Free Style Sampler: "Morning Has Broken"

I believe I forgot to post photos of this free style sampler... "Morning has Broken." (One of my favourite songs.) I made it quite awhile back, I think in 2009. I may still add to it yet. The top right area could do with some more embellishing.

Oh, and this one is a little patch that I made awhile ago too. It's also unfinished!

Thrifty Finds

Here are some of my recent thrifty finds.
I bought this lot of several metres of vintage fabric yesterday. This is perhaps upholstery weight. I'd like to mix and match this one with some other vintage fabrics to make some new pillow covers. Also, the two wooden bowls were purchased yesterday. The fabric was $3.99 and the bowls were about $0.50 each... but Goodwill had 50% off everything yesterday so I paid half of these prices.

This is several metres of vintage fabric that I picked up last month. The only dowside is that it's polyester, but I thought maybe I could use it as a tablecloth... I think it was $2.99

I found this child's school chair in a pretty mint green several weeks ago. It is actually more green than blue, as it sort of looks like in the photo below. It was $4. Too bad there weren't two, as my kids are fighting over it. That's one of the vintage fabrics sitting on top - same as shown in the first photo.

The tablecloth below was $1.99. I plan on putting this one on my kitchen table soon!

Moleskine Journals with Reusable Covers

Now availalbe in my shop, "OfficeTYPE," are Moleskine journals with reusable handmade fabric covers/sleeves.
Have a look here! Thanks!

What I'm Working On

Here is a little peek into the handsewing I've been working on lately.

Thought you might like this...

This past weekend I squeezed in a litte more sewing and embroidery. I'm working on some book covers/sleeves for Moleskin journals. I don't have any pics yet though. Yesterday was my b-day and T was off work so we bundled up the kids and went tobogganing north of the city. It was bitterly cold, but we had a great time. I brought some handsewing to work on in the car too!

Also, I started a Tumblr page to keep track of inspiring photos found around the web. I'm not sure I'll keep this up, but for now you can see it here: "Thought you might like this." I usually save photos that inspire me onto my computer. I kind of like it there because I can have them in different folders depending on what the photo is about. For example, fabric, paper, decor, outdoors, kids crafts, etc. On the other hand, it is nice to share the photos and links with others. Maybe I'll end up posting them on this blog instead.... not sure yet where I'm headed. We'll see.

Project Re-Style - from bedspread to cushion covers

These cushions are made from a bedspread. The fabric wasn't very thick and I couldn't see using it as a bedspread, but I really liked the fabric. So... I made a couple of envelope style 'sleeves' for some cushions and appliqued on the front. Simple and quick to make. There is lots more of the fabric left over, so maybe I'll make a skirt too!

Just Breathe

A wee little patch...
I've been fascinated by the little red cross symbol appearing all over home decor sites, so I added a little one to this mixed media embroidered sampler patch. Seems to follow the health care theme with the red cross, "breathe," and heart added in. :)

Sewing with Children

So this afternoon, my little fella made himself a pattern for a bear. Then he cut it out of some fabric of his choice, sewed it on the sewing machine, stuffed it, stitched up the side and sewed on some buttons and a felt 'snout.' He was able to do a lot more than I would have given him credit for!

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A Little Inspiration

I've been sorting some of my photos that have been put to inspiring words. You can see more of them here in my Flickr gallery.

Recipes from Grandma's Kitchen

This is my new little side project, "Recipes from Grandma's Kitchen." I've started a new blog to record the recipes from both my grandma's and my husband's grandma's. It's a work-in-progress as I have a lot of recipes and photos to upload. Have a look here if you like.

Blog Buttons

I made a bunch of blog buttons today. If you are so inclined, please take a look here---------> to the right in my sidebar and scroll down to see the selections along with the code. Thanks and if you would like to trade links, let me know! redhange @gmail.com (no space).

Top Secret!

I have been sidetracked by a little project, a labour of love actually. I am working on a companion blog to this one and I can't wait to share it with you! Here is a little sneak peek on what the topic is *partially* about... more details to come!

Top {Not the} OfficeTYPE Posts of 2010

Craftaholics Anonymous is having "The Best of 2010" blog party and I thought I'd join in! See her original post linking up to lots of the "best of's" here.

There were many so many crafts from 2010 that I thoroughly enjoyed making. Here are some of the ones that were my favourites and that I hope to get back to any day now! Edited: I had no idea what a prolific year it was for me creatively in 2010, until I did up this post. I hope 2011 will be more of the same!

Art Dolls - from paper clay / air dry clay; I took up sculpting dolls last spring and it is so addicting. I have to get back to this one!

Free Style Samplers - I made lots of sewing projects last year, but among my favourites are the mixed media/free-style embroidered samplers.

Crochet - this is just a small sample of all the crocheting I did in 2010!

Fabric Designing - I tried my hand at designing fabric through Spoonflower.

Sewing - Besides the samplers, here are some sewing projects completed in 2010



Paper Crafting - I didn't do too much paper crafting in 2010, but I did try coptic stitch binding for the first time.


Leather working - Tried this craft out for the first time too.

Tutorials - I did up 9 tutorials in 2010 (links below the photo mosaic)

A Merry Little Tree, Mini Felt Houses, Love Rocks, Ruffle Pom-Poms, Ruffled Heart, Simple Ruffle Tutorial, Crocheted Granny Square Ball, Hanging Fabric Hearts, Crocheted Granny Square Purse

Thank you for being there with me, readers, through it all!

Today...

Nothing very crafty to report here today. I haven't made anything since my last post, but am itching to get my supplies out again. I have been busy with homeschooling this week, getting our 6 yr old back into the swing of things. It's nice to have a routine again though. Here's our boat, snug as a bug in winter. No snow right now, but it is cold and the harbour is frozen.

Wet Felting

Happy New Year!

Lochlan and I tried wet felting for the first time the other day. He loved it! Here is how our pieces turned out. Next time, I'll try rolling them in the bubble wrap a little longer. Also, I need to get some of the smaller bubble wrap, ours had really large bubbles. They could also use some more layers of wool. I have the urge to add some embroidery to them now ... we'll see!