Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Halloween Lanterns

I've been hanging out on Craftster again and got a great idea for a Halloween craft.

I went to SCRAP to pick up some orange tissue paper & a few sheets of black construction paper.  Have I mentioned how much I love SCRAP?  I got a bunch of things while I was there (including a book about Japanese inspired quilts for $1), but the paper products cost less than 50 cents.  Not too shabby.  I grabbed a few old glass jars from the cupboard and got to work.


It's pretty self-explanatory, I ripped up the tissue paper and layered it on with the collage glue.  I actually mixed a bit of glitter in with the glue, although I'm not sure how noticeable it is.

Then while the glued dried, I cut out the face pieces.  Then I glued them on as well, and covered the whole thing with another layer of glue.


Stick a little tea-light in the jar and they're good to go!
 (I need to get a taper for the taller skinny bottle... none of the candles I have at home worked)

Now, when I went to work today and was bragging about my newest little craft project, my coworker listened polite and responded "Yeah, I think we did those in kindergarten."  Oh well, it's not the first time that I've displayed the artistic ability of a 5 year old. =P

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Evergreen - stripes

I have been working on the Evergreen quilt, but I wasn't happy with the contrast of colors once it was all laid out.  There are just too many light colors.  So I cut a few more dark greens laid them out but still wasn't really happy with them.  I got really tired of cutting out triangles so I decided to switch gears.

Ever since I made this quilt for my niece, I've wanted one for myself.


It's super easy - just started cutting up strips in dark, medium, and light values and just sewed them all up in that order. The quilting is just wavy lines.  It's as close to instant gratification as quilting is going to get.


Technically it's twin sized - 72ish by 90ish, but it covers the top of my queen sized bed really well.

Here's the back.


I just adore these fabrics, and in this pattern I do like the light/dark contrast.

And I'm getting better at the binding I think.  I'm actually starting to make good quilts! 


 Yay!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Montego Bay II

One could argue that I already have more scarves than any woman could possibly need.  One would have plenty of evidence to support that argument! 

Nevertheless, when I was going to Costa Rica I thought it would be good to bring some knitting along, so I wound up some yarn - Twinkle Toes in Chili Pepper - and jotted down the Montego Bay scarf pattern I'd done a few years ago.

I got a few lines knitted up waiting for the plane, and then a few more lines watching TV with my homestay family.


But mostly it was my commute knitting.  And because I have such an annoyingly long commute... it didn't take long to finish up!


Montego Bay #2!