Remember the circles on last Friday's project? I used a strip of the same t-shirt and pile of green buttons to make this cuff. (It's not attached to the sweater.) In my attempt to wear something handmade everyday, this has already become a go-to staple.
Thank you for modeling this one for me in your gorgeous house, Jhna!
This is one of my first hand-stitched projects, completed in Fall of 2008. The bodice & sleeves are from a Textile Studio pattern, one with just a front, back, and raglan sleeve -- so easy to manipulate that I've probably made half a dozen garments based on that one pattern. I added the flared cuff and embellished them with circles cut out of an old t-shirt. I learned a good lesson about the weight of knits with this project, as the t-shirt I used was fairly lightweight and about 1/3 of the circles came off (partially or completely) in the wash. It won't take long to redo them, with deeper stitches, but for now it's getting nice & cozy in the mending pile.
This bag is one of the rare projects I've made right from the pattern -- it was in a Kaffe Fassett book I checked out of the library. (He's written a lot of them, and unfortunately, I can't remember which book it was in!) All the ovals are hand-appliqued onto the background; I used scraps from Forest's quilt and did a lot of the stitching while Juliet was in dance class. The back of the bag is solid, and the inside is a fun Heather Bailey print with a pocket. (A pencap slipped off while inside this bag so there is a big ink stain near the bottom of the lining...typical for me. I'm so very thankful it didn't leak through to the outside!)
I have a lot of irons in the fire right now (in a good way). I've been giving some thought to rebranding, combining my wholesale line (Dreamland), my etsy shop (lettergirl), and everything else under one roof, so to speak. And with my anniversary approaching in May (19 years in business!), I think the timing is just right to get back to my roots with a newsletter -- only now I won't have to spend hours sorting zip codes for the bulk mail rate.
The first 50 people to sign up on my mailing list will be entered in a drawing to win a free address stamp or digital address artwork from lettergirl. (And the sooner there are 50 people on the list, the sooner I'll choose a winner!) Sign up using the box in the upper left corner of my blog.
I started sending newsletters by mail in 1994. You can see samples here.
And lucky me, I'm off to a Magic Wand meeting tonight.
Once upon a time, and I do mean long ago, I used to make little teeny boxes as gift tags:
(Speckles are gold embossing powder, sprinkled on & heated.)
I have sixteen great ideas so far for September: a month of ideas. I can't wait to share them!
When I started Recycled my notion was mostly project sharing. But at some level I think I wanted to remind myself of my own body of work. Sixteen years is a good long time to be creating, and I've made a lot of stuff I'm still proud of. Will a walk down memory lane help me determine if I should fight for Dreamland or throw in the towel? Starting something new is enticing to be honest. Starting fresh. But then I have a night like last night where my ideas were coming fast and furious and I couldn't imagine giving up.
The project above is made from some old linen (you could say, recycled) and three squares of wool felt. F doesn't always store things inside -- sometimes army guys, sometimes books. It's actually fun when he rediscovers that the pockets are empty and ready to be used again.
Our new family tradition is buying our plants on Mother's Day and then spending the next several days planting our gardens. It's a lasting tradition as it makes me look forward to fresh ripe vegetables all summer, and I always enjoy the classic purple petunias in our window boxes.
Thank you for all the lovely giveaways you've done this week! :-)
Please email me with the names for the stamp + your mailing address: gina {at!} sekelsky {dot!} com.
And again, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who played along -- especially those of you who commented every day. What a treat for me! Another giveaway is on the way for the month of June, I hope you'll be back.
To finish out my anniversary month, I'll be sharing Dreamland's history through my old newsletters, starting with the very first issue made in 1994. Enjoy!