Native Woman Sews, Crafts, Writes, and More

Found This Week

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This week it has been cold and rainy, which is normal for our area but it also makes us feel like every day is a lay on the couch under a quilt kind of day! I have a couple of tutorials to share and admit I am late to read a popular book in this week’s Found This Week.

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Don’t miss out on Crafty’s Shop to Unlock Sale! Buy one class during the flash sale and you can unlock a second set of classes that are on sale. Once you purchase, you’ll get an email that gives you access to the second set of classes. This expires tomorrow, November 9, so check it out now. I’m in the middle of rewatching Elizabeth Hartman’s Dot to Dot class – I have a baby quilt to finish and I’m trying to decide how to quilt my latest finished quilt top, it has a white background which is also in the center of the blocks so I have some space to fill.

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I am super excited to get the Cotton + Steel double gauze fabrics  (my favorites are the stripes so that’s where I’m sending you!), my plan is to make a quilt (of course!). But I love making scarves. Since I don’t sew clothes it’s the one thing I do make that I can wear around. I’ve made voile scarves for my daughter and I, and I have some knit fabric cut and ready to sew for scarves for us as well. Here’s a double gauze scarf tutorial over on Imagine Gnats if you already have some fabric to sew.

The Fault in Our Stars – I admit it, I haven’t read it yet. But I am trying to not buy new books since I am already thinking of our move next year, and I’ve been meaning to read this (amazing, best selling, made into a movie, super awesome) book, and so I am this weekend.

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I never have overly decorated for Halloween, or for Thanksgiving, so living in Europe I admit I kind of like it that Christmas decorations are already out. Today we noticed the side streets have the hanging light decorations! Also today I cleaned out a huge scrap fabric bucket I had – the pieces that were strips or large enough to cut into strips I am giving to the parent group at school because they are making fabric wreathes to sell during the Holiday Market next month. I filled an entire large luggage with scraps! I’m glad to be able to pass these along because I haven’t touched the scrap bucket in over a year – not once since we got here! So it’s time. I haven’t seen the type of wreathes they are going to make, but check out this scrappy fabric garland over at Cluck Cluck Sew – I love this! Super easy! Since I sew all the time I will have more scraps soon, and I have no problem cutting up fabric to make this versus waiting for scraps.

We are planning a cookie decorating party for December, and I have to repair a stuffed animal today. What’s up with you?

Gingerbread Snowflakes Winter Projects

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Pam Harris is simply one of the best people online. She is kind, and generous, and who she is is apparent on her website, Gingerbread Snowflakes. She has craft projects for every season, and if you only follow one blog for holiday projects and inspiration it needs to be this one. Every time she puts up a new project, I feel like I need to drop everything and create it! She makes it looks so accessible, so fun. Pam has a wide variety of tutorials and photos that she shares – from baking to embroidery, from decorating gourds to weaving, Easter crafts, Halloween crafts. Just set aside an hour or two and browse her site, you will find something that you will fall in love with and have the urge to make right in that moment.

She has pictures of shaved wood ornament kits, as well as a link to where you can order your own kit to make the ornaments. I am emailing my family in the US to order for me so I can get a kit! And I have to admit I love that Pam found someone who is selling craft kits for holiday ornaments, who accepts checks that you send. There isn’t a paypal button or an online order form, you have to actually write to someone. I think that’s really cool. It reminds me of the craft fairs I went to as a kid.

You will love everything that Pam shares, here is what she shows on the website to give you just a small glimpse at what is up for this season!

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Falling Quilt Pattern Tutorial

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Alison over at Alison-Sews has posted a quilt pattern tutorial for her quilt Falling. This is beautiful! I have a package of Oakshott fabrics that I have been waiting for the perfect pattern to use it on, and this may be it! I really love the movement in the quilt, the fall colors are perfect for this time of year (it’s only cold and rainy here, no snow, so sort of like a really long fall? No snow here, ever.), and triangles! I also love that Alison didn’t trim all of the fabric to make a straight edged quilt – she’s right, why trim everything up if you don’t have it, it’ll be cut off later.

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003: Anne Sullivan: Play Crafts

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Head over to iTunes and subscribe to Me Being Crafty so you don’t miss an episode! You can also subscribe to Me Being Crafty on stitcher!

Welcome to the episode three of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

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In this episode I talk to Anne Sullivan of Play-Crafts.com. We had a great conversation about the art and crafts that Anne creates, the Quilt Design a Day group on facebook that she created, how Play Crafts came to be, and a lot about how Anne has created a community because of being a creative person. She talks about the time in her life when she took a break from crafting, and how once she came back into crafting, she won’t take a break again. Anne is also writing a book, which is exciting!

Anne’s story includes building her own community and how she and her partner Eli set up a day to get together with people and just make stuff. She called it “Fear Crafting,” which is such a great term because we are often scared to take the first step. Or we’ve taken the first few steps and don’t think we can go any farther. Once we have that group of people with us creating our art becomes a lot easier.

Don’t be afraid to take the first step in creating your community. Your creative journey will have so much more added to it because you have surrounded yourself with people who are quick to teach you something, to show you a trick to something you’ve been working on, to hold that quilt so you can get a picture, to smile in the picture with you, to be there to lean on when making art is the last thing you want to do because it is so frustrating. Anne shows that even if it is scary, you can get over being scared and the results will be really great.

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I met Anne at a Modern Quilt Guild meeting when we were living in California, and I also am in the QDAD group on facebook. I love how active the group is, several people post their designs daily. Thanks for being on the show Anne!

Where you can find Anne –Anne on Flickr – Quilt Design A Day on facebook – Play Crafts on twitter – Play Crafts on facebook – Anne on instagram – and be sure to read this article that Anne wrote for the Anita Borg Institute Community. Sometimes in the community that we are a part of because of who we are – computer scientists, teachers, parents, college students – it can feel like we are alone in something that we love, or that it wouldn’t be okay for us to share this part about ourselves.

Listen to episode 003 and let me know how you create a community, or about the community you are in. I love being a part of the online quilting community, and I’ve been lucky enough to meet several of my friends over the years. I am thankful for the online community since we move so often. I always have that group of people there.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m starting an epic beadwork project! I calculated it will take 160 hours, and I really hope I did the math wrong.

Fastest Quilt Ever

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This may be the fastest quilt ever! We stopped at the Liberty of London store during our vacation this summer, and we just wandered around the store. It was so fun to look at the clothing, scarves, and kitchen items. So many of the stores in London were stunning, four, five, six, seven stories high packed with so many things and people waiting to help you find the perfect something for whoever you are shopping for, even for yourself. Of course not every store is this way, but the large (and okay maybe also slightly touristy since these are the places the tourists be sure to stop by) stores seem to be set up this way.

I grabbed this roll of Liberty fabrics and the label had a suggestion of sewing the fabrics together for a quick quilt that would be good for the couch. I have a few pieces of Liberty but didn’t want to cut into it and try to figure out a good way to sew them, so I figured what the heck and went with the suggestion – especially after coming back from our vacation with the news that our closest friends here will be moving within just a couple of weeks. It didn’t take long to sew the strips together, and I had the kids me baste it because I use the floor since it’s the largest space (I really want to try the basting w/ 2 x 4s, I watched a video and it looks really easy).

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I did the quilting over a couple of days, and the binding (I always hand sew the binding, I just don’t love how machine binding looks) while I watched tv. The quilting was good practice for me as I usually do straight lines and/or stitch in the ditch. Each strip has something different quilted in it, and there is only one strip that I don’t love, I just like it. Like any free motion quilting, I got better as I went along.

And so we have to say our first ‘see you later’ to friends here. I am sad because we were frequent guests for dinner with each other, JW and their children went to school together, they have a baby for us to fuss over, and for so many other reasons. It is never fun to leave the friends you make, and regardless of what anyone else says, it is never easy nor does it get easier.

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