Freshly Picked Strawberries

I love strawberries. Mostly fresh, but any kind will do. This is a photo of my strawberry cluster pin. Two berries fall from green satin rattail cording attached to fused fabric-to-felt leaves. The berries have been beaded with glass seed beads to give them a little bit of shimmer and shine. Every strawberry needs a little bling.

This is my current WIP. It will eventually end up being the quilted tufted pins from yesterday's post. All 300 of them will find their way to several craft fairs that I do at years end.

On another note...the poor picture quality on this blog is probably making you want to dig your eyeballs out. I don't blame you because it sure is doing that to me. I don't know if the saying that "something is better than nothing" fits here. Perhaps I shouldn't be posting pictures until I get it right. Maybe I'll just leave them for days when I feel miserable and want to torture you. JUST KIDDING. Can you feel my frustration? Today's photo's aren't any better. It is becoming evident that I stink at taking pictures. I know, I know, practice makes perfect and I should just shut up and practice some more.

You probably won't believe it, but my middle sister is an ace at taking beautiful photos. She is the one that is recruited to photograph the special occasions of family and friends. Yes, even weddings. So you see, unlike what conclusion you may have come to, being a bad photographer isn't embedded in my genes. One day she's going to have to give me a lesson. So, if you're reading this, "D", give your older sis some schoolin' in the art of photography. Holy schmoley, if there was ever anyone who needed lessons, it's me.

I hope you all have a fabulous day. You can put your eyeballs back in their sockets now. I'm done.


Aloha!

In The Spirit of Quilting...

I have always referred to myself as a quilter wannabe. That is because I love the idea of combining numerous fabric prints into one compact little project. I enjoy the electic look of a flower, a stripe and some other small print together. Although some may think that the look is too busy, it is pure eye candy to me. I tried making quilts before and found that I didn't really care to deal with large amounts of fabric all in one project. Too overwhelming. I've made hundreds of machine quilted handbags, but those are the largest pieces that I will work with for the time being. I'm not ruling out quilts, by far, because I believe that is where my heart truly lies. I'm putting it on my long list of future endeavors.

Today's pin is in the spirit of quilting. It combines 4 different fabric patterns in one small project. The center is tufted in the style of the tomato pincushion. I added a small button to it's center. The petals are gathered and form pointy little tips. I love the look and hope you do too.

Aloha!

Happy To Have The Weekend Behind Me!

It's been a weekend of sporatic computer availability. I think my computer will be taking an early retirement. It's been frustrating to have a connection one moment and none the very next. Imagine this all day long. Blech!

The weekend was filled with a mixed bag of things. The chest freezer in the garage was thoroughly cleaned out and all of the UFO's were thrown away. The icebergs that had accumulated on the upper half of the freezer are no longer there with the help of dear hubbie. I now have an inventory list and a plan to use up it's contents before making any further purchases. Telling myself that I should have bought a frost free freezer is moot but I'm still kicking myself over that purchase. Most of the weeds that were taking up residency have now vacated the premises. The garage has been straightened and swept clean. My cutie-pie love bird, Chirpy, has a clean cage once again and best of all, I managed to start handsewing some of my pins.

Today's pin has petals that are shaped like the previous two that I've made. The flower is topped with a coordinating fabric yoyo and button. I have included a couple of buds to give it a corsage feel and completed the look by adding two lime green colored leaves.

Well, I'm off to the craft room to sew until I can sew no more. Onward and upward!

Aloha!

As Sweet As Rock Candy!

I don't know what happened to my post yesterday. As far as I can recall, I did nothing different than the day before. I promise that in real life I don't speak in choppy little sentences as indicated by that post. Those who know me can vouch for that. That was so difficult to read and I apologize. I'm crossing my fingers that this post will be okay.

Today's pin is named Rock Candy because of the vibrant fabric colors and shiny seed bead centers (and my immense love of sweet sugary candy). I'm such a dork to be naming my pins but for some strange reason it gives me great pleasure. Okay, now YOU say it...SHE'S SUCH A DORK! The center is a wet felted wool bead that I halved and then studded with glass seed beads. After wet felting, my hands get really, really dry. I mean uncomfortably dry and sometimes my skin peels. I know, you probably didn't want that much information concerning my dry, peely hands. Ewwwww. Anyway, if you have a remedy, I'd love to know your secret. Once again, sorry for the poor picture quality. I promise to keep practicing until I get it right.

As I'm typing this, the rain is starting to fall again. Someone needs to call Noah because we're going to be needing his ark real soon. The upside of all of this rain is that my palm trees are nice and green. The downside is that we now have an army of weeds that we didn't have several weeks ago. Seems they also enjoy the rain.

Well, I'm off to continue with the fabric cutting and pin making. Did I ever mention how much fun I'm having?

Aloha!

George, is that an eyeball in the center of that flower?

I'd like to introduce you to my latest creation, The Eyeball Pin. That is
what I'm calling it because it's center reminds me of an eyeball. I know,
not a very appealing name, is it? Oh well. It was a fun pin to make
nonetheless.

I have been cutting fabric to make pins like a mad woman. At the same time,
I am eager to get going with other pins but all the cutting has to happen
first. I'm finding alot of fabric that I haven't seen in a long time.
They're the pieces that are buried under all of the bright and shiny new
stuff that I keep buying and piling on top of it.

We have been having the craziest weather lately. Several of the islands
have had enormous amounts of rain and flooding. We've been living under
flash flood warnings for more than a week. It's driving my husband and son
a bit crazy because it has put a damper on their golf game. Me, I'm enjoying
it just fine. I love to cozy myself with a good cup of tea and watch the
rain fall from the window of my craft room. At the moment, the sky is a very pretty shade
of blue with hardly a cloud in sight. We all know that could change
at a moments notice. Ahhh, just a normal part of island living.

I have to say that I am very excited to have started a blog. It doesn't
mean that I know what I am doing, though. I have been wanting to do this
for quite some time but never had the confidence to take the plunge. To be
honest, I am really very nervous about it as my computer and camera skills
are seriously lacking. Who am I kidding?? I don't have ANY computer or
camera skills. I'm flying by the seat of my pants. I guess we'll find out
real soon if I should have a blog or just continue to be a blog reader. *grin*
Aloha!

Fabric Pins, Anyone?

Aloha, family and friends. As you already know, I have a penchant for
fabric. I absolutely adore fabric. I love buying it, looking at it, touching it and creating things from it. Just talking about fabric makes me very happy. Okay, I'm a dork. Anyway, my plan for this year is to create as many things from fabric as possible. You get to see my endeavers, no matter where you are.

I'm designating February as fabric pin month. Yup, a full month of nothing but fabric pins. Doesn't that sound scrumptious? I think making pins from fabric and combining it with other mediums and embellishments would be so much fun to do. My goal is to create as many different kinds as possible. I believe that putting it in writing for all to see will push me to make it happen. I'm very good at laying guilt trips on myself so this should mean that I'll have a handful of pins by the end of the month. We'll see...

My first pin is a petite plum posy topped with a sprinkling of glass seed beads. It's so pretty when the light hits the beading. It makes my heart skip a beat. It is inspired by an old tomato pincushion that I've had for years. I've added a couple of fused fabric-to-felt leaves to make it that much more special. Please pardon the poor picture layout and quality. I hope to get better as time progresses.

Aloha!