Fast and Easy Gifts...

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I would like to start posting links to tutorials of things that are good to give as gifts, don't cost a lot of money to make, and can use up stash items that are ready to go...

Here's a tutorial for a tissue holder that would probably take about 5 minutes to make and you could also do them in an assembly line type way. I personally would never use one, but they're so cute! And I'm sure some friends or family members would use it...

WIP and more...

Finished putting these 2 quilt tops together last weekend! All I need to do is pick backings and baste them! I'm so excited! The one on top is going to be a baby quilt and the second one down is kids' size... I also have another quilt basted and ready to be quilted... kind of nervous, does anyone have any good references for machine quilting designs? I love hand quilting, but don't have the time for these ones to be hand done. Too many projects.
Well, here on the left is my stack of t-shirts, out of the box (last weeks WIP entry) and I have 50 of these to make for a peach farm up north - they're having an event on Aug. 5th and they'll be giving away my shirts! I'll show photos of these when they're done.

And here are my lovely aprons on the right, they need to be pressed and then I'm going to hang them in my store window as part of a new display I'm working on.














Finished! Todler dress, but who to give it to!? My friends all have boys! Drat!

My DEAD sock monkey. How scary can a sock monkey be? I need to change these eyes before giving this away. Just thought it was funny, so I am showing it anyway.

Amber was so sweet to give me this yarn, yards and yards of boucle, I'm going to split it up and sell it. But it makes a great brushed afghan, so I don't know if I'm going to keep it or sell it. Amber and I are actually swapping, she's going to pick something out from the clearance table in the shop.

And my little tiny sweater from here. I altered it a little, and added vintage buttons!

So, anyway, it's already Friday! I can't believe it, I have too many WIPs to mention, but the quilt tops are the most exciting of them all.

New Stuff

I'm so excited about all my new Sublime Stitching inventory - I finally had a chance to reorder from them and I can't wait to dive into some of these patterns! I'm trying to get my customers to try embroidery, I'll most likely be teaching it in the fall...

This is a very easy baby gift - new moms can always use more towels to wipe (all kinds of) messes. You can take a strip of fabric the same width as the towel, by 4-5 inches, sew it into a tube, inside out, flip right side out, and attach to the towel with a zig zag or ric rac! So easy! Any time you want to give a baby quilt, just use some of your scraps and make these to go with it! The towels are cheap at Costco, too.

I love toille for baby things, and this ribbon went perfectly! Love this easy bonnet pattern.

I made this bag last week from my new favorite bag pattern source: this japanese book...
I made the bag reversible, too! It's for sale in my shop, but I might have to keep it. I love patterns that are just 2 pieces: the inside, and the outside! I put seam binding on the opening. It doesn't really need a closure, because it's deep!

Some antique shop eye candy... now for sale in my store!

Work In Progress Friday

I saw a dress at Baby Gap and thought: I'm going to make one of those for Devan! (My friend Nicole's girl). So I just so happened to have the black polka dot fabric in my store (looks so similar to the one at Gap) and I chose this black/cream print for the lining and a ruffle at the hem. Click on the image to see larger, but the pattern is so cute!!!!!!! I can't wait to get started! I took my sewing machine home, along with half my fabric stash, because I really don't have that much time to sew here and anyway my "home" machine finally has met its end, I do believe. My serger is still at the shop, but I might have to take that home as well. It's hard to have half of your sewing stuff in one place and the other half at home, so I should just take it all home, right? Decisions, decisions. Anyway, this is just one WIP, there are many many many more, but this is the one I'm really excited about because I know who it's going to, and she's going to look soooo cute!!!!!!!!

These two photos represent my next HUGE WIP. Can you guess what it is? Stay tuned! Let's just say this is a big job, and it's WAY too hot to get started on this right now.

And here's a view of my lovely hall closet, full of WIPs. Believe it or not, this is ORGANIZED! I know where everything is, and I love sorting through and picking out what to work on and yes, sadly, there are a few WIPs that will I will never finish. Sometimes you just have to admit it. These photos were actually taken a couple of days ago, so you can see my luna crochet blanket and daria purse which are now finished, but I thought I'd show these photos in case you were feeling like your crafting space was messy! Betcha you don't fell that way now!

Giant Granny Square Blankie and Vintage "For Sale"

I am so happy with this crochet blanket I made from Cascade Luna. It was so fast and I like the colors. I have to decide if I'm going to line it or not... hmmm... any suggestions? If I line it, I'm going to use a lavender cotton for underneath the top and a white "minky" for the backing. What do you all think?

This is one of a set of four chairs my mom left me. We used them when I was growing up. I don't want to sell them, but I have no room for them! I don't know what to do about it. They've been sitting in storage for 4 years now. Maybe I should wait until we move, who knows when that will be. I just can't stand the thought of not having them any more. But if I could get $200 for the set, that would be nice... hmmm... not sure, what would you do? Open to suggestions.

This is a quilt top I bought at some antique store or another for $45. It's 63" square and it's super cute, except that I have soooo many quilt tops, not to mention the ones I've made myself. I'd like to sell it or trade it for around what I paid. If you are interested, let me know! It would be really sweet for a child's room. Even hung on the wall unquilted. Or if you have any ideas of something I could make out of it, please leave a comment for me! Thanks!!!

Tiny Print Fabrics for Sale or Swap

Tiny Print Fabrics for Sale or Swap
Originally uploaded by Starlit Nest.

Today I am finishing my pincushion/needlecase sets and I'll be basting 2 quilts that I'll be machine quilting! NEVER thought I'd do it, always been a hand quilter, but I'm going to give it a try and see what happens. If anything I'll just gain some new skills. I am posting a photo of a few of my favorite fabrics here, just love these tiny prints. Can't get enough of them.

Swap: From North Threads

Swap: From North Threads
Originally uploaded by Starlit Nest.

Last week I got this amazing package from Angela at North Threads http://norththreads.blogspot.com/. I especially love the vintage buttons and super cute pink crochet hook case. She also gave me a beautiful vintage apron and lots of embroidered linens, etc. etc. It was so much fun to open and I can't wait to use this stuff!! You'll have to check out her blog if you've never seen it. She's very creative!

Three Swaps Sent!

These are 3 swap gifts I'm sending out to some swap-bot partners. The one that's wrapped up is for the fabric swap, there's kind of a cowboy theme going here, I through in some buttons and ribbon. It's going to this nice person who makes handbags! The other 2 are for the same swap, different people. It's a materials swap and I tried to pick things that these girls will like. I hope they like them!

I can't wait to get home, though right now because I have a kitten waiting for me!! My new baby!!! Her name is Nalani which means "the Calmness of Heaven". I adore her already. Hope my other cats will love her too.

2 More Bags

Well, I have not blogged for a few days, and the reasons are that 1) I was in a wedding at South Lake Tahoe this Saturday and had a wonderful time, except for the fact that my poor husband has mosquito bites all over him and is having the most extreme case of allergic reactions that I've ever seen. He is in total pain and constant ITCHINESS. I really feel terrible for him and there's nothing I can do but love him, which I do of course. 2) The store's been really busy! Which is good, but I don't have as much time to blog and look at other people's blogs. My web designer did a new slide show and it's amazing. www.luminousthreads.com Check it out! 3) I have a lot of works in progress and I don't usually blog about them because I like them to be shown when complete. When I say "a lot", I mean, like 20, and those are just the ones that have made it out of my head and into some kind of beginning form.

But I did manage to bust these 2 bags out on Sunday on our drive home. They're both quite small, which I do like about them. I like a quick project. The blue/green one is from Noro Kureyon, which I LOVE!!! The angora fluffed out so nicely! And the pink one is with Manos and Nature Wool. The multi colored Manos is pretty cool when felted. These will probably hang around my shop and then I'll put them up for sale in my etsy shop.

Swap From Alexia 7.5.06

Swap From Alexia 7.5.06
Originally uploaded by Starlit Nest.

What a lucky girl I am! All this from the nicest person in the world: Alexia! see her great blog: www.alexiaabegg.blogspot.com/
She makes amazing handbags (and sells them) too! This package included tons of vintage fabrics in all my favorite colors and prints, trim, and a needle case and matching pin cushion!!! I can't wait to add all this yummy stuff to my stash!!!

New Felted Bags!

I made this one from a free pattern from knittingpatterncentral.com and Manos wool. It was fast and easy!

Also finished this one on the 4th. Only took two hours to knit. The pattern is from "One Skein"...

Crochet Daria Bag and Baby Hats

I know this picture came out dark, but this is a cute little crochet coin purse made out of Noro "Daria".

This pattern is in "One Skein" a Must-have book, and a great gift for a knitter. It's got the CUTEST patterns, including an adorable clutch!!!

Monday Giveaway

This is a lot of crafting booklets from the 70's that were given to me last week and I will most likely never make time to use. But they're cool! The projects you can make are (from top left), an apron, a basket block quilt, a book about early european magical designs, a butterfly softy project, a McCall's magazine of felted Christmas projects, animals made out of pipe cleaners, pom pom animals, softies, and amigurumi animals. The winner will pay for posage: maybe $4? The first to email me will get all of them! Good luck and enjoy!

These 2 Bags Were Made For Swapping

I'm a little late getting this one out, but it was for the "Critter Swap" for the June Use-What-You-Have. If you took the swap literally, you would probably expect to receive actual critters, like felt rats or something? I don't know... but I think the bugs and butterflies on this bag count as critters and I wanted to give my recipient something she could use. I think the use what you have swap is a great idea in a certain way because we all can feel that our stash is out of control at times, but as a retail shop owner I have to say that there is nothing wrong with supporting your local craft shop... you gotta keep us in business!!! You can find out more about this group here.

This bag was made for the Swap-bot Fish swap. Swap-bot is pretty cool, there are a lot of swaps to sign up for and so far I've done the fat quarter swap, fabric square swap, knitted item swap, mystery craft supply swap, and a challenge project swap where you had to make something with all of the 10 items on the supply list. I've been pretty lucky overall receiving things back, I have to say. The fabric I got was really nice and I have a few new swaps coming up this summer for trim, ribbon, yarn, you know, things I have too much of but would love to get in the mail. Who doesn't LOVE getting stuff in the mail!? Which is why I decided to send my friends presents on Monday.

Check out this basket of goodies: t-shirts that I print, baby tees, jewlery, lots of good stuff to my friends that I so appreciate and friends with babies both born and on the way. Even though I don't want babies, boy do I LOVE making baby things and giving them away!!! I have 17 little ones in my life under 3 years old (5 have not been born yet) to send stuff to. HOW LUCKY AM I!!??? The only problem is that only 3 of these angels are GIRLS! So I have to be really creative coming up with cute boy stuff.