If you came here from Extreme Crafting and Life Tips, please note the new blog address:
http://handmadebycarolecarr.com
Otherwise, just ignore this and go look at something more interesting. On MY blog, I mean.
Hamburgers and french fries. Yes.
I just love fabric. How can you not love this.
Hamburgers and fries. Fabric. A sewing machine. An unhealthy obsession.
We all know what happened to the fabric.
It’s a bitty little cross-body bag. Made out of hamburgers. Lined with pickles.
Even pickle card holder slotty things for cards. A mustard zipper. The pattern is the Madison Wallet Bag by Serendipity Studio.
I don’t quite know what to say for myself at this point.
Crafting can be dangerous, my friends. Be prepared, and stay crafty.
Should you wear an embroidered shirt if you’re under 80?
I knew there had to be a way.
Not your grandmother’s shirt, is it? I found this awesome design on http://www.urbanthreads.com Urban Threads has the coolest embroidery designs I’ve found on the web. I am obsessed, and I’m even going to shove my wares onto my daughter and my niece. Heh heh heh, they’re not expecting this, so don’t tell them.
Obviously I need some practice on my selfie-taking. And I should probably clean that mirror. But my mom will be proud, because at least I put on lipstick before I took the picture.
BIG shout out to my new machine, a Babylock Destiny. I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it. Some day I might get bored watching it do it’s magic. But I’m guessing that will be in the distant future.
Stay crafty, my friends.
Oops, I did it again. Travel bag number two.
I guess they’re kinda like potato chips…can’t stop at one. I made another travel bag this weekend.
My lovely sewing assistant Tippy is performing his quality control functions. You can tell by the pictures that this bag is big enough to carry a 20 pound cat. I don’t know about you, but that is always one of my considerations when I choose a travel bag.
Thank you, Tippy.
The pattern for this bag is the Cargo Duffle by Noodlehead, and it’s free on the Robert Kaufman website. http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/Cargo_Duffle/ I’ve been saving this fabric for just the right project. It is Charley Harper fabric by Birch Organic Fabrics.
I plan to use the front pockets for my phone, earbuds, boarding passes, etc. I used nice, sturdy snaps so they won’t randomly unfurl my goodies at the airport. No magnetic snap disasters in my future.
I added an elastic pocket on one end for a water bottle, easily accessible so I can surrender it at the security checkpoint.
I just love the fat little cardinals on this thing. Did you know that the cardinal is the state bird of Missour-uh? (And six other states.) I figure that is why I have always loved cardinals. There are also squirrels on the two pockets. That makes me think of my dad, sitting in a lawn chair in the back yard, BB gun across his lap. Just waiting for those fluffy-tailed rats to come into his yard, daring them to try.
Maybe this is the bag for my trip to Honolulu this weekend? Ooh, there are choices. First I have to name it. Any ideas?
Stay crafty, my friends.
Say my name. And a sneaky preview.
Boats get names. Fighter planes get names. Children, pets, body parts get names. In some places, houses get names.
It’s a lot of responsibility naming things. And I love it. My dad got a fishing boat years ago, and I wanted to name it Chicken of the Sea. When we moved to Hawaii, I was tickled because they name their houses here. In Hawaiian. I consider that a challenge.
We were inspired by our 20 pound baby panther. And an ornery feral cat that adopted us (we named her Monique, after a flamboyantly sassy former friend of Miss O.) With the help of an adorable twelve-year-old girl, a student at a Hawaiian speaking school, we came up with a name for our house: ka hale o na popoki makani. The house of the windy cats. This is why I like naming things.
Now we get to bring this into the crafty world. Fire up the Destiny, time to personalize some golf shirts for the Mr.
Do you think any of the fancy golfing guys will know that he his wearing a shirt with a shout out to farting cats?
While we’re on the topic of names, one of my friends unintentionally came up with a good one. He commented on Facebook about a picture of my travel bag, “looks like repressed fantasies.” OMG, may I present the Repressed Fantasies Travel Bag.
I know you’ve already seen it, I just wanted to put it out there with it’s new name.
I’ve started a new project, inspired by the great reactions I got to the Repressed Fantasies Travel Bag. Here’s a little sneaky peeky.
Charley Harper and cardinals.
Stay crafty, my friends.
My new travel bag. Do you think the Mayans drank tequila?
I love the way this bag turned out! Probably because the fabric is just so amazing. Made by Alexander Henry, it is called Contigo. Apparently that means “with you” in Spanish. I also looked up “me equivoque,” which means “I was wrong.” So now I suppose I’ve got a carry-on offering apologies from the ancient Mayans. I guess they felt the need to apologize to that woman who fainted from the excitement of becoming a human sacrifice. Or something like that. See the tequila bottle to the left of then agave plant?
What a great pattern! I used the Aragon Bag pattern by Sew Sweetness. You can buy it here: https://sewsweetness.com/shop/aragon-bag I made a few modifications so it will work for me. I left off the front pocket, since I didn’t want my handsome Mayan bisected with a flap. Although I had no problem bisecting Our Lady with a zipper.
I also made it two inches deeper, so hopefully I can cram enough in it for my weekend in Waikiki. I put a sturdy layer in the bottom and attached six feet so it doesn’t get airport cooties on it in transit.
Check out the skeleton dude taking a shot!
Rustled up some charming little fellows for the interior. I don’t think you can ever have too many zip pockets.
Looking forward to field testing this next Friday. Hopefully it will scare away some little kids in the airport. Hmmm…I wonder what other cool things I could make with Contigo fabric?
Stay crafty, my friends.
If I had that headdress I’d be a Rockette.
I just got an idea yesterday that I needed a cute travel bag. So I overthought it for awhile And decided to make the Aragon Bag, a pattern by Sew Sweetness.
Well this fabric is just pretty darn awesome. At first I called her Mary, then I figured out she is Our Lady of Guadalupe. But I am just tickled that she now has a green zipper passing through her breasticular area. I’m pretty sure I’m going to like this bag. Though I don’t think it’s big enough for a weekend getaway. And in an astonishing turn of events, the darling Miss O declared her undying love for the project in it’s infancy. I think she thinks it should be hers. There might be a tussle.
Okay. This dude just plain makes my day. The guy on the right, the one with the hella good hair/feather headdress. And how ’bout that skeletal dude with the shot, the one who looks like he’s wearing a zipper pull as a monocle? But really, you should check out the zippers. There is something intrinsically satisfying about having awesome, colorful zippers sitting around just waiting to be inserted. In fabric. Through Mayans.
I think this might be a whole bag tomorrow. And I know just the person to model it for the photo shoot.
Stay crafty, my friends.
Sewing by hand. Not kidding.
Hire an exorcist, I have been possessed. In my defense, I accidentally ran across some pictures of what is called a millefiori quilt. Err merr gawsh. Go google it.
I couldn’t help myself. I knew I had to try it. Even though all of my instincts are on high alert. Even though my fight-or-flight instinct was screaming, “run away!” Because they are made BY HAND. You know, like sewing with a proper needle and thread. And probably a thimble. Because needles are sharp. (Some of the needles even have the word sharp written right on the label, in case you couldn’t remember.)
Then I found something called The New Hexagon – Millefiore Quilt-Along. Heaven help us all. The brainchild of Katja Marek, it uses her new book The New Hexagon. She’s using her superpowers to suck in all of us unsuspecting fabric collectors. She’s egging us on, drawing us in with a Facebook group and encouraging comments on our progress. And I don’t think she sleeps, either.
Here’s my first hexagon, hexie if you’re a savvy quilty/sewy person.
Don’t you dare comment on the fact that you can see my crappy little hand stitches, petite though they are. I took them all out and had a do-over. Not anal much, huh? I will put up a new pic soon, along with my next row or so.
Wish me luck on my (insane) adventure!
Now go make something pretty.
And now, intermission.
I find lots of pretty things in my garden. Like bougainvillea. These are going crazy right now, and this color is my favorite. Coral? Scarlet?
Rainbow twins! Hawaiian rainbows are the best. These are named Roy and G.Biv.
Now go make something pretty.
Mark Twain is in the house! Holla!
I’m from the state of Missouri. The one pronounced Mi-zor-uh. And there’s a famous dude that came from the same town in which I was born. So today I’m sending some love to Hannibal!
There is an adorable quilt shop there called the Hickory Stick. I spend hours there every time I visit my mom. I blame that shop (and my mom) for my newish obsession with quilting. On my last trip I saw the most amazing quilt with Mark Twain’s head on it. And I knew it must be mine.
They used the Mark Twain/Hannibal fabrics, which are way too muted for my loud tastes. And I’ve been longing for a red, white and blue quilt. So tuh-duh! Meet my patriotic friend Mark!
We’ve got your boyhood home there on the bottom, along with a fence, freshly whitewashed. The swirly star thingies are paddlewheel blocks, and they look like paddlewheels (in case you live under a rock and don’t know what paddlewheels look like.)
By the way, Mark is NOT a printed panel, I machine appliquéd his cute little head on there. That was some fussy work! And I scanned his autograph on my cool new Destiny sewing machine and stitched it out with the press of a button. (Now I’m just bragging. Sorry.)
I changed Mark’s quote to one that better suits my own badass outlook on life. Stitched that puppy out on my machine also. The quote used in the pattern is, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” I seriously considered using my very favorite quote, “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”
When you go to Hannibal, give a shout out to Pat and the wonderful folks at the Hickory Stick Quilt Shop. And check them out on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hickory-Stick-Quilt-Shop/283780778455063 They have this cool pattern by Susan Marth, it’s called A Tribute to Mark Twain. And say hi to my mom on the hill.
handmade by Carole Carr 