Saturday, September 5, 2009

Crafty Inspiration

charm pack runner from tutorial closer
People ask me where I find my inspiration from. The simple answer is everywhere.
I grew up with the most creative Grandmother and Mother anywhere. Their church also taught them how to make just about anything. Much of the time, I am re-creating things from my childhood. Other times I am making something I came up in my day to day life. All the time, I am making things I’ve thought about and worked out in my mind ahead of time, years, weeks or days before I ever start anything.
The rest of the time, I make things from the amazing tutorials out there. There is a great community of extremely talented people that share their knowledge with the rest of us. I love that about the internet. I can look anything up and find it or something close to it. It has all been done before. I don’t pretend to be inventor extraordinaire of everything.
I have to confess my obsession with sewing. I love it. I consider myself a collector of Hobbies with sewing right at the top;) I know all of you don’t love sewing, but I adore it. I dream in fabric.
I thought I would share some fabulous blogs that have inspired me this month, to recreate something from their tutorial.
This is a wonderfully talented lady Kim of Bitty Bits and Pieces. I actually found her Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial sometime earlier this year. I thought it was just adorable. Then her blog popped up on my horizon again when she was on Moda Bakeshop. I love Moda Bakeshop. I bookmarked her Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial to come back to when I had some time. She also has an adorable Pumpkin Tissue Holder Tutorial that I have on my to-do list. I also found out that aside from having an awesome blog, Kim is a very nice person! Yay nice!
I finally got around to making something with her Charm Pack tutorial. I did not buy designer fabric. But after cutting all my Joanne’s fabric into squares, I decided that next time I will indeed buy designer fabric already cut into beautiful squares. I am already crazy about Jelly Rolls and Honey Buns. I have never purchased Charm Packs yet. But I will now;)charm pack runner from tutorial
Of course I don’t always follow the tutorials exactly. I made mine into a table runner. I have already had compliments on it! (Ok it was from family, but that totally counts!) I am going to make another one just like it for the other little half wall in that room. It worked up so quickly that I’m almost done with that one too! Yay!
charm pack runner from tutorial closer
I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much Kim for your awesome blog and inspiration!
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I have boys and don’t have much need for skirt patterns for girls or bright flowery fabric. My girlfriend’s daughter had a birthday. I hunted down a tutorial for an adorable skirt! How fun this one was. I found this Twirly Skirt Tutorial on Shelley Detton's blog. I discovered I love Heather Bailey's fabric. How can one not love it? (And Heather is a local!)
Twirly skirt
I pinned it up and found a model;) I just had to see it on. My son is 3. He asked me if it was pants. I told him it was *like pants, but not really*. He held still for this snap and then wanted it off.
twirly skirt on
My girlfriend told me her daughter liked it! Thank you Shelley for your awesome tutorial. (I need enough of this fabric to make one for me!)
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I always put my own twist on tutorials and templates. This was actually for a paper garland. Last year, we printed out this Paper Crave Halloween Template. My son had a play date where we cut out the template and strung the images on orange yarn. I thought about the adorable Halloween images all year long. This year I stitched it up into a felt garland. Rebecca had us over one evening about two weeks ago. My BIL confessed that no-one in their right mind would take the time to make these. Of course I thought that was funny because I whipped these up fairly easily using my favorite method of sewing directly through printed paper patterns onto layered felt. And really, the person that designed these specific Halloween images is delightfully talented.
felt pieces from halloween template
Felt is amazing and you can make anything with it. I actually gave the garland away at the Service Auction Rebecca mentioned in her post where she made this awesome etched piece. I have a *Spooky* garland I made last year. How many garlands does one need…don’t answer that. I’m pretty sure the lady that got the garland needed one more. I also am pretty sure that there is a two garland per event quota that I’m trying to fill. I just may succeed this year in filling that quota;)
felt garland from halloween template
So this is my confession that I actually make things from other people’s tutorials all the time. Someone has sat down and worked out the kinks for me. Seriously, I LOVE that!!
My current obsession is quilting techniques like the Cathedral Window, Orange Peel etc. I’m also thinking about using a ‘one seam flying geese method’ to make something specific. I’m still rolling these two things in particular around in my head.
Anjeanette
We are joining the following amazing parties, Blue Cricket Design

17 comments:

Darth Mama said...

i love how you made it your own. And i love how you used the felt. I am going to make one too. thanks for sharing.

southerninspiration said...

Although I really don't do Halloween, those things are adorable! I love the garland! And I love the skirt and I love the table runner. You are very talented! :)
Thanks for sharing. I would like to get back into sewing, but haven't.

Suzanne

Beansieleigh said...

Good Morning!! I LOVE the Halloween garland, and am SURE I'll be making at LEAST one of these myself! Have a wonderful weekend! I'm STILL shaking my head in disbelief that it's September already!.. ~tina

Kendra said...

Your Halloween Creations are beautiful!

twinkle teaches said...

Oh my stars! I wish I could sew now! I love the skirt,too. Heather Bailey not only has a great blog but she also makes scrapbook products. :) (My obsession). I love the Halloween garland!!! Too cute as always! :)
tina

Crystal said...

I love your table runner. All three projects are so cute.

RootsAndWingsCo said...

Oh, Anjeanette! I am in LOVE with that table runner! You have got me excited. I have all kinds of crazy thoughts running through my head now. Placemats and table clothes are amoung them. As always you have great taste in the fabrics that you choose.

The reason I love being a part of this blog is that I feed off of all the ideas that are floating around. Like Anjeanette, I see all the amazingly fun things others are doing and it inspires me. So many times we get inspired by something and then it just grows with a life of it's own.

Because of this blog we have an outlet for it all.

Great post! It is all that and more!

Katrina

Kim Walus said...

Thanks for the link. I'm so glad you found me so then I could find you. I love your blog and this post is filled with inspiration. Thanks for sharing. I love how your table runner turned out and the other projects are wonderful too!!!

Xazmin said...

Okay...I am so jealous of your talent.

All your projects turned out amazing!

Land family said...

Have you thought about doing your runner or garland on Etsy? There are those of us (cough, cough) who couldn't do a runner if our lives depended on it. I think they are both awesome!

Ashley said...

Beautiful stuff. I am obsessing over cathedral windows myself lately, haven't actually made any yet but I have been reminding myself how by watching lots of tutorials.

Anonymous said...

It's almost like pants!!! I laughed out loud.

twinkle teaches said...

I made this after reading your post. Thank you for the inspiration. I cited your blog and Paper Crave on my post about it:
http://mommycomplex.blogspot.com/2009/09/post-that-almost-wasnt.html

tina :)

Sarah J. said...

I love those ideas so much! I especially love the garland! I hope you don't mind if I feature this idea on my blog?

Tony said...

love the garland!

Kimra
http://crafty-cove.blogspot.com

Suzie said...

You have a great site! I don't usually decorate much for Halloween, but you have some fun ideas!
Suzie @
staycalmandsewsomething.blogspot.com

KimMalk said...

Your projects are perfect. I love your customized runner-- the twirly skirt is precious and <3 the fabric. Your banner is so cute and crisp with the felt.