First Comission!

Someone was interested in purchasing a temari keychain from me! =D Of course I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I didn't get a really good picture of the finished product before I sold it to him, but here is a picture of the almost finished product. 

Initially, the design was going to be done on a white string base, but I decided that the tan would be better for the blue on blue design.I think you can agree with me that it turned out great! this is the first blue on blue design that I've done so I was a little uncertain as to how it would turn out, but I really love it! I definitely want to do this pattern again.

Here's the picture of the finished product. You can see well enough that I used the gold thread to outline the design to finish it off. 

This design is the most popular so far since it doesn't take as long to make.

Paint Chip Upcycle

Do you have as much of an obsession with paint chips as I do?

Do you gather them with no idea how you want to use them like I do? Hehehe... Yeah... 

Well, here's an easy way to use the paint ships to create something cute!

Supply list:

A jar and lid

Glue

Preferred paint chip colors

Cute stickers or pictures

For my jar I found this! For this project, we are only focusing on the lid.

If there are any stickers remove them and clean the top. 

Once that is done bring out your paint chip! I used the lid as my template to cut out this shape. 

Now we glue it down! I like to use superglue. :)

Lastly comes the stickers or images! This little piece of paper is left over from my mission in Japan two years ago!

Trim it down to fit the lid. Once you like how it looks, glue it down and you are done! :D

Now you can fill the jar with whatever you like! 

Here's the other two I made earlier! I like to use them as "Travel Temari Kits". 

Have fun making your own!

Signing off ~Thimblechaser

DIY Father's Day Tie

I'm working on a fun post about this last weekend that I got to spend with my mom! It was really fun, but in the meantime, I'd like to talk about an upcoming event. Father's Day! I don't know about all of you wonderful people out there, but buying gifts for this special day can be really tough! There's always the classic (and kind boring) tie gift. I propose, we take that boring tie, and turn it into awesomeness! ;D

Here's what you need. 

SUPPLIES

an old/ugly tie

Fun new fabric! This can be anything. We are working on the bias so we are going to need 1/2 a yard and that will be plenty!

Scissors

Iron

Hand sewing needle

Step one: find an old tie

You can get these cheep at any thrift shop!

Step 2: gut it!

Carefully unpick all of the seams. Don't do too much damage here, we are going to use the old tie as a pattern! With that said, unpick every single seam! We need each piece to be separate for the pattern. As a quick note, seam rippers work like this! The little red ball goes down into the seam! It seriously works like magic!

Once finished you should end up with a pile that looks like this. 

This tie had two main body pieces, two body linings, and one small triangle lining. Keep the linings for later!

Step 3: cut out the fabric

Now that we have our pattern, let's get snipping! Press the pattern pieces and fabric flat first, so you get an accurate shape. Remember, place the pattern at an angle! I'm using an old Hawaiian shirt for fabric. :)

Step 4: sew the body

First stitch the two body pieces together. 

Next up stitch the lining on the point. Make sure to put right sides together. 

Once you've pressed the seams open, lay the tie out on your ironing board. Then place the inner lining centered on the wrong side of the fabric. 

Step 5: pressing

Press the fabric around the lining. 

Once the fabric has been pressed over it will looks like a tie! Tuck one of the sides under to hide away the raw edge.

When you fold the edge under, make sure the points line up. 

Proceed along the length. Once complete, we are now at the point where you can put on a movie, and  hand stitch the tie closed!

Step 6: hand sew 

Hide the knot in the fold of fabric then proceed with a blind stitch or any kind of hand sewing technique .

Since this is a tie, it's not going to see a lot of heavy use. That means you don't have to go crazy on your stitches! Just enough to keep it from coming apart. =D 

It's done! Wrap it up, give it away, then watch their faces of delight! =D 

Or you can keep the tie to use on your stuffed animal collection! 

I think it looks great on Mr. Grouchy, don't you?

If you make one, post the pictures in the comments! 

Tapping into Temari!

I realize it's been two weeks since I posted last... Well, I found something new and super exciting that I have been OBSESSING over!

I've been busy making these.

It's called Temari手まり. Temari is an ancient art of Japan. Surprise surprise! The literal translation is hand ball. You guessed it, these used to be toys for children to play with. Made from scrap kimono fabric and thread, mothers would wind and stitch these. While I'm not sure what patterns they used, I imagine that modern methods and stitching are inspired by tradition.  

Here's my story. I saw a pin on Pinterest and instantly fell in love! Within the day I tried my hand at it and found making Temari to be fairly simple if a bit time consuming. Instead of using styrofoam balls for the base like a lot of people do now, I used scrap fabrics for my first one then batting on the rest. After I finished my first temari, I couldn't stop! I had to try more! So many colors and patterns! The sky is the limit! 

Then I found this book.

In the above picture you can see the temari I've made so far and my new favorite book!

It's called Tiny Temari and Adorable Accessories! We discovered that we can order from the Japanese Amazon so we bought it. :) I love it! Seriously though. When It came in the mail I ran around the house screaming in delight! It took me a while to settle down enough to actually open it. Hahaha! It was exactly what I was looking for. Larger temari are nice, but not very useful beyond using it as a stress-ball or for decoration. I'm thinking necklaces and key chains. =D

Here's the first one I made! I used scrap fabric for the base, then wrapped it with black string. Once, the fabric was no longer peeking through, I marked the 8 divisions in the red thread. It's all very geometric. XD yay math?

 So once, the divisions were marked, I went in with the top stitching. All of the stitching on top anchors the thread that wraps around the ball. I used embroidery floss for this design. 

This one is about 2"

Of course it wouldn't be complete without the obi! The belt that goes around the center. 

It fits so nicely in my hand that I brought this with me to the dentist so I could trace the pattern while they were working on my mouth it helped take my mind off of what they were doing. Blegh! But it helped! ;)

Here's the second one! Same method as the first, but I used batting to make the base, then wrapped it with white string. This time I used cotton pearl thread for the top stitching. I love how shimmery it is! 

This one is 2.5-3 inches.

The obi. 

Thanks for the thread mom! 

Next up are the minis!

I just did a random wrap on this one in various colors. Just trying to do something different from the fancier stitches. I did this one before we found the book. :)

This little guy is 1 inch.

Here's the second mini and fourth attempt at temari. I kept this one simple. I didn't measure my divisions and just eyeballed everything... It's a little skiwampanidley as I like to say, or off as everyone else says. ;)

This one is also 1 inch.

I kept the obi simple on this one. 

Number 3 for the mini series! I made this one after getting the book on Tuesday. The design is called suisen 水仙 or daffodil. Ryler requested this one, so I think I'm going to make it into a key chain for him. =D As you can see I used a light blue string for the wrapping and a dark blue for the division markers.

This one is 1 inch.

The obi. 

Finally, we come to my most recent temari!

This one isn't done yet. In fact, all I've gotten finished is the division lines! It's unique from the others in a few ways. See that loop at the top? That is actually the top of a fishing weight! I realized it would be so easy to bury the weight and loop in the batting before wrapping the ball. :) It'll make it much easier to attach a necklace chain or anything else to it! 

Another difference is the divisions I used. Instead of the normal 6, 8, or 16 divisions, it's a variation on the 8 division. I'd explain, but I don't fully understand either. Hehehe....

It's pretty right? I've been tempted to just leave it as it is. But I'm excited to try a new pattern on it called bara 薔薇 or rose. Yeah... I'm pretty stoked!!!

Here's  a picture of the weights I used. 

I'll post photos as I complete the rose. =D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now you know what temari is! I'm so excited about making it. It's so different every time! 

What would you do with these? How would you use them? Leave a comment below! :D

New Headboard Cover

Remember the awesomely rejuvenated closet of ours from a few posts back? Well, we hated the doors so much before we even altered anything that we took them right off! Since then the doors from the closet have been stored in a super sneaky space! ;D

As  our headboards! You can see I tried covering them with some scrap fabric I had, but it kept falling down. :/  So I took some measurements and headed up to my Momma's sewing room. Just saying, she's a published quilter, so you should check out her tutorials and patterns here! 

--------------------->>  http://www.quiltscapesqs.com  <<------------------------

With her math skills and our combined tenacious spirit, we overcame some hiccups and had a fantastic finished product! 

So from her sewing room to our bedroom, I would like to present.....

The headboard cover!!!!!

Tadaa!!!!!!! I love it so much! It just fits so nicely over the top of the doors. 

Here it is with the canopy.

 Another angle.

Wait, are those boring empty walls on either side?! Unnaceptable!!!

Had these lying around after a class last semester. They fit so perfectly in the space! I call them, "Blue Lines" and "Geometric Maroon Fabric". So original.... Hehehe

Anyway...

More canopy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ so fun!

I think it is safe to say I love my new headboard cover!!!

Did you notice that our lamps match the headboard? Yeah, totally planned that.... Hahaha, ok not really, but it was a wonderful coincidence!

Love it!!!!!!!

Side note, the bear and cat were gifts from The Husbyland during our courtship and subsequent marriage. :)

What have you done to make your room feel like a home? Leave a comment below!

Weekly Crafting: May 11-14 2015

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but when I get excited about a new project, I have a hard time stopping myself long enough to get progress photos! Hahaha

So instead, here's a recap of the week!

Project 1 

Dream catcher Earrings. 

 :D I made using wire, embroidery floss, a couple beads and a little glue. It's a fun project! I want to make more in all the colors of the rainbow.  Next time, I'll make up a tutorial. ;)

They even match what I was already wearing!

Project 2

Jean shorts repair.

During my closet cleanse from last week, I rediscovered these old comfy shorts. I'd patched it roughly before, but decided I needed something a little lovlier looking. So I cut up an old pair of jeans,overlaid it with some white lace and sewed it in. 

Instead of trying to hide my stitches, I decided to show off the stitching and used embroidery floss. 

This is the back pocket. I didn't need a patch here really, but it was just so fun!

Then, I went lace crazy and added a lace hem to the bottom. Notice the fun stitching! =D functional, and adorable!

Project 3

Sea shell pendants. 

Remember last weeks tutorial? Well,I decided to have a lot of fun with it and finish off the rest of the shells I'd collected. :)

I love making all of these things! 

What kind of crafts do you do? Share your ideas in the comments below!