Travel Sketch Rolls.....

I've had a lot of people take notice of my Travel Sketch Rolls that I use to tote around my art supplies.  By request I've added some to my shop.  They measure about 9" x 13" unfolded so they're smaller than your average brush roll.  I can tuck in all the supplies you see below.  This assortment holds my metal travel paint palette, pens, brushes, pencil, eraser and more. 

 This set up includes a small sketch book along with pencil, eraser and an assortment of pens.

 Here's the Travel Sketch Roll in use.  I wrap the ribbon tie around the folded over roll and stand it upright so I can easily reach my tools.

 For travel and storage just fold over the flap and fold the roll in half.  Wrap the tie around and tuck in for closure.  Throw it in your purse or art bag.  Easy peasy.

 How about the planner lovers?  These would be great for highlighters, pens and the like.  This one below is available in my shop now.

 So is this one of a kind Travel Sketch Roll made from vintage fabric.  There's a few more styles too.

You can find them RIGHT HERE.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out my Instagram at MishWooderson for more artsy stuff.

My art pouch...

So when it comes to storage for almost anything, plastic is not an option for me.  I love handmade, fabric, wood or something vintage.  Below you can see my art pouch that I made to hold an assortment of art supplies.  I can dump it all in and I just love rummaging around for things.  I keep some charcoal pencils and things that get dusty and chalky contained in vintage metal pencil cases found while thrifting.  My pouch is broken in well now and it's soft and slouchy and I love it.  All vintage fabrics, of course.  

 I have one extra one I created in my shop right now.  If there's interest I may make more + I've experimented with flat pencil cases and different sizes.

There's just something about handmade and vintage that speaks to me. It feels more special and has more meaning.   

 Plus it's a one of a kind item.

Let me know what you think.  My girls are already requesting some handmade pouches for their makeup and friends for presents.  Great idea, girls!

Freedom Flags

This Summer I have a made a bucket list of projects I'd like to make.  I saw some flags on Pinterest and Instagram and they soon made it to the top of my list.  My daughter's birthday is July 4th so it's always a big celebration around our house.  

I started by collecting lots of vintage trims, ribbons and old table runners.  That blue piece was perfect for my stars.  

I laid out my design and started trimming yards and yards of vintage trims.  

I stitched them all into place and just kept on creating since I had extra vintage materials on hand. 

 I went with a bohemian vintage look and kept everything look pretty rustic and raw.  Jordan helped me cut some limbs from the timber behind our house.  We got many a mosquito bite while collecting these limbs that we used to hang our flags.

 I added some details like these circles of old quilts I had in my stash. 

 Reds, whites and blues....including old trims from chenille quilts, binding strips, old faded jeans and ric rac.

 Crocheted blue stars steal the show if you ask me. 

 We ended up with some pretty cool creations I call Freedom Flags.  So perfect for showing your patriotic side and just in time for the July 4th celebrations. 

 Here are two of them hanging from my porch, complete with hanging ferns and party lights.  They look so pretty swaying in the breeze.

I kept a few for myself and there's a couple left in my shop right HERE.  They'll ship out quickly so you can decorate for the 4th.  Hope you enjoy.

It Was 1970-Something Kit.....new to shop

Hi everyone.  It's been a while but I've added a new kit and some cards to my shop.  I've been collecting these 1970-something inspired items for a while now and just couldn't resist putting them into a kit any longer. There's a hand sewn bag that can be tied up with the handmade pom poms.....gingham tags made from vintage gingham ribbon....gingham fabric paperclips.....

 These vintage playing cards are so cute and colorful.

 I've added a few strips of vintage fabric, perfect for tying around a jar of homemade peach jam or around a vellum sack full of goodies. Pom pom ribbon will be cute for finishing off a package.

 Yellow gingham tags....a watercolored, die cut butterfly.....a mini instagram of my vintage typewriter.

So many fun elements to add to packaging, cards, scrapbook pages, Project Life and more.  Join me back here this week as I show you some projects made with my new kit.  Quantities of this kit are in limited supply. Thanks for stopping by!

Winged Blog Tour...Improv Quilted Pot Holders

Today I'm excited to take part in Bonnie Christine's Winged Blog Tour.  Bonnie is a fabric designer and I've just fallen head over heels for all of her lines.  If you follow along on my blog, the Honeybee fabric I used for my Catherine quilt is from Bonnie also.  I finally finished her and will be sharing photos soon.  For today I created some whimsical pot holders that I plan to give as Christmas gifts along with some note cards.  

Bonnie sent me these four fabric fat quarters and I just love how her lines are mixy matchy but coordinate so beautifully.  You can definitely choose fabrics from just this one line and get a really fun project going.  Bonnie was inspired by the first butterfly sightings of Spring for this line.  It evokes a new season, warmer weather and fresh blooms.  I think these fabrics will be perfect for my potholders come Spring time when we're all ready to be over with the holidays and cook something fresh and new.  

First, let me tell you that my process photos are a little wonky.  I like to work first thing in the morning when the light is bright so it wasn't the best timing for taking photographs.  But I wanted you to see my process so here goes.  I knew I wanted to cut out the butterflies and make them the center focal point of my potholders. 

 Next I trimmed fabric pieces from the other fat quarters.  No measuring, I just started cutting.  I used the improv style of quilting to create my pot holder fronts.  It's kind of like a wonky log cabin....there are no precise measurements.  Just keep cutting a piece, sewing it on, trimming and then continue on.

 Here's four of my pieces all cut and ready to sew.  I kept my potholders at a finished size of 8.5" so I just kept adding on fabric until I had a size big enough to trim to a 8.5" square.

 Here's my pot holder tops all sewn and pressed.  This is a great project for beginning quilters because you don't have to measure or be precise.  I am an experienced sewer and I like it because....well, you don't have to measure or be precise.  :)

 For the backing and batting I used all natural materials.  You don't want a polyester or some fabric that will melt when a hot pan is set on the potholder.  For my backing I used some fabrics from my stash.  For the batting I love to use Warm & Natural quilt batting.  I find it at JoAnn's and use a coupon when I need some.  It's all cotton and is fluffy and soft.  It makes the warmest quilts ever.  I had some large pieces leftover so I trimmed some out for my potholders.  I've also used old cutter quilts or layers of old flannels for the batting.  It's nice to have some thickness especially if you cook with heavy pots or cast iron.

 I sandwiched all my layers together and made some edge binding out of some fabric from my stash.

 Here are some of my finished pot holders.  Now don't hold me to perfect corners or even perfectly square pieces.  The pots aren't gonna care, folks.  :)

 What I love is the fun mix of fabrics, colors and patterns.

 To keep the fabric from shifting when washed or with extended use, I just top stitched over the butterfly squares.  This added a little poofy quilted look too.

I hope you enjoyed my project today.  This is a great blog tour and I've enjoyed Bonnie's previous blog hops so much.  Be sure to check out Bonnie's cute project from yesterday and then hop over to May Chappell's blog on Monday for another inspiring post.  There are 31 wonderful days to this blog tour so don't miss out.  Thanks for stopping by.  

Catherine Quilt Progress...piecing a block improv style

I thought I would share some more of the process of my Catherine Quilt.  Today I'm sharing how I pieced together my improv blogs.  Kind of like a messy log cabin but just totally random sizes.  No measuring, I just started cutting pieces of fabrics.  I staged each block like this, putting together colors I liked mixed in with some of the linens.  

Starting with my first two pieces of fabrics that are similar in size I sewed them together then pressed open the seams. 

I trimmed the edges to be straight using my ruler and rotary trimmer.

Next I found the adjoining piece of fabric that was similar in size to my stitched together pieces. 

Each time I sewed on a new piece I pressed open the seams and trimmed the edges straight.

I kept sewing each stitched piece to the next piece close in size until I had enough blocks completed for the size of quilt I wanted. 

Here's the majority of my blocks spread out on my bed.  I ended up creating 16 blocks approximately 18" square in size for my quilt.

I was so happy to see this progress taking place.  The color and patterns just started to pop.  Next up, I'll be sharing how I sewed all the blocks together to form a quilt top.  Stay tuned....

Project Update: Catherine Quilt (piecing a #4)

While working on my Catherine Quilt blocks I thought it would be cool to incorporate a number 4 somewhere in my quilt.  The #4 represents the four of us.  My family.  When I see a #4 I think of us and it makes me happy.  

I wanted to keep my "no measuring" rule with this quilt so I just started cutting strips and piecing together a #4 like a puzzle.

Once I started sewing together the pieces, I knew it was so incorrect.  So, so against all things right with piecing blocks.

But I didn't care, I just kept on sewing together the pieces.

And I like it.  Actually I love it.

I'll be sharing the inspiration for my Catherine Quilt soon.  I'm sure you've all been wondering who Catherine is?

Question: I've gathered up some pretty terrific products for quilting.  Are you interested in seeing my favorite tools with links of where to buy?

Project Update: Catherine Quilt (Improv Quilting)

I've been making progress on my Catherine Quilt so I thought I'd share some photos today.  If you remember in my last project update I was just starting to piece together random fabrics to form quilt blocks.  Here's the first two that I made.  

This type of quilting starts with scraps so it's a great project for those who keep  all their scraps, big and small.  I didn't have many scraps so I started with all new fabrics + a large bundle of linen that I purchased at a thrift shop.  

Some simply call this type of quilting "scrap quilting" or "wonky log cabin" but after much research on the Internet I found that this type of quilting actually has a more formal name.  It's called "improvisational quilting" or "improv quilting" as I will call it from here on out.  It can be very simple in nature by just sewing together random scraps or it can become a very artistic expression using fabric and intricate designs.

I decided to use this improv quilting method but I had no idea what it was called or if there were many others doing this kind of quilting.  Why am I interested in this type of quilting? When I took my first beginning quilt class several years ago the quilt had 9 square blocks that had traditional type pieced patterns.  The patterns had to be so precise, it involved measuring and matching up corners and making triangles.  It was a bit stuffy feeling to me and I felt like the dear ladies at the quilt shop silently critiqued  every little mistake.  Of course they didn't and were nothing but super helpful and nice...but still I felt that maybe this type of quilting wasn't for me.  It was too perfect.  It didn't settle well with my mixy matchy, scrappy style that I was used to in my paper crafting.

So I decided to venture out on my own and just see what I could come up with.  I had a few ideas brewing about when I started my Catherine Quilt.  First, I wanted to pick fabrics with patterns and colors that I loved. I think my quilt really does reflect my style, sort of like what I would select when paper crafting.  I also knew that I wanted to dig into this beautiful stash of linen that I had been saving for a special project.  I loved the idea of using the soft tans of the linens as my neutral instead of a white fabric. Next, I knew I didn't want to measure anything.  I know that sounds crazy but it's just like my paper crafting...I don't measure too much. It's so stifling to have to be that precise.  So I started cutting strips without measuring any of them.  Then I started laying them out as you see in my photos today.  Next I just started stitching them together and trimming them down.

One issue I had was deciding if I wanted all my blocks the same size.  I initially thought about using my 12" ruler to square them all up but in the end each and every block I created was a different size, about 18" square approximately.  I thought by doing this, my quilt would have a more organic look, without perfectly spaced squares.  I thought it would be unique if the viewer of my quilt had to look twice to see how I pieced all the pieces together.  The more I worked on piecing the blocks, the more mixy matchy they turned out.  I'm very happy with the results so far.  

Since I started quilting my preferred way I looked up improv quilts on Pinterest.  I've added lots of quilt ideas to my Quilts board and my Catherine Quilt board.  I've found that the Internet has endless inspiration for improv type quilting.  If you're like me and think perhaps that the traditional type quilting blocks are a little too much for you at this time, I so hope you'll give this style a try.