Sew Darn Cute

CRAFT Projects

Holy cats, you guys are so super sweet. Thanks for helping to celebrate the release of my book with me. I really need to get to a bookstore to see it on the shelves firsthand! I think it will be pretty surreal.

I wanted to let you in on a few things I've been up to over the last several months. Although I haven't been blogging here, I was blogging up to 7 times a day for CRAFT magazine. In case you don't have the CRAFT blog on your RSS feeds, or maybe just missed the posts, I thought I would share a few of the projects I came up with for their blog. Hope you enjoy!

Customized 3-Ring Binders. I use these constantly!

I used IKEA tea towels to create this quick tater-stamped kitchen curtain.

A secondhand baby sweater and some fabric scraps turned into a fun needle and thread themed hoodie.

Happy Mother's Day

Okay okay, so it isn't technically Mother's Day yet...but my afternoon was spent making fun crafts with kids and moms at Whole Foods Market today, alongside my pal Jessica, so I have Mother's Day on the brain! It was a Felt Club mini-event, sort of a "craft-in", and was an absolute blast. We brought along some supplies like paint, construction paper, glitter and pipecleaners, and used some Whole Foods-procured products such as coffee filters, Organic Fruit Rings cereal, uncooked rigatoni, and kitchen sponges cut into cute shapes. The kids (and moms! and hipsters!) made cards, necklaces, bracelets, and coffee filter flower corsages. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

Many thanks to my co-host Jessica, to the creative dudes who showed up, and to our new pals at Whole Foods. We can't wait to come back and do it again! You can see all the photos I took in this Flickr set. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, including my own!

Introducting Biscuits!

Yep, I've been doing more needle-felting! This is Biscuits the puppy. I actually know a real dog named Biscuits, but real-life Biscuits is a girl. I, however, felt like making another jaunty-scarved boy animal. So there you have it!

CRAFT 03: Japan Style

I really hope that you guys have seen CRAFT magazine by now. It's brought to you by the people from MAKE, and is the best thing to happen to the craft world since the cordless glue gun. Full of enlightening articles, project tutorials, product reviews and much more, it's become one of my favorite magazines ever. Between the beautiful design, low ad count, and high production values it truly feels more like a book, and I display my copies proudly in my studio so I can peruse them whenever the mood strikes.

The latest issue, CRAFT 03, is centered around Japanese crafts, a subject dear to my heart. I absolutely love attempting the projects featured in Japanese craft magazines (such as these guys here), so my excitement over an issue that examines the Eastern influence on crafts and style is a no-brainer. I'm even more excited to reveal that I have an article in the new issue, which shipped to subscribers yesterday (and will be on newsstands everywhere on April 24)!

My article is titled "Queen of the Misfit Toys" and is all about Blythe dolls (Another subject dear to my heart, as I own 9 of them). If you do any kind of blogging or Flickr-ing you're sure to have come across this big-eyed beauty, and I hope my article helps to explain what the big deal is, and why Blythe has such a strong connection to crafts and creativity. If you haven't been exposed to Blythe yet, I hope the article and photos (like the one above, taken by Melissa) piques your interest and makes you want to learn more. You'll find some wonderful websites about Blythe here, here, and here.

I'm also writing an article for CRAFT 04 about how to start a crafty business, which I hope is helpful to anyone wondering how to go about it. Judging by the e-mails I get, there are a lot of you out there. I'll keep y'all posted on when that one is released, but in the meantime, check out Issue 03!

Meet Marmite!

The needle felting fun continues! Last night I whipped up a friend for Honey Bunny, a cute li'l blue kitten named Marmite. I'm glad that something good came out of sitting through yet another craptastic episode of LOST. (Why oh why do I punish myself every week when I know it's going to suck? Sigh.)

Anyway, here's Marmite. I'm a big fan of his jaunty scarf.

Nifty Needles

Wow, is needle felting ever fun! I've wanted to try it ever since my friend Jamie taught a needle felting class for us at Felt Club last summer. Unfortunately I was so busy that day, I just didn't get a chance. Seeing the amazing little Easter chicks made by Jenn Docherty on last week's Martha Stewart show was the final boost of inspiration I needed. I knew my life just wouldn't be complete until I learned how to fill my home with countless li'l fuzzy-cute animals, so I ordered a needle felting kit and some extra needles from MaryJane's Attic. They arrived super fast (thanks Jamie!) and I've been having fun with them (and my large stash of hand-dyed wool) ever since!

This little gal is my first attempt at needle felting, a rabbit named Honey Bunny. She's under 6" tall and has vintage button eyes and a dress made with vintage fabrics too.

I think my favorite detail is the pink pads on the bottom of her feet. I'm a complete and total sap!

I never realized how fun and relaxing stabbing loose wool fibers with a barbed needle could be, and it still amazes me that lumps of wool can be turned into creatures like this. It's the perfect craft to do while sitting in front of the TV, which I can never manage to do without a project to keep me busy. I think I'm hooked! If you want to give it a try, you can order felting needles and fiber from Jamie here. I also found this hilarious little kit at A Child's Dream, it makes two racoons and two skunks. They're so freaking funny, the skunk's little pink tongue just kills me!

Sssssally the Sssssnake!

OK, so I'm kind of cheating here since I made this project months ago, but since I never posted it here (just on Flickr), I figure I'm allowed. Say hello to Sssssally the Sssssnake! She's a goofy stuffed snake I made for an art show at Giant Robot SF last winter. The poor girl didn't sell, but I love her anyway! The theme of the show was kid's toys, and I got inspired to make a snake after finding an ancient photo of myself with a similar (but much smaller!) kinda weird toy snake I'd won at a carnival.

Sssssally was made with overlapping scallops of new and vintage fabric (daisy-spotted bedsheets I had as a kid in the '70s, you can probably see by now that I'm crazy for them!), various ribbon and rickrack trims, googly eyes, felt, embroidery floss, all topped off with a jingly ball on the end of her tail.

Apparently, Sssssally was suspended from the ceiling at Giant Robot for the duration of the show, which I really wish I could have seen (or at least seen a photo of)! It might be hard to tell in these photos, but this sucker is around 5 feet long. Right now she's stretched out along the top of our living room mantel; I've thought about using her as a draft stopper for our front door, but I just can't bear the thought of Kang and Kodos attacking her in the night. So, safely tucked on the mantel she stays—unless of course someone out there wants to own her! If so, check out my site.

I'll be back later next week with some more recent craftiness, but I'm mega-embroiled in a top secret project right now I hope to be able to talk more about soon...shhh!

New from the Craft Room

Well, I finally had a chance to get some sewing done recently, so I finished up this bag I'd started for my Mom quite a few months ago. Yikes! Sorry about that, ma! Here's a look:

It's a variation on the Daisy Tote I used to make for my website. I think this version is cuter, though! It's also the last scrap of the aqua polka-dot fabric, so I'm glad it's going to a good home.

I added a zippered interior pocket, something I don't always do (basically because I tend to carry so many little zippered pouches and mini-bags inside my purse, I don't really need one). But I knew my Mom would want one, so she got one—it's roomy, too. If you've never sewn a zippered pocket into a bag before, don't be scared—it's not hard at all. I recommend checking out this Craftster tutorial for a handy how-to.

The flowers are made from wool felt, trimmed with vintage buttons and embroidered by hand. Pretty cute, methinks.

I've been making some other goodies recently...two more bags and some fun jewelry...and it's all earmarked for the upcoming Felt Club auctions on eBay. There are three separate auctions full of amazing crafty goodies from our vendors and friends. Sneak peeks are viewable here, and the auctions will go on sale at 6pm on Sunday, March 11. (I'll post a reminder when they're live.) I really hope people will check 'em out and do some bidding...putting the gift baskets together was a lot of fun, I almost wish I could keep 'em! There are items I'd love to keep and items I know would make great gifts for my pals. Of course, my desire to pay off the city fines is at an all-time high (especially since we just got another one last week), so they'll have to end up with some other lucky guy or doll. Hope you enjoy!

Uncommon Threads

So, the Uncommon Threads episode I was on aired yesterday, and although seeing yourself on TV can be cringeworthy, I think I managed to get through it without completely embarrassing myself. Hopefully viewers felt the same way! I thought our projects ended up looking very cute, although due to time they really have to rush you through the instructions. (To anyone who saw my Sugar Cookie Potholder segment: I would never advocate just snipping off the end of the rickrack and leaving it un-done like that, though that's what they showed me doing. They had filmed me tacking that bit down with thread, to cover the raw edge, but it was edited out, presumably for time.) I know I'm being an OCD craft nerd, pointing out something that probably didn't even occur to anyone watching it, but...well, I'm an OCD craft nerd. What can I say?

Cynthia's Pie Placemat project was so adorable, and easy to make as well. She got to show off the matching table runner at the end of the episode, which was a nice little bonus. She did a great job!

Our pal Shawnee did a swell job too, lending crafty support and ironing help, but as I mentioned before, her project was cut for time. Luckily they did keep in the end bits we filmed, and she was able to show off some of her designs. I received an e-mail this morning from someone who caught the show and wanted directions to the project—but since it wasn't demonstrated on the show, the directions don't appear on the DIY Network website. Rats! If anyone wants to know how to make the Cupcake Teapot Cozies, though, drop me a line (jennyATsewdarncuteDOTcom) and I'll forward your request to hers truly. If you want to know how to make the potholder and placemat projects (as well as the hostess Allison's saucy teacup apron), visit DIY Network here.

There will be one more Felt Club episode airing, with some fantastic baby-themed projects made by my friends Wendy and Teresa. On this episode, my project was cut for time, but I'm still on hand to lend ironing help and whatnot. Hmm...maybe I'll turn my project (a scallop-patterned baby quilt) into a How-To for this blog! Yep. It's a plan. I recently made one for a friend's new baby (Hi Sofia!) so next time I'll make one and take photos every step of the way. At the rate my friends are reproducing, someone else is sure to need a baby quilt soon!

Many thanks to the kind peeps at Uncommon Threads, as well as everybody who tuned in. You rule!

Jittery? Me? Nahhh...

Whoa.

So, I just got some crazy news. I'm going to be on HGTV on Monday morning. Well, I mean, it's not a total surprise of course. Some fellow Felt Club members and I taped two episodes of the show Uncommon Threads last summer, and we knew they would start airing in early 2007. It's just been so long that the airdate seems to have come out of nowhere. Eek! (I also thought they would air on DIY Network, but they seem to only be showing 2006 re-runs, while the new shows are on HGTV. Whatevs.)

When KNBC taped at Felt Club: XL Holiday, I wasn't too nervous because all I had to do was show the reporter around the event and point things out to them. But for Uncommon Threads, I actually have to teach a project...on camera. It looks easy when you watch people on TV, but when I was attempting to hand-sew a button onto my potholder at a camera-friendly angle (i.e. awkwardly) with a room full of people staring at me and ticking down the seconds (as my threads tangled up and my forehead started sweating), I found myself fumbling like Jerry Lewis after a gallon of Starbucks. It wasn't so easy. But hopefully I won't come off like a complete dingaling, and it will all come together through the Magic of Hollywood©. I definitely have a lot of respect for folks like Jennifer Perkins who have to do this kind of stuff all the time!

At least I know my co-stars did a great job. Monday's episode will be the first of two (I'm not sure yet when the second will air, probably March), and features my  fellow Felt Club pals Shawnee (L) and Cynthia (R). The theme of the episode is "Sweet Tooth Tea Time" and the projects are downright adorable, if I do say so myself. My project is a sugar cookie-shaped potholder, while Cynthia teaches us how to make a cherry pie-appliqued placemat. The hostess, Allison, makes a saucy little apron embroidered with a steamy teacup. Shawnee's project—a few hilariously cute cupcake-shaped teapot cozies—had to be cut for time, but we filmed a bit at the end where she was able to show them off, so hopefully that made it in.

Looks like the episode (#DUCT-230) will be airing on Monday, February 12 on HGTV at 11:30am PST. If you want to see me make a fool of myself, be sure to check your local listings. I'll be sure to give you all the haps on show #2 once I know the airdate.