U - Unusual

I have a few unusual projects and patterns I have developed, so here are a few.

This set of fairy wings was a crafting challenge. I had a budget of less than $20 plus whatever is in your private stash. We had to make something appropriate for a fairy court. I used branches off of the tree that fell in my dad's house, and a bunch of different things from my stash. I used crocheting to make the dragon fly/dream catcher-like wings. I love how it turned out, but I can't figure out a way to make them to sell because they are so fragile.

This is a better picture of the over-all wings.

I made these for the same challenge. We were supposed to make something that is thrown in the game of Amtgard. I made spell balls using the Japanese technique of Temari balls. This launched my interest in making better and cooler balls.

This is a pattern I developed for a fairy skirt. I haven't seen this type of skirt/dress anywhere else. I have fabric to make three more, and I am looking forward to making more because they are so fun and different from the others out there.

This dress is also a skirt. It offers lots of costuming possibilities. Thanks for reading... Almost at the A-Z finish line!

B - Ball

I am really loving making Temari balls. They are constructed by starting with a little packet of rice or a jingle bell. Then you wrap it in yarn and wrap it in sewing thread. Once the ball is done, you then embroider it with a design. They were originally intended as a child's toy, and they are surprisingly durable and bouncy.

This is just a sample of the new ones I made in the last 6 months or so. I made 15 mini ones for little Christmas gifts.

More often than not, I have been making balls for the game of Amtgard. They are used to represent spells when we play on the field. A person has to say an incantation and then throw the ball and hit another person in order for the "spell" to work. It is half a game and half a bit of acting, but fully fun.

The spell balls have strict color rules, so I try to keep them fairly obviously only one color.

These were "normal" temari balls. The one on the left was a give away for reaching 100 likes on my facebook page, and the one on the left sold on Etsy.

Two Commissions - Owl Belt Favor and Checkered Tabard

So, today was a good day of sewing. I finished both these projects in time to take them to the field and had fun designing a pattern (next post). This owl was a commission, and I believe it is the most complex machine applique I've ever attempted. I was pleased with the outcome.

I hate to admit that I can't tell if this is a boar or a wolf. I did it exactly like the picture, so he was happy with it. The stars made my machine unhappy. so I am glad I was able to fix it rather than needing to start over. The sides crisscross and tie so that  he can slip it on and off over his armor easily and not have to wear a belt.

Since he also ordered the owl, I added a touch of gold to make the heraldry pop a bit more.

That's all for today.

Dragon Master at Sun's Haven

Yesterday I entered the dragonmaster competition. I don't know the results yet, but here's what I entered:

100 Posts

This is post 100, so it just feels like I should do something different. I was going to do a top 10 list, but I couldn't pick only 10 and doing many categories was clunky, so I've decided that I am going to post a random selection of my favorite projects.

This was my first and only scrap quilt. It is queen sized, and I really enjoyed making it. I have plenty of scraps and really should make another. I donated it to the Joyful Heart Foundation.

This quilt (which I use for my background) is a mini quilt and is only 6" by 8". I loved the fabric and loved how it turned out framed. This one was also for the Joyful Heart Foundation.

This was a baby quilt for a first time mom who wanted to have something in gray and lavender that was somewhat inspired by India. I loved that it was such a non-traditional baby blanket, and I went overboard on making it perfect. This may be my all-time favorite thing I've made.

Like the mini quilt, I just love this color combo. I thought this purse turned out really nice with all the extra embroidered details.

I've been meaning to post this, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Landscape quilting is rather different from normal applique, and I always wanted to try it. I really love doing it, and this may also be one of my all time favorite things.

This was the first time I tried doing applique on a tunic. It was in an auction for Darkmoon, and I still need to give a post for it.

Stained glass quilting is super cool, and I love the look. I am also a huge fan of Celtic knotwork.

 I loved that these wings used so many different skills. It isn't often that basket weaving, crocheting, beading, wood carving and floral all go together. It was a fun and imaginative project.

I haven't posted these yet either. They are spell balls made by using the Temari hand embroidered method. It has become a new favorite craft for me.

During chemo, I spent a fair amount of time doing zentangles. It was about the only thing I had the energy to do because even holding a needle and cross stitching was too hard and took too much brain power to count. I have a book full of tangles, and this was my favorite.

This was my very first super mini quilt. I wasn't even sure it would work. I love the colors and how they blend, so I ended up making this quilt 3 times... once as a tester wall hanging, once as a king sized bed quilt and finally as this super mini sample.

This was not my first wedding dress, but it was the first time I set out to make a wedding dress. The other wedding dress I made surprised me. I made the dress and found out later that she liked it so much she got married in it. This wedding dress was really fun. It isn't too often that a bride is so interested in having that much color. I really love how it turned out, and she was thrilled.


It is so hard to just stop there, but there are just too many things that are cool.

Shield Cover

This was another crafting game project  This is my write up:

Bias tape is super cool because it can do things that fabric not cut on the bias can't. I took advantage of this fact when planning my design. It has an amazing ability to do curves while remaining flat, and with a little pleat, it can also do a nice sharp angle. I chose to do a shield cover because I currently had a lame shield cover, and because it was a nice round object that would show off the cool bias tape techniques. I used three different kinds of bias tape in this project. I had a specialty quilting bias tape (the black one) left over from a project, some regular white 1/4" doublefold bias tape left over from another project, and I cut my own bias tape from a dark blue cotton fabric from my stash.

I started by tracing my design onto the blue background fabric (left over from a dress I made). I pinned the black bias tape down, but it looked too mono-chromatic, so I pulled up all the pins and added a brown and a green fabric underneath (both from my stash).

 I used heat-n-bond (from my stash) to secure the fabric and then re-pinned the black bias tape in place. I ironed down the bias tape in sections, smoothing out all the wrinkles and adding in pleats for the sharp corners and sewed a scant 1/8" seam on both sides of the tape.

Then I measured the cover against the bevel in my shield and through math and fabric pencils marked where I would add the blue border. 

I cut the blue fabric on the bias in 7/8" strips and backed them with heat-n-bond.

 I cut off part of the white double folded bias tape to turn it back into singlefold bias tape and used Steam-a-Seam to turn it into quilting bias tape. Then I pinned the white and black bias tape over the blue bias tape and ironed everything down. I sewed a scant 1/8" seam on the black and white bias tape, going through the blue bias tape as well. 

 
I finished the cover by sewing two strips of blue fabric to the cover and using a drawstring and toggle stoppers to pull it tight. The shield cover will well outlast the shield now, so I made it compatible with any max small round shield, up to 4" thick. 

The technique I used is commonly referred to as "stained glass appliqué" because the project resembles stained glass when finished. I tried to use a minimum of colors so that the Celtic knotwork of the bias tape would take center stage rather than the fabrics that simply help bring out the details of the design.