Gingerbread Table Topper Part 2

One more project finished!  And the best part?  No projects were spawned from the completion of this project.

All the little gingerbread men have their bow ties and two buttons firmly attached, and the backing has been added.  It still amazes me that this project has been tucked away in a canvas bag for a couple of years when it really didn't take that much effort to finish it.

Gingerbread Table Topper

I needed another break from working on the quilted Christmas cards, so I wandered through the craft room again.  I started sorting through one of the fabric piles on the floor, but I quickly became distracted by two canvas bags.  The first one had a cross stitch project in it that I didn't feel like tackling tonight.  The second one had another almost finished project:  a wool table topper with 16 little gingerbread men.  I purchased the kit 2-3 years ago during our annual fall trip to Grand Junction.  One of my favorite quilt stores is there, and I quickly fell in love with it.  I thought that it would be a nice, fast project.  Here it is a few years later, and the project isn't quite finished.

What's left?  I need to sew on 2 more little red bow ties, 30 little buttons, and sewing the front to the back.  The plan now is to have it finished by the end of this weekend.  These little guys are just too cute to keep in a canvas bag in the depths of the craft room... 

Punch Embroidery Part 2

The photo doesn't really do it justice, but the punch embroidery project is now complete.  Well, almost complete.  The kit recommends framing the penguin.  I'm not sure just yet what I want to do with it, but I don't think framing is in the future for this little guy.  I'm thinking more along the lines of the front of a pillow.  So, once again, I'm finishing up one project, but it is adding another project to the list.

And, while there are definitely things about this one that I now wish I would have done differently, it was the first punch embroidery project that I've tackled...but somehow I don't think it will be the last. 

After starting the penguin the first time, I picked up some weavers cloth to do more.  There may be another penguin (of a different variety) in the future...

Punch Embroidery

One of the bad things about having a lot of unfinished projects is that it is sometimes difficult to keep all the pieces of the project together long enough to finish the project.  One of the good things about having a lot of unfinished projects is that when I need a change of pace, I can usually find something in the craft room that I feel like working on.

I was having one of those evenings tonight where I just didn't feel like sitting down at the sewing machine.  I still felt like crafting, though.  So, I wandered into my craft room.  On the floor, mixed in with a pile of fabric, was a Debbie Mumm punch embroidery project I started a couple of years ago.  Tonight, it seemed to suit my mood.  And, amazingly enough, all of the pieces were in the ziplock bag!  Well, except scissors, but that really wasn't a problem.

I pulled everything out to look at.  The pattern is of a penguin on skates.  I like penguins, which means this is a theme that will crop up over and over.

It probably has been a good 18 months since I last worked on this project.  I'd actually made fairly good progress before I put it away the last time.  It shouldn't take me too long to finish it.  What a concept:  a finished project!

It took me a minute to remember how to thread the needle punch.  But, I was soon working away on the penguin's right arm.  I quickly finished the right arm and moved on to the left skate.  And, then it was on to the mittens.  Or, so I thought.  I realized that I was having problems with the needle punch.  Every time I put the needle onto the fabric and started to punch through, the needle folded itself back up into its holder.  After trying several times to fix it myself, I handed it over to my husband.  He had glue within arms reach, and after verifying where I wanted the needle, he glued the needle to the tool and I was back to work on the mittens.  Yes, this does mean that I now only have one loop length available, but it was better than putting it all back into the ziplock bag and putting it back in the craft room.

It is, however, time to stop for the night.  I'm leaving the project out.  It'll be a good project to work on during the week...

Quilted Christmas Cards Part 2

Tonight, it is back to the quilted Christmas cards.  I've been working on the detailed stitching.  With my fabric addition, I've found a number of fun Christmas prints this year.  So, I have about 10 different designs that I'm working with.  And, with approximately 60 to make, this is probably a good thing since it means that I shouldn't get bored with any one design.  Unfortunately, 2 of the prints have a lot of detailed stitching.  I've been tackling those prints to get them out of the way early.  It is definitely fun and satisfying, but doesn't really lend itself to photos (since they will get sent out) just yet.

Two books were my initial inspiration for these cards.  "Make and Mail Post Cards" by Cheryl Haynes, Barbara Cooley, and Beth Davis first caught my attention, since I collect post cards.  This book provided a lot of the basics.  The cards in this book are great.  The cards have almost a folk art style, with no fussy cut prints.  A lot of the cards lend themselves to working in felt.  It was a great starting point.

And, then I found "Positively Postcards" by Bonnie Sabel and Louis-Philippe O'Donnell.  The cards in this book are varied, rely on the prints of the fabric, and are really artistic.  I fell in love with the cards in this book, especially the ones where fussy cut prints.  Fussy cut refers to cutting around an image close to the border, like the fussy cut prints shown here.  I might have gone a little crazy with fussy cutting prints.  Okay, I definitely let things get out of hand.  Typically, I'll cut a wide path around an image, put Steam-A-Seam2 on the back, and then cut really close to the image.  Then, when I get the chance to assemble, I'm ready to go.  Using more of the Monopoly print fabric, like the Water Works rectangle in the above photo, a card like the one here is rather quick and easy to make in an evening:

Quilted Christmas Cards

Christmas?  But, it is only October...

In 2008, I got the bright idea to make quilted Christmas post cards (I'll look for the book that I got my inspiration from and post the information for it in my next entry).  Those cards rode around in the backseat of my jeep for several months.  They never did make it to the post office.

In 2009, however, I got an earlier start.  I turned the post cards into quilted Christmas cards by attaching them to cards that I could actually write on.  In 2009, the cards actually made it to the post office. The picture to the right shows some of the left over cards from last year.

I love making the cards.  And, not just for Christmas.  I look at fabric differently when I'm thinking about cards: the focal images are usually easy to spot, the right background fabric is often the more difficult fabric to spot.  But, I digress.

Yes, it is October, but with about 60 cards to make, I needed to get started so that I repeat 2009 and not 2008.  So, yesterday and tonight I've assembled about 15 cards.  Assembly consists of taking focal fabrics (like the Christmas ornaments or penguins in the first photo) that I've already applied Steam-a-Seam2 to and fussy cut around, choosing a background fabric, and making "the sandwich."  The sandwich is the backing, the batting, and the background fabric.  While I enjoy using up the leftover batting from larger quilt projects, this time, I'm using a double sided fusible interfacing.  I picked up multiple packages of the stuff yesterday while it was on a "Buy One Get One" sale at JoAnn's.  With this many cards to do in a relatively short time, it definitely already saved time.  Also to save time, I pre-cut 24 backs (out of white muslin) and 24 middles (normally, the batting, but this time the interfacing).

Tonight, I finished zigzagging around the outside of each of the first 15 cards, and now I get to do the detail stitching.  More postings to follow on this topic, I'm sure.

Project 1: Front Door Curtains

Back in July, we replaced three windows, which led to replacing the curtains in the kitchen and dining room.  Amazingly enough, we quickly and easily found curtains that we both liked.  And, the best part?   Only $8 from Target.  With us, I was expecting that when we found curtains we could agree on, they'd be four times that much.

So, why is this a project from the depth of the craft room?  The curtains came in two lengths.  The longer panels worked great for the front window, the sliding door, and the kitchen window.  The only other windows in that area of the house are in the front door. 

But, the new curtains were a little too long...

So, here it is October and the two panels on the front door windows were still green, not red like the rest of the curtains.  And, the new panels?  Well, they were collecting dust on the kitchen table, which often doubles as my sewing table since there is no room to set up the sewing machine in the craft room.

Tonight, I decided to tackle the curtains.  After deciding that I wanted the new (red) curtains to be about an inch longer than the old curtains had been, I cut off 22.5" from the bottom of both red panels.  And then ironed a 1" hem (folded under of course to hide the raw edge).  After deciding that I was too lazy to change to the correct sewing foot, I changed the thread from black to red and sewed up the two hems.  The whole project took less than 45 minutes.  And yet, it had taken me almost four full months to finish.

One project finished.

Now comes the question:  what should I do with the two 22.5" pieces that I cut off from the bottom?  The thought briefly flashed through my mind:  "Walk to the garbage can and throw them out."  But, it was quickly replaced with:  Pillows!!!  We have a window bench that could use two red pillows, and I think there is just enough fabric leftover to make them.  

So, one project finished, but another one now to trip over.

And, then I had another thought.  They look great from the inside...but how do they look from the outside?

Yep, red curtains on green doors.  So, it now looks like we're decorating for Christmas in October.  Since the door no longer matches the outside trim, project number three just became:  Paint the front door.  Project number 3 may need to wait for spring.

So, one project finished, but now I have two more projects to do.

I think I'm beginning to realize what part of the problem is...

Where to Begin?

I'm not really sure when my craft room officially went from being "cluttered" to clearly "out of control."  Periodically, I've tried to organize the room.  After all, I am fortunate enough to have a room that can be dedicated to crafts and craft supplies.  The photo on the right shows one of my attempts:  I bought three metal bins from Hobby Lobby in an attempt to corral my supplies.  The three bins are three different sizes, with this being the middle size.  What I'm wondering now is:  who was I trying to kid?  Three bins?  On the plus side, the contents of each bin are well organized and corralled--a mini-oasis in a sea of chaos. 

Earlier this year I decided that the best way to actually clean and organize the craft room was to start finishing projects.  It seems to be working.  Slowly.  Very, very slowly. 

Getting Started

I used to catalog all my unfinished projects.  I'd take the time to add them to a hand-written list that specified the name of the project along with what supplies I needed for each one.  I remember stopping when I hit 65 projects.  And, that was over 10 years ago.  At work, I start and finish projects all the time.  At home, I start projects all the time.  Finishing home projects is a different story.

This blog is simply my journey to clean up my craft room by finishing projects.  The ultimate goal is to have some fun (at my own expense) while trying to bring order to the chaos.  And, hopefully, have a smaller projects list at the end of the journey.