Yimi Handwork

Winter's memory

2010-03-21T08:46:00.016-04:00

I always say: I hate winter. To me ,winter equals cold, equals snow, equals shoveling the painful long driveway, equals walking on slippery sidewalk.......... But, sometimes it simply equals beauty.

The autumn joy looks like a Chinese brush painting.
Magnolia is waiting to blossom quietly.

Lotus area rug-- A Stash Killer

2010-01-25T07:06:00.011-05:00

Thanks to my dear husband, I got the inspiration. He started to worry about my stash, "What are you gonna do with all those fabrics, lay out all of them layer by layer, covering every inch of our house, a few dozen layers will do only if you don't buy any more." one day, he said when he found out my stash had invaded into not only the guest bedroom, but the mater bedroom as well.

Here comes my stash killing project, a fabric origami area rug. This round rug with only about 27" diameter used up about 11 to 12 yards of fabric. I didn't use any batting, since it's thick enough, some spots overlapped exactly a dozen layers just like my hubby suggested.

I'm going to put it here with the hand carved three-leg chair.

It looks like a lotus, at least to me. I like it very much, probably will make a green one later. But next I'll do some scrap cleaning projects.

Something red

2010-01-15T11:20:00.005-05:00

Here comes the UFO No2, it was started the year before last year, well qualified for a UFO. Actually, I'm quite fond of it, don't know why it's been abandoned for such a long time.

Hopefully, I can find a place for it after our kitchen renovation is done, which will be contemporary style. Keeping my fingers crossed, it's a long project after all, although not a big one.

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-04T14:48:00.004-05:00

After a long time of silence, I'm back with an ambitious new year's resolution: complete all the UFOs I have created, sounds like a mission impossible.

But I'm trying.

Ta-Ta...Finished UFO No.1, a patchwork wallet.

I machine-stitched a dragonfly on the backside

Something green inside, I recycled that small piece of transparent vinyl from a chocalate box to make a photo holder

Patchwork backpack made of old Jeans

2009-06-01T11:06:00.004-04:00

This summer is not a craft summer for me, I spend a lot of time in my front and back yards.
Only after sunset, mosquitoes occupy the yards, I go back to my sewing room and do some craft.
I'm quite pleased with this scrappy look backpack, it was made of an old jean and some 11/2"squares.

inside look
applique the square stripe onto the jeans

make a flip cover

Cupcake Apron

2009-05-12T10:06:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I spent the whole day on making this apron.

It's quite easy-made. I cut two pieces gingham，sewed together along the shoulder part, then added ruffles along the edges, added 3 pairs of stings on each side, tied the strings together, an apron was done.
I made a mistake when cutting the second piece, it was 3" short. I didn't have enough fabric left to cut another piece, so I added another piece and sewed a decorative piece to cover the seam.

A cupcake was made of cake, butter cream, and a cherry

Spring in the front yard garden

2009-05-09T22:34:00.004-04:00

This is a very busy spring. We finally manage to make a new front yard garden. Hunting for plants, stones and rocks, planting, replanting according to bloom seasons, heights, colors, I found it's quite similar to what I do for a quilting project: hunting for fabric, design blocks... This difference is gardening is really labor work, every night, I slept like a baby.

It's worth all the sweat. isn't it?

Prepare for Summer

2009-04-22T20:50:00.007-04:00

Summer's coming, and I'm ready to go.

Since we took out our tent from its original bag, it has never been packed into that small bag again. It stays in a big plastic bag until now.

It's quite roomy, with all those stuffed in, I think it can hold at least 2 more bath towels.

I've been planning to make an emergency kit bag for a long time. Although I thought about it carefully, I still made a few mistakes. This is the one I couldn't figure out a way to fix without redoing it. The zipper should be inserted between the two layers like sandwich.
I designed the inside part first, many pockets and elastic bands.

inside look, still some room for tweezers, Q-tips, etc.

Oh, the appliqued running ambulance, isn't it cute?

cross-stitch sachet

2009-04-08T17:20:00.003-04:00

I haven't done any cross stitch for a while. Last week, I found a heart, an unfinished Valentine card. I stitched another piece and made a sachet. It was stuffed with dried lilac buds which were collected from my back yard last spring.

Opposite side, the same

Heaven Or Hell

2009-03-28T18:03:00.003-04:00

I heard a cross stitch joke:

A cross-stitcher was very naughty in this earthly life and didn't go to heaven. At the gates of Hades, she was met by the Devil. "Welcome," he said, smirking at her. "Let me show you around your eternal home."

The Devil led her to a large room that looked uncannily like a large needlework shop. The stitcher blinked her eyes, wondering if what she saw was an illusion. No, it was true. The most wonderful needlework shop she had ever seen was right before her. Still unbelieving, she asked, "Is this real?" "Of course," murmured the Evil One. "Reach out and touch it."

The stitcher was worried that she would be zapped by 1000 volts, but reached out anyway, unable to help herself. IT WAS REAL! "May I look around?" she asked excitedly, all the while thinking, This can't be Hell! This is too good! "Of course," said the Devil. "This is your eternal reward." The stitcher began to survey the particulars of her damnation. There was every chart ever published, including all the ones that were out of print in her lifetime and could never find. There was a full run of each needlework magazine, including all the old ones with the historical examples - and each issue was pristine. She continued to look with wonder. Every thread imaginable was there; silks, cottons, metallics, pearl cottons, over-dyeds, hand-dyeds, rayons and twisted-rayons (Yes, maybe I am in Hell, she thought when she saw those)

Her eyes lit up when she saw the piles and piles of fabrics. There were bolts and bolts of every colour and every type. An array of beautiful thimbles were hers for the choosing, as were scissors and clever needlework gadgets; all organized just as she would have done it on earth.

And there, beside her favorite earthly stitching chair, were all her unfinished projects!
Yes, she thought, you can take it with you. I have all the time I want now. I'm going to finish them at last.

The stitcher's fingers were just itching to get going! She turned to Beelzebub and said, "THIS IS HEAVEN ! ! ! "

"No," he rejoined. "This is Hell. DO YOU SEE ANY NEEDLES?"

BUT, the funny thing is when I shared it with my stitcher friends, most of them said it was definitely heaven. They even started thinking what they could use as a needle, a hair for example, or cut of a piece of hard cover to make one, all kinds of crazy ideas.

As for me , I have to admit if it's not heaven, it definitely close. If there were all kinds of quilting fabric, it could be better.

Four seasons slippers

2009-03-20T17:23:00.005-04:00

DIY is like weeds, when it starts, you can't stopping it from spreading.

My slipper-making career started from a single felt oak leaf I cut when watching TV. It looked nice, so I started looking for a place to put it. then I saw my old slippers: after decorating, they were going to be nice. But when I tried to glue them, a new idea came up: I could make some new ones.

I ended my slipper-making career by two more fluffy ones.

Fabric tulip Tutorial

2009-02-27T14:27:00.008-05:00

Here comes the tutorial for the Fabric Tulips. Hope you'll like it

Supplies:
fabric: pedel-shaped : 3
leave- shaped 2
wire 20gauge 14"
flower tape 13"
fiberfill

Tools: Glue gun
Pliers

Note: I drew white lines to show where to sew.

Procedures:

Step !: make the stem
A. Stretch the tape gently, after stretch, it becomes a little sticky,
B. Wrap the tape around the wire, starting 1/2" from one end, don't worry about the unwrapped part, it'll be hidden inside the bud.

C. Use pliers to make a loop at the unwrap end

Step 2: make the bud
A. take 2 pieces of the pedal-shaped fabric, right face together, sew one side only, leave 1/4" seam allowance

B. Sew the third piece and the piece made in step A together, right face together,

it should look like this

C. Turn inside out

Step 3: Make the leave
A. Sew the 2 peice of leave-shaped fabric together, leave the bottom open
B.Turn inside out
C. Sew along the edge

Step 4:Assemle the tulip
A. Fold the raw edge of the bud inside about 1/4", stitch it using running stitch, leave 2" thread at both ends.

B. Stuff fiberfill into the bud, and insert the stem into the bud with the loop end inside.

C. Tighten the thread end and use a needle to hide the end into the bud. If it's not tight enough, it's Ok, we can use glue to fix it later.

D. Heat the glue gun, put glue at the bottom of the leave and glue it on the stem

E. Put a little glue here to fasten the stem.

That's it. Enjoy!!!

Tilited Windmill--- A short cut

2009-02-25T13:46:00.005-05:00

Here is the short cut to make tilted windmill, no need to work with triangles. All the measures are good for 5" squares. If you want to see larger pictures, you'll have to click on the picture.

1, make a template like this

A. draw a 3 1/4" square on carton (or paper), you can cut it out now or later.

B. Find the center of the square by draw 2 diagonal lines, the center is where the two lines cross

c. draw a line parallel to borders, passing the center

D.use a protractor to draw a line 57 degree cross the line drew in step C, passing the center

E, draw a line perpendicular to the line drew in step D.

F. clean all lines except the last two lines, and of course the borders if you haven't cut the square off in the first place.
(G. Cut off the square if haven't done)

2 sew all the 5" squares you want to use together. I don't have any 5" square left, So I draw the assembling on a paper in order to show how to use the template.

3, use template

4, the block after cutting looks like this

5. 4 blocks make a windmill

That's it, Enjoy!

Tilted Windmill Tablecloth

2009-02-23T15:19:00.012-05:00

Finally, it's done!!!

I've never thought it still took so long, since it was machine-quilted by my small home sewing machine. I wish I had a long-arm, it was hard to manipulate when the room was limited. Anyway it's done, I'm reasonably happy with myself and my sewing machine.

I learned something from this project. Not love yellow very much, I rarely use this color. I don't have much yellow fabric either. But looking at how this area is lightened by the yellow windmill, it goes very well with red, blue and green. I'll buy some yellow fabric next time definitely.

It looks retro, isn't it?

Red windmills are actually less than both green and blue ones, but when looking at the whole picture, it appears there are more red ones. Red is more dominant, says any basic color book. Now I remember it.

And I've been lazy, has anyone found it? I didn't quilt the border part. It's all right when looking at it, but in the photo, it's really showed, I guess it's because the angle I look at it is different from that I took photos. I should do some make-up quilting later.

Winter

2009-02-09T09:17:00.006-05:00

Winter here is long, almost half the year, white and cold, at the same time, fun and beautiful. I can't tell how I feel about it. Sometimes I love it, but sometimes I hate it.

You wonder why people hate winter?
Yes! they were cars parking on road.

And you wonder why people love winter?

You wonder why people hate snow?
It was our driveway after a snow storm.

Our Kitchen door

And you wonder why people love snow? The last rose in my back yard, it was beautiful, isn't it?

Flowers that never fade

2009-02-05T09:23:00.008-05:00

Time keeps changing, spring comes and goes, but these flowers will never fade, bloom in the coldest winter.

These tulip buds are actually by-products of that tilted windmill table cloth, which I just finished assembling. After cutting, lots of squares were left, with diagonal grain.

I made a carton template and got a pile of these, three of them can make a tulip bud.

Last minute Gift------ Plastic Canvas watermelon coasters

2009-01-25T21:34:00.013-05:00

This set of plastic canvas watermelon coasters was a gift to a couple, I finished them on last Saturday and sent out on the very same day. I think I'm really a last minute person, no more how early I start, things always end up being finished at the last minute.

This color is a bit off due to the light, there is no way to photo again. :)

Put them together.

I made some mistake when cutting canvas, so here comes these two. Can you tell where are the mistakes? I put extra stitches on to make up where I cut off wrong.

That's the real color. :)

Here are the mistakes. I cut off one gird more.

The pattern is a freebie in Uniek Inc.'s website. Littledeer, a nice friend I met on internet, found and shared it with me.
Here is the link:
http://www.uniekinc.com/crafts.html

"Are you crazy?"

2009-01-19T19:53:00.005-05:00

"Are you crazy?" My husband asked me, when he saw me cutting tons of 5" squares, sewing them together to make a big piece, and then again cutting the big piece into 3 1/2" square tilted windmill blocks, over 200 of them.

This made him believe that he's right about patchwork: it's all about cutting big pieces into small pieces and then sew the small pieces into a big piece again, repeat the process if want to make it more complicated.

"Not quite." I said, "Wait and see it finished. You'll know it's worth it."
"When?" He asked.
That question really shut me up. I have so many unfinished projects, who knows when I can finish it.

Coconut Almond Oatmeal Cookies

2009-01-14T09:59:00.014-05:00

Once I wanted to share a lamb recipe with my eldest sister. I told her to put a little bit this and a little bit that..... She asked: "How many is a little bit, 0.5g, 5g? Give me the amount of ingredients." She is physicist and wants everything to be precise.

I don't work that way. I rarely cook or bake anything completely according to recipes, I frequently make up my own. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. My dishes taste differently each time, at least slightly. Sometimes, my husband said " It tasted better last time." The problem is I've never written down recipes, I don't remember what I put in last time.

I baked some coconut almond oatmeal cookies yesterday, they taste really good. This time I decided to write it down in case that next time I want to make cookies tasting exactly the same.

Ingredient:
Butter 1cup
Brown Sugar 1/2 cup
white sugar 3/4 cup
All-purpose Flour 3/4 cup
Corn starch 1/2 cup
salt 1 tsp
baking soda 1 tsp
Vanilla extraction 1 tbsp
Oatmeal 3 cup
chopped almond: 1 cup
coconut flake: 1/2 cup
large egg: 2

Soften butter in room temperature.

1.Pre-heat oven to 350 F .
2.Beat butter until creamy in a mixing bow. Add sugars, continue to beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Then add vanilla extraction. Beat to mix well.
3 Mix all-purpose Flour, Corn starch, salt, baking soda in another mixing bowl. Stir into the mixture made in step 2, stir in almonds, coconut flake and oatmeal.
4 Spoon out the mixture onto parchment papers, make cookies. I made a big one, cut after it baked.
5 Bake about 12 minutes, until cookies looks brown.

I cut about 30 square cookies and some odds.

New template

2009-01-12T17:15:00.006-05:00

I spent the whole weekend on customizing this template, it's based on a template named "Scribe" created by Todd Dominey, which is provide by Blogger. I changed the width and length of the body and the side bar, background picture, pretty much everything.

How do you think about the new look?

Here is the original template

A New Project

2009-01-08T10:24:00.003-05:00

Today it's a happy day. I'm starting a new crazy quilting project! After finishing the top, one of the scrape bins was half empty(I have two of them). And I can start to do decorative stitches, it's the creative fun part.

Another good news is my friend got the hand purse and she loves it!! I'm always really happy when people appreciate my hand-made gifts.

A gift for a far-away friend ------a small hand purse

2009-01-05T09:41:00.007-05:00

Happy New year!!!
A another busy holiday season has gone. Except from visiting & being visited, I left many unfinished holiday projects for next holiday season. :)

I made a small hand purse for a friend I met on internet. It's being mailed for a while, she should have it very soon, not in time for Christmas, not in time for New year either, but still good for the Chinese Spring Festival, which I believe will be at the end of January.

It's small, but took me some time to make a patchwork lid and cross-stitch maple leaf on the purse body. Hope she'll like it. I always worry about people's reaction to my hand-made gifts, do they like them?

Shot in action, a zipper bag in the back

Inside look, it's good for a cellphone and some card.

Here was the gift I got from my dear husband, a fabric trip, 200km drive, 3 fabric stores. He said I was a fabriholic.

Last Minute Christmas Things (1)---Napkin Ring with tut

2008-12-13T16:55:00.005-05:00

Christmas is coming, I'm thinking of some fast small holiday crafts. These Christmas napkin ring took maximally 20 minutes each.

Do you want to do it together with me? Go through your scrapes bin and get some holiday scrapes, let's begin. :)

Materials: 2 rounds with radius=2.5"( 6.3cm), 1 strip 2"X7" , 1 button (fabric covered I prefer)
Finished size: 2" square
1. Draw a circle with radius=2" on the back of 1 round piecs, put 2 rounds right face together, sew along the circle, leave 1" opening.

2.Turn it right-side out, close the opening with hidden stitches.

3. Find the center by folding the round twice, and mark 4 points distributed equally on the circle

4.stitch the 4 marked points to the center

5,turn it like turning down your collar

6. Turn all the corners

7. sew a button in the center

8. fold the strip with right side together along the long side, sew it and make a tube. Turn it right side out, close the opening and make a ring.

9, stitch the fabric origami block to the ring. All done. Is it easy? Hope you like it.

A tote bag with 3 pockets

2008-12-05T15:47:00.005-05:00

I got this book, and made this tote bag immediately, it has 3 pockets in front, quite roomy. Just looking at the stripes makes me feel a little dizzy.

My mini trampolim lies underneaths the bag and book, I jump on it when watching TV, hopefully I can loss some weight before the holiday season.

Cala Lily Trapunto wall hanging

2008-11-30T19:29:00.006-05:00

One of the projects was completed, I asked my husband to hang it in the guest bedroom.
A bout 2 and half years ago, after we moved in this house , I said I was going to take care of all the decoration of the walls. Just when starting to look for pictures/drawings to hang in our house, I started to do cross stitch and addicted to it, then I told my husband I was going to decorate all the walls with my projects. More than 2 years have past, I got into plastic canvas, needlepoint, embroidery, patchwork..., bought lots of kits, threads, yarns, and tons of fabric, but most of walls are still left blank. Feel a bit guilty here.

Another shot, it looks very 3-dimensional.

Things in progress

2008-11-25T06:04:00.004-05:00

I'm quite ambitious recently, doing many things at the same time, but nothing got done yet. Wait a second, actually, one of them was completed.

A cala lily trapunta wall hanging, almost done, just some quilting left, this is only a partial picture.

A redwork wall hanging for kitchen, it has to been done before Christmas.

This is the finished one, a fabric origami coaster, it is very fabric consuming. Those white green blue flower should be on the wrong side after folding, but I made a direction mistake when assembling. Next time, I'll only use allover fabric to make it mistake-proof.

I started the crewel stitch long time ago, and planned to finish it before next year, a big question mark here, can I?
My husband likes this needlepoint, it shouldn't take long.

Something small but handy

2008-11-20T09:56:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, when cleaning the scrap bin(I do that once in a while), I found a really small piece of prequilted fabric, which is the last leftover of my sewing machine cozy. so I made two small hanging bags for small scissors and seam rippers. This time that fabric was all used up, nothing left, the feeling was good, almost like finally I completed something. :)

Hanging together

Now, let's have a big family reunion. All the things are made from the same piece of fabric.

And here is something else I want to show you, a carry-around tool roller I made before. It's small but multifunctional, two pockets for scissors, many pockets for markers/rulers..... a built-in pin cushion,a built-in needle holder, and a thread holder good for 3 spools.

Roll it up, it's handy to carry around.

No time for any other things any more?

2008-11-14T09:03:00.008-05:00

Just found out Command & Conquer Red alert 3 was released half a month ago. Ever since I played the first game of this series more than 10 years ago, it becomes my favorite game series, can't believe it, so many years has passed by! I've never missed even a single releasing day until now. And this new game make me think, after I developed this new hobby:patchwork or purse making(what ever you call it), I hardly have time for any other things I used to do, such as, video games, yoga, karate... Whenever I have time , I want to sit down and make something. Although I hate to admit, I gain some weight, hmm, I mean quite amount of pounds. Maybe it's time to pickup some old activities, even for a few minutes a day.

Once, a friend sent me a small poem she got on internet after she knew I started a quilting project. I do find myself there. When I do craft and som thing else need to do, I say just another half an hour and I stop, that's not going to happen, I just continue doing my craft.

My Wife, the Quilter (author unknown)

She learned to quilt on Monday.
Her Stitches were very fine.
She forgot to thaw out dinner,
So we went out to dine.

She quilted miniatures Tuesday.
She says they are a must.
They really were quite lovely,
But she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday, it was a sampler.
She says the stripling's fun.
What highlights! Oh what shadows!
But the laundry wasn't done.

Her charm quilt was on Thursday,
Green patches, blue and red.
I guess she really was engrossed;
She never mad the bed.

It was wallhangings on Friday,
In colors she adores,
But she never seemed to notice the crumbs on all the floors.

I found a maid on Saturday!
My week is now complete.
My wife can quilt the hours away;
The house will still be neat.

Well, it's already Sunday.
I think I'm about to wilt.
I cursed, I raved, I ranted-
The MAID has learned to Quilt!

Little Bear Pencil Case

2008-11-11T09:52:00.008-05:00

Here is my second Christmas project, a little bear pencil case, which will be part of the gift package to my nieces. Will an 11 year old girl like it?

A bear boy lives in the woods.

A bear girl also lives in the woods. I stitched some eyelashes to make it look like a girl.

Thanks to Kaka, a friend who shared this pattern with me, which I believed from a Taiwanese magazine.

Low Cost Patchwork Board

2008-11-08T15:01:00.008-05:00

When I mark on fabric, sometimes fabric moves and stretches, which annoys me. Last week, I found a product named Patchwork Board(produced by Clover, a Japanese Company), a kind of marking board has a built-in sandpaper surface to hold fabric in place so you can mark accurate lines, and the opposite side is an ironing board surface. The price listed on the official website is US$29.95.

Today, I tried to find this patchwork board in 3 local stores, they don't have it. So I decided to make one myself. I went to Canadian Tire and bought a piece of Ultra fine sandpaper (the finest sandpaper in store) at $0.27 + tax. :) I glued it on hard paper board, and glued a layer of batting on the wrong side, then cover the batting side with a piece of fabric( larger than the hard paper board), folded the fabric to the sandpaper side and glued the edge to cover the edge of the sandpaper. Voila!! In about half an hour, I made a marking-ironing board for less than $1.00. If I know it, I wouldn't have spent the whole morning hunting for it. And that makes me think how much profit they can make in thus a simple product!

I tried, it holds fabric perfectly. Action shot

Time for Xmas again

2008-11-04T08:34:00.003-05:00

I'm starting my Xmas craft season by a cross stitch ornament this year. A bit early? maybe. Time goes by fast, last year I ended up finishing my Xmas projects after the Xmas, so they have to wait almost a whole year to get up on stage.
Here they are, one year old, but brand new coasters. I only started sewing/quilting by the end of last year, look at the stitches, really not that neat.

more ornaments

Autumn handbag

2008-10-24T12:08:00.008-04:00

Here comes my first handbag. It's a big handbag, have enough room for everything. :)

When I first saw that sparkling brown corduroy fabric, I wanted to make a bag of it. By then, I thought bag-making would be really hard, so that piece of corduroy stayed in a box for almost a year. Last week, I finally decided to try one, if it went badly, I could just hide it in my trash bin, how worse could it be? But it turned out to be much easier than I thought.

The fabric looked a little too dark to me, I added some autumn color to lighten it slightly. :)

Going out

Inside look

Here is my home-made pattern,if anyone is interested. Hmmm, yes, I always recycle paper whenever it's possible.

My scanner is unable to scan the full size pattern, so I draw them in half. You can just fold fabric along the line as I indicated in pictures.
I tried in my own printer,letter size paper was exactly the right size. BTW,you'll have to click on the picture to get the full size image.

This is my first time sharing a pattern, if there is anything not clear, let me know.
Enjoy!

Fabric Kitchen Storage basket

2008-10-16T14:15:00.004-04:00

This is a project I started last year, yeah,that's right, last year. I cut one of my husband's old jean, finished appliques and left it there until yesterday. Some people keep really good working habits, always finish one project before starting a new one. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them, I'm easily distracted by new ideas. Therefore, I have a storage box full of half done projects. Sometimes, I don't have new ideas, I go through them and finish one or two. Am I terrible? But look on the bright side, it takes half as much time to complete, at least, feel like that way.

I turned the light on to take another shot.

Back from trip

2008-10-15T17:30:00.008-04:00

I'm back. :)I'm always amazed we can trip such a long distance in such a short time, one moment we are here, a few hours later, we can be anywhere in this planet.

Always dreaming to live at seaside, warm weather, sand beach, forever green plants.... We now live far away from my dreaming land, whenever having a chance, we'll have a seaside vocation.

Yas, we went to San Francisco, California

Lot of people fished crabs here, a guy told us he could catch over 50 crabs a day, his secret formula was lemon juice.

Flowers grow in sand, shining like jewelry. Those are not water drops, I actually touched. I have no ideas what this plant is, if anyone knows, please let me know.

Something for vocation

2008-09-29T11:12:00.009-04:00

Yeah!!I'll be on vocation for two weeks, Although we are leaving tomorrow, instead of packing, I made a passport holder last night. It's just big enough for two passports and air tickets.

A small bag I made a long time ago for my underwear.

I learned something new this morning, meshwork in fabric, very interesting, also a very good time killer, but it needs a wool needle, which I don't think is allowed aboard.

I really have to pack now. Thanks for watching my blog, and see you in two weeks.

Walnut Pincushion with full Tutorial

2008-09-23T14:32:00.018-04:00

This is something I always want to make, old-time looking walnut pincushion.
I'm an embellisher, I guess, I always try to add some small things here and there, this time I added some cotton lace in and out the walnut shell.

Tutorial:
Make this Walnut Pincushion, you'll need
a walnut half shell
glue (white glue,etc I used Elmer's school glue)
3.5" fabric square
2 pieces of cotton lace (1/4" wide)
a bit fiberfill
a pair of scissors
a needle and some thread

1, Get yourself a nice walnut shell and clean it. I tried 7 walnuts and got one. I found it was much easier to use a hammer than a cracker to get an intact shell.

2. Stitch a circle in the fabric using running stitch, leave at least 1.5" thread at both ends.

3. put fiberfill within the circle

4.pull thread from both ends, keep all the fiberfill inside.

5. tie a knot tightly to make a ball

6. put some glue at the bottom of the shell, put the fabric ball into the shell. Put some glue around the edge of the side. When applying glue, make sure to apply only a thin layer, too much glue usually weakens the bond.

7. Carefully insert a piece of cotton lace between the shell and the ball

8. Hold them in place until they are dry enough to stay together by their own. I held them about 10 min. It's good the pincushion is small,I still got a hand free to surf the internet.

9. Glue another piece of cotton lace around the outside edge of the shell.

Without internet, can we live?

2008-09-23T10:50:00.007-04:00

I thought I could live without the net, I could go real stores instead of shopping online, I could watch TV and read newspaper instead of reading online news, I could mail/call my friends instead of sending emails or chatting in MSN,I could book all kind s of tickets by calling instead of booking online......life shouldn't be much different. I may even have more time to do other things.
Then I lost my connection last week. I found life was much more tedious without it!

Fabric Covered Boxes

2008-09-16T16:42:00.005-04:00

More boxes :). I used to put my fabric scraps in a plastic bag, which I always did't like much. Last week, I reorganized my fabric stash and found a few pieces I bought a year ago just when I started doing patchwork, those pieces were too thin to be used in patchwork but would be perfect to cover boxes. I also made two redwork pieces to decor the boxes. The pot one was a leftover of a wall hanging, I cut it off and used fusible webbing to attach it, the bear one was stitched on using blanket stitch.

My scraps have a nice house ever since.

Country kitchen Valance

2008-09-10T19:16:00.002-04:00

The winter here is long, white and cold. I make this bright country look valance, hopefully, it can add some colors to this coming winter.

At night, it looks warm.

Ruched lampshade

2008-09-06T20:25:00.007-04:00

This beautiful china lamp caught my eyes in a flea market. It came without a lampshade, but I thought I could easily find a nice lampshade for it.

It even has a night light inside.

In the next few months, I tried every place selling lampshades and couldn't find anything matching this beauty. Until last week, I got an idea when making a new curtain for our kitchen, why not make a fabric lampshade for it?
I bought a lampshade in a Dollar store. It didn't matter how ugly it was, I believed it would look good after my work. :)

I cut out the fabric, so it wouldn't diminish light too much after I added the ruched lampshade.

Lucky I found these two fabric that matched the blue flower on the lamp nicely.
Now it really lightens our bedroom. :)

Sofa cushion covers

2008-08-29T16:11:00.006-04:00

I have 5 pieces of interior decor fabric, all samples,each one is big enough for one cushion cover, so I combined them to make a set of 4 for my sofa cushions.

This morning, I got up very early, and this beautiful sky is the reward. :)

Felt needle Book

2008-08-26T16:39:00.008-04:00

One can never have enough things to hold needles/pin, pin cushions,pin holders, small bottles,and etc, one of my friends even used a mechanical pencil to hold her needles when traveling.

Yesterday, I saw a cross stitch Stitcher's book kit on internet, it was adorable. So I came up with this idea, and made a felt needle book, it looks nothing like the cross stitched one. But I love it all the same, maybe, it only because I made it. :)

Inside

A Puff Cushion

2008-08-21T10:37:00.004-04:00

Comfy!
I stuffed too much, it almost killed me when I hand-stitched them together. Now I know how much I appreciate my sewing machine. However,the cushion is so comfy, setting on it, I feel it worths all the trouble after all. :)
I used 5in squares for the top, and 4in squares for the back.

Dress it up- fabric covered box/bottle

2008-08-14T17:12:00.005-04:00

What do you do with a empty jam bottle, throw it in a recycle bin? Give it a hat, it'll look lovely and can hold many things for you.

The round treasure box was made of a empty 2in tape roll.
Putting them together, I got a new treasure box.

The bottle before wearing a hat.

Rainbow color pencil case

2008-08-11T16:09:00.010-04:00

We get a rainy summer, almost a shower every day. Last week, when I was thinking about a new color pencil case, the rain ceased, and the sun came out, a rainbow on the sky! I love rainbow always, who doesn't? So here comes my new pencil case. The embroidery was inspired by a Japaneses fabric.
Inside

last minute gift--- two bags

2008-08-07T08:51:00.004-04:00

These two bags were made to take socks and under wares for my husband. He's going to Japan for a business trip. I'm hoping he'll buy some nice Japanese fabric for me. He says that I'm more interested in collecting fabrics than actually using them. That is so not true, I just don't have enough time to use them. Here comes the proof.

I love make these quick-made bags, they can hold lots of things and it only took me an hour and half to complete both of them, including the time digging through my stash.

A repainted sewing box

2008-07-28T15:56:00.006-04:00

Someone’s trash is another person’s treasure. I want to have a large sewing box for a long time, but couldn't find one. Until I saw this one in a garage sell, it was only asked for $3.00, apparently it'd been used as a sewing box by someone else a long time along, there were some needles inside.

It looked old before painting. I took it apart before taking a photo.

After painting, can you still recognize it?

Look inside, a really big one!

My first ever sweater

2008-07-21T09:37:00.008-04:00

It's not time for a sweater yet. Since I found this piece of fabric in my stash, I decided to prepare for cold weather. ;)When fall comes, it'll keep me warm. :)
Actually, I have no idea when and why I bought this piece of fabric, I've never made any clothes before. My husband always says: if women stop shopping,the fragile global economy will receive a damaging blow.

I picked an old sweater which fits me best as the "pattern" to cut. Since the fabric is pure black, I stitched a bead rose to lighten it up.

Crazy quilt PDA cozy with Tut (Tut for the Black &White Ipod cozy)

2008-07-15T09:30:00.024-04:00

Finally, everything goes back to normal. I got a problem with high speed,it almost drove me crazy.

The decorative stitches took much longer than I thought, but here it is. I remembered when attending a short quilt class in a quilt show, a lady said every quilter should try at least once crazy quilting either in beginner level or master level. Since I'm a beginner and have accumulated quite amount of scraps, I tried this crazy patchwork with my scrapes. I never throw away any leftover fabrics, no matter how small they are. You see, I found a nice way to use them up.
I've never thought crazy quilting could be so fun, playing with colors,fabrics,and those decorative stitches make it a really pleasure.

The other side

a bit detail, I really like the combination of blanket stitch and lazy daisy stitch.

Tutorial

Measure the size of PDA
When measuring the size of the PDA, you have consider the height as well. I added height+ 0.3cm to width, and 2 height+ 5 cm to the length.

For example, my PDA is 9*12*1.5cm, a=12cm, b=9cm, height=1.5cm,
so the length= 2*12+ 2*1.5+5=32cm
width=9+1.5 +0.3=10.8cm
When doing the measurement, always measure the widest part.

1. cut a piece of tear-away paper foundation according to the size of the PDA (can be a bit larger). sew all the fabrics on the foundation, after finish, tear the paper away, now we have the top.

2. cut a piece of fusible fleece and a piece of back, make a sandwich.

I used light weight cotton as the back, since another lay of fabric will be add on the wrong side after finishing those decorative stitches, otherwise it will look terrible. Cheese cloth will also work well.

3. make decorative stitches, this is my favorite part.

4.add another lay of fabric, cut the piece precisely to the size, and cut two of the corners round, finish binding. We get a rectangular piece.

wrong side

5. using hidden stitch to stitch both sides together and sew snap on. All done.

For the Black and white Ipod cozy, the only difference is the top, here is the detailed cutting and assembling:

It's all there. :)

Harvest Time

2008-07-07T16:16:00.005-04:00

Have been working hard in the garden for a while, it's time to enjoy the fruits.
Cherries attract lots of birds and squirrels, hmm, when picking those cherries I was afraid they would attack me for taking away their big meal. But they just went to higher branches or scattered away. :)

Since the busiest time for gardening has past, I come back for crafts.:) I'm doing a crazy-quilted PDA cozy and writing a tut for the black & white Ipod cozy. Hope it will be done by the end of this week.

Pumpkin Storage basket

2008-06-17T15:39:00.004-04:00

Seems summer is not a good time for crafts. I didn't do much recently, lots of garden work need to do. :))

Inside

A blanket design for using sample books

2008-06-10T19:50:00.008-04:00

When I saw this interior decor fabric sample lot, I was attracted by the shining look . I thought it would be nice to make satined glass appliqués with them, but they are too thick to make appliqués.
Most pieces are 5"X12", so I thought about those simple blocks with large pieces. When grouping them in colors, finally, I drew two slightly different patterns with the same block. The first one looks like windmills, the 2nd looks like stars to me.

Flowers in Backyard

2008-06-06T19:51:00.005-04:00

This year, we get a cold spring, but finally it gets warm and flowers are blooming.

Hanging organizer for the Sewing Chair

2008-06-04T09:51:00.007-04:00

This hanging bag was made to hang on one side of my sewing chair, so when sewing I don't have to dig through those fabrics on the table trying to find scissors,threader cutter, or markers.

A little ribbon embroidery add some color to the whole project.The tulips are made of 4mm silk ribbons, and the butterfly was made of black and white DMC cotton floss, 4mm and 2mm silk ribbons. I love to combine different techniques.

In action

Tutorial---Oriental Traditional Tea Bag Part II

2008-05-28T15:50:00.012-04:00

Summer's coming, it's harder and harder to stay inside when it's so beautiful outside. I'm seriously considering setup my "system" outside.

Step 4 Fold it, sew along the marked lines. Make sure corner to corner.

Fold it like this

Repeat on the other side,pin the folded part

Step 5 Turn it over to the wrong side

Sew small triangles on both sides

Turn to the right side, and anchor a few points, repeat on the other side

Here's a variation, fold a layer down, and anchor it with a button or a Yoyo

Step 6 cut two 18" long cords，

Tie the ends together, can also make the tulip buds as showed in the tulip key cozy.
Put tea bags inside, pull the cords and tie them up. It's done. :)

Tutorial---Oriental Traditional Tea Bag Part I

2008-05-28T06:49:00.014-04:00

Step 1: Cut two 10"X10" squares (about 25.6X25.6cm). I chose fabrics with nice contract. The navy blue fabric is quilt weight cotton, but the red fabric is heavy weight cotton, it keeps the shape nicely.

The finished size is about 3"X2.5" X3.5"(I didn't make it perfect cube), approximately the size of a tea cup, you can see that in http://yimi-handwork.blogspot.com/2008/05/oriental-traditional-tea-bag.html

By cutting squares in different sizes, we can get bags in different sizes, for example, using 18"X18" squares, we can get something about 5" cube.

Step 2 Sew the two squares together with right sides facing each other, leave a 2" opening (5cm)

Turn it over, fold the opening 1/4" seam allowance inside and sew along the whole square with 1/16"(1.5mm) seam allowance, so we don't have to hand stitch when closing the opening.

I chose threads with nice contract to the fabrics to make a decorative effect.

Step 3 Fold the square to a triangle. Measure the length of the longest side, mark 1/3 and 2/3 points, draw 2 lines perpendicular to the longest side, connect the ends of the two lines.

Fold it along the line, finger-press it, mark a sewing line 3/8"(1cm) away from the crease. Repeat on the other side

Unfold the triangle, sew along the marked sewing lines on both sides

Oriental Traditional Tea Bag

2008-05-26T15:49:00.007-04:00

Making bags is really addictive. Instead making a blanket and several cushions I planed for a long time, I started making bags and purses. After finishing the purse I'm still working on, I'll start that blanket.
Although being called a tea bag, it can also be used as a sachet or a storage bag.

A super easily made sewing basket

2008-05-22T06:50:00.005-04:00

Being not a very organized person, I always leave things where I use them last time. But on the other hand, I can't tolerate mess either, guess that's why I love bags, boxes, baskets and whatever can be used to hide things.

I found the sewing notes pre-quilted fabric square in my remnant bag. It was the leftover of my sewing machine cozy. Looking at it, I found if I made a square basket, the only job I need to do would be adding binding and 8 ribbons.

It took me less than half an hour to finish the all thing.

BTW, the pin cushion inside the basket is supposed to be an owl. I didn't put eyes on it. If it has eyes and looks like an owl, I can't use it as a pin cushion. "It's just a toy." my husband said. I know I'm weird in that way, but I just can't.

Manly Ipod cozy and cellphone cozy

2008-05-18T06:06:00.008-04:00

I made that black & white Ipod cozy for a guy. It turned out to be a bit floral. After I posted it in craftster.org for comments, I got some great ideas on making things for guys. When digging through my fabric stash, I found these two fabric and thought these two would be good for man. It was hard to choose between these two, so I used them both.
Making bags is quite addictive.

This one was made of a piece of home decor remnant. Brown matches most of his cloth. So I'll send him this one.

I've never though I would like camo very much, but I like this one, especially after stitching on that button. And this was claimed by a girl, the size is perfect for her cell phone and she loves it.

Tulip Key Cozy (with Tutorial)Part 3

2008-05-14T09:12:00.014-04:00

Step 6 Make a tulip bud
Measure a cord, when folded, it should be at least 1 in(2.5cm) longer than the cozy body.

Tie the two ends of the cord together to make a loop.

Cut a piece of fabric 2inX1.5in(5cmX3.75cm), fold right side together, insert the loop between the two layers, sew two layers together leaving one side as an opening. I draw a black line along the sewing line to make it visible.

Turn it over, and fold seam allowance inward, now it looks like a cup. Fill the cup with fiberfill.

Stitch 4 points together, following the order A-B-C-D.

Pull the thread, anchor it, now we have a tulip bud.

Last step

Insert the loop into the cozy body, use hidden stitch to narrow the top opening, be careful not to stitch on the cord, we want it to move freely.

Tie the keys on,hmm, my friend had a hard time to tie the knot. It's hard to take photo though, I made a video.

Viola, here is my first tutorial, hmm, hope it's clear enough to understand. if not let me know

Tulip Key Cozy (with Tutorial)Part 2

2008-05-14T07:31:00.010-04:00

Step4 Make Petals
Cut 2 pieces of low loft batting, I used fusible fleece. Cut them precisely the pattern shape without seam allowance.

Iron a piece of fusible fleece to the wrong side of a top, put the right side of the top and back together, sew along the edge of the fleece, leave an opening, at least 1 inch( about 2.5 cm)

Turn it over

Use hidden stitch to close the opening. Repeat the process, and now we have two petals.

I hand-quilted a few lines to make them look more like petals

Step 5. Make the Cozy body
Use hidden stitch to sew the two petals together, leaving an 0.5 inch( 1.25 cm) opening at the top.

Tulip Key Cozy (with Tutorial)Part 1

2008-05-14T06:37:00.014-04:00

One of my friend loves my key cozy, but she is not a cat person. Last week, we went to the Tulip Festival, I got an idea there, make her a tulip key cozy.

Here is how I made it.
Dutchquilter likes my kitty key cozy, and wants to know how to make one, so I took photos when doing this one and made my first ever tutorial. If you want to make the kitty one, just need to change the shape, and that one doesn't need tear-away foundation, all sewing lines are straight.
Since some of the photos were taken at night with flash on, the color turns out a bit weird, but I can't retake those photos, it's all done.

Step 1. Draw a tulip pattern(without seam allowance), the paper is ruled as 4sq/in.

Step 2. Make tops and backs
Using tear-away foundation to make the tops, I didn't have to cut precisely.

Anchor the fabric to the tear-away foundation, wrong side attach to the foundation

sew the trim on,then sew the deep red fabric on.

Repeat the process and make another top, trim tops according to the pattern leaving 1/4 in seam allowance, and tear away the foundation. Using the pattern to cut two backs, leave 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Now we have 4 pieces, two tops and 2 backs

Tissue box for Mother's day

2008-05-08T10:37:00.005-04:00

It's time for making something for Mother's day. Satin ribbons make the plastic canvas tissue box shining. I think it's going to be a good gift.

I stitched white cotton at the back of each piece of plastic canvas, so the inside looks neat too.

Black and white Ipod cozy

2008-05-01T17:05:00.006-04:00

It's a gift to a guy, so I pick black and white fabric to try to make it look manly. Is it manly enough? I always find it's harder to make a gift to a guy than to a girl.

And I found this red button with his initial on.

inside

Rebuilt note board

2008-04-29T18:22:00.007-04:00

Last week, I left a note for my hubby and told him to call back his dentist. Since our refrigerator were full of pictures and notes, he didn't notice. So I bought a new note board to post important notes.

Looking at the plastic frame, I had no idea where to hang it, then an idea came up to me, why not rebuild it with fabric? Fabric always makes things look warm.

After adding bags for notepad and pens, the size doubled, the original place is not good any more, so I still have no idea where to hang it. But it looks better at least, and I'll find a place for it eventually.

Ipod Cozy

2008-04-27T11:07:00.010-04:00

Isn't it a perfect Sunday morning? A cup of tea, an attractive novel and music...
The smell of cypress is really fresh. So I decided to keep a few nice branches cut from our living fence for later use, dried flower? maybe.

The rocking horse motif was cross-stitched on a piece of unbleached muslin. Since it was really hard to count the holes, I just stitched approximately. The result is fine, but not as neat as using Aida.

Kitty key cozy

2008-04-24T09:38:00.007-04:00

I put everything together in my big bag, keys always scratch the Ipod and cellphone. So, finally I made this easy key cozy to hold the keys, and it also keeps the keys quieter.

Garden notebook cover

2008-04-22T09:21:00.011-04:00

We bought our house about two years ago. The former owners planted a lot of plants here and there, a bit over grown. Since spring has come, we're planning to redesign our small front yard. Instead of consulting a professional designer,we decided to do it ourselves. In order to make the small garden look nice in all four seasons, well, actually ,three, in winter it will be white, I'm sure about that, we'll have to know what to keep and remove, and where to replant some of them, and we also need to know when they sprout and bloom, how high and wide they are. In one word, keeping on tracking the growth of all plants we have is necessary. Since I'm the one who has to do the job, I made this small garden notebook cover to add a bit fun on the job.

That is the whole story about why and how I got the inspiration to make this small garden notebook cover. I used decorative ribbon to make the binding and inside decoration.

Flower in snow

2008-04-19T20:55:00.008-04:00

After a really snowy winter, spring finally comes. This morning I found this small flower was blooming in melting snow. I've never known it's name, but it made me a day. Isn't it beautiful?

Hollyhock wallhanging

2008-04-19T20:43:00.005-04:00

I got this pattern from "Quilts and More" (2007). I love flower appliqué and hand-quilting, time consuming, yes, but relaxing, too.

Tote/grocery bags

2008-04-09T09:36:00.007-04:00

I like to use recyclable grocery bags, and found this piece of vegetable fabric on eBay, it was just big enough for two grocery bags.

Just by adding Chinese traditional buttons,they are foldable.

A closer look, a leaf button

A placemat again

2008-04-08T21:53:00.006-04:00

This one was made months ago. I was inspired by a hole in my oven mitts, which was right in the middle.
Since I could never figure out another one to match it, nor I wanted to make another one exactly the same, I use it when eating alone.

Another placemat

2008-04-08T21:06:00.006-04:00

Maybe I should make four of them, then two more to go.

Pin cushion box

2008-04-02T07:07:00.011-04:00

Being tired to use an chocolate box to put all the buttons, I made a fabric covered box. When doing the lid, this idea came to me, why not make it a pin cushion? After digging through my old projects, I found a small leftover X-stitch piece. Here you go, the box looks not too bad, and it comes very handy.

Placemat

2008-03-10T14:43:00.005-04:00

I got this idea from "quilts and more" ,hmm think it would be good for summer

Appliqués were handmade, all the others were done by my machine. I used fusible fleece, that made a flat look and saved me a lot quilting.

Plastic canvas tissue box

2008-02-03T17:19:00.003-05:00

It's a plastic canvas tissue box.

Apple pillow

2008-02-01T23:18:00.004-05:00

I planned to make 4, but only finished one.
Got this idea from A Year of Rag quilts.