"Shaggy Lava Lamp by Luke" on six different Spoonflower fabric swatches

One of my grandchildren spent four days with us recently.  He created a surface design using my desktop computer using Crayola Art Studio Draw & Paint with Digital Paint.  I worked with the design, creating a basic repeat from the design.  I showed him how to upload it to Spoonflower and he got to see what it would look like if printed on fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap.  He really enjoy seeing the virtual displays on Spoonflower. We ordered 6 swatches of  different Spoonflower fabrics so that he could see how each fabric surface accepted the colors in his design.  See all of my grandchildren's artwork here.

It has been interesting to watch the progression of my grandchildren's artwork.  What struck me about this design is that this grandson is moving from the literal to the abstract -- at least on this visit. :-)

Going down on the left are:

1. Faux Suede
2. Linen Cotton Canvas
3. Performance Knit

Going down on the right are:

1. Eco Canvas
2. Minky
3. Cotton Poplin

This photo was taken indoors on a cloudy day, no flash.
 

It's Curtains!!

Pictured above is Spoonflower cotton poplin yardage printed with Spoonflower designer Art_on_Fabric's "White and Pale Yellow Poppies on Gold." I originally posted about this design and its designer, Sylvie Heaseman, on March 19, 2015.  According to the Spoonflower Flickr group discussion, " "A Chance to help fellow designer Sylvie (Art on Fabric)," Sylvie is now in the UK and has a country to call her own.  Yea!!!

These curtains needed no embellishments -- the design stands alone beautifully.  I ordered three 2 yard segments from Spoonflower.  I hemmed around the edges, no cutting involved, and attached clips to the tops of the finished curtains.

I love to use curtains to cover more than windows.  These curtains are covering a bookshelf used for storage and the furthest curtain is serving as a divider between bedroom and bath.  I still need to stitch up one more yard to replace the curtain covering the bathroom window, then this project will be done. 

Kaitlyn, Mrs. Pecos Bill and the Far Side of the Moon

In a previous post I wrote about how Mrs. Pecos Bill ended up on the Far Side of the Moon.  Above is a picture of my three year old granddaughter, Kaitlyn, between the cut and sew projects, "Mrs. Pecos Bill and the Monster Tornado" and "The Far Side of the Moon."  These cut and sew projects are simple to make.  A coordinating fabric is required for the back side of the pillows.  These projects and coordinating fabrics can be seen in my shop on Spoonflower.

Art_on_Fabric: Sylvie Heasman

Soon to be curtains!!

Pictured above is Spoonflower cotton poplin yardage printed with Spoonflower designer Art_on_Fabric's "White and Pale Yellow Poppies on Gold."  This beautiful design will soon be hanging as curtains in my bedroom.  I need to wash and iron the fabric first, but after that, the process will be simple.  I make rod pocket curtains, hemming all the sides.  Easy to do and while not instant gratification, it's pretty close.

Sylvie Heasman (Art_on_Fabric) has many beautiful designs in her Spoonflower shop.  Currently Sylvie finds herself in a situation that reminds me of "a man without a country" except that Sylvie is currently without a country that she feels safe calling home.  Her plight can be read about on the Flickr Spoonflower discussion, "A Chance to help fellow designer Sylvie (Art on Fabric)".

The Spoonflower Adventure Continues

Note finished hem of blanket -- 1) straight stitching 2) double zigzagging 3) zigzagging.

Spoonflower's newest fabric, Minky, is fabulous.  It is forgiving, it is soft, and it is a joy with which to work.  Having said that, above is a picture of my first effort at a blanket.  I ordered one yard of Minky fabric in "A Tumble of Sheep," one of my designs in my Spoonflower shop.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the tactile sensations of this fabric impressed me the minute I pulled it out of the Spoonflower shipping envelope.  I washed and dried the fabric and the colors held.

I like easy-peasy projects and I decided to make a baby blanket.  Now, mind you, I rarely look for directions on anything and just plunge directly into whatever I'm doing.   I should learn to Google first, sew later, but I didn't.  I folded the right sides of the Minky together, pinned them, and stitched the folded over yard -- now 27" wide instead of the original 54" wide -- of fabric together, leaving a small hole so I could pull the fabric right side out.  I stitched up the hole then straight stitched a 5/8" seam along the outer four sides of the blanket.   Then I folded over and pinned a strip of 2" wide pink satin blanket binding to both sides of 1 side of  the Minky, mitering the corners once I had determined the length of that one side.  (If you look at the above picture, there is no longer pink satin binding on this blanket.)  I zigzag stitched the binding to the blanket, messing up everything.  I stopped and looked at my effort.  I showed it to my husband.  Now my husband thinks just about everything I do is great -- possibly because he has to live with me -- but he is not an honest critic. My last honest critic went off to college 15 years ago -- my daughter --  and she is now a mother of three of my grandchildren. 

I looked at my work objectively, saw that it did not look good, reminded myself that I had purchased a yard, and boldly sheared off everything -- the binding and the fabric -- leaving -- when folded -- a 25" wide blanket.  I stitched everything back up and then Googled binding a Minky blanket and there were several generous people who has posted advice and tips.  And next time I will follow those tips.  :-)  I wanted to get this sucker done because I'm giving it to my oldest granddaughter tomorrow as part of her birthday gifts -- she loves soft fabric and she can use it with her baby dolls.

So my next step -- because I had now decided NOT to use the pink satin binding --  was I laid out the stitched together fabric on the dining room table and grabbed a dinner plate and a sharpie and I put the dinner plate in each of the four corners and marked off rounded edges with the sharpie.  Then I carefully tucked in the rough edges and stitched the rounded corners together.  Then I zigzagged around the whole border of the blanket, then double zigzagged again all around the blanket leaving a nice finished look to the blanket . . . except all the sides are not precisely even but they are close enough.  Next time I WILL do better.  But for a first try on an unfamiliar fabric, the result, for me, was acceptable.  :-) 

Mrs. Pecos Bill, the Monster Tornado, and the Far Side of the Moon or My Version of a Spoonflower Mythical Creature Plushie!

Mrs. Pecos Bill Inside the Monster Tornado with her flock of rainbow sheep.

The Far Side of the Moon (only poor Mrs. Pecos Bill's hat is left) and on the right, Mrs. Pecos Bill inside the Monster Tornado

The Far Side of the Moon and Bluebonnets!

I always learn something doing these Spoonflower contests and the important thing I learned during the “Mythical Creature Plushie” contest is that my beloved Pecos Bill, popular in the 1950s, is part of fakelore, rather than folklore!!!  He is not even as big a myth as Paul Bunyan.  He is believed to have been invented in a series of short stories by Edward S. O’Reilly a little over 100 years ago. And also, after I did all this work, I realized I didn't really create a mythical creature! Nevertheless, I forged ahead and created a cut-n-sew about a wife of Pecos Bill’s.

Now Bill, who was raised by a pack of coyotes (really!!) managed somehow to grow up to be a cowboy.  His first love interest was Slue-Foot Sue but this isn’t about Slue-Foot Sue.

No, this is about a sweet innocent young girl who was taken with Pecos Bill’s bad boy image – after all, he used a rattlesnake as a lasso and rode a horse named Widow-Maker.  What girl wouldn’t be attracted to a man such as Pecos Bill!

One day a great storm came up as great storms do in the Great Plains of the United States.  A tornado touched down.  Pecos Bill saw that tornado, lassoed it with his rattlesnake and rode that tornado until the tornado was no more.  What he didn’t realize was that there was an even more powerful tornado right behind the first.  That monster twister swooped up Mrs. Pecos Bill and the flock of rainbow sheep she was watching at the time. 

When Pecos Bill realized what had happened, he leaped on his horse, Widow-Maker, and rode as fast as he could, trying to lasso the tornado that had taken his beloved wife, but it was for naught. Mrs. Pecos Bill was flung into the far reaches of space by that gigantic twister, and hit the Far Side of the Moon, leaving only her hat and a single bluebonnet.

Check out my version of a Mythical Creature Plushie.  Designs featured above are printed on Spoonflower linen-cotton canvas.

A Giant Pinking Machine?

Is there such a thing as a giant pinking machine?  Like when fat quarters and yardage are being cut at Spoonflower, is there a machine that would pink the edges instead of the straight cutting that exists now?  I only ask because the other day I washed quite a few fat quarters (Spoonflower basic cotton and basic cotton Ultra) and there was so much fraying of the edges that the threads became balled up together and it took a bit of time to untangle all the fat quarters.  Really it is just the cottons that fray so badly after watching -- although it would be nice to have the satin pinked too -- it also frays too.  Well, I guess for good measure -- just pink all fabrics.  Ha!  But is there such a thing? A giant pinking machine?