Floral Fabric-Covered Box

Continuing my goal of using up my fabric stash, I covered a sturdy cardboard box with some fabric scraps that were oddly shaped, yet too big for me to consider throwing away (waste not, want not). This was the same fabric used for my eyeglass pouch, my sewing machine cover, and I also made a skirt with it (it has pockets!).  Now I have a small box that matches my sewing machine that can be used to store all my sewing notions.  And I can wear my skirt when I'm sewing and then take out my glasses to see better and OH MAN SO MATCHY!

The Before:

The After:

A very simple project (yay for glue guns), but it makes things look a little more special.

Sewing Machine Cover

One of my goals for this month, craft-wise, is to use up more of my fabric stash.  Making a dust cover for my sewing machine was on my list of stuff to make, so I figured I'd bust one out this week.  It's a simple project, but a cover for your machine is necessary because dust really settles into your machine, man.  It's a serious problem (not really). Dust combined with the sewing machine oil gets all gunky. Having a dust cover keeps it pretty.

Anyways,  I decided to use two types of fabric (contrast!), because I wanted to match my chair cover for matchy matchy crafty room kitschiness.  It's kinda tacky, but I feel like the craft room/station is the only place you can decorate all crazy and get away with it.  I was about to add hot pink rickrack trim but I totally forgot about it and already sewn the side panels. 

Dimensions for the finished project were 7x15x14.  I cut out 2 panels for the sides (8x15), 2 panels for the front and back (16x15), and one for the top (16x8), 1 inch added for seam allowance. Easy peasy!

Matchy match, with leftover polka dot fabric to spare.  What else can I make to get rid of this fabric?!

Yo-Yo Quilt Remnants Christmas Ornament Thingy

A while back, my cousin found part of this old yo yo quilt that was made by our great-grandmother Eugenia.  She wanted to share it among relatives so she mailed out pieces of the quilt to other relatives, including me.  I've never met my great grandmother, so I think its pretty cool that I now I have something of hers that she not only touched, but made herself. It's only a couple of yo-yos, and I don't make yo-yo quilts, and I have no intention to start making a yo-yo quilt because of it.  But I also didn't want to just hoard random yo-yo pieces sitting in a ziploc bag without doing anything crafty with it.  The color palette is pretty random and totally outdated.  I figured it was just made out of random fabric scraps that she had.  Whatever the case, I wanted to work with it.

So with the help of Pinterest (searched: yo-yo quilt ideas) I figured making an ornament out of it, is a way of utilizing the yo yo pieces instead of keeping it in a plastic bag forever.  I wouldn't have enough pieces to make a project bigger than this, anyways.

At first I thought of using a styrofoam ball to use as a base, since you can just pin the yo yo pieces on it, but styrofoam balls are kind of expensive. Or at least cost more than I had thought.  I had no idea, I thought they were cheap for some reason.  Instead, I decided to go with the "use what you have"* route, and stitch the yo-yo's together in an overlapping pattern, and stuff it with polyfill.  I also decided to set a color scheme and just use the red/pink/black floral pieces (these pieces I had the most of, so it worked out that way), just to make it look cohesive.

Things I wish I had done now that I think of it in hindsight: iron out the pieces so that they are less puffy and easier to stitch.  I am still contemplating adding some sort of glitter or sequin to it and making it over the top, but for now it's hanging in my room.



It's 2016 and my new year's craft resolutions are to finish my damn vasarely blanket and to improve my sewing machine skills.  Here's hoping I update this blog in the near future with those resolutions being fulfilled.  Cheers.






*this must be my craft motto, use what you have at all costs.
(Creativity is fun when it challenges you)

Floral Eyeglasses Pouch

So it's official. I have to get glasses.  I finally bit the bullet and scheduled an eye exam.  The doctor gave me a prescription.  Ordered some frames from Warby Parker.  My prescription isn't even that strong, I just need them for driving and reading things from far distances.  And for crocheting while netflix-ing.  You know, important things.

So I figured since I need glasses, I should use these spring frames that I bought at a Daiso a few months back.  I may have been kinda drunk while buying them, but hey, who isn't?  I love Daiso. I always get hi-chew and cute stationary stuff there (multi-color pens and post-its shaped like animals) and you can always find something you didn't know you needed.  If I had closer access to that place, I would go there every week.  I would go there so hard.

Anyways, I found these spring frames in Daiso's craft section.  I thought it was a good idea at the time to buy them but I never got around to making anything with them until now.  I based the measurements off of an eyeglass case I already owned and used fabric I had laying around (black floral, with an orange lining).  I also used some leftover felt inside the lining to thicken the case and make it more sturdy.  I think it came out pretty well, but since the spring frames came in a 2-pack, I already know what I would change when I make the second case.  I want to try and find a fabric that has eyeglasses on it.  If not, I saw this fabric at Joann's the other day that had oreo cookies on it.  But fake oreo cookies, because maybe Nabisco made licensed oreo cookie fabric?  That makes me think of my copyright story that I wanted to blog about, but that will be another post. ;-)

Nails of the Day (or Week): Spring Nails

Decided on these theme nails for the first day of spring using polish that I recently purchased.  I pretty much followed this marimekko design my Elleandish .  I think her youtube videos are so well done.  Great editing and her tutorials and designs are really cute. 

Polish used:
Purple: China Glaze - That's Shore Bright
Sparkly Purple: China Glaze - Tail Me Something
Accent Nail: China Glaze - White on White, That's Shore Bright, Lemon Fizz , Essie - DJ Play That Song, Revlon - Stilleto