katherine
I'd like to thank the folks over at instructables for featuring my "cupcake in a teacup" tutorial from last week! I was very excited to see it on the homepage as well!

katherine
So I signed up to participate in Lindamade's Patchwork Swap last month... and made the cute "cupcake in a teacup" pincushion in the post before this one. I mailed it off with a pile of fun and bright fabrics (Kelly said she liked bright/jewel tones)... and I got this fabulous box in return!

Swap Box!

And the adorable little bag is filled with my fabric and ribbon! The chocolate was delicious (in the shape of a foot for the NC Tar Heels), and I couldn't eat the cookies, but according to my student worker they're amazing.

Fabric!


And while the fabric was amazing... my favorite part? the bumble bee slap bracelet!

Bumble Bee Slap Bracelet!
katherine
DSC04269I've been a busy girl recently with work and life, but took some time out to participate in a fabric swap over at Lindamade. I got Kelly as a partner (she doesn't have a blog to link to!) but I made her an adorable pincushion made from a vintage teacup and recycled and repurposed sweaters. I fell so in love with it I had to make one for myself too (below with the green trim).

I thankfully thought far enough in advance to take photos of how I made the whole thing! Just in time for Earth Day, I went ahead and published it as an instructable (link embedded below)... but I'm not sure how I like the format for a project that's so photograph intensive. I also have the whole series up over on flickr and might try to create a PDF that's easy to read and follow!
DSC04283
I also picked up a few extra neat containers in the quest for *just the right one* to use for hers! I really really like the effect of the cupcake type top and the vintage tea cup with hers, but don't rule out seeing some of these in my etsy shop.

Let me know what you think of the instructable/tutorial. If there's something that's not clear let me know and I can fix it before I do the next version!










Recycled Teacup Pincushion - More DIY How To Projects
katherine
- If you haven't checked out Parasolmag yet you should- beautiful eye candy available as a PDF or viewable is issu.

- Also, Blanket Magazine Online- all downloadable in PDF!

Check them both out for beautiful inspiration and photographs.
katherine
Several people have asked me how I happened to get my work published in the "1000 Artist's Journal Pages" Book that was published last June. I found out about the opportunity at the time through the Etsy Traveling Journal Project (Which is now defunct, unfortunately).

I've recently run across a couple more open submissions for project type publications for those of you that might be interested:

- 1000 Artisan Textiles (Published by Quarry Books, the same group that published the book my journal pages are in) Submissions are due June 1, 2009!

- Bead Star (Jewelry project magazine). Submissions are due May 1, 2009!

- Lark Books is looking for Submissions on anodized aluminum jewelry, Iron Wire Jewelry, and unique jewelry made from leather/fur/skins. (Submission dates vary)

If you submit work- let me know! I've got projects in mind for two of them!
katherine
frog! As it warms up here it's been a busy busy spring already! (sorry for those of you in the land of the cold and snow). The cute little froggy is from being out and about in the woods last week- he was just relaxing on some reeds... I had an odd weekend other than the crazy weather here in Louisiana- I'm single again for the first time in a long time and it's kind of odd. I'm hoping to focus some of this energy to get things done for ME.

I got the door that's been leaning in my studio actually hung on the hinges this past weekend. It's from my old house and when I moved, the landlord told me to go ahead and take a door if I wanted it for the new house (they were selling half the properties they owned). The only unfortunate thing is that the door is about three inches to short at the bottom! It's definitely entertainment to see how many kitty toys are under the door when I get home.

Some Cool New Crafty Freebies:

* Orange you lucky! has a great free embroidery pattern of a bunny for the spring and easter!

* And this morning Creature Comforts posted a great link to a site called Canon Creative Park (japanese site, but in english!). She also had some great free aqua and orange mailing labels which you can find here.

* I also recently checked in with Amy Butler's website for the first time in a while and they've updated the free patterns page with lots of new fun things to make (all in PDF).

* Anna Maria Horner has a great new free quilt pattern up on her blog for her new quilt called "Folk Dance".

* Fat Quarter Shop has an adorable free pattern for a heart shaped pin cushion.

* Purl Bee makes me want to knit again with this fantastic spring scarf pattern.

enjoy :)