Patchwork Underground

I put my two cents in for Fave Craft’s monthly craft question this month.  The prompt:  What was your worst crafting disaster?  Click on the screen grab to read all of this month’s responses!

Do you have a craft horror story to share?  Bad craft gone good or good craft gone bad?  I love crafty melodrama so please feel free to share in the comments.  =)

<3 erin

P.S.  Stay tuned for the latest interview installment of “Crafters I Love” this Sunday!

Less than 2.5 weeks until I get my cast off for good!

I’ve been meaning to pimp my crutches for some time but inspiration really struck the other day when I was playing with the boxes of trim I talked about in my last post.  I can’t decide if the crutches say Japanese Lolita or Catholic Kid’s Funeral but this I do know: I frikkin’ LOVE the little pink birdy on the right-hand crutch.  She’s my little healing totem animal right now…

Note how well the pimped crutches coordinate with my new hot pink cast….

I hopped backwards on one foot to take this pic.  Purple heart for bravery!

So cute you almost want to break your foot, right?

So, I had just finished watching Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance music video (for the I-don’t-know-how-many-eth time) and I was thinking about how hard I could rock it in those 15″ heels she wears in the video.  I closed my laptop and stood up.  And then I fell down.  OW!  My leg was asleep and before I realized what was happening, I rolled over in my measly 3″ heels.  I was in denial for a day or so but eventually I went to the doctor - BROKEN FOOT!

Here’s what a broken foot looks like in a sewing room:

I went thrift shopping to dull the pain - got this awesome vintage Idea Book of Trims….

It made me realize that I heart freaky Kubrick-style ballerinas:

…and glassy-eyed girls in big hats:

I also learned what happens when you give a girl a Buttoneer.

The Idea Book of Trims made me realize that my trims are a freakin’ mess.  I have them in a bunch of disparate bags stashed all over my sewing room.  So, in the interests of organization (and further dulling the pain of my broken foot), I hobbled to the dollar store and bought storage bins.  Voila:

Coming up next: a tutorial for my scrap earrings!  Here’s a sneak peek:

I was a rodeo clown.

We made an altar for our beloved dead.  (Hi Grandma!)

I was cold!  Bur.

We partied like it was the pagan new year.

Phew!  Now that the biggest and bestest holiday of the year is over I’ll finally be able to buckle down and get back to some of my super-serious non-holiday crafting.  I’ve been working real hard on some sweet new designs for clothing patterns and I’m getting pretty excited about the fabric shopping I’ll be needing to do soon.  Here’s a few hints about what’s in store: dresden plates, yo-yos (MORE!) and a wee bit of origami fabric-folding (for good measure).

OK, I’m off to draw more pretty pictures of clothes I want to make….

The spoils of my latest trip to the bins….

So it was hard to photograph these guys because they’re so faded but I think you get the idea.  I love how the colors totally go together.  I wonder if they were intended to be a set?  The yo-yos on the right are so yummy….

Oh yeah!  So my report back on the Northwest Quilting Expo.  A serious matter.  Here’s what I did:

• Found my quilt!  Sorta sad they hung the smaller quilts so high up on the walls.  It was hard to appreciate some of the details on my quilt from the isle.  Oh well.
• Looked at all of the AMAZING work for a long time and took the pictures you see in my last post.
• Test drove some bitchin’ long arm quilting machines.  (Waaay out of my price range, but so much fun!)
• Ate bad “bento” stuff and paid $3.50 for an iced tea.
• Bought a new quilting ruler and some more Steam-A-Seam
• Discovered the annual Hoffman Fabric Challenge.  This year’s traveling show of quilts, dolls and clothing made from the challenge fabric was fantastic.  It made me wonder if I like fabric dolls even more than I like quilts.  I mean, like, WOW!  You can see pictures of these decadent dollies down below.  See how they all use that same paisley print?  Yup, that’s the fabric challenge!

That’s about it.  First quilt show?  Rockin’.