felt is starting to look a little "holey". I've been watching this embroidery series at Creativebug, I have learned SO much. I really need to use that site more as a subscriber! There are so, so many great classes on there right now, some are even offered for free, to anyone. Here's a preview of what I'm working on, I'll post more pictures later today when I do a Spotlight on Felt on the Fly.

OK, I must go. I can't believe how clunky I am at HTML! This has taken me forever. Also, a "second breakfast" is being requested, and the other two are not even awake yet. Hope you have a great day!

Sponsor Focus: Fat Quarter Shop

2013-03-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

We have wonderful sponsors here at Stumbles & Stitches. They are businesses that we support (on a regular basis, ahem) and that we are proud to recommend. Instead of the monthly sponsor round-ups we used to post, we decided to change things up a bit and do "focus" posts on each sponsor this year. This allows us to dive a bit deeper into what each of these businesses has to offer.

Today, I'd like to share some things you may not know about Fat Quarter Shop!

What you probably do know is that Fat Quarter Shop is an amazing online store for all your quilting fabric needs. They offer yardage of every collection imaginable, as well as all the precuts you can think of (fat quarters, fat eights, charm squares, layer cakes, jelly rolls, hexagons and more!). You can purchase patterns, thread, notions. And they even have a Christmas store specializing in holiday fabrics.

In a nutshell: if you want to make a quilt, this is the place to go.

A super clever and fun offering on the Fat Quarter Shop website is the Block of the Month club. You sign up and pay a one-time membership fee, then you receive the materials to make one quilt block per month for a year. At the end of the year, you're ready to assemble a gorgeous quilt. Currently, Fat Quarter Shop has only a few spots left for their 2013 Designer Mystery BOM which features several fabulous Moda fabric designers. If you're interested, make sure you sign up ASAP! You can read all about it here.

And here's something I bet you didn't know about Fat Quarter Shop: they have a YouTube channel! And it is awesome! I just spent about an hour clicking around on various videos and learning how to put together a curved quilt block, among other things! There are quilting tutorials, there are interviews with fabric designers, there are behind-the-scenes tidbits of QuiltCon, and more. So fun!

Here are a couple of videos you might like. Please go visit the Fat Quarter Shop YouTube channel for much more!

How to make half-square triangles

How to sew the Moda Honeycomb Pre-Cut

Huge thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for their continued sponsorship of Stumbles & Stitches.

You can find Fat Quarter Shop online here: Shop -- Blog -- Facebook -- Twitter -- Pinterest

Kindergarten Auction Art Project: Fabric Tree

2013-03-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Angel!

I finally finished the auction art project for Ben's class and wanted to share. I am really happy with how it turned out!

I wrote a whole behind-the-scenes post on my shop blog Jenny Bartoy ~ Handmade Designs where you can see a bunch of photos and read details on the process. Meanwhile here are a few pictures of the finished project!

What do you think? I sure hope it will bring in some money at the auction. Fingers crossed!

Guest Artist: Working with Fiber in the Classroom

2013-02-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

(All photos courtesy of Camilla Spadafino, art teacher extraordinaire!)

For the last three years, I've been lucky enough to work with Ian's art teacher and students on a collaborative project. There is a theme each year for the school, and the art projects loosely revolve around that theme. Ideally, each classroom has an adult "guest artist" volunteer that comes in to facilitate an art experience for the students. The finished pieces are displayed around the school and an Art Show and fundraiser is held one night each year.

When Ian was in Kindergarten, a friend volunteered me for the "guest artist" position during another event Ian's class was having in the art room. Prior to that, I'd thought myself crafty, but not an "artist". But was I? I'm still trying to figure that one out, but the process of creating with these 5 and 6 year old kids transformed me creatively, no doubt about that!

So far, my favorite project has been felted wool landscapes. The students had already studied landscapes in class, and were familiar with the concept. I brought in a poster board with pictures of examples of fiber art landscapes for the first class meeting, you can see I have my faithful sidekick Silas with me!

Ian's teacher, Camilla, already had multiple examples of abstract landscapes printed out, and we put gorgeous piles of fluffy wool roving at each table as well.

It's a bit tricky to see, and I don't have another photo to show, but before the class meeting I lightly needle felted natural brown wool rectangles, one for each student. These were their "canvasses" for their abstract landscapes.

Here I'm showing a few students how to pull the fibers apart.

There are so many reasons to love this project, the wool is such a wonderful material. It is soft, colorful, can be easily manipulated, doesn't make a mess, and until felting, children can change their canvasses if they wish.

After the students were done placing the wool on their canvas, I took each piece home and lightly needle felted the top. This helped to keep the fibers in place for the next part of the process, the wet felting!

This part was really fun: we placed each wool piece into a large heavy duty zipper type freezer bag and then squirted a mixture of hot water and dish soap inside. Then it was time to pound, squish (gently) and otherwise felt our wool

Voila! After about five minutes of felting inside the plastic bags, I took the bags home and rinsed each landscape in as hot of water as I could stand to continue the felting process. Almost all the wool roving stayed in place! It was very important to me to preserve each artist's vision as much as possible during the felting.

Here they are, hung on the wall! For hangers, I just threaded a piece of plain jute twine into a loop at the top of each piece.

Jen, I can't wait to see pictures of the art show from Ben's school! Be sure to take lots of photos.

Readers, have you participated in an art project or auction similar to this? I'd love to hear about it!

What's Been Keeping Me Busy...

2013-02-20T10:59:00.002-08:00

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:

2013-02-12T03:54:00.000-08:00

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!

2013-02-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

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?!

2013-02-04T10:23:00.001-08:00

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

2013-01-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

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

2013-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

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

2013-01-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

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?!

New Year's Giveaway!

2013-01-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

I hope you're all well on this first day of the year. I'm so excited to get back to the blog with a huge giveaway!!

My entire family has been sick since the beginning of Christmas break, so our holidays have been extremely low-key. This means, however, that I had time to clean up, organize and purge. I went through my entire fabric stash a few days ago and decided to be ruthless. I filled an entire garbage bag with miscellaneous fabrics I hadn't used or thought of using in over a year. The bag is going to my teenage neighbor who is currently learning how to sew!

When purging, I also took out several cuts of designer fabrics, and decided to give them away! See above, these are all gorgeous prints and I hope they will go to someone who loves them as much as I do!! Since I was planning a big giveaway, I also decided to throw in some books! Lark Crafts generously sends us books to review on a regular basis and I have so many, it's time to share!

Read more »

B is for Bookmarks

2012-12-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Angel,

I hope you're feeling better! Things are so busy here, preparing for Christmas, shipping orders from my shop, etc, that I haven't had a chance to breathe deep and fully process the tragedy in Newtown, CT.

There are so many wonderful, eloquent, thoughtful essays and articles out there about it that I don't feel the need to add more to the mix. Let it be said though, that I have not cried so much and so uncontrollably in a long time, probably since I was severely depressed a decade ago. This horrible event seems to be affecting everyone more deeply than previous similar occurrences. Probably because of the shattered innocence. My personal processing mechanism is to focus on the productive and the positive (which is why you've seen "regular" posts around here) so I've been trucking along, trying to deal as best as I can.

My lovely friend Rachael told me about ABC's Of Love: 26 Ways To Pass It On, a blog project she is working on along with other crafty friends, to encourage all of us to find simple ways to share love within our families and communities. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to channel some of my sorrow for the victims and their loved ones into a productive and positive endeavor. I decided to contribute B for Bookmarks, and share a simple project I worked on with a class of kindergartners on Friday, weirdly enough, at the exact same time I found out about the Newtown massacre.

The curriculum in Ben's kindergarten class is project-based. Their current project is "Fabrics around the world". They've talked about different fabrics, their texture and purpose. Because of my "expertise", I was invited by the teacher to do a little presentation and a project. We focused on quilts, patchwork and the amazing possibilities of fabric scraps! I had prepped a little project the previous day, and we made fabric bookmarks with the kids. They could either keep their bookmark for themselves, or give it as a gift -- and they unanimously chose gift-giving. So sweet!

Here are the 2 bookmarks I made beforehand and brought as examples:

Read more »

December Sponsors: Christmas Shopping!

2012-12-16T10:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Sunday!

In this last stretch before Christmas, there is still time to get awesome gifts for the crafty person in your life (or spend that Christmas cash on some crafty goodness for yourself!). Please welcome back our lovely sponsors for December: Drygoods Design Online, Fat Quarter Shop, Felt on the Fly and Sew Well Maide, !

Here are some gift ideas from these wonderful businesses. We hope you'll check out what they have to offer and consider them for your holiday shopping!

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My gift selections at Drygoods Design would include a fat quarter bundle of Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry, a few yards of that amazing metallic gold linen, a couple of Orla Kiely plant pots, and a gift certificate for good measure!

For you Seattle locals, how about some classes at the brand new make*do*mend studio? I had the pleasure of touring the space last week and it is absolutely fabulous!

You can find Keli and Drygoods Design Online here:
Shop -- Blog -- Facebook -- Twitter -- Pinterest

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Read more »

Craft Fair Tips From a First-Timer

2012-12-15T12:26:00.001-08:00

Hi Angel,

I am sorry to hear you're sick. I hope it's a quick bug! We're staying in this weekend, for the most part. The kids both have a cold and it's sleeting outside, so we're painting ornaments, making a gingerbread house and will probably bake Christmas cookies tomorrow. After the horror of yesterday, I just want to snuggle my babies this weekend.

Let's focus on something positive, shall we? As you know, I participated in my first craft fair here in Seattle last weekend, the Holiday Arts + Crafts Open House, and thought I would share photos and tips from my experience! It went so well, I was super happy.

Do some research and prepare

First off, if it's your first time doing a craft fair, do some research and prepare! I am so thankful you reminded me of that, Angel. I looked up the tips you had mentioned on Lupin Handmade and from there, read more via this list of links on Handmadeology. Extremely helpful! I made lists, I made plans, and felt empowered.

Read more »

My Latest Burlap Art

2012-12-06T09:00:00.001-08:00

Hi there!

I'm emerging from craft fair prep to say hello for a bit! I have been creating a lot of burlap art lately and realized I haven't shared any photos in a long time.

This is a bit of an easy post for me, but hopefully you will enjoy looking at photos of my latest creations! ;) I've branched out a little for some of them, it's been fun. (You can read more details about that on my other blog here.)

Here they are:

These last two are in my shop on Etsy, just click on the photo to get to the listing.

I will be participating in the Holiday Arts + Crafts Open House at Red Square Yoga in Seattle, WA this coming Saturday afternoon (December 8, 12:30-6:30PM). I would LOVE to see you there if you're local (I'm so nervous, it's my first craft fair ever!!). There should be lots of beautiful handmade gifts for sale. Here's the flyer.

For timely updates on my business-y projects, you can "like" the Jenny Bartoy ~ Handmade Designs page on Facebook here. It takes me a while to share recent projects on Stumbles & Stitches sometimes.

What are you working on these days? Ornaments, gifts, decorations? Do you have tips for success at craft fairs? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!