New addition to the studio

A few years ago I bought a Horn sewing table for an extra machine in my studio. It was never quite right. It was not possible to adjust it to fit two of my machines in the flat bed area, and it was too high for my serger.
My sister started sewing again, and bought a new machine. I sold her my table and went shopping for a replacement. At a thrift store I found exactly what I was looking for at the unbeatable price of $10. It’s the perfect height for a sewing machine or serger. It is just the right size to fit against my existing table and it’s on casters.


Now that my serger is out all the time, it needed a cover too.  I used some existing fabric, quilted it using two threads in the needle (a metallic and a variegated) and added the beaded fabric circles.



Now if I could just become master of my serger. Right now it is the boss of me.

Crimson Heart Studio Giveaway

Get right over to Crimson Heart Studio and enter her drawing to win the red and green fabric circle tree featured in the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Gifts.

But maybe I shouldn't tell you...I want to win it!

A Trip to the Fair

The county fair opened today and I went to view the home goods entries. A significant portion of the exhibit area was devoted to tableaus designed by many of the county schools on the theme of Barnyard Beach Party. I found this backdrop from the juvenile detention center alternative school display to be peculiar.



On one level, it is funny and creative; cow in orange jumpsuit, barbed wire border, expression changes on the characters,  but on another level, it begs the question,  “Where will these kids be when they are 18?”.

My take on the Fabric Forest

In this post, I wrote about my obsession with the mixed media topiary trees in the 2011 Cloth Paper Scissors Gift magazine. I am fascinated by these little circles. I knew I did not have the patience to hand fray the edges of the circles and I was not happy with the results of washing them with a load of towels, so I beaded them to add texture.
The process is positively addicting. I finished two trees today and have ideas for more projects I want to do with them.



Maybe they will be my holiday dessert. They do look pretty enough to eat.



Here’s an idea for a pillow from Fiskars that would use these lovelies instead of the pictured yo-yos.

Sewing Machine Cover

I admire Malka Dubrawsky’s style, and when I purchased her book, fresh quilting, I knew I had to make the sewing machine cover pictured on the cover of the book. I had saved a bag of scraps left over from a huge quilting project several years ago. That project involved painting fabrics and making 25+ full sized bed quilts for a retreat center in Monte Blanco, Bolivia.




The quilts were absolutely gorgeous, and our congregation in Evansville was fully involved in painting the fabrics, designing the panels and sewing the quilts. There were a lot of scraps. I’ve been saving them for a project, and decided to make a cover for my machine. The pieces I had were 2” squares, so it involved a lot of piecing. I had to adapt Malka’s pattern to fit my machine and also allow for my smaller sized blocks.

The construction of the quilt called for the seams to appear off kilter which suited my project perfectly.

Here it is all finished

I’ll have to make a cover for my serger next.

Fabric Painting Workshop

We had so much fun this week painting canvas and making projects. We started out with masking five inch squares with freezer paper or painter’s tape. These samples were later made into coasters.



and pillows



and a tote bag



On the last day of the workshop, Joanna had been to a costume party dressed as “Old Mrs. Bunny”, Peter Rabbit’s mother. Cracks me up every time I look at the photos especially after she told us her beginning point was a Playboy Bunny costume.