Vintage Things and Puppies

This past weekend I did maybe the most adorable thing ever. I went to doggy swim day. The day before they drain the pools for the season, some places have a doggy swim day. You bring your dog and everyone swims. I don’t have a dog, but my mom has a dog, Stella, who LOVES to swim. My mom takes her to a lake nearby and she will just swim for hours. She likes to chase the ducks too. Anyway, here is Stella at her doggy swim day.

The weekend before that I went to the Indie Arts Vintage and Marketplace. Apparently it’s been so popular, they added another one in October. I had a good time looking around and managed to only spend $4 on some vintage rubber stamps. I also picked up lunch from Groovy Guys Fries, an AWESOME food truck. Here are some of my favorite items I came across.

I also discovered that some of the shelving in my craft room was falling off of the wall, so this is the state of the room at the moment. Not exactly the project I wanted to work on.

As usual, Gus got into a predicament and Teeny got all up in my face.

Sewing and Sleeping

I’ve been attempting to get a lot of sewing done, but work has been so busy, I’ve been coming home and passing out on the couch. Gus has been attempting to keep me motivated.

I sent more patterns off to Crimson Tate.

I finished up that baby quilt I was working on. It turned out really great. Joanna was really happy with it.

I’ve been working on my Merry Go Round quilt in class at Crimson Tate. My friend Brooke talked me into it. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because the pattern looks really traditional. With a little Denyse Schmidt fabric, I fell in love. Here it is up on the design wall. Heather, the owner of Crimson Tate put it up on the shop facebook page and Denyse Schmidt LIKED IT!

I also started taking an online calligraphy course. I probably could have chosen a better timing, but I’ve really been wanting to take it.

I’ve also been sewing bags and getting ready for the Fountain Square Art Fair here in Indianapolis on September 22nd.

This one is my personal favorite.

So that’s what’s been going on here. What have you been working on?

The Longest To Do List

I think I am in the middle of more projects than ever before.

My friend Brooke got several of the usual sewing buddies to all sign up for the same class at Crimson Tate. We are doing the American Jane Merry Go Round Quilt. I am doing mine in Denyse Schmidt’s new Chickopee line. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this quilt. I really just wanted to hang out with my friends. But now that I have started it, I think I’m going to adore it.

Brooke and I are planning on doing Denyse Schmidt’s Single Girl pattern (again for me). I bought Tula Pink’s Birds and Bees line. I don’t want to cut it up. It’s amazing. The lady bugs are my favorite.

I am also working on a custom baby quilt. The woman I am making it for had scraps left over from custom bedding and curtains she had made for the baby’s room, so I used some of that mixed in with some other coordinating fabrics.
Here’s how it looks so far.

I am also working on a secret baby quilt so no photos yet. On top of those projects, a quilt for each my mom and sister are currently sitting on the back burner. I have also been attempting to finish up any projects that have just been laying around. I have a really simple queen sized quilt I am finishing the quilting on so hopefully I’ll get it bound and photographed soon.

I’ve also been messing around with designing fabrics through Spoonflower. I currently have several prints for sale. Here is my sampler I ordered to proof my designs so I could start selling them.

I’ve cut them down and even made a few items from the squares. I’ve been adding these and iPad leather accented bags on my Etsy.

Whew! In my free time (HA!) I’ve been trying to get some bags and accessories made for a show in September. More on that later.

 

Lately

All of the sudden, it is August. I never know how each month sneaks up on me. I decided to “take the summer off” so to say. I have just been making whatever I feel like making, trying new things, learning new things. A new book store opened up down the street called Indy Reads. It’s an awesome space. Plus it supports an adult literacy program.

I got a (fake) tattoo. Tattly tattoos are kind of awesome.

The president sent me some stickers.

It is just barely starting to feel like fall which makes me immensely happy.

I found an entire box of vintage metal zippers.

Gus approves of them.

I learned how to create a GIANT sock bun.

The past few nights it has been occurring to me that September will be here in no time and I am planning on doing a smallish show September 22nd so I need to get making stuff again. I am going to share a booth with some friends, so I really won’t need to have nearly as much stuff. I need to start looking for some holiday shows because that’s when the real shopping happens.

I am also going to attempt organizing my own show in early December. I did a super last minute one last year that went pretty well, but I want to make it better this year.

On top of that, lots of people are having babies in November so I have some baby blankets to sew.

Things are getting busy!

I’m Back!

After trying out another platform for a while, I have made the decision to move back to wordpress. It’s much easier to post and manage comments, so I will be gradually shifting things back over here again. I may repost a few things so be ready for an onslaught of updates!

Moving

Hello. When I put up my new website I originally thought a post here would sync with the imported blog on my new site, but as it turns out, it only syncs old posts. If you would like to continue following my blog as well as my shop and upcoming events, you can find me at 1606shop.com.

Thanks.

Stefanie

Rubber Stamp Fail

I bought a “Make Your Own Rubber Stamp” kit. First attempt was a big huge fail, but I kinda fudged a few parts.

For one, apparently Home Depot quilt selling glass because it broke too often. I bought some small pieces of plexi, which I had doubts about, but it was cheap enough, I figured I’d try it. Next, I couldn’t find the light I really needed to expose the polymer.

It says on various sites that you can use a UV light or a blacklight. The “blacklights” at Home Depot are probably more just purple colored lights. No UV lights either. I bought a “plant light” whatever that means thinking maybe it would have some UV in it.

The polymer is supposed to harden after 2 minutes for each side. After about 10 minutes (or more) it was still totally mush, but I was starting to see it hardening very very slightly near the images, so I still have hope.

Also, as I set it up to expose, I realized I totally screwed up the images and forgot to switch them to negatives instead of positives.

So if I am able to fix allllll of these problems, maybe I will get it to work next time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

New Website!

I’ve been building a website for my design portfolio and I decided that while I was at it, I would make one for my crafts/sewing too. You can still read my blog here, but my blog is integrated into the site as well as a few other things including a page of finished quilts. I used Squarespace and it was really easy. I whipped this up on Saturday in about 3 hours.

Take a look! 1606shop.com

 

Back to Work

Well, my long, wonderful spring break has come to an end…sigh. If you’ve just recently started reading my blog, don’t think I’m amazing because of how fast I’ve been cranking out quilts. It’s because I literally slept and sewed ALL break. I’ll still be doing quite a bit of sewing because I’m getting ready for the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange in June and just applied for another smaller show in the beginning of May. (Wish me luck!)

I am so excited for the Handicraft show. Look! There I am!

Also, I had a HUGE spike in my views on here and flickr. A friend informed me that Jeni of In Color Order had linked to my banner quilt on her blog. She also linked one of my sewing buddies, elle square. I am honored to be on her blog. I love all of her work.

I am totally eating up all of the love my quilts have been getting. I am so proud of my work and it’s always so nice to know others like it too! I am also really happy to announce that the Best in Show pattern is now available in my shop. If you are in Indianapolis, you can also purchase a paper pattern at Crimson Tate.

Thanks for the love everyone. I’ll try to keep updating often, just maybe with fewer projects now that I’m back to my day job.

Best In Show Pattern

I did it. I completed the quilt and had the pattern ready for sale for First Friday. And now it’s available as a pdf download available in my shop, 1606. Check it out!