More Bows

Busy Saturday

After a late night out, we woke up a little late today and had delicious breakfast tacos (and I had a mango ginger mimosa) at Trudy's on Fruth Street.  It was FANTASTIC.  We came home,  and I immediately started on this cute little thing:

I am really happy with how it turned out.  It's a Sublime Stitching/Lisa Petrucco pattern.  I have not decided if I'm going to put it up in my Etsy shop or take it to Moxie.  My baby stuff doesn't seem to be selling very well there.  I'm thinking of adding toddler and children's shirts to my shop soon.  Maybe they'll sell better.  I also managed to get transfers on to 4 more onesies, and I'm going to try to finish those this week.  I have a few boy's designs so maybe they'll sell as well. 

Okay, I'm off to start stitching again!  I hope everyone's had a good Saturday!

New Acheivement Unlocked- Bows

I learned to make hair bows, and in true Joanne fashion, went crazy making them.   I'm taking them to Moxie tomorrow.  They are all out of scrap fabric I have accumulated.  My ex's mom makes what she calls "Christmas pants" every year.  She makes us all a pair of pajama pants out of fabric, and she gave me a bunch of scraps.  In some of these, I recognize people's pajama pants that she has made.  I love it- it's very special.  

I figure I can make bigger ones of these and use them for bowties.  Ideas are flowin now.  

Weekend Activities

You know what I love to do on a Saturday?  Go to the Goodwill Blue Hanger and dig through garbage and find cool stuff like this!

I found a whole set of this vintage American Tourister luggage!  I elected to only buy this piece, though, because, as cute as vintage luggage is, I'd rather pull my bright green suitcase on wheels behind me than lug a heavy suitcase in my arms.  All of the AT luggage I found was in EXCELLENT condition!  I don't know why it wasn't in a regular Goodwill store.  Look at the inside of this case!

It came with a clearish blue tray that goes inside as well.  It's got a little yellow on it, but it's otherwise in really good condition.














*LOVE* this thing.  I decided that each time I find a vintage case like this in good condition at the Blue Hanger store (which I usually do), I'm gonna go ahead and pick it up.  They're a cool thing to collect, and I can put all sorts of craft stuff in them!

I also found this Instamatic camera hanging out there.  It's dirty and missing parts, but I'm gonna clean it up and see if I can maybe find the parts online.  I won't use it, it's just my first vintage camera find, and I want it to look nice. 

I also found the most gorgeous vintage Royal typewriter that was dark green and brown.  Three things, though- it was broken, extremely heavy (meaning I'd probably pay a good bit for it, and I wasn't looking to spend a whole lot of money today), and I don't have a space for it.  Had it not been broken, I probably would have found a space for it!  I'm a silly girl, though, and forgot my phone, so I was unable to get a photo of it.  I fiddled around with it for a few minutes and couldn't figure out how to fix it.  It was soooo cute, though! 

I also made some more soap.  I  know I said I wasn't gonna do soap any more but this is pretty easy, as you just pour it into a silicone mold and voila, cute guest bathroom soap!  I'm gonna put it up in my Etsy shop.

We saw Dinner for Schmucks, which was very, very, funny, and then we went to Orangecup, which is a frozen yogurt shop in The Domain shopping center.  I was disappointed.  I am used to TCBY type frozen yogurt, which I suspect isn't REALLY yogurt at all, with all sorts of different flavors and toppings!  I was craving Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla Bean and gummy bears.  Alas, they have 4 flavors at Orangecup, and they were really yogurt.  I hate yogurt.  It's sour and gross and I can't get the taste out of my mouth for hours.   I ordered some, before I realized how not good it was, and was disappointed.  I got the yogurt guy to put some chocolatey crunchy things on it, though, so it was edible.  I feel so mean saying that, but I just don't like yogurt.  I'll stick with the TCBYish places from now on.  Now, if I could only find one around here...  I browsed Anthropologie while Allen played in the Apple store and I have found a new place to drool over.  They have such nice things for the house.  And cute clothes, but probably not many in my size.  And the candles... WOW.  So yummy smelling!!

We then went to Spec's so I could get some pineapple juice to make Malibu and pineapple drinks.  I also got some Lambic.  It's so delicious.  It's chilling right now, and I'll drink it later tonight.  I'm just gonna upload photos, blog, and read blogs the rest of the night.  Then, it's Star Trek:  The Next Generation before bed, and back to work tomorrow!

No you DIDN'T!

I bought the book Subversive Crossstitch last month, and I've just now gotten around to trying my first project.  I think it came out rather well for my first time.  One bird is kinda funky, but I liked it that way, so I left it. I'm looking forward to doing more of these.  They're easy but you have to be really careful about counting, because as you can see, I messed up somewhere and the design is a little off center.  I can't wait to do some of the other patterns! I'm gonna give this to my work friend Brooke.

 

Quilting For Cool People

Hello, hello!  I’ve just gotten off work, and am super excited about blogging again! I wanted to blog yesterday, but I was hit with a small bout of food poisoning, so no blogging for me. 

I am working on a quilt.  I went to Mollie Johnanson’s blog, Wild Olive, and saw a cute baby quilt someone had done.  They used some of her adorable embroidery patterns on some of the patches.  Then I read Elsie’s blog over at A Beautiful Mess, and looked at her home tour.  She said that she keeps a light quilt on the bed for summer.  I have huge comforters that I keep, since we keep the apartment so cold at night, but I always end up shucking the comforter, so I thought maybe I should try using just a quilt.  Comforters look nice, and I suppose I could keep a comforter handy as well, but in Texas, it does get hot, so I thought I’d make a really cool patchwork quilt to keep on the bed when it’s not cold out.  I have two quilts already- one handed down from my great granny Derrick, and one my granny made in hopes I’d have a baby.  It’s big for a baby quilt.  I mean, it covers me!  And I think maybe a third, and maybe even more, may be in order.  It’s nearing the end of summer, but I'm in Texas, so it’s still hot as shit outside, and I don’t think it’ll get anywhere near cool until like November at the earliest, so I still have time to don the quilts!  Yes!!  Here is a preview.

So, what I basically did is figure out how big I want the quilt to be. I want it huge.  So, I took the measurements of my bed.  I decided how big I wanted the squares to be, and decided on 6".  Our bed is 56" wide and 79 ".  I figured out that I wanted my quilt to be 60 wide and 84 long.  Those both divide evenly into 6 inch squares, so I have 10 across and 14 down.  That sounds like a way complicated math equation, like something that may be on some crazy test in high school, right???

Luckily, I, for some reason, purchased a quilt block template to make 6.5” squares a long time ago.  I tried to use a rotary cutter on a self healing mat.  That did not work.  I have to press way too hard, and it hurts my funky wrist.  So, I just traced around the square 140 TIMES!!!! And then cut them all out.  All 140 of them, by hand.  Wow.

I am currently sewing the rows of 10 together.  I have 6 or 7 done.  I’m doing it all by hand, since I think that’s the only way to really do a quilt, and anyone who knows me knows I hate to use sewing machines.  It’s going surprisingly quickly, too! So, here is a photo of some of the rows.  I’m super excited to get it all pieced together.  THEN, I get to pick out some fabric for the back.  I’m thinking cupcakes.  I also need to figure out how to add "batting" or whatever.  I think there is specific quilt batting that's not like the stuffing for pillows and you sandwich that between the top and bottom layers and THEN you have to work on stitching that down all over, so I'll be doing this until I'm 65.  

Slackerella Has Some New Items For Sale

Dear, oh dear!  It's been FOREVER since I've blogged!  I'm sorry about that.  I just haven't had much computer time lately- Allen was using my computer to copy some stuff, and we've been watching a lot of streaming Netflix, so that slows down any photo uploads considerably.  Now, we're taking a break from all of that, and I've gotten my creative mojo back, and I'll be blogging again soon!  I do have some photos to share of some cool stuff I've made since I've blogged last.

The first shirt is a Sublime Stitching pattern, I think. The "Homeskillet" one I purchased but can't remember who created it. Lollipop forest is my design, and the pink shirt and last two bibs are Sublime Stitching designs.  

Bibs for Sale

Here are a few more things I've done recently.  They will be for sale at Moxie, and also at my trunk show at Moxie on 6/25/10.  These are all designed by me.  Not sure how well bibs will sell at the trunk show but you never know.  

Unicorn Believer

Someone on my team at work saw me embroidering on my break. She asked me if I did stuff for other people, and if I sold stuff I had stitched up. I said "HECK YES I DO" in a very Napoleon Dynamite way. No, that really didn't happen, the Napoleon Dynamite thing. I did say "Heck yes I do!" though. She brought me a black tote and asked if I could stitch on it. Again.. heck yes I can. She wanted unicorns so I found these cute Unicorn Believer patterns on the Sublime Stitching website and went on ahead and purchased those bad boys so I could make a quick $10. It's not a lot but we have the same job and I know how much she makes lol so I don't want to charge a bunch. They were a little harder to stitch because the canvas is thick but I think it turned out cute! I just wish I could get good pics of my stuff. We don't have the best lighting for it in the apartment, so these are shit pictures. I'm happy with the stitching on these, though.

Weird Ass Cars

Here is a bib I made with some weird ass cars.  People like weird cars, right?  I'd totally buy this for a baby.

More Onesies and a Random Piece

These are from Sublime Stitching, except for the bicycle one. I came across that one on an image search.  The green onesie is the Sublime Stitching Vital Organs pattern, which I think is the very first one I purchased from her.  The other is the Cute Little Heads pattern.  

I love how the bike one came out.  I would like to try to find a way to incorporate more buttons into embroidery. You should see the massive button collection I have.  It has lots of vintage buttons too but I don't want to part with them so maybe I'll have to just keep those ones for myself!

Skirts I've Made

I'm making some summer skirts!  I'm making them all from the book "Sew What!  Skirts".  Hence, no pattern needed!  You  just measure yourself and how long you want it to be and it's really easy.

Here is one I finished last week.

And here are four more I'm working on.  They're all sewn together, they just need trim and a zipper.  They go surprisingly fast. 

I'm really excited to get them all done and wear them!

Bibs, Bodysuits, Coffee Sleeves

More Stitchin'

New embroideries I did!The helicopters are inspired by a cute little t-shirt I saw somewhere, and the sailboat pattern, I created.

Mini Embroideries

I have spent the past week drawing up mini embroidery patterns so that I could do this:

Cupcake Toppers!

I am on a roll today.  I got SO MUCH done!!!  Here is the last of what is finished today.  I have some resin currently casting, but I won't be making anything out of it.  I'm just testing some molds, and  they're not in the least bit cool enough to make a necklace.  One is a peanut butter cup mold and the other is a funky starfish thing.  BUT, I did get these done, AT LAST!!

Here are my cassette cupcake toppers. 

Sushi!

Mustaches!

Aaaaand some of my favorite things- Word bubbles!

Onesies and a Pillow

Here are some new additions that I did recently.  

I drew these trees and used the houses from the Black Apple/Sublime Stitching patterns.

Bibs

Here are some bibs I made. I just need to get them ironed and they'll be ready to go.  I'm selling these to people, doing them for friends (apparently mine are trying to overpopulate the earth or create little armies), and at Moxie.

I created the cake pattern below.  I can't remember where I got the elephant pattern, but I traced the whale from something I had here and just added the big polka dots. The cupcakes are inspired by Red Velvet Art.