Long Time No Blog

It's been Months since my last blog entry. It's also been months since I've worked on anything crafty...

When the Summer months take over, so does a lull in my creative activity. Vacation, staycation, BBQs, eating oysters on the beach equals good fun but not much productivity.

Good thing it's Fall.. I'm ready to have a "vacation" from vacation, hunker down and create!

Providing me with inspiration is the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project. A community based project where anyone interested gets sent a small paper sketchbook with an open ended theme, and can fill it how ever one wants. My theme; Jackets, blankets, and sheets. The most "textile" related theme I could do. I'm now printing, sewing, and glueing all over this little book!

QUILT

Last weekend my lovely sister Molly and her fabulous husband Rafael got married in Brooklyn New York. It was quite the party! Not much is better then getting together with Family and friends, eating, drinking, dancing, and celebrating LOVE!

For the occasion I wanted to make something really special. Something my Sister and Brother-in-law would use and enjoy for years to come.. Something like, a QUILT! And what better person to help me with this large sewing project but my mom Josie, who is my inspiration and continues to be my sewing teacher to this day!

We started with a pattern idea that I got from quilter and crafty lady, Denyse Schmidt on-line. From there we drew out our version of the pattern, making it a little easier by enlarging the squares and amount of solid fabric. Then we headed to Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley, who has an expansive selection of quilters cottons and notions to choose from, and where I worked for a year last year!

The cutting and Patchwork went fast with both me and my mom working on it, and our haphazard way of throwing things together! We were done with the top in no time! What we didn't have time for however, was to actually quilt and bind all the pieces together.. So I called a local "Long-arm" quilter and quilting teacher at Stone Mountain, Angie Woolman. She was able to get started right away and within one week we had our beautiful Finished quilt ready to pack up and bring to the bride and groom in New York!

Elephant

Elephants are amazing Animals. They are extremely smart, social, and sensitive beings. Not to mention they're my niece's favorite animal!

Here is my hand embroidered homage to the Elephant.

If you would like to Buy this hand embroidered Elephant cosmetic wristlet visit my Etsy Shop!

Koozie Floozie

There's nothing like a snug Koozie around a cold beer on a hot day.. Really, there's nothing like it! Koozies keep the beer cold, are comfortable to hold, and add style and flair to any plain old can of beer.

I have some lovely lady friends who share this appreciation for the beer can Koozie. And, it is for them that I decided to sew some Koozies with SSStitch flair! I followed a free pattern on the Kwik Sew web site for "Cup and can cozy". It's a really easy pattern, great for beginners if you'd like to make a Koozie of your very own!

I'm a Koozie Floozie, how about you??

My Beating Heart

Valentines day is a bit of a blaa holiday.. Shouldn't one express his or her love on a day to day basis instead of waiting for one day a year to gift flowers and chocolates? Although, I might seem like a valentines day Scrooge, I do enjoy any excuse to eat heart shaped chocolates and go out to Dinner! And who doesn't love flowers?!

For the Fourth And Clay holiday sale this year I hand embroidered a "life-like" bright red heart on to some really great black and white check fabric for one of my oil cloth lined wristlets. The reaction to this bag was strong, people seemed to love it. So, I ended up making three of them which all sold pretty fast. I usually don't like making the same bag over and over because I get a bit board looking at it, but this bag is a special one. So, I present to you my fourth Hand Embroidered Beating Heart Wristlet! You can buy it HERE on my Etsy Shop for yourself, or someone you love! Happy excuse to eat sweets, buy flowers, go out to dinner day!
xoxo

Culinary Adventures

This Winter I have been channeling my Domestic Goddess, Sewing and cooking up a storm. What better thing to do on a rainy day (which we've had a lot of this past month in the Bay area)?!

Culinary adventure #1:
Homemade Sausages

For Christmas I got myself a beautiful, brand new lemony yellow Kitchinaid Mixer with meat grinder and sausage attachment. To celebrate, my good friend Colin and I made Loukanika (Greek citrus sausage). The process took all day, lots of elbow grease, and once we sat down to feast I didn't feel like eating any of it! But everyone else seemed to like them!



Culinary adventure #2:
Fituras de Malanga (Malanga Fritters)

Malanga is a starchy root vegetable that is very popular in Cuba. Similar to taro root, it's flavor is earthy and a bit nutty.

Malanga Fritters are very easy to make. Grate peeled and washed Malanga on cheese grater, add egg, salt, and "deep" fry in a cast-iron skillet till golden brown. Can be eaten with honey or just on their own with salt. Mmmm! I ate like 15!
There's nothing better than getting together with friends and eating great food.

Doctors For Haiti

Yesterday I donated my Hand Embroidered gold fish bag to Craft Hope For Haiti, a wonderful Etsy Shop created to benefit Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. I was excited to promote this great program with my bag on the web page but it sold instantly! So, although you won't find any of my work there anymore the shop is still filled with wonderful hand made craftiness that you can feel good about buying since 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.

Thank you A.N. in Ohio for purchasing one of my bags and helping such a great cause!

NEW! On Etsy

I'm back from a lovely but brief trip to Cuba, and am diving head first into my Etsy shop. Lets see if I can get my name out there and sell some sweet hand made bags on the Internet!

It's a new year and I'm feeling inspired to create! I still have a few choice bags left from the Fourth and Clay holiday open studio, as well as some discounted older bags that I'm posting on Etsy. Get'em while there hot and help me make room in my studio for new creative stuffs!