Working hard!

A nice graphic quote from the amazing Ira Glass, via Nikki Hampson, about working hard!

Indian Summer Budded Garland

Okay, garland is like my favorite thing to make. It's kind of my go-to project. Maybe because it's small amounts of fabric, and you can make huge mistakes and have it come out great, and you can usually make it everywhere, in the car, on the couch, at the pool.

I have a little project coming out in Stitch Craft Create in their Summer Issue (mmm, I'm pretty sure it's the summer issue) that is sort of like this garland. So you'll have to wait until it comes out to learn how. For now, just look at this eye candy, all fabrics from Indian Summer. I used Native Band Jade, Menagerie Timberwolf and Basket of Wheat. The background is Menagerie. I love that print. Sorry about the horn toot. I just love it. Anyone want to make wallpaper out of it? I do.

Indian Summer Nesting Buckets

These are really similar to a lot of  thread catchers you'll see out there. I'm just now realizing that. The thread catchers look awesome. You could probably rig up a way to connect this to your desktop and catch thread with it. I use it to hold my current projects. I have one with a few balls of embroidery thread, my needles (to keep them away from the sweet puppy who keeps trying to eat them), one with painted pieces of paper that I'm working on new patterns with, and one with larger projects. Then when I finish those projects I can stack the buckets inside each other. Tadah!

Here's how it goes:

You'll need:
Thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine
a bit of batting or interfacing
a bit of cardboard
hot glue gun

Fabric: this is what I used:
Bucket 1:
Indian Summer IS-60016 Forest Trail Mountain
Indian Summer IS-60016 Drops of Clay

Indian Summer IS-50014 Native Band Jade
Indian Summer IS-60011 Menagerie Onyx

Indian Summer IS-60010 Woodland Oak
Indian Summer IS-60014 Native Band Apricot

How to decide the size!
This is an important step, and I just winged...wung, errr, wingered mine, so you get to decide the size on your own. Mine are about 6" tall. Choose a width you'd like for your circle, say, 6", then go to this amazing circumference calculator, and that will tell you how wide your rectangle of fabric should be! SO if you did choose 6" as your diameter, then your width of your rectangle of fabric would be 18.84. Add in .5" of seam allowance, gives you 18.34. Ta-dah again!

Instructions:
Place the fabrics printed sides facing, with the batting on top, and stitch along the top. Fold over one of the fabrics and top stitch open. I did a wee bit of quilting for funsies. On Native Band Jade, I did just a nice lil straight line quilting. It's a stripe, more or less, so it makes it easy to follow the lines. On the others I just did a checkerboardy kind of thing. Do what you like, or whatever you find easiest. It's just for funsies.

When I was done quilting it, I zig zagged the outer edges and trimmed, so that I had a nice neat edge. If you have a serger, or overlock, do that to the edges. I don't, but that's okay, I think a zig zag trimmed nicely looks super great.

Then...here's where there might be a better way, but I think the way I did it works just fine. Take your quilted piece and sew the edges together (like the ends of your hotdog bun). Then take your circular piece and pin it to your tube.

So, sewing the circular bottom on. You might ask 'isn't it hard to sew a circle on the bottom?'. I don't think it is. That is, I don't think it is if you use enough pins. I use like 50 pins per bottom. If I could find more pins, I'd probably use more. I just start at one end and pin, then slowly work my way around pinning as I go. It makes it really easy. I don't have a picture of it though, so check out these websites for help: Round Bottom Bags at With Needle and Palm, Cotton and Cloud Circular Bottom Bags.

For the little cardboard insert, just lay the fabric circle printed side down, and place the cardboard circle on top. Dab a bit of glue on the top part and fold over the fabric to it. Do the opposite end, then the all the sides. Just glue 'er down. You're just covering the cardboard, so if it's not perfect, don't worry. You can even use the cardboard insert without covering it.

Then I added a grommet, because I love grommets. Just one, I was going to put a fabric loop through it, so I could hang it, but I haven't done that yet. Plus, I don't have any hooks to hang it on!

Also, circles are fun, but what if you want different sized buckets? WELL!! Math to the rescue, HERE is an amazing tool, it's a circumference calculator!!! I use this baby all the time.

 

 

New Collection with Cloud 9!

Hi guys! I have some exciting news for you! You may have heard, because it was announced last week, but I am designing a new fabric collection with Cloud 9! (I was so excited about my salt post that I wanted it to stay up there a bit, that's why I delayed the announcement on my blog).  I am super excited and very proud to be working with Cloud 9. I consider them in such high regards as far as design goes, and that they're organic, that is also something to admire. Being a little more considerate and conscious about the environmental impacts of my designs is something I hope to keep improving on.

I'm just going to give you a sneak peek of my new collection, and let you know a bit about it. First, the name of it is Dem Bones, it's semi-holiday themed, but if you're the kind of person that likes skeletons or skulls, and not in a hard core/angry-with-the-world kind of way, but in a what-a-cool-awesome-natural-design-element kind of way, then it's definitely an everyday collection! If you're lucky enough to be attending the International Quilt Market, you can see it there at Cloud 9's booth. If you're a normal guy or gal, you'll have to wait until it's out in stores (but waiting is the best part, so lucky us!), which I will let you know about when it happens.

If you'd like to read a bit more about me (of course you would, am I right?), check out Cloud 9's Meet the Designer on their blog.

Gifts from the Sea

Lately I've been trying to get a little more creative with my handmade gifts. One can only receive so many coasters before they say enough. So this year I've come up with what I think is a winner of an idea. Sea salt! I love near the Atlantic Ocean, and have sort of lived near enough to water my whole life, but have never thought to harvest salt. Duh! The idea isn't totally original, it came into my thought process while I was reading A Whole Larder Love's Workshop Info page, and then I found out a bit more in detail from Not Without Salt's article. It just seems so simple. I mean, that is if you don't mind answering questions like 'what are you doing bringing salt water up to your apartment'.

I brought in probably 6 liters and that yielded about 2 cups (I'm not looking at it right now, just guessing) of salt. It seemed like a lot of salt, maybe not 2 cups though. It tastes great, a very oceany flavor, and it's really not super salty, which surprises me. If you're interested in making your own, check out Not Without Salt, or follow these steps:

1. Collect salt water from the freshest area you have access to.
2. Filter through layered cheesecloth (okay, I didn't have cheesecloth, I just layered a ton of fabric)
3. Boil! Shabam, you've made sea salt. Amazing.
4. Bottle. I put mine in a recycled coconut milk bottle (they come in the most amazing bottles here) and am searching out a cork to cut down to size. Use whatever you have, but make sure it's airtight. There is a little label at the bottom of this post, it's high resolution, so you should be able to take it and print it out yourself, should you be in the salt making mood.

 

 In the photos: Napkin, made with Boucherouite Blush from Luxe in Bloom, and these amazing soda bottle tops that keep getting washed up on our beach. Great design right? Colorful, bold, rusty!

Pre-Surtex Print Collections from Sarah Watson

Hey guys, okay, no, I'm not going to Surtex, but this is better, right?

I've got a good handful of new collections on my website, Sarah Watson Illustration, available for license, and a lots of prints available for outright sale. If you are interested in purchasing or viewing, contact me directly (sarah@sarahwatsonillustration.com) for the password. The prints are in full repeat and ready to use. A little Pre-Surtex spending, right?

I am also available for custom printwork, hand lettering and other illustrative services. All images below property of Sarah Watson Illustration, please credit if you share. Thanks!