Tissue Holder in Japanese Fabric - Linen and Cotton

Japanese fabric is the best.  I love working with cotton and linen.  A hot iron pressed against this stuff brings out such an organic smell.  It's wonderful.  Can you relate?

The print fabric was purchased online at Etsy directly from Japan.  [I can't remember the exact buyer's name, but if you really want to know, send me an e-mail and I'll dig through my records to find the information for you.]  The lining (100% linen) was something I picked up at a Yoder's Department Store in Shipshewana, IN.  They have the best staff.  And a TON of fabric to choose from.  

The tissue holder is on its way to my Etsy shop.

Special Order for Julie

A friend of mine recently added a grandson to the family.  She wanted a 'boy' bib and asked if I had anything I could whip up.  That's all I needed.  I was sure I had a fabric to fit the bill.

Here is a 'boy' bib with spaceships on a blue background.  I also made a burp cloth to go with it.  I hope she likes them.

At the lake

Although I don't always have time to make something, I seem to have time to surf the web to find things to make.  Anyone else have that problem pleasure?  One of my favorite places to shop is Etsy.  You're no doubt familiar with it.  I have a (almost empty) shop on Etsy.  [Note to self:  MAKE SOME THINGS TO SELL!!]

I came across this shop and have ordered a few things.  They have a great selection of Japanese fabric and pattern books.  Yes, the books are written in Japanese, but if you know anything about sewing, you can pretty much figure out how to make the items in the book.  Just use some common sense and a ruler that has centimeters on it.  :-)  The books that I have are loaded with great illustrations which really come in handy.  And the photography is first class. 

Nate finished his first week of Band Camp and we're ready for a weekend at the lake.  It was really hot this week.  And we are behind on so many things.  Getting ready to go on vacation is a major deal.  And getting back from vacation is tough too.  We are very thankful for neighbors who kept the flowers watered and the grass cut.

School starts in just a few weeks.  The boys go back on August 17th.  I hate it.   Summers are just to short and it makes me sad to look at then calendar and see that July is pretty much over.  Seems like when I was a kid, the summer lasted forever.  I guess it's true: the older you get, the faster time goes.  Okay, enough of the sadness. It's Friday and I'm going to make the most of it.

Hope you have a great weekend.

P.S.  Sorry for the rambling....

Two Perfect Books

Yep, they really are PERFECT!

The Perfect Pajama by Kristina Nilsson and Jennifer Pirtle.  [Publisher:  CICO BOOKS; ISBN:  978-1-906525-96-5; List Price:  $19.95].  This keeper is 96 pages long and full of great photos and instructions. AND.. has 21 full-size patterns and templates!  There are patterns for kids, women and men too!  You really need to check this one out.  In addition to the pajama patterns, there's a pattern for a hot-water bottle cover , an eye mask, a cute laundry bag and a pair of "Kasbah Slippers".  The book also includes a techniques section.

Here are some shots of the inside of the book:

The other "perfect" book is by Clare Youngs and is titled The Perfect Handmade Bag -- Recycle and reuse to make 35 beautiful totes, purses and more.  [Publisher:  CICO BOOKS; ISBN:  978-1-906525-81-1; List Price:  $19.95] The book contains 128 pages of great photos, instructions and templates.   Perfect Handmade Bag also has a sewing techniques section.

Here are some of the projects from the book:

I bought my books from Crafter's Choice (the craft book club).  I'm sure you can find these online by doing a bit of searching.

Have fun!

Freebie Friday! - and - New Tissue Holder in the Shop

Hey bloggers!

HAPPY FRIDAY! It's such a good feeling to know we've made it through another week. However....I guess that means that we're getting closer to the big day. Christmas is just a few days away. Are you ready? Is the tree trimmed? Do you have all your presents bought and wrapped? The Crafty Dad house is abuzz with activity these days. My wife (bless her heart) is the official gift-buyer and wrapper. Although I did help accompany her on a gift-buying trip a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. Always good to have some 'alone' time...even if it's spent at the mall.

We made a trip to Shipshewana a couple weekends ago and I found some really great fabric for tissue holders. I finally had a minute (after making a dozen bumble bee tissue holders -- thank you Kimberly for the great order!) to whip up a new design. I think it's going to be a big hit. Here's a sneak peek:

Let me know what you think. You can get a better view by visiting my shop.

Hey...it's Friday. And not just ANY Friday. It's Freebie Friday. It's the last day to sign up for the book giveaway I blogged about here.

Don't waste another minute: sign up now.

Best of luck to you.

Food, Flowers and Frivolty

Not much going on 'craft-wise', so I thought I'd share some more photos from this past weekend at the lake.

Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market and they were loaded with vendors and customers. Just the way I like it! We found lots of fresh veggies. Not too many tomatoes yet (we bought the best we could find), but plenty of summer squash, onions, zucchini, green peppers and cucumbers.

Farmer's Market Fare

We bought several and later that day Crafty Mama cooked them up on the grill. Excellent. The boys and I kept saying, "Oh my gosh..this is so good" all through mealtime. (What a great way to make Mama proud: compliment her cooking. Oh yeah!)

Chicken Kabobs, Onions and Green Peppers on the grill

Here's a big shout out to Linda (our neighbor at the lake) and her beautiful lily.

Linda's Lovely Lily

OH, and I'm am doing my part to stimulate the economy. It's been a while since I've added to my family of sewing/craft machines. So....I ordered a new combo sewing and embroidery machine from my favorite shop. Ken's Sewing Center is the best place to find great machines at great prices. Give them a call or look them up on the web. They are also on eBay. Their seller ID is "easyterms". They always have lots of great stuff for sale. Prices are low and many times they offer FREE shipping. And they have nice warranties too. Can't pass that up.

Here's the cool machine that I bought:

Brother Sewing/Embroidery Machine (Model HE-240)

Happy Hump Day. We've made it halfway through the week. Can we do it? Yes we can!

Take care!

Sewing Green by Betz White

Extra! Extra! Read all about it.

Over here, at EcoChild'sPlay.

Almost Done!

Except for the Velcro® , these are ready for sale.

It's such a great feeling to FINISH things.  I start so many projects and then get side-railed.  I truly think I have ADD. 

A Touch of Spring Color is Needed About Now

I think snow is wonderful. Really, I do. But...I'm a bit tired of it already. So I took it upon myself to spend some time in the studio today to 'think Spring'. I came up with some bibs that remind me of springtime -- green apples and flowers. They are in the finishing touch stage and will soon make their way to either Etsy or Art Fire. I haven't quite decided yet.

Springtime bib -- ready for the sewing machine.

[01.12.09: UPDATE: Bib is complete. I'll post photo tonight.]

Two Days! Just Two More Days 'til Christmas!

Hey bloggers! No...I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth. I've just been a tad bit busy with work (the day job) and a ton of other stuff.

How do you guys do it? How do you have a 'life' and still have time to post all these great entries and beautiful photos? Do you not sleep? What's the deal?

Lately, it seems that I need to take a vacation day just to get things done. That's crazy. With all these high-tech gadgets, it seems life has become more and more hectic. (Ok...I'm off the soap box).

I did actually take the time to make a tote bag and wallet for my favorite Aunt. I'll get a photo posted as soon as I can find it. LOL! And...I cranked out some great-smelling soap for the people that work with me: glycerin with spearmint; aloe and olive oil with lavender; and goat's milk with tea tree oil. They turned out very well and the peeps love them. Whew!

There are two baby bibs that are 90% complete. I recently bought some Japanese fabric (man I love that stuff) and made a bib for Audrey (photo coming soon) and a bright orange and green bib for baby Ava (ditto: photo coming soon).

Oh....and I finally got a replacement for my DOA (dead on arrival) blindstitch machine. The slacks had been measured and pinned...just waiting for the new machine. Yes! the new one works perfectly. And makes hemming pants very, very fast. Love it. Speaking of machines...my dad is buying me a commercial grade, portable (is that an oxymoron?) walking-foot sewing machine. I found one on eBay and of course had to have it. It's on its way from the west-coast. I doubt if I'll have it by Christmas, but ... it will be fun to try it out when it does arrive. I've always wanted one, but the cost has been a bit above my budget. Cross your fingers that this one arrives perfectly so I can plug it in and give it a whirl.

Enough babbling already. I gotta get back to work.

Hope you're ready for the big day. My Christmas Countdown clock says 2 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes and 22 seconds until the big day. And let's all remember: it's about the Christ Child. All the gifts and glitter are great. But...the reason for the season is Jesus. I'm very proud to say that. Amen.

Love you guys!

--mike

Chicken Soup for the Sewing People

I love it when a plan comes together.

It seems almost zen-like when you are so "into" a project. Like the one above. There are so many steps to the process. And when you're done (and ... assuming you got the results you expected) there's a sense of elation, accomplishment, a 'whew that went well' moment.

This pair of slacks turned out nice too:



Do you experience that with your projects?

My good friend:



This little baby was VERY busy a couple of weekends ago. And it's going to become busy again. I have some Christmas gift ideas for some special people on my list.

Oh...and did I tell you? I've added another machine to my inventory of "tools"? Yes indeed. I bought myself an early Christmas present. You can see it here.

And, although it's not a super-duper-commercial-grade machine, it works a lot like this one:



Am I a crazy, crafty maniac? I think I am!

But hey, there are lots more pants that need shortened, so this blindstitcher (some people call them blindhemmers) will be a big help.

Weekend Update

Hey bloggers! Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend.

I spent a few hours at the office on Saturday and then made a trip to Michael's and spent almost $50.00 on card-making supplies. They had paper on sale and rubber stamps were 40% off, and I found some great bargains in the clearance bin too.

Saturday afternoon was spent cleaning up leaves in the yard. They are very late coming down this year. But..the wife and I took care of those that were on the ground and we also chopped off the sea grass for the winter. Wow...that stuff was tall and the blades of grass are really sharp too.

Sunday morning was church then brunch at the Elk's. Yum-yum! They had a great selection of food. Then...it was time to tackle a job that's been on my list for quite some time.

The pile of "to-be-shortened" pants has been growing since we did some back-to-school shopping back in late summer. And...my wife and I have found some great bargains on slacks recently too. Unfortunatlely, our family is somewhat vertically challenged (read: short).

Since I have the skills and the tools (boy, do I have the tools!) to get the job done, it's my responsibility to mark, cut, press, sew and press again. So...that's what I did yesterday for a few yours. Wow! How nice it is to have that task checked off on my to-do list.

Here's what I was up against:

Eight pairs of pants and a button to replace on Son No. 1's shorts.

After a few hours (with a few short breaks), here's what happened:

Wow! A pants-shortening marathon. And everyone is a winner!

The little bunny on the pillow is from a pattern

I bought many months ago from Hillary over at Wee Wonderfuls.

BTW: I'm planning to put together a little "pants shortening tutorial". I'm sure you all have your own way of doing it, but I found a couple time saving tricks that work well and I thought it would be nice to share it with you. I took tons of step-by-step photos as I was working yesterday, so I think I'm ready to roll. Stay tuned.

Vintage Pillowcase Tote Bag

This is on its way to the shop tonight. Here's a sneak peek:



UPDATE: 06.24.08 @ 9:48 p.m. IT IS IN THE SHOP!

The Indiana Jones Bag

Shouldn't everybody have one of these? I whipped this up several weeks ago. Now Little Guy wears it all over the place. Now Son No. 1 wants one too. :-)

Had to Have It

We looked at Bernina sewing machines a few weekends ago and I could NOT justify a purchase. They are the greatest machines, duh! But...no way. Couldn't. Wouldn't.

I've been on the lookout for a nice coverstitch machine for quite a long time. I can across this great deal at my favorite online and brick-and-mortar sewing dealer. If you're looking for a great deal on name-brand items, I highly encourage you to check them out. They are on eBay (seller name = easyterms). You can find them on the web here. I've been dealing with Kevin for a long, long time. He and his team are the best. Great prices and super fast delivery. Just a great bunch of people.


So for $249.00 I got the Janome CP900, a wide elastic foot, a narrow elastic foot, a really nice extension table and a DVD showing how several accessories are used. I thought it was a really great deal. The machine is bigger than I thought (not too big, just larger than I expected). Stitch quality is perfect and it moves right along. This model has the handy free-arm option too.

If you're looking for some tips on using a coverstitch machine, you should check out all the good stuff here.

Towel and Tote Bag for Kelsey

Towel and Tote Bag for Kelsey
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

Here' are two gifts I made for my cousin who is on the swim team. She wanted a hooded towel and a tote bag in her school colors.

I've made lots of hooded towels before, but this was my very first lined tote bag. It turned out really nice.

Is it just me, or does Christmas seem like it was several weeks ago? Where does time go?

More Finished Objects

Tissue Holders
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

Sometimes I surprise myself. Case in point: these tissue holders.

I've seen tons of these in the blogosphere and always thought they were pretty cool. So....I found a pattern and, voila, handy-dandy tissue holders.

I think they'll make nice little stocking stuffers.

Woo hoo...more gifts to give away. Gotta love it.

Barb: please turn away from this photo. You may be getting one of these in a few days! :-)

Look! Finished Objects!!!

2007_1208asof1208070019
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

Seems like it's been a long, long time since I've actually made (started and finished) a project.

These are my coasters. They are pretty much 'prototypes' as I tried a couple different techniques.

But...I really like the pattern of the fabric (a thrift shop find) and the coordinating linen-look backs.

I'm excited.

My trusty sewing machine

My trusty sewing machine
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

was very busy this past weekend. We hemmed SEVERAL pairs of pants for the boys. And...get this...we even did some C R A F T I N G. No kidding. We actually made some tissue holders and a few Christmas gifts (stocking stuffers).

More to come...