Vicky the Voodoo Doll Pin Cushion Girl

I've been so busy the last couple weeks and haven't had any time to blog. I did make a fabulous new voodoo doll pin cushion. Victoria is off to a new home so it was time to create a new character to take her place. Isn't she wonderful? I love the colors and I added a lot more hair this time, so it's actually stylable. Fun, fun, fun!

Finished Patchwork Purse in Lime and Melon

I finished another upholstery scrap patchwork bag. This one is in lime and melon. This is one of those projects that looks rough and ragged throughout the creation process until it's finally turned inside right and the finishing stitches are put on it. Sometimes I doubt these bags are going to turn out okay, but in the end I'm always thrilled that they not only don't have threads hanging off them everywhere, but they also look great, too.

This is the first bag I've done using a handmade button purchased on Etsy and I think it really makes it shine. The button, as mentioned in last post, was hand turned by Pam from PJTurner http://pjturner.etsy.com and was created using wood from an old barn in Virginia. I love old barns!

My to do list is dwindling down, but still quite active. I need to put the quilt sandwich together on my son's Pokemon quilt so I can start hand quilting it. I need to work on at least one or two more of the blocks for the Etsy banner project the Quiltsy Team is working on. I need to finish about 7 or 8 more of these patchwork bags. I have three more of the wood buttons and then I also have two handmade wine top buttons made by RyePie on Etsy. I'm very excited about those buttons as well.

Working on a New Purse

Today I started working on a new purse. I have several sets of home decor fabric sample swatches that I purchased from FabricFlair ( http://fabricflair.etsy.com) on Etsy and the first photo shows the set I'll be working with on this purse. It's a great set of greens and oranges that will look great with the button in the second photo, which I purchased from PJTurner ( http://pjturner.etsy.com ) on Etsy. The button is hand turned and was created using wood from an old barn in Virginia. You can see a starburst in the center of button, which is completely natural to the wood. Just gorgeous! The third photo shows the pattern I created specifically for using these decorator scraps which are roughly 6" by 6" - my previous pattern used pieces that were a bit too large for these scraps. I should be finished with the bag tomorrow and will post pics of the finished product then.

Pokemon Quilt

Yesterday I finished my son Alex's Pokemon quilt top. There are some purses I need work on, but I took a few days off to get this finished - my son is very excited to have it completed, but he knows it will be longer still before the quilt sandwich is put together and I get to the actual quilting part, which could take as long as 3-4 weeks (I'm a hand quilter).

Getting Caught Up

Well, I've been working very hard the last few days on all these projects I have going. I finished my voodoo doll pin cushion and officially named her Victoria. It was my daughter's idea to put her hair in high pony tails, which gave her a cute look. I'll make another in the near future, but there are several changes that will be made - I didn't like the shape the gingerbread cookie cutter gave her, especially around the hands and waistline. I'll have to come up with my own design for the next doll. This pretty lady is listed in my Etsy shop for sale because I was happy with the end result, despite the changes I will make the next go around.

I worked on the last 3 squares of my son's Pokemon quilt and finally got those completed - it's taken a couple of months to hand applique all 35 blocks. Now I need to start piecing the borders around the blocks, but my son wants to decide for himself where each block is placed on the quilt. I'm not sure where I can lay out all these squares in the house and keep them intact until it's all sewn together.

I also completed the first block of the Etsy banner project the Quiltsy team is working on as a group. For the second block I'm using tumbler shapes, which I've already cut - just need to sew them together. Still working on coming up with definite plans for the 3rd and, possibly, 4th blocks.

More pictures tomorrow...

Projects-in-Progress

These are a couple blocks of the Pokemon quilt I'm working on for Alex, my 9 year old. I purchased all the appliques on eBay, which saved me a lot of time. Each block is a pebbled gray fabric, the rest of the quilt will be black. I think I'll do the hand quilting in black as well. The appliques were ironed on to the fabric and then I'm going back and hand stitching the appliques to the fabric for longevity. Of the 35 blocks, I have 3 more to stitch - then I can start putting the pieces of the quilt together.

This is the raw version of a new item I'm working on for my Etsy shop. She's a Pretty Lady VooDoo Doll Pincushion. She's made of scraps that I have on hand. Her insides are even scraps - some fleece spaghetti I made using an Olfa cutter. Worked better than I expected. I need to sew up the opening in her leg, add eyes, hair and an apron. If she looks a bit like a gingerbread man, it's because I used a huge cookie cutter as the template for her body. She's about 8" tall.

Excited About Projects

I'm very excited about upcoming projects. I have so much on the table right now. These are my current projects (all in some form of completion):

Pokemon quilt for my 9 year old son
3-4 XL quilt blocks for Etsy Banner project
Batik charm swap quilt
9 purses from upholstery scraps purchased on Etsy last week
3-4 purses from upholstery scraps purchased from a different Etsy seller last week
pincushion design as new shop item
purses for sister-in-law and sister per request

I really need to finish my son's quilt, but how do I justify time away from projects that end up in my Etsy shop for sale?

Once I figure out how to post photos, I'll put up some pics of these projects in the works.