I reorganized my craft room today and came across an embroidery practice swatch I did a while back. It’s with variegated thread, though you can’t really tell.

Seems like it should be good for something….

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I made Blythe a new dress from another of the fabric scraps. The pattern is Aloha Spirit Redux by xoxo, Blythe. Did I mention that I finally gave her a real name? It’s Margaux. I’ve always liked the name Margot and variations, since reading a Wrinkle in Time (though looking it up now, Meg was the main character. Hmmm, maybe Margot is her full name? Wonder where I got this.) Anyway, I was reminded of it, plus liked the alt spelling, by this chick on Crafters Coast to Coast.

Back to the dress, I modified the pattern a bit. First, I lined the bodice so I didn’t have to hem the fiddly bits. If you look at Puchimadam’s patterns you get the idea. Also, instead of 3 panels for the skirt, I combined them into 1 big panel. I also seamed most of the way up the back of the skirt because I didn’t have any velcro and wanted it to snap at the top instead. Only problem is that the bodice doesn’t seem to close in back. Not sure what I did wrong. It also doesn’t seem to be quite as long as the dress in the picture. Maybe I printed it out wrong. Oh well.

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This is from my new zakka book. (A library update is impending, I promise.) The neat thing about this book is that it’s apparently by the proprietresses of several zakka shops, and it includes the links to them all. This pattern’s by timpani. Look in the gallery for tons of cute stuff.

The frame (a sew-on one from Lacis) I had wasn’t quite the same as the one in the book, so I had to make a few adjustments, but it’s otherwise pretty close to the pattern. The embroidery is done just with the straight stitch on my machine, plus some extra bits by hand. I traced the pattern on some tracing paper, pinned it to the linen, and sewed right over it. The paper was a little annoying to tear off afterward, but not too bad. The pink linen is from the scrap swap I posted about last week. I also used it for the lining. Not pictured, I used a long ball chain for a handle.

zoom of embroidery

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All the people using their children’s artwork for crafts lately reminded me that I hadn’t posted this yet. It’s a stained glass my mother made for me of a drawing I made when I was little. Even though her window is broken, Poor Polly is happy because tomorrow will be better. Or something like that. I love it. It sits in the window of my craft room, right above my desk.

Here’s another one she made for Mark. It has shells soldered into it. (Sorry for the lousy background in both of these.)

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I’m packing up some stuff to send and was rummaging around for a nice container. Good thing I’m a packrat and had this tea tin. Add a piece of cute paper and some rubber cement, and now it’s pretty. Reusable, too.

It’s completely full of Sanrio stickers.

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I got a 2 pound (!!!) box of fabric scraps today from a swap with craftopia. Here are some pictures she took of them (I’m lazy):

There are several that I just love to pieces, including a neat color block pattern, and several large florals. I see Blythe clothes from some of the small prints. Maybe pouches or wallets from some of the others. There’s also some awesome very pink velvet and very pink cordoruy that needs to become a stuffed animal. Maybe it’ll break me out of my crafting drought (notice the dead space here lately?) Thanks Alexia!

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I passed through New York today on my way to a meeting on Long Island. So, while I was there, I stopped by the Japanese book stores (Bookoff and Kinokuniya, plus finally found Asahiya, which was more on 45th than Madison – see old entries with more details #1 and #2). Anyway, I got an incredible zakka book, a tawashi book, and an amigurumi book that I’m swapping with Alexia for some fabric scraps. For those of you who don’t speak Japanese crafting language, that’s a book of accessories and household items, a book of crochet and knit scrubbers, and a book of crochet and knit stuffed animals mostly worked in the round. They will all be added to the library in due time. I have a suspicion I will soon become a tawashi machine.

After the bookstores, I went to the toy stores. First up was Giant Robot, because boygirlparty has a show there. I love love love her work, and it was so neat to see it all up close. No wonder her hands are in such bad shape lately; there was an entire wall covered in little tiny tag paintings, all with such great detail. The other artists in the show are really good too. In particular I liked Alison Cole, who has a lot of collages up and draws yetis. Actually, the other two are pretty good too: Jillian Tamaki and Jack Long.

I also finally made it to Toy Tokyo, which was cool. They had a Takara Blythe, and the ADG Blythe that I have. The Takara was almost twice as much, but she did come with a wig. They also had a few mini Blythe’s, but unfortunately none that I liked enough to get. Such a funny toy store, there’s a big sign on the door saying that people under 18 can only come in accompanied by an adult. No kids allowed in the toy store! Only us adults can play with the dolls.

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I let my Sampler subscription lapse last month, but then was horribly jealous of everyone’s summer samplers and so ponied up for another 3 months. If you want to subscribe, you have to be on the web site, already signed up for an account, 5 minutes before the subscriptions go on sale, reloading the page every 30 seconds so you can go grab one before they disappear. Seriously, they go in like 5 minutes. Anyway, it came today, and there are a few squeal-worthy things in it:

• awesome vintage button plus some yarn from snapcrafty
• buttons magnet from Spicy Creations
• pincushion from a long-standing favorite of mine, Uplifting Arts
• whale stickers from another favorite, Wonderland Q
• dyed silk scarf (destined to be a sarong for Blythe) from Little Pagans
• new favorite 1 inch pins (one corduroy, one origami-looking paper) from milkypop and Button Arcade – after a few more months of the sampler, everything on my bulletin board can be hung with 1 inch pins. Or I could put them on this nifty bag from The Small Object
• a bunch of other stuff, too (not pictured)

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I made this for Blythe last night when some friends came over for craft night (real live ones! as opposed to my imaginary computer friends). It’s from the lined party dress pattern by Puchimadam. The belt is a piece of binding with a snap sewed on the back. It needs a buckle of some sort, but I haven’t scrounged one up yet. I think handsewing the gathers helped avoid the maternity look I got last time.

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I just signed up for backtack II. Earlier this week, I ordered the Denyse Schmidt and Modern Quilt Workshop books, too. I’m a slave to fashion.

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