Three Kitchen Fairies

Thinking big, kind of a remake./ Pensando en grande.

I finished a new pillow a few days ago. I actually finished it last week but since it has been overcast for the last 6 days I was not able to take a picture decent enough.  

I really don't know why but my pictures have been kind of fussy lately. I've changed the lense, the ISO; I try different setting... do cameras need to be taken to the shop for maintenace once in while??

Any way, this is my finished project from last week. It'll stay on a little girl's bed, who promised me not to let it stay on the floor, fingers crossed...

Terminé este almohadón hace días, más bien hace una semana pero como ha estado muy lluvioso los últimos seis días no había podido tomar una foto que me quedara medianamente bien. Ultimamente mis fotos han estado saliendo borrosas. Ya cambié el lente, cambié es ASA; intenté con diferentes funciones y nada... será que debo llevar mi cámara a que le den mantenimiento??? 

En fin, este es mi projecto de la semana pasada, es para la cama de una de las chicas quien prometió que no lo dejará tirado en el suelo, ojalá y así sea...

I got this cute Sarah Jane fabric long ago in an intent to have some fabrics on my stash. Blue is not my favorite color but I kind of knew that at some point I'd be craving some blue fabric. I was right. The dots are a Michael Miller's fabric, the bias is a DS Quilt Collection, and the embroidery pattern is one of my own: "Thinking Big"

Compré esta tela de Sarah Jane hace tiempo en un intento de agregarle un poco de azul a mi colección de telas. El azul no es de mis colores favoritos pero sabía que en algún momento iba a estar deseando tener algo de azul para combinar con otros colores y así fue. La tela de puntos es de Michael Miller, el biés es DS Quilt Collection y el bordado es uno de mis propios patrones: "Thinking big."

Recycled materials

Couple of weeks ago I found this UFO in one of my fabric bins. I started it last year and it's made of recycled t-shirts I got from the thrift store. I wish I took a picture of the t-shirts racks at the Salvation Army. The person who organized all those t-shirts did a really good job arranging them by color and then by hues. Looking at all those racks was similar to looking at a new set of coloring pencils, and I wanted to play with all those colors right away.

The arrange of lines and arrows here is based on an monoprint I made many years ago when studying printmaking at RIT. My goal was to hand stitch the whole piece which measures somewhere around 25" by 40". Obviously, I got tired of it, and I also got really busy with all the packing and so.

Now it looks like a new project again, I actually like it a lot. And although I'm very tempted to go over it with my sewing machine, I'll try be strong and consistent with the hand stitching.  

Hace un par de semanas me encontré con este proyecto que quedó a medias. Lo empecé durante el año pasados y está hecho de retazos de camisetas que conseguí en una tienda de segunda mano. Quisiera haber tomado una foto de todas las camisetas de colores colgadas en el galpón del Salvation Army, la persona que organizó todas esas camisetas por color y de ahí por tonos hizo un trabajo fenomenal. Todas esas camisetas acomodadas se veían como una caja de lápices de colores nuevos y yo moría por empezar a cortar toda esa tela y crear algo.

La manera en que acomodé los retazos está basado en una monografía que hice hace muchos años cuando estudiaba en el RIT. Mi meta es terminar de coser toda la pieza, que mide más o menos 25” por 40”, a mano. Obviamente, me cansé de trabajar en este proyecto en aquel momento, además de que derrepente me ví muy ocupada empacando para la mudanza.

Ahora lo veo como algo nuevo otra vez y me gusta mucho; aunque he de confesar que estoy tentada a pasarle la máquina de coser por encima, pero seré fuerte y consistente con los planes y la seguiré cosiendo a mano.

 

Christmas preparations/ Preparaciones navideñas

We're only fourteen days away from Christmas, and my Christmas spirit is having a hard time trying to kick in. Call it the warm weather, the stress, or being “homesick” but what's certain is that I have to do something. After all, most of the responsibility of creating wonderful childhood memories falls on me. In the end, it's me who has to come up with the Christmas crafts, the Christmas stories, and the Christmas food too. To make things worst, our Christmas decor in a container in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and it will arrive right after the Holidays.

In the meantime, we bought the girls a purple Christmas tree, very shine indeed. And we're making our own paper decorations. So far we had made some origami wreaths with recycled magazines, and we also made some paper lanterns.

One of the websites I'm sure feel thankful for is Pinterest for the tons of inspiration, and links I've been able to find there. Hopefully, this week we'll start making some more Christmas decorations.

If you have any other idea I can use, please let me know. I'll sure appreciated.

One more thing! Don't forget to participate in my giveaway. I'm giving away a "Wonky Little Houses" pattern from SUCH Designs here.

Estamos solo a catorce días de la Navidad y mi espíritu navideño se niega a aparecer. Dirán que es el estado del tiempo, el estrés, el estar extrañando la nieve... pero lo que si es cierto es que tengo que hacer algo para que sentirme inspirada. Después de todo, la responsabilidad de crear recuerdos memorables de la niñez en mis hijas cae mayormente en mí. El caso es que al final, soy yo la que tiene que inventarse las manualidades para que ellas hagan, seleccionar los cuentos, así como también tengo que planear la cena de Navidad y todas las cositas ricas que se comen en la temporada. Para colmo de males, todas mis decoraciones Navideñas están en un contenerdor en medio del Océano Atlántico y llegarán a tierra firme después de la fiestas decembrinas.

Mientras tanto, hemos comprado un árbol de Navidad morado, todo brilloso!! Y le hemos hecho algunas decoraciones de paper como coronas navideñas de origami con papel de revistas reciclado y tambien hicimos unas linternas chinas. Uno de mis websites favoritos es Pinterest. Estoy tan agradecida por la cantidad de inspiración que encontré. Esperamos hacer mas cositas esta semana.

Así que si tienen alguna idea que nos puedan compartir, cuénten! que se los voy a agradecer tanto.

Ah!! Y por favor no olviden el sorteo del patrón de casitas de SUCH Desings, esta acá.

 

 

 

 

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Recycled crayons/ Crayolas recicladas.

Last Sunday I made it a mission to stop all the packing and to-do's lists to spend some quality time with my girls. They have being asking for a craft to make, and cake to bake, a game to play, and what not. Luckily, while clearing our basement I found two big boxes of crayons that the girls weren't using anymore. I remembered something about chunky crayons I once read in a craft magazine, but we never actually got to make them then.

This time we gave it a try. I'd say that we peeled crayons for an hour and a half more or less. I also took the opportunity to take a few pictures. We had such a good time talking about colors, color harmony, opposites, and the 'they look pretty together" category. Since these young ladies are not nearly preschoolers anymore, they themselves decided we're sharing our forty something chunky crayons with our super cute next door neighbors who are only three and one year old, and with the rest of the little ones that come to our back door to play in the afternoons. If you feel like recycling your good old crayons here is the link I followed.

Now in Spanish!

El domingo pasado me hice a la misión de dejar de trabajar en la mudanza y pasar un rato lindo con mis niñas que me habian estado pidiendo hacer algo lindo como hacer alguna manualidad u hornear un pastel, jugar algún juego de mesa y mil cosas mas. Mientras limpiaba el sótano el otro día, tuve la suerte de encontrarme dos caja grandes de crayolas que las niñas ya no usan para colorear. Me acordé de unas crayolas redondas y grandes que alguna vez vi en una revista de manualidades y que nunca hicimos, así que lo intentamos. Diría que pelamos crayolas como por una hora y media más o menos. Aproveché para tomar unas cuantas fotos.

La pasamos súper hablando de los colores, sus armonías, sus opuestos y también de la categoría "se ven lindos juntos". Como estas señoritas ya  pasaron del preescolar han decido que compartirán sus cuarenta y tantas crayolas con las vecinitas de junto que solo tienes tres y un añito y con el resto de los chiquitos que vienen a jugar al patio trasero por las tardes. Dejo acá el link que use por si es que les dan ganas de reciclar sus crayolas viejitas.

 

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3KF third blog-a-versary, and an amazing giveaway!!

 

Hello!! I'm finally here ready to start celebrating with all of you my blog-a-versary. Three years ago I started this little grand space of mine. I dare to say 'grand' because it has given me the opportunity to grow as an artist, a quilter, and a crafter in general. This space has given me a chance to meet wonderful and talented friends with whom I get to talk, and share the greatness of the creative process. The mosaic above is just a tiny sample of what I've been doing here. In three years I have posted 224. I have uploaded 905 pictures on Flickr; that without counting the swaps, the comments, the e-mail, and the best part: fabric shopping.

As this day approached, I decided that in this occasion I wanted to celebrate big time. Not only I want to celebrate my ability to keep up with this project, but also your recurring visits to my blog, your comments, and your advise in my sewing projects and in life in general. You are the ones that make this blog such a special part of my life.  

That being said, let me introduce the six generous sponsors that have graciously accepted to join us in this celebration with lots of wonderful prizes for this massive giveaway. Here we go:

The Sometimes Crafter is sponsoring us with her lovely Amanda Knitting Bag pattern from her new pattern store.

Nicole, from Follow the White Bunny is sponsoring us with a $10 gift voucher for embroidery patterns from her delicious store.

Chikipita has graciously joined us in this celebration with two lovely cupcake wine stoppers. Aren't they adorable?!?!

Another lovely etsian friend, Sew Deerly Love is sharing with us an eight fat quarter bundle!! How awesome is that!?!?

The Fabric Shoppe is generously sharing with us an Alexander Henry fat quarter bundle.

And last but not least, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is participating in this blog-a-versary giveaway with a $25 gift certificate. Awesome!!

Wow!! thank you so much to all our generous sponsors for making this blog-a-versary such a great event. I, myself feel like participating in my own giveaway for a chance to win one of these prize.

No catch on this giveaway, just leave me a comment. Since there is lots of prizes, I'm going to leave these giveaway open until Friday, August 12th, 2011. This way we'll have plenty of time to spread the word and have lots of participants. In the meantime I'll keep posting usual. Winners will be picked via random.org, and I'll match the winners to the prizes in the order the generator picks them out.

Thanks again for these three years, and please feel free to join me on Facebook, and Twitter for lots of sharing, chatting, and blog updates.

Truly yours:

Paloma

 

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Volkswagen pillow.

 

I finished this new pillow last night. And I've been patiently waiting for the moment to get a picture and share this pillow with you. My brother's birthday a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know what to get him, and since he just moved into his new place I decided to make something homey for him. He loves Volskwagen bettles. We actually learned to drive in one of these. We were very young: he was 10, and I was 12 years old. My mom taught us, and we loved to drive around the park that was right across the street from our home. Our street didn't have that much traffic, and those were the times of the Generation X kids.

 

 

I used a picture I found on the web and turned it into a embroidery pattern. I loved working the details, such as the interiors and the shadow bellow the car. New and recycled fabrics, and a simple log cabing pattern helped me create the 18 by 18 in. pillow front. Can you tell which are new, and which are recycled?? The back is light weight denim, that fabric was new...

 

I was intimidated by the idea of sewing a zipper in the back, but still I went ahead. I used this tutorial , and I have to say it was pretty easy. I stuffed the whole thing with an 18 x 18 in. pillow form, and ta- da!!

I love how it turned out. I hope he likes it as well.

One last note: I started a list of tutorials I've used in the past on my sidebar. I'll keep listing any good tutorials I use in the future as a way to thank the crafters, and quilters that shared their skills, and time with the rest of the community. Thank you ladies!!

 

Collections.

 

Last weekend, while we were is St. Louis, MO, my mom left a baggy with lots of pretty vintage buttons for me by the porch.

 

 

 

I inspected them, and arranged them in different ways. The more I look at them, the more I think it wouldn’t make sense to rip them apart from their little vintage cards they are attached to. I love the graphic quality of these “vintage button” cards: the typography, the ink, the paper; even the creases, and the time damage quality make them specially treasurable. They simply wouldn’t be the same without the buttons on them, don’t you think??  

 

Next collection: towers of books around the house. We’re having some pipes fixing in the living room, and a couple of books cases needed to be emptied and moved away from the wall. . I thought it was a good occasion to take some pictures.

 

My last collection for today: A small collection of pretty fabrics.  I got them last week from one of my favorite esty fabric stores. They're even more beautiful in real life. I wish I could spend the rest of the day, petting them, and planning all the little quilting projects that I have in mind. But no, not really… I have to tons of stuff to do :(

Hope to be back soon!

Disconnection

 

I put together a bunch of tiny scraps, some are leftovers from other projects, and the others pieces are from recycled t-shirts that I keep for backing patchwork projects. I cut, and sew a little, then I go check the dinner cooking on the stove. I’m back to the sewing table. I get up again and check the computer, don’t you do the same??

 

I’m almost done with my second jacket.  The last hand stitches of theses jackets come to me with a bunch of memories of our friendship and they start cascading like pictures through my mind. The way she looked when we were in third grade. The way she talked, her funny overrated jokes, the scary ways in which she told us about the horror movies that we weren’t allow to watch in elementary school. I remember that in our early teens, I secretly envied her because she got to wear a bra while I was still flat as an ironing table.  Ten years of memories came to my mind and hit me as if a bucket of cold water was dumped on me by surprise; ten years in which we went from sharing as classmates to being best friends at times, to growing up as teenagers, and to even having a crush on the same guy.

 

And then to come to the conclusion that life is such a beautiful and fragile gift. I wonder when was the last time I saw you?? I wish I had one more chance to talk to you and laugh out loud about all those years. I raise my hand and wave to you, so long my friend. Now rest in peace.

I just learned that she passed way. 

 

Fresh fish

 

This week I found the time to work on the “Fresh Fish” pattern by Mimi Kirchner. I loved the making of this my first fish. The instructions were so easy to understand and follow. It even includes a listing of the different fabrics and kinds of wools that can be use for this project , this makes it easy for anyone to work with pretty much whatever is at hand. I’ve been thinking about the making of my fish since the beginning of the year. I decided that for the body of the fish I wanted a funky sweater, something "Bill Cosby": an out dated kind of sweater. I got an extra large sweater at our local thrift store, its so big that I think I can get the whole fish school out of it!! The head is made out of felt, and the fins and tail are made with fleece scraps from past projects.

 

I followed the technical parts of the pattern by heart but I played a bit with the size of the body. I wanted my fish to be longer than what the pattern size so I placed the pieces farther apart and re-drew the body. I think this project has endless possibilities for fish with different looks and personalities: rounder bodies, bigger and fancier fins and tails…I love how this project turned out: such a serious, well behave fish, really nothing fishy about it … Thanks to Mimi Kirchner for sharing her talent with of us; for getting into the trouble of writing this pattern and making it available to the rest of this crafty world.

 

Now it is seating at my living room, where I can admire it with out being “caught” not paying attention to the rest of the gang.

Thinking big.

 
From my little pincushion...to a big comfy cushion. I had one of those moments of excitment in which I felt I wanted to try a new idea. I spent sometime drawing the pattern, and it was worth! My first try didn't come the way I wanted, I decided to persist. I love the out come, and they love it even more. Now "it" belongs in my studio where they can comfortably seat, and spend time either talking, or reading, or just seating by their mom.

This big cushion was made of recycled shirts, thrifted doilies, and some fabric from my stash.