Monogram Tote Bag: E

This Tote is for Elizabeth! She never has a favorite color for long because all the colors are her favorite! She also loves to do crafts etc. so I had to do her "E" crazy quilt style!

It was a bit of a challenge to piece being the odd shape it was! What I did was draw out the 'E' onto foundation fabric and then I started on the middle prong and pieced to the center and then went down and out the bottom prong and up and out the top prong. Of course I used ALL KINDS of fun fabrics because just like she likes all colors she likes all fabrics too! LOL

When I finished piecing I cut out the 'E' and sewed it onto the bag using the zig-zag stitch and a variegated green thread.

To embellish I sewed on a yellow butterfly applique, assorted buttons, a working locket she can add a photo to, a scissors charm, and a gold tone cross-stitch needle since it has a rounded tip!

I used a pink metallic thread and tied a knot at the end and a knot onto the end of the needle and put the knot on the top of the fabric to be seen and then did some running stitch randomly until I got the needle to where it would stay. Once in the spot I took beading thread and tacked down the eye so that the needle can't fall out!

It can't get any more perfect and fitting than that!
I just know she will love it!

Monogram Tote Bag: A

Here is Ashlee's Tote! She said she loves purple and black combination so what I did was use a pale lavender with a pretty swirly print and contrasted it against the black and white polka-dot stars! I stitched it all down with invisible thread!
The dangle for the handle is a fancy black yarn that has shimmer too!

I added a cool vintage button to one star a darker shade of purple button with bugle beads to another star and added a little aqua button with a trail of silver seed beads to the last star!

Monogram Tote Bag: K

Here is Kaity's Tote! Kaity loves the new Alice in Wonderland movie and loves the Mad Hatter so I used that as inspiration for her tote. She also loves purple!
For the dangle from the handle I created a faux fob with a bit of fabric I just running stitched along and gathered, a green bead, a yo-yo and a circular flower.

I stitched the "K" down with invisible thread, and created a shabby flower with scraps of fabric. I think the colors and frayed fabrics with the strip green leaves and the velveteen leaves and the green tatting are what make it look like something the Mad Hatter would make! I just cut out the leaves in the shape of a leaf and sewed them down the middle with the invisible thread!

The tote needed a little something more so I got the idea to make a patched butterfly too! I just winged it and cut out the shape of the wings in scraps and fiddled with placement, then sewed those down and then put the body piece over that and sewed down the middle. The little antennae I just cut a v shape scrap and snipped a v out the middle.

Don't you just love the shabby flower? The frayed pink print with the polka dot on top of the purples just seem too perfect and adding the tatting in too...!!! LOVE!

Monogram Tote Bag: F

Okay here is one of the tote bags I've been making, I had a marathon of them the last couple days since there are a ton of b-days coming up!!!
This one is for Fallon and she loves purple so I used the dark purple fabric with the gold swirl print for the "F". Then I took a fat quarter fabric that had some sweet prints of flowers on it and cut out the pretty purple flower. I also used a piece of lace from my bits'n'pieces stash. I sewed around all the edges using straight stitch setting and invisible thread! Don't let that fool you all the curves I had to go around on the flower...tons of work!

I added gold seed beads to the centers of the purple flowers and attached a metal butterfly!
The dangle from the strap is some eyelash yarn, ric-rack and white lace.

Monogram Tote Bag: S

I did this monogrammed tote bag back in May for a birthday girl but never got a chance to blog it! LOL I also added a dangle to the strap but didn't get a chance to take a photo of it before it got gifted.
Stephanie LOVED it!
I just appliqued the black polka-dot fabric "S" with a zig-zag stitch with the raw edge then attached a couple of lace applique leaves and made a matching shabby-flower and attached it!
What I do for the monograms is search the fonts in Word until I find one that is simple and print it cut it out and then trace it onto fabric and cut that out! Easy!

2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge: Fairy Treasure - Puffy Silkie

I finished doing the split stitch border with green 4mm silk ribbon, then I stitched down the jewelery findings. Next I noticed that the silkie was a bit wrinkled and thought hmm it might look nice if it was puffed a bit so I tried it out!

I just snipped a slit in the foundation fabric behind the silkie and stuffed fiberfill in it and stitched it back up!

I like the effect it feels kind of like a brooch being oval and puffed like that with the pretty border!

2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge: Fairy Treasure - Sewn Together

Here's what Fairy Treasure is looking like all sewn together, I choose to sew all the blocks together before embellishment because I wanted a more wholeness effect rather than separate blocks and the best way to do that is to sew them all together first and then embellish from there as a whole piece. There is never a right or wrong way for crazy quilting only personal preference! Gotta love that!
It's really hard to photograph this piece with all the shades of green and surfaces of fabric the camera lens just doesn't see it the same as my eyes, some things look right and then other things look wrong so as I go along I'll be trying to figure out the best way to take photos too. Accurate photos always seem to be the thorn in my side! LOL Hey at least in these photos it seems that my textures turned out pretty well, you can see the texture of the silk velvet pieces really well which I purposely wrinkled up when piecing the blocks for the yummy soft effect.

I tacked the silkie down with invisible thread and then I started doing the split stitch around it with green silk ribbon. There are jewelery pieces that will be attached in spots over the split stitch boarder on the top-bottom-side-to-side, and from there I'll be creating vines coming out!
I'm trying to do as much as I can with this piece right away while I still have excitement fueling me because I know there will be times where I may get a little stuck and I want to give myself room to take my time during those moments without the deadline looming over me! LOL

2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge: Fairy Treasure - Keeping Me Company

As I work on my Fairy Treasure project Madie likes to snooze under my sewing machine desk! She was there while I pieced and sewed it together and even now when I embellish! She's keeping me company! ;)

2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge: Fairy Treasure - Pieced Blocks

I finished piecing the blocks and got them cut to proper size today! I believe this is the final configuration and it's ready to sew together! I bought a few new green fabrics that I also included so some centers aren't the same as I originally planned, but I think it's better!
The rules stated to use half the fabrics included in the package and there were 13 pieces and I used 7 all six of the greens and the shimmery-striped fabric that the fairy silkie will sit on. It was for sure a challenge because some of the greens weren't my fave shades so I had a puzzle to mix and match all the different shades of greens. I love how it turned out with lots of texture.
I also cut out the silkie in an oval shape and I love how the leaf beads look around the edge! I need to buy another string of the leaf beads! LOL I'm also thinking of ways to add more foliage around the silkie too.
As for my little background story I think my fairy's name will be either Emerald or Peridot I can't make up my mind which, but Peridot is a more golden-green so I think it may fit better. Which do you all think her name should be?

2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge: Fairy Treasure

I just got my 2010 ESD Enchanted Challenge package in the mail!!! WOO I'm naming my mini-quilt "Fairy Treasure"! So excited to start working on it, I love all the greens I'm going to use for it! I just love the idea I got for the theme about lost treasures that this little fairy finds and is fascinated by so she gathers them and tucks them in safe little spots. And so this marks the beginning of a beautiful journey exploring her gorgeous green world!

A Dress for Elizabeth! ♥

Elizabeth has a dance this week and it's a special one the Eighth Grade Prom, so she came over to work on a dress for it! What she found while going through my fabric stash were some formals that I had bought at the thrift store but hadn't cut yet! LOL After trying on lots of them this purple one seemed to be the closest fit and the easiest to alter! I don't sew clothing...so I had no clue how to go about fixing it so it would fit her...THEN...I had the idea to cut off the top part, cut off the straps, and fold down the remaining "top" so that it was rounded and reattach the straps! Even this seemed impossible to me but somehow we managed! HAHA What I did was have it on her fold it under to look the shape we wanted and then made a running stitch (by hand) along the top to hold it in place...then as I was doing that Elizabeth loved how it looked gathered so we ended up gathering the top front edge and that fixed the need to take in the sides too!!! I also did the running stitch around the back too but left if flat, then I hand sewed the straps into place and then later reinforced them with the sewing machine. THEN Elizabeth had the idea to tie something around the waist and so we found a white ribbon and tacked it onto the dress on a seam and then it gets tied around the waist after she gets it on (there are no zippers etc. it's a slip on dress)! OH and Hubby helped by hemming the bottom! ♥
After we finished working out all the kinks of the dress we cut a piece of white lace from my stash for her to use as a wrap or like she did in the photo below tie it in the back to look like a bolero or shrug.
Voila! Two non-seamstresses but very creative gals created a pretty good looking formal if I do say so myself! LOL

Craft Room Update

I've been slowly improving my craft room it's cool looking back through my posts on it's progress! It's still not completely finished but I got a huge part of it up and running and it's a dream come true!
Above is a photo as you walk in the door! The board on top of the little chest of drawers is padded fabric and can be ironed on! How perfect is that!

As you can see it's a U (well more like J haha) with my work station in front of the window that's where I'll do my embroidery and embellishment etc. Then a little swivel to the right and I have my sewing machine, and a little swivel to the right again the padded board for ironing as I piece! And I can always set up the ironing board there too! The little desk that the sewing machine is on we got at Staples it's just a little cheepie computer desk that we didn't install the keyboard slide out so it's the perfect depth!

I have my cork board which I pinned a bunch of swap items and pretty things but I also put a couple of push pins up to hold my current project to get it out of the way, the square Q-snap sits right on them!
Right next to the door I have a Design Wall hanging you can see the Tree Project on it right now. It's supposed to hold blocks on it without using pins but my cream blocks are too heavy to stay up for too long, if I want it to stay up longer term I still need to pin.
Then my hubby put up shelves for me to have my supplies in reaching distance! Wow did they make a huge difference! I gained and freed up a ton of space just from having them put up! Now the bookshelf I had a lot of my supplies on is free for all my various embroidery, crazy quilting, beading, tatting, etc. books as well as other things!

On the door I got a hanger for the iron and ironing board when not needed!
Also I got hooks to store my hoops using vertical space! Now they aren't stacked somewhere with the possibility of getting lost under things or cluttering up space!

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart: Tutu & Flower

I kept adding to the gift for Bekah she's gonna LOVE LOVE LOVE everything! Here's the Tutu I bought and then I made a shabby flower pin with shading to look like the roses in the Ballerina Heart!
Her birthday party is this weekend so I'm going to try to get a vid of her when she opens the gift, she is so cute and gets so excited about all her gifts that it's fun to watch! We always say we should get her on video! LOL

Monogram Tote Bag: J

Here is yet another Tote bag for a birthday girl in my Small Group!
Her fave color was purple so I created a purple shabby flower to embellish her monogram. She also loved polka dots so I chose a green with white polka dot fabric for the J I thought it would compliment nicely. Then I had a piece of Hen & Chicks Tatted Edging that I had tatted and saved in my stash and since Jessica is creative herself and does crochet I thought she would enjoy some tatting, who knows she may want to learn to tat! She already wants to learn embroidery! LOL
Anyway I used purple fabrics for the shabby flower and a printed organza that had purple flowers on it. I cut out the flowers out of the print and the frayed sheerness of the organza acted like a lace element! I used a large purple bead in the center of the flower! I also made a small bud to go with the flower and it is using a small flower shape with some scraps of the organza in the center just gathered in the center.
Then on the handle I tied some strips of the organza fabric and a strip of purple fabric!

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart: Framed

With Rebekah's birthday coming up I framed the Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart! I also ordered a light blue Tutu to go with it!
On the back I put a pretty wrapping paper and then printed a label that reads "To Rebekah, A sweet ballerina who will always be my friend! Love, Melissa"

Fabric & Lace Flower: Black and Silver

This flower I made for a bridal shower where the bride's colors are Silver and Black! I know she'll love it! I glued a pin-back on the back of it.

I made this one a little differently by making 3 of the larger flower blobs 2 of them the silver fabric and 1 is lace fabric. Then in the center I also did lace fabric strips but I also created a tassel using a thin black lace and silver metallic thread then attached that to the center gathered it up and then added a button to the center!

Fabric & Lace Flower

I saw a really pretty flower tutorial and just had to try my version of it!!! Here is a link to the Shabby Flower Tutorial. I didn't care for the center of hers so I did it a little differently by adding a tatted flower that I made a long time ago and it sat in my stash waiting to be used and a pearl thingy-ma-bob (it's not a button but it's not a bead either but it had a metal eye sticking out one end).

I did like she said and cut 2 larger (9 petal) blob shaped flowers, and 1 each of a medium (7 petal) and a small (5 petal) blob shaped flowers and crumpled and frayed them. (I made my small one too small so I had to re-cut it. Make each size just barely smaller than the other.) Then I added lace bits and sewed it all together added the tatting stitched it on and added the pearl thingy. Then I went around the back and gathered it like she said. But there I stopped I didn't do any gluing but I did tie some pink eyelash yarn around the pearl.
Now I'll just back it with a pin-backing and either use it as a pin or a pendant. You could use this for anything really I could even see sewing this (or a smaller version) down onto a crazy quilt.

Monogram Tote Bag: A

Here is another monogrammed tote for one of my small group girls!
I had seen one of the blogs in my feed (Allie's in Stitches) had mentioned Broderie Perse which got me interested so I google searched about it! It's a form of applique using a printed fabric that you cut out the print and applique it onto another fabric.

So having this in the back of my head I got the idea to use a floral print for the decorations on this monogram! I just cut around the print and took the easy route by raw edge appliqueing it with invisible thread and a straight stitch on my sewing machine!

I think it gives it a pretty yet edgy feel and I think it looks sorta Shabby Chic-ish! LOL

I also tied a strip of the fabric with the raw edges frayed into a bow on the handle.