Limited Choke Dog collars

A couple of weeks back, my dogs decided to escape the yard. They were apprehended by stranger kind enough to coax 150 pounds of fur into the back of their car and drop them off at the nearest vet.  They weren't wearing their collars or tags because I normally keep a choke chain on them.

Well, what I didn't realize is that they are actually better off with their collars and tags even though I get more control with the choke chains.  Not to mention their collars are as old as they are and I wasn't too nuts about the selection for large dogs.  So, I made my own collars for my spoiled puppies.

But rather than make a collar that slips over their heads when I need to restrain them (for example, when strangers come to the door), I decided on a limited choke collar which give some control, but doesn't tighten enough to pose as much of a strangulation hazard as a choke chain.

I added an extra d-ring to hang their tags from.

Not bad for a first try, huh?


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UFO #2: Twirly skirt

This is a cute little skirt I made as part of a dress made with an Amy Butler pattern.  The top of the dress was shirred and my then 18 month old didn't like it.  So I pulled the skirt off, intending to attach it to a t-shirt to make it into a dress... and then I thought maybe I should just make it a skirt...

Except that the waistband wasn't quite wide enough to make a good casing for the elastic, so I sewed in a piece of ribbon to make the casing... but I never finished.

And actually, I finished the casing but haven't been successful in getting my daughter into the skirt to model it. But I bet it would be super cute and perfect for her Dancing with the Stars night with Daddy!
Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Sewing Machine Advice?

A few years ago, I bought a new Singer machine rather than pay to overhaul the Husqvarna/Viking I received from my grandmother.  In retrospect, overhauling the 20+ year old machine might've been a better move.  My "new" machine had no-frills and would be ok for occasional sewing, but now that I started quilting it doesn't fit the bill.  Sewing machines have gotten a lot more interesting since I was a kid learning to sew.  What I need is a good solid sewing machine that allows me to freehand machine quilt.  What I want is a sewing/quilting/embroidery machine that can cut like a serger, like one of the new Brother Quattro machines:

*drool*

According to the Brother website, look at all the COOL things it does:

Unfortunately, something like this runs close to $10,000.  Definitely out of my price range.

This is a little closer, but still a little above what I was hoping to spend:

Not nearly as cool, but it does embroidery and sewing for under $500.  Still more than I want to spend but at least this one doesn't cost as much as a small car.

All in all, the Brother machines seem to have killer features at much lower price points than the other manufacturers.  The question then becomes, will these machines last?  Because they have more plastic parts than the high end models.

*sigh*   I wish I'd gotten her Bernina.

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

My New Toy- Accuquilt Go! Baby

If you use one of those huge die cutters in the craft store you are probably using an Accucut die cutter.  Several years back, I bought their home use/portable cutter which was pretty much discontinued as soon as they launched it.  Finding compatible dies is just ridiculous.  So anyway, I was on the company website trying to find some specs or anything to try and make my own adapters when I learned of their new product line, the Accuquilt die cutters for quilters.  Now, they have a higher end version and also the consumer/home use/portable ones... and since I more or less got burned with their paper die cutter, I was hesitant to buy this, lest I get stuck with another box in the closet.

But, I started making I Spy quilts for the kids and I got a little carried away.  (I have nearly 300 hexagons cut already!)  All of these hexagons were fussy cut by hand using a rotary cutter and an acrylic template.  It's taken me the better part of a year to get through enough different materials to have the "inventory" to assemble a decent sized I Spy quilt. 

After doing the math, I decided that it would be worth the $130 or so for the Go! Baby machine and the equilateral triangle die to avoid cutting some 600 or so triangles.  Otherwise, all these toddlers in the family will be in college before I get the first top pieced together.  I guess by then I could claim these are vintage I Spy quilts, but I digress.  I was looking for a reason to buy this gadget and I had one, so I bought it, and it's COOOOOOOL!!!!!
 

Naturally, I had to get some of the other dies to go with this and a cutting mat, and a carrying case to keep everything together.  All in all, I spent about $300.  (Shhhh!  Don't tell my husband!)  But I cranked out all the darned triangles I needed for my first quilt in just about 10 minutes.  That's right!  I cranked out almost TWO HUNDRED equilateral triangles in TEN MINUTES!!  And it was so quiet I could do it during NAP TIME!!!!  How cool is THAT????? 

Now, if I could just sew the darned things together as fast as I can cut them...  (Boy, I bet anyone who quilts would be surprised to hear THAT!!)

So anyway, I am trying not to be all ADHD about my crafting so I actually finish projects, but this makes me want to cut up the rest of my scraps and make all sorts of things.  Pillow cases, wall hangings, zabuton cushions... This thing is COOL! 

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

More sewing...

It's soccer season... my son's team is in first place, which is the first time that's ever happened in his life. That's exciting but some of the games happen right during naptime. So I decided to make a little quilt for the toddler to sleep on while her brother embarrasses me with his smack talking.
It's a little quilt, only 2x3 feet. As always when I quilt, I draw out a much larger pattern, then end up only doing a piece of it. Anyway, the concept here are 12 inch squares of randomly sized strips. Not too complicated, and made of materials already on hand. If you look carefully on the left side of the picture, you can tell I was about 4 inches short on the pink fleece binding and patched in a piece of white.

Don't ask me why the standard increment in prepackaged binding is 3 yards, when there is no quilt or blanket you would ever make with only 3 yards of binding, but I bought these packages on sale years ago...

My carpal tunnel is acting up, so beading is difficult... but I can do machine quilting. :)

The next project I want to try is an "I Spy" quilt, and then maybe a T-shirt quilt.

Buttons, buttons, everywhere!

As you may have already noticed, I also like to sew. My mother made sure I took sewing lessons and know how to alter clothes, sew from scratch, and alter patterns. I couldn't resist these cute little buttons... Aren't they just yummy?

This cute little bear is probably going to be a toggle on a purse or something similar. The jelly beans, flowers, and small Hello Kitty buttons are going to embellish ribbon covered hair clippies for my daughter.

HAHA, poor girl. She doesn't really like wearing clippies.

Maybe I'll make some hair bands or something else instead.

Never the Twain Shall Meet?

A few months back, Artbeads.com sent me this Swarovski Crystallized Components 18mm Rondelle (wide hole) bead for a product review. I thought I was getting something suitable for the focal bead on a lanyard... the bead was a lot larger than I expected. (The radius is 18mm.) I guess I could have gone with the lanyard idea, but I got distracted by my Christmas sewing projects and I had a "better" idea.

This bead is the perfect size to use as an accent closure on my satin purse. Thanks to the unusually wide hole, I was able to use a heavy duty thread (normally used for hand quilting) and ensure the bead was sewn securely enough to handle repeated use. A 4mm Swarovski crystal pearl bead is used to hold the thread and anchor the bead firmly. Pictures do not do this bead justice. It is nice and heavy, with lots of faceting that throws light even in dimly lit rooms. I imagine this bead would also make a great knob/drawer pull on an ornamental box or jewelry box. Given its price relative to other Swarovski products, this is a TERRIFIC value!

It's kind of funny. When I first saw this bead, I had no idea what anyone would ever do with such a huge bead. Now, I think I'm going to have to order a couple more for some other household crafting projects I've been working on.

Labor Day supply sales

Don't ask me when Labor Day weekend turned into such a shopping occasion, but hey... if I can get something on sale, why not?

As always, here are the favorite online crafting supply sources:
Artbeads.com (20% off most of their beading supplies- free shipping in US!!)
Fire Mountain Gems (bulk discounts, check out their $3 bead-a-rama)
Wazoodle (fabrics, patterns, notions, etc. with tons of new additions to their "Flash Sale")

For those in Hawaii, I hear Bead It might have some good deals going. And Ben Franklin is, of course, offering extra savings to their craft club members.

Bibs for the Baby

It turns out that the baby has her dad's sensitive skin. When she was born last summer, it seemed that everything gave her heat rash. I got this bright idea to make a bunch of baby blankies, wrap style carriers, and other baby things out of bamboo jersey that I ordered on Wazoodle. Since they were having a sale, I rationalized that it cost less to buy 6 yards than it would've cost to buy 4. And then it occurred to me that someone may have already thought of the idea of using bamboo jersey to make a baby swaddler and onesies.

On several occasions, I've also been inspired to try quilting. Or rather, I've pieced quilt patterns and bought materials.

Ummm, I have a lot of fabric.

So anyway, I got motivated and stitched up 6 bibs, two in each of the patterns shown here. The cute prints are from fat quarters, the back side is bamboo jersey, and I recycled some of those small flannel receiving blankets for use as an absorbitive liner. All they need are snaps. Since I don't have one of those snap fastening tools, I bought some snaps at Walmart that came with a little plastic contraption to hold the snaps while you hammer them through the material. It's late and the kids are asleep, so the snaps can wait until tomorrow morning. :)

Baby/Toddler Hair Clip How-To

Here are some of the hair clippies I've been making for the baby:



Part of the fun is that it's a great way to use those scraps of ribbon and left over flowers, etc. from other projects. They're great for keeping her baby comb over in place while playing and super cute for pictures, but definitely require close supervision when in use.

Here's the tutorial I used when getting started. I did not make this tutorial. Note that the fabric glue being used in the video is fairly expensive, relative to other types of fabric glues. Spend the money for the good glue. I cheaped out on the glue and it "dries wet." (Look at the pink clip with the rhinestone flower and you'll see exactly what I mean.)

Mothers' Day sale

I scored a couple of really nice strands of pearls at Bead It! Best part is that the pearls were 50% off due their Mothers' Day specials. :) Can't pass up a good deal, now, can I???

For some odd reason, I've been on a sewing kick this weekend, so I haven't actually finished anything with these pearls yet. We'll see. :)

Upcycling Heaven

I don't do Aloha Wear. Maybe it's because my grandmother bought me mu'u mu'us for Christmas as a young child when all I wanted was a Strawberry Shortcake doll. Maybe it's because I couldn't wait to leave Hawaii as a teen. Maybe it's because I'm petite and shy and don't like bright colors or loud prints. Anyway, when I heard about a store which took old mu'u mu'us and made them into peasant tops and skirts, I thought it was a bit odd. I mean, those were items I wouldn't have been caught dead in the first time around... but after they'd been sitting in a plastic bag in someone's closet for a decade?

Anyway, there's a store in Kailua, barely 5 minutes away from my house called Mu'u Mu'u Heaven. It's been open for a couple years, but I never went in because, well, I don't do aloha attire (except on one occasion, when I was teasing some horribly cheesy colleagues in the military, who dressed like they were color blind twins). Not to mention, it's a boutique. The last thing I wanted to do was pay boutique prices for dresses in patterns I loathed in the early 80's! I guess they've expanded since the last time I read an article on them, upcycling old sundresses, not just the nasty old Hilo Hatties touristy crap you get in the local thrift stores.

Apparently, President Elect Obama and his family have taken several of his late grandmother's old mu'u mu'us to the ladies at Mu'u Mu'u Heaven. They are designing some upcycled items for the Obama's to remember her by. Here's a link to the news clip. Just thought it was a neat idea, and inspiration to my crafty mom friends. I have lots of great dresses sitting in my closet which don't get worn. Maybe the baby will be the most stylish little girl of 2009. You never know!

Mermaids Love Pearls

We've been having massive rains, high winds, and flash flooding since Thursday. Unfortunately, I went to a couple of different stores, looking for red tulle, and so far, nada. I did, however, manage to make it to the post office to ship these earrings off to their new owner! (She's an old friend of mine, from back in the Academy days. I hope she enjoys them!)

In other news, the store's been featured on another blog! Huggermugger is another crafty mom blog. She sews, she writes, she crafts, and she shops! What's not to love about her?