Baby Countdown: 1 week, 5 days ’till due date!
I finally finished my little pink and yellow crooked quilt (left) – on the right is a larger and more-perfect quilt made by my very talented mom.
I used 5″ squares, was very inspired by the Swedish Summer Quilt and followed these directions for binding by Jay Bird Quilts.
After about 6 inches of whip stitching the binding I stopped – it looked awful and felt really rough. I checked my mom’s binding and of course, being perfect and all, you can’t even see the binding stitch! I sent off an email to see how she did it and took out all the previous stitches. She sent back this youtube video of the quilting ladder stitch (at 5:26 in the video) – easier, faster and it looks wonderful!
I can’t see myself ever being a full-time quilter, I’m way too impatient and messy for measuring and perfect squares. However, there’s such a huge sense of accomplishment on finishing that I don’t get with many other projects. Awesome. :)
Followed this lovely tutorial for a braided headband I found through Pinterest. The whole thing only took twenty minutes, love it!
Yesterday were my first two workshops at Art Unraveled and they were fantastic. I was surprised that the primary age-group of attendees was 60+ (and 100% women), but who wouldn’t feel comfortable in a room full of hip and crafty grandma’s? I feel like I’m getting a headstart.
The first workshop was “Soldering for Maidens” with the lovely Paula Hardesty. Unfortunately I was too enthralled with soldering to snap any process photos but here’s what I made!
In case you’re wondering, they’re supposed to be lumpy like that – texture!! It was actually a lot easier than I imagined and Paula was a wonderful and thorough instructor, really sweet too.
Last night I attended the workshop “Ancient Amulets” with Laurie Mika. I have to say this, because I thought it all night – she’s basically who I want to be when I grow up. Wordly, artistic, smart and her techniques, swoon! If you ever have the opportunity definitely take a class, buy her book, research her online – she’s awesome.
The above photo are pieces from the class, I wish I knew who’s was who and everyones name! And here’s my little guys:
One woman’s comment on the purple one, “Oh, that one’s….. different?” Story of my life! My new friend for the day was Gloria from Surprise, AZ – kind and funny with a great attitude towards life and art and a big big heart.
Today I took the day off to get some work done, which of course I haven’t done yet. Tomorrow is “Plastered in Wax” – I’ve been wanting to learn encaustic painting for YEARS, cannot wait. Then Sunday is “Creating Hollow Forms in Color.” Not sure I’ll be blogging about every day but you can check out all the photos on flickr!
Two weeks ago I was in our alley and saw three chairs a couple houses down, waiting to be picked up by the dump truck. Sure, they were an awful warn out metallic gold but so solid and sturdy! I needed to get a present for my sister and brother ‘n law (who just got a new house and need chairs) and had been looking for an excuse to use the hand-me-down sander I got from my folks. Chair refinishing!!
First I sanded down the chairs, cleaned them and spray painted them white.
Then, I scuffed ‘em back up and painted the back red to match C and Z’s red and frosty blue kitchen.
I cut out a piece of cardboard the shape of the seat and very quickly (and roughly) made up some little chair cushions.
And here it is, my very first before and after! :)
Hello, I'm Amanda Hawkins. Ahhh-Design is where I post art, projects, diy planner templates, tutorials and more.
