Memories on a necklace

Five years ago today, I lost my dad. It was only a few weeks ago I could bear to take the key to his house, my childhood home, off my keychain. But when I did, I decided it still needed a home somewhere. So I turned it into a necklace I can wear whenever I want to go home in my head.

The locks are probably changed by now, the people in it have probably painted over my pink bedroom walls and torn out the carpet with the bleach stain I accidentally left on it. But it'll always be the key to my house. The one I will always remember and wear around my neck.

Rainy day inspiration

So today I took down the old craft bins from the top of the fridge (AKA "my craft den") and was inspired by the gray and rain outside to stay inside and get some projects done that were a long time coming.

A baby blanket for a friend's baby who is already three months old. A bag commissioned by a friend in August that I'd been too busy to get around to. My sister-in-law's dress from May that needed to be taken in and hemmed-- oh, and a couple of pillows for good measure with some extra material left over.

Two broken needles, countless pokes, two Band-Aids and numerous bent pins later, this is what came out from under my Janome today.

Awesome Alert--New Amy Butler Fabrics!!

Ahhhh, there's nothing like an e-mail from Amy Butler's website in your inbox to get the blood flowing again. She's got a new line of fabrics out called LOVE! and I'm in love with the Stone Path design. SO CUTE!

CrAfTYy BaStArDs!

Saturday's Crafty Bastards event in Adams Morgan was IN-cre-di-ble.

So many amazing things, so many creative thinkers, so many people making a connection to handmade goods-- it was awesome to be a part of it. It inspired me to get out there and do it myself-- a friend and I are hoping to share a booth at the next handmade crafts fair on December 4 in Silver Spring.

Of course I always go with the idea I'll get Christmas gifts, when in reality I'm just subconciously shopping for myself. Among my purchases-- a limited edition Allison Rose Aretha Franklin t-shirt of her wearing her inauguration hat, an awesome headband from Candy Thief, a charm necklace from Loyalty & Blood, a couple of awesome postcards from Rar Rar Press and a cool pair of repurposed hardware earrings from Alitas Jewelery.

A big shout out to the ladies of Hello Craft for putting on such a lovely event. Here's some photos of the handmade goodies I scored and some that are just plain cool.

Happy crafting!

Vote for the Craftiest Bastard!

SOOOOO, are YOU coming to Crafty Bastards on October 3rd?

Of COURSE you are! You wouldn't want to be left out of this awesomeness, would you?

Speaking of which, you can still vote for your favorite Crafty Bastard here.

See you on Saturday-- bright and early!

Coolest. Earrings. Ever.

These are my FAVORITE earrings, ever since I got them a few months back. I met Christy Petterson at the Summit of Awesome last May. She's the face behind abardis, and makes the most fabulous silkscreened earrings ever. The floral pattern on these is from her grandmother's bathroom wallpaper. She silkscreens it, and other designs she's created, in various colors on shrinky-dink.

A great pop of color, and a great way to spruce up even the most boring of days. LOVE 'em!

Crafty Field Trip Time!

Last month my crafty partner-in-crime Mary Blanca headed up to Baltimore on a Hello Craft field trip to check out the Biggs and Featherbelle Lather Lab with a few other Hello Crafters. We had so much fun learning how they make soap, put lip balm in a tube and make their business a success. We even got to make our own body scrubs at the end.


Check out the article here and the Flickr feed of photos from Hello Craft here.

Teeny-tiny formalwear

Most of my friends are having girls it seems, but a boy or two has popped up. Here's a quick way I found to make some manly-cuteness that is baby approved.



I found some fabric, attached it to the onsie with wonder under, then embroidered it around the edges and created a mock collared shirt with some black floss. Voila! Baby formalwear!

Birdie Bag and grandma time

I spent the weekend with my grandma a few weeks ago. We made a dress, a pair of boxers and a sling bag. She was generous enough to let me dig through her scrap stash and snag some buttons from her incredible collection after I realized in my moving fervor that I'd thrown all of mine in a bag of stuff to go to Goodwill back in Florida.



We traded stories, we watched her soaps, we discovered the wonders of electric scissors, we learned how to make gussets and stitched up a storm in the basement. My grandma is my handcrafting idol, and idol in general, really. Who else can make a purse out of an old ice cream container? My grandma can!
So fresh from my trip to Missouri, I dug out the sewing machine this week and put together my own sling bag.



I used some birdie fabric I found on my trip to San Francisco last year and one of her antique buttons. I even put in a couple of pockets inside. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that large, cavernous bags should always have a handy cell phone pocket near the top.

Happy Stitching!

Baby Buddha

Still in my quest to fulfill baby gift obligations, I broke into my packet of Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns again (the one I bought years ago and forgot about!) and dug up a spare onesie to make this sleeping Thai buddha fabulousness. Just looking at it makes me want to take a nap.

Love leads the way

While volunteering at Handmade Mart last weekend, I came across these necklaces from bluGrn Design. I really couldn't decide which of her cute necklace creations was my favorite, until I stumbled across her compass necklaces.
I can't tell you how many times, since moving to DC, I've popped out of some Metro Station somewhere wondering where the heck I was and how to get to the place I'd seen on the map. So often there's two or three exits for the metro, so it can be very confusing for a newcomer. So when I saw a necklace with a compass on it, I was sold. I also got one for my fabulous friend Kella, who always leads me in the right direction.

Cute AND practical-- my dad would've been proud.

Embroider-ama!

Ok, so ALL the friends seem to be getting preggers with little girls this year. So I'm having fun throwing together some onesies for the little ladies that are coming soon-- or should have already have been here by now.

(I'm looking your way, Tal-- how about a nice spicy burrito to speed that along, ladyfriend?)

So here's two of the creations I've been working on in my craft corner lately.

When my grandma was down at my house in Florida last December, she taught me to make fabric flowers. So I went to town and made a ton of them. I attached them to the onesie with buttons and then I curled the embroidered stems around to the back so it makes them look like they're growing out of the baby's rear end. Cute on baby-- funny for parents.




That little experience taught me that embroidering on knits can be a bear, but possible. I was able to avoid that on the second one by embroidering the pink skull (design courtesy of Sublime Stitching, of course!) on a piece of white cotton and simply sewing it onto the front with some matching pink floss.


So hopefully the next ones will be even better and more fun. It's a learning process but a very fun and soothing one!

Sew Sublime

If there are crafty ladies out there that STILL haven't heard of Sublime Stitching-- then consider this your education. Jenny Hart was kind enough to teach a hands-on workshop on embroidery at Summit of Awesome last week and while I hate to admit it, I'd bought a kit of hers five years ago from Butterfly Tattoo that I never touched. Even worse-- I admitted it to her! Even with her careful instructions, I was a little intimidated. Embroidery always looks so hard, but after her quick tutorial I learned that it's actually so, so easy. And soothing. And a great flexible crafty medium you can do so much with! LOVE IT!

Check out Jenny's recap of the Summit of Awesome here and go embroider yourself a pink skull and crossbones next time *you* need a minute to relax.

On hiatus

Hello Crafters! Modern Stitches is taking a spring hiatus. Once my machines and fabric stash are unpacked in DC, I'll be back up and crafting again. Check back in May for fresh new creations!