the hot seat

After a rainy start to summer, things are heating up around here. All it takes is a searing hot car seat to remind me to break out the Auto Sunshade I made from my book Sewing Green. It's made from discarded mylar juice pouches. They are reflective, lightweight, kinda fun to sew, and free! (First photo below by John Gruen.)

I started by collecting empty juice pouches after cub scout events, soccer games, even from a neighbor that saved them for me. (The darn things are non-recyclable, so I do my best not to buy them myself!) Trim the tops, rinse them out, and hoard them until you have about 100.

You'll sew them end to end into long strips, then into an according type construction. Details are on page 110 of Sewing Green.

The resulting shade folds easily to stash in your car.

Before you get out of your car on a hot summer day, unfold the shade, slide it between the dash and the windshield, then flip the visors down to hold it in place.

The shiny silver mylar will reflect those rays and keep your car dramatically cooler and you'll rely less heavily on the A/C. Your car's interior and your posterior will thank you.

If you want to practice sewing juice pouches (or have extras after making the sunshade) try a making a small bag. I made mine by just winging it and used an old jumprope for the handle. I found a tutorial for something similar if you like specifics.

I hope you'll consider making the sunshade and please let me know if you do, I'd love to see it! I also hope you'll consider not buying juice in mylar pouches when you could opt for a drink with more environmentally friendly packaging. (How 'bout mixing up a pitcher of lemonade and carrying it in reusable bottles?) I'd rather make existing trash into a useful item than create more trash, wouldn't you ?

Mugsy speaks

Good day, my name is Mugsy. Welcome to the home and gardens of my human, Mr. Conway. You know, the one on TV? Apparently he has a show and people are invited here to be filmed making stuff. This week, someone named Betz arrived. She asked if I would like to guest post on her blog to tell you about her visit. I don't really know what a blog is, but I do know that it rhymes with dog, and that's good enough for me. Besides, since I'm really the one in charge here, I should be the one to show you around.

These are the beautiful gardens that are well maintained by my staff. This is often the backdrop for that TV stuff I mentioned. Mostly I like to spend my day trotting about and keeping an eye on the goings-on.

It's been a dreary rainy week here and today was no different. Betz complained a little about the weather affecting her hair, but I thought the shaggy sheep-dog do' was working for her.

Here's the barn, the location of today's filming. Right now the film crew is busy bustling about in there setting up lighting, styling the set, testing the sound and a bunch of other boring stuff.
*yawn*

And they say TV is glamorous? This is a shot inside the barn after Betz was done shooting two craft segments. (I didn't really get a good look at the projects, but there was a sewing machine involved.) My job during the filming is to root around under everyone's feet and make snarfling noises. Sometimes if I'm too disruptive, they have to do another take. *sigh*...good times!

Everyone seemed pretty happy with how the filming went. Mostly Betz seemed happy it was over and was allowed to untape the microphone threaded through her blouse. She had a few minutes before leaving so the two of us wandered about to take some photos of the gardens. Oh boy, more flowers!

I don't know what this thing is, but it is po-key!

These are unusual creatures. All I can say is, they better keep their little mouths away from my kibble.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit to my neighborhood, I know Betz sure did. Now, I've a busy day ahead of me so I'll thank you to be on your way.
Your Pal,
Mugsy

Thanks Mugsy, Cindy, Sean and the rest of the crew! I had a great time!

packing bags

This morning I headed out to the post office to ship some orders. I used my roomie Beach Bag from Sewing Green to corral all of my packages. It's made from a set of 4 placemats I found at the thrift store. This version also uses one of my favorite things for bag handles: Karate belts!

Why do I love karate belts so much? They are cheap, come in lots of colors, they are nicely made and evenly stitched, and they are padded! I find a lot of them at the thrift store for 50 cents to a buck a piece. This one was long enough make both handles and go all the way around the bottom of the bag, about 104" long.

Tonight I am packing another bag: my suitcase. I am flying out tomorrow afternoon to shoot two craft segments for the TV show "Cultivating Life" on WGN America. I'm pretty excited about it because one of the projects I will be showing is made from my new organic fabric! (The teeny tiny bummer: the show doesn't air until next summer!) Meanwhile...I'm trying not to think about the actual TV camera part. Eeeps. Hopefully the whole trip will be one exciting whirlwind and I'll be back to tell you about it later this week!

Speaking of my fabric, thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement! It really means so much to me.

Sneaky McPeeky

Psst...the beginnings of my new organic print line, a work in progress! I've only gotten sample yardage of one of my designs so far, but I'm so excited about it, I had to share. 100% organic cotton and hemp canvas. Yummy.

Snip snip, saving every scrap. I'm working on a special project with it right now that involves television. Eep. (No, it's not Martha) I'm flying out next week to shoot some craft segments for a show that won't air until next summer!

Luckily my fabric will be available way sooner than that. I'm hoping for a mini-launch late July (fingers crossed) and a big Ta-Da! launch in September.

MYOB: Squam Workshop

I have taught my MYOB (Make Your Own Bag) Workshops several times now, but it 's always a little different. The goal is re-use, and for that reason a varied assortment of thrifted materials makes for a fresh class every time! For the Squam Art Workshops, I decided to focus on my new obsession: pillowcases.

I spent a lot of time beforehand developing some new bag styles. This one is self lined and uses ever last bit of one standard size pillowcase. No waste! It's a bit of an origami mind bender...

This version is a simpler construction (more of a sling? Not sure what to call the shape) with inverted pleats and bias binding.

The third bag I demonstrated was super simple for folks that were brand new to sewing. Great style for a trip to the library for some summer reading.

So I packed up my little pillowcase bags and headed to Squam. Ahhh...are you tired of hearing about Squam? :)

Dory, shown here working away on her sling shaped bag, had practiced her pillowcase-refashioning skills before coming to Squam using my apron tutorial. She even wore it to class to show me. :) Her striped bag turned out great. I love the finished look of bias binding, so I enjoyed showing people how to apply it to this bag.

Kathy went for the origami brain challenge...which, considering that all of us were exhausted on this last day of classes, is saying a lot. Even the teacher (ahem) who was reading her own notes (yup) had trouble on a couple of steps. Honestly, it's not that hard...and look how cute it turned out!

This bright and wonderful bag was constructed in a completely different way and uses extra scrap material that was donated to the class. I love it when participants make it their own!

Another origami+ extras...love the combo! (I apologize for spacing on your names! :( )

Here's the dining hall "gallery", showing an assortment of pillowcase bags, plus a few T-shirt bags that we started off with at the beginning of class. Ali made that teeny weeny pink one out of her daughter's outgrown onesie! How cute is that?

And a few more from the day. I think everyone enjoyed their bag making, I sure did. Thanks to everyone that attended! Your creativity and enthusiasm made teaching a delight.

And one more heartfelt thank you to the lovey women of the Nirvana cabin. I miss our late night chats, camaraderie and giggles. Hold on to that feeling until next year! (watch this video if you'd like a little of that feeling for yourself!)

Oh, and one more thing, I hope to make the above set of bag designs one of the first patterns available in my Make New or Make Do™ sewing pattern line. Hopefully this summer!

I forget

Sometimes I forget about my old friend, the cupcake pincushion. Last weekend when I showed my work at the Squam Art Fair, I was reminded once again about my tried and true...

I forget that some people have never seen a cupcake pincushion made from recycled sweaters...
I forget that not everyone knows my first book, Warm Fuzzies, or has seen them on the cover...
I forget that these little cuties were the thing that caught the attention of a producer at the Martha Stewart Show 2+ years ago...
I forget that when I want to make something pleasing and familiar, the cupcake pincushion is just the thing...

I've come a long way since making my first cupcake pincushion 4 years ago. Sometimes in the rush to move ahead, it's easy to forget where you started. When I came home from Squam, I was full of new ideas and rarin' to go. Instead of charging ahead I took some time to sort through my thoughts. I picked up some wool and rolled and pinned and sewed. You'd think I'd have had enough of them by now...but making these is almost therapeutic for me.

So, for those of you that have been missing the cupcake pincushions in my shop and for those of you who are just discovering me and my ol' standby...I have updated my shop with a fresh batch! I hope they bring you happiness the way they do for me.

the workshops

Yes, indeed, SAW was more than just a pretty place. There were workshops and plenty of them! First I'll share with you my Recycled Felting workshops. Each session we spent all day creating with felted wool sweaters. I taught the basics of felting (truly "fulling") second hand wooly finds into dense rich material. We experimented with seaming techniques, and embellishment that included applique, making rosettes and needle-felting.

Erica's working on her pillow front using my favorite wavy seam technique! She combined 3 different sweaters in lovely blues and greys.

Amal had NEVER used a sewing machine before and made this adorable tea cozy with needle felted polka-dots. She also made a coaster and learned how to do blanket stitch.

Donna made this sweet mini messenger bag utilizing the embroidered neckline from a former "Tweeds" sweater. (do you remember Tweeds?) Very clever!
Mary finished her bag (sorry, no photo! Please send it along if you can, Mary) and had time to make a few extra goodies, such as this headband!

Another Mary had fun completely transforming a manly argyle sweater into a feminine tote and pouch complete with rosettes and needle felted leaves. Love!
I could not keep Marianne away. Her daughter, Christine, took my class the day before and Marianne had to get in on the action. :) Marianne made this sweet duet. (Christine, send me a photo of your bag!)
At the end of each workshop, participants were encouraged to bring their projects to the dining hall gallery. It was great fun to get a look inside what other creative endeavors were happening all over camp. I wished I could have taken some of the classes as well!

Next post I'll share the other workshop I taught, called MYOB: Make Your Own Bag. In the comments a few posts ago someone asked where I'm teaching next. My answer: right here! Among the other things on my To Do List this summer, I am planning on offering some online workshops. Who's in? :)

in the shop

I knew that my trip to Squam would result in some beautiful memories. For the occasion I put together some small photo books to sell at last Saturday's art fair. I came home with just a few and they are available to you now in my etsy shop. They are the perfect little place to tuck photos of your favorite person, place or thing.

Also, my Wrap Sheets, reusable gift bags made from vintage linens, are available in my etsy shop as well.

I've got to keep this post short. I'm without internet this week (gah!) so I am sitting on my neighbor's porch using her WiFi! She was eager to share but her poor dog seems to be quite distraught about it. More about the workshops soon, I promise. It's a bad week to be without internet, I've so much to tell!

home from heaven

I'm home again after an amazing adventure in beauty, creativity and friendship: The Squam Art Workshops in NH. It's going to take me some time to process the experience, and I will be sharing it with you in the posts to come.

It started with kindred spirits. My roommate Marisa of Creative Thursday, and I couldn't have been better matched. I mean, just look at our feet. We stayed in the cabin aptly named Nirvana. Lemme tell ya, it was the place to be.

Throughout the week we were treated to the fantastic music and sparkling personality of Jonatha Brooke.

There were delicious meals (no grocery shopping, cooking or dishes to do!) served with great company.

There was sewing and creativity flowing with the lake forever by our side. This shot is from one of my workshops. I placed all of the sewing machines right up next to the windows for optimum vista intake. :) I was continually astounded by this gathering of creative souls and their no-fear attitudes toward creating. They came from all over the US, plus Canada and the UK!

Each day was filled with fresh air, sunshine and natural beauty. Every evening my cabin-mates and I gathered around for the most wonderful chats late into the night/early mornings. I'll share more soon about the talented artists I had the honor of spending time with. Lakeside in Nirvana. It doesn't get any better.