rostitchery

once more, with feeling

remember this?: 

"i also made her a bulletin board using the instructions i found at organized christmas. (which, BTW, if you haven't already, check out the holiday grand plan or the christmas countdown plan, they are life and sanity savers!). this turned out so well that i'm going to make one for myself. "  (http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/2004/09/src_report_ever.html)

well--i finally did it--3 months later--i made mine a few days before christmas and i used it to hold our christmas cards.  the picture at the left shows it today, holding bills, party invitations, shopping lists, etc.  and i cheated and felt so good about myself:  instead of putting a hanger on the back, and then putting another nail in the wall, i just hung it over a picture that was already on the wall.  that's right--i let the top part of the frame rest on the top of the frame on the wall--and this worked just fine!

i would never have come up with idea if i hadn't been too lazy to do it the right way. 

lesson learned:  be thankful for your faults, for they will one day be useful as virtues.

SRC:  1/2 yard of fabric, 8 years old, 8 points (i'm giving myself extra points because this was special fabric, and there is barely enough left to make a dress for my baby)--2 yards ribbon that i've had probably a year, 2 points--5 good buttons that i've had i believe 3 years, 3 points (it was only one package), and 5 scrap buttons that i will take one point for, because it's hard to let go of old friends. the canvas was 3 months old, so let's say 1 point because i don't want to do fractions.  that's 15 points, not bad considering that i only gave myself 14 points the first time i did this project.  :D

resolutions and evolutions

well, i was a very busy bee all thru december, so i was a very absent bee on my blogs.  the resolution part of this post is that i hereby resolve to post twice a week during 2005, barring sickness (my child's, not mine--i'm a mom, i'm not allowed to get sick), or acts of god.

the evolution part involves my santa present for ella.  two winters ago i made this outfit for myself out of a delicious purple leopard corduroy that i found on the sale rack at jo-ann's, they had a little over 3 yards left and i bought it all:

this past october, i made a dress for ella, using the scraps from the overalls and a dress of mine that i cut up to make pants and a shirt:

then for christmas, i made her a dolly, i made the body out of scraps from a costume i made for an opera last year, and i made the outfit with the scraps from ella's outfit(please note my happy baby in the christmas pile--and notice that what she is playing with is not the dolly, not blue, not dora, and not any other present--it is the package that a book came in):

and of course no dolly is complete without ella's favorite part of the body, the belly button:

this is all that's left of the delicious purple leopard corduroy, i guess the only thing i could do now is make a pocket with it for rudi:

so--am i counting this for the SRC?  yes, of course i am, i'm a point hog!  i'm taking 2 points for ella's dress, and 5 points for the pants and shirt--then for the dolly, i'm taking 20 points overall but i have to deduct some for buying yarn to make hair--so let's say 15 points--that makes 22 points for this project.

i actually made some other stuff for christmas--a shirt for rudi using some WONDERFUL raw silk that i've had for several years--and a matching dress for ella and her dolly--but i didn't get the buttons put on them yet, so i'll post about that next time.

i wish everybody a happy 2005, filled with lots and lots of used up scraps!

using it all up!

well, at least i can say i've been busy.  :)  i've been making this year's christmas cards out of fabric scraps, because i will NOT will NOT will NOT buy anymore fabric.  this year i decided on making postcards, so i wouldn't have to come up with envelopes.  i made two different designs, one fancy, one simple.  my inspiration was a snowglobe.  i love snowglobes, and was daydreaming one day how i'd love to send a snowglobe of my dream holiday:  a white christmas.  how could i put a snowglobe thru the mail???  and then it hit me:  flat stanley.   so, i scoured my house looking for just the right materials, and this is what i came up with:

simple:

fancy:

basically, i fused my pieces onto a background, then did a little free-motion embroidery with sparkly thread to make a garland. sprinkled some sequins, then layed on a vinyl layer (cut from an old shower curtain) to hold it all in place.  i used some pellon 70 weight for stability (i tried but cannot find a link for pellon), and backed it with another piece of fabric.  zig-zagged all together, and it's a flat snowglobe!   you can actually shake it and see the "snow" flutter.

all of the fabrics are my own hand-dyed pieces, except the snow, that is something i got in a swap ages ago when i was active on the rctq newsgroup.

and just in case you're wondering, they DO go thru the mail just fine:

and yes, i am taking SRC points for this--i made 42 postcards, using about 1.5 yards of vinyl (i'm taking 3 points for this because i could have just thrown it away--and i'm sure my husband would have wanted me to do that--but i feel good about using it and not adding it to the landfill)--1.5 yards of pellon (i guess only 1.5 points for that because it didn't really take up that much space)--i have no idea how much i used in scraps but let's just say 4 yards total, and it was hand-dyed too which i tend to hoard so i'll take 4 points for having the strength to actually cut it and another 4 points for not crying--probably about 2 yards of heat-n-bond lite (2 points)--and 2 packages of sequins (2 points each because sequins are sparkly).  oh yeah, i already had enough stamps for this too--so what if they aren't christmasy?--i'll take 1 point each so that's 42 points-- the total is 50.5 points but i'm rounding up to 51 because it's christmas.

another one bites the dust

when a mama loves her baby, she'll sacrifice anything, even a favorite sweater.  :)

before:

and after:

this stash reduction stuff is addictive--i just wish the addiction would spill over into my fabric.

i really liked this sweater, so i'm giving myself 10 points for sacrificing it, and 5 points for only wasting the tops of the sleeves.  actually, they won't really be wasted--they'll go into my ongoing scrap bag doggy bed project--and i'll take points for them later too--because i can.  :) 

total SRC score for this project:  15 points.

it's all stash now, baby

it is getting cold here finally, and ella needs some fall clothes.  however, i am NOT buying more fabric, i am just NOT.  i can't afford to ruin my good SRC standing.  so, i've declared my entire household "stash", and i'm going at it with a vengence.  i started with this sweater:

and ended up with this set:

i used the sleeves of the sweater to make the tights, and then cut the body to make the top.  i cut so that i used the finished hems, and i took the collar off and reused it.  all together this took an hour, i could make one a night for a week and she'd have plenty of outfits for cold days.

turbo SRC

part of what has kept me busy and not posting is my stash reduction, which i attacked with a vengence the last few weeks in order to get my sewing room back under control. have a seat, you're going to feel faint:

i donated 185 yards--that number is correct, one hundred eighty-five yards--to a local charity who's focus is job skills for the handicapped and disabled. they will use some of it to teach people to sew--they will sell the rest to fund other projects. it was hard putting all that fabric in the bags and putting them into the car, but when i realized that i couldn't remember ONE SINGLE PIECE OF FABRIC that was in the bag, i felt like a burden of guilt had been lifted from my home. i have no idea how much i actually spent to acquire all that fabric, but it mocked me every time i went into that room, and now i can truly feel that it is serving a purpose and not just languishing on a shelf.

i'm taking one point per yard for the fabric itself, but i'm rounding up for having the strength to actually do it, so for this one i'm giving myself 200 points.

i also gave 25 yards of fabrics to my dear mama, i would have given it to her regardless but i'm going to take points for it because it is my contest and i can do whatever i want. so that's 25 more points.

a total of 210 yards of fabric OUT. and you guys thought i was exaggerating about the condition of my stash.

SRC report--reduce, reuse, recycle, or something like that

you'll either love this, or you'll think it is tacky.

i got really tired of buying refills for my swiffer duster. so i made my own dusters refills, out of leftover fleece scraps. it took 15 minutes to cut out a dozen, and about 20 minutes to stitch them up. they work GREAT, they can be tossed in the washing machine and used over and over.

and i made swiffer sweeper pads too, by just cutting pieces a little larger than the store-bought ones (larger to allow for the thickness of the fleece). i'm so much happier using my swiffers, knowing that i'm not putting any more refills into the landfill. and no more money into refills.

so my SRC count is: about 2 yards of fleece, some of which was 4 years old--8 points. making something totally weird and posting about it on the blog: 10 points. total: 18 points.

SRC report: every little bit helps

my friends angela and angel at nashville stitch 'n' bitch inspired this project. they made untold dozens of these magnet tins as favors for angel's upcoming wedding. this is one i made for my baby sister sabrina, whose birthday is today. sabrina is a food network fan, so i used an altoid tin that i covered with pictures of hosts from food network shows, pictures of cookbooks, and bits of recipes, all cut out of magazines.

the little magnets are so simple, they are the kind of marbles that have a flat side (i got these at the dollar tree--a huge bag for $1.00!), i glued a picture on the flat part and then stuck on a round magnet. i think the hardest part of this whole project was finding just the right pictures. i used bead/glass cement, which dries clear and has a delightfully fragrant "getting high in the girls bathroom during study hall" scent that made me think i should have worked outside.

for this project, i'm giving myself 5 points: 1 point for using magazines i already had--1 point for using an altoid tin i already had (why do i save stuff like this??? now i know)--1 point for finding the marbles at the dollar tree--and 2 points for not making a big gluey mess on the dining room table. no points for the magnets--i bought those to make this project, but they were on sale so i'm not deducting points either. :P

i also made her a bulletin board using the instructions i found at organized christmas. (which, BTW, if you haven't already, check out the holiday grand plan or the christmas countdown plan, they are life and sanity savers!). this turned out so well that i'm going to make one for myself. i've had this fabric for i think at least 8 years, i remember buying it and every time i take it off the shelf i love it all over again. i had the ribbons and buttons too, all i had to buy was the canvas and that was a bargain, two for $5.00. so my SRC points for this project are: 1/2 yard of fabric, 8 years old, 8 points (i'm giving myself extra points because this was special fabric--but nothing is too good for my baby sister!)--2 yards ribbon that i've had probably a year, 2 points--5 good buttons that i've had i believe 3 years, 3 points (it was only one package), and 5 scrap buttons that i will take one point for, because it's hard to let go of old friends. that makes my total on this project 14 points, and i'm not deducting anything for buying the canvas because this was a present. so there.

SRC report

ok, i'm a couple of days behind--what can i say, i'm a mom.

i'm using fabric i've had for 7 years, i'm giving myself one point per year. i'll use about 1 yard of clear elastic, that's another point. the pattern is my own draft, but i'm trying a new type of nursing access, so i'm giving myself 5 points for that. total on this one looks like 13 points.

everything must go

my sewing space is overflowing with fabric. i'm talking shelves spilling out, bags and boxes stuffed under tables, it is shameful. so i'm reviving an old game that i played online with a group of sewing friends, the 'stash reduction contest', or SRC. various incarnations of this game show up from time to time, with all sorts of methods for keeping score, and it seems to me that the more complicated it is, the less likely anybody sticks with it.

so, i'm going to set up my own rules and they are very simple: name your own points!!! if you use fabric, yarn, notions, patterns, or whatever, from your stash, you decide how many points it is worth based on it's age, it's size, and the number of things you do with it. you can give yourself extra points for trying something new, and you can even give yourself points if you just give the stuff away.

i'm going to start today, i just got a new set of measurements done courtesy of my ever-patient husband, and i'm going to cut out a new shirt from a piece of fabric that i have had for i believe at least 7 years (or however long ago it was that the first jo-ann's etc. opened here in nashville). i'll post points later today.

who's in?

EDITED FOR 2010: oh, it's on. same rules, plus yarn. :)