I found this felt project: http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2006/12/cozy-up-with-blanket.html
Doesn't that look cute?!
I thought it would be a nice relaxing diversion. I bought a bunch of felt squares, and cut them down into small squares. A few months ago. I finally began taking some in a tin to work and cutting them into circles at lunch. I'm almost done cutting into circles. Then I'll start sewing. I've got some embroidery thread hanging around. Here are the circles:
I always tend to have several Holy Grail craft projects - things I've been wanting to do or meaning to do, sometimes for years, but I just haven't gotten around to them. I used to have recipes that I would keep for a long time, never getting around to trying them. Jami called these my Holy Grail recipes. So I use the same name for my craft projects - Holy Grail craft projects. I'm not sure if I will get around to any of them this year, but here is my list:
Velvet Leaf Wreaths: These were in a Martha Stewart Living December issue. I can't check the year because the MSLs are in a bin below several others and I don't want to move heavy bins. Anyway, I would need some leaf rubber stamps, some velvet, and metal wreath forms. When you iron velvet top side down onto a rubber stamp, it imprints the image in the velvet. I experimented with this in Memphis with some scraps of velvet I had, after reading the instructions in the MSL. And I've been wanting to make a wreath like this ever since I received that issue of MSL. It's a maybe for this year.
Garden Quilt: I've been wanting to make a garden quilt for someone who will remain anonymous in case they are reading my blog. I think about it occasionally. I have also been intrigued with watercolor quilts - this is where you take 2" square pieces of fabric (I know, I know - won't that be tedious to sew) - and you arrange them in lights and darks so that when you stand back it makes a picture (kind of like those pictures made up of tons of teensy photographs). I may do the watercolor technique for the background and then applique for some flowers in front at the bottom. I would like to do this project this year, as this person's Christmas gift. So far I have tested applique patterns for the flowers (they were not successful - one just didn't work, the other needs to be bigger). I need to draw an overall pattern for the whole quilt, and I haven't done this yet. Keepsake Quilting sells a stash of precut 2" squares, so I may buy that just to get started, rather than starting from scratch. Quilting is one of those things where you have to be careful or you can easily spend over $100 just making one quilt.
Maple Leaf Quilt: I have made quilts for all of my siblings but one. I learned quilting to make one for BJ for her 50th birthday. In Misery, using up my fabric stash, I made two small quilts just sewing blocks of fabric together (nothing fancy) for Ken and Marilynn. Once while in Vancouver, I saw this coffee mug with a pattern on it of maple leafs in squares, and each leaf and square background was a different color or pattern (just dots and stripes and stuff like that). I thought that would be an interesting pattern for a quilt. Well, now that Lin and Ian have moved into a condo, I don't know what their colors are, and they are refusing to take pictures and send them out, so this one is on hold for awhile. I'm picturing large maple leafs (like 12" square) and maybe a pattern of four squares across by five squares down. It's a maybe for this year.
Cherry Blossoms: Since Seattle, I've been intrigued with Cherry Blossom Trees. I've thought about a quilt with some, but haven't resolved how to do it. I thought the flower blossoms may need to be embroidered. I've also thought about embroidering the whole thing rather than making a quilt. I could use the painting stretcher bars I have with bad paintings on them. This is just an idea my mind keeps coming back to occasionally.
Beaded Ornament Covers: I've been wasting time and money with beading since Memphis. I really don't need any more beaded necklaces. I don't even wear them anymore. But I still have a huge stash of beads. While in Misery, there was an article in the Sunday paper about making beaded ornament covers. I didn't even try this until Christmas of 2006. I made one, a pink one (see Christmas 2007 posts for a great closeup photo of it). In 2006, I even went to a bead shop near work in D.C. to get Christmas-y beads in shiny red, green and silver. While in Misery I bought glass ball ornaments on sale at Wal-Mart. I just haven't gotten around to it. And now my eyes are changing so threading that beading needle isn't going to be any fun! But I'd really like to use up my bead stash and get rid of it once and for all. I still have containers with beads separated for necklaces I haven't gotten around to stringing. Unfinished projects just gnaw at me. I ignore them, but still can't forget about them.
Denim Quilt: In an MSL - I think an October - they showed some crafts from denim (old jeans), and one was a denim quilt, which I thought was really cool. I've been saving our old jeans and denim shorts since Misery. Sometime last year I started cutting them down into usable fabric. After the new year, I actually started cutting strips. A couple weekends ago I sewed them together. I was doing other sewing (see below), so I ran out of steam, and they've been sitting on my sewing table since then. Last year, I also bought this spaceship fabric to use with the denim, and as the quilt backing. This may get done this year.
Poor, forgotten stacks of sewn denim.
Napkins as Tissue: After buying so much expensive tissue paper for wrapping gifts (we use gift bags for the most part, but you need to wrap the gift in some tissue) I was wondering about using fabric as a substitute. At least for just me and Steve. I found this great cloth napkin pattern at the Purl Soho blog, Purl Bee: http://www.purlbee.com/mollys-handmade-napkins/ I was going to test it out with some scrap fabric I had - cut into 4" squares, leftover from the scrap quilts I made while in Misery. I sewed several together, but when I tried to put two pieces together, I could see that with all that stitching of the squares together, it would be way too bulky. So, my experiment failed. These need to be just flat fabric, and I don't have any more to experiment with. So, it's on hold for now. I've been looking at pretty fabric at http://www.equilter.com/ but with prices at $8.00 a yard, I don't want to spend $100 making cloth napkins for tissue paper. I may look at the bargain fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics. This is a maybe for this year.
And now I have several small blocks of squares sewn together - future scrap quilt? I never want to throw anything away.
Hanukkah Bags: I still want to get more of that Hanukkah fabric from equilter and make the other five Hanukkah bags for Steve's Hanukkah gifts. That's on my list of things to do this year.
Learn to Crochet and/or Knit: I've been wanting to learn to knit. I thought it would be a relaxing activity for evenings while watching t.v. Crochet, too. While in Misery, I bought a knitting magazine with instructions. Christmas of 2006 I bought a book on Learning to Crochet Visually (it's full of photos). I couldn't do it. I couldn't figure out either. I need a class where someone can show me how it's done. I finally found someplace locally, but the classes are $45.00 for crochet and $70 for knitting, so that will have to wait awhile. The knitting classes are Sunday afternoon/evening, so I definitely want to wait till later in the year, when it's not getting dark at 5:00 pm.
So, when I'm not obsessing over my painting, these projects are what occupy my mind.
