• September Crafting

    I actually managed to get a few crafts done in the month of September despite a lot of travel and the usual problem of having a job that cuts into my crafting time. But the cat needs food and toys so I will just have to persist.

    First project was a gift for a friend whose husband was retiring from the military. He was justifiably being celebrated for his service but I also wanted to recognize her contribution. I tried to lean into the retirement aspect rather than a patriotic theme for this project and as they live near the beach I thought I’d go with a small project with a nod to having a little more beach time now that they were “retired.” Realistically I know neither of them are going to have much of a break for a while with at least one kid still at home and both of them continuing to work outside of the military. But it was a cute theme so I went with it.

    I made a table runner with beach themed fabric using a pattern from TowerHouse Quilts. The seller advertised this as a one hour table runner but sadly I am not that girl. It took me a bit longer to figure out how I wanted to coordinate the fabric and sew it all together but it did come together pretty quickly. My friend had previously made me a hat with pretty cute Volkswagen van embroidery so I tried to find some fun beach themed fabric with that theme and there is a lot of cute “beach van” fabric out there. The main fabric I used is the ‘Goin’ Surfin’ fat quarter bundle by Paintbrush Studios. One of the other fabrics I used that I loved was this fun wave fabric by Spoonflower. I initially bought a fat quarter and really liked it so planned to back the table runner with just that wave fabric. There was some issue with the shipping though so I had to change up the plan and I basically used the pieced table runner pattern for both sides, just using different fabrics. On the side with the more muted wave and water fabrics I also included a little embroidery. I stitched a wave and the phrase “Sun, Sand, Serenity” which is what I hope the future brings for my friend and her family: Lots of relaxation, peace and happiness.

    Next up! I’ve been working on this project off and on this summer – a new shower curtain for my new bathroom! We updated our bathroom a few months ago and I tried and failed so many times to find a shower curtain that matched the color of the new tile in my shower. The green was never right. So I figured I would just make my own! Once again Spoonflower came through with the perfect fabric. The bonus with Spoonflower is you can order a bunch of swatches and confirm that the fabric is really going to be the right color for your project before ordering the yardage you need for the project. My choice was this cool art deco fabric. I found a basic shower curtain pattern online but ultimately I didn’t really use it. I wanted the shower curtain to be a little nicer than my usual slap dash sewing style so I booked a couple sessions with Stitch Sew Shop. At this shop I was able to work with a really experienced seamstress who offered so many great tips and suggestions and it was also so nice to work in their big workspace.

    Trying to manage all that fabric in my small office/craft room would have been a little tough. Very happy with how it came out – now I’m just working on finding some finishing touches like coordinating artwork and this is going to be my dream bathroom.

    Last up I’m not sure I can say this is really finished, but I am going to take the win. This is a punch work kit I got for Christmas a couple years ago.

    I think it’s intended to be a small rug but I’m going to make it a pillow instead. This should be fairly quick to finish up, I just need to pick some backing fabric and stuff it. I do realize that “this should be fairly quick” are some famous last words I have said about a pile of WIPs currently languishing in my attic just waiting to be “finished” so I’m hoping that by posting about this I will self shame myself into completing it.

    Autumn is officially here, my friend Teresa and I have picked our yearly Christmas DIY project and I have anywhere between 3 and 100 projects that I want to finish in time for the holidays. NO PRESSURE. I really do love leaning into the coziness of prepping for the holidays and stitching or knitting or sewing gifts that I hope will make someone smile. I hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons and getting excited for the holidays! Happy October!

  • Vintage Reproduction Jacket

    I’ve been working to finish this reproduction 1950s Mexican Tourist Jacket for over two years. Since it’s a bit of a larger project it ended up being something I’d pick up whenever I didn’t have some other time sensitive project in the works.

    I think I weirdly first saw an example of this jacket in The Shining, worn by Wendy before everything goes off the rails. After that I’d see examples pop up in other shows and magazine layouts and after seeing this great article by The Atomic Redhead I decided to try making my own.

    I used this vintage reproduction pattern of a pattern that was put out by McCalls. in the 1950. I was inspired by so many versions of this jacket across the web. I love the lime green!

    This article has the interesting history of the Mexican Tourist Jacket as initially a product created in Mexico that was part of the post World War II strengthening of the US/Mexico relationship and expanded tourism. At around the same time, needlework companies like McCall’s provided the patterns for US crafters to make the the jackets themselves as a way to take a vicarious trip to Mexico.

    This is definitely not an authentic representation of Mexican needlework. The style and designs were created to appeal to tourist and then appropriated by companies such as McCalls. But I think these jackets are an example of appreciation more than appropriation. The Animal Quilter has an interesting discussion about where the line is drawn for appropriation. I agree with her that, to some extent, finding inspiration and excitement from other cultures is a positive thing and differs from exploiting or caricaturing another culture.

    That is where my urge to create this jacket came from: A long standing love of and inspiration from Mexican needlework, as well as my enjoyment of Mid-Century trends like this tourist jacket.

    I don’t remember where I bought the green felt for this project but I chose a very soft 100% wool felt.

    I used tapestry wool from DMC in the following colors for the embroidery:

    I’m on to learning a whole other type of needlework next. I have a Sashiko project in the works and can’t wait to share it.

  • America 250 – America’s Quilt

    As part of the events celebrating America 250, Visit Williamsburg is conducting a nationwide art project called The Great American Birthday Quilt.

    People are invited to submit a 12×12 (or other size listed on the web site) quilt square illustrating what they want to celebrate most about America. The squares will then be combined into a giant finished quilt and put on display at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center.

    I am excited, to a pretty dorky extent, about the America 250 celebrations and decided to submit a square to The Great American Birthday Quilt project. I wanted to include some kind of embroidery aspect, into the quilt square so I searched around for various patriotic embroidery patterns and found a pattern based on a vintage drawing that I really liked.

    This cross stitch pattern is based on the woodcut published by Benjamin Franklin in 1754. The severed snake is the first known American political cartoon that represented the colonies and was intended to urge colonial unity against the French and Native Americans during the French and Indian War. It was based on a myth that a cut snake could revive if joined1. It was revived in 1765 against the Stamp Act and later adopted as a potent symbol of American patriotism and (relevant to my quilt square) independence during the Revolutionary War.

    I added 13 fabric stars to my cross stitch snake in order to symbolize the 13 colonies that were in existence at the time of the Revolutionary War. The fabric I used for the stars holds a little extra meaning for me. I used some fabric scraps that were left by my Great Aunt ‘Rene (Irene).

    She was a prolific crafter who enjoyed knitting, crocheting, sewing, and quilting. She made me so many lovely gifts when I was little. I’ll have to devote a post just to the various items she made me that I cherish to this day, but it made me happy to include fabric from a lovely woman who I imagine probably did some fun crafting of her own at the time of the bicentennial in 1976,

    I’m pretty sure this will just be the first of several America 250 crafts I create this year, but I’m excited to be part of a huge project involving people from all over the country. I’ll plan to take a trip once the quilt is on exhibit, see it all combined and post a few pictures!

    There’s still time to get a quilt square submitted if you’re interested. Blocks just have to be dropped off or mailed by February 28, 2026. You can use any number of techniques including sewing or gluing fabric together. It’s a fun opportunity for us all to work on a project together and I hope lots of people will get involved.

    1. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/revolution/cartoon4.cfm ↩︎

  • New Year New Blog

    It took me a bit after the demise of typepad to get set up with a new blog but I’m ready to get back to sharing all my crafting exploits.

    Shockingly, I came out of the gate in January with a completed project: A baby blanket celebrating a first grandchild for one of my closest friends. Her daughter is a gorgeous mom-to-be and we are all so excited about the new baby.

    I used this pattern from The Embroidery Place AU on Etsy. The fabric is Little Fawn and Friends in the Willow colorway. Also an Etsy purchase from Hawthorne Fabric.

    For help with putting the blanket together I looked at a few tutorials on pinterest, but primarily used this one from Suzy Quilts.

    If I’m being honest, I found the minky fabric to be kind of tough to work with and the finished product was far from perfect, but it was soft and I hope it will be well used!

    I’m hoping to finish at least one project every month this year, so this is a good start. I have so many WIPs that I hope to add to the completed list so I’m happy to have a little momentum.

    Hope everyone’s 2026 is off to a great start!