pamgarrison

a colorful sunday

The other day I saw a girl wearing the cutest big beaded necklace. You know what's next: I couldn't get it out of my head. My desire to make my own went into overdrive. Off to my bead box I went. Hers was made of nothing but roundish, over-sized, colorful beads, but I was short a few so made do with stones I had in colors I wanted to incorporate. I might switch them out one day, but probably will forget. Or do you think I need to for a better overall effect? I wish I knew where I got that carved wooden rose bead, I think a  necklace made of  mother of pearl beads mixed with those wooden roses would be so pretty. Some of my beads are wood, some stones, and some porcelain. That yellow one is some sort of varnished paper. Here's the clasp I made:

I had to make do with a hat pin and a clip on earring. I learned how in my pal Amy's book. Even though my necklace is a different style than those in her book, I still incorporated her techniques here. My new colorful necklace makes me so happy it might just take the edge off doing the laundry. Ok, that's pushing it, but it does put a little happy in my step. It's the little things in life...

 

 

 

i don't want to say goodbye to summer

One last attempt to stop summer from slipping through my fingers. Now that the second week of school has begun, I know it's really over. It was such a lovely summer. These beautiful photos by other flickr members sum it up nicely...

 

1. writing methods 2, 2. hangingthedrapery, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. sea urchin, 6. Print Giveaway, 7. still life with mirabelles, 8. ripening, 9. Paper Lantern Lights, 10. 82/365: Granny's Tablecloth, 11. "O tempo rodou num instante nas voltas do meu coração", 12. kathleen's cupboard, 13. ...more bunting!, 14. in the rockpool, 15. detail of..., 16. lemons, 17. flowers for rahel, 18. green ones are hard to find, 19. Natures Beauty, 20. dangling, 21. No.327, 22. No.319, 23. Untitled, 24. Untitled, 25. happy unofficial last day of summer!, 26. Untitled, 27. Untitled, 28. Wish you were here!, 29. we must not cease from exploration or the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time. ~TS Eliot, 30. sea urchins, 31. ...by the seashore, 32. pears in a row SMALL FILE, 33. happier, 34. Untitled, 35. Untitled, 36. Happy Bank Holiday!

 

finished!

 

Phew, now that I've finished, that little obsession has subsided. You probably can't tell what it is from the photo... but it's a laptop computer case. I think it looks very home made meets hi tech, and that makes me happy. Here's the other side:

 

Here's how it looked when I bought it from JoAnn's Fabrics:

 

 

 

Using an already existing case was perfect for me, because I hate measuring and figuring it out, and making piping, and putting in zippers etc.  So the structure was already all there and I just added to it a bit by stitching on a false front and back. If you read this blog, you know how much I love to alter new items (like this one here). Here are some close ups just for fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can get back to all those other projects...Have a great weekend!

 

creativity held hostage

That's pretty much where I'm at right now. With the arrival of a new idea, I find my creativity toward other things held hostage.  I often feel that obsessed feeling, wanting to work on it and work on it, longing for time to devote to it.   Suddenly it's as if it won't let me work on anything else until I surrender to it. So I'm working on this new project and loving every minute of it. The process. Not even sure if the idea is going to work out well in the long run, but I can always scrap that idea and use it for something else if that's the case. I'll show you when I'm finished whether it works out or not. Above you see one part of it, here is another. It's  similar to my other samplers and stitched bits, clearly, the wanting to stitch and play with fabric hasn't waned.

More materials gathered and waiting their turn with needle and thread...

And the stitched bits I mentioned. They are still in the mix creatively. This is how my couch looks today, and has since Friday night when I was sorting and stitching and mixing and matching while we watched a movie. My family is so great about my piles and projects. I really don't think I'd let any one of them leave anything out for a week, let alone taking up the entire couch, without giving them a hard time.  My messes don't bother me much, I think it's because I see where they are going. I constantly see them as work in progress, even if I've moved onto something else. But I must admit, looking at this makes me feel a bit guilty. Ok, off to clean up the stitched bits set and my reward will be time on the new crush.

flickr inspiration for a lovely weekend

1. imagine., 2. .tape. (cover), 3. welcoming keaton, 4. sunny, 5. ..., 6. Autumn Breeze, 7. ... Life overflows without ambitious pains; And rains down life until the basin spills, And mounts more dizzy high the more it rains As though to choose whatever shape it wills ..., 8. learn to fly, 9. two sea urchin SMALL FILE, 10. Untitled, 11. Take a Hike!, 12. poetry heart, 13. LOVE, 14. Heart Set, 15. sj studio, 16. reclamation, 17. LA Weekend, 18. 20090906 Me And My Owl, 19. R O S E S, 20. ♥, 21. just trying to notice the little things i do, 22. Rug Hooking - "Everyday Joy " - progress, 23. postcard3.30, 24. krukje mischa, 25. van dik hout - mijn houten hart, 26. Houses cushion #04, 27. whistle, 28. Tiered Skirt, 29. Pink!, 30. the sun comes up and we start again, 31. Vintage Religious Cards, 32. Blue bird pin made out of polymer clay, metal finding and a glass bead, 33. Untitled, 34. DSCF7455.JPG, 35. march motif 09, 36. one little acorn

wip

Hi there. I know, I've been a bad blogger! I was on such a roll for a minute there. Lorelei's comment (on last post) was the  kick in the pants (kindly) that I needed to jump back in. Sometimes, I feel like I've gotten so far away, or so much living has gone on since last posting, that I don't know where to start. So I'm just going to jump in and tell you what I'm in the middle of right now. That is, craft wise. Of course, life wise there is lots going on; the kids starting school and sports schedules ramping up etc. is a lot of it. Can't wait (riiiight) to go to Staples and get the required supplies for my daughter right after posting. Hoping to avoid the hour long lines that we ran into (and walked away from) yesterday. Anyway, back to the creative work in progress...

We had a fun dinner party over Labor Day weekend and I decided to use my camping tablecloth on the table. It was well received, but we noticed that it really needed to be a titch bigger all the way around for use on our outdoor table. So I wanted to get right on that after washing it. Off to my fabric stash to find the right pieces of bed linens to cut squares from. (first photo) As I went looking for favorite fabrics, I pulled out all the linens I had, they were just too disorganized to shove back in the cupboard, which led to all my fabric being pulled out and a major sort and reorganization began. Yikes. I think if I added up the time that took it'd equal a full day. But it's done now, and should make future sewing projects a lot easier. Here's the tablecloth draped over the banister so I could tell which fabrics I'd already used. It looked so pretty that I wanted to capture it in a way that was similar to the photo that inspired the whole thing. The photo that I found so inspiring was taken by flickr member "giant dwarf" of Amanda Mello's beautiful bed canopy creation.

           

I'm also still working on a new collection of stitched bits to sell:

They are slowly coming along. Being added to here and there. Which reminds me, after Staples, I have to drop off my sewing machine for some much needed attention. Hate that.   And I'm still cutting, and measuring and photographing wallpaper to list. I think I've made that project far more complicated than it needs to be, but too late now. Obviously, it's not going to happen this week. Sorry for those waiting, it became a bit overwhelming. 

And that keeps you pretty much up to date on the crafting projects going on (less frequently than I'd like right now) around here. I'm hoping next week will have more creating and blogging in store. xo

playing with fabric

              

Having fun making some new stitched bits since the last set was well received (thank you), and I find myself addicted to the fun of pairing up fabrics and trims and other bits. I just keep starting more instead of continuing on individual pieces. The hand stitching and embellishing stage comes next.  Eventually, they'll be finished. I tend to let my creativity take me where it wants, I'm just along for the ride it seems.

       

         

             

I wonder what those of you that purchased the last set are going to do with them. ??? Are you pinning them on the  wall as is? Have you incorporated them in a larger project? I'd love to see.

And if you want to see some B.E.A.-utiful {said the way Jim Carrey did in "The Truman Show"}stitching, go see what my friend Rebecca has just posted. So very pretty. So very inspiring. I'm going to try to get my hands on one of those when they hit her etsy shop for sure. I'm still pining over the ones that I missed.

For those of you waiting on the wallpaper, I appreciate your patience, I'm still waiting for delivery of shipping materials. Soon...