craft fix round-up!

the craft fair was fun although attendance was a bit lower this year, possibly due to yucky weather. still a good day though!

these were some of my favorite tables. such creative people out there!!

* paper cuts by dylan metrano

* super cool stuff here

* lovely leather designs

* no link for bethany's adorable childrens' toys!

glad i can now work on other things, like my x and + quilt.

i cannot believe that christmas is right around the corner. YIKES! i've been so focused on the fair that i haven't even begun to think about christmas.........happy tuesday!

CRAFT FIX

craft fix is tomorrow!!! i am DONE making things-yippeeeee!! now i just have to work on my table set-up and load the car.

hope to see some of you there! most of my items this year are UNDER $20. WOW!

can't wait!

more craft-y-ness

BIRD TAGS!!!!!!!!

pinecone garlands

this weekend's craft fair job was stringing pinecone garlands!

i made lots and looooots of garlands ( in between birthday celebrations, which were so much fun!!) i have been making these strings of pinecones and putting them around the house for a long time and always thought they'd be good to sell at craft fairs, but they become a tangled mess so easily. this year the lightbulb finally went off, and i realized that i should wrap them around a card, like christmas lights. duh!

so i made a little card and printed a sweet fabric onto card stock to wind them on. i found that awesome tin for displaying them down in the basement/vintage stuff museum...i'm really thinking about my displays this year-it makes a big difference when the table looks great.

so, now onto the next craft fair job. not much time left!

thanks to all of my family and friends that made my birthday so happy! xo

bags for sale

 

 

my sewing weekend resulted in a  bunch of bags for the craft fair, which i should be posting some information about, right?! i will get that up soon, but can say now that it will take place on sunday, december 1st at buoy in kittery, maine. i believe the hours are 10-5!

i made some zip bags using my favorite echino fabric with the deer and flowers, and a few with a heavy olive green canvas paired with some sweet vintage fabrics and heavy zippers. see that  letter fabric at the top? that is one of brian's collages put onto fabric. how cool is that??

then the other day i found that super adorable christmas fabric and thought it would make some great reusable gift bags. anything with deer on it and i'm in!

damn cold out there today! i went up to the woods this afternoon to collect another bag full of pinecones in case it snows tonight. i do love snow!

happy hump day!

plugging away

 

i didn't do as much crafting on my vacation as i had thought i would. i feel like i'm much more constructive with my time if i have less of it, if that makes sense!  i guess i get lazy, or maybe i just needed a break!

i did get a few more blocks of my x and + quilt done. i have realized that i love pink. pink!  too much pink!  i am trying to stay away from it more on this quilt and use darker colors. i love that block in the bottom photo with the aqua flowered plus in the center. then i have moments when i think this quilt is one hot mess! but there are examples i've seen on flickr here and  here that i love....i'll keep it up-28 more squares to go!

lots of riding last week meant lots of crocheting. i'll be making LOTS of these for crocheted garlands at the craft fair.

 loved this!

happy tuesday!!!

spring-y stirrings

i am finishing up lots of spring-y flower garlands in preparation for two upcoming shows!

starting april 1st, ceres bakery in portsmouth will be hosting a group show featuring all of the artsy and crafty folks who work there!!! it will be great and a nice opportunity to see what everybody there does when they're not cooking and baking delicious food!

then in may, the black bean cafe in rollinsford, nh will have a bakery collaborative show featuring 2 women who work at the black bean and 2 women who work at ceres bakery!

very exciting!!! i can't wait to see everything! there will be an opening at ceres on friday, april 5, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. make sure you stop by if you're in the area!!!!!

springing ahead blues

ok, i have "sprung ahead". i just have to say that i do not enjoy springing ahead. i get up early, and it was just getting to be light out before i got up...i would like them to just decide to leave it one way or the other! oh well...

made a new bag with a secret lining!

finished one sock!!

listening to:

have a great sunday!

winterland

since the "whirlwind" of THE QUILT has ended, i'm finding new things to occupy my time. i bought some crazy yarn for socks(love the tag!), and have been spending just a little time outside, very bundled up(2 degrees here this morning!!)

happy happy wednesday!!!

p.s. isn't rosco so freaking adorable in his little sweater?????

60's/70's quilt finished!

it's done! i think after 10 years of use, washing and fading it will be perfect.

violet definitely likes it-meow!

go acrylic!

let's talk about acrylic yarn. i'm a bit of a yarn snob, i'll admit, and never, ever thought i would use acrylic yarn, for anything! even for baby sweaters i'd rather use washable wool. it seemed silly to do all that work in anything but a natural fiber.

then i learned to crochet. i LOVE to crochet, and it's quite fast, so you can do a lot of crocheting in a shorter time than if you were to knit the same thing. i wanted to make a blanket, so for my first blanket i used a nice cotton yarn, and it was not cheap. i wanted to make another blanket, but couldn't really justify the cost of all the yarn it would take for another blanket. it takes LOTS of yarn. then one day i was at marden's. now, if you live in maine, you've most likely heard of marden's. marden's is a chain of stores that sells pretty much anything you can think of, and really really cheap! there's a lot of crap there, but for some reason they have a big fabric section, and it's really nice fabric! mostly discontinued stuff, but i've found designer fabrics there that sell at other stores for two to three times as much. sometimes they get yarn. that day they had a lot of acrylic yarn-the vanna white brand that i would never have dreamed of using before. but it was, i think, $1.99 a skein, and it's actually fairly soft and they had really nice colors. so, for $29.00 i bought enough to make a blanket. and i LOVE this blanket! love it!  i sewed on a few vintage doilies from the flea market, and they were perfect! certainly if i were made out of money i'd go for a more luxurious yarn, but i have changed my attitude toward acrylic. i won't be knitting sweaters with it, but it's great for a big project like a blanket.

i've been busy tying my quilt, and i'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

happy friday!!!

60's/70's quilt

saturday i finally got inspired to work on the quilt top i had started this summer. my goal with this quilt was to use all vintage 1960's and 1970's fabrics and sew it all with the 1964 singer that i bought at a yard sale this summer. so after sewing for about nine hours straight, the top is finished!! and, i'm not sure how i feel about it...i wasn't going for "pretty", just scrappy and random, and that it certainly is. it's growing on me, and there are a couple of things i'm going to do that i think might make it just right!

and how great is this logo??

i especially love the bavarian fabrics!

so here it is. there is about another third of it folded over the backside. the snow was too deep to show the whole thing.

my favorite square:

so, i decided to tie this quilt, and to make it look very 1970's i'm using yarn. red yarn. red acrylic yarn! i found this quilt on line that i love, so i'm thinking the red ties will do the trick!

this quilt is from the blog crazy mom quilts. if you like quilts, this woman is amazing!! i also bought some very pretty fabric for the backing, so hopefully i will soon have a quilt that i am happy with!