crafty tree trimmings!
November 9, 2009 at 12:11 pm | In I love to make things..., chatty, holidays, projects to do | Leave a CommentI’m very excited to be part of the new Crafty Tree Trimmings ornament-making ebook! I was asked to design something with beads and buttons, so I made a set of Sparkle Ornaments — a super fun way to use some of my favorite glittery bits and pieces.
I made two ornaments, a pink and gold version and an all-blue one. It was fun to bring our little silver tinsel tree out for the photos and listen to some Sufjan Stevens while I made the ornaments — it’s still early, but I’m looking forward to the holidays this year!
The book is a collection of six ornaments to make in all different crafty mediums from some of my favorite designers. The book includes:
* Crocheted Flower Ornament, by Linda Permann
* Felted Gingerbread House Ornament, by Betz White
* Bead and Button Sparkle Ornament, by me
* Vintage Treasure Ornament, by Kayte Terry
* Gossamer Thread Three Ornament, by Diane Gilleland
* Paper Globe Ornament, by Patricia Zapata, who is also the book’s designer
The cover spotlights all the ornaments so nicely, and each how-to has a clearly photographed set of photos and any full-sized templates you need, right in the book’s pages.
Fifteen percent of the book’s sales go directly to Project Linus, an organization we were all eager to support. Here’s a bit more about them:
It is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”
And Diane and Patricia structured their book in a very innovative way: each contributor receives a portion of the sales as well, so we are shareholders in a sense as well as creative contributors — very cool!
You can find the book here and check out a flickr pool of ornament photos here. I would love to see what you make from the collection!
kitten projects + enchiladas
October 28, 2009 at 2:13 pm | In I love to make things..., chatty, cooking is crafty too, free crafty, oregon | 1 CommentI’m happy to announce that it’s my week to have a free craft project sheet at the Knittn Kitten! The week actually started Tuesday (ahem) but I’m a little swamped right now, so here’s a peek at my project a day after Diane and Heather were nice enough to write about it…
This is an ultra-simple, very customizable little pincushion project — very easy and quick to make. If you buy a half-yard of a cotton print and a half-yard of corduroy at the Kitten you can make 44 of them, believe it or not!
I’ve included instructions for a tufted version and a button-decorated version, but you can also embroider, gocco-print, or embellish them any way you please. They would also make nice sachets if you’d prefer. Okay, now that I’ve finished the hard sell, the project sheet is waiting for you over at the shop, so stop by anytime to pick up some pretty new things and a project sheet (or all of them!).
Last week’s project was Christine’s darling cupcake patches! I got a copy of her instructions yesterday and they’re fantastic. You can still get hers and the other project how-tos — each one is in its own section with the materials you’ll need for the craft.
In other news, I have a new favorite recipe… we ended up with pounds and pounds of green tomatoes before we pulled our garden out
(this is after making three rounds of enchiladas — looks like we’ll have at least two more to go)
and the Oregonian ran this great idea for using them: squash, bean and cheese enchiladas with green chile and green tomato sauce. We’ve made three batches, each one slightly different, and the last one was the best. It’s definitely on heavy rotation around here and it’s so easy to double the recipe and freeze half.
My adaptations are: use half black beans and half pintos, use one and a half chipotle peppers instead of one, and add chopped red peppers to the filling. (Oh, and I left out the cilantro, I hate that stuff but you probably like it so feel free to leave it in, of course!)
stamps and sugar skulls (and quilts)
October 16, 2009 at 7:38 am | In I love to make things..., chatty, crafty events, oregon | 4 CommentsI wanted to mention two super cool craft classes going on tomorrow here in Portland…
Alison Wood is teaching Stamp Carving at 100th Monkey Studios!
12-2 at 100th Monkey, $15
110 SE 16th Ave, Portland
And Cathy Pitters is teaching Sugar Skull Decorating at DIY Lounge — with music and refreshments, too!
3-6 at DIY Lounge, $40
1639 NE Alberta St., Portland
One last thing: I am so excited that my Modern Heirloom Quilt will be part of the Aurora Colony Annual Quilt Show, which opens today (Friday the 16th). We’re going on Sunday afternoon — I can’t wait to see the quilts!
Old Aurora Colony Museum
15018 Second Street NE, Aurora, OR 97002
(503) 678-5754
October 16-25, 2009
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Daily
kitten crafts revisited
October 14, 2009 at 10:50 am | In chatty, free crafty, oregon | Leave a CommentWow, this week (month? however long?) has been crazy and I have been hoping to find the time to post about some stuff I’m excited about, but that has been in very short supply. I have a big deadline November 1 and after that I hope to resurface and actually make some fun things and write about them! Thankfully Pearl’s Halloween costume is already done (in personal record-setting time thanks to CRAFT:) and the 14 pounds of apples I haven’t made applesauce with yet will keep for awhile. I have high hopes for November!
In the meantime, I went to the Knittn Kitten last week with Benedikta and got a good look at some of the new free craft patterns! Ethel has arranged them all around the shop so you can see the finished projects in their natural habitat. There are still free pattern sheets for all of the crafts to date up for grabs, so no worries if you couldn’t make it to the store until now…
This week’s new project is Joelle Groendes‘ appliqued kitty bag! So cute.
![blackcatbag[1]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/3952029018_6570210344_o.jpg)
There are also Diane’s pretty patchwork tea towels in the fabric section,
Teresa’s fancy hairpins near the seed beads,
and Heather’s striking statement necklace with the jewelry findings.
And my pattern sheet will be over there as of the 27th — here’s a sneak peek at my project on the vintage fabric table!
I made some super simple button square pincushions using some favorite prints, corduroys, and buttons from a long-ago Kitten haul. You can see some of the current vintage treasures in the mix now — any of those patterns would be so cute with a button or two mixed in.
And by the way, if you’re not within range of the Kitten, we are planning to put together an ebook of all the patterns sometime next month! More on that soon.
p.s. The library has posted a podcast of the Crafty Writers Talking event last month that Diane, Alicia and I were part of — thank you again to the library for organizing the talk and to all of the crafty folks who came to it!
Yoda in action!
October 1, 2009 at 11:40 am | In I love to make things..., chatty, crafting with kids, holidays, new writing! | 5 CommentsI finished the Yoda costume for Pearl this week and I’m so pleased that the tutorial is up over at the CRAFT: blog!
I had a lot of fun making all the bits and pieces, especially the hat (I actually ended doing a set of three, in baby, small toddler, and big toddler sizes — they are super easy to sew up!)
and the snake.
You can see the whole tutorial with lots more photos over here — thank you, CRAFT! And now, instead of frantically knitting away on Halloween afternoon (ahem), I have a whole month to do a few little costume extras. First order of business: add some snaps to keep that snake securely on a speedy Yoda’s shoulders!
p.s. just a friendly reminder, please ask my permission before using any of my photos… thank you!!
beaded hairpins at the Kitten!
September 29, 2009 at 12:28 pm | In chatty, oregon | 2 CommentsI’m sewing away on Pearl’s Yoda costume so I only have a minute — but I wanted to mention that Teresa Sullivan has her new weekly project up for grabs at the Knittn Kitten!
You can still get copies of Heather Mann’s Statement Necklace how-to from last week (I picked one up a few days ago and I’m going to make some of those soon… yay), and you can get a peek at some of the upcoming projects in the Knittn Kitten flickr pool, too.
Speaking of Heather, she is auditioning to join the blogging team at Apartment Therapy and has her first post up as of yesterday — focusing on the Mod Cross as a design element, very cool! If you like her round-up, please leave a comment for her.
the case of the missing hip holster
September 24, 2009 at 9:46 am | In chatty, oregon | 3 CommentsYesterday afternoon, Pearl and I went out to Oscar & Albert with some friends for a toddler-friendly happy hour (I highly recommend the grilled cheese sandwich). Unfortunately, when we left I dropped my beloved hip holster with my wallet inside
on Division St. and didn’t notice until we got home quite awhile later. I called O&A and they hadn’t seen it, so I went right back up there, looked all around (it was pretty dark by this point), and asked at Petite Provence across the street… and a man had turned in my wallet, all cards intact (thank you!!) to the lost & found there. But there was no sign of my hip holster anywhere…
So, after one last look in the daylight this morning and no dice (I did end up getting coffee and a cheese brioche for breakfast, there are worse places to lose a favorite thing), I thought I’d ask around over here: were you on upper Division last night, and did you happen to see a well-loved battered hip holster on the sidewalk or in the street? Lucky for me, I am right around the corner from Queen Bee world HQ so I can replace it easily… but I loved that little bag, especially since Kate drew it for me.
Most importantly, a huge thank-you to the guy who found my wallet and turned it in! Let me know if I can get you a coffee or a cheese sandwich sometime!
and the costume is…
September 23, 2009 at 10:10 am | In I love to make things..., chatty, crafting with kids, holidays | 5 CommentsYoda!
I spent 45 minutes wandering around the madness of the 30% off sale at Fabric Depot holding my trusty Yoda action figure up to different bolts of fabric, but I think I got some good ones! The polarfleece is super soft and cozy for her hat, and I liked the cheerful orange-stars quilting cotton for her snake — after I chose the dull green and dark brown, the bright safety-orange felt I’d originally picked up felt like it completed a miniature hunting palette or something. So since she’s one and a half and I get to make the costume, stars it is!
I’ll post photos and a tutorial when it’s done… I’m going to finish it early this year (unlike last Halloween when I was still fringing a scarf a half-hour after the party started).
Halloween crafting and statement necklaces
September 22, 2009 at 2:37 pm | In chatty, crafting with kids, free crafty, oregon | 2 CommentsI just got most of what I need for Pearl’s Halloween costume at Fabric Depot’s 30% off sale… I figured I’d carry on the tradition of posting some of my craft supplies
last year’s sneak peek – I made her a Harry Potter costume!
and seeing if anyone wants to guess what the costume I’m making her is!
I’ll reveal all tomorrow.
On another note, Heather Mann* has unveiled her free Knittn Kitten pattern — for a statement necklace — and it is fantastic!
Just stop by the store this week and ask for the free pattern sheet at the counter — everything you’ll need is right in the magical Kitten inventory. Next week there will be a fantastic pattern up for grabs from Teresa Sullivan!
*another hint at what Pearl’s costume is if you’ve been reading my blog recently!
free patterns at the Knittn Kitten!
September 17, 2009 at 12:58 pm | In chatty, crafty events, free crafty, oregon, vintage crafty | 3 CommentsI’m excited to announce that I’m helping out with a fun project — donating a free pattern to support one of my favorite crafty archives, the Knittn Kitten here in Portland!
Each week a different local crafter will be offering up a free project sheet to try, and you can find all the supplies for it in the shop to make your own version. There’s also a new flickr pool celebrating the shop — please join and add your photos of treasures you’ve found, projects you’re making with these patterns, or anything else Kittenish!
Here’s a list of the crafters participating so far…
September 22 – Heather Mann
September 29 – Teresa Sullivan
October 6 – Diane Gilleland
October 13 – Joey Groendes
October 20 – Christine Blystone
October 27 – Susan Beal
November 3 – Lee Meredith
November 10 – Bridget Benton
All of us will post photos of the new projects on our blogs every week and of course you can also see them all in the flickr group as they’re unveiled! Thank you to Diane and Christine for coming up with this great idea. The Kitten is a very special place and I am grateful to have it just a couple of zip codes away, so I’m very glad to support it with some fun craftiness!
Please help spread the word about the pattern giveaway, and if you’re local and have a chance to stop by the Knittn Kitten, I’d love to see what you make!
Here’s a hint about my project… it will involve some of each of these things:
and
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