Clash! brass necklace inspiration

This weekend we went to see the 2010 version of CLASH OF THE TITANS. I was surprised at how good it was, disappointed with the lack of certain elements from the original (mechanical owl, who?), and loved their JEWELRY.

I loved Cassiopeia! She was curvy and sassy. And her jewelry was intense.

Now I'm working on a necklace of this intense gold/brass color. I have a collection of brass buttons and finding and I'm going to use green cord to keep it all together. Now, to the design... wish me luck!

crafty week

28 kente stoles later, I'm back into personal crafting.

This morning, I decided I wanted to try my hand at button crafting. I have a lovely assortment of buttons, mostly pastic and wood, compiled by the leftovers of an old tenant and one ebay purchase. Taking an assortment of them, I've sewn them together into a leaf shape. Now... what to do with them? Elle likes the idea of a hair pin... I was really hoping for a pendant. We'll see...

Success!

After 3 days of patching and contemplating, Sammy's Palette cover is complete.




This nifty piece was the brain child of elle. She requested a cover for Sammy's bedding, which was a scattered collection of 2 old, and unsightly, comforters, a bunch of holey cartoon-esque towels, and 2 old bathroom mats.

My Aunt V suggested that old quilts could be refurbished for all types of things, so in January I purchased a handmade well tattered, yet salvageable, queen sized quilt for $12. Nice! I didn't know what I was going to do with it when I purchased it, but like most of my purchases I knew the creative bug would hit, and I like to have materials ready. It doesn't have a traditional peiced pattern--more like whatever the quilter had got put into this piece. Finishing stitch is large circles and it has double batting. Thick, warm quilt.

The quilt was the perfect solution for Sammy because it's bedding! I cut off the really terrible edges , patched the inside and outside with my favorite patching fabric (elle's classic, yet permanently stained, country duvet from ikea), edged the shape with remnants from a converted fitted sheet, added velcro and stuffed the old bedding inside. He seems to like it so far. Long term wear will be the true challenge. Being that there are already patches on the inside and outside, it's an easily repaired piece. Until then, he's sleeping in old skool mountain style. Gets it from his mama. ;)

A Starry Mistake

I mean, it's not really a mistake. But, I didn't set out to make this lovely pillow.

See, there's this quilt. I want this quilt to look GOOD. It's my first full sized quilt and, well, I'm putting effort into it! We have a beautiful quilt from elle's grandmother which I truly adore. Using it 365 days a year, will not make the quilt stick around for too long. Thus, I think I can create a queen-size quilt, and then if I enjoy it, may be a couple more.

There is this one section that I'm not able to wrap my head around. I have a beautiful center, lovely other side pieces, but I needed something else. I thought this design, and it's 3 colors, would work. I went about all the normal, cautionary ways: measuring, allowances, etc... but, at the end of the piece, it was bubbled, not a flat peice. Thus, we have a small accent pillow, not the missing part of the quilt. I still don't have an idea as to which fabrics to use on those 6 missing quilt areas. I have ideas, kinda, about pattners, but nothing that seems to work as beautifully as my sister's fabric choices.

Today's craft will be finishing Sampson's new doggie bed duvet. Elle has requested that it doesn't open in just one spot, like a pillow case or duvet. There's my challenge. I have an old quilt I found at an antique store which I've been patching for the project. I would love to do a pillow case style cover, but with elle's perference, I'm thinking ties or velcro.

While I ponder how to close Sammy's bed, the last craft, said Starry Pillow, lives nicely on the swan chair.

Blogging, not to forget

Aimee has motivated me to put these wonderful things that happen somewhere, other than Facebook. There's more narrative available at a blog, so I'll try this. Thanks for reading and being kind with my personal rants, raves, successes, (yes, failures) and general sassy-ness.