Friday, April 20, 2012

Buddha bowls




Are you a bowl or a plate kind of person? Me, I'm a bowl kind of gal. There's just something so comforting about eating food out of a bowl - especially the new Buddha Bowls The Dear Sweet Husband got me for my birthday this past weekend. Suddenly every food feels like comfort food.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Flock & Gather they certainly did!

HUGE thanks to everyone who came out to St. Joe's Hall in Saskatoon for this past weekend's Flock & Gather Spring Handmade Market. The whole event was just one big ol' amazingly fun experience.

The one photo I managed to take of my own booth

I don't know what I was expecting beforehand, but it certainly couldn't have lived up to the show that the Flock & Gather Craft Collective managed to put on. From the venue to the decorations, to the stellar lineup of vendors, the whole thing reminded me of a slightly smaller version of Vancouver's Got Craft?

A rare lull in the crowd

The crowd was pretty consistent the whole time, so I barely managed to step away from my booth to grab a bite to eat let alone take photos of all the awesome handmade goodies at the other tables. Instead, I've shamelessly borrowed a few photos from the Flock & Gather blog just so I can share the awesomeness of some of my favourite crafty folk:

Shauna Buck

 
  Boolah Baguette


 Cathy Terepocki


my table neighbours Walden Sweet



Carole Epp



coucou salut


The Maker of it All


Oh man, I could just keep going! Instead, just pop over to the Flock & Gather blog and check out the vendor profiles they ran leading up to the sale. You won't be disappointed.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Hi ho, hi ho, off to Saskatoon I go: Flock & Gather sneak peek

If you're looking for me this weekend, you'll find me at the Flock & Gather show up in Saskatoon. Here's a little sneak peek at a few of the new Milkybeer items that'll be making their first appearance at the show.

CMYK linen pins.

Upcycled pouches made of men's shirt cuffs.

Tooth Fairy pouches.

Upcycled sleep sacks made from men's shirts.

The peas and carrots quilt.

My first solid-top quilt.
I've been sewing like crazy so there's much more coming with me, but this should give you a taste of what I'll have. Hope to see you there!



Monday, April 9, 2012

The force is strong with this quilt

Behold -- my first Star Wars quilt!


Well, okay, it's actually Clone Wars, not Star Wars. Whatever. Meet Commander Wolffe - the leader of the 104th Battalion's famed Wolfpack squad (never having watched Clone Wars, I'll have to assume Wookieepedia knows what its talking about). All I know is that he is my nephew's favourite Star Wars character and I had to find a way to immortalize him (Cmd. Wolffe, not my nephew) in quilt form.

After staring at this image for an hour or so, I sketched out this pattern for a 40 x 50 inch quilt:


The design is simply the Cmd. Wolffe helmet pixelated in 2-inch squares -- over 500 of 'em. I managed to piece the entire top in a single day and applique the accents a day later.



To quilt, I opted to tape out each colour area and outline each area in complementary handstitching.


The back is a Clone Wars sheet taken from the bedding set my brother bought ages ago for my nephew. I love how the quilting can be seen quite well on the back so it's kind of like Cmd. Wolffe is on both sides of the quilt.


The whole quilt came together so beautifully. I can't wait to make another one. Wouldn't Boba Fett or Yoda  look awesome as pixel quilts? No, no...wait...R2D2! Oh man. I think I may be addicted to making pixel quilts.


Anyhow, my family Skyped me in for the big reveal after Easter dinner tonight. I gotta say, I think my nephew really likes his new quilt. Auntie of the year, I am.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

The True Knit countdown is on!

Got plans for May 5? If you're in Regina, be sure to stop in at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre for True Knit 4: The Crafters' Revolution. The holiday show was awesome and I bet this one will be even better. See you there!


Thursday, April 5, 2012

Painted glass jars

If you're into crafting, you'll agree that it's pretty much impossible to walk out of Value Village without picking up just a little something to work into a project. No? Well, it is for me. So even though it wasn't what I went in for, it's understandable that I should walk out with an assortment of vintage mason jars on a visit to the Village this past weekend. They were pretty on their own, but don't you think they look so much cuter with their insides painted?


If you'd like to make your own, the process was super easy. I used plain old Martha Stewart multi-surface satin acrylic craft paint and a little water. For these jars, I squeezed most of the bottle into the jar and added just enough water to get the paint flowing a bit. Then I just carefully swirled and tipped the jars until each was fully coated right up to the rim.


Don't get carried away adding too much water - too thin and you won't be able to coat the sides very easily; too thick and it'll seem like you don't have enough paint to finish the job. If you do add too much water, just do your first round of swirling, set the jar aside for an hour or so, then repeat your swirling. You'll have to keep doing that until your thinned out paint stops running back down the sides.

Also, when adding the water be sure to add it slowly otherwise you'll create bubbles in the paint - bubbles are bad; smooth paint is what you want. If you do get bubbles, just set the jar down for a bit to let the bubbles subside, then swirl away!