I can haz pincushion?

On a whim in my local Joann's, I saw some fat quarters on sale.  So I decided to make a pin cushion.  And I decided not to use a pattern and instead improvise.  Here's what I started with.

All I knew when I sat down to make this was that I wanted to use piping.  I had never made or used piping until I had made my cape, and thought that a pincushion would be a good way to practice with it.

This certainly wasn't the easiest thing to make.  I had hoped to make most of it using my machine, but I ended up making most of this by hand.  Took me a few times, not to mention several uses of the seam ripper until I got this looking the way I wanted it to.

Cute, huh?  I desperately needed a pincushion, so at least that's off the list.  In other news, I posted on facebook about organizing a facebook quilting bee.  Basically I would supply the fabric and the notions for a block of a quilt, then send them to whoever wanted one.  Then they can send me back a completed block.  I think it sounds like a lot of fun!

Oh baby!

Got a couple of cute baby hats that I finished up recently. Both of these will be given away as gifts.

Is that fun?  The faux hawk cracks me up.  This was really simply to make and I'm currently working on a matching sweater.

This one is just absolutely adorable.  It's supposed to be a newsboy cap, but look almost more like a sunbonnet.  I love the flower with it.  Adds just the right touch.

In other news, I joined the American Sewing Guild yesterday.  It looks really interesting.  There's a Chicago Chapter and I'll be able to go to meetings and hopefully learn more about sewing.  And there seems to be a whole lot of webinars and online classes that could be very helpful.  I'm about to watch one on 'must-have notions.'  :)

Guild Wars Cape

One day I was talking to my fellow guild members in vent.  I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I do remember that I told them that I was thinking of making our guild’s cape. 

Which wasn’t exactly true.  I hadn’t given it one moment’s thought.  The idea simply popped into my head and I blurted it out before I could stop myself.  I chalked it up to one of those random things that’s said in chat and I expected to forget about it quickly.  But the thought didn’t go away.  I found myself thinking what I would need to make the cape real.

And so the next day I went to a fabric store and got the supplies I thought I needed.

The first part of the cape went smoothly.  I got the pattern from an apron pattern that had the right shape.  Painting the silver on was easy.  I made a stencil and was done quickly.

The part that I knew would trip me up the most was the emblem on the cape.  I went about this a couple of different ways.  First, I was going to make a stencil and then cut out the fabric and sew it onto the cape.  I quickly realized that wouldn’t work with my fabric, as there was no way I would be able to press the emblem and keep the detail that I wanted. 

So I thought perhaps I would cut the fabric right on the line and sew it on the cape.  That wouldn’t work either, as the fabric frayed horribly.  It was back to the drawing board.

What I decided to do was make the stencil and paint some plain muslin fabric gold.  Once it’s dry, I’d cut about ¼ of an inch around the paint and then sew where the white and gold meet.

That didn’t quite work out the way I wanted.  I couldn't sew underneath easily, like appliqué.  Luckily, I realized the fabric wasn’t fraying at all because of the paint.  So I cut directly around the painted area and sewed that onto the cape.

Next was the top of the cape, including the part that goes around the neck.  I was very excited, because this would be the first time I was going to use my sewing machine’s buttonhole feature.  Set everything up, pressed the ‘go’ key, and quickly discovered that the combination of my fabric and thread was no good for buttonhole making. I therefore hand made quite possibly the world’s worst buttonhole.  But there was a hole and it was for a button and in the end, isn’t that all that matters?

After that it was time to quilt the cape itself.  I took the same grey thread that wasn’t good for buttonhole making and quickly quilted around the silver lines.  Then I added the black quilting bias.

Everything was going so smoothly until that point.  I was really happy with how it was going.  Then I realized I made a logistical error.  I made my piping, and promptly realized I should have attached it about 5 steps beforehand, when I was sewing the grey top part.  There was no way I was going to go back and fix that error.  So I made a work around.  I already knew that this cape was for displaying, not for wearing, so I just stitched it to the back.  Works for me!

I learned a lot making this cape, and I made notes throughout the process, figuring out what I would do differently next time.  I had an absolute blast making this.  It has been a while since I made something for myself, just because.  Lately, most of my crafting has been for other people, which I love, but it is nice to make something for me.

More About The Crafty Sage

I was bit by the crafting bug in fourth grade.  My teacher required every student to make a cross stitch pillow.  At the time, it seemed fairly ambitious.  But my little fingers loved playing with the thread and seeing the pattern come to life.  Of course, as I was nine, the completed project wasn't the best, but I was hooked.

Throughout the next seven or eight years I cross-stitched many an item.  Towels, tote bags, pictures, you name it.  Eventually I wanted more.  So I taught myself how to quilt.  And then in college, a friend showed me how to crochet.  And now, almost 25 years after I learned how to cross stitch, I'm discovering how to sew.  

The gaming bug bit me even earlier.  The first computer game I remember playing was called Jousting Time.  It was basically a jousting game.  And of course there was Oregon Trail.  Games came and went (special ones were the Heroes series, Civilization, and the Sims).  Then one day I managed to pluck up the courage to buy Guild Wars.  I had seen the box on various shelves for years.  But I was terrified by the multi-player aspect.  Thankfully I did manage to get over that aversion and found a great group of people to game with.  

And now Guild Wars 2 is (almost) out.  I've been completely inspired by that game and hope to try to craft many things that I discover in that world.  One week I may try to recreate a cooking recipe.  Another week maybe town clothes I particularly liked.  

Of course, this blog won't just be about Guild Wars 2 crafts.  I seem to be working on a number of projects at all times and can't wait to document them here.  Even though there will be hits and misses, I'm very excited to share them with you.

The pillow I made in 4th grade.

Crafting ADD

That's what I feel like.  I have so many projects that I feel need to be completed 'RIGHT NOW!'  My goal of only working on one a night doesn't seem to be working yet.  But I'm going to keep trying.  I just have this feeling that that's the way to go.

And on to some project prep!  My yarn finally came in the mail.  For baby items, I absolutely adore Bernat Cottentots yarn.  The colors aren't just typical baby colors out there.  My only problem?  I rarely can find the yarn in any of the big box crafting stores I go to.  And none of the boutique yarn stores in my area carry brand name yarn like that.  Which means I have to order online.

Here's what I ordered.  The pattern will be a newsboy cap for a baby girl.  Originally I got this really pretty blue-purple to make it in, but my Mom said that this was the first girl after two boys, so she really wanted pink.  So pink(ish) she shall have!

The cap will be in pink, the band in brown and then I'll add a flower in the multi-color.  Hopefully it'll end up as cute as I'm picturing it in my head!

And the apron is complete!

Huzzah!  I completed my apron from sewing class tonight.  The two steps left were sewing on the ric-rac and then the bottom pocket.  I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out!

I tried to get a hint of a retro look with the fabric  and the ric-rac.  One thing I will pat myself on the back about is the top pocket.  I was able to line up the fabric so well you can't even see the pocket from the picture!

Guild Wars

I've been doing quite a horrible job of juggling all the crafts that are on my plate at the moment.  Most likely because I seem to think that some progress needs to be made each day on each item.  Well, generally that seems to mean that no progress gets made on anything.  So starting tomorrow I'm going to mix it up a bit.  Each night I'll designate for a different project, like working on my t-shirt quilt, or various crocheted baby projects or writing.  Hopefully that will jump start things a bit.

My sewing class finished on Saturday.  I'm so glad I discovered that school.  A new class starts on this Saturday; we'll be working on pajama pants.  I wasn't able to finish the apron completely.  A log jam at the ironing board got in the way.  But I plan to finish it up tomorrow and I'll have a full post about it.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk Guild Wars.  I remember seeing the box art when the game first came out and was smitten.  Almost every time I saw it I picked it up and kept thinking, 'if only this was a single player game...'  Then about three years ago, I said, 'what the hell,' and bought the game.  The plan was never to team with anyone, ever.  And because of the way the game is set up, it's totally possible to do that.

But after a few months, I got lonely.  There were all these people around me and no one to team with.  So when I saw a funny ad for a guild in Lion's Arch, I whispered the person and quickly found my Guild Wars home.  I've been lucky to meet some really great people through this game.

And now in a few months, Guild Wars 2 will be released.  I have plans, oh yes, I have plans.  My main goal is  to have the first Guild Wars 2 board on Pinterest.  Silly I know, but it's the little things in life that count.  I want to make my Guild Wars 2 board amazing and have all sorts of people who would never consider the game look at my board and go, 'Huh.  That looks kinda cool.'

Then I would very much like to start a crafting blog for Guild Wars 2.  And not just crafting in game.  Real life crafting.  Like Grumble Cake, which provides Vitality.  Or a Griffin Egg Omelette.  Obviously not made from real griffins, but you get the idea.  I think that would be a really fun blog to be a part of.  In fact, I think it'll be so much fun that I'm going to create the blog right now to hold it.