Pancake B( . ) ( . )BIES

I swear that a man was responsible for inventing the Mammography machine. I mean, if they had to squish their precious jewels into pancake form, I'm sure they would have invented some other contraption in order to see what is going on in there. I'm just saying.

Yes, yesterday was my turn to have a go at it. I'm convinced that the level of discomfort is directly linked to the skill of the x-ray technician. Sometimes it is unbelievably uncomfortable and other times it's just so-so. Anyway, the reason that I am mentioning this is that I hope that it will serve as reminder for everyone to take care of themselves and go get checked out.

Funny that I have a hankering for pancakes this morning. *grin*

I'll spare you the numerous images of piles of fabric. That's pretty much all that there is around here lately and it will continue to be that way for many more weeks. Sorry for being so scarce too. Scarcity will also be the norm around here for a while. I'm really running out of time and am finding it difficult to find the opportunity to blog.

I'll leave you with yet another prototype. This is a cupcake wrist pincushion.

The "cupcake liner" is made from a plastic bottle cap. This is very helpful in that it prevents the pins from stabbing your wrist.


Take care and have a nice day.

Aloha!

P.S. I just googled "Mammography inventor" and you guessed it...men!!!

Yum, Ice Cream!

Ice cream anyone? This is a prototype of a mini ice cream cone lollipop ornament that I have been working on. I used way too much glue on it and it shows. Please pretend you don't see it, okay? LOL The first of anything is never perfect anyway, right? I'm still deciding whether to omit the stick and just make it into a regular old ice ream cone instead of a lollipop. What do you think?

Strawberry, pistachio, and blueberry flavored. Delish!


Kari of Crafty Ginger is hosting a wonderful giveaway on her blog to mark her 200th post. How fabulous is that! Be sure to stop by and say hi and enter her giveaway. If you're a knitting fan, you will love the beautiful yarns that she uses in her projects. She does have a very well-rounded blog with something for everyone of all interests to drool over.

I wish you all a fabulous weekend. Those in the Gulf Coast region, please stay safe.

Aloha!

Mini Cupcake On A Stick

I have another busy day planned...lots and lots of fabric to cut today. I will leave you with another prototype.

Strawberries 'n Creme Mini Cupcake Pop


This little sweet thing measures a mere 2-inches.


Hope you are having a terrific day.

Aloha!

If it ain't one thing, it's another....

Y'know, why is it that every time I have big plans to spend the weekend focused on something only to have it change abruptly and take a turn in a totally opposite direction. I'm talking about my plans to spend the weekend cutting and sewing. So many other things took precedence. I must have racked up 2-3 hours of cutting and sewing which is, er, uhm, a little bit short of an entire weekend.

Again, nothing new to show you except more piles of fabric so I'm diggin' deep into the prototype pile once again.

This facial tissue holder is the perfect size to tuck into your handbag. I love the idea of a curved opening and an overlapped edge. Something a little different than the standard tissue holder. I think I will need to explore this further as it has quite a bit of promise.


I hope you all have a fabulous day. I'm going to spend mine, you guessed it, in my sewing room.

Aloha!

WIP Friday

I am flying the coop this morning to make my way to the fabric store. I have been putting it off for far too long. I'll tell you why.

I have a love/hate relationship with my fabric store (more like a warehouse). There are rows and rows of rolled fabric bolts stacked one on top of the other, 6 to 8 deep. Being a shorty, just barely 5 feet tall, the bolts of fabric are taller than me. I find it almost impossible to carry most of them because of their weight. If I want a bolt in the middle of the pile, or heaven forbid, the bottom, it most likely won't be going home with me. Looking for help usually proves futile because the employees are always so busy. In as much as I love their selection of fabric, suffice to say, I don't make my way there very often. I always leave sweaty, tired, and frustrated.

I've been cutting piles of fabric, doing little to no sewing, and have nothing completed to show you. I'll leave you with a sneak peek of some work in progress. I know, boring.


As usual, I'll be spending my weekend in the craft room, wielding a scissor and rotary cutter like a mad woman. My family knows to steer clear or they'll end up as part of my project. j/k

Wish you all a beautiful weekend.

Aloha!

The downside of living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is...

...shipping costs! Yes my friends, the cost of shipping things to the islands is outrageous. This is the reason that I try to purchase locally whenever I can. Many businesses ship products into the islands in large shipping containers which substantially reduces their shipping costs per item.

If you feel that there is a rant about to happen, you are right. Please scoot on down to the end of my post to keep from hearing about it.

My story...I have been scouring the island over a period of 6 months for Ultra Firm interfacing and have come up with zero, nada, zilch, time and time again! I was able to find a product similar in weight at one of our fabric stores for almost quadruple the price that I usually pay which I thought was totally ridiculous. Even if I did purchase what they had on hand, it would still leave me a good 190 yards short of what I needed. The Wallyworld near my home has been out of it since the beginning of the year and the only info that the clerk could offer me was that they were having trouble with their orders. I was told that when they did manage to get a 20-yard bolt in stock, it would fly off of the shelf as if it were never there to begin with. I ask myself, if it is in such high demand, why don't they order a large number of bolts at a time. I'm sure they would have no trouble unloading the stuff, especially since it disappears as soon as it hits the shelf. The shelves at Wallyworld that were once full of Pellon and interfacing is now bare and has been that way for months. Pfft! I digress...

My lament about shipping costs...I finally gave in and ordered Ultra Firm directly from the company that supplies Wallyworld and other businesses because I knew that there was no way that I was going to get my hands on enough in time for my fairs. Again, I asked myself, if I can get this delivered to me in less than a week, why is Wallyworld having so much trouble.

I know you're probably thinking, big stinkin' deal, and she wasted a whole post about it too. Well, unfortunately, it is a huge deal to me. Being without this stuff puts a total halt to the production of my handbags.

I limited my order to 200 yards due to the high cost of shipping. Out of the total cost of $500.00, the shipping was $170.00. Crazy, huh? Yes, that is the penalty for living in paradise. Okay, I'm done ranting now. Sorry....

My precious cargo....


If you've made it this far, thanks! You deserve a gold medal for endurance.

Since I have nothing new to show you, I am going to share a prototype of a wrist pincushion that I made a while back. I love the pretty coral colored fabric that I used on the petals. This is my interpretation of a daffodil.


A close-up.


AnneMarie, sorry that I missed your cupcake question. If you would like to use cardboard, I think it will work out great. Anything that is rigid will hold up well. You can also use very firm interfacing.

CM2, I used the yo-yo maker to create the red hearts. The completed red hearts(two, back to back)measures almost 2-inches. The center yo-yo is about 1/2-inch smaller. Feel free to experiment with the size of the yo-yo's. You can make them as large or as small as you like.

To everyone, thank you all for the handbag love from yesterday's post. I'm happy to hear that many of you love the handbag as much as I do.

I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of you for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate your feedback. Sorry that I've been so slow at returning comments. I'm currently weeks behind...sigh@!

Hope you all have a fabulous and creative day!

Aloha!

Shirring + Posie=New Handbag

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I spent mine, as expected, buried in fabric. Cut, cut, snip, snip. You get the picture.

I did sneak in a little time to design a couple of handbags. After completing a prototype of each, I sent one back to the drawing board. I wasn't happy with the overall shape of the bag. That's how it goes sometimes.

Here is the bag that passed the test. Although very simple in design, it has the feel of shabby chic and romance with the shirred upper band and the pretty little yo-yo posie.


I happen to really love the green and pink fabric combination.


I hope you have a fantastic day.

Aloha!