Sparkly Alien

I finished her :)

I went with glitter. I did do a light coat of paint first, but it looked too dull. I kept thinking I wanted her to shine. Duh - sparkles! Broke out the glitter glue and BAM! Done :)

I even added some red to her shoes.

Wordless Wednesday

Zombie Hand

I am trying to decide if I am done with this piece or not. It is another Urban Threads design...a zombie hand. I like the puce green cotton background - it sets the old and decaying stage rather well I think. The only glitch was the lighter colored stitching. The yellow nails and off white bone bits did not show up well initially. Solution - fabric paint to fill in those areas. Perfect.

So why am I not sure if I am done or not? Well the blank spaces above and below the hand call out "caption" to me. But what? My first thought was ultra cheesy: "Zombies, always willing to lend a hand". Hubby's idea: "Let your fingers do the walking". Since our oldest did not know what that was referring to, I think that idea is out.

So, any ideas?

Fruity Oaty Girls Painted

I finally finally FINALLY finished the pillow. This took me forever. Not the actually doing, but the getting to. I am glad I decided to add the paint. It gives it the pop of color it was lacking.

Holidays Equals Vacation

Hmmm...actually, looking at my recent posts, I'd have to say I already hit vacation made. With my blogs at least. They have been neglected while I gave my attention to the sewing machine. There have been 2 hand painted messenger bags, 3 custom backpacks, one altered backpack, 2 zip pouches, a pillow and a 6 bag set (pictures will be coming later for these 6 & the most recent backpack). So vacation...not really. But it is now, because for the next week there will be no sewing or blogging...well, not much anyway :)


These are the completed messenger bags. I think I may start making more of these...some in a half size. I was thinking about the smaller size for a while...ever since the summer zoo trips. I think it would be a perfect hands free was to carry my wallet, keys, camera & small snacks.

This pink bag was a bit challenging. The customer will be using it as a ballet bag. There needed to be 2 mesh pockets for the shoes and a box pocket on the outside for keys & small wallet. Not having the actual shoes in front of me made it tough to get the pocket size correct. I did have the basic measurements, which helped, but it would be nice to have the actual shoe for testing. She sent me a pic of the bag with the shoes in the pockets - it looked like a great fit. woo hoo!

Have a Happy Holiday! See you in a week or so.

Hand Painted Custom Order

I was so excited recently when I was asked if I could make another Serenity & Grr Arrgh bag...only painted instead of embroidered. It is always fun to make something in a different medium. The woman had seen my Serenity pillow that was hand painted, so she knew I knew how.

The bags are done, but I still need to click some pics. I do have pics of the painted portion I am going to show off though....

The Painted Totes are Done!

Here they are, the totes from my last post. I finished them a few days ago but it took a while for me to get the photos taken...rainy days all week did not help...neither did the photo editing program crashing daily :P

I made each bag a little different & was hoping to gather some opinions on which style is most liked. None of them have a closure. I figured that with their sizes (nearly 2 feet wide) a snap wouldn't do much and a zipper won't allow for overstuffing. I could easily add a simple tie closure, may try that on the next one. The straps have twill tape inside to give them more oomph. They all have 2 large pockets inside - one printed and the other in the solid color & sectioned. The bottom is reinforced with an extra piece of stiff craft interfacing fused (and quilted, on some) to the lining. The next batch I make will be half this size. I don't want too many XL totes hanging around.

Now for the bags & their differences...oh, and the center panels are all hand painted to mimic the print.

This first one has a strip of the printed fabric all around the top edge.


This bag has the 2 different colors next to the print.


This is the simplest - no band at the top and only one solid color...plus, no pleats.

Here are all 4 hanging above my machine...no idea where to store yet :P
The yellow bag was in the last post...it's difference is the pleating...which is quite bulky when sewing. I feared for my poor little machine. The yellow is also a tad see through, which is what brought on the idea for the band around the top on the chili pepper bag.

So, any preference among the differences?