chimesblog

And by wedding, I actually mean baby shower this time.

I created these adorable invites for Adria. I’m probably going to retool them to become wedding invites because I like them so much.

PS I blurred her address out but if you know us and would like to send her something, e-mail me and I’ll shoot you her address.

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I decided it’s time to up the quality of construction of my wallets and add some functionality based on feedback I’ve gotten over the past few years and my changing tastes.

What I’m doing:

• replacing the button + elastic closure with a more sophisticated magnetic snap closure
• adding a divider in the middle to help organize
• including smaller pockets (credit card-sized) on the divider to help organize
• producing one size instead of three sizes — the 9.5″x5″ (medium) size, which was the most popular-selling size
• replacing the other two sizes of wallets with other products that have a more specific use and were very frequently asked for when a customer was looking at the small or large wallets (iPad cover and glasses case)
• adding a label (which I didn’t on the prototype because I didn’t want to waste labels)

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Hey, Des Moines! Come downtown today (from 9–2) for Market Day’s special September Suitcase Showdown. Be sure to hit up the Farmers Market while you’re at it … we’re right next door. Thirty vendors with everything they can fit into suitcases or whatever they can find. Don’t miss it! See you there.

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Want something to do this Saturday? Even better — want to learn something new this Saturday?

Sign up for my class at Reiman Gardens in Ames.  I’m going to be teaching how to create fun and pretty mugs from old unloved ceramics.  Added bonus: I’m curating a playlist for this specific event.  Not only will you learn something new, you’ll get to listen to some new and (hopefully) exciting artists while you do it.

What do you get out of the class besides a new skill?  You get the tools to continue painting up your own ceramics, ideas for how to implement this skill beyond just mugs, and a creative spin to your Saturday morning. Mugs will also be provided.

Not an artist?  No drawing skills?  No problem!  Doodles and text are great accents to unloved dishes.  And I will also be teaching a transfer technique for those of us who are really uncomfortable with drawing anything freehand — even a doodle.

Today is the LAST day to sign up for the class.  Click here to sign up.  There is a discount for Iowa State Students.  If you and a friend sign up, tweet @chimes about it and receive an awesome prize from my Etsy shop.

Here are a few examples of mugs you’ll be able to create after taking this class.

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Hi. I’m chimes.  If you’ve been reading my blog and are just now figuring this out, well howdy. I’ve decided to try Craftzine’s 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Profile questions.  Enjoy!

One Project You Are Particularly Proud Of

1. My musical flowers pitcher. And the resulting photos of it.  I really miss my little brick wall porch at my old place in Des Moines.

Two Mistakes You’ve Made in the Past

1. Not saying no when I should.  I’m to proud to admit when I can’t take on a project — I love being a jack of all trades. I recently took engagement photos of my friend’s little sister and her (now) hubby.  I really shouldn’t have.  I’m not a photographer.  And I said yes to taking her WEDDING photos too.

[okay, so they didn't turn out too horrible]

2. Using parchment paper to bake these amazing brownies.  The result?  What my roommate coined “reverse brownies” — gooey on the outside, done in the middle.

Three Things That Make Your Work Unique

1. I’m cheap — but in a good way.  I use EVERY scrap of fabric — including the selvedge edges — every discarded dish, every possible inch of batting and use cereal boxes for patterns for sewing projects. I’m currently making a map of the states quilt out of pieces of fabric that are less than 2″ big. Partially because I’m a fabric hoarder too.

2. Asymmetry. I hate symmetrical and being matchy matchy.  I will never make a quilt from a traditional pattern — it has to be wonky.
3. Obviously, I love handmade objects. And as a graphic designer in my professional life, I try to incorporate hand-done items into my work as much as possible — whether it’s my own illustrations, found objects, fabric or paintings created by a friend.

[album cover for a band I was in that never took off]

Four Tools You Love to Use

1. Rotary cutter. I have no idea why, but there is something so damn therapeutic about cutting fabric and placing it in neat piles.
2. Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign — use it daily at work)
3. Sewing machine — I sometimes think I need a fancy one with more bells and whistles, but the freebie one I got from my aunt has been kicking out great projects and working just fine. I actually got a new Janome in October and it has been rocking my world! I even completed a quilt last month using that machine with no blips in the fabric or dropped stitches. I’m saving my old machine for threadbangin’ more crafty projects.

4. Sketchbook + Prismacolors.  I don’t just do things. I think them through first and find several ways of accomplishing what my desired end result may be. It’s surprising what you come up with when you take some time to brainstorm.

Five Inspirations

1. Quilters like Fussy Cut and Oh Fransson!
2. Michael Jackson. Yes. I’m serious. If you’ve not read my blog before, then newsflash: I heart MJ.
3. Every DIY and craft blog out there. ever. I think I follow all of them in my google reader.
4. My granny — she left a TON of unfinished projects when she died and I’ve been randomly finishing them up in the past several years. Here’s a quilt I completed out of blocks she made from what we think may have been old clothing (she was also cheap and thrifty).

5. And I have to mention my boyfriend. He’s constantly helping me refine my work and offers up suggestions and critique as well as an incredible amount of support.

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Hello bloglings. Tomorrow is my first Market Day of the season.  They’ve been going on since May, but I’ve not had a chance to do much crafting until this last month.

For those of you who don’t know and are around Central Iowa, you should come check it out.  It’s pretty awesome.

Actually, for you newbies, here’s a description from their website:  Market Day is an indie craft market: their vendors craft — but they don’t make your grandma’s crafts. At Market Day, shoppers find screenprinted posters and tees, postcards of monsters, stenciled paintings of mermaids, kawaii earrings, macabre pottery, and more. And? They’ve got their share of vintage housewares, clothing and jewelry, too.

Find Market Day at the Des Moines Social Club in the Kirkwood Theater — at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Des Moines, IA. Click here to get directions.

What am I selling? Why dishes of course. But actually, since I moved twice since the last craft show I did, I don’t have any new dishes.  I do, however, have a metric butt-ton of new zippy pouches because these are super easy to transport and are reallllly fun to make.

Zippy pouches are $10 (at Market Day, $12+shipping on etsy). Dishes range from $5-15 for single items and $35-75 for sets (again, 10% more expensive on etsy + shipping).

Also, did I mention that Market Day is from 9 AM-2 PM? COME ON DOWN.

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I’m moving again — and it better be the last time for a LONG time.

To celebrate … I’m having another moving sale on my etsy shop. Use the code BIGMOVE2011 to get 10% off anything.

As always … free shipping to Des Moines and Ames.

Here are [some of] the goods:

Stripey Little Zippy Pouch $12

Sofia Oversized Wallet $20

Little Birdies Cup and Saucer Set $10

Bonjour Beads and Lace Dinnerware Set $45

Happy shopping! Sale lasts through August 2.

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Another lovely tutorial to share: tissue holders by Very Purple Person.  Super easy. Super quick. Great way to get rid of scrap fabric. Since I can’t seem to find photos of the cases I made, here is a photo of cases made by Very Purple Person — and I used this fabric as well cuz I love it.

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Happy birthday, USA! I’m using my national holiday today to enjoy some cancer-inducing sunshine while blogging.

I also decided to do something funky with my nails. I had a gift card for Target from work from our “appreciation day” a couple weeks back. So I spent about a half hour in the fingernail polish section picking out something fun that I could use on my nails. I ended up getting a black nail art pen from Sally Hansen.  LOVE. Why?  It’s like drawing on ceramics but on my fingers!

I used OPI fireflies as a base coat and went to town. But quickly remembered I’m right-handed … So photos are all of my left hand.

Oh and Mr. Barnabus Stinson was visiting this weekend. My parents wanted to do a weekend vacay, so we took him for a couple of days. Less than 30 days until we move somewhere pet friendly so we can have him FULLtime.

He loves noming ice cream.

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We are moving again soon. And this weekend is the last weekend that I don’t have plans before the move, so I’m getting my last hurrah out of my system because all my crafty stuff has to go in storage as soon as possible.

I started going through my craft stuff and decided to finish off some UFOs this weekend.

I started with some bags …

(pink little zippy pouch)

(geometric little zippy pouch)

… and some more — 17 to be exact — quilted cards …

… but then I found a whole mess of white fabric, which I had no idea I had — my granny had left it in a bunch of unfinished projects she ultimately didn’t get to finish and her craft supplies were gifted to me.  So, I decided it was time to finish my vintage scrap fabric (courtesy of Adria) strip quilt.

I’m still in progress today. I could have finished last night but I really don’t have room in our tiny apartment to lay out the quilt, and this is one that I have to lay out and think about.  Here’s a photo of the progress. I’ll post a tutorial once it’s finished.  It’s really quite easy, but takes a bit of thinking.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Decided I wanted to do a strip quilt that kind of zig zagged with the scrap fabric Adria gave me — this, but without the border and with more variation in width and length of fabric.
• Cut all the fabric scraps to 2″, 1.5″ and 1″  wide pieces. One inch is probably too small, but to get the most out of this fabric, I had to go that small.
• Sewed all of the 2″ wide scraps together to make a really long strip, and did the same with the 1.5″ and 1″ scraps. Did this last year and pulled out the finished rolls of strips yesterday to start putting this together.
• Figured out that I wanted to make a 50″x50″ quilt. Originally I was going to go with twin size, but I realized I wasn’t going to have enough vintage fabric to do what I wanted to do.
• Cut 50″ wide strips from the long strip of each width I’d sewn together.
• Laid them on the floor to make 50″ wide — this required cutting the strips in halves and thirds.  See above — the bottom piece is the full length that I want and is used for measuring.
• Cut 2″, 1.5″ and 1″ strips out of white fabric and added them to the ends of the vintage strips to make up the width difference so they measure 50″ again.

Here’s what I’m doing today:

• Deciding where I want the vintage strips to line up in the quilt, then cutting the end of the white off (where it goes past 50″) and adding it to the OTHER side of the strip (so there’s white on both sides).
• Trimming everything to 48″ or so wide since inevitably there will probably be a math error on my end.
• Pinning 3 strips at a time together and sewing them into a wider strip.
• Repeating until the quilt top has been finished.

And that’s my day today! Patchworking and probably running 6-8 miles.  If I finish the quilt top in just a few hours (hoping so — I got where I currently am now with this quilt top in 3 hours yesterday), I’ll work on some more bags. I found the motherload of scraps I was saving of Wonderland …

… so I’ll probably be making some more zippy pouches out of that.  I’m loving the zippy pouches.  I need to make some more wallets, but I like to make the zippy pouches so much more.  I figure I’m doing this for fun and not for money, so if this stuff sells, great, if not, I’ve got Christmas presents taken care of.  Or maybe I can keep something for myself for once.

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