Fabric "Easter" Basket

I saw a really cool patchwork fabric basket on Pinterest this morning here.  GREAT tutorial...easy to follow and it got me thinking I could use some of my silk screen pieces leftover from other projects to make baskets for my daughter and my son's girlfriend.  Yes, my children are in their 30's but they all still expect Easter baskets.  I try and do something that can be reused once the treats are gone...these tub like purses seemed perfect.  I had nautical pieces leftover from these pillows and some botanical type screened pieces that I never used here.  Figured these would be great for purses for the two girls.  Knowing I was going to link the really great tutorial above I didn't take too many step by step photos...but I'll put some up so you see how I got where I wanted to go.  My pieces were cut 5" square...and since I was limited on nautical pieces that purse is a bit smaller than the other one. I figured out my pattern, pieced them together and added a single piece 6" x the width of the patchwork pattern (it became the base of the basket)

Next I quilted the piece using batting on one

felt on the other (I like the felt a bit more)

I just "stitched in the ditch" to connect

batting, lining and patchwork

I trimmed the edges, then sewed the side seams, 

right sides together. To create the "box" base of the basket 

the corners have to be sewn...3" in from the point of the corner

Once you turn the basket right side out,

just flatten the corners into the bottom and

a rectangular base is created.

For the handles, I used leftover rug binding

from the t-shirt rug.  I just cut 15" and pinned

to either side on the outside of the basket.  Next, I made another 

complete basket in lining material and sewed lining

to patchwork right sides together (around the upper edge).  I left a small

opening in the lining to turn the whole thing

right side out.

And, here are my two very different baskets.

Rope Trivet

I found myself without a trivet the other evening, not earth shaking, but annoying  Having built the house a few years ago...I still find we haven't completely stocked the kitchen with all the necessary gadgets.  I used a dish towel instead...I'm always reluctant to set hot pans directly on the granite countertops...but dishtowels are not very elegant  :) and then when I want to dry off my hands I remember it's sitting under a hot pan...sooooooo, I set out to make one yesterday.  I've made a bunch of the rope waste baskets and figured the starting circle (bottom of the basket) would work great for a trivet.  I wanted to add some color so used thread wound around the rope in random spots for  pop. Our house is all blue and white so I figured I couldn't go wrong with navy (and it was the only blue thread color I had)  Here are the steps, super easy and even with my vintage glue gun I got the job done with a minimal amount of finger singes

The rope is clothes line rope from WalMart. First I wrapped about 1/2" width

of blue tread at the end of the rope and started coiling,

gluing the coil as I went to maintain shape.

Every so often I'd do another wrap of blue thread

nothing perfect, just when it seemed right

Round and around and around 

and around

until it was about 6" in diameter. I wrapped the end,

glued it down and put a bead of glue on the very tip

so it wouldn't unravel.  

Linking to Sunday Showcase Party

Cell Phone Case

We've been at the Hawaii House for several weeks, but sadly it's getting time to close up the place and head back to California.  I aways like to leave my caretaker Audrey a small gift when we leave.  She was here the other day to see pictures of our new grand baby and mentioned she was always dropping her phone.  I thought a quilted Hawaiian print phone case would be a fun little gift.  I took scraps from other projects and quilted two rectangles (I just eyeballed the size an inch or two larger than my phone) I used a strip of masking tape as my quilting guide...just moved it after each row

Next I trimmed the quilted rectangles to 1/2" larger than my phone

(just enough for a seam allowance) and cut 2 pieces of lining

Next I sewed side seams and one end closed 

(right sides together) leaving an inch or so open

on the end of the lining piece (for turning)

Next turn lining piece right side out and stuff into quilted piece

(so right sides are together) If you want a small loop or hangar now

is the time to sew it between the lining and main piece

Sew around the top edge matching seams

Pull lining piece out and turn assemblage right side out 

through the small hole left in the lining 

Stuff the lining down into the quilted piece,

topstitch along the top edge to keep lining in place

and you've got a cute padded cell phone case

Ginger Watercolor

Got a happy surprise in the mail the other day.  My neighbors in Hawaii forward my mail to California when we're not there.  A check arrived from the gallery...I sold 5 paintings in January and didn't even know it.  How fun is that?  Kind of makes up for the slow sales (make that non-existent) at the Laguna Beach gallery.  So, I've had to get busy and paint some new inventory to take over next week.  We're heading to the Hawaii house for a few weeks of sun and relaxation.  I'll miss grand baby Kale but looking forward to being warm for awhile.  Here's one of my latest pieces...

Ginger 16x20

Quick and Easy Baby Gift

My friends are all becoming grandmas...it's SO fun to watch our daughters become mothers.  I've been going to lots of baby showers lately and usually try and give something that the mom-to-be has registered.  But, when I'm invited to come "meet" the new little one I like to take a small welcome gift.  I did these for Lucy...the new grandchild of one of my best buds. I got the onesies at Walmart for less than $4 each...
Using my Cricut I cut "Lucy" out of freezer paper in 2 different cursive fonts (thought they'd be more girlie) After ironing the freezer paper to the onesie...I just mixed up a cute pink in fabric paint and dabbed away.

This took no more that 20 minutes, waiting for the paint 

to dry took the longest.  

After heat setting the paint I

wrapped them up and went to visit Lucy!

New Doormat

My doormat has gotten pretty ratty looking...I knew it was time for a new one.  While at Home Depot yesterday I found this plain mat for $5.97...what a deal.  I knew I wanted to try and stencil my own design and figured I wouldn't be devastated if I had a project fail if I only spent $6.  So...being the irreverent person that I am I wasn't about to go the traditional route of "welcome" or initials or anything like that...instead, I opted for NICE UNDERWEAR.  The whole thing takes about 45 minutes and one is only limited by one's imagination for the design.  A cute nautical theme (lighthouse or shell motif), maybe paw prints if there's a dog in the house...lots of possibilities. I started with my plain mat

next, I worked out my text on my Cricut

(I had this brilliant idea to cut the stencil out of contact

paper like I use for silk screening)

Since the cutting mat format is only 12" square it

took 3 cuts to get my words large enough

I cut out each word, then pieced them together

I carefully peeled them off the sticky mat...keeping 

the centers of the D's, R's and A

I used a T square to make sure I was centered and 

straight before [adhering] the contact paper to the mat

I put that in brackets because the contact paper didn't

stick as well as I'd hoped :(

After masking off the exposed mat with tape and printer 

paper, I hauled the assembly outside and spray painted my words

I used chalkboard paint ONLY because I already had it

So, here's my front door

and here's my new mat...as you can see...there's a bit 

of overspray...I think if I'd cut my letters from vinyl it

would have stuck to the bristly mat better

Hat Model

Wow...I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've posted.  Where does the time go?  I've been to Hawaii for a month...no excuse there...I have been projecting up a storm just never seem to shoot while in progress or before I give them away.  Thought I'd share a couple of pics of grandbaby Kale wearing the hats from my last post in December.  He's almost 10 weeks old ALREADY!!!!  My daughter Kipp is doing a wonderful job as a mommy and husband Andrew is doing a great job as daddy),  it is really fun to watch your children become parents, an experience I highly recommend :)

Kale in his strawberry hat

Kale working the pumpkin look

This is another hat version I've done...

the basic beanie with pom pom