Interview on Be@Home

I had the great fortune to be interviewed by the lovely Michele of the blog Be @ Home. Click HERE to read the interview and a review of my blog. I was thrilled to be selected and I hope when you are finished reading the interview, you will click on the "Home" key and check out all the other cool things Michele has going on.

And since I can't leave you without a picture - here are some diminutive computer chip earrings, about 1/4" square, that were fun to make, even if they did leave me a bit cross-eyed.
Finally, Natasha, if you are reading this, I appreciated your comments so very much, but I have no way to get in touch with you to send you the information you requested. Please drop me an email and I will send you the information.

Thanks, and Happiest of Holidays to All!
~Michelle

Salvaged Selvage

A friend of mine saves her scraps for me, and that includes selvage. As I've accumulated it, I've wondered what I would do with it. When I trim the selvage off a fabric I'm using, it's pretty easy to just toss it in the trash ... but when I am staring at a whole bag full of selvage? Then it just seems wasteful. So I started stitching the selvage together and came up with this nifty little zippered pouch. I added (after this photo was taken) a larger lobster claw type clip to the zipper and now I can fit my cell phone in the pouch and clip it to my belt loop and I am good to go! I love it. I kept one for myself and the rest will find their way into my etsy shop (eventually, when I've managed to edit all the photos I took!)

I also made up several with my hand painted dryer sheets. The main body of the pouch is exactly the right size for one dryer sheet. A lucky convenience! These were the colors I happened to have already painted. If the weather ever warms up, I'll get outside and paint some more.

And finally the little bits of selvage that were too short to make into a pouch have found a new home as a coffee sleeve. I love the colors and the graphic nature of the dots. The only problem is that I've used up that entire bag of selvage! So I will just have to wait for my quilty friends to give me some more.

Thank you for stopping by!

~Michelle

(not) Tossing Out Technology

I was fortunate to get a box of computer chip samples from a friend whose company was going to throw them out. Don't they make great pendants? I only have about a dozen of the square ones, but I've got gobs of rectangles!!!

So what else can I do with these? I would love to hear your ideas!

~Michelle

Leftovers

It's been so long since I've blogged that I almost couldn't remember my password! How crazy is that. I have been busy. I stepped up the number of festivals I attended this fall, so I have spent most of my time keeping my inventory levels up. I am sure you do not want to hear about pounded bottle caps every day! So here are some of the other things I've been making ... I had a little bit of covered clothesline left over from the bowl I made and shared in my last post. I finally got the idea to turn it into these cuff bracelets. I really like how they came out. I have more clothesline and am planning to make more with my more interesting hand dyes and batiks.

I nearly sold out of my altered altoid tins (I only had one left!) so I spent some time making a few more. They really are a lot of fun. The one with the skull is my favorite.

I have been tie dyeing shoe laces like a madwoman. They are so much fun! I have 45" (low top) and 63" (high top) available in my etsy shop. This pair is one of my favorites.

And I've been using those old felted wool sweaters that have been languishing on a shelf for want of an idea. I would say I am using them up, but there is quite a bit of material available in one sweater! I am also making cuff bracelets with some of the leftovers. The crochet flowers have been a fun little project to take on the go. I have my friend Carolyn to thank for the leftover bits of yarn from her knitted dish cloths.

Speaking of crochet ... I am on my third blanket made from yarn purchase from The Scrap Exchange ... each blanket cost around $5. I've enjoyed dusting off my crochet hooks (finally).

I have one more show this weekend at a local high school. I am really looking forward to it. I have made about 3-4 dozen new ornaments this week, and a bunch of poetry bracelets. Today I am going to work on those aforementioned cuff bracelets and maybe some dryer sheet wallets. With any luck I will have more to share with you before the week is out. Thank you for visiting and baring with my little blogging hiatus!

~Michelle

Tutti Frutti

I decided I needed to take a break from pounding bottle caps and do something different. I dyed this fabric last year. It was a white tone-on-tone and I love how the flowers resist the dye. The problem was that there was way too much pink for my taste. I like the top and left sides, but the rest, well, what to do with all that pink? Last year, on a whim, I also bought the pattern to make fabric bowls with strips of fabric and cotton clothesline. I've been wanting to try it, but you know how it goes, I just never took the time to do it. Well, I decided to use this fabric, and here is my new bowl ...

I made the smallest size the pattern offered, but made the sides a little taller. It is pretty big! And I love it. Yeah, still a lot of pink but at least it is tempered by the other colors. So I've decided it is my new fruit bowl.

What do you think? Hey, at least I know I can wash it!

Loco Laces

Empty dye bottles - you know what that means ... I finally got my dyes back out. Today's victims? Shoelaces!

Aren't they yummy? And the best news is ... there's lots more! I plan to carry them in my shop. If my tween doesn't take them all before I get the chance!

One Wild Summer

I find it rather amusing that I was just wondering what happened to July. Here we are half way through September. Silly of me to think I was going to get much accomplished this summer, and now we are knee deep in all the activities that fall with teenagers brings.

Meet the newest member of our family ... Jasper ... this little guy showed up at our door and decided to stay. He was skinny and flea ridden, but how could we say no? He's very sweet and hasn't even asked to go outside since the day we brought him in. I think he is happy to have a home ...
I made this fish piece for my August show at Eye of the Eagle. The fish are painted dryer sheets and I used lots of odds and ends for the background. I did a bit of hand stitching and beading as well. I finished it just in time for the show, so these photos I have are actually of it hanging in the gallery.

I just received an order from Dharma ... an assortment of scarves, shoelaces (yes, I am going to dye them!) and soy wax to try my hand at batik. Maybe I will have something fun to share with you soon.